Jeongyeon woke up that afternoon with a sour mood, tousled hair, and pounding head. She groaned while rolling to her side, having a memory where she drank too much soju last night during her drama farewell. She took her phone that was on the night stand and check for some miss calls, some text messages and some chats from her friends. Nayeon left her ten miss calls and other seventeen messages, she didn’t read most of the messages but sent her a reply with a pig emoticon having no meaning behind it, just to teased the older girl. The phone vibrated in her hand – Dahyun’s silly picture showed up, the one she took when the girl was asleep waiting for her shoot to be over – she answers the call.

 

 

“This is my day off.”

 

 

“Good morning, Dahyun. Nice to hear your voice, Dahyun. What a great manager you are, Dahyun.”

 

 

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes with a small smile. “Your voice is annoying.”

 

 

“This annoying voice is the one you always miss.” Dahyun laughs in between her words, “How was last night? Judging by your grumpy voice, it went well?”

 

 

“I wish I hadn’t drink too much soju.” She sighed, rolled to her back on the bed. Massaging her forehead while closing her eyes. “Why do you call?”

 

 

“Ah, right.” A paused, Jeongyeon can see the small girl shuffling in her seating as she can her muffled movement from over the phone. “About that, you might want to check the link I gave you. Or… just check the internet maybe, since it is all over the place.”

 

 

“Oh no, is it pictures of me getting drunk?”

 

 

She rushed to sit herself on the bed which shot hundred thousand needles pricking on her head, Jeongyeon winched by the pain then opened her laptop. She typed on the news name on the search engine, then the headline showed up. feels dry, she needs something to drink.

 

 

“Jeongyeon unnie, you still there?”

 

 

She read the headline that was written in a thick black capital font, then her eyes drifted to the pictures bellow it and then she read the first paragraph of the article. “MiSaMo member Mina casted in a reality program called ‘Idol’s Married Life’. It is a program where a male idol and a female idol live together as a married couple.”

 

 

“Who’s the male idol?” Jeongyeon cleared when she spoke to Dahyun who’s still on the other line. “When’s the first shoot?”

 

 

“Uhm… did you read the whole article, unnie?”

 

 

“No,” she said as she closed down her laptop and stood up and chugged a bottle of cold water, only to groaned again by the cold. “Ugh, brain freeze.”

 

 

“Huh? Are you okay?”

 

 

“Yeah yeah, I just drink cold water. Tell me, when’s the first filming start?”

 

 

“I’m not sure? Didn’t Mina unnie tell you about this?”

 

 

She took her phone off of her ear then scroll through her notifications, Mina left her dozen miss calls and two times more messages. Jeongyeon then tell Dahyun she’ll come back to her latter – if she’s not forgotten – and started to read the messages her girlfriend left her one by one before decided calling her would be easier than reading with a painful head.

 

 

“Jeong unnie?” Mina answers immediately on the second ring, wasting no time to greet her good morning first. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling you since this morning.”

 

 

“Hi, girlfriend. Sorry, I overslept, only to wake up to a news that you are casted in a married life reality show.”

 

 

“I’ve been meaning to tell you that since last night.”

 

 

“What stopped you?”

 

 

“I didn’t, you never checked on your phone? I guess you party hard last night.”

 

 

Jeongyeon sighs, of course Mina been trying to tell her. She told Jeongyeon about her management informed her about this thing without asking her first and she had asked Jeongyeon about her thoughts in this, she also promised the girl that she will go straight to her if she got casted. And she does.

 

 

“Unnie, I don’t want to do this.”

 

 

“You can’t bail on it, Minari. The article is already out, literally everywhere.” She leaned on the kitchen island, taking another glass of water then drink half of it. She needs to calm down, Mina is clearly almost freaking out on the other line and she can hear the girl’s nervous breath over the phone. “You’ll be fine.”

 

 

Mina whined, she can picture the girl sitting while biting her thumb nail and so she told the younger girl not to, only to get another whine. “Will you be okay, unnie?”

