part two (fin):
i love and know you; tell me and i'll give you anything.

"ShinB," Yuju cries when the younger plunges into her arms and wraps Yuju in a tight embrace. Yuju gives ShinB two hard pats. "ShinB yah, what's wrong?"

"Just," ShinB's voice reveals a curt, candid plead, "stay like this for a while."

Yuju finds herself swallowing a gulp as she puts her arms firmly around ShinB's small frame, her lips in anxiety.

The silence is momentary; it is broken when ShinB takes a sniff, followed by a whimper.

"ShinB?" Yuju calls, fretfully.

"Ah, I really didn't want to cry..." her voice slowly disappears into a whisper. Tightly shutting her eyes, ShinB lets her tears freely trickle down her cheeks.

"ShinB yah," Yuju finds her voice slightly caught within , her eyes, too, beginning to water. 

Yuju swallows and wills herself to stay calm. “Hwang Eunbi,” Yuju plainly calls as the said girl sobs into her shoulder. “Tell unnie what is wrong,” she sternly says.

ShinB does not respond but remains crying. Yuju does not mind the tears on her shirt, but the cries of the one she loves the most sound excruciating to her ears. She confirms her thoughts from the fansign earlier on; she wished she was wrong but there were signs she could not ignore. 

“Hwang Eunbi,” she calls again. ShinB shakes her head, not lifting it up from Yuju’s shoulder. 

Yuju purses her lips together to hold back a sigh. As tears threaten to fall from her own eyes, Yuju gives ShinB a warm embrace, seemingly her only solution for the distress the younger is facing.

Yuju gives ShinB repeated gentle on her head as she ponders: she does think about how ShinB bottles her frustrations within her; Yuju does wonder, will that girl burst one day? She would then think, how can I be there for her when that happens? Regardless, Yuju finds herself of no use today. As the person most precious to her cries in her arms today, a situation she has ever foreseen, Yuju has never felt so helpless in all her life. 

Yuju falls silent, rendering it best that she does not speak and let the quiet presence be a comfort for ShinB. Yuju does not move. She remains still even as the tears welling up in her eyes find their way down her cheeks, in order to not alarm the girl in her arms.

Soon enough, the cries stop. ShinB slowly pulls away from Yuju. While ShinB still has her head down, Yuju quickly wipes her cheeks and takes a small sniff.

When ShinB finally lifts her head, they find their gazes locked. 

“Your eyes are puffy,” ShinB speaks first.

“Your eyes are puffy,” Yuju casually repeats after.

“Of course they would be,” ShinB retorts. “But unnie, did you cry because of me?”

Yuju could not answer; ShinB knows it anyway, and Yuju knows that. The question was no more than an acknowledgement, a mention. 

“How could you cry because of me, knowing that it saddens me,” her voice drops into a whisper, the later half rather inaudible. ShinB hangs her head low; Yuju worries that she will cry again.

“How could I not?” Yuju remains strong in her refrain anyway and holds ShinB by the sides of her arms. “Seeing you cry is the most painful thing for me. But it’s alright, because it means I can be here for you when you’re feeling down. And I want to be— it’s my responsibility. You’re my responsibility, ShinB yah,” Yuju says, “and don’t feel sorry. All is good, ShinB, you’re good,” she ends with a smile. Yuju stops speaking, wondering if she has made any sense. 

ShinB sees that thought running through Yuju’s mind. She releases a short chuckle, puzzling the taller girl before her. ShinB finds her mind derailing, but she recalls a time when she used to wish she could read minds just so she could better understand this unnie that meant so much to her. ShinB smiles at the progress; she knows their understanding is mutual and that it came with their love, and will continue to grow.

“It pains me when I see you undergoing so much stress but bottling them inside of you. You try to be strong, putting up a front, but when I see how much underlying struggle and pain you have in you, it breaks my heart. Please stop making me sad, Eunbi yah,” Yuju pleads in her tears. 

ShinB wants to let out laughter or giggle because she loves it when Yuju calls her by her real name, but chokes on a sob instead. Yuju’s honest words linger in her mind, and she keeps them close to her heart. “I'm sorry for making you sad-”

“Actually, that doesn't make sense,” Yuju shakes her head and roughly cuts ShinB off, “I'm happy with you. I'm gonna bear everything with you. As I said, you're my responsibility,” her voice is firm. 

“Thank you, unnie,” ShinB softly says, looking into Yuju’s eyes. She nods after hearing her own timid expression of gratitude, feeling as if she cannot go further yet wanting to very much let out the plethora of warmth and love in her heart. 

Yuju presses her lips together into a smile, lifting a hand and giving ShinB’s hair a gentle ruffle. “Anything for you.”

Yuju opens her arms once again, inviting the younger girl into another embrace. With their arms wrapped around each other, Yuju presses a kiss on the top of ShinB’s head. The act sends butterflies into ShinB’s stomach; she wonders why that still occurs after all this time. The fluttering in her heart causes her to squeeze Yuju in tighter. 

After a moment of complete stillness, they feel a vibration of Yuju’s mobile phone in the pocket of her jeans. They chuckle lightly as they pull away.

“Sowon unnie says the food has arrived,” Yuju only conveys half the message. You can get ShinB back here now if she’s fine, our delivery is here.

ShinB nods. The two start walking, their hands tightly wound together.