What should I do? 

Seulgi had asked herself that question about a hundred times in the past day, and she still didn’t have a real answer. It should be easy. Just walk right in, say hi, and ask. But she was terrified. Absolutely shaken down to the bone. Everything is only that simple in her head. Actually executing it, well, that was a completely different matter.

But the woman in question was intimidating. Whenever her dark eyes narrowed at Seulgi, the photographer instantly felt afraid, at a loss for words. With her command, she could control the room with a single word.

Deciding that no matter what, it is what must be done, she summoned her courage. Drawing in a deep breath and straightening her shoulders, she braced herself. Walking into the tent with all the confidence she could muster, she spotted the woman she was seeking. She stepped up and the woman looked up at her, brown eyes meeting. Seulgi asked in the braves voice she could muster.

“Do you have anything without vegetables today?”

The lunch lady’s eyes narrowed, and with a sneer she replied, “Kang Seulgi-ssi, vegetables are a staple of a healthy, nutritious meal. There will always be vegetables.”

“I know,” Seulgi pouted, “but they’re just so...gross.”

The older lady glared at her. “You can keep picking out the veggies.”

“Ahjumma,” she whined, “it takes so much time. I’m a busy girl!”

The lunch lady wasn’t swayed. “If you have time to take food to Dr. Bae, you have time to pick out your own vegetables.” She pushed a tray into Seulgi’s chest. The girl flushed pink.

“I--It’s--It’s not like that takes that much time,” Seulgi spluttered.

“Well then, just eat what you want and give the rest to your girlfriend. That’s faster.” She pushed the tray towards Seulgi again.

“She’s not--”

Seulgi stammered out a reply, but the ahjumma was wearing the smallest of smirks, obviously willing to ignore anything Seulgi could say, so the photographer ducked her head to hide her blush and shuffled away.

She quickly scarfed her meal down (well, anything that wasn’t green, leafy and full of life-saving antioxidants, healthy minerals or essential vitamins. The lunch lady could bite her.) She picked up the tray and headed towards her usual destination: the mobile lab. 

Ever since they had procured, (AKA stolen), the mysterious bioweapon, Drs. Son and Bae had confined themselves to the mobile BSL-4 lab. Except for the occasional shower and poop, Seulgi, Joy and Yeri hadn’t seen the other two women for the past three days. 

Since they weren’t essential members of the medical team, none of them were allowed entry into the top secret lab. From what Seulgi could see, everyone that went in the tent was always suited up from head to toe in protective gear. The entryway that Seulgi would leave food in was forever littered with coffee cups and half eaten trays.

Following Joy’s lead, Seulgi had been taking a tray of food to the lab for Joohyun, making sure she had least had some sustenance to fuel her research. Sometimes Joohyun would pop out, grabbing a bagel or a muffin from Seulgi’s tray, quickly gush out a thanks, then dash back into the lab, food halfway in . Seulgi would then gather up the discarded cups and plates and throw them away, wipe off the counter, and leave.

She’d hoped to talk to Joohyun ever since their liplock in the laundry room, but Seulgi hadn’t been able to have any conversations with the doctor that was longer than four sentences. Joohyun would quickly thank her, nibble on the food, then duck back into the restricted area.

Sure enough, this encounter was no different. The petite doctor answered when Seulgi knocked and accepted the food. She thanked the other woman, along with mumbling out a quick hello. Then she was gone. Seulgi sighed, and began picking up the rubbish around the room.

It didn’t surprise her. She knew the feeling. Whenever there was a deadline for a project, she, Yeri and Joy would pull impossibly long shifts, editing, deleting and adjusting their final presentation. So for someone like Joohyun, who had a literal deadline, as in, if she and Wendy didn’t figure something out, people would be dead, it wasn’t surprising to her that they would pull all nighters. 

The problem was that Seulgi couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that Joohyun was avoiding her. She understood, she really did, but was it really so difficult to just stop for a minute and talk? Would the germs grow to the size of the Seoul Needle in the extra minute it would take to talk about their day, about their food, about their kiss? 

So Seulgi came to the only logical conclusion: she was being ignored. But what could she do? Only wait, until they cured this virus or Joohyun changed her mind. Which was why Seulgi was the lab once again.

Yeri eyed her carefully as Seulgi took a seat at breakfast a couple of days later.

