Byulyi blinked.

Once, then twice, and once more.

Maybe it was just the spotlight shining on the stage or perhaps it was the glitter as a part of her makeup but Byulyi swears that the girl was glowing. Absolutely glowing. 

Byulyi watched with full attention the way she held the microphone, she marvelled at the way she closed her eyes as she drowned into the music and Byulyi held her breath as she reached the longest, most beautiful note she has ever heard. 

To say that she was swept off her feet was an understatement because Byulyi already knew that she would not, NOT be able to get the performance out of her head. 

She could feel her heart beating as the girl on stage sang her final note, tilting her head up slightly. Dazed, Byulyi clapped as the crowd erupted into applause. The girl pushed back her wavy brown hair and gave a shy smile as she bowed before walking off the stage as calmly as ever. 

It wasn't until the top of her head disappeared off the stage did Byulyi realise that she hadn't been able to take her eyes off the girl. Speechless, she turned beside her to her friend who looked almost as in awe as Byulyi did. Almost, of course.

For the rest of the night, as much as Byulyi tried to pay her utmost attention towards the other performers, her mind kept travelling back to the melodious voice of that one singer. 

Even as the night had ended and the students were all leaving to return home, Byulyi was still dazed. Blindly, she followed her friends as they exited the main hall and dispersed away from the crowd towards the back gate of their school. 

The three walked into a brightly lit corridor of the school, one gushing non-stop about the performances, one nodding and listening enthusiastically and another still rendered speechless. 

Wheein turned around, suddenly walking backwards as she looked at Byulyi.

"You aren't even listening to me," she whined, loud enough to bring Byulyi back to earth.

She gazed back up at Wheein who was playfully glaring at her. Before she could open to defend herself, Hyejin beat her to it.

"Yeah, she hasn't been listening since the 4th performance which left Byulyi exe broken."

"Hey, I'm just admiring her skill. She just has a really nice voice."

Byulyi had to physically restrain herself from pushing Wheein over when she heard her snort.

"You could have tried making yourself seem a bit more believable. Maybe ‘her pitch was perfect' or ‘she has such a large vocal range' or even ‘her voice suited the song so well' but no. ‘She has a really nice voice'," Wheein said, mocking her previous statement.

"Right, and the last time we saw that face you just made was when Krystal had agreed to go grab a bite with you," Hyejin added. 

Byulyi sighed out of defeat, resulting in a series of shouting and high-fiving by Hyejin and Wheein. She stared at the two, who were still laughing terribly hard at her and concluded that they were having too much fun mocking her. 

Just as the laughing died down, Wheein spoke up again. 

"I heard that the performers tonight are still up near the lockers. You could pop back up and try talking to her if you want?"

Byulyi eyed her hesitantly, lifting one eyebrow as if to suggest ‘what on earth are you saying?'.

"Oh come on, it's literally the best opportunity you'll get," Wheein said, eyes darting back to Hyejin for support. 

"We can pop up with you and say we wanted to speak to Hani and Hyojin," Hyejin continued.

"Hyejin?"

"Yeah?" 

"No, Hani and who?"

"Hyojin"

"Oh, Hyojin. Sorry, I thought you said Hyejin, Hyejin. Why can't we just call Hyojin LE?"

"I've always called her Hyojin."

"But it sounds just like Hyejin."

Byulyi droned out their banters and much to her own surprise, she was seriously considering what they had suggested. 

The two had realised that Byulyi had gone quiet again and stopped their pointless conversation.
"Look, what's the worst that could happen?"

"She finds me creepy and runs away."

"And if that happens, I'll pay for you the next time we go out to eat."

If Byulyi wasn't sold on the idea then, she certainly had to be when she found herself being dragged back into the school's corridors. Though she had been extremely reluctant at first, she eventually gave in. Wheein and Hyejin were right, it was a good opportunity and if it didn't turn out well, she'd get free fried chicken next time. 

But it wasn't like the girl was just going to run away from her. Right?

______________________________

Turns out, the girl had, in fact, ran away from her. 

Byulyi sulked in her seat, sliding down as she grabbed another piece of fried chicken from the platter. She didn't care that the two were eyeing her worriedly. She didn't even care that she literally looked at the peak of unattractiveness at the moment. All she could think about was how quickly that girl who she couldn't get off her mind had dashed in the opposite direction upon meeting her eyes. 

