“I don’t understand why you couldn’t have just asked me politely.” Yena groaned as she plopped down onto the beanbag chair in Yujin’s family’s garage, the place where Yujin had dragged her and labelled ‘the studio’.

 

“Because what if you said ‘no’?” Yujin whined, tossing her a package of crackers.

 

“Do you really think I’d say ‘no’ to you?” Yena asked, her eyebrows furrowed. “C’mon kid. I owe you a lot. There’s no way I’d straight up reject anything you want.”

 

“You don’t owe me that much. All I did was buy you cake and listen to your complaints.” Yujin told her, approaching the older girl and looking down upon her.

 

Yena ripped the cracker package open and shoved a piece into , dusting off the crumbs that fell onto her.

 

“So…” she continued, still chewing and even more crumbs flying everywhere. “...why’d you take me here?”

 

“Gross.” Yujin commented, looking at the older girl chewing. “Yo, I can see the remnants of the cracker all over your tongue. It’s disgusting.”

 

“Answer my question!” Yena exclaimed.

 

“Oh God! Ew!” Yujin squealed as she tried to free herself from the crumbs that had gotten onto her. She looked over at Yena who had a proud smirk on her face, still chewing on the cracker. “Like I said. I want you to be in my band.”

 

“But…” finally finishing her cracker, Yena took a long sip from her drink, making sure all her food had been swallowed before continuing her sentence. “You said we were going to a studio.”

 

“Does it look like I own a studio?” Yujin asked her sassily.

 

“But where are the instruments?” Yena continued asking.

 

“I’m gonna ask Dad to help me bring my drum set out here since no one ever uses the garage.” the younger one said, finally taking a seat beside Yena.

 

“What kind of family doesn’t use their garage?” Yena asked, looking over at Yujin, confusion written all over her face.

 

“My family.” Yujin shrugged. “My dad works the night shift and my mom works the day shift. My sister’s always out and I don’t have a car. When there is a car at home, it’s always parked out on the driveway.”

 

“I see…” Yena nodded, taking another bite from another cracker.

 

The two sat quietly, only the sound of Yena’s chewing echoing through the garage.

 

“Anyway! Will you help me with the band?” Yujin broke the silence.

 

“I don’t really have a choice. And at this point, I’m already in the band, so, I guess, yeah.” Yena looked over at the younger girl whose eyes were beaming brightly.

 

“Okay great!” Yujin clasped her hands together loudly, startling Yena. “Now we need to recruit more members!”

 

“I know a possible one!” Yena stood up excitedly, grabbing her phone off the table the two of them had set up.

 

Yujin waited quietly, watching Yena ring up their possible band mate.

 

“Yo! Kwangbae!” Yena exclaimed before putting the call on speaker mode.

 

“What?” the other girl answered shortly.

 

“Come over to Yujin’s house, there’s something serious we need to discuss.” Yena shouted at the phone, causing Yujin to give her a slap on the back for being too loud.

 

While recovering from the light pain Yujin had bestowed upon her shoulder, Yena realized Hyewon hadn’t said a thing.

 

“Hello? Hyewon?”

 

Suddenly, the back door, leading to the garage, opened, revealing the said girl.

 

Yujin and Yena looked up at her and then back at each other, and then to the phone on the table, then back up at Hyewon who was casually eating some cake, leaning lazily on the wall.

 

“What did you wanna talk about?” she asked, focusing on getting cream off of her fork.

 

“Why are you at my house?” Yujin asked, completely ignoring the other girl’s question.

 

“Because your mom made cake and she loves me.” Hyewon shrugged, shoving another piece of cake into , much more elegantly than Yena had done back at Starbucks. “So what did y’all wanna talk about?”

 

“Right.” Yena stood up enthusiastically and ran up the stairs to a very concerned and scared Hyewon. “We want you to join our band.”

 

Hyewon froze as she looked at Yena.

