A/N: Thanks for sticking around and leaving comments! I don't know how to reply to them below, is it possible for authors to comment on their own story? Anyway, sometimes when I write, I don't have 100% clarity on what the character actually feels, or when exactly they fall in love. What I can portray is what they 'say' or 'think' to themselves at that time, but for me, one's own thoughts can be deceiving at times too, which is what makes POVs interesting. This is Nako's Chapter, as promised! Seeing Jline having fun with their other teammates have been great! If I ever make it that far, I hope I can give Miku and Shige appearance in this story too.

“Be careful on this part not to let too much moisture loose…” Nako is pointing at the perimeter of the dough to her partner at the baking party tonight-- her dear Eunbi Unnie, when she notices that the girl aren’t even paying attention.

“Unnie!” She elbows her sister and puffed her cheeks. “This is the fifth time you’re ignoring me already!”

“Ah~ sorry Nako-ya, I’m just...eh… a bit tired.”

Yeah...right. Eunbi-Unnie has been totally strange. She was the one who insisted on dragging the sulky Saku-chan along, but when Minju and her tried to pair them up for the gingerbread baking, she refused and denied Nako her Minju-Unne catchup time, which was the reason she came here in the first place. She’s heard what happened to Minju’s breakup, and apart from wanting to comfort her, she also wonders if it is a good timing to pair her up with Sakura.

It’s been a few days since the middle sister came back home all upset about some project at work. She really seems to be taking a break from the hectic work schedule though, as she got back home early enough to have dinner with Nako every night, and she’s been acting quite calm and content since. However, the petite girl also noticed some odd behaviors from Sakura, such as staring at the Korean textbook for hours in the living room instead of locking herself up in the game room, or putting laundry into the machine without detergent. Things that just shows she is not really herself, even though she looks alright on the outside.

Nako understands why Eunbi worries about the two unfortunate girls who had both been going through a rough patch, but then, why stay away and put them together in a team if she can’t stop stealing glances at them? To Nako, the other two girls seem to be having fun and very much in their own world right now. Even if it’s not all good deep inside, there is definitely no reason to worry, at least, not for the baking part. 

“Hey, they are already molding their cake cutters, and we’re not even done with the dough yet!” Nako reminds the ‘tired’ girl.

“Yes, right!” Eunbi finally pushes her rolled sleeves up and gives a determined look to Nako. “Come on Nako, let’s catch up on that!”

The result was a scramble to put things together so they could put everything in the oven at the same time. Luckily, Eunbi is quite skillful at arts and craft, so the decorating didn’t take long as both the girls have consensus on making cute buttons or laces for the chubby gingerbread men they cut out. On the other side though, there seemed to be a lot of playful disagreement and wild ideas.

“Why can’t we make frog cookies? See I have it cut out!” 

...

“There’s no rule that says we can’t make the legs longer like its baker. Look! I have added hair. That’s cute, isn’t it!” 

...

“Unnie~” “Oh no! What to do, what to do?” “Aigoo~ this will melt into a blob once it’s inside, Unnie!” 

Sakura seemed to be having a field day in teasing Minju, who is not known to have a sharp tongue. They were definitely having fun. In fact, she thought that Sakura’s mood has brightened up incredibly the minute she met with Minju. She has that look on her face...the look when she checks out her favorite idols in magazines. Haha… she is so smittened, Nako thought, and proceeded to clean up while they wait for the baking to done.

When the four of them could sit down to take a break while they wait, Eunbi-Unnie would shower praises to both Saku-chan and Minju in ever random topic they touched on.

“How is Nako-chan getting on with school?” Minju asked.

“O we are doing fine. Exams are coming up, but rather than the prep, I’m currently more stressed about tutoring my friend, to be honest.”

Before anyone could ask anything about that, Eunbi jumped in and said, “Ah, if it’s Nako, I’m sure you would ace it! After all, you have the genes from Okaasan. I remember that Kkura here was top in all her classes, right? Minju-ya, Kkura is such a genius. Didn't you say you are taking a programming class this semester? She can definitely help!”

Then the topic would once more switch to some Sakura or Minju trivia. If Nako had any doubts about what Eunbi was up to, the clouds are cleared now. She was trying to play cupid for these too, and probably trying a bit too hard at that. Luckily, the two have hit it off quite well, and might be better off without that extra help. 

“All right! Who’s last to touch her nose will have to get the cookies out and do the rest of the cleanup!” Nako announces suddenly, hoping that Eunbi will be the last as she usually is on these things. The clumsy Minju almost smacked her own nose, but she didn’t disappoint Nako and the plan worked.

“Nako-ya~don’t leave Unnie alone to do all this!” She shakes the little girl playfully in protest.

“Eunbi-Unnie…” Minju asks. “Are you...drunk?” Oh god, if Minju asked that, then her unnie must have looked very weird to them. Eunbi just looks at them in puzzlement, like she’s not even sure why that was being asked.

“Yes! Drunk from the vanilla extract I made her down.” Nako stood up and decided to take care of the rest. She pulled Eunbi away and stopped the other two girls from following. “Okay, this is the plan. We’re gonna pack things up, while the two of you take these cookies home. Nah-uh.” She points at Sakura, shaking her head to stop the girl from speaking. “You are gonna take Minju-unnie home, and if you’re good, we might think about picking you up later.”

“That’s such a weird arrangement, we can wai..” “No Saku-chan, how much exercise have you  done these days? You too Minju-unnie. Enough spending time in the dorms around tissue papers. You both need to take some fresh air. Now go!”

Eunbi unnie pretended to take pictures of the cute rows gingerbread men lined perfectly on the baking tin, but the minute those girls exited the door, she looks on curiously at their backs and linked arms.

