“Wow.” was the only reaction the girls had stepping inside their old dorm for the first time in two years. “It still feels the same.” no one commented on the shaky way Yena said that. “It’s like we never left.”

“It still feels like home.” Chaewon would deny anyone who said there were tears in her eyes. “Besides the facts that it’s empty and looks like no one has lived here in years?” Yujin teasingly asked. “Yeah, it does.” 

Eunbi walked along the walls and touched each scratch and mark they left on the walls. Each of those had a story behind them, like the big dent near their front door that Yena caused when she ran into it with her bike. Or the one near their kitchen that Yujin left because she lost her balance riding the hoverboard. 

A bittersweet smile found its way to her lips, and a soft pang hit her straight through the heart. If only they had more time, then they would have been able to make more memories.

Don’t get her wrong; she’s proud of how far each of them has come in their individual careers, but what-ifs still cloud her mind from time to time. She’s just happy that even if they were far away from each other, they still see each other as family.

She turned around and approached Minju, who was standing in the middle of the room looking around and reminiscing. “This place is weirdly clean.” She told the actress, “And there’s more furniture than I expected there to be.” She raised an eyebrow, a knowing look in her eyes.

“I have it cleaned regularly.” the actress replied, “I bought a few things here and there to make it look less empty.” she looked away from Eunbi, “Sometimes I come here and just think.” she took a deep breath, and gave a tired smile. “Especially when things start to get a little overwhelming.”

Eunbi frowned at that, “You know you can always come to us, right?” she hated how Minju would always keep her burdens to herself. “You’re not alone.” The actress looked her in the eyes, seemingly searching for something the leader didn’t know about. 

“I know.” Minju stated, “I’m not alone,” she smiled at Eunbi softly, “I haven’t been since I met you, all of you.” The actress was used to being alone, but her members made her feel like she didn’t have to be, not anymore, at least. 

“So why don’t you come to us with your worries?” the leader asked. Minju intertwined their hands together, “Because I know you have your worries too, and I’d rather listen to yours.” 

“Minju--” Eunbi was cut off before she could even say anything, “I know you’re worried about me, unnie, but trust me, I’m fine.” the actress smiled at her again, “A single message from any of you, washes my troubles away in an instant.” she gave Eunbi a playful nudge, “As long as I know you’re still with me, then I know everything will be okay.”

The leader couldn’t help but be emotional; Minju has always been one of the members she could lean on the most, someone she could tell her worries to and be comforted by gentle hugs and soft whispers assuring her that everything would be okay.

Unknown to the two girls having a moment in the living room, the rest of the girls heard everything they said. Curse Kim Minju for making them cry like babies; why did she have to love them so much? 

“Yah! You two are being so dramatic.” Yena interrupted, “This isn’t one of your dramas, Minju-ah; besides, you’re making grandma cry!” The soloist dodged the pillow Eunbi aimed at her head. “Who are you calling grandma, you duck!” 

Yena ran away as soon as she saw Eunbi step towards her; the older girl chased her around the dorm while she tried her best to dodge her. While this was happening, the younger girls and Hyewon were filming everything and laughing at their ridiculous antics.

No matter how much time passes, whenever they’re together, it’s still the same. 

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While the other girls at the upper dorm were messing around and hopefully listing down the things they need to buy or find to make the dorm look like they were still living in it, the lower dorm residents stopped by theirs first. 

“It looks just like how we left it.” stated Yuri, her eyes greedily drunk in the sights of their old dorm, and all the memories they created here flashed through her mind. “Even the carpet still has that stain from the time Wonyoung spilled kimchi.” 

“Looks like Minju has it regularly cleaned, though.” Chaeyeon observed, “There’s barely any dust, and there’s some random furniture too.” The actress really outdid herself by caring for their old dorms.

The Japanese trio looked around and noticed that there were little pictures taped to the wall, and upon closer inspection, they saw that it was all pictures of them goofing off and having fun together. 

