Chapter Three.

“You seem stressed.”

Wonyoung massaged her temples, “I am.”

“What happened now?” a laugh followed.

“Just the usual.”

“Yena unnie again?”

Wonyoung nodded before she realised who she was talking to – Yena’s best friend, “Wait. Yuri unnie.”

Yuri blinked in confusion by the sudden shift in mood, “Yes?”

“Aren’t you close to Yena unnie?”

The older girl nodded slowly, “Yeah…”

Wonyoung was going to ignore the slight pause and hesitation in Yuri’s voice; she was going to ignore that there was hope in the older girl’s voice (for whatever reason she couldn’t discern yet). “How do you do it?” Wonyoung needed answers, and she needed it before she lost the remaining bits of her sanity.

“Do what?” Yuri didn’t take long before she realised what the younger one was asking, “How do I deal with Yena unnie?”

Wonyoung nodded with determination, “Yes. How.”

“I don’t know,” Yuri shrugged – she had never thought about that, “It just happened I guess.”

Of course, Wonyoung thought. Relationships were never that easy. She sighed and dropped the matter, as she decided to move onto business. “Anyway, I heard from Chaewon unnie that we’ll have a bonding trip? Is that true?” she still hadn’t managed to confirm it because Yuri – their secretary – had to go back to Busan for family matters.

“Ah,” Yuri lit up at the mention, “Sorry I forgot to tell you but yes. It’s something the headmaster would like us to go through with. Nothing has been settled yet, but a generous budget will be provided so all we need to do is set dates and a location.”

Great. Wonyoung was going to have to meet Yena more than once a week now.

Life was really treating her well.

***

“You’ll be going to the bonding trip, right unnie?”

Minjoo looked up and tilted her head a little to the side, “Bonding trip?”

Yujin nodded, “Wonyoung said that we were all supposed to go on a bonding trip together – the middle school and the high school student councils.”

“We?” Minjoo laughed, “You’re not a part of the student council Yujin.”

“So?” the younger girl shrugged, “Wonyoung would invite me.”

“Well, aren’t you well networked,” Minjoo joked, as she gave the taller girl a playful nudge.

That smile would never fail to make Yujin’s heart swell and honestly, she couldn’t imagine having fallen for anyone else. It started out as any other friendship and Yujin simply saw the older girl as a pretty reliable senior, who also happened to be smart and an absolute softie. Somewhere along all the chats and the hang outs, Yujin found herself missing the older girl every time they had to say goodbye and being able to see the older girl became one of the biggest motivations for getting her out of bed every morning.

Yujin watched as Minjoo began to scribble down notes from her textbook again and her smile cracked a little wider, seeing how the setting sun complemented her fair skin perfectly. “I’ll only accept Wonyoung’s invite if you’re going,” she confessed.

Minjoo stopped writing and placed her pen down gently, looking up and stared straight into the younger girl’s eyes. She didn’t respond straightaway and she could sense that the silence was killing Yujin. After contemplating the seriousness in the younger’s eyes, she shrugged and returned her attention to the textbook, “Depends