Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tzuyu lets out a growl, frustrated tears starting to well up in her eyes as she throws her notebook across the room. 

She hears it rather than sees it, the stupid, blank pages clattering against the wall as her head thumps against the frame of the piano.

She hates that the first thought that crosses her mind is to quit, to throw everything away and immediately go into hiding, maybe even run back to Taiwan and live a happy, stress-free life with her dogs. It's not even the first time she's had this feeling recently, but that really only adds to the shame that comes along with it and it just has her slamming her head back down.

"I take it that the songwriting isn't going too well."

Tzuyu doesn't have to look up to know that it's Dahyun, probably back from shooting the newest episode of her variety show. 

"Welcome home." She grumbles into the piano, deliberately ignoring her roommate’s question. "Did you get groceries?"

"No, something came up. I can tomorrow though."

"But then what are we going to do for dinner? The fridge is almost empty."

"Actually I was thinking we could go out for dinner tonight. You've been holed up in here for like… weeks now."

"Ten days at most," Tzuyu argues.

"That's a long time. And you didn’t answer my question earlier. Have you even made any progress?"

"No." She groans, "all this time stuck in front of the piano and I still haven't been able to string three notes together. I haven't even come up with a title yet!"

Dahyun's response comes quieter this time, slightly muffled by the clattering of cabinets and drawers in the kitchen. "Well, you can't write the title before the lyrics. You have to focus on getting your feelings on paper first and then the rest will practically write itself."

"But that's the problem! I don't have any feelings!"

"Everyone has feelings."

"No! I don't!" Tzuyu cries, "after ten days, I think I can safely say that I have no feelings. I'm just a stupid feeling-less girl who's way out of her league. Maybe the internet's right, maybe I really am just another pretty face that rode everyone else's talent to the top. Maybe… maybe I should've gone into modeling like Mina-unnie." 

"Don't say that," Dahyun answers firmly. She hears the quick pattering of footsteps as the girl rushes to her side, kneeling down on the ground to gently set a hand on her leg. “Especially because it kind of sounds like you’re throwing shade at Mina-unnie.” 

“You know that’s not what I-” 

"I know.” Dahyun cuts in, “but you're not talentless, you're not out of your league, and you're definitely not just a pretty face. Okay? You're freaking Chou Tzuyu. The youngest female singer to go double platinum in Korea and Japan. You even beat Jihyo-unnie and Nayeon-unnie to being the first Twice member to win a Daesang on your solo debut!"

She can't help cracking a small smile at the memory of that night. It had been just about a year after Twice had officially disbanded to pursue their own individual ventures, and she'd been absolutely terrified at the notion of tackling a whole award show on her own for the first time. She had tried to reach out to the other girls for their support, but with how ridiculously busy each of them was it hadn't been much of a surprise when all she'd gotten in response were tear-filled apologies.

It made sense after all, especially for Sana and Momo who had been absolutely drowning under the pressure of starting their own music company in Japan, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

So she'd gone on her own, holding back tears from the moment her shiny black heels had touched down on the red carpet, only for them to spill out uncontrollably the moment all eight members had rushed out from behind the curtains in the middle of her acceptance speech, a scene that had instantly gone viral for being Twice's first televised reunion as well as being by far the hardest anyone had ever seen Tzuyu cry. 

None of them had ever told her how they'd all been able to make it at the last moment.

But as beautiful as that night had been, right now she's just a little too distraught to resist pointing out the hole in Dahyun's touching attempt at consoling her.

"I only won because I was the first one of us to release an EP after we split. Jihyo-unnie and Nayeon-unnie have been fighting for the top spot at award shows ever since."

"Irrelevant." Dahyun says as she slides up to join her on the piano bench, "the point is, you're amazing. This is just a little writer's block and it's perfectly normal."

"But what do I do about it?" She whines, "my managers are expecting me to have at least three songs fully recorded in a month! And that’s not even including the title track! God, why did I agree to this?”

“Because you never back down from a challenge.” 

Another pitiful whine escapes her lips as her body slumps over to crash her head into Dahyun’s shoulder, the shorter girl letting out an amused chuckle before gently wrapping an arm around her waist. 

“Then maybe this is the perfect time to start.” Tzuyu mumbles, “because this is hopeless.” 

“It’s not hopeless.” 

“It is. I didn’t even write any songs for Twice back in the day and now I’m supposed to come up with an entire album by myself?” 

“Well… if you asked, I’m sure Nayeon-unnie or Jihyo-unnie would be happy to give you some suggestions, and of course, there’s always Chaeyoung, she had a lot of input in your last comeback didn’t she?” 

“She did,” Tzuyu sighs, “but the whole point is that this one is supposed to be a hundred percent self-written, which means no collaboration. Not that it even matters, they’re all so busy. I’m not even sure Jihyo-unnie is in Korea right now.” 

“I thought her tour wasn’t starting for a few more months.” 

“Yeah, but she insisted on seeing some of the venues herself. Plus even if she wasn't overseas, you know how busy she can get. I’d feel horrible adding onto everything with my own stupid issues.” 

“Well in that case,” Dahyun says thoughtfully, “I guess it’s up to us. And personally, I think what you’re really lacking is a little bit of inspiration.” 

She lifts her head up just enough to give her a confused look. 

“Inspiration?” 

“Yes. All the best songs have something more behind them, some deep and personal meaning so that when people listen to them, they can feel the sincerity underneath, even if they don’t necessarily understand all the details.” 

“Okay, what do you suggest I take inspiration from then?” 

“I can’t really tell you,” Dahyun answers, “that would kind of defeat the purpose." 

"Well then what am I supposed to do?" Tzuyu wails, "watch dramas all day or something?"

Dahyun furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "What? Dramas? No. Tzu, you need to find something that you actually feel passionate about. Something right from your heart that will spill onto the page almost on its own."

"But I don't have anything like that!"

"Everyone has something like that."

"Then why isn't anything coming to mind?" She fires back, "if it's supposed to be so powerful, shouldn't it be popping into my head like… immediately?"

"That I don't know." Dahyun admits, "what I do know is that you'll never find anything to spark your imagination stuck in our apartment all day. Now go change, and maybe take a shower too. We’re going out to dinner.” 

Tzuyu lets out a quiet whine. “Can’t we just stay home and get takeout or something?” 

“Only if you want Mina-unnie to see how disgusting you are right now.” 

That immediately gets her attention and she slowly sits up in her seat. “What? I thought she was promoting her new makeup line for another month.”

Dahyun nods enthusiastically. “Apparently she cut it short. She was actually the guest on my show today as an impromptu last stop on her press tour.” 

“Wow.” Tzuyu answers, “I’m surprised she didn’t want to spend more time back in Japan, from all the pictures she’s been posting on Instagram it seemed like she was having a lot of fun.” 

“Eh well, you know she can never stay away from Nayeon-unnie for long.” 

She feels a smile start to spread on her face. “Those two are so cute together.” 

“I know,” Dahyun says, flashing a devilish grin of her own, “think they’ll get married soon?” 

“It’s not legal here Dahyun.” 

“That doesn't seem to be stopping Sana and Momo."

"What? Sana and Momo haven't even been together that long."

"Well… still, even if it isn’t technically official, don’t you think it’s worth it just to have the chance to declare your love for one another in front of all your friends and family?” 

Tzuyu raises an eyebrow. “When did you become such a sappy romantic? Do you have a secret girlfriend that I don’t know about?” 

“Oh god,” Dahyun groans, “no, this is actually just what happens when all your friends are getting together and you stay perpetually single.” 

“You’re saying that as if I’m not right there with you.” 

Dahyun gives her a dramatic eye roll. “Please. You’re Chou Tzuyu: The Nation’s Sweetheart. Half of Asia is freaking in love with you. There are at least a dozen people in my studio that are begging for me to introduce you to them on a daily basis.” 

“You’re exaggerating.” Tzuyu stutters, feeling the heat rising in her cheeks.

“I’m really not. It’s gotten to the point where I’ve started only eating lunch with members of my staff that are already married.” 

“What? Is it really necessary to avoid your own employees like that?” 

“It is!” Dahyun answers, “otherwise I don’t get to eat! Oh, speaking of which, Mina-unnie said that they got a reservation at that new place in Gangnam for six-thirty tonight so we should probably…” 

Before she even knows it she’s on her feet, eyes darting to the clock hanging on the wall. “Six-thirty? Dahyun! That’s in twenty minutes!”

“Yeah, and it’s supposed to be pretty freaking fancy too so you should probably bring your A-game.” 

She feels her jaw drop as she shoots another glance at the clock as if doing so again would somehow turn back time. 

