6 months ago

The feeling was weird. No, awkward.

Well, it was also normal, since they didn’t know each other for long (a month till now to be precise), and it was the start of them living together. Gyeongwon liked this little girl, Bada, she was cute and shy, never made eye contact with them for more than 3 seconds. But she was quiet, so quiet that Gyeongwon wasn’t sure if she should try to talk to her so often.

“Knock knock”

“Yes?”

“We need you here, Gyeongwon unnie!”

“Ok, coming!”

Gyeongwon turned to her new roommate, who was sitting on the bed, eyes looking at a spot on the sheet.

“I’ll be back soon. Just sleep if you’re tired.”

“Ok, unnie.”

As soon as Gyeongwon closed the door behind her, Eunwoo rushed over, grabbing her wrist and pulled her to the small kitchen.

“What’s the matter? Did you order late night snack again?” She saw Minkyeung and Yaebin was also sitting beside the table. “We should call Bada to eat with us…”

“Haven’t you had enough food during dinner?” Eunwoo rolled her eyes. “We’ve got something more important than that.”

“What is it?”
“The Get-to-be-close-with-Bada mission.”

“Huh?” Gyeongwon frowned at first, but comprehended anyway. “Yeah. I’m troubled, too.”

“We all are.” Yaebin made a face. “She’s too shy! I’ve talked to her so many times but the words she has answered me were less than ten.”

“I think she’s kinda scared of me.” Minkyeung pouted (which Gyeongwon had to suppress herself from pinching her cheek), “Am I really a scary unnie? I’m just a bit taller than her.”

“A lot taller.” Eunwoo bumped her forehead on the table. “I tried to make some jokes when I was alone with her, I thought they were all funny and I laughed my off! But I felt like an idiot when she looked at me with her terrified eyes…”

Minkyeung threw a questioning sight to Gyeongwon. “How are you two doing as roomies?”

“Just…ok.” Gyeongwon shrugged. “We helped each other to organize the room, and…that’s all. She’s not used to initiate conversations. I’m not good at finding topics either.”

They sighed in sync. Bada was definitely a sweet girl, they wanted her to feel she belonged with them, as a friend and family, not a newbie that had to listen to their commands.

“We can’t force her to open to us so fast, right? I mean, we’ve known for years, she’s only for a month…It takes time. I guess we have to follow her tempo.”

They all had the same goal—to be on the stage and sing for their fans, perform for their dreams. It was broken once, now they had the chance to make it happen again. And they didn’t want to leave out any members. Not again.

A notification popped on Gyeongwon’s phone screen. Almost at the same time, Eunwoo’s phone rang, too. They shared a look.

“Oh my. This might be a huge help.”

The next night, Bada was in the room, alone. She could hear talks and squeals on the other side of the door, but she didn’t have the courage to step out and join.

The unnies were all nice to her. She wanted to get close to them, but she always shrank back when they looked at her with anticipated eyes. She had always been a quiet kid, and since she didn’t participate school, she was not good at making friends.

You are a baby! Bada remembered that Minkyeung told her this when they first met. She really was a baby compared with the girls, not only because of age, but also because of experience.

The unnies were talented, Bada knew they would have been big if their former company putted efforts on them. They learned fast. They already had a quite amount of fans. They faced the cameras easily.

As for her? Three unofficial groups she was in had disappeared without a trace. Practiced dancing for all day long was what she did the most for the past few years.

Was she good enough to debut? Bada didn’t know. It scared her.

“Knock knock”

The sound startled her a little, but she regained and answered quickly. “Yes?”

Instead of any unnies’ voices, the door just opened, two cats ran in like a flash.

“Woah…”

Bada was startled again. Cats? In the dorm?
“Hodu and Hochu.” Gyeongwon walked in. “Their names! The yellow one is Hodu, I got him from a friend. And the gray one is Hochu, Eunwoo bought him at a pet shop.”

“Oh…”

“They will live with us from now on!”

“O-Oh…”

“…You don’t like them?”

Hochu sneaked under the chair at the corner and Hodu slowly approached as they spoke. Bada kneeled down and patted its head, bringing it up to her chest.

“I love them.” She smiled, and it was probably the most heartily smile Gyeongwon had seen so far. “I love them, unnies.”

“ing yes!”

Yaebin jumped with joy and got a smack on the arm.

“Language!”

“Hochu-ah, stop hiding!” Eunwoo also crawled under the chair, didn’t mind at all that she looked dumb in the other girls’ eyes. “Meet mom and aunties!”

They spent almost the whole night playing with the cats. They talked and laughed, sharing past stories and memories. It was the first time Bada talked about her trainee days and the audition she went through to be chosen. It was also the first time she heard from the girls about the things they had suffered before their disbandment.

In the end, the girls started to ask her about which unnie she liked the most. The way they bickered was so childish yet cute that Bada felt she could not laugh any louder.

At midnight, they fell asleep in the same room, the cats had run to other places in the house to play with themselves.

It was not just a dorm anymore. It was a home. And Bada knew she wanted not only to be in this home but also to be with her unnies on the stage for a long, long