Eunha opened her eyes as her alarm clock went off. She sat up and stretched out her arms. Her eyes were sore from the lack of sleep she got the night before. Thank god that it was now the weekend. She looked to the right of her and saw her girlfriend sprawled out by her side. Eunha was quite thankful for her for the night before. If it weren’t for her then Eunha probably would’ve still been up making the outfits.

 

“Euna, it’s late~,” Yerin said as she wrapped her arms around Eunha’s shoulders. “Shouldn’t you get your rest?”

“I’d love to…” Eunha said as she looked back at her unfinished work. “But this is more important isn’t it?”

Yerin smiled as she let out an airy laugh, “You’re more important. Plus, you’ve been up long enough,”

Eunha looked at her phone clock: 2 AM.

“It’s fine,” Eunha sighed, “It’s a weekend,”

“When it’s a weekend you should be up doing some other things,” Yerin said as she wiggled her eyebrows.

Eunha pushed her away as she laughed, “Ew, no, I’d rather sleep,”

Yerin smiled, her eyes curved into cute curves. She gently spun Eunha’s chair and removed Eunha’s circle wireframe glasses and placed them on the desk next to her.

“Let’s go to sleep,”

 

Eunha slightly moved her legs but Yerin grabbing her waist stopped her movements. Yerin slightly grumbled in protest. Eunha sighed as she felt bad about moving but she had to get up – she wanted to finish the outfits as soon as possible. She tried to move again but again, Yerin stopped her. Eunha reluctantly gave in to Yerin’s sleepy charm and tucked herself back into bed.

“Why are you so irresistible?” Eunha said as she Yerin’s hair.

“So you admit it?” Yerin said sleepily.

Eunha’s face quickly turned red in embarrassment, “You were awake?”

“Of course, who wouldn’t wake up with all that moving?” Yerin said as she smiled and opened her eyes, “So, I’m irresistible?”

“I take that back…” Eunha said as she tried to cover her face with her long hair.

Yerin moved the hair from her face, “You’re so cute,”

Eunha’s mouth opened but the only thing that Yerin heard was a high-pitched ringing in her ears. Yerin looked at Eunha in apparent confusion. Eunha’s next words were muffled and almost inaudible.

“Are you ok?” Eunha’s face was full of concern and slight… fear?

The ringing stopped, “Oh yeah, sorry my ears were ringing… Might be ‘cause I’m tired.”

Eunha sighed in relief, “That’s good,”

“Whose fault do you think that is?” Yerin said playfully as she rolled on top of Eunha and started to tickle her.

“Why are you blaming me?” Eunha said in between fits of laughs.

Yerin wouldn’t stop her attack, “Say you’re sorry and say that I’m the best girlfriend there is,”

“Never!” Eunha said as she squirmed around.

“I SHALL NEVER STOP THEN!!”

“OK! OK! I’m SOrrY!” Eunha said while laughing, “YOu’rE ThE BEsT GiRLFrieND!”

Yerin stopped her little attack as she laughed, “I know,”

Eunha wrapped her arms around Yerin’s neck and pulled her in for a small kiss on the nose.

“If you know then why do you need me to say it?” Eunha said.

“Because I want to hear you say it,” Yerin said as she smiled.

“Of course you do,”

Yerin leaned in and pecked at Eunha on the lips.

“If you’re going to do that then at least do it properly,” Eunha said as she brought Yerin in for a longer kiss.

“HEY! YERIN! EUNHA! YA AWAKE?”

The two jolted up from their bed in surprise, then Yerin grumbled to herself.

“Yeah, we’re awake…”

“OK! COME DOWN WHEN YOU TWO ARE READY!”

“Dang… why does Sinb have to always ruin the mood…” Yerin said as she sighed and stood up. “Wanna continue later?”

Eunha’s face was red, “Don’t get full of yourself… I-It was because of the mood…”

“Well, I can create this same mood later too,” Yerin said as she kissed Eunha’s forehead. “Don’t underestimate me,”

“Idiot,”

 

“Come on, didn’t you two get our text?” Sowon said.

