Luda and Hyunjung have broken up a total of two times. This being the second time, and in a god forsaken mess of a radio show, live on air, for everyone to hear. All because Luda wanted to be the funny one for once. 

Humor really isn't one of Luda's strong points. Neither is Hyunjung's temperament.

"Unnie~" Luda calls out in that naturally cute tone of hers that really shouldn't be affecting Hyunjung as much as this. "I didn't mean it. It was a joke."

Now Hyunjung may be dense as a brick but she wasn't always slow to catch onto things. She knew Luda said it in jest, but it didn't lessen the sting either way. Hyunjung was being extra sensitive tonight but she was in too deep being self-indulgent already. Maybe let her girlfriend suffer even just a bit in a small act of revenge.

"Maybe you should have just left the jokes to Sojung," she couldn't help but cringe a little at her sentence. "No matter how bad they are."

At least Hyunjung would have just rolled her eyes that way. Hell, she wasn’t one for coming up with great punchlines either, but never would she even remotely joke about her relationship whether in public or just— never.

“I’m sorry,” Luda repeats. Again in the van on the way home, at the elevator, and another once inside their medium-sized dormitory.

Hyunjung releases a sigh, then faces the younger girl who just looked at her with those big, apologetic eyes. Hyunjung hates how she lets herself get lost in them like always. A softer look dawns on Luda from the attention.

“I...” Hyunjung starts haltingly, “sorry isn’t—”

“Luda-ya! What do you mean you broke up with— Oh. Unnie, you’re back too,” Dawon falters by the hallway. “Sorry. Did I interrupt?”

Luda speaks up for them. “Yeah. You kind of did.”

Another sigh. Luda was right. Another time then she guessed. Hyunjung decidedly plants a soft kiss on Luda’s forehead before murmuring a silent good night to both of the girls, then slipping into the room she shared with Juyeon. The darkness in the room already indicated her roommate was either asleep or still out. She couldn’t remember Juyeon’s schedule with her head scrambled to bits.

Plopping onto her bed, exhausted in every aspect, and yet she still couldn’t sleep.

What she wanted to say earlier: Sorry isn’t what I wanted to hear.

 

Like always, Hyunjung lets it be, lets it broil under a lid until it’s uncontrollably simmered. By morning, the rest of the girls believe they have officially broken up. Even then, she doesn’t say anything.

“Is it true?” Of course Sojung was the first to directly ask her, the only one brave enough to ask. Or stupid enough, that too.

Too bad for her, Hyunjung was still barely awake. She tried fixing herself a bowl of cereal from pure muscle memory before giving up after she couldn’t find the milk anywhere. Finally sitting down, her oldest friend just sighs before pouring Hyunjung a cup of coffee. She flashes Sojung a lazy smile in return.

“What is the truth, really? If not a subjective explanation of a supposedly objective thing.”

The coffee was great, Sojung’s expression? Not so good, unamused actually. Hyunjung barely held in her chortle lest she choked on the bitter liquid. Now that would be a waste of good coffee.

“Neither of us are awake enough for this,” the leader practically groans, head on her palms.

“That makes three of us,” Luda declares once inside the small bubble of the kitchen, none of them expecting her. Hyunjung would deny that the sudden presence made her jump a little on her seat.

The younger girl doesn’t say anything else and goes straight for the fridge instead, not even pausing to greet Hyunjung good morning like she usually does. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Sojung either judging by the questioning look she throws Hyunjung's way. Hyunjung just shrugs back, also still observing.

“Unnie~” For a moment, it doesn’t register that Luda was calling out to her.

“Huh? What?” Hyunjung answers after a delayed beat. She could only hope her dubiousness could be masked as grogginess instead.

“We’re out of milk,” Luda simply says.

“Oh.” So that was why she couldn’t find it earlier.

The two older girls continue to watch as Luda scampers to the EunSeol shared room, grabs a few crumpled bills from Hyunjung’s wallet then walks straight for the hallway to the exit. It was then that Luda finally paused and looked directly at Hyunjung, startling the eldest one more time.

“Come with me?” Her tone was sweet and normal as if it was a usual day-to-day situation.

The request was processed for a moment again in Hyunjung’s mind, she hoped she didn’t seem too dumbfounded. The look on Luda said otherwise, she definitely noticed, what with the small, amused smirk on her face.

“Why me?” Hyunjung says it as if she was annoyed, but stands up anyway and heads over.

Luda naturally pulls Hyunjung’s arm, wrapping it around her own shoulders. “Of course it’s you, who else?” Luda beams, Hyunjung just looks away with a shy smile.

A faint sound of spluttering was heard afterwards. Sojung does not know what the just happened.

