Sowon was running late, she ran to the kitchen and quickly stole some food her mother made.

“Yah, sit down to eat.” said Sowon’s mother but Sowon drank some orange juice and shook her head.

“I’m late, I have to pick up the girls so we can go buy our ticket concert before school, the shop open at 8 am and Umji said the tickets may be sold in less than one hour so we can’t wait to go after school.” said Sowon as she grabbed her backpack and ran to the door. “I’m taking your car!” said Sowon, grabbing her mother’s key car too and leaving knowing it was her mother’s day off anyway.

Sowon got in the car and drove away from the house, she stopped at Umji’s house first as she was the closest to hers, SinB who was Umji’s neighbor was waiting with her. Both girls got in the back seat. They chatted about the concert, it was their favorite group and they couldn’t miss this concert. Sowon reached Eunha’s house and stopped, the girl wasn’t out yet so Sowon honked to speed her up. 

Eunha’s dad came out and waved at the girls. “She’s looking for her jacket!” he informed them. He was dressed and ready to leave for the factory too.

“Tell her to look under her desk!” said Sowon and the man smiled as he yelled at Eunha to check under her desk. Eunha finally came out and as she ran to the car with her lace half way done Sowon looked at the man again. “Oh and my mom said you should come over tonight for dinner.” said Sowon to the man who nodded.

“Okay, we will be there.” he answered and Sowon waved back at him before driving away.

“Sorry.” said Eunha as SinB complained about the time. “I couldn’t find my jacket, it was under my desk, luckily my dad told me to look there.” she informed the other girls who giggled.

“Sowon told him to tell you.” said Umji, rolling her eyes. 

“She seems to know better where you put your stuff.” said SinB then she looked at Sowon’s direction who was focused on the road. “How did you know about the jacket?” she asked her now curious.

“I went to Eunha’s house yesterday after school to do homework.” just said Sowon as they got comfortable on the bed doing their homework she remembered Eunha throwing her jacket on the chair by the desk but missing it and the jacket went directly under the desk.

“I really don’t understand why you two do your homework together. You aren’t in the same classes, Eunha is one year behind you Sowon.” said SinB as she was doing her homework with Umji because they had the same and could help each other out.

“That’s true.” said Umji suddenly. “Sowon can help Eunha a lot as she already learned all Eunha’s stuff but Eunha you can’t help her so it’s unfair.” said Umji and Eunha turned her head to look at the two girls on the back seat. 

“Yah!” she said with an angry face. “Okay I can’t help her with her homework like she helps me.” said Eunha and SinB and Umji tried to contain their laugh as Eunha was making a serious angry face but was still looking quite cute. “But I prepare good snacks for her all the time and I even give her massages when she needs it.” said Eunha as she turned back and sat correctly, her arms crossed on her chest. “You may not know it but our Sowon often needs massages, her shoulders are quite stiff, she’s very tall so her body is fragile.” explained Eunha and Sowon blushed as she tried to ignore what Eunha was telling their friends.

“Here we are.” said Sowon as she parked in front of the shop. Yuju arrived at the same time, her parents dropped her on their way to work. And Yerin was living close to the shop so she said she would join them there and was already waiting for them all to arrive.

Yerin ran to them as excited as a kid in front of an ice cream truck. “You are late!” she said as she rushed them closer to the shop. “I didn’t dare to go in without you.” she informed them and they all entered the shop. 

They went to the cashier and Sowon asked for the concert ticket, the man looked into his computer and nodded as he celected 6 tickets. The girls took out their money and all put it on the counter, the cashier smiled at them and took the cash before printing their concert tickets.

The girls jumped out in happiness once they got the concert tickets.

“Now we will be late for school.” pointed out Umji as she looked at her phone. Sowon nodded and hurried the girls to get back in the car. 

Sowon’s car wasn’t that big and the school was only 2 minutes away but the girls all jumped in, Yuju sat on SinB’s laps while Yerin was stuck in the middle. Eunha didn’t even had to think about where to sit as she was always the one in the front with Sowon, it was like this since Sowon could drive. The two girls have been best friends since they were around 5 so it was no wonder Eunha was Sowon’s favorite and even if their group of friends were close and knew each other for some years Sowon and Eunha were the closest and had always been.

Sowon remembered the first time she saw Eunha, it was a long time ago. Sowon was 6 and her mother just got a new job in this town so they moved and Sowon transferred school. She was already tall, taller than kids her age and as she arrived in the middle of the year she had a hard time making friends. During the break she would often sit alone close to the swings and watch other kids around, a bit jealous to not have any friends like every other kids.

