“How the hecketh are we going to get the ring back?” Yena sighed as she squatted in front of a dazed Boo. It all happened in a flash. One moment the diamond ring was suspended in the air, then within a blink of an eye the ring was in Hoo’s tummy.

Turning her heads towards the playground, Yena watched as Yuri and Chaeyeon were still trying to force Hoo to vomit out the engagement ring. They both held onto Hoo’s hindlegs and were shaking him like a stuffed piggy bank.

“Okay, somebody’s gotta have an idea. There are twenty-one of us here!” Jihyo called out to the surrounding girls.

An awkward minute of silence followed.

Usually, Mina and Nayeon were the two dependable ones to solve sticky situations like this, but now that they were not here, every effort seemed like a lost cause.

To a surprise, it was Jeongyeon who took a step forward.

Yena noticed she had the look of a psychopath, someone who was prepared to take actions that nobody else could fathom; The sort of thing Mina and Nayeon would not approve of.

“There's only one way to get the ring back.” Jeongyeon bent down to one knee and reached towards the side of her right boot.

The sound of something sharp rang through Yena’s ear. She watched, a mortified look struck her face as Jeongyeon pulled out a five-inch Bowie knife.

Yena’s body reacted out of instinct, “Nooo!”

She leaped forward and shielded her body over Hoo.

“You are not cutting open our dog!” She whined.

Jeongyeon took another step forward.

The gleam reflecting off the razor point of the knife caused Yena’s mouth to go dry. She found herself paralyzed from the waist down, but still, she hugged Hoo protectively.

“Come on Yena, it has to happen.” Jeongyeon urged in a desperate voice, “ Mina and Nayeon will be here any minute now, and if Nayeon doesn’t have her ring--she's going to dig us all six feet under!”

Jeongyeon lunged forward, securing her fingers onto Hoo’s legs.

“YAHH!” Yena squealed as she swatted Jeongyeon's hand away before the other girl could get a firm grasp.

Jeongyeon recoiled from the stinging feeling in her hand. She balled up her fist and was about to grab Hoo’s legs again. But within a flash, Momo and Sana had secured their arms around Yena and were dragging her and Hoo backward--away from harm's way.

From there, a verbal shouting match broke out.

Chaewon screamed curse words and kicked rocks at Jeongyeon for threatening her girlfriend with a mini sword.

Jeongyeon retaliated by waving the knife dangerously in the air as she got into Chaewon’s face.

The park was in sudden chaos, but meanwhile, over the loud cursing and flying rocks, the sound of a baby stroller being pushed onto the gravel went unnoticed.

“What the is going on?” The voice boomed across the playground and surely did the job of shutting up all the girls.

“Nayeon unnie!” Yena looked up to see her favorite unnie holding baby Minhyun in one arm.

Nayeon had an awfully irritated expression on her face. Minhyun too seemed to match Nayeon’s facial expression--the sort of thing that children often do when mimicking their parents.

Nayeon made quick work of assessing the situation, “Get that sharp thing away from my dog you weirdo.” She planted her foot against Jeongyeon’s and kicked forward.

Jeongyeon lost her balance and tumbled a few wobbly steps away.

Yena felt Hoo trying to shake his way out of her embrace and so she let go.

The sound of tiny paws clattered over the sidewalk. Hoo whimpered as he approached his owner. That lady was about to turn me into a shish kabob!

“I'm sure she was.” Nayeon bent down to rub the fur under Hoo’s chin.

Minhyun also took the time to beat his fat hands onto Hoo’s nose.

“Where’s Mina?” Jihyo looked around and saw no sight of her fellow 97 liner.

“Emergency call from the hospital,” Nayeon said with a sigh. She dusted her knees then got back up to her feet.

“Well, that ,” Sana said with a frown.

“Was it the biker patient from the bar who was impaled with a shooting dart?” Momo asked.

“Nah the pregnant Jehovah witness one,” Nayeon shrugged.

“Oh.” Sana and Momo said at the same time.

