Chapter Five: The Unknown

“Again, again,” Wheein pleaded, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she clung to Yong’s arm until the older girl relented, cracking her fingers and loosening her shoulders as she resumed her position at the piano. The first four notes rang out in the empty practice room and Wheein’s laugh echoed through the air as Yong played the theme song for the ‘Teletubbies’ proudly. “Wah, I love it,” Wheein said with a bright smile as Yong finished her rendition and the older girl looked up at her with a matching expression.

“It took me three weeks,” Yong admitted embarrassedly and Wheein let out a hearty laugh at the girl’s shame, placing a hand on her shoulder and rubbing soothingly.

“It’s okay, unnie. I read that it takes old people longer to learn things,” Wheein said with a sympathetic shake of her head and Yong gasped loudly.

“Yah, I thought you were being sweet,” Yong pouted and turned away with her arms crossed, enjoying the way Wheein instantly put a hand on her shoulder and turned her back around with a whine.

“I’m always sweet,” Wheein blinked seriously, and Yong rolled her eyes with a smile she was unable to hide, eventually nodding in agreement. She reached over to brush the hair out of Wheein’s face and tuck it behind her ear, her cheeks flooding with colour, still unused to being so freely affectionate with the girl. Wheein sighed softly. “I kinda want to kiss you right now.”

Yong tilted her head, gulping subtly to hide her rising heartbeat and narrowing her eyes at the girl. “You kinda want to kiss me?”

Wheein muttered a curse word before quickly leaning forward and placing a soft kiss on Yong’s lips and revelling in the way the leader tried to chase as she pulled away. “Don’t tease,” Yong whined, but stopped as soon as the door swung open and Moonbyul entered with the choreographer, holding five cups of coffee and arguing over a new dance move Byul wanted to include in their rehearsal.

“Still no Hyejin-ah?” Byul frowned as she noticed her two members alone in the practice room and Yong began shaking her head until she noticed said girl walking in behind Byul, her phone to her ear as she bowed her head in a polite hello to everyone, then moved to the corner of the room and spoke in low whispers before eventually hanging up the phone. “I’ve been waiting for ‘my way’ to return,” Byul teased in greeting and Hyejin let out a small laugh paired with an eye roll.

“I had an emergency, unnie,” Hyejin said nonchalantly and Wheein quirked her head at her friend’s words.

“Emergency?” Wheein asked and Hyejin looked blankly at the girl and shrugged off her question, barely looking at her before joining the choreographer and discussing which songs they would run through.

“Did you two fight?” Yongsun asked quietly and Wheein shook her head in confusion, then bit her lip once she realised that she hadn’t responded to Hyejin’s texts just as much as Yong’s.

“Can I take a minute to talk to her?” Wheein asked, sensing the deliberation of her leader who looked at the clock and sighed when she realised how far behind they were already. The sight of Wheein’s pleading eyes made her sigh in a different way and she nodded in relent.

“Hyejin-ah, can we talk for a minute?” Wheein asked, unusually apprehensive as she reached for the girl’s arm and offered her a hopeful smile, a tactic she had always used successfully whenever her friend was annoyed at her. And when Hyejin nodded, Wheein was thankful that her charms had yet to fail her. They went to the empty practice room next door and Wheein slumped onto a couch, with Hyejin following quietly behind her. They were quiet for a moment, an unfamiliar awkwardness threatening to settle between them and the only noise offering distraction was the screeching of Yong’s laughter next door.

“I’m really sorry for ignoring you,” Wheein began, forming into a pout as Hyejin looked up at her without much emotion. Wheein waited for her to speak, but continued when it was obvious the girl was not going to say anything. “I mean it, Hyejin-ah. I’m sorry.”

Hyejin gave Wheein a half-smile and sighed. “I know. But what happened? I thought we were done with you hiding things from me… and then you don’t even reply to my calls? Kinda hurt, Wheein,” Hyejin said, taking a deep breath at the sight of Wheein’s crestfallen expression and softening her tone a little. “Look, I just want the old Wheein back. My Jung Wheein. We’ve never been so disconnected before and it doesn’t feel right at all.”

