“It’s the sea!” Jihyo exclaimed with gusto. She grinned widely, taking in a lungful of salty fresh air. Around her, the members of TWICE were also showing their own version of delight.

Their work schedule had been jampacked as of late, and one by one, the member exhibited different signs of exhaustion. Mina was hardly seen out of her room whenever they were at the dorm, Tzuyu became more irritable, and Jihyo found herself using her eye drops a lot more than usual lately. Her eyes got incredibly itchy at times, and she attributed this to the make-up that might have gotten into her eyes during their countless photoshoots and recordings.

Ever the observant producer, JYP granted them a two-day, one-night trip to Jeju Island. Admittedly, it was no full-fledged vacation on an exotic site- far from it actually, but they couldn’t have asked for anything better. The girls let out delighted shrieks upon hearing the news, overjoyed at their rare chance to let off steam and just let loose.

On the arrival at Jeju Island, they were greeted with a lavish dinner in a seaside restaurant.

“Your turn to order Jihyo.” Jeongyeon said, passing the menu to her leader.

“Alright! Let’s get some specialty in our stomach!” She exclaimed enthusiastically. Everything looked and sounded really palatable, so she picked one at random. “I’ll have some Galchi Jorim. Wait never mind, I don’t want that. One serving of Okdom Gui for me please.” The waiter nodded and proceeded to the next member.

“What’s wrong with Galchi Jorim though?” Dahyun, who was choosing next, asked curiously.

“Nothing Dahyunie, I just wanted something else.”

“Have you tried Galchi Jorim before?”

“No I haven’t.” She didn’t know herself why she changed her choice, but something told her she wouldn’t like the dish, so she chose another one without giving it another thought. Jihyo now felt foolish, seeing as she had never tried it before.

“Huh, that’s weird.” The rapper shrugged, dropping the topic.

Jihyo looked around the table. Everyone was excited, either chatting animatedly or taking selfies with the others. But then she noticed Nayeon, who was seated on her left, staring at nothing in particular with a distracted look.

“Nayeon-unnie?” She called out, catching Nayeon’s attention. The girl snapped back to reality.

“Yeah?”

“Is something wrong? You look… bored.” She asked with genuine concern. Of course the vacation was meant for them to have fun, but it was her obligation to see everyone happy and satisfied.

“I’m fine Jihyo, just a bit tired.” Came Nayeon’s reply.

“Let me cheer you up then. Say, if you're Russian when you go to the toilet, and Finnish when you go out, what are you when you're in the toilet?"

“… What?”

“European!”

The look on Nayeon’s face then was something Jihyo would take to the grave.

“Gosh, shut it you.” Nayeon pushed her away, but her lovely smile finally returned. Jihyo gleefully noted, directing her focus back to the newly-arrived food.

That night, she dreamt of having fun in the sea. Unlike other dreams, this particular one was so real, Jihyo actually felt exhausted when she woke up.

_____

The following morning, as expected, was a blast. They were given free reign at an exclusive resort site, reserved by JYP himself for his artists. Thanks to constant upkeep, this part of the beach was thankfully kept in almost pristine condition. The sea spread out limitlessly to the horizon, painting Jihyo’s vision with its deep azure sheen. There was no one here but themselves, save for their managers who had thoughtfully left TWICE alone- but never out of their sight.

TWICE spent the entire morning in the sea, enjoying each other’s company as they frolicked around without a care in the world.

After a few hours, Jihyo decided she was tired enough to stop.

Stepping back onto the white sand, Jihyo winced as her foot landed on something pointy.

“Ouch. What is…” She never finished her question. Suddenly hit by a wave of nausea, Jihyo clutched her head. Here it was again, the extreme sense of deja vu. She had been feeling this for the umpteenth time today, and it was no longer fun.

Looking around warily, Jihyo saw the scene with different eyes. Everyone was acting perfectly normal, yet it felt strangely familiar, as if she had seen this a lot before. While this was true, it shouldn’t have affected her so much as it was at the moment.

Her gaze drifted to a bench nearby, where a lone figure sat. Nayeon had stopped swimming some time earlier, and now she was hanging out on the beach, completely focused on playing the guitar.

Wait… guitar?

Jihyo was, after all, not an omnipresent god; there could be a lot of mysteries going on for her members that she never discovered, but there was one thing Jihyo knew for sure- Nayeon had never played the guitar before.

It did not take long for Jihyo to put two and two together.

“Nayeon-unnie.” She muttered under her breath. The person in their group with the ability to manipulate time at will, she must have had something to do with this. The evidence kept piling up, each and every of them pointing towards the involvement of TWICE’s oldest member. Determined to find out the truth, Jihyo walked out of the water and towards her unnie.

Nayeon looked up from her guitar and smiled fondly at the approaching leader. She couldn’t have enough of seeing Jihyo in her swimwear. Even at this private site of the island the threat of paparazzi was prominent, so any sort of revealing attire was sadly out of the question. As it stood, they had to do with full body swimsuits only. Still, it did not make Jihyo seem any less attractive; the skintight sportswear clung nicely to her well-proportioned figure and glistened with water, giving her an incredibly sensual aura.

“Hey.” The leader greeted. Shaking her head from the reverie, Nayeon replied smoothly.

“Hey Jihyo, having fun?”

“I am, Nayeon-unnie, thanks for asking. I’m having too much fun right now, it’s almost too good to be true.” With this she shot a pointed look at the older girl.

If Nayeon was at all fazed from the meaningful stare she did not show it. Rather, she merely nodded and returned to fiddling with the guitar strings. Her next song, which was her own impromptu adaptation of Likey, revealed anything but a relaxed state. Nayeon stopped on second too long after the intro, fumbled one time too many on the chorus, and- Jihyo noticed upon closer inspection- her chord hand was showing the slightest of trembles. She was nervous, and Jihyo knew it.

She put her hand on Nayeon’s, forcing the older to stop playing and divert her eyes upwards to meet her leader’s.

“You have something to do with this, don’t you, Nayeon-unnie?” Jihyo inquired,