Suyeon woke up with a start. A glance at her phone told her it was 3 in the morning, but she heard someone moving around the apartment. She quietly got up and went to investigate.

In the kitchen, she found Lucy, waiting for the kettle to boil for a cup of tea.

"Couldn't sleep?" Suyeon asked, stating the obvious.

Lucy nodded as she put a chamomile tea bag into a mug. "I'm hoping a cup of tea will help."

Suyeon grabbed a mug out of the cabinet and put it on the counter next to Lucy's. "That sounds like a good idea," she said as she dropped a teabag into it.

Lucy looked at her. "Really, unnie? I've never known you to have trouble sleeping."

Suyeon shrugged. "I figure once you finish telling me what's bothering you, I'll have been up for long enough that I'll need some help getting back to sleep."

"Oh, but unnie, you don't have to. . . " She shook her head. "There's nothing bothering me."

Suyeon nodded. "Uh-huh. And I'm the Queen of Sweden. So what's bothering you?"

Lucy poured tea into both their mugs, then took her mug to sit down on the couch. Suyeon followed along behind her, walking carefully so as not to spill hot water on herself.

"Now then," Suyeon said, once they were settled in on the couch. "Tell me about what's bothering you. And don't try saying it's nothing - I know you better than that."

"Well," Lucy said, before stopping to stir her tea. "It's like this. . . there's this girl that I like, but I'm not sure if she feels that same way about me, and I've tried to drop some hints to her, but either she's not getting the clues, or else she's getting them and she's not interested."

Suyeon nodded. She took a sip of her tea to buy herself a moment to think, then said "But. . . why is this keeping you up tonight? It's not like you're gonna see her again until we're out of quarantine. Why don't you wait, keep talking to this girl, and see where things are when quarantine ends?"

Lucy took a sip of her tea, looked around to be sure she and Suyeon were the only ones up, then leaned toward Suyeon and said quietly "But unnie, this girl is one of our members! If something was going to happen, this would be a perfect time for it to happen!"

Suyeon blinked, stunned by this unexpected revelation. "She's. . . I mean. . . She's one of. . ." She stopped, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "She's one of our members?"

Lucy nodded.

Suyeon sat quietly for a moment, taking this in. "Well, I guess I don't need to ask if I know this girl." She laughed quietly. "Well. . . wow. . . um. . . I'm sure you've heard me say before what a bad idea it generally is to date someone inside your group."

Lucy nodded. "I know you say that, but then I see Doyeon and Yoojung and I ask 'why can't I have that?'"

Suyeon picked up her mug, downed half her tea in one gulp, then swirled the remainder around before putting the mug down again. She remembered Sei bringing up this example to her just the other day. "Doyeon and Yoojung are the exception. They never should have worked out as a couple. Hell, according to the usual patterns of the industry, they shouldn't even have been in the same group after I.O.I was disbanded. But you can't count on that happening twice."

"But it could happen," Lucy said, her eyes shining brightly. "It could! And we'd have Doyeon and Yoojung here to ask if we needed help."

Suyeon was shaking her head. "It could happen, but I don't think it's likely. I'd advise just leaving it alone. But since you're probably not going to listen to my advice, all I can say is be careful, know the odds, and know that I'm here for you if you get your heart broken."

Lucy leaned over and gave Suyeon a hug. "That's so sweet of you to say, unnie. And I know you say this is a bad idea, and you might be right but" - she sighed - "I can't stop thinking about her. I've just got to know if she feels the same way about me as I feel about her."

"Well," Suyeon said, "if she's not asking you, it sounds like the only option left is for you to ask her."

"Just ask her!" Lucy threw her hands up in the air. "As if it's that easy! As if I could just go up to her and say 'I really like you. I'd like you to be my girlfriend. How do you feel about that?'"

Suyeon nodded. "If she won't ask you, then that's exactly what you'll have to do. And if you can't do that, maybe you're not ready to have a girlfriend. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to bed and try to get some more sleep so I don't sleep as late today as I did yesterday."

Lucy was silent for a moment, wanting indignantly to argue with Suyeon's words, but not sure she should. Finally, she settled for waiting until Suyeon was passing back through the common room on her way to her bedroom and calling out "Thanks for listening, unnie!"

Suyeon stopped and smiled at her. "No problem. Just. . . be careful, and I'm here if you need me."

Lucy sat staring at Suyeon's door for several minutes after the door had closed, wondering if Suyeon was right. Finally, she picked up her mug and headed off to bed. "Only one way to find out," she said to herself as she went down the hall: I'll have to put on my big girl pants and ask."

Lua struggled to sit up with Rina sitting on the edge of her duvet. One of her roommates had apparently left the curtains ajar, because a stream of light was shining across the room and right into her eyes. Once she was no longer being blinded by the early morning sunshine, she sat up and looked at Rina.

"You've really thought about this, haven't you?" she asked

Rina nodded. "I think it's a good idea. It'll help us to pass the time while we're in quarantine, like a summer fling. And since you and I have already dated and broken up once, I can count on you to not try to cling to me after quarantine is over."

Lua nodded. "Well, okay, I can kind of see the reasoning there. But, you know, I'm not your only ex-girlfriend in this apartment. Why not Elly?"

Rina shook her head rapidly. "No way. That's could never work."