“You’re right.” Wheein bit her lip, suddenly emotional as she realised how neglectful she had been. And especially so when she realised how quickly she had been to talk to and forgive Yongsun, yet she didn’t even think of texting her best friend back. “I just…I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Everything around me seems to be falling apart right now and I’m clearly not good at dealing with it.” Wheein willed the tears in her eyes to stay put as she finished speaking and watched Hyejin’s face turn into a frown.

“It’s not all falling apart though, Wheein-ah,” Hyejin said with a tut at the girl’s emotional response. “By the looks of it, you and Yong-unnie are practically married, so that relationship isn’t falling apart. You and I…as much as you’re the worst for ignoring me, ‘you’re still my number one’,” Hyejin sang the last part, enjoying Wheein’s laughter at her quoting their favourite karaoke song and she instantly felt lighter. So, maybe she had been a bit dramatic and self-destructive over the past few days…it still wasn’t entirely her fault. “And your of a father better watch out if he ever comes to the studio again,” Hyejin added, making Wheein frown when she realised she hadn’t told her friend what had happened.

“How did you know that?”

“You know how we thought Yongsun was always the best with secrets? Well, apparently, she can’t hide anything when it comes to you, Jung Wheein. She didn’t tell me exactly what happened, just that he showed up here and you had a fight and left Yong’s apartment.”

“But she-“

“And before you ask why she didn’t tell you about what we spoke about, I told her not to.”

“Why?”

Hyejin rolled her eyes as if the answer were obvious. “Because I wanted to speak to you first. And she was worried, Wheein-ah. She needed someone to talk to too,” Hyejin said and Wheein let her shoulders relax as she sunk back into the sofa and closed her eyes.

“I wanna sleep forever-“

“Yah, 2YoungGirls, we’re gonna be here until midnight at this rate,” Byul’s voice interrupted, then disappeared back into the other room, and Wheein groaned dramatically as she stood up and offered Hyejin her hand.

“Wanna have a girls’ night this weekend? Before we go to Busan?” Wheein asked. “I wanna get back to being normal.”

“Ok but you have to come to mine,” Hyejin said, walking alongside Wheein as they reentered the practice room, much to their unnies’ delight. “There’s a new Ahn in the house.”

“Eh? What do you mean?” Wheein asked and Hyejin just laughed mischievously in response.

“Okay everyone, places please,” Yongsun ordered, clapping her hands and gathering her bandmates together, her eyes lingering on the blue-haired girl as she moved into her position next to her and nudged her gently.

“Fixed it?”

Wheein nodded and gave the woman a goofy smile as she nudged her back and gave her hand a quick squeeze just as the music began playing, and the four girls transformed into effortless performers, a far cry from the playful and sporadic personalities they shared in their usual lives.

It was dark by the time practice ended, with Byul blaming Hyejin’s lateness on them being so delayed, which earned a strong rebuttal from the maknae who argued that Byul’s desire to show off in front of the hot choreographer took up at least a third of their practice time.

“Kids, stop arguing,” Yongsun whined as she walked behind the girls with Wheein by her side. They exited the building and Byul was quick to wave a goodbye and begin driving to pick her sister up from a party on the other side of town. Yongsun had managed to muster the courage to ask Wheein if she wanted to hang out at her place instead of going home straight away, and without a reason not to, the girl happily agreed. “Do you want a ride home, Hyejin-ah?” Yong asked when she noticed the girl lingering outside the RBW building suspiciously.

“Oh! Uh, no thanks, unnie. I’m good,” Hyejin said, checking her phone for the tenth time that minute. Wheein eyed the girl suspiciously.

“So first you won’t tell me about the ‘emergency’ from this morning, then you won’t explain to me what you mean by there being another ‘Ahn’ in your house and now you’re waiting on street corners at night time…Ahn Hyejin are you a gangster?” Wheein asked seriously, and Hyejin smirked.

