Silence filled the dorm with the sun barely rising in the sky. It's the last day of jacket shooting for all izone members before their comeback a week later.

Yujin slips off the bunk bed, realising Minju wasn't around. Weird, she doesn't wake up without alarms. The girl walks out of the room and into the bathroom just to see Minju with her head hung low, standing in front of the sink.

"Unnie, you okay?" she holds onto the latter's shoulder, bringing her to stand up properly. Minju sighs and nods, brushing her hair back. "What happened?" Yujin shifts her hair aside and intently looks at Minju.

"Just felt a little dizzy," she replies, assuring Yujin who decided to let her go. "Is Eunbi unnie awake yet?" Minju asks, washing her hands.

"She said to let her sleep in today. You know what happened last night." Yujin snickers, shaking her head. Minju nodded and left the bathroom, going back into the room.

...

Everyone managed to get into the van that'll be bringing them to the warehouse where the photo shoot takes place.

"Eunbi unnie! She stole my blanket again!" Hitomi complains, frowning at her seatmate, Chaewon.

"Kim Chaewon," Eunbi calls from a few seats away, immediately getting Chaewon to return the blanket to the always-cold girl. "I like seeing you complain," she says, looking at Hitomi who laid the blanket over her lap.

"And I hate it when it's cold." the Japanese girl retorted, sitting comfortably.

"Cute."

Hyewon directed a packet of bread to Minju who was sitting behind her with Yujin. "You didn't eat anything earlier." she shakes the bread. Yujin took it and thanked her, holding onto the bread for now.

"You sure you don't want it?" she asks Minju who supported her head against the window. She hums in denial. Yujin looks at Hyewon who shrugged and sat properly.

The manager announced some things for them to take note of while Yujin places her cardigan over Minju's legs. "Come here unnie." she gently brings Minju to lie on her shoulder, not knowing why she didn't feel well since this morning.

She didn't have a fever, sore throat or any signs of being sick other than the fact that her face looked slightly paler than normal.

"Promise me you'll see the doctor after the shoot." Yujin adjusts the cardigan, feeling the latter's arm going around hers. Minju nods before taking a short nap.

...

"Min, hurry up."

Chaewon motions for the younger girl to go to her while they were in the middle of their shoot. The makeup artist went beside her and touched up her lipstick.

"You sure you're okay?" Chaewon circles her arm around Minju's shoulder, seeing her nod with a slight smile on her face. "She does look a little pale." the lady told Chaewon who looked at Minju.

"This is the last one." she tries encouraging the girl to persist before proceeding to pose in front of the camera.

Yujin monitors the pair through the little screen.

"Did you go too hard on her last night?" Yena teases, poking the side of Yujin's body.

"We didn't do anything last night unnie," she responded, surprising Yena. "You sure? Because Chaewon told me she heard disturbing noises."

"Yeah, that would be Eunbi unnie," Yujin answers with eyes glued to the screen.

Yena folds her arms and says, "Should've just handed her some earplugs because I had the best sleep last night."

"Although she looks radiant, anyone can tell Minju's going to collapse any moment," Yena mumbles and to her intuitions, it happened.

"That would be now."

Yujin and the others immediately ran towards those two with Chaewon supporting the knocked-out girl.

"I knew I should've just asked her to stay in the dorm." Yujin grew anxious.

Chaewon slowly settles down, resting Minju's head on her lap. Nako pops her head in and asks, "Is she breathing?" The older girl checks, nodding.

The managers immediately came into the circle, some talking to the directors of the shoot about this incident.

"We'll go to the nearest hospital." One of the managers calmly announced while Yujin squats beside the two on the floor.

"I can carry her." She offers, having Chaewon lift Minju onto her back before she stands with ease. "She's done for today, right?" Eunbi asks the rest, seeing them nod.

"We'll meet you later." she taps Yujin's shoulder for her to follow the managers.

...

"What's the verdict?" Yujin lifts her head to see her manager asking the nurse who came into the room.

"Are you her guardian?" she asks while Yujin stands up and goes beside them. "I'm her manager, yes," he answers.

The lady directs her gaze to Yujin. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Yujin pointed at herself with eyebrows raised. "Come with me." she looks at her manager who got confused before she went out of the room with the nurse.

