(Time jump!)

2 weeks later…

It was now the middle of summer, the students were already done a year of school and they got to finally rest from their hectic school schedules. All of the guest-mates were glad that it was the summer break because it meant they could sleep in and do whatever the hell they wanted, not having to worry about tomorrow. 

“We gotta do it.” Sana explained with a serious look and Momo was sitting on the floor, her legs crossed together. They were sitting in MiMo’s room and Mina was sprawled out on her bed, fanning herself with a paper fan she made. 

She her teeth clean from the breakfast she had and firmly nodded. “I think its time, we gave her enough space.” This made Mina groan out in frustration and she turned in her bed to look at the two. 

“The last time we went in there, it was so hot! Imagine how hot it is right now!” The ballerina didn’t want to die of heat in the small enclosed space. 

Momo shrugged her shoulders, not caring if she would faint. “Let’s grab her before she leaves for work.” She suggested since she offered during breakfast to walk Chaeyoung to work and Sana nodded, already on board with the plan and Mina groaned again, going back to sprawling on her bed and wanting to be in a very cold room right now. 

Meanwhile in another room...

“Glad you could meet me.” The seductive tone was evident in the girl’s voice and that made the basketball player smirk at her. 

“I wouldn’t miss it for the whole word.” She responded calmly with a wide smile before she crashed her lips against the others. “W-w-wait Chaeyoung.” They stopped making out for a second and Dahyun’s eye-smile appeared when she saw the latter’s lips all swollen. It made her appear very cute but at the same time, Dahyun just wanted to kiss her lips again. 

“Do you think Jihyo will be okay with this?” The basketball player hesitantly asked and Chaeyoung rolled her eyes, grabbing Dahyun’s face and smashing their lips together. Their heated make-out session goes on pause when Dahyun pulls back to give the girl a serious look and Chaeyoung chuckled at her. 

“You ask this every-time we make out or have— “

“Shhh! You know these vents can pick up everything!” Dahyun exclaimed in fear that someone else will figure out they were hooking up secretly. 

Chaeyoung lets out an airy giggle and placed her hand against the side of Dahyun’s face, pulling her closer. “We don’t need to say anything, buddy.” She winked at the nickname they gave each other because the cold truth was that they were buddies. Dahyun nervously smiled at her, feeling indifferent about the whole situation until they kissed again, her thoughts disappearing as the seconds went on. The basketball player still remembers the first time this occurrence had happened and she still gets shivers from it. 

“J-Jihyo…” Chaeyoung hiccuped before taking another swig of the burning liquid. She was sandwiched in between the small space of the washing machines and curled up against the wall, hugging her bottle as she did so. The music major has not talked with her ex-girlfriend since they broke up, she didn’t have the courage to do so but every time she got drunk, she was aware that Jihyo would never get back together with her. Even Jihyo herself hasn’t mustered up the courage to confront Chaeyoung again. So that’s why Chaeyoung drinks out her sorrows because the last time she drank, she was helped by an angel— An angel that she has loved for so many years. 

Dahyun walked into the laundry room, it was her turn to do the laundry this week and she heard quiet sobs coming from the washing machines. “Huh? Is the machine crying?” She asked in disbelief, squinting her eyes since she didn’t have her glasses with her. Dahyun did have really poor eyesight. She slowly walked towards the noise, every step she took the noise got louder and louder. The music major cried louder, not knowing the presence of another in the room and not caring if she would concern the others that were currently in the guest-house. 

Dahyun peeked in between the machines and lets out a soft gasp when she realizes who it was. “Please, please, please. Just stop this.” Chaeyoung begged to herself as she covered her face in embarrassment, still not realizing the identity of the person who was in front of. Dahyun thinks to herself that the latter needs serious help right now but Chaeyoung all of the sudden stopped crying and started whispering to herself. “I’m sorry…” The music major tightly closed her eyes, wanting for what felt like a nightmare to end and Dahyun frowned at her, reaching out for the latter. 

