Chaeyoung hates it. She hates the sound of her own name rolling off Jeongyeon’s tongue. She hates the way Momo’s gaze meets her own. She hates how they make her feel. Chaeyoung hates the butterflies churning at the pit of her stomach, pulling at the strings grounded at the bottom of her heart, threatening to break free with every word, with every touch. She hates the bitter taste ever left at the corners of , her heart, after each of them calls it a day, retreating to her own room, with her own roommates. Don’t get her wrong, she adores her roommates, and she wouldn’t have asked for better ones; Sana and Nayeon, for instance, sleep talk and walk; Momo is messy, and Jeongyeon nags like a retired old man. She wouldn’t trade Dahyun and Tzuyu for any of them, -Mina maybe.

But Chaeyoung hates it, and she thinks it wouldn’t feel as bitter if some of them weren’t dating, each other.

Chaeyoung loves her members, all of them, and she tries to show it in everything she does. She accompanies them in whatever activity they choose to immerse themselves in: helps Mina cook, co-writes lyrics with Jeongyeon, watches sappy dramas with Nayeon, and dances with Momo.

Momo opens the practice room’s door to a Chaeyoung sitting in the middle of the vacant place, blankly staring at her reflection in the mirror. She calls her name, as she drops her bag to the floor, and approaches the younger girl. She stands by her side, looking ahead at the reflection of Chaeyoung abandoning a piece of its loneliness at her presence.

“Hey,” she coaxes.

“Oh, hi, Momoring,” Chaeyoung mutters, seeming to only notice the older girl then.

“Why are you in here by yourself?” She finds herself asking carefully, her eyes trained on the Chaeyoung in the mirror.

“Was just waiting for anyone to join me, I guess,” her voice still low, Chaeyoung answers -lies through her teeth. Momo pretends she doesn’t notice.

“You should’ve called me then.”

The only response she gets is a shrug of the shoulders before Exo’s The Eve resounds through the speakers.

Momo stands still for a while, watching Chaeyoung go through the first steps of the choreography, admiring every move, every smooth transition, but it’s hard to resist the beat, and she eventually joins her.

They dance for hours, drowning themselves in the music, forgetting the world outside of the four walls of the practice room, before Momo calls for a break.

She plops down with a thud, and crawls to where she has thrown her bag, hours ago. She grabs two bottles of water, and throws one Chaeyoung’s way, before downing the other. The younger girl catches it successfully, hastily opening it to answer to the call of her thirsty organs.

Thank you are the first words Chaeyoung says in hours, and Momo’s wide grin temporarily blinds her, -she feels guilty that the softest member of her group had to go through her silent treatment.

She sits down next to the older girl, and looks for anything to say, to break the silence settling uncomfortably between them.

“For someone who hates water, I’m surprised to see you going around with two bottles in your bag,” she teases, forcing a smile to look as normal as possible, -whatever normal is.

“I knew you’d be here, so I thought I should make sure you’re not dehydrating yourself to death. That’s why I have two.” Momo explains innocently, a smile gracing her lips, and her head tilted slightly to the side.

Chaeyoung stares at the older girl, lips quivering, and it becomes harder to maintain the fake smile. Momo seems not to notice, as she adds, "I'm not.. we’re not ready to become eight yet. we need you, I need you.."

She doesn’t say anything, stares at the older girl in silence as she continues, “I mean who's gonna cook with Mina, write lyrics with Jeong, dance with m-,” and when she feels her vision getting blurry, she looks down and lets the tears fall. She doesn’t register that Momo stopped talking, but she feels a pair of arms wrapping her in a warm embrace, and she can’t hold back her sobs any longer.

She took one last glance at the pink evening sky, before stepping into the apartment building.

Jihyo was in the living room, busy knitting what looks like a scarf, while her youngest roommate was playing a video game on her phone.

“Where are the others?” She asked, taking a seat right next to their leader.

“Mina is facetiming Ray. Sana is helping Dahyun with her Japanese homework, and Nayeon is probably somewhere disappointing Jesus.” To that, Tzuyu snickered, making both of them laugh.

“What about Jeong and Momo?” Chaeyoung added, grabbing the remote to turn on the T.V.

“In their room, doing God-only-knows-what now that they are official.” Jihyo answered nonchalantly.

“Official?” Chaeyoung found herself asking, confusion evident in her voice. Only then did Jihyo look up, and when she met her gaze, she saw an emotion similar to panic in the older girl’s eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“Uhm, they didn’t tell you yet?”

