this time last year - Nightly

IZ*ONE might be a group formed from charm, voter rankings, and a mish-mash of various talents, but there’s one thing in the group that is widely accepted as indisputable.

Wonyoung might be center, Eunbi might be leader, but Chaeyeon is their best dancer- no questions asked, no questions needed.

It’s kind of funny because Chaeyeon’s actually pretty much smack in the middle IZ*ONE’s age order, but she’s often confused as the second oldest in the lively group of twelve (because it’s widely known that Eunbi is oldest)- not because her face actually looks old, but rather just because her aura sticks out from the other more innocent-looking members of the group.

Chaeyeon seems rather oblivious to the fact that her ("wild, unfathomable, I-am-shooketh-to-my-soul, just- AHH!!” ~Kim Minju) dancing might be a large contributing factor to this case. Actually, she doesn’t seem to be aware of this case at all. It’s part of her charm; it’s precisely this that makes the other, actual older members still want to take care of her (even though she’s probably more responsible than Yena and Hyewon combined). Her first impression is charmingly deceptive; they all know this well. A lovable, humorous character lingers beneath all that charisma and dance power (albeit a slightly more mature, squishy lovable character but whatever right?)

That doesn’t change the fact that she’s an amazing dancer though. And it’s no secret among all the other IZ*ONE members- excluding Chaeyeon herself- that they watch her dance videos online almost habitually. Fancams, covers, close-ups, variety shows, you name it, they’re watching. Eunbi probably has a flash drive of Chaeyeon stored somewhere in her chest of secrets (she’s a proud mom, what can you do?). Hyewon ritually spouts very specific theories about how Chaeyeon’s joint mechanisms are different from that of the average human’s. Even the stoic Chaewon has fallen for the older Chae at some point in time, almost certainly over something dance-related. What can you do though? Chaeyeon is an amazing dancer.

However, as enthusiastic as they are all about Chaeyeon and her slick moves, there is someone amongst them who’s just a little bit more enthusiastic (and blatantly obvious) than the rest of them when it comes to cool dance moves. That same someone also seems to have an extremely high affinity for a certain Lee Chaeyeon. That same someone also seems to be having more and more trouble keeping her enthusiasm contained to herself these days.

“One, two, three, four- we’re missing someone." Eunbi frowns suspiciously, hands on her hips as she starts to analyze the occupants in the room.

Yena looks up through a mouthful of japchae. Surprisingly, she’s mature enough to step up as one of the responsible ones when Chaeyeon and/or Sakura aren’t around to help their leader hold things (aka Yujin) down. A quick scan later, Yena replies.

“Kura unnie.”

Eunbi snaps her fingers as the missing hole is filled. "Ah. Right. Where is she?”

“Probably still in her gaming room.” Hyewon glances up with a huge mouthful of food. When she makes no move to get up and help, Eunbi makes her way out followed closely by Yena. They march over to the closed gaming room as swiftly as they can.

(They’ve learned the hard way that it’s always good to have backup in these kinds of situations. One time, Wonyoung went missing and when they finally found her in her room, she’d refused to come out from underneath the bunk beds- apparently, she was scared that Yujin would beat her up because of the chocolate milk she’d accidentally spilt on the older girl earlier that day. Yujin wasn’t about to beat her up at all- but needless to say, it took Eunbi, Yena, and Chaeyeon to finally convince Wonyoung to come out. Ultimately, Yena had managed to convince Wonyoung that Yujin tripped and knocked herself out earlier, so she therefore had no recollection of any memories regarding the words ‘chocolate’ and ‘milk’.)

“Kkura? You in there?” Eunbi calls as she gently knocks on the door of the closed room. Both girls lean in a little closer when they don’t hear anything.

Yena frowns. She reaches over Eunbi to knock again, harder. “Kura unnie! Let’s eat something together!” She calls out as sweetly as she can. Still nothing.

