SURF! or the times the itzy members find themselves falling in love with their number #1, Jisu Choi.

 

You know? I’m actually quite chic,

Oh, so I tried to be more cold towards you

But I can’t hide it,

I can’t control my feelings,

As if I’ve fallen into the sea,

The feeling keeps swaying...

 

Shin Ryujin has always been cool.

 

Everybody and their mother’s know this.

 

Though every single ounce of chic and cool that once resided in her body left as soon she saw Choi Jisu walk through the automatic doors of the JYPE building.

 

She remembers smiling at her, out of courtesy or out of the nerves she felt all over, she wasn’t sure. She remembers her smiling back- and Ryujin nearly screaming at the sight, but she’s cool, Shin Ryujin is very cool.

 

So she attempts to treat Julia the way she treats everyone, cooly, showing her around, teaching her the dances and what to eat at the cafeteria, but she thinks her breaking point is when she hears her sing.

 

It’s like a day on the hidden parts of the beach, where everything was silent and calming, a sense of serenity coming over her like the waves crashing onto that rock at the place where the sand met the sea, and like that rock- she felt secure, weighted down, and the very most, she felt safe.

 

Yet after the moment that song ended, she felt as if she’d fallen into that very same ocean, drowning in her tone and in everything that was Choi Jisu, getting swallowed alive by the current and it’s ferocious ways.

 

“You’re the best singer I’ve ever seen,”

 

This is not quite like myself,

It feels like I’m seasick,

When you smile with your eyes-

I control my pace,

But soon waver,

When you get suddenly close,

My breath hitches—

 

Below my feet, my heart sways.

 

Yeji is losing her mind. She thinks she’s broken. She is very broken.

 

Lia is supposed to be the one who likes holding hands.

 

So why the hell does she want to hold Lia’s hand so bad?

 

She even deviates a plan to hold her hand, by pretending to play around with her fingers, telling Lia her fingers are small, to then intertwine them with her own, glancing at her as Lia lets out a chuckle and smiles (this is not including the way Yeji’s heart jumps out of her chest when she does), proceeding to swing their hands as they continue on with their business, hand in hand.

 

Yeji thinks she should perhaps try not to seem so desperate, always holding Lia’s hand wherever they went, even when they were eating.

 

But maybe she was a tad bit desperate to hold her hand.

 

Though yet again, Yeji thinks that she loves it the most when Lia’s hand sneaks up to hers, tugging her on the sleeve so that they could latch them together once again, a shy smile on her face as she did.

 

She always likes Lia, but somehow, she likes Lia even more that way.

 

“Are you alright Yeji?” Lia suddenly asks as they walk through the halls towards their organic foods cafeteria, their hands locked as Yeji thinks about the girl who’s hand she’s holding, trying to piece all her broken up feelings for her into proper thoughts, but they kept spinning around, orbiting around the Choi Jisu that always resided in the back of her mind like an old tattoo.

 

“Your pulse is racing,” Lia says as she lifted their interlocked hands, Yeji’s breath hitching at the thought of getting caught.

 

“Just nervous,” Yeji says, not clarifying what she was nervous about, because hell would that be embarrassing.

 

“About the performance?” Lia asks, concern written all over her face, and Yeji looks away, her heart twisting at the fact that currently, all of Lia’s attention was on her.

 

“Awww Yeji! Don’t worry about it! You’re the best at performing!” Lia assures her, squeezing her hand, and what she says is simple, but the genuinity and love etched within her voice allows Yeji’s lips to curve up into a smile, letting out a nervous chuckle.

 

“Thank you Lia,” Yeji says, trying not to make her smile the broadest in the world, but it does end up like that, and she can only internally sigh.

 

How on earth do you get me like this?

 

My feelings go up & down, riding on the tides every time,

My starts to beat heart beats faster and faster,

When I see you-

Up & down, you keep lifting me up and down,

I really don’t want to admit it,

But seems like I’ve fallen for you—

Oh I’m screwed.

 

Ask Yuna any day and she’ll tell you Lia is the weirdest person she’d ever met. Though she’d never tell you that part of the reason she says that is because of the weird ways she made her feel.

 

She doesn’t think it’s a crush no, she just thinks it’s a strong admiration. A strong sense of attachment, like she wants to hold on to Lia and never let go, like she wants to argue with Lia all day and then go eat brunch afterwards, like she wants to protect Lia, and have Lia do the same for her.