“You okay, Kkangseul? ” 

“Hm?” Seulgi looked up, absentmindedly picking at her food.

“I asked if you were okay. You’ve been looking out of it lately.” Yeri looked concerned, something that was unusual for her. 

“I’m alright,” she lied. “Just tired.”

“You sure look it,” Yeri said, face impassive.

“Ugh, it’s just, I need time to catch up,” Seulgi muttered. “It’s this stupid, stupid virus.”

If Yeri thought the outburst was out of place, she played it off well. “How are you and Irene-unnie doing?”

“Ugh. Everything is easier said than done,” Seulgi grumbled, mostly to herself, but Yeri seemed to understand.

“You need to take it easy,” Yeri shrugged. “This isn’t the Kkangsuel I know. You’re usually so laid back.”

“Kang Seulgi-ya!”

The lunch (now breakfast) ahjumma interrupted. “How do you want your eggs?”

“Sunny side up,” Seulgi hollered back. 

Yeri resumed speaking.

“You’ll break whatever you guys have if you keep rushing it.”

“What?” The ahjumma yelled again. “I can’t hear you.”

“Sunny side up!” Seulgi shouted. She made lifting hand motions. “Up! Up!”

Yeri stared at her with round eyes.

“Sorry, what were you saying?” Seulgi asked. “You’re so serious. It’s kind of weird.”

“Nevermind,” Yeri shook her head, rising from the table. “But is it really so bad if you have to wait a bit?”

Seulgi didn’t know the answer. She dropped her head onto her arms, almost slamming her forehead on the table.

“Ugh,”she groaned, “don’t make my mind all scrambled up.”

“What?” The breakfast ahjumma yelled. “You want scrambled now too?”

At dinnertime that evening, Seulgi noticed the breakfast and lunch trays she left earlier were untouched. Her previous attempts for the days had been met with no answer. She stood in front of the door, expecting it to go unanswered again. 

She brought her hand up to knock when the door suddenly opened outwards, smashing into her and upending the tray unto her clothes. 

“GAH!” Seulgi exclaimed, feeling the ramyun creeping down her sweater. She looked up to see Joohyun sprinting away, hair and lab coat fluttering in her wake.

“Joohyun?” Seulgi mumbled, spitting out the noodles that found their way into . The doctor turned at the sound of her name.

“Seulgi?” Joohyun whirled around, confused. A split second later, realization washed over her and she cried out, “Seulgi!” 

Joohyun rushed over to the other woman and wrapped her in a noodle-soaked hug.

“We did it!” she shouted, her face split in a huge smile. “We actually did it!” 

Seulgi could barely breathe from Joohyun’s suffocating hold, but she managed to squeak out a reply.

“I brought you dinner,” she said meekly. The doctor only threw her head back in laughter.

“You’re so funny!” she practically screeched. 

Seulgi was getting more and more confused by the second. She had no idea what was going on.

“Joohyun, what are you--mmph!”

Seulgi’s eyes slammed shut on reflex. Soft lips were smashed against hers once again, but nothing like the gentle kiss they had shared a few nights ago. This one was rabid, sloppy and full of energy. 

Then, just as the kiss started to deepen, the lips disappeared. Disoriented, Seulgi opened her eyes.

“Wha?” she stuttered, eyes blinking a few times.

“The antivirus!” Joohyun finally elaborated. “We did it!” 

Then she pressed their lips together in another searing kiss. Joohyun’s tongue traced her lower lip, and Seulgi let out a small whimper as she allowed access. Seulgi was lost. Much like getting caught in a huge wave, she had no idea which way was up, all she knew was that she was drowning.

The complete one-eighty from the doctor had her reeling and right now, and Seulgi was just going with the flow, hoping to eventually catch her breath. It really didn’t help that the woman was a fantastic kisser.

“That’s good,” Seulgi managed to stammer out, once they had parted. She darted her tongue out to trace her own lips, eyes hazy and unfocused. “That was really good.” 

A loud crash interrupted them.

“WE DID IIIIITT!” Wendy yelled as she sprinted out the door, almost crashing into Joohyun and Seulgi. The other women separated and gazed at her comically.

“Oh, I see you’ve told Seulgi the good news,” Wendy said sheepishly. 

“Yes, Seungwan,” Joohyun replied, slightly out of breath, “I was on my way to tell Suho and Minho.” 

