Nayeon & Jeongyeon

Nayeon is vivid. She just left for roughly a week and somehow Jeongyeon managed to get herself possessed by a paranoid ghost? Seriously this house is wrecked without her. Yes, they're staying under the same roof. Ever since the encounter with the Shogun ghost and the demigod, Jeongyeon has been fussing around her to the point of staying in Nayeon's house to take care of her 24/7. Not that Nayeon complains; she's being treated like a queen. It's rare to see Jeongyeon being so compliant and Nayeon can't say she didn't take advantage of the situation sometimes (just sometimes when she whines about her stomachache and demands belly rubs. Or the other time she said she had a nightmare and made Jeongyeon hold her to sleep.)

The point is, she knows what drives Jeongyeon to act this way, Guilt. She’d rather have Jeongyeon making fun of her any day than this somber and sorrowful person standing in front of her. Last time, it took months for Jihyo and Nayeon to pull Jeongyeon out of her distress. And Nayeon swears she won’t let Jeongyeon fall back again, if she can.

"Jeong, come here. Sit."

“We need to talk.” Nayeon says when the healer has settled on the edge of her bed, the food tray is placed on the bedside table.

“I mean, you need to talk, Jeong.” Nayeon continues when the younger girl doesn’t speak up. “I know that this whole incident has affected you greatly. You need to talk about it.”

“Please, Jeong. Tell me how you are feeling.” Nayeon pleads. The image of a helpless, depressed Jeongyeon slowly crawls back in her mind, making her shudder. If she doesn’t do anything now, it’s possible that the healer might go back to that dark place. And gods know how much it would take to get the girl out. Or, in her deepest fear, the dark would consume Jeongyeon forever. No, Nayeon won’t let that happen. How depressing the world will be without Jeongyeon, Nayeon knows she wouldn’t want to live in that world.

“When you put yourself up, volunteered to be in my place, to be… possessed. Did you know that the god would rescue you?” Jeongyeon asks instead. She can’t help it. She needs to know.

“Of course I did.” Nayeon flashes her a smile but Jeongyeon can catch the stiffness and the slightest pause between her words.

Did Nayeon know the demigod would intervene? No, she didn’t. She just couldn’t stand Jeongyeon’s life being taken away by that ghost. Yet she lies, for the sake of Jeongyeon, and maybe herself too. She knows the younger woman has already drowned in guilt and beaten herself up enough already. Nayeon doesn’t need to add to the mess.

However, she forgets one important fact, that they have been close friends for years. And Jeongyeon knows when she’s lying.

“You’re lying.” Jeongyeon’s voice is faint and shaky, but no less convincing. She knows. “Why did you do that, Nayeon? Why did you put yourself in danger, sacrifice yourself for me? It should be me who deserves to die.”

“No one deserves to die, Jeongyeon. Well, maybe except for that Shogun. But he’s dead, literally.” Nayeon tries to lighten up the mood, but it seems to be unsuccessful, considering how Jeongyeon only sinks further in her seat.

“I…” Jeongyeon seems lost. "What's the point of being a healer if I can't save the ones I love?" She buries her head in her hands to hide the tears that are falling out endlessly.

"But you can save others' loved ones." Nayeon speaks softly, gently removing Jeongyeon's hand so she could look into the younger’s eyes. Her heart tightens, tears well up but she will herself to hold it back. Two of them sobbing uncontrollably won’t do. "You have saved the one I love the most."

"Who?"

"You. You saved yourself. And you saved me as well. How can I live without you?" She wipes away the tears on Jeongyeon's face and smiles tenderly. "It would be too boring without your lame jokes, and Jihyo isn't that fun to annoy like you are."

Finally, after what seems like a decade later, Jeongyeon chuckles through her sobs "She can be scary."

"Yes she is." Nayeon chuckles.

"I have been thinking." Nayeon speaks after a long pause when both of them have stopped crying.

"You have?" Jeongyeon widens her eyes in mock surprise.