 

 

Jeongyeon hummed groggily. “I will be fine.”

 

 

“Really? They will make me live in the same roof with him, probably sleeping in the same room.”

 

 

Jeongyeon didn’t respond, looking down the wooden floor.

 

 

“Unnie, I might not go back to my dorm at all until the filming is over. I might have to stay there.”

 

 

“They can’t do that. I mean, you are an idol, the fans will most likely oppose to the idea.”

 

 

Both girls didn’t talk for a good ten seconds, trapped in the idea of another person came in to their relationship. They can tell that neither of them liking the idea of the reality show Mina has to be in but none of them can do anything about it since they want to keep their relationship as private.

 

 

“Maybe if the media know that we are dating–“

 

 

“Mina, we talked about this.”

 

 

“But it could prevent this to happen. I really don’t want to do this.”

 

 

“I know. But there is nothing you can do either. If you bail on it then it’ll affect not only you but also the group, how about Sana and Momo? You can’t afford to get them in trouble too.”

 

 

Mina didn’t answer to that but Jeongyeon can hear the girl sighing on the other line.

 

 

“Everything will be fine, okay? It is just a show. As long as you will still be my girlfriend when the filming end then I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

 

 

“I will still be.” Mina says with a huff. “Don’t say that as if I don’t love you.”

 

 

The word brings smiles upon Jeongyeon’s face, the girl chuckles and her chuckle bring calm to Mina’s anxiousness. The younger girl joins Jeongyeon and it grows into laughter in span of a minute.

 

 

“All will be well, okay?” Jeongyeon said still smiling. Mina answers with a small yet sweet okay. “Get some sleep, Minari. Your schedule will be in two hours.”

 

 

Mina hums. “Unnie you get some rest too, do you have aspirin?”

 

 

“I’ll let Dahyun buy it for me later.”

 

 

“Okay.” She said. “I’ll text you when I woke up.” Jeongyeon hums. “Don’t think too much.”

 

 

“Yes, ma’am. Go get some rest, sleep tight, okay?”

 

 

“Okay. Bye Jeongyeon unnie.”

 

 

She waits until Mina hangs up the call then puts the phone down before she rushed to the bathroom then throw up on the sink. Jeongyeon slid to the floor with her back on the wall, her head is still pounding and the news article is really not helping at all. She heard the door of her apartment being open then Dahyun’s head popped out from behind the bathroom door. The shorter girl sighs as she stepped on the bathroom and handed Jeongyeon a glass of water she poured from the tap.

 

 

“Today is really not my day.”

 

 

Dahyun nodded then smile empathically, she lets the tap pouring onto the sink to washed it clean from any smells from Jeongyeon’s throw up earlier then closed the tap before she sits beside the older girl on the floor, taking the empty glass then put it on the floor. Jeongyeon naturally let her head rest on Dahyun’s shoulder and so does the other girl when she puts her head on top of Jeongyeon’s head, her blond hair that’s a little bit over her shoulder now.

 

*

 

 

“Oh? Dahyun unnie, what are you doing here?”

 

 

Tzuyu walked fast to the shorter yet older girl walking towards her and Chaeyoung’s direction. She hugged Dahyun with one arm and then dragged her to sit next to Chaeyoung on the bench behind all the cameras and tv crews. Chaeyoung flashed Dahyun her cheeky grin, showing her dimple and a set of white teeth. The oldest of the three sits with her back relaxing on the back rest while the other two looking at her.

 

 

“Jeongyeon unnie doesn’t have any schedule today?” Tzuyu ask, handing Dahyun a can of cola which she refuse by shaking her head, the younger one drink it for herself.

 

 

“She doesn’t feel well, she said it was because she drank too much soju at the after party, it was three days ago now. I have to reschedule some things and let her rest.” Dahyun nod her head to the three girls filming across of them. “How long until their comeback period is over?”

 

 

“Two weeks,” Chaeyoung looks to where her three Japanese best friends then looked back to Dahyun. “Mina unnie hasn’t been sleeping well, I think the program is really messing with both of them.”

