Kyungwon had been avoiding her apartment ever since the argument with Yongsoo. She knew her brother had only been trying to help, and it was even in his best interest to help her get back to a happy place, but then again she had never liked to be told what to do with her life. In the heat of the moment, Kyungwon had said some harsh words, which then resulted in her brother firing back some of his own and surprise, surprise, they had both ended up wounded. That had been two days ago now, and she had been staying at the dorms with Sungyeon, Kyla, Kyulkyung and Siyeon to make sure there weren't any more confrontations.

She sighed, staring up at the bottom of the top bunk as she lay on Kyulkyung's unmade bed and tossed her phone up in the air before catching it once more with both hands. This had been the nth time that she had released a heavy breath, and the younger girl sitting at the desk trying to do her homework gritted her teeth as she tried to ignore the older girl. But when it happened again, Sungyeon turned in her chair and glared at Kyungwon, who's eyes had moved towards her because of the sudden movement.

"Unnie, can you please keep it down? I'm trying to study." The girl said, stressfully rubbing her forehead.

Kyungwon understood why Sungyeon had snapped that way, and she didn't blame her at all. With all the tasks that they had to complete by the next month and the additional school work, it was no wonder the girl was struggling under the weight of responsibilites. In fact, she felt sorry for her and felt like she was bothering the student.

Muttering an apology, Kyungwon sat up from the bed and looked around the room. Kyla was scattered across her own bed, asleep in front of her dimming laptop with her school work still not completed. Kyulkyung was sat on the floor beside the door with her eyes glued to her phone and her earphones plugged into her ears, probably reviewing her dance practice. Siyeon had still not come back from the building, which made Kyungwon worry until she remembered that she was there with Eunwoo and Chan, who had time off from his personal schedule.

Recently, she hadn't had the motivation to practice anything. Especially after the argument with Yongsoo. Her father was worried about their relationship and had tried to get her to go back to their apartment, but she had begged him to let her sta away for a while to 'sort out her thoughts'. It seemed like this was doing the complete opposite.

Biting her lips, she looked down at her phone and decided to reach out to a certain girl she had been craving to see for a while now.

[18:26] Kyungie~: hey, can i ask for a favor?

Ruffling her hair, she stood from Kyulkyung's bed and moved to her bag in the corner of the room where everything irrelevant was piled up. Her mind was a mess, struggling to find a specific topic to prioritise and think about so she could actually come up with a solution that didn't involve avoiding it like the black plague. It failed, however, as the slow pounding in her head only increased in intensity and all of a sudden she had a headache.

"Where are you going, unnie?" Kyulkyung asked once she realised what Kyungwon was doing. Her eyes were curious, but the short haired girl couldn't help but notice the worry behind her expression and feel guilty for it. She had never liked to burden people with her troubles.

"Just... going out." She said, shrugging on her thick hoodie over her plaid shirt and grabbing the snood she had also brought with her. Kyungwon forced a smile as she approached the door. "Don't worry about me tonight, I'll be okay."

Kyulkyung gave her an unsure look, standing from her space and moving towards her to wrap her in a tight hug. Kyungwon didn't fail to notice the bags under the younger girl's eyes, but she wasn'tsurprised to see that she wasn't the only one that was tired. They were all struggling to keep themselves motivated.

After leaving the tense room, she sighed again and made her way out of the building. Perhaps she hadn't thought out her plan so well, because she ended up wandering in the streets of Seoul when it was already dark. The sun had been setting earlier and rising later, so the days became shorter and slipped through her fingers as she struggled to keep up with the concept of time. Kyungwon didn't fail to realise that the way she had been living her life was very monotonous. It was no wonder she grew tired of it.

Shaking the negative thoughts out of her head, she moved into a shop and began looking around for any snacks she could have. Which she probably shouldn't do since she was on a diet, but her stomach complained after not being fed properly for the past two days. Too much had been on her mind to actually stop and worry about her health, but it wasn't like there was anyone around to tell her to take care of herself.

No one had time for others, they were all too busy with their own projects and their own problems. This thought being one of the reasons why she was beginning to regret her decision of contacting Minkyung.

She checked her phone to see if there had been any replies to find a clear picture of her wallpaper. The smiling faces of her, Eunwoo, Nayoung and Minkyung seemed to mock her. It had been a good day the day they had taken it. Everything was going perfect.

