It was a relaxing afternoon and the girls had their day off. With her school on break, Yeri didn’t have much to do. Since morning, she was just playing with her phone on her bed and she was getting tired of her games so she started to think on what else she could do. She didn’t really need to think much because she has been meaning to do this one thing for a while now. Just thinking about it makes her feel a bit nervous, but giddy.

She got up from her bed and walked to the other room inside the dorm. With her hand already in midair, she slowly retreats back. The thought of her unnie sleeping inside the room suddenly popped in her mind and never did she want to disturb her sleep. But she stopped walking when she heard the door open and saw Wendy walk out of their room.

“Oh, Yeri! Why are you out here?” Wendy asked as she walked over to the younger girl.

“I was about to knock, but I wasn’t sure if unnies were asleep…”

“Nah, we’re just doing our own thing. Is there anything you want to talk about?” There was this sense of worry in Wendy’s tone. Yeri always found Wendy sweet and caring, she was thankful she had an unnie like her. She responds, “I’m fine, unnie. I just wanted to ask Seulgi unnie something.” And with Wendy’s curt nod, the older girl left while the younger girl walked to their room.

As she peeked by the door frame, she saw Seulgi on her bed drawing something in her notebook. Yeri was not really sure how to approach her, so she knocked on the door and said, “Seulgi unnie?”

Seulgi looked up from her notebook and gave Yeri a smile. It was the smile that the younger girl always loved for it was the same smile that she saw when she first met Seulgi. She liked how her eyes would get smaller when her smile would get bigger. And the way her cheeks would look cuter which made her look so adorable and lovely. Yeri simply loved it when Seulgi would smile.

The younger girl didn’t notice that her unnie was already standing in front of her when she asked, “Why is Yerimi here?” while tucking the younger girl’s stray hair behind her ear. She shyly looked down, thinking that maybe she had been staring at her unnie for too long and that she might notice the blush that was starting to form.

“I just wanted to…” Yeri started. She wasn’t really sure how she would ask her unnie about it. Imagining the conversation in her head made her feel so shy, but there was no point in backing out now. She was there and Seulgi was there, ready to listen to whatever she has to say. “I was wondering if you could teach me. We’re going to record a new song soon and I want to learn some singing techniques from you.”

Seulgi didn’t respond immediately and this made the younger girl nervous. She was starting to wonder if it was even a good time to ask her unnie about it and she was immediately regretting her actions. An apology or excuse seemed like a good idea, so Yeri started to think of something but the soft chuckle from the older girl made her look up to her unnie. “I thought you were going to ask help with your homework,” Seulgi admitted and let out a sigh.

Yeri couldn’t help but laugh as she remembered the last time she asked homework from her unnie. It didn’t really turn out well. Whenever she asked Seulgi something, Seulgi would ask her the same thing back. It was a mess, but she was still thankful because she saw Seulgi’s efforts. After wiping off the smile of her face, Yeri said, “This is homework. Kind of.”

“Right.” Seulgi nods and pulls a chair for Yeri to sit on as they situate themselves in front of her desk. “So, what do you want me to teach you?”

The question caught Yeri a little off guard. She didn’t really know what she wanted to learn and she didn’t really expect herself to get this far with her little plan. If she was going to be honest, she would tell Seulgi that she asked for lessons because she wanted to spend time with her, but of course she wouldn’t say that. That would make her obvious, and she was hoping that she wasn’t obvious now.

She hasn’t thought of a good answer yet but as she looked at her unnie, she saw that the older girl was thinking of an answer to her own question. The sight softened Yeri’s insides. She really liked it when Seulgi does this thinking face. Her eyebrows would be furrowed and sometimes one of her eyebrows would raise up. It was a really cute sight and Yeri was surprised that she was able to hold a squeal while looking at her unnie.

Seulgi then turns to look at Yeri and the younger one quickly shifts her gaze somewhere else. “Maybe breathing exercise first? Then some intervals or something like that.” Seulgi said as she started to look for something on her desk. “I think there’s a part in our new song where we have to harmonize together. Do you want to practice that later on?”

Yeri hasn’t really heard anything about their new song, so it surprised her that she was going to harmonize with Seulgi again. The older girl turned around to look at her and when the younger girl realized that she hasn’t replied to Seulgi’s question, she nodded and Seulgi smiled.

“Okay, so breathing exercise.” Seulgi started as she took a deep breath and she exhaled slowly. “Just take deep breaths and make sure that your stomach gets bigger whenever you inhale. It has something to do with having an expanded diaphragm and… uhm… I wasn’t really listening to our vocal teacher but it really helps with our singing.”

A soft giggle escaped from Yeri’s lips as she started her breathing exercise. She already knew all of those things but hearing her unnie explain it made her heart flutter. “Don’t be so tense while breathing,” Seulgi suddenly said as she placed her hands on Yeri’s shoulders to give them a mini massage. “Just relax and breathe.” A blush crept on the younger girl’s cheek. She nodded and gave her unnie a smile to know that she was okay. But she wasn’t. She really tried to breathe normally but her heart was racing.

The next breathing exercises were a bit odd to Yeri because they were stretching while breathing. Seulgi said it would help her breathe better and that her diaphragm would expand more if she does it. She didn’t want to question her unnie because she was serious about it. They continued their breathing exercise with Yeri following whatever pose the older girl did as they breathed in deeply.

After a series of poses and deep breathing, Seulgi said “Time for the ‘sss’ breathing exercise! Breathe in deeply and do a ‘sss’ sound as you exhale. Hold it as long as you can.”

“Like,” Yeri breathes in, “thisss?” and exhales as she held the s sound at the end of the word.

