A/N: Hi y'all! Here's the update. Sorry for the delay. So this is part 2 of napink cameo. I kinda went crazy. Forgive me for being too biased. Expect another chapter that's napink. Also, we're half-way through the story! Yaaay! I'd like to thank everyone for sticking with us (me and the story) thus far. Thank you to the new subs, as well, for giving us a chance. I'm looking to finish this before November ends because I'll be posting another story in maybe 2 weeks. Just a heads up. So, like always I'd be grateful for any feedback. Thanks again and enjoy!

Word count: 2,759 words

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Wednesday.

Nayoung finds herself hiding behind some bushes in the pool area with Eunwoo after breakfast, watching the other Nayoung as she sits on a table under a huge umbrella and scribbling away on a notepad with a wooden pencil. It has been ten minutes since they started spying on the other Nayoung but nothing seems to be happening so she turns to Eunwoo curiously.

“What are we looking at?”

“Nayoung unnie, we’re watching Nayoung unnie.” Eunwoo replies. “Weren’t you listening to the plans we made ten minutes ago?”

“I was listening! You and I watch Nayoung while Yebin goes with Jieqiong and Minkyung’s on standby and Sejeong’s not really into this whole thing.” Nayoung enumerates.

“So you were! Then let’s just do what we’re supposed to do.” Eunwoo grumbles, facing the front of the bushes again to look at the other Nayoung.

“It wouldn’t hurt to give me a bit of background now, would it?”

Eunwoo jumps up. “Oh, yes. I knew I left something out.”

“Well, brief me?” Nayoung asks.

“Where do I start?”

“Try from the very start.”

“Okay!” Eunwoo rubs her hand together excitedly. “Hold on to your hat then, lady.”

Eunwoo tells of a story of girl meets girl. Im Nayoung was in her third year of University when she met Zhou Jieqiong, a naive freshman, through three (cute!) idiots named Jung Eunwoo, Kang Yebin, and Kim Minkyung. Both Nayoung and Jieqiong were stunning, beautiful creatures, and it did not take long for them to realize that they were a match - polar opposites that complement each other, like puzzle pieces that fit together. Both know that they make each other better and everyone, including the three idiots, knew that the two were on their way to a happy ever after then, except that

“It’s been three years.” Eunwoo frowns. “That’s what they both say whenever we ask them ‘what the hell happened?’”

So now they’re at the part where girl loses girl, Nayoung muses, which leads her to ask.

“But you mentioned that they don’t really want to separate? What’s that about?” She mirrors Eunwoo’s expression.

“We can see it. We can feel it.” Eunwoo nods in the other Nayoung’s direction. “That’s why we’re watching them. We have to shake them out of their denials and make them see that they’re still in love with each other!”
 

“And what if you’re wrong?”

“Pssh. We’re never wrong.” Eunwoo says with confidence. “And that, look at that! You’ll know too that we’re right! Just look!”

Nayoung turns her head to look straight ahead in the other Nayoung’s direction. She’s standing up this time, notepad abandoned. Nayoung squints and sees that the girl is frowning at something. Eunwoo’s hand comes up on her head, turns it so she’s following the other Nayoung’s line of sight and she sees Jieqiong with Yebin standing a few feet away from the pool. From the looks of it, some random guy is talking Jieqiong up.

“Watch closely,” Eunwoo whispers, turns Nayoung’s head again to look back at the other Nayoung who is now clenching and unclenching her fists. Could she be shaking too? Eunwoo turns her head again and she’s looking at Jieqiong being steered away by Yebin and a loud Minkyung right behind them, throwing a glare over her shoulder to the guy from before.

This time, she swats Eunwoo’s hand away and turns to look at the other Nayoung again on her own. She seems to be holding a broken pencil in her hand now. She slowly takes her seat again but still stares daggers at the guy who talked up Jieqiong and who seems like Minkyung had scared away.

“You see what I mean?” Eunwoo says.

“Yeah, I think I do. What’s the next step?”

Eunwoo scratches her chin. “Pack your gear. We’re going hiking.”

--

It turns out that Eunwoo has signed them up (herself, Nayoung, Sejeong, Yebin, Minkyung, Jieqiong and the other Nayoung) for the resort’s nature tour. It’s basically an hour and a half trek through the mountainous area of the resort that will lead them to the spring and waterfalls that is the pride of the locals. 

At 11:30AM, Nayoung lines up for the shuttle that will take them to the forest outpost where the guide will lead them through the hike. In front of her is a suspiciously quiet Sejeong who hasn’t said a thing to her since breakfast, after flat out rejecting to be a part of their ‘operation save DolKyul’. Nayoung wonders if their friendship of two-days is already being put to the test but before she can think about it more, she feels Eunwoo throw an arm over her shoulder to pull her closer for a group discussion. Jieqiong and the other Nayoung are still yet to arrive

“Huddle time!” Eunwoo exclaims. 

Yebin and Minkyung pop up on her other side. Sejeong throws them a wary look that Nayoung doesn’t miss. 

“We have the rest of the day to ourselves. Not a lot of people signed up for the tour.” Eunwoo starts.

