"Hiya, Kongie." Chaejin cooed as she petted the female bichon's head.

"How have you been, girl?"

She scooped up the small dog into her arms as she sat on her friend, Jiae's, couch of her home as her friend joined her on the other side after changing clothes.

"Congratulations on getting your own place." Chaejin congratulated Jiae as her friend smiled happily.

"Thanks. It took a while, but I'm glad to have my own space for me and Kongie."

When the Bichon heard her name said by Jiae, she jumped out of Chaejin's arms and ran over to her owner's arms instead. The friends chuckled as Jiae cast Chaejin with a playful look.

"So, you ended up dating an idol and now he's your boyfriend, huh?"

Chaejin rolled her eyes as Jiae laughed.

"What? It's true though."

"It isn't." Chaejin declined before clarifying the whole situation to Jiae.

"Chaewon and I happened to become friends with them and over time each of us had gotten closer to one of them more than the others."

Chaejin cast her with a firm look.

"There's no dating and no boyfriend of any sorts."

Jiae scoffed.

"Don't lie. You messaged me that those two were the only ones that gave you two cosmetics for Christmas while the other members gave y'all cookies."

"And so?"

"So, you and I both know that this holiday is usually for couples and what not."

"There were no couples. Just a group of friends."

"Yeah, right."

Jiae even motioned at her own gifts from her boyfriend.

"Jongsoo gave me many cosmetics brands and I still have the ones he gave me for my birthday, too."

Chaejin rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, true, but I hardly wear it and so just ended up giving the gift Hangyeom got me to my sister anyway. Although Hyuk did give her quite a bit."

"Okay, see, and yet you're telling me that you two don't like them like that or they don't like you at all, because it's clear that they like y'all for real."

"They're idols, Jiae, and Chaewon and I aren't."

"Yeah, and so? It happened for others so it could happen for you two, too. I mean, y'all were fans of theirs despite keeping it a secret from them."

"Obviously. It's only so that they didn't think we were stalkers since Chaewon and I lived in the same building before knowing that they lived there, too."

"Okay, okay."

Yet Jiae still wouldn't drop the subject.

"Still, you never clarified about the thing that happened between you and Song Hangyeom."

Chaejin instantly became shy, but played it cool.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Jiae's face lit up as she figured out what happened that night.

"Y'all kiss, huh?"

"No." Chaejin denied, a bit too quickly as Jiae's smile widened.

"Oh, you two did and now you're playing it off."

"I am not."

"Yes, you are."

"Okay, fine, whatever. We kissed." Chaejin said, giving in and not wanting to be badgered by Jiae.

Jiae laughed before becoming serious.

"So, what are you two gonna do?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and Song Hangyeom while it's Chaewon and Yang Hyuk."

Again, Chaejin's eyes rolled.

"Seriously, Jiae, I really don't think there's gonna be anything between us despite him and I kissing. I don't know much about my sister and Hyuk though."

"A kiss during Christmas time isn't something to dismiss so easily, Chaejin."

Jiae shot her friend a knowing look.

"You never know though unless y'all admit it or they do it first."

"Highly doubtful. They have their own fans and careers to worry about."

"True, but they're just like us with real feelings."

"Never said they weren't."

"But y'all are distancing yourselves from such things from naturally happening. Actually, by that, I mean you're the one keeping the distance while Chaewon is just going with the flow."

Chaejin shrugged.

"Okay, true, but like, I don't know. Besides, we haven't really talked since then due to our differing schedules."

"You guys can message each other." Jiae reasoned as Chaejin nodded, knowingly.

"Yes, obviously, but I'm not gonna blow up his phone. He does that enough on his own."

"See, he likes you."

"Whatever. Besides, weren't you and I supposed to hang out and do other things today and not talk about mine or Chaewon's love life as it's the last day of the year?"

"Yes, but I like talking about your lack of a love life that turned promising now. As for Chaewon, she at least tried dating unlike you."

"Wow and whatever."

The two friends shared a laugh as by this time, Kongie had fallen asleep, allowing the two friends to catch up and continue their bonding time for the last day of the year until Jiae mentioned that she had a date later on with Jongsoo, cutting their hang out time short.

