“Whatever your reasons are, what you did is not right. She’s your girlfriend, but that doesn't give you the right to do what you did, and she did not deserve to see that rudeness.” After noticing how Sinb restlessly tossed and turned in her bed, Eunha, who laid on the other top bunk decided to give her a piece of her mind.

Earlier that day while preparing to leave the apartment, Yerin and Sinb have been seen quietly discussing a presumably important matter that at times they isolated themselves from the rest of the group. On their way to a recording, it was noticeable that the couple were unusually silent. Eunha especially felt the unfamiliar air as she sat beside them in the last row, but she did not probe when she saw that they were still leaning against each other, hands locked and sharing the same earphones during the entire travel. For the others, they thought that the two sounded a bit off and too cautious hearing the brief conversations they had. Even Joon who refrained from prying into their chats sensed the same foreign guardedness of the two.

During the  two hour-long variety show filming, the couple sat side-by-side and expectedly interacted with their usual juvenile gaiety, laughing at each other’s goofiness and mistakes, but it was unmistakable that their meaningful glances were missing. It was Sinb who particularly evaded Yerin who kept on darting at her direction, patiently waiting for their eyes to meet. But once they accidentally did, the younger girl would cut the connection by promptly looking away. A few times, Sowon who sat on the other side stage gave Yerin a questioning look during the breaks of filming, but the girl casually dismissed her each time. On-cam, Yerin continued being cheerful and naturally disinhibited with making physical contact with her girlfriend who hesitated to respond to her every attempt. The keen Yewon has even signaled her fellow maknae to be mindful of her behavior during a few instances that their disconnection was becoming disturbingly apparent.

While exiting the building after the show , Sinb was strangely walking faster than everyone that even Yuna could not catch her. The maknae wanted to reach the van first knowing that Joon will be inside waiting. As soon as she boarded the service, she pulled the foreigner’s arm harshly out of Yerin’s seat in the front row and dragged her to the end to sit beside her. To her surprise, Joon yelped after she almost twisted her arm while attempting to maneuver quickly around the folded middle seat that served as a thick armrest. Eunha who ran behind Sinb was shaking her head as she entered the van after witnessing what her friend did. She settled in her seat and like Joon, she did not utter a word but an annoyed expression emerged from her face.

“Eonnie…” As soon as she got on the van, Yerin called out to Joon implying that the foreigner was in a wrong spot. But instead of receiving a response from her, it was Sinb who retorted.

“You have you own seat. Leave her alone!”

Having been yelled at by her girlfriend for the first time caused Yerin to be lost for words. Even Yuna who was completely unaware of what was going on could not help but feel woeful for her eonnie who sat dejected on her chair with tears already imminent. During instances like this, the members did not confront each other as they know the conversation could turn unpleasant especially if one of them is rash and short-fused. Sowon has always handled the situation when heated discussions arose, and so even Yewon who was close to the other maknae, did not attempt to sway her; she instead just threw her a displeased look before handing a box of tissue paper to the girl sitting in front of her.

The van was parked momentarily while waiting for the manager to finish a call. Yerin, after gathering enough courage to hold her tears back, released her seatbelt, stood and walked toward the van’s rear.

“Sinb-yah…” She was welling up again but she held it in. Instead of responding, the younger Eunbi put on her earphones and blasted the volume of her phone. When Joon was about to stand and give her seat to her, Sinb yanked her immediately back.

“Yah, don’t be like this…” Yerin pleaded the impassive girlfriend.

Yewon noticing the futility of her efforts, tugged Yerin's hand and motioned her to just return to her seat. “Just talk to her when we get home eonnie, when she’s calm and more respectful.”

Sowon did not comfort her roommate like she usually did. She was scolding her with her glances which made Yerin cry quietly even more. Before the proposal, Sowon and Yerin spoke about the possible complications of her and Sinb being together. And Yerin promised her that whatever the circumstances will be that their problems as a couple will not affect their group, at least during public appearances. This was the only condition that Sowon demanded before she fully conveyed her support of Yerin’s decision to pursue what she felt for the other member. True to her words, she upheld her vow, but she was far from being in control of Sinb’s actions.