Yerin and Eunha looked down for they haven’t seen the text—they were too busy being… intimate.

“Doing it in plain daylight isn’t right ya know,” Sinb teased.

“Shut up, Sinb,” Yerin said, “If you had a girlfriend, we all know that you’d be a beast.”

“Not as much as you,” Sinb retorted.

“She’s not wrong…” Eunha admitted silently.

“Don’t help her!” Yerin said.

Umji let out a soft laugh as she found their little exchange to be amusing. Sinb looked at her and then quickly looked away, why did she turn to look anyways? Sinb let out a puff of air in slight annoyance at herself.

“Oh yeah,” Sowon said as she suddenly clapped her hands, “Sinb, Yewon, I finished the line distributions,” Sowon handed Sinb the piece of paper that she was holding.

“Yeah? So?” Sinb said.

Sowon rolled her eyes, “Wouldn’t this help with making formations for the dance?”

“TRUE!” Sinb said as she just realized. “Dang, you’re not just a good-for-nothing old aunt,”

“Excuse me?” Sowon said as a vein popped on her forehead. “I’m not old.”

“Wow, I’m surprised that you’re not mad about the fact that I called you a good-for-nothing…”

“Sowon?” Yuju said, “Didn’t you wake up this morning and open the window to follow the morning exercises?”

“DON’T HELP HER!”

Sinb started to laugh hysterically.

“Sowon… didn’t I tell you to stop doing that? Only old people do that…” Umji said as she sighed.

“It helps me wake up… And it keeps me fit…” Sowon said as she looked down.

“There are alternatives that are better…” Umji said. “Like yoga—Pilates maybe?”

“It’s not the same,”

“YOU REALLY ARE OLD!” Sinb screeched in between laughs.

“YAH! I’M NOT THAT OLD!” Sowon said as she bolted towards Sinb.

“Look at that Tom & Jerry couple…” Yerin said as she watched the two fake fight.

“Guys, calm down!” Yuju said. The room was getting quite loud and Yuju didn’t really like the intense atmosphere that was being created.

“Yeah, sorry…” Sowon said as she patted Yuju on the head. “Let’s go out and do something fun,”

“Sure!” Yerin said rather quickly. “That would be nice!”

“It’d be refreshing,” Sinb said as she stretched, “I’m so tired from thinking of choreography.”

“Then it's decided?” Sowon said, she looked very eager for a positive answer.

“I guess,” Yerin said, “Plus, it doesn’t look like you’ll take a no for an answer.”

“True,” Sowon admitted.

“So where are we going?” Yuju asked,

“Why don’t we just walk around, go shopping, and then eat?” Sowon said.

“That’d be good,” Eunha said.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Umji said.

 

The group left their dorm and walked towards the train station. It was a nice day—sunny, slightly breezy and clear. It was a perfect day despite it being October. Yuju thought it was quite odd for them to be playing around considering that they were busy with their song prep and final studies.

“Guys, should’ve we be studying?” Yuju asked as they got on the train.

“Oh well, I’m stupid anyway,” Sinb said, “Even if I studied, I’m still going to be a lost cause.”

“I’m sure we’re all tired, especially you, with making the stuff for our first MV,” Eunha said.

“True, but lik-“

“Come on Yuju, just let our weird self out and let’s just relieve all of our stress!” Yerin patted Yuju’s back.

“But-“

“No buts!” Yerin said. “Let’s just have some fun!”

Yuju nodded, she was happy that her friends were so carefree, it made her less stressed out—even if this whole hang-out was kind of sketchy. Random, everyone but her was immediately fine with it, and… She saw a slight movement from her right and when she turned she saw Eunha handing Sowon something that she couldn’t see.

Pretty shady…

Sowon had set up this whole thing and now the others were giving her something that Yuju could not distinguish… what is Sowon planning?

Maybe…. Weird ideas rushed into Yuju’s head.

