All eleven girls finally arrive back at their dorm. It was a long trip back from their latest promotion, and most of the girls were ready for bed, especially Jungeun, it was already past her bedtime, yes it was only 10:05 PM, but that was five minutes past her usual sleep schedule.

Most of the girls followed suit, all going to each of their assigned rooms bickering who was going to shower first or whining about their achy bodies, but Heejin and Hyunjin shared a knowing look. It wasn’t often the living room was empty and shared between just the two of them. It wasn’t like they didn’t want to spend time with their other fellow members, but privacy was a rarity when you lived with twelve girls for most of the year. So finding time to be alone with your crush was hard. 

Wait, crush? Yes, Heejin has accepted this fact, it’s been a long time coming. Heejin has been pinning for Hyunjin for years now. Most of that time, she didn’t even realize it. She recently accepted her feelings, especially after their latest comeback: So What. Just like the lyrics they sang, the young girl wanted to break free from the norm and status quo of society, not giving a damn what others think of her—especially Korea’s conservative upbringing and view about uality and same- relationships. Sure, Heejin found guys attractive, I mean her favorite group is BTS. But she has never felt the same feelings and attraction as she does towards Kim Hyunjin. To be clear, her best friend, a fellow member, a girl.

The two girls have known each other for over five years, FIVE years of a beautiful and unbreakable friendship that neither girl would see coming. Heejin wasn’t sure when she started liking Hyunjin as something more than a friend. Or maybe she had liked her in that way ever since they met when Hyunjin gave Heejin her first nickname, calling her a cute puppy just a few days after Heejin was introduced as a trainee. 

After realizing her newfound emotions towards her best friend, Heejin needed to turn to someone, someone that also used to be in the same situation as her. It couldn’t be anyone else other than Jiwoo. Heejin respected the older girl and her secret relationship with Yves, as dating wasn’t allowed by their company. Jiwoo was quick to fall in love, but just as fast as she falls in love, she falls out of love quickly as well. Yes, this is just like the character Jiwoo played in her web drama, some ridiculous dating class plot. Apparently, those classes are real. It wasn’t until Jiwoo’s solo music video and met Sooyoung where she would find herself fascinated with the older girl. It took a while for Jiwoo to be sure her feelings wouldn’t change, but after a couple of years with her feelings only continually growing, she finally confessed to Sooyoung. 

The only official couple in their group has been secretly dating ever since their Butterfly comeback, and it was no shock for any of the members. Hell, you could say all the members seemed to all have their own crushes and pairings with one another.

Jinsoul and Jungeun were being dumb, and it was frustrating to watch them. Jungeun was a bit too prideful, and she was a real tsundere not to confess first. It didn’t help that Jinsoul is utterly oblivious to all the hints Jungeun leaves behind, yet she somehow sees every detail of other members’ pairings. Maybe all the years of bleaching Jinsoul’s hair did affect her brain.

Vivi and Haseul were timid with one another, but they were practically joined together by the hip. They always cared for one another, and their relationship seemed the most natural out of all the members. Too bad, Haseul has been on hiatus for a while now. It’s been hard to keep the spirits up of their lone Chinese member.

Let’s not talk about the official, yet unofficial, soul mate couple. Chaewon and Hyejoo have proudly stated they were soul mates, even as far as to announce it during live broadcasts with no shame at all! Yet they both deny that they are dating, no matter how many times the others try and convince them otherwise. And if anyone dares to catch Hyejoo’s attention away from Chaewon, be sure to sleep with an open eye that night. Yes, Chaewon, the seemingly harmless princess of the group, is a very envious girl.

Then there was Yerim and Yeojin, the adorable babies of the group. Their humor and energy match each other so well. They always want to play, so they usually spend a lot of time together, entertaining one another as no one can match their energy levels after exhausting practices and performances. Maybe it was only a matter of time for them to display more affection towards one another.

And finally, Heejin and Hyunjin, as fans claim, are the original ship of their group. The first two to debut and the two members that have known each other the longest. They have been through so much together during their trainee days. They were supporting each other, lending countless shoulders to cry on from all the stress and uncertainty. Their biggest rough patch during MixNine, screw YG. Once they debuted together, everything was falling into place for them. They grew a lot closer, and who knows, maybe become something more, or least that was what Heejin hoped and wanted to change.

