Friday it stormed like no other, the thunder waking Sana up every five minutes, each time she clung tighter to Momo, burying her head into arms. Momo was able to sleep through it like a rock, seemingly unaware of the chaos going on outside of their apartment.

 

                The rain pounded mercilessly against the window, and Sana couldn’t take it anymore. She sat up and pulled out her phone and refreshed and refreshed, in hopes that class would be cancelled… but it wasn’t.

 

                She groaned loudly, “How does Professor Jung actually expect us to come to class with—” there was a particularly loud clap of thunder and Sana jumped into Momo’s arms once again in terror.

 

                “Momo-yah, onee-chan, sandā ga kowai,” Sana whined.

 

                “Anata metcha kawaii ne,” Momo muttered, turning away from Sana in her sleep.

 

                Sana pouted at Momo’s sleep talking. Um ok? I definitely said scary not cute… UGH, why is she being like this! She grabbed Momo’s shoulder and pulled her so that she was laying on her back again, “Atama okashiin janai?” Sana complained.

 

                “Chaeyoung-ah, nihongo o wakarimasu ka?” Momo muttered again, eyes still closed, but smiling up at Sana this time.

 

                Oh no. This is worse than I thought… Sana started shaking Momo’s shoulders, “Wake up! Wake up Momo, you’re sleep talking! Wake up!”

 

                Momo jolted awake looking around in alarm before realizing it was only her and Sana, “Urusai,” She grumbled before flopping back on her bed.

 

                “Ok, rude,” Sana huffed, “Maybe I should have just let you keep embarra—” Sana was interrupted by another boom of thunder and she hid in Momo’s chest, pulling the blanket over her.

 

                “You’re such a child,” Momo teased.

 

[07:25] Rosie: Sana I simply cannot drive today

[07:26] Sana: Good because I simply cannot go to class today

[07:27] Rosie: 😂⛈

[07:28] Sana: Shut it, Thunder Down Under

 

                ~

 

                “Motang, tell me you’re not actually thinking of running to school in this?” Sana pleaded, attempting to hold Momo in place by her arm as she struggled with her rain gear.

 

                “I have to, I can’t miss this class!” Momo answered lacing her running shoes.

 

                “Are you sure that’s the reason you want to go to class? And not someone else?”

 

                “No… I just—who else is going to send the notes to you and Rosé,”

 

                “Really? You’ve never sent us notes before when we’ve asked…”

 

                “Because you’re literally in class too, I don’t see why you can’t just take them yourself,”

 

                “So is Chaeyoung, and yet I bet you’d send them to her,”

 

                “I—she never asked… but I do owe her for letting me borrow her notebook,”

 

                “Jesus, what kind of dream were you having about her last night that’s got you so whipped?”

 

                “Ok, now I’m definitely not staying home,”

 

                ~

 

                Chaeyoung yawned, she had barely gotten any sleep last night. She stayed up until 4am supervising her children, and then it started storming. Luckily her and Heejin’s apartments were close, but unlucky for Yang Yang and Somi… Okaeri was across town.

 

                Since the storm looked pretty intense and didn’t show signs of stopping anytime soon, like the responsible parent she was, she offered them to crash at her place. Heejin whined that if the rest of the family was sleeping over then she would too. She had the guest bedroom prepared in case of instances like this. The bed was roomy enough, and she even made sure to tuck them in.

 

                So why did she feel three extra bodies curled up on top of each other like cats in her own bed this morning.

 

                “Morning Kat,” Somi said blinking innocently up at Chaeyoung.

 

                “Yah! What are you doing here! There’s a perfectly good bed in the guest room!”

 

                “Yang Yang got scared of the thunder and woke us up…” She paused, “And then so did we,”

 

                “I’m hungry,” Heejin moaned from her position, halfway underneath Somi.

 

                “Then go home, you literally live two floors up,”

 

                “But your kitchen is closer,”

 

                “Don’t you dare—my fridge is off limits!”

 

                “Why don’t you ever feed us?” Heejin whined, “Yeri would feed us,”

 

                “Then go to Yeri’s apartment,” Chaeyoung grumbled.

