Maria looks at the clock on the wall in the practice-room, her leg is shaking restlessly and she turns to give Shiwon a glare. He had been joking that Hannah might be pregnant, that’s why the doctor was here. The leader said it was absurd but still, she wonders why Doctor Song was here because Emelia said Hannah has an appointment on Thursday, not Tuesday. But to Maria, if Hannah was ever pregnant, the ladies would be the first ones to know about it.

“Are you with me, Captain?” Myung asks, his toes touches her leg as they are sitting on the floor together.

She turns to give him a suspicious stare. Myung leans back at the look she gives him while Maria looks him up and down with small eyes, looking at the papers in his hands and she tilts her head to see what’s written on it.

“Oh, you’re talking about that,” she softens up and even smiles, not seeing the weird look Myung gives her.

“Yeah… the same thing we’ve been talking about for the past five minutes?”

“That’s right,” Maria nods but she gets distant again when looking over at the door.

“Maria,” Myung starts to whine and puts down the papers on the floor. “I’ve been explaining this for no one?”

“Mhm…” Maria continues to nod, glancing up at the clock before seeing the door open. Eun Dae steps inside.

Myung sighs when seeing she is waiting for someone, someone who is not Eun Dae because Maria looks deeply disappointed at the sight of the female dancer. Myung puts up his knee under his chin and looks at Maria, tilting his head to rest his cheek on his knee instead.

“Shiwon is an idiot,” he points out.

Maria gives him a frown. “What?”

“You shouldn’t listen to what he says. I’m certain she isn’t pregnant. She is naïve, maybe, but not stupid,” Myung tries to reassure Maria but while he talks her eyes grow small again, looking at him.

“Shiwon IS an idiot,” she agrees. “And Hannah is NOT pregnant.”

“Then why the horns on your head?” Myung asked in an amused tone, putting two fingers by his head.

She laughs at that and grimaces a bit with her eyebrow and the corner of twitching, but she does nod too. “Noted,” she tells him, leaning towards Myung, “What did you say about the formation?”

Her eyes are on the papers he put down and at the low question, confirming that she was in fact not listening at all to what he was saying but it just makes him laugh.

“Should we go take a look where she’s at?” Myung asks her with a nod to the door.

It sounds like a good idea, he can see Maria likes it, but before she can say they should do it, Hannah comes inside the room. Maria’s face-expression changes so Myung turns to look at the door too, seeing Hannah glance around while heading to the back.

“She’s annoyed,” Maria mutters before getting up on her feet.

The room is like always filled with voices, some are dancing while others are discussing the set list or choreographies, and Maria did not take a second go to waste before she glides up next to Hannah, eyes focused on the younger friend.

Maria opens to ask what happened but the look Hannah gives her makes Maria looks concerned instead of asking anything.

“Why isn’t anyone practicing?” Hannah mumbles to the leader, dodging the subject she knows the leader came to ask her of.

“Everyone’s practicing,” Maria answers and looks out the room. “In their own way, I guess. Julia ran out, Minhae too. I don’t know what’s going on with no one being here; we have a lot to do, you know.”

“Great,” Hannah mutters, pouting at the wall. “Then I’m not the only one thinking that.”

“Was it that idiotic Ji Young who said something to you?” Maria looks upset seeing how annoyed Hannah is.

Hannah sighs, trying to calm herself and she gives Maria a glance. “Can we focus on practice?”

The leader smiles at her, nodding as she agrees.

“LISTEN UP YOU LAZY PIECES OF !” Maria suddenly roars out to the room. Hannah stays by the wall, with big eyes glancing around to pretend she is not there. Maria knows how to get everyone’s attention. “LET’S PUT ALL WE’VE GOT INTO THIS WEEK’S PRACTICE, ALRIGHT?! I WANT AWESOMENESS FROM EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU! IS THAT CLEAR?!”

“Aye, Captain!” Emelia is the first one to excitedly answer, maybe more thrilled over the captain-like order from Maria than that they are going to spend twelve hours practicing.

“Aye-aye, Captain!” Myung joins in and others as well. Hannah is smiling when seeing how proud Maria looks at the reaction from the crew.

Even if everybody isn’t around they start practicing, because they have to do something as there isn’t much time left for the concert.

But even this time they don’t do much until Minhae comes back, restlessly waiting for attention and once she’s got it, she looks troubled at Maria, the one she brings to the side to talk to in private.

“Julia is throwing up in the bathroom,” Minhae informs. She looks guilty for some reason. “She’s all pale and sweating and … it’s not nice.”

“Is she pregnant?”

Maria throws out hard on Shiwon’s arm, the glare she gives him is not to play with and he excuses himself without a word through nodding and stepping away.

“Go back to practice,” Maria sighs to them all, “I’ll go check on her.”

Minhae goes with her, but the rest of the crew looks a bit lost for a few minutes, not just for having more and more people leaving but because the leader just left. Sukjin takes the lead to get everybody into action once again with Carolina deciding what other song to practice to.

This time they can practice for half an hour without interruption, but after half an hour they do wonder where Maria went, why she and Minhae aren’t back. So after half an hour Emelia leaves, just to be stopped by the door where Manager Lee shows up; Maria forces her way inside from behind him.

“Hannah,” Manager Lee says and motions with his finger for her to come.

“Again?” Emelia is the one who sounds annoyed.

“Shut up, EM,” Maria mutters and nods for Hannah to go. “Take your things and go with him.”

“What?”

