Tuesday Night, Winter Break

Chorong's house.

Chorong lay awake in her bed hugging one of her old stuffed animals. She was much too grown up for that sort of thing but being back in her childhood home made her feel like she had returned to her younger self.

The room she shared with her older sister, Eunjung, had remained mostly unchanged with the faded posters of Rain, g.o.d., Fin.K.L, and Shinhwa still hanging up on the walls.

Eunjung herself however had changed significantly since Chorong had last seen her. At dinner she seemed tired and somewhat disinterested in the idea of celebrating, and now as she sat at her desk engrossed in her accounting spreadsheets, Chorong thought she looked way too worn out for her age.

"Unnie." Chorong called softly to her sister.

"What."

"Is it normal for you to have so much work on a holiday?"

Eunjung sat back from her computer and rubbed her eyes under her glasses.

"At my company yes." She answered wearily.

She heaved a long sigh then gave Chorong a rather apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry Chorong-ah…I shouldn't be such a downer on Christmas. It's just been so hard at work these days and things haven't been going well for me."

Chorong felt a pang of sympathy upon hearing the fatigue that was evident in her sister's voice. She knew all too well what it felt like to be stuck in that workaholic mode. It was a trait which she had in fact inherited from watching Eunjung as a kid.

Back then, Eunjung's hard work at school was an inspiration for Chorong. But now it was almost heartbreaking to watch her big sister wasting away over a draining desk job.

"That's nothing to be sorry for." Chorong said comfortingly.

The expression on Eunjung's face softened somewhat at Chorong's words. She sighed again then removed her glasses and came to sit on the edge of Chorong's bed.

"Rong-ah I'm glad that you're choosing to do something you love. I'd hate to see you end up like me." She admitted ruefully.

Chorong sat up and wrapped her arms around her elder sister in a warm hug.

"Unnie don't say that. You've always been a model sister to me."

"A model sister…? Oh if only I was…" Eunjung laughed.

Her smile faded as she gazed sadly at the papers that covered her desk.

"You know Chorong-ah." She began thoughtfully. "I used to think you were being silly for refusing to fall in love, but after I broke up with my boyfriend I started to see why you made that choice."

A feeling similar to guilt came over Chorong upon hearing her sister's confession and suddenly all her intentions to break the news about Changsub vanished.

"What do you mean?" She asked, trying to keep her inner thoughts from showing through on her face.

"I could've avoided a lot of pain if I had ended it sooner…or even stopped it all from the beginning." Eunjung began. "He was so insistent that he loved me and I foolishly tried to make it work because I thought I loved him too. But after I got transferred it became harder for us to meet. He started blaming me for being too busy, for not caring enough, for being too tired when he wanted to do it…and then we had a big fight about the whole thing and eventually we both realized that trying to be together wasn't making us happy. So we ended it."

"Oh unnie…I had no idea you were having such a hard time…" Chorong said sorrowfully. "You should've told me sooner."

"Would you have come to me if you were going through something like that?" Eunjung countered.

Chorong had no answer.

"I thought so." Eunjung said with a knowing smile. "You've always been good about managing your own troubles independently."

"Well I think I learned that from you." Chorong replied.

"You probably did." Eunjung sighed. "And I'm sorry for that. It isn't good to bottle things up for too long. But at least I know you won't have to deal with the same kind of heartbreak as I did. As long as you focus on yourself and stay true to your dreams I know you'll do just fine."

The advice was meant to be encouraging, Chorong knew, but somehow it wasn't. Instead, Eunjung's story had planted a subconscious seed of worry in the depths of Chorong's heart. A potentiality she dared not bring to the surface for fear that it might come true.

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A/N  And we are back?? Honestly it was a bit hard to get back into the mental space of this story bc my other project is sooo different but I'm here!! 

So now I am in a predicament where I've committed to doing two stories at once. Great. So smart of me. Haha...oops. 

Anyways Minhyuk is home! Namjoo solo! (also unrelated but Yanan is back in Korea???) So much happening :O But where is the Changrong hello??? Changsub been back how many weeks now and nothing??? Just kidding no pressure I just...sigh....