Chaeyoung had always been scared of the dark.

She didn't know when the phobia started (nor did she know why); all she knew was that she'd do absolutely anything to avoid darkness.

Perhaps that why Chaeyoung was such a 'light' person herself: in order to balance out the darkness, that is. Heaven and Hell, Yin and Yang, one could not exist without the other━ otherwise there would be no purpose to any of it.

It was an equal balance.

Yet for some reason, Chaeyoung didn't find herself in fear of the dark on the gloomy night of the 11th February, 2015 as lightning flashed and thunder crackled. Perhaps it was with the newfound, short-lived confidence of her freshly blossomed adult-hood. But that wasn't the reason. It couldn't have been.

It had taken a long time for Chaeyoung to realise the true manner behind what had given her that feeling of invincibility━ and she wished she hadn't.

It turns out that it was not the two flames atop the candles in the shapes of a one and an eight, nor was it the crack of the moon that peeked shyly through the slightly opened curtains. Infact, it was the fire inside Chaeyoung's soul when she felt Jennie link her hand with her own.

It wasn't a nice feeling at the start (it made her feel ever so cold and sweaty at first), but after a reassuring squeeze Chaeyoung felt her whole world set alight as it burst into flames. Not dangerous flames, of course. No feeling as good as the one she felt at the time could possibly cause destruction. It was more of a warm flame: the type you felt when you knelt infront of a fire in the midst of Winter, the heat soothing your aching bones and limbs from the cold you'd been through just before.

The warmth Chaeyoung had felt at that moment had lit a candle in her mind, one brightening even the darkest corners of her soul and showing her endless possibilities.

For a year, Chaeyoung slept without a night-light━ so long as Jennie was by her side, of course. She still couldn't stand the dark, but being there with someone as comforting as the Kim made it bearable.

Until the lights were for all of them.

It had been a year, and it was now the 11th of February, 2016. It was a normal February: cold, wet, and surrounded by darkness. Yet this time, it was not just Jennie and Chaeyoung in the house. Unlike previous years where Jennie was to be the one guiding her to her surprise party, where Jisoo, Lisa, her friends and family, all waited for her, there was to be no surprise this year.

Instead, the girls, Lisa and Jisoo included, had decided that it would be more fun to bond via playing uno, party games and watching horror movies, all whilst in the dark,"Uno!" Lisa exclaimed, throwing down a +4 card and smirking when Jennie gave her a sour glance, reluctantly picking the cards up,"Your go, Jennie."

Jennie grumbled and threw down a card,"This game is dumb." She huffed, looking at her massive stack of cards in comparison to Lisa's one and Jisoo and Chaeyoung's three or four each.

"That's just because you're losing," Lisa stuck her tongue out playfully, watching as Jisoo placed down another card and took a slice of pizza from the box,"Hey, do you wanna play pocky after this?"

Chaeyoung's head snapped up, her mind immediately disregarding the game of Uno as she thought about all the outcomes that could come out of playing that cursed game. She had remembered her first time ever playing it.

Chaeyoung was quite a late seventeen years old when she had her first kiss. It wasn't exactly a real kiss━ but it was still a kiss. She had been at her best friend's house for a sleepover with a few other mates when her friend had suggested the game. She remembered every moment of the kiss vividly: the way Chaeyoung herself had nervously tucked a strand of her brown hair behind her right━ or was it left?━ ear, the way her friend had interlaced their fingers together as a sign of reassurance and understanding, and finally, and least importantly of the three, the way their lips had barely gotten the chance to skim against one another before her best friend's parents had come in, kicking down the door and asking,"Why on earth is our daughter kissing a girl?!" before ripping the two apart and kicking Chaeyoung out the house.

Chaeyoung hadn't spoken to Sooyoung since then.

So the girl associated pocky with quite a lot of different memories (some fond and others not so much), but she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if she were to play it with someone else.

