Xiening murmurs something that Yiyang doesn’t quite catch, but it sounds like her name again, and then “missed you,” her voice cracking in a different way from the usual.

“Liu Xiening…” Yiyang’s voice is cool, her impression inscrutable. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” “I-I can explain!” Xiening’s voice cracks, of course, in a decidedly panicked way. “It wasn’t what it looked like!”

Of all the scenarios Xiening envisioned for their reunion, this was not one of them. “I’m sorry,” Yiyang repeats, eyes flitting from hers. “I just don’t think it’ll work.”

“I didn’t make it at SM and I didn’t make it in Produce Camp either.” Yiyang swallows and casts her eyes down. “It just…it feels like I failed, you know?”

When Minjeong sees Jimin staring at her laptop with a downcast expression, she can already guess what Jimin’s looking at.

Winter takes her place beside Karina like she’s made to be there. Minjeong sneaks glances at Jimin and hopes she isn’t too obvious. Or: 4 times Minjeong reaches for Jimin’s hand (+1 time Jimin reaches for Minjeong’s)

“So.” Xiening grins. “I’m the only one who gets to sleep in your bed?”

Yiyang turns around and is met with a smile that curves eyes into perfect crescents, a smile that somehow manages to be dazzling even with a mask covering the lower half of her face. She almost has an urge to bow and say ‘shijie,’ an engrained habit, but then again, Xuanyi isn’t really her shijie, right? They aren’t in sister groups, after all. She isn’t in any group at all.

Dear God. After Fu Jing’s heat has finally ended and she’s fallen into a deep sleep, Xuanyi sits in an armchair by the window and feels her heart still pounding at 180 bpm as she starts to seriously ponder this question. Weren’t they just going to have dinner? Why did she devour the host who sent her an invite in her house once again?

Jessica puts a folder down on her boss’s desk. “Here are the files you wanted, do you need—” She stops mid-sentence, her eyes widening as they land on a face she hasn’t seen in months, one that she thought she might never see again.

Was she close with Wu Xuanyi? That’s a good question.

“TaeTae!” Tiffany claps her hands together in a way Taeyeon and Jessica secretly call The Excited Seal. “Happy Birthday!”

Seulgi’s eyes flicker down. “You don’t…have to feel guilty. You’re the princess, it’s my duty to protect you.” Joohyun is silent for a long moment, and Seulgi chances a glance up. Joohyun’s face is unreadable, remote, so beautiful that it hurts. “So if I weren’t the princess, you—”

When Taeyeon steps into the room, she finds Sinbi sitting on the floor and staring at the opposite wall like it had done her wrong. The expression is disconcertingly familiar, and Taeyeon tells herself it’s just because she saw Sinbi making a similar one earlier. Then again, it doesn’t seem to be an expression so much as her face.

1. “Chaoyue, Chaoyue, am I your little baby?” Yihan, who’s sitting on the couch watching TV, shifts her gaze to Chaoyue, who’s wholly absorbed in playing PUBG Duo Mode online with Fu Jing beside her. 2. Fu Jing has to go with Xuanyi to eat at a high-end restaurant because…

Love is separated by mountains and seas. Mountains and seas can’t be overcome. She only found out many years later that this was actually an inevitable outcome.

“We did it,” Tiffany whispers into Jessica’s neck, voice suddenly a lot quieter, like this is something she wants to share with Jessica alone. “Jessi, we did it.”

“You thought it would be romantic for us to go and watch the stars on top of your apartment building but now we’re locked out and you left your phone inside what are we going to do?” AU

Tiffany’s always prided herself on her control, her self-discipline, her ability to smile and mostly mean it even when she feels like her insides are filled with tears. This time, however, is an exception. As soon as they’re backstage, as soon as cameras and eyes aren’t on her anymore, she breaks down.

Dear Sica, I’ve been in love with my best friend for the past I don’t even know how long. Problem 1 is that she may be the most oblivious person on this planet, possibly in the whole universe if there are life forms on other planets. Problem 2 is that I don’t even know if she likes girls. Please help. —Sleepless in Soul Or: Jessica has an advice column in the school newspaper, and a certain someone keeps writing in to ask for relationship adv