Broken

49

"Has anyone seen my pink socks?" Nayeon screams through the dorm.

"I gave them to you half an hour ago!" Mina shouts back from the living room.

"Has anyone else seen my pink socks after Mina gave them to me?"

"It's on your suitcase already, unnie." Jihyo comes into her room having some coffee.

"I don't see it."

Jihyo silently goes to the suitcase Nayeon was supposed to be packing, reaches in and pulls out said pair of socks, leaving the room right after, still silently drinking her coffee. They were all packing to go visit Dahyun now, it was friday morning, everyone had woken up really early to be sure they were all set to go, Jihyo had packed the previous night, with Mina, Dahyun and Tzuyu (surprisingly), the others were too busy with an impromptu photoshoot with the new mail cabinet that had been installed the previous afternoon.

"Hyunnie, Chris said he will be here in five, are you ready? We should head downstairs." Jihyo asks when she heads to put her mug on the sink.

"I'm ready, let's go!" The pale girl jumps up from her place in the couch.

"Alright, we'll see you all later, good luck with those three." Jihyo shoots over her shoulder, putting on her shoes.

"And you all have fun. Bring us something to eat, maybe?" Tzuyu asks, still in the couch.

"Will try. Don't set the place on fire." Dahyun waves goodbye before leaving.

As soon as they leave, the three girls pretending to pack come back into the living room, it was easy, Dahyun was excited to make new friends in this foreign land, and Jihyo just stopped caring about it around the third item Nayeon screamed about having lost, that was in her suitcase already. Truly, everyone was ready the day before, and they were all just putting on a show so their friends wouldn't think they might follow them, which was exactly what the group was about to do.

Nayeon thought she needed to see how her little baby sister was treated by her boyfriend, Tzuyu just wanted to make sure Dahyun was comfortable going out with possible new friends, that happened to already be a couple. The other three were in it just for the thrill of following people, they would have done that for the dinner with the in-laws, but they went off in a car and it became impossible. This time, however, they were heading to one of Jihyo's previous jobs, and Momo knew where to go and it was close enough so they didn't need to be immediately behind their targets.

"Why are we here again?" Chaeyoung questions when they settle down in a table across the shop.

"Because we are curious gossipers and want to see for ourselves what is happening." Mina says, matter-of-factly.

"Right, and why are we in this ridiculous disguises that only make it more obvious it's us?" The shorter one continues.

"For the drama, now be quiet, you are ruining it." Nayeon scolds a little.

Chaeyoung just rolls her eyes and goes back to snuggling into Tzuyu and sipping her strawberry milkshake. The trio was sitting on a table at the back, across the shop, which was quite big so they couldn't really hear anything, but it didn't seem to matter for Mina and Nayeon, who were way too invested in this spying thing. Tzuyu and Chaeyoung had tagged along just not to be left out, and Momo went along for the food.

It was all very fun and whatnot, for half an hour, then Mina and Nayeon got bored and the others had finished eating, so they all just decided to leave and go do whatever, nothing interesting was happening and they couldn't hear anything anyways. That, and the trio was looking like they were about to leave, and 'getting caught' wasn't on their plans. They were as subtle as a mammoth in an antique shop, and all three had seen them as soon as they entered the shop, they just made an agreement to not bother with their lovely idiots and just enjoy their time out.

"I'm kind of pissed, a little." Nayeon lets out when they arrive at a park close to Jihyo's dorm.

"You are just mad because you couldn't hear anything and had to pay for my food if you wanted me to come." Momo lets out, sitting under the shade and pulling her girlfriend to sit on her lap.

"That might be true, but not what I want to hear right now." The eldest mumbles but still cuddles into Momo's embrace.

"At least they looked like they were getting along pretty well." Chaeyoung offers, trying to make herself comfortable in Mina's lap, who was sitting between Tzuyu's legs.

"Let's hope this works." Tzuyu speaks up, earning confused looks. "Unnie has been pretty down ever since Vernon passed away."

"He was her soulmate, right?" Mina tries to piece everything together.

"Yeah, they were really happy together, and he died saving the boy that bullied unnie." The youngest, for the first time, talks about it.

"Are you sure you are ready to talk about it?" Chaeyoung asks.

Despite being a dumbass normally, Chaeyoung was the most perceptive among the trio, and always seemed to know what her girls needed and how they were feeling.

"I'm sure. I mean, if unnie is talking to them about it, I may as well let it out."

"How do you know she is?" Momo is truly confused.

"I know my sister, and, unlike you fools, I actually paid attention to them. Hyunnie is talking about it, I don't think she is telling them absolutely everything, but she was talking about it anyways."

"Then we are all ears." Chaeyoung offers, with a small squeeze in her taller girlfriend's hand.

"There is not really much more for me to say. It's just, I know my sister, and I know she will never really talk to me about whatever happened, and those two know what she might be feeling. Like, not exactly the same, but both of them know what she is going through, in some way."

"You said they weren't dating back then. But they knew each other?" Mina offers, as a way to help Tzuyu go on.

"Well, they were really close, I think they dated for a while, but unnie got offered the scholarship and Vernon refused to have her stay and give up the chance, so they agreed to not be a couple while they were apart, to give each other the chance for new experiences, I don't really know. But, the night Vernon died, unnie said one of their close friends saw it happen and told her that Vernon was trying to get the boy to not throw himself from their building, and he fell instead. Something about not having been strong enough to pull it off, and he fell while pushing the other guy inside." Tzuyu sighs deeply, finally letting it out. "The guy still goes to our house looking for unnie, saying he has to talk to her, but refuses to give us his phone number, saying that going there to see if she is around is part of whatever."

"Seems like he is regretting a lot of things. But, if those two could help even a little, then we can't tell them not to. Let's just wait and see." Mina comforts.

The group drifts off to telling each other what they did in the week they were apart, then whatever topic they could come up with, until Nayeon gets a text from Jihyo, telling them Dahyun and her had been waiting for hours and got hungry already, so they should meet up for lunch fast, they still needed to get to the airport. It was almost two p.m. and none had noticed how late it got while they were talking. Worst part was, Chaeyoung was still using that damn boot and running was out of the question, so Nayeon just shot a text to Jihyo with the name for the first restaurant they came across, that looked suitable enough for them, and told her to just grab Dahyun and go find them.

Time was running out, so Jihyo just rolled with it, both girls knew it was all about Chaeyoung not being able to walk too well, and they just shot a text with what they wanted to eat, and had Nayeon order for them in advance, it was a popular chain, so they had an idea on what to order. Dahyun had been having a great time with Chris and Jihyo, she told them a little about herself and learned their own history with soulmates and all, she thought it was nice to have people who understood her. Don't get her wrong, she loved her family that was trying their best to cheer her up, but there were things she couldn't really talk to them about.

By the end of her very first visit to Winnipeg, Dahyun was certain that changing colleges and working on a friendship with THE Im Jihyo was one of the best decisions she could have come to