Seulgi glanced at the doctor. Despite her lips being slightly swollen from their make out session, her composure gave nothing away. 

“Yes!” Wendy said cheerfully, blissfully ignorant. “Let’s hurry up and tell them and then we are gonna celebrate like it’s 1999!”

“Why 1999?” Seulgi asked. 

“I dunno,” Wendy said, scratching her head, “it just sounded good.”

“Let’s get moving, shall we?” Joohyun glared, as she tapped her foot impatiently.

“Yes unnie,” the No-Jam Duo said together.

“Uh, why did you come out so much later than Joohyun?” Seulgi asked while they made their way to Suho’s office.

“She takes longer than I do to get through the disinfection process,” Joohyun answered for them.

Considering the circus Wendy and Seulgi put on while donning their suits, it all made sense. Wendy’s pained smile confirmed it.

“Yeah, I’m usually the last one to come whenever we’re doing something that involves taking clothes off.” Her eyes grew big as she immediately regretted her choice of words.

Joohyun burst into laughter, and a second later, Seulgi as well.*

“I meant, I just take a long time to undress!” The laughter grew louder. 

"For scientific purposes!” 

Jooyhyun scream-laughed hysterically, and Seulgi could hardly breathe, her stomach cramping with laughter and her eyes tearing up.

“Look, let’s focus on the important stuff, alright everyone?” Wendy announced loudly, clumsily trying to redirect the conversation. “Like how we’ve managed to find a cure!”

“Alright alright,” Joohyun conceded, though her face was still fresh from laughter.

“What’s all the ruckus about?” Suho asked, peeking his head out of the door. He eyed the food-stained fronts of Seulgi and Irene. “And what happened to your clothes?”

“We need to talk to you,” Joohyun said, ignoring his second question. “Inside.” She nodded her head towards the door.

“Of course, come in.” He stepped aside so they could enter the small office. It wasn’t anything special, just a small room that couldn’t have been longer than seven feet on either end. Suho sat behind a small desk, and gestured for the women to sit. Wendy and Joohyun took seats, Seulgi remained standing by the door.

“Suho-ssi,” Joohyun began, “We’ve got an antiserum.” The friendly Joohyun who had been bent over in laughter a minute ago was gone. The icy Dr. Irene Bae was in her place, eyes blazing.

“You did it?” he gasped.

“Dr. Son mostly,” Irene said.

“Not true, Unnie, ” Wendy protested. She turned to Suho, “Dr. Bae really did it almost all by herself.”

“Look, that’s not important,” Dr. Bae waved off. “We’ve got a cure, and we need to get this into mass production as soon as possible.”

“How are you so sure it works?” Suho asked evenly.

“We’ve tested it on three different patients in the treatment ward. All have recovered in the past twenty-four hours.”

“I can’t believe it,” Suho looked around in disbelief. “You actually did it.”

“You better believe it,” Wendy said confidently. “Took another Bad Boy down.” She made finger pistols and blew off the imaginary smoke. “What?” she asked, looking at Joohyun, who was resting her chin on her fingers with an impassive face.

“Bad timing, Seungwan-ah,” she said simply.

“So what does this mean for everyone?” Suho redirected them. 

“It means that while the incubation period and contagiousness are still present, nobody will die from it. Even if they get infected, we can treat them. The earlier we initiate, the shorter the downtime.”

“So we still have to proceed with quarantine precautions.” 

Irene nodded agreement.

“What about BSL levels?” he asked. “Can we step down from four to three? Or even two?”

“I wouldn’t do that yet,” Wendy said. “Obviously our cure is in its infancy, so we should be cautious until we get official decisions from the CDC and WHO.”

“I understand.” Suho flipped open his laptop. “I’ll talk to Minho to arrange transportation for the cure to get home to our labs. They can begin mass manufacturing within a couple of days. This should give us enough time to get ahead of any widespread contagion.”

“That sounds good,” Irene nodded. “We have more antivirus being prepped as we speak. It should be ready in another eighteen hours. We’ll send out what we have made and keep the new batch to treat the patients here.”

“Excellent!” Suho clapped his hands with a large smile. “You guys did great.”

The girls made their way towards the exit. Suho pumped two fists in the air and smiled widely.

