TWICE were in their van riding back to the dorm when Nayeon received a message. She sat in the back, leaning against the car window, with Jungyeon sleeping on her right shoulder. They were all disgustingly sweaty from practice, so she didn’t mind, but her lids kept closing on their own when she tried to edit the photos on her phone.

Ting! Luckily she had her earphones on, because she wouldn’t want to wake Jungyeon and the others up with the message sound. She herself was startled by it, and when she opened one eye to see the sender name, her heart did a leap and she was fully awake in the span of 0.1 second. Left hand immediately came up to cover her gasp, she double checked and yes, it was indeed a message from Jungkook.

“Hey I don’t know if you know, and you probably don’t, but sometimes I do cover of English songs. Uhm… here’s the link to one I just finished last night. Tell me what you think. You don’t have to be nice, just be honest, really. ”

Nayeon was confused and curious at the same time, but somehow she felt like her drowsiness wouldn’t let her fully appreciate the song. So she fought the urge and decided to listen after taking a shower.

The room she shared with Jihyo, Sana, and Mina was the biggest and also the noisiest in the house. So she resolved to retreat to her favorite hideout, Chaeyoung’s top-bunk bed. The younger is the closest dongsaeng to her, apart from Jihyo and Jungyeon and Momo, but the nature of their relationships was all different.

The holy trio, Nayeon Jungyeon and Jihyo, stuck by each other through thick and thin all those trainee years, so a silent close-knit bond developed between them. They barely gossiped or played games or watched movies together. A bottle of water after practice or a hug when homesick was naturally shared without the need for words.

Momo was her partner-in-crime, the one to bring out her childish side the most. The time they stayed together was either spent eating, aka debating whether jokbal or macaron is the best food ever, or watching heart-throbbing Korean dramas, or creating weird inside jokes. She laughed a lot being near Momo, and she was glad the other seemed to enjoy the same comfort being with her.

Chaeyoung, on the other hand, had the same sense of aesthetic and preference in almost everything with her. Only the younger was much more of an artist than she would ever be. Chaeyoung was also the one she came to to talk about feelings and dreams and random thoughts. They got each other well, but not too well that it became a kind of annoying real sibling relation, like one with the other two vocals of TWICE. Chaeng was like an artsy-af dongsaeng that she did not grow up with but still loved just as much.

Chaeyoung was doodling and jamming to some indie pop song through her earphones when Nayeon climbed up. The small girl just simply scooted over a little bit not bother questioning. Nayeon came to her bunk almost everyday anyway. Most of the time they just rambled about anything and everything. Some days when exhaustion took over and they needed some alone but not-so-alone time, they snuggled together listening to their own music, lost in their own world.

Today seemed like a day like that, so Nayeon stayed silent and plugged in her earphones to listen to the track she currently had on the screen. The name was Paper Hearts by Tori Kelly, or should it be by Jeon Jungkook? She hit play and closed her eyes.

[Please play Jungkook’s cover of Paper Hearts]

Wow… Really? Wowwww! was what ran through her mind the first couple of sentences. Her hand came up to cover , eyes widened in surprise. And Chaeyoung did not miss it. The constant colorful sketching stopped and the younger looked at Nayeon with curiosity evident in her eyebrows. When Nayeon looked back at her holding up one finger, Chaeyoung nodded slightly and focused back on the piece of paper before her. One minute, I’ll tell you later. No words needed. Chaeyoung believed her because Nayeon was not the one to keep secrets.

Don’t think I would just forget about it.

Hoping that you won’t forget…

The last sentence rang through her ears and when the music stopped, Nayeon felt a strange emptiness lingering in the air. She pulled out the earphones and leaned over to take a look at Chaeyoung’s work in progress. Rather than the drawing itself, what caught Nayeon’s eyes was the fact that Chaeyoung was going to use up the notebook in no time. This notebook and the one before that and the other two before that were all gifts from Nayeon. Chaeyoung would receive a new notebook for her birthday every year and also whenever Nayeon came across a cute one. Nayeon made a mental note to look for another one next time she went out.

What were you listening to unnie? Chaeyoung asked without looking up, hands still making consistent colorful sketches on the white expanse. Her earphones were no longer plugged in, Nayeon noticed and replaced them with her own. She hit play again and while Chaeyoung was silently enjoying the song thinking it was probably some cover her unnie found on Youtube, she spoke.

Jungkook sunbae sent me this. Nayeon mentally braced herself for the outburst of the young tiger.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN? What? Really? WHATTTT? How? When? Where? WHY? Chaeyoung immediately turned to Nayeon, shouting and shaking the older’s shoulders and covering and checking if the other two maknaes were in the room and confirming that noone else was there and messing up her own hair and snatching the phone in a blink before Nayeon could say anything and exaggeratingly gasping and repeatedly pointing between Nayeon and the phone, probably questioning everything in he