Gyuri gets to go home on a Thursday.

The moment she steps out of the training center she digs for her phone buried deep at the bottom of her handbag. It had been a good week since she had checked the group chat that started with messages of support and well wishes for her before they spiralled into miscellaneous conversations that were hard to keep track of.

Supposedly someone had clogged the toilet and wasn’t owning up to it. There’s Seoyeon and Chaeyoung begging Jisun to make them rice cakes for breakfast, Jiheon telling the girls about how she passed her exams and a whole bunch of other things Gyuri will have to rely on the members to verbally fill her in on.

It’s been one week since Gyuri had last spoken to them, three weeks since she’s last seen them. The rigorous production and training for Produce 48 meant that even if she wanted to, Gyuri had no time to talk to them. So two thousand unread messages later (two thousand is a lot considering the fact that they’d be together because they’d be practicing for their comeback) she messages them.

[Gyul]
We’re on break from filming! I’m coming home! Where are you?

[Romsae]
Can’t wait to see you! We’re in the practice room, come by and visit.

[Hayoung]
Welcome home Gyuri-ah ~

[Jiwonnie]
Come to the practice room!! Bring snacks or no entry!

[Ji-honey]
Dad’s home from the war!

[Swag-yeon]
GYURIIIIII UNNNIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

[Nakko]
GYUL UNNNIIIEEEEEEE ~~~~ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

[Chaeng]
Jisun unnie said she’ll cook dinner tonight to welcome you home.

[Jisun]
Chaeyoung-ah your nose is growing.

[Chaeng]
Kekeke

[Jiwon]
So are you bringing snacks?

Gyuri hesitates for a second and stares at her phone a little longer. She closes it and stuffs it into her back pocket before hopping into the car with her luggage.

+

As Gyuri approaches the door she hears a sound she’s all too familiar with, Saerom’s voice, counting the steps as their shoes scuff against the wooden floors. Gyuri peers through the crack that lets her catch a glimpse of her members before they see her. With a deep breath Gyuri pushes the door open and it’s almost immediate the way her body gets whisked off the ground and spun.

“Gaejookie unnie!” Chaeyoung places her down immediately before the other younger members latch onto her affectionately.

“Be careful you’ll break her,” Jisun tries to help Gyuri from falling over under the weight of the other members but Gyuri just laughs loudly.

“I brought snacks,” Gyuri says holding a bag full of lollies, chips and drinks and just like that as quickly as they came to her, the bag of snacks disappeared and so does most of her members across the room. There’s a ruckus in the corner as they dig through the bag of goods, ignoring Gyuri who was shouting for them to share.

“How are you?” Saerom is the only one left behind after the wave.

“Yeah, fine…”

Gyuri struggles to look at her in the eyes and whilst Gyuri knows why, Saerom doesn’t.

“How was it?”

“Tiring,” Gyuri says as she follows the members to the where the snacks were being dealt out.

“I can imagine,” Saerom says, her voice trailing off in the direction that Gyuri’s eyes were moving. Gyuri sides step around the table to reach for a drink. She wanted anything to avoid talking to Saerom anymore. Except all Saerom does it stare at her with the roundest eyes, waiting patiently for her to finish. That was the best thing about Saerom, how patient she was. “How long is it till you have to go back?”

“The episodes start airing next week, so a month or so?”

“That’s good, you can relax for a bit.” She sounds genuinely relieved and excited for Gyuri to be home with them and yet Gyuri couldn’t help the feeling of knots in her stomach. “Did anything interesting ha—”

“Can we talk about this later?” Gyuri’s abrupt response was a shock to Saerom who could only offer a weak nod. Despite her attempt to conceal her shock Gyuri catches it quickly, “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like—” she tries to apologise when Seoyeon interrupts them both.

“Thanks Gyuri unnie,” Seoyeon latches onto her with a bag of gummies in her hand and Gyuri forces a smile to look at her.

“Don’t eat it all this time, share with the other members.”

“I can’t promise that if they’re slow eaters.”

Gyuri tries to steal a glance at Saerom who had already moved across the room during her short conversation with Seoyeon. Guilt washes over her immediately.

“So what are we doing for dinner tonight?” Chaeyoung chimes in.

“Why is food always the first thing on your mind?” Nakyung teases.

“I work hard, I should be able to eat…” Chaeyoung mumbles, feigning offence as she takes a bite of the chocolate bar.

“Practice won’t finish till late, so it’s not like we can go out to eat.”

“You mean we don’t get to leave early tonight since Gyuri is back?” Chaeyoung slides up to Saerom who lets out a heavy sigh.

“Comeback is next week, we have lots to do. Plus Gyuri is probably tired, so she’ll want time to herself.” Gyuri winces at the comment and purses her lips but she nods in agreement.

“Can I at least see the choreo before I go?” she asks.

“No,” Jiwon chimes in, full of chips before bursting out into laughter.

“Kids, Gyuri wants to see the full performance. Quickly now,” Saerom shouts like a mother rounding up her children. Gyuri smiles for the first time genuinely as she proudly looks at Saerom. “What?” Saerom asks

“Nothing,” she bites down and shakes her head, avoiding eye contact as Saerom brushes past her.

Saerom waits for the members to move into their position as she restarts the song again. “Can you press play so I can get into position?” Saerom asks and Gyuri nods.

The practice goes off without a hitch, or at least Gyuri thinks so. They had really refined their movements since the last time she saw them. “And that’s my spot there?” Gyuri points at the empty space beside Chaeyoung.

“Depends on how you do on the show,” Chaeyoung teases and Gyuri nods her head slowly, lips pursed, trying to force a smile.

+

When they return home that night from practice, Gyuri feels a lot better. It had been far too quiet in the house alone without them, so much that Gyuri had to turn on all the lights and television as to not psych herself out whenever she heard a creak from upstairs.

“I bought us dinner!” Gyuri says, stretching her arm over the spread of food on the table.

“Nice,” Chaeyoung utters as she slides into the seat first.

“Thanks Gyuri,” Jisun pats her on the back as she takes the seat on the opposite side of Chaeyoung.

They all move to their positions at the table. It wasn’t anything pre-determined, but more of a habit. Saerom takes the place closest to the wall, opposite Gyuri. She doesn’t really look at Gyuri as she thanks her for the meal before digging in. Gyuri feels her stomach churn and suddenly she’s lost her appetite.

It’s almost one when dinner is finished and despite the fact that Gyuri had only been filled in on about half of the things that had happened since, she knew that they needed their sleep. Come back schedule was relentless and she could tell it was beginning to wear on their minds and bodies. They needed to be back in the practice room by seven and to keep them longer would be selfish.

“Welcome home, Gyuri,” some of the members kiss her, hug her or offer her a pat on the back before retreating to their room.

+

It’s two in the morning but Gyuri can’t sleep.

It’s probably the fact that she took a two hour nap after she got home, but mostly the fact that she was running the conversation she had with Saerom earlier on loop. Gyuri curses at herself beneath her breath every time she hears her voice and the image of Saerom’s hurt expression crosses her mind. She tries to distract herself by focusing on the television in front of her but it did little to help.

Gyuri always thought she was good at concealing her emotions, and whilst Saerom was definitely not the reason for her original distress, she is now.

She should apologise at least, wake Saerom up – no that’s stupid, she’ll be even angrier. Make her breakfast tomorrow – no – she can’t cook.

“Can’t sleep?” a disembodied voice catches her off guard and sends a shock through her body. Gyuri leaps out of the seat and falls off the sofa landing with a thud. “Oh my god, are you ok, Gyuri?” the voice approaches her faster as Gyuri lays on the floor h