Broken

71

To say their first few months of college were hard would be a lie, Dahyun was pulling off two majors, Jihyo was juggling her own school work and two jobs beautifully and Jisung self managed so well, he had free nights to laze around despite being in nursing school and also having a job, the problem in the apartment was named Christopher Bang, and he was so far gone that the other three had given up on the third week and remained unbothered ever since, it was a secret agreement that none would mind the guy's crisis that was brought upon him by his own carelessness.

Nayeon and Momo were waiting for them to visit that weekend and the three were more than willing to leave Chris behind without a shred of regret if he didn't get his act together in time. The couple had gotten into the University of Calgary and had rented a small house there, for a surprisingly good price as well, and they hadn't met since classes began, so here they were, monday night, having dinner and watching Chris suffer through his papers that were supposed to have been done weeks before.

"Are we going to do anything about that?" Jisung asks, lowly enough for just the two girls to hear.

"Obviously not. I mean, we are all up to date with our own loads, and we are all doing much more than he is." Jihyo concludes.

"I mean, there is nothing we can really do. I'd love for him to come with us, but we agreed to not do anything, and that's exactly what we are doing." Dahyun declares with certainty.

"Alright, just checking." Jisung surrenders, but still looks longingly at the young man at the coffee table.

"We won't be mad if you want him to stay with you, though." The pale woman offers, grabbing his hand for comfort.

"What-"

"We are fine with it. You two just have to talk to us." Jihyo cuts in, grabbing his other hand.

"How?" Is all he asks them, too stunned for anything else.

"We know when Chris is interested in someone, and we know you as well. It's clear that you both feel a romantic attraction to each other, and we are okay with it. No, we are not saying we aren't going to get hurt through the process, but we will work it out." The smaller woman says, voice cracking a little.

"Look, let's make a deal. Hyun and I will go and you two stay here." Jihyo motions for him to not speak before continuing. "Talk it out between the two of you, and we will take our time to talk as well. When we come back we can solve this puzzle together, how about it?"

Dahyun has teary eyes, but nods in agreement, taking her girlfriend into her embrace but not forgetting to squeeze Jisung's hand in assurance before letting go. He takes upon himself to deal with the dishes and ushers the girls to retire earlier for the evening, they take the offer gladly. Jihyo and Dahyun take a moment to gather themselves before saying a quick 'good night' before heading to their bedroom. Both women do their nightly routine mindlessly, before long, they find themselves on their, now too large, bed, hugging each other to sleep.

The next day offered great distraction, as the girlfriends spent their morning packing, went to class and would be leaving right after that. Jisung did stay, and Chris never managed to finish his work load on time, so he just sent the older girls some nice chocolate his mother had sent them from the last time she went to Switzerland (it arrived the week prior) and called to say he was sorry but couldn't come. It was a better result then they expected, Jisung promised he would have everything talked out when they came back.

Nayeon picked them up, and they just prayed to the old gods and the new to arrive safely. Momo had promised to be the one to drive, but the dumbass twisted her ankle on the first dance club meet. Now, they were just admiring how a ten minute ride can feel like ten days when Im Nayeon is behind the wheel. So much so, that Dahyun is looking green and Jihyo is as pale as her girlfriend when the car is parked outside the Hirai-Im residence. Both rush to get out of the vehicle, the smaller one finds a street drain and pours all her stomach contents down it, Jihyo stumbles to the ground and remains there in fetal position.

"Oh, come on! You two can stop exaggerating, now!" Nayeon gets out of the car fuming.

"Yeonnie, honey, let the kids be." Momo calls from their porch, where she had been waiting.

"No, they are clearly overreacting." The eldest woman pouts like she is still twelve and asking for her lollipop back.

"For as much as I love you, Dahyun is throwing up what she ate on seventh grade, and Jihyo looks like she is having her third stroke already. That is, certainly, NOT overreacting." The peach approaches, fairly easily, given the orthopedic boot around her foot.

"But you said it was okay for me to pick them up." Im senior keeps throwing a tantrum, but lets her girlfriend hug her anyhow.

"And I thought it would be. Clearly, I make mistakes too." Momo kisses her girlfriend's pout. "Now, get their bags in and I'll see what I can do with these two here."

"Fine." Nayeon grabs the backpacks and storms into the house.

Momo watches her go with a chuckle, but quickly goes back into worry mode as she tries to think about something to help the girls with. Sure, Nayeon got her license fair and square as soon as they got settled, but the girl was a weapon of mass destruction when put behind the wheel. When they were coming back from the E.R., the peach was unable to drive, so she made the, almost, fatal mistake of passing the keys to Im 'Kami Kase' Nayeon. She felt very sympathetic to the two younger ones trying to gather themselves on the ground, and was very thankful to Dahyun for not exploding on their sidewalk, but finding a street drain to do it.