Chapter Two.
--

“I can’t hear what they’re saying,” Ye Eun said as she squinted her eyes in an attempt to get a better view of the fidgety couple ambling towards no particular destination.

“Can’t you guys read lips? They’re obviously trying to decide what to eat. Maybe we should sneak closer!,” said SunMi.
Sohee furrowed her eyebrows for a moment.

“In order for us to hear what they’re saying, we would need words to start coming out of their mouths,” she replied.
“But they are speaking see! Hey it looks like they decided what to eat, ohh whoa when did they get so close, they’re kissing, they’re kissing!,” SunMi continued excitedly.

“SunMi what the heck are you talking about they’re not doing anything like that at all!,” Sohee countered in an annoyed fashion.

Ye Eun meanwhile was squinting her eyes so much in order to see the alleged kissing that they were almost closed.
“Ok, getting weird now. Someone should suggest they get a room,” SunMi added with a giggle.

“What the hell!,” Sohee said with an automatic smack attack landing on SunMi’s arm as she caught sight of where the other girl’s eyes were actually directed. “You’re not even looking at the right couple! Get your spying skills sorted out you ert!”

“I know but our unnies aren’t doing anything right now and I didn’t want to bring these binoculars along for nothing you know, they’re kind of heavy. Should we throw something at them and see what happens?”

“What kind of retarded Santa are you?,” Sohee shot out.

Ye Eun scratched her head as she tried to figure out whether or not she was actually disappointed at the fact that Yoobin and Sunye hadn’t been engaging in public shows of affection.

“ I don’t actually know if you realise this SunMi but there are times when you need to pretend you’re a normal person,” Sohee continued.

“Says she who dressed us all in Santa costumes?,” Ye Eun asked while trying to rub the stress out of her eyes.

There was a pause.

“I concede the point,” Sohee admitted.

“Look! Lips! Moving!,” SunMi said as she bounced up and down.

--
“That went well,” Yoobin said, desperately trying to save both herself and Sunye from the distressing silence that had fallen between them.

“I never thought I’d ever have to teach the Tell me dance to anyone who could do it as well as us,” the other girl replied as she tried to smile in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“It was pretty impressive,” Yoobin agreed with a small smile of her own.

“Too bad he was a forty year old man though.”

“That did make it a little weird.”

--
The three girls looking on all shared the same expression.

“I think I’m going to die from the awkwardness streaming from those two right now,” Sohee began.

“What’re they saying?,” Ye Eun asked.

“It doesn’t matter what they’re saying. They’re contaminating the Earth with excessive amounts of awkwardness!
“Well it looks like they’re mostly small talking all over the place,” Sohee said, choosing to regard only the sane parts of conversation.

--
“It kind of seems like we’re just small talking all over the place,” Sunye said gently as she looked around everywhere else, just trying to keep her eyes off Yoobin.

SunMi gasped and grabbed her two counterparts by the hands.

“Oh crap we were seen! She’s coming this way!,” she said with a shocked expression.

“Run! Ditch the clothes and run!,” Sohee ordered.

“Got it!”

“SunMi there’s no need to strip that much!,” Ye Eun said with a shocked expression of her own.

“Oh my God,” Sohee managed to get out.

“Just run!,” SunMi replied.

Moments later three girls found themselves placed squarely in the middle of a large patch of greenery.

Two of them looked to be developing twitches in their right eyes, while the third just looked excited.

”That was intense!,” SunMi reported. “I have goosebumps! That was like totally out of a movie chase scene.”

“Traffic... so much traffic,” Ye Eun managed to get out. “Can we please seek less thrills while going on these extra curricular outings? Please? I think I just shaved years off my life with that run.”

“We nearly got run over! We rolled down a hill!,” Sohee said as she shook bits of grass out of her hair.

“Oh that’s funny,” SunMi said suddenly.

“Take that back right now SunMi,” Ye Eun countered. “This was not amusing at all!”

“Heh. This is gonna sound kinda weird but... I guess she didn’t see us after all,” the younger girl replied with a shrug.

“Hey why are you guys wearing foliage?”

Sohee, being without her usual air of annoyance due to recent life and death situations subtly placed her body in between Ye Eun and SunMi. As she judged by Ye Eun’s distressed look and SunMi’s trademark ridiculously cheeky smile, life and death situations were not a rare find on that particular day.

Ye Eun stood up quickly and advanced on SunMi as Sohee braced herself for impact.

“SunMi I don’t have full control of my body right now because I thought that truck was actually going to squish me and then I had to execute an almost impossible dive into this ridiculously placed bush that I hope to God isn’t poisonous but rest assured, tomorrow I’m going to sit on your bed and eat crackers all day long. All day SunMi. All day,” Ye Eun said as she tried to dust herself off.

Sohee sighed as she found herself relaxing a little. ‘I shouldn’t have worried,’ she thought. ‘I don’t consider her the responsible unnie for nothing.’

Unfortunately for all three bush hidden girls at that point in time, there was much too much silence in the air for SunMi’s liking and Sohee wasn’t fast enough to cover in a life-saving attempt.

“... what kind of crackers?,” Miss 4-d shot out of innocently.

Ye Eun’s eyes widened. Sohee’s mouth dropped. SunMi smiled. A chase began.

“Stop, stop!,” Sohee said desperately as she tried to end the battle without getting caught in the crossfire. “Not you SunMi! You just run, keep running! Don’t trip you idiot she’ll kill you!”

--
In the meantime, Yoobin and Sunye continued to share a completely different atmosphere between them.

“I’m sorry I made it so awkward between us. I honestly never thought you’d end up reading... all that,” Yoobin started.

