“I’m going to do it.” Tzuyu declared. “Today. Right now. I’m going to confess to Chaeyoung I’m in love with her.”

“Good luck with that.” Dahyun didn’t even look up from her magazine. “If you’re actually going to go through with it can you wait three more hours until midnight? I’ve got my money on you confessing tomorrow.”

Tzuyu scowled and threw a pillow at Dahyun, who let out an indignant sound as her magazine was knocked out of her hands.

“Hey! I was only trying to motivate you.”

“How is that motivation?”

“Well since this is attempt number… what is it now, forty or forty-one? Either way it’s clear my positive encouragement never works, so I figured you might actually get the words out this time just to spite me.”

“Reverse psychology.” Tzuyu hummed thoughtfully. “You know what? I’ll take it. Wish me luck.”

“Mm. I would, but I was actually serious about the bet.”

“Perfect. Now I really want you to lose.”

Tzuyu stood up and flung the door open, marching boldly out. Dahyun watched her go, then picked up her copy of OhBoy! and continued reading. She could see why Chaeyoung recommended this issue. The photos were really nice.

Ten minutes later, Tzuyu walked back in and flopped face first onto the bed.

“How’d it go?”

Tzuyu let out a deep groan.

“Right.” Dahyun nodded. “I take it my money’s still safe for now.”

Tzuyu poked her head up to glare at the older girl. Dahyun raised an eyebrow, and her angry expression faded. She sighed, rolling over to lie on her back.

“I was really going to do it this time, I swear.”

“So, what stopped you?”

“I got to the kitchen and she was sitting there on her phone. She was laughing, you know that laugh she has where her dimple shows and it’s the cutest thing in the world?”

“Not sure I would describe it that way but yeah, I know how Chaeyoung laughs.”

“Well my heart was doing that fluttering thing and I was really going to tell her. Then she looked up and saw me and she smiled, and I thought we were having a moment, but then it turns out she just wanted to show me a meme Rosé sent her.”

Tzuyu grabbed a pillow and buried her head in it, letting out strange growls that kind of reminded Dahyun of a dog.

“And that stopped you… why?” she asked.

Tzuyu stared at her like she was stupid. And look, Dahyun could be a bit of a goofball sure, but she wasn’t the one who failed forty-one attempts to tell her crush she liked her. In her current state Tzuyu had no right to judge her.

“She was texting another girl! Rosé made her laugh! How can I confess to her when it’s obvious she only sees me as her best friend and is clearly more interested in the other Chaeyoung?”

“Well first of all, there’s no way Chaeyoung is going to date Chaeyoung. Dating someone with the same name as you is just not worth the confusion. And secondly, so what if she made her laugh? You make her laugh. I make her laugh. Even Jeongyeon makes her laugh. It doesn’t mean they’re dating.”

“But I don’t make her laugh that much! It’s usually the other way around. Plus, we all know Chaeyoung had a crush on Jeongyeon! And you’re basically her soulmate. There’s no way I can compete with that.”

“Oh yeah that’s completely true.” Dahyun rolled her eyes. “Just ignore the fact that neither Jeongyeon or I see Chaeyoung as anything more than a friend.”

“Doesn’t mean she’s not into you.” Tzuyu countered, and then her eyes widened. “Oh my God Dahyun what if she’s in love with you? It would make so much sense I can’t believe I didn’t see it before of course she-”

“Chaeyoung’s not in love with me.” Dahyun cut off Tzuyu’s rant before she started spiralling. “Trust me, we’re best friends but there are no romantic feelings on either end.”

“How do you know?”

“Because two years ago we both got drunk, made out, and then Chaeyoung started crying and said I was so beautiful and perfect and she wished she was attracted to me because we would be great together. But she wasn’t into me like that, and I wasn’t into her. So we just validated the out of each other then fell asleep.”

“Oh.” Tzuyu took a moment to absorb that, and then she frowned. “Hey! Why wasn’t I there?”

“Because Chaeyoung was underage and we all know you’re a good kid who would have been miserable breaking drinking laws with us.”