“Wha- we’ve been sitting here for… why didn’t you say anything earlier?” 

“Uh,” Dahyun replies, “maybe because my best friend was in the middle of a crisis?” 

Tzuyu narrows her eyes. “I’m telling Chaeyoung that you said that.” 

She sees a wave of panic wash over the girl’s face. “Please don’t! She’ll kill me if I… look just go change! I haven’t seen Mina-unnie in forever and I really don’t want to deal with Nayeon-unnie teasing me all night if we’re late.”  

“If we’re late it’ll be your fault. I mean you could’ve at least texted me or something.” 

“I know I know, just go. And once you’re out of the shower I’ll help you pick out an outfit.” 

“What? Why?” 

“Because… look just trust me on this one, you’re going to want to look nice.” 

She barely has the time to scrunch her eyebrows in confusion when Dahyun suddenly gives her a gentle shove to the back, leaving Tzuyu with no other option than to let out a resigned sigh as she turns around to head for her room. 

It ends up taking even longer than Tzuyu could have ever expected to get to the restaurant, mostly because Dahyun had been strangely picky about her outfit choices and had categorically rejected the first five or six dresses that she’d pulled out of her closet, which had felt odd, especially considering how much of a hurry the girl had been in to get to the restaurant on time. 

But somehow, they end up having a fairly easy time getting their reservation moved an hour back to accommodate the impromptu fashion show, most likely because Dahyun had casually and shamelessly used the term ‘Twice reunion’  on the phone which had also gotten them a free upgrade to a table on the rooftop patio. 

And to be honest this kind of preferential treatment never really fails to leave a bad taste in her mouth, especially now that they’re stepping through the ridiculously extravagant double doors and she can see how over-the-top expensive this place is. 

Everything about the place, from the chic, minimalist design to the horrendously impractical silk tablecloths, screams the kind of excessive wealth that even after all the years she’s spent in the entertainment industry, still can’t seem to find herself getting fully comfortable with. 

And this is probably why her friendship with Dahyun works so well. Even now, as she's crossing her arms and shooting judgemental glances at the solid gold wall sconces, the girl is effortlessly sliding up to the hostess, a couple of bills tucked in her hand and a charming smile on her face as she reduces the hostess to a blushing, giggling mess.

Dahyun’s earlier complaints about being perpetually single are suddenly feeling a lot less convincing. 

It’s embarrassing to say that this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and Tzuyu’s honestly so used to it by now that she knows she’ll have to put a quick end to it if they’re ever going to get to their food. 

And she’s so hungry at this point that she’s not shy at all about telling Dahyun to just get the girl’s number and be done with it. Which of course she does, pulling the hostess aside right after they’re shown to their table where Mina and Nayeon are already enjoying a couple of glasses of wine, smiling fondly at each other as they enjoy the view of the sun just starting to dip below the highrises of the city. 

It’s Mina that sees her first, jumping to her feet with a gummy smile and rushing over to pull her into a tight hug. 

“Tzuyu!” 

“It’s so good to see you Mina-unnie!” 

Nayeon follows a couple of steps behind, her glass still clutched in her hand and flashing a raised eyebrow as the two of them exchange their greetings. 

“I see Dahyun’s getting along well with the staff.” 

Tzuyu shakes her head in response. “One of these days someone from the media is going to catch onto her player-ish tendencies.” 

“Oh shush you two,” Mina chides, “Dahyun’s just enjoying the single life.” 

“Yeah,” Nayeon snorts, “a concept that’s lost on some people.” 

Tzuyu snaps her head up. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re talking about me?” 

“Oh I don’t know,” Nayeon answers slowly, “one of the most beautiful girls that Asia has ever seen and yet still hellbent on staying celibate.” 

“I’m not celibate!” 

That seems to get Nayeon’s attention. “Wait really?” The older girl says, her voice taking on an urgent tone that she can’t quite understand. “Are you dating someone right now?” 

“What? No.”  

The tension in Nayeon’s shoulders instantly deflates. “Oh. Then yeah, celibate.” 

“I’m not celibate!” She whines, “it’s just hard to meet people in our line of work.” 

“Oh really? Because Dahyun over there seems to be dating someone new every other week.” 

Tzuyu lets out a huff as she slides into her seat. “What do you want me to do? Date some fangirl? You know as well as I do that they idolize us too much to actually be interested in us as people.” 

“They’re not all bad.” Mina says, “Dahyun’s introduced us to a couple of girls over the years that were pretty nice.” 

Tzuyu has to admit that she’s surprised this defense is coming from Mina of all people, the girl had always been one of the more outspoken members when it came to criticizing the obsessive nature of some of their fans. The fact that she’s speaking up now has implications about her love life that Tzuyu really doesn’t want to get into. 

“And then,” she fires back, “there was that girl that tried to kiss Jihyo-unnie at her birthday party, the girl that tried selling Dahyun’s autograph to all of her friends, oh and I can’t forget the one that actually…” 

“Okay,” Mina cuts in, “okay, you’re right. Maybe dating fangirls is a bit of a risk, the point is…” 

“We just want you to be happy Tzu.” Nayeon finishes gently. 

There’s something seriously weird about their tone. It's got this hesitant, almost wistful energy to it that she doesn't recognize, especially in someone as typically brazen as Nayeon.

But she doesn't get a chance to contemplate any further when Dahyun comes back, stopping briefly to exchange hugs with Mina and Nayeon, before plopping down in her seat with a triumphant grin on her face.

"What? No phone number?" Nayeon asks, "no lipstick stains all over your face? Did the great Kim Dahyun finally get rejected?"

"Nope!" Dahyun chirps, "don't need her number. She gets off work at ten tonight which gives us plenty of time for dinner before I take her out for some drinks."

She sees Mina and Nayeon playfully rolling their eyes, but Tzuyu on the other hand is taking it up a notch by letting out a low groan. 

"Oh my god, am I going to have to wear headphones to bed tonight again?"

"Again?" Mina says with a raised eyebrow. 

"I… that only happened once." Dahyun stutters. 

"Once is more than enough to traumatize me for life." 

"I apologized like a hundred times!" The girl argues, "I even bought you a brand new set of… look you know what, it doesn't matter. If it comes to it tonight, we'll just go to her place."

"You're ridiculous." Nayeon chuckles. 

"What?" Dahyun says casually, "I have needs. And not everyone has a freaking Japanese supermodel they can bo-"

"Okay!" Mina interrupts, a furious blush staining her cheeks, "I think that's more than enough of that. Maybe we should actually start taking a look at the menu? I'm starving."

Nayeon giggles her agreement as Dahyun breaks into a fit of laughter. And Tzuyu's just about to join them when she notices something that seems strangely out of place in a high-end restaurant like this.

"Why is there an extra place setting?"

And any hope that it's just an oversight due to Dahyun flirting with the staff is dashed in an instant as the three of them share a panicked look. 

"Guys," Tzuyu says suspiciously, "what's going on?" 

There's a bit of pointed head tilting and poorly concealed mouthing of words that feels almost insulting that they actually think she might not notice. 

"Guys?" She repeats, a little firmer this time as her frustration starts to bubble up inside.

"Okay!" Dahyun squeaks, following a decidedly unsubtle kick to the shin courtesy of Nayeon, "look just, don't be mad okay?"

She leans back into her chair, arms crossing in front of her chest as she narrows her eyes. "Then don't give me a reason to be."

"Just… remember that we weren't trying to ambush you or anything." Dahyun continues nervously. 

Nayeon nods a little too quickly. "Yeah, all of this was really last minute. I only found out this morning when I picked Mina up from the airport."

"And I only got word like five minutes before my plane took off," Mina adds, "and then the entire flight here all I could do was freak out because I couldn't take my phone off airplane mode."

Tzuyu pinches the bridge of her nose. "Guys, you're giving me a headache. Just tell me what's…"

She trails off as her eyes catch a glimpse of… someone following the hostess and stepping out onto the patio. 

It feels like her body knows who it is before her brain even has an inkling, judging by the way her heart stops, her breath hitches, and her mouth goes dry all at once. 

It probably should have been obvious right from the start. If nothing else, then just the casually chic look of the woman’s beautiful flowing white sundress paired with a Jimmy Choo purse and matching sunglasses should have been the biggest red flag. 

But it isn’t until she sees the woman’s perfectly manicured fingers slowly running through her chocolate brown hair, at long last grown out to the length she’d always wanted, that a spark of recognition finally lights up in the back of her head. 

Because my god she’s always looked so unbelievably stunning with her hair pushed back. And even though it’s just a short and simple move that Tzuyu’s seen a thousand times in the past, somehow it’s still more than enough to send shockwaves through her fragile heart.

