"I don't know but whenever Seulgi does something, it always catches my eyes. It feels like I have to take a look at her"   

Trapped.

Helplessly trapped.

Those were the words she felt as she stared at Joohyun’s soft brown eyes. Alarms had been ringing inside her head, shouting at her to get out, but how could she when Joohyun unnie was so…

so…

“Do I have to stop?”

tempting?

Seulgi gulped.

“Do.. Do you want to?”

“UNNIE!” Yerim shouted from the bathroom. “Can you give me some soap!? We ran out!”

After hearing that, Joohyun flinched as if something had snapped and suddenly, Seulgi was free. Joohyun’s eyes reflected a plethora of emotions: surprise, confusion, and bewilderment.

Joohyun stood up from the bed abruptly like Seulgi was the fire. Seulgi sat up. Seulgi tried to stare at the older, but it felt as though Joohyun’s stare could pierce her, so she chose to glue her eyes to the floor.

“What’s this?” Joohyun laughed— tried to laugh, for it was a laugh that didn’t quite reach her ears. “We shouldn’t be playing around, Seulgi-ah!”

“Y-Yeah. I’m sorry, unnie” Seulgi gulped.

Both of them paused. It was only for a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

“But really..” Joohyun asked, with concern in her voice. “Does it make you uncomfortable?”

Seulgi urged her lips to smile as she said, “No—Not at all”

“Then, I’m glad”. Joohyun let out a relieved sigh and opened her wardrobe to get an extra soap for Yerim. Before heading to the door, she turned around to face Seulgi.

“Seulgi-ah”, she called out gently. “I want you to know that I’m not going to do something that makes you uncomfortable in any way”

Seulgi lifted her head to face Joohyun.

“I won’t do anything that might ruin the group we worked so hard for”, Joohyun smiled but her eyes were… apologetic?

With that, she left the room with Seulgi staring at the door. Seulgi let herself drop on the bed once again as she looked at the clouds by the window.

What’s happening to me?

Arguments.

It's inevitable, really.

If there are arguments, you have to fix things that require fixing. An unresolved dispute is a small hole that could sink even the largest of ships.

Fans seem to think that team members are always the best of friends, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Relationships can also be so complex, much like how life isn’t black and white.

That's why when Sooyoung sneaked out on different nights...

— and when Seungwan caught on...

— and when they started to fight about it...

Seulgi knew she had to interfere. Being in a group is not always a soft ride. Although Red Velvet got along well, there were bumps of misunderstandings that escalated into fights. Normal relationships were complex enough to navigate, but adding the work dynamic they had made things even harder than they initially thought.

"Sooyoung, please calm down", Seulgi said as she gently held Sooyoung's body from walking back and forth. Across them was Seungwan who had tears in her eyes and was being comforted by Yerim.

"I know what I am doing, why don't you just trust me?" Sooyoung said.

"Sooyoung-ah" Seungwan countered. "It was so late at night. Where do you even go to?"

"Unnie!" Sooyoung exclaimed. "It’s none of your business!"

"Sooyoung... please listen to me", Seungwan said. “Stop being like this!”

Sooyoung clenched her fist, visibly holding herself back. Seulgi and Yerim exchanged a look.

"Guys... why don't we rest up for a while and talk about this calmly later?" Seulgi began to rub circles on Sooyoung's back. "You're both too upset to reach to an understanding"

"What's happening?" a voice said and it was one that Seulgi had been thinking about lately. They turned around and saw Joohyun who had just arrived from a photoshoot. "Have you been fighting?"

No one was able to answer. Joohyun sighed. "Yerim, go to your room and sleep. You have classes tomorrow. The rest of you, stay"

“But—” Yerim tried to reason out but Joohyun tiredly stared at her.

“No but’s”

Yerim sighed and reluctantly went to her shared room with Joohyun. After Yerim left, Joohyun stared at the three who had their heads down.

"What seems to be the problem?" Joohyun asked calmly.

No one dared to answer her.

"Is no one going to speak?" Joohyun asked. She looked at Sooyoung and Seungwan. Sooyoung was biting her nails and Seungwan was wiping her tears. Seulgi was in the middle of the two, looking very lost. Joohyun glanced at the clock. 12:43 AM. She sighed. "I'm not going to force you both if you don't want to", Joohyun said.

