Chapter 2
Bae Yoobin
Tears quickly filed the small girl's eyes as soon as Yoobin called her name.
"BINNIE!!!" Seunghee shouted as she leapt in the air and into her open arms, causing her to drop the ice cream that she had just opened.
She fell on her butt but despite the pain lingering on her bottoms, all she could register was the girl's familiar warmth and voice.
"You're Hyun Seunghee right!??" Her friend asked, shocked. It was then did Yoobin remember that Sooyoung was still there. Albeit staring at them with her jaws dropped and eyes wide open.
She frowned. "How do you know her?"
If Oh My Girl didn't exist anywhere, then how did her friend know the girl?
"Everyone in Chuncheon knows who Hyun Seunghee is Yoobin, have you been living under a rock?" The girl answered, making her realize a very important detail that she must have forgotten.
Seunghee has been famous since they were young, it's nothing new for people to recognize her.
"Wait. How do you know her?" She asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
And Yoobin, despite how smart she was when compared to the rest of her members, could only respond with a, "Uhhhhh....."
"We've been close friends since we were young!" Seunghee interjected, much to her relief.
Sooyoung's look of suspicion quickly turned to excitement the moment the pink haired girl talked to her. The latter of the two stood up as she held her hand out for a shake, the former squealing as the two of them made contact.
"I've been a huge fan of you, Yoobin has never mentioned that you guys knew each other. Can I please have a selfie?" She asked.
With a charming smile and professional poise, Seunghee approached her friend to take a picture.
Wow, she's like a celebrity. She thought.
Oh wait, I am too. Yoobin realized.
Even though no one in the world but them knew about their true identities, finding her unnie somehow gave her a little bit more hope and relief about their situation.
At least, she wasn't alone. Figuratively.
Right now though, she was alone. In the ground, with the pain from the fall now dawning on her.
"Unnie." She whined from the ground.
The girl gave her a warm smile, holding her hand out to pull her to stand up.
"Thanks." She breathed out, making eye contact with the older girl. Seunghee pouted, ready to cry.
A loud ringtone brought them out of their trance, causing the girl to jump.
"Oh god, it's my mom." Sooyoung freaked, quickly ending the call in a hurry.
"Why did you end the-"
"Nice meeting you Seunghee and bye Yoobin, I'll see you at school tomorrow!" Her friend quickly blurted out as she rushed out of the store, leaving the two girls and her now melting ice cream on the floor.
She pouted at the pink haired girl. "You made me drop my ice cream."
Seunghee chuckled as she wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulder.
"Come on, I'll buy you another one."
..........
"Did you text your mom that you'll be staying here overnight?" Seunghee asked, setting up a small table in her room for the two of them.
The girl had refused to let her go ever since they met at the store, something about losing her again and being all alone. She said that it was the worst experience of her life.
"Yeah, she even seemed excited that I was spending the night with a friend." Yoobin rolled her eyes. What Sooyoung said was true, her mom really did want her to socialize more.
"Hohoho, I guess the Bae Yoobin here is the same introverted girl who'd rather stay in her room than be reckless." The older girl teased, causing her to glare at her.
"Hey! I can be reckless!!" She refuted.
"Yeah. Says the kid who can't even confess her feelings to her crush." Seunghee chuckled, causing her face to burn red.
She bit her lip, head hanging low. The girl was right, how can she be reckless when she can't even confess her stupid feelings.
"Hey hey, don't be sad Binnie. I'm pretty sure that Jiho feels the same about you." Seunghee gave her a pat on the back, her eyes widened in shock.
"Unnie!!! Be quiet someone might hear!" She whisper shouted, causing the pink haired girl to roll her eyes.
"Come on, it's not like anyone in this neighborhood knows who Jiho is. Even we don't know where that brat is." She crossed her arms.
Yoobin pouted, the reality of their situation dawning at her yet again. "What do you think happened to us? The last thing I remember was falling asleep after the practice."
Seunghee looked up as she tried to remember the last thing she did before she woke up in her room when her mother screamed at her because of her bright pink hair.
"The only thing I remember is Hyojung unnie pestering me for taking too long in the shower." The girl said after some thought.
Binnie held back a smile. There was always something about the two main vocals bickering that she found adorable, especially when you know how the two truly felt about each other.
"Oh wait. I think YooA was planning something with Jiho, they were behaving weirdly but I couldn't catch them because Hyojung unnie called me." Seunghee frowned at the memory.
The girl had just gotten out of the bathroom, her hand drying her wet hair with a towel.
"What are you doing?" She asked, staring at the girl confusedly. Yooa jumped, immediately putting her hands behind her back.
"Uhhhh"
Seunghee stepped closer as the other girl backed away to avoid her, she was hiding something. "What do you have there Shiah?"
"Nothing." The girl innocently answered, her hands still behind her back. She narrowed her eyes at her.
If it was any other member, she would've easily let them go but Yooa was quite... dangerous. All the members knew not to leave the girl alone if she was acting suspicious.