 

                “Noooo! It’s scary outside!” Yang Yang shouted.

 

                “Jesus Christ,” Chaeyoung hissed, covering her ears, “She lives right next door, it’s not like you have to leave the building,”

 

                “What time is it?” Somi asked.

 

                “Eight,” Heejin answered.

 

                “Eight!?” Chaeyoung exclaimed, “I’m late for class! Why didn’t my alarm go off?”

 

                “Oh… it did, but I silenced it because it was bothering me,” Heejin answered, tossing Chaeyoung her phone.

 

                “Y—you can’t go out in this weather anyway,” Yang Yang pleaded latching onto Chaeyoung’s leg, and as if on queue, another loud crack of thunder sounded.

 

                “Yang Yang, let go of me—I can’t miss this class,”

 

                “Why? Because Momo will be there?” Heejin snorted.

 

                “How—what? That’s not—”

 

                “She texted you and asked if you were going. Don’t worry I replied promptly ‘no’. So really you should be thanking me for saving both of your lives,” Heejin answered.

 

                “Yah! You punk!” Chaeyoung shouted, squirming harder against Yang Yang, “You can’t just text people from my phone like that!”

 

                “I told her it was me,” Heejin grumbled not seeing a problem with what she did.

 

                “Oh … please let go of me, now I really need to go to this class!”

 

                Somi groaned and rolled off the bed. Padding to the other side of the room, she threw open Chaeyoung’s dark blackout curtains to reveal an utter torrential downpour outside, the trees whipping around dangerously, “You were saying?” Somi said turning back to Chaeyoung and smirking proudly.

 

                “Ok… maybe I really don’t need to go to this class,” Chaeyoung sighed in defeat, as she stopped struggling against Yang Yang’s grip.

 

[07:31] Momo: Hey Chaeyoung! Weather is pretty bad today and Sana is scared of thunder and wants to skip ☹ are you going to class?

                Momo: I’m not scared though. I’ll go if you go

[07:38] Sleepy Cub 🐅: No

                Sleepy Cub 🐅: BTW this is Heejin

[Read by Momo at 07:39]

[08:04] Sleepy Cub 🐅: Momo it’s not what you think i swear

                Sleepy Cub 🐅: she’s like my kid… i can’t just turn her away

 

                ~

 

                An ear-piercing scream filled the entire apartment. Momo dropped her phone where she’d been waiting for a response from Chaeyoung and vaulted over the couch.

 

                Sana was in the laundry room, pinching her nose and holding Momo’s backpack at arm’s length, “Momo, what the hell!”

 

                Momo snatched her backpack away from Sana quickly, “Jesus, you almost gave me a heart attack,”

 

                “Listen, I’m cool if you’re into drugs now. I told you, if you’re into it I’m into it, but you cannot wash your stinky trap-sack in the wash with my clothes!” Sana turned around and pulled out a pink crop top from the same load of laundry and sniffed it, “It’s ruined Momo!”

 

                “It’s not ruined Sana,”

 

                “I was going to wear this later when I casually strolled by the top floor to make sure the roof wasn’t leaking,” Sana whined.

 

                “Really? You were going to wear your favourite shirt to go check for leaks on the top floor… nothing more?”

 

                “Of course there’s more! I was going to wear some cute shorts and rain boots too just in case!” Sana huffed, crossing her arms and pouting.

 

                Momo face palmed and took the shirt from Sana, “Let’s just wash it again. It should be fine… to check for leaks in,”

 

                “Thank you,” Sana huffed again.

 

                “And Sana… we’ve been over this, we’re not into drugs,”

 

                “Yeah, try telling that to Chaeyoung… yeah, I know you’re letting her pound you,”

 

                “Sana!” Momo exclaimed, lightly smacking her on the arm, “Don’t say that!”

 

                “You thought you could hide a literal pound of weed in your sock drawer? Really subtle Momo,”

 

                ~

 

                “So I can’t believe you for real for real have a sugar mommy,” Somi said leaning back on Chaeyoung’s couch and propping her feet on the coffee table.