It had been a few days since the incident now, nearly a week but Byulyi was still not over the tragedy of it. And while the other two had initially found the situation rather comical, they soon realised that it had meant a lot more to Byulyi than they all had thought.

As promised, Hyejin had paid for Byulyi's share of the fried chicken and the three were eating their way silently at the table. Wheein and Hyejin shared a look of concern before moving and collapsing onto Hyejin's bed, leaving Byulyi the rest of the chicken to eat out of pity. 

Byulyi glanced as Wheein tugged at the ends off her pyjama pants. Hyejin was lying face up, staring at the ceiling. Aside from the occasional crunching of the residual chicken, the three were miraculously silent. 

Byulyi looked back down to the final piece of chicken, lifting it into the air and holding it in as she stood up to throw the takeaway container into the bin. She leaned against the wall as she finished off the last piece. 

Feeling as if she was suffocating in the uncomfortable silence that she had caused, Byulyi did her best to make up for the solemn mood. She walked over and laid down next to Hyejin
She took out her phone and started scrolling through it, keeping a close eye on Wheein and Hyejin who still looked just as lost and wary as before. It was aimless, and at last, Byulyi had enough.

Sitting back up, Byulyi shifted around as she looked for the right words to say.

"Hey, I'm sorry for," Byulyi hesitated. "This. But it's alright guys I'm not that upset."

Looking unconvinced, Wheein moved closer towards Byulyi taking the spot on the other side of her.

"You were literally pouting two seconds ago though, unnie," Hyejin replied back, a faint teasing tone in her voice.

"And you did look really disappointed when she left you," piped in Wheein.

"It's alright, I never really knew her anyway. Thanks for the chicken Hyejin, that was nice of you."

Byulyi thought that it would be the end of the conversation and that the three would put on a movie to watch and continue their night as normal, but after years of knowing the two, she would have been terribly unobservant if she didn't notice a different glint in their eyes. 

"Nonsense," Wheein said, crawling closer to Byulyi. "I think her social media accounts are public."

"And we do have the entire night ahead of us."

Without realising, Byulyi had found herself surrounded by the two as they took a hold of her phone, sitting up straight so quick that it made Byulyi's head hurt just by watching it. 

"Hey!" she cried out, realising what was happening. "Don't you dare do anything sketchy on my account."

She warned the two, but they seemed to pay no attention to her despite being wedged right in the middle of them. They searched through countless profiles before exchanging oohs and ahhs upon finally finding her's and they explored the page thoroughly. Byulyi too. She just wasn't as vocal as those beside her.

"Kim Yongsun," read Hyejin. "This is a pretty nicely put up profile."

"There are a few videos of her singing too," Wheein remarked, scrolling through the images and videos. 

"Look, she's friends with Irene sunbaenim as well. She's in a few photos with her. The two seem quite close."

"Unnie, you can ask Seulgi about it!" Wheein looked up excitedly at Byulyi.

She cast Wheein a small smile, still feeling uncertain and rather insecure after the girl, or Yongsun as she was supposedly called, just ran off after Byulyi had introduced herself. 

Byulyi sighed while replaying the incident. As much as her mind wished to forget, it had been so unexpected that Byulyi found herself thinking about it all the time. 

As Wheein and Hyejin had dragged her back to the main school grounds that night, she had been thinking about ways to start the conversation. ‘Should I congratulate her on her performance, or is that too weird? What if I asked for her name first? But that seems too forward. Maybe I should just introduce myself?'

After much internal struggle, Byulyi was forced to make a decision as they approached the building in which the lockers were located. She took a deep breath as the supervising teacher cast them wary eyes before continuing to observe the rest of the students. 

Entering the locker rooms, she quickly scanned the room for the girl who had been on her mind the entire night. Glancing, she finally found her talking to another performer towards the back. Before she could even consider backing out, Hyejin and Wheein had already lightly nudged her forward before running off to greet Hani and Hyojin, grinning as they made their loud and greetings, much to the surprise of the duo. 

‘Too late now, Byulyi. You can do it, just walk up and say something.'