And before she even knows it the words are quietly tumbling past her lips in a haunted whisper. 

“Jeongyeon-unnie.” 

Chapter Text

Through the absolute tornado of emotions raging in Tzuyu’s head, a few things strangely start making a bit of sense. 

Like why they had all been acting so shifty under the simplest of questions. Or why Dahyun had been so ridiculous about her choice of outfit that she’d somehow ended up in a dress so short that she had wondered whether or not it was actually another one of Dahyun’s that had been put in her closet by mistake. 

‘Show off your legs’ her roommate had said. She could seriously throw the girl over the side of the building right now. 

The terrified looks that the others are wearing start to fade a bit as Jeongyeon’s roaming eyes finally find their way over to their table, and the woman’s face lights up in a way that’s so painfully nostalgic that she can’t look away. 

Dahyun is the first to get up, loudly squealing ‘Jeongyeon-unnie’ with enough force to draw pointed glares from every table in the vicinity, and throwing her arms around the older girl. 

But Tzuyu knows her well enough to know that she’s just hamming it up to defuse the tension that had fallen over the group a minute ago. 

The others get up more calmly, although Nayeon has a couple of tears in her eyes as she goes up to pull her oldest friend in for a hug. 

She knows that now is the time to pull out her old mask, throw on a beaming smile and pretend that nothing’s wrong. But it’s hard, and she finds that it isn’t quite as natural or instinctive after so many years of being left unused. 

The best she can manage is her closest imitation of a shy smile as she slowly shuffles up to the four grown women continuing to cause a scene in one of the fanciest restaurants in Korea. 

“Jeongyeon-unnie.” She says quietly. 

It takes every last bit of willpower she has to not lose it completely at the way Jeongyeon’s eyes soften in that way that they always used to back in those days where things were just a little simpler and the nine of them were still a family. 

“Tzuyu!” Jeongyeon smiles brightly, rushing forward to wrap her arms around the maknae’s neck, “it’s so good to see you! I’ve missed you so much!” 

Not as much as I’ve missed you. 

“It’s good to see you too unnie,” Tzuyu mumbles, hands trembling as she gently brushes them against the older woman’s waist.

Jeongyeon pulls back slightly, eyes running down her body in a way that brings another furious blush to her face. 

“Oh my god, look at you Tzu! You look amazing! No wonder you've been sweeping all those fan polls."

“I… you’ve been following?” 

“Of course I have!” Jeongyeon answers, “I’ll admit that it wasn’t always easy, especially with the time difference and everything, but I tried to stay updated whenever possible. I even managed to snag your last EP on release.”  

“What? Unnie, that must have dropped at like five in the morning in America!”

“Yeah, something like that.” The girl says, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, “what can I say? I wanted to show my support."

Not with all the time in the world would Tzuyu be able to formulate a proper response to that. Especially because she knows how busy Jeongyeon had been these past couple of years. Filming dramas in the US on top of all the cosmetic and skincare sponsorships that the woman landed had meant that she hadn’t even been able to make it back to Korea for the holidays. The fact that she had still found the time to sit through online queues just to buy her CD is touching on a level that she doesn’t even know how to process. 

She’s only brought out of her thoughts by Nayeon letting out an embarrassingly loud snort. 

“And yet, for my last comeback, this girl just emailed me a P.O. Box to send my album to. A P.O. Box! She wouldn’t even give me her freaking home address!” 

Jeongyeon lets out a frustrated groan. “I told you like a thousand times, that was only because my manager is ridiculously paranoid! She doesn’t even let me order food to my house because she’s afraid someone’s going to leak it to some fansite again.” 

“You still could’ve bought my album like everyone else.” Nayeon fires back, “but no. You only jump through those kinds of hoops for your ‘precious’ Tzuyu.” 

She doesn’t quite catch the blush that creeps onto Jeongyeon’s cheeks, too distracted by Mina elbowing her girlfriend in the ribs, falling back into her old role as one of the only sane Twice members as she smoothly suggests that they all head back to their table. 

But what she does finally notice is the fact that the only vacant seat is right next to hers, something that she can’t help but think is probably by design. 

And with all of the commotion and shock of their earlier mini-reunion, as well as her brief moment of anger that the others had clearly kept her in the dark, she hadn’t really had the chance to wrap her head around this whole thing. But now that she’s actually watching Jeongyeon, the woman who had hardly left her mind for a minute in the past three years, actually sitting down next to her for dinner, her mind finally starts to clear enough to wonder how all of this is even possible. 

“Jeongyeon-unnie.” She says slowly, “I… when did you… how are you even…” 

“Back?” Jeongyeon finishes for her. 

All Tzuyu can muster in response is a small nod. 

“I’d like to know that too.” Dahyun adds, “I feel like we haven’t heard from you in so long! But then today at lunch I get this text from Mina that you had come back too? I mean, why didn’t you even tell anyone?”

Jeongyeon chuckles sheepishly, “well… to put it simply, I missed you guys.”

“That’s it?” Nayeon says. 

“Pretty much."

"But what about your show? I can't imagine that they'd just be cool with you abandoning your role."

"Oh, no they weren't," Jeongyeon answers, "this has actually been kind of a long time coming. Honestly…" the woman trails off for a second, nervously biting down on her lip and absentmindedly reaching for her empty wine glass, "I had been hoping to come back over a month ago. I… yeah. But it ended up taking a little longer than expected to write my character out of the show." 

"You had them write you out?" Mina asks gently, eyes starting to betray a hint of concern.

"Yeah."

"What? Why? Is everything okay?"

Jeongyeon shakes her head. "I promise there's nothing wrong. I mean living in America was really great. But I just… I don't know, after a while, I started missing certain things and even though it was fun getting out there and finding my new path, it never truly felt like home. I told myself that I just needed to get used to it, but eventually, it kind of became clear that what I really needed was to come back and… and be with my family again."

And there's just this look in Jeongyeon's sparkling brown eyes that tells Tzuyu that she's not talking about Seungyeon or her parents. The others seem to sense it too, especially Nayeon, who has to resort to dabbing at her eyes with Mina's napkin. 

"You know if you missed us so much you could've just called more." Dahyun teases. "Or at least given us a bit more warning than just texting Mina out of the blue that you'd already moved back to Korea. I mean we could've called everyone back for a full reunion!"

"Oh you know the others are way too busy for any of that," Jeongyeon replies casually, "I'll just find some time to visit them individually. Besides, I wanted to surprise you guys. I mean, how long has it even been at this point?"

There's some gentle debating around the table as dates are tossed back and forth, each of them having a hard time trying to dig up a distant memory from the past few years of such tightly packed schedules. 

But Tzuyu doesn't have to dig, she remembers Jeongyeon leaving for America like it was just yesterday. 

3 Years Ago

Tzuyu's bedroom door flies open so hard that it has her nearly spilling nail polish all over her brand new comforter. 

She hears two sets of footsteps quickly stomping in, it doesn’t surprise her in the least when she finds that one of them belongs to Sana, the girl had been absolutely blowing up her phone all day and honestly, she had kind of been expecting her to storm in several hours earlier. But what does catch her off guard is seeing Jihyo following just a couple of steps behind. 

“What the hell are you still doing in bed?” Sana shouts.

“What?” Tzuyu says evenly, “I’m not in bed, I’m just sitting on it.” 

“You know what I mean!” The girl fires back, “you… look that’s not important, just get up. Okay? We seriously need to go.” 

“Why?” 

The frustration is starting to compound on Sana’s face. “What do you mean why? Did you not get a single one of my texts? Do I really need to keep spelling it out for you? Jeongyeon is leaving .” 

“I’m well aware,” Tzuyu answers robotically, turning back to once again focus on applying the new shade of strawberry red that Chaeyoung had recommended. 

Just to the outside of her peripheral vision, she sees Sana’s eyes flaring up in anger, to the point where Jihyo actually has to hold her back to keep her from flinging the nail polish against the wall. 

“Okay,” Jihyo says, “let’s just take a breath before we do something we’d really regret.” 

Sana begrudgingly follows their leader’s advice, letting out a frustrated huff and falling back against the wall with her arms crossed in front of her chest. 

“Tzuyu,” Jihyo continues, taking a couple of hesitant steps up to her bed, “would you mind if I sat down?” 

“Go ahead.” She spits out, deliberately keeping her eyes glued to her feet. 

She feels the bed sinking slightly as Jihyo slides up onto the edge of the mattress, and just the fact that she isn’t hopping right up onto the pillows and cuddling up next to her like she usually does betrays exactly how nervous their leader is about all this.

