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Seoyeon is, as the kids call it, rather eepy. Or at least, that’s what Hayeon tells her at the end of one of their run-throughs, preparing for the Come True tour.
“Unnie, you look like you’re about to fall over from exhaustion.” Said girl is taking large gulps of her water as they stand by the bench, while Seoyeon is watching the other members.
Sullin is similarly downing her own water as she sits on the floor, with Nakyoung having taken to lying on top of her legs and Dahyun on top of the both of them to make a large pile of aching bones. Joobin and Seoah are still standing—how their youngest still has the energy to hop around, Seoyeon doesn’t know. Nien, the last of their tour unit, is sprawled out like a starfish on the floor.
“I’m fine,” she reassures Hayeon at the same time the girl says “Woah, unnie, your eyebags are HUGE!” Her smile drops.
“Thank you for the observation, Hayeon,” Seoyeon says dryly.
“No problem!” A pause. “Though, I think you should try to get more sleep, unnie.”
Seoyeon knows the girl means well. And really, she was right—if only it was that easy. Truthfully, in the weeks leading up to the tour Seoyeon’s been having trouble getting good rest, even in the rare, uninterrupted hours of physically laying in her bed. It just didn’t seem to come to her, no matter how hard she tried to adjust her circadian rhythm. What did come to her, though, were constant thoughts and worries about the group—how the other members were doing, if they were all doing well, their uncertain future in a cutthroat industry, the like. Things that seemed to naturally come part of the package of S1, unofficial leader of the group.
But that’s not something that can be easily explained in a brief water break, so Seoyeon just settles on, “I’ll try.”
Their dance instructor calls them back for another run-through and she shelves the thought away, easily slipping back into her idol duties.
After the third iteration of counting the lines on her ceiling Seoyeon begins to wonder just how hard she needs to try to actually fall asleep. She's tried melatonin gummies before, but all they've done was taste bad and did little for her actual sleep. And counting sheep clearly didn't work either—maybe the only option was to wait until exhaustion takes her. With a looming world tour, though, that option doesn't seem desirable at all.
Whatever. She decides to get up, shuffling to the door and towards the kitchen. To her surprise, though, she's not alone.
“Dahyun? What are you doing up? We leave for the airport in a couple hours,” she asks as she spots the girl sitting at the counter. Getting closer, Seoyeon realizes she's nursing a cup of tea.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Dahyun laughs quietly. She looks at Seoyeon. “Want some?”
“Sure.” She takes the stool next to the girl, gladly accepting a cup from her member. “Can't sleep?”
“Yeah." Dahyun takes a sip of her tea. "Just thinking about the tour, you know?”
Seoyeon hums in agreement. Neither of them look at each other but they don't really mind, either. She likes talking to Dahyun—they tend to agree on a lot of things and often sit in comfortable silence, much like now. Though, during the day Dahyun can get quite loud—courtesy of being their main vocalist—especially when she's with Nien, the group's resident hyper puppy.
“Thinking of Nien?” Dahyun asks, which makes her jolt slightly.
“How did you know?”
“You just said her name out loud,” the girl chuckles. “Wouldn't it be crazy if I could read minds, though?”
“You sound like Nakyoung unnie and her shaman antics.” Seoyeon shakes her head. “Like two peas in a pod.”
Dahyun blushes slightly, then nods. “Isn't it nice that we're all going on tour together?”
“With those two doofuses?” she jokes before her voice softens. “Yeah, it is nice. And with us and Nien being the same age and all.”
“I agree, and I think we've definitely gotten closer since LOVElution, too. Especially you and Nien.”
Seoyeon laughs, “Oh my God, we were so awkward during LOVElution era.” She takes a sip of her own tea. “I'll make up for it though, this time around.”
“I'm sure you will.” Dahyun's eyes hold a hint of mischief when they look at her, a little too bright for two in the morning
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing~” the girl sing-songs before hopping off her stool. “I'm going to try and get some last bits of sleep in. You should too, Seoyeon.”
She gives another hum in acknowledgement as she watches the girl retreat into the room she shares with Xinyu, careful not to open the door too loudly.
I'm glad I have a single room, she thinks. Although it's not much better for sleeping. Seoyeon remembers her predicament and finishes her tea with a small groan, sliding off the stool in the same manner Dahyun had done. I should at least try some more—better some than no sleep at all.
Two wide awake hours later, Seoyeon finds herself sitting in the van as exhaustion starts to set in. She's sure as their performance draws closer she'll be brimming with energy, but for right now she's just running on autopilot. Plus, it's still pitch black outside, and most of the members are fast asleep in their seats. Minus Seoyeon, of course.
Even Nien isn't making a sound, which is a rarity. From next to her the girl breathes out a puff of air as her head lolls to the side, cushioned by the neck pillow she pre-emptively wore before even getting in the van.
(“A girl's gotta be ready,” Nien had said before promptly knocking out next to Seoyeon.)
Seoyeon's pretty sure it's delirium from multiple sleepless nights, but she can't help but feel curious looking at the girl's lips. Her mouth is slightly ajar, and she's not wearing any lip product either. Yet, her lips still somehow look smooth. Seoyeon thinks they remind her a bit of slime.
Normally, Seoyeon's brain would admonish her for the thought, telling her that she shouldn't go around staring at people's lips like that. Yet, now the warning is slow to rise in her mind, and Seoyeon continues to watch Nien's lips.
In the end, curiosity wins out over her addled brain. I guess it wouldn't hurt to touch.
Just as she thought, Nien's lips are as smooth as they look. They're impossibly soft, like the girl applied Vaseline religiously. After two more presses Seoyeon pulls her hand back, being suddenly hit with a flash of clarity.
She glances around the van. I hope no one saw that.
They're standing outside of the hotel as their manager gives room assignments.
“You guys will be staying with the same roommate for the entire tour, not just here in Thailand,” he says. He continues to read off a clipboard, going over general check-in procedures and how to contact the other managers if they want to explore the city, among other things. All things that have been drilled into Seoyeon's head since the day she signed her contract, so she doesn't pay it any special attention.
“And finally, Seoyeon and Nien will be in room 703.” Their manager checks a final box off his clipboard before looking up. “Does anyone have any questions?”
“Nope!” Nien chirps, stepping closer to link arms with Seoyeon. Their proximity reminds Seoyeon of just where they are, the sweltering heat not letting up even at 8 PM.
Someone's stomach grumbles. “Let's go eat dinner!”
When they finally step into their hotel room Seoyeon thanks a higher power for air conditioning.