The two girls exchange bemused glances at the lack of noise because Sakura hadn’t been in any of the bedrooms they’d walked past on their way over. Eunbi frowns a little, eyes casting back to the door. “She’s got to be in there somewhere. Sakura??” She calls again, knocking in the same soft way.

Yena grits her teeth. Enough of this sweet flowery crap. It makes her itchy, honestly- totally not her style. She shoves Eunbi aside.

“OI, KURA UNNIE. GIT YER CRUSTY OUT HERE TO EAT SOMETHING OR I’LL DRAG YA OUTTA THERE MYSELF-“

She busts into the room with all the grandeur and explosiveness one might expect from Choi Yena, Eunbi following closely behind. Sure enough, Sakura’s in there. She’s on her computer as she usually is- but this time, she’s not playing any sort of game. Instead, she’s watching a video.

Eunbi and Yena halt in their tracks. Yena blinks rapidly. “Is- is that Chaeyeon on there?”

There’s a video that Yena’s seen all too many times on Chaewon’s phone screen in the waiting room during their brief breaks; a fancam of Chaeyeon’s infamous dance break from their MAMA 2018 performance. Yena immediately recognizes their crisp white outfits and Chaeyeon’s blonde hair flying about in that (infuriatingly perfect) way it does whenever she moves.

And Sakura is sitting in front of the extremely large monitor with her full attention fixed on the dancing blonde on the screen.

Eunbi crosses her arms over her chest and leans over Sakura’s chair to get a better look. “Ooo. This was a really good one.”

That wasn’t the response Yena had hoped to hear from their leader. “Unnie!”

“What?? Just look at her on there- my beautiful baby! I thought she would actually start flying.”

Yena sticks her lips out as she squints to get a better look at the shaky footage. Eunbi has a point though- Chaeyeon does look like she’s going to fly. “I know, right?”

Gah. She shakes herself out of it. “A-Anyway! Kura unnie, come on! The kids are going to finish all the food before you even get any.”

Sakura’s hands are grasping her cheeks. “I'm coming."

Yena smells a total lie. It really couldn’t be more obvious. “That’s what you said two hours ago. Now stop watching videos of Chaeyeon and get up and move before your glues itself to the chair!”

Sakura just sighs dreamily in response. Yena’s not even sure if the older girl’s listening. “Yes Yena.”

Yena casts Eunbi a desperate SOS glance. Unfortunately, the leader looks just as lost as Yena feels.

After a few moments of silence and no subsequent movement, Yena finally throws her hands up. “Well?!”

Eunbi stares back blankly. “What do you want me to do??”

Yena sputters. Of all times, this unnie- “Just- Just do something! Anything! She’s pulling this kind of sketchy stuff all the time now-”

Eunbi looks back and forth between Yena and Sakura, the latter of whom still hasn’t budged. She doesn’t seem to be listening at all. “Well she’s just watching some videos. It’s public content, you know? She’s not hurting anyone.”

“Ugh.” Yena groans. She ignores Eunbi in favor of grabbing Sakura by her skinny arms to haul her up and out of the chair. “We’ll continue this later- Kura unnie! Up we go!”

Eunbi watches, fascinated, as Yena proceeds to literally drag Sakura on the ground out of the room into the living area. To her surprise, Sakura doesn’t even complain- just takes out her phone and proceeds to pull up the exact same video. The others have long finished their food and have scattered out to their respective spaces. Yena grits her teeth as she drags Sakura through the vacated space.

When Yena has safely deposited Sakura onto the far corner of the couch, she turns back to Eunbi.  “I mean- it’s just- she watches them so much.” She supplies feebly, casting another (concerned) look at Sakura. She’s seemed to moved on to the next video- it’s a fancam (again) of Chaeyeon in their K-Con performance of Rumor. “I mean, she’s watching such low-quality fancams too- can she even see Chaeyeon through all of that shaking-“

“I’ve asked her about it but she didn’t really give any productive answer. I kind of boiled it down to her just really, really liking Chaeyeon.” Eunbi says awkwardly. Yena’s nose scrunches.