There’s something seriously irritating about seeing Jihyo walking on eggshells around her. 

And it feels all the more infuriating when Jihyo’s words come out all shaky and timid, as if just saying her name is risking some kind of explosion. 

“Tzuyu…”

“What?” She hisses. 

“Can we talk for a second?” 

Her hand stops mid-stroke, but she still doesn’t look up.

“About what?” 

“Well, I just want to know why you’re… hiding in here like this when everyone else is helping Jeongyeon pack.” 

Her hands are trembling now, ruining what was going to be a perfectly applied coat of nail polish, and somehow she finds that she can’t make it stop no matter how hard she tries. 

“Is eight people not enough? It’s not like Jeongyeon-unnie has that much stuff.” 

“Well no, but I know Jeongyeon would appreciate you being there.” 

“I’d just get in the way.” She says dismissively, “besides, I already said my goodbyes at the farewell party.” 

“Well sure,” Jihyo continues, “but don’t you want to be there for her? I mean this is really hard for her too.” 

Her nails are completely ruined now, with streaks of red now wildly dashed all over her toes creating an image fit for a crime scene. And yet somehow she still can’t even bring herself to screw the brush back into the bottle. 

“She has you and Nayeon-unnie.” Tzuyu chokes out, “she doesn’t need me.” 

Finally, she feels a hand firmly grabbing her wrist, and she barely has the time to look up into Sana’s concerned hazel eyes before her own are screwing shut as she falls back against the headboard in a vain attempt at keeping the tears at bay. 

The next thing she knows, Jihyo is pulling her up against her chest and Sana is climbing over to hug her from behind. And it only takes a few minutes of their soothing voices and calming touches to calm her down enough for the tears to finally dry, but even still her body comes out feeling weary and exhausted. 

“Tzuyu-ah,” Sana finally says, “just come with us back to Jeongyeon’s. I know it would mean a lot to her.” 

Tzuyu finds herself curling a little tighter into Jihyo’s arms. “You just want me to go so I’ll blurt out some stupid tear-filled confession and beg her to stay.” 

She feels Jihyo stiffen. 

“Would that be so bad?” Sana asks gently.

“Yes, it would.” She answers, “you already said she’s having a hard time with this. The last thing she needs is me running in like a child and standing in the way of her dreams.” 

“But…” 

“No.” Tzuyu cuts in, “there’s no way you’re going to convince me to stop her. Jeongyeon-unnie has been working so hard for an opportunity like this and… and I care about her too much to ruin it all.” 

There’s a beat of silence, and she sees the energy deflating out of Sana’s shoulders, tears starting to well up in the girl’s eyes before Jihyo decides that she’s had enough, and moves so they’re sitting face to face.

“Okay,” their leader says, “listen Tzuyu, you know I want what’s best for Jeongyeon as much as anyone. But I can’t just sit here and watch as you let your heart shatter like this. This isn’t just her running off halfway across the world to act in a couple of episodes before coming back in a few months or something. Okay? She’s going to be signing a huge multi-year contract on one of the biggest medical dramas in the West. It’s already been running for ten years and could easily go another ten more. Do you understand me? If you let Jeongyeon go now…” 

Jihyo trails off but they all know what she's implying. And the thought of it is already bringing that all too familiar stinging back to Tzuyu's eyes. 

"It… it doesn't matter." She stammers weakly, "all I care about is what's best for Jeongyeon-unnie. I can't let my own selfish feelings get in the way of that."

"But," Sana protests, "Tzuyu… you could at least tell her how you feel."

"Why? To make her decision to leave even harder? Or maybe guilt trip her into turning down an offer that she's been working towards for years? No. No, I can't do that to her."

Present Day

Tzuyu can't seem to shake the bitter memory even as the waiter comes by and collects their plates. 

Of course, Jihyo and Sana had eventually convinced her to at least go to the airport with them to see Jeongyeon off, at which point they'd exchanged a tear-filled goodbye that's haunted Tzuyu's dreams virtually every night ever since.

And that's more or less why it still feels almost impossible to believe that Jeongyeon's here now, sitting just a few feet away from her, a glass of wine tucked comfortably in her hand and laughing at some story of Dahyun's that she's heard a thousand times. 

But of course, they eventually have to call it a night. Because Nayeon's more than a little eager to get her girlfriend home after spending so much time apart, and Dahyun's already heading down in search of the hostess with a rose that she'd snatched from the rooftop garden, leaving just her and Jeongyeon to slowly meander toward the door. 

"You know," Tzuyu says, "usually the guest of honor is supposed to be the one that gets treated to fancy dinners like this. Not the one secretly slipping the waiter her credit card."

Jeongyeon flashes her a cheeky grin, a comforting sight after such a long absence from her life. 

"Yeah, but this is different. I'm a big-name American actress now. It's only natural that I treat my adorable little juniors now that I'm finally home."

Tzuyu gives a playful roll of her eyes, enjoying the familiar sound of Jeongyeon's cackling laugh. 

Another couple of steps takes them past the hostess's booth, where they unsurprisingly find Dahyun ridiculously wiggling her eyebrows and eliciting a flurry of giggles from the poor girl at the stand. 

They both wave their goodbyes, to which Dahyun immediately responds with an enthusiastic wave of her own, before Jeongyeon steps up to the door, holding it open for her with a gentle smile before following her out into the crisp night air of the city.

It's truly a beautiful evening, a bit cool for mid-July, and with a light breeze carrying the slightest scent of flowers that Tzuyu can't help but stop and enjoy with a couple of deep breaths. 

"Are you okay?" Jeongyeon asks suddenly. 

Tzuyu looks up with a bit of a start, finding a hint of concern in Jeongyeon's eyes. 

"Yeah," she answers, "it's just… really nice out today."

The woman nods her agreement, coming up next to her to take in an appreciative breath of her own. 

"You uh… you seemed a little quiet at dinner today." Jeongyeon says after a minute, "maybe it's not my place anymore but…"

"What? How could it not be your place?"

"I don't know, it's just… three years is a long time. Honestly, on the flight back I was worried that you might not…"

"You'll always be my unnie," Tzuyu cuts in, "a little time and distance isn't going to change that."

Jeongyeon's face slowly lights up into a smile, one that Tzuyu hopes she isn't imagining as being the brightest one she's seen all night. 

"Well in that case," the woman says, " is there something bothering you?"

"No."

Yes.

"Are you sure? Because you had that look that you always get when something's on your mind."

That throws Tzuyu completely off guard. "What? There’s no look."

"Uh, yeah there is," Jeongyeon fires back, "that little doe-eyed pouty face with the scrunched eyebrows? I'm pretty sure over half our fans back in the day became Onces just because of that look."

She stops herself just short of stuttering out an embarrassed response because she knows exactly what she's talking about. Years and years of having her life captured on video meant that weird little habits like that never really went unnoticed, she just never expected Jeongyeon to pick up on it. 

"It… it's really nothing. I've just been feeling a little tired lately is all."

Jeongyeon narrows her eyes suspiciously. "Mmm… I don't think so. I know tired Tzuyu. Tired Tzuyu is grumpy and always complaining about needing sleep or coffee or something. But… that's not what I saw tonight."

"Well… I mean…" she stammers. 

"It was the food wasn't it." Jeongyeon cuts in.

"What?"

"Honestly I kind of hated it too. I don't get why Nayeon is such a fan of these fancy restaurants. I mean I guess it tasted okay, but I don't know… between the price and the crappy portion sizes, it just kind of feels pretentious and unsatisfying. You know?"

Tzuyu can't help but let out a quiet giggle at the woman's passionate rant. 

"I mean," Jeongyeon continues, "even after dropping that absolute fortune, I'm still kind of hungry. How about you?”

“Um…” She mumbles. 

And then, as if on cue, her stomach lets out an embarrassingly loud growl that has her sheepishly rubbing her neck as Jeongyeon breaks into a fit of amused cackles. 

“Maybe we should get some real food.” Jeongyeon suggests, “I mean, I love Nayeon and Mina to death but I didn’t really come home to eat overpriced caviar.” 

“Well... where would you want to go?” 

“Hmm… is that tteokbokki place by our old dorm still open?” 

“Oh my god!” Tzuyu replies, gasping at the distant memory, “I have no idea! It’s been so long since I’ve been anywhere even near that area.” 

“Well, would you want to go check it out with me? We’re pretty close after all, and the weather’s nice. Seems like the perfect night for a walk around the city.” 

And Jeongyeon gives her this smile that’s so warm and gentle that it practically has her melting on the spot and effectively eliminates any hope of ever refusing.

