Stars and Vanilla

/

"Halla, what are you doing?"

She taps her toe against the floor, making sure her shoe is nicely fitted before kneeling to put on the other, Halla having to blow strands of hair out of her face just so she could see.

"Minju-unnie didn't bring an umbrella with her, right?"

Yuna hums a thoughtful tune as Halla finishes tying up her shoelace, tightening the knot so it wouldn't loosen and doubles it after.

"I don't think so? I only remember her wearing a black and white shirt and leather pants."

"Right,"

Halla hears Yuna hum again before she manages to tighten the second knot.

"...So, you're planning to go out to give her an umbrella?"

"Yup."

"But it's already raining,"

Halla stands up once she's certain her shoes aren't going to fall off anytime soon and grabs her jacket from the coat hangar, slipping her arms in one after the other, a small yellow umbrella in hand.

"Then let's hope Minju-unnie hasn't come out of the grocery store yet."

/

Halla forgets how far two blocks really are from their dorm. She doesn't recall it being this distant but maybe it's because it's pouring hard and she's racing against the possibility that Minju-unnie has already returned to the dorm. What if she was running out here in the rain for nothing? Why did she even bother again?

Right. Because it's leader-unnie and leader-unnie tends to be forgetful and clumsy about things like this.

Minju dotes and takes note of every little thing, be it their schedules or chores, but only because it has to do with the members and not just herself. When it's about caring about oneself, Minju tends to forget that she should care about her own wellbeing too.

So of course, the members take it upon themselves to take care of their tiny little leader and, well, here she is. Running in the rain hoping that Minju-unnie hasn't left yet.

Halla slows to a pause in front of the small grocery store, 2K mart, and remembers how to breathe, panting out in puffs because despite their practices building up stamina, there's still more she has to perfect. Once the breaths come out gentler against , Halla motions up the steps, taking note the sound of rain pattering against the cemented staircase. She has always liked the sound - pitter patter pitter patter.

The tiny bell attached to the top of the door signals her entrance with a chime, Halla's eyes immediately searching for blonde hair as she steps through. She doesn't have to worry about hiding her face because they aren't quite famous. Yet. But one day, she hopes.

Spotting blonde in that signature ponytail, Halla weaves through the aisles with ease of a practiced dancer (choreography certainly has its perks with footwork) and settles herself beside the smaller girl, who's currently distracted with which type of noodle to buy, a pout across her lips.

Halla feels a smile twitch at the corner of her lips before tapping the leader on her shoulder.

"Huh?"

Minju yelps at the sight of her, nearly dropping the box before Halla balances it back quickly enough to not topple over. Halla laughs at the poor girl who's still catching her breath, a hand to her chest.

"Halla-yah! Don't scare me like that!" Minju slaps her arm for emphasis.

"Sorry unnie," Halla snickers, rubbing her arm all the while. "I didn't mean to."

When Halla's laughter subside to quiet chuckles, her brows furrow at the feel of something soft touching her face, opening her eyes to the sight of Minju brushing away strands of wet hair from her face.

"Why didn't you use your umbrella? You're all drenched..." Minju mutters lightly, Halla feeling her attempt to dry her face with gentle fingers.

Halla blinks before chuckling, sheepish at the realization that she could've used the umbrella too.

"I - well, forgot. I was only thinking of getting it to you before you got wet."

"Now you're the one wet," Minju says coyly, slightly reprimanding.

"Sorry unnie,"

Minju shakes her head, a small smile curving her lips. Her touch slides down and lingers to Halla's jaw before letting go to curl their hands together. Halla doesn't think much of it as the leader squeezes, feeling Minju's fingers tighten around hers.

Minju tugs playfully, "Come on, silly. Help me pick out which noodles the members would like and let's get you home."

/

Halla waits by the door as Minju pays for the groceries, arms crossed, yellow umbrella in one hand. Now that Minju mentioned it, Halla could feel her clothes sticking to her skin, tight and constricting and wet.

Halla forgets what she's thinking as soon as an arm sneaks to loop around hers. Minju's close enough that Halla could feel her breath tickle her cheek.

"Ready to go?"

With a nod, Halla opens the umbrella as soon as they step out, carrying it over so it carefully hovers above them, keeping their heads dry. Minju's arm remains hooked with hers as they begin their trek back to their dorm.

Halla's not sure how long it's been or how far they've walked until there's no longer silence and the raindrops filter to the background.

"Halla-yah?"

"Hm?"

She waits for Minju to continue but it's only rain she hears again, until a shoulder droops to rest on her own and blonde hair covers the bottom part of her vision.