With every step she took, Byulyi felt her heart pound faster and faster arriving in front of the girl. She waited patiently to catch her attention. 

It didn't take long, really, but it felt like had time stopped when the girl finally turned to face her. Her large brown eyes seemed to reflect the bright lights of the room, and Byulyi could now see clearly exactly how pretty she was.

"Hi, um I'm Byulyi," she started, her voice slightly shaky. "I really enjoyed your performance today, it was ve-"

But before Byulyi could even finish her sentence, the girl in front of her became wide-eyed and froze. Suddenly, she hurriedly grabbed her small bag and rushed right past Byulyi, avoiding all eye contact. Shocked, Byulyi stook there, agape. 

Slowly, she looked around. She had actually just ran away. She didn't even listen to what Byulyi had to say. She just left. Still, in disbelief, Byulyi closed her eyes. However, much to her dismay, it was real. The girl who hadn't left Byulyi's mind since she first saw her, had ran away upon first sight. 

Bewildered, she turned around as her mind caught up with what had happened. 

"Unnie! Have you even been listening?"

Byulyi was brought back from her ruminations when she felt Wheein's shove. 

"Let's ask Seulgi, she'll help you, right? Didn't you unintentionally make her ask Irene out in the first place?"

"At least find out Yongsun's reasoning, it'll make you feel better."

"Seulgi probably knows who she is as well, we could just try."

The continuous nagging fell deaf on Byulyi's ears. As put down and rather scared as she was, Byulyi did want at least some form of closure. She could easily ask Seulgi about the whole situation, and it could be like old times again. They could sit around and just talk about their life like two old men reminiscing about the old days.

Besides, it wasn't like the two were going to let this one slide. 

Though to be fair, Byulyi doesn't think she could just let Yongsun slide as well.

_____________________
 
The next time Byulyi saw her was before she had even talked to Seulgi about it.

It was rather late into the night when Byulyi had decided to call it a day and wrap her activities up. She had initially been studying for an upcoming class exam for history with Hyejin as the two weren't doing the best in the subject. Wheein, on the other hand, had chosen she wanted nothing to do with the subject and had dropped it as soon as she could, leaving Hyejin and Byulyi to regret their decisions themselves.

Hyejin had left earlier as she had already promised Wheein that she would go look at the new store that opened in the mall. She offered Byulyi to come with them, but the latter decided that it would be best if she had stayed to do more private revision. 

After long tedious hours of reading and research, Byulyi bid farewell to the librarian who looked as if he wanted to fall asleep right at his desk. Stepping out into the cold dark night, Byulyi felt herself starting to shiver. 

She contemplated for a few seconds, before taking out her phone. ‘Now was as good as a time as ever right?' she thought, and opened up Seulgi's contacts. 

To: SeulBear 
From: MoonStar

‘Are you at dorms today?'

‘Is it okay if I stay tonight, I know it's quite late and sudden sorry.'

She waited patiently under the entrance if the library, rubbing her hands together. It was only a few seconds later when her phone vibrated against her hand. 

To: MoonStar
From: SeulBear 

‘No problem'

‘You remember the dorm room?'

‘Irene's here tonight as well, she wants me to tell you that it's 209 again just in case you forgot'

To: SeulBear
From: MoonStar

‘Thanks, I owe you'

‘I'll be over in a few'

Thankful for her friend's generosity, she made her way down the path to the girls' dormitories. She walked carefully, eyes on her feet the entire time as she didn't particularly wish to injure herself yet in the dark. Byulyi was thankful that the moonlight was bright enough to illuminate most of the stone pathway. 

It didn't take her too long to reach the buildings and she soon found herself in front of a door with 209 plastered at the top. 

She knocked and was greeted by Seulgi who was already in what seemed like the most comfortable pair of pyjamas ever. 

"Hi! Hurry and come inside, it looks so cold out there," she said, ushering Byulyi in. 

As soon as she took a step into the room, Byulyi could feel the warmth radiating for the small heater. She let out a sigh of comfort and moved towards the lounge room. 

Irene, who was clad in a matching pair of pyjamas, was sitting cross-legged on the couch. She smiled and greeted Byulyi, welcoming her in. 

