Mina was about to get finished with her nightly skincare routine when she hears a couple of knocks on her room’s door.

“Hey, it’s me.” The voice on the other side of the door says.

“Come in.”

Jeongyeon comes in and sees Mina sitting in front of her vanity table. “Hey.”

Mina notices the tiredness in her voice. “Hi, unnie.”

The older girl goes to sit in one corner of the bed and sighs heavily which made Mina turn around to look at her. “Are you okay?” A look of concern on her face.

The older girl sighs again before speaking. “The time you took off work… was it worth it?”

Mina furrows her brows slightly. “Why are you asking me that?”

“I’ve been thinking that maybe… Maybe I should take a break, too?”

Mina gets up and goes to sit beside her. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“I went to see a psychologist last week and she interviewed me and told me to come back, so I came back today. There were some tests done and stuff. And…” Jeongyeon paused.

“And?”

Another heavy sigh. “The psychologist told me that I have an anxiety disorder and advised me to take a break from work. She told me that I need to rest for my neck to heal, too, which is one of the factors that lead to the disorder. And our hectic work schedule is causing it, too.” Mina has been holding her hand while she was saying these things but she just noticed it now. “But I don’t wanna do it. I know we’re going to be very busy once the new album comes out, and I don’t think I can handle taking a break while you guys are working hard and-.” The younger girl cuts her.

“Unnie, to answer your question, yes, it was so worth it. If taking a break is what you need right now, you should do it. And you shouldn’t feel guilty for it, okay? You deserve to rest, too. Your health matters more than anything else, and I’m sure the girls would say the same things that I’m saying to you now.”

Jeongyeon smiles tears start to well up in her eyes. Mina smiles back at her and gives her a hug. “It’s gonna be okay, unnie. I promise. Just do what’s right for you, okay?” Mina said, rubbing her back with her warm hands.

Jeongyeon closes her eyes and the tears that had gathered gushes out like a river. She had been holding them in for weeks. Mina continues to hug her until she stops crying.

“Just tell PD-nim. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

//

The next day, Jeongyeon talks to one of their managers—the one who’s been driving her to her appointments with her psychologist.

“How you doing, Jeongyeon?” The manager unnie asks with a smile.

Jeongyeon smiles back then clicks her tongue and sighs.

“Not so good?”

“Well, my psychologist told me she talked to you already, so.” Yes, she trusts her manager unnie that much. They’re like a family now after all.

“Have you decided yet?” The manager asked to which Jeongyeon responded with a sigh.

“You know that I know how tough your nature of work can get and how physically and mentally exhausting it is. Especially with you, girls. It’s demanding so much of your time and sometimes you don’t even think of taking breaks anymore because everything is happening too fast that you don’t notice that you’re already overworking yourselves too much.”

Jeongyeon nods. “This was our dream and we worked so hard to achieve this dream and we’re very thankful for it and for the fans who love us so much, unconditionally. Slowing down, for me, it’s… it would make me feel bad for the fans that are always looking forward to our comebacks and other stuff. Me and the girls don’t want them to wait for too long so we just say yes to everything the management throws at us.”

“I get what you mean. But as I’ve told you girls before, you can ask for breaks if you want to, not just when you need to and I’ll try to talk to the division heads and convince them to give you a break.”

“Thanks, unnie.”

The manager smiles at her with a soft look in her eyes.

It’s been difficult to get their deserved breaks because their calendars are packed with schedules. Even before the year ends, they already have things scheduled for the next year.

The idol sighs again. Her thinking over whether she should take a break or not has been making her sigh more than she usually does.

“Okay, I’ll take a break. Can you go with me and tell PD-nim about this?”

“Of course, Jeongyeonnie.” She reaches to squeeze the latter’s hand before they both stand up.

//

“Have you heard from my psychologist?” Jeongyeon asks Park Jinyoung who is one of JYPE’s producers and the company’s founder.

“Yes and it’s totally fine, Jeongyeon. You can have your rest for as long as you need.” The producer said with an assuring smile. He may allow the artists of his company to overwork—which is really an obvious part of being an idol especially if you’re a member of one of the most successful girl groups in the history of Kpop—but he allows them when they need a break. He talks to them personally from time to time and he knows how hard it is for them even though they are living their dream. On top of that, Twice has been very busy since their debut especially when their fan base grew bigger around the world and the girls became more in-demand.

