Joohyun’s stare used to make Seulgi’s heart race, her face flush, but now she’s incapable of any of those things. Even time no longer moves the same way when she feels trapped within the same moment while the world moves forward without her.

“It’s really not a big deal,” Xuanyi says as Fu Jing finishes dabbing ointment on her legs, being so careful about it Xuanyi can barely feel her touch.

“How did we go from the lesbian billionaire couple of China to being a pair of lame joking dads?”

Joohyun turns around so they’re facing each other, so she can look into Seungwan’s eyes instead of merely seeing her reflection in the mirror. They say that objects in a mirror are closer than they appear, but Seungwan can never be close enough for Joohyun.

Daisy never thought she’d one day be obsessed with a strand of hair. Surely, this is the most irksome, distracting, burdensome strand of hair that ever existed. Yes, she’s talking about that one strand of hair that keeps getting into Yeonwoo’s eyes.

You’ve been on what feels like hundreds, thousands of stages, smiled out into millions of faces, felt an infinitude of adoration and enthusiasm and passion.

Xiening keeps a diary.

“Look,” Yerin stage whispers. “Taeyeon sunbaenim is staring at you.”

Fu Jing is still wiping her eyes when Xuanyi finds her away from the cameras. Not exactly backstage, more like—backtent? “The bing was that good?” Xuanyi says, smiling, as she reaches out to brush away Fu Jing’s tears, lingering longer than she needs to.

“I did it,” Fu Jing whispers into Xuanyi’s hair, her tone one of disbelief, like she’s still shocked at it all.

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

Hi everyone, I’m Wu Xuanyi, and I’m freaking out right now.

Bona and Xuanyi reunite, for a little while.

“Hey, Liu Xiening, I have a few bones to pick with you.” Xiening feels sweat bead at her temple. “Uh, what?” “How could you kiss Yifan and cling onto Yijin like that?” Yiyang says with a cute scowl.

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.

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

“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!”

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—”

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

Lately, I’ve been thinking about two questions: What do you think about Hani? and What do you think about Heeyeon?