Are they an alien race that is trying to abduct me? Are they a group of vampires? DO THEY WANT MY BLOOD? Are they the snails that I left behind in kindergarten because I was getting bullied? THEY MUST BE THE SNAILS! DID THEY COME UP WITH A TECHNOLOGY THAT TURNED THEM INTO BEAUTIFUL GIRLS?

“Yuju?” Sinb poked Yuju’s cheek, “Are you ok?”

“SNA-! Oh, what? Yes, I’m fine.” Yuju said.

Of course, I’m not fine! THE SNAILS CAME BACK! YOU GUYS ARE THE SNAILS! WHY KARMA?!

“You look really stressed out…” Sinb said, “This is the one day that you should be relaxing. Take a deep breath,”

Yuju looked over at the Sinb who was next to her, she then realized how ridiculous her conclusion was.

“Yeah, sorry… I was thinking about something stupid…” Yuju said.

“I looked pretty serious by how red you got,” Sinb said, “If you have anything you need to say then say it, I’ll help you with whatever.”

“Thanks…” Yuju said as she looked away, she didn’t think twice about not telling her about her stupid thoughts… how could she even think that… Still… they were acting pretty suspicious.

“We’re here!” Sowon said.

“The mall!” Eunha said; her eyes were sparkling.

Yerin laughed, “Guess you still love shopping,”

“Of course!” Eunha said as she grabbed Yerin’s arm, “Shopping is my life!”

Yerin laughed as she patted Eunha’s head, “Of course,”

“Let’s just walk around,” Sowon said, “Make sure you guys at least stay in groups of two, make sure to meet in the middle of the mall in about three hours and make sure you guys don’t foolishly spend all of your money.”

“Yes mom,” Sinb teased.

Sowon let out a small nod, “Also, stay out of trouble! Sinb!”

“Why me?” Sinb said, “What about everybody else?”

“I trust them,”

“AND NOT ME?” Sinb let out a dramatic huff.

“No, why would I trust you?” Sowon said, “Ok! Go have fun!”

Sowon started walking in the other direction from the others, then Yuju turned, “Where are you going Sowon? Didn’t you set the rule that we had to be with at least one other person?”

Sowon cleared out ; she was a little flustered, “Well… I gotta go run a little errand and I don’t want to bore anyone so… Umji! Take Yuju with you!”

“Ok!” Umji said as she put her thumb up, “Let’s go Yuju, Sowon can handle it by herself.”

Sketchy… Shady… Snails…

Yuju was a little doubtful but she followed Umji—was she the only one that felt this way? Yuju sighed; she’s probably overthinking it like always…

“Hey, Yuju?” Umji said.

“Yeah?” Yuju turned her head to look at the smaller girl.

“You play a lot of instruments, but I actually never saw you have one before… The only time I saw you play it was when we went out to that instrument store.” Umji said.

Yuju froze, her eyes filled with slight fear. “Well… that’s…”

Umji panicked as she saw that Yuju’s expression changed to one of fear. “Sorry, forget I said anything. I was being nosy…”

“No, it’s ok…” Yuju said. “I had a guitar and a keyboard.”

“Really? Did you not bring them?” Umji said but then realized that she might’ve hit a sensitive spot.

“T-they broke…” Yuju said as she looked down and clasped her hands together to stop the apparent shaking.

“Dang, but you’re a natural talent for just music overall though,” Sinb said as she walked up from behind them. She heard the whole conversation and decided to help Umji change the topic. “But I can’t say the same for dancing,”

Yuju laughed, she was relieved that Sinb changed the heavy atmosphere for a comedic one. “Hey, but you envy my weird moves,”

Sinb shrugged, “Can’t deny that,”

Umji let out a little airy laugh; Yuju and Sinb’s interactions were quite amusing. Plus, whenever Sinb wasn’t cold, she was quite cute and kind.

Sinb let out a soft smile in which Umji had never seen before. Umji smiled back. Sinb then realized what she had done; she shook her head and turned away. Umji didn’t care, Sinb smiled at her. She actually smiled at her! Maybe this was progress? Umji didn’t care about progress at the moment; all she cared about was how beautiful Sinb looked when having a smile on her face that was directed towards her.

