A teenage girl exited the convenience store that opened for 24 hours. While gripping two plastic bags filled with various kinds of snacks, the young girl was spotting a scowling face as her lips were busily muttering curse words.

“ing lazy unnies. Forcing the maknae to go out and buy them these snacks.” The maknae of I.O.I mumbled angrily to herself as she had to carry all these snacks the other members (everyone except the four oldest members) asked her to buy.

It was her mistake by mentioning to them that she wanted to go to the convenience store. Before she could quickly escape after realising her mistake, the three troublemakers just had to be nearby. With gleeful expression, they announced it loudly to other members about her wanting to go out. So, she had to pay the price of being a fool.

Next time, make sure you sealed your lips before blabbering your mouth like that, Somi.

She was already heading back to the dorm when her phone vibrated violently inside her front pocket. Struggling slightly, she was almost late answering the phone call. Without checking the name, she used her thumb to touch the green button and slid it across the phone’s screen to answer the call.

“Hello?”

“Somi!” It was Nayoung unnie. And she could hear some slight ruckus happening in the back.

“Yes, unnie?”

“Can you please do me a favour?” At this, Somi unknowingly clicked her tongue loudly and was heard by the other line.

With a slight annoyed voice, Nayoung replied, “I’m not asking you to buy me snack, I just want you to look for Sejeong.”

Upon hearing Sejeong’s name, Somi grew concerned. Her tone changed as she spoke. “Look for Sejeong unnie? What’s wrong? Is she okay? She’s not hurting or--”

“Hold up, girl. Shut up and listen to me,” Nayoung stopped talking and suddenly she shouted loudly but wasn’t loud enough to deafen the younger girl’s ears as she probably put the phone away from , “Can y’all kids shut up for a minute?!”

Somi couldn’t exactly hear what the other members replied to Nayoung’s scolding but she did catch onto some collective of ‘sorry’ as well as Doyeon’s voice saying “Oops, there goes another unnie shouting like a maniac.”

A statement which got ignored by Nayoung obviously, as she talked into the phone again. “Sorry about that. Your other unnies have gone crazier, if that’s possible.” She stopped again as a sigh was released from her lips.

“Anyway, I’ll talk about it later because I don’t even know what happened. All I know is that Chungha and her had a talk or something and there was some shouting. And when I wanted to ask what happened, Sejeong just got up and left. Now, Chungha pretended to be asleep since she doesn’t want to speak a word about it. I wanted to go and look for her but I need to calm down these monkeys first. So, please go and look for your Sejeong unnie. If you can’t find her, I’ll go and search for her instead.” The oldest girl spoke fast, as if she was rapping.

When there was no answer from the younger girl, Nayoung called her name several times, “Somi? You’re still there, Somi? Hey, Somi? You’re deaf? Somi!”

By this time, Somi had already sprinted her feet away from the convenience store. The plastic bags she was holding, swayed alongside her body as her legs worked quickly. Within minutes, she saw the girl she was looking for, sitting on one of the benches with her head hung low and shoulders shaking slightly.

You’re at this park, huh?

“I found her.” Some replied without losing a breath even after the run she did seconds ago.

“That was fast.” The leader sounded incredibly impressed.

Somi ended the call without wasting any more time.

The confrontation by Chungha took Sejeong completely by surprise. Each word being said by the older girl struck her heartstring hard and it shook her to the core. She’d never would have thought the older girl knew such thing and had been keeping an eye on Somi and her. Not to mention the fact that Chungha knew what caused her to distancing herself from their maknae, it was quite embarrassing on her part.

Everything was happening way too quickly in such a short time, she simply couldn’t process what was happening and her anxiety took control over her body. Before she knew it, she was already running out of the dorm, away from the rest and the suffocation she felt.

Sejeong was kind of regretted for making such a huge deal out of it though, but she needed some space from everything. It was like everything came onto her without warning. Although she wished she could turn back time and simply explain to