Day 27-28:
late night training + smell

Part six

“She hugged me first!”

“You looked like you enjoyed it a little too much.”

“What do you want me to do Joohyun? Push her away?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

“What’s wrong with you, Hyun? You’re jealousy’s getting way out of hand. It feels like I don’t know you anymore.”

“One two thr—Ow!” Seungwan grunted, foot slipping from stepping the wrong way. She’s been stuck on the same move since she went to the practice room earlier this evening. She doesn’t have any problems doing it with the other girls around but doing it on her own with only the help of the recorded choreo she got on her phone, it’s more difficult. 

Beads of sweat on her forehead, Seungwan dropped down on the floor panting heavily; the frustration building in her chest, what’s worse is her left leg cramping and her ankle mildly throbbing from that little slip. Massaging her legs and stretching her toes, it’s been two hours since she camped in the practice room. Thinking she’d rather sweat all that anger rather than walk idly around Seoul, shutting away any thoughts that involve a certain raven-haired girl. She doesn’t wanna think about her right now, she thought, as she stared blankly at her shoe-covered feet.

Out of sight, out of mind, they said, Seungwan smiled sardonically, pulling the scrunchie off her hair, brown locks falling in soft tendrils covering her face, frustrated at her inability to keep Joohyun out of her mind. She noticed dark blotches on her gray sweatpants, widening as she stared absentmindedly at it. Seungwan touched her face, felt the wetness on her cheeks. She chuckled bitterly, crying came later than expected. Maybe she should’ve strolled outside. Being in the practice room just reminds her of the fight she ran away from. Devoid of any other individual other than herself, her mind brings up images of Joohyun wiping sweat off her brow, of Joohyun stretching beside her, white shirt sticking to her figure, of her laughing whenever they made fun of a certain move.

Biting her lip, she whimpered silently, willing the tears to stop.

“Are you gonna break up with me?”

Joohyun’s voice rang in her head, the pained tone squeezing that beating organ in her chest. Those were the last words she heard before she ran out of the dorm, the last image of her girlfriend falling down on her knees burning a hole behind her eyelids. 

---

“Unnie,” Joy called out, wiping the tears on their leader’s face. She was the only member in the dorm when the couple came back from one of their dates, coming out of her room immediately when she heard the door bang loudly and the sight of Joohyun on the floor, shoulders quaking. They were so happy when they left earlier, she wondered what’s wrong.

“I screwed up, Joy,” Joohyun said, tears making her lashes glisten, voice so heartbroken. “She left… Seungwan left,” muttering as fresh batch of tears started spilling from the corners of her eyes.

“I’m sure she’ll be back soon, Unnie. Don’t worry about it,” Joy assured her, rubbing Joohyun’s back in comfort. “Care to tell me what happened?”

“Wendy!”

A woman about Seungwan’s age, dressed in chic pastel pink suit and short’s ensemble, long wavy brown-hair swept on one side, came crashing towards Seungwan, wrapping her girlfriend in a tight embrace. Joohyun’s glared at the pair of hands just a shy away from her girlfriend’s bum.

“Long time no see!”

Joohyun watched on the sidelines as Seungwan happily chatted with her friend, said ‘friend’ who’s constantly touching her girlfriend. But Joohyun in her jealousy didn’t notice the uncomfortable expression on Seungwan’s face.

Lips between her teeth, a habit made out of her anxiety, Joohyun tried to tell Joy but the image of Seungwan looking at her in disappointment – usual warm pools of brown reflecting pain and sadness – she felt her chest constrict, whimpering, sobbing helplessly once again, unable to utter her distress, the reason why Seungwan walked out.

 It’s her fault, Joohyun thought. It’s my fault.

Joy has rarely ever seen their unnies fighting but when they do there’s always at least one member around to encounter it. She heard about it from Yerim last week, the maknae overhearing them arguing about Seungwan lying about going to her parent’s house, when apparently Seungwan was at a coffeeshop meeting an acquaintance. Yeri heard Seungwan say she only went there to get some coffee and coincidentally met that acquaintance. The reason seems valid enough and they all knew Seungwan would never lie to Joohyun but Joohyun had other ideas.

The three of them had a separate group chat for such occasions. But it was over as soon as it happened, Yerim told them, then. Joy thought this must be another one of those. She continued to accompany Joohyun, rubbing her back occasionally until her sobbing died down.

“Unnie, I don’t know what exactly happened or if you’ll ever tell me about it,” Joy started, pushing their leader slightly to look at her in the eye, “but you and Seungwan unnie went through a lot and you always managed to pull through. Just give the each other some space right now. She’ll come running before you know it.” Joohyun sniffed, warmth pooling in her chest at Joy’s words, she hugged her, burying her face in the crook of her neck, apologizing for having seen her in such state