"Shut up." Nayeon slaps the younger's shoulder, but secretly she's glad Jeongyeon's (lame) humour is back. The reaction is much weaker than her usual dramatic act, but it’s a start. "I've been thinking about how we're both idiots. We have spent all these years chasing, flirting, denying and hurting each other instead of loving."

Nayeon pauses to gauge Jeongyeon’s reaction but the younger just stays silent, looking deep in thought. She has been assuming, and she’s got good reason to do so, that her feelings aren’t unreciprocated.

"Seeing you almost die in front of my eyes made me realise how short all our lives can be, how much I would regret if I didn't get to say what I have been feeling all these years."

She closes her eyes. However hard she tries, she just couldn’t push away the thought that maybe Jeongyeon doesn’t feel that way, maybe it’s just her imagination. But she needs to cross that bridge now. That near death experience can’t go to waste.

"I love you."

She holds her breath, fearing for the worst to come. She knows it won’t, but her nerves are doing a wicked trick on her mind. It isn’t until Jeongyeon smiles back with her eyes puffy from crying that Nayeon can finally breathe again.

"I love you too. Always have, always will."

They dive in for a kiss. It's not their first kiss nor their second or last, but this one might be the most important to them. They take their time, pouring all the love, the agony of more than a decade pining into this kiss, so that there's only love and affection for the more to come.

***

Jihyo & Dahyun & Tzuyu

Jihyo knows there's something going on with Dahyun and Tzuyu. Separately, they're rather quiet and like to stay in their own world. But together, they're loud, either bickering or pulling some mischief. If Chaeyoung is added to the mix, well, they can wretch the whole village if left unsupervised. So, she knows something's wrong when they are silent most of the time and stay in their animal form for much longer than before. Despite not being a transformer herself, Jihyo knows when being in animal form, instinct would take place and the complicated emotions would be suppressed. Dahyun and Tzuyu themselves stayed in animal form most of the time when they first got here. Chaeyoung stayed in cat form even longer than that after her mother's death. And now, it's no coincidence that their change of mood started right after the incident with the Shogun ghost.

Looking outside, she finds a beautiful brown border collie lying motionlessly near the gate, looking like she’s in deep sleep except for her eyes are fixed at the canopy up high. Though Jihyo can’t look past the dense leaves and branches, she bets all her money that a beautiful hawk is perching there. They have been staying in that place for the whole morning, and Jihyo’s determined to figure out the reasons.

She calls it a day early that afternoon, not before telling the kids to cook under their parents’ supervision. She taught them to cook porridge today and though it’s a common dish in the household, it can be tricky when the rice boils. She too is starting to cook dinner, knowing it’s much better for people to open up with a full stomach.

They lay in bed after a full meal. Normally, Jihyo would spend time after the meal doing laundry and busy preparing for class. But today is Friday, she doesn't have class tomorrow and clothes can be weekend’s work. The other two have turned back into their human forms and are currently cuddling with Jihyo. Both are banned from the big bed in their animal form after several fights that left Jihyo’s bed with an enormous amount of fur and feathers. When they want to stay in animal form, Tzuyu has a separate small bed next to the big one, and Dahyun has a cozy nest right above.

"Something is bothering you two." Jihyo says out of the blue. It’s not a question, but a matter of fact. She feels them both freeze for a moment, but her hands continue rubbing their backs.

"Dahyun ah, you have been so aloof since you came back from the trip with Nayeon. Is what happened bothering you?" Jihyo turns to her right and puts a kiss on top of the blond hair. "Tell me, Hyunie."

Dahyun stirs in Jihyo's arms for a while but shows no intention of recoiling. Jihyo knows she won’t. It takes a moment before the young girl manages to speak, with choked words and sniffles. Jihyo knows what happened, of course. She has talked to Nayeon, but she lets the girl retell in her own words, and with her emotions.

"She almost died, in front of my eyes. If we hadn't been there, what would have happened? It's scary, Jihyo, even though I know I must let her continue with her own quest. But I hate just sitting at home without knowing anything and one day... one day, bad news just comes."

Dahyun's voice gets smaller and smaller until it crumbl