Jeongyeon could not believe what had just come out of Nayeon's mouth. The phrasing "date me" was still echoing in her mind, completely zeroing out to the follow up part. 

"Uhhhhm what....?" She asks not sure if she had heard Nayeon correctly.

"I need to create a dating scandal with you so these fans will leave me and the company alone."

Jeongyeon scoffs, "What planet are you on that makes you think adding one scandal on top of another fixes things...and why me?"

Nayeon gets nervous for a second. "Fans have been shipping us together since debut anyway."

Jeongyeon could not deny that fact. "Hey remember when JY told us to stop doing so much skinship at events?"

"Yes! And the fact that we had only debuted a few months prior and thought it would mess with our image." Nayeon shares a laugh with her remembering the old days.

After a moment of silence, "So what do you say?"

"What do I say?" Jeongyeon feels a mixture of feelings. "...No unless you somehow magically come up with a plan that has substance then maybe but I doubt you would."

"Oh you wanna bet?" 

Jeongyeon grabs Nayeon's sweatshirt and pulls her into the practice room roughly. The room is set up with nine chairs.

"Today is a press day." A manager tells the members. "You will be recording several interviews and variety clips for YouTube channels." The members nod. "This will be your first time on camera since everything, so just relax and act natural."

Throughout the recording session, Nayeon and Jeongyeon could not keep their eyes off of each other.

"Can I treat you to lunch?" Jeongyeon suddenly asks Nayeon after they wrap up their interviews. 

"Ooh look at you taking up my idea." Nayeon slaps Jeongyeon's shoulder playfully.

"It's either yes or no." Jeongyeon says sounding slightly frustrated.

"Of course, let's go." Nayeon's bodyguard drops them off at a restaurant and waits outside for them to finish. The two enter and grab a table. "This is on me, so order anything you want." Jeongyeon tells her as they look at a menu. After successfully placing their orders, it allows time for the two of them to talk until their orders come out.

"So Im Nayeon, while we were recording, I was thinking about your non existent fake dating scandal plan and..I don't know, I'm curious." Jeongyeon says sounding slightly sarcastic as she sits back and sips on her glass of half and half tea.

Honestly she had no intentions of fully drawing up a plan. She just figured this would be a trick to get closer to Jeongyeon. "Uhh-oh...really?" She plays along.

"Yeah but first, tell me more about this person that you're in love with, why not just use them to change up the news?" Jeongyeon catches her off guard. 

Nayeon freezes.

"Come on, you mentioned it a few days ago but didn't go into detail." She nudges Nayeon in a playful manner, "Is it a regular or an idol?"

Nayeon rolls her eyes and exhales loudly. "Let's just- can we talk about something lighter? I'll be going to therapy after anyway so let me save my sanity."

"Understandable." Jeongyeon clears and winces in pain as she reaches for her neck and glass of tea once again.

"Are you okay?" Nayeon expresses genuine concern towards Jeongyeon for the first time in awhile.

"What..why?"

"You think I didn't see that grimace on your face, I know you mentioned having trouble with your voice recently, what's going on?"

"It's nothing." She says followed by a nasty cough that confirms her assumption. Nayeon reaches across the table for her hand. Jeongyeon can feel her heart racing at the touch of Nayeon's hand, "Fine-I don't know my throat has been acting weird ever since tour ended, and it's been awhile since then."

"Why haven't you told anyone?" She questions immediately.

"I don't know- we kinda just jumped right into comeback preparations immediately after tour and my voice was already shot at that point but, then the company started dealing with your stuff so I didn't want to seem like a burden."

"A burden?" She repeats Jeongyeon's words. "If anything, I'm the burden, my problems were preventable at best and at least my health is fine, have you talked to our vocal coach at least?"

"I have but she only recommended lozenges."

"Do they help?" Nayeon asks.

"Not really." Jeongyeon runs her fingers through her hair in frustration. "Each day it has been getting worse, today is one of the worst days- that's why I didn't say too much when we were recording earlier."

As they continue their conversation the first courses of their meal begin to arrive. "Since you've been so concerned about me and taking me to the doctor and stuff, then I want to return the favor by taking you to get your throat checked." Nayeon offers her help.

"You don't have to, I've been handling it."

Nayeon chuckles. "If you had it handled then you wouldn't be making that face every few minutes."

"Okay, fine you can take me but just-I..don't want the company to find out... if something serious is wrong." Jeongyeon caves into her deal.

"Why?" Nayeon twirls her fork around the plate.

"You will be taking time off later down the road so if something is really wrong with me..then I'll probably be off too and if thats the case then TWICE can't really...be...TWICE."

