Don't Let Go - Don Diablo ft. Holly Winter

 

---

 

“Look, a bug!”

 

All the heads in the room turn to look except one. Nayeon shoots out of her chair screaming bloody murder (next to her, Tzuyu winces and silently puts her hands over her ears), arms flailing, tripping over herself in her haste to remove herself from the vicinity.

 

“AHHHHHHHHHH~”

 

She’s stumbling out of sight in no time, leaving the other eight members to stare at her in fascination. They’re all a little creeped out by bugs (except Jeongyeon), that much is a given, but Nayeon’s fear is a little too much sometimes. They hear a door open and slam, and they can only assume that she’s run to her shared room.

 

Mina blinks. “Wait, I forgot to tell her-“

 

“AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

 

Nayeon is sprinting out again, jacket half on and still in her dorm slippers, as she barrels down the corridor and out the dorm door. The door slams and it’s silent again.

 

“-that there’s a spider on the ceiling.” Mina finishes lamely. All the members stare after their eldest, wondering where she could have gone.

 

Jeongyeon sighs and disposes of the small insect neatly. “She needs to get over her fear of bugs.” The other members hum in unison.

 

“How do we get her to do that?” Chaeyoung, one of their youngest, asks.

 

The others look thoughtful. “Well for starters, maybe we can get her more exposure to them. Let’s print some pictures and put them on the walls.” Jihyo says, and everyone begins to shuffle slowly to get things in order.

 

Chaeyoung already has their laptop on her lap. “Ooo, isn’t this scary?” She shows a horrifying picture of a cicada to a passing Dahyun, who can’t help but shiver herself at the image. Chaeyoung snickers as she promptly changes their wall screen.

 

“Hey, Nayeon unnie left her phone on her bed!” Sana’s muffled voice calls through the walls.

 

“Change her wallpaper!” Chaeyoung hollers back, slamming the laptop shut triumphantly.

 

Sana reemerges with the device. “To what?” She asks, tapping away at poor Nayeon’s cell.

 

“Something ugly.” Jihyo looks over the Japanese girl’s shoulder. “I like that one!”

 

Sana giggles before setting Nayeon’s home screen and lock screen to a wondrous image of a giant weta. Jihyo looks satisfied, Chaeyoung shoots her a thumbs-up, and Sana skips away to return the device to Nayeon’s resting place/bed.

 

Mina comes back out into the living room. “I just called manager-unnie. She said Nayeon unnie’s with her, she’s not wandering lost or anything.” She informs them all.

 

Dahyun comes back upstairs with a broad grin, a stoic and dismal Tzuyu behind her. “We got pictures!” She holds up a bunch of posters of various insects, eliciting a collective shudder across the room. Tzuyu is holding a bunch as well.

 

“Nice, now hang them everywhere!” Jihyo instructs, and Dahyun happily hops on Tzuyu’s back to get some extra lift. Soon enough, there are glorious posters of mites everywhere.

 

When they’re done, they all stop to admire their handiwork. “If that doesn’t do it, I don’t know what will.” Jeongyeon nods approvingly. Everyone claps, but then Momo yawns and they realize it’s getting pretty late.

 

“I guess she’ll come back later. Let’s all get some rest then.” Jihyo shoos everyone away, and they shuffle off to wash up and sleep.

 

It’s three in the morning when they hear it: a screech somewhere between a walrus, a falling tree, and a garbage truck. None of them are completely sure if that’s possible, but that’s the closest description.

 

Suffice to say, Nayeon hates them all when dawn rolls around.

 

---

 

“No!”

 

Nayeon frowns at her. “Why not?!?”

 

“It- it’s icky! I don’t want to!”

 

“Yoo Jeongyeon, it’s your birthday and I don’t care how much you hate it- you WILL accept my kisses!”

 

Jeongyeon screams a little and scuttles away as Nayeon lunges at her, lips puckered and ready for some smooching. She runs into her and Momo’s shared room as Nayeon recovers her wits to chase after her, and slams the door in the older girl’s face.

 

Nayeon comes back to the common area with no Jeongyeon and a bruised nose. “I swear, she’s making a big deal out of nothing.” She scowls, recollecting the memory of a door slammed unceremoniously in her beautiful face. The nerve of Yoo Jeongyeon. “I mean, what’s so bad about me?? People would die for my kisses. Die! Right??” Nayeon sits at the kitchen counter, ranting dramatically to Jihyo who is clearing out the dishwasher.