“Thank you so much, PD-nim.”

The producer stands up and opens his arms to let the girl in for a hug.

“Take care of yourself, okay?” He pats her head softly.

“Yes, sir, and I’ll make sure to come back as a better person and as a better idol.”

//

The Twice members gathered in the living room of the JeongJiMi dorm. Jeongyeon talked to the girls about taking a break from work.

“Of course, Jeongyeonnie. It’s okay. Just promise us to do what needs to be done for your healing, okay?” Jihyo said, rubbing Jeongyeon’s knee, sitting on the couch. The rest of their members sitting on the floor, facing them.

“Don’t feel guilty about it.” Mina reminds her.

“We’re sorry for not noticing that you’ve been struggling so much, unnie.” Dahyun said.

“No, it was my choice not to let you guys know. I didn’t want to worry you.”

“It’s okay to be not so selfless sometimes you know?” Nayeon adds.

“Unnie, you won’t leave us, right?” Chaeyoung asked.

“Of course. We’ll always be nine. I won’t ever do that.”

“Say promise.” Tzuyu pouts.

Their unnie chuckles before saying, “Promise” and she smiles. “Alright, let’s go to my room and help me pack.” She stands up and the girls follow.

“Nayeonnie, be a good older sister to them, okay? Since your mother-slash-cleaner­ won’t be around for a while, be the substitute, okay? Help Jihyo with the kids.” Jeongyeon said, putting an arm around Nayeon as they walk towards her room.

“Ughh” Nayeon whines. “I know, mom. I’m a big girl. I know what to do. I’ll visit their dorms frm time to time and nag them like an irritating mother-in-law.”

“Everybody knows you won’t do that. You’ll be acting cute and asking us if you’re pretty, then leave” Chaeyoung chuckles.

“No, Chaeng. I will. So you better do your chores.”

“Oh! Before you leave tonight, can we have a party here? All of you are invited!” Sana says excitingly.

“You’re inviting us to a party here at our own dorm?” Jihyo asks with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s right. Don’t worry. We’ll help you clean up afterwards.” Sana responds.

“Oh no.” Mina chuckles and face palms herself. She can already imagine how it would be just her and Jihyo cleaning their own dorm after the party.

Momo and Sana left to get some foods and drinks from their dorm, while the other girls stayed at the JeongJiMi dorm.  As they wait, they decided to re-watch the latest episode of the K-drama that they have been watching.

After about an hour, Sana and Momo came back with two boxes of large pizza and a suitcase full of packs of noodles and other junk foods, and of course, they didn’t fail to bring bottles of soju and cans of beer.

The girls had their low-key party at the dorm. Well, their definition of “party” for that night was watching a new K-drama and eating junk foods and drinking alcohol. Jihyo allowed them to get drunk since they don’t have schedules on the next day.

Jeongyeon was planning to get drunk tonight but here she is, not yet drunk with already two and a half bottles of soju flowing in her body, so she adds more. She scans the room, looking for Mina and gulps nervously when she sees the latter in front of the TV, sitting in between Nayeon and Chaeyoung with half their attention focused on the K-drama, and the other half on the pizza and beer can each of them are holding. Jeongyeon is planning something tonight.

She goes to approach the three girls.

“You’re watching another romantic drama?” She said in a drunken voice. She’s pretending to be drunk.

She squeezes her way in to sit next to Mina. The latter hushes her because the main characters in the drama are about to kiss. Once they did, Nayeon and Chaeyoung squealed and said “aww” simultaneously. Mina did her soft and quiet squeal as Jeongyeon observed her. The latter waited until the episode ended. Nayeon and Chaeyoung eyes each other and leaves the two.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jeongyeon asks Mina who’s pretending to rub her eyes when she’s really wiping her tears. She’s a softie. She easily cries when watching dramas like the one they were just watching.

“Yup. There’s just something in my eyes.”

Jeongyeon thinks she’s cute. She nudges the younger girl. “Hey, I have something to give you.” Her eyes half open, still trying to look and sound drunk.

“What is it?” Mina asks.

