“Do you really have to go?” asked Yeri as she looked at Seulgi packing her suitcase. The bear had a flight to Mexico first thing in the morning and was doing some last-minute packing.

Yeri frowned. She would be lying if she said she was happy about it. The only thing she was happy about was how cute Seulgi looked in a loose white tank top and black pajama shorts that stopped just above her thigh, giving the maknae a generous view of her gorgeous legs. Other than that, she was pretty annoyed with the whole situation.

Some may have said Yeri was overreacting to Seulgi's departure. It wasn’t like she was chosen to go on a spaceship to Mars to colonize the planet and that Yeri would never see her again. She would. But Seulgi was going halfway across the world. Not to Jeju. Not to some city outside Seoul that was only a few hours away by train. She was going to be on a whole different continent in a time zone that was fifteen hours behind hers.

She didn’t want Seulgi to go. Was it selfish? Yeah. It probably was. But wasn’t she entitled to a bit of selfishness when it was so close to her birthday?

She hated that Seulgi was leaving, even if it only was for a few weeks. Why did life have to be so unfair?

“You know I have to. The company said—"

Yeri couldn’t help feel anger flow through her at the mention of their company. Of course it was them. It always was. Whenever the company commanded Red Velvet to do something, they were expected to do it. No questions asked. Like when they were guests on that one comedy show and had to act out multiple skits in front of a live audience. Yeri was told to be a vampire for one of her roles. She was fine with it. Why wouldn’t she be? She liked vampires. (Real vampires. Not the type that sparkled in the sun like in that one novel that was popular for some reason she still couldn’t fathom.)

She was fine with it up until the point when the director that she actually had to bite the guy’s neck for the scene. Yeri protested, but their manager glared at her and told her to do whatever the director said or their whole appearance on the show would be cancelled. It took all her willpower not to gag as she forced herself to bite the man's neck, even if it was done lightly.

It was absolutely disgusting. Vile. She cursed everything in existence as she kept her teeth on the man's sweaty, stinky neck (which reeked of cologne) long enough for the cameraman to get a good shot.

Yeri washed with soap for over an hour when she got home that night and vowed to never do that again in her life for as long as she lived.

Red Velvet may not have been rookies anymore, but they didn't have the freedom to do what they wanted like their seniors. And even then, the company still found ways to flex their muscles and show how much power it had over its employees.

But was it really surprising? No. At the end of the day, they were a business. And the number one thing businesses cared about is making as much money possible no matter what.

Don’t get Yeri wrong. She loved her job and was grateful for all the opportunities she was afforded. How many people could say that they traveled all over the world before turning twenty years old? Or performed at sold out concerts? But even though she was fortunate to have had such great opportunities, ones that many could only dream of, that didn’t mean she agreed with everything the company did. They still found ways to screw people over.

And that pissed her off. A lot.

The short haired brunette stuck up her middle finger and pointed it in the general direction of the SM Entertainment building. “ the company,” she spat in accent free English.

If Wendy was in the room and wasn’t such a prude that was so averse to cussing, she would have been proud of Yeri’s perfect delivery of that sentence.

What made the sight bizarre was that Yeri was wearing a set of cute Squirtle pajamas while flipping the bird and scowling. Seulgi got it for her as one of her early birthday presents. The pajamas were the kind that was intentionally made one to two sizes too big and fit the wearer loosely. It looked exactly like the water Pokémon and Yeri insisted on wearing it as soon as possible when she got it. The only thing she didn't have on was the hoodie part because she couldn't see with it on, but other than that, she looked like a Squirtle with her beige shell, lemon colored undershell, and cute, curly, baby blue tail.

Seulgi gasped as she stopped putting away some pairs of socks in her bag and turned around. The bear wasn’t a fan of cussing either and actively discouraged it whenever she had a chance. “Yeri!”

Yeri normally didn’t cuss. She didn’t do it because she felt like it was “wrong” or anything, but because she figured as someone who spent most of their time reading books that she should use better words to express herself. But when the occasion arose where she felt like she needed to cuss, she did it with passion. She especially loved the F word.

Go big or go home.

The maknae shrugged. “Well it’s true right?” There was no reason for her to keep up the standard polite idol act in front of Seulgi. She was free to speak her mind in the comfort of her home, away from the prying eyes of the public. Hell, if Yeri conducted a poll and had all of SM's artists vote in it, most of them would have agreed with her statement. The company was known for all the stupid decisions it had made in regards to its artists.

Seulgi stood quiet and responded with a sigh. “Yes but still…you shouldn’t cuss.”