Seulgi laughed at patted the younger girl on the head. She replied, “Yes, kind of.”

Hearing her unnie laugh because of her was enough to make Yeri’s day.

*

The two girls decided to take a quick break after the intervals that they did. They were actually ready to practice their new song, but Seulgi started to feel thirsty and Yeri seconded the motion. As they walk to the kitchen, they saw Joy on their living room couch watching a tv show. She looked away from the tv to look at the two and asked, “What were you guys doing? It sounded like a goat was getting killed in there.”

Yeri was quick to send daggers to Joy but Seulgi replied, “Ey~ Don’t say that. Have respect to your ancestor trainee! I’m doing my best to give Yerimi some vocal lessons before our next recording.”

“Oh, vocal lessons...” Joy teasingly said as she looked at Yeri.

“Do you want to join us?” Seulgi suggested after she drank a glass of water. She filled it up again and handed it over to Yeri. The younger girl shyly accepted the glass and she made sure that Joy wasn’t seeing her blush as she drank. She could already imagine the teasing Joy would do later before they sleep.

“I’m fine. Just go and teach Yeri. I bet she’s learning a lot of things from you.” Joy replied as she teasingly stared Yeri as the two walked back to the room. Yeri made sure her eyes screamed “shut up or die” to Joy before she went in the room.

As soon as they sat back on their chairs, Seulgi started to talk about how their harmonization would be like and which part of the song it will be in. “I’ll sing my part first then yours so you could tell the difference.” Seulgi said before she started singing.

The second wish is to always be together even after several winters

Yeri quickly covered the smile and blush she had after hearing her unnie sing. She tried to keep her cool but she knew she failed when she saw the older girl smiling at her. The line that they were going to sing together made her feel things. She wished that Seulgi was really wishing it, because she would wish that every Christmas.

Seulgi started to talk about blending and how it works. She talked about being consistent with the pitch, the rhythm, the pronunciation and something about volume. Yeri tried her best to listen to her unnie’s explanation but she couldn’t. Not when the older girl was actually ten times more attractive when she knew what she was talking about. She stopped staring at her unnie when Seulgi suddenly snapped her fingers. It worried the younger girl, she thought that Seulgi caught her not listening but then the older girl suddenly had this big smile on her face.  

“Out of everything that I have said, I think this is the most important one. Facial expressions!” Seulgi smiled excitingly as she held both Yeri’s hands. The older girl felt so proud that she remembered this important tip. “A teacher told me back then that a singer’s voice can be just ‘okay’, but with the right facial expressions it can upgrade the performance.”

“How do I get the right facial expressions?” Yeri asked and she sighed. “I’m not really that good in getting the feel of the song… How do you do it, unnie?”

Seulgi rested back on her chair to think. “Well, I usually listen to the whole song first to know what the song is about and try to connect to it in some way. But if that doesn’t work, I just close my eyes while I listen to the song and I’ll do the same while singing.”

Yeri nodded as she read the lyrics of their new song on a sheet of paper. Seulgi held Yeri’s right shoulder and said, “Try it, Yerimi. Close your eyes.” And the younger girl did. She softly sang her part. She felt nervous and she wasn’t that sure if she got the right pitch but she continued singing. When she felt a tight squeeze on her shoulder, she was greeted by a smiling Seulgi when she opened her eyes.  “That was a good start. Let’s try it again?”

*

Their dressing room was a bit busy as they prepared for their performance. Their new song “Wish Tree” was already released and it charted on various music apps. All of them felt happy that their song did well and this made them strive to give the audience a great performance. Wendy kept practicing and Yeri was singing a bit too. Seulgi noticed this and she went to the younger girl.

“Everything’s going to be okay and you’ll do well.” Seulgi reassuringly said to the younger girl. She enveloped her in a small hug and added, “Just relax. If you get nervous, just close your eyes.”

Yeri hugged Seulgi tighter and smiled. She wasn’t really nervous about singing her part. She was nervous because she knew that Seulgi would look at her when their part would come on.

“Time to go on stage!” Their manager announced and all of them quickly moved out of the room.

*

After their recording, they monitored their performance. True enough, Seulgi did look at her when they were harmonizing, but Yeri did the right thing and she followed her unnie’s advice. She closed her eyes. She did her best to feel the song and to stay at the right pitch. She was relieved that she did well. All of the girls were relieved that their performance went well. There were rooms for improvement, but they were proud of what they were able to present.

Just then, their manager went in their room holding a cake that had five lit candles on it. On the cake it wrote, Merry Christmas, Red Velvet! May all your wishes come true. The five girls excitingly gathered around the cake and held hands. “Everyone, close your eyes and make a wish.” Irene declared and all of them followed. After a few moments, all of them opened their eyes and Irene signaled them to blow the candles together.

Once the lights were out, cheers were heard in the room and Wendy started singing, “The first wish is for you and I to be happy like we were today~” And the rest followed as they sang along with Wendy. “The second wish is to always be together even after several winters~ The third wish is for all the other wishes to come true~”

Yeri started to hug all of her unnies, starting with Joy, then Wendy, Irene and lastly Seulgi. She gave her unnie a tight hug and said, “I wished for your happiness a while ago, unnie. I really like seeing you happy… so I hope you’ll always be happy.”

“Aww, Yerimi!” Seulgi tightened the hug. She was really touched. “You just made me happy, and I know you’ll always bring me happiness. Thank you~”

The younger girl snuggled closer to the older girl. To her, it was enough that she could make her unnie happy. She doesn’t expect much, she never did. But what matters to her is that they’re both happy. They make each other happy in their own simple way. And that was enough for her.

She closed her eyes and wished that the happiness would remain in the years to come.