Day 10 - Saturday

"What are you doing here?" Chaeyoung asked as she leaned on the doorway, not even bothering to hide her irritation at the sudden visit.

"We're hanging out here after lunch, remember?" Jeongyeon answered, smiling brightly as the sun.

"After lunch", the smaller girl repeated. "It's freakin nine in the morning."

The Such A Small World We Live In moment discovery last night immensely troubled Jeongyeon. At one point, she panicked. Someone whom she just met a week ago had invaded her space. Legally. Well, technically she's the one who moved into Sana's life but in her defence, Sana talked to her first. Then at one point, she was ecstatic. A Friendly Girl Next Door setting. She thought of getting chummy with Sana that would eventually turn into a friend with Problems-Solved-with-just-a-Knock-Away kind of relationship. She's not replacing her old friends, but getting a new one isn't so bad.

But then it got her thinking again when the word friend came up. What kind of situation forced Sana to make such a decision about either sticking with her old friends or making new ones?

She couldn't take a chance bumping into Sana today as she might make a rash decision and question her past. So she decided to leave as soon as she woke up, thus ended up in Chaeyoung's place hours earlier than planned with nothing but her knee ripped jeans and plain white shirt.

"Ah~!" A refreshed sigh escaped Jeongyeon after taking a gulp of orange juice that Chaeyoung offered. "It feels great to drink fresh fruit juice in the morning."

"You still haven't answered my question." Chaeyoung stated as she sat on her black leather couch, lifting both her feet on top of her coffee table.

"I did." The older girl argued, sitting on the other side of the couch and mimics the owner, placing both of her feet on the table. "I lost track of time."

"That was obviously fake. Try again."

Jeongyeon sighs in mock frustration. "I wanted to play with you earlier so that we won't bore Nayeon and Jihyo later."

"Better." Chaeyoung crossed her arms, liking the older girl's answer. "But I still don't believe you. Next excuse."

"What makes you think that was an excuse?" Jeongyeon glares.

"Because I grew up with you and you mostly haven't changed." Chaeyoung confidently answered. "Besides, you love it when we disgust them with our hobbies."

"Fine. I just missed you so much I wanted to hangout as much as I can." Jeongyeon answered again, avoiding eye contact due to her embarrassing excuse.

Chaeyoung leans forward and studies her guest's facial features and body language carefully, letting the ticking sounds of her wall clock echo within the living room.

"I believe you." Chaeyoung said, leaning back on her most comforting corner of the couch.

Got you, Jeongyeon mentally cheered.

"But I still don't believe that's the real answer to my question." Chaeyoung smirks to irritate Jeongyeon as she takes a sip from her tea.

"Sana lives across my apartment and I'm avoiding her." Jeongyeon finally admits.

"And you're avoiding her because...?"

"That's it?" Jeongyeon expected loads of teasing from her foul mouthed friend or some sort of shocked reaction.

"What? I have no idea what's wrong about that. I've only heard you say her name one other time back in school."

She's right. Jeongyeon forgot that they have no idea the two of them are friends yet.

"Did you do something that you have to avoid her?"

"No." Jeongyeon had no idea, actually. She then just realized that maybe it's just simple awkwardness that compelled her to do so.

"Then what is it?"

"It's just... awkward, I guess?" Jeongyeon shrugs.

Not noticing her own excitement, she tells a quick summary how, since she and Sana live next to each other, the possibility is huge that they'll become friends in no time.

"Ew..." Chaeyoung grimaces. "You're being all cute and girly. Time for a bloody Mortal Kombat match."

Jeongyeon punches the other girl in the shoulder as she fetches the controllers from across the room.

"By the way, do you know someone named Tzuyu?"

"I sit next to her." Chaeyoung answers after pressing the power button. "I don't talk to her though. Why?"

"She's friends with Sana. Maybe you could befriend her and our two groups could hangout."

"That's gonna be hard." Chaeyoung replies, plopping back on the couch. "Nobody really talks to her or their group."

So they are really being shunned.

"They're being bullied?"

"Not really." Chaeyoung hands a controller to Jeongyeon. "They just stick to their own. I wasn't in highschool yet when they became isolated so you should ask Nayeon or Jihyo about it.

"So you're not going to talk to Tzuyu?"

"I said it was going to be hard. I didn't say no. She's the silent type. And when I say silent it's like she's mute or something." Chaeyoung starts the Versus Mode. "I don't really talk to others too either besides you three so it's not a bad idea."

"Thanks Chae," Jeongyeon said with a bright smile, "but I should apologize in advance."

"What for?"

"For shattering your pride when my Sub Zero murders your Scorpion."

"Oh it's on!"

"So, Jeongie," Nayeon asks while chewing her slice of pizza, "did you meet anyone special when you were Busan?"

Nayeon arrived at around 1pm carrying three boxes of pizza and two dozen chicken wings for lunch. Jihyo arrived shortly after with three 1.5-liters of various sodas. The both of them begged the short haired girls to stop playing video games, which the two were reluctant to agree with their score being 17-19 in Jeongyeon's favor, and start a movie instead.

Nayeon sat at one end of the couch while Jeongyeon took the other end. Jihyo found herself settled at the maroon padded recliner on the couch's left that is angled towards the center coffee table. Chaeyoung sat on the floor, elbows resting on the coffee table, munching on her wings with her back turned against the television that is currently playing 500 Days of Summer.

"Nah," Jeongyeon waves her hands in dismissal. "I didn't have thoughts of things like that before."

"Before?" Chaeyoung chimes in. "So you do now?"

"Just thoughts. It is my last year before college after all."

"Oh~," Nayeon lingers. "Is it someone from our class?"