Just then, something collided into her back and she was pushed forward, almost crashing face first into the shelves of chocolate bars if not for her reflexes.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," She heard behind her, the voice sounding distressed and worried. "are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?"

Kyungwon turned to find herself face to face with a masked girl wearing sunglasses and a hood, meaning she couldn't actually identify who it was, but she could tell by the way her eyebrows furrowed together cutely that she was actually concerned. The girl was a couple of centimeters shorter than her, and it probably didn't help that Kyungwon's boots had small heels on them which meant she had to tilt her head down to properly look the person in the eye. She would have been suspicious about her attire, but she knew that the convenience store she was in was a popular site for celebrities.

Realising she had been staring blatantly at the girl, she shook her head. "No, I'm okay." Kyungown watched as the mysterious girl's hands nervously twitched beside her and she scanned the aisle up and down. "Are you?" She returned the question, the corners of tugging up a little as she watched the paranoid behaviour.

She heard a nervous laugh, and then the girl turned her head to her. Kyungwon could only assume that she was looking at her. "Um... I'm really sorry to have to ask you this, but, could I borrow some money?"

Raising her eyebrows in surprise, Kyungwon unconsciously shuffled away from the girl and stared at her defensively. It wasn't every day a masked stranger almost shoved you into a shelf full of chocolate bars and then asked for money seconds after meeting them. The only thing she got from her was a bad feeling resting in the pit of her stomach.

"Ah... I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked." She apologised in a rushed manner and bowed deeply. Then she began to quickly leave the aisle with a bowed head.

Clenching her eyes shut, Kyungwon sighed. "Wait-" She could almost feel the desperation reeking from the girl, and it certainly didn't leave a good feeling inside of her when she could've helped her out. "How much do you need?"

With a small relieved yell, the girl immediately rushed back to her and tugged down her mask a little to reveal part of her lips. "I just need enough to buy four pots of ramen." She tried to appeal, putting her hands together in a sort of pleading motion.

Kyungwon bit her lip and looked through how much money she had. If she helped the girl out, she'd be left with no money to buy anything for herself. But then she looked at the girl and saw the cute pout and arched eyebrows and her demeanour completely crumbled. "Okay, come here." She gave in, going to the aisle where they had shelves full of ramen. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you need so many?"

The girl crouched as she looked at the different brands and flavors on the pots, sitting on her heels like a little kid. "Hm..." She hummed distractedly while Kyungwon kept a look out for anything else that could be suspicious. "We have nine members, so we're probably gonna have to share with each other."

When she said 'members', Kyungwon's ears perked up. Her assumption had been correct. The girl was probably an idol, and she couldn't help but revise her knowledge of girl groups with nine memberes in her head. "Why are you wearing so much stuff?" It had slipped out from Kyungwon's mouth before she herself could realise it, and the girl angled her head to look up at her.

"I'm undercover." She whispered, putting an index finger to her lips as if telling her a secret. "We're meant to be on a diet, but I've been craving food for a while now so I snuck out of the dorm while our managers weren't looking."

Kyungwon laughed, shaking her head once the idol jumped up with four pots in her arms. "How is it, being an idol?" She asked curiously, following the girl to the till. The teenage boy was slumped over the desk with a bored look on his face as he sipped away at the strawberry milk, but he straightened his posture once he saw them approaching.

They didn't talk as the boy nervously scanned the items, in case he recognised the girl's voice. Kyungwon simply eyed the CCTV screen, looking through the different images to see if there was anyone else in the store besides them, a habit of hers ever since she had been small.

Once they were outside, the girl pulled the mask back up to cover once more and turned to face her. "You know, you're really pretty, more than enough to be an idol. The boy in there thought the same." She bowed deeply with the plastic bag in her hand and said 'thank you' before running off in the opposite direction of where Kyungwon was heading.

The blush on her cheeks didn't leave until she shook her head and tried getting the interaction out of her head, telling herself that the girl probably didn't mean it and she was just grateful she had helped her out. She wandered around in a daze, a small smile on her face as she stared up at the dark sky.

Then she remembered that she didn't have a place to stay and her mood immediately plumeted. Her hands went to her phone, and she looked at it hopefully before actually turning it on.