 

“Hello? Earth to Hyewon?” Yena asked after a couple moments, swinging her hand in front of Hyewon’s face.

 

Suddenly, Hyewon’s hand reached up to grab at her wrist and Yena immediately pulled away.

 

“Did you hear us?” Yena asked her same-aged friend.

 

“No.” Hyewon simply said, continuing to chew.

 

“What? ‘No’ what? ‘No, I don’t want to join your band’ or ‘no, I didn’t hear you’?”

 

“No, I don’t want to join your band.”

 

“What? Why?!” Yena exclaimed sadly.

 

“I just don’t want to.” Hyewon told her, eating another piece of cake as she passed the girl to go down the stairs.

 

She plopped onto the bean bag beside Yujin and looked up at the two with lazy eyes.

 

“Why though!? You’re amazing! You always play the keyboard for us when we’re just playing around with songs!” Yena continued, following her down.

 

“Only because you’re my friends. I’m not gonna play for anyone else. Especially not in front of another crowd.” the eldest of the three said. “I don’t like attention.”

 

“You literally have 11.8K followers.” Yujin pointed out.

 

“That’s out of the question. No one can judge you on Twitter.”

 

“Then why do people get cancelled?” Yena asked, approaching the two.

 

“People get cancelled because they’re being stupid. Like you.”

 

“Um?! Excuse me?!” Yena exclaimed.

 

Hyewon simply shrugged.

 

“Come on, Kwangbae. Please?” Yujin begged.

 

“I’m sorry, but I really can’t.” Hyewon sighed apologetically. “Yena, you know I can’t have what happened back in high school to happen again. I’m really best at just working in the shadows.”

 

“You hermit.” Yena muttered.

 

“What happened in high school?” Yujin interrupted, taking a seat back down on her chair, leaving Yena with no place to sit.

 

“She messed up a chord for one of the pieces she was playing.” Yena shrugged, sitting down on Hyewon’s lap, making the other girl exclaim and whine.

 

“I messed up and it was embarrassing and horrifying and traumatic and disastrous and—“ Hyewon rambled on, swinging her fork around to exaggerate her point, almost hitting Yena, square on the face.

 

“We get it.” Yena scowled, grabbing at Hyewon’s wrist and snatching the fork away.

 

“Hey, I was eating!” Hyewon complained.

 

“Join! Our! Band!” Yena forced, jumping on Hyewon’s lap for each syllable, making Hyewon groan at the aching feeling Yena was sure to leave.

 

“I feel like I’m cradling a pregnant elephant, you know that?” Hyewon asked, shooting daggers with her eyes, straight at a very pleased Yena. “No offence to pregnant elephants but full offence to you.”

 

“Kwangbae…” Yena continued to plead.

 

“It’s seriously a no, guys.” Hyewon finalized, looking back over at a very pouty Yujin. “I’ll help recruit some members though. But I seriously can’t be one.”

 

“But—“ Yena started to plead again, before she was cut off by Yujin.

 

“It’s alright, Hyewon-Unnie. I get it. Thanks, though.”

 

“Sorry kid.” Hyewon smiled a small, guilty smile.

 

“Anyway, I’ve got some homework to do. So get out of here.” Yujin finally stood up and hit the back of Yena’s head quite forcefully.

 

“.” Hyewon grumbled, before pushing Yena off her legs and standing up.

 

“Why do you guys keep hitting me!? This is violence! Violence, I’m telling you!” Yena screamed from the floor like a child having a temper tantrum.

 

“Get your up and stop acting like a four-year-old.” Hyewon sighed, grabbing Yena’s arm and pulling her off the ground.

 

“That kid doesn’t know how to respect her elders!” Yena exclaimed, pointing up at Yujin who was entering her house with a mischievous smile.

 

“Thanks for today, Yena-Unnie!” Yujin’s voice sounded as she disappeared into the household.

 

“Come on.” Hyewon coached the