Jieqiong was 13 when Nayoung first met her.

 

 She walked herself in with a sense of grace and self confident, leaving many to be awestruck by her beauty.

 

 Among that many was Im Nayoung, a new PLEDIS trainee who was 3 years older than Jieqiong.

 

 Nayoung was there the moment Jieqiong stepped in the practice room, wearing a 300 dollars Moschino tee and greeted the so-called ancestor trainee Park Siyeon with a big koala hug.

 

 She watched as the teachers who just entered gave a bright smile at the familiar brunette, all giving her a warm hug with a smile that shouted 'Welcome back'

 

 Zhou Jieqiong was one beautiful human being, everyone can obviously see that.

 

 To Im Nayoung, Zhou Jieqiong was a rather interesting human, different from the rest.

 

 With her stone-like expression, she didn't expect the Chinese to come rushing to her and blabber about how nice it was to finally have some new faces in the company while holding her hands tightly like a newborn baby holding his mother's. 

 

 Nayoung didn't mind the not-so-far distance between of them.

 

 Yep, she didn't mind when she can literally make out what color was Jieqiong's eye shadow and how many moles the girl had on her beautiful smiling face.

 

 Which was odd, considering the closest Im Nayoung has ever gotten near a person was at least an arm away, of course with the exclude of her own family.

 

 Siyeon stood on the side, a lopsided grin on her face with a shake of the head, as if telling Nayoung this was a Zhou Jieqiong thing and there was no need to be weird out

 

 'Hi, I'm Kang Yebin. You must be Zhou Jieqiong, Siyeon has mentioned you a lot.'

 

 The close proximity between them almost made her forgot about the short haired trainee beside her.

 

 Jieqiong let go of Nayoung's hands, oddly left her with an empty feeling, to greet Yebin with the same enthusiasm

 

 'Hi, yes I'm Zhou Jieqiong. And you ?'

 

 Nayoung felt a strange surge of heat when Jieqiong's gaze focused on her once again.

 

 Probably because both Park Siyeon and Kang Yebin were staring at her too, she reasoned.

 

 'I'm Im Nayoung.'

 

 She saw Jieqiong's eyes bright up, that toothy and crescent-eye smile rece more and it felt like her heart did the thing where it dropped to her stomach and her mind went all fuzzy.

 

 Nayoung was scared out of her wits, unfamiliar with the foreign feeling in her.

 

 But as Stoney as she always was, she hid it and decided to wait, for what she didn't know.

 

 As time goes by, they all got close to each other through never ending practice sessions and over night bonding sleepovers.

 

 Nayoung watched Jieqiong throughout the days, unconsciously becoming months and then years

 

 She watched Jieqiong making more friends, which she is glad as she couldn't help but worry about how the Chinese cope with her loneliness of being in a foreign country all by herself.

 

 She watched Jieqiong getting better at everything she does, one of which was Korean, now even succeeding at it even better than Nayoung does.

 

 She watched Jieqiong grew, from the 13 year old cutie pie with 5-5 ratio straight black hair to the 18 year old breath-takingly beautiful demoiselle.

 

 But no matter how much she watches her or how much has time goes by, both her feelings for Jieqiong and Jieqiong herself haven't changed a bit.

 

  Jieqiong was still the hyper active beagle she always was, toothy grin with crescent eyes now became her own signature look.

 

 Jieqiong was still the kid who consistently clings to Nayoung as if Nayoung was a Banyan tree and Jieqiong was a baby koala who desperately needed a hug despite the presence of her same aged friends aka the short rapper Kang Yebin and new representative beagle mascot Jung Eunwoo.

 

 Jieqiong still loved pink, hence the nickname Pinky which Nayoung secretly grimaced the first time she heard it.

 

 Jieqiong was still the most hard-working perfectionist Nayoung has yet to know, and it brought a proud smile on her face whenever Jieqiong wanted to perfect a move  she has practiced so much even more and got recognition from everyone around her.

 

 Jieqiong was still the kind-hearted kid to the point of making a rule in the PLEDIS Girlz's rule book.

 

 'Never let Zhou Jieqiong be the last to leave the building.'

 

 Nayoung had asked why once, and Siyeon told her it was because Jieqiong was so nice that she volunteered to help the cleaning staffs until early morning, leaving her completely drained of energy for practice.

