As much as Joy loves being with Wendy, she really misses being at home. Wendy has been so good to her these past days and she is grateful but Joy notices she is getting a little homesick. It’s not even the people there, it’s the comfort of having an own room and being able to be your complete self.

It’s 8 AM. Joy’s first few classes have been cancelled so this gives her some time to go back home and get some rest in her own room. Since the parents are both out for work and Yeri will have school, she will have the entire place to herself.  Seulgi actually is always the last one to leave, so if Joy leaves Wendy’s house now she might run into her. Joy actually doesn’t mind this because it might give her a chance to catch up and have a proper chat. Joy pretends to be fine and not to be missing her parents, but truth is she misses them terribly despite of everything that happened.

Joy gets into her car and makes her move to her house. She gets happy when she pulls up on the driveway and gets to park in her own, usual spot. Joy grabs her backpack from the backseat and walks towards the door and unlocks it. She steps inside and drops her backpack in the hallway and makes her way to the kitchen. God she would kill for a great home-cooked meal right now.

“Babe is that you?”

Joy freezes when she hears a voice coming from the stairs, which means someone is coming down and might see her. It’s confusing since no one is supposed to be home right now.

“Yerim is that you? Why aren’t you at school?” someone walks  from the hallway and is now in the kitchen facing Joy. She’s staring at her Joy in shock, but also relief.

“Sooyoung…” Irene walks towards Joy to hug her, but Joy decides to take a step back. It was a reflex which confused Joy herself because she didn’t actually mind hugging Irene.

It saddened Irene that Joy took a step back, but it also made her realize there was a lot to discuss for everything to be normal again.

She hated it herself when people acted like nothing happened. Irene experienced this a lot with her dad. Her dad used to scream at her for the fact she started to date a girl. Dating a girl was something her dad found useless and unsuccessful. He would always complain how this was a phase and how she should move on with a man if she wanted to have a proper family. The next day he would ask Irene for favors and acted like he had not said anything hurtful the day before. Irene ignored all of it though. The “useless” girl is now her wife and they have two gorgeous children and she wouldn’t do anything to change that.

“I’m sorry Sooyoung. I’m sorry for everything I said and did. I hope we can talk about it” Irene walked towards Joy again but this time Joy didn’t move. Irene gave her a heartfelt hug and Joy tried to hold back her tears. Joy wrapped her arms around Irene and they hugged for a while, not minding anything around them.

“I missed you mom” Joy’s voice cracks. Irene tightens the hug.

“I missed you too my princess. Come lets sit down and I’ll get you something to eat in the meantime” Irene walks towards the fridge to see if there’s something she can prepare for Joy.

“Thank you, I didn’t eat anything yet” Joy squats up on the kitchen counter. Irene closes the fridge. “Excuse me? Didn’t aunt Wendy make anything for you?” Irene frowns her eyebrows. “No, she was still sleeping when I left. It’s fine really” Joy shrugs her shoulder. Irene starts to mumble to herself “Stupid Seungwan.. no responsibility at all.. how do I even let my children stay with her?”

Joy looks at the slices of bread next to her on the kitchen counter. “Mom, please make me some eggs and toast. Aunty Wendy’s eggs are not that good. They’re pretty watery and I really missed your eggs” Irene chuckles and starts preparing breakfast for the both of them.

They sit down at the dining table and start eating their eggs. Both of them know there is a heavy conversation coming up. Joy looks at Irene and tries to start the conversation, but gets interrupted.

“Sooyoung, before you say anything I just want you to know that I am very sorry. I haven’t been treating you well enough but just know that me and your mom are very proud of you and that we love you. You give me a special type of happiness that no one else can give.” Irene tries to hide her tears but fails to do so. She grabs a tissue and wipes some of the tears that are rolling down. “Seeing you grow into the wonderful woman you are now is something so beautiful to witness and I would never want you to feel otherwise. I might be bad at expressing my love for you but please know that you make me happy and proud every single day”

Joy can’t look up and face her mom because she knows she will cry. This is all she wanted to hear, just her parents appreciating her hard work. Joy decides to get up anyways and goes up to her mom to give her a hug. “Thank you mom, I love you so much. I can’t wait to be back here again”

After being in their emotional hours they sat down on the couch and talked about the past days. Irene talks about how Seulgi has been missing Joy so much and how she looked at Joy’s room everyday before she went to bed. She also mentions how Yeri could not stop talking about her sister during dinner but they didn’t mind because they all missed Joy terribly.

Irene also mentions that she got a phone call from school to be informed that Joy walked out of class. Joy explains the entire situation and it just makes Irene realize how she hasn’t really been there for Joy when it comes to school. While catching up, Joy realizes what time it is and notices she’s running late.

“Mom I have to go, I will be late for study group if I don’t leave now” Irene looks at Joy and pouts. “Sooyoung, why don’t you stay for a little longer? I will call work and tell them I will be there later” Joy laughs and is surprised her oh- so strict mother is being like this right now. “I can’t mom! I have to meet up with one of the group members  because I’m tutoring her on a subject. We have the same exam tomorrow so it will actually come in handy”

Irene smiles and places her hand on Joy’s head. “My little girl is being so responsible now. I’m proud of you Sooyoungie. But fine, go! Can’t wait to have dinner with the four of us again” Irene hugs Joy as she’s ready to leave for school.