“That’s… fair enough.” Tzuyu admitted reluctantly. “So if she’s really not in love with you, or Jeongyeon. Do you really think she’s into me?”

Dahyun put down her magazine, swinging her legs off the bed so that she could sit up and face Tzuyu properly.

“Which speech do you want? The one from your tenth attempt or the one from your twenty eighth?”

“You don’t have to make fun of me.” Tzuyu pouted.

“I’m dead serious. Speech number ten was that Chaeyoung, in her own words, is either gay or biual. She may not be able to figure out if she really likes those skinny white boys but she knows for sure that she likes girls, which means you definitely have a shot.”

“Ok but-”

“Speech number twenty-eight pointed out that Chaeyoung already loves you and nothing you could do can change that. Personally, I think there’s a good chance your feelings are mutual, but none of us will ever know until you actually ask her. Which you should do in three hours.”

“I’m not helping you win that stupid bet.”

“Do you know how much money is in this thing? We started it over two and a half years ago.”

Tzuyu rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her face as she turned around and switched off the lights.

“Goodnight Dahyun.”

“You’ll get her someday Tzuyu.”

---

“So I’ve been thinking…”

“About Chaeyoung?”

“Shut up not everything I do is about her.”

Mina paused her game to shoot Tzuyu a look.

“Ok fine. I need your help confessing.”

“Why me?”

Mina didn’t mean to sound unwilling, but this wasn’t the first time Tzuyu had asked her for advice about this. After the sixth time Mina’s attempt to help ended in disaster, she’d decided it was for the best if Tzuyu went at it alone.

Plus her next bet was two weeks from now. If Tzuyu confessed now Sana would be smug about it forever, not to mention three million won richer.

“I know our plan with the candles didn’t work and I’m sorry I set your curtains on fire, but this is much simpler. I just want to sing her a song.”

That plan actually sounded far more reasonable. It didn’t involve fire or large heavy buckets of rose petals, so Mina was willing to hear Tzuyu out.

“What song?”

“Well you know how Chaeyoung likes looking up different songs in different languages? I found this one English song that really conveys how I feel.”

Tzuyu hit play on her phone, and Mina was proud of her poker face when Zac Efron popped up on the screen. She listened as Troy and Gabriella sang What I’ve Been Looking For, doing her best not to cringe as she remembered her High School Musical phase. Nine-year-old Mina’s attempts to connect with her American roots had led her down some strange paths.

“I know it’s a duet but I looked up the lyric translation and they really get what I’m trying to say. I already asked Dahyun to play the piano but I wanted to check with you, as our English expert-”

“I’m no expert.”

“-as our English expert I thought you might know if I’m missing anything? Is the song inappropriate?”

“Well I mean, it’s from a kids movie, so not really.”

“That’s good. So you think I should sing it?”

Mina remembered binging the whole trilogy with Chaeyoung and Sana a few years ago. Sana had loved it and Chaeyoung had laughed herself sick at the cheesiness.

“I think you need to be the one who decides that Tzuyu.”

“That’s not a yes.” Tzuyu’s stare was intense. “Why aren’t you saying yes?”

At that point, Mina chose the sensible option and bolted. She didn’t expect Tzuyu to give chase, and with her long legs the taller girl almost caught up with her, but Mina managed to dive out the window before Tzuyu could grab her. She rolled along the ground, coming to a stop in front of Nayeon with a bag of groceries.

“Should I be worried?”

“Tzuyu’s trying to confess to Chaeyoung.”

“Ah.” Nayeon helped Mina up and patted her on the back. “In that case, Momo can wait a bit longer for her snacks. Let’s go for a walk.”

“I think it needs to be a jog. She’s right behind me.”

The door flew open. Desperate to escape, Mina pushed Nayeon forward. With a shriek she crashed into Tzuyu, and Mina used the distraction to sprint away.

“Traitor!” she heard Nayeon yell.

