RaeIn sat on her bed, while DooJoon pulled up a chair in front of her and sat on it backwards. He stared at her intently, but she had her head down, observing her own hands folded in her lap. They stayed that way, in complete silence, for quite a while. When they’d hear a song change outside, they would occasionally look towards the door in curiosity, where on the other side their friends were having the time of their lives.

Finally, DooJoon reached for one of RaeIn’s hand and held onto it, observing it just like she had been earlier. He cleared his throat to subdue the silence.

“I’m sorry for raising my voice at you earlier,” DooJoon started, still holding onto her hand, still observing. He reached for her other hand as well and began to play with them as he spoke. “But I meant what I said, and I don’t ever want to hear you call ‘Yong JunHyung’ or any other guy by their birth name.”

“Why?” RaeIn’s voice was barely audible, quieter than a whisper.

“I’ve never told you this before, but sometimes I like getting you mad because I like hearing you call me by my birth name. I like the way you say it, and I like that out of all the guys in the world, it’s my name that you say.” He was swinging her hands side to side now, still refusing to look up at RaeIn. He was almost shy, unsure of what exactly he wanted to say next and how he wanted to convey it. He paused as he thought of his next words. “I guess I just got a bit jealous that you kept talking about JunHyung—“

“—But I was annoyed with him—“ RaeIn interrupted.

“—But you were giving him so much attention. And in my mind I was just thinking that since today is our 100 days… I was thinking that today would be about, you know, us. And I guess because of that, I wanted you to only pay attention to me.” He stopped swinging her hands and rested them on her lap. Finally, he decided to look up. He was surprised to find immediate eye-contact with RaeIn, her eyes already staring intently at his. But what caught him off-guard the most was that she was starting to tear up. And if there was one thing to know about MAKIKO’s leader, it was that Lee RaeIn almost never cried.

“Wha-what are you doing?” DooJoon asked wide-eyed and nervous. He quickly jumped up off his chair and took his place beside her on her bed, wrapping an arm instinctively around her shoulder right when the tears started to fall.

“Why…” RaeIn started to speak; however a surprise hiccup was quick to interrupt her. “Why are you so good?” With that, DooJoon pulled her closer towards him, wrapping his arms tighter around her, and resting his chin on her head, a small smile forming on his face.

“I guess I am pretty great,” he agreed with a laugh. He expected her to correct him with a response like: “I said good; not great.” However, she did not. Instead she pulled away from his embrace and positioned herself so that she was facing him completely.

“I’m serious,” she said. “Oppa, I’m really sorry about today. I was too selfish. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“It’s okay,” DooJoon said, shushing her and grabbing her hands again.

“No, it’s not!” She removed her hands from his. “I made you sad by talking about another boy. Even if it was because I was mad at him, I shouldn’t do that,” she added, shaking her head. “I shouldn’t do that because you don’t make me sad. You make me very, very happy.” She meekly turned her head up towards DooJoon’s, and with equal shyness brought her hands to his cheeks to guide his lips toward her own. “I’m very sorry about today, Oppa,” she said when they parted.

“What?” DooJoon said in faux-disappointment, now focusing on trying to lighten up the mood. “That’s not what you’re supposed to say when you kiss me. How about, ‘Oppa, you’re the best!’ or ‘DooJoon is the greatest!’ Let’s try this again.” He laughed and ruffled her hair. “I’m just kidding. It’s okay, don’t be sorry anymore.”

But RaeIn knew exactly what she wanted to say, though she hesitated a little before speaking again, completely nervous about the next words she was about to say for the first time. “I love you, Oppa,” she said quietly, shyly.

“Wait… what did you just say?” DooJoon asked in disbelief.

“Lee RaeIn loves Yoon DooJoon! In the whole world, Lee RaeIn will only love Yoon DooJoon! And Lee RaeIn promises to only say the birth name of Yoon DooJoon!” RaeIn spoke louder this time, switching to third person in order to calm her nerves. DooJoon laughed at the silliness of her sudden confession.

“Actually, that’s much better,” he said as he suavely laid them down on her bed. He leaned in closer to her so she could hear as he quietly added: “And just so you know, Yoon DooJoon loves Lee RaeIn, too. Yoon DooJoon will forever love only Lee RaeIn. And Yoon DooJoon looks forward to being the only name said by Lee RaeIn because it lets me know that… you are mine.” He wiped away the tears from her face as he leaned closer to her, targeting another kiss…

“So this is where you guys have been,” KaHee said, deviously. Light from the living room suddenly flooded RaeIn’s bedroom, like a spotlight shining on two criminals caught red-handed. Behind KaHee was a mob of the rest of the party guests. Embarrassed, RaeIn turned over and buried herself in DooJoon’s chest, muttering something along the lines of, “Troublesome maknae!” DooJoon, however, laughed to conceal his overwhelming disappointment of getting interrupted… and right when it was getting good, too. Everyone standing at the door laughed as well, though their laughter was fueled by the scandalous scene before them. JunHyung peeked inside the door, over everyone else, before walking away; he was the only one unamused. Actually, for some reason he felt a little angry— “Or was it disgusted?” He thought. YoSeob watched from the corner of his eye as JunHyung headed back and plopped down on the couch.

