AU: “Someone wrote I’m cute in the bathroom stall and your notes match the handwriting” 

 

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As the president of the student council, Nayoung made sure everything was in order.

 

It actually came to a shock for her when she first found out her fellow peers nominated her for the president position in the student council and actually voted for her in order to win. The fact that people believed in her was what made Nayoung feel confident enough in accepting the position to lead the student population. 

 

“You’ve always been a good leader,” Minkyung patted her on the back. The said girl had actually ran for the same post as well but she lost the position to Nayoung. Although she was a bit disappointed by the outcome, Minkyung can’t deny that Nayoung definitely deserved to be president of their student council. 

 

No one else can lead as well as Im Nayoung, that’s for sure.

 

Despite everything, Nayoung took upon the responsibility of a president and treated her work very seriously. She was always present at every school-related activity, always taking down notes of what can be improved at school and always staying back after school for a while to attend meetings with the staff as well as the student council. With all that, she still managed to get good grades and even attend her extra-curricular activities.

 

It was safe to say that Im Nayoung was an all-rounder.

 

While Nayoung expected the enormous workload and the sleepless nights to finish school projects burdening her, what she didn’t expect was her immense popularity that skyrocketed when she became the president. She knew that she was well-known between the student body and the staff mainly because of her position as the leader of the school’s dancing team. She thought that her popularity as a ‘jock’ came when she started doing sports so she shrugged it off.

 

But when she became president, her popularity soared. Her fellow students would come up to her just to surprise her with little gifts, mostly baked goods. She didn’t really mind it at first but then there were only so much cookies and brownies that she could consume before actually gaining a few kilos. Besides baked goods, there were people who shower her with confessions with their undying love for her, again giving her roses and chocolates. Nayoung was certain that they only idolise her, and not because they loved her so she never really accepted anything.

 

So, one day, when she entered one of the school’s bathroom cubicles located at the end of the hall — the one that was rarely occupied — to change into new clothes (because one of the juniors accidentally spilled juice on her), she was shocked to see the door of the said cubicle was scribbled with so many doodles.

 

Vandalism was definitely something Nayoung condemned especially on public school property. 

 

Her eyes scanned the doodles drawn, finding nothing in particular interesting. It seemed that the same person was actually doodling on the board alone, since the handwriting and drawings looked similar. She continued to examine the vandalised door, seeing if she could piece who was behind all of this until something caught her eye that made her raise her eyebrows in surprise. 

 

A “Nayoung unnie is so beautiful” with a stone character and a heart drawn next to it, made her think that the scribble was directed to her, and not Kim Nayoung, the other Nayoung who was equally as popular. 

 

Nayoung didn’t know if she should be honoured or ashamed that someone would scribble peculiar drawings and messages especially that on a whole bathroom door. Part of her disapproved the means of drawing on public property but a part of her is bashfully grateful for the message. She wondered who was behind all of these drawings.

 

It was then and there that Nayoung decided that she’d find the culprit who was behind the scribbled door, for the sake of the school and maybe, herself. 

(x)

 

Nayoung was in the school’s practice room.

 

The whole dancing crew was there as well, figuring out the steps to the new choreography their teacher had just sprung up on them. 

 

“Miss Im Nayoung!” their teacher, Ms Kahi, called as she entered the room. “Up front, please.”

 

“Yes, teacher?” It was then that Nayoung took notice of the two girls behind Ms Kahi, wringing their hands together in apprehension. A girl she’s seen before, and another she’s never seen before — both, Nayoung noticed, were a few inches shorter than her. The room seemed to freeze at the sight of two new girls as everyone turned their attention to the two girls. 

 

“Here are two new students for our dance program. Girls, please introduce yourselves.”

 

"Hi!" The mono-lid girl introduced, "I'm Jung Eunwoo! It’s nice to meet everyone.”

 

The other girl bowed, “Hi everyone, I’m Zhou Jieqiong. I hope we can get along well.” 