With Lisa, Chaeyoung thinks that she wouldn't be able to take it seriously. She thinks that if she was to make eye contact for even a second, Lisa would start laughing her off and be too hysterical to continue.

Yet with Jisoo, Chaeyoung thinks that if they were to kiss it would be a real kiss. None of them would laugh, none of them would hold it significantly, it would just be a kiss. A real kiss that was definitely not real.

But with Jennie... Chaeyoung can't even think about how that would pan out. Would they even kiss? Would Jennie chicken out? Hell, would Chaeyoung chicken out? This may or may not be Chaeyoung's only chance to find out.

So, Chaeyoung shrugged and answered with a brief yet clear,"Sure," She placed down a wild card,"Yellow━ pocky might be fun."

Lisa smiled, yet it dropped when she heard Chaeyoung had called for yellow,"Ugh." She groaned, picking up a card from the pile and making her own card count two.

The game swiftly ended after with Jisoo winning, somehow managing to shock everyone as she had an unreadable poker face on throughout the entire game.

"Alright," Lisa spoke, grabbing a box of pocky sticks and opening it,"Who's with who?"

The girls looked between themself, Chaeyoung focusing on Jennie in particular, before turning back to Lisa and shrugging,"How about we pick numbers?" Jisoo suggested.

"Sure."

Whilst Jisoo went to find a pen and paper, the three other girls decided to stir up a conversation. Jennie, being the most socially-blossomed of the trio, decided to start it up,"How are you girls feeling about debuting?"

Lisa shrugged,"I don't know━ I just feel like if we do become big we're going to lose who we are."

"What do you mean?" Asked Jennie, leaning forward ever so slightly.

"Yeah, what do you mean?"

Sighing, Lisa ran a hand through her blonde hair,"I mean, as people, y'know? We're just going to look like these plastic barbie dolls with nothing more to us than a nice body, when really we're more than that━ alot more than that."

Jennie hummed in understanding,"I know, Lis. But I won't let that happen to us. We're going to stay friends forever and we're not going to let anyone change that. Whether I get a boyfriend or we don't get a comeback for years and everyone seems to hate us━ we'll never lose who we are. So long as I have you guys by my side, I know everything will be alright."

Lisa gave Jennie a meek smile, squirming when Jisoo finally came back from the other room,"Jeez," Jisoo exclaimed,"Who died?"

Yet all Lisa gave her was a dreamy smile.

Jisoo shrugged and after a moment of writing down numbers onto strips of papers, the girls quickly grabbed one strip each,"Okay━ so one and two go together and so do three and four."

"I'm one." Lisa finally spoke up, making Jennie abruptly stand up and walking over to her. Chaeyoung let out an inwards sigh, shuffling over to Jisoo and settling next to her.

"Alright. JenLisa will start."

Chaeyoung watched as Lisa grabbed the pocky stick, settling one end in and letting Jennie place the other between her teeth. The two started at eachother, neither daring to make the first move out of either fear or anticipation, and looked eachother dead in the eye.

It seemed like forever before Lisa finally decided to start the game, painfully slowly biting the stick as she neared Jennie's lips. Eventually, Jennie joined in the movement aswell and began to inch her face closer to Lisa's.

For some reason, it hurt Chaeyoung to watch. It was like watching everything she'd ever worked for was snatched from her right infront of her eyes by someone who'd just half-assed it. It was a of luck that Lisa was infront of Jennie instead of Chaeyoung. She'd had a one in three chance of being with Jennie and it seemed like the odds just happened to be in Lisa's favour and not Chaeyoung's own.

She'd never get another chance to kiss Jennie.

Chaeyoung chose to shut her eyes when Jennie and Lisa's lips finally connected. It was if everything was right in the world other than Chaeyoung, and she was defying the universe's wishes by simply existing at that moment.

When Chaeyoung finally heard the sounds of two people panting for breath, she figured it was safe for her to open her eyes. As soon as she