“Thanks for everything, ladies! It’s time for celebration! Have a good night!”

“We will!” Wendy said cheerfully.

“Go Ko Ko Bop or something!”

“Oh, we’re going Ko Ko Bop!” the blonde nodded vigorously. “It’s going down, down, baby.”

“Let’s go, Seungwan-ah,” Joohyun rolled her eyes, pulling the other doctor by the hand.

“He’s right,” Wendy agreed as she shut the door. “We're going to celebrate.”

“Yeah!” Seulgi grinned enthusiastically. “You guys have been working so hard.” 

“Hmm,” Joohyun murmured. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt. I have a bottle of whiskey I’d been saving. We could have a quiet little party.”

“Great!” Wendy clapped. “I’m gonna go ask the cafeteria ahjumma for desserts. What do you want?”

“Ice cream?” Seulgi asked.

“Cake?” Joohyun shrugged.

“Ice cream cake it is then!” Wendy shouted. 

“Oohhh ice cream cake!” Seulgi nodded gleefully. Joohyun looked between the both of them with wide eyes.

“Okay, I’ll go get it!” Wendy hopped around on the balls of her feet.

“Yes! And I’ll go get Joy and Yeri!” Seulgi bounced around with the same energy.

“Meet at your tent?”

“Yes! See you!”

The two women ran off in separate directions leaving a very bewildered Joohyun behind.

Fifteen minutes later, Wendy barged into the shared tent of Seulgi, Joy and Yeri. Given the last minute decision to host the get together in their living space, the place was in slight disarray. They had quickly snatched up the dirty clothes, tidied up their cots and pushed the camera gear to the side.

“I got it!” the blonde announced loudly to everyone, holding up a glorious white and red cake.

“There you are!” Joy replied, as she stood up. She had been talking to and hanging all over an uncomfortable Joohyun for the past few minutes. Seulgi had watched them with longing eyes. She agreed to the celebration because she thought she would get the chance to hang out with Joohyun, and instead Joy had pounced on her the moment she walked in with the alcohol.

“What flavor did you get?” Joy asked as she now draped an arm around Wendy’s waist.

“Oh vanilla chocolate honey with a cherry on top,” she replied merrily. “And some red velvet, cause Joohyunnie likes it.”

“You’re so cute,” Joy grinned, pinching Wendy’s cheek. The blonde put the cake away in the small refrigerator, ducking her head to hide the blush on her face.

“We can have the cake a little later, but first, I’d like to make a toast,” Wendy announced.

They passed around tiny cups and Wendy filled them with the amber liquid.

“To Joohyunnie,” Wendy said, holding her glass high. “For being the absolute bestest boss you could ever have, and being so friggin’ brilliant at everything!” 

“One shot!” she yelled. Then she drank from her glass, upending the cup until all the whiskey was gone. She slammed the glass on the table.

“To Joohyun!” Seulgi grinned and did the same. “One shot!” she smiled before she finished her drink.

Joy shrugged and downed her drink. “One shot,” she said nonchalantly.

“Y’all are crazy es,” Yeri said looking around, “I ing love it.” Then she too finished off her whiskey.

They all looked expectantly towards the toastee. Joohyun was holding her glass gingerly, looking at all of them with a small amount of fear.

“Come on, Joohyunnie,” Wendy urged. “This is for you!”

Joohyun seemed to be on the verge of an internal war, which she apparently lost, because she raised the glass to her lips and drank all until it was empty. Then she put the glass on the table and with a small cough said, “One shot!”

The other four girls giggled in delight.

“Again!” Wendy shouted, and filled their cups again. Joohyun’s eyes widened in alarm, but she didn’t say anything. Wendy raised her glass again.

“To Seulgi!” she said. “Cause you're the best photographer ever, and you’re hella cool for falling out of a helicopter to save my life!”

“I didn’t fall--”

“Shhh,” Joy shushed her, lifting Seulgi’s glass to . “Just drink.”

Seulgi eyed Joy, and silently finished her shot, but not without pouting at the taller girl first.

Yeri had already finished her whiskey and was on the verge of pouring out more.

“Yah, Kim Yerim!” Wendy scolded. “I’m in charge of the celebratory drinks.” The blonde was clearly buzzed, though they had only started drinking less than ten minutes ago.