 

A very very strong admiration. That’s all it is.

 

“Yuna!” Lia suddenly calls from the bottom bunk, and the younger almost flips herself onto Lia’s bed, holding on to the railing as she took a peek at what the older was looking at.

 

“Come here! I just found the cutest cat compilation,” Lia slides towards the wall as she pats the now empty space beside her, Yuna crawling off her bed and onto Lia’s, not sure whether she was more excited to be watching the cats or to be next to Lia.

 

“I thought you liked dogs more than cats?” Yuna squints as Lia places the ipad on between them, giving them both a clear view of the cats on screen.

 

“Yeah, but you like cats right?” Lia asks with a soft tone as the video starts to play, and Yuna smiles.

 

“Yeah,” Yuna replies with a matching tone as she focuses on the video in front of her, trying not to dwell on the fact that Lia watched a bunch of cat videos just to share one with her.

 

Oh she’s screwed alright.

 

Surf surf, every day I go up,

Surf surf, for the whole day I—

Surf surf, again I’m going down,

My heart starts to beat faster and faster,

I’m falling for you…

 

Chaeryeong and Lia have always been the perfect fit.

 

Their negatives and positives complemented each other almost perfectly, and Chaeryeong takes pride in that. They were always the perfect duo together, and no one could deny that.

 

Though sometimes Chaeryeong thinks their a bit too perfect for eachother.

 

“Unnie,” Chaemin says as Chaeryeong blabbers about her stories from the Wannabe promotions, stopping the second Lee from continuing her tale.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Are you sure you promoted Wannabe with Itzy?” Chaemin asks, squinting her eyes together, Chaeryeong giving her a questioning look.

 

“Because the way you’re telling the story, it sounds like you just promoted with Lia unnie,” Chaemin says, clicking her tongue as she watched Chaeryeong’s face flush a deep red.

 

“Well, of course! T- this is the story about us buying the exact same things from the vending machine!” Chaeryeong argues, and Chaemin snorts, changing the channels on the TV while she did.

 

“Don’t you have any other interesting stories?” Chaemin asks, aggressively tapping the button to switch the channels yet again, and Chaeryeong thinks for a moment, trying to find a story that would surely entertain her sister.

 

“Well the other day Lia unnie-” Chaemin suddenly bursts into laughter, toppling off the couch and on to the furry carpet, clutching her stomach as she laughed at her very confused sister, who arched an eyebrow at the youngest Lee.

 

“What’s so funny?” Chaeryeong asks, a pout formed on her lips.

 

Chaemin stops laughing after awhile, smirking at her very confused older sister, who just blinks aimlessly at the younger.

 

“What?!” Chaeryeong demands, wrinkles forming on her forehead as she did.

 

“W-pshhht,” Chaemin makes a whipping sound with , her hand motions matching with the sounds.

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Chaeryeong frowns, and Chaemin shakes her head.

 

“All four of you- wpshht,” Chaemin does it again, and Chaeryeong shakes her head in frustration, trying to figure out what the hell Chaemin was trying to say about not just her, but four other of her members.

 

“All you talk about is Lia, Lia this Lia that, Jisu unnie this Jisu unnie that,” Chaemin complains, Chaeryeong biting her lip at sudden realization that she indeed talked about Lia a lot.

 

“Perhaps she’ll become the Chaeryeong verision of ‘Saku-chan’,” Chaemin imitates the eldest Lee at the very end of her sentence, copying exactly the way she said the name of her roommate.

 

“But Sakura and Chaeyeon are dating!” Chaeryeong protests, she didn’t like Lia like that. No, she had no feelings for the elder whatsoever, it was just that Lia was a funny person, with funny stories.

 

It’s not like when Lia smiled Chaeryeong automatically did the same, and when she laughed Chaeryeong’s day immediately became better, and when she told Chaeryeong to pick off all the cucumbers in her salad she would without question, and it’s also not as if Lia just had the capability make her day so much better just by existing, and it wasn’t like Lia was the one person in the world that she trusts with all her life. And it was most certainly not as if Lia was the only person who could make her open up about everything in an instant. And it surely, most definitely wasn’t like she like liked Lia.

 

Oh wait a minute—

 

“Exactly,”

 

Ah ah yeah

What push and pull? I have to laugh,

Like i’m riding on water, everything is uncertain,

From the left to the right, trying to figure myself out,

This is making me dizzy- ooh— that’s enough,

Come on, keep the poker face,

My heart, please calm down now,

This is too risky,

It might really overflow at this rate.