——-

The phone unfortunately rang at 8:00 in the morning, waking up RaeIn from her short slumber. Her eyes were driving her insane; she hadn’t cried in such a long time, and the puffiness was throwing her off. With her eyes still closed, she reached near her pillow to feel for her phone. She grabbed it and answered; her grogginess was very apparent.

“RaeIn-ah! Sorry if I woke you,” said the voice. After a couple seconds, RaeIn registered the voice and connected it with Director Jang.

“Oh, no don’t worry about it, Director. Good morning.”

“Good morning! Anyway, do you think it would be okay if you stopped by the studio tomorrow afternoon? Maybe around 3:00PM?”

“I’m pretty sure I can,” RaeIn replied. “But what do you need me for?”

“There are a couple scenes that accidentally got deleted,” Director Jang said a bit distressed. “I need for you and JunHyung to film them again.”

“Ah, I see. Yes, that’s fine, Director.”

“All right then, well I’ll let you get back to sleep. See you tomorrow, RaeIn!” After Director Jang hung up, RaeIn rolled over and found DooJoon still lying next to her, which made her smile immediately. He had slept over again that night. Actually, all of BEAST slept over that night as they were too tired to head back to their dorm. However, while DooJoon got dibs on RaeIn’s room, everyone else was stuck sleeping in the living room.

“Oppa~” RaeIn serenely whispered to him. He didn’t budge, so she tried again, but this time nudging him a bit. “Oppa~ Wake up!” Still, DooJoon didn’t move. Annoyed that DooJoon seemed to be fast asleep, she scrunched her face, changing tactics. “Yah~ Oppa!” She noticed that a small grin was forming on his face, which kind of annoyed her… in a good way, of course. “Yah, Yoon DooJoon, I know I said I would call only you by your birth name, but could we not overdo it?” She stuck her tongue out. DooJoon had peeked one eye open, and after seeing this, he pulled her back down so she was lying down on the bed again.

“No, I’m still sleepy,” he said, eyes closed, grinning. “You don’t have a schedule today, right?”

“No, not until later,” RaeIn replied, shaking her head. She scooted closer to DooJoon, closing her eyes again. They were both ready to fall back asleep, until the sudden knocks on the door, that is.

“Hyung! Wake up!” It was KiKwang. “Don’t you have a photoshoot today? You’re going to be late!”

“Argh,” DooJoon growled in frustration. “First it was KaHee, and now it’s KiKwang? Those two are in big trouble later.” RaeIn giggled, amused by his angry expression.

“Don’t worry about it, Oppa. I’ll try to stop by later before my radio show.”

“That’s a promise, okay?” DooJoon said, more like a mandate rather than a question. He quickly pecked RaeIn on the cheek before she could do anything else, and jumped off the bed and out the door. RaeIn quickly checked the clock. “Shoot, I don’t have anything to do until later. I still have time to sleep,” she thought happily, and she pulled the covers over herself again.

——-

“Yah, maknae!” RaeIn called, knocking on KaHee’s bedroom door.

“You can come in,” said the voice from inside. RaeIn opened the door and found the maknae cleaning her room.

“Ah, you’re busy, never mind,” said RaeIn, closing the door again.

“No, I’m almost done,” KaHee replied. “What’s up?”

“I was just wondering if you could… help me with something,” RaeIn said, fiddling with her hands at the doorway.

“Sure, what do you need help with?” KaHee asked as she threw a couple stray papers away in the trash can.

“Well… I wanted to bring DooJoon-oppa some snacks during his photoshoot later…”

“What?” KaHee laughed. “But you can’t cook.”

“I know that!” RaeIn snapped back. In a calmer tone, she added, “That’s why I need your help.”

“Okay, okay. I was going to bake KiKwang cupcakes anyway and bring them to his filming today.”

“Oh, okay! Perfect! And we can bring it to them before our radio show later!” RaeIn said, excitedly clapping her hands together. “Thanks, KaHee!”

And so, RaeIn tied up her hair, clipped her bangs to the side, threw on an apron, and met up with KaHee in the kitchen.

“Okay,” she said, clapping her hands together again. “What do we do first?”

“Could you hand me the whisk?” KaHee asked, skimming over the recipe as she stuck out her hand.

“Right,” RaeIn responded, scanning the kitchen in search for the whisk. “The whisk.”

“It should be in one of those drawers,” KaHee said, pointing to the drawers behind where RaeIn was standing. She scurried over and opened one of the drawers, then began digging through the random utensils. Finally, her hand emerged with the whisk, which she handed to KaHee.

“Thank you,” KaHee said after receiving the whisk. “And, uh, could you grab the measuring cups as well, please?”

“Right,” RaeIn responded. Again, she began her search by a quick kitchen scan, then by scurrying around the kitchen.

