Hyewon was awakened from her slumber after feeling a series of soft slaps on her arm. She looked around and wondered who would dare to arouse her from her deep sleep. Still blinking her eyes, she looked over her bed and saw a head of almost blonde hair.

 

   “Oh. Hi, unnie,” Hyewon sleepily greeted as she rubbed her eyes. “What time is it?”

 

   The older patted the visual’s shoulder, signaling her to get up, “It’s 6 in the morning, Hyewon. You gotta get up before manager nim gets here.”

 

   “Where are we going, Eunbi unnie?” Hyewon got up and stepped down her bed.

 

   “Don’t you remember?” Hyewon probably did remember, but she’s too tired to use her brainpower. Hyewon’s lack of response answered for her.

 

   “Okay, since you don’t remember, I’ll remind you. We. Are. Doing. A. Photoshoot. For. Our. Comeback.” the leader said these words with a clap for each word. Oh yeah. Photoshoot.

 

   “I remember now. We’re also starting the MV shooting today too, right?”

 

   “You do know!” Hyewon laughed and grabbed her clothes. She walked to the bathroom but stopped before entering and looked back at Eunbi.

 

   “C’mon unnie, get ready already! You’re still in your PJs and you’re telling me to get ready?”

 

   Eunbi looked down at her attire and flushed red with embarrassment. “Y-yah! Stop talking and get ready!”

 

   Hyewon laughed one last time before closing the bathroom door. 

 

   Eunbi calmed her red face down before heading out of the room to continue cooking for the girls. She hasn’t even made it out of the room before she is interrupted by a certain puppy girl. 

 

   “Unnie, what the heck was that?” Yujin questioned.

 

   The dancer was confused, “What was ‘what’?”

 

   Yujin motioned at her and the bathroom door, and Eunbi understood what the younger was saying. And that immediately brought back the heat from her cheeks.

 

  “It just me and, uh, Hyewon bantering in our… own way?” her statement came out more of a question instead of an answer.

 

  Yujin didn’t believe her, “Uh-huh….”

 

  “I should be asking you the same thing!” Yujin looked confused. “What about you and Minjoo?”

 

  Yujin’s eyes went wide and she peered behind her, and there behind her was Minjoo with her eyes even wider than the puppy girl. Eunbi thinks that she might’ve messed up, but hey the girls needed a push, right?

 

  “I, uh, unnie…. E-ehehehe….” Yujin mumbled with a face that resembled that of Clifford the big red dog. She escaped the scene without sparing the girl who has the likeness of a frog a single glance. That said girl also had a heavy blush and excused herself to her and Yujin’s shared room. Eunbi just sighed and went back to cooking.

 

   Hyewon got out of the bathroom, fully changed, and smelled the wonderful aroma of food that greeted her. She peeked out of the bedroom and saw that Eunbi wasn’t done with cooking, but the scent in the air signified that she was almost done. She checked the charge on the company flip phone that was situated on the counter, and then proceeded to sit down on the nearest bed (which happened to be Eunbi’s).

 

   She examined the leader’s bed. There was nothing special about all of their beds. All had the same sheets and pillows, but the members have found a way to personalize their seemingly bare and boring beds. They had put pictures of themselves on the walls or bedposts near their bed, and they put posters and decorations of things that they liked.

 

   Hyewon looked at the photos that Eunbi put up. There were photos of her from their Produce 48 days. Eunbi was making a heart with her hands, and she thought it was cute. She remembers how much she’s grown during that show. She went from the girl who botched her first evaluation and sang too quietly, to the girl who became the Innocent Rapper of IZ*ONE. Her mind kept wandering and wandering until she felt her eyes getting heavy. Soon enough, she laid down and closed her eyes.

 

   The younger girls in the dorm were already changed and hanging out in the living room. Eunbi went into her room to change and was surprised by an image of an innocent angel asleep on her bed.

 

   Her breath hitched as examined the literal sleeping beauty in front of her. Said beauty was holding a photo, a photo of Eunbi during Produce 48 to be precise, near her face. Her lashes spilled over her cheeks, her chest softly fluttering with every breath that came from her slightly open mouth. Eunbi held her hand up and caressed the younger’s cheek. She felt her heart warm.

 

   “Psst! Unnie!” someone from the door whispered. Eunbi looked up, away from Hyewon’s face, and at the person who broke her from her trance. It was Yena.

 

   The duck girl held up her fists in an encouraging way and whisper-yelled, “Go get ‘er our Confident Gay unnie! Hwaiting!”

