Chapter 3: The Leader

“Wheeinie,” Yongsun said with a soft smile as she opened the door, revealing Wheein who let out a loud laugh at the sight of her leader.

“Unnie! What…what are you wearing?” Wheein continued chuckling as she covered with her hand and entered her friend’s apartment, the nerves and tension that had been building in her mind over the past few hours instantly melting away at the sight of Yong in a chicken suit.

“Just something for Solarsido,” Yong replied nonchalantly with a wave of her hand as she began ping the suit as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Wheein shook her head half-embarassed that the woman wasn’t phased in the slightest about being seen in the outift and took a seat on her couch. Yong slumped down beside her with a dramatic sigh and looked at Wheein through the gap in the hair that had fallen in front of her face. “How are you?”

Yongsun spoke delicately, and Wheein immediately felt a lump return to . “Okay, I think.” Wheein said with a small shrug as she moved to cross her legs underneath her and grabbed a pillow from the couch and hugged it. Yong frowned seriously, then scooted closer to the girl until they both sat cross-legged with their knees touching, and the leader placed a hand lightly on Wheein’s thigh.

“You don’t have to pretend with me, Wheein-ah. You know that, right?” Yongsun asked quietly, and Wheein let out a small shaky breath, praying to every God in existence that her cheeks hadn’t turned their usual shade of bright pink whenever she was around her member, and nodded.

“Why did you need to see me anyway, unnie?” Wheein asked, leaning to rest her head on the couch as she looked at Yong sideways. Yong tilted her head uncomfortably and took a deep breath, suddenly unable to meet Wheein’s wide eyes.

“I…uh…I need you to sign something, and then your father won’t bother you anymore,” Yongsun said as she reached for the stack of papers on her coffee table and gave them to Wheein. Wheein frowned as she read, not able to make sense of the lengthy document, and gave Yong a questioning look. “It’s a contract, I made my lawyer draw it up. She said the only way you could stop your father from using your name is to sue him, but since he has no money and it would mean testifying and risking the press finding out anyway, we came up with a contract.”

Wheein frowned as she thought about what Yongsun was saying, knowing that there weren’t many other options for her, but feeling slightly annoyed that her leader had done all this without consulting her first. “Why didn’t you ask me, first? What if I don’t want other people involved?” Wheein asked, gulping when Yong’s face fell and she shrunk in on herself.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I just wanted to-“

“That’s just it though, isn’t it? You do what you want without asking me first or thinking of the consequences,” Wheein said, her words quiet but heavy as her hands traced random patterns on the cushion she was holding.

“I…What’s this about?” Yongsun questioned, dipping her head to meet Wheein’s eyes and sighing sadly at the sight of Wheein’s big eyes looking up at her with a glassiness that made her heart ache.

“You know what it’s about, unnie…” Wheein said, her voice gaining confidence as she collected her thoughts and spoke carefully. “I don’t want to keep ignoring it, it’s not good for me.”

Yong her lips as she processed what Wheein was saying, trying to steady the forceful beating of her heart against her ribcage. She hadn’t planned on this, and she while she knew Wheein deserved the decency of an explanation, she didn’t know what to say.

“We’ve talked about it already, Wheein-ah. I don’t know what more you want me to say,” Yongsun said.

“We haven’t talked truthfully. Unnie, you kissed me-“

“Yah! What are you saying? It was an accident,” Yong scoffed, but Wheein shook her head firmly.

“No, once while we’re drunk is an accident. Twice when you’re sober is not.” Wheein said, but after noting Yong’s nervous disposition, her words softened. “Look, I’m just confused unnie, I’m not asking you to confess anything or talk about feelings, I just want you to tell me that I’m not crazy.”

Yongsun gulped and looked away from her bandmate, her eyes beginning to fill with unwanted tears. She stood up from the couch and retreated to the kitchen, dabbing underneath her eyes as she went. She heard Wheein’s timid footsteps on the tile floor approaching her, and sighed in defeat when she felt a small hand reach out to take her arm and encourage her to turn around. Wheein didn’t let go of her arm as they faced eachother, and Wheein couldn’t help but try to lighten the mood.