“Wow, this feels like heaven,” Nien echoes the sentiment. Seoyeon watches the girl shuffle into the room, letting her suitcase roll to a stop as she collapses face-first into the bed. She closes her eyes as well, letting the cool air envelope her body.
“Um, there's a slight problem, though.”
Her eyes shoot open. Nien is sitting up now, eyebrows bunching as she looks at her. “There's only one bed.”
A silence is drawn out between them as Seoyeon thinks about what to do. Nien gets up, looking at the clock. “It's kind of late… Maybe I can just sleep on the floor tonight?”
“No way,” Seoyeon objects immediately. “We're idols, we need to maintain our condition. And we're literally performing tomorrow, don't be silly.”
Nien nods, cheeks puffing out slightly. “Then—”
“We can share the bed,” she offers, wincing at how she cut the other girl off. “Sorry.”
Nien is still for a moment, then jolts as she seems to return to reality. “No, you're good.” She raises her eyebrows in concern. “And are you sure? I kind of move a lot in my sleep.”
Seoyeon rolls her eyes playfully, finally moving to set her stuff next to Nien's. “You're not a kicker, are you? We'll be fine for just one night.”
When Seoyeon stirs awake in the morning her first thought is that she's actually sleeping. Or rather, had just woken up, meaning that she had actually been able to fall asleep the night before. The rest is like the holy grail to her tired muscles, which feel loose and relaxed instead of constantly tight, for once.
Her second thought is that she’s very warm. I could have sworn I left the AC on… It's not a bad warmth though, definitely not the stifling heat of the outside. She burrows deeper into her blanket, breathing in a slight scent of strawberries.
Strawberries?
With a slight jolt her eyes fly open, and they take a couple seconds to adjust to her surroundings. The strawberry scent she had smelled, she realizes, is coming from Nien's hair, which is splayed out on the pillow. The girl herself is on her side, one arm stretched out under Seoyeon's head and the other laying lazily on her waist. As for their legs, one of her own is wrapped around Nien's waist and the other is tangled in Nien's longer ones.
They were, to say the least, in a very comfortable position.
“Seoyeon?” Nien mumbles as her eyes flutter open. Up close, Seoyeon can see the girl's irises—a deep brown color—dilate in real time as her eyes widen in shock.
Nien, with her head right next to Seoyeon's, lets out a guttural scream.
“AHH!” Seoyeon screams as well, hands flying to protect her ears from the volume. Nien, in her fumbling, only manages to wrap herself further in the blanket as she tries to get up, unsuccessfully rolling backwards and off the bed.
“NIEN!” Seoyeon scrambles to the edge. “Are you okay?”
The girl, her eyes still wide, doesn’t answer and instead brings a hand up to her face. “Oh my God, my breath stinks!”
Seoyeon watches Nien wrestle the blanket off of her before making a dash for the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it with an audible click.
Oh my God. Seoyeon presses her hands to her still-warm face. What just happened?
They don’t talk about it. When their manager calls them down to begin final rehearsals they stumble awkwardly by the door, with Nien holding it open for a Seoyeon waiting for her to leave. It’s easy to not think about it though, when they actually get to the venue and it’s all go-go-go from there, lost in a flurry of makeup and hair and mic checks. Even when they’re face to face for their pair part in “Cherry Talk” Seoyeon doesn’t see a hint of uncertainty in Nien’s eyes, the girl’s moves just as playful and natural as they had been in practice. Dinner flies by just as smoothly, and Seoyeon almost forgets it even happened until they’re back at the hotel.
“Wow, I am dead tired.” Nien leans against the wall as Seoyeon scans their room card. She grins at her. “First day of the tour done, am I right?”
“Yeah, not bad.”
“Wow~” The girl’s mouth makes an O. “High praise from our Ham-leader.”
Seoyeon’s about to reply with a playful retort—something like, that’s ridiculous—but it dies on her tongue as she watches Nien. The girl heads for the bed after entering the room, probably about to collapse on it like she had done on the first day, before suddenly stopping.
“So, what do we do about the bed?” Nien asks, sliding her phone out of her pocket. “Hm, even if it’s late the staff should probably still be up, right?” She moves to the door.
Subconsciously, Seoyeon side-steps to block her. “I mean, we don’t have to get a separate bed.”
“Huh?”
“You heard Manager-nim, right?” She waits for Nien to nod. “We’re leaving for Korea tomorrow, so tonight’s our last night here. We could just… keep sharing the bed. To not inconvenience the staff, too.”
Nien seems to mull it over, considering her words. Watching her, Seoyeon secretly hopes she’ll just agree and they can be done with it. Telling the girl, Yeah, turns out I actually can’t sleep at all unless it’s next to you and I only just found out myself this morning didn’t really seem opportune, especially since they were both still grimy and tired from the performance and desperately in need of as much sleep as they could get. It just seems like a conversation better for another day, you know?
“Okay,” Nien finally says. Redirecting from the door, she moves to her suitcase instead. “I did say though, I am a hugger! Don’t say I never warned you.”
“Consider me warned,” Seoyeon replies, which gets a giggle from the other girl.
“So are you going to take the shower first or should I?”
Really, Seoyeon should have fixed this problem by now. It’s been three weeks since their first stop in Bangkok, and only two more days until their second one in Orlando. Meanwhile, Seoyeon hasn’t gotten any rest half as decent as the two nights of gold she had sleeping next to Nien, if at all. It pains her to think of the sporadic half-hour naps that seemed to replace full nights.
And it’s not like she was over-worrying about the members. She’s confident in them—even the maknaes, first time tourers, were doing great, were excelling in practice and had hardly faltered at their opening performance. Of course, she still thought about them often, concerned about them as she feels it’s her birth-duty, but it’s not like a persistent issue. No, it was more like her brain couldn’t turn off.
It wasn’t even this bad during the Authentic tour. Then, her thoughts were loud and in-her-face, anxieties and doubts about her first tour and being the leader, no less. This time, though, it wasn’t loud nor pressing. Now, it was more like a constant buzzing in the back of her head, like someone turned the radio down too low—too quiet to shut off but sustained enough to be annoying. And it was annoying, having to lie down and accept another night of staring at the ceiling, knowing that she just can’t fall asleep no matter how hard she tries.
So how did Nien fit into this?
That was the most confusing part. Seoyeon’s not unfamiliar with physical touch—she went to an all-girls high school, for crying out loud. But then again, if her sleeplessness is a recent phenomenon, then maybe her physical contact-induced calmed state of mind isn’t from the fact that it’s Nien hugging her, but rather the fact that it was anyone at all. A warm body, she thinks wryly. Wow, just how touch-starved am I?