The human Squirtle just rolled her eyes as she lowered her middle finger down and made a fist. She felt like punching something. Anything. But her options were limited to three things: herself, Seulgi’s mattress, or any of the many plushies the bear had neatly arranged on her bed lying against the pillows.

Yeri would feel bad if she punched any of Seulgi's cute plushies in the face because Seulgi loved them so much. She’d essentially be punching the poor bear in the face and that was an image she didn’t want to think about. She’d be able to punch the face of anyone else in the world, but Seulgi was the one exception.

Seulgi was the exception to a lot of things actually.

Yeri didn’t feel like punching herself either so she settled for the next best thing: punching Seulgi’s mattress. And she did. Multiple times. All while imagining the faces of the people that decided that Seulgi was going to go on that stupid show. Her manager, the producers for the show, her former math teacher that made her life a living hell in high school….

Okay her former math teacher had nothing to do with Seulgi being sent to Mexico, but that was beside the point. The point was that she thought about the people she didn’t like and that scrawny man with disgusting glasses that made him look like a creeper popped up in her mind.

If only she could punch them all in real life…but no. Society frowned upon violence. As much as Yeri would have loved to walk up to each person and punch them square in the face, she couldn't. Unless she wanted to go to jail.

Yeri didn't want to go to jail. She liked her freedom. The only legal way she could release her pent up frustrations with the world without breaking any laws and getting a record was by punching the mattress.

A loud, angry grunt passed through her lips as she delivered the last punch to the poor mattress, causing the bed and all the plushies on it to shake. One plushie in particular, a cute little Pikachu, happened to be near the edge of the bed and fell from the force of Yeri's last punch.

“Hey don’t hurt Sparky,” Seulgi reprimanded as she finished folding some shirts and put them away neatly in her suitcase. "He's innocent."

“I didn’t hurt Sparky. Your bed did,” Yeri explained as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and bent down to pick up the the fallen plushie. The electric Pokémon was Seulgi’s favorite. And why wouldn't it be? The yellow mouse was the face of the brand with its cute little black eyes, rosy red cheeks, and cheery smile that captured everyone's heart. She personally preferred Squirtle, but still found the electric Pokémon to be cute because Seulgi loved it so much.

She kissed its little black nose and gave it a big hug before gently setting it down next to its plushie siblings, taking care not to accidentally knock it off the bed (again.) “Sorry Sparky. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just frustrated and wanted to hit something.”

The Pikachu stood silent and just stared back at her, grin wide as ever. If it was a real Pikachu, it would have shocked her into next year, but thankfully it was just a cute, round plushie.

“Sparky says he forgives you.”

Yeri patted the Pikachu on the head lighty. “Thank you, Sparky.” She wiped some dust off of Sparky's fur for good measure.

“He also says that violence isn't the answer and that you probably should look into anger management. Just in case.”

The younger girl couldn't help but laugh at Seulgi's words. "How ironic since the show he's on is centered around violence."

"No. It's about love and the power of friendship."

"And violence."

"Love and the power of friendship!"

"Violence!"

Seulgi shook her head at Yeri's words. "Aish you're too much."

"You know I'm right~!" Yeri teased as she stuck her tongue out at the bear. “To be fair, I wouldn’t get so mad in the first place if people weren't so stupid."

"Yeri..."

"Seriously though. Why do you have to go into the freaking jungle out of all places?”

It was a valid question. The whole situation was random. Idols weren't exactly known for venturing into the depths of the wilderness and living off the land. They were expected to sing, dance, look good, smile for the cameras, and maintain their carefully crafted images their company wanted them to have. They weren't taught how to start fires, search for food, build shelter from limited resources, and other skills necessary to survive in the wild. If they did, Yeri must have skipped that class because if she ever got thrown into the wilderness, she'd be toast.

It all started when Seulgi got a call from their manager one day telling her that some producers wanted to talk and to hurry up and get ready for a meeting with them. After rushing to make herself presentable in less than ten minutes, she left and was gone for a few hours. When Seulgi returned to the dorm, she told everyone that she was chosen to participate on a jungle survival show. Everyone was shocked. The same girl that got kicked by a goat because it thought she was weak and whined because she didn’t want to bump into some flowers and potentially hurt them was expected to survive a few weeks in the jungle?

Needless to say, Yeri was not pleased by the news.

“You know how it is...” Seulgi said as she looked apologetically at Yeri with those sharp looking, yet gentle, eyes of hers. Yeri bit the inside of her cheek as she averted Seulgi's eyes.

God she really was whipped for the older girl.

But Seulgi did have a point. It was no use. No matter how much Yeri complained or didn’t want it to happen, It was going to happen regardless. The reality was that Seulgi was leaving and that was that.