“Minju is such a sappy idiot.” Nako commented with the other two’s agreement. “No one else but her would do something like this.” Hitomi laughed when she saw a picture of Sakura sleeping with her eyes open. “Unnie, look at you!” 

The older girl rolled her eyes in fondness, “Yeah, yeah, I look scary.” She still sleeps the same, eyes wide open, waiting to scare an unsuspecting victim that spots her. 

Nako headed to the kitchen and started opening cabinets, and noticed the fridge was still there. “Did no one claim the fridge? It’s still here.” she opened the refrigerator and breathed a sigh of relief upon noticing that it was empty and turned off. It would have been a nightmare if they left stuff to rot there for two years; then again, they weren’t the other dorm.

“I might actually buy some furniture and other stuff to place around here.” said Sakura, sitting down on the couch, “When I get tired from working in Japan, I can just fly over and relax.” It was nice to dream, but hopefully, her schedule would ease up soon after she finishes her current drama. 

Chaeyeon joined her and agreed, “Yeah, it’ll be nice to just relax for once, maybe after Yena and I’s collaboration, we could just chill here.” For the past two years, she’s been living day to day going in and out of studios practicing every second of every day, and while she loves it, she gets tired too.

“Minju just texted me saying that Yena and Eunbi are playing tag instead of preparing the dorm.” Nako informed them with a huge grin on her face. “Even after two years, our dorm is still superior.” She gloated.

Hitomi rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics and said, “You’re only saying that because we have Chaeyeon-unnie with us; without her, our place would look like a dump.” Yuri laughed at the truthfulness and agreed, “Hiichan is right; all of us would just procrastinate cleaning until we couldn’t stand the mess anymore.”

“All the more reason for us to go up and actually start cleaning up.”  Chaeyeon replied in amusement. She stood up from the couch, grabbed her things, and headed for the door. “You guys coming, or what?” she asked them.

The others followed her out and turned the lights off with a final glance at the place they still call home. 

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“What are you doing?” The other girls finally arrived at the upper dorm, and the first thing that greeted them was the sight of six adults engaged in a pillow fight to the death. The scene looked quite comical as Yujin and Yena had 2kim on the floor begging for mercy as they continuously hit them from every angle. Meanwhile, Hyewon and Eunbi were having a 1 vs. 1 battle as they ran around the chaos throwing every pillow they could get their hands on.

Upon hearing Chaeyeon’s voice, however, the girls paused and realized the mess they were creating. “Chaeyeonie!” Eunbi exclaimed and rushed to dust off all the feathers that clung to her during the battle. “This isn’t what it looks like!” she attempted to explain but admitted defeat when the dancer just raised an eyebrow in response. “Okay, this is exactly what it looks like.”

Yuri nudged Nako and Hitomi and whispered, “Seems like mom is still scared of dad.” causing the trio to cough in an attempt to hide their giggles. “Eunbi-unnie will always be our leader, but Chaeyeon-unnie is Lee Chaeyeon.” Nako whispered back, making them burst into laughter.

The said girl ignored their antics and kept her focus on the six culprits standing in a sea of feathers. “So does someone want to tell me why you’re making a mess instead of preparing the dorm like you were supposed to do?” Chaeyeon asked, eyeing each of them, trying to avoid her eyes in guilt. 

“Yena started it!” five of the six girls chorused and pointed their fingers at the betrayed-looking idol in the middle. “Yah! How could you throw me under the bus like that?” Yena whined, feeling betrayed that her members would put all the blame on her again. “Aren’t we too old to play point the finger!” she crossed her arms and pouted.

“Says the girl pouting like a child.” Hyewon savagely replied, causing everyone to burst into laughter. Even Chaeyeon couldn’t help but crack a smile at Yena’s outburst. “How about you start acting your age Yena-unnie.” teased Yujin, “You’re not getting any younger anyway.” 

Another round of laughter echoed around the room as they listened to Yena stuttering to find a response. “I-i, e-eh, yah! Eunbi-unnie, they’re being mean to me!” she started fake crying, whining to the leader as if she was being bullied by her classmates and Eunbi was the teacher.