 

 

Tzuyu hummed in, resting her head on Dahyun’s shoulder. “It’s not even started yet. It is going to be a disaster, I don’t think Nayeon unnie and Jihyo unnie could help with the situation either.”

 

 

“Yeah, those two is the busiest of us all.” Dahyun sighs. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle Jeongyeon unnie well. She became quiet when there’s something bothering her, Nayeon unnie usually did that for me, or Jihyo unnie.”

 

 

“Or Mina unnie, Jeongyeon unnie listens to her really well.” Chaeyoung said, looking back to the three girls. “But since Mina is in the program… and it also bothered her to be in it, I don’t think she can help at all. I feel really bad.”

 

 

“Hey it’s not your fault. We’re just managers, we can’t go against the management unless we want to lose our job.”

 

 

“But me and Chaeyoung feels bad because we can’t do anything about it.” Tzuyu sits back up, handed Chaeyoung the cola. “Drink some, it tastes different.”

 

 

“Different how?” the girl peeked through the hole to the inside of the can. “Funny kind of different? Now that you tell me to drink it I became suspicious.”

 

 

Dahyun smells the can – not that it has any kind of smell – as if the cola taste has anything to do with the packaging. She watched Chaeyoung drinks it, then waited for the girl’s respond.

 

 

“It tasted okay.”

 

 

“Really?”

 

 

Chaeyoung hum. “Wanna try?”

 

 

She took the cola from Chaeyoung’s hand then took a sip, then came her immediate regret. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu laughed so hard when Dahyun checks the date on the cola can and cursed under her breath.

 

 

“This has expired!”

 

 

“You should see your face, unnie.”

 

 

Instead of snapping at them, Dahyun joins them laughing because they barf at the same time. She threw away the expired cola to the trash bin and then ran to stood at the side of the set when Sana, Mina and Momo waved at her enthusiastically. The Japanese girls shouted to not drink the cola because those are their photoshoot props and might probably be expired, Tzuyu shouted back telling them she made Dahyun drank it, Momo laughed when she told them that she drank it too then trick Mina to have a taste.

 

 

“Only I survive!” Sana said in between her laughs with her fist raised up in the air.

 

 

*

 

Jeongyeon came out from her apartment on the fourth day – she spent stress-cleaning the place – driving her city car to do to some shopping on the supermarket. She went to the farther one from her house, the one near the broadcasting building where Mina got casted for a reality program that got her giddy for a good ninety-six hours. She parked her car on the basement and hugged herself as she lowered her cap and adjusted her specs. The first step she took inside the store, she was greeted by a crowd of people, nearly closing up any way to walk through them.

 

 

She saw a glimpse of Tzuyu in a cap in the front line of the crowd – pushing some people away to get close to the filming – as the girl stood out even in her worn out MLB cap Mina gave her sometimes ago. Chaeyoung is right behind the director, telling the director which one is okay to be broadcasted later and which one that has to be cut. Jeongyeon walked around the crowd, slipping through some crazy fans to get a better view of the filming. She saw a guy, in a white shirt and a clean-cut denim pants with a pair of navy colored designer shoes sat nervously in front of Mina, he has his blond hair styled in a messy yet manly way.

 

 

Jeongyeon bit her lip when she saw Mina blushed as the guy – probably a boy group member – tried to touched her hand, Jeongyeon thought that the director of the program really thought of this really well as she realized that the guy actually has thebroad shoulder and back just like how Mina always liked in a male feature. She held her breath as she shifted her eyes to see Mina, as always, she looks absolutely stunning even in her simple yet feminine flower dress. Jeongyeon thought that of course Mina has to be dolled up, dressed as if she’s been waiting for this day – or date– to happen. She wants to assure herself that the younger girl has the same feeling about this just like her, but then Jeongyeon feels as if she wasn’t sure anymore as she saw Mina actually let the guy hold her hand on the table.