“Tell me what?”

Tzuyu interrupted them then, asking Chaeyoung if she knew the game she’d been playing, but the rapper didn’t faze, asking again, “tell me what?”

“That..they are..you know, together.” Jihyo seemed to stutter, “I thought you knew. I’m sorry.”

It took her a moment to process the new information, before turning to the T.V. screen, without saying a word. She pretended that she didn’t see the look on Tzuyu’s face. Tzuyu who knew about it all. Tzuyu who knew that she’s in love with not only one of them, but both.

Jeongyeon grabs her by the shoulders, guiding her down to the basement. She flinches a little at the physical contact, but remains collected. Instead, she whines about being interrupted in the middle of her midnight snack.

Once they are far from waking up anyone with whatever Jeongyeon has to say at such an ungodly hour, the older girl makes her sit down, and grabs her phone.

“What is it?” Chaeyoung asks, taking a bite of her peanut butter sandwich.

“I need help writing the lyrics to this song. The deadline is like next week and I’m stuck.”

“And why are you asking me?”

“Because you’re our little shakespeare, the smartest person in our team, the Korean Goddess of poetry and-”

“Wow! Just stop, miss smooth mouth sweet talker. I’m in.” Chaeyoung interrupts between giggles.

“Oh my god! That’d be a great title!” Jeongyeon shrieks, putting her hands together as if to pray. “Thank you to the Korean Goddess of poetry,” she jokes.

“Isn’t it pretty long for a title though? Wow just stop miss smooth mouth sweet talker is longer than all of my lines combined,” Chaeyoung comments, munching on a mouthful of toast.

Jeongyeon gets off her knees with a glare. “I was talking about sweet talker you loser. I take everything I said about you back.”

She sits across from Chaeyoung, waiting for her to finish eating.

“Show me what you got so far,” the youngest of the two commands, getting serious all of a sudden, and Jeongyeon giddily bounces to sit next to her, shoving her phone in her face.

“ Don’t listen, baby, my heart is getting weak because of you shaking up my heart, you, in my head, it’s only you, don’t be deceived, baby, hold into my pounding heart. No one can stop me, do you know my heart? ” Chaeyoung reads outloud, then reads again silently.

“First of all, we’re changing every baby in here to sweet talker , if we’re going with that as the title. If you’re planning to have this as the chorus we’ll have to make it a bit catchier, maybe repeat a couple of words here and there, let me listen to the instrumental.” Chaeyoung renders.

They work until dawn, losing track of time as they add up to what Jeongyeon has already written. And they only stop when they’re satisfied with the outcome.

Chaeyoung stretches her body as she hops off the couch, and a yawn escapes her lips.

“You must be really whipped to write that,” she teases, seemingly turning off her work mode.

“Says miss but what do I do my heart is racing,” Jeongyeon fires back, sticking her tongue out. Chaeyoung doesn’t reply, too tired to bicker about it.

They’re leaving the basement when Jeongyeon drapes an arm around her shoulders, “so, who are you whipped for, miss Son?” She asks, and Chaeyoung trips on air, but doesn’t fall. She pretends not to hear the question, and prays that Jeongyeon can’t hear her racing heart.

During the rehearsals for their Osaka concert, their managers announce that they’ll be split into three groups, each going to spend the night at one of their Japanese members’ houses, courtesy of the Japanese line. Chaeyoung isn’t paying much attention, busy perfecting the dance moves to one of their special stages, when Momo and Jeongyeon approach her, -hand in hand.

She looks at them with a practiced smile, -still trying to deal with the pain in her chest at the sight of them together. “Chewy and Jihyo are going with Mina. Dubu and Nabongs are going with Sana. And you’re stuck with us.” They happily announce.

“Where?” Chaeyoung asks, confused.

“Momo’s house?”

“Momo’s house? Why?”

“Because the members wanted to surprise us and show us their homes? Which planet have you been on, Chaengie?” Jeongyeon explains, getting a bit frustrated at the youngest’s reaction.

“Ah, I’ve been too focused on this dance move that I didn’t really pay attention to what’s going on, sorry.” Chaeyoung mutters, scratching the back of her head.