“Okay, okay!” Chaeyeon caught her breath and gestured for everyone to settle down. “Let’s start cleaning up,” the girls huddled together and formed a game plan. “A third of us stay here and clear out the feathers. The other third goes to the grocery store and buys everything we need. Finally, the last third will gather all the furniture that’s missing. We can’t have a dorm without beds.”

Yujin already looked tired at the mention of how many things they need to finish doing before Wonyoung comes home. “After that, all the original dorm mates need to go home and pack up their entire wardrobe as well as some decorations.” yeah, Yujin nodded to herself; this was going to take a while. 

“So that we don’t fight over teams, let’s just use the grouping from Eating Trip season 3.” Eunbi decided, “Which means Minju, Chaewon, and I are down a member, so we’ll stay here and clean up.” 

The leader looked at the two remaining teams and decided who she trusted more to buy furniture. “Chaeyeon’s group will buy the furniture we need, and Yena’s group will do the grocery shopping.”

Eunbi carefully looked at Yena’s team and pointedly mentioned some reminders, “Yena knows what food our kitchen was usually stocked with, but I’ll leave Hitomi in charge with reminding you not to go overboard.” 

“Besides our clothes, we also need to get our computers and mini-fridges.” Minju added, causing the dorm mates to groan in unison; why did they have so much stuff inside their rooms.

“Yah, remember that we’re doing this for Wonyoung.” Hyewon reminded them, causing determined looks to replace their pouting. “Our maknae needs to get her memories back before her, uh, new group, debuts next week.” Bittersweet smiles appeared on their faces at the reminder. 

“We need to see Wonyoung shine on stage again, so let’s do our best!” Yuri tried to cheer everyone up, and in return, they flashed her soft smiles. She placed her hands in the middle of their huddle and looked to Minju. “Minju-ah, take it away.”

Minju immediately got what Yuri wanted her to do, and even though it was embarrassing, she purposely deepened her voice and asked, “Uriga-nugu?” The girls followed their actions and chanted back. “I-I-IZONE!”

Laughing and smiling in good spirits, the girls separated to start on their assigned tasks. They only had less than a day to prepare the dorm before Wonyoung gets discharged from the hospital, so they had to work quickly. 

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Yujin, Hitomi, and Hyewon were in Chaeyeon’s car as she drove them to gather furniture, “I asked my dad if we could borrow his mini truck to transport our stuff, and he said he’ll meet us at Yujin’s house.” The driver informed them.

“It’s a good thing I still have my fancy bed at home.” Yujin told them, “I’ll pack up my closet too while we’re there.” Hitomi looked at her with a questioning glance and asked, “Why didn’t you bring it with you to your new dorm? You love that bed so much.” 

There was a look in Yujin’s eye that Hitomi couldn’t decipher, “I don’t really spend that much time at the dorm.” she told them, “Wonyoung and I just sleep there when we’re tired from practice or if we have lessons the next day; otherwise we’d just go home.”

“Oh…” a somber silence filled the car as the girls tried to find the meaning behind Yujin’s words. To Yujin, their new dorm was just that, a dorm. It never felt like home to her because something was always missing.

They spent the rest of the ride in silence; they couldn’t find the right words to respond to Yujin’s statement. Fortunately, they arrived at the younger girl’s house sooner than expected, and once they were there, they were greeted with the sight of Mr. and Mrs. Lee laughing with Yujin’s parents. 

“...we should hold it at our place! I have this new recipe I want to try making.” the girls caught the last words of Mrs. Lee before the adults noticed their presence. “Oh! There you girls are, Hyung and I will go get the bed.” Yujin’s dad greeted them before he and Mr. Lee went inside the house to grab the said bed.

“Hey mom, aunty. What were you talking about?” The girls greeted the two women with hugs and kisses on the cheeks. “While you girls help Wonyoung recover her memories, us parents will have a get-together to distract her parent’s a little.” Mrs. Ahn informed them of their plans.

