TIMESKIP 1 WEEK...

“Giselle?”

The Japanese girl turned around to face who called her, “hi Karina-unnie.”

Karina smiled, standing next to Giselle in front of the school, “hey…”

“Do you want to ask me something?”

“... Did you know Winter had a brother?”

The younger girl nodded, “yeah, I met him a few times. Cut Winter’s hair short, make her a lot taller, then boom, there he is. Although… When we got into our 10th year, we both didn’t see him much. Winter never talked about it but I always thought he had enlisted into the army since he was old enough.”

Karina slowly nodded, “Giselle… Winter told me that he was one of the victims of the Black Mamba…”

Giselle flinched, turned to stare at Karina, “really? Oh jeez… That’s why she ran that day huh.”

Karina nodded again, “yeah… She seemed so normal though…”

Giselle weakly chuckled, “Winter’s always been like that. She doesn’t like other people to help her with her problems since she thinks it’d be a burden… And she doesn’t like to go outside much either because she thinks if she stays inside, less trouble will brew.”

“Ah I see…”

“Yup… I’ve always tried to bring her out, you know? Have some fun, watch a movie or go to an amusement park… She’d enjoy it if she actually went.”

Karina smiled, “maybe we can try again.”

Giselle smirked at that moment, “why, you think since you’re her ‘babe’ she’ll say yes?”

Karina softly pushed Giselle’s shoulder, looking away to hide her blush, “no, don’t say things like that Giselle.”

The younger girl laughed, “okay~ But if I’m right I get teasing rights.”

‘Oh please no,’ was all Karina thought as she rolled her eyes.

“Yeah yeah, whatever.”

The school’s front doors opened then, and out came Winter and NingNing.

“Hey guys.”

“Hi unnies.”

Karina smiled at all of them, “ready to go?”

All of them nodded, walking together in the direction of the bus. They’d be hanging out today at Karina’s home, so they decided to all take the same bus… 

“Bark!”

Winter grinned, running past her friends to the front of an alley, “Ttang Kong-ah~”

If someone that didn’t know her from school saw her, they’d have thought she was a little kid at how cutely she called to the dog before skipping up to him.

Giselle and NingNing both stared at Karina, “who?”

“A stray dog, he always waits for Winter here. Come on, he doesn’t bite.”

The two followed Karina as she crouched down in front of the fluffy boy, “hi Kong, remember me?”

“Woof!”

Winter smiled at the dog, giving him a much needed head scratch, “not only is Karina here, but I brought my other friends too, say hi, Kong!”

“Woof!”

Giselle and NingNing smiled, giving the dog lots of affection.

“Awwww hi Kong~”

“Hi you little fluffy cutie~ Who’s a good boy~”

The dog rolled onto his back, panting happily from the new sources of love. 

After playing with him for a few minutes and giving him some food, the four girls had to leave due to the bus about to head out.

“Bye Ttang Kong! Nice meeting you~”

“Cya Kong~”

“Ruff!”

Karina and Winter went inside the bus first, followed by NingNing and Giselle.

“Yo what? Giselle, you taking the bus now?”

A girl in the back of the bus waved Giselle over as the other three already sat down in the middle. They stared up at her, especially NingNing, who didn’t have a bus partner yet.

Giselle glanced behind her before turning back to the girl with a smile, “sorry, maybe next time.”

The Japanese girl slid into the seat next to NingNing, smiling at her younger friend, “what?”

“Oh uh- I thought- Why didn’t you go to your friends?”

Giselle chuckled, “well, then you’d be lonely, or some weirdo might sit next to you.”

The red-haired girl smiled at her answer, “thanks unnie.”

This small interaction didn’t go unnoticed to the “unmarried” married friends who sat across the aisle. Karina and Winter stared at their two friends, stifling smiles and giggles but quickly turning away when the duo turned to them.

“What?”

Winter stared weirdly at Giselle, “what?”

“You two were looking at us.”

Karina leaned slightly forward, “and?”

While the oldest was doing that, Winter secretly put a heart to her chest, which only Giselle noticed, causing the second oldest girl to blushed slightly.

Giselle frowned, “point that at Karina-unnie, not me.”

Karina glanced over to see what Giselle was talking about, a muscle in twitching when she saw that Winter was holding up a heart. Without thinking, Winter turned to face Karina, her hands still a heart to her chest.

The vice president flustered up, looking out the window to distract herself from her sporadically beating heart. 

Dumb and Dumber has become Tom and Jerry in the quick span of five weeks, no surprise to the eldest and youngest, who’d watch them bicker and make each other fall for their tricks in the sidelines. 