[18:51] Minky~: sorry I was busy

[18:52] Minky~: what is it??

[19:12] Minky~: Kyungie????

Letting out a sigh of relief, she quickly began to type back an answer.

[19:20] Kyungie~: can istay at youra tonight?

Kyungwon cringed at the typos, her fingers too cold to try an correct her mistakes. She didn't really remember Minkyung's address from the time they were all too drunk to go home and stayed at hers, and she had never been back there. It kind of saddened her a little that she had never gotten the chance to stay with Minkyung again, but then she hoped she was lucky enough to get a pass.

For a couple of minutes she just walked aimlessly, staring at the windows of some stores or watching the interactions between young couples walking hand in hand. Relief flooded her as she felt a vibration against her hand, quickly taking her phone out to look at the response.

[19:25] Minky~: yeah, are you okay??

[19:25] Kyungie~: ye, can i have your address?

Kyungwon didn't know if her hands were shaking because of the cold or because of the sudden rush of adrenaline she got from excitement.

"Here's some clothes, you don't want to sleep in that." Minkyung said, tossing her a shirt and some shorts while Kyungwon stepped out of the bathroom, shaking her wet hair with a towel.

Mumbling a 'thank you', Kyungwon stepped back inside and got dressed into the attire given to her. She couldn't help but notice that Minkyung's behaviour had been too 'off' as soon as she stepped into the small condo. There was something bothering the girl and it was affecting the way she was behaving, which was a little too harsh for Kyungwon's liking. She didn't want to help simply for her own benefit, though. She felt genuinely concerned over her friend's state of mind.

As she was putting on the loose white top with the drawing of a cactus on it and the short black shorts, her mind couldn't help but wander off to what Minkyung had been wearing. The oversized shirt had covered her own set of shorts, making it appear as if she wasn't wearing anything underneath. The sight was mindblowingly adorable and far too much for Kyungwon to handle, though she had quickly brushed it off with a lame joke. Not to mention the unintentional display of long, long legs which Kyungwon wouldn't mind having around her-

She slapped her cheeks and shook the dirty thoughts out of her head.

Stepping back outside, she hesitantly walked towards the couch where Minkyung sat, facing the TV with a blank look on her face. Quietly, as to not disturb her, Kyungwon took a seat beside her and stared at the screen, an entertainment show with some idols and actors as guests. The volume was faint, though still loud enough to sound uncomfortable in her ears.

She could feel the tension in the room, and the silence between them was the type that you became uncomfortable around easily. Clenching her hands, she leant her head back to rest against the back of the couch and stared lazily at the screen, watching as one of the guests got sprayed with water. Would they eer get to do something like that? Go on entertainment shows with other celebrities to promote their songs and work?

A sigh interrupted her thoughts and Minkyung suddenly shuffled closer to her, making her heart jump erratically inside her chest. What was she doing?

"Kyungwon." The other muttered quietly, letting her body fall into Kyungwon's side and rest her head on the other's shoulder.

Reflexively, Kyungwon's hand found itself on the dark haired girl's head and massaging her temples gently, her fingers created slow soothing motions. "What is it, Minkyoung-ah?" She asked, frowning as the girl shook her hand off and instead buried her head further into her shoulder.

"Aren't you worried?" Minkyung asked, her voice slightly muffled because of being covered by Kyungwon's shirt. "You know, of never debuting?"

Biting her lip, Kyungwon pushed the girl away from her and moved her shoulders so she was facing her completely. She knew what to say now, after having this discussion with Eunwoo. But there was this sinking feeling in her chest as she remembered that her best friend was on the verge of giving up on their shared dream if the agency didn't act quickly and promise them something.

Could she be able to convince Minkyung? Someone she had only recently gotten to know?

Realising that she hadn't said something for a while now, Kyungwon gently placed her hands on Minkyung's shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes despite the pink, soft lips inviting her gaze to look. "Yeah, but if you think about it, we all are..." She trailed off, her mind once more wandering to Eunwoo's complicated case. "But just imagine this: when we debut we'll be able to live our dream, and make music for people and dance for them and make money because we do something we enjoy. How great is that?" She eagerly shook at the other's shoulders to encourage her excitement. "We'll finally be happy and be able to live our lives being idols - singers. You can make music and I can make people happy... Can you picture that?"