 

 

It is all just an act, Jeongyeon telling herself that, saying the word over and over again like a mantra. She is an actress herself and she knows well that she can see that Mina hid those uncomfortable feeling under her idol mask really well, but it is so hard to do when Jeongyeon is in jealousy she shouldn’t have. This is just a reality program and this is not real, another mantra before she lost it all. She needs to stays calm, and composed, and supportive as she knows well that Mina can act really well, she always did well in everything she does. But again, stays supportive is in another kind of dictionary as jealousy when your girlfriend actually talented in acting.

 

 

She slips her way out of the crowd just right when Chaeyoung had a glimpse of her and about to call her, the younger girl realize that she can’t do that as Jeongyeon is a celebrity too and has a lot of fans, calling her name will only cause ruckus especially when the media – and mostly all people in South Korea – aware that she, Mina, Sana, Momo, Nayeon, and Jihyo went to the same high school and is currently the ultimate girl squad everybody wants to join.

 

 

Walking away from the crowd, she made her way to the supermarket only to be stopped by one the filming crew to make a way without looking at her face. Jeongyeon stopped then, nervous when she thought that the crew recognize her but relived at the same time that he doesn’t. She stood right behind the crew, which made her in the front row of the crowd she was supposed to walked away from, she doesn’t want to see the rest of the filming because her feeling said not to as she doesn’t want it to get hurt. But she guessed that the world wanted her to see it, Mina walks hand in hand with the guy – that was supposed to be her ‘husband’ in the show – as she talks comfortably with him, looking away shyly every now and then.

 

 

And then as if the world wants to make everything worse, Mina accidently looking at her direction and – of course – spot Jeongyeon in the crowd, most probably because she knows the girl’s feature way too well as she been dating her since she graduated high school. Jeongyeon saw as her girlfriend’s body became tense and the blood leaving her system as if she was caught cheating. Jeongyeon tried to flashed Mina a reassured smile – telling her it is okay and that she was doing a good job – but nothing came to her lips, she just needs to get away from there. So Jeongyeon looks anywhere but the scene in front of her then retreat slowly, away from Mina’s searching eyes.

 

 

Jeongyeon walks back to her car, forgetting that she has some grocery shopping to do. Locking the door, she reclined her seat and take a deep shaky breath, she doesn’t even bother turning on the AC as she feels cold all over her body. Jeongyeon waits herself to calmed down and plans on really get the grocery she needs from the supermarket, all she has to do is to wait until the filming takes to another place, she doesn’t have the energy to drive as of now. Where is Dahyun when she needed her.

 

 

Another minutes then she gets out of her car, still with the cap and specs. She walks again to where the supermarket is and doesn’t even bother checking on her surroundings. She planned on just buying what she needs and then rushed back home, she needs to lay down anyway. Jeongyeon took a small cart and scanned the stuffs she needs in a lightning speed, the place suffocated her and she can clearly see the crowd from earlier from the corner of her eyes. She took one tuna can and a bottle of soju before she headed to the cashier.

 

 

“You’re in a rush.”

 

 

Jeongyeon jumped by the small girl popping out of nowhere right by her side, with a toothy grin and a pair of concern eyes.

 

 

“You scared me.” Jeongyeon said holding her chest. “You shouldn’t be seeing talking to me, I’m on a disguise.”

 

 

“Hm, I can see that. Do you need some help?”

 

 

Jeongyeon shook her head as she placed what’s on her shopping cart to the cashier, she bowed to the cashier and hid her face more under her cap as the cashier might have noticed who she was by the look on his face. Chaeyoung sends him an alarming look and he looks away, finally scanning the grocery Jeongyeon bought.

 

 

“Can I come over later?” the small girl puts Jeongyeon’s grocery in the paper bag and had it in her hug as Jeongyeon paid the bill, ignoring the older girl’s refusal by not to help her.

 

 

“No, you can’t.”

 

 

“Why? I’ll bring some food.” She looks up at Jeongyeon who’s now walking by her side, the older girl looks tired and worn out for some reason. “Are you okay, unnie?”

