“Unnies, oppas, I’m back!”

Along with welcoming tokens, Jihyo hands a script to the production team with head bowed down “Here’s a few lines we could work on. Please take care.”

“Message in voiceover. Then just Feel Special, right?” says one of the tech staff nodding.

“Seems leader-nim thought of a warm-up performance for the team”, the choreographer unnie comments.

The leader is that considerate thinking everyone may have rested well. So as the bodies not to get shocked, she’s banking more on their voices. And with some favorable news in the past days, she’s inclined to express gratitude.

Hence a thank you message as an intro to Feel Special.

While waiting for the members, one of the managers excuses the leader for updates. “Good news, the stalker has fled out the country.”

“Yes! But what’s with the ‘good’ news? Is there a bad?”

It’s about the letter Jihyo had posted. Straits Times, a Singaporean-based site made a misleading headline out of it: Twice Jihyo in fear over rumors about Videos and Romance with Kang Daniel.

International Once had reported this to JYPE. The agency took notice when Twice had already gone to vacation. And since the offender is outside Korea, nothing much could be done anyway.

The manager relays the advice of the higher ups: Jihyo should talk less. If it were to help her mental health, Jihyo has to find other means to express. That way, clickbait hungry reporters couldn’t prey on her words.

This is what she meant when she said ‘humans are the scariest’ in one of her V chats last November. Jihyo herself has already explained the real situation. Yet, people would rather create more misunderstandings.

There’s no regret in calling out the untrue anyway. She’s able to protect Sana and told her own side of the story. Jihyo is unfazed. She too is a step ahead in finding expression.

Walking back to the practice room, Jihyo heard liveliness by the door. It seems the members have arrived as well. She braces herself going in.

“Oh Jihyo-yah! This is brilliant.” Nayeon mutters to her, “Thank you~ Hawaii was great. I think my body’s still on break.”

Jihyo smiles. She understands the sentiment after what Nayeon has gone through. She then asks the girls, “Would you like to add or change something in the message?”

“Could we make our hand-writings of this message be projected like in our MAMA stage?” Momo gestures arms pertaining to the big screen in the background.

The rest likes the idea. Jihyo jots this down for the tech team. She asks further, “Anything else?”

“Nothing much. It’s already a beautiful message”, Jeongyeon says. She then shoots Jihyo a knowing look and says, “It just sounds familiar. Don’t you think so, Sana?”

“Huh? Uhh~ Thank you for always being with…” Sana reads it finding out what Jeong is pertaining to.

But Jihyo intercepts. She goes to the dance unnie saying, “We’re starting! Unnie, we’re starting. Right?”

They gather on the dancefloor to start blocking their stage formations. One more thing though, dance unnie tilts head on a detail.

She verifies from Jihyo and the prod staff that there’s only gonna be one fancy seat—a throne in the middle. It’s a dilemma as to who’s gonna take it.

Basing on the script, the girls would only start dancing at the chorus. Thus, she’s picking between the two who sung the lines, “Nayeon or Sana for center?”

“I- uh… Sana starts the chorus?” Jihyo could only make awkward muttering.

Nayeon understanding the grand scheme of things backhugs Sana and walks her to the spot. She finds the tongue-tied Jihyo and winks at her; to which the latter acknowledges. The unnie then announces, “Sana is the center.”

January 30^th—Twice gets to rehearse their stage for the High Seoul Music Awards along with the set design. There are two red staircases and just one golden seat. Jihyo takes Sana’s hand and leads her towards it.

“Take a seat”, she says. When Sana relaxes on the throne, Jihyo then brings her hand close to lips. She smiles and kisses it.

The Japanese gasps and looks around, “Jihyo-yah what are you doing?”

“Treating you right. My queen”, she plants a kiss once again.

Sana recoils hand. She stands up and makes Jihyo take the seat instead. “Yah~ It’s your birthday soon. You should be the one treated well.”

Jihyo yanks Sana onto her lap, “Ottoke? I want this for my birthday.”

The Japanese looks around again, now realizing these are Jihyo’s efforts for her. The leader mutters, “My letter earned me an advice to shut up. I’m down to just my actions now. So, let me do this. Please? There may be no other time.”