 

Hyunjung doesn’t knock. She sneakily enters the dance practice room while carrying refreshments for their brand new subunit composed of the four most adorable girls in their group. To explain her stealthiness, it was all because her devil of a girlfriend refused to let her see anything. It wasn’t just Hyunjung who was kept in the dark but still… Hyunjung had girlfriend rights.

It didn’t help that Luda was the designated leader for the unit too. Which would have been amazing because Hyunjung thought the role fit her girlfriend the best. If only Luda wasn’t treating this as some sort of confidential mission. The videogames have fully rotted Luda’s brain it seems.

As usual though, the witty girl was already a step ahead. Hyunjung should have seen this coming. She did, but it wasn’t enough to stop her anyway.

“Unnie, what are you doing?” Luda asks with an airy laugh, easily catching Hyunjung in her tracks.

The eyes of all four girls were now on Hyunjung, who were all obviously on a break from practice judging from their relaxed positions on the floor. Hyunjung nervously swallows before awkwardly raising the bag of drinks in lieu of a verbal explanation.

It takes a total of two seconds before pandemonium breaks out.

“Free drinks!” Both of their youngest happily yells out before almost trampling over Hyunjung to get a hold of the drinks.

There was no remorse whatsoever whenever it came to her girls and food.

“Seola-unnie is jjang!” Yeoreum gives her a thumbs-up.

“I love you the most unnie!” Dayoung tries to give her a wet kiss that Hyunjung luckily manages to evade.

Hyunjung shakes her head. Her members were truly too easy to please. Then she remembered—

“Yah, Park Soobin! You texted me that practice was still ongoing.”

“It’s not my fault!” Soobin counters right away. “Leader found me out. Also, I wouldn’t have been able to message you if we were actually in practice, you know.”

Now that Hyunjung thought about it… Soobin was right. All she could do now was knock her head against her knuckles. Amidst all that, Soobin shamelessly grabs a cup without forgetting to mutter a soft ‘Pabo’ that was definitely meant to be heard.

She was left to stand in the middle of the practice room, head blank and last drink still on her hand. Luda approaches her with a cheeky smile. Hyunjung wants to frown, she really does. She fails.

“Is that for me, unnie?” Luda asks, pointing to the iced latte, infuriating smile still on her face.

“Oh, this?” Hyunjung raises the drink teasingly as she thought of the perfect retaliation. “If you want it, you’ll have to act cute first.”

The younger girl scoffs and Hyunjung smiles triumphantly. Luda looks away then and just when Hyunjung thought she’s officially won, Luda suddenly turns back in her direction. Her smile fades as Luda unleashes the power of her aegyo. How Hyunjung momentarily forgot that the girl before her was the queen of cuteness, she has no idea.

“Ludie want coffee,” the younger girl cutely says, even bats her eyelashes attractively while doing grabby motions with her hands.

That was all it took for Hyunjung to raise the metaphoric white flag. She had no chance at all. Coercion via manipulation, practically.

The whole room bursts out into loud guffaws as Luda claims her trophy and Hyunjung is left to her own devices in calming down her own damn heart. She almost suffers a second heart attack as Luda swiftly pecks her on the cheek. She could practically feel all the blood rush to her face then.

“Oh my gosh. Seola-unnie’s blushing!”

“Look at her ears!”

The series of teasing makes Hyunjung attempt to hide her face with her hands.

The teasing doesn’t stop either way.

In fact, it intensifies as Luda pulls the eldest’s head to rest on her shoulder, attempting to hide her flustered state even if just a bit.

“You have no mercy at all, do you?” Hyunjung asks, burying her head further into the crook of Luda’s neck. It was a comfortable position despite their height difference.

“This is what you get for trying to spy on me.”

“I just wanted to see you. Is that so wrong?” she mumbles into Luda’s warm skin.

“Leader-nim,” Soobin royally interrupts, her hand raised in question, “I thought you and Hyunjung-unnie broke up?”

Hyunjung raises her head then, only slightly, before narrowing her eyes at the cheeky girl. Soobin just grins back, mirth coloring her features.

Luda answers before Hyunjung could accidentally commit murder. “I’m trying to win her back,” she says with confidence.

The eldest finally pulls back then scoffs. “I’m not that easy, just so you know.”

“Oh please,” Soobin chimes in once more, “Luda would simply flash you her puppy dog eyes and suddenly you’re all putty.”

“Yah! Whose side are you on?” Hyunjung asks her friend incredulously.

Another devious smile. “The winning side, of course.”

That was all it took to render Hyunjung speechless and rouse another round of laughter at her expense.

 

It turns into their little inside joke, Luda calling herself Hyunjung’s ex-girlfriend even if the truth was miles away from that. No matter, it was entertaining watching her members’ confused expressions to even the slightest of things.

