She tilted her head to see herself better in the mirror. The practice room was empty at that time of the day; the other members were having lunch and everything was silent. But Bomi was skipping the meal like she’d been doing lately, under the suspicious gaze of her friends. She needed this time alone, and, honestly, she didn’t feel like eating much, which was uncommon in her. With all the fuss and work around their comeback, she hadn’t had enough time for herself, time to spend on her own. Not that she was complaining, though, but she wanted to take a break from all the promotions and the practice and everything. She pulled some rebellious locks of hair behind her ear, those which had fallen from her ponytail while dancing. Bomi smiled slightly at her reflection and took some steps back, getting ready to practice again from the beginning.

After a while, her whole body was sweaty, but she felt much better. The girl picked up her phone and the rest of her stuff and turned the lights off on her way out of the room. Practicing was tiring, and she hadn’t been feeling very well lately, so she was feeling exhausted by the time she got to the shower. The cold water felt great on her skin, and she enjoyed the fact that there wasn’t anyone waiting for her to finish quickly for their turn to arrive. Bomi was getting comfortably dressed while humming softly their comeback title song when the door burst open.

"Unnie!" She was surprised to see Chorong appear at the door. She quickly finished putting her sweatshirt on and walked towards the older girl.

Chorong smiled and kissed Bomi on the cheek, in front of which the younger girl blushed slightly. Only her unnie had that effect on her. 

"I wanted to see how you were doing," Chorong shrugged. "And I missed you during lunchtime. I’d like to spend more time with you, you know... We haven’t had much time alone later because of the comeback."

"I know," Bomi answered. "But that’s almost over, right? I miss you, and I really need some rest..."

"Yeah, you look like you do," Chorong caressed her girlfriend’s cheek while smiling longingly. They really needed their time alone. While the other girls obviously knew about their relationship, the older girls didn’t feel that comfortable with being too affectionate in front of the other members, no matter how close they all were.

"Let’s go," Bomi said, grabbing her girlfriend’s hand. "They’re all probably waiting for us to get there. We had some sort of meeting, didn’t we?"

The leader smiled while closing the door of the room, followed by Bomi.

"I’m surprised you even remember," she said. Bomi was about to protest, but Chorong pulled her closer so their noses were touching and they could feel each other’s breath on their faces. Bomi became quiet, surprised by her unnie’s attitude. She must have really missed me, she thought, and I have only been away from her for three hours at most. She was about to move forward when Chorong took a step back.

"Let’s go," Chorong said with a knowing smile. "We can’t be late."

~

"Hayoung-ah, stop playing around," Eunji was shaking her head in front of the maknae’s attitude, but she couldn’t help the smile that was growing in her face. Hayoung was laughing too, while playing with the hula hoop they had in the living room.

The dorm was empty besides the two girls, and they were supposed to meet with the other members there for the manager to talk to them. But, somehow, no one else had shown up yet. Eunji knew Chorong had gone to look for Bomi, but she did not know where Namjoo and Naeun were, and that troubled her.

"There’s nothing else to do, unnie," Hayoung complained. "I’m bored."

Eunji nodded in agreement, and that’s when the door opened. Before the older girl could say anything, Namjoo was already giving explanations.

"We went to the grocery store that’s a couple of blocks from here. The one that isn’t too far away," she said, trying to prevent more questions to be asked. "We just felt this sudden craving for tuna kimbap."

"I hope you brought me some," Hayoung said, walking towards Namjoo, while Naeun just looked at Eunji, apologetic. The older girl rolled her eyes and shook her head, defeated.

Naeun closed the door behind her and walked towards the couch. She sat quietly next to Eunji while the other girl was looking at Namjoo and Hayoung, both maknaes discussing the best flavors of kimbap. Eunji was smiling when she turned her head to look at Naeun.

"You should’ve told someone you were leaving," Eunji started. "Something could have happened to you..."

"Were you worried?" Naeun asked softly, staring deeply into her unnie’s eyes.

"Of course, Naeun-ah!" Naeun considered it a good thing that Eunji wasn’t pissed at all, but only acting that way because it was her duty to take care of them in absence of the leader and her other unnie. And even if it wasn’t what she was supposed to do, it was in Eunji’s nature to act motherly towards the other members.

Eunji smiled and ruffled Naeun’s hair, causing the younger girl to groan in complain. What Naeun was the proudest of was her hair, and she didn’t like anyone messing with it, not even her dear unnie.

"Hey, unnie," Namjoo interrupted. "Would you like some kimbap?

Eunji nodded slightly, and Hayoung sat next to Naeun while Namjoo was in process of giving Eunji something good to eat. That’s when the door opened again to reveal the manager of Apink, followed shortly by their vocal trainer. At the appearance of the latest, Hayoung suddenly stopped mid-sentence and blushed.

"Where’s Chorong-ah?" The manager asked. "And Bomi-ah?"

In that exact moment, the two girls entered the room, holding hands. When everyone turned to look at them, they released hands, and went to sit in the couch with the other members.

"Sorry we’re late," Bomi mumbled.

"It’s alright," the manager answered. "So we asked you to be here today because we have something to tell you, girls."

The six girls looked interested in what it could be.

"We know how busy you have all been recently with the comeback and everything." The six members nodded at the comment. "And how you all need to rest."

At that moment, Chorong moved her hand and put it over Bomi’s, caressing the younger girl’s skin in sympathy. Bomi smiled and looked at her unnie warmly.

"So we have decided to give you all a break." At that moment, the members were speechless, sharing huge grins of happiness. "You have two weeks of well-deserved vacation so you can all rest. Wherever you want."

By that moment, the girls were ecstatic. Two weeks of holidays! They hadn’t had that much free time in... forever. Chorong bowed and thanked the manager as the leader she was, followed by bows and ‘thank you’s from the other members. They were truly happy right then.

"I want to go to Jeju Island,"Bomi said, and Namjoo nodded. "It’s supposed to be really beautiful during this time of the year. Besides, I’ve always wanted to go there with you all."

 The other members soon agreed, and everything was settled. They would be leaving in less than a week.

"You can all go," the vocal trainer said. "Except from you two. Bomi-ah, Chorong-ah, please stay for a minute."

The other girls left, sharing exclamations of joy and planning what they would do in their free time. They all bowed on their way out.

"You can’t make your relationship public yet," the manager told them. The girls had heard that before, more times that they’d want to. And they knew that it was the right thing to do, at least for now. They didn’t need more things to worry about. So the two girls nodded, understanding what was asked from them.

Bomi, though, squeezed Chorong’s hand while looking at her sideways, making the older girl speak for them in that moment.

"We know," the leader started. "But we’d like to enjoy some time on our own then. Please. We’ll be careful not to cause any scandals or anything you might have to worry about.

The manager looked at them carefully, not sure how to respond to the request. While the girls started silently at each other, with their hopes up, the manager and the vocal trainer, both in charge of the members at the moment, discussed the topic in a low voice. After a couple of minutes, the vocal trainer spoke.

"You get to leave a day earlier, at night,"- he said, "and the other girls will arrive on the day we set. That’s all we can do."

It was enough. Chorong hugged Bomi in excitement, and the two girls thanked their superiors for understanding. That was everything they had wished for.