They halted outside the door as the nurse closes her document. Yujin didn't know what to do until the nurse says, "Has she had with anyone within the past two weeks?"

"Uhm..." The girl furrows her eyebrows, not knowing why she's asking without the presence of their manager. All she knows is the dorm is filled with a bunch of active unnies.

And to screw her thoughts even more, she didn't know who did it with Minju the past few weeks. "Yes...why?" Yujin hesitantly asks.

The nurse sighs softly, fully knowing their status as idols.

"She's pregnant. 2 weeks."

"Pregnant?" Yujin queries, finding it slightly ridiculous because they use protection all the time.

The woman nods. "Do you know who she had with?" she asks.

Yujin places her hand on her cheek and recalls two weeks back.

"But you don't have to think too much because the abortion route is usually what others in this industry would take." The nurse presses her lips together.

"It'll be better if you find out who so she could at least discuss it with that person before proceeding," she advises, clasping her hands over the document.

"Yeah, sure. I'll ask her when she wakes up." The nurse nodded and left while Yujin entered the ward again.

The manager turns around with arms crossed. "What did she say?" Yujin rubs her hands against her thighs and goes beside him.

"Is it exhaustion? The schedule has been rough lately," he asks, seeing Yujin shake her head.

She wonders if she should disclose this information without Minju's permission, recalling how the company have no right to invade their personal lives although technically, this isn't an ideal situation to be in.

"She's fine," Yujin assures, looking at Minju who was sleeping peacefully.

"Alright, I'll go make a call. You sit here and watch her, okay?" Yujin nods before he left the room as she sits on the chair beside the bed.

Her heart started pounding out of nowhere. Was it the fear that it might be hers or the fear that Minju might take the abortion route if this news was made known to her? She knows abortion will do no good to one's body.

But the fact that they're in a girl group conflicts with her thoughts. There was no way they were going to keep the baby.

Even worse, if it turns out to be hers, it'll be hard to let go.

Yujin just sat there, trying her best to remember when was the last time she did it with Minju, pulling out her phone. She decides to leave a message in their group chat, informing the rest about the situation.

...

"She's pregnant?!" Eunbi softly exclaims.

Now everyone's present without their managers around. Minju's still in deep sleep, perhaps from exhaustion her body isn't used to.

"Shh." Hyewon silenced the older girl who brushed her hair back. "You know what manager-nim is going to do," she warns Yujin who inhaled deeply.

"That's the thing. I need to know who else did it with her the last two weeks," she whispers loud enough for the ten of them to hear.

"Not me." Chaewon quickly backs out, holding onto Hitomi's shoulder. Yujin looks at Hyewon who shook her head.

"It could be you," Yuri told Yujin. "You're literally her roommate, Yujin-ah," she adds.

Chaeyeon claps once as if she knew the answer. "Two weeks you say?" Yujin nodded. "You. It's definitely you," she claims, making all of them confused at her confidence.

"I saw you outside Eunbi unnie's room the other day." she chews on her words while Yujin recalled. "When I was fixing the washing machine in your dorm."

"Oh." She remembers.

That was the last thing anyone said before hearing a soft grunt coming from Minju who woke up. Wonyoung quickly supports the girl, propping her against the pillow.

Minju's eyes fluttered to see better. "What happened?" she squints and receives a cup of water from Nako. "You fainted."

Yujin slowly turned around, looking at Minju. They all gathered around the bed with the girl being all confused. The looks on their faces were hard for her to decipher.

"Is the shoot over?" she looks at Nako who nodded. "You knocked out at the perfect timing my friend." she takes the cup from Minju, placing it on the table.

Yujin goes beside her, asking Nako to move aside. "Unnie, are you feeling okay?"

Minju watched her sit down. "Yeah, why?"

"You don't feel like vomiting or anything?" Yujin examines her face. "Not really." Minju looks at Eunbi, not knowing why they all looked worried.

She herself started to get worried, knowing how she has been feeling nauseous the past few days.

Yujin asked for the older girls to give them some space, leaving the two in the room.

"Why?" Minju looks at the younger one who brushed back her hair. "Unnie, did you let anyone else do it in you?" she asks, seeing Minju knit her eyebrows together.