She gives a small nod in response, and Jeongyeon’s smile grows just that little bit wider. And then, the next thing she knows, the woman is reaching out and taking her hand, sending a shockwave through her body that stops her heart and has her stumbling along with a flustered chuckle as Jeongyeon leads her down the moonlit street. 

Chapter Text

There’s something so unbelievably adorable about the way Jeongyeon’s eyes light up when she comes back to their table with a large, steaming tub of tteokbokki. 

Maybe it’s an odd thing to say considering that the woman is almost three years older than her, but honestly, when you see someone beaming so brightly over a bowl of spicy rice cakes, there’s really no other way to describe it. 

And Tzuyu’s amused smile grows even wider when Jeongyeon finally takes the long-anticipated bite, looking up with her mouth full and eyes stretched so wide she actually has to wonder whether or not she might be seeing a couple of tears soon. 

“How is it Jeongyeon-unnie?” She asks gently. 

“Oh my god,” Jeongyeon mumbles, “it’s even better than I remembered!” 

Tzuyu can’t help letting out an amused chuckle as she reaches for her own chopsticks. “Did they not have tteokbokki in America?” 

“Not really. Or at least, if they did, I never found it. The best I was able to get in almost three years there was some frozen stuff at the supermarket. And that just... wasn’t the same.” 

Another small giggle escapes Tzuyu’s lips, and she doesn’t even realize that she’s leaning in a little closer on the table. 

“Don’t tell me that there wasn’t any food that you liked in America.” 

"Oh of course there was," Jeongyeon says quickly, "remember that pizza that we had in New York?"

"Oh my god, of course I do! It was so good!"

"Well I had a shoot there for about a week and it was pretty much all I ate."

A light groan escapes her lips as she shovels another bite of tteokbokki into her mouth. 

"What else was there…" Jeongyeon muses, absentmindedly tapping her fingers on the table, "oh! The barbecue that they do there is pretty different. When I was in Texas, a couple of my co-stars took me out for some and it was crazy! I'd never seen so much meat in my life! Honestly everything in America was kind of like that, huge portions and covered in cheese."

Tzuyu lets out a quiet giggle, "sounds like the perfect place for Twice's resident food expert."

Jeongyeon stops midway through taking another bite, mouth hanging wide as she levels a playful glare. "I hope you're talking about Momo."

"Oh of course I am." 

"Good. Because there's no way I ever ate as much as she did."

"Of course you didn't."

She sees Jeongyeon narrowing her eyes, probably at the smirk that she's failing so hard to contain, one that's spreading just a little bit wider at the older girl's reaction.

"I didn't!" Jeongyeon insists.

"And I’m agreeing with you.” Tzuyu answers with a chuckle. 

A quiet whine escapes Jeongyeon’s lips. “Then why are you saying it like that?” 

“Saying it like what?” 

Jeongyeon clicks her tongue in mock annoyance, which might have been even a little concerning if it wasn’t for the small smile spreading on her face.

“I… you know exactly what I’m talking about.” 

“Do I?” 

"Yes!"

"I'm not sure I do. But maybe you can explain it to me?"

And she finds that her smile isn't so small anymore, in fact it's getting to the point where her cheeks are starting to hurt. And if Nayeon were here she'd probably never let her hear the end of it for wearing her heart on her sleeve like this. 

There's a brief moment of silence, followed by Jeongyeon giving her head the slightest of tilts, honey-brown eyes taking on this curious glint that suddenly has her feeling surprisingly self-conscious. 

"What?" Tzuyu stammers. 

"There's something different about you." The woman says, almost absent-minded in her wistful, far-off tone. 

"Different? Wha- how so?"

"I don't know, I just, I guess I’ve never heard you so… playful before. Honestly I was expecting something more along the lines of a deadpan joke about the fact that we're eating a second dinner."

At that, Tzuyu can't help ducking her head a bit in embarrassment. 

"My managers have been trying to get me to stop with that kind of thing. Something about how I need to be more 'approachable' to pull in more fans."

"What? That's ridiculous!" Jeongyeon exclaims, "Jackson-oppa’s actually telling you that? I swear the next time I see him I’m going to kick his...”

“It wasn’t his idea.” She cuts in quickly, “it was all those guys in marketing. They said a lot of stuff about how ‘recent trends’ favored idols with a friendly personality.”

“What?” Jeongyeon shouts, not losing a fraction of the fire burning in her eyes, “what about the millions of fans that have followed you since Sixteen? They all love how blunt you are!"

Tzuyu cringes a little at the sheer volume of the outburst, but still lets out an exasperated huff all the same. 

"Guess my company just doesn't see it that way. But it’s not like Jackson-oppa can really do anything.” 

“He’s the CEO.” 

“Yes… but as the CEO, he has to listen to his staff when it comes to what’s best for the company. He can’t just ignore the numbers they give him.” 

“I guess.” Jeongyeon grumbles.

“I promise it’s not all bad, in fact Jackson-oppa has been really supportive of me. Although it is his fault that I’m struggling so much right now.”

“What do you mean?"

"Well… recently he's been really pushing this whole 'self-made artist' thing. He wants me to have more control of my work, like he did when he first went solo. Which means that for my next comeback I'm somehow supposed to write an entire album on my own."

"Woah," Jeongyeon says, "that's actually kind of cool."

"It might be," Tzuyu replies gloomily, "if it weren't for the one minor detail that nobody seemed to have considered when they pitched this idea."

"Which is?"

"That I can't write a single line to save my life."

At that, Jeongyeon actually physically recoils in her seat. "What? But you helped write a bunch of songs for Twice back in the day."

"Maybe like four or five at most."

"Okay, I mean, even if that's true, I still remember you being really good at it. Everyone knew that you had a natural talent for pouring your feelings out on the paper in a really genuine and compelling way."

"Yeah, I don't know what to tell you." Tzuyu huffs, "I've literally been at this for almost two weeks now and I haven't been able to write anything!"

"Well two weeks isn't all that much time…"

"Yeah, but when I say nothing, I mean blank pages. No lyrics, not even a single note."

"I mean…" Jeongyeon says, "it just sounds like you have a bit of writer's block."

"That's what Dahyun said." Tzuyu huffs. 

"Did Dahyun say anything else? Something actually helpful maybe?"

"She told me I needed to find 'inspiration'. But to be honest I don't even know what that means."

Jeongyeon lets out a contemplative hum, absentmindedly poking at the bowl with her chopsticks. "Well she's not wrong, even if it's not all that helpful in terms of advice."

"It's really not." She agrees, "and the worst part is that my company is expecting me to have half of the songs recorded in a month! Even if I find this magical inspiration tomorrow morning I feel like there's still not enough time to get it all done."

She sees Jeongyeon fall back into her seat, eyebrows furrowed and now actively stabbing at the last couple of rice cakes still left in the bowl. 

“What is it?” Tzuyu asks. 

“Well I mean, okay, maybe it’s sort of a dumb idea but… what if I helped you?” 

“What? No, I couldn’t ask you to…” 

“Not for the entire album,“ Jeongyeon says quickly, “we could just like, collab on a song together or something. That way I can help you with your writer’s block and you can still satisfy your managers with the whole ‘self-written’ thing.” 

“I don’t know…” 

“I swear I haven’t been slacking on my vocal practice! I mean it’s obviously not the same as the kind of training we got as part of JYP…”

“Unnie,” Tzuyu cuts in weakly.

”-but I had a pretty successful YouTube channel for posting covers and stuff while I was in the US. I even wrote a couple of originals that were…” 

“Jeongyeon-unnie!” 

The woman finally looks up, eliciting an amused chuckle from Tzuyu.

“Unnie I would never question your vocals.” She says gently, feeling a slight tinge of embarrassment at the admission slowly spilling past her lips, “and besides… I’m subscribed to your channel already.” 

“Wait, really?” 

She has to pray that the heat creeping into her cheeks isn't too obvious in the restaurant's painfully bright fluorescent lights. 

"Um yeah," Tzuyu says quietly, "I actually listen to your songs quite a bit." 

And that's probably the understatement of the century. Because ever since Nayeon had let slip that Jeongyeon had started her own YouTube channel, she hadn’t really been able to stop watching for a second. The first week or so was particularly bad, with Tzuyu blasting Jeongyeon’s cover of ‘You Belong With Me’ so many times that Dahyun had actually resorted to hiding her bluetooth speaker under the sink. 

But she’ll probably die of embarrassment if Jeongyeon ever finds out. 

“Wow,” Jeongyeon breathes, “I’m surprised you haven’t gotten tired of hearing my voice by now.” 

