Awards show preparations were under way. MissTer was invited to appear at a Hong Kong music awards ceremony. It would be the debut of new stage-wear, new haircuts and a little announcement following the event.

At a post-show dinner, the girls reviewed who won what award, who had the coolest hairdo's and who wore the tackiest outfits at the ceremony. Random chatter followed. Carol announced that she'd started dating a new girl. Oohs and ahs and friendly teasing ensued. Milk was slurping noodles when Chiao spoke. She knew this was coming but still wasn't sure she was ready to take on the teasing that Carol had just endured.

Chiao began. "Not to steer the topic away from Carol's new belle, but...I'm seeing someone too!"

Milk blushed into her bowl and avoided looking up. She didn't see that now all eyes turned to the youngest MissTer member. A short lull was followed by Chris making noises with her bubble tea straw. To Milk, this was the loudest sound her ears had ever encountered. She continued shoving noodles into as Chiao broke the news.

"Yup. She's sitting at this table," she smiled ever so timidly. Unseen under the tablecloth, she gave Milk a soft nudge with her shoe. Milk looked up, shovelling in one last round of food, perhaps unconsciously hoping that if was full, she'd be excused from speaking.

Comically, Carol was immediately targeted, since she hadn't yet mentioned her new girl's name, nor what she looked like. Equally comedically, Milk felt an infinitesimal twinge of jealousy at being overlooked in favor of Carol.
"No, losers!" she shouted through the group's susurration, then more meekly, "...it's me."

Six eyes all her and she drooped her head into her chest as if trying to hide. Without looking up, she uttered, "Yep."

Jin was the first to speak.
"Oh hells no," she put down her chopsticks and downed a few gulps of her tea.

Chris smiled to herself, and Chiao tried not to giggle. She found her friends' shocked faces just a TAD dramatic and therefore humorous. Carol, who was sitting next to Chiao, elbowed her in the arm and said "Bù shí! No way!"

Chiao nodded and smiled as Milk finally looked up to face her friends. Chris quietly winked at Milk, but Jin wasn't liking this at all.

"You guys are so weird!" she exclaimed. "Did you hook up while wearing blindfolds? Hello?"

Milk was insulted, "Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Are you implying I'm ugly?"

Carol tried to explain, catching Jin's meaning.
"No dude, neither of you is ugly. But uh..." she raised an eyebrow and continued, "...who's the "girl" in this relationship?"
Chiao smacked her on the leg and said, "Duh, we're BOTH girls, right?"

Jin huffed, "Whatever floats your boat, guys. Tomboys don't date tomboys, but if you can't control yourselves, PLEASE don't let this get out to the media."

Chris interjected for the first time, acting out her mom role, "Jin, come on. If they like each other, so what!"

Jin was pissed. "They'll ruin the band! Media gets word of this and our image is toast. This isn't about them, it's about US!"

Now Chris was pissed too,
"No Jin, this isn't about "us". It looks like it's about YOU."

Milk interfered, "Guys would you stop?"
Carol wasn't so much pissed as she was irritated, "Jin's right - she's the boss and we've all worked really hard to keep our "neutral image". If you guys get all lovey-dovey in front of fans or reporters, that stuff goes right up on Facebook and Youtube. Everyone will know in no time."

Chiao was solemn, "You know what? Sorry I brought it up. Like we'll keep it from the press, now we'll keep it from you too."

Jin pushed back her chair and spat, "This is such bull!"
With that, she was up from the table. Carol hesitated, then excused herself, "Sorry," and went after Jin.

Milk looked like death warmed over. Her emotions mingled with her noodle-gorging to give her skin a lovely shade of pasty grey.

Chris leaned over and gave Milk a hug. She smiled and said "Good for you." She extended her hand across the table to Chiao and remarked, "Be strong. People won't like this, but it's not their fault for being brought up so shallow."