Strictly No Dating

Chapter 34

Sakura looked out of the window as she was sitting at the passenger’s seat. Eunbi came to pick her up from her radio’s schedule today, and she’s not sure why. It’s usually the manager or Chaeyeon who picks her up, and it’s the first time Eunbi came.

The journey was normal, they talked about work and trivial things, the stuff that the members’ do at their dorm and Eunbi threw in some of her jokes, which Sakura barely laughed at. The Japanese girl just didn’t find them funny.

Suddenly Eunbi told a joke with word puns, and she was laughing by herself. Sakura was looking at her and then she snorted.

The older girl scoffed, “Yah, did you just snort at my joke?”

Sakura shrugged, “It’s not funny, unnie.”

Eunbi pushed her shoulder with one hand, “You could’ve at least laughed at them! That’s just rude!”

Sakura chuckled, “I was just being honest! They’re lame and sometimes I don’t even understand them.”

“They’re not lame! Chaeyeon and Hyewon like my jokes!”

Sakura shook her head, “Well, Chaeyeon is too kind, and Hyewon is just weird.”

Eunbi scoffed again, while Sakura was grinning in satisfaction.

“But you used to laugh at my jokes back when we were dating!”

Sakura shrugs, “Well, that was different…. We were together and I don’t want to piss you off…”

Eunbi scoffed, “So it’s okay to piss me off now??”

Sakura looked at the leader and laughed, “Come on, I’m just kidding. You’re cute when you’re sulking, you know?”

The leader bit her lip and ignored her the rest of the way. Sakura gulped a bit seeing how she suddenly went silent. She looked out of the window and realized that it’s not the usual route they took to get to the dorm.

She looked at Eunbi.

“Where are we going, unnie? You’re not really going to… kill me just because I didn’t laugh at your jokes, right?”

Eunbi glared at her, “I’m not that petty! Why would I want to hurt you?”

Sakura smiled.

And then the leader looked away and muttered, “I care about you, you idiot.”

They stopped by a little café, because Yujin asked Eunbi to buy her some cakes there. Sakura decided to buy some for the kids at her dorm too. Nako and Wonyoung are especially into sweet desserts like these.

Eunbi finished her order first so she sat at a table while waiting for Sakura. She looked at the Japanese girl, who was looking into the cake display with her round, bright eyes. Eunbi thought Sakura looked like a cat who got excited with lasers. She’s adorable, she thought.

She smiled to herself.

Suddenly Sakura turned around, and she got her orders wrapped in the box. She also carried two drinks in a cup holder. She smiled as she walked to Eunbi. Their eyes met and Eunbi smiled back.

“Here you go. It’s iced matcha, for you,” said the younger girl as she put the drinks on the table.

She sat opposite of Eunbi and grabbed a drink for herself too.

“Woah, are you treating me, Kkura?”

Sakura grinned, “I’m sorry for making you upset. I’ll laugh at your jokes more, okay?”

Eunbi chuckled and took a sip from her drink.

“Fine. I’ll accept this bribe. And you better keep your promise!”

“It’s not a bribe. It’s an apology!”

“Whatever.”

They sat there silently, sipping their drinks as they were looking out of the window of the café. Sakura glanced at Eunbi a few times, but carefully not letting her notice that she’s been staring. Eunbi looks great tonight, she’s letting her hair loose, which fell on her shoulders, and she’s also wearing her favorite yellow sweater, making her look soft.

And cuddly, Sakura thought.

“This is such a nice café, unnie. How did you find this place?”

Eunbi looked at her, blankly for a while. And then she looked down and smiled.

“I heard about it from a friend,” she replied weakly.

Sakura nods.

“But you know what’s funny?” asked Eunbi suddenly.

“What?”

“Remember the café that I was asking you to go with me… that day? You were so against going out with me, and we fought. Remember?”

Sakura looked at her blankly. She froze. She wasn’t expecting Eunbi would bring that up. Of course she remembered it. It’s still fresh on her mind like it was yesterday. That was the beginning of the crack in their relationship.

“This is the café,” Eunbi continued with a smile.

Sakura swallowed the lump in , “Oh.”

“W-Well, I can understand why you want to come here. It’s… n-nice.”

Eunbi chuckled, “I know right? It’s ironic that I’m here with you now, after we broke up.”

Sakura bit her lip.

“Kkura-ya,” called Eunbi suddenly.

“Yes, unnie?”

“Maybe… we’re better like this, you know?”

The leader smiled weakly, “I realized that we clicked better as… teammates? Is that how you say it? Co-worker?”

Sakura blinked, “C-Co-worker?”

“I mean, we’re great at what we do, I mean we compliment each other at being the eldest and leading the group together. And yet we’re close, close enough to talk about things and joke around, like siblings, or kinda like…

“Like cousins. Is that what you’re saying?” Sakura cuts in.

Their eyes met and Sakura’s expression had changed. She’s no longer smiling. Eunbi gulped.

“Well, if you want to put it that way I-

Sakura nods, “So you wanna be cousins.”

“I didn’t say that-

“Then what exactly are you saying?”

“What I mean is, we’re both mature enough this time around and I’m proud of us. We’re putting the team before our own best interest and that’s something we should give ourselves credit for, right? Both of us didn’t give in to… temptations and I think that’s a good thing.”

Sakura looked at Eunbi and nodded, “Okay. I understand.”

“I’m glad you do.”

“So you want us to be like cousins and co-worker.”

**

A few months later.

“Holy , look at them,” said Yena, nudging Chaewon’s shoulder.

Chaewon stopped what she was doing and turned around at Yena’s direction. The older girl had her eyes glued at a direction, as her pouty lips parted in awe. Curious, Chaewon looked at what had caught her friend’s attention.

Her eyes widened.

Two of her group members were dancing in the practice room next to them. And she had never seen something so intense before.

Sakura and Eunbi were practicing for their upcoming concert, Oneiric Theater. The two eldest of the group somehow ended up as a unit, and as per Eunbi’s suggestion, they were going to perform the song, Monster. It’s a song by Sakura’s favourite idol, Irene from Red Velvet who sang it with another member, Seulgi, as a duo.

They were supposed to perform with Minju too, but the plan fell apart, as the young MC joined her other same-aged friends, Nako, Yuri and Hitomi for a special stage marking their coming of age. That left Eunbi and Sakura as a duo, but they went through with it anyway. Sakura just couldn’t say no to Eunbi’s offe