How could the girls forget how close their parents were? They practically see each other more than the girls themselves and regularly have gatherings to catch up. Some things don’t change, and the fact that all of them were one big family never will.

“How is Wonyoung, by the way?” Mrs. Lee asked them, concerned about the youngest’s well-being. “She’s getting discharged today right?” The girls shared a look, and Hyewon replied, “She’s okay; we just hope she gets her memories back as soon as possible.”

“She’s in good hands with you guys. I know you can help her.” Mrs. Ahn tried to motivate them. “You always do.” She gave them a smile which the girls returned. Hopefully, they could help Wonyoung remember; they had to, or else they would never be able to forgive themselves. 

A ping was heard, and Mrs. Lee looked at her phone, “Your parents just texted me saying that they’ll pack up all of your stuff, so you just have to pick them up later.” she informed them.

“At least we’ll finish gathering our stuff faster and have more time to prepare the dorm,” said Hitomi. She was relieved that their workload will be a little lighter, but they still have a lot of stuff to do.

“You’ll get done faster if you go and start packing Yujin’s clothes.” Mrs. Ahn teased them, “Go on then! We’ll prepare you guys some food to take home.” At the mention of food, all four of them visibly lit up with smiles and rushed toward Yujin’s room to start packing.

Inside the younger girl’s room, the girls started choosing what stuff to bring to make it look like it was still Yujin’s room in the dorm and that she never left. “Look, it’s the blue hoodie.” Chaeyeon picked up the very familiar article of clothing and held it up against her body. “The color has barely faded,” she commented in amazement before putting it on.

“I wanted that hoodie, but Yujin told me to get anything but that one.” Hyewon pouted and shot the said girl a fake disappointed look. “Yah, unnie! Don’t give me that look, that blue hoodie is literally my brand!” The younger girl whined and crossed her arms to pout. 

Hitomi ignored the trio in favor of roaming around the room and looking at the scattered pictures that were half-heartedly taped on the wall. There were so many pictures and polaroids of them during their various schedules and just them hanging out. 

One of the bigger pictures was of them during their last concert together. Yujin cut it up into a heart and scribbled a message at the top saying, “My family, My home, My IZ*One.” How could her heart not break upon seeing that?

Before she could stare any longer and shed a tear, something hit her on the head and covered her vision. Picking it up and turning around to face the three girls who were frozen in fear once they realized that Hitomi was hit by a stray shirt. 

“Who threw this at me?” She asked, her voice was quiet but the trio could hear her loud and clear. Hitomi held up the shirt and raised an eyebrow at them, she took a sniff and recoiled in shock. “Yah! Ahn Yujin is this shirt used?! It smells like the practice room after we sweat for hours!” 

Yujin didn’t know what to say and just gained a sheepish look. “Sorry?” her eyes widened when she saw her unnie coming towards her with a murderous glint in her eyes. “Unnie, let’s not act irrationally.” She gave a nervous chuckle while slowly backing away to create some distance between them. “Unnie, no!” The tall girl screamed and ran around trying to use Hyewon and Chaeyeon as a shield.

“Stop laughing and help me!”

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“Unnie, all you’re getting are snacks and junk food.” Nako was wide-eyed at the amount of unhealthy food Yena was placing in their cart. “And do we really need that much yogurt?” she asked, pushing another cart that was half-filled with yogurt alone. 

Yena half-heartedly listened to Nako’s questions because she was too busy scanning the aisles for all their favorite snacks. “Yujin, Minju, and I can go through so much yogurt on our own, what more now that there’s twelve of us?” 

“Are you gonna pay for all of this?” Yuri was slightly worried about how big their bill was going to be by the time they finished shopping. “Because even though I get paid really well now, I don’t want to drain my funds in one go.”

The said girl looked at them and slightly tilted her head towards Sakura, who was busy deciding between what drinks to buy. “Why are you worried about money when we have Miss Miyawaki here with us.” 