The whole journey back to their apartment was emotionally dragging for all of the members that no one spoke a word. The manager who received a call was informed of a family emergency and so he had to drop himself off before the girls could go home and so Joon drove the van from the manager’s condo building.

In spite the absence of Joon between the two Eunbis seated at the back, Yerin did not pursue filling the void noting Yewon’s suggestion. But as they got out of the vehicle, Yerin waited for her girlfriend to alight. She approached her cautiously and offered to carry her bag that was unusually heavy that day, but she was blatantly ignored. They were silent while in the elevator, but as soon as they entered the apartment, unable to even remove her shoes, Yerin ran to latch on Sinb’s arm who was already approaching the door of their room.

“How dare you touch me!” The girl removed her hand brazenly and slammed the door close behind her.

Yerin turned around and found Sowon who rushed toward her with her arms finally ready to comfort her. But the hug did not last long as she sprinted to enter their room to hide from the other members who are already affected by her deplorable condition.

“Do you want to talk to her?”

“Only if she’ll approach me, but I don’t want to meddle.” Joon responded to Sowon.

“No, I mean Sinb.”

“Yeah, I also meant her.” She pointed at the maknaes’ room. “Yerin does not need any advice, she needs comfort.”

“Omo! Did you scratch yourself?” Sowon saw the abrasion on the foreigner’s right forearm.

“Just from the bags I was carrying earlier.”

Eunha glanced at Joon who she knew was being dishonest. She saw that when Sinb pulled her down to be seated, she accidentally scraped her with her nail while gripping on her arm too tightly. “You know where the medicine box is eonnie.”

“I’ll talk to Eunbi-eonnie.”

“No Yewon-ah, I’ll do it.” Eunha denounced.

“I need to rest now. I hope she didn’t lock the door.”

“I’ll break it open if she did, Yuna-yah.” Demonstrating an intentionally flimsy karate kick, Joon’s remark made the girls smile in spite the pensive atmosphere that overcame their home.

---

“Are you happy that you slammed the door at her? Did it make you feel better? Did you have to be hard on her?” Eunha persisted talking to the girl who kept her back at her.

“But you don’t understand eonnie!” Her tone did not reflect guilt but it sure implied that Sinb felt the weight of their impending conversation.

“Then make me. So I don’t judge you by your mere actions.”

“I was hurt that’s why I’m like this to her.”

“Like what to her? Callous and homicidal??”

The rarely sarcastic Eunha’s reply caused the other girl to turn around. “No. It’s just that I had to release the pain, it became anger when it came out.”

“The other day when she got jealous of your friend and you were trying to appease her, she was also hurt. But I saw how she struggled to not injure you with her words, more so with her actions. Even when she removed your hand, she gently did it. You know how difficult that is for someone who is hurting?”

“But that’s a different situation!” Suddenly irritated by the older Eunbi’s rhetoric, “I don’t like Eunseo, and I never did. But Yerin-eonnie…” She slowed down with her speech contemplating if she will confess the cause of her berserk episode or not.

“What? Yerin-eonnie liked the guest host in the show?! That’s it?? That’s your reason for going ballistic on everyone?” Eunha’s sweet tone has completely vanished and even Yewon who laid quietly below her was disconcerted by the shift in the girl’s disposition. Countless times she wore her earphones to block the sound of their voices but only to remove them to ease her anxiety over the conversation that she initially offered to initiate.

“It’s not just that!” Sinb was struggling to vindicate herself, her reasons and the consequent behavior she displayed. “We’ve already talked about it, but she didn’t stick to what we agreed on.”

“I’m not getting it.”

---

Earlier that day, while everyone was trotting from corner to corner in the apartment preparing for the scheduled recording, Sinb sat across Yerin whose legs were propped up the wooden chair while lazily eating a hard-boiled egg.

