Broken

69

In no time at all, the trio's vacation was over, and they were thrown back into their daily struggle to get into college, sure, Dahyun and Jihyo were planning to return for the youngest ones' graduation the next march, Chris had already said he couldn't make it, his parents were demanding his presence in whatever extended family event was happening, and it was one of those things they had to, at least, show up and be seen.

Their time went by like a blur of music sheets, endless melodies that merged together and senseless lyrics that fit nothing and anything at the same time. The three of them were so invested that their dating life had been put on hold for too long. It's not that they fell out of love with each other, and not at all that they intended to break up, but things just cooled down to a point it didn't look like they were in a romantic relationship at all.

With that in mind, a week before they were meant to depart, Jidung had had enough, and asked Sawako and Francis for help to get his friends to rekindle that flame. The boy had warmed up to all of them, even opening up about his past, which made Jihyo apologise without having to, because she felt that her own past was nothing compared to what the boy was put through. Jisung was too awkward to handle that and resorted to just hugging the girl until she had cried it all out. Good times.

When the time came, the girls sent Chris off in the morning and found a comfortable spot to wait for their own flight. Those days they would have without Chris, and him without his girls, would mean the beginning of great changes for them, and the end result might be seen as surprising, but they would manage, they always get through. While the girls were waiting, though, a nice old lady sat beside them and complimented the two, saying they were a very cute couple, before her husband called her.

"Well, I guess we settled one of the hundreds of statements you and Chris are always trying to deny." Dahyun 'rages' as soon as the lady walks away.

"And what would that be, hun?" Jihyo raises her eyebrows in amusement.

"That I am the cutest between us. The lady said so herself."

"Don't flatter yourself that much, she probably found you different and it got her interest." Jihyo scoffs. "And you being a midget helped a lot, might I add."

"Tell me again why I don't break up with you?"

"Because we both know I get to keep Chris and Yucchan in the divorce."

"That-" Dahyun pauses a little and sighs. "That's true. I hate when you are right like that."

"Don't worry, babe, I'm not planning on letting you go that easily." The older girl kisses the pale one's head. "And I'm sure Chris won't either. Now give me kisses and let's try to get some sleep, we still have five hours to wait around."

"I can do kisses and sleep."

They laugh, but Dahyun kisses Jihyo with all the love she had for the girl and they snuggle up to sleep regardless. Their visit couldn't have gone faster, they took five days off, meaning they were staying for three of them, barely enough to see their kids graduate (Tzuyu and Chaeyoung weren't very happy about being called that and never missed Chris more). Jeongyeon and Sana showed up for the ceremony, they talked to everyone for a short while and were a little sad when they found out Dahyun and jihyo weren't staying long, and didn't really have enough time to meet them again.

When they got back, Chris was already waiting for them, and Jisung even joked about their 'failed vacation escapade without the smelly guy', as he called it. The boy had become accustomed to them, and opened up quite a lot, surprisingly, the trio found out he was very funny and very nice to be around. Even little Rob, despite being a very hard working boy, would be the puppy he is around them. Things got better when Jihyo demanded everyone took the day off and went to the gym and work out those pent up frustrations their lack of progress was causing them.

Jisung got dragged along because just because he made the mistake to be lazing on the couch and talking to them. He became Jihyo and Sawako's gym buddy after that, much to Chris' displeasure, now he had one more bugging him to get his muscles working and, maybe, some of that gut he started to cultivate to go away. He argued that his gut was expensive, and only fed the best foods (if you ignore his late ramen n' chills with Dahyun, who was also on gym patrol, had been since the first time her and Jihyo made out and the older's abs became a complaint for her).

"Okay, why am I here with you all?" Chris asks, as soon as he hops off the treadmill.

"Because you don't want to be a slob, you girlfriends are smoking hot on those gym tights and you are a jealous little bitch who will complain if you are not around to make sure they don't dump you." Jisung answers, laughing and still running just beside him.

"Okay, first, they won't dump me for a cool buff guy, with a charming smile and those glistening muscles that will look so nice they will ask to touch." Chris begins his rant, between swigs of his water.

"Whatever you have to tell yourself. But that description is oddly specific to be coincidental." Jisung, finally, stopped running for the sake of rubbing it in.

"Look at Kento over there" The taller boy motions to one of their classmates doing some curls right in front of them (across the gym) "and tell me you are not feeling an urge to just rub your face on those abs."

"I'm telling your girlfriends." Then he turns and calls for the girls. "HyoHyun! Your boyfriend is cheating!" Loud enough for the people around them to laugh at Chris' dispair.

"My, my, my. I never thought you were like that." Dahyun is the first one to tease.

"I can explain." He stammers and wish he could hit Jisung right then.

"That's what cheaters say. I do have to admit, I never expected this from you, you know we don't do cheating." Jihyo just adds fuel to the fire.

"Just take a look at Kento over there" He points "the guy with the green tank top. And tell me you are not willing to rub your face on those abs."

The girls do look, and, boy, did they want to do just that. Kento was a japanese student on some of Chris and Jisung's classes, they had seen him around, but said boy enjoyed his hoodies and baggy pants, and that very well sculpted body was something nobody could guess laid beneath all that clothing. The boy, if they could call him that, was one of those big kids, with a large frame and, apparently, very well built muscles, and the four of them stood there, trying and failing to be subtle about their staring. Jihyo and Dahyun had finished their training earlier and had been lurking around to wait for the boys, now that they were done, everybody was free to just creep around and admire the hardworking people.

Sawako was the one to knock them out of their thirst, quite literally, she got two bottles from the ones they had left on the ground and gave all four some help cooling down, before smacking them upside the head, and dragging them back to the dorm. The woman would never admit it was one of the most amusing things the group had ever done, and that they looked quite cute at it, but she did tell them to have some water before shooing all away. It was nice seeing her kids forget the stress for a while, they had been sleeping too little and not eating enough ever since they started their scholarship application thingy.