Sua furrowed her eyebrows at the odd behavior Jiu had just shown her but brushed it off as she went off to her room to go grab some clothes to go take a shower. When she entered her room, Yoohyeon was sleeping with the blanket over her head so it was easier to slip in and out of the room without waking her up. Sua went into the bathroom to wash off all the grime that she collected while being out so late. As she was in the middle of her bath, she wondered about last night and how Jiu didn’t tell her the reason why she was crying. Her hand twitched at the mere thought of Jiu’s crying face as she was in the darkness all alone. She balled up her fists as she felt useless for not being able to help the person whom she cares for the most. The person who she loved picking fights with just to spend even a fraction of a second with her. The person who is on her mind every morning and night with each passing day, she finds herself wanting to be near her, but she can’t do that. She didn’t want to ruin the friendship they built over the years over something that might be impulsive, nor did she want the other members looking at her differently as they chose sides. She didn’t want to be the person who’d drive the wedge between the friendly atmosphere that they were all currently in.

“It’s okay, Sua. You’ll get over this crush in no time. No one knows about these feelings and no one will ever find out.” Sua silently encouraged herself as she tried burying her growing feelings for Jiu once more.

Jiu was running around the neighborhood, but she took a detour as her mind was filled with Sua. She needed a distraction as they had another event to go to and having Sua on her mind wouldn’t do her much good. It’ll make her image as the leader worse than it already is. With that mindset, the comments about her crept up into her mind as they started bringing her down. Jiu shook her head and quickened up her pace as her legs started feeling the burn and giving her pain which was easing the dark thoughts that were about to corrupt her mind. She kept running as she ignored the pain that was coursing through her veins as her mind was becoming blank. Releasing all the stress and tensions she had collected over the past few hours. Her lungs burning with the dry oxygen as was aching for her to drink some water. Her heart beating rapidly as it asks her to slow down and rest, while her legs began to cramp up. Finally, she arrived back at the dorms and entered through the apartment door, she was heavily panting as if no amount of air could help her rest her body. Sua heard the door open and welcomed the person in, however, all she got in return was pants. She became scared of who might be there as she slowly walked over to the entrance way.

Jiu started seeing spots in her vision as it was getting lighter and lighter. Her body was becoming cold as her breathing never went back to normal. She couldn’t let her members see her like this, all weak and unable to take care of herself. She had to be the strong one in the group as they were idols who people look up to. She couldn’t show weakness to anyone except for herself. She tried walking normally, but her vision was all white, however, she knew the dorm enough to know where her room was. As she was walking towards her room she collided with someone and all her efforts made her fall.

Sua caught Jiu and noticed that Jiu was sweating too much as her body was as cold as ice. She knew something was wrong when she found Jiu walking weirdly towards her room and how she called out to Jiu but didn’t get an answer. So, when Jiu ran into Sua, Sua was as still as a statue to truly see if Jiu was okay she fell. Sua caught Jiu before any major damaged happened to the girl.

Sua was about to carry Jiu over to the couch but she didn’t want the other members to be worried about their leader who seemed to have passed out from her workout. So, Sua brought her to her room where Yoohyeon was already out and in the bath doing who knows what. Sua placed Jiu in her side of the bunk as carefully as possible.

Once Jiu was securely in the bed, Sua rummaged around her room to find a towel to wipe away Jiu’s sweat that was littered all over her face and limbs that were exposed to the world. Sua watched as Jiu was sleeping peacefully as she noticed the dark bags under Jiu’s eyes and that brought the feeling of her chest being hollowed out. She could barely contain a gasp as there were slight red marks at the corner of her eyes with a little bit of puffiness. That indicated to Sua that Jiu was crying once again while she was on her morning jog. Sua gritted her teeth in anger as she wanted to hurt the person who made her cry, but she couldn’t because she knew that Jiu would never confide in her especially how she had been treating her. She sighed with a heavy heart as she tore her gaze from Jiu and forced her body to leave Jiu alone but not before tucking Jiu in with a blanket as she remembered that Jiu’s body was cold for some reason.

