The midsummer sun in August wakes Yuna up with its strong rays on a morning Yuna has been looking forward to. Eunbi had suggested for them to have fun at an amusement park that day. She remembers Eunbi loudly trudging into her room, the bang of the door a grand indicator of her arrival just as she had ended a call with Seokmin, when the girl exclaimed “Unnie! Let's go to Lotte World!” before apologising bashfully for the intrusion and noise. Yuna had chuckled, the word ‘maestoso’ appearing in her mind bold and italicised and in which amuses her even more. She had shaken her head about the apology before Eunbi had asked her if today was a good day for her.

Yuna finds that the home is empty besides herself. Shrugging the confusion off, Yuna proceeds to take a shower. When she comes out to the living room drying her hair, she finds a ticket and a note on the dining table.

Bemused, Yuna brings the note nearer to her eyes and reads it.

[Unnie! I'm sorry I have to make a move first. Meet me there at 12! Let's have fun today] coupled with a small but adorable drawing at the end that cracks Yuna up.

A warm fuzzy feeling inside of Yuna brings her spirits up and with a cheerful hum on her lips Yuna prepares to set off.

When Yuna arrives at the indoor park, she checks for the time and gives herself a little credit for being punctual. An all-girl marching band then starts parading before her, and she looks up, her ears perked to the music, and her eyes immediately catching a figure she knows so well after seeing it every day and night for over a month now. She jumps above the crowd, her excited hands continuously clapping, beaming when she gets a clear view of her housemate.

Eunbi and Yuna exchange bright gleams when their eyes meet. Eunbi realises, suddenly, like the click of the switch, how much warmth Yuna fills in her heart with ever since the time they have met and how wonderful a person Yuna is. Basking in the bright smile she is receiving from her housemate, Eunbi blows into her clarinet and marches on with renewed motivation.  

“Good job! I was so surprised, this is something I’ll never ever expect,” Yuna beams when she finally meets Eunbi. “You did amazing, I was so proud I knew someone in that band. How did you get here?” she does not hide the pride nor the curiosity.

“Did you like it?” Eunbi’s shining eyes stay glued to Yuna as they express her jitter in having Yuna watch her in action for the first time.

“I liked it! Of course!” Yuna exclaims, the pride leaking in her speech. "It's my first time seeing you perform," Yuna's eyes glitter in fascination. 

“I'm glad you like it,” Eunbi is beyond elated to receive such a response from Yuna. “A friend from SSO managed to get me here, since I've had some marching band experience in middle school. I’ve been doing this irregularly with her whenever SSO is relatively not that busy,” Eunbi chuckles. “You should've seen her too, she's the tallest one among the trombones,” Eunbi explains, looking around in search for the mentioned trombonist. Yuna laughs, finding that the girl resembles a meerkat. “She's not around,” Eunbi mutters then purses her lips together.

Yuna feels like Eunbi might ask that question again. Eunbi feels like she wants to bring up the topic of the auditions again, and she knows Yuna knows that. Notwithstanding the infinitesimal silence that tells of their mutual understanding, Eunbi asks something else instead.

“Unnie, why did you move to Seoul?” her tone is neither indicative nor expressive.

Yuna widens her eyes, having not expected the question at all, and turns to face Eunbi, her vision slightly angled to land on those of the shorter girl’s. The answer does seem rather obvious to the both of them, but Eunbi had wanted to ask and Yuna now finds in herself the want to elucidate.

“How much do you earn?” Yuna returns Eunbi’s question with another one.

“Me?” Eunbi furrows her brow, puzzled. “Well, I still have more than enough for myself after sending some back to my parents. But you know, I skimp on things sometimes,” Eunbi elaborates.

“Actually, many of my friends from other parts of the country remain in Seoul to make a living through joining orchestras or the likes, except for my best friend because her family is well-to-do,” Eunbi continues.

“Your best friend?” Yuna tilts her head.

“Remember when you asked me about who's the other girl in my KaTalk profile picture?”

“Ah, the piano major from Incheon?”

“Yes, she's teaching now, but everyone else really just tries to remain in Seoul because performing certainly does pay more than solely teaching- and of course it's out of passion too,” Eunbi continues her explanation.

Yuna nods her head as she listens. Eunbi halts when she realises she's found her own answer.

“That's why?” Eunbi softly asks.

Yuna nods her head once again with a smile.

"Well, Eunbi yah," a drastic change in Yuna's tone directs the shift in the topic of discussion, "what would you like to play?"

"Unnie, you're scared of heights right?" Yuna regrets when she sees the snicker on Eunbi's face. "Out we go to the rollercoasters!" Eunbi exclaims in anticipation.

"Yahh! Hwang Eunbi!"

Eunbi runs before Yuna does. 

Yuna and Eunbi love Sundays. On Sundays, both are free from schedules, and today they have decided on a trip to the mart nearby after Eunbi had announced that they are running out of eggs and rice.