Out of all the days Seulgi had to leave, why did it have to be on Yeri's birthday? Why couldn’t it have been at least the day after? At least then she would’ve been able to spend time with the person she loved the most in the world but...life just had to be an annoying jerk.

Screw you, life.

“It’s not fair...” Yeri huffed as she kicked the air, visualizing that she was kicking whoever created that stupid show in the first place. If she ever got her hands on him or her, she'd give them a piece of her mind.

“Yeri...”

The bear stopped in the middle of folding a pair of shorts and gently set it on top of her open suitcase before making her way to her bed, which Yeri was sitting cross legged on. The shorter girl could feel the bed creak and dip as it adjusted to having their combined weight on it. Seulgi sat down right next to the maknae and patted her on the back. “But hey you’re going to be going to Bali with Saeron. That’s something to look forward to right?”

It was true. Yeri was going to go on a trip to Bali with the actress, but that wasn’t going to happen for a few days. It was better than going alone that’s for sure, but she would have been more excited if she was going with Seulgi. In fact, she was originally going to ask Seulgi to go with her, but the whole jungle survival show situation ruined that plan. (Yeri would never tell Saeron that of course. She didn’t want to hurt her best friend’s feelings nor risk invoking her wrath.)

“You’re going to have so much fun. I’ve never been there, but I’ve seen pictures and it looks beautiful,” Seulgi sighed dreamily as she rubbed circles in Yeri’s back, trying to comfort the younger girl. Yeri leaned her head against Seulgi's shoulder, wanting to cherish her touch for as long as she could before the poor girl had to fly to the other side of the world.

She was going to miss her bear terribly.

“Yeah but it’d look even more beautiful if you were there with me..."

“What?”

Yeri felt her cheeks heat up and pouted as she gave Seulgi a light push on her shoulder and looked away, facing the wall because she didn’t want to look at Seulgi’s face anymore. She felt too embarrassed. ”You heard me. Don’t make me repeat myself.”

“You’re so adorable,” Seulgi cooed as she attempted to pepper Yeri’s face with kisses, but was blocked by the Squirtle’s palm covering and using all her strength in holding the bear back.

The maknae groaned as she pushed Seulgi’s face further away from hers in mock annoyance. “Gross.”

Seulgi laughed as she lightly poked the shorter girl in the cheek with her index finger. “You’re being tsundere again, you know.”

The shorter girl only crossed her arms in mock anger and hmph’d in response, keeping in character to hide her embarrassment, but that didn’t wipe off the one-hundred watt smile Seulgi was giving. If anything, it made Seulgi's smile shine brighter with her perfect pearly white teeth and her eyes turning into crescents.

“You know tsunderes are my favorite right?”

“Tsk. I can be yandere too you know,” Yeri warned as she pretended that she had a chainsaw in her hands and made sawing motions across Seulgi’s legs. “Can’t go on an airplane if you don’t have any legs to walk on.”

If anyone else was around (like their manager), they’d be mortified by Yeri’s dark joke and she probably would have received an hour long lecture about how important it was to act like a proper idol, how she should probably think about going to therapy for saying such violent thoughts outloud, blah, blah, blah. But this was Seulgi. She may have had a baby face, but she wasn't a baby. She could handle Yeri's humor.

“Mmmm. Actually chicken legs sound really good right now,” the older girl blurted out while her lips as she stared into space, eyes twinkling at the mere thought of food. Yeri couldn’t help but chuckle at Seulgi’s random remark. Leave it to the hungriest member of the group to automatically think about food at the randomest of times. Seulgi really did live up to her title as bear by having the appetite of one. And that was just one of the many things Yeri loved about Seulgi.

"Hey don't get too distracted now. I have a question I want you to answer."

But Seulgi was too preoccupied with thinking about chicken legs that she didn't react to what Yeri said at all. She just continued to stare into space with a dreamy smile on her face and...was that drool that was coming out of the side of ? Yeri waved her hand in Seulgi's face. "Hello? Anyone home?"

Seulgi went "huh" and shook her head, freeing herself from whatever trance she was in. "What? Did you say something?"

"I said 'I have a question I want you to answer.' "

Seulgi blinked. "Oh? What?'

Yeri smirked. “So you think I'm adorable huh?”

The bear nodded as she patted Yeri's head. "Of course! You're the cutest girl in the world."

“Well if I’m so cute then…” Yeri started as she got off the bed and stood in front of Seulgi, who was still sitting down and looking up at Yeri curiously. The younger girl leaned forward, so close that their faces were only a few inches away from each other. She lifted up Seulgi's chin with a finger so she could look into the bear's eyes while she spoke. “Will you grant me one birthday wish?”