 

“With that,” Ms Kahi started, scanning the practice room. “I leave you at Nayoung’s leadership, and I expect for everyone here, including the two new students, to finish the choreography by next week. I will be doing an individual evaluation.” She finished her sentence and promptly left the room before Nayoung could mutter a thank you.

 

Nayoung shrugged, as if it was a normal occurrence. She cleared , “Hi, pleased to meet you guys. My name is Im Nayoung, the leader of our dance team. I’ll introduce you to everyone. Over there,” she pointed near the mirrors. “Are Minkyung, Kyungwon and Yebin. And over there,” she nodded over to where the speakers were. “Are Yewon and Sungyeon. The two youngsters, Siyeon and Kyla are out to get refreshments but they’ll be back soon.

 

“Until then, let’s see what you guys got.” 

 

(x)

 

Nayoung had to admit, she was impressed.

 

She wasn’t really expecting anything from the two newbies and while Eunwoo lacked a bit in sharpening her moves, Nayoung could tell that with hard work and effort, Eunwoo can be a good dance if she wanted to. But what really impressed her was Jieqiong.

 

Jieqiong danced with both agility and grace. Her movements were sharp and precise but somehow, her pliant body managed to make it look elegant while she was dancing to Chris Brown’s Don’t Disturb. She knew just the right facial expressions to make when dancing to a song like that and really, Nayoung wouldn’t be surprised if Zhou Jieqiong was an idol in an alternate universe.

 

Nayoung had asked for Minkyung’s opinion, her co-leader, about the two girls. Minkyung, as expected, was equally impressed with Jieqiong and Eunwoo and commented about how if Eunwoo tweak her technique a bit, it would have been better. 

 

“They would really make a great addition to the team,” uttered Kyungwon, who was by their side at that time. “I think we can learn a few things from them.” 

 

“I think you’re right, Kyungwon.” Nayoung agreed, definitely liking the two new additions to the team. Nayoung decided that she’d look after Eunwoo and Jieqiong, especially Jieqiong who really caught the older girl’s attention with her dancing skills.

 

(x)

 

Last night’s events made Nayoung a bit distracted. 

 

Normally, Nayoung was calm and focused. She wouldn’t let her mind stray too far off especially when she was shouldering tons of responsibilities upon her back. She couldn’t afford to lose focus in her position. But yet, here she was walking down the school hall, too preoccupied with her mind that her body was moving on its own accord.

 

The steps she took were automatic as she let her own feet lead her to wherever they desired to go. She didn’t have a destination in mind, because all Nayoung could think was of what happened with Chungha last night. 

 

Chungha had called her in the middle of the night, sobbing hysterically into the phone and wheezing something along the lines “Sejeong…Me…Broke…Up…”. Hearing Chungha like that made Nayoung’s own heart ache as well, she couldn’t just stay still so she jogged to Chungha’s house in just sweatpants and a grey hoodie. Chungha had opened the door with bleary eyes, her face so swollen you could tell she spent the whole day crying. 

 

Nayoung did all she could.

 

She wrapped Chungha in her arms, giving a comforting hug instead of words because she has always been a ‘action speaks louder than words’ kind of person and because she didn’t know what to say to Chungha to make it all better. So, she settled on giving calming gestures. She brought Chungha back to her room, spooning the shorter girl as she hummed a lullaby to make Chungha fall asleep and forget about her problems that night. 

 

When Nayoung woke up the next morning with numb arms, she looked at Chungha’s tear-stricken face. Letting out a sigh, she gently manoeuvred over Chungha, pulling out of the other girl’s grasp. She knew that girl needed a break from school, and so she let the girl sleep as she wrote her a note, telling her that she had to go to school and she’d check up on Chungha once school’s over.

 

All these thoughts were going through Nayoung's mind vividly that she failed to notice a junior walking towards her, armed with a tower of books. Nayoung was too busy reorganising her daily schedule mentally, trying to find an appropriate time to visit Chungha after school that she didn’t realise she bumped hardly into a soft body.

 

“Oomph!” 