“Let’s get you cleaned, okay?” Dahyun carried her to the washroom and bumped into Tzuyu as she was doing so. The Taiwanese had a judging look on her face and Dahyun groaned at the youngest, knowing she was never going to hear the end of it. Tzuyu stood in her spot, crossing her arms as she tilted her head at the sight. The music major was practically being dragged and the basketball player struggled to keep her up from the floor, now wanting the girl’s head to hit the floor. Dahyun sends a pleading look as she crouched down to use her lower body strength to carry Chaeyoung. “Please, Tzuyu. She’s drunk and really heavy.” The basketball player quietly begged, not wanting to grab more attention that the others would come out of their rooms to witness everything. Tzuyu wondered if this was something she shouldn’t be talking about with the others, especially Sana, but she ignored her judgemental attitude and complied Dahyun’s demands. She had to admit that Chaeyoung was wasted at the moment. 

Tzuyu puts Chaeyoung’s free arm around her and they dragged her to the washroom with Tzuyu closing the door behind her, not wanting to make any sound that would cause the others to check on them. As soon as the door closed, they gently placed the drunk girl in the tub and let out a sigh of relief. Dahyun had her hands on her hips and nodded to the latter. “Thanks, Tzuyu.” Dahyun kneeled down to be at the same eye-level as Chaeyoung who finally recognized the girl who was helping her. 

“Thanks, Dahyun.” She praised in a sweet voice before grabbing the latter’s neck and placing a soft kiss on her lips. Dahyun gasped out as she slightly pushed away the latter, not anticipating for that to happen and Tzuyu’s mouth dropped to the floor when she witnessed the whole thing. Chaeyoung cuddles herself in the tub and instantly falls asleep, forcing the surprised duo to stare at each other in shock. 

“What just happened!?” Tzuyu whispered out, now thinking she shouldn’t have helped out in the first place. Tzuyu was never good at keeping secrets and she literally promised her girlfriend that she wouldn’t but it wasn’t also her place to say anything. 

Dahyun’s lips trembled out as she touched her lips, her insides were feeling tingly again. “You can’t say anything, snitch!” She harshly whispered out, offending Tzuyu with the name. If it wasn’t for Tzuyu blabbering everything the day she came back from Taiwan, than Dahyun wouldn’t be in this mess and Chaeyoung would be in her bed sober, probably kissing Jihyo instead. 

“What did you just call me!?” The Taiwanese glared at her, feeling fumes steam out of her ears and Dahyun gave her a knowing look. 

“You heard what I said!” The anger builds up in the basketball player. “Listen, I’m going through a rough time. My coach is forcing me to come back on the team and it’s not because of my abilities. It’s because the school board forced him. My teammates were definitely okay with telling me that as they tortured me in my first practice back.” Dahyun remembers the snarky looks on their faces. She was still an outsider in the team and even the coach knew broken bond between her and the teammates. She watched SinB throw a basketball at her and in time, Dahyun was able to dodge it, shooting a glare at the girl who could only laugh with the others. “Not only do people have to constantly remind me of my past, but the people around me like her!” She gestured towards the unconscious Chaeyoung. “People like her make me go crazy!” Her chest heaved up and down, feeling satisfied that she got to voice out all of her thoughts that have confused her in the past weeks and Tzuyu stood there, her head hanging low. 

“So is this not the first time this has happened?” Tzuyu referred to the kiss accident and Dahyun sighed out loud, plopping on the ground as she started the water for the bath, making sure the drunk girl’s head wasn’t in the water so she wouldn’t drown. Tzuyu came closer to help the basketball player, taking Chaeyoung into her arms and making her sit straight up in the tub. 

Dahyun brushed her hand against the water, making sure the temperature was just right. “No... It happened after they broke up…” She whispered out, feeling ashamed of her actions and Tzuyu showed a closed-mouth smile, patting the latter’s back with her free hand and her other hand was supporting Chaeyoung up. 

“It’s okay… I won’t say anything…” Dahyun gave her a look of disbelief and Tzuyu nodded to confirm she was being serious. The youngest takes out her pinky and Dahyun loops her pinky finger around, both of them promising that no one will talk about tonight’s events. “That’s still not going to stop me from being mean to you.” She mused out and Dahyun could only chuckle at the savageness. If Tzuyu was all of the sudden being nice to Dahyun, the girl whom she has had indifferent memories with, than the other guest-mates would question her reasoning to why and Tzuyu may have no choice but to tell the truth. Dahyun thanks her again, understanding where Tzuyu was coming from and they continued to wash up a sleepy Chaeyoung, not speaking another word to each other. 