Sowon was shy and discreet, she wouldn’t tell her mother, pretending she was alright but Sowon was sad to be alone at school even after some weeks no other kids talked to her at all. But everything changed one day. Eunha was with another girl on the swing, Eunha liked the swings a lot and her friend was pushing her. Suddenly Eunha asked her friend to stop but the other girl pushed harder and harder.  Other kids gathered and cheered for the girl to keep going. Eunha gripped the swing and cried as she was scared but the girls continued and the other kids around laughed and kept cheering on her.

Sowon swallowed hard and stood up. She walked closer and pushed the girl away who fell on her looking at her dumbfounded then Sowon caught the swing and stopped it. Eunha who had her eyes closed looked up and met eyes with Sowon. Her cute eyes were full of tears.

She looked at the other girl sitting on the floor beside the swing and stood up, she walked closer to her and kicked her while yelling at her and crying. Sowon panicked as the two girls started to fight, so she went behind Eunha and circled her arms around her stomach from behind before lifting her up and carrying her away from the girl, stopping the fight.

Sowon finally let go of Eunha as they were away from the other kids.

“You okay?” asked Sowon and Eunha was still crying. 

Eunha looked up at Sowon and hugged her. “Thank you, you are my friend now.” she mumbled and Sowon nodded.

“Okay.” smiled Sowon and Eunha smiled back.

“Thank you for stopping the swing, it was going too high and it was scary…” said Eunha and Sowon nodded. “Now I will only trust you for pushing me.” said Eunha proundly.

“You can trust me.” answered Sowon with a big smile. 

And like that even if they were not in the same class as Eunha was one year younger, the two became best friends and Sowon was the only one Eunha even trusted for pushing her on the swing.

During all those years, they were very close, they would stay over at each other’s house and even growing up they stayed close. They were not the kind of friend to grow apart once they grow up and don’t have any interest in commun. Their friendship was stronger, the bond between them, that string connecting them both kept getting stronger and thicker as time passed. 

And Sowon must admit that she always felt something was different with Eunha, she always loved her differently, loved her more than anyone else, she knew that love was something more than friendship love because Sowon loved her other friends, but with Eunha it had always been something else, something indescriptible, something Sowon didn’t really payed attention to as it seemed natural and instinctif, but things changed just after that concert…

Sowon will always remember the first time she felt jealousy burning inside her. She never worried about stuff like that before she was always around Eunha, sharing everything with her so that night after the concert, when a group of guys started hitting on them, talking and kept offering them to come have a drink with them Sowon started realizing that it wasn’t normal for her to feel so jealous when one of the guy put his arm around Eunha’s shoulder and flirted with her.

Sowon was boiling inside, her fists clenched and her face couldn’t hide it, she hated seeing Eunha around that guy. Especially when the girl kept talking to him, laughing with him and staying beside him while he was getting touchy with her after just meeting her.

“Girls we need to go.” suddenly said Sowon surprising the other girls. 

“It’s okay Sowon let’s have some fun.” said Yerin but Sowon frowned.

“Eunha, your dad would be mad seeing you flirt with strangers like this.” said coldly Sowon and Eunha looked at her confused.

“What’s wrong with you?” asked back Eunha and Sowon held her gaze.

“I said we have to leave.” she insisted and as she was one of the eldest and that she was the one driving them all here. They borrowed Eunha’s dad's car this time as it was bigger and with enough seats for all the girls. Finally the girls nodded and followed her.

Sowon immediately took Eunha’s arms in hers as they all walked away. The guys kept calling them insisting they stay longer and party with them but Sowon insisted again that they needed to go.

As Sowon drove each girl to their houses, at the end she parked in front of Eunha’s house. Eunha got out still mad and Sowon followed her to the front door.

“Seriously, what were you thinking?” asked Eunha as she stopped suddenly and turned around facing Sowon who extended her hand and gave the car keys to Eunha.

“Thank your dad again for letting us use his car.” said Sowon ignoring Eunha.

Sowon turned around ready to walk back to her house and think about what happened, she couldn’t believe it herself, she couldn’t believe how mad she was feeling inside, how hurting it was seeing Eunha with that boy, she herself wasn’t sure why she reacted so strongly. She just wanted Eunha away from him.

Eunha followed her and took her arm. “Sowon.” she whispered begging the tall girl to stop and talk to her. 

Sowon turned around and looked at Eunha, the short girl was looking at her confused and lost. Sowon took her in her arms. “I was worried… those guys were way older than us…” she said sincerely and Eunha hugged her back.