…

Although it was mainly Giselle tricking Winter, which automatically made Karina a victim as well. 

As the four stepped out of the bus, the teasing on both sides continued, so much so that they didn’t hear someone coming up to them.

“Loser.”

Winter’s grin disappeared in a flash as a tall boy purposely bumped into her shoulder while walking past the group. Her happiness was nowhere to be seen as she hung her head down.

“Hey jackass, what did you just say?”

The student stopped in his tracks, turning around with his hands lazily in his pockets.

“I called her a loser, so what?”

Giselle’s hands clenched into fists at her sides, her eyes narrowing, “you better take that back.”

“And what if I don’t?”

Winter held onto one of Giselle’s arms, “Giselle I’m fine, let’s just go.”

The soft girl’s words were unheard as Giselle growled, “no one calls my best friend a loser.”

The boy scoffed, “best friend? Giselle, you need to step up your game, maybe you should hang out with people your level. Don’t stoop so low just to be nice.”

That pissed the Japanese girl off, her body moved without thought, stalking up to the taller guy.

“Maybe you should tone it down in your stupid testosterone.” 

But as Giselle jabbed a finger at his chest, he snatched her collar, “don’t lay a finger on me.”

Even with his close proximity and the clear threatening expression, Giselle didn’t flinch, willing to put her best friend first before anything else. On the other hand, Winter and NingNing didn’t know what to do, both of them wanting to help the older girl but fearful of the boy.

But Karina calmly walked up to them both, holding both of their arms firmly, “I advise you let go of her, Johnny.”

“Oh~ It’s Miss Vice President, think you’re so powerful huh?”

“I also suggest that you watch your language, be glad I’m not Bae Joohyun-ssi.”

Karina continued to speak with a light smile, “and even if you aren’t in school, it’s rude to pick on fellow peers, and to also try and initiate a fight with a girl…”

She clicked her tongue, “that’s ungentlemanly of you. If you think I have a bias, would you like to talk to your mother and the rest of the student council instead?”

Johnny flinched, sneering at Karina before pushing Giselle away from him. He turned around and walked away, grumbling underneath his breath.

Karina glanced over to Giselle, who kept glaring at Johnny’s back, “are you okay, Giselle?”

She looked away from the boy, “I’m fine.”

But then she startled as the bully’s victim rammed into her, hugging the older girl tightly.

“I’m sorry Giselle… I’m always getting you into trouble with them.”

Giselle’s expression softened as she rubbed Winter’s head, “it’s okay Winter, as best friends we’re supposed to protect each other.”

‘But you’re the only one that can protect someone…’ The sad girl thought, pulling away while playing with the sleeves of her jacket.

Karina then walked up, squeezing Winter’s shoulder, “are you okay?”

The younger girl sighed, “yeah I guess…”

Giselle suddenly chuckled, “but I have to admit, you were pretty cool there Karina-unnie.”

The eldest smiled, “just doing my job.”

They all started to walk towards Karina’s home once more, but even though Winter was engaged in their current conversation, she couldn’t help but have negative thoughts run through her mind. 

Everyone was protecting her, her mom, her brother… Giselle… Karina… 

But she felt as if she was too weak to protect them back…

All she wanted to do was help someone, to return the favor. Sure she saved Ttang Kong from being lonely… But she wanted to save a person, a friend… 

Maybe even her brother…

She let out a dejected sigh which didn’t go unnoticed by the other girls. 

Giselle wrapped her arm around Winter’s neck in a headlock, “yah, Winter.”

“Ow- what.”

The older girl ruffled Winter’s hair to the younger’s annoyance, “you’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine.”

Winter pouted at her best friend, “but did you really need to mess up my hair?”

“Yes, of course I did.”

NingNing smiled at Winter, “but Giselle-unnie’s right, no one got hurt today right? We’ll be okay, Winter-unnie.”

Karina smiled, “and don’t believe what those people say, you’re not any of those things.”

“Yeah sure you might be dumb at times but you’re not a bad person, you’ve helped me become a good person.”

“You’re the dumber one…” Winter muttered under her breath which made Giselle laugh, “yeah, we’re dumb and dumber.”

Seeing the others smile made Winter do so as well, and soon enough, her dispirited emotions were gone. The group of four arrived at Karina’s house, and what happened on their way here disappeared from their minds. The girls took note on not to use technology that much, so they began to play board games, Winter constantly calling Karina “jagiya” as if it’d help her calm down her shaking hands when playing. 

‘Things might not be so bad…’