"Morning!" Hyunjin strolled in giddily into the dining room, where her teammates were having breakfast. Ryujin squinted her eyes, "what's got you so happy?"
"She reunited with her girlfriend yesterday," Jinsoul answered for her. Her tone was teasing, yet Hyunjin could catch the slightest bit of bitterness too. She smiled wider. Jinsoul really had no idea what was in store for her. "Well, this time around it's gonna be a good load of nostalgia."
"Where are you going? We have practice today," Jinsoul knitted her eyebrows, licking her lips after drinking milk from her bowl. Hyunjin wiggled her eyebrows in response, "I may have asked if we could practice in bbc."
Complaints riled in from all directions towards Hyunjin, "a field and a stadium can not be compared."
"Yeah! And doesn't the bbc team also have practice today? Like, this was your schedule," Ryujin pointed at her threateningly, albeit with a spoon. "We aren't going."
Hyunjin whined, "aw c'mon! It'd be fun," her teammates looked at her weirdly, "yeah, for you. we weren't bbc students." and that's when it hit her. She looked over at Jinsoul, who was only observing quietly as the others complained. For a second, Hyunjin thought, traitor. But then it hit her again, "Jinsoul! Come on! Please," she drew out her whine. "please go with me!"
Jinsoul looked around to her teammates, all had looked at her, silently asking her to go otherwise they won't hear Hyunjin's whining end. She sighed, she figured it would be worth enough, "sure."
"Yes! We can have a nostalgia day!"
"Who even calls 'going back to your old highschool' nostalgia day?" said the older, a very judging expression apparent.
"Heejin does and it's cute, now let's get going!"
∆
"When you throw, you don't push the ball forward. You give it," she paused to demonstrate herself, throwing the ball and letting it hit the mesh fence, "a flick of your wrist. It goes much faster and is much more efficient."
The young girl in front of her grinned with passion, "Ah, okay! That's easy." She grabbed another ball by their feet, and tried again. "See; should you actually listen to my advice, you could've done it properly."
"I did!"
"You were still pushing, Jihan," the older let out. They've been at it for almost 30 minutes now. Even if this wasn't the first time, Jihan had begged to teach her how to 'pitch like you do!' and as much as Haseul didn't like the teaching experience, she admired how passionate the young girl was.
"I'm getting tired. It's almost time to wrap up practice anyway," she started walking away, only to be held back by by her collar. "Ack! Jihan!"
"Oh! I'm sorry!" she immediately let go, "I'm so so sorry coach!"
"You choked me."
She looked down, embarrassed, "I know. I'm sorry." Haseul scratched on her head, this girl wasn't going to give up any time soon (and she wouldn't admit it, but because of her bombastic personality Haseul has grown quite fond of her). She grabbed the whistle that hung around her neck and blew it, grabbing the attention of her team. "Okay, good work! But that should be enough for today. You guys can wrap up."
Catching Jihan walking away, head still down from the corner of her eye, Haseul reached over and held her shoulder. "Not you. You aren't going anywhere until you work out your throw." Haseul tried to keep her tone and expression serious. She really did. But with the blazing fire that lit up in Jihan's eyes, Haseul couldn't help but smile.
"Let's just take a break first, yeah?"
Haseul wasn't expecting today to be anything special. Maybe training Jihan A little extra, but other than that, she thought of nothing else that could make today interesting. She was clearly proven wrong when she heard Jihan scream. She couldn't help the instinctive move of getting up from where she was resting to run at towards the screech.
She herself gasped at the scene. Jihan's shocked expression, mixed with excitement and happiness. Two girls' backs were facing her. Both black haired, tall, one held a baseball bat, resting it over her shoulder. To be honest, it looked like they were about to beat Jihan up. "Hey!"
And in seconds what was her worry for Jihan dissolved and turned into shocked at the faces of her two friends that have come back. "Wait-"
"Haseul!" she didn't even get to process what was happening because Jinsoul already launched herself into Haseul, hugging her tightly. After a few seconds she thought she needed some air, so she tapped Jinsoul's shoulder, "hey, let me go. need air."
Jinsoul laughed before loosening her arms, "sorry." Haseul looked over the taller's shoulder, seeing Hyunjin who only smiled and waved at her, "sup?" She laughed, Hyunjin was still herself.
"I knew you guys were back, but- holy shit? why are you here?" She pulled away, now holding Jinsoul's wrists. Hyunjin beamed from behind them, "we wanted to have a nostalgia day!"
"Stop calling it that, and yes," Jinsoul faced Haseul, "we wanted to give a look back at blockberry. But what are you doing here?"
"Oh, right! I'm the team's coach now." Haseul smiled proudly. She wanted to show that even if she was left behind by her friends, she could live a life that she was content with. "Practice just ended."
Suddenly remembering Jihan, she let Jinsoul go and walked over to the teen, still paralyzed as ever, "but I'm teaching her how to pitch correctly."
Hyunjin snickered, "As captain you had favorites, and now as coach you have favorites."
"Pfft, whatever, hey, introduce yourselves!"
