“Whatta Man, Whatta Man- “

“Yoojung ah, are you alright? You looked very pale.” The practice halted as the team’s resident cutie was seen hunching over.

“Yeah unnie, you don’t look good.” The youngest hurried over to her side.

“Why not you head back to the dorm first? I’ll tell the manager about it.” The leader suggested.

“Yeah, Yoojung. You don’t have to worry about lacking behind. There’s me either way.” The penguin tried to pull a joke to convince the kid to take a rest.

“Head back to catch some sleep baby. I promise I’ll guide you along for the rest of the choreography when you’re better.” The motherly figure promised.

While all these were happening, there was a tall kid standing by the side and observing the said girl. Of everyone else present in the room, she knew better than the girl herself that it was almost impossible to have the girl to stop practicing unless she collapsed. Yoojung was known as a hard-worker ever since Doyeon met her. She would make sure that she had the skills of a fifth year trainee. Especially after the whole “D-grade” saga during Produce 101, Yoojung worked even harder. But this girl that she was seeing right now, it was almost as if she could collapse for a  good whole week the moment she decided to close her eyes.

Yoojung has been practicing diligently ever since the date of their comeback was announced. She even volunteered to stay behind to coach Sohye together with Chungha, knowing how the poor girl had absolutely zero confidence in the upcoming concept. So, being one of the better dancers in her team, she thought that it was her role to encourage her fellow penguin. But her body had finally taken a toll on her from all the hard work that she has been putting in. She knew herself that she had reach her limit, and desperately needed a rest or it would be no surprise that she would end up in the hospital. But she did not want to disappoint her members, especially since everyone has been working equally hard as her. She did not want to be seen as weak.

“I’m okay girls. I just need a five minutes break and I’ll be good to go again.” Yoojung tried to convince her members with a weak smile.

“No. You’re heading back to the dorm this instant.” Doyeon finally spoken.

Everyone knew how Doyeon was a little over-protective of this cutie. It was as though she was the only one that could annoy Yoojung. And whenever her partner was hurt, she would be all defensive and serious. Yoojung was thankful for how Doyeon knew when to be serious and when to be goofy. But she definitely would know want to get on her bad side, knowing how the girl becomes when she was all serious, like for this instance.

With that said, their manager came in to bring Yoojung back to the dorm and along the way, Yoojung was slipping in and out of sleep but she managed to catch the words “rest” and “IV drip” from her manager. When she reached her room, she immediately collapsed on her bed and drifted off to her well-deserved rest.

---

“Woah it’s already morning guys. I think we’ve practiced enough. Let’s head back to get some rest. We’ll continue tomorrow.” Chungha stated when she saw the first beam of sunlight coming in through the windows outside the practice room.

“Yeah we should. Good job today girls, let’s head back to check on Yoojung as well. Manager told me that they gave her IV drip to help her get better faster.” Nayoung informed the rest.

Once they reached the dorm, the girls shuffled to their respective rooms. Doyeon was given the task to look after Yoojung since they were roommates. When she entered their room to check on the girl, she was shocked at the sight but recovered immediately. The IV drip pack fell off and was drawing blood from the sick girl instead of transfusing the needed nutrients. The pack was half-filled with blood. Catching on to the emergency situation, Doyeon immediately rang their manager over for help.

“Doyeon, you called the manager over?” Sohye asked as she opened the door. She gasped when she caught a glimpse of what happened.

“Oh my god”

“Move away and let me take a look.” The manager then assessed the situation but he was feeling as helpless as the girls were for not being medically trained, so he could only call for medical help. Throughout the phone call, Sohye was just shocked and helpless, while Doyeon was equally worried but managed to remain calm.

“So what are we supposed to do right now?!” The manager was slowly losing his cool, and it did nothing to help the situation. Seeing how this would go nowhere, Doyeon took over the call.

“I’m sorry for the out roar. It seems like an emergency situation right now. It’d be good if you could instruct me on what to do step by step.” She told the caller what happened and then acted accordingly as per instructed.

Everything was back to normal soon after Doyeon changed a new pack of IV drip for Yoojung.

“I’m sorry for losing my cool girls. Thanks for the help Doyeon. Please look after her and call me if anything happens again. I promise I’ll be calm the next time round.” The manager said and left.

“You’re so cool, Doyeon. How could you still stay so calm after seeing your best friend in such situation?” Sohye had nothing but praises for the cool girl. It was no secret to the members that Doyeon often took care of the them quietly from their back, and Sohye had been on the receiving end before as well. But it still amazes her every time she see the charismatic girl-crush acting like a guardian angel. It was as if she was there to ‘save’ their day.

Doyeon just smiled and put away the IV drip pack under the bed. She knew how her best friend was afraid of every little thing – she was not called the ‘coward’ for nothing, and she was very sure that Yoojung would freaked out knowing how her blood was drawn out unknowingly, and would probably never trust IV drips again. So, she told Sohye, “Just don’t tell Yoojung anything about this.”

Taking a last glance at the resting girl, they both then left the room.

Unknowingly to them, Yoojung was conscious all this while, she just did not have the energy to open her eyes. Having heard what happened, she was thankful to have a reliable friend like Doyeon. With that, she went off to sleep again but this time, with a genuine smile on her face.