Let's Say That We Chose Each Other [2Yeon Version]

12

"Just give her time, unnie," Chaeyoung says reassuringly, rubbing a comforting hand on her friend's back while the older girl sulks against their dining table, her eyes trained on her phone in front of her.

"We've never not spoken for this long, Chaeng," Jeongyeon says monotonously. It's been about three days and she hasn't reached out once. Jeongyeon has thought about contacting Nayeon herself, but she keeps reminding herself that the girl said she needed space and with each day that passes without any sign of life from her girlfriend, a little piece of her heart breaks.

After a few more moments of silence, Jeongyeon looks up to look at Chaeyoung with unshed tears clouding her usually bright eyes. She looks so broken and Chaeyoung hadn't seen the girl so defeated since Somin. Her voice is weak and dripping with fear, her insecurities out in the open when she lets go of her next words.

"Are we..." she takes a shaky breath. "Am I gonna have to end it?" she asks as the dam finally breaks and tears start flowing down her cheeks. Voicing out her fear feels a lot like ripping her heart straight from her chest.

"What?" Chaeyoung asks, confused at the older girl's question. "Unnie wae?"

"She – she deserves to get married if that's what she wants. And I just, I can't give that to her. I know I can't," she sobs out as she tries to wipe away her tears, her attempts futile as they continue to cascade down her face with abandon.

"Unnie," Chaeyoung shushes the girl as she finally pulls the crying girl to her side, letting her muffled sobs wrack through her body. "Don't get ahead of yourself, okay? Nayeon unnie is a smart girl. I don't think she's the type to keep herself in a position she doesn't want to be in, so just – talk to her first before you make any rash decisions, okay?" When she feels the slightest nod from the girl, she adds. "You guys will work this out."

Jeongyeon isn't so sure about that.

--

It's during day five of being separated from Nayeon that the blonde gets a visit from her girlfriend - at eleven at night. She's still up and about, cooking up a storm because she tends to turn to her passion when she's stressed and she badly needed a distraction from not being able to touch or even see Nayeon for five days. She was driving herself crazy just moping around.

So when she opens the door to the brunette standing nervously before her, she feels a sudden rush of relief, followed by a sense of dread when her eyes meet unsure ones.

Jeongyeon lets Nayeon in and it feels like they're strangers once again, like they're back to when they couldn't stand to be in the same room as one another without going for each other's throats. They look equally as miserable and they don't know if they should take comfort in that fact or if it means something else entirely for them.

Jeongyeon sits down on one side of the couch, Nayeon on the other, while she tries to mentally prepare herself for what's to come. Her heart is heavy in her chest, the broken pieces having accumulated over the last few days that she hasn't been able to spend time with Nayeon and she rakes her eyes over the girl's features, memorizing every detail and savoring every moment, should this be the last chance she gets to do so.

She swallows hard before she finally breaks the silence. "I'm sorry."

Nayeon looks up at her words and she furrows her brows in confusion. "For what?" she replies. Her voice is soft and so gentle, but after not having heard it in almost a week, it feels like a knock to Jeongyeon's chest that restarts her heart, like her heart hadn't been beating all this time that she was away from Nayeon.

"I – I don't know. I just am. I feel like I'm hurting you and ruining us and I just –"

"Jeong-"

Jeongyeon sighs and abruptly stands up. She can't take the tension, she's not used to being so guarded around Nayeon and she starts to pace the room while running a hand through her hair. "Look, if you want to end it, just say so. It's okay," the crack in her voice contradicts her words as she tries to get herself together just long enough to get out what she wants to say. "I understand, I won't force you to stay with me if I can't give you what you want."

"Wha- no!" Nayeon exclaims as she stands up in a panic, her eyes wide with surprise. "That's not what I want at all," she shakes her head and meets Jeongyeon's eyes for the first time in days and she's forgotten just how easy it is to get lost in them. "Is that what you want?" she whispers. It's her turn to let out a shaky breath, every fiber of her being protesting at the mere thought of losing Jeongyeon.

"No, god no," Jeongyeon sighs out.

"Then that's that," Nayeon says as she moves forward to take Jeongyeon's hand, her heart leaping at the fact that the girl immediately intertwines their fingers. As if it were as natural as breathing. "We stay together."

But Jeongyeon is shaking her head and her eyes are the saddest Nayeon has ever seen when she looks up to meet hers. "This isn't really something that I can change," she tries to explain herself. "I wish I believed differently, for your sake. But I just don't see myself getting mar-" her words are cut off by a sob that she can't help and the brunette immediately pulls her in for a hug.

"Baby, it's okay," Nayeon says in a soothing voice against the girl's hair as the taller girl sobs against her chest. "I promise, it's okay."

Jeongyeon brings her head up, her cheeks stained with tear tracks as she shakes her head once more. "No, it's not. And I'm sor-"

"I love you."

Jeongyeon's protests die in her throat as Nayeon's word hit her square in the chest.

She feels like the wind is getting knocked out of her in the same instant that she's breaking the surface after being underwater for so long.

"Wha – what?"

Nayeon smiles at her, it's warm and familiar and everything she's missed and needed in the last few days. "I love you and I want to be with you," she says resolutely, her tone confident and assured. "I choose you. And if you never want to get married," she shrugs and there's a hint of sadness in her eyes and a small drop in her smile. "That's okay."

Jeongyeon starts to say that it's not okay and is about to go on a rant about how she deserves everything in the world and Jeongyeon has no right to stand in the way of her dreams but she loses track of her thoughts when she feels Nayeon's lips on hers.

The kiss is urgent and desperate, the hand on the back of her neck holding her tightly against Nayeon as if the older girl is afraid that if she lets go, she'd lose Jeongyeon in more ways than one. The way Nayeon takes her breath away and breathes her back to life in the next second is exhilarating and overwhelming all at once. Jeongyeon craves Nayeon like her life depends on it.

"I want you more than I wanna get married," the brunette breathes out against her lips when they finally pull apart, just enough so they can talk, breathing hard and hearts beating against one another.

Jeongyeon looks at her with all the sincerity in the world when she concedes as she takes Nayeon's lips in between her own once more, this time more gently, but just as passionate as she tries to convey everything she's feeling.

"I love you too."