She gets up from the bench. Right, they were supposed to be on break from practicing. Well right now, I’m going to be testing something. Spotting her target, Seoyeon quickly crosses the room.
“Sullin!”
The girl looks up at her—down to her, really—slightly startled as she answers. “Unnie? Do you need something?”
“I just want to see something.” Seoyeon holds out her arms hesitantly, visibly awkward. I really am skinship-averse. “Can I get a hug?”
“Sure!” The younger girl smiles, still confused but willing nonetheless. “Is this okay?”
Giving a gentle squeeze, Seoyeon nods before pulling away. “Thanks, Sullin-ah.” She gives the girl a smile and a pat on her head, then turns to head back to her water.
So that wasn’t it. Sullin’s hug was nice, but it didn’t really feel like how it did when Nien hugged her. And she wasn’t about to have the girl hug her on a bed to verify it—that’d be so creepy. I do need to practice giving hugs to people, though. She spots Dahyun coming back into the room with Nakyoung, holding more bottles of water for the group. She marches over.
“Dahyun!” Maybe it’s because Nien and I are the same age. “Can I hug you really quick?”
The girl’s eyebrows shoot up, pleasantly surprised as she looks at Seoyeon. “Sure?”
When Dahyun’s arms wrap around her, though, it feels just like it had when she had hugged Sullin. That’s not it, either.
“What’s this for, Seoyeon?” Dahyun asks as they separate, looking at Seoyeon with slight concern in her eyes.
“What do you mean?” She pretends to look innocent.
“I mean, you’re not exactly the hugging type…” the girl trails off.
“Yeah, you’re more like anti-skinship,” Nakyoung adds, having stayed hovering by Dahyun.
“I just hugged Sullin and Dahyun?”
“And it looked like it pained you,” the older girl shoots back.
“You should hug Nakyoung unnie, too, to prove it,” Dahyun suggests, nodding. “It’s like an experiment, right?”
Silently, Seoyeon complies, though she pushes the older girl away when she says, “Aw, it’s like mom just told us to get along.”
So it’s definitely not an unnie thing, either.
Suddenly, a shout rings out from across the room.
“HEY! Is Seoyeon unnie giving out free hugs?!” Hayeon springs up from where she was showing something to Nien on her phone, pulling the older girl up with her as she crosses the floor. “We want Seoyeon unnie’s hugs, too, right Nien unnie?”
“Yeah!” The girl only goads Hayeon on, and the two arrive in front of Seoyeon. Hayeon goes first, crushing Seoyeon’s mid-section.
“Augh— too much, Hayeon.” Seoyeon doesn’t know why, but secretly she hopes that their instructor will come back and start practice again, before Nien gets her turn at hugging her. Only partially, though.
Then it’s Nien’s turn, and the girl leans down slightly as her arms finally wrap themselves around Seoyeon’s waist.
Fuck.
As soon as Nien makes contact it’s like the buzzing in Seoyeon’s brain ceases, and for some brief, blissful moments, Seoyeon feels like she can fully relax. Until the girl pulls away.
When Seoah and Joobin also bounce up for their hugs she gives them robotically (“Is this like tour bonding, unnie?”) but her mind is elsewhere, on autopilot for the rest of the day.
It gives her a sense of deja-vu, later, when they’re getting situated to head to the airport and Seoyeon is, once again, the only one awake in the van save for their managers. It remains in the back of her mind as they check onto their flight, waiting until she finally sits in her plane seat to return to center stage.
She supposes now is the best time to think about it. After all, what else could she do for a nineteen-hour flight—not sleep, certainly. Better to figure out what to do about her predicament now than later, when she and Nien are in their hotel room and she has to be able to look the girl in the eye.
And what is her predicament, anyway? Seoyeon thinks about what she’s compiled so far. For one, I can’t sleep. Possibly insomniac? Two, I can only sleep when Nien’s next to me. And it’s definitely Nien, not any of the other members. She cringes when she remembers the so-called “tour bonding” experiment. So what does this mean…
“I do probably have some sort of insomnia,” she whispers aloud in the dark plane cabin. For sure, though, she knows that she can’t keep ignoring it. Maybe if they weren’t on tour she’d visit a doctor, figure out why she’s having trouble sleeping in the first place. Stress, most likely. For now, though, any solution will have to do.
Even if the solution involves asking her member to cuddle her to sleep. Which is fine, she convinces herself. And Nien is naturally clingy, anyway.
This won’t be a problem.
It does take a little more effort, though, to actually tell the girl her situation. Should I just say, ‘Hey Nien, I think I have insomnia and you’re the only cure, please cuddle me to sleep every night from now on’? She recoils from the thought. That is way too straightforward. In the end, she settles on just telling the girl simply.
“Hey, Nien.”
“Hm?” The girl looks up from her phone. They’re in the Orlando hotel, and Nien had just hopped out of the shower while Seoyeon waited for her on the edge of one of the beds. The girl takes a seat at the small table, ruffling her hair with a towel. “What’s up?”
“I have to tell you something.”
Nien immediately looks concerned.
“It’s not anything big! It’s just—” Seoyeon thinks about her next words. “These days, I’ve been having trouble sleeping.” She leaves out the part where it’s been more than just these days, been more like these weeks.
Nien’s eyes soften as she continues. “And I haven’t been able to sleep for more than half-hour intervals at a time. I was planning on just ignoring it until after the tour.”
The girl immediately opens her mouth, about to protest as Seoyeon holds up a hand to stop her, nodding. “I know, I know, it's hypocritical of me to say. An idol needs to maintain their condition, right? But then…” There’s an extended pause.
“But then…?” Nien prods.
“But then, when we, um, shared a bed in Bangkok, that was my first good night of sleep. In a while.” Seoyeon’s uncharacteristically shy, eyes focusing somewhere by Nien’s ear instead of on her eyes. “So I was hoping, if you don’t mind, we could—”
“Keep sharing a bed?” Nien finishes for her, eyebrows raised in a question. She nods.
“Awww, hamham.” Her nickname suddenly comes out and makes her face flush furiously. “Of course we can cuddle! Even if you didn't need it—you never have to hesitate to ask me. For anything.”
Seoyeon ignores Nien's small tease in favor of the warmth that blooms in her chest. It's not like she expected the girl to flat-out refuse—Seoyeon knows that Nien's like an actual ball of sunshine. Still, it's nice to receive her warmth.
“Thanks,” she mumbles, still shy. She clears her throat. “I'm, uh, going to try to sleep now. But you don't have to go to bed right away, if you don't want to. I can probably manage.”
