This is it.

Today is the day.

Doyeon thought to herself as she got ready for her long day ahead. She could feel herself already getting nervous at what was to come later that day. Not because of her practice schedule, but because today she was finally going to tell Yoojung how she really feels about her.

She had wanted to tell Yoojung her true feelings for a while now, but she had always been too afraid or felt like it wasn’t an appropriate time; but when is an appropriate time to confess to your best friend that you’re in love with them? She’d always think to herself.

She knew that if she kept thinking about the “what if’s” she’d never confess. Today though, today was different. There wasn’t any significant meaning to it; it wasn’t a special date between her and Yoojung or anything like that. It’s just she knew that if she didn’t confess now, then she never would. It was now or never, and Doyeon was determined to tell Yoojung her feelings towards her... Before it was too late.

Dance practice for Doyeon was a blur. She couldn’t focus on anything. All she could think about was confessing to Yoojung. She didn’t want to lose her best friend because of her feelings towards her, but at the same time she couldn’t keep lying to herself and to Yoojung.

“Doyeon,” she heard Yoojung call her name. “Doyeon, are you okay?” Yoojung asked with concern in her voice.

This is it. This is my chance. Doyeon thought to herself before she took a deep breath. “Yoojung I need to talk to you about something.”

“What’s wrong?” Yoojung tilted her head, concern present in her features.

Doyeon hesitated for a few moments, waving goodbye to her other members as they left the practice room giving her and Yoojung privacy.

Doyeon bit her lip which is something that she did when she was nervous. Yoojung knew this and reached for her hand, gently squeezing it.

“You can talk to me, Doyeon.” Yoojung said softly, giving Doyeon’s hand another gentle squeeze.

Before Doyeon could even comprehend what was going on, she blurted out; “I love you.”

Yoojung let go of her hand and took a small step back. “You love me?”

Doyeon who was now thinking clearly and had analyzed the situation, simply nodded. “I do.”

Yoojung frowned, almost looking confused. “Hm... In what way do you love me? Platonically? As a best friend?” Yoojung hesitated for a moment watching as Doyeon was chewing on her lip and playing with the sleeves of her shirt. “Or do you mean romantically?”

Doyeon gulped. She swore she had never been so nervous in her entire life. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting when she thought about confessing to Yoojung, but it certainly wasn’t this. She just assumed that Yoojung would know she meant romantically, but now she was stuck. Taking a deep breath, she answered; “yes, I mean romantically.”

Yoojung nodded, her face softening a bit, although confusion was still etched on her features. “Why?” She asked.

Doyeon blinked. “Why?”

“Yes,” Yoojung nodded before continuing. “Why do you love me?”

Doyeon’s mouth bobbed up and down. She hadn’t really thought about the reasons as to why she loved Yoojung, she just knew in her heart that Yoojung was special. She had never loved anyone the way she loved Yoojung, and she didn’t think she ever could.

Doyeon gulped again and took a deep breath; her nerves were really getting the better of her. She honestly hadn’t expected Yoojung to ask her that type of question.

Yoojung took a step closer to Doyeon and gently squeezed her hand reassuringly. “There’s no need to be nervous, Doyeon. You’ve done the hard part in telling me that you love me, I just want to know why.”

Doyeon nodded, smiling at the contact of Yoojung’s hands holding hers and at the softness of Yoojung’s voice. “Okay, well...” Doyeon thought for a moment. “The reasons why I love you are because you’ve been with me since third grade; you’ve stuck with me through thick and thin. You’ve stuck with me at times when other people would’ve just left me, you know? I really love you for that.”

Yoojung smiled and nodded listening to Doyeon, giving her hand another squeeze telling her to continue.

“Another reason why I love you is because you understand me; you always listen to me whether I’m talking to you about good stuff or bad stuff... You always listen.” Doyeon bit her lip as she could feel tears running down her cheeks as she remembered all of the times Yoojung had helped her through difficult phases in her life. Yoojung also had tears streaming down her face as she listened to Doyeon’s words.

“You’re the only person I can truly trust,” Doyeon said, wiping her tears. “You’re the only person that I feel like I can share all my deepest secrets with, I can talk to you about my hopes and dreams, my deepest fears and for that I love you.”

Yoojung smiled weakly through her tears, opening her arms and enveloping Doyeon into a hug. Doyeon was now sobbing into her shoulder; partly because of nerves, but also because she was properly opening up to Yoojung.  

“You’re so special to me, Yoojung.” Doyeon sobbed. “I can’t imagine my life without you, and honestly I don’t want to imagine life without you. You make me happy when I’m at my lowest. You’re like the sunshine in my dull gray life. You mean so much to me, Yoojung.”

Yoojung wasn’t sure what to say to Doyeon as she needed to process everything that she had said, so instead of speaking she just hugged Doyeon tighter. After what was a good few minutes, Yoojung pulled out of the hug and wiped Doyeon’s tears away with her thumb.

“How long have you felt this way, Doyeon?” Yoojung asked.

“Honestly, a long time I just didn’t realize it.” Doyeon replied before continuing. “I knew that I felt something for you that was more than friendship when you started talking about your potential new crush, because every time you mentioned them I just felt so jealous. You and I both know that I’m not the jealous type at all... But I just felt so upset and jealous, and I thought why can’t that be me? Why can’t she talk about me the way she talks about them? Of course, I wanted you to be happy and I still do. I just can’t help the way I feel.”

“I know you can’t Doyeon, no one can help the way they feel towards other people,” Yoojung took a deep breath. “And to be honest Doyeon, I feel the same way about you.”

Doyeon blinked a few times. “What?” She asked wondering if she heard that right.                                                                                                                                           

“I said, I love you too.” Yoojung smiled.

“Really?”

“Really. I’ve loved you for a long time Doyeon, I just have never found the right time to tell you... But now you’ve said it first and this is the perfect opportunity for me to tell you how I feel too.”

“Wow, I... I didn’t expect that.” Doyeon admitted.

“What? Why not?” Yoojung asked confused.

“I don’t know,” Doyeon replied honestly. “I just thought you only saw me as a best friend, you know?”

Yoojung nodded. “That’s how I felt as well.”

Doyeon smiled. “I’m so happy right now.”

“Me too.” Yoojung smiled back, enveloping Doyeon into another hug. “I love you.” She whispered into Doyeon’s ear.

“I love you too.”