Young Ji wandered off on her own to explore the dressing room area of MBC’s Show Champion. It’s only been less than 2 months since she’s debuted as a member of Kara so she’s developed this habit of just staring into space and trying to soak in everything around her. She’s been wanting this her whole life, so just staring at the stage crew setting up the props for Mamma Mia can reduce her to tears. In fact, she’s teared up on random occasions because she still can’t believe how fortunate she is, to the amusement of her Kara unnies.

“Ah! Young Ji!” the redhead heard a familiar voice call out to her from behind, snapping her out of her thoughts.

It was T-ara’s Soyeon, whom she met a few nights ago at the Sugar Free showcase. The T-ara vocalist had grown fond of Young Ji, and they have even texted each other from time to time.

“What are you doing over here? Isn’t your dressing room on the other side of the building?” Soyeon asked Young Ji, mainly because the younger girl looked complete lost and had no idea where she was.

“I sorta decided to take a walk. It’s one of Mamma Mia’s last stages, so I kinda wanted to just soak it all in unnie.”

“Well if you’re free, how bout you come in for awhile to play?” Soyeon suggested while holding the door to her dressing room open invitingly.

“Is it okay? I don’t want to disturb you guys…”

“Pfft. Just come in. Most of these bums are asleep anyways. They’re no fun.” Soyeon stated before practically ushering Young Ji into the room.

The T-ara dressing room was slightly bigger than Kara’s, which was understandable due to there being more people. What Young Ji found fascinating however, was how innovative the T-ara members were in taking naps. They had pushed two sofas together to form sort of a day-bed, and the members were lounging on it leisurely. Qri and Boram were fast asleep, and Ji Yeon looked as if she was halfway there. Eunjung was texting on her phone in a corner while Hyomin was practicing her choreo, stopping only to greet the newcomer before she continued dancing.

“Yo Hyomin. Chill it for a sec. You’re gonna wear yourself out before we even get on stage.” Soyeon called out to her groupmate, pulling out a chair for Young Ji to sit in.

“But there’s nothing to do and I’m bored.” Hyomin whined, but stopped dancing anyways.

“Why don’t you take a cue from Eunjung there and text your significant other?” Soyeon gestured to the short-haired girl who was smiling into her phone.

“Hey I heard that! I’m just texting a friend right now.” Eunjung defended herself to a disinterested Soyeon.

“Yea yeah. Tell Min Woo oppa we said hi.” Soyeon made sure to emphasize the ‘oppa’ part and was nearly taken off her chair by a cushion that came flying in mach speed from Eunjung’s direction.

Young Ji’s eyes grew wide when she heard Min Woo’s name being mentioned. No wonder he looks extra chirpy lately. Young Ji grinned fascinatedly and wondered about what she could do with this brand new piece of information.

“Oh by the way Young Ji….thanks for not mentioning to Sunny that you saw me the other day at SBS.” Young Ji turned her gaze away from Eunjung to see Hyomin seated on a chair close to her, looking at her with eyes b with gratitude.

“No problem. But uh…may I ask why is it a secret?” Young Ji asked, wondering if she had the right to be asking such a question. It could be a sensitive subject for all she knew.

“Sunny doesn’t know that I auditioned for Roommate, and I don’t want her to know. It might make her feel bad.” Hyomin answered, but Young Ji still had a confused expression on her face. Hyomin was about ready to just leave it at that when Soyeon decided to supply the answers to Young Ji’s befuddlement.

“Hyomin doesn’t want Sunny to know that she gave up her part for her.”

Young Ji’s jaw dropped. “B-but why?!” She sputtered out. It was such a huge opportunity! Well, it was huge for her anyways. Maybe Hyomin didn’t really need the exposure, but it didn’t add up. Every celebrity could use the exposure.

“People do silly things when they’re in love Young Jiii~” A voice came from the couch. Apparently Jiyeon had given up trying to sleep.

Love? Wait…. LOVE?!

Young Ji’s eyes went from Jiyeon to Hyomin who’s face was bright red and refused to look at her. Remembering how intimate the two were the other day during the showcase and Young Ji let out an audible gasp as it finally clicked in her head.

“Okay so we didn’t exactly call you in here to drop that bomb on you. Sorry for that.” Soyeon said with an apologetic smile. “How bout I make it up to you?”

Young Ji was still in a daze, but turned to Soyeon at the prospect of getting a free gift.