“What are we even celebrating?” Joy asked. “Not that I care, mind you, I’m always down for getting drunk, but this seems a little sudden.”

“I’m not going to tell you!” Wendy sing-songed drunkenly. She gave Joy a wicked grin.

“Yah,” Joy frowned, and crossed her arms. “I brought you food everyday this past week.”

“Bad timing, Seungwan-ah,” Joohyun said for the second time that night. “And you can tell her,” she added.

“Oh,” Wendy paused. “Well, I guess in that case, I’ll make this toast to you!” She raised her cup towards Joy.

“Me?”

“Yes, you!” Wendy beamed. “Since you brought me food all week, I was able to keep my brain energized enough to help find a cure!”

“You what now?” Joy asked in disbelief.

“We synthesized an antivirus!” Wendy hopped up and down.

“No !” Yeri said, rising to her feet as well.

“Yes !” Wendy nodded back fervently.

“Well that’s a double for sure then!” Yeri poured more alcohol to each of their cups.

“To you crazy mothering geniuses!” Yeri raised her glass.

“I thought this toast was about cutie me!” Joy pouted.

“It’s about all of us!” Wendy shouted. “We did it! We goddamned did it!” Then she emptied her cup down .

Seulgi and Joohyun made eye contact. Seulgi shrugged and followed Wendy. Joohyun gave a small giggle and followed suit. 

“Maybe we should have some of the cake,” Seulgi offered, “I think I’m getting buzzed.”

It was an understatement really, she was significantly buzzed, straddling the line to outright drunk, and within the hour she would surely be in the -faced territory. 

Seulgi danced around, her body feeling very light and her head feeling very heavy.

“I think it’s time!” Joy clapped.

“For what?” Wendy asked. Joy rummaged around in one of her duffel bags before pulling out a microphone.

“For this!” she held it out in front of her. “A noraebang!”

“Oooohhh!” Joohyun squealed as she spoke up for the first time that evening. Wendy mimicked her excitement. 

Soon enough, Wendy, Joy, Joohyun and Seulgi we’re singing at the top of their lungs. Yeri sat back, amused.

“Tell me WHHHYYYY,” they all sang loudly, even though only Joohyun held the mic. Seulgi danced along joyfully, mimicking the hand motions to the popular song. Seeing Yeri not participating, Seulgi skipped over to the youngest girl, intending to pull her into the festivities.

She underestimated her level of drunkenness though, and slipped, falling to the floor. It didn’t stop her from singing though. 

“Snap out of it, Lion haaaah--aahh--aaaart, ” she sang to Yeri while flat on her back on the ground. The younger girl doubled over in laughter, giggling hysterically at her boss. She quickly whipped out her phone and snapped a selfie of the two, to which Seulgi just raised a peace sign and grinned.

“It’s Drunk Seulgi!” Joy laughed, as she threw an arm around Wendy’s shoulders. 

“Drunk Seulgi!” Wendy copied, though from the redness of her cheeks it was pretty clear she was at the same level of sobriety (or lack thereof) as the photographer.

“Yes!” Joohyun shouted, jumping around happily, oblivious to the current situation. The song had just ended and she scored a hundred, meaning she beat out everyone else.

“Give me that,” Joy snatched the microphone out of her hand and selected another song. Yeri had finally gotten up and started fighting with the taller girl for the mic.

Seulgi still hadn’t moved. She was quite comfortable where she was, despite the ground being rock solid. The alcohol was pleasantly dulling her system. Not to mention, it’d probably be very difficult to get up right now. Suddenly, Joohyun appeared above her.

“Are you okay? Do you need help getting up?” she asked, her hair gently falling into her face.

Joohyun’s face was starting to blur, almost becoming two Joohyuns, and by Seulgi’s poor grasp of math, that made her doubly beautiful. 

“No, I don't think so,” Seulgi grinned dumbly, “I think I’m okay right here.”

“Oh, I think you might be wrong. Come on, at least lie down on your cot.” Joohyun pulled Seulgi to her feet.

Clumsy from alcohol, lack of blood to her brain, and overall Seulgi-ness, the photographer nearly collapsed into the doctor. Joohyun caught her by the elbows, laughing a bit as their faces suddenly came within inches of each other.

“Whoops,” Seulgi muttered, her lips getting dangerously close to the other woman’s. Joohyun was aware of it as well, if the eyes flitting down to Seulgi’s lips were any indication. They were so close now, and everything about Joohyun seemed magnified.