Unless they wanted to destroy the dorms and sleep in the street.
"Come on, shiah-shiah. Hand it over."She approached the girl carefully, hands opened wide. Yooa shook her head, lips pursed in refusal.
"Hand it over or I'm gonna-"
"Unnie!" A voice startled her, causing her to lose her focus on the girl. Shiah used this as an opportunity to escape, hiding behind Jiho who just came out of their shared room.
Seunghee frowned at the girl, her hands on either side of her waist. "Jiho, she's hiding something."
The younger girl looked at what Yooa was hiding, not surprised at all. "I'll take care of it unnie, haha. Go to your room, Hyojung unnie has been waiting for you."
She narrowed her eyes at the two girls. The pink haired girl normally would have easily trusted Jiho to take care of it but something about her behaviour was weirdly awkward.
"Are you sure?" She pressed on, stepping closer.
Has Yooa finally brainwashed one of them to follow her stunt? Was Jiho an accomplice?
Seunghee felt like her suspicions were something that can be trusted when she noticed that the girl's eyes widened in panic as she got closer and closer.
"HYOJUNG UNNIE, SEUNGHEE IS DONE SHOWERING AND SHE'S PESTERING US!!!" Yooa suddenly shouted, causing her to jump back.
"You little-" She started, only to be interrupted when the door to her room opened.
"Hyun Seunghee, I've been waiting for you for the past hour and you're here playing with the kids!" Hyojung angrily nagged at her, she pouted. The two girls giggled in the back.
"But-"
"Not buts, get in here!" The girl ordered.
Her head hung low as she slowly retreated to go to their room. She glared at Jiho and Yooa, the latter poking out her tongue at her.
"I suggest that you two sleep now, we have an early practice tomorrow." The leader smiled warmly at the two girls, almost giving Seunghee a whiplash at the sudden change.
"Yes, unnie." Shiah smiled sweetly at them, making her grumble under her breath about being treated unfairly.
The older woman closed the door, turning around to nag Seunghee again about taking so long.
"And that's the last thing I remember." She finished.
Yoobin sighed. Nothing really happens without a reason. Crazy happenings weren't really unusual to her as the members always does something stupid to get them all in trouble.
But maybe this was the craziest so far. Maybe.
She'd need to think more about that later.
"Whatever they did affected all of us. Now, Oh My Girl is nowhere to be seen or even heard of. It's like we've never even existed." She bumped her forehead on to the wooden table, tired and hopeless. She just wanted everything to go back to normal.
"That's not true." Seunghee patted her shoulder, causing her to look up.
"What do you mean? No one remembers us and we're scattered all over Korea." Yoobin sighed, she could help but think pessimistically. She terribly missed the other girls.
"Well, we are together right?" The older girl asked, her head tilting.
She furrowed her eyebrows at her questioningly.
"I mean, you remember me and I remember you. We both know who Oh My Girl is so it's safe to assume that all the other members know too. Even if we can't be searched on Naver or Google, we're still us." Seunghee reasoned.
She felt warmth and a little bit of hope spread in her chest at the girl's words. She's so glad that she found the girl at the store. The older girl was right. As long as they were together, everything would be fine.
Yoobin straightened up, a new resolve burning inside her.
"Let's find our girls and go home."
............
"Okay, so Yooa is probably in Seoul, Jiho in Okcheon, Arin in Busan, and Mimi in Jeju, Hyojung unnie should be in Anyang." The older girl stated, writing down all the information that she could remember about their fellow teammates.
Yoobin sighed.
The two of them knew all of the member's hometowns but South Korea is big, how could they even find the girls without having any of their contact numbers. She's pretty sure that Arin doesn't even have a phone yet- wait.
A sudden realization dawned on her, causing her to quickly push Seunghee to the side to open up another website.
"I know Arin's email address." She explained, opening her own email to type up a new message.
"How the hell do you even know that?" The older girl asked, eyes wide in shock.
Binnie shrugged nonchalantly, "I saw it when she wrote that letter to Hani sunbaenim, seeing things in writing makes me remember it longer."
Seunghee continued staring at her, jaw still dropped. Even if that event happened years back, it was easy for Yoobin to remember such details.
"What?" She asked.
The girl could only shake her head, "I swear when Jiho and you get together, you'd be a deadly combination. Kids these days are too smart for their own good."
She flicked the older girl's arm, the latter protesting in pain.
"You're just like a year older than me. You've spent too much time with Hyojung unnie, you're starting to sound just like her." She stated, earning an audible gasp from the pink haired girl.
"Excuse you but I sound nothing like her!" Seunghee shouted in offense, putting her hand on her chest as if Yoobin had just insulted her whole existence.
She rolled her eyes at the girl's dramatic reaction.
"I swear if she had seen you right now, you'd be in so much trouble." Binnie shook her head at the girl's antics.
"Who's to say that I'd get in trouble, she doesn't scare me!" Seunghee crossed her arms, proudly puffing her chest.
"I've seen you sleep on the couch." She stated.