 

Jihyo smiles sympathetically at Nayeon and her bruised nose. “Unnie, it’s not you- Jeongyeon’s just really ticklish and she’s scared of kisses because they tickle her.”

 

Nayeon sniffs. “Well she should man up because this is our tradition, and how dare she refuse to participate in her own tradition!”

 

Jihyo laughs at the scorned look on Nayeon’s face. “Maybe you should try to help her with her fear of tickles first.” She says, tucking some bowls back in their appropriate locations.

 

Nayeon sits, thoughtful and silent for a brief, beautiful moment. Jihyo is blessed. “I should! Then she won’t be afraid of accepting her birthday kisses!”

 

Jihyo smiles. “That’s the spirit, unnie.”

 

Nayeon isn’t done though. “And then she’ll be indebted to me forever, and she’ll have to be my slave!”

 

Jihyo feels sweat forming at the border of her forehead. Nayeon cackles evilly to herself and claps her large hands together (it sounds really weird, Jihyo notes, but she’s not going to tell Nayeon that. She’s too young to die.) “That settles it! I’m going to get the kids to help me; thanks, Jihyo-yah!” She calls as she hops off the barstool and all but skips to the hall where the rooms are. Jihyo hears knocking and Dahyun calling her to enter, and she can only pray for Jeongyeon now.

 

I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.

 

Dahyun, Momo, and Sana are more than happy to participate in this 'challenge' while Mina, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu remain apathetic (but they know better than to say anything, not with Nayeon glaring at them like that and her crazy hair). Two hours later, when Jeongyeon finally gets the nerve to push her room door open, she’s expecting Nayeon to jump out and scold her but it’s quiet.

 

Too quiet.

 

She hesitantly makes her way to the living room, where Mina, Momo, and Sana are gathered in a circle talking calmly in Japanese. They look up and see Jeongyeon, and their faces light up.

 

“Jeongyeonnie!” Momo bounces over to hug her roommate. “I missed you!”

 

Jeongyeon blinks, confused. “You saw me two hours ago-“

 

“In fact, I missed you so much I could kiss you!” Momo cuts her off in her high-pitched singsong voice, and before Jeongyeon can protest, Momo’s pressed a big sloppy kiss on her cheek, absolutely delighted with herself.

 

Sana hops up just as enthusiastically. “Me too, me too!” She trips over herself in her haste to get to Jeongyeon, pressing a firm kiss on her other cheek when she does. Jeongyeon stares at the two in shock and confusion while they look back at her, innocent, bright, and beaming.

 

“Um, alright then.” Jeongyeon shrugs it off, chalking it up to Momo and Sana’s naturally touchy-feely behavior. But then Mina stands up as well.

 

“I- I missed you too!”

 

Jeongyeon’s eyes widen as Mina dashes over and presses a quick kiss to her nose before dashing back to her spot with pink cheeks. Now that was weird. Mina is definitely one of the less expressive members, so for her to dash up and do something like that is surprising. Jeongyeon is officially suspicious.

 

The J-line grows bored of her quickly and they go back to discussing whatever they were discussing before- Jeongyeon’s Japanese is a little rusty, but she’s sure she hears something about watermelon, fairies, and Momo having cavities. She sighs and shakes it off though, heading to Jihyo and Nayeon’s room to try to find Jihyo.

 

She’s nowhere to be found, and nor is Nayeon, so Jeongyeon goes to the maknae room and knocks twice before pushing the door open slightly. “Guys?”

 

Three pairs of bright, blinking eyes stare back at her. Dahyun’s face breaks out into a huge grin. “Unnie!” She holds out her arms and Jeongyeon naturally goes over for the hug.

 

“Have you guys seen Jihyo or Nayeon?” She asks, and they shake their heads no in perfect unison with matching smiles. Jeongyeon shivers a little. School Lunch Club indeed.

 

Dahyun’s grip on her tightens all of a sudden. “Unnie, you look so pretty today!”

 

Jeongyeon stares at her unsurely. Dahyun’s cheshire-esque grin hasn’t changed the least. “Uh, thanks?”

 

“You’re so pretty, I could kiss you!"

 

Jeongyeon almost screams and shrivels up into herself as Dahyun presses an extremely ticklish kiss to her jaw. Chaeyoung snickers and Tzuyu looks like she’s laughing at Jeongyeon.

 

“Wh- what-“

 

Chaeyoung bounces over right after. “Sorry unnie.” She apologizes in the offhand, flippant way she does before leaning in to kiss Jeongyeon’s head. Jeongyeon jerks back at the unexpected intrusion of physical space and barely holds back a scream. To make things worse, Tzuyu is right behind Chaeyoung.