 

                “I do not,” Chaeyoung huffed.

 

                “Then why did I just find this cheque from Momo for 7 million won on your table?”

 

                “Holy , let me see!” Heejin said jumping next to Somi and snatching the paper from her hands.

 

                “I’ve never seen that much money in one place before!” Yang Yang exclaimed in awe.

 

                “Guys put that down! It’s going directly in the art club fund, just like when you guys pay me,”

 

                “If I were you, I’d just keep it for myself,” Heejin admitted, “You hustled hard for that coin,”

 

                “Shut up Heekie,” Chaeyoung scoffed, kicking her feet off the couch and causing her to lose balance and have to grab Somi for support, “Weren’t you going to Yeri’s for breakfast or something?”

 

                “Why would I do that when I know you can afford to buy us all breakfast now!”

 

                “Where am I going to buy you breakfast from? Last time I checked there wasn’t a café attached to our apartment complex and Yang Yang won’t let me leave the building,”

 

                “UGHHH,”

 

[GC: Chaeng’s R.O.D.s]

[10:12] Heekie: Mom, I’m hungry

[10:13] Nik: we’re stranded at Chaeyoung’s and she won’t feed us

[10:14] Yang Yang: will you feed us?

[10:15] Yerm: literally why aren’t you guys in class?

Yerm: I’m on campus

[10:16] Yang Yang: Oh no! Don’t tell me you went out in the storm

[10:17] Yerm: Storm?

Yerm: Oh yeah, the storm! Well I stayed in the engineering building all night. I was up late doing a project…

Yerm: Engineers don’t sleep

[10:18] Heekie: Mom, you’re so smart

[10:19] Nik: someone has to set a good example for their children 😊

 

                ~

 

                “You stayed in the engineering building eh?” Park Sooyoung asked, leaning over Yeri’s shoulder to see the texts.

 

                “I didn’t lie… we are in the engineering building,”

 

                “Oh? Am I a project then?”

 

                Yeri laughed, “So you’d consider you accidentally locking us in the janitor’s closet after hours, me doing you?” Yeri teased, pushing Sooyoung’s shoulder playfully.

 

                “Well we were getting there before you freaked out…” Sooyoung grumbled unintelligibly.

 

                “What was that?” Yeri asked.

 

                “Nothing,”

 

                “Well, now I guess we know why no one has come to rescue us yet,” Yeri said sitting back down in frustration.

 

                “I said I’m sorry! Like a thousand times! How could I have known the door would lock automatically behind me?”

 

                “I had it propped for a reason!” Yeri exclaimed, “And I told you, I’m not mad, I’m just… stressed,” She pulled her knees to her chest and tucked her head into them.

 

                Sooyoung was at a loss. She didn’t know what to do. Should she comfort her? Give her space? This was not how she’d expected to spend her night. She’d expected to confess, maybe have a little fun in the closet before taking Yeri back to her place and then they could be cuddling in bed during this storm instead of choking on her confession when Yeri heard the closet door click behind her.

 

                She awkwardly extended her hand to pat Yeri on the back, “There, there,” she tried her best to sooth the younger girl, “If it makes you feel any better this isn’t exactly how I’d hoped to spend my day either,”

 

                “I just—really have to get this project done. My dad is trusting me to help him redesign the new wing of the subway and I really don’t want to let him down,”

 

                “Maybe I can help, I’m majoring in architecture with a focus on commercial,”

 

                “Really? Because that would be such a huge help!” Yeri exclaimed excitedly

 

                “Absolutely,” Sooyoung beamed at Yeri.

 

                “God, I could kiss you,” Yeri exhaled in relief.

 

                “Then kiss me,” Sooyoung shrugged. Now that’s how I planned on spending my day.

               

                ~

 

                “Good morning Miet—” Dahyun started to say loudly when Mina finally blinked open her eyes.

 

                Mina immediately clamped a hand over and Dahyun’s eyes widened in surprise at the quickness of the action. Mina’s expression shifted to a shy smile before she replaced her hand with her lips and lazily kissed her girlfriend good morning.

