— How Can I Love The Heartbreak, You're The One I Love by Akdong Musician

2019

"I’ve been waiting,

for you to start.

From start to finish,

I want to know how you feel."

Eunha ended her high note with so much power and soul that the girls remained constantly amazed by her voice. "Wooooah!" They cheered as they danced the last bit of their choreo and collapsed once the song ended.

It was D-1 of their comeback and they were going at it with their final rehearsal before the comeback showcase, and their first stage on Seoul Music Awards the following day. The practice room that was booming with music just a second ago was now silent, with only the heavy breathing of the tired girls being heard. "Yedura," Yerin breathlessly broke the silence. "Saranghae." The other girls tiredly laughed at the randomness of the second oldest, except one.

"Nadu," Eunha's voice whimpered as she spoke. "Nadu saranghae. Yeongwoni." Saying the words out overwhelmed her with emotions, and her tears started streaming down her face.

"Aigoo, uri Eunhasu," all the girls rose up from their ending pose and gather around the smallest girl, lying back down on the floor together. They all squashed her into a hug, silently allowing her to let out all her tears from all the pent up sadness and exhaustion that was too much for her little body to take in.

"I love you all so much," she softly spoke, after a while. Her tears were done falling, and she was just silently trying to process the aftermath of her breakdown. "You are all stuck with my noisiness forever." The girls snorted at her attempt to joke, all of them still in their feelings and thoughts. They were always the most sensitive before their comebacks.

"Haengbokhaja, uri." Sowon's motherly instincts kicked in, and she only wanted her girls to be happy from now on. They were her little girls. Her precious girls. No one could take them away from her.

//

"Dance performance award goes too...GFRIEND. Congratulations!"

"Finally, they're giving them a dance performance award that they deserved." Hoseok whispered to the other guys, proudly standing for the girls.

"It's their first comeback without us," Seokjin sentimentally brought up. The other guys just smiled bitterly, their maknae trying his hardest to maintain his composure. "They'll do well, as always," Namjoon added.

"Hello, this is GFRIEND. Today is the fourth anniversary of our debut album. Thank you so much for giving us a meaningful award on a meaningful day." Sowon professionally carried out her speech for the award.

**

Eunha's eyes followed the figure of the man she loved, as he bent down to pass the few tables before his own. The exhaustion and fatigue was evident in his posture, and she couldn't help but feel extremely worried about his condition. She did the same earlier, when the group ended their powerful performance and he walked past everyone to head backstage, clearly on the brink of collapsing from the lack of energy.

Sowon noticed the younger one's actions from behind, and sadly smiled to herself, seeing how much Eunha's heart was on her sleeves for that man. The older one tried to , by playfully tapping her shoulders, which helped to lighten up the mood slightly.

"Yeochin!" Namjoon called out for them at the lobby, where all of the artists were waiting for their cars to head home. Eunbi turned around first, surprised, and the other girls followed suit. They saw the other guys too were heading towards them, and Eunha began fidgeting in her spot.

"Chukahae, for the comeback!"

"The song is so good, it touched my heart."

The girls all laughed at the silliness of the guys, and the initially hostile feelings disappeared momentarily. "Kumawo, oppas," Sowon calmly thanked them. The atmosphere suddenly became quiet again, as they all awkwardly stood by one another, amidst the bustling of the lobby area.

"Yah! Hwang Sinb! Kim Thumb!" Seungkwan's loud voice caught their attention, and Eunbi laughed at the way he called out for them. "Your performance was just jjang! My favourite part was the star at the end!"

"Yah, Boo Seungkwan, you'll scare them off," Dokyeom hit the back of the other's head playfully. "Hey," he cheekily greeted Yuna, to which the girl shyly patted his cheek when he got closer to her. This made the rest of them look questioningly at the two.

"Is it just me or are we missing out on something?" Wonwoo spoke out loud what everyone had in their minds.

"It's not that hard to figure out," Dokyeom winked at his lover and she laughed. "Maja..."

The two groups jokingly began to argue over the betrayal they felt for not knowing about the two's relationship, the loudest being Eunbi and Seungkwan. As they laughed and bickered, the Bangtan guys took a step back, sadly watching as the two groups displayed the relationship they once had with the girls. From their first comeback without them to this very moment, the guys could foresee the fading of the precious friendship they shared and it was slowly starting to sadden them. But the drifting was not something any of them could control. Especially when the whole friendship was built around the couple between both groups. The seemingly unbreakable couple, that was slowly breaking.

"Ayyyy, Jaykay!" Mingyu chaoticly joined the large gathering, greeting his same-age friend first. "Yah, Eunhasu, your speech was iconic!" His enthusiastic reaction caused the girl to snort and she jokingly rolled her eyes at him. Amidst the chaos of the two felt very tired and leant her head on Yerin's shoulder, resting her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, her eyes immediately met with her lover's. The man she hadn't spoken to for over a month.