“If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you. And anyway, I already told you you’ll find out at girls’ night.”

“I’d happily take death over all these damn secrets,” Wheein whined impatiently, stopping when a large 4x4 slowed to a stop in front of them and Hyejin sighed in relief. The black tinted window paired with the fact it was dark outside meant that Wheein was unable to recognise the driver as Hyejin quickly pecked her cheek in a goodbye, waved at Yong and jumped in the car without a care in the world.

“Come on, Wheein-ah,” Yongsun urged sweetly, grabbing Wheein’s hand and pulling the girl towards her own car as the younger girl’s mouth hung open in disbelief.

“Do you know who that was?” Wheein asked.

“Nope,” Yong replied, opening the passenger door of her car, guiding Wheein in and getting in the driver’s seat. Wheein continued staring out the window in the direction the car left and turned to Yongsun with hopeful eyes. “No. Wheein-ah we are not chasing that car,” Yongsun said firmly, tutting to herself as she noticed Wheein’s lack of seatbelt and once again pulled it across her body and clicked it securely in place, then sat back in her seat. Wheein pouted exaggeratedly at the older woman, leaning towards her and pleading silently. Yongsun shook her head. “That’s not gonna work on me this time.”

“Fine. But since when was Hyejin seeing anyone? I thought she was on a self-inflicted dating ban?” Wheein mused to herself as Yong drove them in the direction of her house.

“Maybe you’ve both been hiding your crushes from eachother…” Yongsun said, and Wheein didn’t miss the pride in her voice.

“Unnie I don’t have a crush on you,” Wheein said and Yongsun shook her head.

“Actually you said, and I quote, that you had a ‘big old high school crush’ on me,” Yongsun beamed, proud that she’d managed to recall the right words for once, and Wheein shook her head, flustered.

“What do I have to do to make you forget I ever said that?” Wheein asked and Yongsun quirked an eyebrow.

“Interesting. I never really pictured you as one to like taking orders,” Yong replied, her eyes dancing with playfulness as she watched Wheein’s cheeks tint pink in the reflection of the window. The girl shook off her embarrassment quickly and moved to sit more comfortably in her seat when she replied.

“Really? Because I’ve often pictured you as being a girl who likes to give them,” Wheein said and Yongsun was suddenly grateful she was pulling into her garage and there wasn’t much risk of causing a collision from the girl’s response. Wheein chuckled to herself as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, joining Yong at the driver’s side. “Is your sister home?”

Yongsun shook her head and reached for Wheein’s hands, linking their fingers together and swinging them from side to side. “She’s in Barbados with her boss. Well, her boss/boyfriend/future ex-CEO.”

“’Future ex-CEO?’”

“Yeah, she’s going through this phase of finding men who are cheating their companies and ruining their lives by making them fall in love with her. She’s enjoying it, and it pays well so…” Yong shrugged and Wheein laughed as they walked hand-in-hand up the stairs to Yong’s apartment.

“She gets paid to do that?”

“She did it once accidentally. And then twice just for fun and then she decided to start approaching companies as a ‘private investigator’ for CEOs and managers and they hire her to investigate. As long as she gets the job done, turns out they don’t really care how she does her ‘investigating’,” Yong said, letting Wheein into her apartment and shutting the door behind them.

“Your sister’s a badass.”

“So am I?” Yongsun said and Wheein rolled her eyes as she slumped onto the couch and pulled Yong down with her. Yongsun immediately nestled into the younger girl and rested her head on her chest, humming contenting as Wheein lazily her head.

“Oh yeah, you’re the baddest,” Wheein joked, and Yongsun enjoyed the feeling of the noise vibrating through her ear. It was soothing.

“Whatever,” Yongsun yawned, and Wheein followed suit with a squeaking yawn of her own. “I usually work as soon as I get home but…I don’t feel like doing anything when you’re here,” Yongsun said quietly.