“Guess that gives us extra time to figure out how to get the ring back.” Eunbi half shrugged as she looked over and saw a few of the girls were still huddled around Wonyoung’s phone. They were busy researching if Hoo could die from swallowing the ring and potential methods of regaining it back.

“Ring? What the hell happened to the ring?” Nayeon's first instinct was to then give a dirty look at Chaewon.

“WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME? THERE'S LIKE TWENTY OTHER PEOPLE HERE.” Chaewon stiffened her shoulders.

“You opened the ring box didn’t you?” Nayeon continued.

“Yes.” Chaewon stuttered, “but, that's irrelevant…it was Momo’s fault!” The girl pursed her lips together and pointed at the older girl.

“ing snitch.” Momo’s eyebrows caved in and she glared at Chaewon.

Seeing that she wouldn’t get an explanation from either of those two, Nayeon rolled her head away from the bickering girls and towards her best friend. “Eunbi please explain.”

“Well you see, so like-”

*SMACK*

Nayeon pushed her hand onto Eunbi’s lips before the girl could continue. She forgot how bad of a storyteller Eunbi could be.

“Irene please.”

The other girl cleared , “Basically, Momo’s dog saw your dog holding the engagement box, and it must have gotten him all riled up, because the moment Momo loosened her grip on his leash, Boo sprinted across the playground and belly-flopped into Hoo—-causing the engagement box to go in the air, along with the diamond ring until it fell right into Hoo’s mouth.” She finished in one breath.

“I wonder if the ring box would have stayed together if a certain somebody didn’t untie it earlier,” Nayeon replied with a loud grumble.

Chaewon refused to take any blame for the ring’s disappearance. She shook her head high into the air while crossing her arms, “Not true”

“We can sit here and play the blame game all day, but it is not gonna get the ring out of that dog.” Jihyo stepped in before any other petty squabble could break out. “Wonyoung, have you found anything on google yet?”

The tall giant poked her head up from the mass of heads surrounding her, “It could take up to 24 hours for Hoo to poop it out.”

“That might be enough time knowing how long that emergency hospital shift will take.” Nayeon rolled her eyes. She needed a smoke break desperately. The only thing keeping her sane was those last words Mina told her about saving some pizza.

It occurred to Nayeon only then about how starving she had been. She couldn’t stomach any dinner last night, nor had she had time to eat that morning. This would most likely explain the massive headache throbbing the back of her skull and her irritable mood.

“I’ll take Hoo to the vet after I grab a slice of pizza. Somebody ordered Pineapple pizza right?” Nayeon walked in the direction of the pavilion.

The sound of marching footsteps followed her and when Nayeon turned her head, she saw the remaining twenty girls were all behind her in a straight line.

“Why are you following me?” Nayeon said to nobody in particular.

Yena was directly behind Nayeon and she timidly raised her hand, “None of us have eaten either... we’re kinda hungry.” She said in a small voice.

Hyewon’s voice interjected somewhere near the back of the line, “ I ate five slices of pizza earlier, but I could use some kimbap right now.”

Nayeon could feel the urge to sigh rise through her chest, but she saw the pitiful look Yena gave her, and all her negative energy fizzed away.

With a small smile, Nayeon said, “Somebody save two slices of pepperoni for Mina or we all will be digging our own graves.”

💍

💍

💍

Fifteen minutes later

Nayeon stretched her legs as she yawned into her hand. A full meal was the correct remedy in returning her to a state of relative ease. She no longer held the urge to smoke, but she was still anxious about the fate of her engagement ring and Hoo.

“Alright buddy, are you ready to head to the vet?” Nayeon claimed a leftover chicken wing bone from the table and dropped it below her feet. The young dog had never been so spoiled in his life. All the girls had tried feeding Hoo a variety of foods in the hope it would cause him to poop out the engagement ring. All-though, whose job it was to dig through the poop remained undetermined.

