The Last Call | An Iz*One Journey

Chapter 17: Back to You

Wonyoung's POV

"Wonyoung!" Hyewon called out, the energy seeping through her veins as it transmitted to me. She waved her hand, gesturing for me to join her and Yujin seated by her bed - who appeared to be in the middle of something.

"Yes, unnie?"

"Hyewon-unnie is teaching me how to set up rabbit traps. Can you learn with me?" Yujin pleaded, clenching her fist in another as she begged.

"Eh? Rabbits?" I uttered a wordless noise, smacking Yujin by her arm. "How can you kill such an adorable creature?!"

"Yah, Wonnie. We've gonna starve if we don't do this. Maybe we'll just eat the rabbits alone-"

"Okay fine!" Crossing my arms, my cheeks puffed up as I held a sulky face. The two girls before me shared a laugh as they felt accomplished at recruiting me to help them. They paused, sensing that the two girls sleeping above - Minju and Chaewon - were rousing awake to our laughter. Soon, I found myself listening to how Hyewon described a rabbit trap - and how to build one. She brought forth a coil of metal wire they had found in the house, showing us how to weave rings that would be needed for the trap.

Yujin seemed to get the hang of it immediately, whereas I was having much trouble. It was like tying a shoelace with only one finger on each hand - unnatural and awkward in nature. Nonetheless, Yujin exclaimed in joy as she completed her first ring - albeit a little too loud for the nighttime, earning the annoyed looks of Eunbi and Hitomi cuddling on the queen bed like a brazened, newly-wedded couple.

"Wow Yujin, you're really good at this." I commented.

"Maybe you're just not meant for this kind of work," she replied, dropping her wire ring to hold my two hands up to her face, "look at your flawless hands! My poor wonnie, having to get her hands dirty..."

"yAh! Stop treating me like a baby, Yujinnie."

Hyewon giggled as she witnessed our little bickering - just another moment of regularity amongst the two of us. Then, she let out an explosive sigh, eyes lacking the shine that she had earlier. "I just wished I had someone to love me like you two do."

"Unnie... We love you, is that not enough?" Yujin interjected, trying to lift her spirits high.

"Ne! Do you not love us?" I added.

"I do I do... But it's just that..." Her eyes glanced around the room, most likely looking for someone who hadn't been here.

"It's Yuri-unnie, isn't it?"

She nodded sullenly as a form of surrender. A wry pang of fellow feeling washed over me as I understood what she meant. I remembered the time back in Starship when I thought Yujin and another female trainee were madly in love - turned out they were just really close friends. It made my heart thump against my chest everytime I had the mere thought of them being together, and I could never be with her. It made me go nauseous and my mind run with paranoia at the suggestion that she could never be mine.

Well, regardless of the fact that we are in this state now...

...I'm glad that we debuted together.

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<22 February 2021