“Seoyeon, you're so silly!” Nien bounds up from the table, quickly heading into the bathroom. “Let me dry my hair first—I'll be right there!”
They fall into a routine for the rest of the tour: Seoyeon checks them into the room and Nien falls face first into the bed she decides they should sleep in for the stop, the other bed to be designated for clothes and bags. Sometimes, though, Seoyeon has the power to override.
(“Let's take this one instead.” She moves to sit on the bed closest to the balcony.
“Eh? Why?” Nien's voice is muffled by a pillow, though she turns her head to look at the other bed.
“It's closer to the windows, which is better for natural light in the morning,” she reasons. “And it would probably be great for mid-day naps, on the days where we don't have a show.”
Nien ponders it for a moment—Seoyeon can literally see the gears turning in her head—before she finally gets up with a dramatic groan. “Oh well, if the princess says so.”)
Case in point, Nien is currently passed out on the bed Seoyeon chose, with warm rays of sunlight streaming into the room and engulfing the girl in a faint glow. They just came back from breakfast, and she had decided to pick up an ice cream on the way back. Seems like Arizona gets hot even in February… totally the opposite of Korea.
To her growing frustration, though, she can't seem to get her ice cream open. It's not like they didn't have this variety in Korea—though maybe not called a Drumstick Triple Chocolate King Sundae Cone—but the wrapper on this one just seems to refuse to budge no matter how hard Seoyeon tries. Sure, she could just tear it off more aggressively, but that would risk ruining the chocolate crown with nuts, as advertised on the wrapper. And Seoyeon did enjoy her ice cream with nice presentations.
She glances at Nien's still-sleeping figure. Should I…? The girl did say she shouldn't hesitate to ask her for anything, but does that include something as miniscule as opening her ice cream? She weighs her options. If I don't open this ice cream soon it'll start melting and then there won't be any ice cream to eat. But then again, that'd involve waking Nien up. And she looks so peacefu—
Suddenly, Nien rolls over from across the room with a grunt, readjusting her head on the pillow. Her eyes open slightly.
“Seoyeon?” Then, opening her eyes fully: “Why are you looking at me like that?” Nien lifts her head. “Is something wrong?”
“Oh! No, I just— I'm having trouble opening this ice cream.” Seoyeon figures she might as well ask, given that the girl's already woken up.
“Oh what? Let me try,” Nien offers, sitting up now and crossing the room. Seoyeon, still sitting, hands the cone to the girl and watches her flip up the edges at the top.
“See, I did that,” she says, grabbing Nien's wrist gently. “But I can't seem to get the cap out. And I don't want to go at it it too hard and—”
“—risk pushing it in, ‘cause that'd ruin the swirls on top, yeah,” Nien finishes her sentence.
Seoyeon looks at the girl quizzically. “How'd you know?”
“I just have an eye for detail,” Nien replies with a grin. “Hold on, let me look it up.”
Seoyeon watches the girl retrieve her phone from the bedside table and return just as quickly, standing in front of Seoyeon with the cone in one hand and phone in the other as she types furiously. How does she type so fast with just one hand?
“Wait, Seoyeon, look at this video.” Nien hands her the phone. “You have to peel the sides first, and then take the cap off when it's not being held in place by the wrapper.”
Demonstrating, Nien carefully tears a strip of the paper wrapper and plucks off the disk balanced on top. She hands the cone to Seoyeon. “Ta-da!”
Seoyeon can't stop the smile that grows on her face. “Take a bite.”
Nien's smile falters slightly at her outstretched hand. “Me?”
“Yeah, you.”
“But it's yours?” The girl still looks confused.
“You helped me open it,” Seoyeon insists, shaking the cone lightly. “Hurry and take a bite already, my arm's getting tired.”
“Whattt? All I did was pull up the video—you would've figured it out on your own anyways.” Seeing that Seoyeon's still not budging, Nien switches tactics: “Fine, then you take a bite first.”
With a small hmph, she bites a corner of the crown and extends her arm to Nien again. “Here.”
Not resisting now, Nien leans forward to take her own bite of the cone, maintaining eye contact with Seoyeon the entire time.
Have her eyes always been this rich, like chocolate?
Before Seoyeon can dissect that thought a loud PING breaks the moment, making the two of them jump. It had come from Nien's phone—which is still in Seoyeon's hand—of Dahyun asking if anyone wanted to explore the city with her and Seoah.
“Let's—” Seoyeon stands up abruptly, almost thrusting the phone out to the girl. “I want to go hang out.”
Nien nods, taking a step back as she takes her phone to put a respectable amount of space between them. “Yeah, let's go hang out with them.”
That will be a thought for a different day.
A couple days later, at their last stop in Los Angeles, Nien suggests hanging out alone.
Or more like her stomach suggests it, as it growls loudly when Seoyeon steps out of the bathroom.
“Woah, you got a monster in there?” she laughs, moving to grab her phone from the vanity. “Wanna go eat?”
Nien laughs as well, looking slightly abashed. “Maybe… but I don't want to keep you from sleeping.” She checks her phone. “I know we already finished our last concert for this leg, but it's still good to get rest, you know?”
“Well, yeah…” Seoyeon feels surprised that the girl was willing to put her hunger on hold for her. And a different feeling she can't name. “But it's not like we'll be out for long. And I don't know if I could sleep with your stomach yowling like that.”
I want to go eat together, she thinks, but doesn't voice the thought.
“I'm kind of craving pho,” Nien hums, swinging her legs off the bed.
Later, when they find out the pho place is closed and instead opt for endless dishes of pork belly, naengmyeon, soybean stew, and more between them (“We can’t let the others know about this—they’d be so mad we didn’t invite them.”), Seoyeon looks at Nien in the half-lit moonlight and thinks she feels herself falling.
Seoyeon might be screwed. It's been weeks since the last concert, and another month until the final leg of the tour. They’ve only started small preparations for ASSEMBLE25, and the Come True tour members have been given some time to rest before their final leg. Which is to say, Seoyeon's sleep routine should have returned to normal, being back in normal, pre-tour conditions.
Predictably, she lies awake in her bed again.
To be fair, though, she has to admit that there is one thing different between her sleeplessness now and that before the tour: Nien. Somehow, Seoyeon's thoughts always seem to circle back to the girl. These days, it's mainly just one thought: Can I reasonably ask her to help me fall asleep every night for the foreseeable future, even without a tour as an excuse?
She thinks the answer is probably no.
After another hour of tossing and turning, though, Seoyeon starts to reconsider. Fiddling with her phone, she pulls up Nien's contact and contemplates calling the girl. Before she can lay out the pros and cons in her head, a notification interrupts her thoughts.
