“Good morning!” Moonbyul greeted everyone in the dressing room with a big smile as she placed two trays of drinks onto the table. “Got everyone drinks to start our day!”

“Morning, unnie! And thank you!” Wheein replied with equal enthusiasm and made her way towards her to grab her drink.

“Someone’s chirpy today…” Hyejin groaned.

“I had a great night and it’s such a beautiful weather today!”

“Yeah yeah, tone it down please.”

The lack of response from the remaining member concerned the rapper. She made sure the younger two members got their drinks before she scanned the room for their leader, only to find her sitting on the couch, scrolling on her phone.  

“Hey, Yong,” she approached her with her favourite drink and took a seat next to her.

Instead of acknowledging the younger girl, Yongsun shifted slightly and crossed her legs away from her.

Considering how well last night went, this put a frown on Moonbyul’s face. Has she done something to upset her?

“Thought you might like this since you had a big night,” she tried to hand her the drink but Yongsun didn’t budge. “Unnie?”

“Unnie has been super cranky since this morning.” Wheein took a sip of her juice before adding, “No idea why though…”

“Maybe she’s on her period,” Hyejin cheekily commented, feeling a little more awake now.

“Huh, weird. It shouldn’t be her time of the month yet though, it’s not due for another 2 weeks.”

“Ugh, of course you’d know that...”

“Yeah, it’s creepy that you do, but why am I even surprised anymore?” Wheein rolled her eyes and walked towards the changing room.

“Tch,” Yongsun growled, breaking her silence.  

“She speaks!” Moonbyul joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“You’re really pissing me off today!”

“What did I do???”

She was appalled at that reaction. She thought they had a great time last night after she had finally mustered up the courage to ask the older girl out.

Instead of answering her, Yongsun stood up and left the room, leaving behind a very confused Moonbyul.

“Um… Can I have unnie’s drink if she doesn’t want it?”

“15 minutes to a full-dress rehearsal!”

The announcement filled the silent room.

“Where is Yongsun-unnie?? She’s been gone for almost an hour.” Wheein frowned.

This wasn’t like their leader at all. She would usually be the one to make sure everyone was present and ready at least 30 minutes before they had to go on stage, rehearsal or otherwise.

All this while, Moonbyul had been cracking her head in trying to figure out what on Earth she could’ve done to make Yongsun that angry. The last time she had seen her this mad was when MMA cut their performance short in 2019.

“Should we be worried?” Hyejin’s asked.

“She hasn’t replied to any of my texts either…” she paused. “But I might know where she is.”

Before the other two members could say a word, Moonbyul left for the one place she had in mind. It was a small, unused store room that she found the older girl in a years ago when they were preparing for their debut stage.

Over the few months leading up to their first official performance, Yongsun felt the increasing pressure of being a leader and almost had a panic attack. Had it not been Moonbyul who was frantically looking for her all over the building and incidentally heard the text notification from her phone behind that door, they wouldn’t have made it this far as MAMAMOO.

That soon became the place they would go to if they were in the building and when they needed some quiet time, either alone or with each other. They’ve always found solace in each other’s company so it wasn’t uncommon for them to hide away from the world in that tiny room.

“Yong?” she knocked on the door but there was no reply.

Sighing, she opened the door and the light from the hallway briefly lighted up the room, proving her suspicions right.

“Leave me alone,” came the harsh response.

Yongsun was on the ground with her knees hugged tightly against her chest. This was something she did a lot when she is trying to feel better and it was enough evidence for Moonbyul to conclude that the older girl only came here because she wanted some alone time. Still, she wanted to find out why she was behaving like this because she was starting to worry that maybe the date was a mistake and Yongsun is now disgusted by her.

She closed the door behind her, leaving them both in the darkness as she sat in front Yongsun. She was mindful to leave some space between them, seeing that was what she needed right now.

“What’s going on, Yong?”

“I-“ Yongsun hesitated.