Jinsoul smiled warmly towards the speechless girl, handing her hand out, "Hi! We're-"
"Jung Jinsoul and Kim Hyunjin." She finished for her. Laughing, Hyunjin smirked, "okay, and you are?"
"J-Jihan." Haseul scoffed hearing the usually loud voice turn so quiet at the face of her old friends. "Are you that big of a fan of them?"
She turned deep red, and Jinsoul smiled, "you remind me of when I first met Sunmi. I bet you're internally panicking right now?" The girl only nodded shyly. "Hey, you were just practicing right? We came here to practice too," Jinsoul swung her baseball bat over her shoulder, "like old times."
And somehow, Hyunjin was right. The rest of the day hit like nostalgia. Hyunjin running laps and Haseul pitching Jinsoul. Only this time Jihan was there to learn and Jinsoul was happy to help. To the old friends it was as if Jinsoul and Hyunjin didn't even go anywhere. As if they were still the goofy trio back in highschool.
"You're getting....better," Jinsoul grinned coyly. She let her bat rest against the wall then sit leaning, mimicking it. Jihan was more comfortable now, "At least it's something."
Haseul and Hyunjin approached them on the bench handed them the water they bought. Jinsoul basically downed half the bottle in one gulp, entertaining everyone. "Hey, you guys have a match next month right?"
"Yeah," said Hyunjin.
"With who?" Haseul asked again, a hint of a smirk on her lips. Hyunjin shrugged, "don't know yet. But I heard they're like a super good local team."
"Whoever they are we're gonna crush them!" Jinsoul said, literally crushing the plastic bottle in her hand. Haseul hid back a smile, "well, I'll be there to wish you guys good luck then."
∆
"and- pah pah pah!" Yerim shouted cheerfully at Jungeun, "as expected from Kim Lip! That was amazing!"
They were sweaty, but Jungeun smiled through it all. After all, she was about to come back after half a year. She wasn't going to waste any time, her fans had waited and she was not going to disappoint them.
She let herself lay on the grounds of the studio. Yerim giggled and threw her her water bottle. Jungeun gasped when she felt the hard plastic crash with her stomach, "Yerim!"
The called girl hurried over to her, "oh my god, are you okay?" the sentence showed worry, but the giggles that Yerim let out gave out literally the opposite of that. Jungeun groaned, "punk."
"You love me,"
"Unfortunately," Yerim laid herself beside her. The question everyone has been wondering was at the back of Yerim's brain, scratching for her to just ask it. Yerim was no coward so she did. "So,"
"Hm?"
"I heard about your schedule at a baseball game next month."
"Oh," Jungeun didn't remember closing her eyes until she opened them hearing the question, taken aback, "that. what about it?"
"You know the National Team is also playing next month right?"
"....yeah."
"Sooo," Yerim dragged out, positioning herself on her side to look at the older, "I put two and two together. I think I've connected the two dots."
"You didn't connect shit," Yerim chuckled at Jungeun naturally continuing the reference. "Okay, sure. I did too, and so what?"
"You know what," Jungeun didn't answer. If she wasn't going to state the obvious, Yerim will. "You'll see her again."
The other rolled so Yerim faced her back. She hummed. "Do you not want to see her again?"
Jungeun dreaded a talk like this. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, curled up like she was a child hiding. Her voice was small, "of course."
"But?"
"B-But I'm scared. I know it's been 5 years and we agreed to move on," she stopped. She never talked about this with anyone, "I don't think I did."
Yerim hummed. She knew the atmosphere shifted, she closed herself to the older, spooning her from behind. "Will you be okay?"
"Can you and Jiwoo be there? You don't have to I just-"
"Is that even a question? I have to be on standby and monitor you, remember? and for Jiwoo I don't think it'd be a question, her girlfriend's franchise is sponsoring the game," Yerim rubbed her upper arm. She felt her relax as she talked. "Thank you."
Jungeun was glad Yerim was there. She and Jiwoo were more than excited when they heard that they would be working with her as their choreographer. As idols, it was a breath of fresh air to see an old friend that wasn't necessarily an idol, but was still in the industry. She lived a normal life, she wasn't that known, but she still has insight on what it's like to be an idol as well. Even though she was younger, she stayed as their rock whenever they felt down. Her words comforted them. She even sometimes bring them letters from their old friends; since they're not allowed to go out freely.
She snuggled into the younger's embrace, like she always does whenever this happens, letting Yerim silently comfort her. After a few minutes, Yerim lightly flicked her ear, "hey, how does bingsu sound right now? I'll take the blame if we get caught."
Jungeun chuckled, "yeah, bingsu would be nice."
[a/n]
another chapter!! I absolutely love Yerim in this, I would love this Yerim to be my older sister
and ik some of y'all are wondering when chuuves will get back together but 👀 look closely (they never broke up lmao)
also!! it was random but I had to put Jihan in there hehe. If you're wondering; she's a member from the upcoming girl group weeekly! they'll be debuting on the 30th of June!! The members are orbits so I thought it'd be fun to cameo one of them :)) ↓↓
anyway, I hope you have a wonderful day today! Pls take care!
—maya