 

 She still remembered the embarrassed yet secretly proud expression on Jieqiong's face, and it did funny things to her heart.

 

 Jieqiong was still Jieqiong, the human she dubbed as special ever since their first meeting.

 

 And she thinks Jieqiong dubbed her as the same, or at least she hopes she does.

 

 But she has wondered, more than once, wasn't there more to Jieqiong that she hasn't seen ?

 

 Four years and she has never seen Jieqiong's dark side.

 

 Sure, the girl can get grumpy during her period like yelling at Eunwoo for forgetting to buy her strawberry latte but she apologized immediately afterwards.

 

 That's right, Nayoung has never seen Jieqiong cried before.

 

 Well she did cry when all 10 of them were watching mushy sappy movies like Titanic and such but that's not Nayoung's point.

 

 She has never seen Jieqiong broken down before.

 

 Now don't get her wrong. The least thing she wants to see is a heart-broken Jieqiong.

 

 Just the thought of the Chinese spilling tears makes her heart ache.

 

 That is why she was so worried.

 

 Nayoung knew how it felt to have it all bottled up inside without anyone to talk about it to.

 

 She has been feeling this way ever since PLEDIS decided to make her the leader of PLEDIS Girlz.

 

 But she feels better as she has the other 9 girls, who are nothing but precious beings that make her trainee life a tad bit better.

 

 She was so worried, the question lingering in her head for months without knowing how to properly spoken out without fearing Jieqiong would get the wrong idea.

 

 It wasn't until Produce 101 that she regretted ever asking that, even to herself.

 

 She knew Jieqiong was performing APINK's I Don't Know with other four girls and she was to perform her own company's senior After School's AH.

 

 Nayoung was on her way back to the dorm when she heard footsteps and turned her head to see 6 of her fellow PLEDIS girls.

 

 She frowned to herself when noticing the missing piece of the group.

 

 'Hey girls, where's Jieqiong ?' - she asked immediately

 

 She got a bad feeling about this and was she damn right when the five of them said they didn't know where Jieqiong was.

 

 Siyeon, who was the opponent 'I Don't Know' team, explained that practice didn't go well as expected and Jieqiong was criticized by the instructor and eventually being taken away the Center position to CUBE's Kwon Eunbin.

 

 She frowned, publically this time, but nodded in understanding.

 

 Though she couldn't understand why the younger wasn't with them.

 

 Before she could ask once more, a foreign voice crept up from behind them and she turned to see Fantagio's Jung Hyerim, whom she recognizes as one of the members of  Jieqiong's 'I Don't Know' team

 

 'Are you guys looking for Kyulkyung unnie ?'

 

 She never really liked Jieqiong's nickname but Jieqiong was so happy to finally have a Korean name and not having to hear people mispronouncing her original name so it grew on her eventually.

 

 Just don't tell anyone she kind of melted inside when Jieqiong asked her for a favor with the aegyo 'Kyulkyungie wants a cheese hamburger, please buy Kyulkyungie a cheese hamburger'.

 

 She really had to thank Minkyung that day for slapping her shoulder as a gag reflex so that she could stop herself from grabbing Jieqiong and kissed the living day hell out of her.

 

 'Yes we are. Have you seen her ?' - she thought she would have to practice several years more to get to this speed of speaking, despite being a rapper.

 

 'Y-yes, I think I saw her sneaking to the 2nd floor balcony. She said she needed fresh air so we all left her there'.

 

 'Thank you Hyerim ssi, girls, go back to your room. I'm going to get Jieqiong'.

 

 Before anyone could reply, she rushed away, her mind filled with worry for the Chinese beauty.

 

 True to Hyerim's words, Jieqiong was there, sitting by the balcony with her hair covering her face.

 

 For the first time in Nayoung's life, she didn't know whether or not should she approach Jieqiong.

 

 She was flustered to be honest at this new side of Jieqiong she was seeing.

 

 Oh how she regretted having ever asked that stupid question.

 

 Heaving a big sigh, she gathered the courage and sat down next to the younger one.

 

 'Hey ?'

