(  the secrets will never stop !  )

───── A WEEK HAD PASSED, a week had passed and yeojin and yara still hadn't gone on that date. yara had been a bit occupied most of the week with work; her father down her throat constantly reminding the seventeen year old of her duties as the future holder of the lee's company.

yara had no choice but to tell yeojin she wasn't the most comfortable with going on dates, which wasn't completely untrue, when in reality she had spent most of her week convincing her thick skulled father that she indeed was not dating one of her best friends. yara wasn't quite sure how her father had obtained the picture of her and eunji but she didn't enjoy the lack of freedom nor privacy her father was giving her.

that picture, albeit it did look as if yara and eunji were rather close to be only friends, was taken at a moment of vulnerability between the childhood friends. eunji was one of, if not the only person, who could get yara to speak about her emotions. something yara always assumed made you come off as weak. her father was so caught up in his own rules and heartbreak that he didn't realize it was turning into a lack of respect for privacy, which angered his children.

yeojin didn't need to know any of that as far as yara was concerned. yara would hang onto whatever privacy she could get. as far as yeojin knew, yara was busy and didn't scream for ice cream when it came to dates. to be fair, yeojin didn't even remember yara's explanation as she was more interested in the shining silver eyebrow piercing that rested freshly on yara's left eyebrow during their facetime call last night.

yeojin was currently sitting at the kitchen table, beside haseul who was rushing to finish some science homework from the day before, eating waffles before school started. the sound of the doorbell was heard throughout the semi-empty house. yeojin raised her head at the door before letting her gaze fall on haseul, who had her face buried in her textbook with her headphones on.

begrudgingly, yeojin stood to her feet, padding towards the door as it rang once again.

"i'm right here" the petite blonde mumbled as she unlocked the top lock.

swinging the door open with her usual amount of laziness, yeojin's eyes widened at the tall figure standing in front of her with the smallest smile gracing her pink lips.

"what are you doing here?"

"good morning to you too" yara's voice deepened as she let out a small chuckle.

"sorry" yeojin apologized sheepishly for her lack of manners. "good morning"

"i thought you might need a ride" yara shrugged, giving a small nod of her head to the black mercedes behind her. "ryujin tagged along to see if the whole 'dating' thing is true"

yeojin peeked around yara's tall figure, her eyes landed on the familiar navy haired girl, yeojin snapped her gaze back to yara. the sun hitting her directly in the eye.

"you told her?"

"uhh, yeah, i tell them everything, are you coming or not?" yara fixed the black bucket hat resting on her head of straight hair.

"yeah-wait, them!?" yeojin exasperated, her eyes blown wide.

"eunji and ryujin" yara responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. ( it was ).

"i'll go get my bag" yeojin sighed out, stepping back with a roll of her eyes to let yara in.

stepping into the im household, yara glanced around the living room before her eyes landed on a sitting figure in the kitchen. once yara saw the headphones stuck to the girl a smirk formed. walking over to the older, who had the music so loud that yara could hear it from 3 feet away, yara pulled the headphones back. a booming laughter escaped her throat as she witnessed haseul flop around, resembling a fish out of water, for about 7 seconds.

"jesus" haseul panted as she turned around in her seat. "you scared the fuck outta me"

"you're just easy to scare" yara laughed out.

"what are you doing here? seok didn't say you guys were stopping by" haseul questioned as yeojin came bombarding down the stairs.

"i'd rather you not ask questions" yeojin rushed out as she pulled yara away from the kitchen and towards the door.

"what? why?" haseul pouted however yeojin wasn't phased in the slightest.

"we're leaving" yeojin muttered to yara, who could only laugh at the sisters banter.

sending a peace sign to haseul, yeojin slammed the door shut and locked it before walking down the stone path. ryujin, who had been waiting for the duo patiently, slid her shades down to her nose and almost gaped at yeojin holding onto yara's arm as they walked up to her.

"tell me this is a nightmare" ryujin deadpanned as she fixed her shades.

"ask her, not me" yara shrugged out as she went to open the passenger door.

"awwnn, you don't have to open my door" ryujin teased, dramatically moving an invisible strand of hair behind her ear, not caring to notice yara's blank expression.

"i didn't open it for you" yara panned, gesturing for yeojin to get in the car who did so with a sheepish smile and a slight red covering her cheeks.

"i think i just threw up in my mouth" ryujin gagged as she noticed the gentleness behind yara's gaze. ryujin snapped her fingers, bringing her best friend back to reality.

"don't tell me you're actually catching feelings for this girl" ryujin whispered in disbelief once yara closed yeojin's door, walking over to the driver's side. yara rolled her eyes before turning around to face ryujin.

"feelings is a big jump, i would say attraction, interest maybe"

"don't take this lightly, it's not a joke" ryujin declared and yara let out an annoyed sigh. "you know how they are when they see any of you getting close with someone"

"i don't care about what they think" yara spat, closing her eyes and taking a breath to calm herself down. she stared hard at ryujin before speaking. "i brought you here as my best friend, not as my advisor"

the two friends held eye contact for a few seconds. ryujin sighing before looking away, a sign she was stepping down. nodding her head in understanding, ryujin sent a teasing smirk towards yara.