“Uhm, you know, Chaeng,” Momo starts, the smile on her face long gone, “if you don’t want to come to my house, it’s okay. I will ask if one of the other members wants to-”

Chaeyoung interrupts her with a pat on the head and a guilt-washed smile. “I’d love to go to your house, Momoring. I’m just too stressed to express my excitement. Thank you for inviting me over.” She says, pulling the older girl in a hug, apologizing again for unintentionally hurting her feelings. When they pull away, the bright smile is back on Momo’s face, and Chaeyoung decides that she would do anything to protect Momo’s precious smiles, even if it means going through hell and back for her.

Momo’s older sister, Hana, doesn’t even try to contain her excitement, and Chaeyoung appreciates all the love she’s receiving. She also takes the opportunity to tease Momo about being her own sister’s bias. “She loves me more than you,” Chaeyoung mumbles on their way to Momo’s room.

“If it’s you, then it’s okay,” the Japanese girl professes, and Chaeyoung thanks the dim hallway for covering her blushing face.

Momo insists that all three of them should sleep in her room, despite her sister trying to convince her otherwise. “I mean, you should let them sleep here and come over to my room. Or you can let Chaeyoung sleep in my room instead. It’d be more comfortable to split up.”

“Hana, stop hitting on my member!” Momo screams, throwing a pillow at her older sister, who runs out frantically, closing the door behind her.

They’re all laying on Momo’s double bed, looking at the ceiling. Jeongyeon teases her about the glow in the dark stars, and Momo whines that she was too young.

“Do you think Hana likes Chaeng?” The oldest of the three asks out of nowhere, catching their attention.

“Obviously, she’s her bias!”

“Yes, but do you think she likes likes her?” Jeongyeon emphasizes, making Momo sit up so fast, whipping her head towards the closed door. “She, better, not!” She hisses, glaring at nothing, and Jeongyeon snickers.

“Why? Am I not good enough to be your sister-in-law?” Chaeyoung butts-in, finally joining the conversation.

“No, no! I don’t mean it like that!” Momo clarifies, now looking at her. “I meant you’re too good to be my sister-in-law. I mean, you know, you can be a part of the family in a different way, a way that doesn’t include dating my sister. You know..”

“How? Are you going to convince your parents to adopt me or something?” Chaeyoung chuckles, tickling Momo’s sides. The older girl erupts in laughter, feeling attacked.

“Chaeng- stop! You know- I..can’t! Ugh! Chaeng- I meant!” She wheezes between giggles, feeling more helpless as Jeongyeon attacks her other side. “You should- date me- instead!”

Chaeyoung pulls away in an instant, her eyes wide open like a deer caught in headlights, and her cheeks burning hot.

“Uh-” Jeongyeon starts, stopping the tickles attack, and helping Momo sit straight. “She means, well, she meant to ask you, you know, if you would be our girlfriend?”

“Huh?”

“I mean.. we mean, you can be a part of her family by dating her , instead of Hana. We , talked about this a lot, and we both like you so much. We want you to be our girlfriend, Chaeyoung.”

Chaeyoung stares at them, jaw dropped, and it takes her a moment to ask them if it’s a prank.

Momo is looking down, fumbling with the hem of her pajama shirt, when she mutters, “no, we’re serious. We’ve been wanting to ask you this for a while, but we feared you would reject this, and that it would mess with our friendship. I can’t believe I just blurted that out loud and ruined it all! Please don’t stop being our friend.”

The youngest of the girls presses a kiss to Momo’s crown, as Jeongyeon rubs soothing circles on her back, despite being a wreck of nerves herself. “You didn’t ruin anything, Momoring. But I’m afraid I’ll have to stop being your friend,” Chaeyoung says, and Momo’s bottom lip quivers, urging the younger girl to add, “I’m your girlfriend now.”

They both look at her, eyes shimmering under the soft light of Momo’s lamp.

“Is that a yes?” Jeongyeon asks, earning a nod from the youngest of them.

“Really?” Momo adds, not believing what just happened.

“Yes, really..” Chaeyoung tenderly coos.

The kiss that follows is initiated by Momo, who presses her soft lips to Chaeyoung’s with utmost gentleness. Jeongyeon wraps both of them with her arms, engulfing them in a loving hug, as she giggles giddily.

They huddle in Momo’s bed, Chaeyoung occupying the middle position after her new girlfriends spent a couple of minutes fighting over who is going to sleep next to her. After making sure she’s all snug and cosy, they fall asleep, with Jeongyeon’s head laying on her shoulder, and Momo’s arm draped over her stomach.