“Yerin-ah…”

“Yes? Is my Sinb hungry? Do you want me to cook for you?” Eager to respond immediately, bits of the powdery yolk spewed out to the corner of her lips.

“No, I’m okay, I already ate.” She wiped the food off the girl’s lips with her thumb. “I told you to be careful when eating.”

Careful not to spill the egg again, she swallowed everything and drank before responding. “I’m sorry, I got excited when I saw you.” She blushed to her own sweet talk, which made the other girl smile but rather feebly.

“Hmm… Did you… receive manager’s text… about the show?” Irresolute about asking the question, Sinb sounded stuttering as she unnecessarily broke her sentence down into sections.

“No. That reminds me, I left my phone in the bathroom.” Sensing the downbeat air in Sinb’s words, she did not attempt to retrieve the neglected gadget. She threw out the remaining piece of the egg and her girlfriend’s arm. “Is there something wrong?”

“No, nothing.” She kept her head low and drew circles on the table with her finger.

Knowing that nothing meant ten thousand possibilities of something, “Wait, let me just get my phone.” Before she could walk to the bathroom, Sinb took out her phone and gave it to her.

“Just read it from mine, it’s a group text anyway.” The sense of urgency made Yerin worried more than intrigued about the message.

“What is this? He sent us the outline of the broadcast?”

“Yes, he did.” Sinb kept her eyes on the helpless table.

“We already know the flow of the show; we’ve seen it countless times. Sinb-yah…” She held her hand again. “Are you suddenly worried about it? I know you’ll be okay, there’s nothing you’re not capable of doing. When you don’t know what to do anymore, just laugh it out.” She smiled and squeezed the girl’s flaccid hand tighter.

“If only laughing it out could solve everything.” She uttered intentionally half-inaudible for Yerin to understand.

“Sinb-yah? Are we still talking about the show?” Yerin was already struck with confusion and uneasiness with the mumbling girl across her.

“At the last part of the outline.”

“What’s in there?” She squinted at the picture attachment again. “Let me see. The production staff… the sponsors… the guests… the… hosts.” She finally understood the conspicuous oddity in her lover’s behavior.

Sinb slowly withdrew her hand from Yerin’s snug grip.

Before she could speak again, she waited for Yuna to finish refilling her water bottle at the dispenser.

“Are you worried about him?”

“You really liked him. If not only for our company taking our phones from us, you might have kept your communication with him and ended up together.”

“That was before. I was still young then. I’m surprised you still remember. I don’t even remember him being a host there.”

“No, he’s a guest host. One of the hosts is on vacation, I guess.”

“Ahhh… Hmm… From the looks of it, it bothers you so much that he’ll be there.” Yerin glanced at Joon who was reading by the end of the living room near the windows, checking if she was listening to them or even wearing her ring around the correct finger. Unable to figure out, she refocused her attention to the seemingly jealous young girl.

“Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on what will happen later. I know many times when our schedules coincided with his, he attempted to get your number but you just didn’t have one. But now you do.”

“I have the choice to not give it to him. It’s my number anyway. Or I can give yours instead.” She tried to uplift the mood but Sinb did not budge.

“I also saw how you enjoyed talking to him when he cornered you in the corridors before or after our stages. If I didn’t live with you for the past few years, I would have assumed that you were secretly dating.”

“If you stick with me and hold me close, I’m sure he won’t be able to come near me.” She smiled while lifting the girl’s face, but Sinb was far from yielding to a pillow talk.

“I’m serious.”

“I know.”

“You have a-”

They were interrupted by Sowon who reminded everyone of the time. Yerin pulled Sinb to join her in their room; and as they walked, she glanced at Joon who was quick to understand that she wanted her to prevent Sowon from following them inside.

“What were you about to say earlier?” She led Sinb to sit on Sowon’s bed.

“I was going to say, you have a huge crush on him. You just stopped talking about it after-”

“-we became a couple. That’s why you don’t need to worry. See that…” She pointed at the ring around Sinb’s finger. “I only have one heart and you have it. It might be true that I had a crush on him before, but that’s incomparable to the emotions I had for you then, and more so now.”

