“Chaehyun-ah.”

Chaehyun hums a little, pausing the song before taking off her AirPods, raising her head to look at the source of the voice who called out to her.

“We’re…what were you listening to?”

“Me? Oh,” Chaehyun pauses a little, turning on her phone screen to show Yujin what she was listening to the moment before the older got her attention. 

Yujin frowns a little at the sight of the unfamiliar language out of confusion. “You’re into Chinese songs these days?”

Chaehyun nods, then shakes her head. “Just the few that Ziyin unnie sang. They’re beautiful.”

“Her voice is beautiful, I agree,” Yujin says.

Chaehyun doesn’t tell her the lyrics was about missing someone. She doesn’t need to, because the next moment Yujin remembered what she came for.

“We’re recording our debut song later in the afternoon.”

Yujin grins.

Ziyin doesn’t turn on her VPN a lot – and when she does, her KakaoTalk messages would flood into her screen and her mind would blank out a little at that.

She thoroughly filters through the messages she missed out on some of the group chats she has with the Koreans and Japanese, and seeing them living with a bright life awaiting them in the future makes her happy and proud for the girls.

Just as she’s done replying to a few messages Doah and Risako sent her, her phone vibrates a little and a new chat notification shows on her screen.

“Unnie!!!!”

“I’m going to record the debut song today!!!!”

Ziyin chuckles at the cute excited messages that came in, opting to give this app another 5 minutes.

She was about to reply when she receives a call – from the excited bunny.

“Chaehyun,” she answers with a calm voice, a slight smile on her face.

“Unnie, I am so,” what Ziyin hears from the other side of the line was just excited random noises that the younger decides to make.

“Congratulations! You’re going to make your debut soon. I hope it’s a success,” Ziyin replies to the incoherent noises with congratulatory words and sincere wishes. “I assume everyone else is well?”

“Yeah, they are,” Chaehyun begins to calm down, almost too happy that Ziyin picked up the call even when she called on impulse. “You were active on KaTalk just now?”

“Mhm,” Ziyin hums, sipping her herbal tea as she glances through the work schedule for the next week. “I was replying to some messages that Doah and Risako sent me. Then your message came in when I was going to turn my VPN off.”

Ziyin pauses a little, then decides to tease the younger. “You were lucky, imagine if you texted me just a few seconds later.”

Chaehyun huffs, “The universe wants us to talk over the phone call, that’s why I was lucky.”

“Anyways, why did you call?” Ziyin asks, curiously. “Were you going to ask me about some singing techniques? I mean, you’re getting professional vocal trainers to guide you, right?”

Chaehyun stops the older from rambling on about technical skills when Ziyin paused a little to think, “No, no. I was just…Do you still remember the Chinese song ‘Miss You 3000’ that you sang back in your previous survival show?”

Ziyin smiles softly at the fond memories of her with the other girls on Youth With You 2. “Yeah, I do. Why?”

“Do you think you can sing it for me? I mean, you won’t be able to cook for me anytime soon anyways, so it’s a compensation.”

Ziyin laughs a little. “Do you like that song a lot?”

Chaehyun nods, although knowing that the older won’t see it anyways. “I love the lyrics, and I love the way you sing it so emotionally, so…”

“Alright, alright. It would be an honour for me to sing for THE Kim Chaehyun, wouldn’t it?” Ziyin teases, again, and this time Chaehyun laughs.

“I’d sing my debut song for you too.”

Then Ziyin’s soft, gentle voice flows, almost too beautifully, and Chaehyun listens, for the whole duration of around four minutes. She listens, and recalls her memories when they were together in the dorm, where Ziyin would take a good care of her and Shana, even during the days when she wasn’t feeling well.

They’d talk for a long time during some of the nights, when they decided that it doesn’t hurt to stay up late for yet another night after long practices – about the past, present and future.

There’s a brief silence when Ziyin was done singing. The older waits patiently for the younger to say something, and finally Chaehyun speaks. 

