In your group, you were the one known to post pictures with or of your members, especially during the earlier days when all of you only had a shared group social media account. Even until now, when you all have your own social media accounts, you still take pictures for the members to post or for you to post on your own account, which includes your dates with your members, more specifically the leader. 

Your tradition of going on dates with your soulmate started out early, initiated by the older girl. When you first started your training, you were a shy little thing and the ones who were caught by you were much older than you, so it was only normal for you to not be the one to initiate any kind of contact. After a few weeks of trying to get to know you, Irene wanted to change that. Thus, her mission of getting to know you and making you feel comfortable with her started. 

Each trainee was given a day off during the week and that’s usually Sundays, so it was the perfect day to explore the city. However, you were only fourteen at the time and still familiarising yourself with the culture and environment, you didn’t dare venture out of what you already knew very much. Irene noticed that, as she had done the same thing when she first got there, made it her mission to introduce the city to you. Plus, she could show you that you weren’t alone and that you could trust her in the process. It’s a win-win, right? 

So, when you finished your last class of the week, the older girl approached you with hope shining in her eyes.

“El,” her soft calls caught your attention, causing you to look up from tidying up your bag before going home.

You smiled warmly at the nickname, albeit a little tired from all the dancing you had done, eyes turning into crescents. “Yes, Unnie?” 

“What are your plans for tomorrow?” She looked at you as you considered your answer with a soft smile painted on her lips, the warm feeling from you calling her an older sister still lingering. Not that many people often see that smile. 

You eventually looked back at her with a sheepish smile. “Sleep maybe?” you shrugged, “I have nothing planned yet.” 

The older giggled at your expression before taking her chance. “Do you maybe want to go on a date tomorrow?” 

It was silent for a bit as you digested her question. “A date?” you tilted your head in confusion, eyes opening a little bit wider at the offer. A date? Like a date, date? Are you missing something here?

Amidst your inner conflict, Irene seemed to realise that your understanding of the word and what she meant might be a little different. Her eyes widened in realisation before she hurriedly explained.

“I mean it as a friendly date, El, girls here go on dates all the time. It’s usually hanging out at a cafe or something chill, just spending time together really,” she ended up rambling and in her state she didn’t realise the happy expression you had on. 

She wanted to go on a date? With you? She wanted to spend time with you? God, please let her be an older sister to you if this is how it feels like.

“Unnie,” you interrupted before she could go on another nervous tangent, a smile she had never seen before lighting up your face, “I would love to go on a date with you.” 

She didn’t know why she became so nervous when it was her idea in the first place, but seeing that smile, that special smile she had never seen on your face before, let her know what she needed to know. 

As your answer dawned on her, that beautiful smile of hers made an appearance and you were in awe. This was the first time that she had smiled so freely, with no trace of the usual shyness she had present, and you had decided this was your favourite kind of smile. 

“I promise we’ll have fun,” she uttered as you both made your way out of the practice room together, ready to head home for the night. 

You looked up at her and she could see the trust shining in your eyes. “I’ll hold you to that.” 

As the years go by, you went on even more dates with the older girl, getting to know her even more. You went to the park, museums, the mall, walking around the neighbourhood, eating at food markets, anything that piqued your interest the leader conceded to it. As a way to remember your journey of being a trainee and of making memories with the new people in your life, you began taking pictures as well. You took pictures of interesting sceneries, of the places you visited alone or with somebody else, and of the dates you had with Irene. At first, you were quite hesitant about taking pictures of her as you didn't know if she was comfortable with that. So, one day during your date of walking around the food market and eating as much food as you could, you asked her. 

"Hyun-unnie," you called her softly, causing her to look up from her food with cheeks filled with food. You involuntarily giggled and she chuckled sheepishly, mouth still filled with food and cheeks puffed up.

"What?" she mumbled, eyes wide in question. 

"Is it okay to take pictures of you? For my collection?" you asked shyly and she almost didn't catch any of it with how quiet you were being. 

She gestured to herself. "Photos of me?" 

You nodded and she thought for a bit before shrugging, giving you an easy nod. "Sure, anything for you," you heard her clear and sound as she had finished chewing. 

You lit up in happiness, causing her to squeal and pinched one of your cheeks. "Really?" 

"Of course! It's not like you're going to sell them to some weirdo or something," she muttered before going back to her food. 

With her cheeks puffed up again, you raised your camera to capture the photo you've been meaning to take since the first time you've seen this very adorable sight. You proceeded to take the picture before smiling cheekily.

"Well...." you proposedly trailed off and Irene's eyes widened as she turned to you in surprise. Seeing the cheeky expression you had she smacked your shoulder, shouting a loud "YAH!" whilst still being careful not to spill anything.

You laughed loudly in response, throwing your head back freely. Irene continued to look at you in surprise though there was love and awe written in her eyes at the sight. Looking at you like this, free of your shyness, was liberating to her. 

"Yah, quiet down, we're in public!" Irene nudged you and you stopped laughing to look at her incredulously. 

"Unnie, you started it!" 

Irene gasped mockingly. "Are you going against your older sister? Is that it?" 

You grinned in happiness, loving the moment. "I would never," you winked cheekily and went back to your food while Irene just looked at you in admiration. 

"Eat well, El," she patted your head lovingly and proceeded to giggle at the cutely mumbled "yes, Unnie" you let out. 

Later that day, you posted the picture on your personal SNS account to commemorate the outing as "Hyun-unnie taking me to eat her favourite food again~". After your debut, even though you had not closed the account, fans had found the photo and often repost the picture as a throwback to your younger selves. 