“It doesn’t make the situation any better when I remember how you behaved around each other.”

“Hey, look at me.” She lifted Sinb’s head with her two hands but the girl’s stare remained riveted on the mattress. “That was before us, when my heart and mind were still all over the place.” Yerin ditched her attempt to candy-coat the evolving discourse. “That was when I was testing myself if I was just infatuated with you. And apparently, I am not; and here I am explaining my stupid choices from way back.”

“It’s okay. I’m just telling you how I feel now when I’m reminded by it.” Her face was neutral as she swiveled the ring on her finger.

“I appreciate you coming to me to tell me how you felt about it. Did you feel this way too before?” There was a hint of teasing in her tone.

“Hmmm…” A thin shy smile appeared. “Of course. But not as bad as how I feel now.”

“You’re cute, you know that?”

“Yeah I know.” They both laughed at her abrupt dauntless response.

“We better prepare, before Sowon-eonnie scolds us.” In spite the laughter suddenly breaking out, the uneasiness of the atmosphere endured. “Hey…”

“Hmm?” Finally meeting Yerin’s eyes.

“I love you.”

“You better behave later, Yerin-ah.”

“You’re supposed to say ‘I love you too’, not behave Yerin-ah.” The older girl frowned and pushed Sinb playfully.

“Nado saranghae…”

“Today, you wear the ring. Every time you feel jealous, that will be your reminder that my heart, and everything it pumps blood to, belongs to you.” As part of their rather feeble attempt to conceal their relationship from extremely perceptive fans, they alternated wearing their rings when expected to be seen in public. They might have been rumored, and for most fans, assumed to be together, they did not desire to confirm it in any way.

-----

“So why did you say she didn’t stick to what you spoke about?” Eunha asked after listening to Sinb’s quick recapitulation of the morning’s encounter.

“Eunbi-eonnie, you were there too in the show. You saw how she was when that prickly oppa started flirting with her. She flirted back!”

“But you know that’s how it is during shows. Especially that people know her for her personality. She couldn’t just ignore the hosts, it might make viewers react negatively.”

“Oh I bet she could have just ignored him and everything will be fine with the what? Three people watching the show? I don’t even know why we guested there!” The younger girl started to displace her irritation to the show.

“Did you happen to flush your manners in the toilet?! I will get mad if you don’t stop talking the way you do.” Eunha’s demeanor was far from the adorable girl that she normally is, this silenced Sinb briefly. It was seldom that she acted as an older sister to her members since Sowon alone was enough to embody and take on the weight of the position. But when she did, her words bolted in their memory.

“I told her to behave. If any of the audience knew that we were together, they might have thought that with the way she was, blushing, giggling and all, that we’ve already broken up!”

“You’re overreacting. All she did was talk to him casually when she was being interviewed.” Eunha tried to shun Sinb’s contorted assumptions.

“You wouldn’t have seen how she really was because you sat on the other side. But I saw everything, I was beside her.”

“Please lower your voice Sinb-yah, I’m wearing my earphones yet I can still hear your juvenile hysteria.” The three other girls knew that Yuna was certainly not sleep-talking at that moment.

“Tsss.” Sinb sighed and went back to her exposition. “She couldn’t even look at his eyes. You know what that means!”

“Maybe she didn’t want to look at his eyes, not that she couldn’t.” Yewon did not restrain herself anymore from joining the dialogue.

“I’m not talking to you, smarty-pants.”

“I am not joking Hwang Eunbi, another disrespectful word and you’ll be dead peeing in your pajamas. Let her talk! She was the one who really wanted to confront you.”

“It’s okay eonnie, I’m smart enough to know when to absorb her words.” Yewon quipped.

“I’m trying to tell what happened here, because I saw it with me eyes.”

“Yah! Let’s say all your assumptions were right, not that I’m convinced because I will never be, did you have to be that heartless to hurt her?”