 

The collision made Nayoung recoil back and proceeded to land on her , her notes strewn around her. Nayoung groaned at her clumsiness until she noticed the girl she bumped into was sprawled out on the dirty school floor, arms extending out. Nayoung hurriedly rushed to the girl’s side and once she got closer, she finally realised who she bumped into.

 

“Oh Jieqiong!” Nayoung felt a sudden rush of guilt at seeing the girl who looked a bit dizzy. “Are you alright? I’m so so sorry,” she grabbed Jieqiong’s hand, pulling the girl into a sitting manner. Her eyes scanned Jieqiong’s body, trying to see if she had somehow injured the younger girl. No injuries were found so Nayoung sighed in relief. 

 

“Are you okay?” she asked again, waving her fingers in front of Jieqiong who looked at Nayoung, as if she was an alien from outer space. “Did I bumped into you that hard that you can’t utter anything?”

 

That seemed to shake Jieqiong out of her reverie. “Oh god! Nayoung-unnie! I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going because of the books a-and I-I am so so sorry. This was an accident and I really should have been more careful…” she rambled on while Nayoung just looked on in amusement. “…and yeah, I’m sorry.”

 

Jieqiong felt the heat creeping up on her cheeks. Nayoung looking at her like that made her nervous. 

 

The older girl reassured, “Don’t worry about it. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry too. I wasn’t looking where I was going, I was a bit too preoccupied. Forgive me, Jieqiong.” She pulled Jieqiong up and got down back again to gather Jieqiong’s books for her. 

 

“Here you go,” she handed her the books, receiving Jieqiong’s grateful smile that Nayoung couldn’t help but smile back. “Be careful next time, okay?” She straightened out Jieqiong’s uniform, brushing off the non-existent dust off of her shoulder. “There you go! Good as new, I’ll see you at practice, Jieqiong!” 

 

She gave Jieqiong a gentle nudge to get her going on her way, who only nodded with a dazed expression. As she watched the younger girl leave, she quickly picked up her own books, berating herself for being so clumsy before rushing back to her lockers. 

 

(x)

 

After paying a visit to Chungha after school, Nayoung walked back to her house.

 

Chungha was still in an emotional turmoil that Nayoung didn’t have the heart to scold her for skipping classes. Nayoung listened to Chungha’s rambles, and how the younger girl genuinely thought Sejeong loved her but things didn’t work out how it should be. It was another crying fest for Chungha and Nayoung just passed her tissues whenever she needed a new one.

 

Nayoung was exhausted. Granted, Chungha was one of her best friends but comforting someone and ensuring their emotional state is stable can get quite tiresome. Nayoung really just wanted to take a bath and unwind from the long day she had. 

 

As she arrived home, she went straight to her room. Throwing her backpack onto her desk, she face-planted on her bed. She heard a soft thud from the corner of her room and raised her head to check where the sound was coming from. Her eyebrows furrowed when she spotted an unfamiliar looking notebook on the ground, it must have fallen out of her backpack.

 

She got up and picked up the book from the ground. It was a pink notebook with YELLOW POPCORN written on the front, with stickers of popcorn and smileys around. Curiousity got the best of her as she flipped open the book.

 

It was merely a diary of some sorts. Nayoung concluded that it definitely wasn’t her own so she thought it would be wrong to read someone’s diary especially when they didn’t even know it’s in her hands. 

 

Lines like she was really so pretty, I couldn’t help but stare and I didn’t get to be dance partners with her caught her eye but she thought it was an invasion of privacy that she couldn’t bear to read it. She certainly wouldn’t like it if someone were to read her diary. But what was impressive about the notebook that it held a sense of familiarity within Nayoung. 

 

She couldn’t really figure out what it was but as she flipped page by page, something clicked in her mind.

 

Aha! Nayoung thought, the handwriting looks really familiar. I feel like I’ve seen it before. 