"Thanks,"

"What for, unnie?"

Silence resumes amidst the downpour, Minju's head shaking slowly against her shoulder. Halla smells vanilla.

"Your shampoo's great,"

Minju laughs, amusement lining her lips.

"Glad you like it," Halla smiles, rubbing the top of Minju's head with her cheek because geez, leader-unnie knows how to be cute without trying. "Wha - hey, stop it!" Minju giggles, but she doesn't pull away from her shoulder.

"So, what were you saying about 'thanks'?" Halla stops the teasing to move Minju away from the side of the road, away from the cars splashing recklessly against the puddles.

Minju links their arms again with ease after switching sides, though with a curious brow rising in question.

"Thanks for coming to get me, but why did we move?"

As if to answer her question, a car zooms by, remnants of a large puddle splashing against them, portions of Minju's shirt and pants now wet.

Minju is laughing as she cradles Halla's arm closer, pulling the younger girl in so she'd be further away from the street.

"Okay okay, I get it now." Minju says as she attempts to squeeze out the water from the lower half of her shirt with one hand.

Halla watches Minju's eyes disappear into crescents and she suddenly realizes that leader-unnie has a beautiful laugh.

"Halla-yah," Minju's eyes are visible again, a deep dark brown. They're twinkling, Halla thinks, like stars amidst a night sky. "Thanks again."

At least she managed to keep her leader-unnie's face from getting wet.

Halla responds with a smile that she hopes mirrors the light she sees in hers.

/

"Oh, you're back!"

Halla hears Yuna's voice cross the living room from the kitchen, her head popping out from the side of the corridor.

Halla is too busy trying to get the sleeves of her jacket - all wet and sticky and gross - to loosen their hold on her skin, that she doesn't notice Minju is attempting to her coat.

"Halla-yah, hold still okay?" Minju says beneath her breath, a tongue sticking out from her lips as a sign of concentration.

Halla stills as soon as she feels her leader-unnie's fingers grasp the front of her jacket.

"Geez Halla, you're soaking wet!"

Halla rolls her eyes at Yuna's teasing laugh that comes afterwards, pouting as Minju s her coat entirely.

"Unnie!" She whines, but is lighthearted as she shrugs off her jacket and turns to look at Minju for some form of help.

Halla doesn't understand the look in the leader's eyes, as if she's somewhere far away.

"Unnie? Are you okay?"

Minju jumps at the question like she's suddenly aware of what's happening and eases back into the string of things, crescent eyes and big smile.

"I'm okay," she laughs it off, waving a hand as she carries the groceries with the other. "Just need to get dried up and so should you, Halla-yah."

Halla quirks a questioning brow but doesn't probe further as Yuna takes the bag from her hand and brings it to the kitchen.

Minju motions towards her own room, looking over her shoulder as Halla locks the door to their dorm.

"Go shower. We'll eat after okay?"

/

Halla hates long hair.

Well, not entirely. But more so for the effort it takes to dry it than anything else.

She steps out of her room, dressed in black sweats and a grey tank top, still wiping off her hair with her teal blue towel. Halla would use the hairdryer, but she'd like to avoid damaging her hair as much as possible.

She settles herself down on the couch, towel resting over her neck, and just sits there because her arms are too tired to continue for now. Halla could hear Yuna bickering with Jane on what dressing should go with the salad, the clinks of dishes proving to be not enough to cover their voices completely. She wonders who's washing the dishes until Minju comes out of her own room, dressed in matching pyjama bottom and top, narrowing it down entirely.

It's Yujin-unnie, Halla muses to herself.

"Your hair is still wet,"

Halla blinks away the thought as Minju settles herself beside her on the couch, plopping down with a warm smile and takes her teal towel from her neck.

"Unnie?"

Minju reaches up and attempts to dry her hair for her, much to the surprise of the younger girl, and as soon as she tries to protest, making a motion to remove the leader's hands from her head, Minju clicks her tongue.

"Halla-yah."

"O-Okay, unnie."

To make it easier for the older girl, Halla turns around so she can face her completely, criss-crossing her legs atop the couch and nudges Minju with a tap against the girl's leg to do the same.

They're quiet for the most part, Halla staring at her nails and Minju brushing her towel through her hair. It's not until Minju's hands begin to slow that Halla looks up to meet those dark brown eyes.

