How I Wonder What You Are (A Byul Fanfiction)

Chapter 20

Yongsun lay sprawled on the floor of RBW's practice room, watching Byulie's face through the mirror as she danced through half-closed lids. It was nearing 6 pm, and Yongsun's initial enthusiasm towards helping Byulie out with her parts in Girls Next Door's debut song had faded away with murky weariness until the only thing keeping her awake was Byulie's presence - they had been in the practice room for at least 8 hours.

But if Yongsun had been thinking that she would spend all 8 hours with Byulie alone, without the interference of Byulie's "friends", then she was wrong. Wheein had stopped by to say hello at least 3 times (but each time, Yongsun thought, she looked kind of weird), and Byulie's phone must've rung about 50 times with calls and texts from her 92-liner friends, Wheein, Hyejin - and of course, Minhyuk.

In the morning, when Yongsun had arrived at the practice room, she found Byulie sending sweet morning messages to Minhyuk; when they went out for lunch, the first thing Byulie did was check her phone for messages from Minhyuk (and there were a lot), instead of fooling around with her about where to go eat like they used to; Byulie even stopped mid-practice to take a call from Minhyuk, something she rarely did - but she did look a little annoyed as she put her cell phone down, and Yongsun had smiled at Byulie's slight pout. "Back to practice..."

"Right here, right here, you gotta put me on~" Byulie's deep voice brought Yongsun back to the present - where Byulie was not being annoyed by Minhyuk - and saw Mamamoo's main dancer's fluid movements, main rapper's cool, husky voice, and the natural idol's outstanding stage presence before her. The thing that captivated Yongsun and demanded her full attention, though, was the beautiful woman behind those flashy titles: Moon Byulyi. Yongsun could see Byulie's character reflected in the way she moved as she danced, in the way the corners of her mouths lifted up ever so slightly, like in a smirk, as she rapped, secretly proud of how far she had come as a rapper who had started out as a vocalist only 4 years ago. But she was constantly improving; sometimes Byulie would frown at her intonation or flow, and the next time she practiced, something would always sound better, even when it sounded perfect the last time.

Yongsun smiled too, proud of herself at how much she knew Byulie, how much she could tell just from her performance. As Byulie finished her part with a cool "I like that!" and the music moved on to the chorus part, she did the signature "Byulie Bow", as Yongsun liked to call her sign-off bow. Yongsun pressed pause on the phone playing out the audio, knowing that Byulie had already perfected the rest of the dance. Byulie, her eyes bright, asked, "How was I this time?" Yongsun gave her the thumbs-up: "You'll be the most outstanding member in Girls Next Door with that performance!" Byulie laughed, shaking her head, and went over to grab her bag. "Well, looks like I'm going to dinner then!"

"Can we eat together? I haven't got a lot of money on me. What about you treat me this time?" "Sorry unnie, not today. Hyuk's taking me to this new place near home that I've been dying to try for forever!" Somehow, the excitement in Byulie's voice was so cute, Yongsun couldn't bring herself to look grumpy, even though inwardly she felt like she had just been dumped down a well - unwanted, forgotten, falling downwards in a black abyss.

"It's okay," Yongsun managed a smile. "But I'm taking you tomorrow. No excuses!" As a sign of agreement, Byulie hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear, "You can make your wonderful jajangmyeon for me, yours is the best in the world!" Yongsun nodded, drinking in Byulie's sweet scent and feeling the soft blonde hair with wistfulness. As they parted, a thought wormed its way into Yongsun's head.

Minhyuk gets to have that sweet scent and that soft blonde hair to himself too... As she watched Byulie's figure disappearing down the road outside their agency building, a sense of loss approached her with every step that Byulie took.

"You're like a sister to me..." Yongsun recalled that phrase from almost two weeks ago. As she did, a tear fell down her cheeks, falling onto the rocky footpath. She felt the floor of the abyss looming up.