“So, what’s the game plan?” Minkyung voices out.

“Do you remember our first group outing with Jieqiong?”

“That was Naejangsan, wasn’t it?” Yebin answers.

“Correct! It’s when Nayoung unnie first said that she thinks she’s falling for Jieqiong!” Eunwoo explains to Nayoung. “We’re going to recreate that day as much as we can.”

“How?”

“We had a contest of sorts back then. A couple race to get to the peak.” Minkyung recalls.

“Yes! And that’s what we’re going to do today, too! I’ve come up with a plan but this still needs some work.” Eunwoo pulls out a map from her backpack. “First, let’s split into teams.”

“Ah!” Yebin exclaims. “Minky and I were teammates back then too! Weren’t we?”

“I’d like to join as a part of a team too but I think I’d need to monitor what’s going to happen. But we could really use some extra hands.” Eunwoo looks to Nayoung. “Do you think we can-”

Eunwoo doesn’t even get to finish speaking because Sejeong suddenly interrupts. “I’ll do that!”

All four of them look in Sejeong’s direction.

“I thought you didn’t want to have anything to do with our plans?” Nayoung asks. Sejeong frowns at the ground, avoiding her gaze. 

“I didn’t. But there’s something I want to check for myself.” She mutters, turns to Eunwoo. “You said you could use the reinforcement, right? Consider me an ally.” A determined look can be seen on Sejeong’s eyes and it stirs Nayoung’s curiosity that she wants so much to ask but she knows she shouldn’t, because they have more pressing matters at hand. 
    
“Okay then!” Eunwoo claps her hands together excitedly. “Yebin and Minkyung unnie form a team and Sejeong unnie can group with this Nayoung unnie! Sounds good?”

They all nod. As Eunwoo unfolds the map in her hands, they all huddle closer to hear her better.

“Right. So, here’s what we’ll do…”

Eunwoo lays out a general plan of action –appeal to the other Nayoung’s competitive nature and to Jieqiong’s inability to say no to Eunwoo. Nayoung gets the gist - Minkyung and Yebin are in charge of aggravating the other Nayoung while she and Sejeong will make sure that Jieqiong is by the girl’s side at all times, all the while following Minkyung and Yebin’s lead – but she finds herself paying little attention to the details. Her mind wandering and wondering about what’s going on in Sejeong’s head. 

Jieqiong and the other Nayoung arrive soon and their huddle is broken. To avoid suspicion, Minkyung and Yebin casually slip into PDA mode while Eunwoo just hypes up the day in general. As they file into the minibus that will take them to the mountain trail, Nayoung’s quick to catch the other Nayoung’s wary quirk of an eyebrow. She can only offer a sheepish smile in return because, really, she doesn’t know what’s going to happen either.

--

On a scale of 1 to 10, Eunwoo’s puppy eyes are set at 10, giving the impression that they’re in a death match against fate. One look at it and Sejeong knows both Jieqiong and the other Nayoung have lost and will be soon accepting their fortune (or misfortune) of being the last team to join Game Master Jung Eunwoo’s couple race.

The rules are simple. The first team to get to the falls will be declared the winner and will get a prize. And of course, everyone minus Im Nayoung and Jieqiong, know what they’re all really after and it isn’t that. But Sejeong would have to say that Minkyung and Yebin are both really good at acting like they’re about to kill anyone who stands in the way of them winning.

“Sorry to Sejeong and Nayoung, but we aren’t planning on coming in second or third.” Yebin says, lacing up her boots, going so far as to double knot it. Minkyung reinforces her girlfriend’s jibe by throwing an arm around her when she stands, lets out an infuriating smirk after.

Im Nayoung visibly frowns at that. Yebin raises her chin at her, as if sizing her up. Sejeong thinks it looks comical since the other Nayoung is really tall and Yebin hardly reaches up to shoulder. But somehow, it works as Im Nayoung takes a step in the girl’s direction. 

“And what makes you think I-” She takes a pause, then steals a glance at Jieqiong who’s already looking back at her, waiting with eyebrows slightly raised. “-we will be handing you the win just like that?”

Minkyung’s smirk grows wider as she pulls Yebin closer. “Oooh. You’re on, unnie.” 

Im Nayoung gives her a smirk of her own. “You’re on.” She pulls at a surprised-looking Jieqiong’s hand to up the competition.

Eunwoo claps her hands together in delight. “Looks like everyone’s ready!” She looks over the group, taking longer to look at Jieqiong who gives her a firm nod before turning to Sejeong and Nayoung.  “Are we good?” Sejeong nods quickly as well.  

“Okay then. Remember, keep the violence to a minimum. I won’t be responsible for anyone’s hospital bills, clear?” Eunwoo waits for all of them to nod before she blows the whistle. 

The seven of them leave behind dust and a confused looking guide who is left to cater to a handful of aunties and a family of four. Eunwoo lags behind them and Sejeong catches sight of her signaling Yebin who gives her an okay sign before she fakes tripping on a tree branch, causing a chain reaction of stumbling which results in Jieqiong nearly falling only to be caught by an attentive Im Nayoung.

