“So… his body is in the suit of armor? Why does he wear it all the time? Doesn’t he get tired?” Miyeon asked for a third time that night, and Soyeon had to do her best to hold in a frustrated groan.

 

Soyeon had been watching anime in bed that night when she suddenly heard a knock on her door. It was already almost midnight, and her roommates were both visiting their families in their home countries, so there was only one person it could have been. She let Miyeon in with a tired hello, and just continued watching her show as Miyeon made herself comfortable on Soyeon’s bed. The older girl had made her loneliness known every time they texted with the other members in the group chat, so Soyeon wasn’t too surprised she had visited this late at night after her long day of schedules. They were both night owls, and Soyeon didn’t mind it too much.

 

Well, except when Miyeon asked a million questions about the show she was trying to watch.

 

“No, it’s just his soul— you know what? Should we just watch something else?” Soyeon said as she searched for the remote between the pillows, frustration clear on her face. She couldn’t find it anywhere, and she was pretty sure Miyeon was probably sitting on it.

 

“No, it’s ok!” Miyeon said as she grabbed Soyeon’s frantic hands and put them back on her lap.

 

“I like watching this with you. Sorry about the questions…” Miyeon’s voice trailed off as she looked at the younger girl with her sad puppy eyes, and Soyeon felt annoyed at how effective they were. Sometimes it felt like Miyeon was younger than her, even though in reality, she was a year and a half older. It was unfair how she could get away with things with just a look, but Soyeon was partially to blame. She was too soft on the inside to resist her members’ cute antics. It was frustrating.

 

She eventually calmed down as Miyeon held her hands down. The other girl’s touch was soothing, but Soyeon would never admit that to her. She moved her hands away as soon as she realized they were touching for a moment too long.

 

“If we keep watching, you can only ask questions when the episode is paused, ok?”

 

Miyeon nodded like a reprimanded child before leaning back into the pillows, hugging one of Soyeon’s stuffed animals like it would protect her from Soyeon’s scolding.

 

Soyeon wasn’t sure why Miyeon was so adamant on watching her anime with her, but she was too tired to ask her. She didn’t understand the older girl’s brain most of the time anyways, so she wasn’t going to question her now. Since the other members weren’t here, Miyeon had no one else to bother this late at night. Soyeon was probably Miyeon’s last choice to watch tv with, and she tried to ignore how that made her feel hurt.

 

To get past her sour mood, Soyeon clicked the show back on and tried to focus on it. She had been saving this show for a while, and now that she had more free time, she was excited to finally watch it.

 

One good thing about Miyeon invading her space was that the older girl brought snacks. They shared the bag of chips that rested in Miyeon’s lap, with the older girl being adamant about feeding the chips to Soyeon while her eyes were focused on the television in front of her. Soyeon enjoyed the chocolate milk Miyeon had brought as an obvious olive branch, but she didn’t want Miyeon to know how much she was enjoying it. She did her best to hold in her satisfied hum as she drank the liquid gold.

 

Miyeon stayed surprisingly quiet for the rest of the episode, but Soyeon knew it was undoubtedly because she was too busy eating. As soon as the food was finished, she would probably ask a hundred questions again during the next episode.

 

Soyeon had heard that the next episode was a pretty big turning point for the series, so she was excited when she clicked it on and the theme song began. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Miyeon humming along to the song, and she felt a small victory. She knew the older girl had no understanding of anime or cartoons at all, so she was happy that Miyeon was at least enjoying it. Soyeon sometimes felt embarrassed about her hobby, but her members never judged her for it, even the ones who barely knew what anime was. They accepted her, nerdiness and all.

 

They made it to the middle of the episode, and Soyeon was entranced. The villain had just stabbed one of the main characters and his friend and was now taunting the other main characters. Tensions were high, and Soyeon wondered how they would all escape without getting killed. This show was getting really good.

 

And that just happened to be when Miyeon finally spoke again. And again. And again.

 

“Why is she crying so much? Does she love the fire guy?”

 

“Does he feel hurt when his armor gets stabbed?”

 

“Wait he didn’t die! How can he make fire again?”

 

“Did the evil lady really just die? What was that ruby thing that burned up?

 

Soyeon couldn’t handle it anymore. She yanked the remote out from under Miyeon and hit the pause button. If Soyeon didn’t know her better, she would probably think Miyeon was annoying her on purpose, but she knew this was just how the older girl was.

 

“Why did you even want to watch with me if you were going to interrupt the whole time?” Soyeon said, her fuse finally ready to blow. She had a tough week—a tough month, really—and all she wanted to do was watch anime and forget about her troubles. She didn’t expect for her friend to want to come ruin that for her. Didn’t she know Soyeon was exhausted?

