Luda stepped out from the bathroom, towel in hand, hair damp from the shower. Her eyes scanning the hotel room for a moment, before landing on her target.

Yeoreum

“The bathrooms all yours” the girl called to her roommate, letting out a content sigh as she shut her eyes, and sunk down into her bed. After a long day of schedules, it felt good to finally relax.

She heard a soft giggle echo in the silence, opening her eyes, she turned her head catching the younger looking at her in amusement.

“What’s so funny?” The older girl asked, raising a brow.

Yeoreum shook her head, a soft smile pressed on her lips. “Nothing, I just like seeing you relaxed unnie.” Luda raised a brow, shooting her a questioning look.

“It’s just... you seemed tired the past few days” the younger girl, quickly continued seeing the curious look on the older girl’s face.

Yeoreum had a habit of paying attention to the people around her, reading their moods. More times than other she was paying attention to Luda. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, she was closest to her, they had joined the group together after all. Spending so much time together, the youngest had picked up on quite a few things.

She knew when the older was most excited or sad. Knew the things that made her tick, along with the things that made her smile or laugh.

Something she knew especially well was when Luda was exhausted.

The two had only been roommates starting that very day. Earlier in the week the two had been in separate rooms, part of a challenge for their new show. They hadn’t been alone, rooming with other members, but she knew for a fact that the older girl hadn’t been sleeping well the last few days because of it.

Luda hated sleeping alone whenever they found themselves in foreign places, Yeoreum knew this. She also knew the older girl would never admit it to any of the other girls.

Everyone assumed the petite girl enjoyed her alone time. Luda herself had said she liked it. What they didn’t know was that she didn’t actually enjoy it, growing up and having to spend most of her time alone, she had just learned to adjust to it. In reality the girl hated being alone.

It was fine, back when they were home in the dorm. All the members shared the close living space. So even if they tried, they were never actually alone. Unfortunately for Luda, they weren’t in the dorm. Instead they were in a different country, sleeping in different hotels every few days.

Yeoreum could always tell how uneasy that made the older girl feel, so she always tried her best to help make sure she felt reassured and safe.

So, when the younger girl heard they’d been in separate rooms at the beginning of their trip, she couldn’t help but worry. How was she supposed to keep an eye on her, if they weren’t even together? She knew how poor the older girl’s health could get, weak immune system and all, and knew it was only got worse when she didn’t get the proper sleep.

Luda’s face softened seeing the maknae lost in thought, watched as she subconsciously bit down on her lip and tugged at a strand of hair.

She’s worried.

Luda thought to herself, letting out a soft sigh. Like Yeoreum she had also picked up on the others behaviors and tells.

“You don’t have to worry about me you know? I’m alright.” Luda said softly, watching the younger girl snap out of her musings and sit up a bit straighter.

“I-I wasn’t-” Yeoruem tried to argue, but decided to give it up once the older girl sent a knowing look her way. She’d been caught.

“Fine I was.” The younger said with a small sigh, before looking down at her hands. “But what am I supposed to do? You haven’t been sleeping the past few days.”

Luda stiffened slightly.

how did she know that?

Had one of the other girls caught her and reported it to the others?

“No.”  The older girl thought to herself. No one told her, the younger girl had figured it out on her own. This was Yeoreum Afterall.

She always knew.

Luda shook her head slightly, looking at the younger girl with a soft smile. “I’ve been sleeping fine Yeoreum-ah.” the older easily lied. “Really I have.”

“Unnie...” The younger girl pouted, clearly not buying it, and Luda felt herself frown. The small thread of patience she still had, wearing thin.

“I said I’m fine Jinsook” The older girl felt herself snap suddenly, and instantly regretted it. The newly established serious tone, and use of her real name, was enough to get Yeoreum to stop and stare back at her nervously.

Luda sighed, shutting her eyes for a moment. “Enough worrying about me okay? Go shower” The serious facade, quickly fading back into her usual soft one, as she looked over at the younger.

Yeoreum smiled a bit, nodding a little before pushing herself up from her bed. “Okay. okay I’m going” she said with a small laugh, one that Luda could tell sounded forced, as she made her way into the bathroom.

Only when she heard the bathroom door shut, and the sound of the shower filled the room, did Luda let her smile fade and a tired sigh escape her lips. She hadn’t meant to snap at the younger girl the way she had. Truth be told she was exhausted, it was getting harder to keep her emotions in check. If she didn’t sleep soon, it’d only get worse.

She sighed again shutting her eyes, and trying to find a way to apologize to the younger girl. She was so lost in thought, staring off into nothing, she hadn’t heard the shower turn off.

“Luda-Unnie?” She heard a voice call. Her brows knitted in confusion, the voice sounded far away. Luda heard the voice call for her again, this time closer, and she blinked a few times trying to focus her vision.