There's a certain look in there that Halla can't decipher. It's bright and deep and it's tugging at her chest to figure it out but Halla can't put her finger on it. She seems far away, like she’s not even there, but she is, and even then, all she knows is that it's present, telling her in a language she doesn't understand – telling her something, because the stars are no longer there, that if she looks long enough, then maybe –

Halla doesn't see it anymore when Minju looks away, and it takes the younger girl a second to realize the meagre gap between them. Since when was she close enough to feel her breathe? She doesn't recall moving her head at all.

Halla feels Minju's hands drop gradually from her head to her neck, her towel curling over her shoulders once more. Her skin is tingling from the heat easing off the tips of Minju's fingers.

Minju's back to that same toothy smile with those same crescent moons for eyes and Halla is lost again.

"Let's eat!" And before Halla could question her, Minju takes her hand and drags her up to follow her lead.

Dinner goes as smoothly as it has always been for the past month they've debuted together as a group. Of course there was no problem transitioning into one home because they've already been training together beforehand. So it wasn't like they had to get to know each other again.

"Here Halla, try this one."

Yujin passes her something that looks extremely tasty that Halla forgets what's been probing her mind and digs in.

/

The next day, Halla wonders if she's done something wrong.

She notices that Minju seems to be anywhere else but in her presence. It was obvious when Yuna called Minju over to help out with the stereo system and as soon as Yuna ushered her over too, Minju suddenly had an excuse to be elsewhere.

Halla would have written it off as nothing but it didn't turn out to be just a one time thing. Like with Yujin-unnie.

"Halla-yah, pass me the salt?" Yujin had asked over her shoulder as she cut meat on the countertop.

Halla had gotten up from the living room and motioned towards the kitchen because she knew she was the only one tall enough to reach the salt that was placed in the top right drawer. Why it was even that high up was beyond her.

She spotted Minju lounging at the kitchen table and figured she greet her unnie because she hadn't seen the older girl in a while since she had disappeared after the stereo incident.

"Good morning, Minju-unnie." Halla had nodded her head at the older girl, but raised a curious brow as soon as Minju stood up, as if to leave.

"I'll just be over there," she had murmured quickly before dashing - speed walking, off.

"What was that about?" Jane probed as soon as the older girl left, settling down on the seat Minju had just left from.

Halla had shrugged before reaching up to grab ahold of the salt, closing the drawer once it was within her grasp and passing it to a just-as-clueless Yujin.

And here they still were now.

Halla twiddles with the strands of her hair, having seated herself in the kitchen with Jane, Yujin still busy with the cooking. None of them really paid much attention to it so Halla would try not to either.

“Halla-unnie, y’know, there’s this guy at school…”

“Guy?”

Jane nods and scoots closer to Halla, eager to tell more, with her shimmering eyes and cheeky grin.

“Yeah. He’s one of the cuter ones but I can’t bring myself to believe my friends when they tell me he likes me,”

Halla finds it a nice distraction, and lets herself be immersed in Jane’s school drama.

/

Before long, Jane offers to take her out to take a peek at the guy, making up some excuse that it’d be better if she has an image to match the blank face in her head so her storytelling would be better.

Halla has no reason not to go, and she’s rather curious to see what he looks like, so she agrees.

“Halla-unnie and I are heading out for a bit, unnies!” Jane yells out, urging Halla to go faster because apparently ‘the Guy’ has basketball practice before lunch.

“Hold your horses, Jane, I’m hurrying.” Halla laughs lightly, still busy tying the second knot on her shoe, ignoring the maknae’s various whines.

“Come on come on come on!” As soon as she tugs the knot to finish tightening it, Jane grabs her hand and pulls her up and through the door, barely missing the flash of blonde hair before she feels her other hand being taken and pulled back.

Halla stumbles before the door, stuck in between with one leg still inside the room.  She knows she’s not the one holding onto anything because her hands are too busy being held onto by two people who don’t seem willing to let go.

“Why’d you stop, Halla-unnie?”

Halla doesn’t know either.

When she looks back to get an answer to their question, deep brown eyes are what’s staring at her as Jane tugs at Halla’s hand to move forward.

Minju tugs back.

“Where are you going?” The leader asks, her eyes never leaving Halla’s and Halla isn’t sure why it feels like she’s only asking her and not Jane too.

“Halla’s coming to keep me company,”

“To do what?”

“Stuff,”

“What stuff?”

“Nothing bad type of stuff,”

“And what’s this ‘nothing bad type of stuff’?”

Halla shuffles backwards when Jane pulls just a little harder.

“Normal stuff that junior kids do,”

It shocks her that Minju has enough force to bring her back to the middle.

“And what exactly is this ‘normal stuff’?”