“They should be over there,” KaHee said, pointing to a cupboard above RaeIn’s head. RaeIn looked up at the cupboard door and reached for what seemed to be an impossible task. As she attempted to reach for it, she realized that, yes, it was indeed an impossible task.

“KaHee…” RaeIn whined in attempts to grab her maknae’s attention. KaHee looked over at RaeIn’s futile attempts to reach for the handle.

“Sorry, I’ll get it.” KaHee had several cm on RaeIn so she easily opened the cupboard door and just as easily grabbed the measuring cups.

A couple broken eggs and spilled cups of flour later, KaHee’s (who, bless her soul, was channeling every fiber of self-control to try and be patient) and RaeIn’s baking adventure was underway.

“So, I bet you had a fun time last night,” KaHee said, smugly, still proud of herself for uncovering the missing couple in RaeIn’s room during the party.

“Shut up,” RaeIn replied, as she began to blush. She fidgeted a bit as she poured olive oil into a measuring cup. KaHee watched RaeIn as she poured, quickly stating, “You need a bit more, Unni,” before continuing to bug her leader.

“You guys better be more careful, RaeIn-unni,” KaHee added on as she cracked open a couple eggs, to make up for their loss earlier on when RaeIn tried. “You’re lucky that it was just us that found you and DooJoon out…”

“Troublesome maknae!” RaeIn interrupted, annoyed and still embarrassed about the night before.

“No, seriously, if it was any one else, that would have blown up. You wouldn’t want MAKIKO to have a scandal already, right? We just debuted,” KaHee chirped happily, purposefully trying to get on the leader’s nerves. She couldn’t chastise RaeIn like she did with YoSeob and Dongwoon, but she knew that she would have her revenge for the mess in the kitchen. RaeIn sighed in defeat. However, that didn’t stop KaHee from continuing on, grease dripping from every word. “So, what kind of naughty things were you and oppa up to anyway? I’m sorry if I caught you guys at a bad time…”

“Yah, KaHee!” At this point, RaeIn’s face was as red as the red concoction she was mixing. The two had decided on baking red velvet cupcakes.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” KaHee said, still grinning, still teasing. “Anyway, I wonder what happened with JulSu-unni and HyunSeung-oppa during their ‘date.’” KaHee and RaeIn both laughed at the last word.

“Do you think it was a date?” RaeIn mused, still mixing.

“I guess so. I mean, it was just the two of them. They seemed to have a good time. JulSu hasn’t said anything about it to me yet, though.”

“Me either. Not that I’ve been able to talk to her since then,” RaeIn said. KaHee shot her another sly grin, to which RaeIn retorted with a glare, which resulted in laughs. “I hope DongWoon is feeling better from last night, though.”

“Oh, I know! He was such a pain in the kitchen. JunHyung-oppa was much more help than DongWoon-oppa and YoSeob-oppa combined!” RaeIn winced at the mention of JunHyung’s name, and KaHee noticed. “What’s wrong?”

“The reason why DooJoon and I were in my room last night,” RaeIn started. KaHee’s eyes lit up, excited and curious. RaeIn continued, “It was because we got into a fight.”

“Oh,” KaHee said, scrunching up her face, disappointed at the the story’s lack of juiciness. “What did you fight about?”

“I guess I kept talking about JunHyung too much.”

“What?” KaHee’s eyes lit up again. “Why would you be talking about JunHyung?” Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “But it was yours and DooJoon’s 100 days. And all you could think about was JunHyung. That’s messed up!”

“I know, I know,” RaeIn said, a pang of guilt hitting her again. “But we’re good now. We made up right before you guys walked into the room. That’s why I wanted to do something nice for him today.”

“Ah, I see,” KaHee said, looking at the mixing bowl in RaeIn’s hand. “I guess that is fair.”

“Anyway,” RaeIn said, quickly wanting to change the subject. “How are you and KiKwang?”

“Oh, we’re great!” KaHee said, ecstatically, quick to agree with the subject change. “Although, I really don’t like how he’s always surrounded by girls during filming.”

“Ah, I see. Hence…” RaeIn trailed off to motion towards the mixing bowl in her hand.

“Yup. So, that’s my reason for the cupcakes.” KaHee laughed.

“So, are you guys official yet?”

“Nosy leader,” KaHee said grinning.

“Hey! I’m not the only one wondering. All the members are just watching from the sidelines, wondering what’s taking so long!”

“I don’t know,” KaHee said, still smiling, yet obviously a bit disappointed. “Maybe he doesn’t like me enough to ask me yet.” She meant it in a joking way, but RaeIn could tell that it really bugged her.

“I see,” RaeIn replied, quickly thinking of a subject change to lighten the mood. “Oh! By the way, last night did you notice that JiYong & YoSeob kept watching SaRang-unni while she played StarCraft?”

“Yeah,” KaHee said laughing. “I kept bugging YoSeob to come back to sing karaoke with me too…”