"Do you think we should try to talk to them during class?"
"It won't work, you know that."
"But I have to know!"
"Sana, it will be useless, let's just wait until lunch time like we agreed. Now go in, I still have to get to my classes."
The couple was talking, read: Jeongyeon was trying to talk Sana out of doing it, about how to approach the girls and ask what was happening. They had agreed to just wait until lunch time, so everyone would be gathered in the same place, but the younger one was having trouble containing herself. It was expected, but still....
Before Sana could protest anymore, the five minute bell rang, and that was Jeongyeon's cue to get to her own classroom. Classes went as well as one could expect, fast enough for Jeongyeon and too slow for Sana, but their real challenge was lunch time anyhow. Both were hesitating to enter the cafeteria, but it's been almost five minutes, and lunch break would be over before they knew it. So, Jeongyeon marches forward, a death grip on Sana's hand, they get whatever to eat (not like they were worried about it right then), and head to the group's table.
"Sana, Jeongyeon! Are you two alright?" Momo greets, being the first one to notice the couple approaching.
"You two look nervous, what's up?" Chaeyoung asks.
None of them look any different from any other day, despite the fact that Jihyo is nowhere to be seen, and Nayeon looks a bit sleepy, then again, Momo and her usually look sleepy. Jeongyeon decides to take a seat first, and has to pull Sana down slightly so the girl could, at least, move from where she was standing.
"We have something to talk to you guys about." Sana blurts out, incapable of holding herself back anymore.
"Oh, what can we help you guys with, then?" Mina asks, her calm voice snapping the group into attention.
"Shouldn't we wait for Jihyo to get here? Did she even come to class?" Jeongyeon questions.
"Oh, right. Don't worry about her, but do tell, what can do for you?" Nayeon dismisses.
"Jihyo." Sana says simply.
"What about her?" Nayeon gets defensive, she wasn't about to let anyone get to her little sister.
"She means to ask if there's any problem with Jihyo?" Momo is trying to calm Nayeon down.
"Yes."
"No."
Both answer at the same time. Jeongyeon was trying to go the roundabout way, Sana was just after direct answers. The girls tense up instantly, and the other two could feel the tension rising, making Jeong decide to drop the formalities and be direct like Sana.
"Okay? Which is it?" Mina chuckles.
"Fine, we have a problem. Not really a problem, but there is something." Jeongyeon lets out in a frustrated huff.
"Alright, tell us, then." Momo urges.
"We think you guys are too protective of her and we want to know why. Also, we want to talk to her and see if we could figure out this weird feeling we have whenever we are near her." Sana lets it all out, looking each one in the eyes.
"We can help with half of that. But Nayeon should explain the other half." Chaeyoung decides. "Who wants to start?"
"I'll do it. Well, Jihyo is very special to all of us, and we all love her very much. The thing is, her previous situation was not very good, and we grew to be very protective of her." Mina explains.
"What situation? Shouldn't we be hearing this from her?" Jeongyeon gets impatient.
"Perhaps, but there is where Nayeon comes in, we think it would be better for her to be the one to explain." Chaeyoung tries to calm everyone down.
"What's up, then?" Sana asks, setting her gaze upon Nayeon, who sighs and starts talking.
"Jihyo was being abused by her family her whole life. She was starved and mistreated by her parents, and everything she had was taken by her sisters. We learned that a bit late, but none of us was about to leave her alone after that. We talked to all our parents about her as well, so she would always have a place to go whenever she needed." Nayeon has never sounded more serious.
"And why are you crying?" Mina asks the couple, who have tears running down their cheeks.
"Just keep talking, please?" Sana asks, voice small and cracking.
"If you insist." Nayeon sighs. "After we knew how she was surviving and everything that was happening at that house, we worked really hard to crack her and let us in. Our parents took her in like their own as well, they all got to know her and like her very much. So, yes, we are very protective of Jihyo. No, we won't be making it easy for anyone to approach her just like that."
"We understand, thank you for telling us." Jeongyeon's voice is barely above a whisper.
They just get up, not really having eaten anything, but no appetite was left either. Both didn't talk for the rest of lunch period, just went to a bathroom to try and look presentable enough to get through the rest of their classes. Jeongyeon calls in sick, and her manager just tells her to rest well, as her voice was horrible. Sana takes her girlfriend to her classroom, promising to come get her as soon as they are dismissed.
People may see Jeongyeon as the stronger one, but the truth is very far from that. Sana seems to wear her heart on her sleeve, but she is a very strong one, never held herself back on showing love, but hasn't stepped down when she needed to show strength either. Jeongyeon was not that expressive, she would show her love in the little things, walking on the outer side of the sidewalk, pulling Sana's chair for her to sit, cutting the meat for her, but she was the one to open her heart too easily.
Sana was worried, she knew Jeongyeon was very hurt by what they just found out. The unexplainable affection they had towards Jihyo was something, but knowing the girl was going through all that, they couldn't really be wary of the group's protective ways. The couple themselves were worried, but nothing they couldn't really do much, Sana thought of visiting Jihyo's house, maybe get to talk to her personally, so she grabbed Jeongyeon headed to her house first, changed and dragged the other to the Yoos to do the same.
It wasn't very easy to track down where the Parks lived, but Sana knew enough people to find out. When they were close to their destination, they saw two very familiar faces a few houses before their destination, so Jeongyeon decided to stop by. Nayeon and Momo were sitting on the Ims' porch, in a swing chair and looking like they were studying, judging by the books and papers scattered. It was a warm day, studying outside was a good idea.
"Hey, what are you guys doing around here?" Momo greets.
"We thought about going to Jihyo's place and try to talk to her, but I didn't know you lived so close to her." Jeongyeon answers, gesturing to both girls, not knowing whose house that was.
"Then you came to the right place." Momo answers cheerily.
"What do you mean? I heard her house was that one." Sana questions, pointing at the Parks' house.
"That would be correct a few months ago, but you did come to the right place today. You won't be talking to Jihyo, though." Nayeon answers, having finished writing whatever it was on her notes.
"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.