After that night, Chaeyoung sobered up in the morning and since you know they’re currently making out, you can guess what happened that morning… 

“CHAEYOUNG!” Momo called out, stopping the two from their business. The mentioned girl sighed out in disappointment, wanting more time with the basketball player and the Japanese called out for her again. “Chaeyoung, you’re going to be late for work!” She used the excuse to get her downstairs so they could kidnap her for ten minutes and the music major quickly pecked Dahyun’s lips before rushing out of her room with her bag in hand. 

“Coming!” Chaeyoung cheered out too brightly and Tzuyu popped her head out the bedroom door to see the smaller girl skipping down the stairs, an unusual sight to see from Chaeyoung. Her judging eyes meets the basketball player, who looked dazed and Tzuyu could only roll her eyes in annoyance when Dahyun gives her a signal to keep her promise. The last thing she wanted was to face the six guest-mates who wanted to bombard her with questions. Tzuyu just couldn’t believe that this was the secret she had to keep from her girlfriend. 

Chaeyoung walked around in the living room, wondering where Momo was since she heard her voice not only a few seconds ago. She peaked around the lower level washroom, curious if Momo was there or not and all of the sudden she felt a hand on , stopping her from screaming for help. She was dragged into the closet where she saw Sana and Momo calmly sitting with their legs crossed and the closet door closed, the room being engulfed by the darkness. Mina takes out her phone to shine the light on everyone and Chaeyoung realized it was Mina who dragged her in, it made sense since Mina could be really quiet that it suited for the girl to be a ninja in her past life. 

“MiSaMo revolution!” They all whispered together, knowing that there will still people upstairs who could overhear their conversations and Chaeyoung chuckled at the Japanese unnie’s goofiness. 

“Sana, mission report on Son Chaeyoung please.” Momo commanded like an officer and the mentioned girl saluted as she pulled out a crinkly piece of paper. She unfolds the paper and Mina shines the light on it to help the latter read it. 

“A few months ago, Chaeyoung was able to get a job.” Sana looked up from the paper to brightly smile at her. “We’re so proud of you, Chaeyoungie.” She cooed out, petting the latter’s chin as if she was a dog. Mina resisted the urge to look annoyed in front of the others, she thought Sana was spending way too much time with Tzuyu, the dog lover. “And you managed to get a decent salary from JB. A salary higher than expected.” Chaeyoung excitedly nodded, almost like a puppy and now Mina was resisting the urge to squeeze the girl’s cheeks from how adorable she was. 

“Yeah, I was also shocked to hear him give me higher than average— Sorry, Momo.” She bashfully looked at the mentioned girl who clicked her tongue at her, not knowing how to react in this situation. “He said if I help him out with his songs than he’ll increase my pay.” Everyone clapped at the news, except for Momo who crossed her arms, pretending to be jealous at the fact that this was only Chaeyoung’s first job and she was already getting promoted. “I don’t know how he runs everything.” Chaeyoung admits she was concerned when she first heard JB would be promoting her because she didn’t exactly know how he was getting all of this money in the first place. She even questioned how JB got his studio but he always pretended to not hear the question and moved on to talking about a totally unrelated topic. 

“Well, he is part of a wealthy family.” 

“What!?” Chaeyoung reacted by grabbing the Sana’s shoulders and the girl nodded, still in her usual calm state. 

She remembered one of her colleagues telling her this during class when no one was paying attention to the professor. “His father is a member of the school board.” They all let out an “ahh,” thinking the news Sana told them made sense since JB did seem wealthy and very mysterious. 

“Jesus, it’s so hot in here.” Mina grabbed the paper from Sana’s hands and started fanning herself. She could feel going dry in the humid room. Chaeyoung started to realize the hot temperature that was making her sweat in their five minutes of staying in the closet and Momo followed suit with her girlfriend’s actions, fanning herself with her hands. “Let’s make this quick.” She sent a wary look to her fellow Japanese friends who looked afraid to talk about this topic. Also, she didn’t want to faint in the closet from high temperatures. 