“Let’s go look around,” Sinb said as she grabbed Yuju’s hand. “I haven’t shopped in a while!” She turned around and grabbed Umji’s hand without looking at her in the eye.

Umji smiled, even if Sinb was still slightly cold, it was better than nothing.

This is good for now….

 

“Eunha!” Yerin yelled, “I found the perfect outfit for you!”

Eunha walked over to Yerin, “Really? Let me see,”

Yerin smiled and proudly presented a set of y lingerie, “This would fit you perfectly, and look!” Yerin pointed at the accessory attached, “It has bunny ears!”

Eunha took the lingerie from her stupid girlfriend and put it back, “No.”

Yerin pouted, “But babe…”

“No,” Eunha repeated.

Yerin hung her head; she knew that she’d sat no but it was worth a try.

“Come on, Yerin,” Eunha said. “Let’s go get some couple stuff.

Yerin perked up and smiled—Eunha knew how much Yerin loved couple stuff (she was cheesy like that). “Yeah!”

The two looked around a couple of stores but they couldn’t really find anything cute.

“Yerin!” Eunha said as she looked at a mannequin. “What about this?”

Yerin stopped and looked at what Eunha was looking at: hoodies, one white with a thick black stripe on the sleeves and one that was red and had navy stripes. They were simple but cute.

“Which one do you like?” Eunha asked.

Yerin pointed at the male mannequin that was wearing the red hoodie, “Personally I like that one but you can choose.” That was a lie. Yerin really didn’t care about which one she wanted, as long as it was a couple clothing. Also, Yerin knew that Eunha liked the white one so she said that she liked the red one to not let Eunha feel bad when she really didn’t need to—she was caring like that and Yerin loved it.

“You sure?” Eunha said.

Yerin smiled, she knew that Eunha would say that, “Of course,”

The two bought the hoodies and then changed into them as they were cute and it was a little chilly. The two walked around holding hands.

“Let’s go look for Yuju,” Eunha said.

“Yeah, I bet she’d like to go to the arcade with us,” Yerin said as she looked around.

“We got to make this day fun for her,” Eunha said.

“Obviously,” Yerin said, “If we hurry then we could have an hour to play,”

Yerin took out her phone and texted a group chat: Mysterious mystery of mysteries,

“Hey, where are you?”

“Dude, we’re at the boba café,”

“Oh, we’re close,”

“Oh why don’t you come and

get a drink?”

“Nah, we’re gonna take Yuju to

the arcade, can we take her?”

 

“Yeah, of course, she’d love

that,”

“Ok, we’ll be there soon to get her,”

“Ok,”

 

“They’re close by,” Yerin said as she turned towards a different direction.

“That’s good! Then we can play more!” Eunha said. “Let me tell you, I got better at DDR,”

“Really?” Yerin raised an eyebrow, “Even if you did, I will never let you beat me!”

“Game on,” Eunha said.

“After we get Yuju,” Yerin said.

“Ok,”

 

4:00 pm

“Oh good you guys actually made it on time,” Sowon said as she looked at her phone clock. “Why are you three sweating so much?” Sowon looked over at Yerin, Eunha, and Yuju, who were panting rather hard.

“We- had- a- competition-“ Yerin said as she slightly wheezed.

“DDR, Karaoke, rhythm games… racing here.” Eunha said as she regained her breath.

“But it was fun,” Yuju said as she laughed.

“Looks like more of a workout,” Sinb said as she looked at Yerin who still had sweat on her forehead.

“You weren’t lying when you said you got better at DDR,” Eunha said to Yerin. “You played on the hardest levels the whole time,”

“Of course, I’m pro,” Yerin said as she flipped her hair and fanned herself.

“Really? Then I’ll have to vs you one day,” Sinb said.

“Bring it on,” Yerin said.

“You guys want to get going? Food is a-waiting,” Sowon said.

“Let’s go, I’m starving,” Umji said.

 

The group exited the mall and rode the bus to their destination. When they arrived all of their jaws dropped at the sight of the restaurant.

