It was dark outside when her heavy bladder woke her up. Yongsun moaned softly as untangled herself from her duvet, running a hand through her hair absently. Automatically, she swung her legs out of the bed as she headed to the door. Out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted a person propped against the side of her bed. Her eyes widened slightly, trying to ensure that it wasn’t her imagination.

Byulyi was leaning against the side of the bed, snoring gently. Her uncombed black hair fell over her face as she propped her head with her knees as she curled into herself. Her even breathing was a sign that she was completely asleep.

She halted, giving her a second look before her mind registered that Byulyi was indeed sleeping on the ground. She scratched her stomach absently as she stared at the younger woman. How could that be comfortable? She would strain her neck if she continued to sleep in such an awkward position.

Worry for the younger woman drove her to rouse her from her sleep, her full bladder forgotten. However, Byulyi merely shifted slightly and continued sleeping, far too dead to the world to wake up. “Byulyi-ah, why are you sleeping on the floor?” mumbled Yongsun. She tried shaking the woman again, but she merely moaned a noise of protest.

“Come to bed,” encouraged Yongsun, grabbing her shoulders to shake her again. This time, the rapper decided to fall back asleep. The leader shook her head as she wrapped her arms around her waist, getting a good grip of the taller woman. Then, she lifted her into the bed, allowing the younger woman to sprawl across the bed unceremoniously on her back as she let out another noise of protest before she smacked her lips. “You are heavier than you look,” groaned the older woman, blinking owlishly as she stepped back.

Yongsun shook her head, amused by the adorable sight of her sleeping bandmate. OK, she needed to tuck her in. She reached for the duvet that she was lying on and yanked it roughly to free it from her weight. Almost instinctively, the sleeping woman rolled to her side and burrowed into her pillow before her breathing evened out completely again.

The singer smiled affectionately at the sight of her sleeping before she headed to the washroom. When she finally joined her under the blanket, the blonde singer merely lay her head on her shoulder as she nestled close to her. Byulyi instinctively curled an arm around her as she snuggled.

This was perfect.

Even though she was bony, there was something about her that was dreadfully comforting and wonderful. It was as calming as a mother’s lullaby. That sense of security lulled her back into bed as she buried her face into her collarbone.

When Yongsun finally woke up hours later, she was surprised to find her bed completely empty. She had idly searched the bed with a hand, her eyes still closed and found merely cold and vacant space. She crackled her eyes open and realised that she was alone in bed.

Her hangover hit her like a bulldozer. It felt as if she had a zoo of rambunctious animals prancing in her brain: soft brown puppies yelping excitedly, greasy black hamsters dashing around and a majestic lion with a magnificent orange and brown mane marking its territory by growling loudly. She pressed a palm to her forehead as she stared around the room blearily.

Then, she spotted the glass of water and painkillers set on her nightstand.

Thank goodness. She swung her legs out of the cover as she reached for them. Quickly, she took them before she dropped back into the bed noisily, thankful that the bedroom was completely dark. That was a sign that it wasn’t her imagination that Byulyi slept over since she was the only one who could draw the curtains. Her lips curled into a small smile, grateful that Byulyi was very considerate in her little ways.

What was she going to do without her?

The zoo of animals that moved into her head in the morning decided that it was time to retire after she lay on the bed for a while. She yawned, stretching her stiff muscles slightly before she sat up. She rolled her neck, releasing the tension in shoulder.

Where was this Moon Byulyi? The older woman was surprised that she did not returned to the bedroom to wake her up since she was easily bored. She rubbed the back of her head absently as she padded out of the bedroom into the living room.

“Huh?”

Her apartment was obviously very empty.

Her brows knitted in confusion. To be certain that Byulyi was not pulling a prank on her, she checked her apartment thoroughly and did not find the other woman. “Weird,” murmured she to herself as she rubbed the back of her neck again. “Where did she go?”

She returned to the kitchen and caught sight of a bowl sitting innocently on her dining table. How did she miss this when she walked into the kitchen just moments ago? Curious, she removed the cover, revealing a bowl of hangover soup.

She melted at the sight of it.

That was very thoughtful of Byulyi. She could imagine the rapper heading to the closest convenience store just to buy this for her. The younger woman knew that she rarely drinks because she had such poor alcohol tolerance so she would not have this stowed in her apartment. She could envision the younger woman moving effortlessly in her kitchen, pouring the contents into this blue bowl before she heated it up in the microwave oven. She walked to her counter and trace a finger along the surface absently before the corners of her lips curled into a smile.

Her companion had cleaned up after herself.

Her eyes curved with pleasure as her face softened with affection.

This was the sweetest thing that anyone could have done for her. She returned to the dining table and grasped the bowl with both of her hands carefully as if it was a fragile treasure. The blue porcelain bowl felt warm to touch. She slid into the chair and drank that soup blissfully.

Maybe she was biased, but she swore that it was the most heavenly soup she had in her life. She savoured every drop of it before setting the empty bowl in the sink. Her stomach rumbled from the lack of food and she returned to her fridge to look for her leftovers. The other woman probably did not buy her breakfast since she had too much food and had planned to have that for breakfast.

