a simple text appeared on sooyoung's phone, reading "i'm here!" from her favorite girl. she peaked at the window, revealing the adorable yerim dressed in a bright red sweater. a smiled formed on sooyoung's face as she realized just how happy she was to have yerim with her.
sooyoung opened the door for the girl, in which yerim instantly hugged her. "hi, i missed you."
"i missed you too," yerim said as she found herself sitting on the couch next to sooyoung. the younger girl grabbed sooyoung's arms and placed them onto her shoulders, in which yerim leaned closer to the older girl.
sooyoung started to feel her warm cheeks as she noticed what yerim had just done. she noticed how cute the younger girl looked when her focus was on the show playing on the television. sooyoung began to lean in to give the latter a kiss on the cheek, when her phone rang from the table in front of the two.
"sorry, i have to take it," sooyoung said as she got out of yerim's grasp and walked to her bedroom with her phone in-hand.
"hey, unnie," sooyoung said to begin the conversation.
"sooyoung!! are you with yerim?!" seungwan yelled at her friend.
"yes, why?" sooyoung said after startling due to seungwan's harsh tone.
"don't you know how dangerous she is? she looks innocent, but looks are deceiving!"
"unnie, you don't know anything about her. just please, let me be," sooyoung snapped as she ended the call in anger.
she walked back into the living room and sat down with yerim, placing a fake smile on her face.
"oh, hi," yerim said as she placed sooyoung's arm in its past state. "was that wendy unnie?"
"wendy unnie?" sooyoung said in confusion. "how could she know about seungwan unnie's nickname?" she thought.
"it's nothing, let's get back to this show, shall we?" yerim insisted.
for the majority of the time, sooyoung could feel her body grow with worry as she stayed next to yerim. the constant words of "she's dangerous" and "looks are deceiving" felt like the only words that were processing in her mind.
"unnie?" the younger girl said, noticing how quiet sooyoung had become.
yerim held onto the older's girl's hand and brought the both of them outside, shaking sooyoung into getting out of her trance. "what's going on?" sooyoung asked.
"i felt like we could use a walk, you know, have some fun," yerim said with a smile as she also insisted for soooyoung to lock the door, in which she did.
the two walked around the entire neighborhood, passed yerim's house, and walked past their university while casually holding hands. sooyoung had never felt more at-peace with herself and the world as she had thought happiness would never find her again. she believed she could never have a good relationship with anyone because of her past with sungjae and her sister, but her friendship with yerim clearly showed otherwise.
yerim was also happy. she thought that no one would care about her because she had always cared for her younger sisters. but there she was, looking at sooyoung as if the world was right next to her. she couldn't help but realize that sooyoung looked so different from sorim— how powerful and detailed sooyoung's features were compared to sorim's.
the younger's stomach growled as they reached a korean-grill restaurant nearby. "the stomach never lies," yerim said as she softly giggled.
"what do you want to do, unnie?" yerim spoke to break the silence.
"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..."
"yerim... hey," sooyoung said as she began to pull the girl tighter, wanting to make yerim happy.
the younger girl finally let go as she stared at the ground, still crying. sooyoung bent down on her knees to look at the girl. "you're not with sorim anymore. forget her. she never deserved you." sooyoung then stood up, in which yerim looked at her. "now wash up, we should sleep.
yerim silently crept into the queen-sized bed she saw sooyoung already laying in. she couldn't help but notice how beautiful and elegant sooyoung looked when she wasn't awake.
"thank you for making me happy," yerim whispered to the sleeping girl.
—•—
"unnie, wake up!! the audition is in a few hours!!!" yerim yelled at sooyoung as she tugged on the older's hands.
"i know, i know. just let me sleep..." the latter said while she adjusted herself to the side, smiling.
"unnie, please."
sooyoung groaned as she sat up from her position, staring at yerim. "okay, you're dressed already, right? we can just go now."
yerim happily nodded as she held onto sooyoung's hand while they gathered all of their belongings and left the hotel.
the two girls stood outside of the building, looking for any taxis passing by.
"unnie, don't you have a car?" yerim suddenly remembered as she glanced up to meet the older's eyes.
"um, yeah, i just... forgot it," sooyoung lied as she looked away from yerim and put on a fake smile. "we should go home first, then we'll meet up to go to you audition."
"you're not going to bail on me, right?"
"of course not."
—•—
"here, please stop here," sooyoung said as the taxi driver approached yerim's house.
sooyoung payed for the taxi as both of the girls exited the vehicle.
"unnie, this is my house... and the taxi's gone."
"i can run home, don't worry. just go change, i'll meet you back here as soon as possible. just wait for me. i promise that i won't take that long." sooyoung said to assure yerim, then ran off to her house.
yerim entered her house, greeted by sorim and her three younger sisters. she felt her heart drop as she had forgotten that sorim still had to take care of her siblings — and that she looked exactly like sooyoung.
"yah!! where were you?! why didn't you come back home last night?! why are you wearing the same clothes?!" sorim yelled at the younger as yerim scoffed and ran up to her room. she didn't want to deal with anything that could get in the way of her happiness with sooyoung.
she looked through her closet, desperate for anything that could look good for her audition and for her best friend. she picked out a simple white blouse, blue jeans, and white sneakers, then placed her long purple jacket on herself as she got ready to leave her house. she made eye-contact with sorim again, but decided to ignore the older girl as she waved goodbye to her younger siblings.
yerim waited for 2 minutes before she could hear large footsteps from a mile away. a girl appeared, her girl, running as if her life depended on it.
when sooyoung finally made it to yerim's house, she found herself out of breath and holding onto her knees for rest. yerim couldn't resist the look of sooyoung's long, brown trench coat that seemed to compliment the older's beautiful body and fashion, unlike sorim.
"sorry that i took so long, i had to get my car," sooyoung said when she finally caught her breath.
"where's your ca-" yerim said before she was cut off at the sight of sooyoung's car appearing in front of them.
"sorry for lying to you... it got towed but i just payed for it now so i could drive you there instead of getting a taxi."
"don't worry about it. thank you for thinking about me," yerim said with a smile as she happily entered sooyoung's car.
the girls reached the sm entertainment building and began to sit in the waiting room as they were early for the auditions.
yerim sat with sooyoung with the largest smile on her face as she constantly blushed whenever she looked at the older girl. "who would have ever thought that the girl who broke me would have the same face as the girl who healed me?" she thought to herself.
a girl suddenly walked into the room, smiling at the sight of the older girl. "park sooyoung? i've missed you so much!"
sooyoung stood up to shake the girl's hand, but was surprised when the latter hugged her. "sorry, who are you?"
"you don't remember me? we trained together."