“What… is… this…?” Yuju said.

On the outside, the restaurant was huge. The building was made of smooth marble and had the tradition Asian feel to it. As they walked inside their mouths only hinged more. The inside looked like something that would come out of a rich Korean drama setting. The only ones that weren’t fazed by this were Umji and Sowon herself.

“S-sowon, why are we here?” Yerin said as she looked out of place.

“Because I made reservations,” Sowon said.

“No, I mean… WHY are we here?”

“Because why not?” Sowon said as if it were obvious. “It’s not like it’s a restricted area—it’s a restaurant.”

“But it’s a nice and expensive restaurant!” Sinb said.

“Wow, good job on noticing Sherlock…” Sowon said.

“Sowon is from a pretty wealthy family, her…” Umji started but stopped mid-sentence. “She’s pretty well off.”

“But why? We can eat at McDonald’s or something…” Yuju said.

“Nope, we are eating here,” Sowon said as she started walking towards the front desk where the man in front started to guide them towards a table in the far corner of the restaurant.

Sketchy. Corner of a restaurant? Far from others? Snails…

“Well, might as well enjoy this opportunity,” Sinb said as she shrugged and sat down. The others started sitting down one by one. Yuju seemed to be the only one who felt suspicious—were they all in on this plan?

“Yuju?” Umji said as she poked Yuju’s side. “Are you ok?”

“Come on Yuju, sit down, let’s eat,” Sowon said as she patted the empty seat next to her. “You guys can all order whatever you like, don’t you dare look at the price,”

“But, it’s so expensive!” Eunha said as she looked the menu. “I could never afford this!”

“That’s why I’m here, don’t hold back!” Sowon said, “Or do you guys want me to order just a bunch of things?”

“I think that would be best,” Yerin said as she closed the menu, “We don’t know how anything taste so you can order what you like best,”

“Ok,” Sowon said.

 

The food came after some time, different dishes and soups filled the top of the table.

“Isn’t this a little too much?” Yuju said.

“Of course not!” Sowon said. “Just eat,”

The others began eating, which was good; it meant that the food wasn’t poisoned. Yuju sighed, why would she suspect her friends to be plotting something? She was just being ridiculous. She began eating and was surprised by how good the food was. She never had food like this; all she had was the school lunches or just plain sandwiches that she made herself. This was her first restaurant meal; she’d never been out.

Sowon motioned to the waitress then whispered in her ear. She nodded and then headed out through the back and told the passing waiter to get something from the kitchen.

Did something happen?

Yuju thought as she continued to stuff food in . Maybe Sowon asked for something in secret… but what? Why?

Snails…

Yuju shook her head; she wasn’t going to be suspicious. Sowon could just be on her period and she asked for a pad… Yeah! A pad. Yuju’s thoughts were interrupted as the lights started to dim.

“SNAILS?!” Yuju involuntarily yelped. She heard Sinb laugh in response.

A dim light started making their way to them and Yuju looked around to see if anyone else was seeing that there was a light coming.

A ghost?!

“1-2-3!” She heard Sowon call.

“Happy Birthday to you!” Everyone started singing to the “Happy Birthday” song, which surprised Yuju. After the song was over, the only thing that Yuju could say was:

“It’s my birthday?” Yuju said. “How do you guys know when I don’t even know?”

“Well, when I was helping on the first day of the semester, I had to sort out everyone’s profiles. I saw yours and since I lead you into the building, I was curious and took a peek at you information.” Sowon said. “Sorry about that… I was a little snoopy.”

“No, it’s ok, thank you,” Yuju said.

The back door opened and the waitress came in with a black case with a pretty pink bow on it.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” They all said at the same time.

The waitress gave Yuju the present, smiled and walked away. Yuju’s eyes widened—it was a guitar. Yuju hesitated to grab it, her eyes even showed slight fear in opening the case to reveal that it was a beautiful guitar.

“What’s wrong?” Yerin said as she placed a hand on Yuju’s back.

