Once again, Moonbyul was at the end of Hwasa’s flirty teasing; often she would end up blushing and running away while the younger girl would laugh and continued to sing as if nothing had happened.

Moonbyul resolved to return the favour, but how do one go about teasing Ahn Fatal?

During one of their dance practices, a slow song came up on the playlist.

Wheein was swaying from side to side with her eyes closed, enjoying the music with her whole body; Solar was twirling at the back, doing pirouettes to match the song while Hwasa was leaning against the far wall watching the two with an amused smile on her face.

Moonbyul decided that it was now or never.

Pretending that she was dancing to the song, Moonbyul approached Hwasa. Her heart was thumping so loud, it was drowning out the music; Moonbyul wasn’t even sure what she was dancing to anymore.

By the time she twirled around to face Hwasa, the younger girl had noticed her and raised an eyebrow. Moonbyul swallowed and took a long step towards her. She was close enough that their faces were only inches apart; she placed an arm on the wall near Hwasa’s face. She hoped that the younger girl didn’t notice it was shaky as hell.

Unfortunately, Hwasa did.

At least, that’s what Moonbyul thought as a playful smirk formed on Hwasa’s mouth. She crossed her arms and tilted her chin as if challenging her, daring her to continue. Moonbyul swallowed. She wasn’t going to back down easily, but the words were stuck in .

“What are you doing?”

Moonbyul jumped. She realized that the music had stopped and turned her head to see Solar scowling at her with both hands on her hips; Wheein was peeking at her from behind Solar, her pink lips forming an ‘O’. Moonbyul turned back towards Hwasa. The younger girl wasn’t even trying to hide her giggling.

“Yes, unnie,” Hwasa drawled. “What are you doing?”

Suddenly, Moonbyul felt awkward and self-conscious. She dropped her arm to her side and ran out of the room with a flushed face.

Needless to say, the plan to “tease” Hwasa backfired. Big time.

Solar found Moonbyul hiding at the farthest table in the company’s cafeteria. She had pulled her hoodie over her head and she was hunching over the table, burying her face in her arms.

Solar quietly sat opposite Moonbyul. She wanted to reach out a hand to the younger girl, but stopped and settled her hands on the table instead. “Byul-ah,” she said. “You want to talk about what happened back there?”

Moonbyul shook her head. Solar sighed. She stood up, walked around the table and plopped into the seat next to Moonbyul. She put an arm around the younger girl.

“Whatever it is you know you can talk to me, right?” Solar murmured. Moonbyul nodded slowly. “Then talk to me, Byul-ah. What happened between you and Hyejin?”

Moonbyul raised her head. Solar pushed back her hoodie and saw the younger girl’s pouting face. Solar tried not to laugh, but failed. Moonbyul slapped her shoulder and Solar cried out in pain. They exchanged slaps for a while until they were both out of breath from laughing. When they were both calm, Moonbyul spoke.

“It’s a stupid plan I had,” she said. “I was trying to tease Hyejin because she kept doing it to me on stage.”

Solar sighed. “Byul-ah, that’s called fan service. If you want to do the same, do it on stage. Not during practice.”

Moonbyul blushed. She wasn’t going to admit that she was too chicken to do it in front of the fans. Instead, she mumbled, “I’m sorry, unnie.”

Solar massaged her temple. “Honestly, of all the stupid things you have ever done.” She paused. “You’re lucky we were the only ones in the room. If anyone else, they would have created a scandal out of it.”

Moonbyul felt guilty and lowered her head. “I’m sorry, unnie.”

“I know.” Solar patted her head gently. “I mean, it’s Hyejin. She would’ve understand because we’re always playing around like that. But what if it’s any another girl? She would’ve misunderstand and you would have broken her heart.”

Moonbyul snorted. “I’m not going to do it to anyone else, unnie. You don’t have to worry.”

“Oh?” Solar raised an eyebrow. “So you’re only going to do it to Hyejinie?”

Moonbyul blushed and slapped Solar’s arm. “Only that one time. I’m not going to do it again.”

“Good. Now go and set things straight with Hyejin.”

Moonbyul’s jaw dropped. “What? No!”

