Kass stirred from her spot on the couch, the book lying on her stomach dropping to the floor as she turned to her side. Kass’ eyes peaked open at the sound of the book hitting the floor. Taking in the aroma of fried rice now circling the room, her eyes flew open the rest of the way as she attempted to get up, rolling off the couch and falling to the floor.

She groggily made her way towards the source of the aroma, passing by Fuu at the dining table. Kass spotted the taller figure in front of the stove.

“Mai-umma, that smells so good!” Kass commented in English, the smell slowly awakening her hunger as she approached the older girl.

Mai didn’t look up from her pan heating on the stove. “I’m almost done. Go help Fuu Mi with her Korean while I finish this?”

“Neh.” Kass nodded as she reluctantly turned away from the food and headed towards the table where Fuu was in the midst of trying to better her Korean. She pulled up a seat beside the older girl, eyeing the workbook in front of her.

“Unnie, did you learn any new words? It’s only been a few weeks, but your Korean is already getting better. ”

Fuu looked up at her and smiled. “Thanks. And I think so. Not sure if I’ll remember them though. The way a sentence is constructed in Korean is a lot different than it is in Chinese, or English.”

As Fuu directed her gaze back down to her workbook, a mischievous smile crossed the younger girl’s face. Kass nudged Fuu lightly with her shoulder as Fuu looked up in interest.

“Unnie, I could teach you some words that you probably won’t find in that book.”

“Really?” Fuu placed her elbows on the table, leaning her head on her hands, waiting for Kass to continue. The younger nodded happily as she thought of where to start.

“So--”

“Kass, you better not be teaching Fuu Mi swear words,” Mai warned lightly.

Kass looked up in surprise, only to see that Mai had her back to them, still focused on her cooking.

“But umma, she needs to know the basic...”

“I don’t think so. I don’t need another situation like Junsu’s. I have no idea why he would even think it was a good idea to teach Khun curse words.” Mai moved her pan onto another burner, reaching over to turn off the heat. She pushed the cooking utensils into the sink and washed her hands.

“You can eat as soon as you can stand the heat.”

“Uh, Mai-ssi? You’re with the 2PM members a lot right?” Almost reaching her room, Mai turned in her tracks at the sound of Fuu’s voice.

“Hm?”

“Oh. I was just wondering if you saw them often...” Fuu trailed off, looking back down at her workbook.

“She does! Since umma helps their choreographer, she’s with them a lot,” Kass put in cheerfully.

Mai hesitated before making her way to the table, pulling out the seat opposite the two girls. “First off, you can drop the honorific Fuu Mi. Mai is fine. Second,” Mai directed her gaze towards their maknae. “No more umma Kass.”

“But...”

“No buts,” Mai replied with a tiny smile. “Fuu Mi, I see the members a lot. A lot more than I’d like to anyway. Why do you ask?”

Fuu couldn’t keep her eyes on Mai as she looked back and forth between the older girl and the table. “I was just wondering. You seem to be on familiar terms with them.”

“Am I on familiar terms with someone in particular?”

Fuu’s cheeks reddened as Kass’ eyes widened in excitement. “Fuu! Who is it?” Kass was practically bouncing in her chair. “Do you like someone? Who? Who?”

Fuu quickly shook her hands in front of her, trying to deny what both girls were implying. “No, I was just curious cause... umm...” She paused, before blurting it out. “Taecyeon-ssi helped me the other day, and I just wanted to get to know him better. As a friend,” she added.

Kass was grinning as a smirk crossed Mai’s face. “Umma! You have to get them together. I’ll help! Oh this is going to be so fun...” Kass was already plotting before Mai had even answered.

“Where’s Renn-ssi? Shouldn’t she be home by now?” Fuu asked, trying to change the subject as Kass hadn’t stopped talking about getting her and Taecyeon together.

“Yeah, where is Renn-unnie?” Kass stopped mid sentence to look around the room. She gave up, propping up her head on the table with an arm. “Does anyone know Renn-unnie’s last name? I’ve never heard anyone call her by her full name. Is Renn like a nickname for something? Because everyone calls her that and even the name on her card only says that. Doesn’t she have like a full name or something?” The girls looked at each other. No one actually did know Renn’s full name. Kass took the silence as none of them knowing the answer.

“She’s probably working late at the studio. Again. Seriously, that girl needs to take a break,” Mai commented after a long silence.

“Does Renn-ssi always work late hours?” Fuu questioned. Mai nodded as she pulled out her cell phone. “Are you gonna call her?” Mai shook her head.

“Jay, you busy?” The two girls looked up at Mai as she spoke into the phone in english. They looked at each other, sharing the same confused look. Why would Mai call Jay?

