“You guys took your time,” Yoona said before waggling her eyebrows.

“Yoongie~,” Jessica hugged the second maknae a bit too tightly. She wanted to get her for her teasing, and it was a long time since the two had met in person.

“Unnie, let go! You’ll wrinkle my clothes!” Yoona’s struggling failed to get her out of Jessica’s strong grip.

Yuri stood by, quietly laughing as Jessica continued to bully Yoona. She heard more of the girls walk into the room and something dawned on her. It wasn’t just the first time she would see the others since Taeyeon’s birthday party, but it was also the first time all of them had seen Jessica in weeks.

Yuri flashbacked to her moment of weakness after Tiffany’s surprise engagement announcement. Then, she remembered that only Yoona knew what really happened that night. She had to keep up with the lie she told on why she left the party.

“So, she appears, Kwon Yuri,” Sooyoung said, resting her arm on Yuri’s shoulder.

“Yoona told you, didn’t she?”

“Yep.”

Yuri sighed. She should have seen that coming. “Please tell me no one else knows.”

“Nope, just me and Yoong,” Sooyoung said before forcing Yuri to look at her. “Are you okay?”

“Sooyoung, I’m fine, but can we not talk about this now?”

“Yuri!” Tiffany went up to Yuri with a worried expression. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you. How have you been?”

“W-What do you mean?” Yuri asked.

“You got sick at Taeyeon’s party, right? I was so worried when Yoona told me.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, I’m fine. No worries.” Yuri put on a bright smile and Tiffany seemed to be satisfied. The only thing worse than Tiffany finding out what really happened would be if…

“Yuri~, let’s go to our seats.” Jessica clung to Yuri’s arm.

“In a minute, okay? Sooyoung wanted to tell me something, didn’t she?” Yuri tried to mentally communicate an SOS to Sooyoung who was completely lost for a moment.

“Right, right! You don’t mind, right, Sica?” Sooyoung asked as she pulled Yuri away from Jessica’s grip before the oldest could say anything.

“That was… weird,” Jessica said.

“You can say that again,” Tiffany said.

Jessica and Tiffany looked at each other for a second too long before awkwardly going their separate ways. 

“It’s been a while since all nine of us were together, huh?” Sooyoung asked. She and Yuri stood near a corner where no one was too close by.

“I know. You should have seen how tight Sica was holding on to Yoona.” Yuri smiled just remembering it.

“She’ll probably get bruises,” Sooyoung joked.

“Probably.” Maybe things between the nine of them could go back to the way it used to be.

“How are you and Sica doing?”

“Good, and it’s going to stay that way. We’re in a good spot right now and nothing happened at that party.”

“Yuri…”

“Nothing, Choi Sooyoung.”

“If that’s what you want to do.”

Yuri nodded before looking over to find Jessica sitting in the stands. Jessica caught her eyes within a few seconds and smiled and waved. Yuri’s heart melted as she waved back. “I won’t hurt Jessica. I can’t.”

The recording went off without a hitch. Yuri and Jessica secretly flirted with each the whole time, linking their fingers together, tracing little hearts and stars on each other’s hands. Once, Yuri was tracing Jessica’s name on the latter’s thigh, and Jessica had to cover up her laugh by pretending to clear . Jessica had given her the cutest pout, and Yuri thought whatever trouble she had gotten herself into was worth it.

Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Seohyun, Sunny, and Taeyeon had to leave right after the recording finished. The other girls had a decent break before going off to their next job, and they were helping themselves to some refreshments.

Yuri was grateful Yoona was still there, or she would be stuck in the middle with Jessica and Tiffany and that could not end well. But then again, she wasn’t that helpful when she was stuffing her face like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.

“Yoona, slow down.” Jessica brushed crumbs off the maknae’s cheek. “Did you skip breakfast?”

Yoona held up a finger as she chewed her food. “I