“Don’t cry baby, come on!” Wheein whined playfully, earning a chuckle from the other woman who looked up.

“I’m sorry, Mc Dduk. You know that?” Yongsun asked, squeezing the girl’s hand and biting her lip. “I…I don’t know why we…why I kissed you. I’ve never done that with any of my friends and never a girl and I don’t know why I did it with you.”

Wheein sighed dramatically and flung herself back on the sofa making loud, whiny noises.

“Uh…Wheein-ah? What are you doing?” Yong asked, tilting her head at Wheein’s antics, brows furrowing in confusion.

“I’m letting my emotions control me,” Wheein said as she eyed the older woman from where she lay, blinking widely as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Hyejinie said that I need to let myself feel everything because I don’t do it well.”

“And what are you feeling now?” Yong asked quietly, almost fearing any kind of answer Wheein could give, knowing full well she wouldn’t know how to process any possibilities.

“Confused,” Wheein began, looking up at the ceiling as she spoke softly. “And nervous. And scared about everything.”

“Scared of your dad?”

Wheein shook her head slightly. “It’s not him I’m scared of. But what would happen if he says anything. Unnie. I don’t even know why I care about any of it, but ever since you…you kissed me,” Wheein whispered the word as if she was scared someone would hear. “I’m more confused than ever.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it-“

“Do you regret it?”

“Regret the kiss?” Yong asked, gulping as Wheein looked up at her with the biggest, most vulnerable eyes she had ever seen. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably. “I…no. How could I?” The last few words spilled out like a drunken confession, and Yong’s own eyes widened at her own words as she studied Wheein, the girl having moved ever so slightly nearer to her. Yong had never been one for physical or even verbal displays of affection and hadn’t ever thought of it as a problem until she’d met Wheein. And suddenly she was forced into this, into this moment with the girl who had been making her nights sleepless and heart ache, and she had never wanted to be comfortable with her feelings until she looked into big, hopeful eyes of the girl in front of her.

“You mean that?” Wheein asked, biting her lip as she waited for an answer. There had always been a weird tension around the pair. It wasn’t from anything negative but Yongsun had an unsettling and bold personality which made every member feel awkward and nervous around her. It was never to the point of affecting their friendship, of course, but it meant that the girls, particularly Wheein and Hwasa found it difficult to know what to say sometimes. And with Wheein beginning to understand that her feelings for her bandmate had changed into something more than platonic love, she didn’t know how to address it.

Yong sighed, choosing her words carefully over the loud thumping of her heartbeat in her ears. “I mean it, Wheeinie. You’re special to me. I don’t know where you fit in my life besides being a member just yet, but I’ll work hard to figure it out, okay?” Yong said firmly, reaching out to tuck Wheein’s hair behind her ears and then cupping the girl’s face in her hands, forcing her to look up at her.

“I didn’t like it when you lied the first time. Don’t do it again.” Wheein said with a pout, and although she was the cutest thing Yong had set her eyes on in a long time, she knew Wheein’s words were serious.

“I won’t. I promise,” Yong nodded, smoothing her thumbs along Wheein’s dough-like cheeks in affirmation.

“Okay,” was all Wheein could think to say, afraid that if she didn’t keep talking that Yongsun would realise how close they were and how gentle her touch was and pull away. But contrary to Wheein’s fears, Yong simply nodded and leaned forward to rest their foreheads against each other.

“Do you feel any better?” Yong asked gently, and Wheein swore she could feel the ghost of Yong’s lips against her own as the girl spoke and broke eye contact to look at their touching knees.

