Moisture clung to the air as heavily as the sweat that coats her skin. Yeri presses herself against the cool walls of the practice room, letting the few seconds of euphoric bliss calm her overheating body. is burning with every breath she takes, lungs begging for more oxygen than she can give.

Today’s, or by the looks of the time her phone tells her, tonight’s dance practice had dragged on longer than they thought it would. The others had called it a night two hours ago, jelly legs trudging towards their freedom, leaving Yeri and Seulgi alone in the room. From the onslaught of negative comments that drowned them during their last comeback, Yeri has made it her vendetta to prove the public wrong. That’s what her stubborn mind had burning in her when she first arrived at the practice room, but that ember was slowly dying the longer she pushes her body into complete shutdown.

She tries, as always, her hardest to keep up with the other girls in her group. Dancing isn’t her best forte, but with enough hours she can at least have it down to muscle memory. Staying back today also allowed her more alone time with their group’s best dancer, and almost like a second choreographer.

If Yeri thinks she’s pushing herself into shutdown, then Seulgi’s pushing herself right off the cliff. It’s always like this during their preparations for an upcoming comeback. Once they step into the practice room gone was the bubbly girl she likes to bully. As if she has a vendetta herself, the older girl always has this look in her eyes whenever she’s in this room. She isn’t sure if anyone else can see it, but Yeri definitely can.

Ever since the announcement of their debut, Yeri’s eyes would always fall upon one girl and one girl only. No offence to the others, but Seulgi was on this pedestal, a shiny example of what Yeri wishes to be. When they monitored themselves she can never stop her eyes from wandering to the girl who dances as if she was born to, as if the ability to do so ran alongside the blood in her veins.

It always looks so effortless when Seulgi dances. Or did anything, really.

But the facade of it all, the glam that everyone sees on stage, falls between the older girl’s fingers like sand whenever they are in this room. Yeri didn’t get it. She never did, no matter how many times she sees this side of Seulgi.

Their comeback song blaring through the amps was threatening deafness onto her, mirrors having fogged up to the point of mosaic, but Seulgi still stand in front of her, in a worse state than herself. She was panting so hard her chest was heaving, and if Yeri listens close enough, pass the deafening music, it almost sounds like she's wheezing. Seulgi was leaning back, hands behind her head, taking her usual seconds break. Seconds only, nothing more.

She slaps her hand against the mirror before swiping it down when she’s caught some sort of breath, her movements rapid as if she were cleaning a dirty window with a rag. When it didn’t meet her expectations of clean, she uses her forearms, working it with such determination it was honestly a little off putting to Yeri.

It’s somewhere in the dead of 2am, time trickling closer to 3, and it’s during this time, when she has worked her body closer to the brink of collapse, that Yeri sees a switch in Seulgi flip. When her stamina has betrayed her and her limbs move a second in delay to her commands, Yeri sees the frustrations ignite in Seulgi’s eyes.

She repeats her movements, more than once, and angrily to the older girl’s frustrations, way more than twice. Yeri had seen her get the dance moves down pat, much faster than her and the other girls. She had synced up to the music with ease hours before, had enough time to help teach all of them the moves too once the choreographer had deemed her fluent enough to be left to her own devices.

So seeing her now, hearing the sighs grow louder and longer into groans, Yeri didn’t like it one bit. Her light at the end of the tunnel, the one Yeri yearns to reach, is flickering right before her eyes.

Standing up with a bit of a wobble, she has to use the wall for support before her jelly legs cave under her weight.

“Groan any louder and they’ll think we’re up to no good.” Yeri smiles at the mirror, eyes looking at Seulgi’s reflection.

No smile, no nothing. The older girl just avoids eye contact before repeating the dance move again. This time with no groans when she isn’t happy with her execution. Yeri lets out a sigh of her own. She didn’t mean it in that way.