“I know but you can’t react like this.” said Eunha and Sowon broke the hug looking at the short girl with a questioning look. “I wasn’t super comfortable, but we can’t reject them directly, we need to stay polite, think about what they could do to us if they get mad because we reject them…” said Eunha and Sowon nodded.

“You’re right, I just… I wasn’t thinking straight…” said Sowon looking down. “I just wanted them away from us…” explained Sowon and Eunha smiled at her.

“Always trying to protect me, you didn’t change.” she said and Sowon blushed a bit. “I’m a big girl now, you don’t have to always look after me.”

“But I want to…” answered Sowon. “I can’t help it but to protect you, I always felt like that since the first time my eyes looked at you.” said Sowon and Eunha smiled.

“And I’m very glad you protected me all this time, but what I try to say is that you have to think about you too, and I can protect you too.” said Eunha and Sowon swallowed hard. Eunha was looking at her with her sweet eyes, smiling, she was looking so pretty. Sowon felt it in her heart, she loved the girl deeply, she was so in love with her but she could never have her that way…

Eunha took Sowon’s hands. “Come in, you can’t walk alone at night, your house isn’t that close.” said Eunha, “Plus your mom is expecting you to stay at my place so you can’t change plans at the last minute.” said Eunha pulling Sowon with her toward her house.

That night Sowon was laying beside Eunha and couldn’t sleep, her heart was beating too fast, feeling the short girl’s arm brushing against hers, hearing Eunha’s breath beside her was too much. Sowon wanted to turn on her side and hug the girl, cuddle her till they both fell asleep but she was feeling weird.

Before her realization they would hug and cuddle often but now Sowon was feeling weird… As if it was bad, as if she was using Eunha and she hated this new feeling… A new feeling that made her put some distance between her and Eunha.

After this even Sowon was more conscious about every move, every touch and every little attention she was sharing with Eunha, their closeness was killing her as she was still feeling guilty about her feelings.

When Eunha would run to her and hug her, when Eunha would hide her face into her neck when she was hugging her, when Eunha would take her hand while they walk in town, when Eunha was resting her hand on Sowon’s thigh whenever they would sit beside each other… Sowon’s heart was feeling so heavy but she couldn’t let Eunha know and risk losing their friendship…

So Sowon started to ignore those gestures, she would let go of Eunha quickly to take her phone or anything else to distract her away from the short girl’s touches, she would break the hug quickly, she was doing her best to distance herself but god Eunha was making it so difficult.

Sowon was thinking about their friends, about her mother, what would they all think if they knew she was in love with a girl, in love with Eunha… Her mother was always talking about grandchildren, about the day Sowon would marry a good man, she would be devastated… And Eunha, Eunha would be disgusted by her, feeling betrayed, feeling sick to have shared a bed with her, sick to be around someone as erted as her all this time…

Because of those thoughts Sowon got even more scared about her feelings, she tried hard to repress them, hiding them deep into her heart but just seeing Eunha or feeling her close was making her body react. Her heart was beating faster, her breathing almost cut, there were fireworks in her stomach every time her eyes would meet Eunha’s. It was impossible to not feel it, impossible to keep hiding it, it was too strong.

Sowon decided that once she would graduate, she would leave this town, go as far away as possible, become someone her mother would be proud of so even if she couldn’t give her mother a grandchild, or bring into their family a nice husband at least her mother would still be proud of her…

But just leaving wouldn’t do the job, Eunha kept saying that she would follow Sowon, go study in the same town so they can still stay together and Sowon knew that if she kept in touch with Eunha, or had Eunha around it would break her heart, it was becoming too difficult to just be friend with the short girl and Sowon knew that one day Eunha would start dating a boy and that Sowon would be expected to be happy for her. Sowon was hurting herself just thinking about it and she knew this pain would be even harder than pushing away Eunha…

That’s why Sowon applied for college in another city far away without telling Eunha or anyone else and letting her mother know only a short time before she had to leave. Also Sowon wanted Eunha to make her own choices, to grow up without her, she knew Eunha would do great anywhere, she was just so nice and smart. She would be totally fine without her Sowon was sure of that or she hoped it would.

As Eunha was one year younger, when Sowon graduated, Eunha had one year left in high school before deciding where to go, and Sowon wanted Eunha to decide for herself, not just follow Sowon out of habitude and for the reassurance to be around someone she knew well.

So some days after her graduation, when the summer vacations started for everyone, Sowon prepared her baggage, she helped her mother with some stuff in the house and organized a dinner together before Sowon's departure. 