The two girls finally found themselves alone in the living room. Sure they were tired and exhausted, but being able to spend precious alone time together is a godsend, and they claimed every chance they could get. With Heejin’s ongoing kitchen ban after catching the oven on fire trying to bake bread for a certain someone, Hyunjin went straight to their cupboards and prepared some late-night snacks. Heejin turned the TV on and excitedly popped in a DVD for them to watch together. 2jin watch a Naruto together 

As soon as the anime-like theme song started playing from the TV, the redhead grumbled. “Really, Heekki? We are going to watch Naruto again?”

“It’s my pick, and we left off at such a cliff hanger last time! We HAVE to continue Hyun.” The older girl expressed with excitement and giddiness.

Rolling her eyes, Hyunjin let out a sigh as she reluctantly joined her best friend on the couch. She shook her head at herself as Heejin dramatically sang along to the opening. How did she ever fall for such a huge dork? And yes, Hyunjin had a crush on Heejin, but the fear of ruining their entire friendship was almost paralyzing to ponder. She was content with how things are, I mean, was it worth the risk to lose it all?

After god who knows how many episodes, they found each other in their usual positions. Hyunjin laid back on the couch as Heejin nestled herself comfortably into the redhead’s chest. Not only did Hyunjin enjoy being Heejin’s pillow, but this also allowed her to use the shorter girl’s head as a place to rest her hand to distract herself with her phone. Not like Heejin would ever find out, as she animatedly explained every little detail that happened in each episode, her eyes glued and absorbed to the screen in front of them. 

“Hey Hyun,” Heejin called out softly, toning down her excitement into a more serious and nervous tone.

Hyunjin hummed, in response, still distracted with the Twitter feed displayed before her, failing to realize the change in atmosphere that surrounded the two. She was too occupied to hear the soft and sincere words coming from Heejin.

Suddenly, Hyunjin bursts out of laughter and breaks the air around them. The taller girl couldn’t stifle her giggles at the entertaining video she stumbled upon. It was a recording of her teasing and mocking Heejin with her tiny and adorable balled-up fists. Sure she has seen it many times already, but it always brought a smile to her face no matter how many times she watched it.

“Did you hear me, Hyun?!” Heejin bit.

Hyunjin automatically replied, “Uhuh.” 

Letting out a huff of disbelief, the older girl asked again. “Did you really?”

“Yes, Yes.” Another auto-reply to hopefully satisfy her best friend.

Now Heejin was irritated more than ever, “And you're just going to laugh after that?” Ignoring her favorite anime, she turned her head to face Hyunjin.

“Look, it's not that serious, Heekki.” How could Heejin keep talking non-stop about this anime? She has seen it countless times already.

Heejin jolted away from Hyunjin, furrowing her brows tightly together to form a watery glare. "Are ing kidding me, Hyunjin?! You don't think I'm being serious?!” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and she has never felt so humiliated and insulted in her life. 

The redhead was confused at the sudden hostility from her best friend, it was rare for Heejin to cuss, but Hyunjin was stubborn and stood her ground about her opinion. “It's not a big deal-”

At that moment, Heejin broke, unable to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks, her glare transformed into a sorrowful stare. She couldn’t bear to be in the same room with Hyunjin anymore. Without a word, she jumped up from the couch and began to leave.

Hyunjin wasn’t sure what went wrong, but she stepped on a landmine, and she felt terrible seeing Heejin in tears, especially since there was no one to blame other than herself. The younger girl panicked and reached out and grasped the distressed girl’s wrist as she was leaving. “Look, Heekki-”

“No! Don't talk to me!” Shouting out, her back towards the redhead. She yanked her hand from the latter’s hold and turned to face the younger girl with a shaky voice. “ you, Hyunjin.” Leaving a dumbfounded and hurt Hyunjin.