The way her breath came out in little puffs, the way her lips were slightly parted. Her eyes were wide open, the brown of her irises deepening to a black. A few stray hairs fell into her face, and Seulgi could smell the lavender and vanilla coming off her in gentle waves. 

Her heart beating a mile a minute, she tried to closed the distance between them, her target Joohyun’s red lips. But to her complete and utter disappointment, the other woman pulled back suddenly as a voice interrupted them.

"Really?" Yeri said with disgust. "Right in front of my salad?" 

Seulgi looked around. As far as she could tell, the young woman had only been eating cake, yet she was clearly talking to the couple.

"But you don't have a salad," she pointed out.

"Yeah, we didn't get any salad," Wendy turned around and agreed, swaying a bit on the spot.

"C'mon," Joy pulled Wendy back with an arm around her shoulders, "I'll tell you one day when you're older."

"I'm older than you," Wendy frowned.

"And ten times as adorable," Joy grinned. Wendy stammered out a bashful thanks and turned back to the screen.

Yeri muttered something no one could hear.

“I, uh, I should go,” Joohyun stuttered, drawing Seulgi's attention back. She turned towards the exit, stumbling a bit from the alcohol.

“I’m going back to my tent,” she declared to the other girls, though the words came out a bit slurred. 

By the time everything registered in Seulgi’s intoxicated brain, Joohyun had already disappeared.

“Wait!” Seulgi called, throwing up a useless hand in protest.

“I’m going to make sure she gets back safely!” she said, before quickly following the doctor, not waiting for a response from the other three.

Not caring about what had happened between Seulgi and Joohyun and far more interested in their high scores, the other three girls threw out half-assed goodbyes.

“Good night unnies!” they yelled, not even bothering to turn away from the screen. Wendy was currently hitting a high note and Joy and Yeri were cheering her on.

“Joohyun, wait!” Seulgi called, running after her. The doctor didn’t turn around, still keeping her quick pace. Seulgi finally caught up to her and grabbed her hand and halting her movement.

“Wait, please,” she panted, a hand on her knee. Surprisingly, Joohyun didn’t pull away. 

“What, what was that?” Seulgi asked, still gasping for breath.

“Took you long enough.” 

Seulgi could hear the mischief in her voice without even looking up.

“What?” she looked up with wide eyes.

“Come here,” the doctor grinned, pulling Seulgi up by the shoulders into a kiss.

Seulgi couldn’t breathe. Her brain was short circuiting from a lack of oxygen, overload of alcohol and Joohyun’s lips. She didn’t care. If this was the last thing she did in life, she’d die happy. The alcohol had come back and hit her full force again. Seulgi pressed deeper into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Joohyun’s waist, and the other girl draped her arms around her shoulders in return.

Everything felt so alive. Though her brain was fuzzy with alcohol, she could still feel the fingernails igniting sparks at the nape of her neck. Each breath filled her senses with the intoxicating scents of lavender and soap. Joohyun tasted like perfectly aged whiskey, and Seulgi would gladly get drunk off her again. 

Somehow, they ended up in front of Joohyun’s tent. The doctor broke off the kiss and tried to pull Seulgi in by the hand, except the other woman stayed put.

“Don’t you want to come in?” Joohyun asked, her smile coy, but her eyes confused. Seulgi shook her head.

“Nuh uh,” Seulgi declined. “We haven’t even gone on a date yet.”

“Date?” Joohyun’s eyebrows shot up.

“Yes, a date, Joohyunnie,” Seulgi sighed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. This woman was special, and she wasn’t going to treat her like some sort of throwaway Tinder fling. 

She shoved a hand in her pocket, brushing against Joohyun’s left behind underwear, currently burning a hole in Seulgi’s pocket. She’d been trying to find the least awkward time to give it back, but nothing ever seemed right. Tonight obviously wouldn't be the night either. 

“You must be taking lessons from Seungwan,” Joohyun smirked and crossed her arms, distracting Seulgi again.

“Possibly,” Seulgi blushed, internally promising to never tell the doctor that she was right.

“Fine,” Joohyun huffed. “I’ll go on this date with you.”

“Hah!” Seulgi pumped her fist in the air. She kissed Joohyun’s hand. “Goodnight, my fair lady,” she said with a bow.

