PART I — Hyejin’s POV

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Chapter One

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Hyejin always thought these things came gradually. That if two people knew each other for as long as she had known Wheein, falling in love would happen slowly, bit by bit.

Falling in love wasn’t new to her. She’s had crushes that either died down with time or developed into something more. Things that either ended in beauty or in pain. Whatever the outcome, Wheein would always be right there by her side. 

Yet none of her previous relationships could ever compare to what she felt when she first fell in love with her. Nothing could have prepared her for that.

It was strange, really.

Growing up together, they had never craved each other’s bodies. As children they played together, had sleepovers and even showered together. As they went through puberty, neither of them were ashamed or prudish about their changing figures. When becoming trainees and after debuting together, seeing each other’s bodies in changing rooms became as commonplace as seeing their own.

The two girls knew each other better than anyone else. Better than their own families. Their lives became rooted together from the moment they met, and as they grew older, their souls intertwined more and more. 

There were no secrets between them. Hyejin wouldn’t even know how to keep anything from her to start with, highly aware that Wheein could read her like a book. Sometimes she even thought she understood her better than she understood herself. They could read each other like no one else could, as if their hearts and minds were connected by a thread that had only grown thicker throughout the years. 

After all those years of growing together, years of having no boundaries in any aspect of their lives, falling in love with her seemed as inevitable as it was surprising.

Hyejin would never forget the exact moment it happened. 

Wheein had stayed over at her apartment like she had done countless times before. At one moment things were like they always had been, and the next her world was suddenly flipped upside down.

They were lying in bed, facing each other in the dark. Meaningless chatter filled up the room as they enjoyed one another’s company. Wheein had laughed at something she said and buried her head under Hyejin’s chin, a familiar action that often accompanied her sleepy laughter during late nights. 

The brunette had moved her head back again, resting it on the pillow in front of the other girl. Smiles mirrored each other’s as eyes met, familiar dark orbs wordlessly showcasing Wheein’s elation. It was just an average Tuesday night. 

Until suddenly it wasn’t.

After all those years, it was like something suddenly aligned. She didn’t know why it was then and not three, five, ten years ago. It was a mystery why it was that particular uneventful Tuesday night. Why it was in a situation they had been in more times than they could remember. 

But it happened that night when something behind their eyes suddenly shifted. Hearts unexpectedly started beating faster, breaths became heavier. Hyejin knew it was a mutual experience when she saw the other girl swallowing nervously as her eyes traveled down to her lips. It was an overwhelming feeling that washed through her whole being without warning. A feeling that felt so incredibly right, like everything clicked into place in that moment. As if she had been looking for something that had been right in front of her this whole time.

Hyejin knew Wheein felt it too. The whole atmosphere in the room changed, throwing them into an unfamiliar situation, which in itself was te