“Unnie, we’ll be back before lunch so relax.”

“I can’t relax if I don’t know where you’re going.”

Halla winces at Jane’s heavy sigh, knowing that the maknae’s temper is gradually rising, but so is Minju’s, and she’s not sure how to feel when she’s in the middle of their line of fire.

“Just going to the basketball court to watch people play, okay?”

“Why?”

“Because we’re bored.”

“You could just watch TV,”

“Why does it matter, unnie?”

Halla watches the eldest member falter in her stance, her brown eyes drifting to avoid her line of vision. Minju’s hand falls limp against her own, grip loosening. Halla wonders why leader-unnie looks so hesitant.

“I just…”

“Minju-unnie?” Halla speaks up this time, her tone gentle, urging Minju to look at her. When it doesn’t work, Halla takes the leader’s hand and rubs her thumb across its back.

Minju looks up and smiles this small smile, as if she’s unsure of herself.

“Go have fun. Just be careful, alright?”

Jane pulls her fully and replies with a ‘Yeah, definitely! See you later!’ before the door shuts, her grip on Minju’s hand gone as soon as it was done.

Halla doesn’t understand the sudden shift in Minju. Why did she suddenly appear when beforehand, she couldn’t even catch a glimpse of her because she always disappeared when she came into a room?

When they make it outside and onto the sidewalk, Jane voices out the same question that’s been bugging Halla since this morning.

“What was that about?”

Halla could only shrug. All she knows for sure is that Minju looked just as confused as they both felt.

/

They’re in the van, heading out for another busking session.

Halla likes it, because it shows their gradual growth as a group and their status by the amount of people that come to see them. They’re growing every week, and so are their fans.

Jane isn’t sitting at the back with her this time, because Yuna and Yujin are now arguing over – well, Halla can’t remember what they’re fighting over – and Jane’s acting as the calming middle man in case things get too hectic.

So here she is, sitting silently thinking about these things with Minju just beside her, equally quiet. Halla’s surprised it isn’t Minju acting as the anchor to their bickering, but she figures with the leader’s slumped shoulders as she stares out the window, that the unnie of the group’s too tired to bother.

Halla’s thankful she’s got her hair up to that ponytail again, making it easier to read the older girl’s face despite it just being her side profile. There’s a crease across her brows and a pout drawn on her lips.

“Unnie,” Halla grasps Minju’s hand that’s limp on her lap, linking their fingers together and noting the way the older girl returns the gesture immediately. “What are you thinking about?”

When Minju turns her head to look at her, the look is there again. A deep longing that Halla doesn’t understand and it makes her wonder why it’s suddenly no longer as confused as it looked the first time she’s seen it. In fact, her brown eyes look clearer, as if no longer lost. Like an answer to a question Minju had to herself that was written across her eyes had finally come up and Halla missed the memo.

Halla can tell the difference because,

The stars are back. And they’re as bright as they were the night it rained – maybe even brighter.

Whatever it is, Halla’s just glad that Minju-unnie is back to normal again.

“Halla…”

She doesn’t take her name as the answer to her question (because why would unnie think about her anyway?) and sees familiar blonde taking a portion of her vision again, pressure pressing gently against her left shoulder. Vanilla invades her mind again, too.

“Hm?” Their hands are still linked together, Halla knows because she’s suddenly aware of Minju squeezing her hand before breathing in a whisper she barely hears the leader say.

“…Silly,”

Halla doesn’t get it.

So all she does is rub her cheek against the top of Minju’s head – just like before – and teases her by messing with her hair because geez, leader-unnie sure knows how to get away with saying such things just ‘cause she’s naturally cute.

Halla takes Minju’s laughter and hushed whispers of “I love you,” as a typical unnie thing trying to get out of trouble. So she doesn’t think much of it even when they get out of the van and Minju’s still telling her that.

It’s only when they’re about to perform in front of a bigger crowd than before and Minju’s looking incredibly nervous despite the calm expression she has that Halla whispers in her ear to ease leader-unnie back into a smile.

She’s teasing and playful but means it all the same.

“Love you too, unnie.”

And Halla forgets how to breathe the second Minju sends her a beaming smile that makes the stars in her eyes burn alight.

/

Throughout the session, Halla’s having fun getting caught up in the fan’s chants, getting louder and louder with every performance they come out with.

She’s clapping her hands to the beat, absorbed in Yujin’s performance when her hair is brushed away from her face and tender fingers linger on her left brow before pulling away. Halla follows its disappearance to see Minju’s small smile gracing her face.