Mina would make it up to her later, but for now she decided to lay low at the arcade. Beating Momo’s high score in DDR should take a good few hours to accomplish.

---

“I’m never going to do this.” Tzuyu slumped over on the table. “I was so close this time, I had half the words out, and then I just froze.”

“Really?” Jihyo didn’t put much effort into sounding surprised as she continued cooking dinner. “What happened then?”

“I just stood there smiling, and she kept waiting for me to finish my sentence. Then I just nodded and walked away. I heard her laughing.”

“I would laugh too if someone came up to me, said ‘I love’ and then left. It’s very random.”

“No. ‘Random’ is the way she keeps changing her hair without telling anyone. ‘Random’ is the spices you throw into dinner. This wasn’t random, this was a dumb mistake.”

“I don’t throw random spices into dinner!”

“Are you sure about that?”

Jihyo glared and walked menacingly over. Tzuyu smirked fearlessly, and at the last second Jihyo sighed and backed down.

“One of these days I really will punch you.”

“No you won’t. You love me.”

“I love the others too but did you see how I tackled Jeongyeon yesterday when she hit me with that tennis ball?”

“I’m not scared of you.” Tzuyu grinned. “I’m still number one.”

“There is no number one anymore.” Jihyo argued. “There’s only Nayeon and Momo sharing number nine. You’re just lucky we all find you too cute to fight.”

“Chaeyoung’s cuter and Nayeon still whacked her with a sponge last week when she slipped an ice cube down her back.”

The temptation to tease Tzuyu for her crush was right there, but considering how mopey she’d been about her failed confession Jihyo decided not to take the bait.

“It’s a different kind of cute. One that doesn’t make you immune to consequences every time you’re a little brat.”

Tzuyu’s laugh was entirely unrepentant. Jihyo rolled her eyes affectionately. The things she had to deal with in order to put a smile on the maknae’s face.

She considered dropping the subject of Tzuyu's crush completely, but today was one of the days she'd bet on so Jihyo figured she might as well offer a bit of wisdom.

“You shouldn’t be scared of confessing to her.” she told the younger girl. “No matter what happens next, we’ll all be there for you. You and Chaeyoung are our babies, we just want to see you happy.”

“Well now you’ve made it sound like .” Tzuyu wrinkled her nose. “We can’t both be your babies.”

“Well you are.” Jihyo flicked water at Tzuyu’s face. “Deal with it.”

Tzuyu huffed, but Jihyo could see the pleased smile she was trying to hide.

---

“Where are Chaeyoung and Tzuyu?” Jihyo frantically did another headcount. “When did we lose them?”

“It’s fine.” Dahyun lay back on the hotel sofa. “They went for a walk around the neighbourhood.”

“Without the managers?”

“Tzuyu wants to confess something.”

All seven girls in the room let out a deep sigh at that. Momo was the only one excited, since she'd placed a bet on this date two months ago.

“I wish she’d just get it over with.” Jeongyeon grumbled. “How hard can it be to say ‘Hey, I like you a lot. Want to date?’”

“That’s your pitch?” Nayeon laughed. “No wonder you’re still single.”

“It is hard.” Jihyo interrupted before Jeongyeon could fire back. “There’s always going to be the fear that confessing could ruin their friendship.”

“Chaeyoung would never-”

“I know, but you can’t deny that it could make things awkward if she doesn’t feel the same way.”

“You’re all thinking about this wrong.” Sana announced suddenly. “All of you are worried about what might happen if Chaeyoung doesn’t like her back. None of you how mentioned how bad things could be for us if they actually date!”

“What are you talking about?” Momo asked the question everyone was wondering.

“Think about it. If you have to point to one member we’re all whipped for, who would it be?”

“Tzuyu.”

“Tzuyu.”

“Momo?”

“It’s Tzuyu.” Momo shook her head. “All she has to do is breathe and we start laughing and calling her cute.”

“Ok but her lack of reaction to that interviewer’s question was super adorable.”

“Yeah we had a reason! We’re not that bad.”