“Yep,” Joohyun gaped incredulously, “definitely got that from Seungwan.” She turned her hand over and pulled Seulgi up until they were eye to eye. “You should know,” she said with Dr. Irene Bae seriousness, “I don’t do relationships. Or titles.”

This would be a conversation for next time. How Joohyun’s mixed signals kept Seulgi’s interest, but were never enough to get her to jump in head first. How Seulgi was always mildly unsure of what exactly she meant to the other woman. How the doctor could go from warm to ice cold and the photographer never seemed prepared for either. How one day, Seulgi just wanted complete honesty.

But tonight wasn’t going to be about that. Maybe it was the whiskey dulling her senses, or maybe it was just her usual level of optimism, but Seulgi wasn’t bothered by it at all. 

“You confuse me immensely, Bae Joohyun,” she said with an eye smile, her vocabulary alcohol-affected. “But I’ll show you that dating me would be the best thing ever.” She placed one last kiss on Joohyun’s hand and skipped away.

She missed the small smile and shaking head of Joohyun as she left.

“Dr. Son!”

The sunlight was coming in brightly through the tent opening, unfortunately landing on Seulgi’s face.

“Dr. Son!”

Someone was shouting. 

“Dr. Son!”

Loudly.

With a groan, Seulgi rolled over. had the heavy taste of cotton and her head felt sluggish with a hangover.

“Dr. Son!”

“Jesus Christ, someone tell that to shut up!” Yeri was rising too, unable to sleep through the ruckus. Her hair was tousled and she looked to be in a similar condition to the older girl. 

Seulgi looked around. They’d forgotten to put the ice cream cake away and it was now a sad puddle on their table. The whiskey bottle lay discarded next to it, and they had managed to find a bottle of vodka to accompany it. It more or less looked like a hurricane hit. Joy and Wendy were sleeping on a cot next to each other, Wendy still clutching the karaoke microphone as she slept.

“Dr. Son!”

“Hey get up,” Yeri muttered grumpily, tossing a pillow at Wendy’s face, but hitting Joy instead.

“What the hell?” the taller woman said groggily.

“Wake Wendy-unnie up,” Yeri grouched. “There’s some loud a-hole outside calling for her.”

“Dr. Son!”

“Oh just come in already!” Joy and Yeri yelled at the same time.

A head of black hair ducked down as he entered and when he rose, Seulgi recognized him as Johnny.

“I’m sorry,” he said apologetically. “But there’s been an emergency.”

“What are you talking about?” Seulgi asked.

“It’s of a sensitive nature,” he said cautiously, eyeing Joy.

Wendy picked up on the hint and waved it off. “It’s fine, just tell us.”

“We believe some agents from Umpah base came in late last night and infected nearly the entire camp with RBB.”

“What?” all four women exclaimed together. 

“Wait, we’re not infected,” Wendy said, hands flitting around her body.

“No,” Johnny shook his head, “and neither were Mark and I. We were on a delivery run when they came. I think they skipped your tent because it was already disheveled. It looks like someone previously hit it.” He glanced at the cake and discarded cups.

“We’re just hungover, 'kay ?” Joy said defensively, arms crossed.

“I get the feeling you’re not done with the bad news, are you?” Wendy astutely deduced.

He shook his head again.

“No. They also took Dr. Bae.”

The four women shouted their shock at the same time.

“What?”

“No!”

“Joohyunnie!”

“Where?”

Seulgi asked the last question. There was a pregnant pause.

“Where?” she asked again, her voice a little louder, intensifying her hangover and her resolve.

“I might know where,” he said carefully, “but you’ll have to follow me.”

Without hesitation, all four women stood up and followed the man out of the tent. He led them to the building Seulgi recognized as the “secret” conference room, but instead of stopping there, took them into a small office off to the side. Featuring multiple screens and a small desk, it was clear this was where Johnny did his work. Before he sat down, however, he opened a small refrigerator, pulling out cold Gatorades and handing one to each of them.

They all murmured thanks, with Wendy complimenting him on his ingenuity at managing to get Gatorade in Madagascar.

“Logistics, remember?” he shrugged. “Anyway, let’s get started, they've had a couple of hours headstart already.” He quickly typed on his keyboard, bringing up various maps and pictures.