On the next morning Sowon had some time before taking the bus that would take her to the airport she was feeling sick, she was feeling bad about this situation, but she knew she made the right choice for herself but leaving Eunha like this was just so bad, they knew each other since so long, Eunha would be so mad at her… Sowon knew it but it was for the best, she already blocked all her friends' numbers from her phone and decided that once she would be at the university she would forget Eunha and meet new people forget the feelings she had for her and focus on herself and her studies. It was the plan, but the more the minutes passed the more Sowon doubted everything.

All she could think about was Eunha and tears came to her eyes. She was about to abandon the person she loved the most. It was hurting so bad, knowing she would never see her again. Sowon brushed her tears away and walked out of her room. Only 2 more hours before her big departure, she took her luggage out of her room, wanting to have it around when she would leave but as she arrived in the living room Eunha was there.

Sowon swallowed hard as she saw the short girl tuning to look at her.

Her smile disappeared as she looked at the luggage.

“You are going on vacation?” asked Eunha, arching an eyebrow, if Sowon had plans she would know, they were best friends.

“No I’m not going on vacation.” said Sowon looking at Eunha then looking at her mother who seemed confused too as to why Eunha was so surprised. Sowon told her mother that her friends already knew about her college choice. Sowon put the luggage beside the couch and pointed to her room. “I need to talk to you.” she said to Eunha who looked at Sowon’s mother worried before walking past Sowon to go into the tall girl’s room.

Sowon looked sadly at her mother seeing how her mother seemed worried why Sowon didn’t tell Eunha about all this. Then Sowon followed Eunha and entered her room, she closed the door behind herself.

“What’s happening, this feels quite weird you know.” said Eunha sitting on Sowon’s bed.

“I’m leaving for university.” said Sowon and Eunha nodded.

“Leaving?” asked Eunha frowning. “But the university is just 45 minutes away by bus.” she said standing up. 

Sowon shook her head. “I’m not going to this one.”

“Where are you going?” immediately asked Eunha, taking a step closer to Sowon. “Why you didn’t told me before?”

“I didn’t want to tell you…” said Sowon, “I’m leaving in less than 2 hours now…” she confessed.

“You wanted to hide this from me? like you were about to leave without telling me? without saying goodbye?” asked Eunha hitting Sowon’s shoulder. “How dare you?!” she asked again, hitting Sowon one more time as the tall girl looked down and stayed silent. Sowon looked up and met eyes with Eunha, the short girl had tears in her eyes.

“You know…” started Eunha taking a step back, “I knew something was off but I would never imagine you would just plan on leaving me like that…” she said with sadness in her voice. It broke Sowon’s heart a bit more seeing Eunha like this. “Am I nothing for you?!” she asked, raising her voice and Sowon looked down again. 

“It’s been months now that you are acting weird…” said Eunha biting her lips together and trying hard not to cry but tears were still coming out of her eyes and Sowon was feeling her eyes getting watery too. “You are so distant, you don’t hug me anymore, you don’t come over as often as before, you don’t invite me to your house anymore…” said Eunha sadly, “I was hoping you would finally talk to me, tell me what was bothering you, that we could fix everything and go back to how it was before… but… but you are just leaving without a word, without an explanation…” said Eunha mad now. 

Sowon didn’t have the courage to look up, she was about to break down and ran to Eunha, taking her in her arms and apologizing to her, crying into her and holding her so tight that they would just become one together.

“Are you finally tired of me?” asked Eunha now and Sowon bit her lips together, “Are you taking this chance to get rid of me because you are tired of me?!” asked again Eunha madly.

“Yes I’m tired of you, of this town, of everyone!” yelled back Sowon as liying was the best way to get away with this, but as she looked up, she regretted immediately. She saw the pain in Eunha’s eyes and more tears coming to the short girl’s eyes. 

“Well good for you!” yelled back Eunha taking the picture frame on Sowon’s desk, it was a picture of them together some years ago as they went to the fair. “You won't hear from me anymore!” she said, throwing the picture frame at Sowon’s feet. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces and Eunha walked past Sowon, walking on the picture before leaving her room, slamming the door on her way out.

Sowon looked down at the picture and picked it up, she looked at it. They looked so happy, that day they had so much fun but it was all over now. Sowon had to focus on her new life, she needed to become the best lawyer ever and make her mother proud. She just put the picture in the trash and walked out. 

Her mother looked at her but didn't ask any questions. They ate a bit then Sowon left, her mind replaying her talk with Eunha, seeing Eunha’s anger, and the pain on her face again and again…