“Truth or dare?” Bomi asked Naeun.

“Why did I have to play this?” The younger girl muttered under her breath.

“What did you say? I couldn’t hear you,” Bomi inquired, sitting back comfortably on the couch.

“Unnie, you know you can’t choose “truth” because that would be even more boring.”

“Hayoung-ah, I thought you were my friend,” Naeun gave up on finding an ally. “Dare.”

Bomi’s face enlightened up, and Chorong frowned.

“Show us your aegyo, Naeun-ah. But show it on our SNS. Pandas want to see it too.” Bomi looked all innocent when she spoke the words, but Naeun buried her head in her arms.

Eunji held the younger girl’s hand for support, but there was nothing she could do to save her from this, she knew that.

A minute later, the girls were all laughing as hard as they could while Naeun’s face looked completely flushed. She buried her face in Eunji’s shoulder this time.

“Hayoung-ah! It’s your turn. Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” the maknae eyed Naeun suspiciously.

“Uhm…” Naeun thought about it. “Who was your last crush?”

“Yah, Naeun-ah,” Bomi complained, “this is not middle school.”

“Just let her.” Chorong laid a hand on Bomi’s shoulder, silencing her with a smile.

Hayoung, the same Hayoung who was bolder than anyone else, blushed intensely. She then said something, but it was so low they couldn’t hear a thing.

“Vocal trainer-oppa,” she repeated at her unnies’ urging.

Chorong smiled softly, and so did Eunji, but Bomi laughed openly, making Hayoung blush even more, and the others just stayed quiet. Naeun caressed the maknae’s arm as a way of supporting her. As her best friend, she knew everything about Oh Hayoung, and she knew how uncomfortable the girl must be at the moment.

“Whatever.” Hayoung tried to change the topic swiftly. “Who’s next? Chorong-unnie.”

“Me?” Chorong looked around uncomfortably. “I don’t want to play. I don’t like this.”

“Who’s being boring now?” Naeun pointed out. Chorong widened her eyes at the comment but said nothing in reply.

“Dare.”

Hayoung and Namjoo looked at each other knowingly, like there was some hidden plan only the two of them knew about. After a few seconds, the maknae nodded and Namjoo spoke.

“Easy. Pepero game. With Bomi-unnie.”

“What?” Chorong blushed, even more when Bomi looked at her seductively. “But… you know I don’t… Don’t make me…”

“We’re your friends, unnie. Your family,” Namjoo said. “You don’t need to act shy.”

The leader looked at Bomi for help, but the latter only her lips jokingly, making Chorong even more uncomfortable if possible.

“I shouldn’t have bought you lunch.”

Hayoung gave her a box of Pepero while laughing, and Chorong took one out, slowly. She put it in between her teeth and bit it slightly, without breaking the chocolate stick. Bomi sat up on the sofa, her body facing Chorong, and smiled widely, looking forward to the game.

“Come on, unnie,” Bomi said, gesturing her girlfriend to come closer. “You know I don’t bite. Much.”

Chorong was holding the Pepero stick with her teeth, and she was attentively watching how Bomi moved forward, getting closer and closer. Silence had taken control of the room. The members had seen them kiss before, but they knew how shy Chorong was of doing it in front of anyone and how much she hated that game. So that’s why they had her do so. Poor leader.

Bomi got to her side of the stick and opened slightly. She moved forward to put the Pepero between her teeth, but Chorong moved back out of a sudden, surprised by Bomi’s movement.

“Unnie, come on.” Bomi grabbed Chorong’s wrist with her left hand, preventing the girl from moving away from her anymore.

Bomi took the first bite. Of course she did. After she’d done so, Chorong took hers, blushing intensely as she did so. There were mere inches between their lips, and the tension was in the air. It wasn’t that they hadn’t kissed before; they just tried –Chorong more than Bomi– not to do it in front of the members, or anyone else for that matter.

“Chorong-unnie, it’s your turn,” Hayoung told her when their lips were mere millimeters apart.

Chorong could feel Bomi’s breath on her lips. If she just opened to breathe, their lips would touch. But it was her turn, so she had to. She had to bring their lips together.

“Yay!” Hayoung’s cheering was the first indicator to know that they had touched.

When Bomi felt Chorong bite the last piece of Pepero, she knew she wasn’t ending this game as it had to. She was not pulling back to see who’d won. She moved forward, locking her lips with Chorong’s. Their lips collided, and the two girls opened their mouths slightly as to breathe properly after holding their breath for so long.

It didn’t take much for the remaining pieces of Pepero to be swallowed and their tongues to find each other in a slow, patient movement that had them captivated with each other. Chorong could feel her face burn from embarrassment, but Bomi was obviously enjoying it. The younger girl surrounded Chorong’s neck with her arms and pulled the leader towards her, and none of the other members complained about them breaking the “no-touching” rule.

Chorong was finally who broke the kiss, taking her tongue back and hiding her face so she wouldn’t have to look at her members. Bomi, on the other hand, looked at them defiantly, her hand never leaving Chorong’s.

“Whose turn is it now?”

∼

“Bomi-ah, let’s go unpack,” Chorong said while grabbing Bomi’s wrist.

She had excused herself after her Pepero game turn and after Bomi had answered some incredibly weird questions for her turn, one including choosing between an artichoke and a cauliflower. Something was seriously wrong with those girls.

Chorong had wanted to ask Bomi about her pain and everything else that the doctor had told her, but she still hadn’t found the appropriate moment since lunchtime. But unpacking together, in the same room, was her opportunity. And they would be alone.

When they entered their room, Chorong was stopped in her tracks by Bomi just jumping over her, locking their lips again.

“Bomi-ah!” Chorong pulled back. “What are you doing?”

“I missed you.”

Chorong looked at her in a confused way, the innocent look that Bomi loved so much.

“We’ve been alone for more than a week,” the leader said, like it was incredibly obvious. And it was. “And you just pushed your tongue down my throat in the living room barely ten minutes ago.”

“Unnie, you make it sound disgusting.” Bomi shook her head but smiled. “You were so cute back there, blushing all the way.”

But Chorong didn’t seem to find it that funny, and she moved towards her suitcase and started getting clothes out. Bomi shrugged and did the same.

“So who called you during lunch?” Bomi tried to sound casual, but her voice was tight.

“Your doctor.” Chorong stopped to look at her. “He said you may have lied to me again.”