SinB yawned as she flipped the pages of her textbook, sat outside of her next lecture hall, the breeze and the soft sunlight that hit her skin made her feel even sleepier than she had felt during her first lecture in the morning. Rubbing the tears out of the corners of her eyes, she hummed briefly enticed by the wafting scent of caffeine nearby.

“Come on, one more class and then lunch.”

Diving back into her textbook, SinB jolted as her phone vibrated. A message? Swiping it open, her eyes were suddenly covered by someone’s hands.

“Guess who?”

Freezing at the unfamiliar hand shape but eerily familiar voice, SinB didn’t respond.

“Come on, make a guess, Eunbi ah!”

SinB sighed as her suspicions were correct, removing Eunha’s hand from her eyes.

“Eunha unnie, didn’t we promise not to mess with each other again?”

Eunha just shrugged and sat down next to SinB who was already shrinking in on herself, albeit not outright breaking down. Her knees tucked closer together, her elbows drawn inwards. Eunha watched as SinB continued to scoot every centimeter away from her as possible without falling off the bench.

“You’re really not that happy to see me, aren’t you?”

SinB didn’t respond, slightly afraid of what would happen with she had given an affirmation. But silence was an answer enough to Eunha who looped her arm over SinB’s shoulder’s like before. SinB remained as still as possible, consciously trying to breathe evenly as her heart started to panic.

You’ll help us out, right?

Splashing her face with water, SinB looked at her reflection in the mirror, slowly drawing a smile on her lips.

“You’re okay.”

She repeated this to herself several times before drying her hands and leaving back towards the lecture hall. The class was going to start soon, and Eunha wasn’t enough to stop her from going to it. You’re a strong girl SinB.

Thankfully, when she had gotten back to her lecture hall, Eunha had already left, leaving her peace of mind. Shuffling to her seat, SinB looked forwards as the professor set up the projector and microphone, her thoughts wandering. But why would Eunha still actively be trying to hang around SinB? The first time was by coincidence that they had met, the second time was also a coincidence at the studio. Today, Eunha had called out to her on purpose. She wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings, and usually other people less comfortable with you would pass by, yet Eunha chose to say hi to her, whether all she wanted to do was say hello was truly her goal or not.

“Get it together SinB, she can’t mean anymore harm.”

“Sowon.”

Sowon looked up from her magazine, her manager held out a cup of coffee. She nodded for him to place it on the table before immediately looking back to her magazine. This issue had featured a small article on a previous runway that she had walked on, her face appeared on the biggest image and she had to monitor what others thought about it.

“Sowon.”

“What.”

“I wanted to tell you that you’re doing great.”

“Why now of all times?”

Sowon flipped the page, reading how the reporter had been awed by every piece that was showcased there.

“I just felt that, we’ve been through some hard times, and maybe I wasn’t supporting you enough.”

“Hah, you realize that now? Be grateful I didn’t run to a different company and that you still have a job.”

“I’m really thankful Sojung.”

Instantly she glared.

“I’m sorry! Sowon ah, please, listen to me.”

“Whenever you get sappy like this, you want something, I’ve played along with you for long enough, what did you do.”

Tossing her magazine on the table and crossing her legs, she glared icily at her manager.

“The company wanted you to go be a guest speaker at the university student cheering festival.”

“Which university.”

“Yours.”

Sowon sat up, looking very confused, first of all, the school hadn’t announced that such a festival was happening, second of all, why her? With her confusion easily read on her face, her manager tried to appease her a little.

“I-it’s for a fan sign event.”

“As if I have any fans, what am I? An idol?”

Scoffing, Sowon inwardly wondered how she was going to have to dress up to hide her identity. Surely SinB wouldn’t be there? What should she do if SinB had invited her to go with?  The way that her manager was still talking to himself and describing the event, it seemed that the festival was more like a carnival. Booths and tents everywhere with the main stage as the gem. Idols would come sing and Sowon would sign mini posters off in a tent.