When Sua left the room, she was greeted by a Siyeon who started smiling at the sight of Sua. She didn’t notice that Sua was frowning a little bit as she wanted to spend as much time with Sua before everyone else needed her for who knows what. Siyeon loved and hated the fact that Sua was caring for everyone, she wanted her to look only at her instead of anyone else. Siyeon dragged Sua to do who knows what before they had to depart to do a fan meeting. Yoohyeon came out of the bathroom with a little bit of anger as she couldn't wash all of the pen markings that were drawn on her.

“Sua!” She yelled hoping the older girl could help her before the fan meet. She didn't want to make extra work for the Unnies that did their makeup and hair. Sua heard Yoohyeon’s cry and stopped herself in her tracks while Siyeon pouted knowing that Sua would always help her friends out. Sua looked at Siyeon with an apologetic look before slipping out of Siyeon grasp and started running back to Yoohyeon.

An hour before they all had to leave, Sua noticed that Jiu had yet to wake up and that made her more worried. Is she okay? It didn't look like she slept a lot last night. Maybe I should go check on her. She nodded at her thinking and went to her room.

Jiu was already awake but was very weak to move since all her muscles ached from the strenuous run she went on. She was also wondering why she wasn't in her room seeing as she was in the bottom bunk with a red drape covering the openings. Omo! Why am I in Sua's bunk? How did I get here? Jiu panicked as she started getting up from Sua’s bed, in case one of the members came in to grab something. She didn’t want to explain to the person why she was using someone else’s bed.

Before she could get out of the bed, she heard the door open as she hurried back into sleeping position. She hoped the person would just grab something and leave without incident, however, the red drape opened up as the light hit her eyes for a couple seconds before it went dark again. She didn’t know what was happening, but she pretended to be sleeping.

“Jiu?” The voice called out and Jiu knew the owner of that voice anywhere. It was Sua who called out to her, but Jiu didn’t move as she didn’t know how to face Sua after accidentally learning the younger girl’s feelings. “Are you awake?... Wait, why am I asking that when you are clearly not answering me?” Sua chuckled a little bit with her own retort. That caused Jiu to smile as well knowing that Sua was like this around her without any bickering or giving her the cold shoulder. Silence fell over them as Sua started caressing Jiu’s cheek as she whispered to her in case she might wake her up. “I don’t know who made you cry or strain yourself so much you fainted in my arms, but I’ll hurt them. No matter what their reasons are I’ll protect you. Just like you protect us members, I’ll be by your side no matter what. Even if the world is against you, I’ll be there for you.” Sua cooed as Jiu started blushing at Sua’s words. It was a rare thing having Sua care for her for a long time before she would say something rude against her. She knew it was time for Jiu to wake up and she did. She opened her eyes as she stretched her aching limbs. What she saw was Sua’s eyes full of care and love while there was her left hand a little bit in her way, but it was blocking the light from hitting her eyes. Jiu wanted to say something, but she watched as Sua’s face turn one from care to surprise and back to the cold expression she was used to seeing whenever they see each other. “Oh, you’re awake,” Sua said it nonchalantly as she was mentally screaming at herself to be less cold towards the leader. “We have to leave in 40 minutes… so, you can go change and stuff.” Sua said as she tried to not show her feelings towards Jiu. She didn’t look at Jiu in the eye as she finished her sentence. Once she finished she left Jiu sitting on her bed just, so she didn’t do anything she would regret later. Jiu’s sleeping face was so relaxed. I didn’t want to wake her. Wait… she woke up after I said all that. Did she hear me? Oh, please don’t let her know about these feelings. They’ll go away with time. Ah… maybe I’ll make her a light snack since she didn’t eat anything yet. Sua nodded at her own thoughts as she went into the kitchen to make a sandwich for Jiu. Once she was finished she wrapped it all up and wrote Jiu’s name on it. She then went into the cupboard to go grab her a choco pie. Her favorite snack to eat after they finished work or usually an hour after eating lunch or dinner.