 

                “Oh yeah… that’s a much better way to say ‘good morning’,” Dahyun sighed after she finally broke away.

 

                Mina giggled, “Would’ve been better last night… you know sans morning breath and all,”

 

                “I—but—I didn’t want—I thought you might—I got nervous ok,” Dahyun spluttered. She hadn’t let Mina kiss her goodnight last night and Mina still apparently hadn’t let that go.

 

                “Dahyun, you don’t have to be nervous, it’s just me. The same person I was before we started dating. You don’t have to be afraid to kiss me,”

 

                “Yeah, but we were in your bed and I just—it could have been—I don’t want to let you down,” Dahyun whined, hiding her face in the pillow.

 

                “You won’t let me down Dahyun. It’s just kissing. It doesn’t have to be anything more… not until you’re ready,”

 

                “But what if I can’t—what if I can’t do it properly… what if I can’t do it at all?”

 

                “Dahyun, it’s ok. I’m not in a rush to do anything… I would like to be able to kiss my girlfriend goodnight without worrying about making you feel uncomfortable though,”

 

                “I’m sorry…” she paused and in her silence Mina took her hand supportively, “How do you do it? How do you do it?”

 

                “Dahyunnie… I haven’t had either,” Mina admitted.

 

                “Oh…”

 

                “Yeah, so we’re in this together ok, we go at the pace your comfortable with,”

 

                “Oh my God that makes me feel so much more at ease now… I think I want to try kissing you again,”

 

                “Then maybe you should,” Mina smirked.

 

                Just as Dahyun was leaning in to kiss Mina, her phone startled her by ringing out of the blue. She let out a groan at having been interrupted before checking it.

 

[Incoming call from Mom]

 

                “Uhh… I better get this—she’s probably worrying about where I am because of the storm and all,”

 

                ~

 

                “Yah, are you guys texting without me?”

 

                “How do you even know? You left your phone in the other room,” Somi pointed out.

 

                “Oh , yeah I did,” Chaeyoung said scurrying back to her room to get her phone.

 

                “Yeri went to class,” Yang Yang called, as he yawned and leaned his head on Somi’s shoulder.

 

                “I’m torn between calling her responsible for going to class and irresponsible for braving the storm,” Chaeyoung replied, not looking up from her phone, noticing she had two missed calls from Dahyun already this morning.

 

                “No, apparently she spent the night there,” Somi shrugged.

 

                “That’s really weird,” Chaeyoung said only half paying attention to the conversation, “Hold on guys I need to see what Dahyun needs,”

 

                “The little panic gay that you met at the subway the other day?” Heejin asked casually.

 

                "Not everyone can be a confident gay like you," Somi scoffed sarcastically, pushing Heejin teasingly.

 

                “Yep, that’s the one… she’s actually doing a lot better lately though I think,” Chaeyoung said, before Dahyun picked up and she shifted her focus to the phone call.

 

                “H—hello?”

 

                “Yo, Dubs, what’s up? Just saw your missed calls,”

 

                “Ch—Chaeyoung! M—my parents said I should move out,” Dahyun stuttered.

 

                “What? I’ll kick their asses! I can’t believe they’d kick you out! If they don’t accept you, then them. You can come live with me. I have an extra room. I’ll take care of you Dubs, I’ll be your new mommy,”

 

                She heard giggling that didn’t match Dahyun’s voice on the other end, but she didn’t question it. She was just concerned for her friend.

 

                “Wh—what? Chaeyoung, they didn’t kick me out… they were totally cool actually. They j—just figured that now that I have a g—girlfriend, I should move out so I can have m—more freedom. You know… to be with her and stuff,” Dahyun answered chuckling slightly.

 

                “Oh… well congrats I guess,” Chaeyoung answered.

 

                “I uhh… I will take you up on that extra room offer though, if you’ll have me?” Dahyun asked.

 

                “Yeah of course! But wait if it’s good news… why does it sound like you’re stuttering so much? Did you go out in the storm and catch a cold?”