 

“Yeah, really sorry unnie.” Tzuyu shrugs uncaringly before giving Jeongyeon a kiss as well. Dahyun looks proud of her School Lunch Club members, and the maknaes back off as fast as they came.

 

Jeongyeon stares at them all, horrified, as she stumbles back out of the room and slams the door.

 

Nayeon and Jihyo have come back from grocery shopping, and they’re just in time to witness Jeongyeon running back to her room screaming. She slams the door again (luckily, Nayeon’s nose is not there to take the beating) and then it’s quiet, save for the sound of the girls chatting softly amongst themselves.

 

Nayeon stares at Jeongyeon’s door, wide-eyed, before turning to MoSaMi in the living room. “What did you guys do to her??”

 

They shrug. “Exactly what you wanted us to do. Maknaes too.”

 

They hear a slight wail from behind Jeongyeon’s closed door. Nayeon winces. “You think it was too far? We might’ve just ended up scarring her for life."

 

Jihyo sighs as she nudges Nayeon lightly. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

 

---

 

Momo screeches in protest as her members collectively haul her towards the looming rollercoaster ride. “PUT ME DOWN.”

 

They’re on break today, so they’ve collectively decided to take a group trip to the amusement part. It’s all fun and games, until Chaeyoung remembers that Momo is afraid of rollercoasters and then Nayeon and Jeongyeon take out their vengeance on poor Momo by organizing a mass gathering to haul her up to the line of the largest coaster in the park (they’re terribly salty at all the members collectively forcing them to face their fears, so it’s only right that Momo face hers too).

 

“Quit kicking! It makes it so much harder to hold you hostage!” Nayeon grunts as she struggles with one of Momo’s legs.

 

"I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! I HAVE TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT!” Momo nearly deafens Dahyun with her shrill protest, almost roundhouse kicks Mina in the head. Luckily Mina is agile, and she ducks just in time (she isn’t really even part of this whole mess; she’s just as much of a wimp as Momo is when it comes to these things, so she’s really just here to take pictures).

 

They make it to the front of the line and Momo is visibly paling (Dahyun isn’t feeling much better, but she’s not about to miss out on this). Sana notices the pasty look on her friend's face and she beams, bouncing up to Momo’s side. “Don’t worry Mo, no one’s expecting anything from you! On and off, away you go!”

 

“IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE A PEP TALK?” Momo spares her a glare but Sana is unfazed, excitedly bouncing at the prospect of the ride.

 

They’re up and on in no time, Momo sandwiched between an unfortunate Tzuyu and Jeongyeon. The rest pile in behind them, the seatbelts are strapped up, the lap bar is lowered, and the ride slowly starts to chug along.

 

Momo screams the entire time. They go up and down, around and around and around and then they shoot out of an extremely complicated loop in a convolution of turns for the rest of the ride. There are plenty of drops, plenty of photo opportunities (they even get splashed by monkeys with water guns somewhere along the way), Momo falls silent halfway along the ride with her body limp on Tzuyu’s and Tzuyu is afraid that she’s dead.

 

The ride eventually ends and they get off with shaky legs, shaky hearts, and exhilarated smiles (well, Mina runs off to throw up and Dahyun nearly collapses in Jihyo’s arms but the rest of them sans Momo are doing great). Tzuyu is tasked with dragging Momo’s body off the coaster before they take off for round 2; luckily, she gets them both off just in time. Momo is half deceased. She doesn’t say a word, her knees are visibly wobbly, her complexion is an unusual shade of pallid.

 

“How was it? Was it fun?” Sana bounces up to them excitedly. She’s shaking a little too- but she’s shaking from adrenaline, not fear (or nausea).

 

Momo doesn’t move. Sana frowns and pokes at the dancer as the rest of the girls gather around (except Mina; she’s still throwing up in the washroom).

 

“Momo? Moooomooo? Are you okay?” Jihyo calls, tentatively tapping the girl on the back.

 

Tzuyu bites her lip. “Do you think she’s dead?”

 

Chaeyoung looks a little nervous as she reaches out to take Momo’s wrist. “I think I feel a pulse. She shouldn’t be dead… right?” The maknae line exchanges nervous, unreassured looks. Even Nayeon gulps a little.