“In exchange for keeping everything you’ve heard today a secret, how about we give you some autographed cds?” Soyeon suggested, and Young Ji beamed at the idea.

********************

Sunny stood rooted to the spot, eyes wide as she scanned the small structure in front of her while making mental notes as to every single possible way this…thing she was looking at could inflict pain on her.

She was afraid.

What on earth was this medieval torture device that she was asked to step into? It was a structure standing at about 8 feet in height, composing of metal poles and intimidating looking harnesses. The woman standing next to her was actively trying to coax the idol into strapping herself into the erse structure, but every single fibre in her being is screaming for her to belay that order.

Maybe she could try to talk her way out of this? No, that wouldn’t work. Her captor was much too steel-hearted to fall for any tricks Sunny had up her sleeve. Sunny turned to the woman on her left and tried her best to evoke a sense of pity from the woman to get out of this situation.

“Unnie…I have a confession.”

“What is it?” The woman next to her curtly responded, arms folded and wearing a satisfied smirk on her face.

“The other day when we were eating lunch….it wasn’t Oi who took your sandwich when you weren’t looking. It…it was me and I blamed the dog. I’m so sorry…”

There was a pause and Sunny saw the woman’s shoulders bouncing slightly. Was she laughing? Sunny found nothing about this situation amusing.

“Well, thank you for that confession Sunny. But you’re still not getting off the hook.”

“You’re going to be using hooks on me?!” Sunny asked incredulously, trying to make sure her ears weren’t failing her.

“Sunny it’s just Pilates! Stop making such a big deal about it!” Jong Ok replied, trying her best to look annoyed but failing due to how adorable her roommate was acting.

“But this hurts!”

“You just haven’t stretched in awhile. The human body is much more flexible than you think.” Jong Ok tried her best to inspire her roommate.

“Yeah well, my human body seems to be unaware of that fact.” Sunny grumbled, but strapped her legs into the structure anyways.

Jong Ok had told Sunny before in a past conversation that she goes for Pilates at least twice a week. Wanting to spend more time with her roommate, Sunny had decided to tag along on one of Jong Ok’s Pilates lessons, but the plan seems to have backfired on her. Instead of bonding and creating conversation, the only sounds that were coming out of the SNSD singer’s mouth were moans, groans, and constant cries for her mom to come save her from the torture.

Sunny couldn’t help but jump for joy when their instructor told them that they were done for the day. Or at least she attempted to jump, but could only get away with a slight hop due to her body still aching from being stretched in the weirdest of ways. Surprisingly, she felt slightly more limber and lighter than before. Maybe Jong Ok was on to something with this, she thought.

The pair decided to grab lunch before they headed back, and tried to look for a restaurant that could accommodate the pair of them and their entourage of cameramen and audio crew that had followed them to the gym.

Finding a suitable noodle shop, Sunny sent a message to the Roommate chatroom to ask if her roommates wanted anything. She received a slew of responses, stating that the other members have already eaten their lunch. A reply that came slightly later from Young Ji however stated that she was in the MBC building nearby getting ready for her stage performance and she hadn’t eaten yet. Jong Ok started fussing to Sunny about how idols these days have to remember to eat, so Sunny invited Young Ji to come join them when she gets a break.

Their food had barely arrived when the chime hanging on the entrance rang causing the hungry Sunny and Jong Ok to look up from their food, but to their surprise it wasn’t Young Ji that came in, it was Jackson.

“Ahhh I’m so hungry! Is the Bibimbap here good?” Jackson asked as he flopped himself into the empty seat across from them, draping his jacket onto the back of the empty chair beside him.

“Jackson it’s a noodle shop. I think their specialty would be their noodles.” Jong Ok replied, while Sunny just nodded in agreement to her roommates words, not wanting to tear away from her bowl of noodles.

“Yeah, but they sell Bibimbap too! A good restaurant should sell only good food right? Or else why would they put it on the menu?” Jackson argued, and the pair of women in front of him found it hard to argue with his logic. That was just the kind of boy Jackson was.

Although Sunny has been living in the Roommate house for slightly longer than a week now, she hasn’t really had the opportunity to spend time with Jackson. Circumstances always prevented it, either clashing schedules or the fact that Jackson has usually gone to work by the time the sleep-loving Sunny has woken up. She did notice however from his interactions with Joon Hyung and Young Ji that he was slightly childish in his actions, and his personality was magnetic. You can’t help but notice when Jackson walks into the room, which is similar to his JYP senior Joon Hyung.