 

Ryujin would like to say that this was a game of push and pull.

 

But to be honest, there was far more pulling than pushing.

 

Lia spent her days like normal, treating each girl as usual, but somehow, there is indeed an unspoken tension between the two, like there were many things left unsaid in the air.

 

Or maybe it’s just Ryujin.

 

They were in the midst of learning the new choreography, and they were all ridiculously tired- the new choreography was fun, but unecessarily tiring, which Ryujin just found annoying. Yeji and Yuna were out to get some food so that they could recharge their drained energy, and Chaeryeong was passed out on the couch, and Lia- Lia was still practicing the one move she couldn’t nail perfectly.

 

“You’re doing it wrongly,” Ryujin deadpans, and Lia stops, her hands slamming onto her sides, looking to Ryujin with a scowl on her face.

 

“I know Ryujin, thank you,” Lia says with sarcasm in her tone, and Ryujin scoffs, and stands up, walking up to the older.

 

“Like this,” Ryujin says, the vocalist trainning her eyes onto the younger, who gets into the position required, excuting the move perfectly, as she always did.

 

Lia copies her, and Ryujin finds herself a bit dissatisfied, walking over to position herself behind the girl, holding her by the hips.

 

“Lower,” Ryujin teaches, and Lia does as told, pouting a bit.

 

“You have to move your hips a bit more to perfect it,” Ryujin continues, and Lia does it, much better than before, and Ryujin smiles at her success, ruffling the older’s hair.

 

“Yeah, like that, now try with expression,” Ryujin requests, and Lia nods, though she stops for a moment, suddenly looking at Ryujin.

 

“I think you can let go now,” Lia says with a giggle, and the mirror proves that Ryujin’s hands were still attached to her hips, causing Ryujin to blush a furious red before letting go, almost toppling over at the speed she did.

 

“Right yes, you’re good, you’re great, keep doing what you’re doing,” Ryujin repeats as she averts her eyes from Lia, who shakes her head at the rapper, a sly smile on her lips before opening again.

 

“Thank you Ryujin,” Lia says as she quickly pecks the rapper on the ear, and she- as usual- keeps her cool, but the flare of red on her cheeks says everything but cool.

 

“Anytime unnie,” Ryujin says through gritted teeth, stealing quick glances at the giggly Julia, who just continues with her business as if Ryujin didn’t just cease to function right in front of her eyes.

 

Literally like— any time.

 

I would ing die for you.

 

I told myself to be cool about it-

But I end up getting swept by the waves again,

When you look at me-

 

The balance I’ve barely maintained starts to shake.

 

Yuna knows she’s ed up big time when her thoughts go from, I want to slap Choi Jisu to I want to slap Choi Jisu on the lips-

 

With my lips.

 

Yuna groans in frustration as she washes her face three times, trying to wash the older out of her head, because she desperately needs to pass this class, and in order to do so- she needed to focus.

 

“Yuna!” Lia pops into the bathroom, and she almost screeches.

 

“I could’ve been !” Yuna yelps as she frowns at the vocalist, who waves her off.

 

“No? And if you were- so what? Hurry up, your teacher is starting to point people to answer the questions,” Lia says in 3x speed, and Yuna is so glad she had the older memorised from head to toe.

 

“Right okay okay,” Yuna sighs as she walks out of the bathroom and towards the kitchen, where she was expected to be focusing on her online class, but the annoying sloth attempting to make cookies across from her was very much distracting.

 

“Want some?” Lia asks as she rolls the dough into tiny cookies, and Yuna squints her eyes, not sure if that was safe.

 

“Isn’t it raw?”

 

“I don’t know, don’t they make cookie dough ice cream?”

 

“Yeah but that doesn’t have eggs,”

 

“Then how does it become dough if there are no eggs?”

 

“I don’t know?!” Yuna raises her voice a bit, and Lia giggles, but she’s ready to retaliate.

 

“Why don’t you?!”

 

“Well i’m not the one making cookies right now!” Yuna yells back, her teacher almost inaudible through her ipad.

 

“Why aren’t you helping me?!” Lia points to mess she made, and Yuna stands, folding her arms.

 

“Because I’m in class!”

 

“Then why aren’t you focusing?!”

 

“Because we're fighting!”

 

“Why are we fighting?!”

 

“We’re always fighting,” Yuna groans, and Lia sticks out her tongue.