 

                “N—No reason… wh—why do you—oh fffff Mina!” Dahyun shouted. Chaeyoung could hear what she now knew to be Mina’s muffled laughter on the other end.

 

                “Oh my God, DUBS!” GROSS. She hung up with half a mind to send Dahyun a very strongly worded text message later telling her never to answer her phone while she was having ever again.

 

                ~

 

                “Stop, stop, stop!” Dahyun back pedaled, and Mina’s head shot up instantly, halting the kisses she was placing on Dahyun’s abdomen, “I—I’m not ready yet, I’m sorry,”

 

                “No, no, I’m sorry! Was it too much? I know you were on the phone, but… I guess I got a little carried away,”

 

                “No, I loved it… but it just feels kind of weird,” Dahyun said hugging her bare torso unconsciously.

 

                “Weird bad? Like you weren’t ? What do you mean?” Mina asked, face reddening in self-consciousness.

 

                “N—no not that. I was definitely … but maybe a little too much. You’re still fully clothed, like shouldn’t I be doing something? I kind of feel like I’m not supposed to just be sitting here while you go down on me. C—could I maybe take your shirt off?” Dahyun reached forward and started to thumb Mina’s button as if she was waiting for permission.

 

                Mina scooted out of reach instantly, “NO—I mean, I just… feel a bit self conscious about my body. I’d prefer to keep my clothes on,”

 

                “O—Ok… but how can I umm… help you out then? I want you to feel good too,” Dahyun asked nervously.

 

                “Give me your hand,” She said taking Dahyun’s hand and guiding it to her waistband, “Are you sure?” Mina asked.

 

                Dahyun gulped, before nodding her assent, and Mina guided her hand into her PJ shorts. No going back now.

 

                ~

 

                Nayeon her fingers slowly and teasingly before leaning back down to kiss a blissed-out Jeongyeon’s lips and share her taste.

 

                “God, I love rainy days,” Jeongyeon moaned into her kiss.

 

                “The rain actually cleared up about twenty minutes ago silly,” Nayeon teased.

 

                “, does that mean we have to go to practice then?”

 

                “Oh , I hadn’t even thought about that,” Nayeon agreed, flopping back down on the bed next to Jeongyeon, “Let me check my emails,”

 

                ~

 

                “Get ready,” Jihyo said, throwing the door open to reveal Rosé spooning Jennie comfortably in her bed.

 

                “What? No, don’t make us go to practice, please,” Jennie begged untangling herself from Rosé’s arms and following Jihyo out of the room.

 

                “Coach Moon’s orders not mine… I was a little busy myself too, believe me!” Jihyo answered as she slipped her rash guard on over her shin guard.

 

                Jennie groaned in frustration, “Remind me why I play this sport?”

 

                “Because it makes you look hot,” Rosé said, coming out of the room, nose buried in her phone, “We’ve got practice too, Nayeon just texted everyone,”

 

                ~

 

                Sana was dressed in her pink crop top, and cute rain boots or whatever she’d said she was going to wear when she made that lame excuse about checking the roof for leaks. She told herself she was going to do just that… so she couldn’t quite explain how her ear ended up pressed to Tzuyu’s door as she desperately tried to figure out if the younger girl was home or not.

 

                That’s how when Tzuyu opened the door, Sana nearly came toppling into the apartment.

 

                “I was just checking for leaks,”

 

                “In my door?”

 

                “Tzuyu—"

 

                “I uhh—I’m actually kind of in a hurry,” The girl, halfway dressed in her practice attire excused before jogging off down the hall.

 

                “Damnit,” Sana cursed under her breath. She pulled out her phone and checked her notifications.

 

[15:00] Cap’n Munch: Practice is on. Be @ the pitch @ 4

               

                ~

 

                “Jeong, let’s go, you can change when we get there,” Nayeon whined.

 

                “We’re here, why not change now?” Jeongyeon shrugged as she pulled her practice jersey on.

 

                “Because I don’t want to be late!” Nayeon huffed.

 

                “Just let me find my cleats and we can go,”

 

                “Do NOT put those on in my apartment,”

 

                Jeongyeon rolled her eyes as she grabbed the shoes out of her bag, “Yes ma’am,” Jeongyeon mocked.