Solar squeezed Moonbyul’s cheeks with one hand. “Byul-ah, I don’t want things to get awkward in the group. We have another schedule and I need us to be okay before that.”

Moonbyul sighed. “Fine.”

“Good girl.”

After the talk with Solar, Moonbyul found Hwasa alone in the practice room. It was unusual for her; Hwasa was always the last one to arrive and the first one to leave.

Hwasa was sitting near the music player, scrolling through her phone. She looked up when she heard the door opened. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Moonbyul enter. Then, she looked back at her phone.

So she’s ignoring me.

Moonbyul sighed. She slowly made her way towards Hwasa. The silence in the room felt heavy and she was fidgeting when she stood in front of the younger girl. Moonbyul rubbed her neck awkwardly. She didn’t know where to start without embarrassing herself.

“What is it, unnie?” Hwasa asked without looking up. “You’re being extra annoying today.”

I’m supposed to apologize. I’m supposed to apologize.

Moonbyul took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Hyejin-ah,” she said. “For what I did before.”

Hwasa finally looked up from her phone. She tilted her head to the side and smiled. “You mean when you were hitting on me?”

Moonbyul blushed. “I wasn’t hitting on you!”

Hwasa laughed. “I know, unnie,” she said. “But if it was any other girl, they would’ve misunderstand.”

Moonbyul grimaced. “Yongsun-unnie said the same thing.”

Hwasa set aside her phone and rose to her feet. “So, unnie,” she said. “Why did you do it?”

Moonbyul swallowed. Hwasa was moving towards her in the same seductive manner as she did on stage and Moonbyul found herself inching backwards on reflex. Her heart was not listening to her at all.

Be normal, dammit. Be normal.

Moonbyul cleared and averted her eyes from Hwasa’s smoldering gaze. “I was, uh, trying to tease you,” she said, smiling sheepishly. “Like you did to me on stage. I already got an earful from Yongsun-unnie,” she quickly added. “About fan service and whatnot.”

“Unnie, what if I said it wasn’t fan service?” Hwasa’s voice was quiet and her face was solemn. “What if I said I was serious?”

Moonbyul tugged at the neck of her T-shirt. Suddenly, everything felt a degree hotter in the room. Hwasa continued to saunter towards Moonbyul and Moonbyul backed away until her back hit the glass mirror.

Hwasa moved closer and put her hands on Moonbyul’s shoulders. “Unnie,” Hwasa murmured as she leaned closer until their forehead touched.

Moonbyul’s heart skipped a beat. Their breaths mingled as Hwasa’s lips hover dangerously over Moonbyul’s. Moonbyul shut her eyes tight and held her breath. She could sensed that Hwasa was inching closer and then-

“What the-”

Moonbyul’s eyes snapped open. Her gaze was pulled towards the door where a horrified-looking Solar was standing with an equally shocked Wheein.

Hwasa chuckled and diverted the intended kiss to Moonbyul’s rosy cheek; Moonbyul felt a shiver ran down her spine and heat gathered in her cheeks.

Hwasa finally broke away and slowly walked backwards; Moonbyul forced herself to look away from the door and locked gaze with Hwasa.

“Byulie-unnie, you’re cute like this,” Hwasa said, grinning from ear to ear. “That’s why I like teasing you so much.”

Moonbyul had nothing to say; she was barely controlling the urge to touch her cheek. She watched as Hwasa grabbed her phone and bag.

“Later, unnie,” Hwasa said, wiggling her fingers at Moonbyul and that playful smirk returned to her face. She walked towards the door with confident strides and dragged Wheein along with her, leaving Solar and Moonbyul alone in the room.

Solar immediately went on an hour-long rant. Moonbyul was forced to endure her lecture while sitting with her legs folded tightly under her. She was glad that she didn’t need to raise her head or Solar would have been even more furious because Moonbyul was too busy steadying her heart whenever the memory of Hwasa’s lips on her cheek surfaced.

Moonbyul didn’t know whether Hwasa was seriously serious or it was just another form of the maknae’s teasing, but she knew that she would never be able to look at Hwasa the same after this.