“So, Chaeyoung… How are you feeling nowadays?” 

The question made her raise her brow and she looked at the three who gave her serious looks. “I’m okay?” 

“Wrong!” Sana angrily yelled out like a mother before covering , not meaning to say that in front of the latter’s face. Momo side-glanced at her, silently telling her to shut up and then she looked at her girlfriend to bring out the bag. 

The sounds of empty alcohol bottles clinking together were heard inside the plastic bag and Chaeyoung furrowed her brows in confusion, wondering what could be in the bag. Mina picks up one empty bottle that had vodka labelled on it and Chaeyoung’s mouth curved into an “o” shape, realizing what was going on right now. A drinking intervention. “Care to explain this?” Mina asked in a scary voice and Chaeyoung lowered her head in shame. 

Sana shook her head, mirroring the same look on Momo’s face. The look of disappointment. She grabbed another bottle that used to have whiskey in it but there was not a single drop left. “You’re not good at hiding these, Chaeyoung. You shouldn’t be putting these in the garbage cans.” She lightly scolded for the girl’s inability to recycle, feeling the tension in the closet get thicker. Sana remembered when she was throwing out the trash and heard an unusual sound when she threw the bag of garbage into the bin. She slowly opened it to see a broken glass bottle and wondered who could be drinking such a liquid at this moment. Especially in the guest-house. At first, she thought it was Jihyo but after finding out that Jihyo signed up for a gym membership the other week, she was able to see that Jihyo was very focused on losing weight so there was no way she would be drinking AND exercising. She knew Jihyo was smarter than that so that led to her thinking about another girl who she knew really liked alcohol. 

“Chaeyoung, you can’t keep drinking away your problems.” Momo spoke in a soft voice, giving her a look that told the latter that they were there for her. “This is worse than Jihyo’s drinking and I know that girl can drink a lot.” Momo has lived in this guest-house long enough to know who had the highest alcohol tolerance and that was Jihyo. The girl used to drink every night before all of the new guest-mates arrived this year. 

The mention of the name that shouldn’t be spoken in front of Chaeyoung made the closet go silent again, nobody knowing what to say next. That was until Mina proposed an idea to help the latter get better. 

“You have a drinking problem, Chaeyoung. You need to start seeking help.” Mina paused to look at the mentioned girl who was looking down and sighed out. “You could do therapy?” She suggested and Chaeyoung finally glanced at her, her glossy eyes met with Mina’s concerned eyes. 

“That’s worse,” Chaeyoung croaked out, she didn’t want to be forced into doing therapy. She saw all of the Japanese women shared the same look of disappointment and Momo placed a hand on the latter’s shoulder to comfort her. 

“Then, let’s make a deal. If I see one more empty bottle in this guest-house, I’m sending you straight to AA in Busan.” Momo strictly instructed and all Chaeyoung could do was nod along, eternally grateful that she had these people to look after her, despite them not being her immediate family. 

She felt Mina rub the back of her head and looked back to see the ballerina shoot a gummy smile at her. “Since the dinner I had with your parents, I promised to protect and take care of you.” Mina swore she would look after Chaeyoung like family and she is not going to break that promise. Chaeyoung knew Mina was doing everything to look after her, Mina was so kind to pay for Chaeyoung’s intuition and part of her rent. And she even helped Chaeyoung look for a job when she needed one. The only thing Chaeyoung could do to repay the ballerina was to stop her unhealthy drinking habits. “It breaks my heart to see you pretend that you’re okay.” Mina could read people like a book, she knew the latter was not okay. 

The two shared a longing stare and Momo felt a little jealous from watching the two intensely stared at each other. She decided to “clear” and Mina quickly looked away, pretending to look at the coats that were hanged up in the closet. Meanwhile, Chaeyoung blushed out of embarrassment and Sana shot a teasing look. 

“Deal.” Chaeyoung whispered out, hoping nobody could see the red tint on her cheeks. Momo tilted her head up in surprise that Chaeyoung was accepting the deal and she brought her hand out to make things official. Chaeyoung took her hand and firmly shook it, earning small smiles from Sana and Mina. 

