Sei found Suyeon lying on her bed, goofing around on her phone. 

"We need to talk," Sei said.

Suyeon looked at Sei, then over at Elly.

"We can go to my room." Sei said.

Suyeon put her phone in her pocket and got up. "Okay, let's go."

Sei led Suyeon to her room. When they got there, Lua was just leaving.

"Remember what I said," she said to Sei.

Sei nodded, led Suyeon into the room, and shut the door.

Suyeon looked concernedly at Sei. "What's wrong?" she asked. "You're obviously upset about something."

Sei nodded. "I am. I'm really upset and I'm going to say something that I should have said a long time ago." She paused.

After the pause had stretched out an uncomfortably long time, Suyeon prompted her. "And that is?"

Sei took a deep breath, blinked a couple of times, and began. "Suyeon, you're going to have to choose. I can't be your dirty little secret anymore. I won't be. I deserve better than that. Either we're a real couple and we let the other members know about us, or we're through."

Suyeon was quiet for a moment, taken aback. "Oh. . . um. . . yes. . . Can I have some time to think about it?"

Sei shook her head violently, tears welling up in your eyes. "No, Suyeon. You can't. You've had months and months to think about it. You knew I was unhappy about the situation. We've had the same conversation about it so many damn times. So no, you can't have any more time. I need your decision right now: Either we walk out that door together and tell the other members that we're a couple, or you walk out alone and you never have to tell them anything."

Suyeon took a step forward. "Sei, I've told you why we can't tell the other members about us. Maybe someday, but not now-"

Sei's eyes flashed. "So that's your answer? Either we're a secret or we're through?"

Suyeon's brow creased and she started talking slightly louder. "Look, I never lied to you. I told you at the beginning that I would always, always put Weki Meki first. You knew what you were getting into when we got together."

Sei shook her head. "No, I didn't know. I didn't know how far you would take that. I didn't know that I'd only get to be your girlfriend for a couple of minutes a day, at best. I can't live like that, Suyeon. No one could!"

"But, maybe in a while, when the time is right-"

Sei shook her head again. "Suyeon, I don't believe that the time will ever be right." She blinked back the tears that were threatening to overflow her eyes. "Just go, Suyeon. I know what your answer is. I'm not going to force you to say the words.

Suyeon crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, Sei. I really am. I just don't know any other way to be."

Sei nodded. "I know. And we did have some good times, but not enough of them. Not enough to make up for all the times I needed a hug and I couldn't come to you. All the times I wanted to cuddle up to you while we were watching a movie but I couldn't-"

"Sei I love-" Suyeon began.

"I believe you love me Suyeon. But apparently you can't love me in the way I need to be loved. I just-"

From outside the room they heard Doyeon calling "Dinner's ready!"

Sei slumped over and sat down on the edge of her bed, sniffling back tears. "Just go, Suyeon. I'm not hungry, and I don't want to fight. . . Just go." She flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

Suyeon opened and closed a couple of times, but couldn't find any words. Nodding silently, she turned and left. As she shut the bedroom door, she heard Sei roll over and start to cry in earnest.

Doyeon quietly opened the door and slipped into the room she share with Yoojung, Sei, and Lua.

"Hey Sei," she called out. "I know Suyeon said you're not hungry, but I made street toast for dinner and I'd already made you one, so I figured I'd come see if you wanted it."

Sei rolled over and looked at Doyeon. Upon seeing her face, Doyeon gasped, then rushed over and sat on the edge of Sei's bed. Tentatively reaching out, she Sei's hair.

"You've been crying." It wasn't a question. "What's wrong?"

Sei sat up so she could talk to Doyeon more easily. "Suyeon and I got in an argument," she said. "I can't really talk about why, but things are going to be awkward for a while and then hopefully they'll be better." She reached out for the plate. "I was actually starving, but I couldn't go out and sit with everyone."

Doyeon handed Sei the plate and watched while she took a bite. "I understand that. Tell you what, you go ahead and eat here - try not to get crumbs all over the place - and the leave your plate on your table and I'll come get it before I go to bed."

Sei reached out and took Doyeon's hand. "Can you stay here with me for a little while, unnie?"

Doyeon nodded. "Sure. Let me just go tell Yoojung what's going on so she doesn't come looking for me." She got up and left, leaving Sei alone with her thoughts and her sandwich.

When Doyeon came back, she sat on her bed and looked across at Sei. "So, did you want to talk, or did you just want not to be alone?"

