Sunday

A soft glow shines through the blinds and leaves a shadow of stripes on her delicate face. Her eyes are closed and her lips are slightly parted. She takes in soft breaths, tickling the crook of Sojung’s neck every now and then. It doesn't bother the latter though, she looks at the girl in her arms lovingly. It was her favorite thing to wake up to, the sight of Eunbi in her arms.

Sojung has a lazy smile on her face, she feels something warm glow in her chest. Carefully, she lifts her arm off of the sleeping girl’s waist to her peaceful face. She traces her face, gently, with her finger and brushes a strand of her beautiful black hair behind her ear. The other girl slightly squirms and mumbles, so Sojung stops. Though she thinks it's cute how the younger girl whines in her sleep, with her little pouty face and small retaliations, she doesn't want to disturb her peace. After all, her sleeping face was one of the older girl’s most favorite things in the world. She seemed so relaxed, stress-free and happy; a rare moment in their busy idol lives.

A sudden realization hits Sojung and she glances over to the clock by their bedside. It's just a bit under a quarter past seven, she has sixteen minutes to spare before she has to wake all the other members up for breakfast. She grimaces and tries her best to detach herself from her lover’s embrace. Eventually, she gets through and starts to lift herself off the bed. Silently, she tries to sneak away but she feels a hand grasp her wrist and an arm slung along her waist.

“Sojung…” the half asleep girl murmurs, “stay.”

Sojung looks at her, about to shake her head, but is met with the sight of desperate droopy eyes. With one eye unable to open and the other slowly closing, Eunbi looks adorable. The usually bratty trickster looked like a cute little puppy and Sojung couldn't resist. She lets herself be pulled back onto the bed, snuggled against her girlfriend. Wrapping her arms around her, pulling her closer to her, Sojung decides that it couldn't hurt to be late once.

Monday

Her heart, beating rapidly, feels like it's going to jump right out of her chest. She sits up in cold sweat, frantically checking her whereabouts. It's dark and cold, Eunbi is terrified, she has tears in her eyes. She clutches her hands tightly, she's so scared, so vulnerable and weak. In little whispers, or something pertaining to a mantra, she tells herself that it's not real. But she's still afraid that it's real, she trembles at the thought of it—of Sojung leaving.

She brings her knees to her chest and cries; the dream, the nightmare, she can't bare it. More than anything in the world, Eunbi loves Sojung and she wouldn't know what to do without her. Her eyes adjust to the dark, and the first thing that Eunbi does is look at the girl beside her. She's still in the same position she fell asleep in, laying peacefully by her side. Watching her makes Eunbi’s heart slow down a little, she feels a sense of safety. She sniffles and her stream of tears comes to a gradual end.

Wanting to wash her face before going back to sleep, she tiptoes to the bathroom. She shuts the door slowly, not wanting to wake up anyone else and flicks on the lights. In the mirror, she sees herself with dark circles and streaks of watery residue from her most recent incident. Her heart starts to beat a note too fast again as she remembers the dream that made her so distressed. Quickly, she turns on the faucet and dips her hands under. She splashes water onto her face and turns it back off.

Panic arises and Eunbi feels like she's suffocating. She stares at her reflection in the mirror and speaks to herself:

“It's okay,” she reassures, “I'm okay. Sojung is right there, she's still here.”

She takes a step backwards and repeats, “I'm okay, this is going to be fine.”

Eunbi loses her footing and almost falls to the floor. She doesn't think she'll be okay if she's separated for their leader any longer so she scurries back into the bed they shared. In a small jump, she dives under under the covers, right into the taller girl’s embrace. The other girl seems to notice, a bit stirred up from the sudden change.

She mumbles, “Babe, go back to sleep, it's still too early.”

The younger one doesn't seem to respond at first, but then Sojung feels her fingers entwine with hers.

“Hold my hand,” she whispers.

The older one nods and ruffles the younger’s hair with her other hand. “Of course.”

Somewhere, through layers fabric, she hears a muffled reply. She couldn't quite make out what was said so she asks, “Hmm, babe can you repeat that again.”

In huff, the shorter girl repeats herself, in a small meek voice, “Thank you.”

She notices that her girlfriend turns away from her after that and squeezes her hand a little harder. Sojung squeezes back.

“You're always welcome.”

Tuesday

She's stupid, she's really really stupid. At least that's what Eunbi tells herself when she fought with the idiot she happens to love. Again! Though, in all honesty, she's not quite sure who the real idiot in this situation is: Sojung for being a dense giraffe or herself for loving her.

For the record, Eunbi wasn't wrong about what she said, the older girl was annoying. Like anyone else in the world, except for Yewon, she was annoying. It was meant to be taken as a joke, and she didn't expect her to take it so seriously. Eunbi, being as stubborn as she is, also refused to apologize. So, now here she is, alone, hugging her No-Face plushie.

It feels kind of empty without her taller counterpart; waking up to no one was just… lonely.

