You Should Be Here but Your Presence Remains Distant.
“I like Minnie unnie…”
Those words rang continuously in the back of Soojin’s mind, it had been a while since they ended Oh My God’s promotions and Shuhua haven’t been acting herself lately. She rarely bothers Soojin anymore, it’s always Minnie unnie, Minnie unnie, Minnie unnie…
“Ugh,” Soojin groaned, tossing in her bed. It felt weird to not have Shuhua bothering her nap time, instead, she heard quite a ruckus happening just outside of her door.
“Shuhua-ya, stop it~”
“Why~? I like youuu.” Shuhua sing-songed, earning a shriek from Minnie who was the victim of her endless affections. Soojin sighed and got off from her comfort, going to save her friend from that lovable little monster.
As soon as she opened the door, she was met with an image of Shuhua clinging onto Minnie, like she used to with Soojin. Her heart ached a little bit too much for her liking and so, she decided to cut the bullshit short.
“Shu, let her go.” As if she’s some programmed robot, she quickly pulled her hands away from Minnie and kept it to her own body meanwhile Minnie sighed in relief, “Thanks, Soojin. I swear to god, Shuhua, you’re gonna make Miyeon upset one day.” Minnie said sternly, retracting back into her room that she’s sharing with Miyeon.
The girls sat there in silence, it wasn’t really awkward but then again, who are they lying? It was awkward as hell. Didn’t help that the dorm felt a little too empty due to Soyeon and Yuqi’s absence, they decided to go to the company to start composing and producing for their next album. Soojin couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the two lovebirds, they’d find any excuse to just be alone.
“I’m going to nap,” Shuhua said briefly, walking— No, almost running to her room and slammed the door shut. Was it something Soojin said? She shrugged and was about to close the door to her room when Miyeon spoke up.
“You should really talk to her if you want to know why she’s acting the way she is,” Soojin jumped in shock, rubbing her chest when she realized it wasn’t a ghost. “Unnie, you shouldn’t scare me like that,” She glared as Miyeon smiled sheepishly, “But really, Soo. You should go in there and talk to her.”
“We’re not fighting—"
“I didn’t say you are but it really looks like you’re both hurting.”
Before Soojin could utter another word, Miyeon had given her a tight smile and closed the door shut. The tight smile was a sign that Miyeon was serious with what she said, it’s rare that Miyeon is That serious. So, maybe, there is something going on right?
She doesn’t want to admit it, she really doesn’t.
Night came around and there was Soojin, unable to fall asleep. She had cooked some seaweed soup for Shuhua but was never greeted with a, “I love you, unnie.” Or, “Thank you, honey.”
It really got her thinking. She was scared of what was happening, she didn’t want to lose Shuhua as much as she shows how much she dislikes it when the younger one would treat her so sweetly, she had grown attached to it and— Hell, she loved it when Shuhua would get jealous and turn possessive over her.
It was 12am and none of her members were awake, excluding herself and Shuhua who had been watching the television by herself for the past two hours. Her room was close enough to the living room that she could hear the muffled chit-chatting coming from the source of media. Shuhua was watching their own I-Talk.
She sighed inwardly, trying to gather the last bits of her courage to talk to Shuhua. Once she felt like she was ready, she got out from under her covers and jumped onto her feet, carefully walking towards her destination. As she walked towards the younger girl, the smell of cherry became much more apparent, Shuhua had just taken a shower and she still used Soojin’s shampoo. There’s no one else that would own a cherry-scented shampoo if it isn’t Soojin and Shuhua.
The younger girl was oblivious of her presence until the other end of the couch had dipped, she turned to see Soojin who had her gaze focused on the television.
“Do you love Shuhua?”
“Last night, on my bed, Shuhua slept until dawn so I couldn’t sleep well.”
“She woke me up and told me to go to my room like—”
“Shuhua-ya, just go now…”
The both of them laughed in the video making Soojin chuckle as well, it was cute— They were cute. In a matter of minutes which felt like seconds, the video ended and the screen turned to black and silence engulfed them.
Soojin was the first one to break the silence, “Um, so, is there anything bothering you?”
“No, not at all.” Short and cold.
“Shuhua…” Soojin trailed off, running her own fingers through her hair with a sigh of defeat, “Please, tell me what’s wrong… I- It hurts to see you get so distant and cold with me.” Soojin’s voice wavered although she tried to hold her emotions back, the lump in her throat and tears in her eyes just didn’t help the situation.
“Did I… Hurt you somehow? You’ve been so… Distant. It’s not like you… Please, Shuhua…” At this point, she was begging and pleading for Shuhua to tell her the truth. Shuhua looked at Soojin and the pain in her eyes was so evident and as the light from the LED screen in front of them illuminated the room, Shuhua could see Soojin’s eyes glisten with tears. So much so that it was threatening to overflow any second from then.
Shuhua couldn’t take it anymore and pulled Soojin by the neck gently, closing the gap between them as their lips softly landed against each other. It lasted a second too quick when the younger girl pulled away, realizing what she had done and almost regretted it.
“I- I am sorry! I didn’t mean to—”
“Shuhua, can I ask you one thing?” Soojin asked, wiping her tears with the back of her hand and scooted closer to Shuhua, close enough that there were no space left between their bodies.
“Can I kiss you?”