3rd Person’s POV

[Son’s Mansion…December 11, 20XX]

Ever since Chaeyoung helped to retrieve Lei’s phone, Lei had been calling and texting Anika and Jeril everytime that she could. She had missed them so much, and it that she wakes up without Jeril’s grumpy attitude and Anika’s morning pancakes.

“Good morning, Anika unnie.”

(Morning, Lei. How are you?)

“Not fine, but I’ll survive. Is Jeril unnie awake now?”

(Yup, she’s eating pancakes. Chase, say hi to Lei.)

(Hey, maknae.)

“Hey, Jeril unnie.” Lei chuckled. “You’re still preparing for school, right? I should leave you alone for now, I’ll call you later on your free period. Bye, unnies. Have a nice day.”

(You too, sweetie. Enjoy your tutor session.) after Lei got grounded, her parents assigned a tutor for her to help her with the studies while being in the mansion. It was a school tutor, so her grades will go up when her scores increased. It was fine, but not fun at all.

“I will. Goodbye.” with that, the call ended and Lei got down from her room to the kitchen to grab her breakfast. She didn’t spare a glance at her parents until she went back upstairs.

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[KBS 2 Building…December 15, 20XX]

Promotions was finally ending. Erika would finally have time on her own on her apartment, maybe a little visit to her 4D members. She could take a look on what they’re doing even for a second. But she’ll have to wait until her comeback’s promotion ends.

“Ked, you’re excused for now. Have a rest, you’ve got a tight schedule tomorrow.”

Erika went out of the building and rode her car. She started the engine and started driving around the place, and she unconsciously ended up in Sae Young Dormitories. With a deep breath, she turned off the engine and went out of her car then approached the dorm.

She went to their dorm room and opened the door using the key that Jeril was hiding behind the nearest vending machine. Her own key was left in her apartment. She didn’t returned it when she left, but she didn’t bring it always with her so she has to use Jeril’s right now.

With the click of the lock, she opened the door and saw that nothing really changed. Except for the place looks half vacant now, like only two person lives in it. ‘That’s weird…’ Erika thought, seeing that Lei’s study table doesn’t have her usual coffee cup. She always have it there whenever she sat down on the table, but it wasn’t there now.

“Where is she?” Erika muttered to herself as she went up to Lei’s upper bunk bed and saw that her bed was also odd. Like Lei hadn’t been sleeping there. She knows how Lei sleeps.

The usual bright atmosphere of the room decreased, Erika felt it. She got down from the bunk bed and went to the kitchen. She saw three plates on the sink, so she sighed in relief. Maybe she was just being paranoid for now being there for too long now.

She was about to leave the room when she noticed that the panda stufftoy she gave to Lei was nowhere in the couch. It was always there unless Lei brought it somewhere. ‘What the hell is going on?’ then, the door of the room opened.

“Leader nim?”

“Jeril.”

“What…are you doing here?” Jeril asked, closing the door. “Are you returning now? Geez, you’re too late for that. I mean, not that we don’t want you back. It’s just that Lei’s…”

“What happened to Lei? Where is she?”

Before Jeril could answer, the door opened again. It was Anika this time and just like Jeril, she was shocked to see Erika. “Ked unnie, you’re…”

“Yes, I’m back. Not totally, but let’s not talk about that now. Tell me where Lei is.”

“She’s at their mansion. She was grounded by her parents after knowing that her grades were slipping. They were very strict about Lei’s grades, since she was our valedictorian.”

“And the reason why Lei’s grades were slipping is because of you, idiot.”

“Me?” Erika asked, confused on why she was the reason. Then, it all clicked inside her head why. “Oh, fck. It was because I wasn’t here? Her grades slip cause I’m not in the dorm?”

“Uhh, something like that. It was more of when Lei was making you come back to the dorm, she neglected her studies and so is her Council works. So…”

“Fck.” Jeril and Anika watched amused at Erika’s swearing. It was also rare for her to swear. “Why did you let her neglect her studies for me? You could have just leave me alone.”

“It was Lei’s decision. We can’t force her to just leave you alone, you’re her bestfriend.”

“Yeah, but she shouldn’t have neglected her studies just for me when her parents is strict.”

“Alright, we’re all at fault with this.” Anika said, diffusing the situation. “We’re sorry for not taking care of Lei’s grades. But you should be sorry too for leaving her devastated.”

“I am sorry. There’s not a day that goes by that I wished I had stayed. But…”

“But what?”

Erika took a deep breath. “No, it’s nothing. Anyways, how are we going to take Lei back? We need to have her back here, even if I’m not. This is where she belongs.”

“And so do you.”

“This isn’t about me anymore, Jeril. Let’s talk about myself after Lei’s back to our dorm, okay?” she stared intently at Jeril but the girl still shook her head.

“No. Because even if Lei’s back here, it would be useless without you here.”

“She’s right, unnie. The reason why this happened is because you’re not here. There’s a chance that it’ll happen again if you won’t return together with her. We’re 4D, not 3.”

“Fine.” Erika surrendered with a sigh. She’ll just have to bite the bullet, cause she really need Lei to return to the dorm. Even if she’ll go up against her own parents. “I’ll come back here.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Now, that’s enough. I’m blaming myself, so you stop adding blames to me and think of a plan on how we’re getting President Panda back.” Jeril and Anika smiled, hearing Erika called Lei as President Panda. They have to admit that they missed that.

“I don’t know. Whenever I’m grounded, my dad would always help me out.”

“The same with me, but it was my mom who’s helping me.”

“But her parents can’t help her this time, because they’re the one who grounded her.” Erika stated, then a light bulb went on inside her head. She grabbed her phone and called someone. It rang and was picked up after the 4th ring. “Hey, unnie.”

(Ked? Hey, what’s up?)

“I need your help on something.”

(Sure, what is it?)

“Can you tell Chaeyoung unnie to help us with her cousin, Lei? She’s grounded and we need to have a family that could help us with our plan.”

(Oh, okay. I’ll tell her that.)

“Thanks, Dahyun unnie.”

(You’re always welcome. So, what’s this plan of yours anyways?)

“I’ll ask blessings from her parents, obviously.” she heard a laugh from the other side, and it was obviously from TWICE’s main rapper. “I’m serious, Chaeyoung unnie.”

(I know, I know. And you should indeed do that. They’ll gave it to you, you’re an idol.)

“Seriously?”

(Just talk to them politely and with respect. You know what? I’ll just come there and help you with this. I doubt you can be polite. Dahyun unnie and I will go at your apartment--)

“No, I can’t do this right now. I’m in the middle of the promotion. But only 3 days left, so after that you can meet me at the Sae Young Dormitories dorm room 4D.”

(Alright. Sae Young Dormitories, December 18. Okay, see you soon.)

“Thanks, unnie.” with that, the call ended and Erika faced her members. “Don’t worry, I got this. As the leader, I’ll bring her back.” Jeril and Anika smiled cause they believe Erika.

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