y god, Jin!”

 

Nana groaned and planted her face into her pillow, trying to ignore the girl that was currently using her bed as a trampoline. Unfortunately for the sleepy girl, the annoyance did not go away just because she was ignoring it. Instead, Lizzy pulled her arms roughly and whisper-shouted excitedly, her eyes bright as she continued to bounce.

 

“Jin! Look outside!”

 

Jin Ah raised her head dejectedly, one eye barely opening to see what SooYoung was pointed at and she groaned again.

 

“SooYoung, it’s 3 in the morning. We have practice at 7.”

 

“But it’s snowing, Jin!”

 

“We see snow all the time! What are you talking about?”

 

“This is fresh snow!”

 

Nana dropped her head heavily on her pillow and closed her eyes tightly, hoping to God that Lizzy wouldn’t suggest what she knew was going on in the younger girl’s head.

 

“Let’s go play!”

 

Nana mumbled into her pillow.

 

“We’ll die of hypothermia.”

 

“Please, Jin?”

 

She could hear the pout in Lizzy’s voice.

 

Nana groaned into her pillow and knew that it was inevitable.

 

*

 

“Why are we outside?”

 

JooYeon scrunched her nose and blew into her hands, the dark haired woman blinking sleepily, irritated that her younger members had pulled her outside. Beside her, KaEun was jumping in her spot excitedly, the youngest girl cupping her hands to catch the falling snow. Uee looked equally disgruntled, her eyes hidden beneath the beanie as she tried to make herself as small as possible against the biting wind.

 

“Because we have a maniac for a group member.”

 

JungAh countered back, just as irritated as the other two.

 

Lizzy spun around happily and laughed, E-Young flicking snow at her.

 

“I need sleep.”

 

Nana huddled into her scarf, the lower half of her face shielded from the elements as she slumped heavily against a dozing Raina. The brunette nodded in agreement.

 

“We should leave the three of them out here.”

 

As the older members started to move, a snowball flew out of nowhere and creamed JooYeon in her face.

 

“What the- Park SooYoung!”

 

Lizzy laughed gaily and pranced away, not before tossing a snowball at Uee, the tall girl barely avoiding it due to her stature. It was enough to push JooYeon and Uee into action, the two women running after a giggling Lizzy, both shouting at the top of their voices. JungAh sighed heavily and trudged after them, calling out weakly to remind them that there were other people sleeping in the cul-de-sac.

 

A snowball hit the back of her head.

 

The oldest member whipped around sharply and tried looking for the culprit but all she saw was Nana and Raina dozing off in the cold while KaEun and E-Young were nowhere to be found. Unwillingly, she found her competitive streak raging and she ran off in the same direction as JooYeon and Uee, intent on waging war.

 

Raina snorted softly.

 

“I’m too old for this.”

 

Nana sighed.

 

“I’m too cold for thi-Aieee!”

 

The blonde jerked sharply and jumped from one foot to another, screaming bloody murder as she did so. Raina started to laugh and slumped onto the ground, tears pooling at her eyes at the sight.

 

While the both of them were unaware, KaEun and Lizzy had snuck up behind Nana and dumped snow down her scarf. Raina could only imagine how much had gotten into Nana’s shirt.

 

“SooYoung!”

 

The blonde lunged at the laughing girl, unintentionally taking down both Raina and KaEun with her. The four girls screamed in unison, Raina and KaEun from surprise, Nana and Lizzy mostly from the mock fight they were having.

 

*

 

Somehow, even though most of them were reluctant in the first place, the eight of them ended up having a free for all snowball fight. Nana had long decided to forgo packing snowballs, opting to instead use her long limbs to her advantage and just barrage anybody who came near her with the snow that was steadily piling on the ground.  It was a method tried and successful as none of the other girls would even come within a feet of her, as long as she stayed in an area where snow was plentiful.

 

“Incoming!”