Like Luda opening a water bottle for Hyunjung because she was too weak to do it herself. Jiyeon immediately comments that all those times Luda acted like a fragile girl was a lie. Luda simply brushes her off with a ‘I have muscles now.’

Jiyeon decidedly shakes her head and mutters under her breath something that sounded a lot like ‘Ex-girlfriends, my .’

Even with the uncertainty, the girls still treat Hyunjung as Luda’s first emergency contact. There was no hesitation as the subunit girls led a quiet Luda into Hyunjung’s room. The eldest puts her phone down on the bed, noticing something was off right away.

“We’re leaving her in your care, unnie,” was the only explanation Hyunjung got before the three other girls closed the door behind them, leaving Luda who stood with her head bowed down.

The younger girl was still in her training clothes, probably just having finished practice.

“What’s wrong?” Hyunjung asks gently once they were alone, arms readily open for the younger girl who automatically fell into them.

Luda doesn’t answer for a moment, choosing to snuggle into Hyunjung’s embrace first, exhaling in content. Hyunjung doesn’t press, just tightens her hold and rubs gentle circles on the girl’s back.

It wasn’t that difficult to figure out what the problem was. It was just a few days before the subunit’s official debut, after all. That and because Hyunjung always knew whenever her girlfriend felt down even without her telling.

When Hyunjung closes her eyes, suddenly she’s nineteen again, Luda seventeen, meeting each other for the first time. Then at twenty-one, their group’s debut date looming over their heads. Everyone was fraught with nerves, especially Hyunjung. She remembers how only Luda was able to calm her down, reassure her that she wasn’t alone.

Four years later and they’d kept their promise of staying by each other’s side.

“I’m scared,” Luda reveals in a quiet voice. “Because you’re not going to be there with me.”

It felt like a hand was gripping Hyunjung’s heart then. Her arms unintentionally squeeze the younger girl’s body tighter to her.

“Do you remember what you told me the night before our debut stage?”

“Unnie, that was literally four years ago.”

“I know. But I still remember.” Luda raises her head, expression curious. “You were as nervous as me and yet you went on and said that we were in this together. That I had you, and you had me. Even now—” she pauses, keeping their gazes even. “—You have me, Luda.”

The younger girl’s eyes soften, affection evident in them. She kisses Hyunjung then, abruptly, then slow. Hyunjung catches up, kisses back as tenderly. Without breaking the kiss, Luda moves to change their position, her body now straddling Hyunjung’s own, her hands magnetized to Luda’s waist.

A soft whimper comes out from the younger girl, unbridled. Luda knew how much Hyunjung loved hearing them. Hyunjung pulls her closer, hearts easily connecting.

Breaking the kiss, Hyunjung simply looks up at the younger girl, hair tousled and lips bruised to a warm red. Luda was beautiful, so, so beautiful. Hyunjung never wants to stop looking. Luda does the same, then shifts to a more comfortable position on her lap.

“I wish we could promote together,” Luda says absentmindedly.

“We already did though,” Hyunjung points out. “The company usually sent us out as a pair back then, if you’ve forgotten.”

“I knew that, genius,” Luda says, annoyed. “That’s not what I meant.”

Hyunjung chuckles. “I was kidding. I get it.” Her voice softens. “I like performing with you too. Singing with you, dancing, just— being with you.”

Luda studies Hyunjung’s face, searching, before her lips curl into a satisfied smile, eyes turning into crescents. Hyunjung mirrors the expression.

“Luda-ah,” Hyunjung starts, “want to get back together?” The question earns her a slap in the arm.

“We never broke up, pabo,” Luda says firmly.

A melodic giggle. “Better tell the rest of the girls then. They’re probably going to lose their minds. Especially Sojung.” She chuckles at the thought of their leader’s upcoming reaction, probably an overdramatic one.

“Later.”

“But—” Hyunjung tries to protest until Luda shuts her up with her lips. She relents all too easily.

Later it is.

 

Outtake:

Hyunjung was aware of her girlfriend’s deathly glare that was directed at her alone. It was expected as Hyunjung decided to keep mum all throughout their reaction segment to the newly released music video.

“Okay, guys. Who’s your favorite Chocome member?” What a sneaky question, Hyunjung thought.

Even as everyone else spoke up with their answers, Hyunjung wouldn’t say a thing, just all smiles.

And then... the nail to the coffin.

“To Soobin who looks up to me, Chocome, fighting!”

It didn’t even take five minutes after ending the shoot for Luda to stomp her way to Hyunjung’s seat, cup her cheeks and kiss her all too possessively right in front of their members.

After breaking away, Luda announces for everyone to hear, “I’m no longer Hyunjung-unnie’s ex-girlfriend. Got that?”

Which was met with a simultaneous: “We know!”




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A/N: Hyunlu/Seolu make my day <3 twt: @shashakiseola