 

Unable to shake off the familiarity, Nayoung took a quick snap of the handwriting on her phone. She continued flipping through, doodles and scribbles were messily drawn in the notebook until she stopped at the back cover that gave her an indication of whose book it was.

 

If lost, please return to Zhou Jieqiong.

 

(x)

 

“Zhou Jieqiong,”

 

The said girl stopped in her tracks, recognising the voice almost immediately. She was on her way out of the library to get to her locker. She felt her heart beat in nervousness as she turned around, tensing up. 

 

“N-Nayoung unnie?”

 

“Hey,” Nayoung approached the younger girl, her smile beautiful as always. “Were you heading somewhere?”

 

Jieqiong gulped. “Y-yeah, to my locker. I need to get my books for my next class.” 

 

“Mind if I accompany you there?” Nayoung asked shyly, rubbing the nape of her neck. Jieqiong internally squealed at how adorable Nayoung was being. 

 

“S-sure.” 

 

They walked in sync, beside each other. Nayoung kept up with Jieqiong’s pace and vice versa. Jieqiong’s locker was all the way at the other end of the school so it was a long walk to get there. 

 

Jieqiong shifted around, peeking glances at Nayoung. “So, how are you, unnie?”

 

“I’m good. A bit tired, but that’s the cost of being president, right?” she chuckled good-heartedly. “What about you, Jieqiong? You doing alright?”

 

“Yeah! Never been better,” Jieqiong smiled broadly. “School’s tough and stressful but dancing relieves my stress so it’s all good.”

 

“That’s nice to hear. You really are good at dancing, Jieqiong.” Nayoung complimented her, making the other girl blush and stared down at the floor. 

 

“T-thank you, unnie. You are too, I like seeing you dance.” 

 

Nayoung flashed her a wide smile, making Jieqiong blush even more. “You’re sweet. Thank you, Jieqiong.” They continued walking until finally, they arrived at Jieqiong’s locker. Nayoung waited for Jieqiong to take her books before taking the pink notebook from her backpack.

 

“I believe this is yours, Jieqiong.” She handed the younger girl her notebook, taking notice of the girl’s shocked face. She could sense that Jieqiong was worried that Nayoung had read her book so she quickly rushed to explain, “Don’t worry, I didn’t go through and read your notebook. I thought that would have been unfair to you.”

 

“I-I…How did you get this?”

 

“I must have placed it into my bag, thinking it was my own notebook when we bumped into each other. I’m sorry about that, by the way.”

 

Jieqiong nodded, as if in a trance. “Oh.”

 

“I solemnly swear that I didn’t read it, Jieqiong!” Nayoung reassured her, crossing her fingers. “Girl’s scout honours.”

 

“You were a girl’s scout?” Jieqiong asked, surprised. The image of Nayoung in a girl’s scout uniform made her giggle. 

 

Nayoung face-palmed. “Out of everything I said, that’s what you chose to focus on?”

 

Jieqiong giggled, nodding vigorously as the sight of an embarrassed Nayoung was too cute to be true. “Anyway, thank you, unnie, for returning my book and for not reading it. I appreciate your honesty.”

 

“It’s really not a problem.” As if on cue, the bell rang, indicating it was the next period. “That’s my cue. I gotta go but I guess I’ll see you around, Jieqiong.” Nayoung smiled and waved at Jieqiong who only nodded and waved back.

 

Jieqiong watched the older girl leave, silently thanking the heavens above that Nayoung did not read her personal diary and find out about her crush.

 

(x)

 

Another juice incident happened yet again to Nayoung. 

 

Luckily for the junior, — mind you, it was the same junior as last time, Sohye was her name, Nayoung thinks — Nayoung had a really high tolerance as well as patience. She didn’t easily blow up so fortunately for Sohye, Nayoung only gave her a curt nod and a “No worries,” before stalking off to the nearest bathroom. 

 

It just so happened to be the bathroom at the end of the hall again. 