Prod suddenly cues the sound. The partners shoot up from the golden seat. It made them giggle. Sana nods, “Yup. There may be no other.”

She then returns to her seat saying, “So… How do I look?”

On the actual performance, Twice changes up into glowing royalties through frosted white dresses. The look is of perfection but, on what level?

Regal. That’s the rightful word to describe this view. Just the way Jihyo had imagined. No king, this is queen event only. Center? Jihyo doesn’t go with the nation’s pick. She has her own choice. As such, she’s been blessed since.

Through intro, the message is telling:

“Thank you for always…

…being with us.”

“When it was difficult and painful…

…you were there.”

“When I’m in darkness…

…you become the light.”

“So now, we…

…will become your light.”

Her pick is the one in the center at this moment. The one seated at the golden throne—Sana. In pulling this perfection off, it’s been nerve-wracking. So, nerve-wracking that the leader skipped Twice TV footage entirely.

Now the idea has come to life, it’s become a priceless loop forever etched in Jihyo’s mind.

The show has ended. When packing up, Sana snaps Jihyo out a bit by pulling her into the photobooth stationed at the backstage. The Japanese noticed that the leader has been tensed, this little fun is almost skipped too.

Still, even in the van, the leader is glued to her phone in search of that moment. Jeongyeon understands this that she didn’t bother inviting her to wave to the fans. Instead, she makes space for Sana who enthusiastically waves along with her.

Meanwhile, in the other van, there’s Nayeon and Momo also sending their goodnights to the fans. When they move and roll back up the window, both let out a sigh. The show was exhausting especially to Momo.

The host Shin Dongyup teased his co-host Kim Heechul, Momo’s reported boyfriend. “Oh! Heechul ssi, you must be excited to see…” obvious pause before completing the thought, “the Super Junior members here!”

Heechul was flapping his cue cards in attempt to interrupt the joke.

Twice who were tables away sent disturbed looks to each other. Nayeon again in furious state. Momo, on the other hand, was dazed. Jeongyeon later into the show had to clap her back in the moment.

“What has gotten into sunbae?” a low-voiced Nayeon searches Heechul’s whereabout in the past weeks during their vacation. She couldn’t believe the veteran Heechul missed filtering such joke.

Jihyo hasn’t mentioned receiving any message from the sunbae whether he’s distressed or whatnot. So, Nayeon is finding things out herself. While doing so, she checks on the dongsaeng “Are you okay now, Momo-yah?”

“Mm”, affirms while munching snacks.

Nayeon has found some. That of Heechul’s discussion with Taeyeon on Vlive. The interesting thing is, Heechul kept bringing up and pertaining to the dating issue when Taeyeon wasn’t even asking:

“There were so many speculations. Honestly, we didn’t know each other then. To fans, I feel really sorry. But they congratulated us a lot. I thought, I didn’t work in vain for the last 15 years. I shall work harder.”

“I can speak comfortably about it with you. But when recent issue came about, the public and my fans who could’ve been upset said, It’s okay. This isn’t that a big deal. Thank you, we’ll always root for you.

This kind of response made me feel kind of guilty.

I can only hold this much love”, he pointed to a bowl “but after the issue, many fans showed me love and I felt sorry to receive all that. So I thought, I might not have what it takes to be a celebrity.”

As it seems, lying like a full-blooded celebrity is a burden that could make even the veteran idols question the path they’ve taken. Heechul may have been seeking outlet for this heaviness.

Even though the broadcast is partly in an interview format, Heechul went there as a friend. Taeyeon further encouraged him to open up on other burden. Heechul shared:

“I had been working on a solo album. I had the song ready. The title was Flower Petal. It’s not just about dedication to my fans; it also pertains to flowers and petals. Then after the issue, I decided to postpone the solo album.”

From what Nayeon can perceive, the sunbae is deeply regretful. Had Heechul known that the fans would support him this much, he could’ve announced a real dating then and proceed on his career plans as usual.

Curiously, the unnie wants to know the dongsaeng’s take on this. “Momo-yah, what if Heechul sunbae asks you out?”

“Hmm?”

Nayeon restates her inquiry, “What if he asks you out for real? To be his real girlfriend? What do you do?”