Are you asleep?
Quickly opening up KakaoTalk, Seoyeon answers with a simple, Not yet.
Her reply is instantaneous.
:(
Then: Should I come over?
Before Seoyeon can answer—yes, for the rest of my life—Nien suddenly calls her.
“Hello?” Seoyeon immediately says when the call connects. “Why are you calling? Don't you share a room with three other people?”
“I went into the living room ‘cause I couldn't sleep. Figured you're probably awake, too." The girl's voice is slightly raspier than normal, just above a whisper. “And I wanted to hear your voice.”
Seoyeon buffers as she thinks of what to say in response. Thank God this isn't a video call. “What the heck, that's so cheesy.”
“Yeah, well,” Nien hums ambiguously. “My offer still stands.”
Right. “I mean… do you want to come over?”
“I want whatever you want.”
Seoyeon has to fight an embarrassing noise from coming out of her throat. This call is making her realize that Nien is much more affectionate at night, if that's even possible, and she's not sure what to do with this newfound information.
“Yeah,” she breathes. “Come over.”
When the girl does make it to Seoyeon's room they don't exchange many words, Nien opting instead to immediately climb under the covers and into Seoyeon's outstretched arms.
“Oh my God, your toes are ice blocks,” she says when Nien shifts to spoon her. Vaguely, there's a thought in the back of her mind that says their position is quite close, but she dismisses it with simple friendship is skinship.
Nien just wraps her legs around Seoyeon's in response. “It's freezing in that living room, I swear.”
“Hey!” she half-whispers. “What am I, a hot pack?”
“Yes, you are,” the girl mumbles. “Yoon ‘Hot Pack’ Seoyeon.”
“That doesn't make any sen—”
“Shhh.” Nien gently tightens her arms around Seoyeon's waist, cutting her off. “Just go to sleep. I know you need it.”
She shuts her mouth and prays Nien can't hear her quickening heartbeat. She focuses on the girl instead, how their bodies slot together perfectly and warms the both of them up at the same time.
It's over.
Like they had during the tour, this too becomes a normal occurrence for the two. On the nights when they aren't cooped up in the practice room or the studio, more often than not Nien ends up in Seoyeon's room. They had wordlessly designated it, being a single room and away from questioning members. It doesn't stop prying eyes, however.
“It's pretty late,” Seoyeon remarks with a yawn. She's seated on the floor at the Cookie Haus, having been invited to oversee Chaeyeon and Yubin's Uno game that somehow resulted in other members pooling into the common area in a congregation of residents and non-residents alike. She can spot Hayeon, MOD Forest Haus resident, in the corner with Chaewon and Yeonji.
“You can go to sleep then, unnie,” Chaeyeon says, tapping the cards in her hand. “I'm pretty sure I'm going to win, anyway.”
“That's because you're cheating,” Yubin stresses to the girl, but still turns to Seoyeon to say “sleepyhead unnie” anyway.
“I can take over as referee,” Mayu offers, scooting closer to Seoyeon's spot on the floor.
“Thanks, Mayu unnie,” Seoyeon says as she gets up, stretching her legs slightly. “I'm going now.”
At the sound of her voice Nien looks up from her spot against the couch, where she had been watching something on Kotone's phone. She gets up quickly, almost stumbling as the younger girl gives her a slight push in Seoyeon's direction.
“Nien unnie?” Yeonji suddenly asks from across the room. “Where are you going?”
“Um…” Nien looks at her, slightly panicked. Neither of them felt like explaining Nien cuddles me to sleep tonight, especially not with the half of the group present.
“She's walking me back,” Seoyeon answers Yeonji when the silence is drawn out for too long. “It's dark at night. Buddy system.”
The girl seems to accept that reason, going back to her conversation with Chaewon and Hayeon with an “Oh, okay.”
If anyone notices Nien doesn’t come back to her dorm by the end of the night, they don’t say anything.
There are some drawbacks to this arrangement, though. Mainly, whenever Nien stays in the practice room late into the night, and Seoyeon can’t just ask her to come back to bed.
And, now that she’s got some downtime, she’s finally tried getting to the bottom of her case. She had visited a doctor, who told her she just needs to “take it easy”—well-meaning, but not exactly helpful advice for an idol. She tried chamomile tea, but all that’s done was upset her stomach. She even visited a shaman in her desperation, though had left as soon as they started saying something along the lines of “There is a deep trouble from within which you must address.” Good thing that was on the company card.
All in all, Seoyeon doesn’t envision an end to her ailment in her near future.
It comes to a head one night, after several sleepless, Nien-less nights. She’s flipped over in her bed, having decided to try sleeping with her feet where her pillow usually is. It doesn’t work, unfortunately, and only serves to flip the lines on her ceiling upside down as she stares up at them.
Seoyeon shifts on her pillow, rolling over to try to get in a better position, when a sudden strawberry scent hits her nose. She sits up quickly, trying to locate the source of the scent, and in the darkness she spots it: a mound of fabric.
Specifically, upon closer inspection, a hoodie. Even more specifically, Nien’s hoodie, one that she must have forgotten in Seoyeon’s room some nights ago. Seoyeon almost makes a noise of relief at the realization, and is about to bring it closer to her when a thought hits her. Isn’t it weird for me to sleep with her hoodie? She decides she’s too tired to care.
She does begin to care, though, a couple nights later when the magic begins to wear off. Literally—Seoyeon’s been sleeping with the hoodie so often that it stops smelling like Nien, and instead starts blending in with the rest of the items in her room.
“What am I doing,” she whispers to herself, hoodie pitifully discarded next to her. What is she doing? She hasn't returned the hoodie yet (she tells herself she will, soon), but at the same time Nien hasn't been in her room in a while. And it gets to a point—how much longer can she rely on Nien’s comfort? It’s not like they’re dati—
She cuts that thought off, trying to stop her mind from going down that hole. Unfortunately, Seoyeon was never one to listen to herself.
Dating… Seoyeon’s not homophobic, that’s for certain. Fitting for the idol of all possibilities, and all that. Especially not if the girl in question was Nien, who was big and warm and exactly like how she’s seen people describe golden retriever girlfriends.
Woah.
In any case, the point is that they’re groupmates. Members of the same group. Group that is about to start preparing for their highly anticipated next album. Which is to say, they don’t really have the time, nor should they make the time, to be concerned with dating, or even feelings.
Which is another thing. Seoyeon flops over in frustration. Like she said, Nien is very affectionate and caring, so there's no guarantee that she likes Seoyeon. Hold on.