“Won’t Chaeyeon be freaked out? Since, you know, she keeps watching them?” Yena emphasizes her words, taking a wary glance at their second eldest, whose eyes still haven’t moved from her screen. Her body hasn’t moved either. There is literally not a single indication that she hears or cares about Yena and Eunbi’s presence right now.

Eunbi swallows. She looks much too nervous for Yena's liking. “I mean, it’s not like no one else in this group watches her dance videos.”

“But not like that!” Yena jabs a frantic finger in Sakura's direction, who seems to be melting in her chair with hearts in her eyes. “She’s watched it more than Chaewon and Minju combined! Do you know how many times I’ve caught Chaewon in the waiting room-“

“I know, I know! Just- she doesn’t have to find out, okay?” Eunbi hisses through gritted teeth as she tries her best to shush Yena.

Yena glares back. “You mean Chaeyeon? Like hell she won't!”

“Not if you just keep your damn mouth shut-“

Speak of the devil.

“I’m back.” Chaeyeon’s clear voice suddenly rings through the entryway.

Yena and Eunbi exchange frightened glances. “Chaeyeon???”

The girl smiles up at them as she’s taking off her shoes in the foyer. “Hey Yena unnie, Eunbi unnie.”

Sakura seems to still be lost in fangirl mode. Chaeyeon takes a quick glance at her nerded-out form. “What’s with her?”

“Aha.” Eunbi chuckles nervously. “Oh, she’s just- she's just watching some dance cover videos. I guess she’s really impressed.”

“Yeah, you know how she is.” Yena laughs nervously, hand reaching out to clutch desperately at Eunbi’s arm. Eunbi clutches back just as tightly. Luckily for them, Chaeyeon doesn’t seem to notice anything off.

“Ah, Red Velvet again?” The blonde just moves past them with an easy laugh. Yena’s heart almost stops because she thinks for a split second that Chaeyeon is going to head over to tease Sakura, but the younger girl ends up making a turn to the kitchen instead. Yena and Eunbi share a sigh of relief.

“Is there anything to eat? I’m starving!” Chaeyeon pulls their refrigerator open to scan its contents. Yena really wishes Sakura would wake the up and snap back into reality.

“Kkura unnie!” She hisses.

Sakura ignores her. Chaeyeon, having successfully located an apple in the fridge, looks over when the older girl doesn’t respond to Yena.

“Kkura unnie?” The younger one tries, tilting her head curiously at Sakura’s apparent deafness.

To Yena’s anger surprise, Sakura finally jumps in her seat and looks up. She looks like a scared wet cat. Yena’s eyelid twitches.

“Chaeyeon!”

Chaeyeon grins at her from the kitchen. “Hey Saku-chan."

Yena casts Eunbi a disbelieving glance. “Did that just ignore me-“

“Where have you been?” Sakura promptly cuts Yena off. She’s got the biggest, dorkiest smile on her face as she fondly looks at Chaeyeon. Yena feels her blood pressure rising.

Chaeyeon swallows some of her apple before responding, “I was practicing- we’re going to have a concert soon, remember? Our dance teacher asked me to help out with some of the special stages.”

Sakura nods too enthusiastically for Yena’s liking. "Dance routines?”

“Yup. They’re coming together really well. I can't wait for you guys to see them!”

Sakura’s practically melting right now as she looks at Chaeyeon with that innocent, bright, straight-up lovestruck expression. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Chaeyeon doesn’t seem to notice anything off. 

Yena scoffs a little. “She’s an idiot.” She mutters under her breath, loud enough only for Eunbi to hear.

Eunbi just shrugs. “Probably because Sakura’s never looked at her any other way. She wouldn’t know any different.”

“Not her- her!” Yena sulks as she moves past Eunbi to head out. “Call me when she finally has the will to talk to someone who isn’t Chaeyeon.”

