She

Chapter 33

"Hey, did you get Yuna's cake already?" Jisu asked Ryujin and Chaeryeong, as she placed her bag down on the stool next to her before taking a seat herself next to the two.

They were inside the campus coffee shop, while the eldest and the youngest were still attending their own respective classes, and unlike their usual order of iced coffee or any other iced beverage for that matter, in front of the three were instead hot paper cups of cappuccino.

It was a little more than a week into the month of December, and winter had finally arrived as temperatures dropped down to single digits, with the trees becoming bare of the leaves that had once resided on their branches, and while it hadn't snowed yet, the weather forecasters were predicting that the first snowfall of the year could arrive at any moment.

"Yup. It's in our fridge already. Sweet potato cake, just the way she likes it," Ryujin answered as she blew into her steaming cup of coffee, her two hands cupping the drink, hoping it would warm up her in any way.

"And her gift?"

"Do you wanna see it unnie?" Chaeryeong replied playfully slapping Ryujin's shoulders in her own excitement. "Show her! Show her!"

Ryujin pulled out a small dark maroon velvet box from her bag, before opening it up, causing Jisu to gasp out loud, the older girl's eyes widening at the sight of what was inside the box.

"It's so pretty!!" Jisu exclaimed.

"I know right unnie!" Chaeryeong added, while Ryujin chuckled seeing the two's response, which made her even more eager to give the gift to Yuna tonight, hoping her girlfriend would react as positively as the two girls beside her did.

Ryujin, Yeji, Chaeryeong and Jisu were planning to surprise the youngest in her and Ryujin's apartment tonight, as soon as the clock would strike midnight, and even right now as they sat in the coffee shop with more than a few hours to spare, the atmosphere was filled with only excitement and anticipation. 

They couldn't wait.

It was going to be the first birthday they celebrated where the 5 were finally back together, and they knew how excited Yuna was for it. 

Not because it was her birthday they were celebrating, but because Yuna had always emphasized on how much them staying as a group of 5 meant to her. And frankly, it broke her heart the past three years when the remaining 4 celebrated without the eldest being around. 

Because it had felt incomplete. Like there was a gaping hole when one of them wasn't there.

And now that that was no longer the case, it made tonight all the more special than it already was.

Unfortunately, though they were largely in a good mood, there was something way deep in the back of Jisu's mind that alas, had been bothering her for quite some time now. 

It wasn't driving her mad nor was it making her unable to rest, but it was enough that it would ever so slightly gnaw its way to the forefront of her thoughts that she wasn't able to ignore it, despite the fact that she really, really, wanted to.

And no, it wasn't about Soobin. 

Because after Jisu had confronted the boy during the game in which Yeji, Ryujin, and Yuna had lost for the first time, Soobin no longer bothered them anymore.

In fact, it even seemed like he would avoid the 5 as much as he could, though that didn't stop him from shooting vengeful looks at them whenever they would see him around campus, especially at Yeji. 

It was a vindictive and sinister look of pure resentment and disgust whenever he saw the silver haired girl, as if he was waiting, patiently, plotting something to use against her when the time was right.