For Red Velvet's first day off, they all woke up at noon, ordered pizza, and sat in front of the living room to watch Blackpink's documentary on Netflix.

Yeri and Joy were sprawled out on the floor with Seulgi to get better access to the food while the other two were on the couch. Wendy rested her head on Irene's lap and the latter absentmindedly Wendy's hair. 

"Hey," Yeri excitedly squealed on her phone. "Unnie, we're watching your documentary!" 

"Who is that?" Joy tried to sneak a peek at Yeri's phone. "Is that Rosé? Let me talk to her!" 

"Hey, it's starting!" Wendy shushed them both. "Calm down."

"Waaah. You look so cool, unnie!" Yeri laughed as she tried to keep Joy at bay. "All right. My members are being so annoying now, I better hang up."

"Tell Jennie she hasn't been been replying to my texts." Irene pouted. 

As Yeri relayed the message and Joy finally backed down to check her phone, Wendy turned to Irene. "Woah! How'd you know it was Jennie?" 

"Yeri has a stupid look on her face whenever she talks to Jennie," Seulgi snorted. "Dork."

"Uh huh," Yeri continued her phone call conversation while kicking Seulgi repeatedly. The older girl retaliated by pulling an unsuspecting Joy in front of her as a shield. As a result, Yeri's foot collided with Joy's chest. 

Joy body-slammed Yeri on to the ground and they sprawled out on the floor, trying to land slaps and kicks as Seulgi and Wendy cheered on. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!" Yeri shrieked in between laughter, her phone call with Jennie completely forgotten. Chuckling, Irene picked the phone up. 

"Jennie." Irene greeted. 

"Unnie! Gosh, I miss you!" Jennie replied. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to reply."

"It's fine." Irene smiled. "I know you're busy. I just wanted to check up on you and the girls. Also, congratulations on your successful comeback!" 

Irene moved away from the wrestling match that was brewing in the living room to be able to hear better. She hung up after a few minutes but not before making plans to meet up with Jennie soon. 

When she came back, the ruckus has somehow died down so they proceeded with watching. 

They spent most of the documentary happily munching their food and talking about the Blackpink members.

"Wait," Joy suddenly piped up. "Pause!"

"That's Joohyun-unnie!" Wendy dramatically pointed.

The girls laughed as they froze the frame where a fraction of the Red Velvet members were shown.

"You look like a proud mama hen there, unnie!" Yeri said in between laughs.

Irene noticed that even Seulgi was chuckling and she felt just a litte bit happy about that. 

After they finished the documentary, Wendy went for a bathroom break while Irene browsed for another movie to watch. 

"Do you think I'll get married by the time I'm 40?" Yeri asked.

"Knowing you," Seulgi said as she munched on the last slice of pizza. "You'll probably be married by 30."

They all laughed at that as Yeri attempted to throw a pillow towards Seulgi. 

"How about you, Seulgi-unnie?" Joy asked. "When do you want to get married?"

"That depends on Seungwan." Seulgi replied. "She said I can't get married until she does."

"Seulgi-yah and I will get married at the same time." Wendy answered as she sat back down on the couch. "We 94-liners always stick together."

She shot arrow hearts towards Seulgi which the latter reciprocated. Joy turned to Irene.

"Unnie, if you get married in a few years, will you leave Red Velvet?" She asked.

"Yah. What's with this line of questioning?" Irene laughed loudly. "Why don't we find me a someone to marry first?"

"No, don't." Wendy dramatically brought her hands to her forehead. "You cant leave me with these brats."

"Excuse me," Yeri stuck her tongue out. "I'll probably be the one taking care of you guys when we're 40."

"Don't worry." Irene smiled. "There's no room for love in my life right now. Red Velvet always comes first."

They settled in another movie and for dramatic effect ("I don't want you guys to see me ugly cry, okay?" Joy muttered.) they turned off the lights.

Halfway through the movie, Irene kept getting distracted by the blinking lights from a phone on her right.

She reached out to flip the phone down until she realized that it was Seulgi's phone. Irene hastily dropped her hand as another notification popped up. She really tried not to look so she focused instead on the TV screen.

Seulgi occasionally checked her phone and it was distracting Irene more and more. She willed herself not to peep but curiosity got the better of her. She promised she'd only look for a second to appease her mind. Irene took a deep breath and looked down at Seulgi's phone as the other girl was texting. 

