Here it is! The wait has been long but she's finally ready to be read! I hope you lovlies enjoy this chapter :D Thank you for staying! 
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The host moves her attention back to the contestants. “Now that everyone is on the same page, I’ll leave you be. May you charm your way into someone’s heart”. She looks at the clock, “I’ll return later and the voting portion of tonight will commence''. Cierra Summers leaves the room and everyone starts to look around. A few go back to talking with the person they were last with and others pull away to find someone else. The crowd spreads out and migrates to the backyard. A breath of fresh air was welcomed to Noze, as much as she did enjoy mingling with the women in the room, being chased after wasn’t her cup of tea. She went down the steps and found a patio ottoman to rest.

“Thank god”

She plops down on the seat and enjoys the social break, she wouldn’t have much energy left if she kept on going. The dancer runs her hands through her dress, smiling to herself as she admires the beautiful fabric. 

“You look great by the way”. Noze looks up with excitement as she sees Leejung walk over to her. The latter’s dress brushes around her legs with ease, swishing back once she stops to greet the woman before her. “I was wondering where miss hot topic went off to~”

Noze raises a brow and smiles at her “trying to claim me already?”

Leejung gives a smug look, “as far as I know” she eyes Noze, “I don’t see any competition”

The older of the two looks away with her hand over , hiding a smile that she knows all too well would boost the growing ego that Leejung is manifesting. “I think you’re being overprotective”, hoping the statement will distract her.

Leejung rolls her eyes playfully and takes a seat next to Noze, “acting as if you weren’t the pretty backup dancer the internet fell for''. 

Noze nudges back at the comment, “stay on the subject~ Why was I a topic of interest”.

“As you ran away to your corner, the women around me were talking about how cute you were. Different universe but still stealing hearts. You know you’re not making this ‘one and only end game’ easy ”

“Shut up!” Noze laughs, “I saw you chatting them up like this was your 3rd time doing it”

“I’m just trying to guarantee a spot here ma’am”

Noze shakes her head and looks into the distance, “you think we’re gonna be okay?”

Leejung tilts her head and faces the same direction, “I think so, there’s a lot of different people here, I’m pretty excited to know everyone. All I’m worried about is the A-list celebrities that decided to join…”

“Why?”

“There will be more people interested in watching this than usual, we might have to be careful after tonight”

Acknowledging the facts, the thought about it being easy became smaller.

The duo noticed a short woman coming over and paused their conversation. “Hi!” she greets them, “excuse me, I don’t want to interrupt your time together, but we were wondering if you two would like to join us and hang out?”

The two looked at each other and made out a group further behind checking out the situation. Leejung discerns Noze’s reaction and smiles back at the short woman, “We don’t mind, it would be nice to meet more people~”. The short woman claps her hands together and is overjoyed by the successful invite. She takes them back to the group to mingle. 

The girls go ahead and introduce themselves, welcoming them into the circle. A woman with curly hair reaches out her hand to Noze, “Hi! I remember your introduction earlier, I also like fruit~”.

Noze laughs in embarrassment and shakes her hand, “Oh god please don't remember that, I got nervous”.

The group laughs along and one woman pipes in with the question, “does anyone have eyes on a certain someone already?”. The women were shy but a few admit to liking people that weren’t in the current group. The short woman that invited the duo turns to Leejung, “do you have anyone in mind?”.

The pierced woman smiles bashfully, “I do but I’m keeping my options open”

“Are you going to say who it is?”

“Ahh… umm” her eyes flicked nervously to the side, taking a quick glance at the oblivious Noze and the woman smiled mischievously.

“Oh I see you~”

“See what?” her friend jumps into the conversation and the woman nods her head to Noze and looks back at Leejung. Her friend gets the idea and giggles as Leejung starts to scratch her neck from being teased.

Leejung clears and tries to change the subject, “what about you…”

“Simone,” the woman smiles, “and I know it’s far-fetched but I’m thinking about pursuing the CEO”. The YGX leader gives a surprised look that makes Simone chuckle to herself, “I know, but I like a good challenge and something about her passion makes her interesting”

“Girl, I’m all up for passion but she’s got more than I can offer” Leejung jokes, “But good luck, she seems like a popular choice”

Simone grins while giving a thumbs up. One woman who was dressed modestly speaks up with a flushed face, “Do you think there’s a lot of people who will pursue Miss Yoomi?”. The circle homes in on the question, speaking out their thoughts about the idol bachelor.

“Aww~ I didn’t take you to be the type to like idols Cara”

The woman blushes more and plays with the frills on her dress, “she’s one of my favorite biases”.

