They had performed their debut ten times - meaning ten days in a row, they had performed Curle Fairytale and Hearbeat. Luckily, there were no more malfunctions, and KiHyo only had to do the dance break three times until JaeHwa's ankle healed.

Unfortunately, their eleventh performance - where they were to perform on Show Champion - had been cancelled by the CEO. The upside? They had a day off to gather their energy back from performing so much.

"What do we dooooo~?" Hyera whined. "Unnies~~~!" She flailed around on the living room floor, pouting at the older members of the group.

KiHyo chuckled and knelt down beside the maknae. "We..." She grinned. "Tickle the maknae~!" She said, wiggling her fingers before tickling Hyera's sides.

Shrill laughter filled the dorm as Hyera was tickled by the groups' Umma.

"U-u-unnie~~~" Hyera stuttered out, trying to get away from KiHyo. "S-st-stop~~!"

Noella and Hye Sun walked into the living room from the kitchen; they stopped in the middle of their conversation.

Hye Sun chuckled and shook her head before walking to the couch and sitting between JaeHwa and Shouhui.

Noella walked over to KiHyo and Hyera. She laughed quietly and wrapped her arms around Hyera's waist, pulling her away from KiHyo's tickle-attack. "My maknae." She said softly, sticking her tongue out at KiHyo.

KiHyo laughed. "Ara. Ara." She stood from the floor and bowed to the oldest member. "I concede defeat." She chuckled, walking to the kitchen to start on a mid-morning brunch. "Mai-unnie, do you want to help me with cooking?" She smiled, using what the group had deemed her "mother voice."

Mai sighed dramatically, standing up in an overdone way out of boredom. "Sure." She said, trudging to the kitchen before cracking a smile at KiHyo as they got to work on food.

JaeHwa looked at Noella and Hyera - the maknae had curled into a ball in Noella's lap, much like a kitten - and she shook her head, chuckling to herself. She looked at Shouhui and Hye Sun, smirking as she went from sitting on the couch, to laying across the two members. She put her headphones on and closed her eyes, pretending to sleep.

Hye Sun and Shouhui exchanged a glance and flipped JaeHwa off of the couch and onto the floor, grinning at the group's Appa.

JaeHwa glared back up at the two before smirking and simply laying on the floor.

Ae Sook walked into the living room with a book on demonology that she had actually borrowed from Noella's book collection. She looked around at her group members and rolled her eyes, sitting down in a chair.

After a few minutes of relative silence, KiHyo and Mai walked into the livingroom with two trays of food: a plate of eggs, eight bowls of rice,  a plate of beef and chicken, and a plate of mixed steamed veggies. There were eight pairs of chopsticks - each girl had their own color so they could keep them organized.

They sat and ate most of their meal in silence.

Shouhui looked around at the members and smiled, setting her half-eaten bowl of rice in her lap. "What's everyone's birthday?" She asked, her curiousity getting the best of her finally.

"Why?" Mai questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Just curious," Shouhui smiled, shrugging. "I think it's important to know each other's birthdays..."

"Mine's October 31st~!" Hyera smiled, swallowing her food.

JaeHwa raised an eyebrow at the maknae, shuddering slightly as she saw the youngest member talk with full. "Mine is January 20th."

"My birthday is February 28th." Ae Sook said simply before continuing to eat.

"May 20th," Hye Sun said softly. She just realized that they hadn't celebrated her birthday because they had been celebrating - or rather, hating - their debut day.

"So our anniversary as a group is your birthday?" Shouhui's eyes widened. She found the tidbit of information incredibly interesting.

"Neh..." Hye Sun gave a half smile.

"My birthday is June 21st," Mai said.

"I was born in June as well," Noella smiled slightly, holding a steamed veggie in her chopsticks. "June 6th."

"Mine is December 31st~!" KiHyo smiled.

Shouhui's eyes widened for the second time. "Jinjja? Mine too~! December 31, 1994."

"I'm '93," KiHyo laughed.

The girls finished their brunch, Noella and Shouhui cleaning the dishes.

"Unnies, let's go shopping," Hyera smiled, bouncing into the kitchen from the living room. "The other unnies already said they wanted to and we're waiting on you."

Shouhui nodded. "I'd love to." She smiled.

Noella shrugged. "Sure."

The two finished the dishes and the girls of Faerie got dressed and went to the outdoor mall in the company car that had been left at their dorm.