“Why are you taking him to the vet, we have two doctors in training right here?” Chaewon tilted her head towards Momo and Sana who were sitting across the shared bench.

“You are stupid,” Momo said in a straight voice.

The pavilion erupted in noise as the girls laughed and banged on the picnic tables.

“What the ?” Chaewon retorted, “We just need to Hoo to throw up, that can’t be much different from human anatomy can it?”

“Yeah, except we're talking about digestive systems first off, and that doesn’t change the fact that we only study HUMAN anatomy and not PETS.” Sana replied in an icy voice.

Nako took her opportunity to get a sassy remark off at Chaewon as well, “This is why you are a music major.” She said from an adjacent table.

“What's wrong with music majors?” Yena blinked. She too shared the same major as Chaewon and hence a portion of the insult Nako gave.

“Nothings wrong with music majors in general,” Nayeon put a reassuring hand on Yena’s shoulder, “it’s just that there's a certain type of music majors who are incapable of functioning outside of their particular expertise, that being Chaewon.” Nayeon raised an eyebrow at the said girl.

“I’m unbothered. Geniuses can’t be perfect at everything.” Chaewon replied.

“I remember a certain time where you came to me for singing advice, so that must mean I'm a level above genius, ” Yena replied with a smirk.

“Burnnnn,” A few of the girls said as they threw random hand signs into the air.

Usually, Chaewon could remain unbothered by other people trying to roast her. She was used to it--it is always hard being the main character. But being roasted by her girlfriend? Even she couldn’t let that slide.

“Maybe I should tell everybody why I still have this scar on my neck!” Chaewon pointed to a marked area under her jawline.

Yena was at a loss for words. Chaewon had promised she’d never tell a soul about her failed attempt at a hickey. She wouldn’t go down this easily. Trying to think on her feet, she opened to sound off another insult but Yujin cut her off.

“We get it, you both are in a nice and healthy relationship. Move on!” Yujin said while biting onto her fifth slice of pizza

“Speaking of relationships.” Jihyo interrupted, “Minju, I was just kidding about telling you to call your girlfriend earlier. Are you and Yujin seriously dating now?”

“Yeahh! I noticed that too.” Yena added, “When did you two become all official and stuff and why didn’t you tell any of us?” She pointed at herself and then directed Minju’s attention towards Hyewon, Yuri, and Chaeyeon.

“What's wrong with us dating? We already decided on having two boys and one girl, and we're gonna have a big fat husky and we’ll live in a mansion overseas away from you losers.” Yujin stuck her tongue out.

It was Minju’s turn to explain. She sat with a blank stare on her face, “To be honest, I'm not sure when or if we are official?”

“Oooohhhhh.” Nako and Yuri said.

A look of absolute devastation riddled Yujin’s face.

Minju reassured the girl by holding her hand, “I didn’t finish.” she said with a chuckle. “But we are pretty much official”

“How did this happen though, who asked who out?” Chaeryoung asked. She had both hands on her phone keyboard as if she was about to take notes.

Minju explained, “As you all heard earlier, whenever Yujin and I call in the morning, she’d always ask me to be her girlfriend.”

“Ew,” Nayeon said while scrunching her nose. She was not present for this alleged phone call earlier, and she was glad about it.

Minju continued, “For the first few months, I would always laugh it off and say no. But around the beginning of the semester, I wanted to see how Yujin would react if I changed my answer, and so I said yes.” Minju began to rub Yujin’s chin, “I never saw Yujin's face light up that brightly so I ended up replying yes every morning to see her smile again.”

“Stopppp.” Yujin playfully pushed her fish into Minju’s shoulder. “You’re gonna make me blush in front of everybody.” The girl said coyly.

“Okay, that's enough. We are going to the vet now. Yena and Chaewon, can you watch Minhyun while I'm gone?” Nayeon got up to excuse herself from the cringe storytelling.

“Give him to me.” Yena opened her arms and squealed when Minhyun accepted the pass-off.

“We’ll be back hopefully within the next hour or so.” Nayeon gave a mighty stretch and then took Chaewon’s car key from the table.