Does she like Nien?
Seoyeon tries to think about it logically. Up until now, their relationship could be described as… cuddle partners? But we don't cuddle outside of sleeping. As if on cue, Seoyeon's brain floods with the sensation of Nien's arms around her, and she imagines how they'd feel if they were standing, with the taller girl casually draped over her in a large, warm back hug. Imagines what it'd be like to have the girl care for her in their daily life, like pulling up the doting dial reserved just for Seoyeon.
A giddiness hits her like a truck and Seoyeon rolls back over in her bed.
Okay. So maybe she does like Nien. Again, though, she has no confirmation that Nien likes her. Maybe Nien's just a generally clingy, touchy person. Seoyeon starts to imagine the girl cuddling someone else, maybe different members, and feels sick to her stomach.
But again! They've got comeback preparations coming up soon, and she can't afford to be thinking about things like this, especially as the leader. tripleS’ first official leader, she thinks, remembering how their fans had all voted for her to represent the whole group. Now, not just as S1 but as a leader, too. A familiar sense of worry pricks at the back of her head and Seoyeon finds herself missing Nien again. She wrestles the thought down. Yoon Seoyeon. Focus.
“Unnie, do you know where Soomin is?” Chaewon bursts into her room, though the girl stops when she sees Seoyeon sitting criss-cross on the floor. “Um, what are you doing, unnie?”
“I'm just meditating, Chaewon,” Seoyeon answers. “And no, I don't know where Soomin is. Why are you looking for her?”
“Oh, it's just because we're supposed to hang out today with Hayeon and Hyerin. Thanks anyway, unnie.” Chaewon is about to turn around to leave when she suddenly stops again. “But unnie, isn't that Nien unnie's hoodie?”
Seoyeon's eyes widen slightly, then narrow as she looks at the younger girl, who looks back at her innocently. Or is she…
“It… is, how'd you know?”
“She's been looking for it,” Chaewon says simply. “I'll tell her you have it.”
“Yeah, tell her to come get it,” she replies quickly, and mentally face-palms. Very smooth, Seoyeon. “And don’t tell anyone else about this.”
“Okay~!” Chaewon chirps, looking at Seoyeon with an expression she can't decipher. “Bye unnie!”
“Bye,” Seoyeon says to Chaewon's retreating figure, the girl already scurrying quickly down the hallway. She chooses to ignore it with a sigh.
At least they'll be out of my hair today.
Hayeon's pretty sure she's onto them. And by them, she means her unnies Seoyeon and Nien. She says as much to Chaewon, Hyerin, and Soomin at one of their monthly ‘07 line meetings.
“I’m almost 100% positive they’re dating,” Hayeon emphasizes, waving her hands. “Like, I know it sounds crazy but one time, I saw Seoyeon unnie touching Nien unnie’s lips. Like this.” She leans across the table to demonstrate on Chaewon, gently pressing on the girl’s lips.
“Oh my God, please don’t do that in front of me,” Hyerin interjects, holding up a hand.
“Is that it? I don’t know if I’m convinced…” Soomin says, looking expectantly at Hayeon so she’d reveal more.
“No, that’s not it! Chaewon, do you remember?” She looks at the girl, wide-eyed. “That one time we were hanging out with Yeonji at your dorm, and then Nien unnie suddenly left with Seoyeon unnie?”
“Oh yeah!” Chaewon exclaims. “And she said something about the hallway being dark—”
“Bullshit,” Hayeon coughs.
“—and yeah, I didn’t really believe it either,” Chaewon says, pouting. She gasps. “Wait, you guys will never believe what I saw today!”
“Ooh, what was it?” Soomin asks excitedly, turning to face the girl. Even Hyerin looks intrigued.
“Okay, it was this morning when I went to go find you, Soomin,” Chaewon starts, “but you weren’t in your room?”
“Hyerin picked me up already,” the girl clarifies.
“Well, I didn’t know that. Anyway, I went into Seoyeon unnie’s room, right? And she was just sitting with her legs crossed on the floor, it was kind of creepy.”
“Unnie’s weird,” Hayeon comments, and Hyerin nods.
“So then I asked her if she knew where you were, she said she didn’t, and I was just going to leave right away. But then!” Chaewon pauses for dramatic effect, waiting for the other three to lean forward in anticipation. “Just as I was about to leave, guess what I saw on Seoyeon unnie's bed?”
“Nien unnie?”
“She said what, stupid, not who.” Hyerin slaps Hayeon's shoulder.
“Hey! She could have misspoke—it's not like she hasn't tripped over her words before,” she protests.
“What are you saying?” Soomin jumps in to defend Chaewon. “Our Chaewon wouldn't make an elementary mistake like that.”
“Um, I lowkey would,” the girl admits.
“SEE?”
“Guys, can we get back to my story?” Chaewon interrupts the brewing argument. “As I was saying, no, it wasn't Nien unnie.” Her voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper. “It was Nien unnie's hoodie.”
The four of them sit in silence as they process Chaewon's observation.
“How is that more scandalous than Nien unnie being in Seoyeon unnie's bed?” Hyerin asks with furrowed eyebrows.
“Because—let me finish—it was wrinkled. And she told me not to tell anybody.”
Another beat of silence.
“So? A lot of Nien unnie's clothes are wrinkled,” Soomin says at the same time Hayeon gasps.
“No, I get it! Seoyeon unnie's been sleeping with Nien unnie's hoodie!”
“Right!” Chaewon grabs her hand and shakes it excitedly. “And you guys don't know this, but Nien unnie's been restless lately. Like, she can't sleep and usually she just goes to practice at the company, but one time,” the girl pauses again, holding up her index finger.
“One time, I was hiding in the kitchen—”
“Why were you hiding in the kitchen?”
“Because Nien unnie told me not to touch her strawberries and I wanted some but that's not relevant, Hayeon,” Chaewon says in one breath, rolling her eyes. “So I was hiding in the kitchen when I heard her leave the dorm, but then she didn't take the stairs going down. She went up.”
“To Seoyeon unnie's dorm,” Soomin realizes with widened eyes.
Even Hyerin's starting to look convinced now. “At night?”
“At, like, eleven PM,” Chaewon nods.
“Wait, then that totally means they're dating for sure,” Hayeon exclaims in a whisper-shout. “Seoyeon unnie doesn't let anyone sleep in her bed.”
“I don't know if I'd say for sure.” Hyerin's still skeptical. “We'd need real proof.”
“You want to help me find real proof?”
“That is not what I said,” Hyerin says quickly, cutting Hayeon off. “I'm just saying, we'd have to actually catch them together if they won't tell us themselves.”
