The Produce 101 lunch room was packed with hungry girls, those who were all too happy to dig into the good food provided by the company and those who stared down sadly at their salads. Soyeon had just woken up and was ready for the day in her usual casual ware. There were camera men  hopping from table to table as usual, looking like bee’s collecting pollen.

Immediately Soyeon’s eyes searched for her child. Usually Somi was ready to be by her side the moment she walked in, excitedly chatting about meaningless rumors she’d heard that morning. Soyeon momentarily worried if she was sick, as Somi had yet to make an appearance. She hadn’t had the chance to talk to Somi since yesterday morning, having been stuck in rehearsals with her team and wondered if Somi had caught a cold between the time.

Yoojung strolled up to Soyeon with a smirk as Soyeon grabbed her tray of food.

“Hey Yoojung, have you seen Somi?”

Yoojung’s smirk grew into a Cheshire cat smile. “She’s over there with Chungha-unnie.”

Soyeon looked at her weirdly, she wasn’t sure why she had said Chungha’s name like that, like she had some secret about her.  She decided to brush it off, Yoojung was always weird like that.  Looking in the direction Yoojung pointed, she was relieved to see that Somi looked fine as she laughed, throwing her head back as she did.

“Okay.” She said slowly as she walked around Yoojung. “Thanks.”

Yoojung giggled and followed behind her with her own tray of food.

“Good moring.” Soyeon greeted as she took a empty seat in front of Somi.

The table which sat most of the Bang Bang team and other girls from the top 20.

Soyeon was happy when Somi turned towards her with her wide doe eyes, “Soyeon-unnie! Did you know that Chungha-unnie used to be aJYPE trainee? We could’ve trained together if she hadn’t left.” She finished with a pout.

Chungha laughed and patted Somi’s head. “Well we’re training together now So.”

Soyeon watched closely as Somi averted her eyes and blushed, taking in how her hands fiddled with her fork.

“Yeah plus she probably would have debuted with Twice.” Dani points out. “She definitely has the skill and the voice to have made it through Sixteen.”

Somi shrunk in her seat at the mention of the show, Soyeon knew Somi still had poor thoughts about the whole situation. Before she could speak up to change the subject or comfort Somi, Chungha wrapped her arm around Somi, squeezing her in aside hug. “Let’s not talk about what ifs, it’ll eat us up. I’m just glad I got to meet all you.”

“Chungha-unnie is right!” Somi said back to her hyper self. “Let’s talk about how good Chungha-unnie is at dancing.”

Chungha-unnie.

Soyeon side eyed Yoojung who was staring at her with a knowing smile, she was beginning to realize why she had said her name like that earlier.

Somi’s voice turned sweet as she said it. There was a very obvious change in her tone as she said it and Soyeon could tell that the rest of the table had picked up on it. She wasn’t sure if Chungha had picked up on it or not but she remained her bright self as she giggled at Somi’s praise.

Soyeon was quiet the rest of breakfast she watched Somi closely.

It was painfully clear to her what was going on and she wanted to make it stop. Not because she was jealous, no way, but because of how obvious Somi was. The other girls would snicker at every, “Chungha-unnie,” that came out of Somi’s mouth and whisper about how cute she was.

Soyeon suddenly felt protective over her friend, Somi was only fifteen after all. Fourteen technically since her birthday had yet to pass and if she was talking internationally. Still too young to realize what she was doing.

This was probably even her first crush.

The rest of the lunch went on with Somi hanging onto every word Chungha said and Soyeon trying her best to look unaffected.

The Bang Bang team and Growl team agreed to practice in the large room together and Soyeon was forced to watch as Somi stuck to Chungha like glue.

Soyeon sat nursing a headache halfway through the choreography practice.

Both groups had stopped for a break and the girls were all mingling. Soyeon could hear Somi’s laugh from where she sat on the other side of the room. Normally the sound would make her smile but today it was the cause of her headache. She tried not to think too much about how close Somi had danced to Chungha as they worked on the dance or how Somi’s voice everytime she said Chungha’s voice.

It was annoying.

Soyeon looked up as she heard footsteps approaching her. Yoojung and Doyeon wore matching smirks as they took a seat on either side of her.

“You doing okay?” Doyeon bumped her shoulder as she asked.

“I’m fine why wouldn’t I be?”

On cue Somi let out another laugh that turned all three of girl’s eyes towards her.

“Shut up.” Soyeon murmured as they looked over her expectantly.