“Eonnie, how many years have you been keeping your love for Yerin-eonnie? Three? Four? I saw how you’ve grown to like her. I still remember the way you looked at her when we lingered in subway stations or when we sidetracked to eat in the streets from school. And now that you have her and she’s crazy about you, this is what you want to do?”

“From my view earlier, she’s crazy, yeah. But about someone else.” Sinb was not quick to surrender to the maknae’s counter that aimed to appeal to her emotions.

“Don’t fool yourself Eunbi-yah. What you’re doing right now is just poisoning yourself until you become convinced that your delusional thoughts are true.”

“You’re childish.” Yuna blurted in between her snoring. Only Yewon erupted into a chuckle.

“I’ve never seen you become violent like that. You yelled, slammed the door, pulled Joon-eonnie like she was your rag doll, did you even notice that you scratched her?”

“I didn’t, I’ll apologize to her tomorrow.” Sinb said without a hint of remorse.

“You are lucky, even though Yerin-eonnie is quite an emotional person, she is not hard to handle. She is very understanding and mature. She didn’t do anything wrong but she kept on apologizing. I’m not her girlfriend but it breaks my heart hearing her sobbing in the other room.”

“She can cry all she wants. She can even cry to that oppa, especially now that they have each other’s numbers. Even when she said she won’t give it, I overheard him brag about it to the other hosts.”

“Ahhh… Is that why she gave him my number?? Here!” Eunha threw the phone onto the other bed almost hitting Sinb’s face. “Read it.”

“What?”

“That’s the text from the oppa you’ve been jealous of. He doesn’t even know he got the wrong number. And I tried showing that to Yerin-eonnie earlier but she didn’t even care to look and asked me to just block it.”

Sinb did not respond while rereading the obscure intent of the text message.

“When he was asking for her number, Yerin-eonnie kept on whispering asking for my phone, it was obvious that she did not want to take hers out.”

“Maybe she was afraid of that oppa dialing your number and her phone doesn’t ring.” Yewon hypothesized.

“Oh I didn’t think of that. Maybe that’s why.”

“I’m sure that’s why, because many times when she did that, giving a fake number, and they tried calling it; her idle phone in her hand exposed her deception.” The witty maknae added.

“When I gave her my phone, she called Joon-eonnie who miraculously appeared behind us and she just took us out of the set. I thought she was going to tell us something, but she left as soon as we got out.”

Only Sinb’s breathing could be heard from the other bed.

“Eonnie, where were you after the filming?”

“Just outside the set.” Sinb tried to cough out the heaviness that was building inside her chest.

“Yerin-eonnie was dead-tired looking for you all over the place. That oppa was following her around and then she went to me. I didn’t understand why she told me to stay close to her and pretend that I wanted to take her somewhere. She went to Eunha-eonnie after, maybe because I didn’t do anything, but that’s because I could hardly understand her, but now it’s clear to me what she was trying to do.”

“Now how’s that for flirting? You’re just kidding yourself Eunbi-yah.”

“Eonnie, you’re not just torturing her, you’re also tormenting yourself with your unfounded suppositions.”

“And your childishness is putting your relationship in a shaky plate. Do you know that I envy you? Eunbi-yah, I’ve known you the longest compared to the other members, but when she talks about you, it makes me feel that she knows you better a hundredfold. And I wish someone would be like that to me, knowing my every detail.”

“I can attest to that. Yerin-eonnie might have had trouble handling the situation earlier because all eyes were on her, but deep inside her, I know she would have done everything to prevent you from hurting, if only she could.”

“Isn’t it that one of the reasons why you wanted to just forget your feelings for her was because of the problems that could arise from the two of you being idols? So, you knew from the start that it would be difficult.”

Sinb remained mum staring at Eunha's phone that was already off.

“But remind yourself again, eonnie, why did you change your mind and wanted to propose to her? Was it not because you couldn’t imagine her being with someone else?” Yewon was back to her familiar approach- emotional assault.

“And now you have her heart.”