Once, it was time to leave for the fan meet. Sua was first to arrive in the van as she noticed that she wasn’t going to be riding along with Jiu. She let out a sigh of relief as she knew that if she faced her now she would just make the car ride awkward or worse, tense from another fight or so. She looked down at the sandwich and snack as she smiled knowing that Jiu would love to eat it. Handong entered the car and saw that Sua smiling down at the food.

“Wow, you packed a lunch for yourself and not make it for everyone else. How mean.” Handong teased Sua as she saw the name written on the plastic wrap. Sua blushing at Handong’s comment as she forgot about everyone else became embarrassed at how much the leader affected her in the day to day life. She was about to make an excuse but Handong beat her to it as the other members were playing rock paper scissors to see who is riding with who. “I’m joking, Sua Unnie.” Handong laughed a little before continuing. “I know who it’s for and I want to know why you are trying to distance yourself from Jiu if you love her more than a co-worker or friend.” Sua looked at Handong with wide eyes.

“L-l-love? Love her? As in romantic wise?! Whaaa. I don’t know what you’re talking about? I just don’t see things eye to eye with Jiu Unnie.” Sua rushed in saying as she became flustered at thinking about her feelings might have crossed the line from being a crush to actually loving the women.

“I see things not many of our members can see. I know about your feelings for Jiu Unnie and to be honest I ship it like FedEx.” Handong said as she took a seat beside Sua and grasped her hand. “I shouldn’t be the one to tell you this, but Jiu usually stays up late to eat your leftovers since she wants to be the one to eat the most of your cooking.” Sua just scoffed at that idea and retorted.

“Or like she said in most interviews she hates having leftovers in the fridge and wants to make it empty.” Handong shook her head wishing that Sua wouldn’t be so stubborn.

“Fine, don’t believe me but since I know you like running your late-night jogs out in the dangerous neighborhood. You may see Jiu eating your leftovers when you get back.” Handong said as she watched Sua tense up at her words which made her question what happened last night, that brought them to the position to where she and Gahyeon found them. Sua stayed quiet as Dami and Gahyeon were happily chatting about other girl groups who they want to meet.

At the building where there were to have the fan meet Sua was beginning to fall asleep until Handong woke her up and led her to the room. Jiu saw their interaction but didn't do anything as fans were calling their names out which led to Jiu giving them fanservice as she hugged each member or did something childlike. She continued to act that way until the staff had to tell her that it was time to go. When Jiu walked into the room, one of the staff members tapped her shoulder and gave her food. It was a sandwich that had her name on it along with a choco pie. Jiu thanked that Unnie who gave her the food and proceeded to eat it. Sua, who noticed that Jiu was eating went back to the usual way of how she behaved around her.

“Ah! Kim Minji, eating again? I swear every time I see you, you are always eating something.” Sua teased the girl while Jiu swallowed her delicious sandwich.

“I was given this food by one of our staff unnies. They are much more nicer to me than you’ll ever be.” Jiu retorted as she took another bite. She didn’t notice that her words impacted Sua, so much that her chest was in pain, however, she was used to Jiu’s words. It’s okay, just let her say that because you’ve done it to her before. This pain will ease up and then you can slowly become friends with her. Sua thought as she watched Jiu eat the sandwich which she made in delight which brought a smile to her face. Jiu noticed her smile and decided to continue to talk to her. “What are you looking at?” She arched her brow until she noticed that Sua was looking at the sandwich. “I’m not giving you my sandwich.” Jiu thought back to Sua’s teasing and smirked. “And you were teasing me about eating when your eyes and mouth are drooling right in front of me.” That made Sua snap back to reality as she was indeed drooling not because of the food but at Jiu’s lips. She wanted to taste them, but she willed herself not to do it.

“I don’t want your food. Not when you touched it,” Sua snapped back as she knew that she’ll always regret her words whenever she bickered with Jiu. If I shared food with you I think I might die in happiness. No worse I’ll probably faint in front of you as we might have an indirect kiss.