 

“BLEHHHHHH,” Lia says like a little child, and Yuna pouts, her head clouded with possible clapbacks and also thoughts of how cute she looked right now.

 

“Ohhhhh you wanna kiss me sooooo bad,” Yuna says, sticking out her tongue after she did, barely realising her words as she turns away.

 

“GOD!” Lia suddenly exclaims, Yuna’s eyes going wide after she realises what on earth just fell out of .

 

“IF YOU INSIST!” Lia screams as she plants a quick kiss on Yuna’s cheek, and the youngest- completely bewildered, does the first thing she thinks of.

 

She screeches.

 

“Yuna-ssi? Is everything alright over there?”

 

My feelings move up & down, it rides on the wave every time

My heart beats faster and faster

When I see you—

 

Up & down, you keep lifting me up and down

I really don’t want to admit it,

But seems like I’ve fallen for you,

Ah- I’m screwed.

 

Lee Chaeryeong finds herself 100% sure that she was screwed.

 

After Chaemin knocked the sense into her, she finds herself (gay) panicking, almost every hour of the day, whenever the older even breathed next to her.

 

“Ryeong,” Lia calls, and Chaeryeong turns immediately, looking at the vocalist struggling to cut some guavas, Charyeong chuckling at her clear distress.

 

“I’ll do it unnie,” Chaeryeong says with a small sigh from the slight frustration mixed with excitement of being next to Lia.

 

Chaeryeong starts chopping the guavas according to the ways her mother taught her, and after the first guava was nicely chopped, Chaeryeong feels a pair of hands hover around waist, and her breath hitches, but she’s always been found Lia’s touch comforting, so why back away?

 

“Can I?” Lia asks softly.

 

“Sure unnie,” Chaeryeong says with a loopy smile on her lips, and Lia sinks into her immediately, resting her head on Chaeryeong’s shoulder.

 

Lia closes her eyes, the panic on Chaeryeong’s face invisible to the vocalist. And Chaeryeong tries her best to calm down, slowly cutting the guavas just in case the loud sounds would cause the older to jolt awake.

 

“Why is your heart beating so loudly?” Lia suddenly says, her eyes still closed, a tiny smile on her pink lips.

 

“I- well- just worried I might cut you- or me,” Chaeryeong makes up some lame excuse, and Lia somehow snuggles closer into Chaeryeong, and she tries to will her heart to slow down, but there was no slowing down with Choi Jisu.

 

“Jisu unnie,”

 

“Eung?”

 

“Out of the four of us- who would you date?” Chaeryeong asks, her head spinning at the random burst of confidence that surged through her, biting her lip at how straightforward that question was.

 

“Right now? You,” Lia says with a chuckle, and Chaeryeong malfunctions for a while, all the fuses in her body tripping at once, barely realising how close her finger was to the sharp end of the knife.

 

“Oh !” Chaeryeong screams as the sharp end of the knife slices slightly through her skin, blood starting to flow.

 

“Chaer!” Lia exclaims, quickly pulling Chaeryeong’s hand away, inspecting it closely.

 

“Gosh Ryeong! You’re lucky it’s not that deep,” Lia suddenly dotes as she pulls the trembling Lee to the sink, where Lia washes the cut, making sure the blood stoped flowing before pulling her finger away.

 

“Does it still hurt?” Lia asks, concern all over her face as she opened the drawer at the very end, tugging Chaeryeong’s finger gently everywhere she went.

 

“Y-yes,” Chaeryeong says, Lia thrashing around in the last drawer to pull out a kiddie bandaid, decorated fully with Elsa and Olaf.

 

“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” Lia pouts as she says this, letting go of Chaeryeong’s finger to peel the bandaid,

 

“I-it’s okay,” Chaeryeong mutters, still holding out her hand, waiting for Lia to take it back.

 

Lia finally peels the bandaid, aiming it slowly around Chaeryeong’s cut, gently wrapping the finger.

 

“Is it better now?” Lia asks, rubbing it gently in attempt to soothe the pain.

 

“Y-yeah,” Chaeryeong says, her voice wavering slightly, because a thought pops into her head, and she isn’t sure whether she wants to shake it away or do the complete opposite.

 

Lia is crouching a bit as she locks eyes with the nervous dancer, who gives her a sheepish smile, and Lia squints a bit, as if trying to read Chaeryeong’s expression.