I can't wait to see you too

Irene felt her stomach churn. She shouldn't have looked. 

The dating ban in the industry is not really as strict as they seem. There are many ways an idol can hide a relationship and it is much easier dating a person that has a similar lifestyle.

For closeted idols, it can be harder but several preventive measures are taken such as starting dating rumors with the opposite to throw the public off. 

Irene has tried sustaining a relationship with a couple fellow male idols in the past but she found that it was just too taxing especially for her since she's the leader of a very successful and well-known girl group. The public scrutiny and constant pressures kept her from having a serious relationship with anyone.

The members even joked before that the reason why Irene has never had a long-time boyfriend is because she was practically married to Red Velvet.

She didn't openly reveal that she also liked girls and she had an inkling that the others never suspected a thing. It was Seulgi who was more open about her uality. The others had a few experiences here and there. But they never really had the 'sit down and talk about it' moment. Sometimes, the members would just occasionally mention something about it like the time Wendy shared to Irene the first time she kissed a girl, but that's about it.

Although, right now, Wendy seemed to be taking a break from love just like Irene. The youngest members had teased them before about growing old and alone and they just laughed because the maknaes were still at the stage in their lives where there were infinite possibilities and they're not hounded with the stress and hardships that the industry entailed.

Yeri, much like other kids around her age, enjoyed occasional flings. It's natural for her to have a lot of those since she's just so friendly towards everyone. Joy on the other hand, liked to fall hard for foreign guys.

Irene doesn't probe too much when it comes to her members' relationships; she prefers that they be the ones to open up to her first (which they usually do) and when they ask for advice, she always made sure to give as much insight as she can.

When it comes to the two older girls, it was less about flings and crushes and more about serious relationships with serious problems.

Wendy, always the overthinker, always sought out Irene's opinion whenever she encountered a bump in her relationship. Contrary to that, Seulgi was more of a laid-back kind of girlfriend, never really opening up, much to the chagrin of her previous partners.

So when Irene saw that Seulgi had been texting with someone, she wasn't at all surprised. 

She did however, feel a little bit of resentment that Seulgi did not talk to her about seeing someone, since the younger always informed her and Wendy of the people she dated in the past.

But these days, Seulgi doesn't talk to her much anyway.

---

The movie was over and the group decided to call it a night since Seulgi and Yeri already fell asleep on the floor.

Joy excused herself to wash up and turn in early which left Wendy and Irene to clean up the mess.

"Should we wake them?" Irene asked.

Wendy regarded the two. Yeri was curled on her side, covered in a blanket and Seulgi was lightly snoring right next to her. "Well, they're obviously comfortable. Let's just leave them there."

Irene chuckled and the girls proceeded to take the stuff to the kitchen. Irene started washing the dishes and Wendy disposed the empty pizza boxes.

"Seungwan-ah.." Irene hesitated. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, unnie." Wendy said as she struggled to close the garbage bag. "What's up?"

"Did you know Seulgi was seeing someone?" Irene asked as nonchalantly as she could. 

"Uh," Wendy was still busy with her task. "Yeah. She might have mentioned having coffee with someone about two weeks ago. Why? She hasn't told you?"

"No. She hasn't told me." Irene bit her lip and hoped that she gave nothing away.

Wendy paused what she was doing and regarded the leader. "Joohyun-unnie, is there something going on with you and Seulgi?"

Irene was grateful that her back was to Wendy. Otherwise, her face would've betrayed her.

"There's nothing going on."

"It's just that.." Wendy started. She didn't know what to say becuase she wanted Irene not to feel forced to share something she wasn't comfortable with. "Well, I don't know. It just feels like you're not talking much. But maybe it's just me."

"Come here and help me dry these plates." was Irene's only reply.

Wendy slowly closed the distance between them and settled on her unnie's side. 

They were silent for a couple of minutes as the girls focused on washing the dishes. 

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Wendy said softly.

Irene nodded. Maybe someday. "I know. You know I love you right, Son Seungwan?" 

Wendy immediately understood that she wasn't prying too much, it's just that Irene wasn't ready to talk about it just yet. 

Wendy smiled fondly. "I know. I love you too, Hyunnie."