“As if that could ever happen.” Tzuyu scoffs, "your voice literally still sounds as amazing as the day we disbanded. Honestly we were all a little surprised that you didn't go solo like Jihyo-unnie and Nayeon-unnie."

Jeongyeon shrugs her shoulders with a casualness that she's happy to see looks far more genuine than she'd expect, "I just figured I'd give acting a try, but I'll admit that I didn't think that I'd be picked up for a show so quickly." 

"Do you know what you want to do now that you're back home?"

"Not yet." The woman answers with a slight shake of her head, "I've gotten a couple of offers for dramas in the area, but I haven't responded to any yet. Figured I'd take some time for myself. Which is why this is the perfect time to help you with your songwriting problem!"

And the sudden surge of excitement in Jeongyeon's voice makes it next to impossible to say no, not to mention how ridiculously tempting the general prospect of working with her is. Writing a song together could mean spending days in the studio, sitting shoulder to shoulder at the keys of a piano or even just on her couch, bouncing lyrics and melodies off each other over containers filled with takeout. 

Just the idea of getting that kind of quality time with Jeongyeon has her heart racing faster than it has in years. 

And she can't even begin to find the willpower to stop the words from tumbling past her lips.

"Only if you're sure it won't be too much of a bother." Tzuyu says carefully. 

"Of course it won't!" Jeongyeon answers, "plus, I'm staying at my sister's right now and it's only like a block or two away from your place! We could even get started tomorrow morning!"

And any last tinge of doubt that she feels about imposing on her like this is pretty much extinguished when she sees the elation shining in Jeongyeon's eyes, practically sparkling to a level that leaves her absolutely speechless.

She doesn't even realize how bright her own smile has gotten until her cheeks start to ache.

Tzuyu wakes up the next morning with a muffled groan to an infuriating buzzing sound on her nightstand. 

It takes a second for her to realize that it's her phone going off, and only another two for her to notice the sun shining through her curtains. Because normally she'd be waking up just a little bit after sunrise to begin her seriously complicated morning routine, but after staying out so late with Jeongyeon the previous night she must have forgotten to set her alarm. 

She blindly reaches out to paw around for her phone, wondering to herself how she had managed to sleep in so late when her body had long since internalized her early rising sleep schedule. 

Her hand finally slaps down on the cold, hard surface of her phone and clumsily drags it up to her ear. 

"Hello?"

She's greeted by an amused chuckle, a sound that's more welcoming than she can even hope to describe and honestly has a hard time believing that she's actually hearing.

"Sounds like someone's enjoying a late morning."

"This is your fault," she grumbles, "you were the one that wanted to go on that ridiculous walk around the city until three in the morning."

"Hey," Jeongyeon argues, "it was my first real night back home, I can't help it if I suddenly started feeling nostalgic."

"Neither can I apparently."

That elicits a slightly more nervous chuckle from the woman as Tzuyu reluctantly sits up in her bed. 

“You know you didn't have to entertain all my stupid impulses last night," Jeongyeon says softly. 

"Oh right, like I was going to let you walk around the city alone at night. If it weren’t for me giving you directions you’d probably still be out there right now trying to find your way home."

“Hey, my sense of direction isn’t that bad. I just didn’t expect Seoul to change so much.” 

“You were gone for almost three years unnie.” 

“I know! It was just… surprising.” 

Tzuyu can’t help but give a slight shake of her head, once again feeling her lips cracking into a smile that reminds her how sore her cheeks are. 

“Is this why you’re calling me? To reminisce about the old days where you actually knew your way around the streets of Seoul?”  

“Uh no,” Jeongyeon answers, “I was actually calling to check if Dahyun had made it home last night, and if she had, whether or not her… friend had stayed over.” 

“Oh. Uh, I’m not actually sure.” 

With that, Tzuyu slowly slides off the bed, quietly tiptoeing her way out the door and into the living room.

“Well her shoes are here,” Tzuyu says, “and I don’t see anyone else’s anywhere. And usually there would be a trail of clothes leading to her room or something.” 

“Gross,” Jeongyeon says, “does she really do that?” 

“You have no idea how often I’m cleaning up some strange girl’s underwear clinging to our couch.” 

“Ew, what the hell? That’s fucking disgusting!” 

“It’s better now that I bought one of those pincher things that people use for picking up trash off the street.” 

“Why are you even cleaning it at all?” Jeongyeon asks, “shouldn’t Dahyun be doing that? Or maybe even the random chicks that they actually belong to?” 

“She probably would,” Tzuyu answers, heading into the kitchen to make her typical cup of black tea, “except I wake up so much earlier than Dahyun. And I just can’t bring myself to eat breakfast when the living room is such a mess.” 

“Well I guess I can understand that. Still seems ridiculous that you have to deal with it.”

“Could be a lot worse.” She shrugs, “Chaeyoung's always telling us about the kinds of things she seen in hostels backpacking around Europe. But anyway, why the sudden interest in Dahyun’s love life?” 

“Oh,” Jeongyeon says, “I picked up breakfast and was wondering if I would have to swing back to grab some more for Dahyun’s latest conquest.” 

Tzuyu freezes, halfway through tearing open a new box of tea leaves and nearly dropping her phone to the floor. “Wait. What?”

“I grabbed breakfast,” the woman repeats, “well I guess it’s more like brunch now. It took a little longer than expected but I should be over in like ten minutes or so.” 

Tzuyu’s eyes instantly go wide, darting over to look at her warped reflection in the microwave as her mind digs up the hazy memory of Jeongyeon offering to help with her song today. 

“Ten minutes?” She half-shouts into the phone.

“Uh, yeah. It might be a tiny bit longer. Like you said, I don’t really know the area that well anymore.” 

She feels a wave of panic washing over her as she takes in just how much of a disaster her hair is after rolling out of bed like this. “Um, okay, just call me when you get here and I can buzz you up.” 

“Tzuyu?” Jeongyeon says, her voice slightly tinged with concern, “is everything okay? You sound…” 

“Everything’s fine unnie!” She answers, already rushing toward her bathroom at the end of the hall, “call me when you get here okay? Bye!” 

With that she abruptly hangs up, practically throwing herself in front of the vanity to start violently brushing the knots out of her hair. 

It’s only a few seconds later that she hears some muffled footsteps approaching, and it’s mid-way through another painful stroke of her hairbrush that she just catches a glimpse of Dahyun in the corner of the mirror, drowsily rubbing her eyes as she shuffles through the bathroom door. 

“What’s with all the noise?” Her roommate mumbles, “it’s not even noon yet.” 

“Sorry,” she says quickly, “I just… I only have like nine minutes to get ready and I look like a freaking homeless person right now.” 

Dahyun lets out a quiet scoff. “If this is what homeless people looked like I don’t think people would be all that bothered by them.” 

She doesn’t respond beyond shooting her a half-hearted glare through the mirror, immediately going back to wrestling the brush through her hair. 

And Dahyun watches for just a couple of seconds before letting out a deep sigh, wordlessly snatching the brush out of hands and taking over with longer, smoother strokes. 

“You know it’s actually a lot faster when you just take your time and get it right the first time.” 

Again, Tzuyu doesn’t respond, this time choosing to reach for her bottle of facial cream on the counter. 

“Based on how panicked you are about getting ready,” Dahyun says, “I’m guessing Jeongyeon-unnie is coming over.”

She shoots the girl another glare, deliberately ignoring the blush creeping into her cheeks. “I still haven’t made you pay for ambushing me with that dinner last night.” 

“Oh come on, don’t be like that. Are you really telling me that you didn’t absolutely love seeing her yesterday?”

If she had time to find a corner to sulk in, she’d probably already be burying her head in it. 

“You still could’ve given me some kind of warning.” She grumbles. 

Dahyun flashes her a cheeky grin through the mirror. “And miss the look on your face when you saw her for the first time? Not a chance. It was like we had our own personal screening of ‘Love Actually’.” 

“I… it was nowhere near that bad.” 

“You’re right, it wasn’t bad at all. Honestly, it might be one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen.”

Tzuyu levels another furious glare. 

“Oh come on,” Dahyun whines, “you can’t seriously be mad about this. I mean, thanks to me you literally got to spend the entire night with her. Not to mention that it was my idea to go with the shorter dress. Which, by the way, Jeongyeon-unnie definitely seemed to appreciate.” 

“That’s not… she didn't… how do you even know that I was with her last night?"

"Are you kidding? Tzu, I saw you guys leaving together. Honestly I wasn't really expecting you to come home at all last night with the way Jeongyeon-unnie was checking you out all throughout dinner."