"Yeochin!" The sound of their manager's voice broke her gaze away from him, as they hurriedly said their goodbyes and left the premise to head to their pre-recording schedule.

iMessage

Mine

Take care of yourself and rest. Don't get hurt please.

iMessage

My Kookie

Arasseo, nae sarang.

//

"Dul, set, annyeonghasaeyo Yeojachingu inmida!" The girls greeted the KBS staff involved in The Hit, the music programme they were guesting in today. They made their way to their dressing room, preparing to touch up before the recording began.

"Yedura, annyeong!" Shinyoung greeted the girls as she entered their room with some snacks. "Oh, annyeong unnie! Wah!" They cheered when they saw their senior and then the food she was holding. "Let's eat!"

As they ate together in a circle, Shinyoung was catching up with them since they haven't met for a while already.

"Yah, Song Mino is really envied by a lot of the male idols, from what I heard," Shinyoung teased Yerin after hearing how the two had become official for almost a year. Yerin snorted and playfully hit the older one. "Sowon ah, you and Eunwoo would make headlines for being such a power couple don't you think?"

"Unnie, a rumour article came out once and they were all criticising me. Fighting with Eunwoo once over it is enough, I think," Sowon laughed as she joked about the past situation. The other girls laughed too, as they knew their leader didn't take the article's comments too seriously but she did have an argument with Eunwoo when he wanted to take serious actions over it, in contrast to Sowon's position which was to just let it be.   

"The luckiest amongst us would be Eunha, of course," Yerin teased the younger one. "Almost three years, without even a peep. I'm actually grateful for it. Imagine the chaos their huge fanbase now, would bring..." Eunbi continued warily.

"Oh, with who? Weren't you dating Jungkook previously?"

"They're still together, unnie..." Yewon answered for Eunha. Eunha too, started feeling intrigued by Shinyoung's sudden stand. "Right?" The youngest one looked at her unnie. Eunha cautiously nodded, at the same time, the question lingered in her mind too. She hadn't actually spoken to Jungkook personally since their last tussle.

"Oh, is that so…” Shinyoung responded sceptically. Eunha caught on to that and her intuition was triggered. "Wae, unnie...?"

"Ani..." The oldest one hesitantly replied. "A few days ago, I was in Hongdae... I saw the Bangtan boys..."

"Ah, maja. Jiminnie oppa told us they liked one of the restaurants there." Eunbi acknowledged.

"Ah, gurae...? I think I was at the same restaurant as them. They were celebrating something.”

Hearing her, the other girls nodded as they ate, unsure of where their senior was going with her story. All the other girls except for Eunha. Something was up and she could definitely sense it. “Unnie, is there something else?” At that, Shinyoung pitifully returned the curious gaze of the small girl and hesitantly decided to be fully honest.

“The boys weren’t alone. Kim Yerim was there with them. She looked cosy with Jungkook, that was why I assumed that you and him weren’t dating anymore… Mianhae, Eunha-ya. I shouldn’t have beaten around the bush about this.”

**

“The shimmering starlight shines, but you. Where are you looking at?”

Eunha’s hand was trembling slowly as she forced herself to hold in her tears. Beside her, Sowon’s heart wrenched painfully as she heard her small girl’s soulful voice sing. She forced the younger one to sit next to her, wanting to protect her and help her control her composure in front of the cameras. But when she heard her voice start singing, Sowon had to force herself to control her own composure as well. My poor, poor girl.

“I think you’ll be gone soon.”

//

iMessage

My Kookie

Annyeong, nae sarang. I just finished practice and we’re heading back now. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you. Forever.

iMessage

My Kookie

Jung Eunha, why aren’t you replying?

iMessage

My Kookie

Let’s talk after the awards show later.

//

“Why is Yerin noona limping?”

Jungkook secretly asked the older guys when he noticed it as the girls walked up to receive their award during The Fact Music Awards. The other guys noticed as well. “Yerin and Eunha started kickboxing recently, and Yerin exerted too much on the legs,” Seokjin explained as to what he heard. Seokjin goes to the same private gym and coincidentally saw the two girls leaving hurriedly, but he managed to ask his instructor.

“Kickboxing?” Jungkook asked, shocked. “Jung Eunha?” Seokjin nodded. The youngest stared at his girlfriend from his seat, wondering why she’d been extremely distant from him when he thought that they were slowly reconciling since their previous fight.

**

"Jung Eunha."

She was on the way back to the artists' seating area when the familiar voice of the man she loves stopped her. She slowly turned around, greeted by the seven faces of her seniors. She politely bowed, and awkwardly rubbed her bare arms as she watched her lover walk towards her. She also watched as he scanned her from head-to-toe, raising his brow at the extra exposure of the dress she was wearing that night.

"Why are you avoiding me?"

"Jung!"

"Eunhasu!"

Eunha broke the intense gaze they shared and put on her best smile, the only way she could think of to quickly get out of the sticky situation.

"I gotta go, we are on standby," Eunha stuttered as she looked only at the other pairs of eyes but his.

"No. Answer me first." The sit