Life is like driving up a mountain. It twists and turns. It makes your stomach want to jump out a car window. You’re too scared to look behind you and see how high up you are; but yet you keep going.

“Keep going.” 

‘Keep going’ was the EXACT opposite of what Chaewon wanted to do as she sat in the middle, squished in between Momo and Sana in a party bus.

“Chaewon, hold the bag higher for me.” Momo barely was able to make out before a fit of horrendous sounds came out of and into the paper bag--that Sana had kept from every airplane ride. 

“Yeah, I thought Hell was underground not way up here.” Chaeyoung sulked, visibly frowning as she stared out the window. Exactly how high up were they, that she could feel the air pressure in her eardrums.

'Just ignore it Kim Chaewon. Deal with this for another hour, and you’ll be skiing with Choi Yena before you know it.’ She tried to convince herself, eyes shut firmly to block off the external sounds. 

“Are we almost there?” Chaewon identified Hyewon’s groan from the back of the bus.

She didn’t bother opening her eyes as an angry voice yelled, “Get the duct tape!” 

She squeezed her eyes tighter after hearing many footsteps, enough bad words that would have made a sailor blush, a scream, and then complete silence.

Carpooling and renting one bus to save money sounded like a good idea. In reality, Chaewon would have much rather stayed at home and missed the trip completely if she knew it would be this painful.

A halting screech ringed in Chaewon’s ear as her body jutted forward in her seat. She opened one eye as she felt the motion sickness from the drive subside. Most of the girls on the bus held confused expressions from the stop. Chaewon watched as a baggy eye Nayeon stumbled from the driver seat. “We made it.”

Nayeon stood with two arms wide open as she saw numerous girls jump out of their seats and run straight towards her.

“Yes, thank me. Praise me.” She indulged in her narcissism until she found herself empty-handed with every girl running right past her and off the bus without batting an eye. 

Chaewon was the last to get up and onto the aisle. She didn’t bother waking up Tzuyu from the backseat and ignored the muffled screams from Hyewon who remained duct-taped.

She took a deep breath after taking the last step off the bus. The mountain breeze was breathtaking. The sky was dull and cloudy but the landscape was dimly visible. The ski resort itself was at least 15 floors high with sporadic wooden balconies. It was like a mini village on a mountain. Numerous stone paths floated to individual stores or restaurants. Chaewon’s feet crunched as she continued to walk by herself and towards the lobby entrance. Sana was still helping Momo throw up on the edge of the sidewalk. Yena and the rest of her roommates ran straight towards the lobby for the bathrooms. 

“What’s with the scowl?” Chaewon’s ear perked at the sound of an unwanted voice. She walked past and ignored Eunbi who stood in front of the revolving doors.

“You can’t ignore me the whole trip.” 

Chaewon turned as her blood began to boil.

“I have been doing quite a good job for the past two years, thank you very much.” She walked away without allowing Eunbi the final word. 

Pulling the hood off her parka, Chaewon walked to the lobby desk where Mina and Nayeon were checking in. She must have sighed too loud as Nayeon quickly turned with a raised eyebrow. 

“You okay?” 

“No,” Chaewon was in no mood to be lectured at the moment.

“Eunbi, I'm guessing?” Nayeon leaned on the front counter, away from Mina and the receptionist who was finalizing the check-in.

“Why did you guys have to invite her?” Chaewon complained. 

“It’s only four days, you can deal with it.” Nayeon patted her shoulder. “Besides, you have someone to distract you.” Chaewon turned her attention as Yena approached. Yena was dressed in a red flannel over a gray hoodie. The two days since her discharge seemed to do her well as her cheeks were as plump as usual. Yena’s hair now though was a blondish-purple(Fiesta era). Chaewon diverted her gaze seeing Nayeon’s devilish smirk.

“Do Mina unnie or you need help?” Yena politely offered.

“Relax, this is your first vacation. Let your upperclassmen do their job,” Nayeon reassured. 

“Take these two,” Their attention was directed at Mina holding two flimsy plastic cards to Yena. “You and your roommates are room 310B, give the other key to Minju….” Mina hesitated in releasing her grip on the room cards. “Give it to Chaeyeon,” Minju was no stranger to being a dolt from time to time, Chaeyeon was much more reliable, Mina thought to herself. 

“Oooh, we got room 310? 10’s my lucky number.” 

Chaewon’s smirk subsided with Mina’s disapproving nod.

“WE, are in room 320 at the end of the hall.” Mina corrected the girl. 

“I thought you said we all had connecting rooms to each other.” Chaewon sulked.

Mina only glared at the immature girl. If only she knew how much of a pain in the it was to do all the planning and booking in the first place.”

“Well, things change.” Nayeon interrupted seeing her girlfriend's temper rising. “You’re always welcome to sleep in their room if you want to sleep between Yena and Yuri.” 

Yena’s face scrunched. “We have all four days to spend together.” She nodded reassuringly to Chaewon while holding onto her hand.

How could she sulk with Yena being all cute? 

“You guys sound worse than Yoda and the beast.” Yuri rolled her eyes.

“Who?” Nayeon thought out loud.

“That’s the couple nickname we made for Tzuyu and Hyewon.” Chaeyeon explained.

“Nee-san, you finally made it.” Mina sarcastically celebrated in her native language as Momo and Sana limped over. Everyone else slowly trickled behind them.

