“Everybody needs somebody sometimes

Everybody needs somebody on their mind

So tell me what you want, girl, I’ll be there to hold you

’Cause everybody needs somebody sometimes.”

—“Sometimes”

Sana would like to state for the record that this is all Rosé’s fault.

Except, well, not really, because you couldn’t really blame Rosé for anything without feeling like a monumental —which Sana already does, thank you very much. But yeah, anyway, Rosé is sweet and good and she’s a gift from heaven, and so, no, Sana can’t really feel any resentment towards her.

She can—and she does—blame Nayeon, though, and her inability to keep a secret.

See, it starts like this:

Jeongyeon and Momo break up. Everyone is surprised, for they have been together so long they seem like an ancient institution. So, yeah, naturally, their break-up came as a shock to everyone. Especially to Nayeon.

(Or maybe except Nayeon. Sana isn’t sure, and she doesn’t know if she wants to be sure, anyway, for this is a whole can of worms with a whole lot of drama that she can’t deal with as of yet.

Or ever.

There’s a whole lot of drama already in her life, thank you very much.)

First there’s Jeongyeon and Momo looking at apartment listings near the university, and then there’s Jeongyeon holed up in the student dorms and Momo holed up in the apartment she shares with Mina.

(It’s a bit of a blur, how everything goes from 100 to 0, especially in relationships.)

And Sana doesn’t know what to do first, between checking on Jeongyeon and checking on Momo—who are both her friends, of course, that goes without saying—and then she remembers that oh, .

This whole break-up also puts a complete stop to her own plans, doesn’t it?

Because before this fiasco, Sana has plans on moving in with Mina after Momo moves in with Jeongyeon. It’s just more cost-efficient, that way. And Mina is apparently a very conscientious roommate, so Sana doesn’t have to worry about dealing with any mess that is not her own. (She’s been told it’s a lot.) Everything has been scheduled to be done before classes start again, which is in, like, five weeks.

All these, of course, mean that Sana has already settled her lease and has given her landlady notice. Her stuff are already packed in neat boxes, and she’s supposed to move out within this week, and she’s so, so screwed.

“I’m sorry,” Jeongyeon tells her when she finally visits. Her voice is rough, and Sana knows that even though the break-up is mutual (so they claim, anyways, and Sana resolves to learn all about this when she’s not, you know, on the verge of becoming officially homeless), it is still a break-up, complete with all the messy feelings or whatever tangled together. So Sana doesn’t comment on how there’s a crack between each syllable Jeongyeon utters, how her shoulders are hunched down, kinda like she wants to disappear beneath the blankets.

(Especially since Nayeon is glaring holes into Sana’s skull. Sana gets the clue.)

“Don’t be,” Sana says instead.

“You could, I don’t know, move in with me, I guess.” Jeongyeon frowns thoughtfully at her awfully small bed and scratches her cheek. “We’ll just have to find a way about the bed situation.”

(Nayeon glares harder at Sana. Sana almost laughs at the ridiculous circumstances she finds herself in, but she’s got more self-preservation instincts than that.)

“No, it’s okay,” she turns down, gently. “I got this.”

Spoiler alert, everyone: She does not.

She has most of her material belongings stuffed in boxes, and she needs to find a place in less than a week. No problem at all.

Spoiler alert: It is a huge ing problem.

She almost asks Momo, but the last time they tried to live together, they almost killed each other. Not in a hateful-murder way, but more of a we’re-both-totally-useless-as-adults way. And, well, Sana doesn’t really want to saddle Mina with the stress of dealing with both of them under one roof. That’s too much to ask of a person, even if it’s Mina, who is by all definition an utter angel on earth.

So Sana scraps that plan (Plan G) immediately.

Plan F consists of the student housing, same as Jeongyeon’s, but that would need Sana to have passed her application requirements way before summer break. She could ask for reconsideration due to extenuating circumstances, but the appeal would also take longer and she’d still be roofless for at least a month.

Sana is staring glumly at her ice cream cake in the café where some of her friends work, speculating about the merits of staying in a low-cost hotel against crashing at Jihyo’s couch as a short-term solution, when a hand on her shoulder shakes her out of her reverie.

“Sorry,” Rosé’s apologises sheepishly, sliding into the booth across from her.

“It’s okay,” Sana placates, smiling on instinct. Rosé’s one of those girls who emit so much purity and innocence it’s kinda hard to do anything but smile back.

“I have a proposition.”

Wait. What. That’s . . . the exact opposite of purity and innocence.

“What?” Sana says.

“I heard about your problem.”

“My what?”

“And I have a solution, I think. But like, only if you accept.”

“Okay,” Sana starts, holding up both hands, “I’m officially lost.”

“You’re looking for a place to live, right?”

“Where did you even— How did you know?”

Rosé shrugs. “Nayeon-unnie mentioned it in passing yesterday.”

Sana is going to kill Nayeon. She doesn’t want anyone to know about her predicament, because she doesn’t want anyone to worry. She’s working through this, okay, she got this. (Lie.) “I—”

“Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is I have a solution!”

“You might have mentioned that.”

“Yeah, so are you going to ask?”

“I guess you’re gonna tell me either way.” At Rosé’s expectant look, Sana sort of just. Sighs. “Fine, let’s hear it.”

“Move in with Dahyun!”

Sana blinks. She stares at Rosé, who looks so pleased with herself. “What.”

“Jennie-unnie is moving in with Jisoo-unnie this term,” Rosé begins explaining sensibly, “which means Dahyun will get the apartment to herself. And Dahyun’s sort of grumpy about it ’cause of course, she’s going to have to shoulder the cost alone, right? Lisa and I would have offered to move in, but we already paid for the lease in another apartment. And Jennie-unnie offered to still pay her share, you know, at least until Dahyun’s got herself sorted, but Dahyun’s not having that at all. She says she’s got it, which we all know for a fact that she doesn’t.” Rosé tilts her head, looking at Sana thoughtfully. Sana tries really hard not to shirk away. She mostly succeeds. “She’s kind of like you, that way, I guess.”

“Uhm,” Sana says. Really intelligent, you know, for a literature student who’s supposed to breathe words.

But she really can’t be blamed, can she? Sana is still stuck on the fact that Rosé’s suggesting she live with Dahyun.

Dahyun, of all people.

Her nerves are sort of still fried.

“So,” Rosé’s prompts, “are you in?”

“Uhm,” Sana says again. “Shouldn’t Dahyun be consulted regarding this first?”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Rosé waves off her concern, grinning impishly, and whoa, how did Sana not know that she’s capable of being impish? “She’s already agreed to it. She’s actually expecting you to arrive tomorrow, so you better say yes now.”

Sana feels her stomach drop, before giving rise to an army of butterflies so intense she feels like she’s gonna throw up. Rosé’s grin widens, and well.

See?

This is really all Rosé’s Nayeon’s fault.