 

Nayoung quickly rushed into a cubicle, eager to get out of her sticky clothes. She cannot believe her luck, she really was not having a good day. After waking up late for school because she forgot to set up her alarm, Nayoung accidentally missed a student council meeting — something that has never happened before — and told Minkyung to conduct the meeting instead. And when she was rushing to her class, she bumped into Sohye — or more like, Sohye bumped into her — and the other girl spilled her juice all over her, making Nayoung having no choice but to skip her class  to quickly change her clothes. 

 

She needed to take a breather as well.

 

She decided to text her teacher, using the excuse of doing some student council related activities that she’s sure her teacher won’t mind if she missed a class, for a day. And she was right. 

 

Nayoung sighed in relief, slumping down on the toilet seat. “Today is just not my day.”

 

Deep breathes, Nayoung. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

 

As Nayoung calmed herself down, she lifted up her head as her eyes landed on the door of the cubicle. It was the same cubicle that had the vandalised door, only now, it had more drawings and scribbles.

 

She looked at the door. Again, there were notes of a few mathematical equations, some haikus about someone confessing to another and random doodles. There was a doodle of an ostrich dancing, another doodle of an ostrich making heart eyes to a stone and other variations of the ostrich doing random stuff. It was almost like reading a comic book, only there were no dialogues. 

 

She continued to read, until her eyes reached the top of the scribbled door and was shocked to find more messages. 

 

Nayoung unnie is so cute. 

 

Does Nayoung unnie realise how gorgeous she is? 

 

She smiled at me today.

 

I wish I was brave enough to confess to Nayoung unnie.

 

I’ll just say it here then; I like you, Im Nayoung.

 

All sorts of confessions to Nayoung was written on the door. It looked fairly new, especially when the other older drawings and messages had started to fade in colour. Nayoung’s heart was beating fairly fast, she wondered who could have been behind this. She wondered who likes her, she wondered if she had ever interacted with this person, she wondered why would that person confess on a door instead to her.

 

Her eyebrows furrowed, the writing on the door really did looked familiar. She was certain that she’s seen the writing before, she just didn’t know where. That sense of familiarity washed upon her again, just like when she saw Jieqiong’s noteb-

 

Nayoung’s eyes widened. Jieqiong’s notebook.

 

As if to confirm her suspicions, she pulled out her phone, scrolling through her photo roll before finally finding the picture of Jieqiong’s handwriting in her notebook. The handwriting was exactly the same and Nayoung’s sure that Jieqiong is the only person in the school that loops her i’s with hearts. 

 

Nayoung’s heart raced. 

 

Jieqiong was the one behind the scribbled door; behind the doodles and behind the messages about Nayoung.

 

Jieqiong.

(x)

 

Nayoung couldn’t believe it. 

 

Jieqiong actually liked her. She didn’t know how to feel about this. Of course, she had to admit that Jieqiong was a fairly attractive person — her beauty was simply something that was out of this world, a beauty that makes you breathless — and they have been getting closer ever since Jieqiong joined the dance team, Nayoung would say that Jieqiong was just a close friend. 

 

Nayoung thought that the special place she had for Jieqiong was simply biased. She didn’t know exactly why she had a soft spot for Jieqiong, she always had thought that the girl’s dancing skills made Nayoung dotted on Jieqiong even more. Nayoung was aware that she kept on taking care of Jieqiong, making sure that she’s eaten whenever she sees her but now that she was aware of Jieqiong’s real feelings towards her, Nayoung can’t help but wonder if she herself liked Jieqiong back. 

 

Her eyes scanned the practice room, her body was slumped against the wall. She took notice of the atmosphere in the room, she saw Siyeon and Sungyeon fighting over the speaker, each trying to get their own favourite songs to play. In another corner, she saw Kyungwon and Minkyung talking — or more like, whispering — to each other whereas Kyla and Yewon were practicing their dance moves. Eunwoo, Yebin and Jieqiong (Nayoung liked to dub them as the beagles) were having a y dance contest and their laughs could be heard from across the room where Nayoung sat. 