 

                “Fine, you wanna be late? Let’s be late, see if I care when Jihyo kicks you off the team,” Nayeon grumbled, crossing her arms.

 

                “Babe—babe, come on, I’m ready now. Don’t be like this, we can leave now,” Jeongyeon pleaded.

 

                Nayeon wouldn’t look at her.

 

                “Ok… I guess I’ll just leave you here then,” Jeongyeon said overdramatically.

 

                “Jeongie!” Nayeon whined, “Stop being mean to me!”

 

                “Nay, what do you want?” Jeongyeon laughed, “Do you want to go or do you want to stay?”

 

                “Go,” Nayeon said in a small voice.

 

                “Ok, then let’s go. After you, my lady,” Jeongyeon said gesturing to the door.

 

                Nayeon’s pout turned into an embarrassed smile as she felt herself falling for Jeongyeon’s chivalry. She much preferred when her girlfriend acted like this than when she .

 

                ~

 

                “Uhh Byulyi-ssi, Joohyun-ssi, what a… surprise?” Chaeyoung asked as she exited the art studio, backpack slung over one shoulder in haste. Somi had informed her that field hockey practice was back on and that meant she had to be there too taking pictures.

 

                “In a rush to get somewhere?” Joohyun asked suspiciously.

 

                “N—no I—”

 

                “Great, because we have a favour to ask,” Byulyi said clapping her hands together excitedly.

 

                “You know the mural of the school’s logo that’s on the floor in the center of the home locker room?” Joohyun asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

 

                “Uhh… no? Can’t say I’ve ever had a reason to go in there before,”

 

                “It’s like a sacred icon, everyone knows not to step on it… or at least we thought they did until we were doing a sweep of the lockers and noticed it’s pretty scuffed,”

 

                “Because your idiot jocks like to smack it with their sticks for good luck,” Joohyun scoffed.

 

                “I know for certain I saw your cheerleaders barraging it with anything they could find when the frogs were hopping over it!” Byulyi exclaimed.

 

                “Anyway… it needs a touch up,” Joohyun stated.

 

                “Like… right now,” Byulyi pleaded.

 

                “Right now?” Chaeyoung asked bewildered.

 

                “Yeah, you said you didn’t have anywhere to be,” Joohyun reminded.

 

                “Well, aside from taking pictures of practice, but I’ll give you a pass on that today. It’s like industrial paint or whatever so they keep it in the maintenance closet next door… what’s that building called?” Byulyi asked, trying to think.

 

                Joohyun snorted, “The engineering building? Figures you never had any classes there,”

 

                “You’re one to talk, pretty sure sport’s management is a more legitimate major than fine arts,” Byulyi scoffed.

 

                “Whatever,” Joohyun, said turning her nose up, away from Byulyi.

 

                “Umm isn’t practice about to start though?” Chaeyoung pointed out.

 

                “Oh , she’s right,” Joohyun cursed, “If I leave those girls unattended too long things start to get weird,” and she ran off in the direction of the field hockey pitch, Byulyi following close behind.

 

                “Guess I’m repainting the locker room today,” Chaeyoung grumbled to herself.

 

                ~

 

                There were no janitors in sight, so she hoped the closet wasn’t locked as she tried the handle. It wasn’t locked, in fact the lights were on signaling someone had been here recently… or in this case was still here.

 

                “S—should I—”

 

                “Y—yes. God yes!” Yeri cried out.

 

                Chaeyoung’s head instantly shot up as she noticed her friend in a not-so-PG position with none other than Park Sooyoung, “What the Yerm!” Chaeyoung stumbled forward covering her eyes.

 

                “Don’t let the door close!” Sooyoung and Yeri both shouted in tandem.

 

                Chaeyoung blindly reached behind her and nearly tripped again but managed to stop the door in time.

 

                “Oh thank God, Chaeng we’ve been trapped in here all night. I think the Janitors had the day off or something,”

 

                “Yeah because it was literally monsooning outside until about an hour ago,” Chaeyoung grumbled, peeking through her fingers.