“How ‘bout a quick drink break? Re-oil them stiff joints,” she grabs the cold water bottles from the mini fridge in the corner, holding one to her neck. It honestly feels so good, much more satisfying than the wall, she can’t stop a groan of delight from escaping.

Her offer fell on deaf ears, though. Seulgi is down to her gym shorts and sports bra, having changed out of her leggings hours before and using her tank top as a makeshift rag when her arms didn’t do the trick on the mirrors. Wanting for the older girl to feel the amazing sensation of the cool bottle against burning skin, Yeri slams it square on the small of her back, biting back a giggle when she physically convulses in front of her from the shock.

“Y-Yah!”

She holds back the smile when Seulgi turns to her, confusion knitting her eyebrows, almost overtaking the anger still left in her eyes.

“Just wanted to cool you down, is all.”

A long breath leaves her nose before she snatches the bottle from Yeri’s grasp with a grumble. Half the bottle is downed in no time, Yeri’s eyes zoning in on how violent swallows at the water as if she had been dehydrated for days. Her pride in getting the older girl to take a break comes crashing down when Seulgi caps the bottle before tossing it onto the floor in front of her, getting right back into it.

It’s as if frustration floats in the air around them, because Yeri caught whiff of it too, now. Gulping down her own much needed share of water, she catches the dribble that leaks from before flicking it at the never ending, moving Seulgi in front of her.

She tosses her own bottle towards Seulgi’s just as the said girl spins around with a not so happy face. “Seriously, Yeri.”

Eyes widening, mouth still full of water, she knew the older girl would never scold her when she plays innocent, even when they both knew she’s not. And she’s right, because Seulgi clenches her eyes with a heavy sigh before turning away from her again.

A new plan, some other way to distract her from working herself into the grave, Yeri wracks her brain for a new tactic. And thank the lords because it presents itself to her in the form of their new song.

Standing behind Seulgi, and catching the flash of paranoid eyes, Yeri puts her game face on and joins Seulgi in their new dance. Resting her arms on the girl’s shoulders, she moves to click her fingers, eyes training down with the movement of Seulgi’s body. Without missing a beat, and using the other girl’s position to her advantage, Yeri slips her hands from her shoulders and moves in to attack at her exposed sides.

And who would’ve guessed, as if they never do, Yeri’s plan works like a charm. Gone was the furrowing brows, the eyes shooting daggers at herself now hidden behind the smile that light up the older girl’s face.

“Y-Yeri, stop! I-I can’t b-breathe!”

As if she was breathing before, Yeri rolls her eyes at the pathetic pleas and falls down to her knees alongside Seulgi’s crouching body. Hearing her laugh now, after hours of angered sighs, she isn’t going to let up until Seulgi begs better and is gasping for air.

Her laughter mixing in with Seulgi’s breathless one, she can’t help but find the older girl crawling helplessly away from her hilarious. When her tickling turns into light jabs, Seulgi jolts with each one as if her body was being shocked, before finally turning around to grab at the assaulting hands. The laughter trickle into small giggles, and Yeri can’t help the smile spreading from ear to ear when she sees Seulgi wearing one too.

Mission accomplished.

Their giggles eventually level out, Seulgi more than spent drops her arms down to her sides, Yeri’s follow suit, what with her own still trapped in her grasp. Exhausted beyond belief, Yeri can’t stop herself from stumbling at the sudden pull, and the older girl must’ve felt her little teeter because hands catch her falling waist, allowing for Yeri to stop herself from tumbling on top of her. Head trapped between Yeri’s hands, they both stare at each other in shock.

“Close one.” Yeri doesn’t know why she whispers, maybe because their faces are at such close proximity, or maybe because the shock in Seulgi’s eyes relaxes into something else.

“Yeah,” a low chuckle leaves Seulgi, but she can’t see any humour in her eyes. “Close one.” Yeri’s eyes dip down with Seulgi’s, the hot breath that brushes against her lips as the older girl whispers back grabbing her full attention.