 

“Do you want me to kiss it better?” Lia asks, and she’s completely genuine about it, no teasing smirks, devilish grins.

 

“Yes please,” Chaeryeong says shyly, and Lia does as requested, kissing her finger softly, and Chaeryeong finds her eyes trained on Lia’s lips, and Chaemin’s whipping sounds start ringing in her head and god—

 

I’m so ing screwed.

 

Typical romance is boring,

and I don’t like typical things,

That’s what I thought,

But you’re somehow different,

I don’t dislike it if it’s you,

Right right right right right oh,

 

Ryujin sighs for the nth time that day as she sits at the artists lounge, gripping an ice cold bottle of water as she lazed around, enjoying her brief break. Her eyes as closed shut as she tries to drown out the real world, wanting a short break for her busy life. Due to this, she fails to notice the couch sinking right next to her, the new figure tapping her on the shoulder.

 

“GAH!” Ryujin jolts at the sudden touch, only calming down when she realises that it was just Julia, eyeing her water bottle cutely, to which the younger looks away, trying not to fall deeper into her eyes.

 

“Gosh Jisu unnie,” Ryujin let’s out a sight of relief as she handed Lia her water bottle to the vocalist, who happily plucked it out of her hands, gulping down the liquid substance.

 

“Sorry,” Lia mutters after she’s done with the water, resting her head on the couch, joining Ryujin in her quick leisure.

 

“It’s fine,” Ryujin says as she turns her head towards the older, who closes her eyes, with the similar intention to take a quick nap before they continued the next few gruelling hours of practice.

 

After a few minutes, Ryujin finds that Lia is perfectly still, even letting out small snores. Ryujin wants to do the same, to close her eyes and wait for Yeji to wake them up, but she finds herself in a strange state of serenity, as if just by looking at Lia- she found her energy, her little bursts of adrenaline, her few shots of dopamine, all in Choi Lia.

 

How cheesy. Ryujin thinks as she continues to act cheesy, staring at Lia’s fcae as her eyes trailed all over, slowly from Jisu’s neck, up to her jawline, lingering the slightest bit at her lips before resisting the urge to boop her nose, and finally ending up back to her eyes.

 

Ryujin imagines Lia’s eyes when she smiles, and smiles in return, and she yet again thinks again about how cheesy this was, how ‘uncool’ it was to be so ferociously whipped for one Choi Jisu.

 

But then again, it’s Choi Jisu.

 

Who could resist her?

 

So she just closes her eyes, then opens them again, reaching out to adjust the older, making sure her head lay on Ryujin’s lap, her legs automatically resting comfortably on the other side of the couch, and Ryujin is amazed at how well she could sleep, because not once did the vocalist open her eyes throughout the whole process.

 

“Thank…. Ryujinie…..” Lia mutters in her sleep, and Ryujin smiles at her leaning back to get herself some sleep, and she’s starting to hope Yeji doesn’t find them- because finding Shin Ryujin smiling in her sleep wasn’t an everyday occurrence.

 

But it was Choi Jisu.

 

Who could resist her?

 

My feelings move up & down, it rides on the wave every time

My heart beats faster and faster

When I see you

Up & down, keeps lifting me up and down

It’s obvious that I’m falling for you

So I won’t worry anymore, I’ll go to you!

 

Yeji as the leader of the most successful 4th generation girlgroup of all time, new her team inside out. They shared no secrets, they moved as one unit always- and Yeji took pride in that.

 

Though this was one of the times Yeji was not very proud at how connected they were.

 

“Oh my god,” Yeji says as the realisation hits her.

 

“We’re all in love with Lia,” Yeji says as she sits up from the couch, her sister turning around to glare at her.

 

“Yes? And I’m getting married right now,” she says, but Yeji shakes her head.

 

“What do you mean- yes?” Yeji asks, confusion written all over her face.

 

“Anyone with eyes can tell you’re all whipped for Lia,” the older Hwang says, Yeji walking up to her to help her put on her earrings.

 

“Then what do I do?” Yeji asks, and her sister rolls her eyes.

 

“One of you has to confess I guess- or you should just sort it out between you four before doing anything,”

 

“But….”

 

“What? You want her for yourself?” She an eyebrow as she says this, and Yeji waves her off, scowling at her sister.

 

“No no, I just want her to be happy,” Yeji says, and the teasing look on her sister’s face turns into a caring one, patting the younger on the back.