“Will do.” Eunbi just snickers at Yena’s dramatic exit. She casts one last glance at the duo across the room. It’s another normal day; Chaeyeon’s just chilling with her apple. Sakura looks like she wants to tackle the living daylights out of Chaeyeon.

Idiot.

The thing is: Chaeyeon is a bit more normal than the average IZ*ONE member (by considerable measures). She’s the book definition of a classic cool kid, and it shows. Between them, she probably has the most friends outside of their group, gets the most messages from non-IZ*ONE related people, and finds the most interesting people to hang out with; her little sister is in ITZY, she’s friends with TWICE (Nako is eternally jealous of this fact), and she’s popular for her dancing (the most normal reason why any given member of their group is super popular. Yena’s duck face and Eunbi’s spartan tendencies don’t count). She’s always busy on her days off, going here there everywhere, doing this that everything (that’s also probably why she never catches the other girls watching videos of her online- they only have so many breaks, after all). 

Sakura, however, isn’t really normal at all. Beneath her feminine and delicate appearance is one of the dorkiest personalities in the entire k-pop world. A total weirdo, by all definitions of the word. And it really, really shows.

Yena is surprisingly responsible in her own way, where it counts. While she usually prefers to project her childish tendencies to everyone around her, she’s still got a sense of reliability when it comes to her younger friends, especially her members. This is probably why she’s more or less self-assigned herself to look out for Chaeyeon in this particular sense, wanting to try her best to preserve the poor girl’s sense of normalcy as an IZ*ONE member.

It’s a big job. However, Yena isn’t alone in this. She's got Eunbi unnie and her fellow ’99er Hyewon to help her out. Hyewon is kind of irresponsible, true, but at least her heart is in the right place and that’s more than enough for Yena’s low standards.

Their first scare at Sakura potentially breaking Chaeyeon’s normalcy was the incident a few days ago, when Yena and Eunbi had caught her watching the MAMA performance during lunch. Luckily, there haven’t been any major incidents since (the other girls are smart enough to keep their fangirling on the low) and now they’re currently a week into the future, sitting around in the waiting room of a music show.

“She’s doing it again.” Eunbi passes by Yena with a quiet mutter. Yena nods imperceptibly, making her way over to where Sakura is sitting with her legs curled up on the waiting room couch. To Yena’s dismay, Sakura has that weird, awestruck look on her face again- and of course, she has to be watching another one of Chaeyeon’s dancing videos.

“She’s so shameless.” Yena looks Sakura up and down. Sakura obviously doesn’t care. Eunbi sighs.

“Leave it. She’s not hurting anyone, and Chae isn't here right now-“

“Hey guys, someone else can go in for makeup now!" Chaeyeon’s voice rings through the doorway as she emerges from the makeup room freshly done with her blonde hair tousled just so to frame her face.

Eunbi and Yena exchange panicked glances as Chaeyeon starts to make her way over to the couch where an oblivious Sakura is sitting. “You’re done already?!”

“Yeah, why?” Chaeyeon asks innocently as she gets closer and closer to the couch.

Yena smacks Eunbi’s shoulder hard in her panic. "Do something!” She hisses. “We can’t let her be ruined just like this!”

Eunbi swallows hard.

“Wait!”

Before either of them can actually do anything though, Chaeyeon looks up with Wonyoung draped peacefully over her lap, seated exactly where Sakura was sitting just three seconds ago…?

Yena blinks. “What the fuc-“

“Come on Kkura unnie, let’s get our makeup done together!" Both girls’ heads snap up to the direction of the new voice. Kang Hyewon is dragging a frazzled Sakura by the collar, away from Chaeyeon and into the makeup room. Sakura’s phone screen is strategically turned away, safely out of sight.

Yena and Eunbi blink rapidly. Hyewon shoots them a meaningful grin before she disappears into the makeup room, Sakura firmly in her grasp.

“Kwangbae!” Yena topples over, hand on her heart.