 

    Eunbi almost lost it there and laughed, almost. But she remembered that her hand was still on Hyewon’s cheeks, so she held it in and glared at Yena’s retreating figure. Wait… what did she say?

 

   Go get ‘er our Confident Gay unnie!

 

   The leader felt her face explode, “W-what….” She was gonna slap that duckling later, but first, she had to compose herself.

 

   “U-unnie?” Eunbi looked down and saw Hyewon with a confused and sleepy expression. Cute.

 

   Hyewon tilted her head, “Cute? And why is your hand on my cheek?” Eunbi, for the fourth time this morning, blushed like a tomato, however, this one made it to her ears. She quickly withdrew her hand and sat on them as if to prevent it from doing anything else. She said “cute” out loud?

 

   “I-uh. Uhmm….” the almost blonde girl tried to explain her actions without sounding pathetic. Hyewon suddenly shot up, fully awake and looking a little bit flustered, “You’re here so you can change clothes right?” The taller of the two got up from the bed and bowed repeatedly. “I’m so sorry, unnie! I was just thinking and I fell asleep and I…” Hyewon slowly tipped her head down and gazed at the photo in her hand.

 

   “Did I sleep with this in my hand?” Eunbi nodded. “Oh jeez, I’m so sorry unnie!” Hyewon fumbled with the photo as she tried to give the older her picture back.

 

   "No, it's okay, Hyewon-ah. You...uh. You can keep it," Eunbi said while scratching the back of her neck.

 

   “U-uh…. ThankyouunnieI’mverygrateful,” she said - more like rapped - quietly while a blush crept up her on her cheeks. “I’m… gonna go in the living room with the others so you can get changed,” Hyewon got up and excused herself out of the room.

 

   “Oh!” Eunbi sounded like she remembered something, “Breakfast is ready so you can eat. Can you tell the others for me?”

 

   “I will, unnie.”

 

   Yena was playing on her phone while waiting for her turn to get her makeup done. She could spend her time talking to the other members and discuss the ever-growing burdens of adulthood, but she would rather not sit in between the flirting of her members. She wouldn’t want to be the second third wheel of the group, along with Chaewon.

 

   She was doing really well on her game until she got to a difficult level that made her quit it entirely. The duckling sighed and threw her phone down beside her. In a matter of seconds, she was bored again and wished that she asked Yuri to bring her Nintendo Switch. Oh, wait, Sakura has her Switch with her. She looked around the room, searching for a certain blonde with hair reaching the base of her neck. She spotted her on the other side of the room with a seemingly dazed look on her face. Maybe she was asleep with her eyes open. Again.

 

   Yena walked over to the second oldest and sat down next to her, “Unnie!” Sakura looked over at the newly arrived girl.

 

   “Welcome to my humble couch. What do you need?” the Japanese woman questioned, obviously awake.

 

   “I thought you were sleeping with your eyes open,” Yena laughed while eyeing the Switch near the visual. "Because you looked dazed. You were kinda just staring over there at Chaeyeon. Oh. OH… I see, unnie."

 

   Sakura panicked and tried to make up an excuse, "I wasn't… looking over there I swear. Even if she looks amazing." She mumbled the last part.

 

   "What was that you just said, unnie," the duck teased, wiggling her eyebrows.

 

    Sakura blushed, her makeup making it look endearing and cute. "I-I wasn't looking at her, okay." Yena scoffed at that statement. Sakura looked for an excuse and spotted Eunbi gazing at Hyewon, who happened to be in the chair next to Chaeyeon.

 

   "I was looking at Eunbi unnie and how she's looking at Hyewon. It's very…" she trailed off.

 

   "Familiar?" Yena suggested.

 

   "Kind of? It's more like deja vu, I guess."

 

   "It's familiar for me because I see it in the dorm all the time."

 

   "Because of you and Yuri, right?"

 

   Yena felt her cheeks burn, "N-no no no! I-it's because I see the same look from Yujin and Hyewon whenever we're playing and sometimes one of them would look up away from the game and stare at something - or someone. And it always ended up being Minjoo or Eunbi."

 

    Sakura thought her head might explode with all this information, "Oh wow."

 

   "Yena! It's your turn on the chair!" Hyewon called Yena.

 

   Yena's mouth visibly dropped, "I didn't even get to play on Saku-chan's Switch!" Sakura smacked her on the shoulder, albeit weakly.

 

   "Yah! Was that the only reason why you came over here!"

