“Oh that hurt way more than I thought it would!” Seulgi yells out as she rubs her fist. Irene runs up to Seulgi to scold her for doing that but chooses not to. Everyone knows he had it coming, but no one would think it would be the ‘always calm’ Seulgi to do it.

Irene looks at Joy who is still processing everything that happened and goes up to her. To avoid being too emotional Irene decides to just give her hug and rubs her hand in circular motions over Joy’s back. Seulgi cracks her joints and walks up to Joy so she can go hug her as well. No words are being exchanged and everyone is enjoying eachother’s silent company.

Time passes by as Irene and Seulgi talk to the principal about the career of Mr. Jeon. They want him fired and on the offenders list and luckily the principal agrees. It takes a while for the three of them to discuss everything.

Joy is seated in the hallway. Several people, her friends mostly, came up to her to have a chat. Yeri sat with Joy for as long as she could. Jennie and Lisa entertained Joy for a while and even Jinsoul came up to Joy to check up on her. Joy felt good that many people cared about her and didn’t focus on what happened, but on making her feel better without mentioning the stuff.

At some point everyone left and went on to do their own thing, which was nice for Joy so she could have some alone time. Her alone time ended when she got interrupted by a certain person.

“Can I sit with you? We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to” Wendy sits down next to Joy who is surprised by her unexpected visit to the school. “What are you doing here?” Joy asks. Wendy starts putting her arms around Joy and sighs. “I came here as soon as I heard the news got leaked” Wendy tightens the hug and gives Joy a kiss on her forehead.

Irene and Seulgi come outside the principal's office once they finish discussing matters with him. Irene approaches Joy with a big smile. “Guess what Sooyoung! Mr. Jeon is getting fired and after your story got leaked several students have come forward, confessing that the same thing has happened to them as well. We are planning to set up a case against him and the students have agreed to come forward with their story to strengthen our case. We have a really high chance to win this!”

Joy starts tearing up. She can’t believe that she can finally fight this and that she has people to back up her story. Joy runs up to Irene and Seulgi and hugs them. “Thank you for everything. I would not be able to do this without you” 

Wendy notices Irene side-eyeing her, which builds some awkward tension between them. They all go home and let Joy decide what they are having for dinner. She picks her favorite dish and enjoys some quality time with the family. It has been a while since everyone felt so close with eachother.

“Seungwan can you come and help me with the order?” Irene gestures Wendy to come to the kitchen. Yeri looks at them suspiciously walking towards the kitchen but does not think much of it. She continues watching TV while cuddling with Joy.

“What’s up Joohy-” Wendy gets interrupted as Irene gestures Wendy to lower her voice. Irene points at the seat and commands Wendy to sit there so they can talk.

“Did you know about this?” Irene crosses her arms. Wendy gets nervous as she doesn’t really know what to answer. The fact that she hid something this big from her own sister is kind of betraying.

“Know about what?” Wendy tries to be vague as possible. Irene shakes her head and clenches her jaw. “Don’t act stupid Seungwan! About what happened to Sooyoung! I know you knew about this all along! How could you not tell me? I am her mother, not you! Stop pretending that you know everything about parenting! You should have told me as soon as she told you, Seungwan. I am her mother and I need to know when my daughter is getting abused by her own damn teacher!”

Wendy is unsure what to say in this situation. If she says one bad thing she knows Irene will blow up on her.

“I’m sorry Joohyun but Sooyoung asked me not to tell anyone. I respected her choice and I made sure she had someone she could trust and talk to. Isn’t that what you want? Your daughter feeling safe and not keeping things to herself? It is not my problem that she would rather tell me these kinds of things than you. That’s on her, not me!”

There is a silence after Wendy spoke up to Irene.

Irene looks at Wendy with a blank expression. She sniffs and looks down. “I am sorry Seungwan. I am just really shaken up by all of this. I am serious... thank you for being there for her” Irene walks towards Wendy and hugs her. At first Wendy did not hug her back but realized that this is bigger than her own feelings. She decided to ignore what has been said and hugged her back.