Eunbi looks touched. “She really pulled through!"

“Who knew she had it in her?”

Chaeyeon’s laugh from her couch seat besides them has them snapping back into reality. “What are you talking about?”

The tips of Yena’s ears flush and Eunbi scrambles to make something up. “Oh! You know, since she’s finally stopped eating and went to get her makeup done on her own accord! That’s it! Yeah!”

“We- we’re just proud of her, you know?” Yena says with a shaky voice, looking very much like she’s about to cry from how touched she is. Too bad Chaeyeon doesn’t know any better.

“Oh really? That’s great! Good for her.” Chaeyeon buys it all with the wit of a badger. Wonyoung, however, is slightly keener in this sense; Yena feels herself sweat as their youngest suddenly squints at them from her spot on Chaeyeon’s lap.

“A- anyway! We’ll be off then- I haven’t eaten yet and neither has this old lady, so.” Yena grabs Eunbi’s wrist to drag her away from the scene. Thankfully, Wonyoung doesn’t say anything and goes right back to her animated conversation with Chaeyeon (although Yena has a feeling that Wonyoung definitely senses that something’s up. The girl’s young, but probably more socially adept than any other two of their members combined. She’d actually be more surprised if Wonyoung didn’t suspect anything after this whole encounter.) 

“That was really close.” Eunbi breathes quietly once they’re out of earshot.

Yena exhales, the air blowing her bangs up off her forehead. “I know. If it weren’t for Kwangbae, I don’t think we would’ve gotten to her fast enough.”

“It’s getting more and more these days too. I didn't realize that Sakura liked her this much.”

“No kidding. How long do you think we can keep this up?” Yena asks anxiously.

“… honestly? With the rate this is going, I have no idea.”

“Is it really so bad?”

Eunbi screeches in shock while Yena claps her hands over her ears at the surprise intrusion. Wonyoung and- Nako??- are sitting up together in the adjacent bed next to where Yena and Eunbi happen to be conspiring.

“When did you get there?!” Eunbi shrieks, hurling one of her plushies at Wonyoung. Wonyoung screams a little and ducks behind Nako. Nako snatches the plush out of the air with ninja precision.

“We were waiting for you guys to get back, but you took too long and we fell asleep.”

Eunbi blinks rapidly. “You both did?” She asks, surprised. It’s definitely something Wonyoung would do, but Nako…

Nako just smiles. “I was up. I was just on my phone."

“… ah.” Eunbi slouches back down with this confirmation. “As expected of Yabukookie Nako.”

Yena clears as she tries to gather her bearings. “What was so important that you had to take a whole nap in Chaewon’s bed to talk about?”

Wonyoung was rubbing the sleep from her eyes, but Yena's inquiry has her snapping back up with a sudden burst of energy that only the truly youthful could posses. “Ah! Right! So, is it so weird- what Sakura unnie’s always watching?”

Yena coughs awkwardly. “When you put it like that, it sounds like she’s watching or something-“

“Language!” Eunbi shrieks as she awards Yena a hard smack for her efforts. Yena yelps a little and whines, eliciting a delighted clap from Nako (who has been the victim of Yena’s teasing more times than she’d ever like to admit). Wonyoung looks bored of Eunbi’s attempts to keep her ears ‘clean’ (Eunbi’s got the biggest sailor’s mouth out of all of them anyway) and she patiently waits for the desired response.

“How do you even know what Sakura’s watching all the time anyway?” Eunbi directs the question at Wonyoung, who just rolls her eyes.

“I mean it’s not like she’s watching anything illegal, like what that dirty-minded duck unnie is thinking over there.” Yena whines in protest but is promptly ignored. “It’s just videos of Chaeyeon unnie.”

“Just videos of Chaeyeon??” Yena shrieks a little, flapping her arms forcefully down on the surrounding pillows. Each impact makes a little ‘thump’ as she flaps progressively faster.

