“AAHHHHH”

Minju side-eyes the older girl on the end of the other side and averts her gaze almost immediately when she sees Eunbi kissing the said girl’s cheek. She tries her best to ignore the slight pain inside her heart and lets out a laugh, covering her true emotion. She then approaches the camera and erases away the smile right after that.

“I just get punished, right?” 

Minju can feel fire starting to ignite inside her heart at how Chaewon talks casually like nothing happened. Is she the only one who is affected by their fight right now?

“What?” 

Minju wants to escape from the room really bad, but the Vlive is still ongoing, and she didn’t want WIZ*ONE to worry about her sudden leave, so she decides to play along for a while.

“I just got punished.” 

Minju can feel the stare Chaewon giving her but she ain’t letting this go anymore. Instead of responding to the older, she read the comment she saw loudly, trying to change the topic. “Give your face a Fiesta? How do we do this? This sounds fun.” Minju hears how Chaewon laughs and she is going to lie if it didn’t melt her heart even a little bit. 

“Please do it passionately.” And with Eunbi as the cue, Chaewon moves her face muscles passionately, hoping that Minju will laugh again. But Minju is still mad so she moves out of the camera, not giving even a glance at what Chaewon is doing. As soon as Eunbi stops singing, Minju gets into the camera view again. “It’s cute.” She says monotonously. She notices the slight glance Chaewon gave to her but she ignores it again. 

She suddenly remembers that she said she was going to practice later. It’s still a little bit early than her usual time but she doesn’t want to be here anymore.

“Ahh, I think I have to go to the practice room right now.” Minju immediately looks around to pick her things and stands up. 

“Minju wants to go to practice so suddenly.” Eunbi comments but Minju denies it immediately. “No, since it’s nearly 11 o’clock, I’m going to practice room, unnie.” Eunbi just waves her hand to Minju, bidding her goodbye. “Goodbye unnie.” She is a little bit hesitant though. “Sho-should I go?” but she continues walking out of the room. 

As soon as she enters her room, she sits down on her chair, trying to throw away the anger from earlier. She has been mad at the older for almost a week now and what happened earlier really infuriates her. The older woman is spending lesser time with her recently. Well, she is happy that Chaewon has started to warm up to other members like how she is with Minju but Minju can’t help but feel mad that Chaewon easily rejected her when she asked if Chaewon if she wants to accompany her during her night stroll again. Chaewon has rejected her twice and Minju didn’t take that well. Chaewon is her one and only night stroll mate but she guesses Chaewon didn’t take that as something special unlike her.

She stands up again before a soft knock can be heard from her door. Having no clue who is that at all, Minju lets that person in. “Come in.” And she regrets it. “Min…” Minju didn’t want to waste her energy fighting with Chaewon so she excuses herself. “I'll be home late, don't wait for me.” Minju takes her bag and walks passes the shorter girl and heads straight to the front door. She hears Chaewon calling her name but she chooses to ignore the older. As soon as she locks the door, she walks to the lifts, heading toward the practice room.

---

Heavy and labored breathing fills the practice room. Minju lays down flat on her back and stares at the ceiling, catching her breath. It's already 2 in the morning. She practices a little bit longer than she was planning to. She closes her eyes and puts her arm over them. She never wanted to be mad at Chaewon but the older girl spent lesser time with her and she didn’t like it. Nowadays, Chaewon just accepts everyone’s kisses, cuddles, and even night dates. Night date is only their thing and she is mad at how easy Chaewon agrees to go on a night date with Yena last night like it means nothing special to her. 

She gets up again and continues practicing, venting out her anger on Chaewon through her dancing. All the betrayal she is feeling right now can be seen from how aggressive and hard she stomps her feet, sways her arms, and grimacing face. She dances and dances until she lost her breath, falling on the floor while trying to catch some air. Her chest hurts from the lack of air but she could care less. Chaewon is the only thing on her mind right now.

What she did not realised is that Chaewon is standing in front of the door, looking at Minju who is breathless. She wants to approach Minju but she is scared of the consequences. But knowing this won't come to an end unless she apologizes first, she braves herself and walks to the younger girl before she hears those three words slipping out of Minju's mouth, causing her to halts halfway. "She must be so mad at me..." Chaewon thoughts at herself since she has never heard Minju saying those kinds of words.

“S-stupid Kim Chaewon…” Minju mutters under her breath out of frustration. She lifts herself up while holding her chest as the pain subsides. Her eyes widen when a sight of frowning Chaewon appears in front of her. "Unnie..." Instead of getting mad at her for calling her stupid, Chaewon approaches the younger, and a worried look washes away her frown. "Why are you beating yourself again..." "I am not!" Minju scoots away from Chaewon. "Go away, unnie. Go play with the others..." Minju shooes her, doesn't want to melt under Chaewon's embrace, not yet. "Kim Minju, come here..." "No! I said go away!" 

Minju hears Chaewon's sigh but ignores it, still staying away from the older. Even though she knows Chaewon can see how she is still gasping for air, she scoots away from the older, the anger she feels earlier raising up again as her chest moving up and down more aggressively. "If you don't want to leave, let me leave instead." Minju stands up but her weak legs betray her, causing her to fall down on her once again. She breathes heavily while Chaewon rashly goes to her, holding her shoulders with both of her warm hands. 