The moment she heard Eunha’s words, Sinb hastily got down the top bunk, shaking the bed and almost jumping out. She the lights that blinded her companions and darted to her drawers, closets, laundry hamper and accessory box. She was in panic that she did not reply to Yewon who kept on asking what was wrong. After scampering every visible inch of the room, she forcefully opened the door but she stumbled onto Joon who was standing motionless in front of her.

“Don’t you think Yerin’s heart is too precious to just be left in the van’s cup holder?” The foreigner looked at her with eyes b with disappointment. She took the girl’s trembling hand and laid the deserted ring with the glittering yellow stone facing her. Sinb just held the ring firmly in her fist and couldn’t say a word. “I did not tell her. She doesn’t have to know.” Joon turned around not waiting for the girl’s response.

Sinb ran back to her bed crying still absorbed in her short-lived panic. She opened her hand and stared blankly at the ring, her shoulders slumped and breathing became labored. After a few seconds, the ring has become drenched in her tears. She wore it carefully like the poor thing was so delicate it would crumble to her grip. She snatched a pillow after to cover her face and hugged it as if it was a human. Even Eunha couldn’t manage to keep a straight face witnessing how the younger friend was devastated by the possibility of losing the ring that was symbolic of her girlfriend’s heart.

“That’s not even a percent of the pain you’ll feel if you lose the actual person.”

“I’m so-rry, eon-nie…” She was sniffing and choking in between her apology.

“You better fix what you messed up, eonnie.”

“You better stop crying. It’s bad enough that Yerin-eonnie’s eyes will be swollen tomorrow. People will be suspicious if they also see you in the same condition.”

"I'll go to her now." Sinb was about to go down when they heard the front door shut.

"I think they just left." Yewon said after peeking through the door.

<<<

“It's been two hours. Stop crying. Yerin-ah, the photo shoot is in the morning. You don’t want manager to freak out again.”

“Eo-nnie… I’m try-ing.” She spoke breathless in between sobs.

“Yah! Yah!” The tall lady was being stubborn with being passive about comforting her since she knows that the more she tenderly consoles her, the greater the monsoon of tears. “Come on, let’s go somewhere for fresh air.” Knowing this was the only thing that could force the other girl to stop her whining, she proposed that they step out of the apartment in spite her exhaustion.

“Just the two of us?” She mumbled while blowing her nose onto a tissue paper.

“Of course… Not. As if Joonie will let me out of her sight?”

“You make it sound like she’s head over heels for you.” Yerin snickered briefly to Sowon’s overconfident insinuation.

“For all we know, she might even be jealous. That WGM stint is getting the odds in my favor.”

“Delusional.”

“Come on. Up! Before you soak my bed sheet with you snot and tears.”

Once changed, the two girls rushed out of the room and pulled Joon out of her solitary repose.

“Wait. Wait, my jacket. Where are we going??”

“Anywhere to distract this duck.”

“We really don’t have to go anywhere. I can handle it.”

“Your swollen face says otherwise.” Joon commented. “Okay, I know a place.”

“Wow, you sounded like a native! Knowing where to go and all.” Sowon jested in Korean. It was quickly translated by Yerin, afraid that the foreigner would suddenly reply, which already happened a few times.

“I roam around sometimes.” She glanced at Yerin who knew exactly what she meant. “It’s just three blocks away so my knowledge wouldn’t pass as being that of a native’s.”

Suddenly unable to follow through Joon’s fast English, “Let’s go before she starts crying again.”

True enough, the tea house Joon was pertaining to was five minutes away from the apartment. It was half modern and half oriental but the most important part was that it was nearly empty. Clad in typical idol disguise attire, which actually just makes them more noticeable if not suspicious, they walked in comfortably and settled in a concealed corner. The two younger girls sat beside each other and the foreigner situated across them.

“Is there a tea that can help with puffy eyes and a broken heart?” Joon jokingly asked the tea house crew. She received a thump from Yerin from underneath the table. “Ouch! Urgh… I mean a calming tea?” The lady who was holding an order paper was just nodding through the two questions which made Joon puzzled but she did not inquire further.

