The next weekend, on Momo’s birthday weekend, the nine girls—Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu board one of the Hirai private planes to go to Jeju island. The seating arrangement: Chaeyoung and Tzuyu; Jeongyeon, Nayeon and Dahyun; Momo and Sana; and Mina and Jihyo. A few minutes after the plane takes off Momo immediately falls asleep.

 

“Hey, Mina,” Jeongyeon calls out, “what did you do to Momo to make her this sleepy?” Dahyun snickers a seat away from Jeongyeon.

 

“Eh?” Then Mina shakes her head violently. “Nothing!”

 

“Don’t mind her, Minari,” Nayeon says. “Momo just really falls asleep anytime, anywhere.”

 

“Oh.” Mina sighs in relief. She subtly looks to the side and sees a peaceful raccoon, eyes closed, leaning on the headrest, breathing steadily. Mina smiles at the sight.

 

“Let’s play a game!” Dahyun shrieks.

 

“How about Mafia?” Tzuyu suggests.

 

“What’s Mafia?” Mina asks.

 

“A game of deduction and deception!” replies Sana.

 

“Wow Sana-unnie, I can’t believe you know those Korean words,” Chaeyoung comments.

 

“It’s hard to play Mafia while we’re cramped in here,” Nayeon states. “Let’s play when we get to the villa.”

 

“Hmm I’m bored,” Dahyun speaks again.

 

Nayeon turns to her and deadpans, “You could sleep, you know.”

 

Jeongyeon snickers beside Nayeon. “You just can’t handle Dahyunnie’s energy, Nabongs,” she tells the bunny.

 

For about an hour Jeongyeon and Nayeon keep bickering like an old couple. But when Nayeon says that she’s cold, Jeongyeon immediately offers her jacket, and Nayeon leans on her shoulder, ending their fight. At that point, Dahyun has already fallen fast asleep. Chaeyoung, Tzuyu, Jihyo and Sana fall asleep as well.

 

When they disembark the plane, Nayeon tells everyone that they’re riding a coaster to get to the actual villa. While waiting, Momo walks to Dahyun, and the younger of the two massages her back. Mina tries to ignore the knot she feels in her stomach when she sees this.

 

The coaster arrives snd aturally, Momo ends up sitting beside Dahyun in the vehicle. Sana is now sitting beside Mina, and Jihyo beside Tzuyu. At least Jihyo’s having a nice conversation with Yoda, Mina thinks to herself. She looks beside her and sees Sana sleeping with open. Mina takes out her headphones and stares out the window, quietly listening to the music.

 

It’s late afternoon when they finally arrive at the rest house. Everyone gathers their luggages and hop off the coaster, following Momo and Nayeon. Momo rings the doorbell, and the villa’s caretaker opens the door.

 

“Good afternoon, Momo-ssi. Welcome. We’ve already prepared your rooms for you and your friends.”

 

“Thank you, ahjumma,” says Momo.

 

“Let’s leave our bags in one room for now,” Nayeon suggests.

 

“Momo,” the caretaker speaks, “we’ve already prepared your dinner at the dining room. You may go there once you’ve finished unpacking.”

 

“Okay, ahjumma. We’ll be there.”

 

The Hirai rest house dining room looks so fancy it may as well be from a five-star restaurant, Mina thinks to herself. The lighting is comprised of chandeliers high up the ceiling, and it looks like they’re gonna have full course meal. The girls sit at a round table with the following seating arrangement: Tzuyu, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Chaeyoung, Dahyun, Sana, Momo, Mina, and Jihyo.

 

“Is it night time?” Dahyun asks, even though all of them can still see the sun outside. This gets Jihyo confused.

 

“Uhh… Dahyun, sun’s not finished setting yet,” she tells the dubu.

 

“Oh, that’s not what I meant,” Dahyun says, shaking her head and chuckling.

 

“What Dahyun-ah means is that she wants to play Mafia now,” Momo finishes for her.

 

“Oh,” is all Jihyo says. “How do we play?”

 

After the girls explain to Jihyo and Mina the rules of Mafia, they start playing the game, Jeongyeon volunteering to be the moderator (she’s the default, anyway).

 

Jeongyeon chooses Mina and Chaeyoung to be the mafias, Dahyun the doctor, and Nayeon the detective. During the first day (of the game), the girls choose to eliminate Sana, who tries to plead but to no avail, dying anyway. The following night Dahyun saves herself successfully. The girls have a long discussion the next day. Nayeon suspects Tzuyu while Momo suspects Mina (who is peacefully eating ice cream to avoid suspicion), but it’s Chaeyoung who dies from the votes, and Mina is left alone as a mafia. But one by one the girls die until only Nayeon and Mina are left—and so, the mafias win.

 

“Damn,” Nayeon whistles. “Minari, you lie pretty well.”