 

Mina comes back a few minutes later as they lay Momo’s body out on a vacated bench. She’s holding cotton candy and some sort of sandwich, which she eats hungrily. Dahyun looks at her haggard form curiously as the usually calm and composed girl just sits on the outskirts of the group, staring miserably into space while stuffing cotton candy and carbs in . “You must’ve been hungry.”

 

Mina swallows a bite of mustard and tomato. “After emptying the contents of my stomach, I decided that my blood sugar was a little low.” She stuffs a colorful wad of spun sugar in , bits of it on the corners of her lips but she obviously doesn’t care at the moment.

 

Momo stirs. Mina keeps eating. Jihyo’s eyes widen and she reaches over to tap Jeongyeon furiously. “She moved, she moved!”

 

Everyone’s eyes are glued to Momo (except Mina, poor thing) who slowly begins to move, and then she jolts up in a zombie-like fashion, effectively startling the entire group.

 

Chaeyoung reacts first. “Unnie! Are you okay?”

 

Momo looks over and makes dead eye contact with Mina. She wordlessly crawls her way over to the younger to sit down, and Mina silently hands her a piece of her sandwich. Everyone watches, amazed, as the two ride-scaredycats sit side-by-side eating a (delicious?) combination of rainbow cotton candy and a bacon-laden sub. Mina slurps at the pink lemonade she got with the sub and Momo takes some soon after. They go back and forth like this quietly until the sub is finished and all that remains of the cotton candy is the stick it came on.

 

Momo finally stands, pulls Mina up, and straightens herself out. The rest of TWICE look on guiltily, and they don’t protest when Momo says she wants to go home early.

 

What a mess.

 

---

 

“Let’s see… how bloated will my face be tomorrow when I wake up?”

 

Jihyo side-eyes Sana warily at the rhetorical question. They’re still on break, and everyone’s checked in super early to catch up on much-needed sleep, but Sana is still sitting completely alert and awake on her bed, posture straight and looking around with the brightest, most alert expression.

 

“Sana, aren’t you going to sleep?”

 

“Hm?” Sana turns to blink at Jihyo- “Oh, not yet- I’m not that sleepy.”

 

Jihyo wonders how this could be true, considering the enormous pressure and business of their recent days. Everyone else is passed out and Jihyo is about to join them- so what on earth does Sana think she’s doing?

 

It becomes clear when Jihyo sees two empty coffee cups next to Sana’s bed and the pre-made ice pack by her bed. “Sana, are you not sleeping because you’re afraid of being bloated tomorrow?”

 

Sana’s never been a good liar, and it shows in the guilty admission of her eyes. “Well, the less I sleep, the less bloated I am. Usually.”

 

Jihyo sighs. “Sana, that’s not good for you.” She reprimands the girls gently, taking on her responsibilities as HyoLeader. “We haven’t gotten much sleep at all recently, especially you. You need to take care of yourself.”

 

Sana grins back up at her. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head. I’ll be alright.” She flashes a v-sign at the esteemed leader, but Jihyo doesn’t miss the way Sana’s limbs are shaking with caffeine and she knows they’ll both be in for a long night.

 

Fifteen games of Monopoly later, Sana finally slumps over and succumbs to sleep. Jihyo herself is exhausted, but she can’t let their conversation out of her head- how sad she is to hear that Sana is afraid to sleep, all because of her bloated face! How tragic can that be! She’s determined to help the girl, to help Sana face her fears.

 

It’s three am when Jihyo goes out into the kitchen for some water, all whilst thinking of ways to help Sana overcome herself. Luckily for her, Mina and Tzuyu are both awake, sitting across from each other at the kitchen table sipping at what seems to be tea (Tzuyu’s is a strange shade of grey and Mina’s has chunks in it, but who is Jihyo to judge them?) Jihyo sighs in relief.

 

“Mina! Tzuyu!” She plops down beside Mina, wrapping the other girl in a tight hug, causing Mina to almost spit out her ‘tea’.

 

“Jihyo? What’s wrong?” Mina asks as she recovers from her shock, patting the girl on the back as she sets her mug down. Jihyo sighs dramatically.

 

“No, nothing’s wrong- it’s just that I spent the last four hours playing Monopoly with Sana to get her to go to sleep.”

 

“Why wouldn’t she sleep?” Tzuyu questions, fingers absently tapping at her pale purple mug. They’re not new to Sana’s antics at this point, but it’s always amusing to listen to the reason behind them.

 

Jihyo sighs, remembering her current thoughts. “She’s afraid to sleep because she doesn’t want to wake up all bloated.”