"I can't believe you were hiding your idol boyfriend from us." Chaewon's friend, Jiwoo, stated once the group of friends settled around the table at a cafe.

Chaewon met up with her close group of friends, Jiwoo, Yein, and Eunsoo once they found time to hang out after Christmas.

"Yeah, like it all makes so much sense now how close you and Hyuk were." Eunsoo added as Yein looked at the other two with a firm look.

"Well, it's not like Chaewon can go around revealing who he is though. They have to keep their relationship a secret from the public."

Jiwoo and Eunsoo nodded in agreement although Chaewon rolled her eyes.

"I don't have an idol boyfriend and it wasn't my secret to reveal."

"Wait. You're not dating him?" Yein deadpanned with a serious face.

"You and him had the best chemistry every time we had a group date with him and his friends."

"No way that y'all aren't dating. Didn't the two of you kiss on Christmas though?" Jiwoo asked, curiously.

"I mean, that's what you told us in our Kakao chat."

Chaewon nodded nonchalantly while keeping a cool demeanor.

"Yes, we kissed, but before the moment could be settled or anything discussed, we were interrupted by s and acted like nothing happened. They had other things to do and so we just let the moment pass us by."

"Ooh, that ." Eunsoo commented with a sympathetic look.

"Have you guys talked since then though?"

"No. He's been busy with his own schedule and so have I."

"Wait. What about your sister?" Jiwoo piped up as Yein nodded eagerly.

"Oh yeah, what about her? How did it go for her?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I was too worried about my own life to worry about hers."

Chaewon shrugged as she remained nonchalant about the whole thing.

"Besides, he's an idol, remember? I'm not sure if he's able to date and his group has just gained growing popularity so they're bound to be busy and what not."

"Well, you never know." The trio chorused in an optimistic way.

"Anything can happen."

"Yeah, and that the two of you shared a kiss not that long ago, too."

"Yeah."

Chaewon brushed them off and changed the topic on them.

"Forget about my love life. What about yours? How did the last group date go?"

Each girl made a face upon remembering their last group date around Christmas time.

"Not worth mentioning."

"Yeah, definitely not worth mentioning."

"You seriously lucked out with these guys."

Chaewon made a face.

"That bad, huh?"

"Mmhmm."

Jiwoo returned the topic back onto Chaewon.

"Either way, at least you and Yang Hyuk have each other, so that's a blessing instead." 

She grinned widely at Chaewon as Chaewon rolled her eyes.

"He and I just happened to grow closer than the rest of y'all and that he lived in the same complex building as me, too."

"Oh, yeah. Why hang out with us when you can spend the last day of the year with him instead?" Yein mentioned in a good-natured tone as Chaewon scoffed.

"Stop, please."

The other three giggled as they continued to playfully teased their friend as the quartet enjoyed their time at the cafe. Soon they changed subjects, talking about anything and everything that came to mind, enjoying the others' company until the trio mentioned a group date they had to attend and cutting their hang out short.

Chaejin returned home first as she flopped onto the sectional sofa upon kicking off her shoes and being too lazy to even walk all the way to her room to sleep.

"I guess I can sleep in for New Year's Eve and let the new year roll on without me actually noticing it."

She chuckled before hearing the front door open.

"Oh, you're home, too?" Melanie commented upon seeing her sister lying stomach down on the sofa while placing her things on the coffee table.

"I thought you'd be over at Jiae's longer."

"Me, too, but she had a date with Jongsoo in the evening."

Chaejin cast her sister a tired look.

"Weren't you supposed to be out and about longer, too?"

"Yeah, but they ended up having one last minute group date before this year ends and I didn't want to participate."

Chaewon lied down on the other side of the sectional couch, equally as tired as her sister.

"So tired."

"Me, too."

"You don't wanna stay up to countdown for the new year?"

"Not really. Gonna sleep in again like last year though."

Chaejin had shut her eyes before opening one of them to stare at her sister.

"Unless you're making dinner tonight, I'll recons