“Let’s get you to work, I wouldn’t want you to lose your job today.” Momo joked around and Mina was the first to bolt out of the closet, breathing in the “fresh” air despite the house having no air conditioner, but anything than the closet air was better. She then jogged up the stairs so she could start playing video games on her new Nintendo Switch. Momo and Chaeyoung headed to the front door together, the both of them were ready to walk out of the house and hoped that today was windy so they could air out their shirts. Sana was the last to crawl out of the closet and at that exact moment, Tzuyu walked down the stairs to see her girlfriend who stayed in the same position, breathing heavily to herself. 

“Wow, look at that. My girlfriend is out of the closet.” She sarcastically says and smirked at the latter. 

Sana gave her a look, telling the Taiwanese to not annoy her right now since she was still feeling a little hot from the closet and pointed her index finger at her. “You are so dead.” She heaved out and started to chase the mischievous maknae around the living room. Tzuyu laughed as she sprinted towards the front door and Sana was chasing her tail until she caught up to the point where they were able to hold hands. They both laughed, their fingers interlacing as they looked into each other’s eyes and Tzuyu started talking about how she was anticipating to go to the market. 

Dahyun walked out of the front door with her gym bag on top of her right shoulder, not excited for the afternoon basketball practice. She wondered if today her teammates would load a basketball launcher full of basketballs and shoot it right at her. She spotted the couple from the distance and felt a smile appear on her face. The basketball player may have felt an attraction towards Sana in the beginning but now, she thinks it was only a small crush. She’s actually glad that Sana has found someone like Tzuyu because after that one night with Chaeyoung where Tzuyu helped her, she found a new respect for the maknae (although Dahyun admits its fun teasing her around now). Dahyun knew Tzuyu was secretly judging her for having an unusual relationship with Chaeyoung but she also knew that Tzuyu doesn’t care at all, so it made the teasing ten times better. 

“Watch your head, superstar!” Dahyun immediately ducked when she walks into the University gyms and heard SinB laughing at her. Everyone held a basketball in their hands and Dahyun groaned out, she was hoping for this to happen at least after practice. 

“Right now?” Dahyun muttered out, slowly getting up from the floor. She hit the deck a little too hard. Seulgi could see the latter was in pain so she managed to stop the devil SinB. 

“Let’s start warming up.” After Dahyun was kicked off the team for a brief moment, Seulgi was appointed to be the captain and many people saw it coming since Seulgi and Dahyun always worked in harmony until they heard the two got into a fight and were no longer talking.

SinB scoffed at her and grabbed the basketball she threw at the wall earlier, thanking herself that she didn’t make a hole. “You sticking up for her, Kang?” She asked with a daring tone and the teammates started to cheer at the banter since the basketball team loved everything that involved drama. 

Before Seulgi could answer, the coach walks in with his usual cold face. “Hurry and get warmed up, you idiots.” He snarled out and gently kicked for his “star” to get up from the floor. “Kim, you may be back on the team but that doesn’t mean you can lie on the floor.” He scolded with a judging look and Dahyun did a burpee to stand up. She brushed off the dust on her gym clothes and avoided eye-contact with the man. “Do 100 laps around the gym while everyone does passing drills.” He needed to straight out the girl who has caused him lots of trouble lately. 

“B-b-but— “ She stammered out in disbelief. 

“NOW!” Dahyun forcefully bowed her head down, whispering a quick “yes sir” before throwing her bag away somewhere and running her first lap with the other people snickering at her. 

“That was great!” Jihyo cheered out, the sweat pouring down her face. She smiled at the others as they greeted each other off, hoping to see the other next week. The instructor walked up to Jihyo who was wiping her face with a white towel. The instructor had a smug look on her face as she crossed her arms, very impressed with the latter’s improvement over the two weeks she’s been here. 

“Who knew that you loved cycling?” She sarcastically said with that smug look still on her face and Jihyo chuckled at her as she started putting her water bottle and towel into her gym bag. The instructor stepped closer and unfolded her arms. “Really, I’m proud of you Jihyo.” She had this look in her eye that should’ve compelled Jihyo but instead it made her uncomfortable and she had the urge to step away. That was until someone saved Jihyo and the girl was left thanking the Lord.

Sunmi cleared , her eyes shooting daggers at the older woman. “Instructor, you should be heading to your nex