Sei chewed and swallowed the bite of sandwich that was in . "Unnie, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did," Doyeon said. Seeing that Sei didn't even crack a smile, she hurriedly composed her face into a serious expression. "OK, not the time for humor. What did you want to ask?"

Sei thought for a moment, then asked "How did you and Yoojung get together? How did you know she was interested in you? And did you ask her to be your girlfriend, or did she ask you, or what? And. . ."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Doyeon said with a grin, holding up her hands to stop Sei. "That's a lot of questions. Let me answer those before you ask more. Yoojung and I met during the Produce 101. As time went on, we found ourselves spending more and more time together outside of practice. After a while, I noticed that she seemed to be seeking me out. Like, we weren't allowed to go anywhere without a buddy, and she'd be sitting with a group of people and rather than ask one of them to be her buddy so she could go somewhere, she'd come ask me. And for a long time I wasn't sure if she was interested in me as a girlfriend or if she just really wanted to be my friend, so after a while I just asked her."

Sei stopped with her sandwich halfway to . "How did you do that? What did you say?" She took a bite and chewed as she awaited Doyeon's reply.

"Just one day while we were talking I said 'There's something I've been wondering about. . .' and then I just asked her."

"Just like that?"

Doyeon nodded. "Just like that."

Sei took the last bite of the sandwich and put her plate down on her table. "Weren't you scared? I mean, what if she had said no?"

Doyeon laughed. "Scared? I was terrified! What if I misunderstood her? What if my gaydar was off and she wasn't really into girls that way? What if I messed up our friendship by asking this? It was nerve-wracking!" Doyeon fell silent for a moment, then quietly asked. "Is there someone you need to ask that question of?"

Sei nodded. "Yes. I mean, I think so. I mean. . ." She flopped down on her bed. "I don't know. Why can't things be easy?"

Doyeon laughed quietly. "All you've got to do is ask one question and then listen for the answer. How much easier can it be?" She paused and thought for a moment. "Does this have something to do with your fight with Suyeon? Are you thinking Suyeon might be into you?"

Sei shook her head no, while at the same time saying "Yes." Seeing the confusion on Doyeon's face, she elaborated. "It does, kinda sorta, in a way, have something to do with my fight with Suyeon, but I don't think Suyeon's into me. Suyeon's pretty much married to Weki Meki - I don't know that she has room in her life for a relationship."

Doyeon nodded. "Yeah, 'cause I was about to say, if you're interested in Suyeon, you're wasting your time." She stood up and picked up Sei's plate. "Well, I think I've given you enough to think about for a while. If you've got more questions, feel free to come ask me - it's not like I can go anywhere."

As usual, Sei woke up early. Normally she would have gone running, but currently that wasn't an option. Still, she didn't feel like staying in bed, so she quietly got up and headed for the kitchen. On the way, she saw Suyeon sitting on the couch in the common room. She walked over and stood by the end of the couch.

"You're already up?" Sei asked.

Suyeon shook her head. "Still up. I couldn't sleep. Wanna keep me company?"

Sei sat down on the couch next to Suyeon. They were both quiet for a few minutes, unsure of what to say. Finally, Suyeon was the one to break the silence.

"So how are you doing?" 

Sei looked at her. "I haven't done anything but cry and sleep since we last talked, so that should tell you."

Suyeon nodded. "I haven't been able to do either of those. At first I thought I just wasn't crying because the other members were around, but then they all went to sleep and I could have cried without anyone knowing and the tears just wouldn't come." She shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sad about what happened with us, but the crying's just not happening."

Sei reached out and touch Suyeon on the shoulder. "Everybody deals with things differently," she said. "Maybe you'll cry later. Or maybe you never will - I can't recall ever seeing you cry."

Suyeon laughed. "This's not true - I cried like a baby when I broke my ankle."

Sei shook her head. "No, that's not the same. A pain cry is different from a sadness cry." She looked out the window for a minute. "Or maybe you'll cry the first time you see me with someone else."

There was a long silence. Finally, Suyeon asked "Is there someone else?"

Sei leaned back and sighed. "I didn't break up with you so that I could go out with someone else, if that's what you're asking, and I never did cheat on you, but at the same time, there's someone who might be interested in me, and something might come of that. I just. . ." She took a deep breath and started over again. "I just don't want you thinking I broke up with you just to be with them, and I don't want you hassling them if you see us together."'