 

“It’s that bad?” Mina asks, knowing most of her fellow J-liner’s problems well. She’s much aware of Sana’s excessive bloating tendencies, has been from the start. Tzuyu listens on carefully, silently pulling her cell phone up. 

 

“According to her, yes.” Jihyo responds, leaning her head on her palm as she stares at open space in thought. “I really want to help her but I’m not sure what I can do."

 

Mina hums her agreement, only now noticing Tzuyu with her cell phone out, intently reading something in Chinese. “Tzuyu? What are you looking at?” She asks the youngest, who looks back at them determinedly.

 

“I’ve looked up how to reduce bloating. It seems that the best way would be ice.” Tzuyu says, eyes scanning the length of the article. “The more ice, the better.”

 

“Ice?” Jihyo perks up; why hadn’t she thought of that? “That’s a good idea. How much ice are we going to need?”

 

Tzuyu shrugs. “Depends on how bloated she is, I guess."

 

“Well,” Mina muses. “By the looks of it, I’d say she’s getting pretty bloated.”

 

“We’re probably going to need a lot of ice then.” Jihyo says absently. “How much do we have?”

 

“None.” Tzuyu bluntly reveals, walking over to pull their freezer open. There’s nothing inside except frost and Jeongyeon's frozen dumplings. “We’re going to have to go out and get some.”

 

“We’ll need a tub for it too.” Mina adds thoughtfully. “Maybe one of us can go get ice while the others find a tub or something.”

 

They both automatically turn to Tzuyu, who is arguably the strongest. Tzuyu frowns. “I’ll go but I can’t go alone. Someone’s gotta help me carry the ice.”

 

Jihyo turns around. “Go get Momo- she’s strong, she can help you carry it.”

 

“Do you want to wake her up?”

 

They both shiver- waking Momo from her beauty sleep was the last thing anyone ever wanted to do. Momo was scary when she woke up. Jihyo voices this thought.

 

“Not as scary as you though, unnie- you scream when we wake you up!”

 

Jihyo pointedly ignores Tzuyu.

 

In the end, they send Mina to wake up Momo because they know Momo won’t kill Mina, and the sleepy-looking blonde reluctantly puts on a coat and heads out into the chilled night with Tzuyu. Jihyo and Mina set to work to find an appropriately-sized container.

 

They’re halfway done rummaging through Jihyo’s closet when Nayeon’s sleeping form starts to stir. “What are you doing?” She croaks quietly, opening one eye to stare at Jihyo and Mina.

 

Mina grins sheepishly, holding up a large bowl. “Nothing. Sorry unnie.” She whispers back and with that, she and Jihyo scuttle out of the room like crabs. Nayeon’s already up though; she can smell chaos from a mile away, even in her sleep, and she’s not about to miss out on this one.

 

Chaeyoung and Dahyun have woken up from their earlier rummaging through Tzuyu’s stuff, and Jeongyeon had woken up when Momo left the room. They join the congregation in the living room, where Jihyo and Mina explain the situation.

 

“That’s… a great idea!” Dahyun applauds them for their brilliance. Jeongyeon nods her silent approval and Nayeon looks eternally amused.

 

“So where’s the ice?” The eldest asks curiously. As if on cue, the door opens and Tzuyu marches inside.

 

“We got ice.” She declares bluntly, dumping four 20 pound bags of ice on the ground before her.

 

Everyone gapes at her. “That’s a lot of ice.” Chaeyoung says, slightly concerned. They’re not done though; Momo enters soon after with six more bags.

 

“Tzuyu-ah, where should I put these?”

 

Tzuyu turns to a shocked Mina and Jihyo. “Did you guys find a container?”

 

Mina blinks before shaking them both out of their stupors. “Um, we did but I think we’re going to have to find a bigger one.” She smiles sheepishly.

 

Nayeon is two steps ahead of them. “There’s a little inflatable kiddie pool downstairs, you wanna use it?” She asks, and the younger girls nod immediately. She drops into their basement quickly to grab it and forces Dahyun and Jeongyeon to blow it up. When it’s properly inflated and ready to go, Tzuyu and Momo begin hauling the bags of ice from the foyer to the living room, where Chaeyoung cleanly slices them open and Nayeon helps dump them in the tub. They make quick work of it, but it’s an arduous process; it’s almost six am when they’ve completely finished.

 

“Great. I’ll get Sana, you all go back to sleep. Thanks for the help everyone!” Jihyo calls quietly, and they all hum their assent before crawling back to their respective beds. Tzuyu helps her move the body before she heads back to the maknae cave.