Wonyoung looks confused, so Nako kindly steps in for her. “It’s not just videos of Chaeyeon unnie- it’s a lot of videos of Chaeyeon unnie.” Nako clarifies with her hands folded neatly over her lap. Eunbi’s attention is suddenly redirected to her. Wonyoung nods sagely in this new understanding, silently mouthing an ‘ahh’ at Nako’s apparently profound teaching.

“Wait a second. I know Wonyoung was there in the waiting room yesterday, but how did you get dragged in all of this-“

“I’ve known Saku-chan for years.” Nako leans back in Chaewon’s bed still with that all-too innocent smile on her face. “She’s not hard to read and she’s not that subtle either- I think I’ve caught her watching Chaeyeon unnie’s dance videos around fifteen times in the past week alone.”

Eunbi and Yena are caught off-guard by this new information. Nako keeps grinning. “And when Wonyoung-chan came in my room earlier today, I knew I wasn’t the only one who’d caught on to something.”

Damn Nako and her pretty, sparkly eyes. The girl's much smarter than they give her credit for.

Wonyoung waves an annoyed hand in the air, making an impatient sound. “So?? You never answered the question.”

“What- oh.” Eunbi shares a dismayed glance with Yena, unsure of how to proceed. “Well, it’s not that it’s anything bad- it’s just-“

“We want to preserve Chaeyeon’s innocence!”

“Don’t say it like that!” Eunbi yells at her, eyes practically flashing red with General Kwon rage as she whips around to glare at Yena. Yena shrinks back in her seat.

“We just don’t want our nice, normal Chaeyeonnie to get weirded out, you know? That’s all.” Eunbi plasters an awkward smile on her face in an attempt to cover her outburst. Yena quickly does the same.

Wonyoung looks completely unimpressed. “Tch. Good luck with that.”

“Sakura unnie is the weirdest one in HKT48. I don't think even Chaeyeon unnie can escape that.” Nako snidely informs them. Her bright smile never falters.

Eunbi and Yena swallow hard, exchanging worried glances at this newfound information. Nako’s smile doesn’t change, not even once.

Damn Nako and her pretty, sparkly eyes.

And then of course- as all good things do- it blows up in their faces a couple days later.

It’s not their fault, really; how could it be, when Chaeyeon decides one day that she wants to sneak up behind Sakura in a jump scare instead of going to Nako’s room to pick out outfits like she said she would and why here and why now and it was really all fine and good until she’s tiptoing up behind Sakura and then suddenly-

“Wh- what are you watching?!”

Her sudden yelp has both Yena and Eunbi running out of their rooms and the bathroom respectively to the living room where this is all going down. When they get there, it’s a scene out of their worst dreams; Sakura is sitting on the couch with a very visible video of Chaeyeon dancing to ‘Love Shot’ and Chaeyeon is standing behind her, with the phone screen clearly in her view, looking slightly scandalized.

Sakura (the idiot, Yena swears) barely moves an inch. "It’s a video.”

Eunbi watches Chaeyeon’s reaction with mild fascination. She’s never seen the composed blonde blink so fast.

“A- a video of what?”

“Of you. Obviously. Silly, you’re standing right behind me, can’t you recognize yourself?”

Chaeyeon’s jaw all but drops to the ground. Sakura, shamelessly, continues to watch. "You look amazing here.”

“Thanks?!”

“I watch your dance videos all the time. You’re so good at it, Chaeyeon- no one I’ve ever met in my entire life can match up to you!”

While her expression clearly says that she doesn't know how to react, her physiology betrays her. Chaeyeon is starting to blush, the red spreading from her ears rapidly down to her cheeks and neck. “Um- I-“

Sakura still looks starstruck, in that weird way she always does whenever she watches Chaeyeon dancing. She suddenly whips around and grabs both of Chaeyeon’s hands in hers.

“Chaeyeon.”

Chaeyeon looks properly startled. “Ye- yes?”