The redhead paralyzed, almost petrified in the living room. Her heart needed to recover from how hard it nervously tightened in her chest from what just transpired. Maybe it will be better to let Heejin fall asleep first and then fix things by sneaking into HeeJin's bed and cuddle all night. That usually fixes their frequent arguments, and it was always Hyunjin’s fault that she took teasing too far, so it was only natural for her to comfort the smaller girl. It also helped that the younger girl preferred sleeping in Heejin’s bed, for whatever reason, her comforter was softer, somehow a lot warmer, the smell of it was also intoxicating. Oh, wait. That’s because it was Heejin, not the bed or bed covers, but Hyunjin pretends to convince herself otherwise because that would make it seem like she was in love with her best friend, but they were only friends.

But that night, Heejin wasn't in their room. Finding Heejin’s bed empty, HyunJin was left wondering where she went. She didn’t leave their dorm, and she would have heard and seen Heejin leave through the front door. So it meant she slept in one of the other rooms for the night. Sadly, Hyunjin had to sleep alone that night, uncomfortable at the thought she couldn’t be there for Heejin and the fact that their fights have never ended with one of them in tears.

~ ~ ~

Hyunjin woke up a lot earlier than usual. Saying it was impossible to sleep was an understatement. She missed the warm body; she should have been cuddling overnight. Instead, she found herself alone smothered under Heejin’s covers and scent. What can you say, the younger girl missed her best friend and seeing Heejin cry also upset Hyunjin. 

The tired girl decided to wait in the living room, curling herself on the same couch where everything went wrong. She could only repeat the events over and over in her head, analyzing what caused things to hit the fan. Hyunjin couldn’t get rid of the upset and awful feeling from her heart. Not even her bread could cheer herself up. Movement coming from one of the other rooms broke the lone silence, Hyunjin hoped it was her best friend, but she was soon deflated at the sight of Jungeun. The brunette groggily stumbled into the living room, her hair in a wild tangled bird’s nest and a surprised look on her face, as she wasn’t the first one awake.

“You’re up early.” Jungeun lazily slurred, dragging her feet towards the kitchen.

“I didn’t really sleep well.” The younger girl replied. 

Jungeun swiveled around to get a better look at her younger friend, studying the dark rings that hung around the girl’s eyes, the half-eaten bread neglected in her hands, and the look in her eyes didn’t go unnoticed. It was as if she was waiting, watching for a particular someone to come out. 

“Oh no, don’t tell me.” The brunette began shaking her head. “You got in a fight with Heejin, didn’t you.”

The redhead didn’t deny her unnie’s words, solemnly nodding her head. Suddenly finding the sad piece of bread fascinating, as she started to fiddle and play with it between her fingers, lightly pinching and pulling at the crust. “She didn’t happen to sleep in your room, did she?”

The older girl shook her head once more, but this time with a questionable look. “Heejin, didn’t sleep in your room?” This was a first. All the girls knew that Heejin and Hyunjin would often argue or have small fights with another. But they were quick to resolve things overnight, and everything would be patched up between the two as if nothing had happened and go back to being a clueless couple.

“Sounds like a pretty big fight then. I hope it isn’t as bad as the one you two had from that survival show.” Jungeun prayed the disagreement between her friends wasn’t as bad as she imagined, but her thoughts were interrupted at the mess Hyunjin was creating. “Yah! Either eat or throw away your bread, you're making crumbs fall all over the couch.”

Listening to her unnie, Hyunjin forcefully fed herself the bland piece of carb. Was the taste of bread always this dreadful? She knew this was her favorite brand and type of bread. She always looked forward to eating it every morning, but why did it taste so unsatisfying now?

Jungeun did her best to distract Hyunjin from her thoughts, nervous about their next live performance. She was rambling about all the choices they wanted to eat for dinner later tonight. The younger girl appreciated what her unnie was trying to do, and it did help some.

Eventually, the other girls emerged from the rooms, mainly the yyxy girls. Hyunjin took a glance at them, and they all seemed a lot more tired than normal. What caught the redhead off guard was Jiwoo’s penetrating glare at her. Hyunjin had to make sure no one was sitting beside her, making sure Jiwoo wasn’t glaring at someone else as she strutted straight to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water and to back her room.

Jungeun left the couch to help Sooyoung make breakfast for their members while Hyejoo and Chaewon took her place as they plopped themselves into the couch.