“Do you have their latest album?” Cara nods to the question which receives an amazed reaction, “I heard they got sold out in minutes! That’s crazy!”

Another woman jumps on the conversation, “You can go for the idol, I thought the bar owner was really cute!”

“She was cute! What about the graphic designer?”

The women start to forget about the fact they were being broadcasted and gush about their picks for favorite eye candy. Noze smiled at the enthusiasm coming from her acquaintances and truly hoped that some of them would be able to find their match during the program. The night continued on with some light wine and chatting. The clock struck 8 and a deep ringing of a bell gained the attention of the crowd of women. Cierra Summers comes into view as she’s seen walking out of the back door to greet them. “Ladies! I hope you have been enjoying yourselves but unfortunately, the show must go on. I need you to migrate to the courtyard in a few minutes, the voting portion of tonight will start soon”. Reality settles in as Cierra Summers leaves for the venue. Noze takes in a heavy breath and bites her lip nervously.

The cameras make an appearance as the women follow into the courtyard which was lush with greenery and a variety of flowers. The crowd lines into three different elevated rows and waits patiently for the vote to begin. The host smiles at the girls and opens her arms in a welcoming manner. “I’m sure today has been quite eventful for all of you. But now we must focus on the task at hand, which is to cast an anonymous vote to decide who will stay and participate in Wifey House, and those who will leave. For the rules, each one of you will put in 3 votes on who you wish to see in Wifey House. There are 28 of you here, 12 of you will get sent home, which will leave 16 of you here to search for your match”. A packet of 3 blank note cards and a pencil were distributed to each person in the stands. “For the next 15 minutes, please think of who you want to see in Wifey House and submit them into this box which is in front of me”, she gestures down to a wooden box with a slot at the top. “With that said, the timer will start now”, she clicks on the timer in her hand and the women start to jot down names onto the pieces of paper. 

Noze quickly cups the card in her hand and scribbles down Leejung’s name. She can feel how tense the air is and peeks up to look at the different faces. She’s gotten to know some of them, so her best bet was to write down at least those with who she can see herself being friends. Leejung had a similar plan going through her head as she wrote down Noze’s name, along with her newfound friends. The tiger-eyed woman folds her last note in half and leaves the stands along with a few other women to drop their votes into the box. Slowly the box fills up and the timer goes off as the last woman casts in her votes. Cierra Summers smiles at the group in front of her and pats the box lightly, “has everyone submitted their cards?”. When no one spoke she picked the box up and handed it to a masked staff member, “we will now count in the votes”. After a few minutes, the staff member arrives back and gives the host a black card. She takes it and faces the crowd, “in my hand is a list of names of those that have been voted to stay in Wifey House”. Cierra Summers opens it up slowly and glances down to read off.

“Yuri… Haley… Misun… Yoomi… Gemma… Cara… Noze… Katherine… Sooyoung… Simone… Diane… Leejung… Lana… Jay… Vanessa… and Sarang…”

Cierra Summers closes the card as the room is mixed with happiness and sadness. The host turns her head to face the eliminated group, “I’m sorry, but this is where we say our goodbyes for tonight. Please take your bags and belongings from the living room. A ride will be provided for you and will be waiting at the entrance. Thank you for participating”.

The women exchange their goodbyes and bid them farewell. The womens’ names who weren’t called out were escorted back into the house and departed from the property. The ones who were left gathered around the center and the host gave a round of applause to them. “Congratulations, you have passed the elimination part of this season! Now the fun will start to begin, each of you has been assigned rooms to dorm in for the next 2 months. You may enjoy the night to do whatever you please, the first activity will be held tomorrow”. Cierra Summers walks away from the newly formed Wifey House cast, “Party the night away ladies!”

The group screams excitedly in unison and the scene moves from the courtyard to the mansion.

“Hey” Leejung looks beside her and makes eye contact with a grinning Noze, “Congrats on making it, looks like your small talk wooed some women”.

The younger smirks, “are you really saying congrats, or are you being jealous”

“That depends, will you make it up to me later?~”

Leejung’s eyes widened, “what?” But she’s left unanswered as Noze walks away to congratulate Cara. “Aish this woman… making me think thoughts…” she mumbles to herself as she makes her way up the stairs to the second level of the house. Leejung scans each door with a plaque beside it until she finds her name and sees two other women who have already claimed their beds. 

“Oh- LEEJUNG!”

“Simone! You’re assigned here?” The women walk up to each other with relief and glance around the corridor together.