“Why did they force me to take this one?”

“I don’t know the finer details, but it’s a sponsor.”

“Ah! Hey unnie!”

Sojung smiled timidly as she brought in some grocery bags, SinB quickly made her way over to help even if they weren’t heavy and Sojung had tried her best to protest.

“Unnie was working hard at her job as always, you should relax more when you get home.”

“Th-thanks.”

SinB grinned and helped put everything in the fridge, forcing Sojung to sit and watch from the dining table.

“Unnie, can I ask you something?”

Sojung perked up, wanting to know what she could possibly help with. SinB sat across from her, handing her a cup of water.

“You see, I have a friend.”

Of course, this always meant the person themselves, but Sojung played along.

“She um…went through some...tough stuff in high school.”

“Okay?”

SinB twiddled her thumbs and seemed to look everywhere but into Sojung’s eyes.

“And well, unnie do you mind genders in love?”

“I don’t.”

“…her school was very conscious of it.”

Sojung was glad that SinB trusted her enough to talk about it, but she really wanted to know why. What made SinB so desperate that she needed to reach a hand for help?

“So? Tell me SinB ah, why’s a high school drama making it’s way back to university?”

“That girl, liked another older girl okay? And well, there was a misunderstanding, and someone did something they weren’t supposed to, but that older girl appeared before my friend again.”

“But the way you’re saying, is that they didn’t have a happy ever after.”

“Right. And whenever the older girl appears, bad memories start to haunt her again and I don’t know how to help her.”

Sojung hummed. If this was SinB talking about herself, then she liked that Jung Eunbi. Something happened between them that somehow her entire school found out that she liked a girl, possibly shunned her and bullied her so much that she now has traumatic dreams that resurface at the mention of a person she used to love. How painful.

“I think, all we can do is to be there for her, give her a hug you know? Tell her that you’d be able to protect her as a friend.”

A brief thought to test whether SinB would need a hug passed through her mind but she didn’t act on it, studying SinB’s reaction.

“I see.”

“This is mostly because this is a people issue, not a personal issue. Being alone won’t fix a trauma that involved more people. In order to trust more people, you need more people, right?”

SinB nodded, though she appeared almost defeated in the way her posture had deflated. A hug was in order after all.

“Yewon was worried about you, but you were just worried about your friend. You’ve got a big heart SinB ah.”

“Unnie has the bigger one, since I’ve given you something troublesome to think about.”

SinB scratched her cheek sheepishly as Sojung moved to put her cup in the sink.

“By the way SinB ah, did you know about our school having a cheering up concert?”

“Ah, the one they announced today? I heard it’s more like a festival than a concert.”

Sojung nodded, how abrupt did the sports drink company scrape up the money to hire her then? Eyes watching SinB wander into the living room, Sojung wondered if it was really okay to spring a random hug on SinB, maybe she could give an excuse or something.

“I also heard that we could get autographs from someone, couldn’t remember who though.”

“Oh really?”

Silently moving up behind SinB, Sojung gently wrapped her arms around SinB’s waist, giving a warm back hug.

“Unnie?”

“You looked like you needed one.”

“….thanks.”

“Are you going to go to that event?”

“Maybe, I’ll go if Yewon promises to come with, will you go with me too?”

Sojung shook her head, letting SinB go.

“I’ve got work.”

“Oh.”

SinB turned around, feeling sad that Sojung would have to be absent on such a fun event. As she looked up at Sojung when she was turning, she couldn’t help but feel a slight déjà vu. Sowon? Rubbing her eyes, SinB shook her head, no. Sojung was super soft and had glasses, really dorky ones, and probably not the greatest piece of evidence to put the two apart, but SinB chose not to dwell on it longer.

“Unnie, let’s go out and play one day when you don’t have work.”

“I…sure?”

“It’s a promise!”

Sojung just smiled, and SinB had found her concrete evidence. Sowon didn’t smile so beautifully and pure.

============

SinB's past! Sowon and Sojung!