 

And it was in that moment, when Nayoung heard Jieqiong’s harmonious laughter ringing in the air, that maybe, just maybe, she felt the same for Jieqiong.

 

(x)

 

Nayoung knew what she needed to do.

 

She knew that Jieqiong would never confess to her, she knew that. The younger girl was too shy to admit her feelings to the older girl, if the scribbled door was any indication. Nayoung had to take things into her own hands, she had to confess to the girl first. She had to tell Jieqiong she liked her back.

 

She had texted Jieqiong to meet her at the student council room, where Nayoung was cooped up with doing paperwork. She waited anxiously for the younger girl to come and when she finally did, Nayoung greeted her with a timid smile. 

 

“Hey.”

 

“Hi, unnie,” Jieqiong smiled back, pulling out a chair next to Nayoung. “What’s up?”

 

Nayoung inhaled, gathering the last courage she had for what she was about to do. “I know.”

 

“Know what?” Jieqiong was confused. 

 

“I know that you’ve been vandalising the door in the bathroom at the end of this hall, Jieqiong. And I have prove that you did it. I know your handwriting.” Nayoung explained, trying to get her heartbeat steady for what was going to happen next.

 

She saw that Jieqiong was about to open to protest but she beat her to it. “While I truly admire your drawing skills, I don’t think it’s appropriate to confess to someone you like through a scribbled door.”

 

“U-unnie, it-it’s nothing like that.” Jieqiong bit her lip, eyes flitting around as she tried to come up with an explanation.

 

“It’s not? Really? Please enlighten me on this picture then.” Nayoung pulled out her phone, showing the younger girl a picture of her confessions to Nayoung on the scribbled door. 

 

Jieiqiong gaped, words taken out of as she was speechless. “I-I..”

 

Nayoung took the silence from Jieqiong as a sign to continue. She took the phone away from the other girl and placed a sketch book in her hands instead. “Here you go, Jieqiong.”

 

“What’s this?”

 

“A sketch book for you to doodle in your drawings and scribbles instead of, you know, the school’s bathroom door.” Nayoung cheekily smiled. “Go ahead, open it.”

 

Jieqiong cautiously opened it, as if afraid of the contents. On the first page, there was a doodle of a stone with flowers in its miniature hands, with a speech bubble on top with the words ‘I like you too, Zhou Jieqiong. Will you go out on a date with me?’

 

The younger girl was shocked, to say the least. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect Nayoung to return her feelings. She almost wanted to cry in relief, at the thought of Nayoung liking her back, at the thought of Nayoung actually asking her, out of everyone else who liked the older girl, out. 

 

She looked up to see Nayoung wringing her fingers anxiously, eyes closed. Jieqiong reached over and gently caressed her cheeks, “You like me back?”

 

“I do.” Nayoung answered with conviction, eyes finally opened. She looked into the younger girl’s eyes as she tried to express her sincerity. “I like you too, Jieqiong. Will you please go on a date with me?”

 

As if she would say no. “Yes, yes, yes! Of course I’d go on a date with you, unnie.” Jieqiong grinned so wide, eyes sparkling in delight as she caught Nayoung in a warm embrace. 

 

“Great, I’ll pick you up at seven tonight.” 

 

Jieqiong nodded. “It’s a date.”

 

“It’s a date.” 

 

 

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A/N: This is actually for sharylnayoungie who requested for a fluffy high school au, not my finest writing but I hope you enjoyed it! Anyway, today is D-Day for IOI's first and last concert together. The journey with those 11 girls who somehow have managed to change our lives completely and given us enough happiness to last a lifetime has been somewhat bittersweet and it ends, some might say, today. I will never forget IOI, a project group who was destined to do great things and really, they did. They achieved so many things in a year that I can't help but be proud. Let's all continue to walk on the flowery road together and to always support the girls, no matter where they are and no matter which group they are in. They will always be our girls. It might be the end but sometimes, it's neccessary for good things to end for greater things to come. (I told myself this a million times but I still cry over IOI and their d*sbandment, boo hoo) Until next time!