Where The Sun Rests

"Hey! Hello, Seoyeon!" Nien waves with a wide, albeit stiff smile.

The name bearer snaps her head to the voice. Her focused squinting on the phone screen eases into a groan of relief upon seeing her best friend. "Oh, there you are! Girl, you really just said 'bench behind Music & Arts'. There's like thirty of the damn things!"

"Aha! Y–yeah, right. I shoulda specified, heh." Nien's hands fidget with the hem of her sweater, lips continuously wetting each other.

Seoyeon saunters over to her then halts, sucking through her teeth and tilting her head. 

"What's wrong?" Nien asks, less stable than she intended. Seoyeon continues walking, though her steps are less spry and more calculated, eyeing Nien closely.

She sits silently, the corners of her mouth tugged up a bit. Nien swallows a loud gulp. "Alright, what's going on?" Seoyeon crosses her arms and turns her body.

Nien shrinks into herself, cold running down her back. "What's going—what do you mean?"

"Hello, Seoyeon?" Seoyeon chuckles in disbelief. "What happened to the 'hiya hiya, what's going on, Yoon Seoyeon!' bit you do?" She imitates Nien's tone as she quotes it.

"Oh my God, you know it word by word?" Nien grimaces, lowering her face. 

"Of course I do! You say it all the—hey, are you okay?"

Nien forces a chuckle. "O–Of course! I'm feel—feeling super today. Why'd you ask?" She tries to look Seoyeon in the eyes, fails after two seconds, looking away.

"Nien, you look...you don't sound okay. Is something up? Tell me." Seoyeon slides across the bench and reaches out for Nien's face, causing the latter to yelp and flinch.

"Oh my God! Are you sick? Does it hurt? You're sweating, Nien!" Seoyeon whines, reaching for Nien's arms this time. Nien doesn't flinch as badly, though she's lightly shivering now, breaths heavier.

"S–Seoyeon...I need—I got something to t–tell you," she murmurs, licking her lips as she does her best to look Seoyeon in the eyes.

"Mhm? What is it?" Seoyeon asks softly.

Nien takes a few deep breaths, blinking rapidly. "It's, um...I....there's—ugh, hold on, give me a minute, please?" She looks away again, fanning her cheeks.

"Of course. I'm right here, Nien. I'm not going anywhere."

"Mmm...why do you gotta sound so sweet!" Nien whines to herself.

"Huh? What was that?"

Nien doesn't answer, fanning her face harder. Her lips keep drying, she keeps licking them. "Alright. So, like, we've been...um, good–good pals for a while, yeah?"

Seoyeon raises a brow and lets out a single chuckle. "Girl, you're making me nervous—"

"Just listen!" Nien yells, covering her mouth right after, eyes wide. "I—I'm sorry, I wasn't...didn't mean to yell." Seoyeon let Nien's shoulder go in surprise, leaning back slightly. "It's...it's okay. I shouldn't have interrupted."

"No! Don't..." Nien raises both fists in the air, then drops them back to her lap. Another few breaths and she continues. "So...so. I didn't—don't remember when—since when. But...you...I—"

The words clog up in her throat, lips trembling, teeth clenched as a tense groan spills through in lieu of speech. Her head's thrown aside again, trying to bury itself in the crook of her shoulder.

Seoyeon watches with bated breath, her eyes darting all over Nien. Giving some moments to let the flow settle before asking, "You, I...what? Did...I do some—"