“You’ll know. Follow me.” They both stand up and Mina follows Jeongyeon to her room. The latter allows the former to enter first. As soon as she closes the door and turns around to face Mina, she grabs the latter’s face and kisses her.

With nothing on Mina’s mind, she kisses her back. She doesn’t have the time to think anyway.

After a few seconds, Jeongyeon realizes that Mina’s kissing her back. Is this real?

She pulls away, face flushed. “Why did you kiss me?”

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” Mina says. She’s also surprised that she kissed the other girl back.

“Oh, uh… I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have. I’m drunk and I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m so sorry.”

Really? That’s your excuse? Mina thinks to herself as the other girl storms out of the room. She feels kind of offended and embarrassed for getting kissed and then getting walked out on. She’s left alone just like that. . She closes her eyes and waits for several more seconds before she goes out of the room.

The two avoided each other for the rest of the night. Jeongyeon’s family arrived to pick her up and the girls said their farewells to her and she said her farewell back to them but she didn’t even look at Mina and she feels guilty for that and for everything she did to the younger girl that night..

//

Two months after Jeongyeon’s break from work, she goes to the JYPE building to join a photoshoot with the girls.  Everyone was surprised and happy to see her there. Her plan of surprising them worked. Everyone greeted her and hugged her. Mina did too and their eyes finally meet after that night. But Jeongyeon was still giving her the cold shoulder.

The girls took their group shots first and then they took turns for their solo shots. Mina was the fourthone to shoot and Jeongyeon was next after her. Mina didn’t go home after her turn. She waited for Jeongyeon to finish. Finally, the latter’s done with her solo shoot. Mina approached her as she goes to get her phone from her bag. The former grabs her hand without saying anything and drags her to an emergency exit.  It was almost 12 midnight so Mina had a feeling that there won’t be anyone in there.

“What happened, Jeongyeonnie?”

“What do you mean?”

Mina huffs. “Please, stop pretending that you don’t know what I mean.” She’s angry.

The older girl sighs. “I’m sorry for kissing you, okay?” She closes her eyes as she tells herself to just say the truth already. You can do this.

“Look, Mina.” She takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. “I wasn’t really drunk that night. I, um, just made the alcohol an excuse so that I could kiss you.” The older girl confessed.

“I know. I knew you weren’t because the more you’re drunk, the less you like kissing and being kissed.” Mina says nervously. She’s already confessing but indirectly and she hopes the older girl gets it. “If you were drunk, I would’ve stopped you. I don’t want to be kissed senselessly. And if someone kisses me, I want them to mean it and when I kiss someone, it means that it means something to me.” She can’t help but blush but she doesn’t try to hide it. She wants Jeongyeon to see it—that she feels something special for her. “But I want to know why you kissed me.”

“I… I’ve been meaning to tell you something. I wanted to tell you before that kiss or right after but I got scared. And when I felt you kissing me back, somehow, I still thought that that kiss didn’t mean anything to you. So I just left before you could say anything to hurt my feelings.”

“Stop rambling and just tell me what you want to say, unnie.” Mina just wants to get over with this confession thing that she knows the older girl is trying to do.

Jeongyeon lets out another nervous sigh. “I think I’m in love with you.” Finally.

Mina froze as if she wasn’t expecting anything like that already. But this was bigger than what she expected. Love? She was only expecting something like “I like you.”

After a short silence, Jeongyeon continued talking because it seems like the surprised girl in front of her is still processing what she just said and that she won’t be able to say anything for a few minutes. “I’ve been thinking about it—about you. I started looking at you differently and I didn’t know why and how, I just did. So, I was so confused. I asked myself, what if what I’m feeling isn’t real? What if it’s just a sister or a friend thing?”

“Whe- when did it start?” Mina finally manages to speak.

“Believe it or not, it started three to four years ago. It was that day when we were having our photoshoot for One In A Million photobook. When Chaeyoung and I were drawing you.” Jeongyeon lets out a soft chuckle. “You were so beautiful. When you did that pose and the sun behind you made you look so angelic, I remember my heart beating strongly than it usually does. Then I suddenly wanted to take care of you. I mean, I like taking care of you and the girls, but with you, it’s different now. And this whole hiatus thing made me realize that it’s real. That I see you as a girl, not just a friend, if you know what I mean.” Jeongyeon pauses and sighs heavily. “Mina, just tell me you don’t feel the same way so that I can stop wanting you to love me back and so that I can finally start moving on. ‘Cause this whole thing has been so tiring for me and-“

“Sorry, I can’t do that.” Mina cuts her.