 

 'Nayoung unnie, why aren't you asleep yet ? Your practice ended an hour ago'

 

 She watched as Jieqiong lifted her face and gazed at her with those adorable doe eyes, confusion sparkling in them like her father's car headlights.

 

 'Should I be amused at how you know when my practice finishes ?'

 

 Nayoung grinned the moment she spotted Jieqiong's embarrassed blushing, and she couldn't help herself but to raise her hand to caress the younger's now red highlighted jet black hair.

 

 Despite being the resident beagle, Jieqiong was somewhat shy around her, and it made her kick her blanket in her sleep a few times.

 

 'Come here'

 

 Honestly, Nayoung had no idea where the courage to pull Jieqiong into her arms came from but she was grateful when Jieqiong wrapped her arms around Nayoung's neck, head in between Nayoung's shoulder and snuggling closer like a baby panda to its mother.

 

 Right hand still caressing the silky black hair, Nayoung prayed to God that Jieqiong couldn't hear how fast her heart was beating nor couldn't see how red her ears were.

 

 Though that was kind of impossible due to the silence that was them but she still hoped she hasn't done anything bad to God that he doesn't fulfill her wish

 

 'Nayoung unnie ?'

 

 'Hum ?' - that sounded a lot calmer than Nayoung expected

 

 'Am I good enough ?'

 

 She regretted turning her head because once she did, she found those doe eyes staring at her with tears threatening to fall from them. She moved her available hand to Jieqiong's fuzzy eyebrows, admiring how beautiful they were like the rest of everything that is Jieqiong for a while before placing a soft knock on the knuckle to her forehead

 

 'What kind of a question is that.'

 

 'I asked myself that a lot today unnie. Teacher said I wasn't good enough for the Center position, that I was dragging my whole team down.'

 

 God help her, how was she not supposed to feel heartbroken when her ball of sunshine is like this.

 

 'It made me question a lot of things. Was it right coming here, was it right for me to choose the path of a singer, was it right for me to be here with you at all'

 

 'Zhou Jieqiong'

 

 Wow that was unexpected. She usually just hears people talk and not intercepts in between.

 

 'Y-yes ?' - apparently, she wasn't alone in being surprised by the whole Im Nayoung being talkative thing

 

 'You may not be the prettiest, there's MBK Jung Chaeyeon. You may not sing the greatest, hell there's Starship's Yoo Yeunjung, and I don't think that girl's respiratory system is the same as us human beings. You may not rap the coolest, although it hurts my pride but Yoojung is kinda great at that too.'

 

 Nayoung did notice the confuse look on Jieqiong's face and mentally slapped herself for not knowing how to express herself better.

 

 'But um, my point is, you are great in your own way. You are beautiful the way you are, your singing is music to my ears, your dancing is art itself and your whole existence is precious. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, not even yourself.'

 

 'You're far more than good enough. You're so great I have no idea what to do with you sometimes. No one wanted to be there for me with my stoney face but you did. No one wanted to share their thoughts with me but you did. No one wanted to be with me if not for you, Zhou Jieqiong.'

 

 'You inspire so many people without your knowing. There are people strive to be like you, so you can't surrender to yourself now. Aren't you the winning icon among us all ? So go kick your own , wait what, that sounds wrong.'

 

 She swore she heard Jieqiong giggle a bit, and it actually urged her to go on.

 

 'I mean, you can do it. We are all here with you, and we're gonna get you there till the end. This isn't the end, it's our start. No matter what happens, we're here. All 101 of us, though some of us might not like each other, but we all support each other's dream, because we share them. So don't ever think you're lonely here, don't ever think you're not good enough. We're here for you, always.'

 

 Nayoung felt a strange surge of relief inside of her when she finished speaking and she turned to Jieqiong when not hearing any type of reply. To her pleasant surprise, she found Jieqiong gazing at her with a look she has never seen before.

 

 Her heart skipped a beat when Jieqiong leaned closer, her breath creating goose-bumps on Nayoung's skin.

 

 Everything was so slow, so surreal that she had taken nearly 2 minutes to compromise with the fact that Jieqiong just kissed her, on the cheek but a kiss nonetheless.

 

 'You're so sweet Nayoungie'

 

 'W-what happened to the 'unnie' ?'

 

 'Is it okay if I call you that when we're alone ?'