"I do not plan on taking any time off." Nayeon insists.

Jeongyeon can't help but chuckle a little at Nayeon's statement.

After the outing, they headed back to the company to finish working for the remainder of the day. The group was recording some songs for their next release in the vocal booth. Midway through the session, Nayeon leaves to head to her therapy session. She  hated attending the first session of therapy but this time, she was kinda looking forward to it. After passing a few blocks, she had arrived at the building.

The therapist opens the door and invites Nayeon right at her scheduled time. "I'm glad to see that you have returned."

"After letting you into my world the other day, of course I had to come back."

"Before we get started, would you like some tea or coffee?" She asks Nayeon as she walks over to a cabinet full of an array of teas and coffee.

"I really need something with ginger in it or anything herbal."

"Is ginger-lemon fine?"

"Perfect." Nayeon holds up an okay symbol with her hand.

After heating up the water, she hands Nayeon the mug of tea. "Thank you, also before we get started can I just have a moment to get myself together?"

"Of course, take all the time you need."

Nayeon blows on her tea and takes a few sips, then she leans back on the couch with her head looking toward the ceiling. After five minutes, she is ready to begin the session. She lets the therapist know simply by exhaling obnoxiously loud.

"Are you okay? Ready to begin?"

Nayeon nods.

"Last time we met, things started off very different from today, so should I take this as a good sign?" The therapist starts.

"I don't know, I mean a few things have happened even though I only last met with you the other day."

The therapist encourages Nayeon to elaborate.

"I broke up with Jinyoung, I shared my personal life with the public, I opened up to the members and apparently I'm actually pregnant -like one hundred percent confirmed."

The therapist jots down a summary of what Nayeon had just told her and figures out what to dig into.

"How do you feel after parting ways with Jinyoung? And did her take it well?"

"Great, honestly I feel great...I finally don't have to continue to be in a relationship that no longer satisfied me." Nayeon looks down at her hands. "We both took it well actually. Uhh we left on mutual terms, nothing bitter-matter of fact we even agreed to stay in contact for the sake of the-the child."

"I've noticed since the last time that you seem to have difficulty figuring out how to refer to the baby on the way, by any chance do you have some sort of trauma or incident that makes you this way?"

"No, it's just weird for me."

Silence falls in the room for an uncomfortable amount of time. 

"How did your members take the news?"

"They're so supportive and I think they're more excited about the baby than me." Nayeon stares at the mug in her hands for awhile.

"Am I allowed to use names here?" She asks hesitantly.

"Yes, Nayeon this is a safe space, anything that is said in here stays in here between you and me."

Nayeon exhales swiftly. "Okay, last time the person that I was telling you about that I'm really in love with is actually Jeongyeon..my group member Jeongyeon."

"I will tell you what I told you at the last session, go for it, reach out to her, explain your feelings to her and if she does not feel the same way at least you would still have a strong friendship." 

"I want to open up to her like that but..."

"Are you afraid?"

Nayeon nods confirming the therapists assumption. 

"What's the worst thing that could happen? You told me how close you two are the other day."

"I don't know, that's my fear."

Their conversation goes on for another few minutes before wrapping it up. Nayeon steps into the chilly night whether as she makes her way back to the dorm. Upon turning out the door of the building, Jeongyeon appears at the side of the door completely startling her.

She is instantly greeted with a punch to the shoulder from Nayeon. "How dare you scare someone who is with child, I almost had a heart attack." She holds her chest catching her breath. "Why are you here anyway?" 

"I thought about your dating plan that you mentioned earlier, and I ended up coming up with a plan for you or should I say us."

"Why the sudden change of heart?" 

She shrugs her shoulders, "Nothing really, after you were so worried about my voice, I felt like being generous." This was a lie, while Nayeon was at therapy Jeongyeon figured this would be the only way for her to live the dream of being with Nayeon even if it was at the cost of faking it.

"Okay so what's the plan?" 

Jeongyeon turns to her as they stroll throught the night. "Tomorrow we'll go under the bridge at the Han River and Chaeyoung will be our quote unquote paparazzo."

"I'm intrigued, so she will take photos of us doing couple things?"

"Yep, that's the plan and then we'll publish them online under a fake fansite account."

"Nice choice getting Chae to be our photographer, I'm sure she'll capture some believable angles since she's an artist."

"Exactly why I chose her." Jeongyeon adds. 

----

HAPPY 2021! Hoping this year will be a better year for the world!

What did you think of the chapter? Getting closer to 2YEON becoming a pair. Any K-DRAMA fans here? You could probably tell, I was inspired by "Her Private Life" while writing this chapter.