A part of her was simply astounded by how well Byulyi knew her but the rapper had always been a thoughtful person. She re-heated her leftovers as she returned to the bedroom to fetch her mobile. Besides the usual notification from work, there was nothing from Byulyi.

Complete radio silence.

She responded to a message from Wheein and Hyejin that she had reached home safely.

She frowned again, staring at her chat with the younger woman. The singer ran her hand through her hair absently as she contemplated about her bandmate. Byulyi seemed to be behaving strangely. Her mind drifted to the prank that she pulled on the birthday girl and the punishment of finishing the alcohol. Hyejin did not concede until they finished the rest of the alcohol, their faces flushed. Everything else after that was completely hazy.

She pressed the palm of her hand on her forehead.

It was obvious that Byulyi sent her home and probably helped to change out of her outfit. She scanned her pyjamas closely, touching the hem of her top absently. She remembered that Byulyi did not have the luxury of changing into nightclothes: there was something about having a night routine of changing into clothes for sleep because it reminded them of the sweet luxury of being at home instead of fighting to catch a few winks of sleeping in their busy schedules. Often, they had to sleep with thick make-up on their faces, dressed in uncomfortable clothes that made them look good on camera. She rubbed her bottom lip absently. Maybe, she ought to buy a set of pyjamas for her to store in her wardrobe.

She was so often over that she had set aside space for her clothes to hang neatly next to hers, so another set of pyjamas would be nothing astounding.

She remembered that she ought to thank Byulyi for taking care of her. Quickly, she composed a message to express her gratitude before setting her mobile aside: the younger woman would reply when she had seen the message.

The image of Byulyi sleeping on the floor, propped by her bed at dawn flashed in her mind. For some strange reason, this crazy woman thought that it was a good idea to sleep on the floor instead of sharing her bed last night. Why would she do that? They shared a bed often. In fact, they had shared a queen-sized bed for two nights recently!

“Silly Byulyi. Who is the Yeba now?”

She raked her hand through her hair, tousling her long hair. She would probably need to wash her hair today since her scalp felt a little itchy. And why did she disappear in the morning? She was certain that this was her day off so there was no reason for her not to hangout in her apartment.

The way that she disappeared in the morning felt so clinical if she did not prepare a bowl of hangover soup for her. They were more than that right?

She let out a frustrated growl before she headed to her toilet to grab a shower.

The highly-awaited message came while she was rinsing the shampoo out of her long hair. She cleaned out the soap from her hair as she toweled herself hastily. After securing the towel to the top of her chest, she headed for her mobile and checked. It was Byulyi. She merely just waved off the gratitude.

With a tongue in her cheek, she decided to launch into scolding about strange behaviour by jabbing quickly. She dressed herself quickly before she checked her mobile and cringed.

“Oh so greasy!” shrieked Yongsun before she noticed what the younger woman was deflecting.

“And that is a lie. You were on the wrong side of the bed.” She had to address this behaviour of hers. Was it because of their constant spats or the conversation she had with her last night?

“You’re just weird for not sleeping on the bed. Besides, you should have stayed. You behaved like a one-night stand fleeing in the early morning, Ms Weirdo.”

She pursed her lips, that ought to incite a stronger response from the rapper.

“I went home to sleep off the alcohol. It was late morning when I left.”

She arched a brow. An explanation huh?

The thought that Byulyi was her one-night stand made her blushed prettily.

No, no, no. Mind out of the gutter. She did not want to imagine sharing carnal delights with her because it would be a black hole. It was not unpleasant thinking of her since she was such a beautiful woman.

She remembered distinctly a time when Byulyi had decided to change out of her denim jacket into another more comfortable black suit jacket on stage. She removed the jacket absently, leaving her only in a white tube as she fetched the jacket. Maybe the rarity of seeing so much skin enflamed her cheeks. Her eyes were immediately drawn to all that flawless skin on display before she hid them again by wearing a jacket. That display made her forget that she was stage with the rest of MAMAMOO members and she was supposed to host.

No. She wasn’t going to entertain that racy image of hers.

She quickly jabbed a response.

“Well, you could have stayed over and sleep the alcohol off like you usually do. Besides, I was planning to spend the day with you.”

Crap. She sounded needy.

“Another filming for Solarsido? Isn’t that too early?”

Of course, she would know that it was too early for that. Why did she think she only wanted her over for work? They hung out often because they enjoyed each other’s company. Should she find a better excuse? She thought about the contents of her fridge.

“No, I will do it on another day. I wanted to cook for us today. Some of my ingredients in my fridge are going to expire.”

That was a fairly good excuse. Yongsun could only pursed her lips as she waited for her reply.

“Nah, not today. Sorry, I am kinda tired and I feel like staying at home.”

Her stomach coiled from that awful disappointment that she would willingly choose to stay away from her. Was she overthinking this?

Her mind drifted to that conversation they had in the guest room. Finally, she had told the other girl just how she felt about her flirty ways. Was that far too much for her to process?

She headed to the kitchen to have her breakfast absently, their conversation re-playing in her mind slowly. Byulyi’s earnest answer that these women were not her, these friends could