 

 'Y-yeah, I-I guess' 

 

 Great, now she was a stuttering blushing mess.

 

 'Thank you for the speech. I really needed that' - she felt Jieqiong's arms wrapped tighter around her neck, also feeling Jieqiong's face snuggling to her collarbone affectionately.

 

 'It's nothing. I'm glad I can help.'

 

 She watched in contentment as Jieqiong gave a hum in reply and they both fell into comfortable silence, arms and legs tangled into each other.

 

 'Jieqiong ?'

 

 'Yes ?'

 

 'It's not that I don't want to spend time with you, but we still have to wake up early tomorrow.'

 

 'And here comes leader Im Nayoung. To be honest, I was kind of waiting for you to say that. I'm beaten from all those practice and I think Eunji sunbaenim's high note is gonna haunt me in my sleep' - Jieqiong groans in her dramatic tone, whining like a baby whose candy was stolen from them.

 

 She smiled at the silly act, earning that familiar toothy grin she has always loved.

 

 'Let's go then. I don't want you to get a cold too. Somi got almost everyone affected'

 

 'The girl is friendly with everyone. I wonder why Dani hasn't gotten it yet though'

 

 Nayoung didn't remember what happened afterwards.

 

 The only thing she remembered was that before they went into their perspective bed, Jieqiong suddenly turned around, leaning super close and catching her totally off guard.

 

 'Did you really mean I'm more than enough ?'

 

 She was flustered for a minute but replied right away, not wanting Jieqiong to misunderstand her actions.

 

 'Of course. Even I think I'm not good enough for you sometimes'

 

 That earned a frown, which made Nayoung mentally backtracked and scanned the sentence once again to see what was wrong.

 

 But before she got to see what it was, she felt Jieqiong's lips pressed on hers tightly before watching Jieqiong jumping into bed and disappeared into the thick blanket.

 

 She swore she heard Jieqiong saying something like 'That's for being stupid Nayoungie' but she wasn't so sure because all she heard right then was the beating of her heart and the sound of snoring from the other PLEDIS and Jellyfish girls.

 

 Nayoung had the best sleep that night, and a great morning the next day when she finally could claim her crush her girl.

 

 Nothing has changed.

 

 Jieqiong was still Jieqiong, the hyper active adorable beagle beauty of both I.O.I and PLEDIS Girlz.

 

 Nayoung was still Nayoung, the stoney lowkey affectionate leader of both I.O.I and PLEDIS Girlz.

 

 Nayoung continued her quest of watching Jieqiong, and wondered to herself why it never bored her like almost everything else in the world.

 

 She watched Jieqiong walking with pride with tears flowing down her face when she was announced 6th on Produce 101's final day.

 

 She watched Jieqiong happily hugging every other contestants who are genuinely happy for the 11 of them for their dream of debuting finally came true.

 

 She watched Jieqiong practicing hard for Dream Girls, for Crush, for Whatta Man, for Very Very Very, for literally every songs they are given.

 

 She watched Jieqiong preparing with great detail for her performances at PLEDIS Girlz concert, where they could finally reunite with their sisters once again.

 

 She watched Jieqiong rehearsing her expressions in front of the mirror only to later whined in embarrassment when finding out Nayoung was spying on her with an amused smile on her face.

 

 As a leader, she was never more happy when Jieqiong got along so well with everyone of I.O.I members.

 

 People told her she smiles a lot these days, and she noticed it herself too.

 

 She smiles when seeing Jieqiong eating dried sweet potatoes with Chungha as the older helps Jieqiong with her English pronunciation, not like she needed anymore lesson with her perfect accent, Nayoung secretly thinks. She loves how that angelic voice can make every single language sounds so freaking hot and that admiring look Jieqiong has everytime Chungha speaks English is priceless and adorable.

 

 She smiles when seeing Jieqiong goofing around with Sejeong, singing almost every songs in every tone possible. And she actually enjoyed their remake of 'Dream Girls' y version very much. How could she resist when Jieqiong kept doing that wink and that lip biting. Gosh her girlfriend is a tease. She loves that bright smile on Jieqiong's face whenever she talks about whatever mischief she and Sejeong did and it warms her up inside.

