It happens out of the blue yet during a completely ordinary situation. It happens a little over two weeks after the competition starts; Chaeyeon is already glued to the hip with Sakura at this point.

They're laughing about something unimportant, leaning against the practice room wall with their legs stretched out in front of them. Chaeyeon's learnt the entire choreography for the performance already and she's moved on to helping Sakura. They're taking a break from hours of back-breaking rehearsal and stayed behind as a few of their teammates went off in search of illegal snacks.

“Trainee Miyawaki Sakura,” Chaeyeon says in a deep voice, imitating the show's MC or something similar, future Chaeyeon's simply forgotten. Because that's how ordinary the conversation had been, unimportant and hence forgettable. To her, at least.

Chaeyeon goes on without noticing the look of surprise on her companion's face. She taps her fingers on her thighs along to the beat of the song still playing on repeat, though at a lower volume. She trails off midsentence when she notices Sakura simply staring at her quietly.

“Are you okay?” Chaeyeon asks, switching back to Korean in her confusion. She's about to repeat herself in Japanese when the older girl grabs hold of her right hand.

“Lee Chaeyeon,” Sakura says, her tone undecipherable.

Chaeyeon blinks in confusion at her when silence follows her words. She looks down at their joined hands before raising an eyebrow at the older girl. Her left hand pats the one holding her right. A moment of silence and then, “Huh?”

She's probably doing her confused face, the one where her eyes slightly widen and her eyebrows raise a little and she looks like she's urging the other person to elaborate further. Sakura continues staring and Chaeyeon hates that she doesn't understand why. She can't read her facial expressions at all.

“Thank you,” a short pause, “You’ve helped me a lot in rehearsals and with my Korean,” a slightly longer pause, “You're a really good friend.”

“Why so sudden?” Chaeyeon laughs, “You don't have to thank me. It's what friends should do.”

They move on to another topic, the earlier one easily forgotten(at least, by Chaeyeon). A few minutes later, their teammates arrive with snacks in tow, cheering loudly. Only then does Chaeyeon realise that she's still holding Sakura's hand. She sends her a smile and pats her hand before letting go and standing up to join the others.

Later that night, Chaeyeon lies in bed thinking about the older girl thanking her for helping with her Korean. She wonders if she should finally tell Sakura that she's been butchering the pronunciation of her name the entire time or if the embarrassment the older girl would surely feel is worth it. The mispronunciation isn't offensive, after all. In fact it's kind of cute.

(Future Chaeyeon won't remember this moment upon reflection but she remembers choosing not to correct Sakura's pronunciation to save her from the embarrassment. Future Chaeyeon is completely done with her past self.)