 

Miyeon met her angry gaze, and her eyes looked so sad that Soyeon felt bad for blowing up. Soyeon’s temper was short and hot, but it cooled down faster than anything when she realized she had hurt one of her friends. She didn’t have many friends, and she couldn’t risk losing one that she liked so much. She was just about to apologize when Miyeon spoke.

 

“Oh well… when I saw you at the company earlier…you seemed really lonely. I thought I could come cheer you up. I know you really like anime so I thought it would be nice to watch it with you, but if you want me to go…” Miyeon hung her head and made to get up, but Soyeon grabbed her by the arm before she could leave. Miyeon’s eyes held a question when their gazes met.

 

Soyeon was lonely.

 

She was lonely, but she didn’t want anyone to know that. She never knew she would say this, but she missed Yuqi’s loud voice blaring through their dorm at random hours of the night, and she missed Minnie’s constant need to clean every surface of the dorm after Soyeon and Yuqi made a mess. She liked to pretend she was a loner, but it wasn’t true. Growing up, she always had her little sister to rely on, and now she knew she relied on the other members more than she thought. It was probably bad to depend on them this much, but she did.

 

She didn’t know how Miyeon had noticed. Soyeon thought she did a good job hiding it, but she guessed she wasn’t good enough. The older girl was an enigma, silly one moment and wise the next. She must have seen right through Soyeon’s cool façade and realized how lonely she was.

 

Miyeon’s concern for her, even when Soyeon was being callous, made Soyeon’s heart hurt. She didn’t really want Miyeon to leave. She was just taking out her frustration on the easiest target, and she felt terrible for that. Miyeon was always so kind and sweet to her, and she didn’t deserve Soyeon’s anger.

 

“I’ll see you later, Soyeon.” Miyeon said coldly as she got up, leaving behind Soyeon’s loose grip on her arm.

 

“Wait!” Soyeon suddenly shouted, the loudest noise in the dorm so far since the others left. Miyeon turned back around, eyes wide in surprise. She obviously had not been expecting Soyeon to shout. Soyeon was never the loud one when the others were around.

 

Soyeon crawled forward on her bed, reaching her hand out again to link her fingers with Miyeon’s own. She hung her head down in shame as she spoke. It took everything inside her to get the words out.

 

“Can… can you please stay?”

 

A few moments of silence passed after Soyeon’s appeal, and Soyeon found herself more and more embarrassed. She probably looked pathetic like this. She finally looked up to Miyeon’s face, scared of seeing rejection but too curious to resist.

 

Miyeon’s face was neutral, but Soyeon soon noticed the ends of her lips curving upwards.

 

It was obvious that Miyeon was trying her best to hide her smile as Soyeon begged her to stay, but it eventually broke through her neutral expression. Miyeon was never good at hiding her emotions, even though she called herself an actress. It was endearing, though.

 

The older girl laughed as she jumped back onto Soyeon’s bed, almost smothering the younger girl under her.

 

She turned her head to the side, and met Miyeon’s twinkling eyes. She looked so smug that Soyeon almost couldn’t handle it.

 

“You were so cute, Soyeonnie.” Miyeon cooed like she was speaking to a baby. “Of course, I’ll stay if you want me to.”

 

Soyeon grumbled as Miyeon babied her. The older girl would probably never let her forget this moment. The other members would make her life a living hell if they knew how pitiful she was, so she hoped Miyeon would keep it between themselves.

 

“Can we just finish the episode?” Soyeon mumbled as she tried to get up from under Miyeon’s weight. She really did want to see what happened next, despite Miyeon’s distracting presence.

 

Miyeon took a moment to answer, humming like she was deeply considering Soyeon’s question.

 

“Yes, but you have to let me ask as many questions as I want.” Miyeon said with a pleased smile as she poked Soyeon’s cheek.

 

“Fine.” Soyeon said grumpily, trying her best to hide her own smile from Miyeon. She could handle a few questions, especially if that meant Miyeon would stick around for the rest of the night.

 

The older girl was so happy to hear Soyeon’s answer that she hugged her arm and made happy noises.

 

Soyeon’s heart raced as Miyeon hugged her close, and she knew she could never let the other girl know. Miyeon would forever, and she wasn’t sure if her heart could survive the endless attention for the older girl. It was too soft.

 

They finally got back to comfortable positions on the bed, but now Miyeon was leaning on Soyeon’s shoulder, still hugging her arm tightly as they watched.

 

“Why does that evil guy have an eyepatch? And what happened in the desert? And why does the main character have a missing arm again? I forgot already.”

 

Soyeon knew it was going to be a long night of questions, but it was worth the trouble to not be alone again. It was really nice to have Miyeon here with her.