"Do what?"

"You're pregnant, unnie." Yujin sighs softly. "I'm what?"

"The nurse said you're pregnant so I need you to tell me who you did it with two weeks ago."

"I'm pregnant?" Minju didn't quite catch what she was saying, seeing Yujin nod.

"Two weeks," she repeated.

Minju lifted the blanket and looked down. "Are you sure?" Yujin nodded. "So there's a baby growing in me?" she nodded again.

"There's no way." Minju looked at Yujin who shrugged.

She then trailed back two weeks ago, instantly recalling scenes that might've triggered her memory.

"You," she said. "You're the last person I did it with."

Yujin narrowed her eyes. "You're very sure?" Minju nodded.

"Not Chaewon or Hyewon unnie?" the girl shook her head.

"How can I forget?"

Yujin inhaled deeply, calming down. "Okay," she said. "What do you want to do?"

"What do you mean? We're keeping it." Minju didn't hesitate one bit, glancing at where her potential baby bump might be.

"You can't be serious."

"What else do you want me to do? Abort it?"

Yujin went silent, looking down.

Minju let out a small sigh and lifted her hand, slowly patting Yujin's head. "We'll keep it." the girl looks at her, seeing Minju raise both eyebrows, humming for her to answer.

"It's not that I hate it or anything. Being pregnant is something hard to achieve but..." Yujin tugs on her lower lips.

"If we keep it...you know what will happen," she spoke softly. "When people find out, it won't end well."

"We'll think of something," Minju assured the younger girl who hesitated a nod.





 

It has been a week since the group found out about the accidental pregnancy between those two. They decided to keep the baby but Minju and Yujin had their own concerns.

How are they going to hide it? What will their company say about this issue? Are they going to get fired? Are their parents going to accept all this? What will happen to the group if they leave?

Most importantly, how does one care for a pregnant woman? That's Yujin's biggest concern.

"You sure you can still dance?" The younger girl worriedly looks at Minju who adjusted her outfit as they all prepared to go on stage for their comeback promotion.

"The doctor said you shouldn't be doing strenuous activities and the choreography this time round's definitely not suited for someone pregnant." Yujin opens a bottle of water, handing it to Minju.

"I'm still at an early stage, there's nothing I can't do." she positively utters, drinking the water.

"What if you faint again?" Yujin stuck to her as close as possible, making sure nothing happens to her. It has been like this since the moment Minju decided to keep the baby.

Yujin would start questioning what kind of foods she can eat or what kind of activities she could or should do. Even though they're trying to hide the fact that Minju's pregnant, anyone that passes by these two would immediately sense that there's a pregnant woman around.

"You're worrying too much, Yujin-ah. I'll be just fine."

"Famous last words," Yujin mumbles, seriously not wanting the whole photoshoot thing to happen again.

A staff peeks into the room and calls for them to get ready in five minutes. "Don't go too hard." Yujin reminds Minju who dragged her along before exiting the room.
 

Eunbi walks out of her room and goes toward the fridge to find something to snack on, seeing Yujin playing the switch with Yena in the living room.

"Are you guys not going to shower?" she dug for a stick of cheese, just to find an empty box.

"Five minutes!" Yena yelled.

"You guys said that an hour ago," Eunbi mumbles closing the fridge. "Didn't I get this two days ago?" she asks the two on the couch, seeing Minju wrapped up in a blanket right behind them.

Eunbi swore she wasn't there before.

"Minju unnie wanted them, so I gave her everything. They said to get a pregnant woman whatever they want or they'll give you hell." Yujin insisted, eyes glued on the tv with fingers tapping endlessly.

She got reminded of stealing Minju's chocolate yesterday, shivering. "And I don't want hell." Yujin quickly shakes her head while Minju looks at Eunbi, smiling innocently.

Eunbi sighs, understanding the situation before tossing the box in the recycling corner. She decided to get sprite instead.

"Yeah, never decline Minju's orders. I don't want hell too." Yena agreed, earning a slight kick to her back. "She's feisty."

Minju pouts, leaning back on the couch.




 

"Ahn Yujin. Come here." Minju calls from below the bed.

