"YA, AHN HEEYEON!!!" They looked to one another with eyebrows raised. When LE opened the first voicemail that wasn't from her family and a loud scream of 'YA!!! ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE!!!' sounded out loudly even though the phone wasn’t on speaker, that was the first thing the both of them had yelled in response, rubbing their ears with a wince.

"Unnie/Hyojin, you know Heeyeon?" That was the next thing they had chorused, before bursting into laughter.

"Yeah, I know Heeyeon." She said as she showed Solji a picture of her and Hani. "This girl, right?" Solji nodded as she showed a picture of her with Hani too.

"Yup, that's her. Small world, huh?" LE just chuckled.

"Yeah. That little brat. She dares to yell at us like that as though we're younger than her? Let me call her real quick." She said as she dialled the number. The situation that had compelled Hani to send that voicemail temporarily slipped from their minds, until Hani answered the phone on the first ring.

"Hee-"

"WHERE ARE YOU?! WHY HAVEN'T YOU ANSWERED MY CALLS AND MESSAGES AT ALL?!"

"Nice to hear from you too." LE grumbled, rubbing her ear. "Must you be that loud?"

"Are you kidding?!" Hani shouted over the phone. "8 Months! EIGHT! MONTHS! And absolutely NOTHING from you! Am I worried? YES I AM! Am I in a total panic over not knowing whether you're even alive? YES I AM! Do I have the right to shout at you for scaring us like this? HELL YES!" Hani paused slightly to catch her breath. "Doesn't help that Solji unnie went missing too and I can't contact her either..." She muttered under her breath.

"Sorry, Heeyeon-ah. I’m here." Solji said into the phone, hearing Hani's last sentence. A pause subsequently ensued.

"SOLJI UNNIE?! ARE YOU FRICKIN' KIDDING ME?! SHE WAS WITH YOU THIS WHOLE TIME?! Wait, YOU TWO KNOW EACH OTHER?!"

"Uh...yeah? I mean, things kinda happened and now we're living together..."

"AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO LET US KNOW?! Oh, that's it. That's it!" They could totally picture Hani shaking her finger at them over the phone and grimaced. "YOU TWO ARE MEETING US AT XX CAFE, RIGHT NOW, AND I SWEAR TO GOD, IF I DON'T SEE YOU THERE, YOU BETTER PRAY FOR YOUR LIFE 'CAUSE I WILL TRACE THIS CALL TO FIND YOUR LOCATION AND AMBUSH YOU! YOU TWO ARE SO GONNA GET IT FROM US! YOU HEAR?! XX CAFE, NOW!" The two girls heaved a sigh of relief when Hani finally hung up.

"Well, that wasn't what I expected." LE said to Solji, who just chuckled.

"Well, there was an eventual build-up." She said as she played Hani's voicemails from her own phone, her panic clearly growing as her voice grew more frantic with each voicemail.

"Was she really that worried?" LE laughed softly as she stood up. "Well, good thing we decided to turn our phones back on, huh? Better 8 months than later. Just imagine what Heeyeon would do to us if we had waited any longer." Solji laughed at that.

"We'd be minced meat." She grinned as she stood up as well to prepare to go out. "C'mon, let's not make her wait any longer. We haven't eaten lunch anyway, so we can eat there."

"Oh, Hyelinie's there too." Solji said as they spotted the trio.

"Your friend?" She nodded to LE's question. "My friend, Jjong, is there too. I guess they both knew Heeyeon. So that’s what she meant by ‘us’ in the call." She nodded as they walked up to the three girls. Contrary to the anger they expected, as soon as Hani and the two younger girls caught sight of them, they burst into tears. Solji and LE were left stunned and flustered as the other customers and staff in the cafe turned to watch, curious as to what could've caused the commotion.

"Gir-"

"Solji unnie!"

"LE unnie!" Hyelin and Jeonghwa flew into Solji's and LE's arms respectively, wrapping their arms tightly around them, sobbing. As the two older girls processed their badly trembling hands behind their back, gripping their shirt tightly, it suddenly dawned on them that they were literally missing for 8 months. For 8 whole months, nobody could contact them and nobody knew where they were, or if they were even alive. Suddenly, they realised how scared the three younger girls must've been, and began to understand their reactions.

"...Sorry... I'm so sorry..." They teared up as they returned the embrace, pulling Hani in as well, hugging them tightly. Neither had wanted to admit it, but they had realised at some point, that after their abandonment by their families, they've stopped believing that anyone really cared for them. That they would be rejected and abandoned in the end, just because they like girls, unlike 'normal' people. Did the girls really care for them that much?

­

As they finally sat down and ordered their food, Solji and LE told them everything, little by little, about how it all started, how they fell out of contact, what happened to them over the past month and so on.

"But that's wrong!" They gained more curious looks from the people in the cafe when the three girls exclaimed at the same time. "Being lesbian..." Solji and LE shared nervous looks before looking down at their fidgety hands, their hearts dropping to their stomach as they listened to the girls. They expected this. Even their own families couldn't accept them. What made them think their friends would be different?

"Being lesbian isn't wrong! They shouldn't have chased you out just for that! That's just wrong!" Hyelin said, Solji and LE snapping their heads up to them in surprise.

"You're still you! Nothing has changed! How could they treat you like that just because you like girls?" Jeonghwa looked close to tears as she spoke. "That's just not right..."

"...I'm sorry." Hani spoke softly. "I'm sorry we weren't there when you needed us." They shook their heads with a tearful smile.

"Don’t be. You didn't know and we didn't tell you. Just knowing that you girls care so much for us is more than enough for us." LE said.

"Yeah. Besides, it's slow progress, but we've been healing. We've already decided to keep on being ourselves even if others don't approve of it." Hani nodded as she, Hyelin and Jeonghwa placed their hands reassuringly on Solji's and LE's hands.

"You don’t have to conform to society’s standard. Just be yourselves. We'll always support you and you can always depend on us." The younger girls fixed them with unwavering gazes as they spoke, and Solji and LE believed them.