She doesn’t know what to blame. The humid air trapping them in a heated sauna? Being confined against the mirror kneeling between Seulgi’s legs? No, it’s much more than that. It’s the fact that Yeri’s panting and her heart was pumping faster as time became nonexistent between them. But none of it’s due to their little skirmish. It’s how neither of them tore their eyes away from each other, even though Seulgi’s eyes fleet from her own to fall back down to her lips from time to time. And Yeri doesn’t know what to make of the stare Seulgi gives her each time she looks back up.

Or maybe it’s because Yeri wants this and the excuses were all just too readily there.

Caution is meant to be thrown out the window, because she knew if they continue this little eye dance they had going on nothing’s going to happen. Testing the waters, just in case, Yeri inches a little closer, giving Seulgi enough time to move away. Her eyes have broken all contact now, her breathing becoming more laboured the closer Yeri got.

Everything drowns out the moment her lips ghost against Seulgi’s parted ones. Neither of them move, too afraid of committing to it, crossing the line of accidental to intentional. But maybe that's all she needed, the fact that she’s this close, lips gently grazing, and neither of them seem to want to be anywhere else.

So, with eyes closed, she moves closer to the end of that tunnel, catching the older girl before she can back out. As if she didn't want this as much as Yeri did.

They both take a deep breath in at the contact, not knowing it was held during that intense moment of wait and anticipation.

Light and soft. That's what it feels like kissing Seulgi.

She's struck frozen at the touch, just breathing her in and feeling her this close, Yeri never thought she’d ever be able to. Always watching from afar, she had grown content with that for so long.

The ball was in Seulgi’s court now with what she’s rendered Yeri to, and the girl didn't disappoint, promptly responding to her first move. Small pecks and tugs, that's all it was but that’s all it took to turn Yeri’s world upside down. Her hands slide down from the slick mirror, falling to rest on Seulgi’s shoulders once more. Her fingers fidget with the straps of her sports bra, needing something to hold herself back from losing herself in Seulgi’s lips.

When she feels the hold on her waist tighten just that slightly, she throws every last thought away and glides her hands up Seulgi’s perspiring neck, thumbs caressing at her jaw as she leans more into the kiss. She can’t help the small smile that tugs on her lips when she hears Seulgi’s breath hitch at the new pressure.

It was a long time coming, something she never knew she wanted but maybe had always wanted unconsciously. Was there a hidden reason why she stayed back, working herself to exhaustion, when she was more than capable of the dance routine? Was it to spend more time with the girl trapped in her hands? Getting to know her in a deeper level, to be able to discover sides of her that no one, not even the other members, knew?

It was probably all of that and more, because deep down, somewhere hidden behind the fog of admiration and infatuation, Yeri has always wanted this more from Seulgi.

It was a long time coming, but it finally came.

When oxygen became more needy than Yeri’s greed for Seulgi, they finally part with heavy breaths. She leans out a bit, but not too far, staring at the soft pink hue that spreads across the girl’s cheeks, the matted bangs that she can’t help but brush away. Yeri stares, anxious, waiting to see if any panic is going to ensue once the light of what they had just done dawns on Seulgi.

All she gets is a low “woah,” before foggy eyes open to look up at her, and Yeri searches through them to see if she can find any traces of regret. But Seulgi doesn’t move, her palms burning at Yeri’s waist still, just staring back at her. She becomes painstakingly aware of their position, her hands still holding possession of the older girl’s head. They move to release the girl from her hold, but as if she was waiting for Yeri to let down her guard, Seulgi closes the gap between them once more.

It isn’t the deep kiss she wants, but she isn’t going to complain at the feather pecks Seulgi gives her. Although, the tiny groan that vibrates at the base of did give away her small disappointment.

“Groan any louder and they’ll think we’re up to no good.” Yeri opens her eyes to see the playful grin Seulgi shines up at her, the quip causing her to chuckle at her own words being thrown back in her face.

At this point, Yeri didn’t care what others thought.