Note : this takes place directly 3 years ago when they were still in high school, way before the bathroom incident. (Take it as a chapter that talks about their high school days or something like this)

TW : be careful while reading this and especially the next chapter (!)

——

The end of the school year came faster than they would have imagined... it was also meaning that they would have to part ways ... Sakura and Eunbi were graduating and Minjoo was already bawling her eyes out.

"Unnie ..." she said while hugging the older girl who patted  Minjoo’s back gently.

"Minjoo-Yah ... I won’t go far anyway and we’ll still see each other I promise." Comforted the older girl with a smile.

"I-I will miss y-you" sniffled Minjoo with her runny nose and red puffy eyes..

"I’ll miss you too, Hey, look, we still have all holidays before I go to Uni." Cheered Eunbi 

Sakura was clinging on Chaeyeon in a corner, also sad that her only year here was also her last... she was circled by the two other Japanese girls who were sad to see their ‘senpai’ graduating too.

It was a heart touching scene that even some of the teachers, still around after the ceremony, were found crying at the sight...

"Hey girls, I’m going to take a picture of you okay, so you all smile." Said one of the teacher while looking at Minjoo who was still teary eyed. It the PE teacher to be exact, after their little incident with this teacher, he somehow started to like this bunch of crack heads and even let this incident pass without a punishment... 'they all out-ran him' he claimed that day, proud of his students being able to run for their life.

They all posed ready for the picture, Nako in front to look slightly taller, Sakura jumping on Chaeyeon’s back and Hitomi making a cheerleader pose.
 

Wonyoung and Yujin quickly became best friends by the remaining of their year and also loved to annoy each other. Which is why Yujin was waiting to put her hand over Wonyoung’s face so it’ll cover it just in time for the photo to be taken. Yena and Yuri were being gross like always and the duck pouty lips found their way to Yuri’s cheek. 

Minjoo was in between Chaewon and Eunbi. The princess looked at Chaewon with a smile... this is her second year with Chaewon... on the other side, Eunbi had her hands linked with Hyewon’s behind her back while showing her diploma proudly. 

They thanked the teacher for the picture and all resumed their activities. They had planned on going to the Enozi river one last time before the holidays starts. They discreetly made their ways in the woods, making sure no one saw them. The familiar walk was also short as they became use to way there. 

"Come on !" Happily yelled Yujin already running toward the familiar sound of water.

They all followed the girl with the same excitement with laughter and smiles. 

Yujin apparently went there earlier to place few things such as a picnic and few towels. The others brought spare clothes as this warm day was perfect to play in the refreshing river. 

"So. I placed some colored papers around the area... it’s a treasure hunt. 11 in total so y’all better find at least one each." Explained Yujin proudly, she did work hard to make this day fun and perfect. They all dispersed themselves running and squealing like elementary students.

Minjoo walked around in search of those papers. She saw one peeking out of a bush and quickly retrieved it... in a matter of few minutes, everyone had found at least one paper. 

Going back to Yujin and the river, Minjoo came across Chaewon. 

"Yah Unnie  !!" She yelped when the older girl stole the paper that was in her hands and started running back to Yujin while laughing.

Minjoo chased the fairy smiling and when she caught her, she whined and begged her to give the paper back.

"Act cute." Ordered the fairy without pity.

"Chaewonie~ gave da paper back to Minguri ~" this was the best Minjoo could do... everyone laughed at the poor attempt at being cute but for Chaewon it was the cutest sight ever.

She ultimately gave the paper back to Minjoo.

They all sat down in a circle on the floor as per Yujin request and opened their papers. 

Some were dares and others were simple truths.

"Dance." Said Sakura reading hers.

Everyone laughed at that, Wonyoung was quick to put a song and they all witnessed the funniest dance ever... Chaeyeon was laughing loudly with the contagious laugh of hers which didn’t help in their laughing fit.

"Act cute" it was Minjoo’s turn now and it had to be this... They all laughed at the hilarious coincidence and Minjoo glared at Chaewon who couldn’t stop laughing next to her.

"Come on Minjoo."

"Minguri is back guys."

"Cutie Minjoo ! 1, 2, ..."

"Boing boing ~ Kyang~" Minjoo did her best ... she laughed at her own attempt while the others were cackling madly. Chaewon even slapped Minjoo’s arm because it was too funny. 

"Kyang ?" Said Yujin in between laughters

This was just another funny afternoon for everyone... 

"Let’s goooo!" Screamed Yuri. They were now playing music and dancing madly. Chaeyeon was lost in the music and showed her dancing talents as the song was reaching its . 