It’s not the first time Minju’s done the act since they’ve arrived. Halla’s observant enough to notice that Minju’s been doting her a lot so far, but she’s not one to complain. It’s nice being looked after and she’s returning it anyway with a few touches of her own.

Hand holding here, fingers brushing there, hair curling back some more… it becomes automatic the more Halla does it. So by the end of the busking session, she’s sure she’s made plenty of physical contact with Minju-unnie than she has with Yuna-unnie, Jane, and Yujin-unnie, combined.

Oh well. She’ll make it up to them eventually. Jane and Yuna have always been the two touchiest members anyway, so it isn’t going to be hard for them to catch up. Yujin…well, she’s more reserved but Halla will think of something.

“Halla-unnie!” Halla nearly trips over her own feet when Jane takes her hand and pulls her towards the van. “That ‘guy’ was there, y’know? Watching us!”

“Oh, he was?”

“Yeah! And his eyes just kept following…”

Halla doesn’t notice that she’s slowly drowning out Jane’s voice to focus on Minju who’s lagging behind, a pout beginning to line her lips. Her pools of deep brown are eyeing her free hand and Halla realizes that maybe leader-unnie would like to hold hands again. But when their eyes meet, Minju abruptly looks away as if caught taking candy from the candy jar and Halla notes the red blush that’s crawling up the leader’s neck. How cute.

Halla’s about to usher the eldest girl to walk with her when Jane tugs her forward.

“Let’s sit together. There’s something else I have to tell you!”

Halla settles in the backseat with the maknae, just like how they’re normally seated from the start. Now Minju’s blonde hair is to her left in the front, but Halla doesn’t mind because today’s been fun and she hopes there’ll be more like it in the future.

So she figures she should pay more attention to Jane and turns her head towards her.

Jane is looking at her like she’s expecting an answer.

“Um, sorry Jane, didn’t hear you. What did you say?”

Jane’s brows furrow and her lips turn to a thin line, alerting Halla that maybe she should’ve been paying attention the first time. Jane’s kind enough to reiterate, though it’s not something she’s expecting.

“What’s up with you and Minju-unnie?”

Halla blinks the question like she’s not seeing clearly. It’s her only answer because she’s not even sure why it came up in the first place.

Jane scoots closer and lowers her voice to a mere whisper, like it’s a secret.

“Don’t tell me it’s nothing because that’s quite the ‘something’ you guys got going.”

“Wait, what do you mean?”

Jane eyes her like she’s shocked Halla’s unaware of such things and when the maknae’s mouth slips to form an ‘o’, Halla wonders if she’s a lot slower than her parents have always said about her.

Before Halla could even get an answer from the younger girl, Jane turns back in her seat to face the front, completely ignoring her and just shooting out words Halla vaguely hears as she mutters to herself.

“Nowaythatmeansthatshe’stotallycluelesssowouldthatmeanYujin-unniewasright?WasthatwhyMinju-unniewasjealousItookHalla-unnieouttothebasketballcourt?”

“Jane, what are you talking about?”

“Itwouldexplaineverything!”

“What?”

Halla frowns when Jane waves her a dismissive hand.

“Don’t worry about it unnie. We’ll figure it out,”

“’We’?”

/

It takes the next day for Halla to figure out that the ‘we’ meant ‘Yuna-unnie, Yujin-unnie, and Jane’. What gave it away was when they pulled her into Jane’s room and locked the door shut, with leader-unnie apparently out for a photo shoot.

Now here she is, sitting down on Yuna’s bed watching her unnies and the maknae circle around her and talking about things she has no clue to.

“Okay, game plan.” Yuna says with eyes burning determination and Halla vaguely wonders why? “Should Halla-yah even be a part of this conversation though?”

They all turn to look at her and Halla’s about to say ‘You guys dragged me in here in the first place,’ but suddenly finds herself outside with Jane’s door shutting loudly behind her.

Huh. Probably nothing important since Minju’s not in on it either.

Halla plops herself down on the couch and figures she could catch up on some dramas she’s missed out on lately.

When her eyes gradually open, her sight is bleary and it’s merely a fog of yellow that’s covering her vision. Halla rubs at her eyes and the crinkles on her brows are eased slowly when she feels the tip of a finger press down between them.

