Two years, Eunjung thought, applying the last touch of makeup in the main entrance mirror. It had already been two years since T-ara had disbanded, and almost as long since all six girls had last been reunited. Even though they had promised to see each other frequently, to remain as close as they were during their years of fate, they couldn’t help but drift apart. At first of course, they used to call each other all the time and even went on vacation together, right after they had broken their contract.

But time went on, busy schedules and life got in the way, and they found out it wasn’t that easy to keep in touch with people, even those you loved most. In those two years, though they had promised not to, all of them had changed quite a lot, and they were about to find out just how much.

All girls were gathering for the first time in a long while at Eunjung’s new house, in Los Angeles.

The former leader had promised a week of “fun, good memories and hopefully new ones” in her invitation. They all had accepted without a second thought, and they were bound to arrive any moment now. Running a shaking hand through her now shoulder-length hair, Eunjung realized she hadn’t been this nervous in a while.

After the breakup, Eunjung had been the first one to take over her acting career. She was determined to succeed in this world, but soon found out it was not going to be that easy in South Korea. As it turned out, she couldn’t really step out of the image of the girl group member and people were seemingly not willing to forget the group’s alleged bullying scandal, even though years had passed.

So after going back and forth to plain and uninspiring roles in dramas, Eunjung had made the huge decision of moving to Los Angeles, and pursue her acting career in the U.S.

Her unnies had been shocked by the former leader’s departure, but Eunjung had shown such determination that no one had been willing to oppose. And to be fair, they all had a lot on their plates at that time. Soyeon had just gotten married to Jong-Hyuk and announced she was pregnant with their first child. Qri had started her own styling company and Boram was in the midst of creating a funny, long-term TV program along with her sister Wooram.

As for Hyomin and Jiyeon, they had decided to pursue their solo musical career, and both had released pretty successful hits in Korea. At the thought of Jiyeon, Eunjung felt her heart skip a beat...

Though many years had passed, and many, many things had changed, she still felt this uncomfortable tugging when thinking of the maknae. A few months before the group had split, Jiyeon started publicly dating another male idol, Myungsoo from Infinite, despite her unnies’ (and especially Eunjung’s) warnings.

Eunjung laughed bitterly and shook her head in defeat. Eunjung had been the first one to suggest they should disband.

“We should do this on our own terms, while we’re still a little famous and people still care about us,” she had said.

“Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking we’ll spend our life being T-ara. Our best years are behind us, we should leave the scene with our heads up rather than clinging on our career like we don’t know it’s already declining.”

Of course, part of this was true. They were not getting any younger and, sooner than later, singing Bo Beep Bo Beep on stage with cat ears would become more pathetic than refreshing. Plus, after the scandal, they never were really able to regain the public’s affection.

But the real motivation behind Eunjung’s wish to leave the group was that she couldn’t stand seeing Jiyeon anymore. Or rather, she couldn’t stand seeing her with someone else. A little while before Jiyeon started dating her boyfriend, they’d both had a life-changing conversation that would irreversibly affect their relationship.

Eunjung had finally come to the understanding that her tendencies to protectiveness, indulgence, admiration, tenderness towards the maknae were not the sole expression of a platonic, sisterly love.

Yes, Eunjung had come to terms with her feelings with surprising ease and peacefulness. She was in love with Park Jiyeon. And she was actually okay with it. When figuring out her feelings, she didn’t feel ashamed or lost, or like she should try to conceal it. And in fact, she didn’t. Without actually expecting anything, but just out of sheer honesty, she had asked Jiyeon to come have a coffee with her one evening after rehearsal.

Flashback

When Jiyeon entered the cafe, she looked frantically around the room and spotted Eunjung sitting at an isolated table in a corner. She rushed towards her, dropping her bag unceremoniously on the floor and flopping in the seat in front of her.

“Are you okay, unnie, what is it?” she asked, her wide eyes searching worriedly the other girl’s face, looking for any sign of pain or sadness.

“Jiyeonnie, calm down, I’m not dying or anything okay?” Eunjung said with a crooked smile. She was secretly moved by the younger girl’s concern.

“Come on, then, tell me, tell me, what is it?” Jiyeon asked, practically bouncing on her chair in anticipation.