 

The first thing Sana notices when she wakes up that morning is that she’s not in her bed, her limbs are at a weird angle, her clothes are doing nothing to keep her warm, and she is very, very cold.

 

“AAAHHHHHHHHHHH”

 

Nayeon stirs slightly in her sleep. “How on earth did she manage to sleep through that?"

 

Well at least she isn’t bloated.

 

---

 

If there’s one thing Jihyo fears, it’s chaos.

 

Not to say she doesn’t necessarily enjoy chaos- it’s just, well, as leader of TWICE and by default responsible for keeping the girls out of trouble. This proves quite troublesome and difficult, considering her own secret penchant for chaos and the other’s penchant for creating it. Nevertheless, chaos is something she both loves and hates and when it’s created by TWICE, she can be sure she’s in for some danger.

 

“Jihyo!” Momo runs up to her. “I need help!”

 

The leader pinches the bridge of her nose. Momo is, well, she doesn’t mean to be, but she’s among the more chaotic members and when she has issues, it’s never good. “What is it, Momo?”

 

Momo looks sheepish, hands behind her back. “I… ripped my pants.”

 

Goddamit Momo.

 

Jihyo stares at her blankly.

 

Momo gets a little defensive. “It’s true!” She protests, suddenly turning around to flash poor Jihyo a glimpse of her cartoon underwear and Jihyo screams a little, thankful that they’re in the dorm.

 

“Stop that!”

 

Momo hums happily, blissfully ignorant as Jihyo hustles her back into her shared room with Jeongyeon, who is sitting on the floor with Nayeon. They try to act innocent when Jihyo shoves Momo inside and barks at her to put on new pants, but Jihyo knows better; they’ve both got that constipated, conniving look on their faces which means they are most definitely up to something horrible.

 

She doesn’t dwell on it though, because Momo suddenly holds up her ripped pants crying and Jihyo has to turn away from her thoughts to deal with Momo’s tears. The girl is upset, because she really likes those pants, and the only way Jihyo can get her to stop crying is to promise her a way to fix them (she has to explain that no, she cannot sew and no she doesn’t have magic powers to fix pants on the spot) and then she finally leaves the room haggard, frazzled, and confused.

 

After a bit of thinking, she realizes that no one in TWICE actually knows how to sew. Mina can knit though, so she’s probably their best bet. Luckily, Mina is a genius- she takes one look at Momo’s ripped pants before saying “I’ll see what I can do” and taking them off Jihyo’s hands. Jihyo nearly cries with relief.

 

Unfortunately, the day has just begun. Jihyo has the misfortune of running into Jeongyeon next, who she sees has an absolutely devious glint in her eyes. “Jihyo!”

 

Jihyo stops in her tracks to stare at Jeongyeon suspiciously. “What?”

 

Jeongyeon is slapping at her bottom. “I ran out of rash cream earlier today and now there’s a red square on my .”

 

Jihyo wrinkles her nose. “What’s up with your room’s residents and butts today?” She asks rhetorically to no one, grumbling other incoherent nothings to herself as she walks to the bathroom, Jeongyeon trailing behind her, to search for more rash cream. She’s sure they've got extra because this always happens and Jeongyeon gets real y if she doesn’t have rash cream for some reason (Jihyo’s honestly not even sure if the girl even has a rash or if she’s just doing this to bug her).

 

After much digging, the bathroom is turned upside down and Jihyo has finally found the rash cream. Jeongyeon thanks her with that same constipated look on her face. “Wow, thanks Jihyo!” She snatches the tube and promptly runs off to her room. Jihyo hears some squabbling, and when she pokes her head out of the bathroom to look, she sees Momo being thrown out of her room with a clueless expression (thankfully she’s put on more pants). Nayeon is nowhere to be seen, which kind of concerns her, but she has other things to worry about right now, namely the huge pile of stuff lying out in the bathroom. Momo trots off, probably to Mina’s room, and Jihyo turns to start cleaning the mess.

 

She’s halfway through re-organizing their cabinet (it really needed a good clear-out) when she hears a high-pitched scream that sounds suspiciously like Sana. She drops the mountain of band-aid boxes in her arms and runs to the source in the kitchen.

 

To her horror, Sana is indeed flailing around the kitchen screaming, her shirt stained green with other chunks of green flying from her and sticking everywhere. Jihyo looks up and is horrified to find green goo all over the ceiling as well.