[Noella | Hye Sun | Mai | Ae Sook | JaeHwa | KiHyo | Shouhui | Hyera]

The eight girls walked around the mall in their own little group. They split up every now and then, but always came back together.

They stopped together at a store that was full of handmade jewelry. They all fell in love with the ear wraps/cuffs the store was selling, and ended up each getting one. They bonded over which one looked best on each girl and which ones they liked. They laughed and talked, all of them coming out of their shells a bit more to each other.

[Noella | Hye Sun | Mai | Ae Sook | JaeHwa | KiHyo | Shouhui | Hyera]

It seemed as if they weren't being recognized, and if they were, no one came up to them. They weren't even wearing disguises - they really didn't care. They ended up sitting down and eating lunch at a small cafe, chatting about that day's purchases as they ate.

After lunch, it seemed like a good idea to go back to the dorm. As they were leaving, a group of four teenaged girls walked up to Faerie, bubble teas in hand.

"Go back to training," the girl at the front and middle of the group smirked as she nodded, her and her three friends throwing their bubble tea all over the idols before turning and leaving.

The eight of them stood in silent shock for a moment, covered in four flavors of bubble tea.

"L-let's get home," Hye Sun said, grabbing Hyera and Shouhui's hands and leading the rest of the girls out to the parking lot.

Noella climbed into the driver's seat and waited for the others to climb in and put their shopping bags in the back. She drove back to the dorm and they all took their turns in the showers, cleaning off the sticky milk and flavoring.

Once they were all in the livingroom, the girls gathered around Hye Sun, who looked uncharacteristically distressed.

"Hye-ah..." Noella said softly, sitting beside the group's leader. "What's wrong...?"

Hye Sun shook her head. "N-nothing."

"That's a lie, unnie," KiHyo stated.

"We're here for you, unnie." JaeHwa said.

"Even though most of us don't show that we're here for anyone except ourselves," Mai added.

Ae Sook nodded in agreement.

"You can tell us what's bothering you, Hye Sun-unnie," Shouhui said, smiling.

Hye Sun looked around at her group members and bit her lip. She didn't want to worry them, but with all of them there, maybe it would be better to just let it out. "I just... I feel as if I should have protected us all somehow from those girls. I mean, what kind of leader am I really?"

There was a moment of silence before JaeHwa clicked her tongue and shook her head.

"Unnie..." JaeHwa sighed. "You're the best leader this group could ever have. You're our leader, and we respect you and trust you as such. We believe in your abilities, unnie."

"There's nothing you could have done about those little twats," Mai shrugged. "They were just being little s."

Hye Sun chuckled instead of glared at Mai for her profanity. She nodded. "I suppose so, I just..."

"Trust us, Hye-ah," Noella smiled softly.

Nodding slowly, Hye Sun sighed. "I've just had bad experiences with trusting people..." She said quietly. "My high school years were spent being outcasted because of certain events..." She bit her lip. "I just don't want to go through it again."

"We've had our pasts too, unnie," KiHyo smiled reassuringly. "We know what it's like, in some way. We're not going to abandon you."

"As a matter of fact, we have some things for you," Hyera smiled, hopping up and going to the room she shared with Noella, Hye Sun, and Ae Sook. She came back with seven small wrapped packages.

Tears formed at the corners of Hye Sun's eyes. "What is this...?"

"Late birthday gifts," Ae Sook shrugged.

"We figured, since we missed it because of not knowing the date," KiHyo started.

"That we would make up for it now that we know your birthday," Mai smiled slightly.

"We don't realy know you very well," Shouhui shrugged, "but we tried."

Hye Sun took the gifts from Hyera and opened them in order of age.

To: Hye-ah
From: Noah
Gift

To: Hye Sun-unnie
From: Mai
Gift

To: Hye Sun
From: Ae Sook
Gift

To: Hye
From: Jacy-appa
Gift

To: Hye-unnie
From: Hyomi-umma
Gift

To: Hye Sun-unnie
From: Shouhui
Gift

To: Unnie~~~
From: Hye #2 xP
Gift

Hye Sun smiled at the gifts, tears forming as quickly as she wiped them away. "Thank you..." She said quietly, glad to have the girls around her. She chuckled and shook her head, knowing things could only get better from there.

~*~*~*~*~

So here's a little update.
The girls bonded a bit, and we have another (semi) past reveal.
^__^
Hope you enjoyed it, sorry I haven't updated.
I've been a bit busy and all that good junk.
<3
Jae