Broken

19

"What?" Both visitors ask at the same time.

Momo lets out a chuckle before nudging Nayeon to answer the very confused girls.

"You see, my parents adopted Jihyo, she is my little sister now." Nayeon has a slightly amused grin she tries to suppress, only Momo noticed, though.

"What? How? What?" Sana stammers.

"You asked that already. But, for some personal reasons, my parents adopted Jihyo. This is her house, you came to the right place." Nayeon tries really hard to not smile.

"So we can talk to her?" Jeongyeon tries, finally speaking.

"That you can't." Momo answers this time.

"And why not? We just want to talk." Sana get a bit frustrated.

"Because she is not here." Momo is the one trying not to look amused now.

"What do you mean?" Jeongyeon also gets frustrated.

"She got a scholarship overseas. She went abroad to study music, so you can't really talk to her." Nayeon, finally, let's the cat out of the bag.

"She moved? But we-" Jeongyeon chokes up.

"Hey, come have a seat. Don't cry." Nayeon says, having the couple sit down on the couch at the porch.

Momo goes inside for some water and tissues, Nayeon quickly puts away the papers they were working on, before they fly away. Sana, always the support Jeongyeon needed, took her girlfriend's hand and guided both to sit down, just as Momo had come back out. They took the water, drank a little bit and tried to compose themselves before speaking again, all the while, Nayeon and Momo were trying to understand what was happening.

"Are you two alright there? Think you can tell us what's wrong?" Nayeon tries.

"I don't know how to begin." Sana begins. "It's- There's something about Jihyo. And I just got really sad when you told us she's gone."

"I was hoping to talk to her and ask why she doesn't like us, but she's gone." Jeongyeon manages between sobs.

"Now, don't say that. Why do you think she doesn't like you?" Momo soothes them.

"You guys don't like us either. Everytime we come around, you all seem like you are hiding something about us. And I feel like we aren't very welcome." Jeongyeon continues.

"To be fair, we told you about Jihyo and she was particularly weak on the day you fell on her." Nayeon says looking at Sana, then proceeds. "And she was bleeding, we went full-on mama bear mode as soon as we saw her. I know it might have looked like we just didn't like you, but we are extremely protective of her."

"NOW we know that. But it hurt to feel unwelcome and not know why." Jeongyeon bites a bit.

"Are you going to be a good girl and be polite or do I have to kick your ass? Talk to my girlfriend like that again and you are done for." Momo reminds them in a weirdly gentle tone. "But, the thing with Jihyo, she was never very good with people."

"Mina was her first friend, really. She had spent most of her life by herself, so she never welcomes anyone with open arms. We still don't know how Mina got her to talk, none of them will tell us, and I only managed because Mina was there." Nayeon continues, a little lie was needed.

"So none of you hates us?" Sana asks in a very small voice.

"Not at all. We do have our reservations, but there is really no reason for us to hate you. We maybe get a bit annoyed when you talk too much, but that's it." Nayeon answers, gesturing to Sana on the last part.

"But, did we do something wrong?" Jeongyeon questions.

"What do you mean?" Momo looks honestly confused.

"I have this feeling, that there is something about us you all don't like, and we don't even know what. Like, I know the accident made you protective and all, but still. Even Chaeng is secretive about something, like we were never that close, but still." Jeong further explains.

"Well, let me put it this way." Nayeon explains. "We know a lot of things, about Jihyo, about ourselves, about the relations we have with each other, that you two aren't going to know about, because there are things we aren't going to share. There are other things we know that are not ours to share. So you two will, likely, never get to know everything, because it's private."

"I understand." Sana says, holding Jeongyeon's hand. "WE understand. Now we do, anyways. But I still want to be friends with you guys, and, maybe, I'm going to be frustrated at times, but I promise to try and understand things better. Just don't shut us out."

"We never really did, our thing with Jihyo will always be ours to know, but if you two can accept that you will never really know everything about us, then we are fine." Momo assures them.

"We will try, thank you. I think we should go now. See you tomorrow?" Jeongyeon says, a bit dejected.

"Sure we will. Try to cheer up a little, alright?" Nayeon waves them goodbye.

Jeongyeon and Sana wave leave the Ims' house feeling a lot better and much worse at the same time. They got answers, but not the ones they wanted. Sure, the girls were right, and most of what they wanted to know should be told by Jihyo herself, that didn't mean the lack of information didn't leave them frustrated. It was a monday, they would have the entire week to try and learn more about everyone anyways.

When she left Sana at her house, Jeongyeon suggested they should be patient and try to carve their way into the group, they understood, now, that these girls wouldn't be easy to befriend, and that might just make them more worth it. Too bad the girl they were after was unavailable for who knows how long.