“Wait, I see two people coming this way with a present.” Sakura pointed towards the small path from the volleyball net.

Nayeon squinted her eyes together to get a better sight. She looked down the way Sakura pointed and caught two adults walking next to each other. One with a white beard and a bucket hat, the other, a much younger man, holding flowers and a present.

“Well guess we’re staying for a couple minutes more.” Nayeon scoffed.

💍

💍

💍

“Hiari. Minatozaki.” Director Song greeted two out of his three favorite former students with a firm handshake. He waved at the remaining girls in the pavilion who all gave him an inviting smile.

The strangest greeting was when Director Song addressed Yujin in her full name and glared at her. Apparently, Yujin had come to his office more than once when she was a high-school senior. (She would ask for a doctor's note so that she could skip school.)

And then the inevitable question came about, “Where’s Myoui?”

“Emergency call from the hospital,” Nayeon repeated with a larger sigh than when she first told her friends.

“I sure don’t miss those,” Vincent said with a chuckle.

A few “oohs” and surprised gasps followed. This was the first time many had seen, let alone heard of the handsome young doctor that saved Yena’s life.

“It’s nice seeing you again.” Nayeon extended her hand out towards him. She flinched in response to Vincent suddenly jumping back. . Nayeon then remembered Yena telling her about the little trick Chaewon pulled on him the other day,

“I hope you know I taught Chaewon how to do that.” She said with a smile.

“And I have no urge to remember the feeling.” Vincent nervously laughed while rubbing the joint under his thumb.

“Hullo Vincent, glad you could make it.” Yena waved at her male BFF and life savior.

Vincent went in to give Yena a half-hug but Chaewon suddenly budged her way between the two.

Chaewon extended her hand out for a handshake and she waited eagerly for Vincent to meet it back. “I won’t crush your hand this time, I swear.” Chaewon blinked innocently.

If it wasn’t for the twenty-plus pair of eyes staring onto Vincent, he would have avoided making the handshake, but giving in to peer pressure, he met Chaewon’s hand with his own.

He tensed his hand in an attempt to counteract Chaewon sliding her thumb against his hand joint. Chaewon, however, had already predicted this and had the joint crushed between both her thumb and her index finger.

“You said you wouldn’t do it.” Vincent made the brightest fake smile he could manage.

“I know I did,” Chaewon replied with her most genuine smile.

Yena swatted Chaewon’s hand away, “stop that.” She then reached in and got on her tippy toes to give Vincent a hug.

Chaewon mentally counted how long the two embraced. She scowled when it passed three seconds.

“Thank you for coming. Did yah eat yet? Here I'll introduce you to everybody!” Yena never gave Vincent a chance to reply and before he could even catch his breath, Yena started tugging his shoulder to lead him deeper into the pavilion.

Chaewon was about to march behind them but was promptly stopped by Nayeon.

“Give your uncle a break,” Nayeon said.

“He's not my uncle.” the girl growled back. Chaewon turned her head and saw Yena was currently introducing Vincent to her roommates.

Meanwhile, Momo and Sana had explained to Director Song everything that transpired thus far.

The Director rubbed the white hair on his chin intently, “That Wonyoung child was correct saying that Hoo isn’t in much danger of zinc poisoning. Most rings these days are made out of white gold and only a small amount of zinc on the fine details, nothing concerning, so it’s really just a question of defecation.”

“We fed him plenty of food just so hopefully he’ll excrement soon.” Irene nodded her head in agreement.

A disgusted expression clouded Nayeon’s face, “can’t we just say poop? He needs to poop, why are you guys using big words to say ing poop?”

“Because we are not vulgar.” Irene mimicked her lavish and uptight mother’s tone. She paused to see if anybody would laugh, but only Eunbi reacted with a chuckle. She then made a follow-up comment that made most of the girls smile.

“I enjoy calling it poopie to be honest!” Irene nodded her head with a grin.