 

“I’ve only met her twice- but I can tell you’re doing a really good job at that already,” she says, standing up as Yeji clasps the pearl necklace on the older Hwang’s neck.

 

“Thanks unnie,” Yeji says with a soft smile.

 

“But I’m not kidding- the four of you need to talk it out- find an agreement or something- four people liking the same person can either go really well or really bad,” she says with a shrug, and Yeji sends her a sheepish smile.

 

“Congratulations on getting married,” Yeji then says, and her sister chuckles, ruflling the younger’s hair.

 

“Congratulations on realising you all like Lia,” she says, pursuing her lip before continuing her next sentence.

 

“If I wasn’t getting married- I’d love to go on a date with her too,”

 

“WHAT THE HELL UNNIE?!”

 

——

 

“How was your sister?”

 

“I’m more nervous than her to be honest,” Yeji says, a nervous chuckle leaving . Naturally, Lia slips her hand into Yeji’s and the leader repays her with a soft smile, and she resists the urge to stare down at her lips.

 

“Lia,” Yeji says, trying to ignore the sounds of Yuna arguing with Chaeryeong at opposite end of their table.

 

“Yes?” Lia questions, her eyebrows arching the slightest bit.

 

“Who would you date among the four of us?” Yeji asks, and Lia laughs a bit, shaking her head before looking back at Yeji.

 

“What’s with you guys and this question? Chaeryeong asked me this last week,” Lia asks, and Yeji gulps for a moment, trying to tame down the panicked gay in her.

 

“I- I have- absolutely no idea why,” Yeji tries to say with confidence, but either Lia is too blunt, or she just ignores Yeji’s blatant lie.

 

“I said Chaeryeong last week, so i’ll say you this time,” Lia says with a teasing smile, and Yeji frowns at her not being her only choice, to which Lia giggles.

 

“Why? Do you want to date me all alone?” Lia teases, and Yeji pouts, shaking her head.

 

“No, I don’t mind sharing,” Yeji says, and Lia is very much satisfied with this answer.

 

“Good, because I like sharing too,” Lia says, the smile of satisfaction on her lips very much contagious, and Yeji is starting to think that maybe sharing wasn’t all that bad either.

 

“Yeah- and I like you,” Yeji says under her breath, and Lia doesn’t catch it, and Yeji let’s out a sigh of relief, turning her head to the stage as the emcee begins to speak.

 

Yeji stops listening midway to look at Lia, and she finds Ryujin giving her a soft look without the vocalist knowing, and Yeji holds back a chuckle- because wow was Ryujin whipped.

 

Yeji thinks that Ryujin has liked Lia the longest, she’s doesn’t know for sure- but the leader in her tells her that that’s the truth, so she believes it anyways.

 

“Unnie, you want some?” Yuna teases as she shows the vocalist a cucumber on a fork, Lia scowling at the younger before they both laughed.

 

Yeji doesn’t know when Yuna started liking Lia, but she believes that it happened some point during one of their arguments, which pushed Yuna to argue with her more, to gain her attention even more.

 

Well played Shin Yuna— very well played.

 

Lee Chaeryeong. Perhaps the saying that main dancers were often attracted to main vocalists was true to an extent (Yeji doesn’t remember who said this- though she’s quite sure it was Blackpink’s Lisa) since they probably ended up realising they liked Lia around the same time.

 

Yeji finds that- she wasn’t jealous at all.

 

She was happy, because regardless whomever, or however they did—

 

Everybody should love Lia.

 

Surf surf, every day move up

Surf surf, for the whole day, I

Surf surf, again move down

My heart beats faster and faster,

And in the end—

I’ve fallen for you.

 

The five members of Itzy sit in the living room, each of them on a chair to form a small circle, waiting for someone to bring something up to start their weekly session of having deep talks with each other.

 

“We don’t keep secrets right?” Ryujin suddenly asks, not looking directly at anyone.

 

“Pretty much,” Chaeryeong replies, and Ryujin debates on whether what she intended to do was appropriate to do in front of everyone.

 

But, no secrets right?

 

“What’s up Ryujin?” Lia asks gently, reaching out for Ryujin’s hand, which turns stiff as soon as Lia touches it.

 

“I- uh-well,” Ryujin suddenly sits up properly, matching the soft intensity in Lia’s eyes, tring to tune out the anticipation and stares from the other members.

 

“I like you unnie,”

 

The other four jolt at the sudden confession, waves of emotions crashing onto each and every one of them because what the hell?! They liked Lia too.

