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-.-.-

Three: I am (Not) Unshackled

Here are the things Seungwan brings with her for the visit to Byulyi’s house:

a pack of dog treats

two bottles of Pocari Sweat

all the fancy snacks she thinks Byulyi, Wheein, and Hwasa will like

extra socks

a family size bottle of hypoallergenic hand sanitizer

Yongsun’s pick-up will arrive later, because her schedule once again will deliver her to SM for an indoor outing, this time with Joy and Seulgi. She gets out of her room just as Seungwan is taking a cup of yoghurt from the fridge for a quick breakfast.

“Ready to go?” she asks Seungwan, yawning.

She nods. “Any tips, eonnie?”

“Byulyi’s corgis always play hot and cold with me, so I can't help with that.” Yongsun shrugs. “Told you they're little s.” Wendy winces at the expletive, to which Yongsun laughs. “At least you’re no longer looking like you’re gonna burst an aneurysm.”

She throws the empty yoghurt cup to the trash can. “I’m good at adaption,” she says.

“That you are.” Yongsun laughs again. Seungwan takes her full tote bag and heaves it up her shoulder. “Have fun.”

-.-.-

Here are the things Byulyi has prepared for the drive from Seungwan’s hotel to her house:

colorful pillows (“Beware of pillow fights,” Yongsun has warned her.)

a karaoke mic

oversized party sunglasses

water, both flat and sparkling

a family size bag of lollipops

Wheein claps as Seungwan seats herself and puts on her seatbelt. “Good morning,” she says. “Yongsunnie kept you up?”

“No.”

“Oh. Your Irene-eonnie, then?”

“No.” No matter how innocent the question comes across as, she can never take it with a straight face whenever someone teases her about Joohyun’s—Joohyun’s what, exactly? Protectiveness? Fondness? Infatuation? Favoritism?

Hwasa turns around from the passenger seat to slap Wheein’s knee.

Byulyi steps on the gas pedal, and the car starts accelerating. Seungwan notices the camera on the dashboard and on each side of the car. Behind Byulyi’s car, a car from the Eight Days a Swap team is tailing. Right. Taping, she reminds herself. Don’t do anything stupid or risky or questionable—

Hwasa hands her the karaoke mic. “Guest’s privilege,” she says, grinning.

“Uhm—what?”

Byulyi looks at her from the rearview mirror. “It’ll take about twenty minutes to get to my house, not discounting the morning traffic. Better make use of the time, no?” She takes one hand off the steering wheel to point at the compartment behind Hwasa’s seat. “There’s a couple of party props there, too. You go first.”

“Take a sad song and make it better,” Wheein sing-songs, handing her phone to Seungwan. Byulyi has set it to connect to the car’s audio system by bluetooth connection. A guitar’s strumming. Wheein’s grinning. “We don’t have a resident English speaker, so I always wanna know how it feels to have one. Guess you don’t need to see the lyrics, no?” A drum beat at the 0:10. Hwasa’s turning around again, grinning as well.

Seungwan takes a breath. Opens . Begins.

“I hopped off a plane at LAX—”

-.-.-

By the time the car reaches Byulyi’s house, Seungwan has switched two party glasses, gets a lollipop stuck to her pants, and almost snorts sparkling water out of her nose due to an untimely joke from Wheein.

Byulyi parks the car in driveway and pats Seungwan on the back after she closes the door. “Okay?” she asks.

“Okay,” Seungwan answers. She is.

-.-.-

Daebak is suspicious of her. Haengwoon loves her. Geongang can’t stop running around her, almost tripping her in two occasions.

She’s sitting crosslegged on the floor with Haengwoon on her lap, tiny legs swinging to and fro over her shins. She can’t help flicking the paws, and Haengwoon raises her head to give her a disapproving stare. “Sorry,” she mumbles. As if understanding what she’s just said, Haengwoon goes back to lying stretched, purring, chin on her thigh.

“She likes you.” On her right, Byulyi is rubbing Daebak’s head with one hand and with another trying to stop Geongang from clawing at Seungwan’s arm to no avail. Geongang whines at the pull on his leash and gives his mistress a betrayed look. “Geongangie, no. Stop. Wendy is a friend.”

Geongang yips.

“Friend,” Byulyi repeats, pointing at Seungwan.