Although your dates were mostly as a means of fun, it had moments where you took each other on dates because one of you were having a bad day. The first one was after your debut; when things had died down a little and all of you began to digest what this journey entailed. Although this debut was something all of you looked forward to, it didn't take away the unknown and unpredicted scenarios. So, when after a particularly rough radio day you found Irene nowhere to be found in your shared bedroom later that evening, you knew just what to do. 

You walked out of the room towards the little balcony attached to the dorm, immediately finding Irene's lithe figure leaning against it and looking at her favourite scenery.

"Unnie?" you softly called out before putting a hand on her back as a way of greeting.

She jolted a little before turning around in surprise, a smile slowly taking place. "Yah, you scared me." 

"I'm sorry," you smiled apologetically, "I thought me calling you was enough of a warning." 

She chuckled softly. "It's okay, Eli-ah, I just didn't hear you." 

You moved your arm to wrap around her waist and brought her a little closer to you, turning your attention towards the sky. You could feel her stare but you didn't show it. Not yet. 

"It's a very pretty view, huh?" 

Irene turned towards the scenery again. "Yeah, very peaceful. It feels like everything is calm," she stopped herself before sighing, "and okay." 

You moved your attention towards her this time while bringing her even closer to you. After placing a kiss on top of her head, she turned in your embrace to wrap her arms around your waist, causing you to wrap yours around her shoulders instead. 

"Everything is okay, Unnie, we're okay," you murmured. 

She hugged you even tighter and buried her head in your chest instead. You continued to her back as you thought back to the cause of her turmoil. 

As you neared the end of your promotions, people began to point out how quiet Irene was when she was the leader. During radio shows, the members talked more than she did and even though none of you saw anything wrong with that, people still had the mindset that the leader should be talking the most. However, knowing how quiet she was, all of you had no problem filling in and answering the questions. She was just being herself. Besides, being a leader was much more than just talking more on radio shows.

"Are we though?" she mumbled after a while, pulling back from the hug to look up at you. Moments like this she was thankful that you were taller than her. Your height gave her some strange sense of comfort that she got to experience from time to time and she was grateful for that. 

You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. "Of course we are, we've finished promotions and our song is received relatively well," you looked at her seriously, "we have fans and we have excitement," you shrugged coolly with an easy smile.

Irene couldn't help but smile a little. "Of course we're okay. Why do you think there's something wrong?" 

Her smile fell at your question. "The fans said I'm too quiet during radio shows and I'm the leader." 

"So?" you tucked the little hair that went into her face behind her ear before looking at her right in the eyes. "What's wrong with you being quiet? You're no less of a leader just because you're quiet during radio interviews." 

She tried to look for any sign of lies or you saying that just for the sake of comforting her with desperation. She needed to know that you meant what you said. 

"Do you really think so?" 

You knew she was just insecure but it didn't lessen the hurt you felt seeing your guardian being so hurt by some stranger's comment on the internet. "I know so. Unnie, no one in our group has complained. We understand that you're just naturally quiet and Seungwan-unnie or Seulgi-unnie has no problem being the lead in talking during radio shows or interviews," you made sure she knew you were being serious. 

"You are our leader in many ways than just talking a lot during interviews. We love you and respect you," you put your hands on each of her shoulders as emphasis, "we understand that you are a quiet person that likes to listen more than to talk, and we're happy to do the talking because we know you'll listen. We complete each other, don't we? That's what we're here for." 

You let her digest everything you just said and as her eyes turned a little teary, you kissed her forehead in reassurance. "We love you, Hyun-unnie, no one can be a better leader for us than you," you said quietly as a final attempt of making her see the way you see her. 

Irene never really liked crying, let alone crying in front of others, so she always tried her best in crying by herself so others wouldn't be burdened by her worries. However, this was you, and you had promised each other to be there in good or bad.

So, she let her tears flow before she nuzzled into your chest again. You knew this was long overdue since she had prioritised the members first and not wanting them to worry, she tried to be the strength everyone needed leading up to the debut.

"You're doing great, Unnie, believe me. You're the leader we need," you softly murmured as you rocked her back and forth, giving as much warmth and comfort as you could. 

You just let her cry as much as she wanted and needed, softly humming some calming melody as you did. As her sobs turned to sniffles before eventually dying down, you gave her one last squeeze before pulling back from the hug, to which she whined in response. She didn't want to lose her safe space. 

You chuckled at the adorable sight in front of you. With a red nose and tear tracks on her supple cheeks, Irene looked gorgeous cascaded in the late evening light. 

You brushed the tears off of her cheeks before softly cupping them in your hands. "Are you feeling better, Unnie?" 

"Yeah," she sighed with a small but relieved smile on her lips, "thank you, El. You always know how to comfort me." You could tell that the burdens had been lifted off her shoulders for now.

"That's what I'm here for," you cheekily smiled causing her to giggle cutely. You grinned at the sound. 

"Well, let's end the night with a nice bowl of your favourite tteokbokki and a late-night walk at the Han River. How does that sound?" By the way her eyes had lit up at the mention of her favourite food and her pastime activity, you knew she was fond of the idea.

"That sounds amazing. Let's go on a date!"

As you stared at the picture of her with that special smile of yours, you couldn't wait to print it out and save it in your growing collection of special pictures you put in the box in your closet. Maybe in the future you'd get to share it with the world, but for now you'd keep it safely with you. 

Over the years, your collection of pictures have grown immensely and the ones posted on the group's, yours, or Irene's social media accounts let the fans get a glimpse of the bond you have with your soulmate. Sometimes the story behind the photos are told in detail but most of the time, you both kept it to yourselves, sharing the photos as a way to reminisce the good and the bad experiences you both went through together.