“Wakey wakey, Halla-yah.” She recognizes Minju’s soft voice as she blinks past the sleepy haze that’s still fogging her sight to see blonde – oh, so that was the yellow – and a toothy smile greet her awake. “You seem to have slept pretty well on the couch,”

Halla rubs at her eyes one more time, vaguely aware of the finger that’s still between her brows and groans lightly,

“Ten more minutes…”

Minju’s chuckles are a delight to hear and if she listens to it long enough, it’ll lull her back to sleep so she encourages her to hear more. Reaching out with drowsy hands, Halla feels for Minju’s lower back and wraps an arm around it. How convenient that leader-unnie is sitting at the edge of the couch closest to her; no effort is required to find her.

Minju jumps at her touch but Halla is sleepily firm and ushers her closer. She can’t see the red that covers the older girl’s face.

“…Sleep with me,”

“W-What?”

Halla almost laughs at the leader’s shaky tone. It doesn’t stop her from pulling her down fully so she can cradle the eldest member in droopy arms.

…Wow. She’s cuddly.

“You make a great huggable pillow, unnie.”

Minju’s shy cough is muffled against her neck, the eldest member’s breath tickling her skin. Halla contemplates if she could actually go back to sleep after all.

“…T-Thanks, I guess?”

Halla counts the breaths Minju takes before she’s finally relaxed in her arms, the smaller girl’s shoulders visibly loosening; 26. She knows the older girl’s attempting to get comfortable from the way Minju’s encircling her arms around her torso, and Halla smiles at the audible content sigh that escapes the leader’s lips, her breath ghosting over her collarbone.

Halla’s about to fall asleep again until lips brush her skin from every syllable that’s formed to make words.

“No wonder you’re so tall…”

Halla almost bursts out laughing again.

“That’s why you should sleep, unnie.”

When she’s just about to fall asleep, she hears Jane snickering in the background, an ‘I knew it!’ echoing in her ear before the curtains draw over her eyes and she no longer hears anything.

/

“What was that?”

Halla had just finished drying her hair when the door to the dorm slammed shut so loudly it echoed through Yujin’s blow dryer. Yuna had been yelling though Halla couldn’t discern the words because she had been next to Yujin.

“What was that, unnie?” Halla probes, looping her teal towel over her neck as she watches Yuna slump on the couch.

“That was Minju-unnie running out.”

Her brows rise and Halla starts to motion towards the door, not minding that her sweats and grey tank top will get wet in the rain as soon as she steps out of the dorm.

“What happened?” Her voice remains stable enough but she’s worried and panicked because Minju-unnie running out in a thunderstorm? Not good. She’s already thinking a million ways that –

“Run after her and you’ll find out,”

“Why don’t you?” Halla snaps quickly – not thinking – tapping the toes of her shoes to make sure they’re fitted right.

Yuna has this smile that’s small but all-knowing.

“You’ve got longer legs than I do,” Halla wants to laugh but now’s not the time – and since when were her shoelaces this difficult to tie? “You’ll find her the fastest.”

She wants to say that she could’ve followed right after her and stayed on her heels, but Halla doesn’t because Yuna’s still her unnie and if she could just stop thinking about this, she’d find Minju-unnie faster and –

“Want the umbrella?” Yujin asks lightly, coming up from behind. Halla only realizes now that the blow dryer is off.

Halla doesn’t take a second longer before she shakes her head and dashes out into the rain.

/

It’s really dark. And wet.

Halla’s sprinting like she always has during practice, bursting out into speed at specific intervals before slowing down to a run that’s still keeping her momentum. She ignores the roars of thunder and flashes of lightning and the way her clothes are sticking to her skin like a second coat.

Her breaths are shallower – coming out as short huffs of air, because there’s no time to rest and relax and take a breather.

She almost trips from the unsteady pavement as she turns a corner, vaguely wondering how she even knows where to go. Halla’s taking a guess and if she’s right, well, she just hopes she is.

And there she is.

“U-Unnie!” It comes out as a stutter, weak and too low for the girl running ahead of her to hear amidst the rain. Halla struggles to yell out again, coughing out. “Unnie!”

Nothing. Minju-unnie’s still running.

Halla’s not going to stop to breathe. Not when she’s this close. Not now.

So she thinks of this as practice and forces her legs to pick up the pace, bursting into another sprint and hopes they’re not going to give out. Faster, faster, faster, faster!

Her legs hurt.

FASTER!

“Halla?”

Her hand is firm around Minju’s wrist, though her fingers are weak and so is she as she crashes into the older girl’s back. Halla stumbles against her momentum, but the abrupt stop knocks the air out of her and she wonders how they’re still standing.

Unnie has great balance after all,

“Halla?!” Minju’s voice is faint in her ringing ears, barely audible.

Halla falls to her knees, Minju having turned around to catch her – when did she do that? – and holds onto her like she’s her lifeline. All Halla knows is that she’s so, so tired and that she’s glad she found unnie.

