“Can we talk?”

Oh god! She’s so screwed now.

Eunbi slumped her head in her head in her hands, already dreading the conversation they were going to have. She still couldn’t believe what she had done.

How could she be so stupid as to get that drunk and slept with Hyewon?

It’s not enough that she had to deal with a throbbing headache first thing in the morning, she now had to deal with the consequences of her last night actions and judging from the seriousness in Hyewon’s tone, she knew it’s going to change everything between them.

She had never wanted to run even more than she was currently.

“Here.”

She looked up and saw Hyewon had put down a glass of water and ibuprofen in front of her. She took them without complain and felt the pounding in her head finally eased down a bit.

She then realized Hyewon still stood at the side. She glanced up to see Hyewon staring at her. Her gaze seemingly lingered on her lips before it lifted to meet hers.

She was briefly taken aback by the intensity of it just as something flashed in the younger girl’s eyes. An emotion she had seen many times. Only this time, it was more fervent.

She wanted her. Bad.

Eunbi swallowed. She really didn’t know what to make of this quiet Hyewon who continued to watch her silently.

“So…what is it you want to talk about?” she awkwardly asked, trying to break the silence between them.

Instead of answering, Hyewon merely stepped closer to her and gently tilted her chin up. Without any warning, the younger girl bent and kissed her.

Eunbi froze in her seat. Her breath caught just as her heart thudded in her chest.

Although the kiss definitely caught her off guard, it was also surprisingly gentle. Hyewon kissed her like she wanted to take her sweet time, slowly and carefully as she felt the lightest brush of her lips on her. Almost like she wanted to savour her even just for a moment.

Then the kiss ended as quickly as it began. Neither of them spoken with Eunbi still in shock by what just happened.

Hyewon smiled at her. Her expression softened this time as she caressed her cheek.

“I like you Eunbi.”

Everything inside of her immediately went stilled.

No! This was what she feared. Though she had known of her feelings and had seen it coming one day soon enough, she didn’t count on Hyewon being bold enough to say it. She had the notion that Hyewon thought the same as her. That their friendship was more important than anything. Unfortunately, she was the only one who thought that.

It didn’t help that her feelings she had been trying to pretend was not there, not surprisingly was still there. She had been kidding herself these whole times.

A lump formed in when she saw the expectant look on Hyewon’s face. She swallowed the guilt and regret that rose with it. She didn’t want history repeat again just like last her previous relationships before so she did the only thing she could do.

“I’m sorry Hyewon but I just don’t feel the same towards you.”

***

Yena was in a dilemma of a sort.

To give or not to give?

That question kept running through her mind all day as she stared down at the two soft plushies of a hamster and a duck in her bag. The hamster had on a red beret on top and a scarf around its neck while the duck only had on a pair of glasses. Their paw and wing stitched together as if they were holding hands.

She sighed to herself in the empty backstage room. To think for the past couple of days she had been braving herself up to give these to Yuri tonight only to now being nagged with doubts whether this was an appropriate apology gift.

She glanced at her phone. A small part of her had hoped that Yuri might at least texted her. She didn’t know why she was hoping for that small miracle in the first place when they weren’t currently on speaking terms.

After their last confrontation, it took all of Yena to just walked past and ignored her completely after that even though it was one of the hardest things she had done. There was never a day where she didn’t regret what happened during what was supposed to be their 100^th days. She had everything planned out that day. Even prepared an apology gift for her after getting an earful from Chaeyeon for making Yuri wait all these times.

Yena huffed. If only the younger girl would just listen to her explanation but no, she had to be stubborn. She did have a good reason for being late but she also understood why Yuri wouldn’t believe her this time around.

“What are you doing here unnie?”

Startled, Yena immediately shielded the bag behind her then turned to face the owner of the voice. Nako was looking at her weirdly, obviously wondering why she was alone in the room.

“N-n-nothing. Just packing some of my stuffs.” She stuttered. She pursed her lips, pondering to herself for a bit before asking, “Is Yuri still there?”

Please let her still be there before I lost all of my nerve.

Nako lifted a brow at the question but answered anyway “No. She and the others left in a hurry just now though I was able to meet Hiichan at the last minute. Why?”

Yena slumped her shoulders in disappointment. “I see.”

A change of plan then. Looks like she’ll just have to give it to her tomorrow.

That was if she was being given a chance to speak first.

***

Hitomi turned to her friends as she walked backwards. They were on their way to Eunbi and Chaewon’s apartment to check on their unnie.

The air seemed to be tensed and quiet as each one of them were clearly in their own thoughts. If she’s not mistaken, they were also in a bad mood judging by the expressions on their faces. Sakura and Yuri were looking quite pissed, Minju looking sad about something and even though Chaewon was looking down on her phone, Hitomi knew she was upset.

Of course, no one was more upset than Eunbi right now.

Her lips twitched. She had an inkling why they were like this. Other than Eunbi, Hitomi had no idea that their feelings ran that deep.

Knowing she’s about to add the fuel to the fire, she purposely said “Tonight performances was so amazing. Don’t you think so?”

“No, it’s not!” Sakura snapped.

Yuri just glared at her.

Bingo!

“Do you think Eunbi unnie is going to be okay?” Minju softly asked.

None of them replied. Minju understood that they were thinking the same thing as her so didn’t press it any further. Other than the occasional small talk, their walk was relatively silent.

They later found Eunbi sprawled on the sofa blankly staring at the ceiling while hugging a pillow in front of her. She didn’t cry. That much they could see nor did she look angry. She looked resigned.

No one talked. They quietly settled down on the couches, idly playing with their phones.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left like that.” Eunbi sat up and offered them an apologetic smile.

“It’s alright unnie.” Minju reassured her. The other girls nodded in understanding.

Silence again. None of them dared to broach the subject of tonight’s……happening lest they want to get upset Eunbi again.

Seeing this Hitomi decided this would be a great opportunity to lighten the mood. Even if just for a little bit. She reached into her bag and took out something that Nako gave to her.

“Here Chaewon unnie.” She handed it to her which caught the other girls’ attention as they swung their gazes at her.

Chaewon raised her brows, clearly surprised by the sudden gift. “What’s this?”

“Your pre-Valentine’s Day gift from your secret admirer and before you ask, it’s not me.” Hitomi clarified. If she had to guess, Chaewon’s secret admirer was definitely Wonyoung who stood waiting on Nako from behind. Her shy glances when Nako gave the jar to Hitomi gave it away.

“At least one of us is lucky tonight.” Sakura grumbled jealously.

Chaewon untied the ribbon then twisted the lid open. She inhaled deeply and was pleasantly surprised to find a familiar scent. Mint chocolate chip cookies. Yum.

“So, who is it then?” Minju asked curiously while Chaewon, Yuri, Sakura waited expectantly for her answer.

The question was inevitable but Hitomi had already decided not to reveal who it was as it was fun to keep them guessing anyway.

Unfortunately, she didn’t prepare a rehearse answer to that question.

She was saved when she noticed Eunbi was frowning down at something in her phone. Seeing this as an opportunity to divert the four girls’ attentions, she asked, “What’s wrong Eunbi-unnie?”

She looked up, bemused. “Your friend Nako send me a video along with a message telling me to watch it on TV with the others. Do you know about this?”

It was Hitomi’s turn to be confused. “No.”

Nako didn’t mention anything to her about it.

They were now fully intrigued. Minju’s question got completely forgotten.

Moments later after connecting to the TV, all of them sat and watched the video together as told.

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So sorry for the lack of updates for the past couple of weeks. Been having blocks after blocks but I finally managed to come through it and posted. Thank you so much for your patience and happy reading :)