"we need to talk."
chaewon almost flushed at the urgency of hyeju's statement.
"okay."
her wrist was grabbed and pulled into the closest closet, which happened to be the one she found hyeju in a couple nights ago.
"i don't know how much i told you that night i was drunk, but you cannot tell anyone anything. and you cannot bug me for anything more. when i need to talk about something i will talk."
"would you, do anything to get me to keep it a secret?" chaewon smirked as hyeju's face scrunched.
"i would say yes but i don't want to sign up for some kink i'm not into."
"i don't mean it that way, i mean i could force you to hang out with me more. wait- not into-?" chaewon coughed out the question.
"well hyunjin's turned to a total bitch so you might be seeing more of me."
hyeju had a glassy stare on her face. she slowly drew to the ground, looking just as defeated as the night chaewon found her.
she joined her on the ground, there was so little room in the closet their knees were touching.
"what did she do?"
hyeju closed her eyes and faced her head upwards, doing everything to avoid eye contact. "it's more of what she didn't do. this closet still smells like me because of it."
"not you, the alcohol."
"you'd be surprised how often i've smelled like alcohol in my life."
a breath left chaewon's mouth. "you'd be surprised how often i've been around that smell."
hyeju connected eyes with chaewon.
"it's fine. i'm away from it now. go on please."
hyeju stared at a space to the left of chaewon's head. they sat in what felt like comfortable silence for a couple minutes.
"hyunjin has the hots for heejin."
chaewon already figured this.
"i asked her to help me at the party, so i wouldn't wreck myself. then she left me. because of that heejin bitch. i have no clue how long she was in that bathroom, but it was long enough. i know it's not completely her fault, but if she knew she would be gone for a while and brought me with her i wouldn't still be dealing with what happened."
chaewon had no idea what she was trying to say, but she felt she shouldn't interrupt hyeju opening up while sober.
"i told her i'm not sure if i want to keep on hanging out with her because when i'm with her it reminds me of that night, and now she's lost all efforts to try and be kind to me. she completely ignores me. and i even started getting over it. but now she makes me feel horrible for needing a break. like i did something unforgivable to her."
"she was the person that didn't make me feel judged."
that line struck chaewon hard.
"even you, who i'm trying to open up to, i still secretly feel you're judging me. i'm regretting every word coming out of my mouth because you could use this against me."
what the fuck happened to her growing up.
"i'm incredibly sorry that's how you feel."
"can you just be a wall that hears me but doesn't say anything."
"okay"
✰ ☾ ✰
soon enough, classes had started back up.
"i can't believe we still have to do these." sooyoung turned to see heejin huff and cross her arms.
all 12 of the girls were sitting in a room that hadn't been used previously. the gray walls and linoleum floor was the same as the cafeteria, but decorated with more tables that were pushed into half of the room. the other half had floor mats and three blank walls specifically around that half of the room.
"well, as of currently, we're still going to the moon, so they want us to stay alive when we get there."
"if we get there."
sooyoung didn't disagree with heejin, there was a whole question mark around the end goal of the mission now that it's been off track. but since it felt like everyone else had given up, she wanted to be the one with hope.
the blank screens on the other side of the room lit up, and mina's familiar face was squared in the middle.
"I hope everyone is feeling better, because now is time for review."
there was a collective groan.
the video of mina continued, interrupting the groups complaints.
"we will be reviewing how to fix a mask malfunction. will two people please step up to the mat in front of this screen?"
eyes passed back and forth to who would demonstrate, then haseul and the girl with orange hair shuffled up, holding each other.
"please put on your suits"
a compartment right of the screen opened up and present 2 suits, which sooyoung presumed was what they were going to wear when they landed.
another door opened to 2 dressing rooms, and mina continued consecutively.
"i'll be relaying information while the two of you get dressed. the suits you guys will be wearing are sleeker than previous due to progressing technology, but masks are still required. there is not enough oxygen in the air for you guys to breathe without a mask yet, but while you are there we are hoping to continue that process. the main concern is making sure little skin as possible is exposed. the environment would slowly start taking the oxygen out of your body, causing the skin exposed to shrivel. it would be a slow process, but with how long you guys will be staying it is required that you protect everything."
the two girls emerged wearing skin-tight suits, which both were obviously uncomfortable in.