 

Nayeon is standing in the corner with wide eyes and her hands covering . Jihyo notices her and has no doubt that she’s the cause of this batch of chaos. “Nayeon unnie! What did you do?”

 

Nayeon, still with that stuffy surprised look on her face, turns to Jihyo, indignant. “Wha- you think this was my mess?”

 

“Yes.” Jihyo deadpans.

 

Another round of screams from Sana, and Jihyo glares at Nayeon who holds her hands up innocently. “How was I supposed to know that she would react like this? All I did was stuff a couple of avocados down her shirt.”

 

“You- what??”

 

At this critical moment, Momo chooses to wander in the kitchen. Sana catches sight of her and screams, shooting out an avocado-covered limb to grab at her best friend.

 

“MOMORING GET THIS STUFF OFF OF ME IT’S SO SLIPPERY!” Sana shrieks into the poor girl’s ear, other hand producing a piece of avocado and shoving it in Momo’s face. Unfortunately, Sana misses and the avocado half goes straight down Momo’s shirt (which Jihyo recognizes as Mina’s; Momo must’ve borrowed it just now and come out for water or something. Poor Mina. Poor Momo).

 

Momo looks terrified. “GET IT OFFFFFF!!!!” Her scaredy- screams, and to Jihyo’s chagrin, she starts to cry again as she wriggles around furiously trying to get the avocado out of her shirt.

 

The kitchen’s a mess, Sana’s a mess, Momo's crying again (and also a mess), and now Nayeon is lunchless. Jihyo wants to cry too, but she pulls it together and sets out to put things back in order. She gets the two Japanese girls to calm down and she leads them to the bathroom, instructing them to wash up and hands Momo some tissues. She goes back to the kitchen, where Nayeon is standing foodless and hungry, and proceeds to quickly whip the girl up a grilled cheese and bruschetta toast, and when Nayeon’s happily situated and eating, she hears Sana and Momo emerge from the bathroom. Sana comes into the kitchen and Jihyo offers her some of the bruschetta toast, which she happily accepts. Jihyo manages to tidy up the kitchen a little too, but she demands Nayeon clean what’s stuck on the ceiling before she goes to check on Momo.

 

Momo looks like she’s about to cry again because Jeongyeon won’t let her in (Jeongyeon claims that she’s still applying rash cream, but Jihyo’s honestly not sure if that’s an honest statement anymore). Luckily, Mina is gracious enough to open her door to the older girl and Momo is soon happily situated with a clean shirt, unripped pants, and a penguin-print blanket courtesy of Mina. Jihyo breathes a sigh of relief as she finally closes the door to Mina and Momo’s current occupancy. She thanks the heavens for blessing her with Mina.

 

It’s finally quiet in the dorm, she thinks to herself. Nayeon and Sana are diligently cleaning their mess from the kitchen, Mina is sewing, Momo is probably babbling some nonsense that Mina is forced to listen to, Jeongyeon is applying rash cream, and the maknaes…

 

Oh no.

 

She knew something was fishy about today- she hasn’t seen or heard from any of the maknaes since breakfast this morning. But it’s quiet now, and it’s been quiet on their part for the entire morning.

 

Maybe they fell back asleep or something.

 

She thinks hopeful thoughts, but she knows it’s unlikely; Chaeyoung may have, but there’s no way Dahyun is going to let her or Tzuyu just sit around on their rare day off. Jihyo thinks carefully, but then she hears a huge crash, Mina’s surprised scream, Momo’s shrill shriek, and finally, the three voices of the maknaes yelling.

 

When Mina screams, it must be serious, so she drops everything and races over to the source of the noise.

 

It’s worse than the avocado fiasco in the kitchen. She runs into her own room and finds Momo staring at a huge hole in their wall, shell-shocked, with an equally surprised Mina clutched tightly in her arms, sewing long forgotten. The hole leads to the maknae-cave, where three shocked faces peer through the smoldering hole with awe.

 

Jihyo almost faints.

 

Chaeyoung is first to move, turning to slap at Tzuyu’s arm furiously. “I can’t believe you just burned down my bed!” Her entire being is a bit black from the ash floating about in the room.

 

“It was an accident!” Tzuyu retorts, trying to defend herself from furious little slaps from equally small hands. “Plus, you said it would be okay!” She’s in no better state than Chaeyoung- her eyebrows are a little singed as well.

 

“Why on earth would it be okay for you to try to burn a can of hydrogen in your room?!” Mina half-pants, half-screams, removing her hands from her ears. Tzuyu shifts uncomfortably.