Soyeon hadn’t spent any time alone with Somi since before the dance challenge had been revealed. Now that she finally had a moment just between them she wished she could be anywhere but with Somi. All she could do was imagine shoving a sock in or even the bag of gummy bears she was munching on just to shut her up. All that came out of was, “Chungha-unnie this, Chungha-unnie that,” and Soyeon was unintentionally beginning to hate Chungha.

Somi didn’t notice Soyeon glaring at her as she prattled on about the, oh so interesting things Chungha had talked about that day.

“Chungha-unn-“

“Enough!” Soyeon cut her off before she could finish the annoying word. Her words were quickly followed by , pressing just enough to stop Somi from talking more and shocking the hell out of the both of them.

She had had no other options.

And her brain believed the only solution to cover Somi’s mouth was with her own.

Soyeon quickly retreated, regretting her impulsive move.

Somi’s face was beet red, her eyes wider than usual.

“I-I’m sorry Somi.” Mortified, Soyeon jumped to her feet and ran out.

The next day Soyeon sat with her growl team, too embarrassed to look at Somi at all. It was almost time for the live show and tension was high as all the girls ate. None of her teammates questioned her decision to sit with them instead of with her usual friends in the “elite” table. She was thankful for their words of positivity as they mentally prepared for what was too come later that day and distracted her from her problems. She had to focus on what was really important at the moment.

She fought the urge to look back at the Bang Bang team when she realized she hadn’t heard anything from Somi. In fact as she recalled, she hadn’t seen Somi there when she had entered.

Don’t look back.

Don’t look back.

Do-

Casually stretching in her seat, she peeked quickly over at the “elite” table and confirmed that Somi was indeed nowhere be found. It bothered her even more to see that Chungha was also not present.

“I’ll be right back.” She announced to her table, marching over to where Dani and Yoojung sat giggling. “Hey have you guys seen Somi.”

The smirks were back as they looked up at her, she would be annoyed if she wasn’t so relieved to see that they were clearly clueless of her current situation.

“She’s with Chungha getting some last minute practice together.” Dani informed her. Soyeon ignored Soyeon as she  wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and made her way to the exit.

She was not desperate to find them because she was jealous. No. She just needed to clear things up with Somi before the show tonight. She didn’t want it to eat her up while she performed is all. It was all just one big misunderstanding.

Bang Bang was playing as she entered the room but the two girls were not practicing.

Chungha and Somi looked at her in surprise as they broke away from their embrace. Chungha looked concerned while Somi looked guilty. Soyeon wasn’t sure what she felt.

Looking between the two girls, Chungha patted Somi’s back. “I’ll just let you two talk.” She smiled politely at Soyeon as she passed by her and out the door.

“Soyeon-unnie.” Somi said bringing her attention back towards her. “I think we should talk.”

Nodding, Soyeon followed Somi to sit against the mirrored wall. Both girls were silent as they collected their thoughts.

“I-“ They both began, giggling nervously when they realized.

“You first.” Somi nudged.

Soyeon sighed, she really had no clue how to start.

How do you tell your best friend that you might actually have feelings for her?

“Just like that is fine.”

Soyeon jumped, she hadn’t said that out loud had she?

Somi looked at her with a shy smile, “You said it out loud.”

Soyeons cheeks burned and she cast her gaze towards the floor as she slapped a palm towards her face. “Oh my god.” She mumbled in embarrassment.

Chuckling, she felt Somi slide closer to her. “It’s okay, I might have feeling for you too.”

Soyeon looked at her in surprise. “But Chungha…”

Somi blushed, “I was obvious wasn’t I? Well I do think she’s really great and pretty but I had a crush on you first. Guess it wasn’t as obvious.”

“How could I tell when every word out of your mouth was, “Chungha-unnie this,” and “Chungha-unnie that,” .” Soyeon huffed.

Somi smirked, “Were you jealous?”

Soyeon scoffed, “Of course not.” The blush gave her away and Somi snuggled into her side.

“You were.” She giggled.

“Was not.” She smiled.

Things returned back to normal between the two. They weren’t exactly a couple, just aware of their feelings for one another. Somi tried to stop obsessing over Chungha, which she occasional slipped up, prompting Soyeon to pinch her every time she looked at her with heart eyes. The other girls would tease Somi relentlessly, calling Chungha with a high pitched voice, causing Somi to blush and hide behind Soyeon and Chungha to look at everyone in confusion. It didn’t make anything more clearer for her when Soyeon apologized for some unknown reason and Somi avoided her like a plague. Though she did express her happiness that things had gone back to normal for Somi and Soyeon. She had comforted Somi when she came to her in distress about their problems and given her the best advice she could have.

Soyeon was happy to have survived another round with her best friend and happy that everything was back to normal.