The Choices I Never Made (annyeongz version)

The Great Show

The morning after is a bedlam.

Yujin wakes up to the sound of metal bars clanking. The space beside her on the inflatable bed is empty and cold, Wonyoung-free, and the sight that greets her when she unzips the door of the tent is akin to that morning hallway hustle scene in Yours, Mine, & Ours.

The slightly-hungover woman can't even make out a picture of her best friends' faces with all of the hurrying they're doing. After enough squinting and narrowing of her eyes, Yujin finally makes out their faces.

Yena, Liz, and Chaewon are going around with small metal poles from the tents; Minju and Chaeyoung are cleaning and packing up the cooking area; and lastly, Gaeul and Wonyoung are loading bags into the two Rovers parked by the side of the campsite.

The moment Yujin steps out of the tent, her center of gravity adjusts and she stumbles a few times before catching her stance.

"You okay?" Minju approaches her first, a pan in hand. Her eyes are concerned (it's really new for Yujin to be the last one to get up) and Yujin feels the surge of guilt rile up in her stomach (or maybe it's the alcohol).

She nods aggressively (or, as forceful as her aching head can do) and puckers her lips to point over to the hasty sight before her. "What's happening? Why is everyone in a hurry?"

Yena passes by with poles in her hold and an adorable smile on her face. "There's a storm coming, unnie."

Yujin feels the wind get knocked out of her. "What?"

Minju laments at the nonchalance and ambiguity of their friend. "The site owner is asking everyone to vacate the place because there's going to be some kind of strong winds and thunderstorm later. Either way, Gaeul thinks it's best to leave early before we get caught up in the bad weather."

Yujin doesn't know what to feel. The headache is taking such a great amount of patience and understanding from her, it's difficult to use the remaining ounce for the comprehension of her thoughts.

Their trip is going to be cut short—a bad thing.

There's going to be a storm—also a bad thing.

But she's going to have more alone time with Wonyoung because they're going to be in the same car again and same house later on—very much a good thing.

"Why is Yena's so chirpy, though?" Yujin follows behind Minju and makes her way over to the cooking area to help pack-up. The blonde-haired girl is basically skipping her way like a children show character, in her own happy world despite the pandemonium around.

Minju chuckles with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Isn't she always like that?"

"Well, yes, but..." There's something entirely perturbing about the concept of a skipping and chirpy Yena in the middle of the whole group's chaos (because God knows how concerned Yena gets when Gaeul is hasty and frantic), but Yujin can't seem to put her finger on what that something is.

"You know what? Yeah, you're right." She doesn't try to figure out what that something is anymore, though. The headache is taking up a lot of her patience right now so Yujin just goes on with it and helps out with what she can in the group's packing-up.

***

Only Wonyoung, Liz, and Minju take rushed showers. Wonyoung because she just has to, and Liz and Minju because they have other appointments right after they arrive in the city. Everybody else just changed into fresher pairs of clothes and did their facial routines in the nearby washing area.

By the time the three women are finished, the group's already inside their respective vehicles, waiting and ready to leave.

Wonyoung, Minju, and Liz all separate ways and go to their designated cars with Liz going alongside Minju's and Wonyoung climbing up in the passenger seat of the car with Yujin.