“What? Why?” Jeongyeon is perplexed.

Mina smiles brightly as she watches the other girl analyze what she meant. She bites her lips—her lips that’s been itching to kiss the other girl. She eventually gives in and closes the gap between them. It was a deep kiss. They didn’t move for a few seconds until Mina pulls away. It’s Jeongyeon’s time to freeze now.

“That was when I started having confused feelings for you, too.” Mina confessed.

“You mean to say you-”

“Yes. I think I’m in love with you, too.” Mina finally says.

“I- I don’t know what to say- do I say thank you or?” Stop talking. You’re being stupid right now. Jeongyeon thinks to herself.

Mina chuckles. “You don’t need to say that, Jeongyeonnie.” Calling her that gives her a sweet taste in .

“So what do we do now? Are we-?”

Mina’s lips cut her. Jeongyeon feels warm hands wrapping around her neck. She pulls her on the waist as she kisses her back. They took their time, feeling each other’s lips. It’s like they’re exploring and knowing each other all over again because, now, it’s different. They look at each other differently now. They are two people who are in love with each other. No more confusion and no more fears of not getting their love reciprocated.

Jeongyeon pulls away. They allow each other to catch their breath. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

“You don’t have to ask that anymore, Jeongyeonnie. You already know the answer.” They both chuckle.

“I wanna hear you say it.”

Mina nods lightly. “Yes. I’m your girlfriend now.” She soundly kisses the older girl. “I wanna hear you say it, too.”

“I’m yours now and you’re mine.” They both smile at each other and Jeongyeon leans in for another kiss. They take their time again because they don’t know when they’ll be able to do this again.

//

A few days later, Mina visited Jeongyeon at their house.

They’re sitting on the older girl’s bed.

“How are we gonna tell them?” Jeongyeon asks while looking at their intertwined hands.

“Oh, they already know.”

“What?! Since when and how did they know?”

“Well, I told Nayeon unnie about my feelings for you and she couldn’t keep it to herself so she told me that you told her that you had feelings for me, too.”

“Wow. I’m so gonna kill her for that.” She clenches her fist. “But how did the other girls know?”

“Uh, well. Nayeon unnie and I were at the practice room. We were having a 15-minute break. And while we were talking, we didn’t notice that the girls were back. When she was on the part of telling me that you were having the same feelings for me, we suddenly heard gasps behind us and yeah. That’s how they knew. But don’t you think it was a blessing in disguise? At least, now, it won’t be difficult to tell them about us, right?”

“Right. But I’m still going to kill Nayeon unnie.”

“Please don’t. I don’t want you to go to jail.” Mina joked. “She was just trying to help.” She rubs thumb on the older girl’s hand.

//

“So, Nayeon unnie.” Jeongyeon curls her arm around Nayeon’s shoulder. “Can you help me tell the others about me and Mina since you’re so good at not keeping secrets?”

Nayeon shoots her a confused look for a moment, and then she finds herself with agape and her hand covering it. “Wait. You and Mina? You’re girlfriends now?!”

“Yes we are and I need your help to make things easier to get the news out.”

//

“Girls, gather up at the NaMoSa dorm NOW!” Nayeon sends a voice message to their group chat. “No asking questions, okay? Just come over here, right now.”

Momo and Sana were listening as their unnie recorded the message and they’re just as confused about what’s going on as the other girls who were yet to arrive.

“Hey, what’s the sitch?” Sana asked.

“You sounded so scary and you’re making us nervous.” Momo added.

“As you should be.”  Nayeon teased.

“Mwoya~?!” Momo whined.

“Patience, kids. Patience.” Nayeon responded.

The girls arrived and were whining about Nayeon’s sudden meeting call when they were watching a K-drama at the DaChaeTzu dorm.

“What is it now, Nayeonnie?” Jihyo asks as she joins the others sitting around the living room.

“Well, I have a confession to make.” Nayeon says, standing in front of her friends, her back facing the TV.