She wonders if Sojung feels the same and sighs. Think about her makes Eunbi feel guilty, she didn't mean for her to get hurt or offended. It was all fun and game, she told herself—it's not her fault that her girlfriend is dumb. Another sigh leaves her lips and she slides out of her bed, carrying her plushie with her. Her door creaks open and she makes her way towards her lover’s room. She slinks through the hallway like a cat, quickly and silently reaching her destination.

Eunbi stands at the doorway, she stares for a moment before approaching the bed. At first, she kneels next to the bed, wondering if she should go further. Then she shivers a bit, it's still kind of early to be awake. Eunbi takes a look at Sojung’s face and she gives up. She lets her plushie fall to the floor and she climbs into the bed next to her lover.

Hesitantly, she taps Sojung’s shoulder, trying to get her attention. Her attempt is successful and the leader groans.

“It's too early to fight, go back to your room.”

The second maknae shakes her head, she moves closer so that just hovered over the other’s ear.

“I'm sorry.”

Eunbi clutches onto the back of her shirt and hopes that she'll turn around. When a few minutes pass and she doesn't, it starts to worry the younger one so she says it again.

“I'm sorry…”

Finally, Sojung turns around with widened eyes.

“I'm not dreaming am I?”

She's met with a pinch to her cheeks and she immediately regrets her decision.

“Ow ow ow,” she tries to swat Eunbi’s fingers away, “I'm sorry, okay, I said I'm sorry. You can stop now.”

Satisfied, the girl stops and gently squishes her cheeks instead. The shorter of the two finds it funny and giggles to herself. It takes roughly a minute or two until Eunbi gets tired again and falls back into dreamland. This time, Sojung pokes her cheeks—they're really soft. Her eyelids feel slightly heavy so she thinks that maybe it can wait a few hours. She'll play with Eunbi’s cheeks when they're both awake.

Wednesday

Something was burnt; she's not quite what it is, but there's a very distinct smell traveling around the dorm. Even though she doesn't know what was burnt, she has a good idea who in the world had done it. Seeing that there’s no one else in the bed with her, she came to a concerning conclusion to say the least.

Hwang Eunbi was in the kitchen cooking.

Of course, there's nothing Sojung can do to stop her now. Sadly, she doesn't have the power to bend space and time to her will. But, to the oldest member, what's important now is if Eunbi is under supervision or not. If she isn't, Sojung can only imagine the kitchen terrors that she will come to see. She reaches forwards and sits up, she contemplates in how she's going to salvage the kitchen from Eunbi’s wrath. Lost in thought, she doesn't notice the door open and her girlfriend enter the room.

There's a sudden weight that sinks the bed down and a smell of bacon that fills the room. Sojung looks down and there's food on a tray in front of her. There's a plate of scrambled eggs with a side of bacon and a glass of water. The food is cooked just the way she likes them and to her surprise, it's unburnt.

Her gaze turns to Eunbi and she asks, “Did you replace my girlfriend with an alien?”

The shorter girl pauses before gasping, “Oh my God, a giraffe is talking.”

“Touché, but what's the occasion, why make me breakfast in bed today?”

“It’s a thank you.”

“For what?”

“Nothing much,” Eunbi tells her, “try it.”

She motions at her chopsticks so Sojung picks them up and pics a piece of egg up. It's a known fact that the other doesn't cook much, but she doesn't care. Except, of course, when it's one of her pranks where Sojung ends up gasping for a glass of milk because her dumpling is spiked with a spoonful of wasabi. Speaking of that, she's a little worried that this breakfast thing is some sort of prank. It's odd though, because at the same time she feels that she should trust Eunbi.

She takes a bite.

It’s chewy, not undercooked or overcooked, and lightly salted—though a bit bland to her tastes. She waits for a couple of seconds and there doesn’t seem to be a strange after taste either. Conclusively, she decides that it’s fine and definitely one of the better dishes the other cooked. She believes that this must’ve been a huge feat for the cook so she motions for her to come over.

“Good girl!” she says and a blush spreads across Eunbi’s face.

Thursday

“I love you.”

Her eyes flutter open as Sojung’s whispers her sweet nothings into her ear. She feels her heart swell and a certain type of warmth radiating off of her cheeks. There’s a part of her that wants her lover to stop because she’s insanely embarrassed, but she also thinks it’s really heartwarming and wants to keep listening to her. And, well, the latter part of her wins as she lets herself be peppered with love.

“Baby, you and I could be the only ones in the world and I’d never get tired of you.”

Eunbi clutches the bed sheets and bangs her head to the mattress.

“Let's grow old together and watch the stars in the sky and, like the sky, our love will be the one constant in our lives.”

She buries her head under her pillow and kicks her feet up and down.

“Even if we say nothing, your presence is enough for me.”

The tips of her ears are bright red and she’s reached her limit.

“Stop it, you're embarrassing me,” she whines.