“You're right,” Hayeon nods. “We need to catch Nien unnie in Seoyeon unnie's bed.”
“Ew!” Soomin says, which gets a slap on the shoulder from Chaewon.
“Get your mind out of the gutter! Those unnies would not do that at the dorm. Don't you literally live there?”
“Well yeah, but,” Soomin whines, rubbing her shoulder, “Hayeon's phrasing caught me off guard. Why don't you hit her!”
“Guys, guys, guys.” Hayeon holds her hands up before Chaewon can turn on her. “You guys will help me get to the bottom of this.”
The two Kim's perk up at the same time Hyerin says, “I'm not involved in this.”
“Okay, so here's how it's gonna work,” she starts. “Tonight, Chaewon, you're on Nien-unnie-watching duty. Tell us if she does anything out of the ordinary, and definitely tell us if she leaves the dorm again.”
She turns to Soomin. “You'll be on Seoyeon-unnie-watching duty. If Chaewon tells us that Nien unnie's left their dorm, you need to be extra diligent in case she goes to your dorm.”
“And where are you in this scheme?” Hyerin asks.
“I thought you said you're not involved?”
“Well, it seems like you’re not involved either,” the girl shoots back at Hayeon.
“Oh, but I am!” Hayeon proclaims. “Once Soomin lets us know that Nien unnie's at her dorm, I'll go over to bust them right away.”
Silence falls over the quartet again as they consider Hayeon's plan.
“And you're confronting them alone?”
“Nope,” Hayeon says, popping the p. “I'll have help with me.
“Xinyu unnie.”
PING!
At the sound of her phone Hayeon immediately scrambles up, fumbling with it slightly as she opens the KakatoTalk chat with the rest of ‘07 line.
super cool 07zzz 😎
chaewonie 🍓 soomin get ready nien unnie just left the dorm
chaewonie 🍓 i just told her seoyeon unnie has her hoodie
jeong hyerin i thought we were supposed to be subtle
you (hayeon) no cuz seoyeon unnie did tell chaewon to tell nien unnie that she has her hoodie
you (hayeon) chaewon didn’t do anything wrong
sooms OH MY GOD NIEN UNNIE IS HERE
you (hayeon) FUCK
chaewonie 🍓 I LITERALLY WARNED YOU
you (hayeon) okay tell me when she goes into seoyeon unnie’s room
sooms she just did…
Hayeon didn’t expect to be in action so soon. She hasn’t even prepared her shovel talk yet! Springing out of her room, she makes a beeline for the front door.
“I’m going to visit Soomin, bye!” she calls out to her dormmates, nearly slamming the front door.
(“I wonder why she’s in such a hurry,” Nakyoung says on the couch.
“Up to no good, I bet,” Kotone replies, controller in hand and eyes locked on the TV in front of them.)
sooms
you (hayeon) soomin let me in
sooms roger that, cap!
Stepping into the dorm, Hayeon is greeted by a nervous, yet excited-looking, Soomin. “How do you know Xinyu unnie will help us?”
“Because unnie will do anything with a half-good reason, duh,” Hayeon replies in the same conspiratorial whisper. “Me and unnie are one and the same.”
Soomin makes a small “Ah” as she follows Hayeon into the hall. “This one’s Xinyu unnie and Dahyun unnie’s room.”
Hayeon gives three quick raps on the door before pushing it open. “Dahyun unnie!” She makes sure not to speak too loudly. “Do you know where Xinyu unnie is?”
“I’m right here,” said girl says from behind them, emerging from the bathroom down the hall. “What do you need me for?”
“We’re gon—!”
Hayeon pulls Soomin and Xinyu into the room and shuts the door before the former can shout and give them away. “It’s because we think that Seoyeon unnie and Nien unnie…” her voice drops to a whisper again. “We think they’re dating.”
“Oh, they totally are,” Dahyun says from her bed. “Or if not, they’re about to start.”
Hayeon and Soomin go slack-jawed as they stare at the girl. “Unnie, how do you know?!”
Dahyun gets up to grab her phone on the dresser. “You didn’t realize? They had this weird energy throughout the entire tour.”
“Well, I had my suspicions,” Hayeon starts, “but no, I wasn’t really paying attention to them. I was more into the world tour part.”
“Ah, that’s right,” Dahyun smiles, ruffling her hair. “Our baby Hayeon had her first world tour then.”
“Hold on, how come I didn’t know about this?” Xinyu interrupts them, looking scandalized.
“Yeah!” Soomin agrees from next to her.
“It’s just one of those subtle things,” Hayeon says smugly. “Only geniuses like me and Dahyun unnie would be able to notice it.”
“Hey! You didn’t notice it either!”
Dahyun puts out her hands in front of the two girls. “Okay, don’t start fighting now. What did you need Xinyu unnie for, again?”
“We’re going to catch Nien unnie in Seoyeon unnie’s room,” Hayeon says.
“And confront them about why they didn’t tell us that they’re dating!” Soomin adds.
Dahyun laughs as she says “You guys can do that,” while Xinyu takes a second to consider their plan.
“I’m in.”
The three of them tip-toe back out into the hall while Dahyun breaks off to head to the kitchen. Reaching a hand for the doorknob, Hayeon hesitates.
“What if they’re doing something weird?”
“Trust me, they’re not,” Xinyu asserts. “These walls aren’t exactly thick.” The older girl takes the doorknob instead, turning it and swinging the door open in one quick motion.
“HAH! WE’VE CAUGHT YOU RED-HANDED!”
Hayeon watches as a heap of limbs and blankets screams and falls off the bed, and she can discern Nien with her arms encasing Seoyeon to cushion her tumble onto the cold floor. The latter spots her first.
“JEONG HAYEON!”
Seoyeon’s kneeling on the floor next to Nien, who’s holding her arms up like a kid who just got in trouble.
“Put your arms down,” she hisses.
“Sorry,” Nien whispers back.
In front of them Xinyu’s seated on the couch, flanked on either side by Hayeon and Soomin. In the kitchen is Dahyun, who had grabbed a bag of chips to snack on as she watches the exposé. An accidental witness, Jiyeon is sitting in the armchair as the scene unfolds.
“So when were you guys planning on telling us about all this?” Xinyu starts.
Seoyeon ignores the question in favor of her own complaint. “I can’t believe I’m getting scolded by Xinyu unnie.”
“And Hayeon and Soomin,” Nien adds. “Makes me feel like I really did something wrong.”
Before anyone can answer, the doorbell rings and Dahyun opens it to reveal Nakyoung and Kotone.