"1 ! 2! And 1, 2, 3, 4 !! Level up ! Level up level up" they all shouted... 

By the end of the chorus, they all at least threw a shoe at Chaeyeon who was laughing at the girls antics (throwing a shoe means that the dancer is good) and they all stood up ready for the second chorus to hit. What surprised Minjoo though, was that Hyewon didn’t take part on the dancing and stayed in the back with a book in her hands... sometimes she couldn’t understand what was going on in the food holic’s mind. 

"Hyewon Boombayah!!" They tried to make the otaku dance and successfully dragged her to the center of the ‘scene’. Sakura joined her and they all laughed again at the older girl’s silliness. Minjoo was taken aback by Hyewon’s dancing, she just realized she never saw her dance before... not that the girl was dancing badly since it was obvious the girl knew how to dance but still... it was a rare sight to see.

xxxxx

The afternoon ended with them playing in the river for a couple hours before eventually parting ways once they were out the woods. Eunbi hugged Minjoo tightly and promised to see her during holidays when Minjoo would be back from her trip to Seoul... this signed the last time they would all hangout as high school friends (since Eunbi and Sakura aren't High schoolers anymore) and also as the complete Iz*one club. 

Chaewon was walking Minjoo to her house since well... she didn’t want to part ways already. "So tomorrow uh..." spoke up Chaewon.

"Yeah... I already did my luggages. Tomorrow we meet up at 10 am sharp in front of the train station. Don’t you dare forget" threatened the princess playfully.. deep down however she was still panicking, she was scared of going back.

Chaewon obviously saw through her facade but decided to not pry on it, Minjoo will eventually open up to her and she was ready to wait until she does. So for the moment she played along and raised her hands in the air "Yes Ma’am".

xxxxx

Minjoo’s parents dropped their beloved daughter to the train station, from inside their car, they could already see the fairy waiting for the princess. "I like your friend." Said Minjoo’s mom... she’d seen Chaewon a lot and she knew that this girl was someone good for her daughter. However Minjoo was still quiet in the back sits... her mom turned around and flashed her a reassuring smile that only mother’s knew the secret of.. "Minjoo-yah, you’ll be fine... I’m really sorry I can’t come with you this time, but You and I know that you improved a lot. Plus you won’t be alone, your friend will be there for you..." said her mother raising her eyebrows knowingly. 

"Moooom ~" Minjoo whined, finally reacting to her parents.

Going out the car, they took the luggage from their car boot and hugged their daughter one last time while saying goodbyes, reassuring words and all stuffs that parents would say to their kids when they would travel alone... "you promise you will text us when you arrive " 

"Yes mom."

She joined the fairy who was waiting on the side, silently watching the parent-daughter interaction with a fond smile.

"Hello MinMin !" She greeted the princess...

"Hello Chae !" 

xxxxx

The train ride was exhaustingly long... they weren’t living in a place also called the middle of nowhere for nothing after all. Minjoo was super tired and the smooth ride of the train made her sleepy, she also didn’t sleep well these past few days. Chaewon didn’t complain, she knew the younger girl wasn’t sleeping well as the dark circles under her eyes told her so, so she let the princess sleeping on her shoulder for a good half of the long train ride peacefully. 

They arrived late in the afternoon because the train was late in first place and other typical transportation accidents... they had to take the subway to go to Minjoo grandparent’s place. Chaewon being new to the city, simply followed Minjoo around, the younger girl was used to this scenery and knew how to move around in the city. But that was the last of her worries as she was scared of one thing that could happen any time...

There’s a time gap between Fallen high schooler's summer holidays date and the Seoul's one ... 1 week gap exactly. So being in the subway at the hour when students would go back home from school was a serious source of anxiety for Minjoo... especially on one particular station where she knew which students would come inside this subway.

 She recognized the uniform of certain girls, one too familiar for her, the group of what she thinks are friends were laughing and chatting... she, for some reason thought they were mocking her, so she shrinks down a little while anxiety was devouring her from the inside. The laughters were becoming louder and louder as time passed, memories flashing in her mind, she was feeling everyone eyes on her.... it was unbearable.  

Chaewon immediately noticed the change of behavior but Minjoo wasn’t calming down... she tried everything, calling her name, touching her, grabbing her hand but Minjoo wasn’t reacting... she pulled Minjoo out the subway once she realized that they were arrived. Minjoo didn’t even noticed it. It was only when she was out the subway that she regained awareness. She looked up a