Renn held her breath the entire time 2PM was on stage. There were no words to describe just how critical this one moment was for all of them. She had known these boys for more than a year now, and they always seemed to shine brighter every time they performed. Even with the dark cloud hanging above them as they took the stage, they were brilliant in her eyes. Though they may not have seen her, she was always watching over them, monitoring their progress.

Junho kicked off the performance with a very powerful exhibition for Tired of Waiting. There was a look of steely determination in Junho’s face and in Chansung’s as well, the maknae had been very impressive with I Was Crazy About You. Even Junsu had impressed her with Gimmie the Light. Perhaps it was her bias towards those three songs that had made the maknaes and the lead vocalist stand out, but Renn did not really want to bother explaining herself to herself.

As soon as the filming was done, she stood from her seat inside the sound room. She could have gone to the waiting room to monitor the performance with Minjae-ssi, but she had been horribly traumatized by the fiasco with Junsu’s mic from the last goodbye stage so she had decided to remain closer to the sound engineers should a similar event occur. Slowly and carefully, she made her way towards 2PM’s room; congratulations were in order, and to be quite frank she had missed those boys.

The past few weeks had not been her best. She had been stumped with work and homework that it had been impossible for her to even stay a respectable amount of time inside her own dorm room. She had been moving around studios and isolation booths as well, trying to find the perfect balance she wanted for the several projects that had been handed to her. She even had a demo tape she needed to finish as well; her own repertoire had to be perfect because nothing less than perfection was acceptable.

Renn could already hear the congratulatory squeals and cries from the waiting room as soon as she turned the corner and she found herself running towards the room with a huge grin on her face. She skidded to a halt, her left foot slipping on the tiles and causing her to lose her balance. She would have found herself on the floor if not for someone opening the door just in time to see her and break her fall.

“Long time no see.”

Renn looked up to see Junsu smiling down at her. With the light from the fluorescent beams directly overhead, Junsu and his smile was absolutely dazzling. Renn half thought about squinting to get a point across, but she was at a rather awkward position with Junsu’s arm wrapped tightly around her waist and both her feet not quite firmly planted on the floor. She could feel the heat creep up her face from embarrassment and her hands flailed about to wriggle out of an extremely amused Junsu’s grasp. It did not help that Junsu had been working out, his arm muscles flexed under her hands, and her eyes were immediately drawn to his exposed forearms.

“Noona!”

Chansung’s booming voice had distracted her enough to tear her eyes away from Junsu and his forearms. The maknae easily extracted her from Junsu’s hold and enveloped her in a bear-hug of his own.

“Chanbear...too tight,” she wheezed.

“Noona! You’re alive!” Chansung laughed. He dragged her back into the room to show her off to everyone else. “Guys! It’s Renn-noona! I told you I saw her at lunch today!”

A bombardment of shouts and calls greeted Renn as soon as Chansung’s words were properly digested by the occupants of the room. Renn could see them in slow-motion, turning to Chansung, thinking the youngest had been hallucinating again until they did see her and their eyes widened comically taking in her presence.

“Renn!” Taec and Khun had approached her at the same time, and Renn gave each a congratulatory hug .

“Where have you been hiding all this time you hermit?!” Taec lilted gathering the producer in his arms and lifting her off the floor for a moment.

“In my studio, Taec, where else?” Renn replied as soon as Taec let her go.

“We missed you, I thought Ian and I had to report you missing this time,” Khun said as he took his turn to embrace her.

“No, no, police. Sorry, I forgot where I put my phone. I’ve been around the university and the office moving studio to studio mixing my tracks.”

“Noona.” Wooyoung waddled over to her, calling her out in a sing-song voice. “Finally you show up.” Wooyoung, as with the other members had leaned down to give Renn a one-armed hug.

“Unnie!”

Renn turned to Kass who was almost teary-eyed, she then turned to Mai and Fuu on either side of their maknae and smiled and waved at them. Mai nodded in acknowledgment, a tiny smile on her lips as Fuu returned the older girl’s smile and wave with her own.

“Unnie! It’s like a reunion!” Kass exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

Looking around the room, Renn felt an upwelling in her chest that she hadn’t expected to feel coming here into the waiting room. Even Minjae-ssi, Namyong-oppa, and Coordi-unnie had welcomed her back warmly.

All except for one though.

Renn found Junho in one corner of the room shrugging off his blazer and she smiled at him, not unlike the way she had the others.