Yujin carefully climbs down, looking at Minju who had her iPad on her lap.

"Why?"

"Here." she pats the spot beside her. Yujin did as told, lying beside the older girl. "Is it obvious?" Minju asks Yujin who looked at what she was observing.

It was a fansite shot during one of their stages.

"I can see it." Minju points at her belly, zooming in for Yujin to see. "It's fine." the younger girl takes the device from her, putting it aside.

Minju has been pretty self-conscious lately since her baby bump only gets bigger over time although she's barely a month pregnant.

Yujin gently pulls her in, cuddling her warmly. "I don't know if we should keep it," Minju spoke, earning a confused hum.

"It's not too late to turn back."

"What are you saying?" Yujin made the girl face her as she looks into her watery eyes. "Why, why?" she quickly wipes the latter's tears before Minju started to sniff.

"I don't k-know. It's just...we're clearly not ready for anything, we're not even together, I don't even know if we're making the right choice." Minju grips onto Yujin's shirt. "This whole thing wasn't even supposed to happen but I'm not blaming you or anything. You just turned 20...you should be hanging out with people your age instead of being with me 24/7..."

The girl went on and on with neverending tears running down her cheeks. Yujin listened to every word she said and it all circled around the burden that exists in Minju's head but not hers.

It was tough conceiving whilst promoting in an ongoing group with back-to-back activities. Theoretically, no pregnant woman is able to withstand the schedules they were going through, always needing to keep in shape even if she's feeding two humans.

Adding on the fact that they were young, Minju doesn't want to pull Yujin into this unforeseen circumstance. The girl had a bright future ahead and all Minju could think of was shattering everything with her own hands.

She didn't mind messing her own life up but Yujin was getting involved. She had to consider the girl's life if they were to go through this together.

This is only the beginning of a disastrous storm.

Yujin gently caresses the back of Minju's head, pressing her lips against her forehead. "That's only what you think unnie," she whispers, thumb softly running across Minju's cheek.

"Do you wanna know what I think?" she asks, looking into her red, dampened eyes.

"We're going through this together. We'll keep them and raise them up well. You and me. No matter how many times you think that it'll burden the heck out of my life, you're wrong. There's no such thing as a burden if you're willing to put the effort into it. This isn't any mistake. It's just another chapter of our lives, whether it'll be tough or fun. I know it'll all turn out fine because I have you, you have me." she lets out a little smile, brushing Minju's hair back.

"You'll have to learn to rely on me sometimes, you know? Just like how I relied on you, you'll do the same from now on. You won't have to worry about me because I only learn from the best which is you." Yujin holds onto her snugly, comfortably lying on the pillow.

Minju sniffs, looking into her sincere eyes, hearing those words that always keep her mind calm and only Yujin could do that. The way the latter understands people were simply out of this world.

If there's one thing Minju's grateful for at the moment, it'll be the fact that this kid she's bearing within her is Yujin's.

She may be younger than the other two candidates, but Yujin's the only person who understands her inside out, being her roommate for the past few years.

They practically have late-night talks every single day and if there's one thing Yujin does is, she always listens to Minju's concerns. No matter how long-winded or how ridiculous things might sound, the girl always had her back.

There's no such thing as boundaries between these two, physically and emotionally. A relationship that only exists between them, just like how Yena and Yuri are confirmed soulmates by some tarot card reader.

No one's sure whether it's accurate, but it definitely is.

What surprises Minju even more is the fact that Yujin is younger despite feeling like someone who never stops looking out for her, making it seem as if she's older than her.

The best of both worlds.

"Don't be afraid, hm?" Yujin continues Minju's hair with the latter intently staring at her. "I'll protect you unnie. As long as I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you," she assures, rubbing Minju's shoulder before hugging her tightly.

All they could do was wait to see what was in it for them. It's going to be tough once she reaches the beginning of the second trimester.

"Are you hungry?" Yujin asks naturally, feeling Minju nod against her chest.

 

A few more weeks have passed. Many things happened.

Yujin and Minju's parents were made aware of this situation and to their surprise, there wasn't much objection, just worry.

If anything happens, they are more than able to welcome the two back home.