Irene tries to get herself together and walks in circles to calm herself down. Wendy just looks at her and snaps out of her thoughts when she realized they still need to order food. She calls the take-out place Joy always mentions and orders her favorite dish. Irene takes a deep breath and nods to Wendy that she is ready to go back into the living room.

Joy looks at Wendy and Irene coming back but gets interrupted by Yeri as she started to mention someone she would rather not hear about.

“I know you do not want to talk about her but Chaeyoung has been beating herself up for what she did. And no, I will not defend her, and I never will forgive her for what she did to my big sister but maybe we should cut her some slack” Yeri sighs. Joy looks at Yeri and is not sure if she should bring the fact up that everyone knows Rosé used her, but she does it anyways.

“What she did to me was horrible but are you not mad that she basically used you? I know that you really liked her Yerim… and I am sorry you got treated this way. You deserve so much better” Joy pouts.

“I did like her a lot, but my feelings are not important right now. I just want to be there for you! My own feelings will come later” Yeri smiles. Joy plops her body on Yeri and puts her arms around her. “Don’t worry! Unnie will find you a great girl Yerimie”

The news of Mr. Jeon getting fired has been the talk of the entire school. Students were also gossiping about the court date that has been revealed, exactly a week from today.

Joy enters the school confidently, not worried about anyone. That horrible monster that calls himself a ‘teacher’ is finally gone and her favorite people in the entire world, her friends, are there to spend time with her. She decided to handle some things first though.

After greeting some people in the hallway, Joy spots the person she was looking for. “Let’s go talk at our spot” Joy suggests to Rosé, who just closed her locker. Rosé smiles. “Sure”

They proceed to go the music room. As per usual, there is no one to be found there. Rosé grabs two chairs from the back and places them more to the front, making her and Joy face eachother while they sit down. Unsure of what Rosé should say, she waits till Joy starts speaking up. Luckily Joy starts the conversation.

“Listen, what happened to you really . I don’t think I can forgive you anytime soon but I will work on it. I miss you, I really do. My mind has been all about you… it is impossible to get you out of my head” Joy’s confession made Rosé blush. But her cheeks were getting red from something else.

A huge slap was placed on her cheek by Joy. “That is for hurting my sister. Try something like that again and it will be worse than just a slap” Joy can’t help but chuckle. “Sorry, just had to release that”

Rosé massages her cheek. “It is fine, I deserved it”.  Joy moves closer to Rosé and places a soft kiss on her cheek. Rosé looks surprised. “If I get kissed every time I do something bad I might continue” Joy laughs. “Don’t even try Park Chaeyoung” They both are laughing but Rosé stops as she is anxious to ask her next question.

“How about I take you out on a proper date? It is okay if you are not ready yet but…” Rosé takes a deep breath. “I never lied about my feelings towards you. I know I messed up big time but that kiss at your aunt’s house was the best kiss of my entire life. So please give me one chance and let me take you out tomorrow night” Rosé looks at Joy. She is not receiving an answer. “This was a mistake I am sorry. Ofcourse you would not give me another chance, God I am so stupid” Rosé picks up her bag and walks towards to door but stops when she feels someone holding her wrist.

“Actually, tomorrow won’t be convenient. Maybe the day after? Oh, and hopefully this tops the last one”

Joy lets go of the wrist and cups her hand around Rosé’s face. She looks into Rosé’s eyes and appreciates how dark but warm they are. Joy moves her gaze from Rosé’s eyes to her lips and looks at them before her own. Joy closes her eyes and presses a gentle kiss on Rosé’s lips. While she notices how good Rosé smells, she also feels her being kissed back. They go on until the school bell makes them separate the kiss.

“Definitely topped the last one” Rosé grins as she softly wipes . They walk out of the music room and hope no one saw them. Both smile while walking through the hallway and say their goodbyes as they need to go to different classrooms.

Joy makes her way to her study group. Her class has an exam tomorrow and they need to go over te material as much as they can. Not many people are there since some students preferred to study alone. Luckily Joy’s favorite study buddy was there to join her.