 

                “I’m Park Sooyoung,” The other girl finally spoke up.

 

                “I’m aware, now can you please take you hand out of her pants, I’m having a hard time looking at either of you right now,” Chaeyoung asked awkwardly.

 

                “Oh, sorry,” She said shyly, she said retracting her hand and wiping it on her joggers.

 

                Chaeyoung finally lowered her hands and affixed her gaze on Yeri again, “Don’t you two have practice to be getting to?”

 

                “I don’t know, do we?” Yeri said looking at Sooyoung for confirmation, “My phone died a couple hours ago,”

 

                Sooyoung pulled out her phone, “Mine’s dead too,”

 

                “Well both of your coaches enlisted me to repaint the logo and I don’t think they’d willingly be here if they didn’t have to,”

 

                “Crap, I guess—I guess we should go then?” Yeri asked.

 

                “Um yeah… rain check on this then? If you want?”

 

                “We have all the time in the world since we’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on,” Yeri pointed out.

 

                “Good point,” Sooyoung beamed.

 

                “GROSS,” Chaeyoung mimed vomiting.

 

                “Why are you even still here?” Yeri asked, annoyedly.

 

                “I was told there was paint for the logo here,”

 

                “Oh yeah, second shelf,” Sooyoung said pointing at the two cans. She'd had plenty of time to memorize the contents of the closet last night.

 

                “Thanks,”

 

                ~

 

                “U—Unnie,” Tzuyu finally spoke up. Most everyone had shown up to practice already dressed, but Tzuyu was running late and didn’t have that luxury. She had to finish changing in the locker room that smelled strongly of paint.

 

                “Yes, my dear?” Nayeon said, slowly looking up from her phone and then doing a double take. Did Tzuyu just call me ‘unnie’? and did I seriously just respond with ‘yes my dear,’??

 

                “Uhm… ok wow,” Tzuyu said taking a deep breath, “You’re like pretty close with Sana, right?”

 

                Nayeon snorted, “Better than you apparently, I heard you’ve been avoiding her?”

 

                “I’m not avoiding her! Before Tuesday our paths never crossed, so why am I suddenly avoiding her if I haven’t gone out of my way to talk to her in a couple days?”

 

                “Hmmm… interesting point,” Nayeon pondered, “Anyways, what did you want?”

 

                She hadn’t expected Nayeon to actually take her excuse, so her sudden change of pace took Tzuyu off guard, “I—well—just—what’s her deal? Why is she… you know… Sana?”

 

                Nayeon hummed in contemplation, “Why does she so desperately seek acceptance and validation? Why she so badly needs to be needed, but at the same time terrified to give herself to anyone else?”

 

                “Uhh… yeah?” Tzuyu answered, mulling over the words Nayeon had put to it.

 

                “She wasn’t always like that,” Nayeon started.

 

                “So I’ve been told,” Tzuyu grumbled.

 

                Nayeon shot her a glare, “You should just ask her. Normally I’d love to gossip, but I wasn’t there, and she’s never told me the full story… and lately I’ve been starting to question the story I always thought was true,”

 

                “I’ve tried… but like you said, she never wants to tell the full story. Just that people say she slept with the entire field hockey team in high school and that’s how she got her reputation,” Tzuyu explained, “It was all really vague,”

 

                “Oh…” Nayeon trailed off in thought, “She didn’t say any more than that?”

 

                “Not really,” Tzuyu said awkwardly shifting, “I didn’t want to press her,”

 

                “You’re friends with Dahyun, right?” Nayeon asked suddenly.

 

                “Yeah, kinda… why?”

 

                “Does Sana know that?”

 

                “I don’t know… maybe?”

 

                “Hmm…”

 

                “What does that mean?”

 

                “I think—maybe go ask Dahyun,”

 

                “Ask Dahyun what?”

 

                “The same question you asked me,” Nayeon said simply, “The only other person who would know the story as well as her would be Momo, and Momo is too loyal to Sana to ever spill… trust me I’ve tried. She just pleads ignorance, but I know she knows. Momo and Sana tell each other everything. They practically share one brain cell!” Nayeon scoffed, rolling her eyes.