“Noona, are you back for good now?” he asked, walking towards where everyone had grouped together in the middle of the room.

A soft giggle escaped her lips, “I was never gone, why do you all keep saying that!

Renn dropped her bag and file folders on her bed and stretched her arms wide as soon as she entered her shared room with Kass. It had been far too long for her to even remember when the last time was that she actually slept in her room.

It had been a good dinner celebration today, better than most. It had been so much fun, laughs everywhere, jokes all around, but as Renn tugged off her jacket her face fell only for her to pick it up again and plaster on a smile as the door opened. She turned to face her roommate, Kass. “It’s been so long. I actually missed this place.”

“Unnie, do you know how lonely it is sleeping alone? I had to bunk in the other room a couple of nights!”

“I’m sorry?” Renn laughed. “Well, I don’t have any more work to do besides show up at the office. I’ll be around more often now.”

Kass bounced on the balls of her feet as she brought her hands together. “Unnie, that’s great! I finally have a roommate now, it’s so weird, I’ve been here for months but I still know nothing about you!”

“Well, I’m here now,” Renn replied.

“I know!” Kass beamed, grabbing Renn’s wrist. “Let’s go to umma’s room!”

Within seconds, Renn was already seated on Fuu’s bed with the graphic artist sitting next to her. Kass was making herself comfortable on Mai’s bed, while the older girl chose to sit on the chair next to her dresser.

“Seems like the gang’s all here. Nice to have you back Renn.” Mai propped her head up on her arm resting on her dresser.

Renn waved unnecessarily at the younger girl, her face faltering for a moment. “Gang...? Uhm...not gang, group?”

“What’s wrong with gang?” Kass said, seemingly offended.

Renn shrugged looking over at Kass who was now partially under Mai’s covers, “It’s such a violent word is all.” Then she turned to Mai and continued, “Anyway, Mai, Junsu was really great today. He kept telling me how weird it was that you actually complimented him for his dancing. Is the world about to end soon? You’re not feeling ill are you?”

Mai replied with a smirk and a slight wave of her hand, “He better not get used to it.”

“Junsu-oppa looked hot on that stage today,” Kass commented to no one in particular, causing her dormmates to give her odd looks. “What? Those thoughts are permitted aren’t they?”

Renn and Mai exchanged looks with each other, the choreographer merely shook her head and the producer shrugged. “Junsu...I don’t think I can ever see him as hot he’s too...much like a brother to me. That would be gross,” Renn answered with laugh.

“I spend too much time with them. Hot is not one way to describe them,” Mai added.

“I think they looked fantastic today,” Fuu suddenly said, breaking her silence. She was smiling just as much as their maknae was.  “They really looked amazing on stage.”

“All of them, or just Taec, huh unnie?” Kass teased, waggling her brows.

Fuu flushed a brilliant shade of scarlet and covered her face with her hands. “All of them!” she cried out, defending herself.

“Okay, I have a feeling I missed out on something,” Renn said, looking over at each girl in the room. She put a finger on her lips and spoke again, “Do I get it that there is a Fuu-slash-Taec thingy going on?” Her eyes suddenly widened. “Oh dear. Taec?!”

“You catch on quick unnie!” Kass clapped her hands together as she sat up briefly before falling back on to Mai’s bed.

Renn laughed. “You just made it very obvious Kass, hmm...Kass...”

All three girls looked curiously at their unnie who was suddenly silent, even Mai who was not paying full attention turned towards her.

“Kass...hmm...I think I shall call you Kassie. That will be my name for you, and Fuu will be Mimi, but that’s too much like Sunmi, oh dear. Such a dilemma. Oh well, something will come up for sure.”

“Don’t call me that,” Kass replied quietly, her face darkening a little.

“Hmm? Why not? It’s fun,” Renn said, completely missing the change of tone from the younger girl.

Mai found herself shaking her head at their ‘unnie’. “Why are you both still here? Kass, you have early class tomorrow, and we all have work to do.”

“I can wake up.” Kass was back to her playful self.

“You’re the last to wake up.”

“Mai-ah, I don’t even remember the last time there were actually four of us inside the dorm, it’s like meeting Renn-unnie for the first time for me,” Fuu said in reply to Mai kicking the other two out of their room.

Mai sighed in defeat. “Fine, but no one makes a mess and you wake up tomorrow morning on your own.” She mostly directed her last comment at Kass who sunk further under the covers. I don’t even know how we’re going to get any sleep tonight.