Joy arrives at school and goes to the study hall, where her study group currently is. She enters the room and apologizes for being a bit late but no one seems to be really bothered about it. She sits  opposite of the girl she needs to tutor for the day. Joy is a bit nervous about it because she isn’t entirely sure herself if she will be able to explain everything perfectly but from what she has seen the girl is really nice and will probably be understanding.

It’s the kind of situation where they have talked before but always forgot to ask each others names.  This is a good chance for them to get to know each other a bit better. Joy looks at the girl and notices she is acting a bit anxious.

“Are you nervous? Don’t be, it’s just me! I actually haven’t introduced myself properly to you but I will now. Hi, my name is Joy. My family and close friends actually call me Sooyoung, so if you ever hear someone call me that you know why” Joy flashes a gummy smile reaches out her hand for the girl to shake it. Nervously the girl reaches out her hand too and shakes Joy’s hand. “Hi Joy, you’re quite popular so everyone kind of knows who you are. My name is Jinsoul”

Joy chuckles. “Well I hope people say good things about me then. Tell me, what do they say?” Jinsoul shies away and regrets mentioning Joy’s popularity. “Uhm.. well I don’t know actually.. Just how hot you are. I hear there are lots of people that want to date you” Jinsoul flips through her textbook while trying to avoid eye contact with Joy. “What about you Jinsoul? You feel the same way?” Joy grins.

“What!? No unnie, I don’t think about you that way!  Actually if I had to pick someone to date I’d rather date your sister, Yerim” Jinsoul starts to blush. “Yerim? Do you guys know each other?” Joy asked surprised.

Jinsoul starts explaining  how her best friend Jungeun - who was also her girlfriend sometime back, is classmates with Yeri. They used to hang out with each other, with Jennie and Lisa joining them at times as well. Things slightly changed when Jinsoul and Jungeun broke up. They started to hang out less because they wanted to prevent awkward situations. They all still hang out sometimes but it’s become way less now. They all went their own way and made new friends. Jennie, Yeri and Lisa continued being friends and grew closer to each other.

Joy is surprised to know Yeri had other friends besides Jennie and Lisa, since she thought she knew all of her friends.  She wonders why Yeri barely talked about Jungeun or Jinsoul since they used to be close.

“That’s so interesting Jinsoul. It’s a small world, huh? Well it’s very nice to meet you. Let’s start studying or we’ll never finish” Joy smiles and Jinsoul smiles back.

After Joy felt like she had explained everything detailed enough and they finished studying, she dropped Jinsoul off at her house and decided to collect all of her stuff  from Wendy’s house. Joy entered the house but no one was home. She grabs her stuff from the room she slept in and leaves a note for Wendy.

I’m going back home. Thank you for being my best friend. I love you x

Joy texted Irene before she would reach home, so when she pulled up the driveway and parked her car she could see Seulgi patiently waiting for her in the door opening. Joy stepped out of her car and was overwhelmed with a huge hug from Seulgi. “I missed you so much! I’m happy you’re back, please don’t ever leave us like that again!” Seulgi can’t stop hugging Joy but got pushed away since Joy could barely breathe. Irene came out too and starting smiling, looking at both of them being so excited.

Yeri came outside too. Based on their last encounter, things didn’t go very well. Yeri knows she was wrong and so does Joy. It’s up to them to continue fighting or just forgive and forget.

They both opted for the latter. Joy ran up to Yeri and picked her up, hugging her as tight as she could. “My Yerimie, I missed you” Yeri starts to giggle and indicating her sister should let her down. “I missed you too. More than you can imagine” Yeri says while smiling. Joy puts Yeri down and lets go of her “Well actually I can imagine. It must be hard living without me”

“It absolutely is Sooyoung. Now let's go eat dinner. I think all of us must be pretty hungry” Irene gestures to everyone to sit down and go eat.

While Irene warns Yeri for eating her food too fast, Seulgi tries to get Joy’s attention. “How was study group Sooyoung? Did something interesting happen?” Joy remembers how Yeri never really mentioned her past friends so uses this opportunity to bring them up.

“Yeah, I had to tutor one of my fellow group mates. She’s really nice. She was actually Yerim’s old friend. Do you remember her Yerim? Jinsoul?”

Yeri stops chewing her food and looks at Joy with shock. “Jinsoul is in your group? Wow.. what did you guys talk about?”  Joy looks up at Yeri who is starting to act nervous. “Nothing special. Just about how close you were before Jinsoul broke up with Jungeun” Yeri tries to brush her nervousness off but fails to do so. “Oh.. did she tell you anything else?”

That’s when Joy receives a text from Rosé.

Prepare for tomorrow. Forgive me. I love you and I do really care about you. Always have and always will.

Joy is confused. What does that even mean?