“How long has it been since you’ve debuted Jackson?” Jong Ok asked.

“About 7…no 8 months? Yeah that’s about right.” Jackson replied as he ordered a large bowl of bibimbap from the waitress.

“How are you enjoying your life as an idol? As glamorous as you thought it’d be?” Sunny asked while slurping down a long strand of noodle. She has to admit, she was pretty intrigued by Jackson. She felt that there was something more to him behind his loud exterior.

“It’s not glamorous at all! Hours of dance practice, having to wake up early in the morning to get my hair and make-up done and I can’t even have those celebrity moments where I get recognized by fans on the streets because we rarely even have time to go out.” Jackson took a break in between complaining to catch his breath, before he continued.

“JYP-hyung keeps making me repeat the same lines over and over again in the studio, and sleeping in a van hurts my neck!” Jackson finally finished, looking relieved as he finally got all that off his chest.

“It’s the best isn’t it?” Sunny asked with a knowing smile.

“Wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world.” Jackson reciprocated her smile with one of his own, and a bewildered Jong Ok couldn’t understand how the tone of the table shifted so quickly from one of resentment to contentment.

Sensing this, Sunny began to explain to Jong Ok how she was a rookie once as well and how she couldn’t stand the training that SM provided, likening it to military service. However no matter how hectic her schedules were and how tired she was, she was happy, so she understood exactly how Jackson felt.

“You’re from Hong Kong right Jackson? How was it like coming here?” Jong Ok asked. Maybe it was her roommate’s motherly instincts, but Sunny noticed that Jong Ok was very caring towards the young man in front of them and it looked like she had a lot to ask him.

“It…was tough.” Jackson looked down as he spoke, and his shoulders slumped. There were slight changes in his demeanor as he spoke that did not go unnoticed by Sunny.

“The language barrier was one thing, but above all it’s really difficult to be away from my family. I miss my mother. I haven’t seen her in…well a really long time.” Jackson absentmindedly started playing around with his chopsticks as he made his confession, eyes never looking up to meet theirs.

“You haven’t gone back at all to visit her since you began training?” Jong Ok asked in surprise with sympathy-filled eyes. Sunny herself knew how it feels to have family living far away from her, so she could emphatize with Jackson as well.

“Nope. There never was time. We don’t really get a lot of time off as a trainee. ‘Time spent playing could be time invested into training.’ Our CEO’s words, not mine.”

“Aish that man. He of all people should know that family comes first. What is he thinking??” Jong Ok chastised Jinyoung as if he was listening right now. Sunny and Jackson were slightly taken aback by the eldest roommate’s words, not expecting her to suddenly lecture JYP Entertainment’s CEO.

“No, no it’s not his fault!” Jackson was quick to clear up any misunderstanding.

“My mother isn’t exactly in the best of health, so she can’t travel much. She gets uncomfortable if she has to sit down for long periods of time, so it’s not good for her to sit on a plane.”

The table was quiet for a moment, neither of them knowing what to say next. Jong Ok was nodding her head in understanding, while Sunny just sat there observing the young man in front of her. This is what she felt was hiding underneath his happy and bouncy exterior. His eyes look so….vulnerable and unsure.

It kind of reminded her of Hyomin when she first met the girl in Invincible Youth all those years ago. Both of she and Jackson needed a solid support system in the industry. Fortunately for Hyomin, Sunny was there to be that support. She wasn’t sure how it was like in Jackson’s case, but she’s pretty sure that s and friends couldn’t really provide the support that only his mother could give.

Those tender eyes she was observing welled up with tears, and before they could stain his cheeks he immediately made to wipe them off. Jong Ok took his free hand that was currently holding the chopsticks and just rubbed it reassuringly.

“I’m sorry…I just really really miss her.” He said, trying to force a smile.

“I’m sure she misses you too Jackson. I’m also sure she is very proud of her brave son making his mark in a foreign country.” Jong Ok said, leaving her seat to wrap Jackson up in a warm hug. Jackson closed his eyes and sank into Jong Ok’s arms, letting his tears flow freely.

Not really knowing what to do, Sunny got up from her chair as well and rubbed Jackson’s back. She remembered that Jong Ok’s daughter was currently studying in America, so maybe the words that came out of was straight from a mother’s heart.

“Argh I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t be crying with all these cameras around me. She’ll get worried if she sees me like this.” Jackson said, furiously wiping his tears with his sleeve.