"That's because of my own will! The room was too hot so I wanted to sleep on the sofa with the air conditioning on, it has nothing to do with the fact that I ate her cream bread when she told me not to!" The older girl uselessly defended herself as Yoobin typed her email to the maknae of the group.
She made sure to include all the details that she could offer, even adding their phone numbers for the younger girl to contact them.
"Uhuh." She mindlessly responded, her hands still busy with typing.
Arin-ah, don't be scared okay? Seunghee unnie and I will try to get you when we've managed to locate the other members.
"Mimi's worse you know! She sometimes sleeps in the couch with me when Yooa's upset with her and they don't even share a room!" The girl exclaimed, trying to drag the purple haired girl into the conversation.
Binnie focused on what she was typing, maybe the younger girl knew something about what happened.
Perhaps, do you know anything about what Jiho and Yooa unnie were planning after our practice? Seunghee unnie thinks that it could be the reason why this happened to us.
"I've sent the email." Yoobin finally looked at the overly worked up girl.
Seunghee narrowed her eyes at her, "You weren't listening to what I was saying were you?"
"Not really."
.........................
"Yoobin, come quick. I think I found one of the members." Seunghee pulled her out of her sleep, the girl's voice a mix of excitement and panic.
She quickly sat up, all the sleep suddenly gone from her mind.
"What? Where?" She blurted out, moving near the girl to take a better look at her computer.
The monitor displayed WM's official website, a post with thousands of comments was opened.
WM! Give me back my members or I will personally come there and destroy you, I know all your dirty secrets so you better comply! Don't even think about finding me because this post is anonymous, so you better hurry up because your time is running out! Bring back Oh My Girl or meet your doom😠
Yoobin almost face palmed at what she read, instead she banged her head against the table.
"The company said that they were gonna release a sudden announcement this week. You think that they're gonna sue her?" The girl asked.
Binnie pursed her lips, not knowing what to do of the situation.
"I mean, the message isn't really that threatening from a stranger's point of view. But who knows what WM is thinking and they don't usually respond to these things." She thought out loud.
"It's just so ridiculous but it's proof that it's really is her. No one else would post that." Seunghee reasoned out.
She nodded her head as she ran her fingers through her hair. There was only one member you would actually think of threatening their company when put in a situation like this.
Yoobin could only sigh, already used to it.
"Hyojung unnie, what have you done?"
...................
She consciously played with the bottom of her skirt as she walked down the hallways of the school, on the way to her homeroom class.
There seemed to be a different energy from the students today as they were all secretly taking a glance at her. A lot of people even actually greeted her as she walked.
Yoobin entered her classroom, gulping uncomfortably when she realised that she got everyone's attention when she entered.
"Hey, Yoobin-ah. Is it true that you know Hyun Seunghee?" Jisoo, a classmate of hers asked.
Sooyoung smacked the girl's back. "I told you, it's true. I saw it with my own two eyes!!!"
She gasped, her hand covering her mouth.
"That's so cool!" She fangirled.
A realization dawned on her. "Is that why everyone keeps on staring at me?" She asked incredulously.
"Of course! You know our town's daughter, everyone probably wants to talk with you right now." Binnie sighed.
Was this how her non-celebrity friends felt like when they went outside together? She really should treat her friends better. She thought.
"I don't know how the rumours spread this fast but some people don't believe it. You should bring your friend to the school so that people would stop questioning it!" Jisoo commented, causing her head to hang low.
She didn't really want the attention. She needed to stay low so that her and Seunghee could find the other members without a distraction.
Why did the older girl have to be so popular?
.......
Yoobin quickly packed up her things, she needed to go soon. She had promised the older girl that she'd buy some snacks before coming over again.
She rushed out of the classroom as soon as she bid her friends farewell.
Her legs moved with ease, walking quickly without actually running. A commotion by the school's gate however, made her slow down her pace.
She went closer, her eyes immediately catching the bright pink hair that stood out amongst the dark ones. Binnie sighed, why was the girl at her school?
Did she find something? She asked herself, feeling a little bit restless.
She moved past the crowd, close enough so that Seunghee could hear her.
"Unnie, what are you doing here?" She asked, causing the girl to look up at her.
Her eyes twinkled with warmth and relief when she saw Yoobin's face, she must've been overwhelmed by the crowd.
Seunghee smiled, taking the hand that she offered the girl so that she could take her away from the crowd.
"Goodbye guys, Bi- Yoobin and I need to go somewhere." The girl waved at the crowd, dragging the younger one away from the school.
"So, what's the urgent news that made you come and get me?" Yoobin asked the moment the two girls were a distance away from the students.
"WM posted an announcement." The girl answered, causing her heart to thud a little bit faster at the restless look on the older's face.
She gulped feeling a bit nervous when the pink haired girl brought her phone out to show her the post. The word 'Announcement' highlighted in bold letters.
Yoobin read the post, releasing a breath when she realized why Seunghee looked jittery.
"I guess we're attending an audition next week."