 

                “Wait, wait, wait, go back, what?”

 

                “They do! Probably because they sleep together every night and like osmosis, you know? Man, I could never live with Sana… I love cuddling—don’t get me wrong—but with the right person. Tch—imagine Momo hooking up with someone and Sana trying to cuddle,” She shuddered at the thought.

 

                “No, the other thing—but wait, Sana and Momo sleep together every night?”

 

                Nayeon snorted, “What? You thought you were special?”

 

                “No, but I—”

 

                “Relax, it’s platonic. Sana has chronic somnambulism,” Nayeon said, “She’s always been like this. Searching for a warm body at night,”

 

                “A warm body…”

 

                “Yeah, that’s all it is. She probably gets cold at night or something,”

 

                “Oh…”

 

                ~

 

                “Dahyun-ah, I didn’t do it,” Sana sobbed, “Please believe me… I love you,”

 

                Dahyun played the voicemail Sana had left her Saturday morning again for the hundredth time and cried silent tears. What did Sana not do? Dahyun had skipped school Monday because she was feeling sick and couldn’t bare to see Chaeyoung angrily glare at her, or Sana’s hurt puppy eyes.

 

                Dahyun logged onto Instagram and went to Sana’s page. She hadn’t unfollowed her yet. Her last post was from today at lunch. The picture was a selfie of Sana with her makeup done beautifully in her school uniform. Nayeon was doing a peace sign in the background, and Momo looked surprised with food in .

 

[Instagram Post] shibasana96: the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else… or someone(s) 😉 (caption creds: @nayeon-bunny)

[Instagram Comment] momochine: delete! I wasn’t ready!

[Instagram Comment] nayeon-bunny: love this and you!

[Instagram Comment] lee.sunmi: cute uniform :P had fun with you Friday too

 

                Did she mentioned she hated this dumb app? She closed out of it and dialed voicemail again. She was about to play Sana’s message one more time when there was a knock on the door, “Dahyun honey, would you like some dinner?”

 

                Dahyun jolted into action, fumbling to hit the delete button, “N—no, I’m not hungry,” she croaked, her voice hoarse from crying all day.

 

                ~

 

                “Um, hi, Son Chaeyoung, Dahyun’s best friend. I think I may be able to help,” Chaeyoung introduced herself once Nayeon was gone,

 

                Tzuyu looked around but didn’t instantly see anyone.

 

                “Hey, eyes down here,” Chaeyoung called, from her position sitting cross-legged on the floor by the school logo. “If I’m going to help you though, in return you have to promise me you won’t ask Dahyun? I think she’s just starting to get better after her incident, and I’d rather not reopen the wound with more prying questions,”

 

                “I’m going to be late to practice—we have a game tomorrow,”

 

                “Then I’ll give you the abridged version,” Chaeyoung said, “Sana and Dahyun used to date… well kinda, before Dahyun came out to Sana as straight, told her that she never actually liked her and that she was a mistake. This broke Sana’s heart… and quite frankly, my heart too. I stood up for Sana, so Dahyun and I sort of parted on bad terms. After that incident, everyone said Sana lost her innocence – and well Dahyun kind of lost her light too, but that’s another tangent. Anyway, I think you already know how the rest of Sana’s story goes… but this should at least clear up your question. Do you have a crush on her or something?”

 

                Suddenly it all made sense to Tzuyu. Sana is afraid to give herself to anyone because she’s afraid to have her heart broken. She needs attention and to know that people like her because she’s terrified of feeling unloved or unwanted. She seeks acceptance and validation because she’s been denied before. She values the truth so much because she knows what its like to be on the wrong side of a lie. It was all coming together, but suddenly Tzuyu wasn’t sure if she was the best fit in Sana’s puzzle anymore. Tzuyu needed someone who didn’t play games, someone who could commit, and Sana didn’t seem ready for that. Besides, this warm body still had some problems of her own to sort out. She needed to put an end to Sana’s game with her before things got too far.

 

                “I—no, of course not,