 

“I couldn’t read the label! I thought it was one of those little gas cans we use for hot pot, not one of Dahyun unnie’s hydrogen cans! Why do you even have a can of hydrogen to begin with?!”

 

Dahyun looks just as flustered. “I thought it was a hot pot gas can too!” Jihyo almost laughs at the sight of her; her hair has been shocked straight up and she looks like a troll with charcoal highlights running through her orange locks

 

The hole in the wall that connects both rooms is still smoking a little. Jihyo feels her veins throbbing. “How on earth did all that go undetected without setting off the smoke alarm?”

 

Everyone present coughs nervously. “Um,” Chaeyoung stubs her foot on the ground sheepishly. “I think it blew up before it could go off.”

 

Momo snickers a little but quickly shuts up at Jihyo’s look. “And why did you light the hydrogen can on fire, Tzuyu?”

 

Tzuyu blushes. “I was trying to get the hot pot going.” She admits quietly.

 

“And where is the hot pot?” Jihyo peers into the maknae room. The wall that previously separated the unnie’s room and the maknae room was pretty much gone now. The top corners remained, but the middle was a gaping, burning wall that all nine could fit through at once if they wanted. She catches no sight of the tabletop burner though, just the carnage of Chaeyoung and Dahyun’s bunk bed and Tzuyu’s own bed, covered in ashes.

 

“Um,” Chaeyoung speaks up again. “That blew up too.”

 

Dahyun looks visibly upset at that. “Now I’m going to have to get another one.” She grumbles a little, but Jihyo pays her no mind.

 

“Now, why were you three trying to have hot pot in your room instead of coming to the kitchen?”

 

They look sulky. “Well we saw Nayeon unnie shove an avocado down Sana unnie’s shirt and we got scared.” Tzuyu confesses quietly, unhappily, as she looks down at her dusty hands. Chaeyoung and Dahyun nod their strong consent.

 

Jihyo pinches the bridge of her nose. “I can’t believe this.” She groans. One thing just leads to another, doesn’t it?

 

She assesses the damage; the maknae line’s things are okay at least, and so are they themselves, Tzuyu’s bed is still standing and sleepable once they clean it off a little. Nayeon’s bed would’ve been flattened as well from the pieces of the wall, but luckily Mina and Momo have apparently pushed it further into the room to sit on it. Everyone is okay though, and Momo didn’t cry (Jihyo thinks this has something to do with Mina’s sorcery and she makes a mental note to thank the girl later).

 

The maknae line is looking at her guiltily, Mina and Momo are seeming expectant as well, and Jihyo sighs. Might as well make the most of it.

 

“Guess we’ll be having a sleepover until we fix the wall.” She smiles finally, exasperated but not mad, and the maknaes look relieved. Mina smiles at Jihyo and Momo claps.

 

They set out cleaning the debris and Jihyo has to make a couple phone calls, but it’s nothing that will get them in trouble (somehow) and all they have to do is wait for the maintenance people to come in and rebuild the wall and replace Dubuchaeng’s beds (they still want a bunk bed; why, Jihyo will never understand. Apparently Chaeyoung likes to live in the sky).

 

Nayeon and Sana are a little shocked that the maknae line managed to out-chaos them (Nayeon is immensely proud of her babies for it) but they’re more than happy at the proposition of a sleepover with the little ones. Nayeon happily invites Chaeyoung to share a bed with her, Tzuyu crawls right in with Mina, Dahyun looks at Jihyo with puppy eyes until the leader’s resolve breaks and she lifts her covers for a happy Dubu to jump into. They’re supposed to be sleeping, but they’re all giggles and silly stories and eventually Jeongyeon marches in with Momo in tow, demanding that they are let in on the fun. There aren't enough beds to go around at that point, so they all decide to ditch the beds and lay their sleeping bags and air mattresses out for a massive group pile.

 

Jihyo smiles contently. Sure, this whole “let’s-cause-chaos-for-Jihyo-to-help-her-get-over-it” was probably 2yeon’s idea and sure, that resulted in Momo crying twice, Sana taking a three-hour shower, ruined avocados, Chaeyoung and Dahyun’s beds getting burned down, Tzuyu destroying a lot of Dahyun’s property, and giant hole in their wall, but they’re here now together in a way they haven’t been in a long time and honestly, Jihyo’s starting to think that chaos isn’t so scary anymore.

 

(Anyone else who hears of such events would beg to differ, but they’re not GodJihyo. They don’t understand. No one does).