The group has also recently gone over to Japan for a meet-and-greet event as well as to promote their new song. They came back a few hours ago.

But things just started to go haywire.

Everyone settled back down in their dorms, some washing the laundry, others getting some rest after the flight.

Everything was peaceful until Yena decided to shout, "AHN YUJIN!"

The younger girl immediately ran out of the room. "What is it?" she kept calm and got motioned to sit beside Yena.

"See this." Yena hands her the phone that showed a post made by reporters who were present when they landed in Korea.

This is exactly what Yujin has been waiting for—something they aren't able to avoid.

The article was made along the lines of Minju's suspected pregnancy and there were tons of comments—mostly negative ones—calling her all sorts of names for an accidental pregnancy with someone unknown.

They were making claims without even knowing a single thing about the issue.

Some even said they suspected the moment they realise how Minju wasn't given the same outfits as the rest—it was always loose to cover up her little baby bump or clothes that isn't too revealing.

"What should we do?" Yena looks at Yujin who read every comment, frowning before turning off the phone.

Not saying a word, she went straight back to the room, confusing Yena who just sat there.

The girl entered their room and saw Minju scrolling through her phone with tears running down her cheeks.

She never knew how fans could just turn their backs on them within a split second.

Yujin quickly takes the phone from her, joined her in bed and held her in her arms.

"Shh...you're okay," she assures with Minju's tears soaking through her shirt, fingers tightly gripping the sides of her shirt.

All Yujin heard were a bunch of why and what questions from the trembling girl. "No one's going to hurt you." Yujin gently the latter's head, keeping her close to her body.

A moment later, the door opened, and in comes Eunbi who just heard about the news.

"Unnie, w-what should we do?" Yujin worriedly asks which made Minju cry even harder.

Eunbi caresses Minju's back, giving her every ounce of comfort she could to the girl who did nothing but still received threats from the media.

"Just stay here for now. I'll go talk to the rest," she told Yujin who nodded and went back to calming Minju down.





 

Days have passed and the situation has yet to die down. Reporters started showing up below their dorms, crowds of people gathering because they wanted to know whether the rumour about Minju's pregnancy is true.

The company has stepped in but did nothing.

Instead, sooner or later, Minju was up for a hiatus.

No one knows when this whole controversy was going to stop but Yujin knew it was never going to stop. There would be endless threats not only to Minju but to the group that has been trying their best to calm the fans down.

Social media posts have stopped, and promotions halted for the time being. The members would always have to step in to answer queries before the public could trudge into their privacy for answers.

Of course, they have yet to reveal the truth. They didn't want to for the sake of Minju but they couldn't lie for long. If they continue to defer a statement, the whole group would be put into situations where people would just trample over them to get answers.

Yujin nor Minju wanted that to happen.

Things had to stop. For their own sake and the members.

So they came up with a decision.

"You'll head down to Yujin's house for the time being because that's the safest option we have," Hyewon told Minju who had no visible expression on her face with Yujin's arm constantly wrapped around her shoulder.

"If they head there, wouldn't that be the same? Her parents would be in danger." Hitomi raised while the others thought for a while.

"We can barely get out without reporters chasing after us. They're going to follow them either way." Sakura shook her head at the thought of countless strangers invading the two girls.

"We'll leave." Minju finally spoke, making all of them look at her. Yujin presses her lips together, remembering what they talked about the past few nights.

"We'll leave the group."

Wonyoung in particular frowned the hardest, eyes pinned onto Yujin who said that very sentence.

"You guys aren't leaving the group." Yena snickers, not believing what they've just said, shaking her head.

"We'll think of something," Eunbi assures but the two shook their heads.

"We've thought about it. Even if we were to stay silent for the time being and go somewhere else, it only puts all of us in danger." Yujin said, looking at Eunbi who tugged on her bottom lip.

"The only way out is to announce everything and come clean so they'll stop bothering us." The younger girl sighs softly. "And that means we'll leave the group and you guys will be able to continue without having to constantly worry about us. Hopefully, the situation would die down."

"You're not making any sense unnie." Wonyoung interrupted.

"Even if you were to leave, they'll continue bothering us so I don't see a point in you leaving the group. Eunbi unnie said we can come up with something. We're going through this together." she knits both eyebrows, wanting the two to at least listen to her.