“Mhm,” Wheein uttered in confirmation, letting her shoulders relax and focusing only on the smoothness of Yong’s forehead on her own. She could hear Yong’s slightly shaky breathing and felt the air as it left her lips and let out a soft sigh of her own. “Unnie…”

Before Wheein had a chance to really begin her sentence, she felt the gentle press of Yong’s lips against her own, and swore she felt her heart finally burst through her ribcage, shattering the bones and splintering her chest. She couldn’t breathe but she managed to lean into the kiss and follow the movement of Yong’s lips. She closed her eyes, sacrificing one of her senses in an effort to savour the most important one; touch. It was the way that she felt the tip of Yong’s tongue graze her top lip and the hands that had been cradling her cheeks find sanctuary at the nape of her neck that made Wheein want to scream in elation. They had never kissed like this before, with Yongsun seemingly not caring that they were both sober and both aware that something was shifting in their relationship. Or at least, that’s what Wheein felt and hoped Yong reciprocated.

When her oxygen levels became dangerously low, Wheein began to pull back slightly in an effort to take a much needed breath, only to be chased by Yong’s lips and she let out an amused laugh when the older girl realised what she had done and sat wide-eyed, pouting and completely embarrassed.

“Wow, unnie. I knew you were a ert but I didn’t think you were a desperate one,” Wheein joked lightly, covering as she laughed, her lips still tingling from the kiss. Yongsun whined and rolled her eyes like a child, only making Wheein laugh harder.

“Yah stop laughing, I didn’t mean to,” Yong huffed, getting up off the sofa and disappearing into the other room. Wheein frowned, worrying that she may have offended Yong until the leader returned dressed in a bear costume. Wheein gasped at the sight.

“Unnie…why…”

“You distracted me and I really need to finish filming for solarsido,” Yong said as a matter-of-factly and Wheein scoffed in protest.

“If I remember rightly you’re the one who invited me over and you’re the one who just kiss-“

“Okay okay,” Yong said, holding up a hand…well rather a paw, as a signal for Wheein to stop talking. “But I really do need to finish. Help me?”

Wheein shrugged, checking her phone and noticing the multiple texts from Hyejin that she had failed to see while her and Yong were…well yeah. She opened them and sighed in annoyance as soon as she read the first sentence. “He showed up at RBW.”

“Who?” Yong asked before the penny dropped and she gasped. “He can’t, he’s breaking the contract.”

Wheein’s head shot up at Yong’s words and she gulped in an effort to steady her voice. “What do you mean? The contract hasn’t been signed yet, has it?”

Yongsun shifted and scratched the back of her neck as she spoke. “I uh…Yes. I told him you already signed too and he-“

“You what? But I don’t even know what the contract says, why would he sign it for no reason?”

“It’s…ah…” Yongsun in air through her teeth and she thought out her next words, afraid that Wheein’s confused expression would manifest into anger if she got it wrong. “It’s like an emancipation order. But since you’re older than 19 there isn’t a way of taking away parental rights unless you draw up a contract. And he signed it, so he agreed to never contact you, use your name or anything like that ever again.”

Wheein’s mouth dropped open as she stared at the woman dressed as a bear, not believing what she had just heard. “You..hold on, wait a minute,” Wheein said, feeling her face begin to flush as her blood boiled. “When did you meet with him?”

Yongsun bit her lip at the serious tone of Wheein’s voice. “This morning. It was the only time he said he would be willing to sign it.”

“What did you give him, Yongsun?” Wheein asked, not caring that she had dropped formalities. Yong sighed deeply. “He wouldn’t just do that; you must have offered him something in return. Don’t bother trying to lie to me.”

“Money.”

“How much?” Wheein said, her voice stern and loud now. “Solar. How much?”

“Yah Wheein-ah why does it matter? I did it to solve the problem.”

Wheein laughed loudly, but the sound was void of any humour or lightness. “Are you for real? You didn’t solve anything! He broke the contract. What were you even thinking? You drew up a contract that would permanently leave me without one of my parents, you assumed that I’d sign it and then you met up with him and gave him money, all without sparing me a second thought? You really have outdone yourself this time, Yongsun.” Wheein said, her words turning to ash in with each one she hurled at the woman in front of her. She grabbed her jacket and phone and stood up, pursing her lips to keep her tears at bay as she looked the leader dead in the eyes. “I don’t want to see you anymore.” Was all she said as she left Yong’s apartment, leaving the older woman stood frozen in shock with tears of her own, and not daring to look back.