talk to me ; joyri

9//

"right now? or in the future?" sooyoung responded as she gulped a spoonful of soup.

"for a career," the younger said, leaning towards sooyoung more.

"me? i want to be a kindergarten teacher."

"really? i want to be an idol. you should join me."

"yah! don't joke about that!" sooyoung said as she broke into laugher while drinking her soju.

"but i'm not joking... i'm going to sm entertainment to audition tomorrow. come with me? we can train and be together!"

sooyoung leaned on the back of her chair as she started thinking about what her life would be like if she was training with yerim on a daily basis. "i would see her everyday. i would see my unnies everyday... i wouldn't have to worry about anything else... but then again... my life will change... what if i don't get in? what if they judge me?" she kept thinking in her head. "hey yer-" she started to say before she noticed two familiar boys walk by — sungjae and shihyun.

"yerim, follow me," sooyoung whispered as she led yerim to the restaurant's kitchen and entered a storage closet with the girl.

"unnie... what's going on? how'd we get here?" yerim said as she constantly looked around the room in fear.

"yerim, look at me. those two boys are nothing but danger. it's best that they don't know that i'm- we're here. and the staff know me, okay?"

"okay...?"

"listen, as soon as they get out, we're going to make a run out of the back door of this building and run into the hotel nearby."

yerim nodded as it was her only option.

"where... sooyoung..." sooyoung heard as she placed her ear towards the door.

"unnie. i'm scared..." yerim said as she started to shiver.

"hey, it's okay," sooyoung whispered as she held onto yerim and started to comfort the girl by caressing her arms and head.

"unnie," yerim firmly said, gaining sooyoung's attention. "please come with me. please?"

sooyoung stared at yerim, until she realized that the front doors of the restaurant had opened, indicating that the boys had left. "let's go, yerim."

the pouring rain felt like hard icicles to the two girls who had ran out of the restaurant as if their lives depended on it. sooyoung desperately saw how upset and cold yerim had become, so she removed her jacket and placed it on the younger girl's head. she then held yerim's hand and ran to the hotel.

"okay, you got a room for us. isn't this too much?"

"for what?" sooyoung said as she started to cool off her hair and jacket.

"our first..."

"date? friend date?"

"yeah... we just opened up to each other and now we're staying in a hotel. we could've just walked home, you know?"

"we've walked too far to make it back home before it gets too dark. it's already pretty late anyways."

"still..."

"hey," sooyoung said as she walked towards the younger girl that had been sitting on the hotel bed. "it's fine. we'll be fine," she continued to say as she placed both of her hands on yerim's shoulders, in which yerim pulled the older into a hug, surprising the latter.

tears fell from yerim's eyes as she couldn't believe what was happening. "sorry... it's just that... sorim unnie never did anything like this. she would never..."