When GFriend finally got off the stage after (barely) finishing ‘Me Gustas Tu’, Sowon was noticeably furious. It was a disaster. It took everything she had not to storm off the stage, dragging her members behind her. However, she managed to get through the dance (although she did make many mistakes that she couldn’t care less about) and keep her facial expressions as neutral as possible.

Initially, the pools of water and infiltration of moths plaguing the stage rendered the girls nervous and hesitant about their approaching performance. But Sowon, always taking her leader status seriously, offered words of encouragement and reassurance. Although it is understandable, and people say dumb things like “it’s going to be okay” in the worst of moments, Sowon felt a little bit like a liar.

She couldn’t help but feel guilty for allowing her members to perform in such bad conditions, even though she knew well that she had no say in the matter.

This knowledge did nothing to quell the heaviness Sowon felt as Yuju finally limped her way off stage, largely supported by Yerin and Eunha.

As they were herded by their management into the van to take them back to their dorm for the day, Sowon wordlessly sat in the very back where the seats were joined. The other members knew what she wanted, and purposely chose to sit in the front instead. As was commonly known by all of GFriend, an upset Sowon meant a very intense, brusque, overprotective, and sensitive Sowon and the members had long ago learned to figure out and comply with her wishes when she was in this state.

Yuju, the last to arrive, maneuvered her way in and immediately headed for the backseat.

Upon reaching her desired destination, Yuju curled up next to Sowon, nuzzling against the older girl’s neck.

Only then did Sowon break out of her tensely quiet state, whispering “Are you okay?” into Yuju’s ear and bringing her hand up to tenderly her hair. Feeling Yuju’s nod of affirmation, Sowon brought her hand underneath the main vocalist’s chin, putting just enough pressure for Yuju to lift her head. More silence passed between them as Sowon carefully examined Yuju’s eyes for any hint of leftover anguish.

Seeming satisfied, Sowon quickly switched back into leader mode. “Good. Manager-nim will want you to tell him if there are injuries more serious than scrapes and bruises, so we can give you a more thorough check when we get home, alright?” She paused for a moment, smiling adoringly at the way the now-grinning Yuju had nodded eagerly at the latter part of her sentence while pointedly ignoring the exaggerated gagging noises she heard in front of them. “Alright. Now scoot over and put on your seatbelt.”

There came a pouty but compliant reply from Yuju: “Okay,” she said, doing as she was told only after sneaking a quick kiss onto the older girl’s cheek.

Meanwhile, when the long-end of the conversation came, the other boisterous members let out a collective sigh of relief before they burst into their usual merriment. No one dared to mention that Sowon and Yuju would be missing out on their movie night tradition, especially the fact that it was only to make time for other activities.