“Unnie, I miss you. How are you doing?”

Ziyin should really admit, that “how are you doing” is a tricky question to answer. She has a lot of thoughts running through her mind lately, but she chooses to opt for the safe reply, “I’m fine, just busy. With scripts for my new movie, some photoshoots and interviews.”

“I heard you had appendicitis, did you get it treated already?” Chaehyun asks, remembering how Ziyin’s health condition isn’t exactly great, even when she was in Korea.

“Well…” Ziyin hesitates, then sighs a little. “Not really, I didn’t have the time for an operation for it. But I’ll do once I have the time, don’t worry.”

“You should really take care of your own health, unnie,” Chaehyun nags – who thought she’d ever nag over her unnie? – and she continues. “You know, health is the most important thing to have when you’re having a busy work schedule.”

Ziyin quickly stops her from nagging further, “Yeah, I know, I know. You need to stop nagging, gosh, you’re starting to sound like me.”

“And that’s on you, unnie.”

Ziyin chuckles. 

“Unnie.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think I’d ever have the chance to go to China, just so you can bring me around and maybe…cook for me?” Chaehyun asks, with a tone that sounds a little too hopeless.

“I’m sure of it. We’ll just have to wait until the pandemic’s over, and when you have some holidays for travelling,” Ziyin stops, allowing some time for herself to think about what to say next.

“I told you, right? We’ll meet again. Somewhere. Some time. Maybe not soon, but it’ll come.”

Chaehyun blinks. Things are getting a little blurry in front of her.

“Yeah, I’m sure we will. And we’ll just have to work hard until then! Then we’ll have fun together before we go back for work again.”

Ziyin laughs a little, and before Chaehyun is able to say anything further, Mashiro knocks on her door and peeks into her room.

“Hey– oh,” Mashiro gives her an apologetic look, “You’re busy? But we have to leave the dorm soon. For the recording.”

Chaehyun nods with a smile, “Thanks, unnie, I’ll get changed and be ready in a minute.”

As if waiting for Mashiro to leave before she speaks, Ziyin says, “Have fun in recording your debut song, Chaehyun-ah. I’ll be looking forward to it, and you’ll do great.”

Chaehyun can almost see Ziyin smiling warmly in front of her. Just as she would always do whenever she encourages someone.

“Thank you, Ziyin unnie.”

“For?”

“For always encouraging me when I needed it, even when I didn’t know I need one myself.”

Ziyin smiles.

“Just enjoy the process, and you’ll be able to do the best you can.”

A smile spreads across Chaehyun’s face, and she says, “You’re the best, unnie. I hope everything goes well for you, be it your career, or your health.”

Ziyin laughs, and her “thank you” comes with her hearty laugh.

When Chaehyun’s about to end the phone call, Ziyin asks, “Chaehyun-ah, you’re good at cooking, right?”

“Yeah, why?” Chaehyun asks, confused.

Ziyin chuckles.

“You’ll see.”

Minutes later, when Chaehyun is on her way to the recording studio, her phone screen brightens up with several new messages.

“Recipe for braised meat and vegetables – cook it the Ziyin way.”

(

Days later, Xiaoting finds a delivered box of groceries in the living room being left open. She finds the familiar Chinese characters on the bottles, indicating that it’s a bottle of soy sauce, then several other spices and sauces frequently used in Chinese dishes.

“Who bought this box of Chinese groceries?” She asks Chaehyun who just came from the kitchen and towards the box.

“Hmm? Oh. I did,” Chaehyun grins. “Up for some Xu laoshi’s* dishes for dinner tonight?”

)

*laoshi means teacher in Chinese, so Xu laoshi = Teacher Xu, referring to a nickname of Ziyin’s.

A/N: I somehow had the first half of this fic in my drafts for months…then I picked it up and wrote the second half recently because I missed Ziyin and Chaehyun singing together :( Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed it! It’s a very short one but I hope you liked it :]