"ShinB yah," Yerin calls out as she notices the girl's blank face looking straight at nothing again.

ShinB snaps out of her gaze and turns to face Yerin, slightly stunned. "Yerin unnie?"

"You were staring into space again," Yerin says, "anything wrong?"

"Huh?" ShinB widens her eyes a little, "No, nothing wrong," she shakes her head, her eyes slowly drooping.

"Really?" Yerin isn't convinced. "Are you missing Umji?" Yerin smiles a little with that question.

"Maybe I need some rest," ShinB mumbles, not hearing Yerin's question. 

"That's right, we all do," Yerin nods her head, convinced.

ShinB releases a sigh for going unnoticed.

She wasn't just staring into space. She was worried about Yuju, at how the girl has grown cautious and reserved this whole time ever since they've started practising the song that they'll be performing for their upcoming appearance on Immortal Songs II.

She sighs again, her eyes landing on Yuju. And for the rest of the day, ShinB finds herself constantly fretful for the taller girl's wellbeing. 

"Alright, we're done for the day, let's get you girls back to the dorm," their manager announces when it is finally nighttime, and the girls smile in relief.

ShinB watches as Yuju's lips curve into a tiny smile that exists only for a second, before her head drops to hide her face.

"I'll be going to the washroom for a while, wait for me," Yuju stands up from the floor and leaves immediately without showing her face.

"Ah wait, I need to go too," ShinB hurriedly gets herself to her feet and runs after Yuju.

As expected, she sees the taller girl in tears when she pushes open the door to the washroom.

ShinB looks at the girl silently with concerned eyes, panting from the run.

Yuju turns, stunned by the face that is free from surprise.

Sniffling, she bends down to wash her face once more, while ShinB pulls out some tissue paper and hands it over to her.

"You knew?" Yuju speaks with a muffled voice.

"I've been watching you this whole time," ShinB calmly answers.

"Really?" Yuju rubs her nose as she asks, muffling her voice. 

ShinB almost laughs. "Yes," she flashes a small smile.

"My grandfather passed away when I was ten... He was a soldier during the Korean War. As a young child I would feel his gunshot wound, not knowing how hard his life was..." Yuju explains without waiting for ShinB to ask.

"You're telling me this?" ShinB raises an eyebrow.

"Well it's harder for you to ask, isn't it?" Yuju replies with a question.

Before ShinB can open , the two are shocked by a thud as the door is once again pushed open, and they see three distressed faces at the entrance.

"What happened?" Sowon asks first.

"Why is our Yuju crying?" Yerin immediately rushes to Yuju's side and caresses her cheeks.

"Ah unnie stop that..." Yuju moves away a little.

ShinB steps aside a little as the girls crowd around the red-eyed main vocalist.

Yuju turns to look at ShinB, and their eyes meet.

"Do I really need to explain again?" Yuju slowly asks.

ShinB almost rolls her eyes. Heaving a sigh through her nostrils she does not answer, but throws another plain look at the girl.

"Let's get back to the dorm, you can explain later," Sowon smiles and rallies everyone to exit the washroom and make their way home.

author's note:

some faithful readers (hehe) might find this familiar haha yes this was taken from a oneshot which i wrote before writing this whole story and yes i had this story in mind before writing that oneshot hahaha

the next chapter will be the second half of the oneshot~