“This is not a hidden camera prank, right?” Dahyun looks around for any hidden cameras.

“No. No, it’s not. This is serious guys.” Nayeon tucks some strands of her hair behind her ear. “Remember when you heard, I mean, when you were listening to me and Mina talking about in the practice room?”

“Yeah?” Tzuyu said.

“What about it?” Momo added.

“No way!” Chaeyoung gasps.

Nayeon turns to Chaeyoung. “Yes way! You’re right.”

“But what I mean is that maybe you already confessed to Mina unnie that you like her?” The latter asked for confirmation which made everyone gasp.

“No way! Our intuition was real all along?” Tzuyu asked, looking at her dorm mates.

“No, no, no! That’s not-” Nayeon realizes something. “Wait, what? You think I have a thing for Mina?! No, no. That’s not true. That’s not it.”

“How can y’all be so stupid?” Jihyo spoke up. “She’s trying to tell us that Mina and Jeongyeon are...” She pauses, looks at Nayeon and gives her a nod as a signal to finish her sentence.

“What?! I didn’t know that!” Chaeyoung gasps again. Her face full of surprise.

“Maybe you were living in your own world again and wasn’t listening when Nayeon told Mina that she has feelings for her.” Sana says.

Well, it’s a Chaeyoung thing.

“So, yeah. Mina and Jeongyeon are girlfriends now.” Everyone gasps louder than before.

“Yup! We’re official!” Jeongyeon holds Mina’s hand and raises it with hers proudly for everyone to see.

Mina laughs, hiding her face with her free hand. She feels shy and is blushing like crazy.

“Aww! Congrats you guys! I’m so proud of you!” Sana wipes her tear.

“Why are you crying?” Chaeyoung asks, laughing.

“I mean, they’ve been hiding their feelings for so long and finally they got it out.” Sana responds.

“You girls know that we need to keep this to ourselves, right?” Jihyo says and turns to Mina and Jeongyeon. “Can we keep this a secret from the division heads?”

“Of course. We don’t want to get us in trouble.” Jeongyeon responds.

“Good.” Jihyo nods with a smile. “I’m proud of you guys.”

“Alright. We’re done here. You can go back to your dorms now.” Nayeon announces.

As they were walking back to their dorms, which are just next to each other, Chaeyoung approaches Nayeon and whispers, “It’s okay, unnie. You can come to our dorm if you need a shoulder to cry on and maybe a drinking buddy.” She points at herself and the two girls walking in front of them. “The three of us are here for you.”

Nayeon is just confused at what Chaeyoung’s telling her. “Hey, Dubu and tall maknae.” She beckons them to come. They stop walking for a moment. “I’m not in love with Mina, okay?” She whispers. “There’s nothing like that going on. So, you three need to stop mentioning of it, ‘cause it’s not true.”

“Come on, unnie. The way you look at Mina unnie, it just says it all. And that time when she was on hiatus, you kept on talking about her and calling her every night.” Tzuyu whispers back and giggles and the two other maknaes giggle with her.

“What? I just missed her as a friend. Okay? As a friend.” Nayeon clears.

“Okay. Whatever you say, Nayennie.” Dahyun says, giving her an ambiguous smile and starts giggling with the other two again.

“No, no, no. I really mean it!”

“Whatever, unnie. Just remember, we’re always here for you. Okay?” Chaeyoung gives her an okay sign.

“Ugh! Stop it, already or I’ll kill you!”

“You know you can’t do that.” Dahyun teases as she opens the door to their dorm and gets inside. “Bye.”

Just when Nayeon was about to leave, the door opens again and sees the trio peeking their head out. “We’re just playing with you, unnie.” They laugh. “But just in case it’s true, you can tell us, okay?”

Nayeon just glares at them.

“Nah, we’re really just kidding, unnie. You’re really fun to tease.” Tzuyu said and they finally stopped teasing her. “Sorry and good night, Nayeonnie. Bye, bye.” And they close their door again.

Nayeon chuckles in relief.

End

Hi! your "newbie" writer is back! (I'll try to come up with a better title for this one. For now, please bare with the title hehe.)

Please leave your comments. I love reading them 😌 (no hate pls😁)