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Chapter 49

"Time to wake up, you two," Chaeryeong said as she shook her two best friends who were comfortably cuddling in bed awake from their slumber.

"W-what time is it?" Yeji muttered out, blinking several times in her attempt to shake off the drowsiness in her body, followed by a groan from Jisu, who as usual, was having a tough time waking up.

"It's already 9 a.m. unnie," Chaeryeong answered while pulling the curtains open to reveal the Jeju sunlight which immediately made Yeji's face grimace from the brightness, though not affecting Jisu as much since the girl had her back facing the window, as the older girl slowly sat up in bed, gently pulling away Jisu's arms that had been wrapped around her for most of if not all throughout the night.

"... Morning, Chaeryeong-ah," Yeji groggily said while rubbing her two eyes with the back of her hands.

"... Unnie."

"Hmm?"

"Why are you sleeping in me and Jisu unnie's room instead of your own?" Chaeryeong asked with a smirk.

"... It's way too early for that look, Chaeryeong-ah," Yeji replied, gradually regaining her consciousness as the sleepiness began to fade away from her body. "Jisu ... s-she said she'd sleep better ... if I slept with her..."

"Huh? What was that? I couldn't hear you?" the younger girl teased in response, a wide and almost proud grin on the younger girl's face.

"Lee Chaeryeong I can't do this with you, not this early," Yeji grumbled.

"Fine. Fine. I'll tease you about this later. With Ryujin and Yuna too."

"I ... That's not any better ..."

"Go get ready, unnie," Chaeryeong said with an amused smile. "Ryujin bought you breakfast already. The team's in the dining area eating. Coach said practice starts at 10, right?"

"Yeah. And for Jisu ... ... you can just let her sleep," Yeji answered, her hand gently caressing Jisu's cheeks while her eyes fondly gazed at the smaller girl who was still fast asleep despite letting out a groan just a few minutes earlier.

"Don't worry unnie. I'll take care of her," Chaeryeong said with a gentle expression, and as much as she enjoyed teasing Yeji, she had an undeniable soft spot whenever either one of her two older friends would show affection for one another, even if she had seen it more than a million times over.

And with a quick peck on the sleeping girl's forehead, Yeji carefully got out of bed, heading back to the room she shared with everyone else to take a quick shower before joining her teammates to head for morning practice.

-----

By the time Jisu had woken up, gotten ready, and joined the team at the high school gymnasium alongside Chaeryeong, it was well past noon and practice was just about wrapping up with everyone's stomach grumbling and excited for lunch.

After their team huddle, from the corner of her eyes, Yeji was able to spot Jisu at the gymnasium entrance, and as soon as her cat-like eyes caught sight of the younger girl, the silver haired girl immediately sprinted towards her, though abruptly and awkwardly stopping right in front of the shorter girl.

"H-hey," Yeji muttered out, realizing immediately after her excitement of seeing Jisu how rapidly fast her heart was beating.

It was technically they're first day of being in an actual relationship after so many years, and even though Yeji knew it was really only a change in status, something about it made the butterflies in Yeji's stomach flutter even more frantically than they usually were, making the silver haired girl even more nervous and shy than she usually was.