"Alright, everyone take five!"

As soon as the cue was given, there was a collective sigh of relief from everyone, apart from the choreographer in charge.

Shoulders slumping, features creased, weary with exhaustion and skin slicked with sweat, Yuri trudged her way to the side of the dance studio. She gave a sigh, flopping back against one of the large mirrors in the studio as she sat herself, cross-legged, while she attempted to steady her ragged breaths.

Fingers seeking out for her canteen of water feebly, she took a large swig from it, gulping water down as if it was the nectar of life, savoring the sensation of the cool liquid slithering down her scorchingly parched throat.

They had been at it with their brand new choreography for their coming single for at least the past twelve hours now and she was more than sure that this was probably one of the more complex choreographies they had ever done so far.

It was a fresh new style, topped with a slightly boyish charm and the music had a rather… unique sound that was unlike any of their previous title songs. It was something they hadn’t tried before in the past and they could only wonder how would the public receive it.

With hate or with love?

It was the single most question they often asked themselves— worry themselves over.

The fans. It was always for the fans.

 Always.

But really, with only two more months to their much-awaited comeback, the only thing they could do as of now, was to work hard and deliver their very best. And naturally, the rest would come easy.

Hopefully.

Yuri could feel the familiar burn in her muscles— especially her thighs and her arms. Hear them protest at even the slightest movement. But it was all good— just the parts and parcel of learning and mastering a new choreography.

Vision flickering and focusing ahead of her, she was greeted by the sight of a grinning Yoona next to a giggling Jessica who was pounding away at her shoulder with a clenched fist.

Yuri scowled.

How they even managed to find the energy to joke about like this was honestly beyond her comprehension, thought Yuri darkly.

Groaning (growling) softly, she used the back of her hand to wipe off the crop of sweat above her brow and clenched her eyes shut, willing the scene before her to fade to black.

However still, she was unable to tune out Jessica’s distinctly shrill giggles from penetrating her eardrums. And it only served to fuel her increasingly dark mood.

“Mind if I sit with you?”

Eyelids snapping up, she was faced with the beaming face of none other than Tiffany Hwang.

Yuri gave a shrug, smiling absently. “Go ahead,” she said as Tiffany then plopped herself down beside her with a sigh.

There was a short stretch of silence between them.

Yuri gave the studio a brief scan, noticing it to be a lot less packed than usual considering that there were supposed to be ten of them, including the choreographer.

Sitting in the corner, was Sunny with her earphones plugged in as she nursed on her canteen of water while staring blankly into the spot in front of her.

Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, Seohyun and Taeyeon were nowhere to be seen.

Hm.

They were probably freshening up in the washroom or something.

“Well, aren’t they chummy with each other?”

Yuri didn’t even need to look up to know who Tiffany was referring to as she schooled her features carefully, not allowing the slightest hint of a frown from crossing her lips.

“That’s nice,” murmured Yuri distantly.

“Ooh, someone’s bitter.” Tiffany grinned, lightly bumping shoulders with her, eyes sparkling with tease.

Yuri, in turn, shot her a withering smile

She forced herself to watch the duo, taking in the sight of Jessica leaning in, cupping a hand to Yoona’s ear as she whispered something to her before breaking into tumultuous laughter while Yoona snorted, laughed and clapped her hands together.

Yuri couldn’t help the slight wrinkle of her brow at that.

In addition to their whole ‘hot and cold’ situation, Jessica had been spotted spending an increasingly amount of time with Yoona for the past couple of months.

And it was something Yuri wasn’t exactly thrilled about.

Yes, she knew she was being unreasonably childish about it. Getting jealous over something as trivial as… this. An unnie spending more time with a dongsaeng. There was nothing wrong with that. But Yuri still didn’t like it.

She had to remind herself for the thousandth time.

They weren’t together anymore. They weren’t.

Whoever Jessica wanted to be ‘chummy with’, she didn’t need to care. It was none of her business.