Maybe it was just bad timing. Maybe it was just bad luck. Maybe the stars misaligned that day, or maybe they all just happened to miss out on just how weird Sakura could be. Sakura grips Chaeyeon’s hands firm and looks straight into her eyes with the most serious, determined expression on her face, and then-

“I want you to dance in front of me forever.”

The sudden confession feels like a lightning bolt hit her right in the chest. Chaeyeon looks absolutely shook.

Yena drops to her knees. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, Chaeyeon.”

Eunbi is having similar sentiments besides her. “We've failed you again, my beautiful, sweet, angelic Chaeyeon.”

Chaeyeon is as red as a rose (la la la la vie en rose). “What the fu-“

“LANGUAGE, LEE CHAEYEON!” Eunbi suddenly barges in to interrupt, hurling a cushion at Chaeyeon’s chest. It takes her out with a tiny ‘oomph’. Yena just facepalms. Leave it to General Kwon to ruin the moment.

Wonyoung suddenly materializes out of nowhere with a video camera out and Nako in tow. “Daebuk! Daebuk!!” The youngest hollers. She’s clearly taking too much after Eunbi.

Nako claps her small hands together excitedly, eyes glimmering with a look of sheer joy. “I’ve never seen Chaeyeon unnie so red!”

Chaeyeon looks like she’s trying hard to regain her footing after taking the hit from Eunbi’s pillow projectile. Yena is still feeling sorry for her.

Hyewon seems to appear out of nowhere as well, watching on idly while sipping her juice through a bright yellow straw. “Sorry bro. I couldn’t see that one coming.”

Yena glances haggardly up at the other girl. “... me too, Kwangbae. Me too.”

Sakura is still holding onto Chaeyeon’s hands, watching the younger girl with an anticipatory grin. Chaeyeon’s silence feels impossibly long. The rest of them look on with bated breaths.

“… thank you, Sakura chan.”

Yena releases the air she didn’t know she was holding. Wonyoung screams from somewhere in the far corner, gushing to Nako about how she’s too lonely to live and babbling something along the lines of ‘look at them, look at them!’ Hyewon actually puts her juice down to applaud the scene, and Nako just looks on like a proud child of her parents finally coming together.

Chaeyeon looks back up at Sakura shyly through long lashes. She’s blushing a little, but she’s smiling and she’s not running out of the dorms screaming and she’s evidently not been scared away by one of their representative weirdos, and Yena supposes that that’s all that needs to matter right now.

“She’s still here!” Eunbi wails to the heavens, launching herself haphazardly at Chaeyeon to pull her away from Sakura and into the biggest mom hug they’ve seen from her in a while. Chaeyeon doesn’t seem to know what she’s talking about, but she lifts a hand to pat Eunbi’s back anyway.

Yena can't help but snort at the sudden, dramatic. “Now that that’s out of the way, will the rest of you just admit that you all watch Chaeyeon’s dance videos religiously yes I’m talking to you Kim Minju-“

Kim Minju bursts out of her room looking quite offended. "Okay but that wasn’t really a secret, was it?!”

Yena isn’t done yet. “You too Kim Chaewon-“

Kim Chaewon pops out of the room across Minju’s, her flushed cheeks the only indication of any embarrassment. “Alright Yena unnie, we get it.”

They turn back to the duo in the living room. Chaeyeon looks shook and Sakura looks really happy, but despite the whole I-want-you-to-dance-in-front-of-me-forever fiasco that just went down, Chaeyeon hasn’t run out screaming and Sakura- 

Well, Sakura might just be one step closer to getting herself a proper girlfriend.

(Her last girlfriend was apparently a weirdo, as attested to by Nako; something about a yellow-haired, sailor-mouthed flat earther. Needless, none of them had the heart to hear any more upon seeing Nako’s grave expression. 

But through rights and wrongs, ups and downs, good ones and bad ones, Sakura’s in a good place right now and maybe- just maybe- she’ll be lucky this time around. Maybe- just maybe- she’ll finally be able to get it right.)