The night before Kazuha's wedding, Chaewon is having a hard time sleeping.
"Come on, baby," Yunjin whines, after she twists in the sheets for what feels like the umpteenth time. "College has already given me enough dark circles under my eyes to last me for a lifetime, I don't need you adding another layer. It won't be a good look for a bridesmaid."
They're staying at the hotel where the wedding reception is being held, together with all the guests. It's good to see her friends and family again, it's wonderful to get to sleep next to Yunjin for a few nights, but despite all that, she can't shake off the hollow feeling settled around her heart.
"I just can't believe Kazuha is getting married," she says, turning so she's staring at the back of Yunjin's head. "Kazuha 'boys are boring' is the first of our friends to get married."
"I feel like we've been having this conversation for the past three months," Yunjin says, shifting to face Chaewon in the dark room. "Zuha can take care of herself, you know?"
"I don't doubt that," Chaewon huffs, failing to glare at Yunjin because their position is too intimate and Yunjin is the cutest when she's sleepy. "I just don't think 'he's rich and always traveling' counts as good reasoning for getting married.
"Kazuha is not like us, baby. She's not much of a romantic, she doesn't have a lot of patience for people having - god forbid - feelings, especially if she has to be involved in them. The way I see it, it makes a lot of sense for her to turn to this kind of arrangement. Plus, he seems to be a great guy, so it could be worse."
"She's 21, Yunjin." Chaewon sighs, fingers tracing her girlfriend's naked chest. "We're no longer in the fifties, girls get to have some fun before tying themselves down."
"I'm sure Kazuha will have lots of fun with her future husband's credit cards," Yunjin says, kissing the top of Chaewon's head.
"I know you're worried and that's normal considering they met each other like, last year, and got engaged three months ago, but in all the time that you've known Kazuha, have you ever even heard of her doing anything she didn't want?" Yunjin's hand moves gently down Chaewon's back until it rests on the curve of her ass. It's a habit she'd developed over time as their sleepovers became more common and - strangely enough - it tends to indicate she's about to fall asleep, so Chaewon snuggles closer, kissing the underside of her jaw.
"You're right. Kazuha is a big girl, she can make her own decisions and handle whatever life throws at her."
"Yeah, and you'll be there for her if anything gets rough because you're the best friend ever." Yunjin squeezes her butt cheek fondly and Chaewon can feel her closing her eyes somehow, just like she notices her breathing slowing down. "Fimmies that suffer together stay together."
"Good night, Yunjin," she whispers, her own eyes shutting under the exhaustion she'd been denying. "I love you."
Yunjin doesn't reply, already lost to the oblivion of sleep, but Chaewon doesn't need to hear it to know the truth.
Not anymore.
The bridesmaids are wearing red. Not a conventional choice, but nothing about Kazuha is conventional so there hadn't even been an attempt at protest, especially not after she'd explained red is a color that looks equally good on all of them.
Sakura is getting her makeup done and Yunjin is getting her hair fixed and Chaewon is just pacing the room, already looking the best she could possibly look, reading and rereading the speech she'd written to give at reception as maid of honor.
The day Kazuha told the Fimmies about her engagement, she'd arranged a Skype meeting out of the blue and got them into an argument about how they'd organize themselves if they were to get married. The idea was that each of them had to be a maid of honor at least once. Being a bridesmaid was, of course, a given: there was no way any of them would get married without the other two as bridesmaids.
