The following days are tough. 

Things happen exactly the way Hyejin feared they would. Every time she tries to talk to Wheein about that night, she shuts her out. After a while, Wheein starts avoiding her at all costs, even pushing her away when she tries to talk about things unrelated to their friendship. 

The more Wheein pushes, the more frustrated Hyejin becomes. She eventually reaches a point where she’s so done with the other girl’s immature behavior that she just stops trying altogether.

Wheein had told her that things would go back to normal, but her avoiding behavior wasn’t helping much on that part. Hyejin had no idea how their friendship could possibly be repaired without them being able to communicate with each other. 

Wheein was ruining everything.

What was even worse than her anger, was that she also missed her terribly. At moments like this she was reminded of the fact that this situation was something she wanted to talk to Wheein about. She wanted to complain to Wheein. She wanted advice from Wheein. She wanted Wheein to take her side and confirm that the other party was indeed being childish and unfair. 

But Wheein was the other party, and she didn’t have anyone else to talk to about this. The consequences of her telling Yongsun or Byulyi about what had happened would be too big.

It felt horrible having to keep it all cropped up. Not being able to talk about how amazing it had felt to press her lips against Wheein’s. How after all the years of knowing each other, the familiar combined with the unknown had her heart beating faster than any time she’s been on stage. 

Perhaps the worst of all was that Wheein didn’t seem to share these hardships. She seemed somehow unaffected by the loss of their friendship, instead spending more time with Yongsun and Byulyi. The two older girls clearly noticed that something had happened between the two, but neither of them mentioned anything to them about it again after that first day. 

At least not to Hyejin. A few days after their last conversation, she walks in on Byulyi and Wheein talking about something in the rehearsal room. She wishes her entry had been quieter, because as soon as the girls notice her their conversation suddenly dies down, giving her the impression that they had been talking about her. 

It hurts her. She starts feeling like an outsider within the group, and she can’t help but curse Wheein for it. 

She’s extra grumpy during rehearsals that day, ignoring instructions, doing things her own way, and purposely drinking the last of Wheein’s water when she isn’t looking. 

When they call it a day and Wheein clings to Yongsun’s arm as they leave the room together, Hyejin can’t stop herself from groaning out loud.

The sound causes Byulyi to look up at her. When she follows her gaze to the door, she seems to understand the cause of her frustration.

“We weren’t talking about you,” she says while packing her bag, causing Hyejin to look up at her in surprise. 

“When you walked in earlier, I mean,” she continues. “When we went quiet, we weren’t talking about you.” 

She pauses packing the last of her stuff. “Then what were you talking about?” 

“It’s not for me to tell you,” Byulyi hesitates, nervously playing with the water bottle in her hands.

The habit sparks some sudden worry in her. There aren’t many secrets between them as a group, let alone between her and Wheein. Even during times where they’re not on the best terms, they don’t usually keep important things from each other. If there’s something Byulyi can’t tell her, it must be something serious. 

“What do you mean? Is something wrong?” 

“No, no! Everything’s fine,” she says quickly. “Just… things will be okay.”

She knows Byulyi is trying to ease her mind, but her ambiguity really isn’t helping much. If anything, it’s making her worry more. 

“What do you mean ‘things will be okay’? Are they not okay now?” Hyejin questions her. When Byulyi doesn’t immediately reply, she grabs the older girl’s wrist to stop her hands from playing with her bottle. “What’s wrong?”

“Hyejin, relax,” she says.

Wheein always told her everything. They knew absolutely everything about each other, but now there was something Byulyi knew that Hyejin was in the dark about? Something that Wheein couldn’t talk to her about? It had to be related to their kiss, because otherwise her distancing herself only from Hyejin didn’t make any sense. But would she have really talked to Byulyi about that? 

“Wheein just needs some time,” Byulyi continues. 

Hyejin looks at her intently, searching for something that will give her some explanation to all of this. It was impossible for her to know what had happened between them, right? Wheein refused talking about their kiss with Hyejin, so she wouldn’t have talked to Byulyi about it. Right?

“Time? For what? Time from me?” 

“I-, no, it’s not your fault,” Byulyi says. “Just give her some space I guess.” 

Her hesitance confuses her even more. The only thing her brain keeps repeating over and over is that Byulyi knows. She knows about the two of them. But if Wheein had filled her in about their kiss, what did that mean exactly? She had told Hyejin that she wanted to forget it ever happened, so telling other people about it didn’t add up. 

“Did she…” 

Did she tell you? she wanted to ask, but she was suddenly afraid of the answer. The possibility of Wheein talking about it with Byulyi instead of with her scared her. It suggested that perhaps it really hadn’t meant much to her if she could so lightly speak about it with others. 

Had she imagined the way Wheein’s breathing quickened as their lips pressed together? Had she imagined her clinging to her shirt as she pulled her closer towards her? Had she imagined the way her eyes had grown dark and hungry as the atmosphere suddenly changed? Had it only been her universe that seemed to shift