“Ah, unnie, right, I had some coupons for the mart, I suddenly recall. Let me run up and get them,” Eunbi points back as she looks up at Yuna, her eyes squinting in the sunlight.

“Do you need me to go up with you?” Yuna asks.

“No it's okay, unnie stay here,” Eunbi shakes her head, “I'll go,” she says before running off.

Eunbi hurries to the elevator and hastily enters their home again to grab the coupons she has lazily left on the coffee table. When Eunbi is back down, she spots Yuna to be in a conversation.

“Should we get a meal together sometime?” Eunbi hears a man's voice and she draws nearer to get a better look. Ah, she sighs inwardly, it's that high school friend.

“Sure,” Yuna smiles with a nod of the head.

“Let's text about the details! I'll get going first,” Seokmin raises a hand up for a wave.

“See you!” Yuna brightly responds, returning the wave as well.

As Seokmin disappears from the scene, Eunbi takes a few slow yet large steps towards Yuna.

Eunbi doesn't know why she's annoyed, and decides to hide it by poking fun at the elder. “So, you got yourself a date?”

“Hwang Eunbi! You don't just listen to people's conversations like that!” a flustered Yuna snaps and narrows her eyes at Eunbi, who is now laughing her head off.

“But unnie, have you ever liked him?” Eunbi spills the question she’s been holding for long. It takes her a while to realise her own words, having not expected that she’d be able to easily ask Yuna such a thing, but feels that it’s better to plainly and simply let the question out.

“What?” Yuna is taken aback by the straightforwardness, but realises that Eunbi isn’t someone she would hide things from. She doesn’t know since when, but she does know that Eunbi has an important presence in her life and there is no longer any sense in hiding anything from Eunbi.

“I guess, maybe, in the first year or so, especially because I think he wanted to chase me and was really nice and considerate until we both knew I won’t be able to commit to anything, but he remained a wonderful friend I came to really appreciate since then,” Yuna gives a candid and detailed answer.

Eunbi tries not to mind the contents of her answer. In fact, she tries to emphasise on the fact that Yuna had answered her honestly even though her question was intrusive or rude, even, and finds that Yuna certainly has an amount of trust in her.

“Do you think anything will happen from now on?” Eunbi probes even further.

“I don't know,” Yuna mutters with a frown.

Eunbi turns away, hiding the scowl on her face that she herself is unaware of. Uncertainty is an answer, she wants to say, only absolute certainty can deny a question.

“Unnie's going on a date~” Eunbi conceals the storm inside of her (seeing no logical reason to its existence) and continues with a singsong tease.

“It's not a date!” Yuna protests.

How Eunbi wishes it isn't. But for two who have ever had mutual feelings for each other, Eunbi knows she cannot hope for much.

“Did you just, learn that in a day?” Eunbi freezes in her motion, agape. “And you even had a lesson today,” she adds, still in disbelief.

Yuna raises an eyebrow. “I don't have a choice? I have to relief those lessons are tomorrow,” Yuna says and releases a sigh.

“Heol,” Eunbi's eyes remain wide in astonishment, “if my sight-reading was just half as good,” she mutters.

“You could play the accompaniment for me!” Eunbi gasps, “If I were to take my licentiate,” she adds.

“Your licentiate?” Yuna replies with a question.

“Yeah, I haven’t taken it because I really wasn’t sure if I’d go into teaching, so I focused more on performances and joined SSO when I was still in my last year in the conservatory,” Eunbi explains.

“Well, even if you don’t, it’ll be nice if we’d get a chance to do something together,” Yuna suggests with a smile, to which Eunbi delightfully agrees.

“That would be nice!” Eunbi beams, her face lighting up as if the sun has risen, causing Yuna to chuckle in response.

“Oh, wait,” Yuna stops herself amidst her own laughter.

“Unnie, wae?” Eunbi notices the fallen expression on Yuna’s face.

Yuna eyes the slightly puzzled Eunbi and takes a deep breath as she prepares herself for her own announcement and Eunbi’s reaction thereafter.

a/n: it really feels very weird to be writing a chapter set in midsummer when really it’s just spring. HAHAHA anw i got some of you there with what shinb had to say!! ahaha yes she really just wanted to invite her unnie to watch her and then have fun together :)) lmao i love cliffhangers (tho really, mostly bc of the word count per chapter that i have them ok and i realise i do love to tease) anyway here's an update bc like i said after the prev chapter updates should come a little quicker!! tho i don't think this one is very seasoned and i don't have much confidence in it haha i hope you guys are enjoying it anyway ;-; as usual, thank you for being such supportive and encouraging readers!! xoxo

p.s. the thing about the musicians' pay, not very accurate bc apparently i hear that in korea i think (or seoul? idk) they're underpaid and the musicians went on strike but i'm not sure about this take it w a pinch of salt