"Oh my god!" She shrieks, spinning in her chair to land a series of slaps on Dahyun's arm. "It wasn't like that!"

"Oh really?" Dahyun fires back, arms raised in a futile attempt at blocking the flurry of blows flying her way, "going on a walk through the city with the woman you've been in love with since you were fifteen? You can't blame me for thinking something might have happened."

"I…" she trails off, suddenly feeling the energy draining out of her body at her friend's blunt words. 

Dahyun's expression softens immediately, and barely a second later she's kneeling in front of Tzuyu with a concerned look on her face. 

"You really still love her, don't you?"

A deep sigh escapes Tzuyu's lips. Because it's a question that she's asked herself a thousand times just in the last few hours, and at this point even she can't keep going on denying it any longer.

"Yeah." She says, head dropping with a defeated sigh, "yeah I do."

"You know that's okay right?" Dahyun asks gently.

"Don't be ridiculous." She mumbles in response, "our entire group is into girls."

"No I mean that... you don't have to keep hiding your feelings. I mean, Jeongyeon-unnie's back now. She's done with her show in America and doesn't know what she'll do next, doesn't it seem like the perfect time to tell her how you feel?"

She has to admit that there's a very prominent ache in her chest at the thought of confessing to Jeongyeon. So many of their members had tried to convince her to do it over the years that she should be used to it by now. 

But she's not. 

And every time somebody's brought it up she's never failed to go through the same kind of heart attack inducing panic that she's feeling right now.

This time, luckily, she doesn't have to stumble through a poorly formed response when she's brought crashing out her thoughts by the piercing chime of their doorbell. 

"Is that her?" Dahyun says, already rising to her feet.

"Wha- it can't be. I told her to call me so I could buzz her up."

"Maybe someone at the front desk let her in. She is pretty recognizable after all."

She feels another wave of panic wash over her. “Oh my god, can you go and like… stall her? I still haven’t done my makeup yet!” 

“Tzu, you’re being ridiculous. Even if we disregard how amazing you always, and I mean always   look without makeup, there’s still the fact that Jeongyeon-unnie’s seen all of us looking like eight different flavors of death from the days back in the dorms.” 

“I…” Tzuyu stammers, “look, can you just please do this for me? I promise I’ll be out in a minute.” 

Dahyun lets out a huff, already halfway out the door and heading into the living room, “you know I was going to anyway, I just would rather you tell her up front instead of playing these games.” 

“And if I ever do I promise you’ll be the first to know.” 

“I better be!” 

Chapter Text

12 Years Ago

Tzuyu is practically sprinting by the time she makes it out onto the street, doubling over for just a second to catch her breath. 

It’s been a particularly awful day. Between forgetting to set her alarm the previous night, waking up late, and rushing to school only to discover that her backpack was actually missing half of the books that she had needed today, she had pretty much already been ready for the day to just be over from the second she’d woken up. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that she hadn’t even been able to explain her situation to her teachers with her severely limited vocabulary. 

Which, unsurprisingly, had earned her a visit to the principal’s office to discuss her abysmal performance for the day, ultimately resulting in her being extremely late for her training session with JYP Entertainment’s dance team after school. 

She’s a little ashamed to say that barely two weeks into life as a trainee and there’s already a port of her that’s starting to regret her decision to move to Korea. 

But she pushes the thought to the back of her mind as she rushes up to the doors of the JYP trainees building, knowing how much of a slippery slope that kind of thinking can be. 

She's just reaching into her bag to dig out her ID badge for the security guard that's usually inside when she notices that the building looks strangely empty through the large glass double doors. 

There's already an uneasy feeling bubbling up inside as she reaches for the door handle, and it only gets a thousand times worse when she gives it a sharp tug and is met with the disheartening thud of the deadbolt clanging against the frame. 

Her eyebrows are furrowed as she tries the opposite door, unsurprisingly finding it locked as well. 

Now, Tzuyu normally prides herself on being fairly level headed, and if she had been confronted with this situation any other time she’d probably already be running through a list in her head of all the rational possibilities as to why the doors were locked and what she should do about it. 

But she’s had such a tough day already, and this is all just adding onto the stress that’s been steadily building up for the past few weeks that’s starting to get to her more than she could’ve realized.

And somehow, that straw that finally breaks the camel’s back comes in the form of a flimsy piece of paper taped to the door with… something written on it in Korean. 

She’s not sure how she hadn’t noticed it before, probably too caught up in her panicked rushing to notice something so trivial, but now that she sees it, she lets herself start to breathe out a small sigh of relief… until she realizes that she has no idea what it says. 

Of course, she had been doing her best to learn Korean, but as hard as she’d been working, there’s really only so much you can get through in two weeks. And it might've been somewhat more manageable if the company had been able to get her a phone like they'd promised, but somehow after two weeks of living here, they'd still hadn't managed to find one for her, leaving her with no options other than waiting until she got home to translate her homework on her laptop.

Even still she feels like she has to try, begging her exhausted brain to supply any information it can on the characters printed on the page. 

But the progress is slower than she could have ever imagined, and it isn’t until she gets to clumsily sounding out the third word that she realizes that it’s completely pointless when she doesn’t actually know the meaning. 

Before she even knows it, there are tears welling up in her eyes and she’s running a hand through her hair in sheer frustration. 

She tries to stay calm and think back to yesterday’s practice, wondering if there was some kind of announcement that today’s session would be cancelled, but to be honest, if there was, she probably wouldn’t have understood it. 

But even still, why hadn’t any of the other trainees said something? There were a couple of them that spoke a bit of English or Chinese and were usually nice enough to at least try to explain the things that the teachers said, so why hadn’t anyone said anything to her this time? Did she do something to upset them? If she had, then she certainly didn't mean to. She knows that a lot of people tended to misinterpret her quiet demeanor as hostility, but it's not like she can help that. She's just a little shy and doesn't speak the language.

Not that going through any of that matters now.

She doesn't even want to think about it anymore.

At this point, all she wants to do is curl up in a ball and hide. And she's thinking about doing just that when she hears something from behind her. 

She turns almost on instinct, gasping in surprise when she sees a girl standing behind her, eyes stretched wide in concern. 

Tzuyu turns away quickly, reaching up in a futile attempt to dry the tears even as they continue to fall. 

The girl says something, and she feels a hand gently pressing on her shoulder to spin her around again, only to cause more tears to spill over as another string of questions leaves the girl's lips. 

The girl jumps back, and Tzuyu sneaks a glance up to see the frightened expression on the girl's face, hands held up apologetically. 

It's only then that she realizes that she actually recognizes the girl as one of the other trainees with JYP, the short brown hair had made her stand out on her introduction day last week. And after that she'd occasionally noticed her in the cafeteria or training in the practice rooms, but up to this point they'd never actually spoken to each other before.

So she finds it unbelievably sweet that the girl's so concerned about her now, even being so respectful of her personal space. And it's enough for her to try and choke out an explanation in her sorry state.

"No… Korea." Tzuyu stammers. 

"No Korea?" The girl repeats slowly. 

Tzuyu shakes her head, pointing to herself with a trembling finger. "Um, China."

"China? Oh! Chinese?"

She nods quickly, sniffling slightly as she brings a hand back up to wipe the tears from her eyes. 

The girl grimaces slightly, an expression Tzuyu doesn't quite understand until her mouth opens and a string of broken Mandarin comes out. 

"I… can… Chinese…"

Tzuyu's eyes go wide. 

"You can speak Chinese?"

"I…" the girl stammers, "not good."

"That's okay!" She says quickly. 

"Um, me… Yoo Jeongyeon."

"I'm Chou Tzuyu." 

Jeongyeon finally takes a hesitant step forward. "You… cry… why?"

She lets out a deep sigh, knowing that there's no way Jeongyeon would be able to understand such a complicated explanation in Chinese, and instead decides to point to the door. 

A wave of understanding dawns on Jeongyeon's face as she reads the notice taped to the glass, only for her expression to revert back to a panicked state as she looks back to Tzuyu, no doubt wondering how she could possibly explain the situation with such a significant language barrier. 

And there's a couple seconds of awkward silence before Jeongyeon suddenly makes a noise, immediately dropping to her knees to start rifling through her backpack. 

Tzuyu can only watch in confusion as the girl digs through her bag, muttering curses to herself before finally jumping up with a triumphant whoop, proudly holding out a smartphone for her to see. 

That's finally enough for her to crack a small smile, and she’s surprised to find that her tears have already dried. 

From there the communication is much easier, with Jeongyeon opening up a translation app on her phone and passing it to her. She explains that the trainee building had been closed for the day and classes moved to the practice rooms in the main JYPE building normally reserved for the debuted artists. 