“I don’t understand how you can be so ugh.” Jiu became frustrated with Sua and just walked off. Sua watching Jiu’s retreating figure made her heartache as Handong placed a hand on Sua’s shoulder. Sua looked at Handong with a broken expression.

“Jiu officially hates me, doesn’t she?” Sua spoke quietly as Handong pulled the girl into a much-needed hug.

“She may hate you at the moment, but she’ll come around. She doesn’t hold a grudge that long.” Handong tried to reassure her unnie but it wasn’t working as Sua bit her lip and balled up her hands into fists. “Don’t cry, Sua. We have to meet our fans in a couple of minutes.” Sua only nodded as she tried to compose herself for her fans.

During the fan meeting, Sua stole glances over at Jiu as they were performing for the fans and during the signing of their albums or posters. It was all going fine until she spaced out during one of the fan questions that were directed to one of the other members. She knew that she was falling hard, but she didn’t want to acknowledge it. She was lost in thought until Jiu came up to her when the fan asked a question for Sua.

“Sua?” Jiu said as she watched Sua’s eyes look in the distance as if she wasn’t really there. Jiu pouted a little as the fans awed at the little interaction. “Suaaa?” Jiu sang her name, but she got nothing until she decided it was a good idea to wrap her arm behind Sua’s neck as she said. “Think fast.” Sua finally noticed Jiu talking to her as she caught Jiu as she jumped up in the air. Jiu landed in Sua’s arms and she smiled at the fast reflexes the younger girl had. The fans started screaming as Sua looked at Jiu in the eyes while there was a bunch of camera clicks.

“W-what are you doing, Kim Minji? What would have happened if I didn’t catch you?” Sua said with concern written all over her face as her voice was drenched in worry and concern. The fans laughed at their funny moment as Jiu just brought the microphone to with her free hand that wasn’t holding onto Sua.

“Now, that I got your attention. A fan asked you a question.” Jiu looked at the audience and asked the fan to repeat themselves as they happily accepted the spaced out Sua with a little bit of service as Sua was still holding Jiu.

“What is the thing that you care about the most Sua and why?” The fan asked as the rest of the people cheered and without hesitation, Sua answered.

“Kim Minji, because no one else is there to protect her so I’ll be there for her. She can use me all she wants, and I won’t hate her for it.” She looked at glanced at Jiu before kissing Jiu on the cheek, but Jiu moved too much that their lips accidentally brushed each other. Sua didn’t think about what she was saying until it was too late. “I love you, Kim Minji.”

Once she realized her mistake she looked at Jiu who was looking at her with a shocked expression while the fans started going wild at Sua’s response. Jiu didn’t know what to say as she got down from Sua and just continued with the Q&A. Siyeon didn’t like Sua’s response at all but just playfully smiled at the crowd.

“Wow, I didn’t expect that response... did you?” Jiu said as she tried to calm down her heart rate. The fans started yelling out so many things it was incoherent to respond to them. “Well, we have one more question before we have to leave.”

Sua was embarrassed at her reply as she hid her face while going towards Handong. As she was walking towards Handong, all the members noticed her walking towards Handong with confusion and finally Sua wrapped her arms around Handong.

“I’m tired.” She said into the mic that Handong had which made the fans laugh while Sua was trying to make light of the situation. Handong put her hand on Sua’s head and started caressing it.

“I know, Sua, I know. How about this you sleep in my arms and I’ll carry you to the room later. We have one more question left anyways.” Sua only nodded which the fans squealed at their interaction while Jiu walked up to Handong with a smile on her face.

“Hey. Hey. Hey. No PDA until after the show.” Jiu tried to break them apart as the fans just laughed at their antics. Yoohyeon decided to come in with her fan gift of a gun and pointed it at the criminals.

“Let go of each other or else someone dies.” She said seriously as Dami came up waving the police hat and badge.

“You have to make this more realistic, Yoohyeon. Here,” She shoved the badge at Yoohyeon. “You have to wave the badge while tipping up your hat making it all dramatic and stuff.” She plopped the hat onto Yoohyeon as she marched off proudly. Yoohyeon adjusted the hat as she placed the badge on her gun and then pointed it again at Sua and Handong.