"She's right. Now that everything has already happened, you guys should just stick with us and ignore those that are threatening to do something to you guys. It's better with 12 of us than to leave you two alone." Chaeyeon shares her thoughts while the two let out a small sigh.

"Did the contract say anything about an extension?" she asks Eunbi who was looking through her phone. She saved all the details upon debuting in this group if anything were to happen.

"A maximum of 6 months," she said.

"Then we'll just go on a short hiatus, all of us, until we sort everything out," Chaeyeon asks for their opinions but they kept silent.

"And how long is short going to be?" Chaewon spoke up.

"Until the baby comes out."

"That'll be another 7 months unnie." Chaewon frowns slightly. "There's no way we're stopping promotions for 7 months. We'll go penniless," she said.

"I t-think we should just leave. It's better for everyone." Minju saw how Chaewon was clearly not liking the whole hiatus idea.

"How about this." Yujin gathered their attention.

"We'll leave the group on paper. That way the company wouldn't be able to do anything to us. We'll still keep in contact but move somewhere no one is able to bother us." she looks at Minju.

"I'll just reveal that I got her pregnant."

The older girls immediately shook their heads. "You're not doing that."

"Then what else can we do? The only reason why they're coming after us is that they think Minju unnie is some..." Yujin pauses the moment she realises what she was about to say might hurt the older girl's feelings.

"We'll never know unless we try." she reiterated.

"And have you harassed by others? We're not doing that, Yujin-ah."

"What's the difference if she's taking all the blame and I'm sitting here not doing anything when I'm the one that caused all this to happen?" Yujin's eyes started to water out of frustration of not having a way out of this without anyone getting hurt.

She stands up, not wanting to cry in front of the others and went to the room to calm herself down. Minju follows, leaving the rest in the living room.

She enters to see Yujin sitting in the corner of the room with knees pulled against her chest, sobbing softly, shaking her head.

Minju walks and settles in front of her. "Yujin-ah," she called but the latter kept on crying, face shoved into her folded arms.

"I can't do this unnie," she mumbles, breath hitching while Minju slowly caresses her head.

"I should've just listened to y-you. I should've been more careful. It's all my f-fault people are doing all this to you—"

Minju cuts her off by saying, "It's not your fault. It never was." she tucks a strand of Yujin's hair behind her ear. "No one's blaming you."

"But it's not fair that y-you have to go through all this because of me." Yujin raises her head, presenting her tear-stained cheeks. "Do you know how painful it is to hear what people are saying to you?" she asks, wiping her tears with the back of her palm.

"Within a split second, all those people, our fans, decide to call you names just because of this whole incident." Yujin clenched down on her jaw, quivering eyes staring into Minju's.

", . Just because she's famous she can go around ing some random guy and end up getting pregnant. So much for knowing how to hide. What an angel." Yujin wiped her tear off her chin.

"I see those headlines every single day and I just want to leave this place unnie," she said.

"With you."

Minju slowly grabbed onto her trembling hand, caressing the back of it with her thumb.

"I don't care about what happens in the future but I care about you." Yujin saw the latter looking at their hands. "I don't want you to keep receiving factless hate and threats when they don't even know anything unnie."

Minju couldn't help but tear up, quickly wiping her tears. She has to be okay for them to continue figuring things out instead of crying nonstop.

"I don't care what the other unnies say because we're leaving. You know how I am." Yujin firmly stated, causing Minju to look at her. She hates any form of danger and she's not letting this whole situation bring harm to anyone.  Once she decides on something, it'll be that way for the sake of everyone.

"It's for your safety. I promised to protect you."

"And how are you going to do that?" Minju asked, sniffing lightly. The girl puts down her legs, crossing them and shifting Minju in front of her.

She holds onto both of her hands tightly, looking directly into her eyes.

"I need you to trust me," Yujin said.

"I have a way."




 

A few weeks later, the two found themselves on the porch of a tiny villa located at the far end of Jeju Island.

Unfortunately, Yujin decided for them to leave the group permanently with Minju's consent. Both of them agree that it's the best choice in order for them and the others to continue with their own lives.

There was no way they were putting a halt to their