Broken

13

"Do you know what she wants with this meeting?"

"We are wondering the same, Yu." Mina answers.

Jihyo had asked them all to meet her for lunch, it's around the end of the second week of classes. They moved on to highschool and Tzuyu and Chaeyoung are on their last year of middle school, they were waiting at the highschool division cafeteria, Momo and Nayeon were yet to arrive and Jihyo hadn't been seen so far behind.

The remaining three show up together, and they all go on to get their lunches before anyone starts talking. It's more due to the fact that Jihyo hadn't been eating again, and Tzuyu had been feeling down because of her sister, also not eating.

"Ji, are you gonna tell us what this is about?" Nayeon asks, she never really had much patience.

"I would, but there are two others coming our way, so let's meet tonight and we'll talk. Is that alright?" Jihyo answers, spotting Jeongyeon and Sana coming their way from across the cafeteria.

"Meet at Momo's?" Nayeon asks.

"Sure, I'll be over after work. Now, don't sell us out." Jihyo dismisses, right on time.

"Hey girls! How are you all today?" Sana greets, taking a seat right across from Jihyo and pulling Jeongyeon with her.

Momo was on Jihyo's right, and Chaeyoung on the other side, their girlfriends beside them, so the only vacant seats were just across the table. So everyone went into protective mode immediately, Jihyo wasn't helping the council so far, so they would always try and take her away from the couple, Jeongyeon had announced the relationship at the end of the first week, Jihyo went back to taking care of herself well.

"We are all well. How about you two?" Chaeyoung asks, holding Jihyo's hand a bit tighter.

"We are alright. What's up with you guys, it's been a couple of days since we talked." Jeongyeon replies happily.

"Not much, we were just starting to have lunch." Mina says politely.

They maintain some light conversation while they eat. Momo hadn't said anything at all, she was one to be more sensitive than most, and found it hard to control herself for the most part. So Jihyo, who also never said anything, had a silent conversation with Nayeon and decided to take the girl out of there before she lost her temper, and was up as soon as Momo finished eating.

"So, if you all excuse us, Momo and I have some business to attend." Jihyo tells them and drags Momo away before anyone could oppose or question.

Once they were out of ear-shot, Sana couldn't help but ask.

"Are you alright with your girlfriend being snatched away like that?"

"If it's being snatched by Jihyo, I would say I would be jealous, really. I mean, how could she just take Momo and not me?! Look at me, I'm obviously the best choice in this group." Nayeon answers in a mocking tone.

"Whatever you have to tell yourself. But we all know I am the better choice here." Mina says and they all burst out laughing.

Jeongyeon and Sana are a bit confused. Aren't they already with their soulmates AND in a relationship? Why are these girls so fine with Jihyo being with one when the one with her should be with their partner? And, more importantly, why were they so bothered by it? Nayeon seemed completely fine, having her girlfriend just leave her for another girl during their time together. Sana was restless, something within her demanded to know where they went, Jeongyeon was pissed, how come Momo just took Jihyo away like that, although it was, clearly, the other way around.

Tzuyu might have noticed something, but decided to never really comment on it. She would love for Jihyo to be happy, but the girl's soulmates were not the ones to do that. Both seemed nice enough, but she couldn't bring herself to like them at all. Call her biased, but she will never let any reason for Jihyo to go back to a year ago get to the girl. Chaeyoung sensed something was up with Tzuyu, but it was just a moment, so she let it go.

About fifteen minutes before lunch was over, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu had to go back to middle school division, they just bid goodbye to the group and headed out, making a stop to hug Momo and Jihyo on their way out. The two were really just outside the cafeteria, talking about nothing specific and waiting for the bell to ring. It wouldn't be a very good idea to go back in, not with the couple still there.

The school day goes on and the girls get anxious about what Jihyo had to say and Momo's mood grew more sour by the minute, Nayeon was having a hard time keeping the girl in check, as they did have the two last classes with Jeongyeon. Mina wasn't faring so well either, Sana was in all of her after-lunch classes. Although Momo had always been the mama goose type, who just wants her little ducklings warm and comfortable under her wings, Mina was the mama bear type, she wants her cubs to go out and explore the world, but she will get vicious and ruthless if one of them was ever in any danger. With that, Jihyo was having a very hard time keeping the girl in check, Sana wasn't helping either, taking all the opportunities to talk to them and, often, went off about how great Jeongyeon and her were doing together.

The last bell never sounded so sweet for Jihyo and Nayeon, it meant they could just drag the two murderous girls out of school and away from the, unknowingly, offending couple. Jihyo had texted Chaeyoung and Tzuyu, asking them to come and pick Mina up as soon as they could, which meant they were right in front of their classroom when they got out (middle school division's classes ended half an hour earlier), and Jihyo ushered them to take their girlfriend out of there fast, proceeding to text Nayeon that the kids got Mina and she had to go to work, so she would meet them later.

Work had never dragged so long for Jihyo, she was worried about the girls, wondering if they managed to get those two away from school before they did something stupid. But using her phone during her shift was out of the question, and she didn't really take breaks, making up some extra hours at the end of the month. Thankfully, Jeongyeon's shift would start about ten minutes after hers would finish, if nothing went wrong, she wouldn't see the girl at all. It did.

Arriving to Momo's, she could hear the ruckus coming from the opened window upstairs, Chaeyoung scolding Nayeon about a chemistry equation, or some very weird kink, Jihyo hoped for the first choice. She rang the doorbell and Mrs Hirai came to answer it, giving the girl the warmest of smiles (that's definitely where Momo got hers) and enveloping her in a suffocating and comforting hug. Mr Hirai comes to get his wife, they didn't really speak so he got worried about the silence.

"Who was it at the door, hun? Are you alright there?" He asks in a heavily accented japanese.

"It's Jihyo, she finally came over again!" The woman answers in a very cheery voice, and spins them around, still hugging Jihyo, to hand the girl over to her husband.

"Oh, Jicchan! It's been a while!" Mr Hirai says with a large smile, taking the kid from his wife and giving her an equally pleasant hug.

"I have been working hard, Mr Hirai. When I get home I just study and sleep." Jihyo answers in a slightly broken japanese, she learned from Mina, Momo and their parents (none were having it when she said she wanted to learn but was never good at it).

"Nonsense! A kid like you shouldn't have to work so hard!" Mr Hirai exclaims and they turn to the stairs once they hear someone coming downstairs.

"Mom, dad, please release Jihyo, she must be tired from her job, and we want to finish homework before dinner." Momo had come for the rescue.

"Alright, but just because I know you aren't really going to get anything done if she is not there." Mrs Hirai teases and Momo whines.

The couple send Jihyo up, and, true to their word, no real school work was being done. Nayeon had her book in front of her and Chaeyoung (the chemistry genius she was) was ranting about hydrogen bridges, the eldest was just whining and saying she was sorry about asking. Jihyo let out a chuckle and they all just halted whatever they were doing to get up and hug the girl. Not that she was complaining, Jihyo loved the affection her friends and their families gave her.