Sunny nervously twiddled her fingers as her manager drove the two of them to her filming location.  She wasn’t sure what she was getting into right now, but when her manager gave her the call about a week ago, there was no way she was going to say no.

~Flashback~

“Where did you go today Minnie?” Sunny asked with a mouthful of popcorn. She had woken up from what felt like the best sleep she’s had in the past few months to find that the owner of the apartment she was in was nowhere to be found. A note she found on the dining table just said that Hyomin would be gone for a few hours, so she decided to occupy herself with the large TV Hyomin had in the living room.

“Um…just did some promotional stuff for Sugar Free. You know how busy it gets when we’re about to make a comeback.” Hyomin lied, hiding the fact that she had just came back from an audition. She was never really the best at lying, but Sunny just nodded and continued to dig into her large bucket of popcorn. Making that stop for snacks was a brilliant decision, Hyomin thought.

“How was your sleep? Feeling better?” Hyomin asked the girl beside her, who was currently engrossed in watching The Lone Ranger.

“Yeah, best sleep I’ve had in months. I think I really needed to get all that off my chest. Thanks for everything you’ve done Minnie.” Sunny looked at her and smiled, unaware that she had bits of popcorn stuck to her face.

“Aish such a little kid.” Hyomin said and leaned in closer to Sunny to pick the pieces of popcorn off her friend’s face, trying to hide the red tinge on her face that came from Sunny’s thanks.

Her thumb brushed briefly against the corner of Sunny’s lip and the shorter girl immediately froze up at the contact, suddenly hyper-aware of every single nerve ending around the area where Hyomin had made contact. Sunny’s face burned bright red and she was glad that Hyomin wasn’t paying attention because if not she would have probably realised the effect her tiny brush had on the SNSD member.

“How do you eat?! You even have some in your hair!” Sunny heard Hyomin exclaim and felt the other girl pick out bits and pieces of kernel off her bangs. Sunny had to look down out of embarrassment. Not because of her juvenile eating habits, but because of the close proximity between the two.

They were best friends, but Sunny would be a liar if she said she didn’t wish some of the dating rumours surrounding the two would be true. Sunbyung. Was that what the fans called it? She didn’t really like the name. Hyomin was more than a folding screen to her. Sometimes, the T-ara singer meant more to Sunny than she would even dare to admit to herself, and she knew the other girl had similar feelings but nobody would dare to admit it first in fear that they would jeopardize the friendship. They were stuck in a “Some” relationship, as Soyou and Junggigo once sang about.

Sunny realised that the hand that tucked her hair behind her ear was now cupping her face and as soon as Sunny looked up she got her breath stolen from her.

Hyomin was looking straight into Sunny’s eyes, and the shorter girl saw so much love and adoration in them that she couldn’t look away. Were all those emotions just for her? She actually felt undeserving of such attention, but she immediately felt a sense of lost when Hyomin closed her eyes. The taller girl had tilted her head slightly, and was slowly leaning in.

Sunny just sat there with her eyes wide open, hardly able to believe the situation she was in. Was this actually happening? Should she be allowing this to happen? Why wasn’t she moving? Was she actually leaning in as well?

A loud techno sound soundly came from Sunny’s pocket and Hyomin immediately withdrew herself, nearly falling off the sofa in the process. Her face was as red as Sunny’s, and both wore the exact same flustered expression. Hyomin inwardly cursed at how her own group’s song had ruined what could have been a moment between them.

Sunny hurriedly pressed ‘answer’ on her phone to end ‘Number 9’ from blasting through it and scrambled to pick up her words that was currently scattered on the floor along with the rest of the popcorn in order to talk to her manager.

“Y-yes oppa? What is it?”

Sunny half-listened to her manager when he started talking about business stuff because she was still very aware of every single movement Hyomin was making. The girl beside her was currently cleaning up the popcorn they had dropped, and Sunny felt awful because she had been nothing but a nuisance to her friend the entire day.

“Sunny, are you even listening?” Sunny heard from the other end of the receiver.

“Huh? Sorry oppa I was a bit preoccupied. Can you repeat that?”

“I said, we’ve received a casting call from the producers of Roommate over at SBS. They want you to be one of the fixed members of the second season. The slot is all yours if you want to do it, so what do you think?”

Sunny had to force her brain to work for a minute. Roommate…was the show with Park Bom and Chanyeol was it not? It was a show where she would have to live in a house with other celebrities, and the cameras would film their interactions. A sudden thought came to Sunny.

“Oppa, does that mean I’m going to have to move out from the dorm?”

“Not really. I mean, you CAN stay exclusively at the house if you want, it’s there for your usage. The cameras won’t be switched on all the time so you could stay—“ 

“I’ll do it!!” Sunny interjected her manager, excitement in her voice.

