Two weeks after the incident

Sunmi, Joy, Seulgi, Yeri and Wendy found themselves in Irene’s apartment once again. They created a group chat after that fateful day, realizing they share far more than just one common ground, agreeing that maybe this incident has pulled them closer together. Yeri informed them that Saeron will be leading the raid to Park Bogum’s den, thus deciding to pack up for another overnight in Irene’s place.

Aside from that, though, it was better to tune in the news together rather than be alone in anxiety. Irene glanced at their youngest friend, noticing that she seems to be quieter than usual. The television stuck on the news channel, waiting for the news to appear.

“We might as well be watching a horror at how tensed we are right now,” Wendy joked, earning her a snort from Seulgi, followed by chuckles from the other girls. Wendy smiled, satisfied that she at the least made them laugh. She looked at Irene, who sat next to her, a grateful smile drawn on her lips.

“Should we change it to Netflix, instead? We can always just watch the replay on the internet, you know,” Sunmi suggested, looking around the group.

“What do you think, Yerim?” Irene asked the girl, who looked at her with a small smile on her face.

“Sure! I’ll go order the pizza,” Yerim said, and whined when Sunmi cooed and ruffled her hair, saying ‘That’s our Yerim’.

Yerim doesn’t know that Saeron sent a message to Irene:

Unnie, yeri is easily nervous, so pls take care of her for now, I’ll be fine.

Irene looked around her friends, the somber atmosphere from earlier gone and replaced with all of them recommending their favorite pizza flavor.

Joy’s want meat-lover’s pizza (‘I want kogi!) while Seulgi wants pepperoni (actually she eats whatever, but it’s nice to have a variety, right?). Yerim wants bbq chicken (to which Irene said, ‘I don’t eat chicken!’ earning her a side-hug from Wendy). Sunmi wants the mac n’cheese pizza (they collectively groaned at the choice, with Yeri saying, ‘how the hell do you lose all that carbs, unnie!’), she just shrugged at her, low-key flexed her toned arms. 

Irene noticed Wendy just simply laugh and nodded at everything they said, she hasn’t said a single word about what flavor she wants to eat. She nudged her shoulder, Wendy gave her a questioning look.

“What do you want to eat?”

“I’m fine with anything, Hyun,” she answered, chuckling at her perplexed look, “Okay, just anything without pineapple in it.”

“You don’t like Hawaiian?”

“I don’t like Hawaiian.”

“Why?” Joohyun asked, genuinely curious (but a part of her is prepared to fight Seungwan if she says the wrong thing).

“Pineapple on pizza is just … bleh,” Seungwan made a disgusted face, like she couldn’t fathom nor stomach the idea why people love pineapple on pizza.

Joohyun shrugged off the hand on her shoulder before glaring at a baffled Seungwan, “And what’s wrong with pineapple on pizza, hm?”

“Wait, you like Hawaiian?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Ohmygosh, why Hyun? Why?” Seungwan asked like it’s considered a sin to love that flavor and to top it off, she doesn’t even appear the least bit bothered that Joohyun is glaring at her like every word that came out of is a crime. Well, it is a crime for Hawaiian lovers to diss pineapple on pizza.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? Hawaiian is the best flavor you could ever taste!”

“It’s totally out of place to taste something juicy and sweet on greasy and cheesy dough!”

“It is not!”

“It is!”

“It—Oof!” a pillow landed square on Joohyun’s face, making her face red not because of how hard (her pillows are as fluffy as Seungwan cheeks, what the hell) it was thrown but because she felt embarrassed and Seungwan’s silent laughter isn’t helping either, her cheeks growing warmer with the other girl’s hands cupping her face.

“Well, you two quit arguing about that dumb topic! That’s so 2010!” added with a roll of her eyes, Joy just hit two birds with one stone, totally unfazed by Joohyun’s look of contempt

Joohyun was about to retort, face contorted in anger looking like an angry bunny with nose flaring, but Yeri beat her to it.

“Okay! Okay, so Meat-lover’s for Joy, Pepperoni for Seulgi, Mac n’ cheese for Sunmi, BBQ Chicken for me – and no, Joohyun unnie no one’s forcing you to it chicken (Joohyun bore holes on the side of Yeri’s head) – and Hawaiian for the lovers,” Yeri finished with an exaggerated check mark on her invisible checklist.

“Yeri, I don’t want Hawaiian!” Seungwan groaned.

“Ah, so you’re really ‘lovers’ now?” Joy asked, smirking at the blushing couple – of friends in front of her.

“And, no reaction on the ‘lovers’ comment Joohyun unnie?” Seulgi teased, Joohyun only looked away, unable to respond to their teasing because what are they really?

Aside from their group growing closer together, Joohyun and Seungwan’s relationship has evolved into a more domestic yet romantic level of intimacy.

During those two weeks, they’ve seen each other more than the past. Seungwan visiting her at the office during lunch or Joohyun inviting her to dinner at her apartment, and in more than one occasion has spent overnights at each other’s places. Both not too keen on expressing that they just want to spend the night next to each other but under the gist of “Isn’t it too late to go home now” or “You should stay the night it’s dangerous to go out at this time of the night”.

Honesty seems to be lacking in their relationship. They could spend hours next to each other, talking about anything and everything but their feelings that pulls them together. Do you just casually lean next to your friend while watching a movie? Does your hand just casually wrap around delicate waist? Does your hand automatically seek to hold another’s while talking about some random book?

Who does that?

‘Wenrene does’, as what Joy casually dropped, one of their group chat’s many topics that Seungwan and Joohyun seem to not be aware of. Sunmi, Yeri and Seulgi agreeing that the couple name suits them.

‘But you know what would make it better – the collective ‘what’s’ is satisfying to read, Joy thought – if only the two would just get on with it and finally and finally be together’, adding a tired emoji after that. 

They’ve been running around that topic for a while now. They go on dates (unofficial and un-exclusive). They hold hands. They hug. They sleep (in the most innocent sense, yes, sleep) together. They cook together – and they are currently the most frustrating couple – of friends orbiting in Joy’s axis.

She loves them, she swears, but the way they dance around anything but the honesty and vulnerability of ‘being together’. The way they gravitate towards each other are both so cute and adorable and sweet and nice and fluffy (can you sense my ‘but’?) BUT, as a spectator, an onlooker, and a mere observer who loves (ships) them, can they just please be together?

They’ve both been through a lot, Joohyun having a traumatic experience and Seungwan, the one who saw what that trauma did to her – it hurt them both in different ways. 

Joy knows of Seungwan’s efforts and capability to be there for Joohyun, but she doesn’t get why the latter couldn’t pursue Joohyun beyond that. But if the conversation they had a few days ago is any indication, she could only hope for the best.

--

“Unnie, Auntie called me earlier.”

“Mom called you?” Seungwan asked, her fingers stopped their movement on her phone. She was texting Joohyun, their topic was ‘what’s for dinner’, but it could wait as she’s curious what Joy and her mom talked about.

“Yeah, she told me to watch your progress with Joohyun,” at that, Seungwan groaned, momentarily letting go of her phone to wipe down her face at what her mom just asked Joy, the latter laughed, clearly enjoying Seungwan’s embarrassment.

“Now that I think about it, Unnie,” Joy begun, settling down beside her on the bed, “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Joohyun unnie, shouldn’t you be official by now?”

“It’s not that easy, okay?” Seungwan said the same line she said to her parents, as much as she wants to make it official for Joohyun, she just felt like the perfect time hasn’t come yet. She just wants to be sure about it, for now she’s fine with whatever they have. 

“Unnie, it never took you this long to make it official with anyone!” Joy