“Poop, , Vincent, dung---they all mean the same thing, but is there a way we can yah know speed up the process?” Chaewon asked.

Director Song scratched the side of his white beard. He bent the brim of his bucket hat and then pushed up his glasses. “We could feed Hoo child laxatives. That should be enough to expedite the process.” He nodded his head.

“See, Director Song has been a doctor for forty-plus years and he can answer these problems. You two should be ashamed and study more.” Chaewon twirled her finger at Momo and Sana.

“I repeat, music major,” Momo emphasized.

“I repeat-”

Chaewon was cut off as Nayeon swung the younger girl's head in a headlock and began dragging her away.

“We’re headed towards the convenience store outside the park near your workplace.” Nayeon waved at Irene. “Can you take care of your nephew while I'm gone?” Nayeon signaled Minhyun who was sitting on the pavilion floor with the two dogs now.

Irene gave a thumbs up and with that Nayeon dragged Chaewon out of the pavilion and towards the parking lot.

Jihyo overheard that Nayeon was headed for a convenience store and so she sent Chaeyoung, Chaeryoung, and Chaeyeon to follow as well. They needed more ice bags and could use some more refreshments.

The sound of massive footsteps echoed off the wooden pavilion. Nayeon had just enough time to turn her head before watching Wonyoung race out of the pavilion and jump the three-four steps and onto the grass while yelling “Field trip!”

💍

💍

💍

It was a little past 1:30 p.m when the six girls arrived at the convenience store. In an almost zombie-like fashion, the girls sluggishly walked through the door while swaying their arms.

“I'm grabbing coffee.” Wonyoung rubbed her eyes. She opened a fridge and pushed her face into the frosted glass.

The other girls began picking out random snacks and drinks. Chaeyeon and Chaewon headed to the back-storage where bags of ice were kept.

Nayeon, seeing the diverted attention of all the girls, took the opportunity to slowly back her way from the snack aisle and towards the front counter of the store.

From there she was met with a snarly old man. His face had been directed at the blue glow of a television box to his side, and he only turned to face Nayeon when she began tapping on the counter. He was not too happy about it either.

“Can I help yah missy?” His voice was gruff and had a thick country accent to it--worse than Yuri at her peak anger.

“A pack of Newport,” Nayeon said in a quiet voice.

She looked over her shoulder to make sure none of the girls, especially Chaewon, had noticed where she was.

“That’ll be 4,500 won” He violently coughed into his fist. This gave Nayeon a small glimpse of a long bluish/green serpent running up his forearm. She could have sworn to see that tattoo from somewhere. Possibly a movie? Or maybe it was a common street gang emblem? The old man did not give her the impression of having a wholesome backstory as only a convenience store owner.

Nayeon took out the necessary cash from her wallet and slid it across the table. Even though she had given the exact amount, the store owner still his thumb to count the few dollars and cents. He even held up a dollar to the glare of the T.V box to verify its legitimacy.

Nayeon began rubbing the back of her neck. Checking if the money was counterfeit was obviously meant as an insult towards her; which was stupid because Nayeon knew that anybody in the business of using counterfeit money, would not be wasting their time with small-dollar bills as she had just used.

“Just go outside and take a quick smoke break, and everything will be okay.” She told herself.

But before any of that, she needed to make sure the other girls were gathering the items they had intended to come for.

“Chae-” She called out and immediately, five other heads poked out from random shelves in the convenience store.

“Yes?” Chaewon, Chaeryoung, Chaeyeon, Chaeyoung, and Wonyoung all answered in unison.

Nayeon couldn’t help but facepalm. What chance was it that every “chae” was present? But then she realized something.

“Wonyoung, why did you answer?” Nayeon said with a scowl.

“Uhhh, “I guess FOMO.” The young girl shrugged her shoulders.

“FO what?” Nayeon repeated.

“It’s an acronym,” Chaeyeon explained.

“FOMO, Fear of Missing Out.” Chaeryoung continued.