"But why-" Lua began.

"Because Elly never got over me," Rina said. "Not all the way. She'd take this as a first step in us getting back together. She'd never believe that all I'm looking for is some quarantine entertainment."

"'Some quarantine entertainment,'" Lua echoed sardonically. "Boy, you really know how to make a girl feel wanted!" 

Rina swatted at Lua's arm. "You know what I mean!" 

Lua laughed. "I know. I just couldn't resist teasing you about it." She sat silently, looking out the window for a moment. "I admit, I'm tempted to just say yes, but I also just woke up, so I know my mind's not working at its best yet." She looked at Lua. "Since we're not going anywhere anyway, I need to have some time to think about this. I just can't help feeling there's some side of this that I'm not seeing."

Rina nodded. "Sure - like you said, we're not going anywhere. And in the meantime, maybe this will help you make up your mind." She leaned forarward and kissed Lua gently on the lips, then again more firmly. Then as she felt Lua begin to respond, she wrapped her arms around her and kissed her some more, alternating between kissing her and nibbling on her lower lip. Finally, Lua pulled her head away.

"Okay, okay," she said with a smile, mock-struggling to free her arms, "you've made your case. But I still need some time to think about it."

"Still?" Rina released Lua and stood up from the bed. She looked down at Lua. "If you still need to think about it, maybe I'm losing my touch." 

As Rina turned and walked out of the bedroom, she heard Lua behind her murmur "Losing her touch? Not even a little bit!" A wicked smile crossed her face as she walked out of the room.

Lucy looked up from the picture she was drawing to see who was coming into her bedroom. Much to her surprise, it was Yoojung. Putting aside her pencil and sketchpad, she sat up and said "Hi unnie! What's up?"

Yoojung shut the door behind her and then came and sat down on the bed next to Lucy. "Nothing much. I was just coming to see how you were doing."

Lucy shrugged. "As well as can be expected. I mean, we're still quarantined, so it can't be that great."

Yoojung nodded. "I was thinking of trying to get a foursome together to play mahjong. Would you be interested?"

"Is Sei going to be playing?" The words were out before Lucy even had a chance to think about them.

Yoojung looked at Lucy. "Would it make a difference if she was?" She waited a second, and when Lucy didn't answer, started laughing and said "It would! You're blushing! Lucy's got a crush on Sei!"

Lucy buried her face in her hands, trying to hide her blushing. Yoojung reached out and her hair. "It's okay if you do," Yoojung said, "and I can see why you would - Sei's cute! You two would be cute together!" 

Lucy looked up. "You think so?"

Yoojung nodded. She got up and peeked out the door to see if anyone was coming down the hall, then came back and sat next to Lucy again. "If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to tell that you heard it from me?"

Lucy nodded. "It's nothing bad, is it?"

Yoojung shook her head. "No, it's something good. At least, I think you'll think it's good - Sei's interested in you. She's just trying to get the nerve up to talk to you about it?"

"Really!" Lucy suddenly realized how loud she was, so she bent down next to Yoojung and asked in a whisper. "Really?"

Yoojung nodded. "Sei and Doyeon were talking about it yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if she talked to you about it before bedtime tonight."

Lucy smiled widely. "Should I go talk to her? Tell her how I feel?"

Yoojung thought for a moment. "You could. Or you could wait for her to come to you. Whichever feels right for you."

Lucy thought for a moment, her brow furrowed with concentration. "If she tried going to bed tonight without talking to me about it, then I'll talk to her. Until then, the ball's in her court. Oh, I'm so excited! I can't wait to hear what she says!"

"Sounds good," Yoojung said. She glanced at the door. "I'd better be going. Technically I'm not supposed to be talking to you about this."

Lucy nodded. "What about mahjong? We still on for that?"

"Sure - I'll ask Sei and Elly if they're interested."

"Sounds good," Lucy said. "I'll put up my drawing stuff and meet you down in the common room in a few minutes."

As Yoojung walked up the hall, she almost ran into Sei. Sei noticed where Yoojung was coming from and said "Oh, unnie! Please tell me you weren't where I think you were, having the conversation I asked Doyeon to try to keep you from having!"

Yoojung quietly sidled up closer to Sei. "I was actually going to ask Lucy if she was up for a game of mahjong, which she is, but during the course of that conversation, some things came up that I couldn't help having the other conversation."

"What 'things' would that be?" Sei asked, making air quotes with her hands.

"Well," Yoojung began, when I asked Lucy if she wanted to play mahjong, her first question was 'Will Sei be there?' and when I about it, she blushed, and then - well, anyway, she's interested in you, and she's just waiting for you to make your move?"

Sei suddenly turned pale. "She is? And she is?" She grabbed Yoojung's hands. "Unnie! What do I do?"

Yoojung laughed. "What do you think, you silly girl! You go talk to her! And you hurry, because I want to play mahjong."

Sei nervously fanned herself with her hands. "Just talk to her? Just like that? Now? Really?"

Yoojung nodded, her face all serious. "Now. You can do this." She grabbed Sei by the shoulders, pointed her toward Lucy's room, and gave her a push to start her moving. When Sei turned back to look at her, Yoojung shooed her, saying "Go on!" 

Sei nodded, took a deep breath, and marched on, looking for all the world like a woman on the way to her own execution.