Sunye couldn’t resist trying to comfort the girl and found her hand slowly Yoobin’s hair.

“Please don’t apologise like that,” Sunye said softly. “And please don’t make it seem like I don’t care. My reaction was just... I can explain it ok? Just give me a chance.”

Yoobin shook her head sadly.

“Can we... is it ok if we pretend I never wrote it?”

“What?,” Sunye in a hurt whisper, her hand suddenly lying still. “It’s almost like you’re not even listening to me.

“I just think it would be better that way,” Yoobin continued as she took Sunye’s hand and placed it on the girl’s lap.

“You can’t be serious,” Sunye said trying to keep frustrated tears from her eyes. “Please don’t be like this. Let’s at least try to...”

“I’m sorry,” Yoobin said interrupting once again.

She stood up slowly and ran a hand through her hair feeling where Sunye’s hand had been only moments before.

“I’ll see you back at home ok? Let’s just try to carry on like normal. I’m sorry Sunye.”

Sunye could only close her eyes as Yoobin left silently.

“Please don’t walk away,” she whispered.

--
Flashback.

Sunye walked into Yoobin’s room before rolling her eyes and greeting the sight with a half smile.

The older girl was asleep at her desk with her head resting on her arm.

‘So cute,’ Sunye thought to herself as she wandered closer with the intention of gently waking the girl so she could sleep more comfortably in bed.

Just a second before she could shake Yoobin’s shoulder however, the notebook being held in the girl’s hand caught her eye. Curious, she picked it up and was just about to close it when she suddenly caught sight of her name gracing the page it was open on.

Sunye’s eyes suddenly started watering as all intentions of shelving the book faded and she read its contents, whispering some words as she went along.

“Think of you... dream of you... Love... you.”

Unable to hold back a sniffle that caught even her off-guard, Sunye accidentally dropped the book which roused the sleeping Yoobin.

“Sunye?,” the other girl asked, still groggy from sleep.

Sunye didn’t reply.

“Why are you crying?,” Yoobin continued as she rubbed her eyes.

“Love,” Sunye said in a mere whisper. “It said... love,” she continued as she motioned towards the diary.

The sleep fell completely out of Yoobin’s eyes as they widened.

“Wait please,” Yoobin said to Sunye’s retreating form, fear and panic making her chest feel tight.

“Sunye... please don’t walk away.”

“I’m sorry,” Sunye replied with her back to Yoobin. “My head is reeling... I just... I'm sorry.”

“Sunye...”

End flashback

--
“Sunye? Hellooo Sunye?”

The girl in question looked up at the sound of her name being called by a cheerful voice.

“Penny for your thoughts?,” the voice continued in a teasing fashion. “Except I don’t really have a penny on me right now so maybe I could substitute with a muffin or cheesecake or something equally as satisfying? Maybe a cute dance?”

Despite her current mood Sunye willed herself to stand and greet the person who seemed to be trying hard to amuse her at least.

“Trying to fatten up the competition are we?,” Sunye asked, praying she could hide what she was feeling.

“You know I’d do no such thing,” the other girl replied. “Jessica maybe but me, never,” she added with a laugh.

“Anyway I just walked out of a studio where this guy couldn’t stop raving about how you taught him some moves. I thought I’d find you nearby. I guess I was lucky.”

Sunye rolled her eyes suddenly feeling self conscious as she wondered if she’d been seen with tears welling up in her eyes.

--
“SunMi this is ridiculous,” Sohee said as she followed the aforementioned girl who seemed to have endless energy supplies.

“Look I let you two chase me for fun when I didn’t even do anything, you both have to at least help me get back my precious face,” SunMi replied.

“What?! It was me who saved you from an out of character scare chase that you forced Ye Eun-unnie into starting you dork. Plus if it wasn’t for me she’d still be smacking you instead of heading back to our apartment to cool off while spreading crumbs all over your sheets.”

“My precious face...”

Sohee made a noise that could only be likened to a growling baby dinosaur.

“At least pretend to listen! Why are you so attached to that ridiculous moustache anyway?! Yoobin-unnie and Sunye-unnie have probably escaped to somewhere else by now, we don’t need to be backtracking like this,” Sohee said, finally regaining her generally annoyed aura back as they trudged back to where they left their costumes.

“Sohee, Sohee, Sohee,” SunMi replied with a smirk. “Don’t you even know the basics? Always return to the scene of the crime! They would have totally failed you in spy school. I mean... what in the heck?!!!,” she finished suddenly as an unwelcome scene positioned where she expected Sunye and Yoobin to be caught her eye.

Completely shocked, SunMi nearly tried to wander over to where Sunye was, all previous thoughts of passing spy school going out the window, her success only being foiled by Sohee’s hand on her wrist.

“What? What is it?,” Sohee asked while trying to figure out what the girl was suddenly so stressed about. “SunMi sit down before I hurt you more and don’t say my name over and over like that, it lessens the effect.”

However, SunMi was too busy freaking out on her own to be able to pay attention to Sohee’s threat filled pleas.

“What’s with this sudden cast change?!,” she demanded to know. “Taeyon-unnie can’t replace Yoobin-unnie in this gentle teenage romance story! I forbid it!”

“SunMi why are you hyperventilating you weird weird person? And why are you suddenly bringing Taeyon-unnie into the conversation? I know you’re a fan but... oh... oh geez,” Sohee finished as she realised who it was Sunye was talking to.

“Taeyon-unnie!,” SunMi whined.

Sohee tried to smooth the wrinkles she imagined forming at her forehead.

“Wow just how many of these weird ‘cos of love angsty teens do I have to deal with this week? I’m the youngest!”

==