 

 She smiles when seeing Jieqiong playing Jenga with Chaeyeon, who Jieqiong used to dubbed as 'scary school sunbae'. The two got more comfortable as time goes by and Nayoung was sometimes jealous when fans kept shipping them together. But as if Jieqiong could read her mind, whenever that happened, Jieqiong just sprinted to her, hugged her like a koala and placed a soppy kiss on her cheek, occasionally earning gawking from the members around them. Chaeyeon is like a mom to everyone in the group, which is why Jieqiong looks at her like one. Nayoung loves that look too really, Jieqiong always says Chaeyeon makes her feel less homesick, as if her real mom was always here with her and for that, Nayoung is forever grateful.

 

 She smiles when seeing Jieqiong instructing Sohye the dancing moves just like back in Produce 101. The younger had improved so much and Jieqiong took pride in her teaching ability a lot, always bragging to her about how Sohye did this and that in just a span of minutes. She loves how those eyes twinkle with pride when talking about Kim Sohye.

 

 She smiles when seeing Jieqiong practicing her singing with Yeonjung, despite how many times Nayoung has told Jieqiong not to strain her vocal cords by practicing so much. But she can never complain whenever Jieqiong rushes to her and wants to sing her a song she just learned from Yeonjung. She loves it when those two just share impromptu singing sessions and her ears are blessed with angels singing.

 

 She smiles when seeing Jieqiong caring for the group's smol named Yoojung. From if the girl has gotten her share of lunch to the nights when Yoojung would sleepwalking and Jieqiong would personally take her back to her room. She loves the motherly look in Jieqiong's eyes whenever she looks at Yoojung and it sometimes makes her imagination runs wild. How would Jieqiong be as the mother of her child ? She slaps herself in the head several times for that.

 

 She smiles when seeing Jieqiong having fun with Mina. The two original members of Yellow Popcorn are always loud when they're beside each other. Jieqiong once asked Nayoung if she tends to treat Mina more like a child than the other younger squirts. She hummed for a while before nodding in agreement. Jieqiong to Mina was like Chaeyeon to the whole group. She would always care for the younger's meal, remind her about the cold weather and remember to put on warm clothes since they couldn't see each other so often. Yoojung and Mina in her imagination sometimes are their children with Jieqiong being the mom and she's the dad of this family. It didn't help how domestic the four of them tend to be when put together. Nayoung putting on the apron for Jieqiong when she cooks breakfast while Mina and Yoojung wait patiently at the table, joking like little children. Nayoung loves that warm affectionate look Jieqiong always has when talking about either of them.

 

 She smiles when seeing Jieqiong having candle talks with Doyeon. Doyeon was the type of kid that never show they are sad, that was what Jieqiong has in common. She has seen on several occasions that the two share secret conversation, and when in private, Jieqiong would tell her about how Doyeon always tries to put on a happy mask with a sympathetic and affectionate look in her eyes and it suddenly took her back to the images of a 13 year old Zhou Jieqiong. When she told her that, Jieqiong would just kissed her and hugged her without saying a word, but she knew, Jieqiong wanted to be there for Doyeon, to be someone Doyeon can comfortably vent to. She loves how Jieqiong cares for everyone like that. That was how she came to love Nayoung in the first place.

 

 And Somi, she couldn't remembered the last time she doesn't smile when seeing Jieqiong with Somi. They at one moment can be gabbling around like idiots and one moment later having small talks over a pot of ramen and mushy dramas playing in the background. Nayoung remembers seeing Jieqiong talking about how she felt homesick sometimes with Somi, which made Nayoung glad because Somi isn't called Vitamin for no reason. She knows how to cheer everyone up. And when the youngest fell ill or broke down like every teenager her age should be, Jieqiong would be the first one to rush over and take care of her. She loves how Somi always speaks of Jieqiong as the lovable caring unnie, the unnie she always wished she had because at home she was the eldest.

 

 In short, she just smiles wherever there is Jieqiong.

 

 Like when their hands are entangled behind the curtains.

 

 Or when their bodies are touching under the blankets.

 

 Jieqiong makes her smile, it is as simple as that.

 

 So she swears to herself, to forever protect that toothy grin and crescent eyes from everything bad in this world with her whole heart.

 

 Everything comes to an end, but she knows.

 

 Nayoung knows, her future with Jieqiong has just only began.