Minkyung smiled bitterly, taking one of her hands with her own and squeezing it tightly. "But Kyungwon, that might never happen."

Kyungwon's false smile faltered slightly at the reality in her words. Especially not after that scandal with Mingyu. Her chances of debuting were near to impossible now that she had screwed up.

"You can't say that." Kyungwon shook her head, putting her other free hand on top of their intertwined ones. "You can't know what's going to happen in the future, Minky... things could change."

"But I can't stay around and wait for things to change, Kyungie," Minkyung said with an uncertain look on her face. Kyungwon could feel her frustration almost first hand as she too experienced similar thoughts in her head. "We've been waiting almost four years now, how much longer do we have left until we get too old for this career?"

"Ya, there are idols who are in their thirties and they're still singing and dancing." Kyungwon snapped playfully, sqeezing her hands and smiling when she saw the corners of Minkyung's lips tug upwards. "Don't leave things halfway done."

Minkyung huffed quietly, leaning backwards into the couch and taking her hands back from her to run them along her loose hair. "I know, I know," She let out another heavy breath, closing her eyes and rubbing them like a small child. "I'm just... it's just so hard." She tilted her head in Kyungwon's direction, making the latter's heart attempt to jump out of her chest as she saw how beautiful the girl looked at that very moment. "I'm tired, you know?"

Nodding in an understanding manner, Kyungwon rested her arm along the back of the couch and put her hand softly on the top of Minkyung's head, her fingers poised and applying pressure on her scalp while she massaged it carefully. Her nails gently scraped the girl's scalp, making her let out a small hum of approval while she let her eyelids droop lazily.

Kyungwon took a moment to appreciate the sight in front of her.

Minkyung's shoulder were curled into her body, making her appear a lot smaller in size along with her long legs tucked beneath her. Her head was tilted back to reveal the smooth, soft skin on her neck that appeared to be very inviting in the moment, leading up to highlight the sharpness of her jawline. The rosy, pink lips were parted to reveal the white teeth trapping her tongue between them softly as not to hurt herself. Her eyelashes were long and shielding the view of the warm, welcoming, brown hues usually looking so alive and energetic, tempting Kyungwon to sit there and dedicate her hours into counting them each individually. Even her cheeks were filled with a natural, pinkish blush that came from the heating being a little too warm than usual.

Kyungwon didn't know what she did in her past life to get the chance to be around such an ethereal angel.

Unconsciously, Kyungwon rested her cheek on her own arm and admired the girls visuals, taking note on even the slightest of movements and reactions to her touch.

"Kyungie." Minkyung's voice startled her out of her momentary utopia.

Clearing to stop the oncoming stutter, Kyungwon met the exhausted gaze. "Yes, Minkyoung?"

Minkyung remained quiet, simply staring at her with what seemed to be curiosity. Kyungwon couldn't help but feel self-conscious under her gaze, suddenly feeling unworthy to be around the goddess-like beauty in front of her. How lucky that they had both decided to audition for Pledis around the same time.

"I'm hungry, make me something to eat." Minkyung ordered, a cheeky grin on her face as she tugged insistingly on her arm.

You can eat me. Kyungwon almost slapped herself when the lustful thought crossed her mind, her cheeks flooding with heat as explicit images pressed themselves into her head without warning. How morbid of her.

Letting out a chuckle, Kyungwon stood from the couch and attempted to stop herself from blushing even more when Minkyung immediately latched herself onto her, her arms circling around her waist and chin resting comfortably on her shoulder. In all honesty, Kyungwon wasn't used to being the on back-hugged since she used to mostly hang around Eunwoo and Kyulkyung, who were both smaller than her and demanded a lot of love and affection. Being on the recieving end of a hug was unfamiliar territory for her, but she couldn't say that she didn't enjoy it.

It seemed like Minkyung didn't want to let go either, because she shuffled awkardly behind her whenever Kyungwon opened different cabinets to look at what food the girl had. "Ya, let go of me." Kyungwon slapped at the girl's arms softly.

No, don't let go.

Minkyung shook her head and instead tightened her grip. "You know what, I'm in the mood for some fried rice." She said, guiding her towards the cabinet near the sink. "Make me some fried rice."

Kyungwon mocked being offended, looking sideways at Minkyung who had insisted on resting her chin there. "Did you just blatantly ignore me?" She asked, frowning playfully.