“Friend,” Seungwan says, pointing at herself. Geongang’s ears jerk toward her, and he turns to stare at her. He tilts his head, and Seungwan follows suit. “Friend, okay.”

Both Hwasa and Wheein clasp their hands and coo loudly at them. “Cuuute.”

“I have a dog too, you see. Had. Used to.” Seungwan opens her arm to welcome Geongang, who nuzzles into her side. “Gotta leave her with my parents in Canada, sadly. We lost her to old age not too long after I debuted.”

“Oh no.” Byulyi loosens the tension she keeps on Geongang’s leash. “You must be missing her.”

She’s sure her smile will look bittersweet on camera, and she hopes it won’t appear too sad. “She was a good friend.”

Wheein sits on her left. Geongang sees her as the next nuzzle target and moves to her. “C’mere, boy.” Wheein laughs when the youngest of the three paws at her thighs, his jiggling happily. “You missed home often, Wendy-ssi?”

Always, she doesn’t say. “Yeah.”

Hwasa stands behind Wheein, hands on her longtime friend’s shoulders. For some reasons, it prompts Daebak to escape Byulyi’s hand and glomp onto Seungwan’s back. “Oof!” He’s one third of Seungwan’s whole weight, so naturally the force topples her forward, squishing Haengwoon on her lap. The middle kid of the three yelps in surprise and displeasure, quickly escaping Seungwan’s lap to protest her eldest brother. She ends up landing on Seungwan’s back.

“Yah, Daebak! Down. Haengwoonie, no. Down, you two.”

The two bark at the same time at Byulyi, claiming Seungwan for themselves.

Laughing, Seungwan twists her torso to turn and hug Daebak and Haengwoo. Unwilling to lose, Geongang dashes off Wheein’s lap to join the pile on Seungwan activity.

Byulyi scratches the back of her cap. “Aish. That’s corgis for you, Wendy-ssi. Notorious cuddlers to a T.”

“I don’t mind,” she lets out, avoiding Geongang’s enthusiastic tongue on her cheek, giggling all the way.

“Ten-thousand wons says we won’t do anything today because Byulyi-eonnie’s corgis get too attached to Wendy-ssi,” Hwasa says.

“Another ten-thousand for us not objecting to it because we’re lazy bums,” Wheein adds.

The two high-five each other. Seungwan can’t believe the two just openly make a bet in public, but she can’t find herself to care. All’s good.

The many cameras set around capture it all.

-.-.-

After finishing the VR ride, Yongsun goes with Seulgi and Sooyoung to meet Joohyun at SUM Cafe for brunch. Camera’s set, mics are on, and Joohyun waves at the three of them once they appear. She has taken the liberty to order cupcakes with tiny Red Velvet flags on top of them. They get a five-minute break once the cameras get the shoot of their coming, taking their seat, and cooing at the cupcakes. Seulgi and Joy get their mics reset. Joohyun, who sits next to Yongsun, turns to ask her, “Did you enjoy the VR ride?”

“Yeah. I was so surprised when your VR appeared, though.”

Joohyun chuckles. “Many of our fans said the same thing, too.”

The Eight Days crew clear out to assume their position to begin the filming again. Yongsun clears and leans in to whisper in Joohyun’s ear, “Not sure if I should be impressed or alarmed by the fact that your fans could have a chance to ride a rollercoaster with you, if only virtually.”

Scrunching her nose, Joohyun whispers in return, “Don’t remind me. At least the deranged and severely delusional haven’t done anything to misuse it so far.”

Yongsun chuckles. “Being you is such a hard work.”

Joohyun rolls her eyes, good-humoredly.

The director announces the start of the filming. Cameras are on. Cupcake talk, VRs commentary, some gushing praises for SM. Some girl talk. Some more girl talk. Seulgi’s phone pings with an incoming notification. She takes it out to check it. “Oh, Byulyi-eonnie’s just posted a story of their hang out with Seungwan on Instagram.” She watches the short clip by herself first before bursts out laughing.

Next to her, Sooyoung leans in. “What is it? I wanna see, I wanna see. Lemme see.”

Seulgi hands her phone to Sooyoung, who quickly replays the clip. “Awwww the corgis are so cute, so cute, so cute.” She pauses. “Ooooh Seungwan-eonnie got tag-teamed.” Laughing, Sooyoung replays it again, this time wi