“This place is so nice.” Yujin rubbed her shoulder while staring at the high chandelier and the elegant wood framework of the wall. She had never been anywhere so nice in her life(even though that wasn’t saying much.)

Chaewon watched as Yena’s roommates sported the same awe, if only they were on the cruise ship she and her family were on last summer.

“Listen up, kids.” Mina clasped her hands together, “All our luggage should have arrived at our rooms by now. Take the next two hours to rest and shower then be down in the lobby at 7:00 to eat dinner.”

“Ji Hyo.” 

Jihyo raised her hand as she took her card. Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Goeun, and Eunbi walked off with her to the elevators.

“Here's yours.”

 Hyewon sourly rubbed . Even though Tzuyu loved her, she didn’t spare any constraint from ripping the duct tape off her face after she was abruptly awoken. At least she was sharing a room away from her roommates for a change. She’ll settle nicely with Tzuyu and her friends Chaeyoung and Dahyun.

“You guys already have yours.” 

Yena waved her card key. Chaeyeon was about to do the same until she felt her pocket empty. All four of the roommates stared at each other before cursing and scrambling to check underneath various pieces of furniture.

“Good luck with that.’ Mina wasn’t sympathetic enough to help Yena and her roommates' pathetic plight.

“That leaves us.” She pointed to her girlfriend, Wonyoung, Yujin, and Chaewon. “Let’s rollout.”

♡----------------------------------------------♡

Chaewon gracefully wrapped her hair in a pink towel. There was nothing better than facing a life or death situation and then taking a nice steaming shower. Walking in comfy clothes and flip flops, she walked into the spacious hotel room. It was a decent looking room considering the last minute booking. There were two king-size beds placed adjacent together while connecting to a half kitchen and couch. She was about to take a seat on “her” bed well...Mina, Nayeon, and her bed, but the couple was knocked out cold under the sheets. Mina hadn’t slept well for the past two nights from night shifts at the hospital and taking care of the logistics of the trip. Nayeon, on the other hand, had the miraculous task of driving them all up the mountain. She decided to allow the couple their “snuggle time” together and settled on Wonyoung and Yujin’s bed. 

“Hey, you’re messing up the deck” Wonyoung groaned. The best friends were playing some type of weird card game.

“DONE.” Yujin slapped the last card in the middle of a messy pile of cards in between them. 

Wonyoung scrunched her eyebrows at Chaewon for making her lose the game. 

“You’re a thousand years too young to be scarier than Tzuyu.” Wonyoung rubbed her forehead from Chaewon’s flick. 

“So how are you and that duck girl going?” Wonyoung deadpanned

“Nothing to you kiddo.” Chaewon scrolled through her phone.

“Oooh come on, tell us the tea.” Yujin was also half interested in the love life of Kim Chaewon.

“Tea?” Chaewon’s face distorted. 

“Yeah, you know? Like tea.” Wonyoung mimicked sipping a teacup. After seeing Chaewon’s face unchanged, the young girl rolled her eyes. “It's slang for gossip.” 

“That’s stupid.” Chaewon’s eyes never left her phone screen. Maybe she would take up sleeping on the couch in Yena’s room. Anything would have been better than dealing with these two useless teens. Wait a minute she thought. “Can you guys do me a favor?” 

Wonyoung and Yujin were startled by Chaewon’s eagerness. “Suree?” They both responded.

“When I'm not around, can you guys keep an eye on Yena?” Wonyoung and Yujin exchanged muddled expressions. 

“Like make sure Eunbi unnie doesn't go near her for the next four days” This was another reason Chaewon dreaded this trip. She grimaced at the idea of Eunbi berating her ducky.

“Well there was that one time at Mina and Nayeon unnie’s housewarming party-” Yujin clapped her free hand against Wonyoung’s face. Murmuring under her breath “Mina said not to tell anyone to remember.” Before she could make up for Wonyoung’s outburst Yujin flinched from the sound of the hotel door slamming close.

“Mina unnie is so gonna kill us.”

Chaewon stormed through the hallway. She was convinced of not allowing Eunbi to ruin her winter vacation. Taking a deep breath in front of an oak front door, she knocked politely. The lights inside the room were dark, but a groggy Eunbi rubbed her eyes as she cracked the door open.

“Can I help you?”

“We need to talk.”

“Are you going to threaten me with a knife as you did to Mina unnie?” 

Chaewon winced. Her gaze cast off not expecting such a crushing blow from the older girl.

“Why do you have to ruin everything…” Chaewon bit down her tongue before her eyes could water. “Why can’t we be how we were two years ago?” 

Eunbi grumbled a few un-audible words before stepping out and closing the front door. “Look Chaewon.” When the former refused to look, Eunbi softly tapped her chin with her index finger. She was all but familiar with Chaewon’s babyish tendencies. 

“I want to be on this vacation as much as you do. I’ve had a tiring past couple of months with the start of my internship at the studio.” Eunbi ran her hand through her messy bangs. 

“We can make a deal. I'll leave you alone if you leave me alone, is that fair?” Chaewon hated how entrancing Eunbi’s voice was. Everything Eunbi said sounded earnest and slowly her anger subsided.

“You didn’t even tell me about your internship.” Chaewon sulked. 

Eunbi only laughed, “You haven’t changed one bit Kim Chaewon.” There was a hint of sadness in her voice.

“I'm sorry for forcing myself on you the other week, I thought...I thought you wanted it as much as I did.” The older girl studied the red carpe