Yerin and Eunbi were the last to arrive at the restaurant, hurrying over to their friends who were enthusiastically waving at them from a corner table.

“Yerin! Eunbi! I haven’t seen you two in months!” Eunha stood up to greet them with a hug.

“Quit pulling the dramatics, we just saw you like 3 weeks ago,” Eunbi laughed and took a seat.

“But it really is good to see you two,” Eunha raised her hands in surrender but a warm smile hung on her lips.

“How’s life?” Yerin asked, looking around at the girls.

“Same old same old,” Sojung smiled.

“We’ve been working on expanding the business,” Yewon said and looked at Yuna who gave her a grin.

“What she said,” Eunha said and pointed at Sojung.

“This kid gave me a heart attack last week. She lied to me saying that she wouldn’t make it home for Christmas and the day after surprised me when I got home,” Eunbi narrowed her eyes at Yerin who laughed as she recalled the bloodcurdling scream and how the younger almost went over tea kettle.

“Isn’t that sweet?” Yuna tilted her head.

“Not when you’re supposed to be home alone but get jumped from behind,” the dancer huffed.

“That’s Yerin for you,” Sojung snorted. “I’d be concerned if she stopped pulling pranks.” 

Yerin crossed her arms with a glare but blew a raspberry at the light-hearted tease. The conversation was light and Eunbi mainly listened. 

Resting her head on her hand, she watched as the group conversed about recent gossip and anything of the sorts. Somehow as she listened, she zoned out, thinking back to the past and how they used to do this in college. She remembered how they would find the time to gather every week to study or just hang out at someone’s house and how they would talk late into the night. It gave her an unexplainable feeling in her gut that she just couldn’t put into words seeing that nothing has changed since their college days. The 6 of them had grown so much together over the years. They had watched each other graduate and stuck together through thick and thin. They had matured from teenagers to adults who were still kids at heart, married women who had settled down.

A hand rested on her forearm and Eunbi snapped out of her daze to meet Yerin’s eyes. She could see the slight wrinkles around the corner of Yerin’s eyes as she smiled lightly. Then she realized how quiet it was and turned to look at the other girls who were all looking at her.

“Huh…?”

“Are you alright?” Eunha’s gentle voice asked.

“Yeah… Sorry, just spaced out for a second,” Eunbi said and straightened her posture.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Sojung asked.

“Nothing much actually. Seeing you guys happily talking just reminds me of the good old days y’know?”

“Dawwww Eunbi yah!” Yuna cooed. “We’ll always be like this right? Even when we’re 80, we’ll always stick together.”

“Mhmm,” Eunbi hummed. Before they could get too emotional, their food arrived and they promptly helped themselves.

❄      ☃      ❄      ☃      ❄

"Pass the marshmallows Sojung!" Yerin half yelled.

"And wash the cups!" Eunha piped in.

"Yeah, okay I'm trying my best here!" Sojung yelled back as she aggressively spammed the buttons on her controller.

"For someone who's an actual chef, you ," Yuna sniggered. Sojung let out an offended gasp and turned to her friends.

"Take that back!"

"Focus on the game! You're running out of time!" Eunbi shoved Sojung's shoulder and the chef quickly resumed control, trying to make up for the precious seconds wasted but alas, the timer was drained and the game screen was paused, taken over by a "time's up!" bubble.

"Man we ," Yerin huffed and leaned back against Eunbi's legs. They had gathered in Sojung and Eunha's apartment after a hearty dinner and was currently playing Overcooked on their huge TV. The three oldest members had settled on the floor in front of the couch, leaving the other half of their group on the couch with Yuna sandwiched in the middle.

"I vote Sojung out. Her hand-eye coordination is terrible," Eunbi jabbed at the oldest and earned an indignant huff.

"I'm just not used to the controls! Cut me some slack!" Sojung threw her hands up exasperatedly.

"Fine! One game!" Yerin said and moved the little van to the next stage.

It turned out to be an absolute disaster. After much screaming, setting half the kitchen on fire and playing hot potato with the fire extinguisher, they decided to call it a night, moving on to other forms of less agitation-inducing entertainment. The girls settled on a movie and got themselves comfortable with the spare pillows and blankets.

Halfway through the movie, Eunbi lost her focus and began looking around at everyone. In the darkness of the living room, she could see from the flickering glow of the TV that everyone was still paying attention. She shifted her attention to the decorations around the living room and wondered when was the last time they all had a sleepover like this.

"You alright?" A voice barely audible whispered in her ear coupled with a slight squeeze of her shoulder. She looked up at Yerin whose gaze was tender and Eunbi felt her heart melt a little.

"Yeah, I am. Just got a little distracted," Eunbi mouthed back.

"You can sleep if you want, it's kinda late anyway," Yerin whispered and her hair. When the girl nodded after a moment of thought, Yerin shifted their positions. She stretched her legs out on either side of Eunbi, who slid down a little and rested the back of her head against Yerin's chest. Once Eunbi seemed to have settled, Yerin looped her arms around Eunbi's torso and loosely interlaced her hands, resting them on Eunbi's abdomen. 

Yerin was about to turn her focus back on the movie when she felt someone staring at her. She looked to her side and met with Yewon's soft gaze. The youngest shot her a wink, making Yerin inwardly chuckle. She gave Yewon a sly smirk of her own, noting how Yuna's arm was loosely hanging around Yewon's shoulder. It was too dark to see but judging from how the youngest looked down a little, she could tell the latter was blushing. She shook her head with a smile and rested her chin on Eunbi's crown.

Eunbi patted Yerin's hands and felt the slight rumble in Yerin's chest as she hummed in response. To be surrounded by her closest friends and love of her life, Eunbi concluded that she couldn't feel more content than this.