“Now, where was I?... Oh! Right! Hands in the air and walk away from each other.” Yoohyeon threatened as she looked up and the hat fell off her head.

“Oh, Dami, you have a big head. The hat doesn’t even fit Yoohyeon.” Sua said as she started laughing at the confused face that was written all over Yoohyeon when she looked down at the fallen hat.

“No! My ally, I shall take revenge.” She cried out as she pointed the gun at Sua and pulled the trigger resulting the gun to spit out confetti. The whole venue was filled with laughter as they finished up with the last question and started going back home.

Sua was once again in the van with Handong as she started panicking at the confession she had just publicly displayed at the venue. While Handong tried telling Sua that the fans will just take it as a joke since they have done a lot of fanservice to them, so it wouldn’t be anything new.

When they arrived at the dorm, everyone retired to their rooms. Sua was laying in bed as she was too excited to go to sleep, so she got up to go on her nightly run once more.

While Jiu was also laying in bed reading comments on her phone once again. She thought back to the fan meet where Sua confessed her love to her as she came across a photo of them all over twitter. Jiu was reading the comments about them as many of them didn’t like them together which made her frown. They kept saying so many things that included as disgusting humans. Dykes. Lesbos and all that whatnot. Jiu started falling back into her usual habit of reading the negative comments and skipping over the positive ones. She was about to cry until she heard a door creak. She looked at her door which was still closed and listened to the feet padding around quietly. Who is up this late? Jiu wondered as she left her bed and down the ladder to see who was up at this time. She opened the door slowly and saw that Sua was tying her shoes at the front door. Jiu frowned at the sight of Sua leaving without anyone else especially in the middle of the night. Why is she going out so …? late…? Jiu widened her eyes as she opened the door and started walking towards Sua. Sua was about to go out the door when something touched her hand, stopping her from opening up the door. She looked back slowly hoping that it was just a member. Sua finally got a look at the culprit that made her jump and made her heart racing a million beats per second.

“Jiu? What are you doing up?” Sua questioned. Jiu looked at Sua, who was wearing her usual booty shorts and a gym shirt. She had her phone in her other hand that was wrapped with her earphones.

“I… couldn’t sleep,” Jiu said as she didn’t want to let Sua know that she was about to cry in the night once more. “What are you doing up?” Jiu questioned as she hoped that she could delay Sua from running in the dangerous world that loves to come out to play when the sun disappears.

“I can’t sleep… so I’m just going out on my nightly run as always.” Sua said as Jiu didn’t let go of Sua’s wrist, instead, she tightened her grip.

“Do you really have to run in the night?” Jiu said as she felt the fear of losing Sua to someone or something out there made her forget about her own demons that were circling in her mind. Sua smiled at the concern that Jiu was showing her. Sua put her phone in her pocket and she used that hand to place it on Jiu’s cheek. She noticed a little bit of teary eyes as she used her thumb to run along Jiu’s cheekbone.

“I’ve done this so many times that I know which areas to go to and which ones to avoid. Plus, I know how to take care of myself.” Sua reasoned with Jiu but she wasn’t buying it, even if Sua was being nice to her for once. Jiu shook her head knowing that if she let Sua run all by herself she’ll be more worried every other night seeing as Sua had done this too many times.

“No.” Jiu simply stated as she was determined to keep Sua safe from the outside world.

“No?” Sua said as she became confused about why Jiu said no. Jiu nodded her head as she pulled Sua towards the couch. “Hey, I have my shoes on,” Sua said as she stopped in her tracks and pulled her arm away from Jiu.

“Please, don’t run out at night, please.” Jiu pleaded as she didn’t want to argue with Sua.

“Why do you care if I run out at night? You didn’t know about it and I got the okay from the staff members.” Sua said as she didn’t know what was going on.

