They were all exhausted. Their trip to Thailand was already taking a toll on them. Thankfully their return flight wasn’t too packed, so it was considerably quiet. No babies on board. Thank God. Since Seulgi and Irene didn’t get to be roommates, they decided to sit beside one another during the flight. It wasn’t assigned that way on their flight tickets but the other two girls didn’t mind. They were aware of how close the eldest girls were and how much they wanted to be with each other.

Seulgi was currently sitting next to the window, of course. Before going on board, Irene had softly poked Seulgi’s side to get her attention and specifically asked her to please sit there. She was slightly afraid of heights. Slightly.

Even though this trip was meant for them to ‘relax’, the oldest girl was already thinking of all the things they were going back to and wished with all of her heart to stay longer in Thailand. They still were promoting, and there was a ton of laundry to do. Yes, she does enjoy doing laundry but right now it’s just stressing her out.

“You’re gonna get wrinkles if you keep doing that.” the eldest girl suddenly turned her head toward Seulgi’s voice and arched her eyebrows. She then felt Seulgi’s fingers wiping her brow.

“Hmm? Didn’t notice.” was all Irene replied in her soft voice. Then, a sign above their heads lit up, telling everyone to buckle up because the takeoff was about to begin. Irene buckled up since the moment she sat down so she didn’t move much. She just sighed deeply and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She absolutely hated airplanes, she never felt completely safe. Maybe it’s because of all those documentaries she’s seen about crashes and stuff. Which, by the way, Seulgi always tells her not to watch because it only makes her more paranoid.

“Hey, it’s alright.” the younger girl said when she saw Irene tensing up. She quickly grabbed her hand and linked their fingers. Thankfully the other seat was empty, so they had that section of the row all to themselves. Not that they minded people seeing them, after all they were just holding hands. They learned how to be cautious of their PDA. They had to.

Irene turned to face Seulgi once again and the latter was looking at her with a tender expression. The leader couldn’t help but feel how her heart skipped a beat. They’ve known each other for so many years that words were almost unnecessary, Seulgi knew exactly what to do without Irene telling her. The eldest let out a soft squeak when the plane started to move. Seulgi tapped her own shoulder, signaling her to rest her head there, which is exactly what Irene did. The leader got closer and Seulgi’s perfume assaulted her nostrils. Vanilla. It was Irene’s favorite. This really helped her calm down. The only thing on their way was the armrest, so it still wasn’t a hundred percent comfortable. Nonetheless, when the seatbelt sign goes off the first thing they’re gonna do is take it out of the way so they can sit more comfortably.

The younger girl placed her other hand on top their linked fingers and started doing circles on the back of Irene’s hand. She was doing this because the plane started to gain speed as it was preparing to lift off of the ground and she could tell it was making the older girl nervous. Seulgi couldn’t help but to look down at Irene and smile. How can she look so cute?

After few minutes everything was back to normal, the sign had already gone off. People were starting to walk out of their seats to get some of their stuff or to go to the bathroom. The usual. Seulgi tapped Irene’s shoulder to let her know. The older lifted her head and let go of Seulgi’s arm, which she was holding onto dear life apparently.

“You almost cut my arm off there.” the younger said and held her arm as if it hurt. Irene slapped Seulgi’s arm for real now, acting as if she got offended.

“You know I hate flights.” was the excuse the older girl said. Whenever the other members teased Irene, she didn’t mind it but for some reason when the dancer did it, it would make her blood boil and she would never retaliate to do something about it. On the other hand, Seulgi loved teasing Irene precisely because of those reactions.

It was a six hour flight, so the girls came prepared. Seulgi brought her iPad to keep herself busy watching some videos. Granted, she asked Irene if she wanted to watch a movie with her or something, but the older girl politely refused for there was a book she intended on finally finishing. After all, they had six hours.

“So, did you have fun unnie?” Seulgi asked while turning on her iPad. It’s been awhile since she had time to use it. Beside her, the older girl was opening up her book by the bookmark she placed. The latter nodded.

“Yeah, it was a new experience after all. Just hoping we can come back as a whole next time.” the eldest replied. It was a real bummer that Joy couldn’t be there with them. Not only was it their first reality show, it was their first “leisure” trip abroad together.

“Too bad we didn’t get to be roommates though, it would’ve been nice to sleep with you.” as soon as Seulgi realized how weird that sounded her eyes widened. “I mean, not in that way, I just meant literally sleeping side by sid- ugh.” She felt her cheeks start to heat up so she covered her face with her hands. Perfect. Irene burst out laughing. She had to cover to not bother the other passengers. When she calmed down, she reached out to Seulgi.

“I know what you mean.” the younger one could hear the mocking smile on Irene’s tone. She felt how the leader took her by the wrists and put aside her hands to reveal her face. Suddenly the older one lowered her voice almost to a whisper. “But don’t worry, when we get home we can ‘sleep’ together, if you want.” The dancer blushed deeply again at the words coming from Irene’s mouth.

What is this? Is Irene being bold? That’s not fair, she can’t do this to me. In their relationship it was always the younger one who teased the older one and having the tables flipped so suddenly caught her off guard. The dancer lowered a bit her head when she saw the stewardess approaching them with a cart. Irene had already detached from Seulgi and wasted no time taking an apple juice and some other snack.

“Want anything, Seul?” she heard the older one ask nonchalantly. Seulgi cleared .

“Just water, thanks.” she replied quickly, still not looking directly into anyone’s eyes. When the stewardess left, Seulgi drank a bit of her water. She could’ve sworn she saw Irene smile out of the corner of her eye.

“What?” the younger one asked turning to face Irene.

“Nothing, you just look really cute when you blush.” the older one explained, not looking at Seulgi but at her book on the little tray table in front of her. Seulgi rolled her eyes and couldn’t help the smile creeping on her face. She just put her earbuds in and distracted herself for most of the trip. They spent most of the time like that. Silently doing their own thing. Until something caught Seulgi’s eye. When she turned her head she saw how Irene was almost falling asleep. Her eyes were shutting close and her head was starting to lower, the grip on the book already loosened. Seulgi smiled and with the back of her hand held back a giggle.

The younger one decided to do something. She put away her earbuds and iPad, then she lifted the armrest to be able to get closer to Irene. Took the book out of Irene’s hand which startled the older one, making her eyes snap open. She looked confused for a second there, like a lost kid.

“Shh, you were almost drooling on the pages. Come here.” Seulgi said softly and extended her arms. Irene automatically leaned in, linking her arms around Seulgi’s waist. “Now who’s the one looking really cute?”

“Oh, shut up.” was all Irene said hitting the dancer on her thigh with the little energy she had in her. Seulgi would never get tired of teasing the leader.