“Take her things?” Minah wonders while Maria goes inside the room. She doesn’t look happy. No one looks happy. Hannah doesn’t move, she just gapes like a question-mark.

“Hannah has been suspended for the rest of the day,” Manager Lee informs everyone, now waving with his whole hand for Hannah to come.

“She’s what?”

“Why?”

“Suspended, seriously?”

Hannah cannot look more irritated as when she goes to get her things.

“Can someone tell us what the heck is going on?” Shiwon asks. “Are we going to practice without the ladies?”

“You’re going to practice without two of the ladies,” Manager Lee simply answers.

Maria gives him Julia’s things, and more questions are coming from Carolina and the crew. Emelia is the only one not asking questions, she observes. Hannah’s irritations and Maria’s silent frustration along with Manager Lee’s light way to talk to them. She knows she’ll find out what’s going on, just as she has received an answer from Honggi about what happened last night. That’s a start.

Manager Lee brings Hannah and Julia’s things with him out the room, and in silence heads to the entrance of the building.

“Why am I suspended?” Hannah asks when knowing they are not going to a room for her to be scolded or anything, but they are leaving.

“I’ll tell you once you’re home,” Manager Lee answers and opens the entrance door for Hannah to go out first. The fans outside cheers at the sight of her but when Hannah is out she turns around to face her manager, and to hide her face from fans.

“Where is Julia?” she asks with curiosity, of course interested in where her friend disappeared to.

Manager Lee points at the van with one hand and holds out his other behind Hannah’s back for her to move, not touching her. He either says Julia is in the van or he wants Hannah to get in it, either way she goes to the van.

“Hannah, where are you going?” a fan calls out a few meters away.

She doesn’t react, she wouldn’t know what to answer either and instead she gets in the van. Julia is lying in the back with a towel over her head, making Hannah stop and sink down in the seat next to the door instead of going for her usual seat and her whole attention on Julia.

“Hi…” the youngest lowly whispers, hearing the door being closed behind her by Manager Lee.

“I’m sick,” Julia mutters under a towel.

“You threw up?” Hannah wonders. She looks at the front when Manager Lee gets behind the steering wheel, slamming the door shut after him.

“I have an upset stomach,” she mutters before groaning as the van starts moving.

“The same thing you brought with you from LA,” Manager Lee points out.

“And I’m here because…?” Hannah asks and finally turns to sit correctly in her seat and put on the seatbelt, her tone is upset.

“Oh, I wonder why,” he sounds like he rolls his eyes.

“What does that mean?” Hannah gasps.

“You got caught,” Manager Lee answers without looking back at her. “A paparazzi got a picture of you sitting by the river with Honggi. He got nothing beside from that and a story that we do not want spreading out.”

“So you’re suspending me from practicing?” Hannah doesn’t like the sense in it.

“You’re suspended?” Julia chuckles.

“From practicing,” Hannah adds, liking the chuckling coming from under that towel.

“It was my decision,” Manager Lee answers.

“Why?”

“You will have the rest of the day to reflect on your irresponsibility if you are at home, not allowed to be with the others doing what you love to do. Manager Lim found it to be a great idea.”

“You are a workaholic, after all,” Julia comments from the back.

Hannah pouts, looking upset because though it seems like nothing, missing a whole day of practice because of last night is indeed something she gets angry over.

“Have you thought of that what happened last night was private?” Hannah asks. She is fast to cut her manager off from interrupting; “I don’t care that someone got a picture of us sitting by the river and whatever article comes out cannot be worse than the past seven years. We have a concert in two weeks and with Julia being sick, isn’t it important that everyone is focused on practicing?”

“Exactly that is why you are suspended,” Manager Lee answers.

“What for?!”

“BECAUSE,” Manager Lee angrily starts to answer, “You’ll know you’re the one at fault that the crew is falling back on practice. Julia can’t help it because she’s sick, the others won’t hold it against her. But with you? You got in a fight out in public – in a park, Hannah, for God’s sake – and that is why you can’t join the practice. Suspended because that’s the only way to make you rethink.”

Julia chuckles again, this time not doing it for Hannah, but because Manager Lee knows Hannah. There is nothing that will make Hannah as upset as not being allowed to practice.

The van is on fire by the time it stops outside the house. Hannah is in a hurry to get out but she waits for Julia outside the van, ignoring her manager completely and focuses on helping Julia inside.

Julia’s mother has been living in Korea for over a year now, since last summer. She is an older version of Julia by the looks, their behaviour is pretty similar as well and she lives in the same house as Julia and Carolina, and she is also the one meeting them by the entrance to their grounds as Julia had called her before leaving the agency. Manager Lee takes them inside their house while Hannah head inside hers, well aware that Manager Lee stays by the other house’s door to make sure she does step inside. What does he think; that Hannah will run off?

The house isn’t quiet, which is odd because the only ones here are pets. But pets don’t sing.

With a grimace of confusion, Hannah walks through the house, following the singing. It isn’t good singing, but it is free singing and that is something Hannah don’t mind. All she wants to know is who the source is. It comes from the bathroom next to the kitchen, no pets are seen so Hannah stops by the kitchen table, her eyes on the bathroom’s door that is standing wide open.

“Hello?” she asks.

“Hannah?!” Manager Lee calls out from the hall. A noise in the bathroom lets Hannah know the person singing heard him because the singing stops.

Hannah turns around with a glare to the living-room, pretending her manager can see it before she walks up to the bathroom to get it over with. Leaning over the toilet wearing pink gloves, shorts and a simple t-shirt is the housemaid, the 27 years old So Yunh