~End Flashback~

“We’re here Sunny.” Sunny heard her manager call out to her from the driver’s seat.

Sunny got up from her seat and was about to exit the van when she felt her manager grab her arm. She turned to see a soft expression on his features, one that she hasn’t seen in awhile. He has been having a hard time because of Jessica’s predicament as well, and she missed seeing that smile on his face no matter how strained it may seem.

“Sunny…enjoy yourself okay? Make friends with them, but remember to always keep your phone on you in case of any…emergencies.” Her manager finished, alluding to the tense situation that Girls’ Generation was now facing.

“Yes dad. Man it’s as if you’re sending me off to school for the first time or something.” Sunny joked. They got off the car and her manager helped her unpack her suitcase from the trunk. Once the last bag was unloaded, he just gave one last smile before turning to get back into the driver’s seat.

“Hey Sunny!” Sunny heard her manager whisper as she was walking away.

“Help me get Nana’s number!” Sunny just laughed at her manager and waved him off, not bothering to check if he was serious or not. She barely even knew the Afterschool girl.

She was the first to arrive she just realised, and she immediately noticed the cameras filming her from the side. She noticed Sang Hyuk PD, the man that had suggested her to be on this show waving at her from behind a battalion of lenses aimed right at her.

She took one look around and realised that she frequents the area often to eat breakfast. Remembering that she was being filmed, she decided to voice her thoughts out loud.

“Ahh…Seongbukdeong! I come here to get breakfast often!” She exclaimed out loud to nobody in particular. This was getting awkward. She hoped that somebody else would arrive soon.

About 10 minutes later, a black van pulled over in front of her, and she noticed that it was the kind of van that only celebrities use. Either that or it was a large family that decided to stop to get some coffee in the coffee shop behind her.

The passenger door of the van slid open, and Otani Ryohei stepped out, the morning sun washing over his face enhancing his already good looks. Sunny did not have time to watch the “Roaring Currents” movie that he starred in recently, but she heard that it was a very impressive flick.

The pair of them awkwardly bowed to each other and exchanged greetings. Sunny racked her brain for conversation topics, but she really did not know enough about Ryohei to start a conversation. She really wished that he wouldn’t be the second one to arrive.

“You’re from…Girls’ Generation right?” She heard him ask.

“Yeah I am.” She smiled, grateful at his attempt of breaking the silence.

“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to be rude. I just really don’t know much about idols in this country.” Ryohei said while rubbing the back of his neck, looking apologetic.

Ryohei was basically admitting to her that he knew as much about her as she does about him, and for that she was grateful. It was always an awkward situation when two celebrities meet, because it could be taken as an insult if she didn’t know much about the other celebrity. Now they could be more comfortable with each other.

“It’s alright! There’s so many of us anyway. You’re from Japan right?”

“Err…yeah.”

Okay, she made it awkward again. Maybe that wasn’t exactly the best question to ask. Of course someone named Otani Ryohei would be from Japan. Stupid Sunny! Stupid Sunny! She just stared at the road in front of them, praying that someone else that she was more familiar with arrives because apparently her ability to communicate and meet new people is on par with a fish’s ability to go bowling.

The pair just stood there in awkward silence, neither knowing what to say to the other. It wasn’t long before another car pulled up in front of them, and Sunny accidentally let out a loud breath of relief that Ryohei somehow managed to miss.

This time it was a woman, and her large frame easily identified her as Lee Gook Ju. Gook Ju came out of the van while dancing, and her excited demeanor immediately broke the air of awkwardness that Sunny and Ryohei had set. Sunny’s eyes went wide when she saw all of the items that Gook Ju had brought, and Ryohei busied himself with fiddling a meat griller that Gook Ju had dubbed “her most prized possession.” It looked like the comedienne was set on spending a lot of time in her new share house.

“Since it’s a bit awkward to stand out here, maybe the both of you could go in for some coffee while I take care of the bags.” Ryohei had suggested, causing Sunny to smile at how mannerly he was. She could tell that he was really trying his best to fit in, so she took him up on his offer although she had to practically drag Gook Ju with her because the latter wanted some alone time with Ryohei.

****

“Omo! He’s so good looking!!” Gook Ju exclaimed while snapping pictures of Ryohei through the coffee shop window.

“Unnie aren’t you being a bit of a paparazzi right now?” Sunny asked while awkwardly laughing at her co-star/roommate.

“We’re practically family now aren’t we Sunny? Besides, look at how good looking he is!” Gook Ju, showing Sunny the photos she just took. Sunny had to admit that Ryohei did look like he was shooting a CF for suitcases, sitting outside bathing in the morning sun surrounded by their luggage.