“Come on, you know you can talk to me,” Moonbyul prompted, inching a little closer. All she wanted to do was to reach out to hold the other girl but she knew better. “Is this about last night?”

 “… Yes.” she reluctantly replied.

Moonbyul pressed her lips together. This was it; this was the part Yongsun was going to tell her that it was a mistake.

“Do you…” she inhaled deeply calm herself down before repeating. “Do you regret it?”

 “What?”

The rapper averted her eyes before replying.

“I mean, I thought we had a great time but judging from how you’re reacting today, I’m assuming you didn’t and-“

“Byul-ah.”

“I take it all back. I shouldn’t have asked you out. I don’t want to jeopardise our friendship-“

“Byul-ah…” Yongsun called out a little louder.

“So, I’m happy to just forget about it and pretend that didn’t happen-“

“Byul-ah.”

She only opened her eyes when she felt the older girl’s hands on her own. She was suddenly staring directly into Yongsun’s eyes and her breath hitched at how closely they were now seated. Yongsun must have scooted even closer halfway through her mindless speech.

“Hi,” she squeaked, her voice half an octave higher than usual.

This caused the leader to throw her head back and laugh for the first time today.

“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Moonbyul huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Yes, you always seem to have that effect on me…”

The rapper stayed silent, doubts about last night still clouding her judgement.

“Byul-ah, I loved every moment of last night.”

The comment instantly snapped her back into reality.

“Really?” she couldn’t hide her smile until she remembered how they ended up in this situation. “Then why are you like this today??”

“It’s stupid.”

“Hey, it might be stupid but let me be the judge of that,” Moonbyul teased, earning her a shove on her shoulder. She smirked and added, “Tell me.”

“It was the best first date I’ve ever had.” Her voice was small.

“But…?”

“But you just left after the date!”

Moonbyul was confused.

“Was I meant to stay the night??”

“No!” came the immediate response. Yongsun was blushing from ear-to-ear at this point, eliciting the same reaction from the rapper. Were they thinking about the same thing? About what could’ve happened behind closed doors?

“I-I’m confused, Yong,” she frowned. “We had a great time and we parted ways, but I was wrong for leaving?”

“…”

“Yong?”

“youleftwithoutgivingmeagoodbyekiss.”

“What?”

Yongsun closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“You left,” she looked up at Moonbyul. “Without giving me a goodbye kiss.”

 Time seemed to stop in that tiny, dark room.

Yongsun is not one to be angry a lot but when she does, you’d know it was about something major. In the years that they’ve known each other, Moonbyul could even list out the rare events that pissed the older girl off but never would she have guessed that this would make it to that list.

It was ridiculous to even think about how that could’ve caused Yongsun to be grumpy for the entire day but it definitely warmed her heart to know that she wanted it to happen just as much as she did last night.

“You wanted a goodbye kiss?”

Yongsun dropped her head and remained silent, embarrassed about what she had just confessed.

“You could’ve just asked for one, you know, or just initiate it.”

The older girl could hear the smugness in that tone.

“Does it help to know that it took everything in me to just walk away without doing exactly that?” Moonbyul’s voice softened. She reached out to tuck her hair behind her right ear and cupped her face. This caused Yongsun to shyly lift her gaze, cheeks growing warm from the tenderness of the moment.

They stayed like this for a bit, revelling in each other’s touch. Neither of them knew who was the one who was inching close but Moonbyul decided to break the silence when their lips were barely touching.

“Can I kiss you?”

“Yes,” she huffed and closed the distance.

 ______________________________________________________________________________

“2 minutes to a full-dress rehearsal!”

“I guess Moonbyul-unnie is also lost now,” Wheein sighed, adjusting her in-ear one last time.

“I bet they’re getting hot and heavy right now…” Hyejin wiggled her eyebrows with a cheeky smile.

“Yah! Don’t be nasty,” she flicked her on her forehead.

“Ouch!”

“You deserved that.”

“Maybe I did,” Hyejin giggled and ran onto the stage earlier than their actual rehearsal time, “but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong!”

“Get back here, you!”