Hazel eyes watched as a darkened silhouette retreated from the resort balcony and slid the glass doors closed behind it. Then the person was sprinting bare foot across the sand, launching a lithe body onto the huge coconut tree that grew a few feet from the targeted resort unit.

Scrambling nimbly up the tree like Abu with a stolen loaf of bread, the figure climbs all the way up until it’s level to the balcony it was so persistently scouting out just moments before. Then with a quick glance to make sure no one was in visible vicinity, the figure leaps from the tree and lands with a muffled thump onto the balcony ground.

Believing it to be relatively late enough so that all occupants would already be in their respective rooms, the figure slides the glass doors open and slips inside.

Only to find a pair of gold-flecked almond eyes staring back, wide-eyed with horror.

The horror slid into a vacant blank stare, which then slid into confusion, and finally into joyous realization.

Jessica shrieked at a humanly unsafe decibel and launched herself into Tiffany’s arms, who twirled the brunette around to dissipate the gathered momentum in order to keep the two of them from falling over.

“Gosh! Why do you always have to be such a creeper!”

“Sorry princess, I thought I would surprise you in your bed,” Tiffany gave Jessica a rather erted smirk, which earned her a slap on the chest. And it wasn’t light either.

“Hey, what happened to trying to jump me at every chance you got princess?”

“Shut up. That was when I thought I wouldn’t be able to see you for two weeks, not three days. And stop calling me that!”

“Bad habit, sorry. And really Jessi, you exude that aura sometimes, it’s hard not to see you that way.”

“Shut up. Thug.”

Tiffany laughed and pecked Jessica lightly on the lips.

The other girls had woken up by this time and were cramming into the living room, rubbing sleep-mussed eyes and yawning. But when they caught sight of Tiffany, there was a massive release of squealing enough to bring down the roof. Nine girls packed as tight as a tuna can, seven of whom were jumping and screaming in excitement, the eighth was trying to compose her uneased heart, the ninth was just trying not to suffocate.

The nine were complete.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“So where is Tiffany unnie going to sleep tonight? We only have eight beds…” Seohyun asked.

The girls were all sprawled out in the living room, head on stomachs, feet on stomach, head on thighs, feet on thighs…just…a mess of limbs.

“Do you even have to ask maknae? Course she’ll sleep with Jessica. It’s not like Tiffany will want to sleep with any one of us,” Sooyoung replied sleepily.

Tiffany and Jessica looked at each other like guilty little children caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

“You…you girls…” Jessica’s mouth went dry.

“Yah-smah! Course we know! How could we not know? You don’t take us for a bunch of babos do you? Besides, what you two do in your private smexy time is none of our business. But…it would be interesting to hear stories…kekeke!” the erted meaning in Hyoyeon’s laugh was unmistakable.

The girls knew. And they were…ok with it?

Suddenly all seven girls reoriented themselves so that they were facing Tiffany and Jessica, who were laying side by side close to the middle of the living room floor. It formed somewhat of a number eleven with rays of sunshine radiating outwards from it.

“You know manager oppa said we were supposed to be bonding as a group. And according to my research, in order to bond, it is of paramount importance to know intimate details of each other’s personal life. And I mean intimate,” Taeyeon wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Tiffany firmly but gently put a hand behind Taeyeon’s head and smushed it into the carpet floor.

“Eat dirt Kim Taeyeon,” Tiffany chuckled lightly, not quite bothered by the fact that the girls knew.

“Mruuuph wruugph beruugphhh!!!”

“What’s that? I can’t hear you?”

“I said, I know something else I could ergphhh!” Taeyeon’s head was back in the carpet.

While the girls bombarded them with questions, Jessica started feeling a little uneasy again, something that was not lost on Tiffany.

“Look. It’s getting late. And I’m frankly not going to answer any questions you throw at me, so we’re going to bed,” and with that, Tiffany took Jessica’s hand and left the six catcalling and wolf whistling girls behind her. The maknae was silent.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Yah unnies, can’t you see you’re making Jessica unnie uncomfortable? It mustn’t be easy for her right now. Korea isn’t exactly supportive of same- relationships, and the fact that we are training to live under the spotlight definitely will not help matters any. If we are going to be a group we should be supportive. You shouldn’t tease them so. This isn’t a joke. It’s serious,” the maknae chastised her unnies the moment Tiffany and Jessica were out of earshot.

The unnies all fell into an ashamed silence. None of them had noticed Jessica’s discomfort. But now, that was all they could see in their mind’s eye.

Taeyeon suddenly stood up.

“Come on. Let’s go sleep. Hyoyeon, I’ll switch beds with you tonight. We’ll talk more in the morning,” the leader asserted.

The girls all complied without dissent, their re