Sunny has met Gook Ju before on other projects, but she’s never really had a chance to have an actual conversation with her. Sunny liked this, sitting in a coffee shop with the older woman while their conversation shifted topics from expectations for the show to boys. She found herself laughing at Gook Ju’s jokes and marveling at how comfortable Gook Ju was in her own skin. Out of the corner of her eye she saw another van pull over infront of Ryohei, so Sunny and Gook Ju decided to grab the drinks that they bought to share with the others and headed out to greet the newcomer.

Sunny immediately recognized the newcomer. He has been appearing on TV a lot and has been making his way around the variety circuit, but Sunny had never really had a chance to work with him. From what she’s heard of Got7’s Jackson however, he was going to be quite the handful.

“Hello, I’m Jackson.” He greeted her with a deep bow, which Sunny clumsily tried to return while balancing all the drinks she was carrying. Noticing this, Jackson immediately offered to carry the drinks for her, earning a cheer from Gook Ju for his manners.

“I’m from Got7. We’re a rookie group that just debuted this year, in case you didn’t know.” Jackson informed her while passing Ryohei a drink.

“Of course I know Got7! JYP right? Aishh you’re taking my job as a radio DJ lightly.” Sunny replied, teasing the rookie idol.

“Yeah! JYP! Nonono I didn’t mean to imply that!” Jackson hurriedly tried to apologize which made Sunny laugh at successfully making the boy panic a little.

“I’m just messing with you Jackson! JYP people are known to be some of the friendliest people around, so let’s be good friends.” Sunny beamed at the rookie idol while patting his back.

Jackson breathed a sigh of relief before offering her his fist, which she bumped with her own. Jackson kind of reminded her of a puppy. He had bright inquisitive eyes that looked curiously at everything, and was fun to play around with. If he was any smaller she would pick him up and toss him into the air.

It wasn’t long until another car pulled up in front of them, and out came Park Joon Hyung. Sunny clenched her fists to hide the fact that her stomach started doing backflips. She was a huge G.O.D fan, and although they’ve met a few times, Sunny still had problems hiding her inner fangirl. Sunny also hadn’t seen him in a long time, so she wondered if his personality was still the same.

“YO WADDUP POOP JU!!”

Ryohei nearly spat out his drink and Sunny tried her best to stifle her laughter at the elder’s sudden outburst while a flustered Gook Ju corrected his pronunciation of her name. Joon started to introduce himself and Sunny couldn’t help but laugh at every single thing he said. She noticed even the staff and production crew were having an immensely difficult time containing their laughter. The man really knew how to leave an impression. She would come to realize later that this was the most she had laughed in a very, very long time.

Park Minwoo and Jo Seho arrived not long after to take the new members to the share house location, and Sunny couldn’t help but feel excited. She was going to live in a house with all these amazing personalities, and some of these people she had just met for the first time today. She couldn’t wait to meet her other family members. She couldn’t remember the last time she’s felt this excited about something.

In the car on the way to the house Sunny felt a vibration in her pocket, and she checked to find a new text from Hyomin.

Message from Hyomin: Hey Bunny! Hope you’re having a good time right now with your new friends! Take lots of pictures of the house for me okay?

Sunny smiled reading her text, until she remembered there were cameras everywhere and she must have looked ridiculous just staring at her phone with a goofy grin plastered on her face.

Message sent: I sure am Minnie! I’ll be sure to send you some pictures when I find the time. Don’t forget to eat! You can’t perform on an empty stomach!

“The house coming up on your right is going to be our house.” Seho called out from the front seat right after Sunny hit ‘send’ on her phone.

Sunny started bouncing in her seat, eager and excited to set foot inside the house that she was going to be sharing with 11 others.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm sorry for taking a long while to update this! I usually write a few chapters ahead to make sure I'm on the right track with the story. I only publish a chapter when I'm satisfied with a future chapter, and I just finished chapter 9 after about 2 weeks of writing and rewriting it. It just became a whole mess where I wasn't sure what to add and remove from the story and in the end that chapter became close to 4000 words. Gonna have to revisit that soon. 

Originally this chapter did not have that flashback scene at the beginning, but I had to include it after seeing somebody propose to his girlfriend of 5 years while I was in a restaurant. I just got a bit mushy and had to deal with all those lovey dovey feelings somehow. hahaha

Also, there probably won't be as much Hyomin in the story as I would like. The main element of the story is how Sunny heals and deals with the pressures of being in SNSD, hence the title of the story. I still put in as much Sunbyung as I can without making it seem forced though!

Shoutout to sunminforever and jsssst for upvoting the story, and a huge thank you to all the comments and subscribers this story has been getting!