Byul barely had a few hours of sleep the previous night, staying up chatting with Yongsun. They talked about the party, how the tennis boys are going to wreck up the house and how she was going to clean up the mess. She didn’t know that it was so late until Yongsun had to use the toilet and she checked the time. Throughout the whole night, Byul couldn’t keep the chat out of her head, she kept replaying the conversation. When the first stream of light hit her room, Byul jumped out of bed and started preparing for the day. She opened the wardrobe and started sifting through her clothes. 

 “Too old,” Byul mumbled, pushing a blue lace dress she had no idea where it came from.

 “Too much skin,” She grumbled, shifting a backless dress away.

 “Ah,” A small smile played on her lips, growing bigger as she looked through the suit Hana unnie gave her for her birthday. “A little too dramatic for a party?” 

 Byul finally settled on a pressed grey shirt and jeans, carefully hanging them by the door to be changed into later. She yawned and stretched, wiggling her long arms and padded out of her room. It was deathly quiet, save for the quiet sizzling of food in the kitchen and the irresistible scent of bacon. Byul trotted out and saw Hana standing over the stove, watching the food inside the pan sizzle and splatter. Hana looked up at the sound of footsteps and her lips split into a grin.

 “You’re up early, Byulie,” Hana remarked, depositing the bacon and eggs into the plates. Byul placed the plates on the table and fiddled with the spoons. “Anything wrong?”

 “Oh, no. It’s fine. Just excited for tonight’s party,” Byul replied, taking Hana’s dirty utensils and started washing them.

 “I’m glad that you’re having fun and not hiding in your room,” Hana chuckled. Byul blushed and shook the utensils dry before putting them back. “When is your baseball training starting again?”

 “Next year. Coach said it’s snowing quite heavily this winter and he doesn't want to risk broken bones since the ground is so slippery.”

 “Mm. I’ll be leaving after breakfast. Send a text before you go for the party. Make sure the others do so.”

 “Aye captain,” Byul saluted and burst into a fit of giggles. Hana smiled indulgently and patted Byul on the head.

 “Now go eat your breakfast. I’ll call the rest.”

 Byul poured herself a glass of orange juice and started digging into her breakfast. Her housemates slowly entered the dining room; Bora rubbing her eyes as she fumbled for her seat, Seulgi piggybacking Irene into the dining room, gently depositing her on her table before setting down, Jisoo was hunting for a glass, Mina and Chaeyoung giggling as they tried to hide their necks, doing a really bad job as Byul could easily make out five or six hickeys on their necks. The Itzy girls stumbled into the dining room, grumbling about their loss of sleep but quietened down after their first mouthful. Sana and Dahyun’s crowns were glowing again despite them not looking at each other, Byul figured that they were either having a lover’s arguement or flirting in their thoughts. 

 Hana came out of the hallway dressed to the nines, her baby blue suit was what Byul would die for. Her hair artfully styled and Byul could see the smokey cat eye neatly painted on. Hana had such an amazing sense of fashion everyone asks her for her opinion, even her students.

 “I’ve got to go now, remember to text me right before you leave for the party. Bora yah, text me when Ggomo and Siyeon come. Don’t drink too much booze and stay safe okay? Bye, love yall,” Hana called as she shut the door. The room was silent for a minute before the voices erupted.

 “Sooo Chaeyoungie, how was it last night?” Bora asked, stabbing her fork in Chaeyoung’s direction.

 “Yea, it looks fun,” Sana added, smirking. Chaeyoung and Mina blushed and tried to pull up their collars.

 “I didn’t even hear screaming. You two did a great job,” Jisoo teased.

 “It’s nothing,” Chaeyoung said quietly.

 “But didn’t you like it?” Hyejin giggled. “Please don’t tell me it was your first time? I’ve never seen marks on your body before.”

 “Nah, it wasn’t. We just have marks on other places,” Chaeyoung replied, winking at Mina. Mina covered her face with her hands and whined as the table howled.

 “All of you, behave. There are kids,” Byul growled. The table went silent, all the unnies looking at the five wide eyed kids.

 “Oh my bad,” Bora said hastily and getting smacked on the head by Seulgi. 

 “Language!”

 Byul shook her head and smiled at the five kids. “Are you done with breakfast, kiddos?”

 The girls nodded and Byul patted their heads. “Go put your dishes in the sink and you can go play with the Nintendo Switch. If you want to go play in the snow we can see later, okay?”

 “Okay Byulie unnie!” They chirped and scampered to fulfil their task. Byul watched their retreating backs and turned to her housemates, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

 “Where were we?”

~

 “You know, Byulie? You’d make a great mum,” Seulgi said as she started washing the dishes. Irene by her side, towel at hand, ready to dry the plates. Byul sat up from her slouched over position.

 “I don’t want to be a mum, I hate kids,” Byul scrowled, watching the back of her friend. Seulgi laughed.

 “You keep lying to yourself Byulie, you love the Itzy like your own.”

 Byul rested her head on the table. “I spend wayy more time with them than you guys,” She joked. “Yeah I’m really fond of them.”

 “The way you interact with them is adorable, you can try going into I don’t know… Teaching? Like what Hana unnie does,” Irene spoke.

 “I would love to but I rather count money than manage kids,” Byul laughed mirthlessly.

 “Speaking of money,” Seulgi started. “Did Hana unnie say anything about internship?”

 Byul tilted her head. “Internship?”

 “Yea!” Irene joined in excitedly. “Hana unnie might give you an internship to work in her family’s company. Did she say anything?”

 Byul shook her head. “She has never mentioned anything about internship.”

 Irene patted Byul’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Byulie. Maybe next year during the holidays?”

 Byul faked a smile. “Yea maybe.”

~

Yongsun unnie

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