Tuesday Evening, Winter Break

The hot pot restaurant.

It was the first girls night of winter break and Eunji had gathered everyone at her favorite hot pot restaurant for dinner.

Namjoo and Bomi watched with ogling anticipation as Chorong carefully placed the meat and into the steaming broth.

"Wah I can't wait." Hayoung said as she peered over to get a better look.

"Well you guys better be hungry today because it's all you can eat." Eunji said as she poured out tea.

"Oh I'm ready." Bomi hastily replied.

She her lips and hovered her chopsticks above the pot ready to snatch some meat the instant it was done cooking.

Eunji started handing out the cups of tea.

"Chorong unnie here's yours." She said, placing a cup in front of Chorong.

"Thanks Eunji-ya."

Chorong avoided eye contact with Eunji and blew on her tea before carefully taking a sip.

She still felt weird around Eunji. Not because she harbored any hard feelings but Eunji hadn't mentioned anything about the recruitment offer at all and Chorong wasn't brave enough to ask. She could only assume that Eunji was taking her time considering it.

Chorong put down her tea cup and watched the soup bubbling as Bomi pulled out a piece of meat and ate it straight from the pot.

"Wahh this is so yummy I think I could die of happiness right now." Bomi said with a look of bliss on her face.

Namjoo gave Bomi a judgmental glance as she scooped a ladle full of noodles into her bowl. 

"Bomi unnie…you shouldn't eat straight from the pot like that." She said.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help it. The meat was calling me." Bomi whined.

She gestured to the pot with her chopsticks.

"Yah you have to try this the soup flavor is amazing."

The others began filling their bowls.

"Aren't you going to eat unnie?" Naeun asked Chorong who was still absently sipping her tea.

"Yeah I will don't worry." Chorong replied with a smile. "You guys grab what you want first."

Eunji clicked her tongue.

"Nonsense. Here, give me your bowl I'll do it for you." She said.

Before Chorong could say a word Eunji took her bowl.

"Thanks…" Chorong said as she watched Eunji pile her bowl with food, feeling slightly guilty.

It really was hard to hold any grudges when Eunji was being so nice.

Eunji placed the steaming bowl in front of Chorong with a smile.

"There you go unnie. No skimping on meat today we need to eat our money's worth." She said.

Chorong managed to return the smile and started eating.

The girls chatted noisily while they enjoyed the first round of food which disappeared quite quickly. As they waited for their next orders of meat and vegetables to arrive the conversation came around to Namjoo's latest gossip.

"So I picked up a really strange bit of information the other day." She said.

"Ooh tell us!" Hayoung said leaning forward.

Namjoo motioned for everyone to come closer and lowered her voice.

"Lee Minhyuk moved out of the dorms." She whispered.

Eunji, Hayoung, and Naeun looked surprised while Chorong and Bomi exchanged glances.

"Where is he living then?" Naeun asked.

"That's just the thing, nobody seems to know where he went or why he moved out." Namjoo said.

Bomi stifled a giggle and Chorong kicked her under the table.

Namjoo frowned at them.

"What's so funny? Do you two know something?" She asked.

Chorong shook her head and quickly took a drink from her tea.

"Oh can't we tell them?" Bomi asked Chorong.

"Yah…this is Namjoo we're talking about here, she'll tell everyone and their grandma." Chorong replied. 

Namjoo coughed.

"Excuse me I'm still here you know!" She said.

Eunji chuckled.

"Omona what is this? The unnies hoarding info our gossip queen Namjoo doesn't have? What an interesting turn of events."

She sat back looking amused.

Namjoo turned to Bomi and grabbed her arm with an intensely insistent look.

"Unnie tell meee! He's not in trouble or anything is he? Oh my poor Minhyuk oppa I don't know what I would do it he got kicked out or suspended or expelled." She said.

Bomi patted Namjoo's arm.

"Namjoo-ya don't worry he's doing just fine."

"How do you know that unnie? Nobody's seen him since finals!" Namjoo said looking confused.

"Ahh but we have." Bomi said with a wink. "And he moved in with the boys in their new apartment."

"HE WHAT?" Namjoo burst out.

Hayoung and Eunji gaped and Naeun choked on her tea.

Chorong facepalmed.

"Oh now you've gone and done it." She said under her breath as the other girls began to pile Bomi with questions.

"What's he like in person?"

"And how handsome is he up close?"

"Why would he want to live in a house of weird oppas?"

"Is it true that he only owns red underwear?"

Bomi giggled and covered as Chorong rolled her eyes.

"Yah! Why would we know anything about his underwear? It's not like we snooped in his drawers." Chorong said indignantly.

She looked at Bomi who was still laughing.

"Bbom-ah don't tell me…"

"They're all red." Bomi wheezed .

"Oh my gosh I can't believe you!" Chorong scolded.

She grabbed the tongs and brandished them in Bomi's direction while the other girls erupted into girlish squeals.

Bomi yelped as she dodged the tongs and put up her arms in defense.

"Wait it wasn't me I swear I didn’t! It was Eunkwang oppa! He took a picture of Minhyuk oppa's drawer and sent it to me!" She gushed.

Namjoo's eyes nearly bulged out of her head.

"You have a picture?! Unnie send it to me!"

Just then the server arrived at their table carrying several plates of meat, vegetables, and noodles with a concerned expression.

"Excuse me ladies is everything alright here?" He asked.

"Oh yes we're fine thanks." Hayoung replied as she fanned her face and tried to suppress her laughter.

The server gave the girls a doubtful look but didn't press any further and proceeded to set down the plates of food. As soon as he finished and turned around to leave he heard the table erupting into chaos again. He sighed and wondered how these girls could possibly be so noisy when they weren't even drunk.

------

A/N  Tbh that was not where I planned to go but the chapter sometimes likes to write itself and then we end up talking about Minhyuk's red underwear...