“It’s okay Jackson. I’m pretty sure the PD’s would know to not air any scenes with you crying in it.” Jong Ok glared pointedly at the cameramen, who just nodded in understanding.

“Your real family might be faraway, but you have family here. We’ve only known each other for slightly more than a week, but we share a roof so we are family now. We’ll take care of you.” Jong Ok said, and a wide smile spread across Jackson’s boyish features. He nodded and laughed, commenting about how cheesy what Jong Ok said was, which earned him a soft blow to the shoulder from the Roommate’s senior noona.

They all needed this, Sunny realised. She wasn’t the only one who needed this program. Everyone else had their own reasons as well. Even the people who seem happy and with permanent smiles on their faces need support sometimes. Sunny remembered how Dongwook had asked her to take care of Min Woo, and how caring and considerate he was to the other roommates. He must have realised this from the start. It wasn’t just a show, it was a sort of healing therapy for all of them. Being casted onto this show was one of the best things that has ever happened to Sunny.

The front door swung open again about 10 minutes later and a blur of red hair came rushing into the restaurant. Sunny looked up from slurping the remainder of her noodles to see Young Ji already seated in the seat opposite from her bearing a big excited smile on her face. Jackson was yelling at her for sitting on his jacket, to which the Kara maknae just responded by sticking her tongue out at him.

Young Ji took the menu from the waitress and scanned through it quickly, the smile never leaving her face. Sunny was about to ask her about it, but Jackson beat her to it.

“What’s with that smile? Did something good happen?” Jackson asked, sounding a bit too eager to know the answer despite his attempts at trying to be nonchalant about it.

“It's nothing. I’m just happy! A member of SNSD invited me out for lunch! I’m still wrapping my head around being roommates with my idols…” Young Ji said, a slight tinge of pink tinting her cheeks, and Sunny couldn’t help but laugh at her reasoning. She couldn’t deny that it felt good to still have that kind of effect on people despite being 8 years into the industry.

“Such a dweeb.” Jackson teased while ruffling her hair.

Young Ji made to swat his hands away from her as if she were shooing off a persistent insect, obviously not enjoying the teasing. “Yah! Is this what I get after going through the trouble of calling your manager to ask you to join us for lunch? Get a phone Wang Jackso—why are your eyes red?”

Suddenly realizing that his eyes were still puffy from the crying earlier, Jackson immediately looked away and muttered an excuse about how his bibimbap was a tad bit too spicy so he teared up. The concern never left Young Ji’s eyes and Sunny could tell that she wanted to pursue the subject but thought better of it. Sunny smiled slightly. Maybe he had a Sunny of his own all along, but he hasn’t realised it yet.

“Young Ji, what’s in that huge bag you brought?” Jong Ok asked, trying to steer the conversation away from Jackson.

“Oh this! I bumped into Hyomin-unnie and Soyeon-unnie at Show Champion earlier and they gave me autographed T-ara cds to hand out to everyone at the house. It’s got personalized names and everything!” Young Ji excitedly said, struggling to lift the large bag filled with cds to show everyone.

“That’s very thoughtful of them. You should invite them over to the house sometime so that we can repay them.” Jong Ok said, scanning the pages of her copy of And&End.

Sunny looked at her copy and she couldn’t help but chuckle when she saw a large “To:- Sunny Bunny” on the front cover, along with tiny hearts scribbled all over the top of Hyomin’s head.

“Aish this little rascal.” Sunny said under her breath and her thoughts for the rest of the afternoon were suddenly replaced with thoughts of one slender, brunette kpop singer.

______________________________________________________________________________________

I had so much fun writing this chapter. I was honestly curious if I should add in a little bit of JackJi in the fic, but I don't think I can juggle too many relationships. It'll just make the story messy, so I'll just leave hints of it here and there. Also, a lot of what I'm writing will sort of make sense if you're a follower of Roommate, as I based a lot on the situations in the chapters on the show, just elaborating here and there without changing what actually happened. 

Gaeko's Rose has me wanting to write more lovey dovey bits, and it's taking a lot within me to not rush into the sunbyung part of the story. But other things need to be addressed and developed first following the real-life timeline, so that'll have to wait. huhuhu

Thanks to all the commenters and subscribers! You guys motivate me to write more! Haven't had any new upvoters in a long time, so I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong somewhere. Let me know in the comments if there's anything I should work on!