 

 

Jeongyeon took some time answering the question then she took the paper bag that’s in Chaeyoung’s hug. “I’m fine, Chaeng. Just go home and get some rest, it is a tiring day for you, you need to grow a centimeter taller at least.”

 

 

“Ah, that’s just too cruel. I look cute with this height you know.” Jeongyeon laughed softly as she pat Chaeyoung’s head. “Are you sure I can’t come?”

 

 

Jeongyeon shook her head, smiling then flick Chaeyoung’s nose. “Mina told you to, didn’t she?”

 

 

Chaeyoung is not a good liar and Jeongyeon can see it, she hugs the small manager with one hand before releasing her hold on her.

 

 

“You don’t have to, I’m older than you, I can take care of myself.”

 

 

“Fine, if you say so. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

 

 

“Okay.”

 

 

“I’m serious, unnie. Call me if you need anything.”

 

 

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll call, sure. Bye Chaeng.”

 

 

Jeongyeon waved her hand as she turns her back on Chaeyoung and walks away. The small girl watched until Jeongyeon gets into her car before she gets back to the filming. She walks toward where Tzuyu fanning Mina as the older girl gets her make-up touched up, Chaeyoung smiles a little when Mina looks up from her phone to her. Tzuyu eyed her, her eyes giving the impression that she is hopeful about something, Chaeyoung shook her head.

 

 

“She said she’ll be fine, unnie.”

 

 

Mina sighs, biting the inside of her cheek. “Of course, and she didn’t read my messages.”

 

 

“I think she came here to shop, she bought some grocery.”

 

 

“She usually didn’t go this far for a grocery shopping.” Mina looks down to her phone’s screen again before she gave it halfheartedly to Tzuyu. “Can I go to her place after this?”

 

 

“I will drive you.” Tzuyu chimed in. “I mean I will accompany you on the way since I haven’t gotten my driving license.”

 

 

“Thank you, Tzuyu.” Mina smiled then gets ready to film again.

 

 

Chaeyoung and Tzuyu walked to behind the director together, the younger one talks in a low voice to Chaeyoung.

 

 

“Should we ask Nayeon unnie or Jihyo unnie for help? Jeongyeon unnie doesn’t look good though.”

 

 

“I’m sure they are aware of it.” Chaeyoung rubbed the girl’s arm, reassured her. “But I’ll ask them latter, if they haven’t rushed their way to Jeongyeon unnie’s house already.”

 

 

*

 

 

“Yoo Jeongyeon doesn’t have anything in her fridge.”

 

 

“Also in her cabinet, I’m hungry, don’t you have some instant noodles?”

 

 

Jeongyeon watched as her two other best friends rummaging her kitchen still in their work outfits. Jihyo claimed that she ‘stole’ Nayeon from her drama filming set after her own appearance in a music festival. It is almost midnight and Jeongyeon was about to tuck herself under her warm blanket when the two mad-knocking on her door. She needs to let them in before the neighbors filing her a noise complaint.

 

 

“Shall we order some food?” asked Jeongyeon gave in. “What do you want to eat, unnie?”

 

 

“Anything.” Nayeon said dramatically stumbling on her steps then laying on the floor. “I might die of hunger. Jihyo doesn’t even bother bring me some snacks when she came. Why am I your fiancé again.”

 

 

“I asked you if you want anything but you said no and to hurry, why is it my fault now?”

 

 

“I was filming all day long, you should’ve known that I need something to eat.”

 

 

The younger of the three huffs and throw a cushion from Jeongyeon’s couch to the girl’s face. “So annoying, I’m not talking to you.”

 

 

“Always so noisy, always. I still can’t wrap my head at the idea that the two of you are actually together.” Jeongyeon flails her hands in frustration in the air as she gets away and orders some food for the three of them on the phone. When she gets back, the earlier bickering couple sat snuggling on her couch watching some drama.

 

 

“Seriously…”