it's much later in the night - after seungwan has reached her home and had to hang up, after her parents came back and went to bed - when she gets another call. unlike the previous one, she doesn't hesitate to answer as fast as she can when she sees the caller's ID. 

"what did you do? did something happen?" 

"okay, this is uncalled for and rude as hell. why would you answer my call like that?" yerim asks, joohyun can already imagine the fake wounded face that she likes to make in her head.

"you never call." 

"false, you never answer my texts so i have no choice but to call." 

"did something happen?" joohyun asks again. 

despite her claiming differently, it's unusual for the younger to call her. yes, yerim makes sure to text a lot, maybe because she knows that the constant beeping and multiple messages in a row annoy her. it's overwhelming, trying to keep up with yerim and her stories. she has a lot of them and joohyun has to remember them all too or else she won't understand the new one she gets the next day. so what if she answers yerim's long texts with one word, it's not that much different than what she does when having a conversation with her in real life these days. 

yerim hesitates to say something. joohyun senses it, doesn't waste any time beating around the bush, and interferes. the strict approach always works.

"what did you do?" 

"i didn't do anything! would you quit accusing me of being a troublemaker?" 

"so? why'd you call?" joohyun prompts. "it's late, you know? you learn your lines better when you get enough sleep." 

"sooyoung unnie and i have been talking," yerim uncertainly starts. "since wendy unnie is having a stage tomorrow we wanted to do something." 

"i already did something. i sent her flowers." 

"right," yerim brushed it off. "we thought something more along the lines of being there for her."

a moment of silence before joohyun realizes yerim's goal by calling so late at night. yerim always uses that tone of voice when she knows she's absolutely getting what she wants. it's so easy to miss if you're not attentive to it and don't know her inside out. joohyun is a bit tired, she'll let herself off for not detecting it earlier.

"yah, kim yerim, you want me to drive to seoul? in the middle of the night? with all the restrictions?" joohyun momentarily forgets she's not alone in the house and uses her own certain tone that she has when she scolds the maknae of their team. 

"unnie, have you checked the schedule recently?" yerim says in rather serious tone, it makes joohyun pause and gather her thoughts. 

"not since i filmed my birthday video." 

yerim sighs.

"you really are just- what happened to your need to always know everything about our schedules? unnie, her stage is at that place tomorrow." 

as soon as yerim finishes her sentence, joohyun looks outside through the window, mentally calculating time and distance. it's already completely dark, not a thing could be seen, just her own reflection on the glass. 

"okay, so, you and sooyoung go. i can call seulgi and see if she can too-" 

"unnie, who are you kidding? she would want you there the most right now." 

"that's not fair, i can't just-" 

"I'll call seulgi unnie myself and you call a car instead, then we'll all go and surprise her. think of how happy she'll be, okay? we're doing this." yerim says with finality and hangs up without waiting for a response. 

it takes joohyun twenty minutes to gather her things and prepare to travel before she's out of the door, having moved so silently her parents wouldn't know she's gone till the morning.

"she's taking a bath." seulgi sniggers, getting a light shove from sooyoung.

"it's a concept of the song, it's art. you should know that of all people." 

"she's still taking a bath whether it's art or not," seulgi grins mischievously at yerim. "do you think she bought soap?" 

"unnie!" sooyoung hisses quietly, not to disturb the preparation process of the staff. 

"I've seen them put in a bath bomb." yerim shares 'secret information'.

sooyoung sighs, this time making no effort in being quiet. it's really no use trying to tame the two of them when they get this excited. 

"do you think she can see us?" seulgi wonders out loud.

it's a simple question and yet, joohyun's hands suddenly feel clammy where she's crossing her arms. she hugs herself tighter, convinces herself that the nerves are for seungwan and not because of her. 

"i asked, the lights block us out completely." yerim grins. 

"what should we do?" sooyoung asks, getting excited, she tugs on seulgi's arm. "should we jump out at the end? should we sing a congratulatory song?" 

"isn't that for birthdays?" yerim frowns, cheeks flushing pink. 

that much of an affection display is already too much for yerim these days, as she grew older somehow the embarrassment grew too. joohyun still remembers how she used to sit on her lap in waiting rooms, she wonders if she'd do it now. 

well, she did grow taller than her, it'd probably be a bit uncomfortable for both of them. but still, the pang in her heart is present at the realization how quick the time passed by. 

"should we do fan chants?" seulgi perks up, fishing out her phone out of her pocket. "i can search it up-" 

"we'll ruin the take." sooyoung lowers the phone down for her.

"yerim-ah, go talk into the staff's mic." joohyun speaks up, jutting her chin towards the person in question.

"huh?"

"yeah!" sooyoung turns to her, excited again. "talk as if you're staff and see if she realizes that it's you." 

"of course, she will." yerim rolls her eyes. 

"well, then