“Did you not know this?” Chaeyoung said with a smirk.

“Of course she wouldn’t, she's a boomer.” Chaewon rolled her eyes. She then shamelessly held up a bag of gummy worms, “Unnie can we please buy this?”

“Pay for it yourselves,” Nayeon said in a low grumble.

She then took her pack of Newport off the table and was about to head for the exit, but the store owner stopped her.

“Hold on for jus a minute.” The owner narrowed his eyes. He scanned across the small convenience store and over each one of the Chae’s until he eventually made it back to Nayeon.

She, in return, did not hesitate to meet his gaze back with the same intensity. Nayeon made sure to raise one of her eyebrows just to assert her own defiance in the situation.

She thought they would enter a staring contest. The loser, of course, is whoever blinks and looks away first, but to Nayeon’s surprise, the store owner broke his stare at her.

She watched as the store owner scrambled around trying to find something. He patted his front pockets, back pockets, the top of his head, and then towards his neck where a set of glasses had been hanging. He fumbled to put them onto his face while cursing, but once he sat the glasses on his nose, a large snarl ruptured through his vocal cords.

“I recognize yurr.” He said while pointing a finger at her.

“Well, I don’t recognize you.” She instinctively replied back.

“You’re the damn gurl who asken to borrow mah favorite fishin rod and threw it in the pawn at the park!”

“Oooh.” Nayeon’s face sank as she did in fact recognize who the store owner was now. She realized that this is why his tattoo seemed so familiar as well.

“I had that fishin rod since I was a boi in der countryside! That was my favorite rod!” He said now while involuntarily spitting on Nayeon.

“Yes, I was aware that was your favorite fishing rod before you had to repeat it seven other times.” Nayeon wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. She then rubbed her hand onto her jean shorts.

“Her girlfriend already paid for it. There are no hard feelings right?” Chaeyoung said in a composed tone as she walked towards the front counter. She would not tolerate anybody insulting Mina(her favorite unnie) future wife.

“It was only a fishing rod, who cares,” Chaewon mumbled.

She thought she was quiet enough, but although the store owner's eye-sight had declined, his hearing remained sharp and perceptive. He instantly caught onto Chaewon’s voice and stared at her.

“I recognize you too! you’re de brat that was throwing a fit, tellin dat other gurl not to pay meh back for mah favorite fishing rod!”

“It’s in the past.” Chaewon shrugged.

She did in fact tell Mina that they shouldn’t have to pay some 70,000 won for a dumb fishing rod. It was obvious to her that the store owner was trying to hustle them for a bigger cash-out than deserved. But Mina, being god’s angel as she was, paid the store owner the demanded cash even though she knew that she was overpaying.

“Either way we are here as customers now, so we will pay for our items and be on our way,” Wonyoung said with a charming smile.

This seemed enough to cause the store owner to grudgingly sit back down in his chair. He still had the same scowl over his face but he said, “Hurry up an buy yar items before you cause meh any morr trouble today.”

The girls were just as eager to exit the convenience store as the store owner was to kick them out. They grabbed the two bags of ice, a couple soft drinks and energy drinks, chips, and mosquito spray, but there was one thing they were still missing.

“Unnie I can’t find children's laxatives anywhere,” Chaeyeon said as she returned from the pharmacy aisle.

Before Nayeon could say anything, the store owner suddenly let out a deep and loud laugh from his seat at the front counter. “BWAHAHAHA, laxatives? Awhh one of you all poor chickenns havin trouble poopin? I bet it be the brat oer there with der short brown and blonde curls.” He nudged his head at Chaewon who was turning redder than a tomato.

“Keep it in Kim Chaewon, it’s not worth it.” Chaeyoung wrapped her arm between Chaewon’s and dragged her away.

Nayeon could not contain her anger any further. She blew air out of her lips and then faced the store owner again. “Listen here. It doesn’t matter why we need the laxatives, do your job to help us find the item.”