“My point is this!” Sana cut through the various sounds of agreement. “If we had to point to one member Tzuyu is completely whipped for, who would it be?”

“Chaeyoung.”

“Chaeyoung.”

“Is that even a question?”

“Exactly!” Sana slammed her hand down on the table. “We’ve already seen the effects of this. Remember when Tzuyu really wanted to try that crab stew Momo was talking about so we let her choose dinner, but then Chaeyoung mentioned that she was in the mood for pizza and guess what we all ended up eating? Now imagine if Chaeyoung was actually aware of the power she holds.”

“What makes you think she’s not?”

“Please.” Sana snorted. “This is the girl who throws the same hand every time we play rock paper scissors and she still hasn’t realised we all know her strategy. There’s no way she’s aware of Tzuyu’s crush.”

“Actually…” Momo coughed awkwardly.

All eyes turned to her. She gulped.

“Chaeyoung doesn’t know Tzuyu likes her! But she does have a crush on Tzuyu.”

“What?” Nayeon gasped delightedly at this plot twist. “How do you know that?”

“On the bus journey here she just turned to look at me and went ‘Hey Momo? I think I’m in love with Tzuyu.’”

“So what did you say back?”

“Cool.” Momo pouted at the disappointed reactions around her. “I panicked! What was I supposed to say?”

“Oh I don’t know, maybe that she should tell Tzuyu how she feels before we’re forced to participate in her fifty second attempt at confessing?” Mina flung her hands in the air.

“Look, I know the candle incident was traumatic for you but let’s just calm down.”

“Those were my grandma’s curtains she destroyed!”

Jihyo sighed as chaos broke out in the room. Dahyun and Mina argued about the curtains while Jeongyeon tried to insult Nayeon, who was too busy helping Sana grill Momo for more details.

“Those damn kids better get this right.”

---

“Hey Tzuyu?”

“Yeah?” Tzuyu took another sip of her smoothie as Chaeyoung stopped walking.

With their arms linked she was forced to stop too, and she looked curiously at Chaeyoung, the straw hovering near her lips. It was the most beautiful sight Chaeyoung had ever seen, and her heart was pounding like a sledgehammer, but she kept her voice cool as she said:

“I’m in love with you.”

They were next to busy road, with cars driving by and the sea behind them. But at that moment, the whole world felt silent.

“Oh.” Tzuyu squeaked, and then she cleared . “I mean, that’s great.”

“It is?”

“Yeah. I’m in love with you too.”

“Oh.” Chaeyoung reached over to take a sip of the smoothie. “Cool. So that works out.”

“Yep.”

“Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

“Yes. Definitely.”

“Alright then.” Chaeyoung brushed down Tzuyu’s arm to hold her hand. “We’re girlfriends now. Nice.”

After a moment of silence, she glanced over at Tzuyu. The taller girl looked completely dazed.

“You ok?”

“Yeah. Just waiting for this to sink in. Give me a minute.”

Chaeyoung waited. Tzuyu took a deep breath. Then another. Then she nodded.

“Ok then. Can I kiss you?”

“Please do.”

Chaeyoung barely got the words out before Tzuyu crashed their lips together. The intensity of it swept Chaeyoung off her feet, pushing her backwards until she was sitting down on the low wall next to them. But at the same time, there was a sweet softness to the kiss that made it feel like someone was setting off fireworks in Chaeyoung’s stomach.

It was perfect. Everything Chaeyoung could have dreamed for and more. But a few seconds later, Tzuyu broke away in a fit of giggles.

“What? What is it?”

“I just realised something.” Tzuyu was laughing so hard she almost toppled over. “I never got the chance to confess to you, which means no one won the bet.”

“What bet?”

Tzuyu’s jaw dropped open, and then she began to laugh even harder. Chaeyoung was completely confused, but Tzuyu’s ridiculous giggles made her start to laugh too. After a minute, Tzuyu finally got it together long enough to speak.

“Chaeyoung, my best friend and beautiful new girlfriend; We have a lot to talk about.”