 

   "I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me!" Yena yelped as she ran towards the makeup artist and hid behind her.

 

    "Yena, let's get it done so you have more time to play on the Switch," said the makeup artist.

 

    The main rapper physically perked up and plopped into the chair and cheered. She sat still and waited patiently for the process to get started.

 

   Hyewon strolled to Eunbi and sat herself down next to her. The entire time she felt the eldest's eyes on her but she couldn't bring herself to return the gaze back at her. The reason wasn't that she was embarrassed about the attention that's being directed to her. In fact, she welcomed it and would return it in an instant, but she's hungry. Yeah, she was hungry. She wanted to spare no energy to look up, and would rather spend the remaining of her energy on eating to regain her strength.

 

   As if sensing Hyewon's dilemma, Eunbi spoke up, "Hyewon-ah, are you hungry?"

 

   Hyewon finally looked up, despite losing a significant amount of energy from that one motion, "Yes, unnie, I am."

 

   Eunbi looked away while covering her cheeks with one hand and the other taking Hyewon's, "L-let's go. Let's get food at the snack table and bring some back for the others."

 

   Hyewon beamed at the leader and for some reason, the older squeaked.

 

   "Unnie you sounded like a bunny just then," she giggled and then softly added, "it's very fitting for you."

 

   Eunbi hit Hyewon and looked away, dragging the visual to the snack table, away from the eyes of the others who could use this interaction as blackmail. Hyewon could've sworn she saw some pink on Eunbi's cheeks, and she smiled inwardly because of it.

 

   "EUNBI UNNIE HWAITING" came a shout from the one and only duck.

 

   If Hyewon wasn't sure that Eunbi was blushing before, she was sure now. The leader, with her full red face glory, poked her head in the makeshift makeup room and yelled just a single word.

 

   "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!"

 

   Yena could be heard snickering in the makeup chair, and Chaeyeon, who was cuddling with Sakura, was awoken from her slumber.

   Eunbi just dragged Hyewon, who was confused but nevertheless laughing, out to the snack table in a crimson faced defeat. Eunbi grabbed a black bean soy milk from the table and stabbed the straw in rather violently and then proceeded to aggressively slurp it. Hyewon just chuckled at the angry bunny in front of her and picked up a choco pie and munched on it. In just fifteen seconds, she finished her snack and scanned the table for something new to attack. Her gaze landed on the bunches of Pepero packs on one of the ends of the table. She snatched one, but before she could get another Eunbi spoke.

 

   “We should bring back some food for the others before they wonder where we are.”

 

   Hyewon tilted her head in extreme confusion, “Why would they wonder where we are?”

 

   “I don’t know…? I just feel like they’ll make a big deal out of something that doesn’t exist,” the older said with her head down. Hyewon smiled and knew exactly why the other was acting like this, and she decided to play around for a bit.

 

   “And what would they make a big deal out of?” the visual asked, taking a step toward her unnie. “What else could they think we’re doing?” taking another step.

 

   Eunbi met her eyes but was frozen. “U-uh… Uhm. W-what a-are you doing?” she questioned, but Hyewon knew that the other knew what she was doing. She was probably looking for a reason why the younger was doing it.

 

   “I’m just asking, unnie. Is there a problem with that?" Hyewon got closer to Eunbi’s face. She could see tiny beads of sweat forming on the dancer’s forehead, and her eyes weren’t holding her gaze anymore, they were darting everywhere, looking at anything but the girl in front of her. She could feel the older's hot breath from being only inches away, and she was sure that Eunbi could feel her breath too.

 

   It seemed like forever before Hyewon moved away, fearing that the other's makeup would get messed up because of the sweat that was threatening to spill down her forehead. She smiled and patted the older's shoulder, but she could swear that Eunbi looked almost disappointed.

 

   "Come on, unnie. Let's get the snacks to them before they start the photoshoot, and you know, wondering where we are," she stated, winking at the last part.

 

   "O-oh okay…."

 

   "We've come bearing snacks!"

 

   Chaeyeon looked up at the newcomers and immediately hung at the amount of food that Hyewon had in just her bare hands. Eunbi, of course, had some snacks but not nearly as much as the other girl. Everyone who wasn't on the makeup chairs, which was everyone except Yujin, Chaewon, and Nako, went up and grabbed some snacks from the chair that Hyewon and Eunbi put the food on.

 

   Chaeyeon grabbed a Pepero pack and walked back to her seat and started eating and waited for Sakura to come back and sit next to her. However, instead of the cherry blossom girl, she found the other main dancer of the group next to her.

