Sometimes, when they’re in SK and not out there flying to Japan, when there’s some room to breathe amidst the packed schedules filling up their days, the two dorms hold a sleepover.

The place alternates; sometimes it's determined through a simple game of janken, sometimes no one refuses when Chaeyeon says I’ll cook dinner so come over, sometimes someone brings up past favours just to make sure they don’t have to take the tiring walk to the other dorm.

This time around, it’s time for Eunbi’s dorm to be occupied with the twelve of them.

They crowd around in the living room, their first plan being to watch movies, agreeing immediately that tonight's dinner will be for take-out foods ordered through delivery services. Blankets are shared, couches almost completely covered with them lying down in all sorts of positions. Some willingly occupy the floor, warding off the cold by dragging out some mattresses from the rooms and then huddling with each other under the covers.

Not everyone is a fan of horror movies, but somehow their movie nights always contain at least one from that genre, played in the middle and sometimes the last. It comes off as unsurprising, in hindsight. Do you really think some people will pass up on the opportunity to have their certain someone clinging onto them as jump-scares fill the screen?

Fat chance.

And.

And Hitomi is one of them who would really prefer to have her heart intact by the end of the night, thank you very much, but at first, she held that thought in. Even with Eunbi constant queries if she’s okay with the movies selected, if she’s fine with the scary spirits and haunting scores—she held that thought in, and replied it’s fine. She didn’t want to spoil the fun, didn’t want to interrupt the good vibes of their group, didn’t want to be the one to break their comfortable bubble with a complaint.

(It was a wrong mindset to have. When she finally worked up the courage to open up to Eunbi, along with Nako, Eunbi listened intently to every word and broke with them. Their leader, ever so patient and motherly, held them and cried with them for every bottled up feeling they finally spoke of.

Smiled at them, voice soft as she said thank you.

For opening up, for letting me in.

From now on, please come to me anytime.)

But still.

Still, there are occasions where her answer doesn’t change.

Still, tonight, when Eunbi places a palm on her shoulder to get her attention and ask if it’s okay, Hitomi smiles and nods her head. I’m fine, she mouths, throwing in another nod until Eunbi is satisfied and returns to her seat.

Because they both know that this time around, the words don’t come from a place of masked discomfort.

It comes from a genuine faith that she’ll be okay.

She’ll be okay because when they’re all too tired to give another movie a go, Yena would bring out her guitar, propping it up on her thigh and strumming the instrument slowly, like she’s preparing to serenade her love to sleep—

(Sometimes it really is the case.)

And when Yena begins to pluck the strings, it’s inevitable that a certain Yuri would start to hum. They don’t have to agree on a song—Yena would play a random melody, changing from one chord to another, until Yuri seamlessly dives in to sing a line of a song she thinks of, and that would be the song they’re singing until the last note. Other times, Yena would play a familiar tune, a satisfied grin spreading across her lips when Yuri’s eyes sparkle, lips already parting to start singing the lyrics of the song Yena has had in mind since the first chord.

The routine is soothing.

It calms the tensed joints left by the jump-scares earlier. It calms Hitomi’s suffering heart, erasing the traces of Valak or any other spiteful ghosts that have graced the TV screen just a moment ago. This, coupled with Chaewon’s presence close to her, would always be the highlight of their movie nights.

Unless this happens:

Sometimes, sometimes, after a song or two, another melodic hum will come from the person next to her. Chaewon will start to harmonize with Yuri, easily weaving their voices together to the tune of Yena’s strums, with a gaze that often finds their way to Hitomi’s warm face.

“Loving someone more than I can take—”

Today, it happens for Day6’s When You Love Someone.

“—it’s so strange, how it overflows like this.”

Everyone in the room knows who Yuri is singing for, with her eyes fixated on the guitar girl, every so often met by another pair of eyes filled with a lot of affections and pride.

“This is a song for you,
oh I’m singing for you—”

As for Chaewon, well…

“This is a song for you,
and I’m singing for you—”

With Chaewon’s fingers lightly rubbing over her palm under the blanket, before gently slipping in to fill the gaps between Hitomi’s own, fitting perfectly like they’re two pieces of puzzles made for each other…

“—I’ll give you my everything.”

…who she is singing for hasn’t been a secret, either.

(And that would be this night's highlight.)

<.[ ♡ ]