"I'd never do that," Suyeon said quickly.

"I didn't think you would," Sei replied, still looking back, "but I just wanted to give you a heads up of what might be happening."

Suyeon pondered this, then quietly asked. "Did you love me?"

Sei looked and Suyeon and lean toward her. "Did I? I still do. I imagine I always will. Just because we can't be together doesn't mean I've stopped loving you."

Suyeon nodded. "I still love you too."

"But love's not enough," Sei said seriously. "We had problems that no amount of love was going to overcome."

'You're right. You really are," Suyeon said. "But part of me just didn't - still doesn't - want to admit it. I think I'm just afraid of being alone."

'Being alone isn't the worst thing," Sei said. "Besides, I believe there's someone out there for you, someone who makes you happier than I ever could."

Suyeon slumped back. "Not that I can meet them right now, while we're quarantined in our apartment."

"Well, no, probably not," Sei admitted. "But we won't stay in quarantine forever, and when you find your person, I'll be so happy for you."

Suyeon stared at her hands. "It's all just a lot to take in. And you know what's the weirdest part?"

"What?"

"I'm not even mad at you." Suyeon looked up, making eye contact with Sei, then looked away again quickly. "I've never stayed friends with one of my exes before, but things feel different with you."

"Well, I  hope we're able to stay friends - we're still going to be in Weki Meki together!" Sei laughed quietly.

Suyeon nodded, obviously thinking this over deeply. After a while, she asked "So, this other person that you might end up going out with. . . Do I know them?"

Sei considered this question for a moment. "You do, but I'm not going to tell you who it is, so please don't try to guess. Or if you do try to guess, keep your guesses to yourself."

 Just then there was a knock at the door. Sei and Suyeon counted to ten as they made their way to the door.

"At least they're feeding us well while we're quarantined," Suyeon said, as they picked up the bags of groceries and brought them inside.

"That's true," said Sei as she put a couple of 6-packs of ramen into the pantry.

"And apparently Manager-nim decided we should start getting the newspaper," Suyeon said, holding up the day's Chosun Ilbo.

"I guess she wanted to be sure we were keeping up with what's going on outside of this apartment," Sei said and she unpacked a stack of cans of tuna.

"That's a good idea," Suyeon said. "Today's only the third day of quarantine and I feel like we've been in here forever."

Sei nodded. "I know what you mean. How about you sit down and read the news out loud and I'll finish putting away the groceries."

Sei was just putting away the last of the groceries and Suyeon was reaching the end of an article about the pandemic when Rina came into the kitchen.

"Good morning unnies!" she said with a smile. "Did we get any tuna in the groceries today?"

Sei nodded and pointed to the stacks of cans in the pantry. "We got regular and with hot sauce."

"Great!" Rina exclaimed as skipped over to the pantry. "I've been craving tuna!" She served herself a bowl of rice from the rice cooker, then dumped a can of tuna with hot sauce on top of it.

Suyeon shook her head. "I never did understand how you could eat tuna for breakfast."

"Why wouldn't you eat tuna for breakast?" Rina asked between bites. "It tastes delicious, plus it's got protein, so you don't crash when your body has burned up all the carbs from the rice."

Sei laughed. "Sounds like someone's been listening to me to talk about food!" 

"Of course I do!" Rina said with a blush. "You put so much effort into learning how to eat healthily - why wouldn't I listen to you?"

"Some of our members," Sei said, "seem to have no interest in eating more healthily."

Rina shrugged. "Just because Lucy would live on nothing but tteokbokki and instant noodles if you let her doesn't mean all of us are like that."

Sei quickly glanced over at Suyeon, then looked back at Rina. Why did Rina bring up Lucy? Was it just an innocent bit of complication, or did she intend something more? Before she had a chance to answer, Suyeon spoke up.

"That tuna and rice smells good," she said. "Can I try a bite?"

Rina laughed. "I thought you couldn't understand how I can eat tuna for breakast?" She held out her bowl toward Suyeon.

"I can't!" Suyeon said as she went to get a spoon. "But it smells so good I want to try it. Besides, I didn't sleep last night, so my body doesn't really know it's breakfast." She took a spoonful of the tuna and right and tentatively tasted it.

Rina watched her face for any reaction. "Well? What do you think?"

"I think I want a bowl of that!" Suyeon said. As she headed to the pantry for a can of tuna, Sei put the kettle on to make tea.