 

   "Hey, Eunbi unnie what's up?"

 

   Eunbi seemed like something was bothering her and was hesitant to tell the younger her thoughts, "You won't tell the others this, okay? At least until I think I'm ready."

 

   "Okay, unnie. Whatever it is, you can trust me. Tell me when you're ready," Chaeyeon stated with honesty, ready to protect and support her unnie.

 

   Eunbi took a deep breath and whispered into the other's ears, "I think I'm not straight… and I think I might like Hyewon. More than just a friend."

 

   Chaeyeon didn't expect the eldest to tell her that so bluntly, but for some reason, she didn't seem surprised by this news. Not knowing how to reply, she said, "We've been knew?"

 

   "Yah!" the older yelled, regretting it later after hearing how loud she was. "What do you mean 'we've been knew'?"

 

    "I mean it was kinda obvious, you know. For starters, the looks you give each other we're dead giveaways," Chaeyeon shrugged.

 

   Eunbi shook the other girl, "What do you mean 'give each other'? Are you telling me she looks at me, too?"

 

   "I dunno, unnie. Ask her yourself."

 

   "No! I can't. You know that."

 

   "Okay, okay. How about we talk about this later and just eat."

 

   "Okay, sure."

 

   The younger offered a Pepero to the leader, which she promptly accepted. Chaeyeon joked about playing the Pepero challenge at which the older flushed at the request and politely declined.

 

   Yujin, who had finally gotten off the makeup chair, was ready to eat some snacks but was seriously horrified at the expression that both Hyewon and Sakura had. Instead of the usual talking-about-video-games demeanor they had whenever they were together, they had this watchful and apprehensive look on their faces. Like they were watching something they craved go to someone else.

 

   Yujin finally looked at what they were looking at with such malice, and oh my God she wanted to laugh right on the spot. They were jealous.

 

   "Oh God, why do they look so… I dunno… mad, I guess?"

 

   Yujin looked around and realized that she should've been looking down because the voice belonged to Nako.

 

   "They're jealous," Yujin said amusedly.

 

   "Of Eunbi unnie and Chaeyeon unnie?" Yujin nodded. "Wait but why? Is Hyewon unnie jealous of Eunbi?"

 

   Yujin sighed, trying to explain to the Japanese girl, "Ok, unnie. It looks like you need to learn some ships here."

 

   "I do? But I know Ssambbang/Chaetomi."

 

   "That's great, unnie. It's a start but you gotta let me finish, okay?"

 

   "Alright."

 

   "Ok so, Hyewon unnie is actually jealous of Chaeyeon unnie because she likes our precious leader. Now Sakura unnie is jealous of Eunbi unnie because she likes Feather Lee Chaeyeon."

 

   "Oooooh…."

 

   "We have 'Hyebi/Kangbi' which is Eunbi+Hyewon. And we have Chaekura/Kkuchaeng which is… okay, so you get the idea."

 

   "Wow, I didn't think I could learn from a dongsaeng." Yujin smiled proudly at her extensive ship knowledge. "So then that means you and Minjoo are 'Jinjoo' right?"

 

   The puppy suddenly choked.

 

   "W-what!?" she stuttered.

 

   "Nevermind, you big puppy."

 

   Hyewon didn't get to talk to Eunbi much because of the hectic state of the photoshoot. Every time a new member was being photographed, the staff, and some members of the group, helped change up the set a bit. One of those members who helped with the moving was Eunbi. The rest of the group would've assisted too but the staff insisted on only taking three people at a time as to not tire all of them out. Eunbi and Chaeyeon, however, decided that they would always volunteer at every opportunity they got.

 

   "Eunbi unnie, you should stop helping out for a bit," Chaeyeon suggested while carrying a bucket of props.

 

   Eunbi hefted a box that was going to be used later as a seat for the group photo, "Why? Do you think I'm too old?."

 

   "Oh my Jesus, no! You're like… one of the strongest people here," the younger dancer said, shaking her head. "It's just that it's almost your turn to get your photos done."

 

   The leader cocked her head to the side, not understanding what the other was implying, "And? I don't get it."

 

   Chaeyeon sighed, "You don't want to look messy in your photos, right? The more stuff you do the more tired-looking and sweaty you get."

 

   "Oh my God, you're right," Eunbi gasped as she dropped the box she was carrying. "Why don't you stop too? It's your turn after me anyway."

 

   "Eh, true I guess. Okay, I'll take a break."