“Come on, it's not like anyone else is here-”

As if she summoned the rest of the members, they crashed through the doorway, all toppled over one another. On the unfortunate floor, was Yerin, she gives them a silly wave and gives that vibe that she’s kind of teasing them. Above her are Yuju and Eunha, who are respectively completely spaced out and full of hyperness. Then there's Umji who's confused, she's standing behind the pile of fools, uninformed about the current situation.

There's an air of awkwardness and feeling of mortification that fills the room. No one dared to speak at the moment, not even Yerin whose smile gradually faded as the silence prolonged. As time goes by, the culprits grew stiffer and the younger Eunbi became more uncomfortable. Not wanting to dwell in this situation any longer, she nudges Sojung with her elbow, signaling her to do something.

“It's not nice to invade someone’s privacy is it?”

She smiles, trying to kill with ‘kindness’, but that's when Yerin loses it, she breaks out into a hysterical laughter and the atmosphere loosens up. She starts teasing the couple on how cheesy they are and Eunha chips in as well. Eventually, Umji catches on and joins in on the fun as well and even Yuju is able to grasp what is happening. The room is filled with noise and it takes a solid five minutes until they finally calm down, coming to their senses.

Through it all, little Eunbi is curled up somewhere underneath the blanket, too embarrassed to come out. She cringes as Sojung’s words echo in her mind and the worst of it all is that she hates it just as much as she loves it. While the leader starts to lightly scold their team members after the incident die down and manages to shoo them away, the second maknae is mentally banging her head against a brick wall.

“Sorry about that, I spoke too soon.”

Sojung apologizes to her, patting the blanket that covered her back. Eunbi pokes her head out and shakes it.

“As much as I hate to admit, I, well, you know.”

She pulls blanket back over herself and screams into the fabric. Hearing laughter come from the girl beside her, she groans. Although no one can see it, the side of her lips tugged just a bit upwards.

Friday

Her hair is sometimes black and sometimes brown, it depends on how the light comes and goes. It's another early morning and the birds are chirping, singing a sweet morning melody. She hums along and looks at the changing color of her precious one’s hair. Leaning down, she kisses the back of her head.

“Morning sleepy, it's time to get up. We have practice in an hour and you know how long it takes for all of us to get ready.”

“Five more minutes,” Eunbi groans, lifting her arm up to dismiss the wake up call.

With her hair in a mess and her limbs sprawled all over the bed, Sojung knows that it's going to take a lot to get her lover up. Luckily, she's in exceptional fortune today and is able to come up with a plan. She rolls over, right next to the sleepy girl, and kisses her forehead. When the younger doesn't react, she moves on to other parts of her perfect face.

On the tip of her nose, Sojung gives her a soft peck. Eunbi mumbles something and tries to turn her head away but her lover doesn't let her.

On her soft cheeks, the older presses her lips. Eunbi takes peek and flutters here eyes shut right after.

On her ears, Sojung takes a light nip. Affectionately, she tugs a bit, eliciting a high pitched squeal from the other girl.

“Hey, stop it! I'll get up now,” second maknae exclaims.

She feels her cheeks being squished and she’s about to protest, but she feels a warm softness against her lips and melts. Her arms wrap around Sojung and brings them closer together; it’s a wonderful feeling to be in love. They pull apart and stare at each other, not letting go of their embrace. For a period of silence, they stay like this, basking in the moment and memorizing all of its beauty.

Saturday

Her chest rises up and down, in steady breaths and slight movements. There are faded pink spots scattered from the top of Eunbi’s throat to below the collar of the oversized t-shirt that she wore. Her hair is beautifully splayed on the pillow that rested under her and her hand is entwined with Sojung’s. Birds are chattering and the morning dew sparkles, the sun is out and up in a clear blue sky. On a day like this, even specks of dust seem to gleam as the light shines past the blinds.

It’s a picturesque morning.

Personally, Sojung thinks its immaculate, she’s gets to wake up beside the woman she loves and live a life she’s always dreamed of. It feels surreal to her, she has trouble believing that this life is really hers at times. She’s known if for a while, but she’s so incredibly lucky; she’s grateful that she has a girlfriend she loves and a job she enjoys. There’s a lot of things that could have gone wrong, there’s a lot of mistakes she could have made, but she’s glad that it ended up this way.

She remembers when she first met Eunbi, she was a bit taken aback because she looked quite similar to someone famous. Since the beginning, though, there was never any doubt; there was something about Eunbi that Sojung liked very much. She thought she was exceptionally pretty, even when she wasn’t her smiling, and was unusually drawn to her. In a blur of moments, they became friends and they fought a lot at first—they still do. It’s just that somewhere along the way, they fell in love. Slowly, it had snuck into their hearts and stuck them together; what sly little thing it was.

The smaller girl shifts and stretches her arms out, feeling well rested and rejuvenated from a good night’s sleep. One by one, she lifts her eyelids and adjusts to daylight. When her eyes meets her lover’s, she smiles blissfully.

“Good morning.”