Yoonjo couldn't resist stealing yet another glance over her shoulder as Ara pulled her along by the hand. Call her paranoid, but as they say, 'it's always better to be safe than sorry'. She still didn't understand why the other girl couldn't just approach the staff members at the front desk and request a scheduled visitation to see their former Hello Venus groupmates. It'd be difficult for anyone in the company to refuse knowing how the girls remained in close contact with one another even after the dissolution of the joint project, and it definitely would've spared the two of them the trouble of sneaking around a building they weren't quite familiar with.

Then again, Ara had her own way of doing things, and she always insisted that they do it just like that. That's what made her leader material, Yoonjo supposed. The method wouldn't matter in the end as long as they weren't caught and successfully managed to do what they came here for - which seemed somewhat impossible at this point in time because they'd been wandering around the Fantagio building for a good fifteen minutes just trying to find the location of the practice room.

"That's got to be it." Ara muttered with a hint of exasperation. She eyed a white door just down the hall, and the both of them could read the plaque next to it that said in large characters, 'PRACTICE ROOM'. After a momentary exchange of relieved looks, the pair made their way to their long-searched-for destination.

Ara was the first to reach the door, and she wasted no time in carefully taking a peek into the room through its window. Yoonjo on the other hand stood patiently beside the other girl, waiting for her own turn to take a look. She turned her back towards the door and faced the hallway to keep watch of any incoming Fantagio employees.

"Well, are they in there? What do you see?"

"Yes, they're in there, but..."

"But what?"

"...it's nothing. Nevermind. You can look now." Ara moved away from her spot in front of the door to allow Yoonjo to replace her. As her friend peered through the window, Ara crossed her arms and took over the other girl's lookout position.

The joint project dissolution was a situation out of their control, but Ara still couldn't suppress her growing feelings of regret and nostalgia - especially after watching her former groupmates do what they used to do together. While she accepted the fact that Hello Venus wasn't extraordinarily popular or successful when she and Yoonjo were still part of the group, something inside of her longed to be reunited with everyone once again. They had gotten along well with each other and supported one another through their ups and their downs, all the way up to the end of the original group line-up. She missed her group members, and she missed being Yoo Ara of Hello Venus.

It was kind of egocentric and maybe even terrible, but the idea of Hello Venus doing well without her was something that didn't sit right with her. She had always considered herself a crucial member of the group (and maybe even the most important), as its former leader and main vocalist. But after the group's long-awaited comeback with its newly added members, she began to hear a lot about the "new" Hello Venus. And this Hello Venus was attracting more attention than its previous version - or rather, it was attracting a different kind of attention. Perhaps this new type of attention was the main reason behind Ara's ever-growing discomfort. It became especially unbearable when her thoughts went toward the likelihood of a certain member attracting this kind of attention...

"Did you see Hyerim? Look at that loser trying to be y. I'm going to tell her that she's too much of a loser for this kind of concept." Yoonjo turned away from the door to face a pondering Ara. "By the way, I'm done creeping around here. We should either sneak into the practice room or leave the building before someone finds us. It's getting a little late and they'll be done soon anyway."

"I'm not ready to leave yet."

Yoonjo's doll-like face scrunched up in confusion. "What? You're still not satisfied? What are you looking for, exactly? ...now that you mention it, where's - "

"Boo."

The Fantagio intruders were startled by the sudden vocalization of a third person but they managed to refrain from making any particularly loud noises. Yoonjo slapped the source of their surprise on the arm while they simply cackled in response. "Gosh unnie, you nearly frightened the souls right out of our bodies!"

Alice smirked at the two of them, but Ara felt like it was more directed toward herself than toward her partner in crime. However, that may just have been another case of her egocentrism. It also may have been a while since she last met Alice in person (due to their conflicting schedules) because there was a strange feeling tossing about in the pit of her stomach - the joy of finally seeing a missed friend face-to-face, she figured. There couldn't possibly be another explanation for this sensation. Well there actually was, but there was no way that Ara would have those kinds of feelings for this kind of person. Not Song Joohee.

Not the weird, sometimes aggressive Song Joohee whose voice made Ara stop and listen, whose stare made her ears redden, whose slightest touches could make her skin hot enough to burn, and whose presence alone made her heart feel like it was going to burst out of her chest. Not Song Joohee, who was also a girl.

No way.

Alice tugged at both ends of the towel hanging around her neck. "Long time no see. What are you two doing here? I wasn't informed beforehand that you were coming, so believe it or not, I'm just as surprised as you are."

"We actually snuck in here. Ara mentio