“Okay, so you know about the Umpah base,” Johnny began. Seulgi, Yeri and Wendy all nodded. “There’s more to it than we originally thought. Mark and I have been using drones and satellites with infrared technology to map the place out. There’s actually a secondary complex underneath it, and it’s huge. I’ve been calling it the Umpah 2.0.”

“I don’t like it,” Yeri frowned.

“Me neither,” Wendy shook her head.

“What?”

“The name,” Yeri clarified.

“What’s wrong with it?” Johnny asked, looking offended.

“It sounds odd,” Seulgi admitted.

“Let’s see you think of something better,” he scoffed.

“What about Umpah Umpah?” Joy offered.

“Ooooh, I like that,” Wendy said excitedly.

“It’s got a good ring to it,” Yeri agreed.

“Umpah pah,” Seulgi tried it out.

“It’s settled then,” Joy finalized. “The Umpah Umpah base.” She turned back to Johnny. “Please continue.”

Flabbergasted, but without any avenue to argue against the women, he went along with them.

“So anyway, underneath is the Umpah Umpah complex, and it is likely where they’re keeping Irene-noona.”

“How do you know that?”

“I used the same technology to run heat signatures on all of the bodies present at the compound. I’m pretty sure this is her.” He brought up an image. It resembled the shape of a human, if they were a colorful gingerbread man.

“I guess that’s her,” Wendy said with her head tilted to the side. “Looks like her S-Line.”

“Oh you should ask Seulgi,” Joy suggested. “She would definitely know all about Irene's S-Line.”

“What?!” Seulgi yelped as her face flushed red. “I don’t know anything about that!” she denied, even as the feeling of Joohyun’s hips in her hands came to mind.

Yeri and Joy laughed loudly at her expense, and Seulgi wondered then if her face could blush darker than red.

Johnny, who hadn’t yet heard of Seulrene, coughed and returned to their topic at hand.

“Mark can drop you off at the same location as last time.”

“Is Minho coming?” Seulgi inquired. “He picked the locks last time to get in.” 

Johnny shook his head.

“All personnel, with the exception of the five of us and Mark, are under quarantine. They’ll use your batch of serums once it’s ready, Dr. Son, but until then, everyone is isolated.”

“How did they infect everyone without raising the alarm?”

“They aerosolized it. By the time anyone realized what they were breathing it was too late.”

“So we have no lock picker,” Seulgi sighed.

“I can pick locks,” Joy said matter-of-factly.

“You have a criminal record?” Seulgi gasped in alarm. “Have I been employing a felon?!”

“Calm down before you give yourself an aneurysm, unnie,” Joy said. “And no, I’ve never been arrested.”

“But you can pick locks?” Wendy asked.

“What can I say?” Joy shrugged. “I’m handsy.”

“I think you meant ‘handy,’” Wendy corrected.

“Oh no, I mean ‘handsy,’” she winked at the blonde, who blushed. 

Yeri rolled her eyes. 

“Can you stop flirting with everything that has two legs and ia?”

“You’re just jealous, you troll.” Joy stuck her tongue out.

“Guys,” Seulgi spoke loudly over them, “we have to hurry if we’re going to help Joohyun.”

“Right,” Wendy said, standing up and straightening her clothes. “Let’s go.”

“Mark’s already at the helicopter pad,” Johnny added. “I’ll be your mission control from here.”

“Thanks,” she said, as they exited. 

“By the way,” Joy spoke up as they walked towards the chopper, “what exactly is going on here?”

Wendy, Seulgi and Yeri all shared a look.

“Not it,” Yeri muttered, walking away.

A/N: Sorry it's a little late. The following updates will most likely be late as well. 

There's a lot of heavy double meanings, plays on words and idioms in this fic, so I apologize if English isn't your first language and a lot of this is flying over your head. Oh, and also a lot of sarcasm. For example, the chapter title is a play on the cure being found, yeri's comment and the title of a very good book.

Keep an eye out in the future chapters, I'll be sticking the usernames of my fav comments in them.

On a serious note, if you haven't been limiting your presence regarding COVID-19 in earnest, please do. I cannot stress how important it is right now to limit your contact with others. My patients haven't been really doing all they should be, despite my pleas, and in a couple of weeks, I expect our healthcare system to be overwhelmed. Make good choices please.