Nayeon’s words weren’t enough to intimate the store owner, but it was enough to wipe the smirk off his face. He followed in a gruff voice after coughing into his fist, “I was only makin small jokes to lighten up the mood, nothin oughta be work up to about missy.”

“Just help me find the lactives and we’ll be on our way,” Nayeon said without a trace of kindness in her voice.

Now it was the store owner’s turn to be annoyed. He grumbled under his breath before turning around to the stacked rows of items behind him. He used two fingers to navigate his way down before stopping at a row of white boxes. Reaching near the back, the store owner grabbed a box of dissolvable laxatives. “7000 won” He said as he handed it to Nayeon.

Nayeon did not repeat the same mistake she did earlier. This time she opened her wallet and pulled out her platinum credit card. Now, of course, in terms of tiers, a platinum credit card is low compared to the most famous of luxury credit cards, “the black card,”. But it was enough of flex to make the store owner feel embarrassed for attempting to be little Nayeon earlier when she paid with cash.

The cream on the cake was when Nayeon added, “thank you, put all the other items on the card as well,” She bit onto the of a cigarette from her new pack, grabbed the laxatives over the counter, and walked away.

“Holy crap, Nayeon unnie was hot for a moment,” Chaeyeon whispered to her younger sister.

“I think I peed myself a little.” Chaeryoung squealed back.

💍

💍

💍

Back at the park

For most, being the center of attention from a handful of Seoul University's prettiest students sounded like a dream come true. For Vincent, however, it was the most stressful and intimidating moment of his life.

“Are you actually related to Chaewon?” Minju asked

“Yes”

“Did you know you were related to Chaewon?” Nako added.

“Not until earlier this week, no.”

“Why not?” Sakura followed up.

“Well I was born out of a love affair between Chaewon’s grandmother and her best friend and so I never got to learn much about my mom's side of the family.”

A few understanding “oohs” and head nodding went around the pavilion.

“How long have you been in the U.S before you met Yena?” Hitomi raised her hand.

“Uhh, two years.”

“Why were you in the U.S again?” Dahyun asked.

“I was a resident at the sister branch of the university hospital there in Florida.”

“How was taking care of Yena?” Yuri asked.

“Uhh, it was stressful but Yena’s one of the funniest and sweetest individuals I have ever met, and seeing her recovery was a good feeling.” He answered with a tired smile. His voice was getting dry and he was having a hard time switching his attention from so many faces.

Yena held up both her hands to stop anybody else from speaking, “That's enough questions for now.”

Vincent finally had a second to catch his breath. He sank a little lower into the bench, not wanting to attract any more attention than he already had.

But there was one certain loudmouth that couldn’t help but shoot out one last question.

“Did you like Yena?” Yujin asked in a teasing voice.

From the side, Minju jerked at Yujin’s shirt to sit her down.

“Why would you ask such an awkward question?” Minju whispered to her girlfriend.

“So what? I know you and everybody else was thinking the same thing!” Yujin stammered back.

And of course, the perceptive Yujin was correct.

Although the girls scolded Yujin for asking the question, since it was already in the air, they were still expecting an answer.

“Sooo, did you!” Jeongyeon walked up to Vincent and slammed her bowie knife into the wooden picnic table. She had always wanted to do that in an interrogation room at work, but her boss always stopped her saying, tHiS Wasn’t A DraMa.

When Vincent went to make eye contact with Yena, some instinct inside of her told her to look down and so she avoided meeting his gaze back. She mentally began repeating Chaewon’s name over and over which became a sort of ritual when she was put into awkward situations.

“No, of course not,” Vincent answered with a small chuckle.

A few of the girls' faces turned sour in disappointment. From another table, Yujin grudgingly slid Eunbi a 5,000 won bill.

Enter Nayeon and the Chae's

“Pass these outs.” Nayeon handed over a grocery bag to Jihyo. Inside were ice cream and boba drinks.

“Where’s Sana and Momo?” Nayeon looked around and noticed the two eldest Japanese girls were no longer present.