“Yeah, looks like we’re stuck with each other for the rest of the season”

Leejung walks over to an empty bed and sets down her luggage on top,  “It’s nice to know there’s a familiar face”.

Simone nods in agreement and sits at her own bed on the other side, “tell me about it, I thought I might have had to socialize through the awkward phase again with a stranger”. The short woman sighs and proceeds to unload her clothes into her provided drawer.

“Oh! You guys are here too?” The pair look at the door and see Noze peeking partially past the opening. She pushes the door open and scurries over to Simone and Leejung. “Wahh we got lucky!”

Simone winks and shoots a finger gun, “it’s fated~ the universe said we need to form a group”. 

Noze does a tiny happy dance in pace and sees the last empty bed that’s opposite to Leejung's. She claims it with a huff and collapses on the mattress, “my feet are killing me”.

Leejung smiles softly at the lifeless Noze, “I thought you were a robot with how you refused to move during the vote”.

“I refused to move because I could feel my heels yelling at me to sit on a chair but we had to stay standing the whole time”

Simone snickers at the bickering, “I can’t tell if you're friends or enemies”

The duo stopped and apologized to their new friend. Noze feels a pair of eyes on her and glances to see the fourth woman in the room staring. When the stranger notices she's been caught, she gets up casually and toddles over. Her dyed blonde hair falls over her eyes, making it hard to establish eye contact, but she sets a clear direction when she sticks out a hand to the WayB leader. “Hey I’m Misun, nice to meet you roomie”. Noze is caught by surprise and shakes Misun’s hand.

“O-oh, nice to meet you too”

Misun smiles and puts her hands in her hoodie pocket, “don’t be nervous I don’t bite~ I hope you find the person you’re looking for and maybe we can be friends” Misun turns her body to Leejung and extends her hand out in the same manner for Leejung to shake. “I’d like to be friends with you too!”  She motions at her bed, “I’ll be over there if you feel like chatting, good luck~”. Noze feels comforted by the new roommate and smiles at Misun before continuing to set up her living area.

Leejung watches and determines that Noze is being treated respectfully but can’t help but feel like she should protect her by possible love interests. With a modest attitude, she waves shyly at Noze and smiles, “ I hope that you find your person here. I hope that we can be good roommates”. 

Noze smiles at the sudden interaction of Leejung and goes along with her introduction, “I hope we can be good roommates too!”. 

Simone notices the two and snickers, “aren’t you being obvious”

Leejung looks up at the ceiling, pretending to not hear anything while Noze giggles as she hands Simone a piece of candy from her duffle, “This is all her, not me”

Leejung puts a hand on her chest dramatically and pouts, “so you’re just leading me on?”

Simone throws the candy at Leejung’s head, “you just got to know her, give a chance to the rest of the women here”.

The women finally finished packing all their belongings and decided to get to know each other. Simone starts it off with a question, “who’s here for the first time?”. She along with Leejung and Noze raise their hands, leaving Misun the only one out.

She laughs lightly and holds up a peace sign, “this is going to be my second time doing this”.

They look at her with surprise and wonder if they should be nosey. Leejung sits with her legs crossed and holds up her hand hesitantly, “why a second time?”.

Misun’s expression turns gentle and casually admits, “my partner passed a while back, so I’ve been a bachelorette for a good minute”. The group silently acknowledges her situation, “I’ve fully healed, I think it’s time for me to come back on the market”. She sways her hand in a dismissive fashion, “don’t think about it too much, it just means I know this game more than you guys”.

Noze parts her lips as she realizes Misun’s their senior in this program, “that means you can give us advice right?”.

Leejung pops her tongue when she understands the advantage, “Oh god yeah you can”.

The oldest of the group grins, “I’m not a cheat sheet, but I can give my juniors some pointers~”. The girls listen in, “don’t be surprised at the amount of attention you receive, new faces will pique everyone’s interest”. With that in mind, Leejung and Noze make a note to try to seem inconspicuous as much as possible. “You are selling your personality to the public, don’t fake it. Keyboard warriors can spot it miles away. Show your best parts but it’s okay to show some fault”. The blonde taps her foot on the floor trying to think up another pointer, “honestly, don’t be too serious about this. It’s to find love, not hone in on a target and call dibs” Misun shakes her head, “one woman did that on my first run and she scared her crush away”. The others took mental notes and decided that probably was the best advice they can get currently. 

It was getting later into the night and the time for lights out was coming soon. Everyone was getting ready for bed, it was best to prepare themselves for tomorrow’s event.

Misun waves around a washcloth like a flag to catch attention, “Anyone needs to use the bathroom?”

