((author's note)) At last! XD Thank you, Upvoters, I love you all ❤❤❤ Shout ouuut~

The people who kindly gives an appreciation for my story (11/30/2017):
gaara2001, PaypalSucks, SuperShannon, Myatthu, Random_Kpop_Lover, sugoimomoring, Jubgkookie, yooui9, oppalion, KwonEly, ALoneEXplorer

This story is special for you =3

I come into my room after taking a shower. Apparently, everyone is here. It's so fortunate that I've changed clothes in the bathroom. Phew!

"I present you: The rank 10th member!!!" the 'Fake Maknae' says while opening her hand toward me. It's followed by everyone's laugh.
"Ouch! Watch your hands," Our official leader says while rubbing her nose.
"Sorry....."

I sit on the floor beside my little Penguin.
"The 10th member?"
"No~ Not the 10th member. You rank 10th," Momo with her cute nasally voice corrects me.
"Really? Where?"
"You're rank 10th among us."
"Huh, why?"
"Forget it, forget it. Haeju doesn't understand it yet," Nayeon cuts.
"Ah, let it be," the 'No-Jam Hyung' suggests.
"Should we?"
"Aww... Why is Haeju ranks 10th~? Ottokeee~?" the 'Shiba Inu', who sits beside Jeongyeon on the bed, speaks.
"Do you want to take her place?" the tallest member challenges her.
"No......."
"Let Sana Unnie gets the rank 10th then!"
"Oh my Goood~ Sana Unnie ranks 10th? Tsk tsk... So bad," the 'Eagle Girl' teases her.
"Why meee~ I'm a nice giiiirl~"
"No, you're definitely not." That is Tzuyu's mumbling
"Dahyun, you rank 9th!" Sana yells.
Dahyun pretends to be shocked to hear that.

"Who does get the 9th rank last time by the way?" Jihyo asks.
"You!" Jeongyeon answers automatically.
"No, I was not...!"
"Hahaha... Wasn't it Nayeon?" the 'Tiger Cub' who's busy laugh from the beginning finally says something.
"You, Small! Call me by 'Unnie'!"
"Haha... Why? All of sudden..."

"What does this rank mean? It seems bad... Why do I rank 10th?" I ask them as I'm genuinely confused. They laugh at that.
"It's okay, Ju. Don't take it personally," Mina says while tapping my thigh,"This is just an old inside joke....."
"But it has to have a meaning, right?" I whisper back to her. Wait, maybe Mina wasn't whispering. Ah, she doesn't answer me anyway. No one does until they change the topic.

Ugh, what does this rank joke mean.....?

***

Sana and I are taking a break in a car when Tzuyu comes with a plastic bag in her hand.
"Ah, here you are!"
"Tzuyuuu~" Sana greets her. "What is that?"
She takes out an ice cream cup and gives it to me. "One for you....."
"Ooh, thanks!"
"Be careful with your outfit."
"Me, me!" Sana opens her hand, ready to get the ice cream too. "Na yanaaa~ Na yanaaaaa~"
"Ugh, old song!" Tzuyu takes out the last two cups from that bag and glares at Sana. "But I eat two......."
"Hmph!" Sana is sulking. Not for long tho. "Tzuyu, pretty, pretty~ The most beautiful girl I've ever meeeet~ Literally top 100 in the world~~~"
"Good enough," she smirks. Sana finally gets her ice cream. "Look at our maknae. So sweet to her Unnies. The best!"
"Of course. Because I love you."
"Aww~ I love--"
"...Just kidding. It's because Mina Unnie told me to share it with you two. This is her money."
Sana is stunned by hearing that. I crack.

"Oh, speaking about 'the best'. What does actually 'rank 10th' mean?" I ask as I suddenly remember Twice's inside joke that's told a few days ago.
Sana and Tzuyu look at each other.
"Don't think about it, Annie! It was just a joke~"
"Who is 'Annie'?" Tzuyu asks.
"But I want to know...." I say again. "There must be a meaning behind that, right? And why is it me?"
They look at each other again. Definitely thinking of something.
"How about this..... We--"
"Ask Once!" Sana exclaims.
"Huh?"
"There will be a fan-meeting tomorrow, right? Ask them!" Sana explains her idea while busy wiping ice cream off her face. "Wait... Why does this tissue taste like chocolate?"
"Hey, that's actually a good idea! Just ask Once, Unnie. They've been with Twice longer than you. Haha...."
"Why not you guys?"
"Guys, do you remember the drama--"
"Why???" I cut Sana who is (obviously) trying to change the topic. Like their mouths are zipped, both of them stop saying anything.
At one moment, Tzuyu puts her ice cream down and says calmly,"Please don't make it a big deal, Unnie...

...Believe me, you don't want to know why." 

***

I was thinking about it the whole night. I can't help but negative thinking about the joke. Do they hate me? Am I the least nice person for them? Or worse, do they think I'm the least pretty between them? Hahahaa..... I can't believe I laugh at my own joke.