When her eyes finally focused, she was greeted by Yeoreum’s smiling face hovering above her. “Oh, you’re finished?” she asked in a daze, earning a giggle from the latter.

“I have been for a while… I’m sorry for waking you” The younger girl said apologetically, biting down on her lip.

“You didn’t, I wasn’t asleep, so don’t worry about it” Luda said shaking her head as she stretched a little.

“Well I asked you something and got no response...”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I was daydreaming, what was it you asked me?”

Yeoreum laughed softly, before shaking her head. “I was just going to ask if I could lay on your bed to watch tv. Your bed has a better view, but it’s alright I don’t want to disturb you” she said softly heading back to her bed, but not getting very far.

A small hand wrapped itself around her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. She glanced back, eyes landing on the older girl who was now sitting up, a hand outreached holding onto her.

“You’re not disturbing me dummy, you can watch tv from my bed, I don’t mind.” Luda said softly tugging her back, before quickly letting go of her wrist, feeling her face flush in sudden embarrassment.

The younger girl paid no mind, instead smiling as she thanked the older girl. She grabbed the remote, turning on the TV before slipping underneath the covers beside her. Luda watched as she scrolled through the endless channels, before stopping on a random movie that had just started. The older girl was staring at the screen, but she wasn’t really paying attention to it. Instead she took the opportunity to sneak a glance at the girl beside her, allowing herself to take in the younger girls features, illuminated by the TV screen.

She was captivating.

Trying to shake such thought’s away, the older of the two couldn’t help but notice just how close they were to one another. At some point during the film, Yeoreum’s hand had found its way to the crown of Luda’s head, and was gently the girl’s hair. Luda in turn now had her head resting on the younger girl’s shoulder, body pressed to her side, letting herself relax into the younger girl’s touch. It felt nice. She yawned, trying fight the sleep that dared take over her and ruin the moment. Though at this point she could barely think straight, unable to feign interest in the film any longer.

The younger girl seemed to notice and finally turned her attention away from the television.

“You should sleep” Yeoreum’s voice cut into the silence, turning over in the bed slightly, an arm carefully wrapping itself around the older girl to keep her in place as she did.

Luda shook her head, or at least attempted to, her now face buried into taller girl’s chest. “Mm... Not tired” she murmured into her shirt, earning a sigh from the younger girl.

Always so stubborn.

“Yeah, I know you’re not” the younger girl hummed in response, rolling her eyes as she looked down at the tired girl in her arms. Wordlessly she began to gently trace circles into the older girl’s back, humming a familiar tune Luda couldn’t quite figure out where she’d heard before.

She opened , wanted to ask what exactly it was Yeoreum was up to, but was far too comfortable in the girls’ arms to ask. Instead she focused on Yeoreum’s humming, on how warm she felt, as she felt her eyes grow heavier. Yeoreum’s chin rested on top of the smaller girl’s head, eyes closed, continuing her ministrations on her back.

As she drifted off, Luda could have sworn she felt a pair of lips pressed gently to her temple, but she was far too gone to try and register it.

“Sleep well Unnie”

Was the last thing she heard before she let herself give into her exhaustion.

…

When Luda finally stirred in the bed, the first thing she registered was just how cold it was, the arms that had been holding her earlier long gone. With a whine she slowly opened her tired eyes, expecting to see Yeoruem watching tv beside her, but was met with nothing but an empty bed. She frowned a bit, disappointment registering on her face.

why she felt disappointed?

Tiredly rubbing the sleep from her eyes, the small girl sat up, lazily leaning against the headboard as she glanced around the room. She noticed the room filled with warm rays of gold peeking in through the window, the Sun was setting.

She glanced at the clock 7:30pm, then wondered how long she’d been asleep for. She hadn’t gotten a chance to look at the clock before she crashed.

“Hey Yeoruemie-” she began but stopped when she saw no sign of the younger girl in the room. The Tv was no longer on, Yeoruem’s bed was empty, and a closer look towards the door revealed that her shoes were gone too.

Yeoreum had left.

She was alone.

A sigh escaped Luda’s lips as she pushed the blankets away, walking to the bathroom to wash the sleep from her eyes. On her way she glanced around the room, in hopes that maybe the girl had left a note explaining where’d she’d gone.

To Luda’s dismay she hadn’t.

Another sigh fell from the small girls’ lips, as she shut the bathroom door behind her and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She frowned at the sight, her hair was a mess, eyes red and puffy clearly still in need of sleep. A part of her was happy, if only for a moment, that Yeoreum wasn’t there. The last thing she wanted was anyone to see her like this.

Her frown deepened at the thought of the younger girl, and she was once again found herself dwelling in her absence.

Of course, she’d leave, it’s not like she had any real reason to stay. Luda couldn’t expect the young girl to throw her day away, simply to help her sleep. It wasn’t Yeoruem’s job to take care of her, and it wasn’t like she owed anything to her either. They were groupm