"Min, please. You are having a hard time breathing right now. You can be mad at me later. Just let me bring you back to the dorm." Chaewon quickly grabs Minju's body and lifts her up as the younger clings on her as if her life depends on Chaewon. 

Chaewon piggybacks the younger and grabs all of Minju's belongings before going out of the practice room after ensuring she has turned off all the switches. She runs to the lift as fast as she can as the heavy breathing of Minju's enters her hearing. 

---

"Minju..." Chaewon softly calls the younger as she is in front of Minju's room. But no words are emitted from the younger so Chaewon assumes she is sleeping. She opens the door and carefully lays Minju down on her bed. A small smile forms on her face upon seeing how Minju still is frowning even in her sleep. 

"I'm sorry..." As if she can hear the older, the frown disappears almost immediately from Minju's face, replaced by the face she always did whenever she is on the verge of crying. Noticing that, Chaewon sits on the edge of the bed, staring at Minju, afraid that she will cry. Which she does. A lone tear suddenly escapes Minju's closed eyes. "I hate you..." Minju mumbles under her breath, probably thinking it was a dream. "Min, I'm sorry, okay?" Chaewon continues talking, grasping this chance to know exactly what is Minju feeling deep inside. 

"Just go and play with Yena unnie. You don't want to play with me anymore, right?" Chaewon now isn't sure if Minju is still dreaming or she is just playing with her but Chaewon is slightly hurt by her words. She realised that she hadn't been spending time as much as she used to with the younger ones recently. "I'm sorry. I... just..." Chaewon is hesitating before the taller one suddenly opens her eyes wide. "How many times do I have to tell you that those cheeks are mine?" Chaewon immediately averts her gaze away as the piercing glare from Minju is too much for her. "So you do realise it, don't you?" Chaewon timidly nods as she is staring at her own feet, feeling guilty over what she has done. She stiffens upon hearing Minju's disappointed sighs. 

"I really can't get mad at you for a long time, unnie..." 

Chaewon swiftly lifts her head up and smiles upon hearing Minju's words. "BUT!" Minju lifts her index finger up. "You still need to compensate for it!" Chaewon is too busy being happy that she can finally hug the younger in a few seconds that she giddily asks about it. "No night date and cheek cuddles with anyone, just ME!" Chaewon nods cutely and grabs Minju's hands, intertwining them with hers. 

But before she can bring Minju into her embrace, the latter scoots away once again, resulting in a frown to appears on Chaewon's face. "What's wrong?" Chaewon quietly asked, afraid that she make Minju angry again. "I'm not finished with the compensation!" Chaewon bites her lips in nervousness as she eyes the younger to continue. "Kiss..." 

Chaewon hears that very clearly but she decides to tease the younger. "What? I can't hear you?" "A kiss..." Chaewon chuckles before pulling Minju closer again. "Where?" "L-lips." She smiles fondly when Minju hides her face out of embarrassment. "Look at me, Min." Minju obediently lifts her head and stares at the wonderful brown orbs of Chaewon. 

"I'm sorry, Minju-ya." Chaewon sincerely apologizes even though the younger is no longer mad at her. "Hmm" Minju just hums and clings her arms around Chaewon's nape. "I love you, unnie." Chaewon still tries to tease the younger. "Hmm.." Minju immediately pouts and takes back her hand before Chaewon grabs her waist and pulls her close, closing the gap between their warm lips.

The kiss was lingering, consuming, crowding up every atom of Chaewon’s brain. She finished with a bite to Minju’s lips, pulling back with a slow, lazy grin. Minju blinked at her, momentarily stunned, eyes glazed and lips parted softly still. Then she realized how deliberately and obviously she'd been distracted from the matter at hand as Chaewon stepped away with a wink, not even bothering to say anything. 

"Unnie!" Minju quickly grabs the hem of Chaewon's hoodie, trying to make the older stay. "What?" The giddiness on Chaewon's smile can't be put away with how much serotonin boost she got from the kiss earlier. "You didn't say it back..." Minju hides her reddened face, touching her chest with her chin. Chaewon wants to tease the 'easily flustered girl but she knows she has reached her limit now. So she walks slowly to the blushing girl and makes her stand up before pulling the girl into her embrace. 

Despite being the taller, Minju snuggles deeper into Chaewon's neck, sniffing the baby powder scent her favorite unnie always has. She smiles as a peck is given on the crown of her head. She tightens the hold on Chaewon's waist as she chuckles in happiness. 

Chaewon pulls herself back a bit, still not letting go of her hold on Minju's neck. They stare at each other for she herself doesn't know how long before Chaewon leans on Minju's forehead, sighing in satisfaction. She closes her eyes to devours these feelings of comfort and safe fully before opening them once again while giving Minju a stare that melts the younger's heart. She gives Minju a brief peck again before uttering the words Minju has been dreading to hear. 

"I love you, Kim Minju."

Chaewon swears her heart can burst at any seconds from now on when she heard Minju's happy laughter. Oh, she swears she is going to love this girl for the rest of her life, and even in her next lifetime if it does exist.