 

“Like? As in—”

 

“I like you too unnie!” Yuna suddenly chimes in, closing her eyes as she blushed a furious red, the unnie in question going wide eyed because both Shin’s liked her?

 

“What kind of like?” Lia questions, clearly confused by all the sudden confessions, the second eldest feeling like the popular girl on Valentine’s Day.

 

“I LIKE UNNIE THE MOST!!” Chaeryeong argues, and Lia almost jumps out of her seat.

 

“Ummm thank you?” Lia says, looking to Yeji, trying to search for any answers to her questions.

 

“I like you too,” Yeji says shyly, and Lia’s eyes go wide at the final confession of the night.

 

“Awww,” Lia says, silencing the loud three, trying to profess their love to none other than Choi Jisu.

 

“Thanks you guys,” Lia says with a soft smile, and there's an awkward silence for a moment, the four trying to process what Lia was thinking.

 

“I don’t think I deserve to be liked that much,” Lia says solemnly, and the four frown, because before anything, Lia’s happiness was their priority.

 

“But we like you,” Chaeryeong says.

 

“A lot,” Ryujin adds.

 

“So much,” Yeji continues.

 

“Too much sometimes,” Yuna jokes, and they all let out a brief chuckle.

 

There was silence again, as the four debated on whether to clarify what kind of like they were harbouring for the older.

 

“I love you,” Yeji suddenly says, and Lia chuckles, but she feels every ounce of genuinity in her words, and the very next moment, a tear falls off the corner of her eye, and they all gasp- because who the made their Jisu think she was undeserving of love?

 

“I love you,” Ryujin then says, and though her eyes are glossy, Lia smiles at her, because she’s trying to be cool about it, but loving Choi Jisu wasn't the easiest thing to hide behind chic looks and tsundere ways.

 

“I love you,” Yuna chimes, and Lia’s eyes turn into crescents at the cutesy way Yuna says her confession, and Chaeryeong, being the one next to her, takes her hand, Ryujin squeezing the other.

 

“You knew I was nervous?” Lia says, her voice faltering as she squeezes the two hands holding hers.

 

“Because I love you unnie,” Chaeryeong boasts with a little smirk, leaning in to Lia’s shoulder, smiling like she’d never smiled before.

 

“You guys are so cheesy,” Lia rolls her eyes playfully as she says this, Ryujin also leaning in to rest her head on Lia’s other shoulder.

 

“How can we not be?” Yeji says, jumping off her seat to cuddle next to Ryujin, also grabbing on to Lia’s hand.

 

“You’re our number one!” Yuna chants as she jumps onto all of their laps, Chaeryeong and Ryujin groaning in pain as Lia laughs, the youngest snuggling into Lia’s lap, looking very much oversized amongst them.

 

“Thank you,” Lia says, a loving smile on her lips as Yuna curled up on Lia’s lap, all four of them looking like grown adults expecting a bedtime story.

 

“I didn’t know I needed this,” Lia admits, and they all just smiled at her, because hey- the four may be different, but they all had one thing in common—

 

They all just wanted Lia to be happy.

 

“I know we didn’t talk a lot today but I’m really tired,” Chaeryeong says with a loud yawn, Lia pulling Chaeryeong’s hand upwards so that she would close .

 

“Can’t we just sleep like this?” Yuna says, closing her eyes, resting her head on Lia’s chest.

 

“No! You guys are heavy,” Lia complains, and Yuna whines as she climbs off Lia’s lap, the rest of them laughing as they detached themselves from the main vocalist, Lia wiggling slightly after being freed from their embraces.

 

“Fine fine,” Ryujin says, and then she snorts, and Lia is confused, but Chaeryeong’s lips upturn into a smirk.

 

Yeji hates that she gets exactly what they were doing.

 

“Can we get a goodnight kiss?” Yuna asks, and Lia laughs even harder than before, and the four can practically feel each other sigh eternally at how cute their vocalist was.

 

“A goodnight kiss?” Lia says in between chuckles, and she nods slowly, though you could clearly see her questioning her members and their needs for affection.

 

“On the lips?” They all request at once, and their number #1 chokes on nothing.

 

“ON THE LIPS?!” Lia questions. “What are we? Girlfriends?” Lia questions again, and they all send her a sheepish smile.

 

“Well……”

 

The four look to Lia expectantly, and has to admit—

 

Why have one girlfriend when you can have four?