“Something big must have happened because they got called to the hospital as well. ” Eunbi explained with a sympathetic expression

Any hopes of Mina returning by sun-down now seemed grim. Nayeon expected this however and she told herself she wouldn’t get too disappointed by the fact. Allowing only a small sigh to escape her lips, she shook her head vigorously and decided to handle more pressing matters at hand.

“Chaewon?” Nayeon called out in confusion. The younger girl was right beside her only a second ago. Scratching her hair, she began taking random steps outside the pavilion. Unable to find her anywhere outside, she then stepped into the shaded roof. From there she then found Chaewon trying to wedge herself between Yena and Vincent at the picnic table.

“Excuse me.” Chaewon successfully pushed one of her legs between the two bodies. She then tried swinging her other leg over, but there was not enough room.

“OUCH!” Yena said.

Chaewon apologized half-sympathetically. “Just one more leg-”

She tried squeezing her other leg over again, but the tension caused her calf muscles to scream in pain.

*THUMP* This time she kicked Yena’s arm and her girlfriend hissed in pain.

“Sorry...again.” Chaewon clapped her two hands together in a begging motion. She was out of breath now, and she also couldn’t feel the blood in her right leg. There was only one last hope.

Looking now at Vincent, she asked, “Is there a way you could possibly scoot over another inch or so?”

Vincent hesitated but he half-heartedly lifted his and only pretended to move over.

Chaewon was not fooled by Vicent’s lousy attempt, “ further, ” she hissed. Taking a long breath, she was about to lift up her leg again, but then she felt the collar of her shirt squeeze in a tight grip. In one fluid motion, she has ripped away from the bench. Her feet remained suspended in the air for about three seconds before she felt the ground again.

“Perfect! Thank you, Yujin.” Nayeon gave a thumbs up.

The giant girl gave a charismatic wink back to Nayeon and then walked away to bully Hitomi out of her ice-cream cone.

“Was that necessary?” Chaewon groaned as she rubbed her aching shoulder. She cursed at God for giving her such a perfect and slim body that she could be dragged off a picnic bench so easily.

“Come with me,” Nayeon ordered and she took the younger girl away from the table.

Chaewon crossed her arms as they stood in a secluded area of the pavilion, “What do you want?”

Nayeon then produced a small white bottle from her pocket and gave it to Chaewon. “I need you to mix the child laxatives into Hoo’s water bowl and feed it to him.”

“Why me! Don’t you see I'm trying to prevent this Romeo from getting his hands all over my girlfriend?” She replied back

Nayeon looked back towards the picnic table. It was true that Yena and Vincent had been sitting awfully close to each other, but nothing to be suspicious about.

Shifting her gaze back to Chaewon she replied back, “Oh god, you’re so paranoid.”

“Paranoid!?” Chaewon spat. She then pointed back to the bench they were at. “He’s purposely rubbing his knee caps into Yena’s!”

“Oh Boo Hoo, go cry a river to our dogs. You are so clingy, did you know that?” Nayeon rolled her eyes.

“Clingy?!” Chaewon replied with a stutter. “I am NOT clingy!”

“You are,” Eunbi said. She had spotted Nayeon dragging Chaewon to the side and followed them to see what's up.

Chaewon fumbled a step backward now in the presence of both Eunbi and Nayeon. Her shoulders naturally caved in and she spoke with less confidence.

“How would you two feel knowing some chum is drooling over your girlfriend and is actively trying to get close to her?”

“P.A.R.A.N.O.I.D, I told you.” Nayeon outstretched her palm at Chaewon and looked for Eunbi’s response.

Giving a small shrug, Eunbi said, “Yena is trustworthy.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better though,” Chaewon mumbled. She did accept the answer and decided to not press on it any further.

“Well, for now, here you go,” Nayeon grabbed onto Chaewon’s wrist and gave her the bottle of laxatives. “Only put a tea-spoon, maybe even a little less. That dimwit from the convenience store gave us adult laxatives, meani