“You’re saying I’m unmotivating? Thanks unnie,” Wheein said, and Yongsun let out a small laugh, then reached for Wheein’s free hand which wasn’t in her hair and held it tightly to her chest as if it was one of her precious stuffed animals. She kissed each of her knuckles softly.

“I like being able to slow down with you. It’s peaceful,” Yong finally replied, her lips grazing the top of Wheein’s hand as she spoke.

“You’re right,” Wheein said, as if she’d suddenly come to some sort of revelation. “It’s nice doing nothing.”

“Well…I can think of something we could be doing…?” Yongsun suggested and Wheein could hear the girl’s smirk in her voice.

“And what might that be?” Wheein feigned innocence, making Yongsun sit up slightly and twist her body so she was propped up on an elbow and facing the younger girl next to her.

“This,” Yongsun said, leaning forward to capture Wheein’s lips in a gentle kiss, their lips moving slowly and unrushed against each other. Wheein brought a hand instinctively to the base of Yong’s neck and pulled her down a little further, making open a little wider. Wheein easily slipped her tongue past the woman’s lips and couldn’t hold back her noise of approval when she felt the older woman do the same. Quickly, their soft and gentle kiss turned into one of desperation; one of pent-up moments from the day where they didn’t want to out themselves to their members so soon, of countless times they had caught each other staring in the mirror when they thought the other wasn’t looking, of all the times Wheein would ‘accidentally’ brush against various parts of Yong’s body and leave with an amused glint in her eye and confidence in her walk. They put everything into the kiss.

“Do you wanna,” Yongsun tried between kisses, their lips pressed hard against each other as their tongues fought relentlessly. “Stay over?” Yongsun bit down slightly on the bottom of Wheein’s lip when the younger girl pulled away to look up at the woman, eyes wide and chest moving up and down rapidly. “I don’t wanna…y’know…not yet or anything,” Yong said awkwardly when she realised the implications her words may have had on the dazed girl lying beneath her.

“No, yeah. Of course. I wanna stay,” Wheein stammered out, her face turning the colour of the…seventy boxes of maltesers stacked next to her head? “Uh…unnie…why?”

Yongsun shrugged, completely unphased as she moved to sit up next to Wheein and let the girl regain a little composure. “They were for Solarsido and then I really liked them, so they sent me more…but they keep getting delivered so I think I’ve somehow got a subscription now?”

“A subscription for chocolate?” Wheein laughed, turning herself so she was lying with her head in Yong’s lap as she reached up to poke the girl’s cheek. “Is this where you keep them? Like when hamsters hide their food for winter, you put all your maltesers in here?” Wheein mused, poking the girl’s cheeks and enjoying the way her finger would sink into the supple mounds. Yongsun shook her head free of the girl’s finger and bit down on it in playful scolding. “Ow! Kink noted.”

Yongsun let out a loud laugh at the girl’s words and looked down at her in disbelief. “You really are something special,” the leader said, and although Wheein knew she meant it in jest, the way the woman was looking at her, with a softness she had only ever seen in people who meant the most to her, made her believe that there may have been truth to her words.

Wheein simply smiled up at the girl and pulled her head down to meet her lips in a quick but gentle kiss.

“It feels like I’ve been doing that my whole life,” Wheein said when Yongsun pulled away and continued to look down at her. “In a really good way.”

Yongsun nodded, and Wheein revelled in the way the woman’s cheeks moved of their own accord at the motion. “Me too. Today turned out to be a pretty ing great day.”

Wheein fist-pumped the air and let out a loud hoot of agreement, giggling to herself at the sight of Yong’s shocked expression. And maybe if it weren’t for the older woman being so cute, so enamouring, or so funny, Wheein might have noticed that she’d left her phone in Yong’s car earlier, and she might have realised in time enough to answer the three calls from the unknown number belonging to a not-at-all unknown person.

But Yong was too distracting, and Wheein was much too happy.

And although they were unaware of the thunderstorm that was heading their way, they needed a moment to soak in the sun first.