something easy // Hyewon

☁︎

It felt more like Christmas in the following days. The weather had gotten colder, forcing Hyeju to actually start wearing her winter clothes and Sooyoung to shovel the walkway. Jungeun and Chaewon helped their mother with last-minute decorating, cooking, and household chores, while Sooyoung and Hyeju were employed by their father to fix up things around the house for the New Year. It felt good to fall into a routine, and good to have something to keep her mind preoccupied. When they had downtime, Sooyoung would invite the other three girls out to town to window-shop and get coffee. Hyeju and Sooyoung basked in the feeling of their hometown, finally free from their hectic schedules in New York City and LA, respectively.

Sooyoung did ditch her little sister one night to take Jungeun out to dinner and a movie, which had Jungeun smiling to herself the whole day former and in a spectacular mood the day afterward - Hyeju chose not to think about it any more than that. It was good to see Sooyoung caring so much about someone though, Hyeju truly did feel happy for her.

She couldn't help but keep replaying her conversation with Chaewon the other night over in her head. Something about the way Chaewon had looked at her that night felt different. Hyeju felt a shift between them. With her family, Chaewon was sweet, clingy even, burying herself in Hyeju's side when they spent time together on the couch or walking around town. She wore a sweet smile on her face when they were around Hyeju's parents, and Daisy was absolutely taken with her. She fit into the family effortlessly, like the missing puzzle piece Hyeju had been searching for.

And yet Hyeju could feel Chaewon pulling away. She slept earlier, her back facing away from Hyeju and her eyes guarded. It hurt. Hyeju couldn't talk to her the way they used to, couldn't tease or flirt with her in the same way. Had she hurt Chaewon's feelings? Made this weird somehow? Was bringing her best friend really as big a mistake as it was starting to feel?

Hyeju came across her sister sitting on the front porch on her way in from taking out the trash. She was fiddling with a small box, which she shoved into her pocket upon Hyeju's approach.

"Hey," Sooyoung looked up, a small puff of air created by her breath.

"Hey," Hyeju sat down beside her, wiping the frost off the steps. "Pretty cold to be out here,"

Sooyoung nodded faintly.

"You good?"

"Just thinking," Sooyoung replied. "Coming back here reminds me of a lot,"

Hyeju rested her elbows on her knees and breathed heavily. Sooyoung didn't speak for a while, and Hyeju let her thoughts wander.

She could still picture the momentary hurt, and pain on Chaewon's face. Even in the dim light of her laptop, it was rawer than Hyeju had ever seen her. She'd broken something between them that she didn't know how to fix. All she wanted was her best friend back to normal, all she wanted was to stop wanting to kiss Chaewon when she looked at her.

She did wonder more often now, what would've happened if she'd been brave enough to ask Chaewon out when she first met her. If maybe she'd be bringing Chaewon back as a real girlfriend this time.

"I know something is going on," Sooyoung murmured. "Between you and Chaewon, that you haven't shared with the rest of us,"

Hyeju bit her tongue.

"I don't know what it is, but-"

"We're not dating,"

It felt like a relief to finally admit it to her sister. However much they fought, insulted or annoyed one another, they didn't keep secrets. Sooyoung looked taken aback at the confession, but not as surprised as she should've.