make it or break it // lee chaeyeon + miyawaki sakura

don't look

3rd Person's POV

The girls are down to their last week of rehearsals. Everyone is filled with so much emotions, that's undeniable. But above all, they'd be lying to themselves if they say they weren't devastated even the slightest bit.

Two and a half years was such a long time, and the thought that they'd be leaving without seeing their fans physically always made them emotional.

At the moment, they all sit quietly as they eat dinner in one of the restaurants across the venue where they'd be holding their final concert.

Minju looks at her members with so much admiration. Although she was one of the members who'd usually get teased by the rest, she always made sure to just go with the flow to make them laugh. She loved seeing them laugh - it always brought a smile on her own lips as well. And some of them, specifically Chaeyeon's, was so contagious that it would make her laugh along too.

She'll miss her girls for sure, and she made a promise to herself that this will be the last group she'll join in.

When IZ*ONE disbands, she'll pursue a career in acting and modeling, because she is and will always be an IZ*ONE member - and she'd like to keep it that way.

"Minju-ya, are you good?" Eunbi calls out, snapping the former back to her senses.

"Oh," she replies, surprised that she had been daydreaming. "Yeah, I'm okay."

They proceed back to eating and Minju, being clumsy as heck, accidentally drops her fork.

"Minju ga-tto!" The members tease her, as usual.

She blushes and chuckles at their reaction, then she was about to pick it up but Hyewon offers to do it for her.

"I can manage." She firmly says, going under the table to get it.

Her eyes unconsciously wander off to a surprising scene in front of her.

Her two unnies holding hands under the table.

Having been slightly astonished, she hits her head on the table's edge once she had retrieved the item.

"Ow."

"Minju ga-tto!!" They all, once again, chorus.

She then meets the eyes of Chaeyeon, who was seated across her and beside Sakura.

"Are you okay?" The older questions with concern evident on her face.

Minju's heart melts at that, though her mind keeps remembering what she had just seen a while back.

Are they together now?

She opens her mouth to respond, but Hyewon takes hold of her chin to make the younger face her.

"Ya, be more careful next time." She authoritatively tells Minju with a frown. "Okay?"

"Okay."

-

Hyewon walks along the building's corridor, fiddling with a bottle of water. She stops on her tracks when she sees Minju literally frozen on her spot. Cocking her head to the side in curiosity, she walks over to the latter with so many questions to ask, but decides to just shut her mouth when she also gets a glimpse of what's gotten the younger bothered and upset.

There stood Chaeyeon and Sakura, again, in their usual couple-ish state.

"They're together now, aren't they?" Minju says in a hushed tone, aware that someone was standing behind her.

"Don't punish yourself like this." Hyewon snaps, gripping unto her wrist and dragging her out of the scene.

Unbeknownst to them, a picture of the couple was taken once again the moment they'd managed to walk away.

-

"What the hell is wrong with you? I told you not to look." Kwangbae calmly reprimands Minju once they had entered an empty room. "Don't look at them because I don't want you to break your own heart."

"I... I didn't mean to."

"You never listen."

"I'm sorry." After saying those words, Minju immediately breaks down. "I'm sorry, I can't help it."

"Minju..."

"I'm happy for them, I swear!" She happily chirps, but her eyes say otherwise. "I love them both. I-I just don't understand why... why I feel like this."

She sniffs, "I'm h-happy that Kkura-unnie finally gets her girl. I'm h-happy that Chaeyeon-unnie is finally happy."

"You don't have to lie to me." Hyewon tells her.

"But I mean it, unnie." She points out with a shaky voice. "I meant everything I just said."

"But I won't deny that I wish it was me who's making her happy."

Hyewon feels her chest tighten upon hearing that from Minju, and so she just stands there, not really knowing what to say or do while the younger bawls her eyes out nonstop.

"Ya..." she softly says as she tries to reach for Minju's hand.

"It's okay, unnie. I'll be okay." The latter convinces her as she forces to smile. "I'll move on. I got this."

Hyewon reaches for something in her back pocket and gives it to Minju. "Wipe your tears away. I hate seeing you like this."

The younger didn't listen and she lowers her head down more to avoid her unnie's sympathetic gaze towards her. Her shoulders were uncontrollably shaking as her tears incessantly slide down her cheeks.

"I'm happy for them, I promise." She mumbles, but it was audible enough for Hyewon to hear.

"Ya," the latter softly whispers. "Just cry it all out. I'm here."

"I'm happy for them." Minju repeats, as if she was trying to convince herself. "I swear."

"Come here."

The younger tightly wraps her arms around Hyewon's waist as she sobs on her shoulder. The only thing she (Hyewon) could do was to stroke the other's hair to comfort her. She didn't know what to do to make her stop crying.

"Ya."

"I'm sorry you had to see me like this--"

"Kiss me."

Minju pulls away from her with a surprised expression on her face. "What?"

"If that's the only way you can forget about what you saw, then just kiss me."

"Unnie..."

"I don't mind." She assures with a small smile. "It sounds silly but maybe, just maybe, it might help make you feel less awful."

Minju's heart races when she feels Kwangbae reach for her cheek and wipe her tears away with her thumb. "Whenever you're ready..."

"I'm sorry, Kwangbae."

She then leans closer towards the older, and the moment her lips touch the latter's, she takes a sharp breath as flashbacks of what she saw earlier roam her mind. And once again, she sobs.

However, this time, Hyewon pulls her closer and calms her down with her gentle kiss.