“Hey Jinsoul! Are you ready for tomorrow’s test?” Joy looks at Jinsoul who has a displeased look on her face. “I have been at school for too long and I am dying to go home. Just want some food” Jinsoul whines out. That is when a brilliant idea hit Joy. This was definitely going to work out in her opinion.

“Why don’t we go to my house? We can study and you can eat dinner with us. Maybe afterwards you can hang out with me and Yeri” Jinsoul gives Joy a hesitant look. “Oh god, I haven’t spent time with Yeri in ages. But I guess I am down, let’s go” They pack their stuff and head to Joy’s car to spend time at her house.

Surprisingly studying went very well. Jinsoul helped Joy out with the topics that troubled her and Joy showed Jinsoul the notes she had made.  They went on for about three hours, which made their heads explode once they finished. The results were satisfying though and they were glad it was done. Dinner did not go as expected since Yeri could not be there. It was still fun as Seulgi and Irene kept bothering Jinsoul with loads of questions. Joy tried to shush them but it did no good. Jinsoul is not that fussy so she enjoyed answering the questions and talking to them.

Joy and Jinsoul excused themselves from the table and went up to her room. They just talked for a while and even tried to go over their course work again, but let it slide since they felt like they studied enough before dinner. Suddenly a certain someone barges in the room, not knowing her ex- best friend was there.

“Unnie let’s watch a movie, I need-” Yeri spots Jinsoul. Jinsoul gets up and explains that she’s here to study with her sister. Suddenly Joy excuses herself. “I think mom called me, I am going to check if she needs something from me”. Yeri looks confused “I did not hear anything” Before Yeri could say anything more, Joy sprinted downstairs to leave the two alone.

“How have you been Yerim?” Jinsoul asks with an awkward tone. “Oh you know, same old same old” Yeri looks around the room, making the whole conversation even more awkward. Jinsoul steps in. “So no girlfriend at the moment?”  Yeri side-eyes Jinsoul. “No, why do you ask Jinsoul?”

Jinsoul gets up from Joy’s bed and walks towards Yeri. “Can I have your phone?” Yeri is confused by Jinsoul’s random question. “Why? Did you forget yours?”   Jinsoul cackles. “No, I need to check if my number is still in your phone so that when I text you later to ask you out on a date, you know who it is” Yeri forgot how dorky Jinsoul can be sometimes and smiles. “A date?” Jinsoul nods. “Unless you do not want to go on one?” Yeri shakes her head. “I would love to”

Yeri turns around as she hears something in the hallway. She recognizes the sound immediately. She peeks her head out of the door to the hall and sees Joy, trying to hold in her laugh as she knows Joy overheard the conversation between her and Jinsoul.

"Stop eavesdropping, oh my god!" Yeri yells out. Joy laughs "never!"

The three of them watch a movie together and at a certain point Jinsoul finds herself cuddling up with Yeri. Joy starts whining how she wishes Rosé could be there and that she feels left out. They all agree that Jinsoul needs to stay over. “You can sleep in Yeri’s room Jinsoulie, I bet she won’t mind that” Joy smirks.

THREE MONTHS LATER

“Babe, Yeri suggested we go on a double date with her and Jinsoul before our graduation. She said they wanted to treat us for graduating, isn’t that cute?” Joy says while laying down with her head on Rosé’s lap. Rosé Joy’s hair. “That is SO adorable! I am actually so excited to graduate. It has been quite a year”

Joy gets up and looks at Rosé. “Listen we have been through a lot but I am so grateful for you. These past months have been rough, but with me winning the case, graduating and being with the love of my life could not have been more amazing” Joy pauses for a bit. “I love you Chaeyoung”

Rosé’s eyes light up. “I love you too Sooyoung. And we will make it work. Going to different colleges will not tear us apart. I believe in us” She kisses Joy.

Joy gets up and hold her hand out for Rosé to grab. “Come on, lets find those lovebirds and get ready for my parent’s anniversary dinner” Rosé laughs. “Yeah I definitely did not expect Yeri and Jinsoul to be so clingy, but hey they’re cute”

Joy looks at Rosé with a smile on her face.

“But not as cute as we are”