"so when's the first date?" yara couldn't help the smile that forced its way onto her lips.

"we agreed that dates were a no, seeing as i'm always busy with the company and all... you're right about one thing though"

ryujin furrowed her eyebrows.

"and that would be?"

"he can't find out about yeojin, even if it isn't real yet, i don't wanna take that chance of her getting hurt"

"fucking hell, you're fucking whipped" ryujin chuckled out the mumble as she scratched her temple. "we're definitely planning a date though" ryujin demanded before sliding into the car.

yara let out a laugh of disbelief at her best friend, sliding into the driver's seat and sent a small smile in yeojin's direction.

"took you guys long enough" yeojin snorted as yara pulled out of yeojin's driveway.

"so what are you gonna do about your friends?" ryujin questioned once they left the dunkin drive thru. yeojin froze slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by ryujin who rolled her eyes as she made eye contact with yara through the mirror.

"she didn't tell them" ryujin pointed out, mid bite of her vanilla long john, to which yara only rolled her eyes at.

"does it really matter if they know? the only one i actually talk to nowadays is yerim" yeojin mumbled the last part under her breath but yara still managed to hear it.

"yeojin"

the petite blonde turned her attention from the passing homes to the cat eyed beauty next to her. yeojin would be lying if she said she wasn't somewhat affected by yara's change of tone. it was soft, it was comforting. seeing yara's palm laid out made yeojin study yara's expression. after seeing no signs of joking or teasing, yeojin slowly placed her hand in yara's to which the older hand subconsciously squeezed yeojin's hand reassuringly.

"wait a damn minute" ryujin gaped as she finally understood the whole fake dating thing.

"what's up?" yara questioned with furrowed eyebrows as she looked at ryujin through her mirror.

"you two are only dating to figure out if yeojin's gut feeling is related to her possibly having a crush ?"

"something like that" yara sighed out.

"cause you've never had a crush on someone before ?"

"precisely!" yeojin clarified as she pointed at ryujin with a bright smile.

"and apparently it's not yara you have a crush on, so, you don't even know if you're gay or straight ?"

"i'm glad you understand now" yeojin chuckled out before ryujin responded with a sarcastic chuckle.

"riiight, totally got it"

yara chuckled at her best friend, ryujin had never changed, she was still as curious and blunt as she was at six years old. yara admired how ryujin was consistent with herself, it made yara happy that one of them hadn't changed.

"glad you two are getting along" yara mused.

"its better than her shooting daggers at me from across the room" yeojin scoffed out which made ryujin roll her eyes before opening her mouth.

"please. you're friends with chaewon and i don't trust that girl for shit in this world" yeojin rolled her eyes at ryujin's words but didn't comment on it.

"am i ever gonna find out what happened between you and hyejoo?" she directed at yara who had noticeably tensed up at the question.

"if its really triggering for you then its cool if you don't wanna talk about it" yeojin rushed out as soon as she saw how uncomfortable that question made yara.

"keep her she's a good one" ryujin whispered to yara who shook her head.

"i say if you really want to know then ask hyejoo and chaewon, its better for me if you hear their side of the story" yara spoke as she cleanly parked in the school's parking lot.

yeojin furrowed her eyebrows at that. she didn't particularly enjoy how vague yara was in everything she said or did. yeojin couldn't even tell what yara was thinking, the taller had somehow perfected using a blank face. the trio got out of the car as eunji pulled in right behind them.

"so its true then?" eunji smiled as she held her hand out towards ryujin. the younger rolling her eyes before digging into her pocket and slapping $20 into eunji's hand.

"welcome to the family" eunji laughed as she wrapped an arm around yeojin's shoulder.

yeojin looked at eunji incredulously.

"what!?"

"you're yara's girlfriend, since yara is basically my sister that makes us family" eunji explained with a enthusiastic smile.

"awwwnnn look at lil miss social butterfly" ryujin teased.

"ryujin" yara warned as she noticed eunji's smile drop by a few centimeters.

"fuck you" eunji glared at her navy haired friend.

"just name the time and place" ryujin winked, knowing she was getting under eunji's skin. it was such a shin family thing to do, but ryujin didn't lie when she said she enjoyed pissing people off.

"dick" eunji mumbled with an eye roll, unwrapping her arm from yeojin's shoulders. "i'll see y'all in class"

yara watched as eunji sped up her pace. not sparing ryujin a glance as she spoke.

"you just had to say something"

"she's too sensitive for her own good" ryujin waved off.

"you know-" yara paused and shifted her gaze towards yeojin who immediately got the hint and fixed her book bag strap.

"meet by my locker?" yeojin asked as she started walking towards the school. yara nodded her head with a slight smile, stopping the smaller before she walked past them.

"if you don't mind, could you check up on eunji for me ?"

yeojin hummed out in agreement before walking into the school building as yara and ryujin spoke in private. a secret between the trio of friends. yeojin would realize soon just how many secrets yara carried.