“Unnie, is this your first time doing this kind of thing? You are horrible at it!” 

“Me...thing? What thing?” Eunbi’s weak voice betrays her act of innocence.

Nako glares and gives her a smirk without saying anything. “You are acting weird, Unnie.”

“I wonder if her roommate is in today…” Eunbi rubs her chin in thought. “Oh… no, it’s a Saturday night. Nako-ya, remind me to call Kkura in an hour...no no, in thirty minutes. She better not stay the night!”

Nako bursted out in laughter, and she couldn’t stop until she’s out of breath, with the flustered Eunbi looking on defiantly. 

“Eunbi-Unnie, you’re getting old! Hahahahaha! You’re like a dad who goes around flaunting to people about his daughter, but gets jealous when she goes out with someone!!”

“Ai...Nako-ya! It’s not like that! They are both my precious babies… don’t you think they look good together? I’m just giving them space to blossom!”

“Well then, leave them alone and stop worrying! Pali pali pack up so I can go to bed. I still have to wake up early tomorrow!”

“But Nako-chan, it’s Sunday!”

“I need to tutor Yujin, that girl...grrrrr...such a stubborn piece of rock.” Nako shakes her head in exasperation.

“Yujin?” Eunbi furrowed her eyebrows. “She looked quite...grumpy the last time I saw her. Is she fine?”

“Yea...but she keeps getting her into trouble. Now some teachers are saying if she couldn’t get a B grade for the next test, they would take away her scholarship.”

“Scholarship? Wow, She certainly doesn’t look like a scholar to me.” Eunbi chuckled.

“Hey, that is mean, Unnie! But yeah...that’s a sports scholarship, you see.”

They finished packing and cleaning up then, and went home to rest, with Eunbi resisting the urge to call Sakura but checking both her and Nako’s phone whenever she could. 

That night, Sakura didn’t come home.

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Nako arrived at Flowerz cafe and saw Yujin playing with her phone, even though the books are all spread out at the table.

“Gimme your phone.” Although Nako actually snatched it away from her hand and sat down before she said that.

“Fck Nako! I was winning the race!” Yujin shouted.

“Oi, quiet!” Nako shushed her friend and zipped the phone inside the bag. “Do you really want to flunk out of school now Ahn Yujin?”

“This kind of school...full of spoilt chaebol kids that look down on us...if they don’t like me, then it’s best I get out of here…” Yujin grumbles half-heartedly as she slumps on the sofa and looks away.

“Yujin! How many times have I told you, it’s just two more years, and you’re doing this for yourself. Just ignore them and stop acting like a teenager!”

“But I am…” she murmurs, promptly earning a smack on the forehead from Nako. “Ok, if you’re like this, I’m going now.”

“Ay ay, Nako-chan~~don’t get mad.” She sits Nako down and places her hands on her shoulders. “I promise you, I will get an A in this, okay? After all, there is nothing I, Ahn Yujin, can’t do. So stop being all worked up and , k?” She smiles and ruffles the shorter girl’s hair, to which she repays with a tsk.

Nako does believe it when she said she will get an A though, that is, if she put her heart into it. She hasn’t had much success convincing her to do so lately, but she knows she could do it, which is why it’s been such a source of frustration for Nako these past couple of weeks.

“Yes Ahn Yujin! You better study and don’t waste my baby’s time!” Eunbi are now walking towards them with two cups of ice-creams in her hands. It’s her day off originally, but hearing about Nako’s study session, she decided to come here with her and get some paperwork done.

“Ice Cream!!!” Yujin claps in glee and almost leaps out of her seat to reach for it, but Eunbi raised her arm away and denied her. “Why? Unnie!! Isn’t that for me?”

“Of course not, it’s for me and Nako.” Eunbi turns her head towards Nako, and her annoyed face turned into a soft one. “Nako-ya...your mint choco!”

“Thanks for getting it Unnie! I will study hard, AND make sure that this giant dog does too!” Nako makes a face at the poor girl, who’s looking at the other cup of vanilla ice-cream longingly.

Eunbi took a bite from her own cup to savor the taste of her favorite food, ignoring the puppy’s plea. Yujin looks like she’s about to cry, but of course, that’s just really an exaggerated ruse, which is obviously enough to disarm Eunbi.

“Fine.” She sighs and raises a finger. “If you complete today’s work and Nako baby is happy with you, then I will get you a cone. Yujin-ya, can you do that?”

The doggie nods her head rapidly with a goofy smile, earning another snicker from Nako. 

“Unnie, I start now!” Yujin raises her hand and does a double fist-pump, but Eunbi just shakes her head with a smile and walks away back into the staff room, leaving the kids alone to do their own thing.

It seems like the god of luck was on Nako’s side as they have been concentrating on the problem sets in front of them for two straight hours already, which was more than the time Yujin spent on homework the entire month. She used to be an average performer who tried to blend in when she transferred to this school, which was also when Nako first met her. The reason she got sorted into Nako’s class was due to the scholarship itself, and that didn’t go well with a lot of kids. Now, she is openly rebellious and intentionally skips class, which makes her an open target. Nako feels guilty because she thinks she has contributed to her problem, but at the same time, she gets annoyed that Yujin will just want to throw away her future like that, simply because of the circumstances she is in. She wants to make it right for her. After scribbling some corrections on the answer sheet Yujin has given her, she looks up to the girl sitting across her to give the papers back, but finds that Yujin is still very much engrossed in reading the textbook. She is running her fingers in her hair cooly to brush the strands off to the sides as she gazes intently at the content. Truly, the look of seriousness and concentration puts a smile on Nako’s face. It reminds her