Soon, Byulyi had changed into an attire that was more like Seulgi and Irene's and was sitting on the floor. Irene had taken the courtesy to suddenly start tidying up the area and provided Byulyi with a cup of water, allowing Seulgi yo take a seat beside her. 

The two chatted for a while, mainly exchanging recent news to catch up. With the ever-growing workload, they had less time to see each other and it reminded Byulyi of the old times where the two of them would chill together in Seulgi's dorm. It brought a smile to her face and another warm feeling to her chest that wasn't just from the heater of the room.

"And then I found out that the camera hadn't been recording at all!"

Seulgi was laughing loudly at an old story she was telling, which had also left Byulyi in tears. As the laughing slowly died down, Irene, who had returned from her sporadic cleaning adventure, gazed at Seulgi hesitantly. If Byulyi hadn't been so busy laughing, she may have noticed the slight nod Irene had given to Seulgi after her phone blinked twice. 

"Right," Seulgi said, stretching as she stood back up with her hands on her hips. "Irene, can you help me find that old shirt you ironed for me a while ago. I wanna wear it tomorrow please."

Without hesitation, Irene followed suit as Seulgi left Byulyi alone in the living room. 

With the only sound audible being the ticking clock, Byulyi made herself comfy in the dorm. She wondered if maybe she could rent one the next school year. It certainly didn't seem like a bad investment, especially considering that it was rather a trek for her to get to school every morning due to the far distance from her home. 

In the midst of her daydreams, Byulyi was disturbed by the sound of loud knocking on the door. Panicking, she looked around and realised that she had to open it as Irene and Seulgi were still somewhere in the room. 

She quickly stood up as the knocking got louder, the visitor obviously displeased to be waiting for so long. With her nervousness unfading, she looked through the peephole and almost gasped. 

She was going to run, going to get Seulgi or Irene to open the door instead when another wave of knocking came once more and the voice of Seulgi asking Byulyi to "open the door!" echoed through the room. 

‘Alright, Byul. It's okay. You've got this', she thought to herself before mustering all her courage to open the door. 

"Geez Irene, took you long enough, I've been out here for decades. Besides, why do you need it so suddenly anyway it's like midni-"

The girl stopped halfway as she realised she wasn't talking to Irene. Or Seulgi. In fact, it could have been ANYONE, anyone at all but it just had to be Byulyi. 

"Hi? Um, I'm not sure you remember but I'm Moon Byulyi." She cleared , looking for something to say. "Was there something you had to give to Irene?"

She watched as the eyes of the flustered girl in front of her darted around. She looked more panicked than Byulyi has ever seen anyone.

"I-I have something to lend her. Just, could you give this to her?" She raised her head to look Byulyi in the eyes. "Please?"

As she was about to reach forward for the bag containing whatever Irene needed, Seulgi seemed to appear out of nowhere right beside her. 

"Yongsun!! It's so good to see you again! Come in, come in. I think Irene said she had something to give you to? I might be wrong. Doesn't matter, it must be cold outside. Don't worry about taking off your shoes, I intend to clean the place tomorrow, unless Irene gets it to first of course."

Byulyi watched as Yongsun goes through a similar experience she was in not long ago: being ushered inside by Seulgi excitedly. 

Byulyi stepped back, making way for Yongsun and nearly walked into Irene who now was behind her. What is with that couple and sneakily appearing in places?

Byulyi watched from the sidelines as the rest of the scene unfolded. Irene cast Yongsun the sweetest smile ever. Yongsun shot back the scariest death stare ever. Seulgi looked just as happy as ever. Irene burst out laughing. Yongsun smacked her repeatedly. Seulgi was making no effort to stop whatever was occurring. 

Yongsun leaned towards Irene, her face fuming red. 

"You didn't tell me she was here, nor did you say she was going to be in MY pyjamas."

It was safe to say the Yongsun hadn't intended for Byulyi to actually hear that statement, but since Seulgi had decided to shut up at that exact moment, it would have been pretty hard to miss. 

If it was possible. Yongsun turned another shade redder. 

And so did Byulyi who became even more conscious of what she was wearing. 

With that, another outburst of laughter ensured from Seulgi and Irene, who were pretty much clutchin