“Just give us the Jasmine green please. Thank you.” The lady nodded even more but became speechless after recognizing the two customers.

“How do you feel? I’m really angry right now but I know it shouldn’t be with you.” Sowon started. She spoke in mixed Korean and English being considerate of the foreigner they dragged to join them.

“In the end it’s my fault. I wanted this even after we’ve talked about the countless negative effects. This is just one of them, and look at what happened?” Yerin spoke softly as she looked around making sure no one was close enough to be eavesdropping. “My selfishness is affecting everyone again.”

“Don’t say that. Remember, if you didn’t do it, Sinb would have proposed to you anyway. You both wanted it and everyone is supporting you. But that’s not what I asked you.”

“Sowon-ssi is just asking you how you feel right now, not how you feel about you and Sinb being together.” Joon clarified.

“Sowon-ssi?! Do I need to see a snake again before you call me Sowon-ah??” The taller girl retaliated.

“Aish… Sowon-ah. Sowon-ah.”

“I think you’ll be a worse couple than Sinb and I.” A teary eye smile formed on her face. “I obviously don’t feel okay. When she slammed the door at me, I thought I was just dreaming.”

“If someone did that to me, that will be the end of it.” Sowon was looking at Joon who started reading through her tablet again.

“Isn’t that rather dramatic?” She answered without taking her eyes off the investigation notes.

“But no one deserves that. Especially from the person you… love.” She looked around too before uttering the last word.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. I know I didn’t. But it might have hurt her when I went with the flow.” Tears started flowing. “But what can I do? It was uncomfortable when they were teasing us, aside from the times when he kept on putting his arm around my shoulders-

“- holding your hand unnecessarily-”

“Yes.”

“- and patting your head.” Joon added while busily tinkering with her gadget.

“Yes, and that too. But I cannot just be stoic there or show that I’m upset.”

“I didn’t see anything wrong either. But to be honest, it seemed that you were blushing. I saw Sinb’s reaction that’s why I looked at you and you were red.”

“I might have. But if-” She paused while waiting for the lady to be done serving them tea. “-but if five people are teasing you and everyone in the set is laughing at you, you would turn red. How can someone not react to that?”

“You have a point. I would have turned red too. I wish she knew what happened after the show when oppa kept following you. That was a bit creepy by the way.”

“Yeah that’s why I kept calling this eonnie who’s so busy with her tablet.”

“I’m sorry, I just need to finish reading something. Studying.” Joon hinted to Yerin before answering a phone call.

“But I realized I should have handled the situation better. That was why I kept on approaching Sinb to apologize, but she shut me off. But now that we’re talking, I feel sad for myself for being treated that way.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong Yerin-ah. She’ll realize soon so stop the whining.”

“It doesn’t feel right but I’ll stop apologizing. I don’t deserve her anger.”

“Yeah, show her who’s-”

“We better go.” Joon couldn’t wait another second and stood up. Only Yerin understood the sudden urgency in the foreigner’s words. They watched her dash to the counter and paid cash without waiting for a receipt or change while the two donned their coats quickly.

“Yerin-ah, what happened?”

“I don’t know.” Yerin answered while hastily wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Maybe it was manager who called. Let’s just hurry up.”

“You both sit in the farthest end van.” Joon slid the van door open for them.

“Eonnie…” Yerin’s tone was of asking for an explanation.

“Not now.”

SEC02 to JN: Unidentified male. Apartment floor.

JN to SEC02: Secure Lockdown.

 “Eonnie, the neighbor called! She said there is a man going back and forth our door. I’m scared. I didn’t tell the others. Should I call 112?” Yewon was on the other line panicking.

“No. We’re coming. Don’t open the door.” Joon answered calmly enclosing to the mic with her hand. "Give me two minutes, Yewon-ah."

“Eonnie, please hurry.”

Author's Note: I'm low-key screaming watching Umji in this comeback. Yewon in ponytail is the death of all haters. Hahaha!