“Can you go to the studio and check up on Renn? I’m worried she’s gonna stay up all night again,” Mai paused. “You can? Great. Oh, and bring her some dinner would you? Yes I know, I know. What kind of person would you be if you didn’t. Okay, Jay. Alright...I’m hanging up now.” She pressed the ‘end’ button on her phone only to find the two girls looking at her. “Yes?”

“Why did you call Jay-oppa to check up on Renn-unnie?” Mai didn’t answer the maknae’s question, the corner of curling upward in a tiny grin instead. “Shouldn’t you be calling Renn-unnie instead?” Kass noticed the way her unnies looked, Mai was smiling lightly, while Fuu looked intrigued by the older girl’s previous actions. “What?”

Kass’ curiosity was interrupted by her stomach as it began to rumble, bringing small giggles from the other two girls.

“You should eat Kass-ssi,” Fuu voiced with concern. The younger girl nodded and got up. “Are Renn-ssi and Jaebeom-ssi...” Fuu whispered to Mai once the maknae was out of earshot. Mai merely shrugged her shoulders and left the dining table before Fuu could question her anymore.

The 2PM leader reclined on the couch set not doing anything in particular. It was their first night without practice and each member was off doing their own thing. Jay could see Chansung in the kitchen stuffing his face with food as the maknae celebrated their first night off their strict diet. Jay looked to his right and peered into the room directly in his view, it was Junsu and Taec’s shared bedroom. He could see the light from Taec’s laptop and he didn’t need to look further inside the room to know his so-called best friend was in that ridiculous position he was always in, laptop propped on his chest and his elbows splayed at an awkward angle on his sides, his wrists balancing the computer as he typed.

He could hear Junsu’s singing as well, the second oldest was always singing though. Always in his room writing his lyrics or playing the keyboards. Jay saw Wooyoung walking around the room, he was tempted to ask what he was doing but Jay decided against it as his phone vibrated in his pocket.

He stared at the screen for a moment as he felt a slight panic crawl through his system. Why was the assistant choreographer Mai calling him at this hour?

“Hello?” he said into the receiver.

Mai’s voice came sharp and clear in his ears as the choreographer got straight to the point without even bothering with a hello. Jay nodded as if Mai could see him. “Now? Yeah sure, I’ll go...Hey, what do you take me for?...Of course I’ll get some dinner, you know I know that too...” He heard an audible click, and the call was ended.

Jay stood from the couch and made his way back to the room he shared with Junho. The younger boy was lying on his bed on his computer as well, and he looked up to acknowledge their leader with a nod.

“Junho-yah, I’m going to go out for a while, I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

Junho looked at his hyung, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Why? Minjae-hyung is already asleep.”

Jay opened his closet to avoid meeting his roommate’s eyes. “Yeah, felt like going to the gym a bit. I’ll be back,” he said as he took out a hoodie and pulled it on. Jay left the room without another glance at the younger boy.

He found himself a few minutes later walking down a hallway he knew by heart. It was an empty corridor in the far corner of the JYPE building; it used to be the storage area before it was cleaned up. He could hear his own footsteps as they echoed across the empty hallway; there was only one room on this side of the building.

He peered through the gap of the door and found Renn leaning back in her chair. She had her headphones on and her eyes closed and Jay assumed she was listening to her recently mixed track. Slowly, he entered the room and closed the door behind him, being careful not to startle her. He leaned against the door and watched her as her head moved slightly towards her side, her fingers drumming on her desk as if she were playing on a piano.

Jay approached her; it wasn’t a very big movement as it was a very small room. He placed his hands over the arm rests of her office chair and leaned even closer towards her. Her eyes flashed open at the sudden shift in weight and her arms flailed about jerking her body backwards causing the chair to topple over. Jay found her on her office floor once again, this time in a tangle of cords and music sheets.

Jay could only laugh as he took her hand and pulled her up upright. “What am I going to do with you?” he asked as he untangled the wires that got caught on her headphones.

“I thought you already went home?” Renn asked, taking her headphones off.

“I did, but your roommate called me and said that you were still here. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Renn’s eyes widened for a bit before answering, “I...it slipped my mind?”

Jay shook his head, another small laugh escaping his lips. “You work too hard.”

“Not enough.”

Jay shook his head slowly. Renn was always working too hard, she had already been like this ever since the first time he met her. He pushed a loose strand of hair away from her face, and he couldn’t help but feel a little proud of himself as Renn’s cheeks flushed scarlet. She was always so shy around him.

“Hey, let’s get out of this stuffy studio. You need food.”

Jay took her hand and grabbed her sling bag from the floor, Renn tugged at his hand and he turned to face her. “What?” he asked.

“Wait...just a sec.” Renn took her bag from Jay’s hands and walked over to her work desk. She unplugged her laptop and switched everything off before stashing her computer in her bag. “Okay, ready.”

Jay smiled brighter this time as he took her hand once again, and both exited the studio, being careful to not be seen by anyone.