"Oh, and add some egg and ham in too." Minkyung added, releasing her slightly to easily reach for the bag of rice stored in the cabinet above their heads. Then she roughly shoved the packaging into her stomach before letting go of her completely to push her towards the stove. "Now go."

Scrunching her nose at her, Kyungwon obediently turned to the stove and began to prepare what the girl had ordered her to make. She couldn't help but feel a little delirious as she imagined this type of scene happening in the future where everything was okay and she had the girl of her dreams within reach, where she could tell her she loved her whenever and however she wanted to. Maybe they'd be married by then? And they would live in the same apartment sharing the same dream job and making music for a living.

A blissful smile made its way on her face as she listened to Minkyung sing a song. For a couple of moments, she forgot all her initial troubles and felt a sense of giddiness and pure contentness as she moved around the kitchen, occassionally playfully fighting with the girl she liked. Kyungwon had never known that she could be this 'mushy' when faced with a relationship.

Eventually, she had prepared the meal and placed it on two seperate bowls, seeing as Minkyung hadn't bothered on buying plates for herself. They stayed in the kitchen since Minkyung refused to move from her place on the counter, Kyungwon instead leaning against the fridge and beginning to eat while standing up.

Her eyes widened, remembering something that had happened just a few hours ago. "Oh, I forgot to mention it but guess who I saw at a convenience store today?"

Minkyung furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side while munching the rice as if to ask 'who'.

Kyungwon smiled gently at the image before remembering the topic at hand. "I saw a girl group idol, but I'm not sure who it was exactly." She finished swallowing her food and continued, but not before shovelling another portion in. "Her face was covered up completely."

The other's eyes widened slightly. "Seriously?" She asked through a mouthful of food. "Did she talk to you?"

Kyungwon nodded, laughing when rice sprayed everywhere because of Minkyung's excitement. "Yeah, but she did more than that." She added, smirking slightly at the thought of having to buy for someone who was probably better off than her. "She made me buy her ramen for her and her members."

Minkyung's eyes widened further, Kyungwon almost thinking that her eyeballs were going to pop out of her skull. "For real? Did she say anything special?" She asked curiously.

"She said that they had nine members in their gorup." Kyungwon mentioned, thinking through the list of groups that had nine members.

"No way," Minkyung gasped, putting her bowl on her lap as she thought through the names too. "do you think it was Twice-sunbaenim? They have nine members?"

Kyungwon chuckled but shook her head. She had admired Twice's talents and had spent a couple of nights reviewing their entertainment show appearances and also their music videos. She was sure that the girl she had encountered in the convenience store was not one of the girls from the popular girl group, because why would such a successful group need to borrow mone from a stranger?

Minkyung thought hard, handing the bowl to Kyungwon as the girl made her way to the sink to wash up for them. "There are no other groups that I know of with nine members, though..." She said, Kyungwon noticing the slight disappointment in her voice. "I would have mentioned SNSD-sunbaenim but... well, you know..."

Grimacing at the mention of their idols' past and present hardships, Kyungwon also went through her memory to try and identify groups with nine members. She remembered a girl group that had debuted with two of the contestants and winners of Produce 101 with an unfortunate name which was pretty hard to forget after hearing it for the first time. Kyungwon was sure that 'Gugudan' had a total of nine members, and they weren't having any activities at the moment which meant that there was a possibility that it could be one of them.

Deciding to push aside the inquisition for the moment, she followed Minkyung to the couch and slumped back down on the space beside the girl. Almost immediately, Minkyung put her legs up so they would rest on her lap and then leaned on the arm rest on her own side, reaching for the controller to change the channel.

"What do you wanna watch?" Minkyung asked distractedly as she surfed through countless of channels.

Kyungwon simply hummed, watching through the channels the girl skipped over. Her eyes were blankly staring at the screen when she caught sight of a familiar image on one of the channels.

Her insides churned as the image was taken off the screen immediately, Minkyung seemingly having failed to spot it. In the few hours that she had been with the other girl, she had forgotten her troubles which still hadn't been solved yet and were probably haunting Mingyu just as much as they were her.

Anguish and anxiety crawled up on her as Minkyung eventually drifted off in her own space, leaving her to bask alone in her thoughts, worries and concerns.