“You okay?” Nayoung’s eyes scan her down up before looking directly into her eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jieqiong squeaks out, flustered at the intensity of her gaze.

Sejeong’s kind of busy watching the interaction that she fails to notice her partner, teammate, that is, kneeling on the ground before her.

“Umm, a little help please, Sejeong?” Nayoung croaks, reaches up to her.

“Oops, sorry.” Sejeong pulls her up and steadies her. Nayoung gives her a curious look to which she just replies with a shake of her head. Eunwoo hisses for them to hurry up and they’re off again.

Im Nayoung and Jieqiong are in the lead with Minkyung and Yebin occasionally trying to get past them through dirty tactics – mostly, Yebin pulling at Jieqiong’s backpack or trying to elbow past her. One harsh pull almost gets Jieqiong to fall on her , prompting Im Nayoung to pull her to her front and let her take the lead to keep her out of Yebin’s reach. Yebin and Minkyung share a high five and they get a subtle thumb’s up each from Eunwoo.

Twenty minutes into the race, Jieqiong is looking considerably tired. Im Nayoung pulls her to slow down, allowing Yebin and Minkyung to overtake them. Seeing that Kim Nayoung is looking rather worn out too, Sejeong decides to stop as well. The two of them sit on the side of the trail, a couple of meters away from Jieqiong and the other Nayoung, not too near or too far but enough to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“I’m sorry. Are you feeling very tired already? Should we pull out of the race?” Im Nayoung asks Jieqiong. Jieqiong gulps down water from her bottle before answering.

“No, it’s okay. We’ve already gotten this far. I don’t want to quit now.” Jieqiong looks into Nayoung’s eyes. The girl has to drop her gaze to the ground to look away but she nods anyway.

“Okay. But I think it’ll be best if we slow our pace down a little.” She opens her bag and rearranges her things inside. “I have some more space in my backpack so it’ll be good if you can transfer some of your stuff here to lighten your load.”

Jieqiong nods and does as she is told.

Sejeong looks to Nayoung, finds her looking back at her.

“What are you thinking?” Nayoung asks her. Taking a deep breath, she finally makes up her mind.

“Let’s do it.” 

“Do what?”

“Do what we did before.” Sejeong smiles at her as she jumps to her feet. She offers Nayoung a hand to help her up again. “Let’s help keep them together.”

--

For someone so keen to participate in Eunwoo’s plans, Kim Nayoung sure lacks the ability to keep up and it’s worrying her. They’ve been at this for more than an hour now and everyone’s running low on energy. Eunwoo, Yebin and Minkyung are nowhere to be seen. Im Nayoung and Jieqiong are ahead of them, getting smaller and smaller with the distance. They have to do something drastic now if they want their plan to work. Making up her mind, Sejeong moves her backpack to her front and crouches before Nayoung.

“Get on.” She says to her, without sparing her a look.

“What?” Nayoung thinks she heard her wrong. When Sejeong makes no move to get up, she decides she heard her right.  “No, Sejeong. My weight will crush you.”

But Sejeong is insistent. “You’ll be surprised by how strong I am. Hurry. Get on.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am. And besides, I want to see how those two will react.” She nods to Jieqiong and the other Nayoung’s direction. 

Thinking that she has no choice, she gets on Sejeong’s back, winds her arms around the girl’s shoulders and feels her heart pick up speed at the proximity.

As soon as Nayoung is safely settled on her back, Sejeong speeds up and within a few minutes they have caught up with the two.

Im Nayoung looks alarmed and quickly places her backpack to her front too. Nayoung looks over to them as they pass by and she sees them assume a position similar to them, with Im Nayoung carrying Jieqiong.

It quickly becomes a heated neck and neck race and they catch up to Eunwoo, Yebin and Minkyung resting by the trail in under ten minutes. Eunwoo looks ecstatic at the sight of Im Nayoung piggybacking Jieqiong as they pass by. Sejeong can’t help but to feel proud of herself. Nayoung’s arms around her gives her a gentle squeeze and she smiles wider.

The race is drawing to a close as they catch sight of the waterfalls, the finish line, less than thirty meters away from them. Sejeong casually slows to a stop, letting Im Nayoung and Jieqiong speed past them. Yebin and Minkyung catch up to her and Nayoung and together they follow the other two but without any intention of trying to outrun them anymore. 

Their job here is done.

“We did it! We came first! We won!” Im Nayoung exclaims as she lowers Jieqiong on the ground. She turns around to face her and smiles widely at her. “We did it.”

Jieqiong throws her arms around her, pulls her close for a hug. “Yeah, we made it to the end.”

The smile slides right off Im Nayoung’s face as she pulls back, looks into Jieqiong’s eyes, desperately searching for something.  Jieqiong only gives her a sad smile in return.

Sejeong sighs at the scene before her and Nayoung looks at her curiously.

She hates to be the one to say it, especially since Nayoung worked her hardest today but someone has to, “I don’t think we accomplished our mission here, Nayoung.” 

“Huh?” Nayoung says, confused.

Sejeong nods off to the couple in front of them. “I know that look.” And she does. She knows it all too well.