Their leader was behaving a bit weird today.

When Yujin woke up late and ran around the dormitory energetically as usual,
she did not run after Ahn puppy to catch her, instead the elder just dropped a 'Yujin ah don't be late again, we have schedule later so save your stamina' lowly.

When Yena about seeing the leader woke up in midnight and sneakily hid in the kitchen (Yena sleepwalked and woke up by the sound of cups being put down on the sink) with Yuri,
Eunbi unnie just waved her away with a faked laugh.

When Hitomi asked if the leader wanted to go with her for some cream buns purchases, the elder just gave her some paper notes and assigned Chaewon to take care of the younger.

When Wonyoung whined about the arrangement of leaving early for their schedule in Gaon Music Award, Kwon leader did not nag about the local broadcast policy for trying to convince the younger but just told her to follow the guidelines well with a side hug.

The strange changes of izone leader did not leave unnoticed by the Sakura also;
she visited Hyewon for a discussion of which is the best manga-game combined online games, and the dormitory was exceptionally quiet without usual workout or clothes selecting times of their Kwon Celeb unnie.

"Kang chan, Eunbi unnie went out today?"
The manga manic shaked her head, "I don't think so? She just said the management needed her"
Maybe it is the usual administrative stuff Eunbi unnie need to negotiate with the company... The Cherry Blossom decided not to overthink it too much and shifted the topic of conversations.

The whole situation became much more unusual when they arrived the Gaon Music Award venue and settled down around their destinated desk. As a group with 12 members, one of the advantages is they could always sit together and need not to share with other groups - despite a few members, most of them are still too shy to interact with other idol sunbaenims.

Seeing there were water bottles on the table, Yuri and Yena started to take one for themselves and played with them.
Started with randomly passing around, they advanced by immersing the cup song into their 'performances'. Nako has been very interested in playing along that she almost missed how the leader - who was sitting next to her - stayed quiet for most of the times and just smiled along while tidying the messed up water bottles.

This is strange... Rethinking about the past series of happenings, Eunbi unnie has also been less touchy and clingy towards her
today, it was almost like the eldest tried to distance herself from the girl 
Nako shared a glance with Chaeyeon unnie who sat side-opposite to her, and the latter halted playing with the bottles and tried to understand what Nako was contemplating in her mind. Nodded understandingly, Chaeyeon mouthed 'We will ask her later' as reassurance.

After receiving the last rookie award as a fulfilling end for year 2018, izone prepared themselves at the backstage for performance.

"Eunbi yah, please come along, we have got finalized decisions on tonight underaged members' curfew management."

After the leader left the tent at backstage, all members quickly gathered around their another 'parent' Chaeyeon mom;

'So what is happening with Eunbi unnie? Did you get any clue from her reply, Chaeyeon unnie?'
It's rare to see Minjoo to be the first one speaking up, but the concerns were about their dear leader so no one was surprised that even the quietest member was being impatient.

"She replied that she is fine... as expected Eunbi unnie would never let us know what is she encountering"
Everyone sighed after hearing that, "But!" Chaeyeon continued,
"I peeked at her pouch and found some medicines there, plus I guess everyone could hear our leader used more nasual sounds today than before? As a conclusion I'd say she had caught a cold."
Furrowed her brows, Chaeyeon voiced her question in mind, "but why would she caught a cold all in a sudden? Hyewon unnie was almost in her recovery from the cold, and I am pretty sure Minjoo has kept an eye to ensure they did not eat or drink from the same bowl or cup? Moreover Yujin and Yena unnie are always there to keep Eunbi unnie away from joining the night snack club with Hyewon" The mentioned two rascals laughed sheepishly.

"Ah," Hyewon thought of something and a guilty expression surfaced,
"I went to Eunbi unnie's bed for some cuddles before sleep last night and we chatted for a bit..." She was sincerely sorry for affecting the leader.

"Hyewon unnie it is none of your fault, a simple gesture of intimacy may not be the main cause. We all know you have been keeping yourself away from us to avoid infecting us, so don't feel too sorry for that."
Chaeyeon taped on her unnie's shoulder, all of her members are angel-like good kids (though some could be quite playful), none deserved to feel burdened.