“Me! Your girl got a small bladder”

The blonde sweat drops from the TMI, huffing under her breath, “thank god we don’t have the mics hooked up right now” and leaves with her bathroom buddy, “we’ll be back”. The click of the door intensifies the silence between Leejung and Noze. For the first time since the day started, they were alone. And it was alarmingly obvious. 

Noze peeks at the younger and sees that the baby tiger’s eyes were already fixated on her. She holds the excitement in her heart and shyly gives a toothy grin. 

Leejung smirks as she doesn’t bother hiding the blush creeping across her cheeks. She pauses and checks to see if they were still being recorded. She sees the blinking red light in the corner of their room and clicks her tongue.

‘Damn it, how long do we have to wait until we’re off air’

Leejung moves her attention back to Noze and discreetly mouths to her, “stop being cute… I can’t hug you yet”. 

The cat-eyed woman catches on and tilts her head away from the camera’s eye and lips back, “I can’t help it when you look at me like that”.

Leejung groans as she buries her face into her pillow and simply deflates, “ this is going to be hard”. Noze is well aware of how Leejung is feeling and wishes to just invade her bed and cuddle like the night before. She holds her bedsheets in her hand and pulls them closer to her chest. She doesn’t know which will give in first, her patience, or her needs.

Being absorbed in the thought of their limits, Noze decides to check out her new personal space to distract herself. The program was kind enough to invest in items that would occupy the house members during their stay. Beside her bed was a shelf with different items decorating each level. From a variety of books to cute trinkets, she was amused until her eyes fell on a box of nail polish. She bent over, scooping up the box, and showed it to Leejung.

“Hey, do you wanna paint your nails?”

“Oh? You brought some?”

“No, I found it here next to my bed. Do you want to? We got time”

Leejung nods enthusiastically and hops out of her bed to jump into Noze’s. She nests herself into a comfy spot as Noze places a book in front of them to set down the nail polish. They start to pull out different colors from the box and search for the ones they like.

The younger reaches to grab a cherry red polish “Unnie, look this one is pretty”

“Ooo, it is~ You should paint one nail a different color to stand out, how about this one?” The petite woman holds up a crystal flake polish and takes Leejung’s hand into hers.

“Wha-”

“I’ll do it for you, that way it can dry faster before we sleep”

“S-s-ure”

Noze gives her crush a sweet smile and pulls her hand closer to her. Leejung started to think if she was really being nice to care if it would dry in time, or if she was being mean and offered so she could make her shy. She doesn’t complain about either option and just watches Noze cup her hand gently as she brushes on the nail polish. 

‘Her hands are soft and elegant looking… No wonder she gets offered to do ads for jewelry’

“Leejung?”

The woman comes back from her thoughts and briskly answers, “yes!”

The clumsy reply makes Noze giggle, “I asked about your job, it said that you’re an instructor on your profile?”

“Oh. Yes, I am”, she raises a knowing brow at Noze’s spontaneous acting.

“Do you enjoy it?”

Leejung smiles thinking about her students back in their world, “I love it, the kids are always entertaining. Even though they joke that I’m scary, they lear-”

Leejung’s heart skips when she comes a few inches away from Noze’s face. The WayB leader had just finished the first hand and decided to inform Leejung, not knowing the distance had shortened since she started. Being so close in proximity was not part of her plan and neither was the action of her eyes focusing on the YGX leader’s lips. They were plump, rosy, and hugged by that y lip piercing.

“Guys we’re back!”

RETREAT

The two snapped back into a farther distance position and Noze’s head ducks back down to hurriedly take Leejung’s other hand. The frantic younger almost jerks her hand away but holds still for Noze to act natural. Their blood was pumping so hard that they swear others could hear the pounding in their ears.

Leejung replies for the two of them, “welcome back!”

The other woman notices them painting their nails and Simone whines, “aww I want my nails painted too, can I go after?”

Misun points to the clock on the wall, “it’s too late for you to get them done, Noze needs to sleep too you know”. The short woman frowns and nods, going back to her bed. The duo thank the heavens for letting them slide this time. Noze quickly finishes Leejung’s nails and puts them under a UV light. 

“Okay they should be good now”

“Thank you”

Leejung scurries off Noze’s bed and slides under her own bedsheets. The lights were turned off minutes later and things were quiet. The baby tiger was still frazzled at their last-minute moment together. Images of how Noze was looking at her made her blood rush. Normally she’s sweet and has big shiny eyes whenever they make eye contact. The Noze she’s used to seeing was replaced by a siren-eyed beauty that she wouldn’t know how to act with. That thought alone sent chills down her body.