“She’s right, you know,” Sakura told the two same-aged friends, “As the oldest one here, I’ll pay for our groceries.” The oldest girl puffed up her chest and tried to look smug, “Your unnie can pay for it.”

Nako and Yuri shared a glance and looked towards the four carts in front of them that they were sure would be full once they finished. They came to the conclusion that Sakura will regret offering to pay for everything once she sees the final number on their bill. “Whatever you guys say,” Yuri stated, “Just as long as we aren’t paying.” finished Nako. 

“We all know you guys want to grab your favorite snacks as well, so go ahead and go wild.” said Yena, gesturing to the two friends to buy whatever they want. “Kkura-unnie is rich enough to buy the entire store.”

“If you say so.” replied Nako, an evil grin starting to appear on her face. “We’ll grab some of Wonyoung’s favorite snacks too.” The two older girls started to feel a shiver down their spine upon seeing the glint in the duo’s eyes. However, they were already too late to take back their words as the two girls were already down the aisle placing snacks one-by-one in their carts.

“We’re going to regret saying that, aren’t we?” Yena asked Sakura, slightly gulping at the chills she was feeling. “I don’t know why you’re the one worried.” The older girl replied, “I’m the one paying for it.”

The older girls could only watch as the younger ones went wild inside the store. Well, as the saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them. They started filling their carts with a bunch of drinks and snacks, too, before going to the meat aisle and getting enough meat to last them the week.

“Nako, we should get Hitomi some gluten-free bread.” Yuri mentioned to her friend. “Let’s get her a lot of different types too!” Nako gave her a suspicious look, “Why?” she asked. “You’re planning on annoying her, aren’t you?” the shorter girl accused.

Yuri had the decency to look sheepish, “Not on purpose!” she defended herself. “But us 01z are together again after a long time.” the vocalist explained. “The chances of Minju and I bickering while you laugh at us is at an all-time high.” she rubbed her cheek and looked away. “I’m pretty sure we’ll cause Hitomi a hundred headaches before the week is over.”

“Point taken.” Nako widened her eyes and agreed. “We should buy more yogurt while we’re at it.” she added, eyeing the cart. “Yena-unnie is right. We need more.” The two friends looked at each other and nodded. They had a mission to do, and they were determined to accomplish it to the best of their abilities.

Who knew shopping could be this serious? Looking at the way the girls are acting, one would think they were preparing for war. I guess their love for food would never fade away. 

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“Aren’t we supposed to be doing something?” Minju asked as she laid on the couch fiddling with a random ball she found in Yujin’s room. “We’re literally just laying here and doing nothing.” 

Eunbi hummed in reply and continued scrolling through her phone, “The girls are going to take a while, don’t worry, we have a lot of time.” she assured Minju because knowing her members, they’re most likely going to get distracted while doing their tasks.

“Should we order some food first? We’re going to be hungry once we actually start cleaning up.” Chaewon asked while she was surrounded by feathers in the middle of the living room floor. “I’m starting to get hungry too.” Typical of them to be tired and hungry without even doing anything yet.

“Let’s get some chicken!” Minju sat up with hearts in her eyes, “and cheese balls too! Lots and lots of cheese balls.” she was practically salivating at the thought of getting to eat her beloved cheeseballs again. 

The leader also sat up and started searching for a store they could order chicken and cheese balls from. “How many boxes should I buy?” she asked the other two. “Four, maybe five?” Minju answered her. “Buy some hotdogs and side dishes too.” requested Chaewon.

While Eunbi was busy ordering them some food, Minju stood up from her place on the couch and laid down beside Chaewon on the feather-filled floor. She settled herself down, facing the older girl and laying her head on her hand. “Hi.” The visual greeted and bopped the soloist’s nose, causing the said girl to scrunch it in response.

“Hi?” Chaewon greeted, wondering what the younger girl wanted. “Did you need something?” she asked her, roaming her eyes on each of Minju’s features. Her dongsaeng became eve