"Yes Hyewon unnie. Eunbi unnie had been busy these days so her immune system might be weakened due to lack of proper rest, this would teach her a lesson not to overwork herself again too; see it in a more positive light, cheer up!"
As the roommate for both, Chaewon also reasoned and tried to comfort Hyewon unnie.

"Let's behave well today and take care of Eunbi unnie well today, okay?"
Sakura felt she needed to speak up and conclude as the second eldest in the group.

"Roger!" 

Once Eunbi unnie stepped back into the tent, her members quickly surrounded her in a blink of time;

"Kids what are you doing? Is this some kinds of religious virtue?" She laughed in confusion.
The kids surely did weird things from time to time, but what are they planning this time? 

"Unnie this is a virtue hoping for instant recovery of our reliable leader from catching a cold"
Their maknae Wonyoung spoke up,

Ah so the girls found out about it...
Before Eunbi could apologize for not being able to lead them well due to her condition,

"You need not to worry about us too much, unnie." Hitomi went closer and held Eunbi's hand. 

"Eunbi unnie is always an essential being in our group; leading us to do things on the right track, guiding us to behave well, and always speak for us to the management; it is about time for us to do well to relieve some of your stress, at least for today." Yuri continued. 

"We will take care of ourselves and be discplined, Eunbi unnie. You need not to mask that you are always strong and dependable at all time, even a female soldier could have her down time" Yujin finished. how she ended the speech made everyone smiled.

"I really want to hug all of you one by one, if not for my worries on infecting more persons... Thank you so much, kids; I will try to rest more and recover as soon as possible to pick up my duties again."
The leader's eyes became watery, she cleared and continued,

"I will trust you for doing well then?"

- A Week Later -

"Yah Ahn Yujin! Stop there or you are going to be punished!"
Shouts from their stern leader (feat. laughters of their second maknae) could be heard even from the corridor outside the dormitory, Nako shook her head and turned the door knob to enter the dormitory - as she predicted, a mess.

Yena unnie was having a movie date with Yuri at the living room, Hyewon unnie was waiting for her cheese hotdogs to be heated by microwave, Chaewon unnie and Minju unnie withdrew from the scene and hid inside their room, while the major plays in this mess - their leader and their most energetic member - were running around the dormitory.

Seems like Yujin stole Eunbi unnie's favorite celeb hat again...
Her train of thoughts stopped as the eldest spotted her,

"Nako!"
 Welcomed embrace was given by the leader and the smaller girl gladly leaned into the hug - after all Eunbi unnie is her favourite unnie among all.

"What wind blows you here? Do you need any food? Or we might work out together at the gym today?"
The Ahn puppy long forgotten, Eunbi pulled the Japanese girl to sit with her by the dining table.

"Oh, Chaeyeon unnie wanted to ask Yuri to go back for lunch; she said if you are interested, unnie is much welcomed also"
Alarmed that Kang chan the food fighter in izone was sitting near to them, Nako went close to Eunbi unnie and whispered. The leader gave a knowing smile and held her hand,
"let's go then, we don't want the others to find it out now and ate everything" 

people would often jokingly called her as the mother of eleven kids,
and indeed,
Eunbi did feel like a proud mom when looking at the girls. They might irritate her some times, but at the end the synergy they shared is unbreakable.
 

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a/n: first thing first, Happy Birthday to angel Minjoo!! Sorry that this is not Minjoo x Eunbi but she did had quite a few lines here :P

Inspired by prompt from XX3129, sorry if the ending is a bit lame cuz I ran out of ideas to finish it lolllllll still, hopefully I was able to convey the ideas clearly orz
I was still thinking which draft shall I finish next; but since it is almost time for mid-term examinations, apologize in advance that I might not be updating very soon~

Thank you for the subscribes and upvotes *tears* never thought my works could receive this much support and love (or is it not for me but only the girls xd) your comments always made me giddy for a whole day <3