“W-was Heejin with you last night?” Hyunjin shyly asked.

Hyejoo groaned, emphasizing her exhaustion, “Ughh yes, she cried all night. Jiwoo did her best to comfort her the whole time.” She lazily rolled her head to face Hyunjin. “Unnie, you need to be more sensitive. You know Heejin-unnie is emotional.”

Chaewon sleepily nodded along as she rested her head on Hyejoo’s shoulder. 

The redhead was relieved to hear she wasn’t missing and somehow left the dorm without anyone noticing. But that feeling of relief was brief as she felt a lingering ache that covered her heart, hearing her best friend was in despair.

“W-where is she now?” Hyunjin asked as if she didn’t have permission to see or know the whereabouts of her best friend.

Chaewon answered for Hyejoo. “She’s still in our room. Jiwoo-unnie went to get her water.”

Hyunjin nodded. She already knew the answer, but I just wanted to be sure. 

“I don’t think Jiwoo-unnie is very happy about what you did, Hyunjin.” The silver-haired girl thought out loud.

“I think I already got the message,” Hyunjin replied.

After a while, everyone in the dorm was awake, crowding around the kitchen to fulfill their empty stomachs. 

Their mornings were chaotic as usual. Jungeun yells at Yeojin for using her fingers to serve herself. Jinsoul played with her food and made weird faces, causing Yerim to laugh as she took photos. Hyejoo and Chaewon took turns feeding each other while one played on their Nintendo Switch. But something was missing, rather, someone missing. Heejin was absent from their everyday chaos. Hyunjin couldn’t help but wonder where her best friend was. 

As if someone else read her mind. Yeojin bellowed out, “Where is Heejin-unnie?”

“Ah, her stomach is upset, so she is still resting,” Jiwoo replied to their maknae, briefly glancing at Hyunjin from across the room.

At that moment, Sooyoung gently tugged Hyunjin away from the group to speak her piece briefly. “Look, I know you like to mock and tease Heejin, but you should know when things are taken too far.”

At this point, Hyunjin was a bit annoyed by being scolded by everyone. Was it so wrong to voice out her opinion about some dumb anime? “Unnie, I swear I don’t think anything I said last night was so wrong or could have hurt Heejin.” The younger girl pleaded her innocence.

“Really? Because, if Heejin is telling us the truth. Those words were harsh Hyunjin, even if you meant it as a joke.” Sooyoung stated with a firm voice. “I think you need to reflect more on the words you used. You’re lucky she didn’t slap you because I definitely would have if anyone responded to me that way.”

Was it such a big deal? Hyunjin felt like things were being blown out of proportion. How was a bit of teasing something to be slapped over? And it’s not like Hyunjin hasn’t already repeatedly reflected and analyzed every minute they spent that night. If anything, she was agonizing over every little detail that occurred. Sure she was ignoring Heejin a bit that night, but that was reasonably normal between them. Even Heejin occasionally ignores the redhead, but that was mainly because the older girl has a hard time multitasking. 

Sooyoung continued, “I don’t want the group to be torn because of this, so we are doing our best not to choose sides and try to keep this between you two. At some point, you need to apologize to her, but right now...I don’t think she wants to speak with you for a while. So you might need to give her some space.”

All the younger girls could do was nod her head and helplessly agree with Heejin’s decision to keep her distance. If that was needed to fix things, then Hyunjin was willing to do whatever it took to restore their relationship. 

“Also, I will be temporarily switching beds with her.” The older girl added before she went on her way.

A dull pang impacted Hyunjin’s heart. She felt as if everything was starting to crumble right before her. The thing she feared the most, feared to lose, was becoming a reality. She felt as if their friendship was hanging by a thread, on its last lifeline, and all she could do was pray and hope they would overcome this fight and rebuild what was destroyed.

~ ~ ~

It’s been a couple of weeks since Heejin has started to avoid Hyunjin. Heejin didn’t want to be near Hyunjin unless it was necessary, mainly in front of their managers or whenever they went on live variety shows or fan signs. It was almost effortless, yet difficult for them to act and pretend like nothing was wrong. Perhaps, harder for Hyunjin as it tore her apart from the inside. Each day grew longer and longer as the tension between them continued to