 

She barely had time to react when Lizzy came barreling at her, the brunette seemingly bored of waiting for Nana to come after her whilst the rest of the girls were screaming at each other and pelting the supposed enemy with snowballs. The two of them crashed into the snow bank Nana had as her ammo reserve and rolled slightly, Lizzy giggling when she came up on top.

 

“Surrender!”

 

Lizzy held her weapon high above her head, flakes slipping from between her fingers as she waggled her eyebrows. Nana smiled widely and shook her head, her hands coming up to rest on Lizzy’s waist.

 

“Surrender!”

 

Nana only grinned wider and curled her fingers slightly.

 

“Nope.”

 

Lizzy pouted.

 

“Why not-“

 

The brunette started wiggling away, her giggles turning into the scream/laughter that she was known for. Lizzy curled onto the ground when her back met the snow bank, allowing Nana to gain the upper hand.

 

“That’s why.”

 

Lizzy was still laughing softly but had seemed to calm down enough to stare up at Nana. Unlike the blonde, Lizzy made no move to regain her position, choosing to instead tug on Nana’s collar, bringing the older girl’s face closer to her own. Nana cocked her head to one side, her forearms soaked from the snow that was her arms’ resting place.

 

“Hi.”

 

Nana smiled and leant forwards, brushing her nose softly against the younger girl’s, Lizzy giggling as she did so.

 

“Hi.”

 

Lizzy closed her eyes and questioned softly.

 

“Did you have fun? I only wanted everybody to have fun.”

 

Nana had figured out that Lizzy thought that they were all too stressed out with all the practicing for their comeback, the second one without Kahi. It was so like Lizzy to worry about everybody but went about it in a strange way.

 

“Yeah, I did.”

 

Lizzy opened her eyes and smiled widely, her neck stretching just so to kiss Nana softly. Soon, one peck turned into two and when Lizzy opened to receive more of Nana’s warmth, Nana’s arms gave out and she laid her whole weight on Lizzy.

 

“The neighbours are going to see you!”

 

A pile of snow followed JungAh’s exasperated scolding, the two girls breaking apart hurriedly before they were completely buried with the landscape.

 

“Let’s go back inside before everyone catches a cold.”

 

JungAh pulled the both of them up, the older woman shaking her head with a small smile. Behind her, Uee and JooYeon were ushering the kids back into the house, all of them were soaked from the fight.

 

*

 

JungAh handed out the hot chocolate, the leader fussing over each of the shivering girls under blankets. Lizzy was resting her head on Nana’s lap, the younger girl snuggled up comfortably and curled up like a puppy and falling asleep with Nana playing with her hair.

 

“Let’s have a day off tomorrow. It is just practice for us.”

 

Nana nodded once at JungAh, the older woman coming to sit beside her. The rest of the girls were already dozing off, each of them resting in futons that had been laid out on the floor of the living room. The house was quiet for once and the lights reflected the shadows of falling snow on the other side of the window. Nana kept her head bent down, caressing Lizzy’s cheek with her finger.

 

“We’ve done really well so far, haven’t we?”

 

The blonde looked over to JungAh, the brunette looking at the mural they had painted on the living room wall with a wistful expression. Nana followed where her eyes were at and found herself looking at caricatures of Bekah and Kahi. Snuggling closer to JungAh without jostling Lizzy too much, the blonde rested her head on the older woman’s shoulder and whispered softly.

 

“We’re doing the best we’ve always had.”

 

Things were never the same without Bekah and Kahi, but as Lizzy had tried to prove tonight, they were still family, even with different members coming in. Someday, in the future, another change would be there and again, they’d have to work towards the same sort of normalcy they had now.

 

But for now, with seven other girls, seven other kind hearted, beautiful girls, Nana saw Lizzy’s point.

 

They were still family.

 

And like always, they still loved each other.

 

Nana smiled to herself and placed her palm over Lizzy’s cheek, closing her eyes and surrendering herself to the arms of sleep.