“I-I’m fine,”

“You don’t look fine!” Has Minju-unnie been crying? She sounds almost hysterical, with the way her voice shrills to yell at her. But it’s croaky and hoarse and Halla thinks,

Yeah, I’m glad I found you.

Minju’s arms tighten around her shoulders, and despite her full weight against the smaller girl, Minju still attempts to carry it. Halla circles her waist with exhausted arms and slumps against her shoulder, catching her breath.

Minju is drenched and sticky and cold.

But there’s still vanilla and Halla breathes her in because,

She always did smell good.

“Halla…” Is she crying again? “Halla-yah…!” Minju’s voice is cracking despite the anger that’s clearly laced in her tone. “H-Halla, you silly, crazy girl! Just –“ But in contrast of what she says, Halla notes the girl squeezing her tighter. “ – Just…stop scaring me,”

When Halla finally has lungs that are filled with air again, she pulls away despite the aches in her arms to look at Minju’s face. She smiles weakly at the tears that stain her face and the frown that graces her lips.

Her voice is croaky but at least it still works.

“…Why’d you run away?”

“That’s what you say to me when you nearly scared me to death?!”

“…Sorry, unnie.”

Minju isn’t smiling and despite the rain, it still doesn’t cover her tears.

“Am I good enough?”

Halla almost reels back at the question, eyes wide at the mere thought.

“For what?”

“To be a good leader.”

Halla thinks that’s a silly idea because no one else can replace leader-unnie as leader; but the look on Minju’s face tells her she isn’t joking.

Minju begins to rant and Halla wonders why leader-unnie still looks pretty amidst the rain and tears.

“I-I’m just not cut out, not with all this pressure and the responsibilities and keeping us all together because I’ve never been one to express how I feel – I don’t tell people how I feel – and I’m just so caught up in things I shouldn’t be and it’s eating me up and I can’t get it together – especially not when – whenallIcouldthinkaboutisyou!”

Halla finally starts to understand. It shows by the way her smile is beaming despite the thunder and the bewildered look on Minju’s face.

“You are good enough, unnie.”

Minju makes an expression akin to a skeptic critic.

“How are you so sure?”

“Because…” It’s Halla’s turn to brush away the wet strands of blonde from Minju’s face, making it easier for her to see the streaks that line over her cheeks. “…You have stars in your eyes,”

The flaring red that immediately rises from the leader’s neck is amusing and hot beneath her fingers.

“Stars?”

“Even when it’s dark out, there are still stars, right?” Halla says absently, running a thumb beneath her eyes before wiping away the trail her tears left behind. Slowly. Gently. Carefully.

If Minju notices the odd tenderness, she doesn’t show it.

“…Are you making a reference to our debut song, Halla-yah?” Minju sniffs, wiping away at her eyes, their hands brushing occasionally; her voice isn’t as croaky anymore.

Halla’s cheeky grin is her only response and Minju laughs as best as she can through bleary eyes and a raspy throat. She feels the slight tremors coursing in Minju, the leader’s lips quivering in the cold.

Dropping her hand to lace their fingers together, Halla pulls the girl up only to see that –

“You’re not wearing any shoes, unnie?!”

Minju is sheepish, looking away as she scratches her cheek.

“I forgot…”

Halla’s not sure if Minju means the tone of voice she uses then, but regardless, it’s aegyo-filled and it makes Halla’s knees grow weak and butterflies flutter in her stomach.

She sighs, dropping back down to take a look at her leader-unnie’s feet, noting the redness beneath soft, wet, and very cold, skin. Her fingers trail the small cuts that line under the heels and Halla winces at the imagination of just how painful they could be.

“Halla-yah? I’m okay. Really,”

Minju’s rubbing a hand atop her head and it helps Halla make a decision.

Linking their fingers together for a gentle squeeze before turning around, Halla tugs at Minju’s hand and ushers her over.

“Let’s get you home,”

“What?” Minju yelps, startled at Halla’s idea. “Are you planning to carry me all the way back?!”

Halla tugs at her again.

“Yes. Piggyback rides are fun!”

“But…”

“Come on, unnie. You’re light anyway, right?”

Halla can practically hear Minju’s indignant pout from behind before she feels the leader’s hands grasp her shoulders and a breath tickle the back of her neck.

“Are you sure about this…?”

“Yes. Now jump, I’ll catch you.”

Minju does as she’s told and Halla steadies her grip beneath her legs. Her arms instinctively circle the younger girl’s shoulders and Halla can feel every breath the girl takes against the side of her neck and cheek.