“Because I like you too! Which means if you get hurt out there while I’m here safe from whatever is out there would just break my heart.” Jiu said in the heat of the moment as Sua froze as it didn’t register in her mind that Jiu had just confessed to her. Sua being frozen in her spot let Jiu carry her bridal style to the couch. It was Sua’s turn to be the little spoon and Jiu locked her in her embrace as she refused to let the girl go out for a run in the night.

“Jiu likes me. Like like how?” Sua mumbled to herself as Jiu just giggled at Sua’s mumbling as she tightened her hold on her. “What kind of like is it? Friend? Sister? Colleague? Acquaintance? Co-worker?” Sua kept guessing but nothing was close to what Jiu meant to say. Jiu decided that she didn’t want the other girl to keep guessing what the like meant and kissed the pulse point of Sua’s neck making the girl squeal and squirm in her spot.

“I like you on a romantic level.” Jiu husked out as she whispered right beside Sua’s ear. Jiu rested her chin on Sua’s shoulder as she continued. “I also think of you, constantly worry about you, care about you in ways no one else has made me feel, to touch you and make sure no other members can claim you as theirs. My thoughts are filled with when is the next time I’m able to see you, talk to you, how much I get to have a little piece of you with me each day.” Jiu let out a sigh. “I think I’m falling for you, Kim Bora, but it doesn't scare me at all. There’s no need to go out running if I’m here with you. Whenever we are hurt or worrying about each other, let’s just go here on this very couch and talk about it or just enjoy each other’s presence. We can comfort each other in ways that none of the other members can.” Sua blushed at Jiu’s words and nodded as she hid in Jiu’s arms. Jiu’s just giggled at Sua’s childish antics as she sighed in relief. “By the way, Sua,” Jiu remembered something very important to tell Sua. Sua just hummed in response as she felt the weight on her heart lessen. “I’m hungry, can you make me something to eat?” Sua just laughed at Jiu’s question and tried to get out of Jiu’s embrace to make her food. Jiu didn’t let Sua leave her side as she trailed behind Sua with her arm’s still around Sua.

“I can’t make anything if you are clinging to my side,” Sua complained as she was about to open up the fridge.

“I know what I want to eat though,” Jiu responded and turned Sua around to kiss her on the lips on purpose. “I was craving your strawberry flavored lips.” Jiu her lips and just started laughing as she witnessed Sua’s shocked expression. “I’m kidding, I am hungry though.” Jiu pouted as her stomach grumbled. Sua shook her head and started cooking for only Jiu. Jiu was watching her on the other side of the counter humming to herself as she watched Sua prepare her food. Once Sua finished preparing the food she put the plates in front of Jiu. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Jiu said as she began gobbling the late-night snack. “By the way, Sua.” Jiu started as she finished the last of her food. “We’re sleeping on the couch tonight.” Sua arched her brow at Jiu and responded.

“You’re really being serious about letting the other members know that I’m yours huh?” Jiu nodded. “You do realize I’m not your girlfriend, right?” Jiu only looked at her with a ‘are you serious?” kind of look. Sua smiled as she nodded at Jiu’s disbelief.

“You’re mine and only mine,” Jiu said as she walked up to Sua and Sua only smiled at Jiu as she wrapped her arms around Jiu’s neck.

“Yeah?” Sua said as she looked form Jiu’s eyes to her lips. Jiu only nodded as she kissed her once again.

“Yep and now we are going to sleep on that couch where I found out your feelings by accident,” Jiu said as she dragged Sua to the couch.

“Wait, you knew about my feelings!” Jiu only laughed as she sat down on the couch and pulled Sua along.

“I did, and you were so cute and heartbroken about it that it also broke my heart. So, don’t hurt my poor little heart anymore, okay?” Jiu snuggled into Sua.

“I won’t, Kim Minji. I won’t anymore.” Sua promised Jiu only hummed in response. "I'm falling for you, Kim Minji, will you be able to catch me?" Sua confessed again as Jiu just kissed the back of Sua's ear.

"I've fallen for you too, Kim Bora and I'll always catch you no matter what."