"the suits shouldn't be uncomfortable to the skin, but if you're uncomfortable with the style you can wear something over top."
mina didn't give enough time for them to add any clothes before continuing and explaining the experiment.
the two of them fixed malfunctions in each other's suits to pass the practice, then soon enough everyone else was pairing up.
"why is she looking at you like that..."
sooyoung sucked in a breath and turned to who she presumed was looking her.
jiwoo met her with a smile and a slight nod.
her presumption was correct.
"i don't understand why she keeps trying to talk to us." heejin crossed her arms, "did i not make it clear that i'm not interested in her anymore?"
sooyoung remembered it differently, but it wasn't worth the fight.
"yeah i have no clue why she wants to talk to us. when have we shown that we want her around?"
f*ck i know that would sting if she heard.
heejin let out a laugh and sooyoung glanced over her shoulder.
of course she had to witness it.
jiwoo whipped around and turned her back to the two of them.
it wasn't long before jiwoo up and left, leaving sooyoung sitting in a puddle of guilt.
thirty minutes passed and she had forgotten about jiwoo, and she headed to the shop with heejin.
well, she had forgotten until she saw her hiding in an aisle.
"heejin, you can leave without me. i'm gonna look a bit longer"
"alright babes."
sooyoung stood around the corner from jiwoo until the door closed, then she rushed to try and help jiwoo.
she got down on her knees and tried to take jiwoo's hands but jiwoo was quick to rip them back.
"why the fuck would you say that," jiwoo said as she glared at sooyoung.
"i don't think you understand my situation at all."
jiwoo sniffled and tried to collect herself.
"jiwoo, i hate heejin. i hate her, but i need her validation."
"but you don't really need it."
"you've seen how terrifying she can be. i'm scared shitless about what she would do if i crossed her."
sooyoung adjusted herself and sat cross-legged in front of jiwoo. "this has to be kept secret. jiwoo please,"
she placed her hand on jiwoo's leg, and surprisingly it stayed there.
"can we still see each other?" jiwoo's voice was clear of the tears that were still drying on her face.
"yeah, i promise. don't tell anyone, please-"
jiwoo leaned forward and melded her lips with sooyoung's.
there was a split second before sooyoung pulled away, glanced at her surroundings, and kissed jiwoo back, pushing her into the wall. jiwoo placed a hand behind sooyoung's head and the other fell on her hip, and a breath caught in sooyoung's throat when she did so.
sooyoung backed up ever so slightly, still close enough to feel jiwoo's breath on her lips. "remember, this is between us two," then pushed her mouth to jiwoo's once again.
✰ ☾ ✰
despite how much time the girls have spent on the ship, there was still a lot of it that was a mystery. a mystery that haseul had been determined to know, leaving kahei having no choice but to follow her.
kahei pulled back on haseul's hand, "i'm ready to head back now, i feel like watching something."
haseul turned and stopped to look at kahei. "okay, i see one more room and then we'll head back. i promise."
a puff of air released from kahei's nose, but then she nodded and followed haseul.
among the rooms they've ventured to there's been many storage rooms full of cans of food, extra suits and materials for the suits, extra bedding, an infirmary, and some vacant ones.
there was push back from the door when haseul tried to open it, but it eventually gave in. the room was free from dust, contrary to the other places they had explored. there were 3 tall file cabinets, turning the room into a maze, and in the back corner was a bag.
kahei's grip broke from haseul and she stepped towards the bag. it was a drawstring sack with no straps.
"do you wanna open it?" kahei thought her curious girlfriend would rather open it, but instead she shook her head and gestured for her to open it.
kahei inhaled and dumped the contents on the ground.
the first item to fall was a headset, connected to something that resembled a walkie-talkie. along with that came a notebook, a pair of sleek goggles, and multiple air cartridges for their suits.
"what the fuck"
haseul grabbed the notebook and flipped through the pages, but there were only sparse words on a few select pages.
"it just has our names."
the notebook was placed in kahei's hands and she took a couple seconds to come to the same observation. the names were in order from the least to most wealthy, with a couple pages in between each. no one was left out, no one had more writing than that.
haseul picked up the headset, "whats the purpose of these things?"
kahei turned back to haseul and closed the notebook. "i think someone's keeping tabs on us, and it's more extensive than we thought it was."
✰ ☾ ✰