.....But don't they dare to think like that!

Joke aside, as I'm in the fan-meeting right now, I'm really going to ask Once about it. I don't want to ask them personally while they're asking for a sign. It's their time to speak to me. I will ask them after that. To them in general.

In a right moment, I take the mic and walk to the front side of the stage. The other members are not focused on me. "Once, I wanna ask something."
"Yeeees?" they answer in harmony.
"Am I the in the 10th place among the members in Twice?"
"Yeeeees....." they answer it in harmony again.
"No, I mean... Not the '10th member' but 'rank 10th'. Do I rank 10th?"
"Yeeeees....." they answer it, still in harmony.
I take away the microphone from my mouth. "Huh???"
"Unnie, are you still using that?" Tzuyu asks, referring to the mic.
"No...." I mutter before she takes it from me. I'm so flustered right now.

I'm so flustered until we get back home.

***

One day, I'm picked up from my house to get back to the dorm as we have some next few hours. During the trip, I remember about that rank joke again. Our new manager, Rajesh Oppa, is the one who's driving. There's only him and me in the car so I ask him about it but has also no idea what it is.

"Maybe the senior managers know something," he says.
"Yeah...."
"By the way, we're gonna stop by to pick up another person. Is that okay?" he asks my permission.
"Sure, Oppa. Who?"
"It's Nayeon."
"Ohh...... The one who started the joke," I whisper to myself.

Nayeon's house looks so good from the outside. I hope I can visit one day but now, as we don't have much time, she enters the car right away. After a little chit-chat, I take my courage to ask that question.

"Wow, do you really still think about that?" she looks surprised.
"It's still bothering me. I don't wanna be the 10th rank. I don't wanna be a bad friend to anyone....."
"Gee... Stop it. That's cringy."
I can't believe what I hear. "Oh, please, Nayeon! Just tell me what it means."
"There's no meaning....."
"Then why did I rank 10th? There must be a reason you mentioned that, right? I couldn't become that all of sudden." I grab her hand. "Pleaaaase... I just want to know. I'll accept anything that you say."

Nayeon looks at my eyes.

"Are you mad at us?"
"No, I am not mad! I'm just--"
"Okay okay. I will tell you the reason," she says before exhales heavily. "First of all, I'm sorry if we hurt your feeling. Mm... For the meaning of it (my heart is beating fast anticipating it), the joke is meant to sound awful. Because people who hear it might think that the 10th rank member is the worst member, since that means you are in the last place. But 10th rank actually means you rank 10th among everyone else in the world. The best 10! You are the best friend that we have, compared to the other people. Get it? (I nod and smile at her) It can also mean you're a great person for taking the last place. You let your friends being on the top of you. It's not easy to take the last place but someone needs to. 
To put it simply, whoever gets the 10th place has the biggest heart among the others. Yeah, it sounds cheesy but, basically, we are saying that we love you. We are grateful to have you, Dear......"

I don't know that inside joke has a really deep meaning. I feel guilty for negative thinking about it. I hug Nayeon because of that. "Thanks, My friend~ I'm so moved to hear that. I know I'm wrong for taking the joke seriously. No one ever does it to me before. I never get so close to anyone. Well, to be fair, I think you didn't tell the joke properly. But I'm sure that you all love me.
You know what, I'll learn to take all the jokes from now on. Keep teasing me, okay!" I say while rubbing her shoulder. 
"Sure, we will......" I can feel from her shoulder that she's sobbing. 
"Ah... Don't cry, please. I don't even cry, Nayeon. I'm sorry once again to you and to............. Wait, ARE YOU LAUGHING??!" I release my hug and caught her holding her laugh.
"Mwahahahaha!!!!" she burst out a laugh. "You really believe that??! Hahahahaa...." she wipes the tears from her eyes.
"You.... You just make things up?"
"All of them! Hahaha....."
"Argh..... I should've realized it."
"You're such an over-dramatic girl! I know you so well, Ju," Nayeon pinches my cheek so hard. I parried it. She keeps laughing as she enjoys deceiving me so much.

The car is parked in our dorm. I'm still pissed so I come out early and leave her. "Haeju, wait!" Nayeon catches me up. "Why are you that angry with me?"
"I'm not angry."
"You lie."
"You did first."
"Huff..... Actually, I lied about one more thing. Wanna hear it?" she asks.
"No."
"That rank really has a meaning, Haeju."
"....."
".....?"
"Okay, what is it?"
"Yesss! Hmm, the truth is..... 

You rank 10th among the members who want to receive a kiss from the others. I mean, GOSH, you're worse than Jihyo!!!"

I look at her. "You must be kidding, right?" I say before walking faster to the dorm.
"You're even worse than Jeongyeon, you know? Ah, Haeju, wait!" She calls me while running from the behind.
"Wait for meeeeeeee......!"

((author's note)) Next chapter will be the first part of Haeju's last story. This is it. The end of season 2. Annyeong~~ :'D