Maybe it was good, in a sense that now she was off her back, Yuri could finally put that much-needed distance and draw out that fine line between them once more and set things right for once.

“So are you gonna’ sleep over back at the dorm tonight?”

Yuri blinked, snapping out of her deep train of thoughts. “Oh, um, yeah. I am.”

Tiffany made a soft hum. “Trying to escape?” she asked, subtly tilting her head in the direction of the pair across them.

“Partly. Dorm is closer to the studio anyway.”

“True,” nodded Tiffany pensively. “So… “ She turned towards her expectantly, adorning a slight smile. “I’ve been hearing that you’ve found yourself an interest in that newbie group— APink?”

Yuri pursed her lips. Flashes of a familiar mature beauty fleeted across her mind’s eye. “I guess you could say that,” she replied airily.

“Hmm, I wonder who has caught your attention this time…” Tiffany mused with a slight quirk of a brow.

“Tall, tanned and pretty…” Yuri found herself whispering absently.

“Who?”

She shrugged, lips curling enigmatically. “A cute little dongsaeng,” she offered breezily with no further elaboration.

“What, so you’ve decided to abandon our Juhyunnie for another?” Tiffany gave a scandalized, exaggerated gasp, eyes twinkling in jest.

Yuri chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Well, at least Hayoungie doesn’t go about lecturing her Unnies on the frequent consumption of fast food.”

“True that!” Tiffany laughed, bumping fists with Yuri. As their laughter began to die down a little, she began with a genial smile. “So, Hayoung huh... Isn’t she the maknae or something?”

“Yeah, she is.”

“Hmm… I had no idea you were into younger girls.” Tiffany sounded thoughtful.

“As of now, she’s just a dongsaeng of mine.”

Tiffany smirked. “As of now,” she repeated with a slight raise of a brow, eyes glittering with much implication and amusement.

Yuri snorted and waved her off flippantly.

There was a short beat of silence.

The shorter brunette redirected her gaze ahead of her and Yuri trailed after her, momentarily meeting the eyes of a certain Ice Princess. She held her stare for a good three seconds; pretending that it didn’t exactly bore right into her, stirring up all sorts of emotions in her.

Then, with as much indifference as she could muster, she tore her eyes away and picked at her canteen of water once more.

If it was ‘hot and cold’ she wanted, then ‘hot and cold’ she would get.

Tiffany’s soft sigh penetrated the brief moment of silence between them.

“Jessica’s been ranting to me lately.”

“About?”

“She doesn’t actually say it out loud, but it’s clear that she doesn’t like you showing interest in that group.”

Yuri chewed on the inside of her cheek, hesitating. “I know,” she said, softly.

“You know?” The brunette asked, surprised.

“Look, Fany. I may be oblivious, but I’m not that oblivious.”

“So?”

“So what?”

“Aren’t you going to do anything?”

Yuri snorted. “Like what?”

“She’s jealous, so she must still feel something for you. So go win her back or something!” Tiffany exclaimed, albeit making sure to keep her voice low enough such that the duo sitting opposing them wouldn’t hear.

“Things aren’t that simple, Fany-ah…” Yuri sighed wistfully, “We’re over. History. She doesn’t want me back. “ She said with a grim smile. “And honestly, neither do I.”

Tiffany scoffed. “We both know that, that’s the biggest lie of the century.”

A sardonic smile curled at the Black Pearl’s lips, although she made no move in denying it or accepting it entirely.

“Five minutes is up, everyone back to positions!”

Sighing, Yuri hoisted herself up sluggishly. “Come on, back to work.” She offered a hand to the sitting brunette before her, grinning lazily down at her.

“Don’t think we’re done with this conversation just yet.”

Huffing, Tiffany took her hand.

--

A/N: A quick update for you guys. Thank you all so much for taking time to read/subscribe/up-vote and comment, it means a lot to me and I really, really appreciate it. Things are going to get a little rough. You'll be submerged with an abundance of angst from YulSic and suffocated to death by fluff from YulYoung. And yeah, I'll see you guys soon! :)