“Eh... wait, I’ll just go get our orders and then I’ll tell you” You chicken... Eunjung thought to herself while heading to the counter. She retrieved the drinks she had ordered beforehand taking a deep, cleansing breath. She carefully went back to their table, holding both scalding hot beverages in her hands.

“There you go, Miss,” she offered cheekily while setting Jiyeon’s cup in front of her.

Without wasting a second, the maknae took of the lid and inspected her unnie’s choice for her.

“Ah daebak, salted caramel moccha with extra whipped cream! You know me too well Eunjung-unnie, thank you!” she cried out excitedly while batting her eyelashes cutely to show her gratitude.

Eunjung blushed fiercely at Jiyeon’s aegyo, and cleared to regain her composure. It was now or never, and she wouldn’t be diverted from her goal.

“Jiyeon-ah... the reason why I wanted to meet with you here today is because... well I need to tell you something, and I wanted to do it in private. I mean, away from the studio. Just you and me you see.”

“Eh... yeah? Is it about the sweater I borrowed from you? Because I swear the stain is not my fault, it was Boram-unnie, she...”

“No, no...” Eunjung cut hastily “It’s not about the sweater... though we’ll talk about the stain later. It’s just that I wanted to let you know that... I recently figured out that I’m in love and this is making me very happy and nervous at the same time.”

Jiyeon’s eyes widened at the confession. Out of all the things she was expecting, hearing Eunjung talk about love with this serious and determined tone was not one of them.

“Wow, unnie... I don’t know what to say. I mean, congrats, that’s amazing. But... shouldn’t you be saying this to the actual person you’re in love with first? I’m guessing you haven’t confessed yet, since you’re so nervous...”

Eunjung looked at her hands shyly, unable to look at Jiyeon when saying the following words.

“I just did...”

“What do you mean you...” If it was even possible, Jiyeon’s eyes grew even wider and she gripped the sides of the table.

“No...? It’s not me, is it?”

Seeing Jiyeon’s reaction sent a jolt of pain through Eunjung’s whole body. She had expected Jiyeon’s shock, rejection even, but seeing it unfold before her eyes, seeing the emotions and the shock written all over the younger girl’s face made her realize she has just made a mistake, and there was no back-pedalling from this.

She would have to get this over with and then apologize, because she was hurting her beloved Jiyeon with this selfish confession, and challenging their friendship as well.

“I’m not expecting anything from you Jiyeon-ah, I swear. I just needed to get this off my chest, to be honest with you. I swear this doesn’t change anything.”

“No... no! Why did you have to do this? Why did you have to tell me?” Jiyeon half-whined, half-whispered; her eyes already filling with tears.

She was in shock and Eunjung was not willing to be rejected and create a public scandal in one night.

“Come on, let’s go outside, we’ll get some air.” She tried to grab Jiyeon’s arm but the other girl snatched her hand away angrily and made a run for the door. Eunjung carefully looked around and was relieved to see no one was paying attention to them. She took the two cups and went outside after the young girl who was walking back angrily towards the studio.

“Jiyeon-ah... please, I’m sorry. Wait for me.” She called behind her.

Reluctantly, Jiyeon halted her steps and turned around, then took back her beverage from Eunjung’s hand with an aggressive movement of the hand.

“Pabo! Running while holding two scalding hot beverages... do you want to get third degree burns on top of everything?”

“I’m sorry if it’s a shock to you but I swear it doesn’t change anything... I won’t act any differently towards you, I won’t make you uncomfortable. Please... don’t be mad at me.”

“You’re wrong Eunjung...”

The older girl frowned slightly at the lack of honorific term and studied Jiyeon’s face. The playfulness and innocence in her eyes had been replaced by something darker, something Eunjung couldn’t quite describe and that scared her.

“It changes everything, because I know... And I won’t be able to forget. I can’t unhear what you said.”

“Jiyeon-ah... I’m sorry...” Eunjung pleaded, ready to fall to her knees right there on the street if it meant Jiyeon would accept her apology.

The maknae looked at her blankly for a while, her expression unreadable. After what seemed like hours to Eunjung, she finally uttered:

“It’s getting cold. Let’s go back to the studio”