“What are you guys doing here?” Seoyeon asks incredulously when she sees them.
“I heard you two were getting busted and I couldn’t not come,” Nakyoung says. She holds up her phone. “Dahyun texted me.”
“And you?”
“Jiyeon,” is all Kotone says as she moves to perch on said girl’s armchair.
“Back to my interrogation,” Xinyu cuts in, “why didn’t you tell us you guys are dating?”
“We’re dating?” Nien asks, and it’s like every breath in that room stops.
Seoyeon turns her head slowly to make eye contact with the girl, and blood is rushing in her ears as she grabs Nien’s arm.
“Come on,” she says as she pulls her up. “We need to talk.”
The gentle chill of late winter washes over them as they stand on the rooftop. Seoyeon shivers slightly and Nien notices immediately, already holding her arms out.
“Are you cold? Do you want me to warm you up?” the girl says, moving towards her.
“No.” Seoyeon holds up a hand. “Well, I am cold, but I don’t want a hug.”
She continues quickly when she sees the girl’s eyes fall. “No, not like that. It’s just,” she pauses, then a sigh escapes her. “I can’t keep doing this.
“This whole physical touch thing, I know I was the one to suggest it for my sleep and all, but— I can’t.” She doesn’t look at Nien, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to get her next words out. “And I know we’re idols and I shouldn’t even be thinking about this because we literally have our comeback coming up and I don’t even know if you like me. And somehow that’s not my main concern because I just can’t stop thinking about hugging you—for God knows whatever reason—but even that I just… can’t.
“I just can’t do it if— if we’re not… dating.” She whispers the last word and sucks in a breath. I don’t even know why I feel like crying.
There’s a silence, and Seoyeon thinks she’s just gone and ruined it all when a pair of hands suddenly lift her face up. Her hands are really warm.
“Seoyeon.” Nien is dead serious as she looks at her. “Do you… want to? Do you want to date?”
Slowly, she nods and Nien’s arms move to envelope her in a hug.
“Seoyeon…” Her voice is shaking and Seoyeon can hear her thundering heartbeat, how it echoes hers. “I really like you. A lot. It scares me, a little bit, how much I like you.”
She pulls back slightly. “For a small time I didn't go to see you because I was afraid… that I was getting addicted to you.” Her voice trails off. “But now that you've said that you like me too, it makes me really happy. And I really… really want to kiss yo—”
Before Nien can finish her sentence Seoyeon's already grabbing her collar, pulling the girl down with a strained Please before connecting their lips.
When they pull apart their noses and lips are matching red and Seoyeon burrows into Nien's arms again, wanting to completely attach herself to the girl.
“Nien,” she breathes. “Cuddle me tonight?”
The girl tightens her arms in response and nods into the crook of Seoyeon's neck.
“Always.”
“I’m cold,” Seoyeon mutters as she meanders off the set, still rubbing her tongue on the roof of her mouth as she side-steps all the camera-people and staff. I can’t believe they made me eat a dandelion.
She takes it all in as she walks briskly, the organized chaos of trying to film the Are You Alive? music video with twenty-four members, who are then separated into smaller groups to film part by part. For Seoyeon, though, she’s just looking for one person.
“Nien!” The girl’s name just slips out of Seoyeon’s mouth as soon as she turns the corner, stepping into the subway where Nien was filming her scene. The girl was alone save for a couple of staff, and if Seoyeon remembers correctly, her girlfriend had told her it would be a screaming scene, I’d just be shouting my lungs out.
(“That’s perfect for you,” Seoyeon had said, her voice muffled by Nien’s collarbone.
Nien had laughed in response, the movement sending vibrations into Seoyeon’s frame held by the girl’s tightening embrace. “Hmm, yeah, better than eating a dandelion, I think.”
She had groaned playfully, burrowing deeper into Nien’s arms. “I’ll tell you what it tastes like, after I’m done filming.” She breathes. “I’ll come see you.”
“I’ll be waiting,” came the girl’s soft reply.)
Nien nearly lights up when she spots Seoyeon, already bounding over the camera wires and towards Seoyeon. “Baby!”
“Hey, keep it down,” Seoyeon shushes her half-heartedly, though she accepts the girl’s arms that wrap around her waist. She wraps her own arms around Nien’s neck. “I missed you,” she breathes, and gets a light squeeze of her waist in return. “Are you done filming already?”
“Nah, they wanna do a couple more runs, just in case.” Nien’s voice has a slightly raspy edge, and Seoyeon guesses that she must have been shouting for a while. She pulls her head back slightly to see the girl grinning at her.
“I suppose you’re done, though?” Nien muses. “How was the dandelion?”
“It was fine,” she shrugs, “though it didn’t really taste like anything. That’s not why I came over here, though.”
“Is it ‘cause you wanted to see my super hot and rugged face?” Nien offers immediately.
Seoyeon fails to suppress a smile, rolling her eyes. “Sure, if that’s what you want to believe.” She presses closer to the girl. “No, I came because it’s so cold. And you’re like a walking heater, because you run warm.”
“Ah, abusing your girlfriend privileges, I see,” Nien grins. Seoyeon can see her open her mouth to say something else, only to turn her head and throw a Be right there! over her shoulder when the director calls out that they’re about to start filming again.
Nien starts to remove her arms and gets a small whine from Seoyeon in return—I don’t even know where that came from—who gives her girlfriend a final squeeze before finally stepping back. “I’ll let you get back to filming before Manager Haesol gets on us for PDA,” she explains, fighting to keep a serious expression on her face.
“Ooh, our responsible S1,” Nien says, wiggling her eyebrows but not letting go of Seoyeon’s hands. The girl points her nose to somewhere behind Seoyeon. “I left my padding over there, if you’re still cold.”
Seoyeon’s thinking of a reply—something more dignified than I just want you—when Nien suddenly leans in, dropping her voice to a whisper. “And I know you like smelling like me.”
“Hey!” Seoyeon complains, pushing Nien’s shoulder lightly. “You can’t just say things like that. Get back to filming.”
“Yes, leader!” Nien makes a show of straightening her back and saluting, bowing quickly before walking backwards to her position, still holding eye contact with Seoyeon.
“Watch where you’re going—you’ll trip on the wires,” she reprimands automatically, then turns on her heel to make her way over to the chair Nien left her coat on. Seoyeon sneaks another glance over her shoulder—Nien’s smiling to herself, a renewed bounce in her step as she talks to the director. It makes Seoyeon smile, and despite the distance she still feels the warmth of Nien’s arms around hers.
Hsu Nientzu, she thinks fondly. What have you done to me?