 

Mina just chuckles at that. “So what game are we playing next?”

 

The rest of the girls laugh at Mina’s enthusiasm for games.

 

“Easy guys,” Momo speaks. “Mina’s a hustler. Don’t provoke her or she might crush all of you.”

 

Mina tries to hide her laughter at what Momo just said. The truth is that she’s just happy Momo’s finally acknowledged her.

 

After dinner the girls change into their swimwear and head to the pool.

 

“Momo-unnie, this pool is frickin’ huge,” Dahyun remarks.

 

“Well, what are you girls waiting for?” is how Momo answers. At this statement, the girls start diving towards the pool and playing with each other. Mina, however, sees that Momo is just watching them, so she approaches the raccoon.

 

“Hey,” she says to Momo.

 

“Oh, hi,” Momo replies, smiling at the ballerina. “Aren’t you gonna go swim with them?”

 

“Aren’t you?” Mina retorts. “You were just staring at them there, before I approached you.”

 

“Well…” Momo scratches her head. “Okay, I have a confession. I don’t know how to swim.”

 

“Jinjja?”

 

Momo replies with a nod, her head down due to embarrassment.

 

Mina takes Momo’s hand and drags her to the pool. “Come on.”

 

“Ah! Mitang!” Momo protests.

 

“I’ll teach you how to swim,” Mina says.

 

At this, Momo’s eyes light up and she grins like a child who just got a lollipop. In this case, Momo’s face now looks to Mina like the face she has whenever she sees food that she likes. She’s too adorable, Mina thinks, smiling.

 

“Okay then, Mina-sensei!”

 

The night finally comes, and Mina keeps on teaching Momo the basic —freestyle, stroke, butterfly, and backstroke. Meanwhile the other girls open the alcoholic drinks they brought on the way. Jeongyeon keeps pouring onto her glass some mixture she made and she makes the others drink it. Mina and Momo, on the other hand, are still in their own little world in the pool.

 

“You’re doing great, Momoring,” Mina praises the raccoon.

 

“I did it! I did it!” Momo squeals, making water waves with her hands. She swims towards Mina, and when she’s close enough she hugs Mina tightly. “Thank you, Mitang!”

 

Mina stands there for a while, dumbfounded; but when she comes back to her senses, she returns Momo’s embrace. She finds it nice, the warmth.

 

“Hey, get a room!” Jeongyeon shouts, startling the two and making them jerk away from one another.

 

Momo grunts at the interrupted moment. “You get a trash bin for yourself, No Jam! You’re gonna puke soon!” She turns to Mina and her expression changes into a softer one. “You wanna dry up and get a beer?”

 

“Yeah, sure.”

 

Momo hands Mina a towel and a beer as they climb up the pool. “Here.”

 

Mina takes a swig of her drink. Her eyes dart everywhere, looking for Jihyo. Finally she sees a pair near one of the edges beside the tree. One seems to be really tall, like Tzuyu, and—Jihyo?

 

The two girls Mina sees are holding each other’s hands as they lock lips with each other. The penguin chuckles at the sight. Guess Jihyo-yah finally gave in.

 

Meanwhile Momo walks over to Nayeon who hands her something.

 

“Pepero?” she says when she sees what Nayeon gave her.

 

“Yeah, you know the Pepero game?” Nayeon asks.

 

“Yeah,” replies Momo. “No way am I doing it with you, though.”

 

“Aish, pabo.” Nayeon shakes her head. “Minari! Come over here.”

 

Momo looks at Nayeon incredulously. “What are you doing, you bunny?” Momo whispers, just loud enough for the older girl to hear.

 

“Oh, relax,” says Nayeon. “It’s just a game. You’re not gonna kiss for real.”

 

“Hey,” they hear Mina say.

 

“Minari, play the Pepero game with Moguri.”

 

“Oh, uh…” Mina blushes. She gulps before she finally speaks. “Okay.”

 

She’s not really sure what came over her when she takes a Pepero stick and puts it between her teeth—ignoring the fact that Momo’s already holding one. Momo throws it away, though, and catches the end of the stick with her own teeth. They bite each end and inch closer to each other, unaware of each other’s hearts beating fast as their faces get closer.

 

It’s just a game, it’s just a game, Momo thinks to herself, sweating now.

 

Unknown to them, Nayeon and Sana had already planned this all along. While Momo and Mina are concentrated on the game, Sana pushes their heads towards each other. When their upper lips touch, the girls instinctively move away from one another, touching their own lips.

 

“SAENGIL CHUKHA HAMNIDA…” Nayeon starts singing, and the others follow. Everyone moves closer to Momo—even Tzuyu and Jihyo move away from their spot to sing to the birthday girl.

Well, everyone except for Mina, who’s still touching her upper lip, smiling at the memory Sana gave them.