“Oh sorry,” Yuju said as she snapped out of her trance. ‘Thank you guys, you didn’t have to do all of this for me. It’s way too much for someone you’ve only met for three months,”

“You deserve it,” Eunha said, “You’re a special part of everything that we’ve done during these three months,”

“Thanks, guys.” Yuju said as she looked down at the guitar, “But this is a nice guitar, I’m impressed,”

“Umji plays the guitar so she’s pretty smart in that department, plus her cousin runs a music shop,” Sowon said as she patted Umji’s head.

“It was really hard trying to find one that would fit you,” Umji said.

“Wait, but how did you not know that it was your birthday?” Sinb said; she was still stuck on the first topic. Sowon shot her a quick look, which they all missed except for Sinb. Sinb only looked at her back as if to say, I’m curious.

“Well, I’ve never celebrated my birthday before,” Yuju said as she closed the guitar case. “I was never told ‘You’re birthday’s coming,’ or ‘What do you want for your present?’ I kind of just didn’t care.”

Yuju had an expression on that screamed that she didn’t want to talk more about this topic so Sinb stopped and changed the subject.

“So, what about them snails?” Sinb said as she elbowed Yuju’s arm.

“W-what snail?” Yuju said nervously as she averted her eyes. If she were to talk about this then everyone would think that she was weirder than she is now.

“You know… this,” Sinb took out her phone and played a recording of her screaming the word “SNAILS”.

Yuju gasped and tried to grab the phone, “WHAT-WHY-HOW-DID YOU RECORD THAT?”

“It was on accident, I was trying to record your reaction and oh boy, did I get a better reaction than I expected,” Sinb said.

"Noooooooooo," Yuju said as she tried reaching for the phone. 

"Nope!" Sinb put her phone in her pocket which resulted in Yuju sulking in her chair.

"So mean..." Yuju pouted in her seat. 

"Happy Birthday," Sinb said as she smirked.

"Doesn't feel so happy anymore," Yuju joked. 

Both Sinb and Yuju laughed, but something threw Sinb off--Yuju's eyes showed a flash of fear. It looked as if Yuju was asking for forgiveness with her eyes as if she was saying that she shouldn't be doing this. Why? Sinb looked at Sowon and opened to whisper something to her but she stopped as she saw her eyes as well--she was calm. She had noticed the slight fear that Yuju had shown and yet she was calm... usually she would do something. Sowon would've gotten up and asked if everything was alright, but for some reason, she didn't. The thing that frightened Sinb the most was the mix of emotion that was hidden behind Sowon's eyes--understanding, anger, and knowing. She understood why Yuju was fearful. She was angry about it as if she could relate. And she knew about everything Yuju said prior to today and knowing about Yuju as an individual. 

Sinb then realized that today wasn't just a simple birthday party, no, there was a deeper ulterior motive as to why Sowon decided to go through this whole set-out day.

Yuju swallowed her own spit, but it looked like she had slight difficulty doing the small action. Sowon watched Yuju as she swallowed, Sinb watched Sowon's expression change slightly. What emotion was she showing? Sinb couldn't tell... it was too complex for her to comprehend. Sinb turned back and looked and Yerin who was too busy talking to Umji and Eunha. 

"Thank you guys," Yuju swallowed. "This was... the best birthday I ever had."

Sowon smiled, "No problem. It's the least I could do for a friend."

 

---

WAZZUPP! I'M BACK! MISS ME?

I feel so stupid... I don't know if a lot of you guys caught this but I stupidly made their dorm named the GFRIEND dorm... 

WOW LET'S NAME US AFTER OUR DORM! ...... *Covers face in embarrassment*

I fixed it now tho! I caught myself! 

I'm sorry tho if like I make another mistake in the future or have another mistake lurking around... I'll try to not be stupid again...

questions should be building up by now (not about the snails... it's just a funny Lil reference to Yuju's childhood), if not then... I'm not doing a good job...

also! The couple hoodie/shopping thing was based off this!

 

WELL UNTIL NEXT TIME! BAIIIIIII