The walk is quiet despite the rain, the thunderstorm no longer present and only a steady downpour plays as a distant background sound. Halla hopes neither of them gets sick after this.

“…Halla?” Minju’s lips brush her cheek from the two syllables of her name and it makes Halla shiver at her touch. She breathes in to steady the suddenly racing heart in her chest and replies once she knows she won’t crack in her voice.

“Yeah, unnie…?”

“You’re so sweet to me,”

“But you’re the one who smells like vanilla.” Halla remarks, earning herself a slap on the shoulder and a whine.

“You know what I mean…”

“Yeah…” Halla feels Minju rest her head against her shoulder, feels her arms tighten around her, and feels her lips linger on the skin that meets neck and shoulder. It’s intimate. “…Yeah, I do.”

And suddenly, Halla feels like kissing her. It’s frightening.

/

Neither of them gets sick, thankfully.

The next following days go just as it would without trouble. Busking sessions, live performances, practices, photo shoots, and so forth. They’ve been so busy that by the time they make it back to the dorm, they’re all too exhausted to mingle with one another and instead just drop dead on their respective beds. And then repeat.

Halla likes it that way though. It means she doesn’t have to think about the fact that the thought of kissing her leader-unnie is still there in the back of her mind, not willing to go away.

She hopes that the longer it stays there, in the furthest corner away from the possibility of being thought about, the more likely it’ll disappear. And it was working.

Until it’s just her and Minju-unnie in the dorm with all the others conveniently having packed schedules – whilst the two of them have none – on the same day. How cruel.

Halla’s absently flicking through channels on the TV, her mind drifting to the time she was on this same couch, encouraging Minju to sleep with her because she was too lazy to get up. How she had managed to do so without having her cheeks flare up like it would now was a mystery.

She was better off being slow.

“Halla-yah?”

It doesn’t help that she’s suddenly aware of every touch Minju makes on her or how she’s always in close proximity with the older girl. But it’s dangerous because the longer she’s feeling Minju’s skin against hers – and geez, does leader-unnie have to sit so close to the point that their legs are touching? – the more apparent her thought becomes. Kiss her.

Halla attempts to ignore it.

“Halla?”

It’s getting harder though, when Minju is breathing against her cheek and her hand is trailing down her arm to grasp at her fingers, removing them from their hold on the remote. Has unnie always been this seductively touchy? How did she not notice sooner?

Kiss her.

Halla knows she’ll regret it, but she hopes the urge isn’t as strong as she thinks.

She turns her head so she can look at Minju.

“…Hm?”

Kiss her,

Halla can literally feel Minju’s breaths mingle with hers. Her deep brown eyes are so close that the younger girl has no problem counting the stars in them; they’re burning brighter than ever.

Minju’s free hand is crawling up from her neck to the side of her face, before cradling her cheek and rubbing her thumb across it in circles. Halla feels like she’s hypnotized – under a spell that’s seeping through Minju’s fingers and into her chest because even her heart feels like it wants to run. And it’s running – so fast that it gets Halla’s breath stuck in at the realization that Minju’s lips are now tentatively touching hers.

“…I want to kiss you,” Halla can feel the words touch her lips; she doesn’t even have to hear them as Minju whispers, soft and tender. “Can I kiss you…?” Her tone is oddly innocent. Almost naïve.

Kiss her.

Halla doesn’t answer her with words when she no longer has anything left to say and her mind is done thinking.

Her lips are gentle and slow against Minju’s, memorizing the feel of them and not missing a single inch. When she’s confident enough that she has the memory of its outline burned into her mind, Halla wonders next what Minju would sound like now and bites lightly on the bottom of her lip to illicit that sweet sound from Minju’s throat.

Halla can feel Minju’s hands tangle in her hair and before she even realizes what’s happening, her back is against the sofa and Minju’s hovering over her, the leader’s mouth writing – whispering, saying, her name across her lips over and over again; with each repetition getting more desperate, as if calling out to her. And Halla can hear her.

“Halla-yah,” Minju’s hands trail her cheeks, “Halla-yah,” they lower to line her jaw, “Halla-yah,” before one of them settles to her stomach, “Halla…” with her fingers lightly fiddling with the ends of her shirt. “…Halla,” She can feel Minju’s fingertips burn the skin over her stomach.

Halla reaches up to grasp her waist and aims to make Minju hers in return, parting their lips so she can run hers across the skin of her neck, biting tenderly.

… She always did love stars and vanilla.

/

06.26.15