"Just thoughts about it, Nayeon." Jeongyeon glares. "I don't have a crush on someone if that's what you're implying. What about you and that girl you were talking about?"

"Jennie?" Jihyo answers for Nayeon. "She's just a phase. Nayeon doesn't stick to anyone that long."

"How can you say that!?" Nayeon elbows Jihyo playfully.

"Tell me I'm lying then." Jihyo challenges the eldest, smiling confidently. "You have never gone past three months with anyone yet."

Nayeon covers her heart dramatically, delaying while she thinks of a comeback. But she couldn't think of any.

"So my best friend is a player now." Jeongyeon guesses, smirking awkwardly. She isn't used to these kinds of topics yet especially with the girl she grew up with. It felt strange that Nayeon changed dramatically without her witnessing it.

"I am not!" Nayeon defends, launching a kick at Jeongyeon's hips. "I just haven't found the right one."

"Ow!" Jeongyeon rubs her side. "No need to be violent."

"But it's alright to be violent if it's Chaeyoung?" For a moment, Nayeon let out a tone of jealousy that Jeongyeon noticed.

"She's a hobbit. She's harmless."

"Hey!" Chaeyoung whines. "You attacked my height and my strength out of nowhere! I'm just eating here."

"Ah! I'm sorry Chae!" Jeongyeon puts on a worried face. "Please. Don't mind us and continue eating so that you may continue to grow taller and dazzle us with your might in the near future!"

"You're an , you know that?" No matter how hard Chaeyoung tried to hide it, the corner of her lip rose and a dimple surfaced at Jeongyeon's sarcastic remark.

"It seriously amazes me that you two failed to mature the slightest bit." Jihyo interrupts happily, clapping repeatedly.

"Ouch!" Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung react at the same time.

Nayeon releases her high pitched laugh at the two's reaction that everyone is sure it can be heard outside the house. "We can never really win against our Goddess Jihyo."

Who the hell can?

Hours went and passed. Lunch finished hours ago. And dinner ended as well with their assorted Chinese delivery. Four more movies were played after 500 Days of Summer but none of them really watched. Just background dialogues while the four talk about random topics.

Sometime around after dinner, Chaeyoung brought out three different brands of vodka from her hidden stash which Jeongyeon questioned the point of having a hidden stash at all.

"I'm underage. Cops might come for me."

"So you're hiding them from cops that have no reason to raid this place?" Jeongyeon raises an eyebrow. "It's more believable if you had told me you're hiding them from your mom."

"She's the one who gave me these, actually." Chaeyoung proudly confessed, grinning with her deep dimples. "Said that it's part of growing up and better if she knew instead of going behind her back."

"What the ?" Jeongyeon laughs like and idiot at the logic.

There are times that Jeongyeon envies Chaeyoung's carefree mom. The youngest girl had little to none rules that bind her. Total freedom one might say. But at the cost of rarely seeing your only parent satiates that jealousy. She would rather have her parents around and live with normal parenting limitations. But ironically, she did leave them to live on her own now. The difference is, hers are still within the country. So in a way, she has both freedom and her parents in reach.

"Come on!" Nayeon shouts, passing the brim filled shot glasses to the others. "Let's start this reunion party already!"

"To Jeongyeon's return!" Jihyo announces, competing with Nayeon's volume as she raises her glass to initiate a toast. The other three raised theirs as well and clink them together in the air, spilling a few drops on the wooden surface before downing the alcohol in unison.

This went on for three more rounds within ten minutes as Nayeon reasoned she wants to reach a decent buzz level instantaneously. She actually wanted to go for a fifth round but Jihyo took control of the situation before someone gets drunk just as the party started and blasted music from Chaeyoung's speakers instead.

Nayeon didn't complain though. In fact, She stood up on the couch as soon as Jihyo pressed the play button and started jumping repeatedly, waving an arm in the air.

"Careful!" Jihyo instinctively warns.

Chaeyoung stands up as well and starts spinning in place, arms flailing without pattern in her short perimeter. She bumps the coffee table, almost falling on it but ignored it, continuing to spin and flail mindlessly.

Jihyo gave up caring for the moment as she as well started looking dumb, speed walking around the living room with arms popping upwards and head side banging alternately. Jeongyeon mentally compared her with a lizard running in water.

"Come on!" The eldest of the group hopped onto the empty seat between her and Jeongyeon and grabbed the latter's arms, prompting her to get up and dance as well.

"It's okay. I'm not good at dancing." Jeongyeon leans back into her corner of the couch, shyly rejecting Nayeon's demand.

"Are you blind?" Nayeon points to the couple idiots spinning and running around the living room. "You can't be that bad." Nayeon attempts to pull Jeongyeon up a second time. She didn't need a third.

The returnee stood erect all of a sudden. It seemed like she was only being shy for a second out of humbleness but is the most excited to dance deep down.

Nayeon grins at her successful persuasion only to be dismayed as she witnesses how Jeongyeon dances. For some bizarre reason, she actually combined the other two's dance, running around the room with Jihyo, flailing her arms like a tornado. She bumped into Jihyo within ten seconds and fell flat against the floor, laughing hysterically the momentary pain off.

"I take back what I said." Nayeon mutters under her breath.

Becoming serious all of a sudden, Chaeyoung stopped whatever childish act she was doing and actually followed the beat of the music. Combining a mixture of arm and shoulder popping with upper body krumping, she actually looked pretty badass which earned applause from Jeongyeon. Jihyo stood beside Chaeyoung a few torso pops later, synchronizing her popping act with her own puppet isolation gimmick.

Nayeon helped Jeongyeon up on her feet and took both her hands, pumping them repeatedly