Joohyun sat and took off her coat and her purse. "I don't know what this is about and I'm so tired but words can be painful. Seungwan, Sooyoung, please don't let your relationship be broken by words you don't mean"

"Yes, unnie", Sooyoung and Seungwan said.

"More importantly, don't let this argument affect our group. We debuted but this is only the beginning. Do we have a schedule tomorrow?" Joohyun asked. Seungwan nodded.

"Sleep as much as you can and we'll resolve this when we're all calm. And please, don’t fight in front of Yerim again" Joohyun said while getting her phone from the purse.

"Goodnight, unnie" Sooyoung said, avoiding Joohyun's gaze as she hurriedly went to the room she shared with Seulgi and Seungwan.

Seungwan shot Joohyun an apologetic look before looking at Seulgi. "I'm going ahead", she said to Seulgi.

Once Seungwan walked away, Seulgi looked at Joohyun. Despite how badly her heart wanted to escape being in proximity to Joohyun, Seulgi chose to stay. "Unnie, are you okay?"

"I am tired" Joohyun sighed. "I only slept for an hour last night. I didn't know the photoshoot is going to take this long and I haven't eaten dinner yet"

"Are you hungry? Do you want to me to heat some food?"

"Yes, please" Joohyun tiredly smiled. Seulgi smiled back and turned around towards the kitchen. Before Seulgi could walk away, she heard Joohyun mumble, "Thank you, Seulgi-ah"

After heating her unnie's tteokbokki, Seulgi transferred it to a nice plate. When she stepped outside of the kitchen, she laughed at the sight of Joohyun who was fast asleep on the sofa.

A few hours later when Joohyun woke up, she panicked because she forgot to wipe off her makeup from yesterday's shoot. She immediately went to the nightstand beside the sofa to get a mirror and some makeup wipes. However, as soon as she got herself the mirror, she smiled. Seulgi removed her makeup for her. It was also at this moment when she realized that Seulgi also put a blanket on top of her.

A metal container and a yellow note on the coffee table caught her attention. It said, 'I couldn't bring myself to wake you up. Please eat as soon as you wake up. Unnie... I burnt some of the rice cakes... I'm sorry'.

Joohyun laughed and opened the container. True enough, Seulgi did burn some of the rice cakes. "Clumsy..." Joohyun unknowingly whispered to herself while smiling.

"Unnie, why are you talking with a rice cake? Are you turning crazy?" a voice said. Joohyun looked up and saw a disheveled Yerim in her pajamas, scratching her eyes.

Joohyun furrowed her eyebrows looking like a deer caught in a headlight. Yerim laughed. "Yah! Kim Yerim! What are you saying? I'm not!"

"What? You were smiling at a rice cake, unnie! A rice cake! What am I supposed to think about except that you are a crazy woman?" Yerim talked back.

"Come here, you brat!" Joohyun stood up and chased Yerim in the living room. While they were playing, Seungwan got out of her room and smiled at the two people acting childishly early in the morning.

"Good morning"

Seungwan heard a voice. She turned around and saw that it was Seulgi.

"Good morning" Seungwan smiled while Seulgi yawned.

"Where's Sooyoung-ie?" Seulgi asked but then her eyes became wide. How could she forget yesterday's argument? "I'm so sor—"

Seungwan smiled and nudged Seulgi. "It's okay, you dummy". Before Seulgi could say anything more, Yerim ran and hid behind Seulgi. Joohyun, who was chasing the youngest, stopped in her tracks when she saw Seulgi.

"Good morning, unnie", Yerim cheered up.

Seulgi smiled and she faced Yerim. "Good morning, Yerimie". Yerim smiled.

Joohyun gulped out of embarrassment. "H-Hello. Good morning!"

Seulgi took a moment to stare at Joohyun before innocently asking, "Unnie, have you seen the rice cakes I've put aside for you?"

A light bulb moment happened to Yerim. "Oh! So it was from Seul—"

Before Yerim could continue, Joohyun yanked Yerim to her side and put her hand on the poor girl’s mouth.

"You two seem playful this morning", Seungwan said as she laughed at Yerim who was struggling with Joohyun's hold.

"Unnie, why were you chasing Yerim?" Seulgi asked.

"What? It's n-nothing. You know how she is" Joohyun cleared . "Oh, look at the time, we better get ready. The manager will come soon"

Just like that, Joohyun walked away while choke-slamming Yeri.