It’s slow going to be sure, with even the most basic sentences requiring multiple back and forths with Jeongyeon’s phone, and by the time Tzuyu finally understands what’s going on, the class is basically over already, but nonetheless, Jeongyeon still insists on taking her to the classroom, even going so far as to explain the situation to the instructor for her. 

And the teacher is extremely understanding and apologetic, making promises using her own phone to make sure any future notices also include a Chinese section. 

Tzuyu voices her gratitude, at the very least able to manage a simple ‘thank you’ in Korean, and heads out into the hallway to find Jeongyeon and do the same. Of course there’s so much more that she wants to say, and her mind races through vague and poorly formed ideas of buying a box of chocolates, or maybe some flowers or something to express just how grateful she is for the girl coming to her rescue like this, but it gets pushed to the back of her mind the second Jeongyeon catches sight of her and enthusiastically waves her over. 

And from there Tzuyu does her best to convey her appreciation of the girl's selflessness using a mix of the phone translation and whatever broken Korean she can muster. 

Present Day

“Wow.” Jeongyeon says, “I’m really sorry you had to go through that.” 

“It was a million times better after I met you.” Tzuyu replies, “letting me borrow your phone all the time to translate things, you even introduced me to Jackson-oppa so that I had someone I could actually talk to.”

“I still can’t believe they took that long to issue you a phone, they could have at least assigned you a translator or something! I mean how did they expect you to survive with literally no way to communicate with anyone?” 

“It… was certainly challenging.” 

“I also kind of think the other girls in your class left you out of the loop on purpose.” Jeongyeon huffs, “a lot of the other trainees were jealous of you when you first joined.” 

“Yah!” Dahyun shouts from her spot on the loveseat, “Chaeyoung and I were in that class too unnie! We weren’t trying to sabotage her!” 

Almost immediately Jeongyeon is jumping to her feet. “What? You never told me that! Why didn’t you didn’t try to help her?” 

“We did! We all tried to help her whenever we could. We just… forgot… that time.” 

And it looks like Jeongyeon still has more to say, but Tzuyu decides that she should probably put an end to it before the scolding gets out of hand. 

“It’s okay unnie, Dahyun was the first one to apologize when she found out,” she says, “but anyway, why did you want to hear that story? It seems like you remember that day just about as well as I do.” 

Jeongyeon lets out a sigh, albeit still shooting a weak glare in Dahyun’s direction before sinking back into the couch and cradling her tea closer to her chest. 

“I do remember it,” the woman answers with a grin, “I mean who could forget the day they met the Chou Tzuyu?” 

She clicks her tongue in mock annoyance, not quite able to contain her own smile that’s tugging at the corner of her lips. 

“Unnie!” Tzuyu whines. 

Jeongyeon lets out a light cackle before sitting up, face taking on a slightly more serious expression. 

“Well, you said that you’d been having trouble finding something to write about, so I figured it might be good to start with something that I knew was emotional for you. And look, you’ve been talking for like… an hour almost.” 

Her eyes instantly go to the clock hanging on the wall, and her eyebrows shoot up as she realizes that Jeongyeon’s right.

“Wow…” She breathes, “I didn’t even notice.” 

“Exactly.” Jeongyeon replies, cracking a satisfied smile, “because that memory, all the struggling you had to go through when you first came to Korea, it means something to you. And that’s exactly the kind of passion that you can channel into a song.” 

“So… you think I should write a song about coming to Korea?” 

“Well not necessarily, it was more just an example of how much easier it is when you find something you feel strongly about. But I feel like it could work, I mean Jackson-oppa’s first song when he went solo was literally called ‘Alone’, so it’s not like there’s any question of whether or not it works as a concept.” 

“But if it’s already been done before shouldn’t I try to find something more original?” 

“Don’t worry about being original,” Jeongyeon says quickly, “the only thing that matters is that the song comes straight from your heart.” 

That’s pretty much enough to stun her into silence. Sure it’s basically the same advice that Dahyun had given her yesterday, but it just feels so different when someone’s showing her what it feels like as opposed to simply telling her. And for the first time in weeks she feels like she might actually have a chance at writing something decent. 

She’s just about to ask what they should do next when Jeongyeon’s phone suddenly goes off, and the older woman is sheepishly excusing herself to take the call in another room. 

And of course she can't really resist watching the woman leave, following every graceful step she takes across their living room until Tzuyu suddenly feels a second pair of eyes on her and turns to see Dahyun still sitting on the loveseat with a knowing smirk on her face.

“What?” 

“Oh nothing, it’s just been a while since I’ve seen you so blatantly checking her out.” Dahyun says, “it’s nice, nostalgic even.” 

“I hate you.” Tzuyu deadpans, feeling the heat creeping into her face. 

“No you don’t. And you know how I know that?” 

Tzuyu doesn’t respond beyond leveling another half-hearted glare. 

“I know you don’t hate me,” Dahyun continues, “because I’ve heard that story before, and the last time you told it to me, it definitely didn’t end there.” 

And that’s enough for her cheeks to light up in a full-on tomato-red blush. 

She remembers the night well, and it’s embarrassing to say the least. It was just a couple of months after their debut, and after spending practically the entire day in the practice room with Jeongyeon, she had rushed back into the room that she had shared with Dahyun and Chaeyoung, no longer able to contain the feelings that she’d been holding onto for so long. 

So she’d told the two of them everything, all the way down to the very story she’d just relayed to Jeongyeon, and ending it with an absolutely mortifying description of how after profusely thanking the girl for all her help, Jeongyeon’s face had lit up in this impossibly gentle ear-to-ear smile. And even as they started discussing whether or not it would be viable to simply share the phone and trade back and forth on a daily basis, somehow the only thing that Tzuyu could focus on was how she could’ve missed how gorgeous the girl’s eyes were. 

Even to this day she doesn’t actually know if she’s ever seen a color quite like it, with just this warm, brown tone that’s so bright that it’s almost gold. The only way she’s ever been able to even come close to describing it is that they remind her of honey, intoxicatingly beautiful yet still glowing with a sweetness that only Jeongyeon can manage. 

And while Chaeyoung and Dahyun had been absolutely gushing when they’d first heard the story, it didn’t really stop them from giving her grief whenever the topic of her feelings came up. And apparently today wouldn’t be any exception. 

“So,” Dahyun says cheekily, “you really think you can keep your feelings hidden when you’re staring at her like that every time you think she isn’t looking? Jeongyeon-unnie isn’t blind you know.” 

“I wasn’t staring!” 

“Oh please. You should just count yourself lucky that Jeongyeon-unnie isn’t wearing shorts even on a day this hot. Otherwise we might never get all your drool mopped up.” 

“You… didn’t you have a lunch date to get to or something?” 

“Lunch isn’t for at least another hour or so.” Dahyun answers, “and I’d much rather sit here and watch you salivate over…” 

She doesn’t get much further as Jeongyeon chooses that moment to walk back into the room. And Tzuyu’s about to panic over just how much the woman might have heard when something catches her eye and immediately derails her train of thought. 

“Uh, Jeongyeon-unnie? Did you… change?” 

The older woman looks down for a second before running her hands through her hair with a slight chuckle. 

“Oh, yeah I did. It’s actually a lot hotter than I expected it to be today so I grabbed the shorts that I had in my gym bag. They’re a little small though, I think they shrank in the dryer.” 

She hopes nobody can hear how hard she swallows. 

But judging by the infuriating ear-to-ear grin that Dahyun’s not even bothering to hide, that hope is probably already dashed.

“Looking good unnie.” Dahyun says, “I always forget how long your legs are. It’s so hard finding good summer outfits when you have stumpy legs like mine.”

“Oh please,” Jeongyeon answers dismissively, “your legs are not stumpy. And these shorts just make my legs look good because they’re so high-waisted. If there’s anyone you should be jealous of, it's Tzuyu.” 

Dahyun nods, and when she throws in an overly-dramatic stroke of her chin, Tzuyu can’t help feeling a little suspicious.

“That’s a really good point.” Dahyun says, “Tzuyu, as the resident expert in having long legs, don’t you think Jeongyeon-unnie looks good in her shorts?” 

She could seriously kill this girl right now.

But she has to put that to the back of her mind when she sees the look of innocent confusion in Jeongyeon’s eyes. 

“Um,” Tzuyu mumbles, “I… of course. You always look good Jeongyeon-unnie.” 

And this gentle smile spreads on the woman’s lips as she sits back down on the couch, and on some level Tzuyu registers Dahyun making another cheeky joke, probably at her expense, but she doesn’t quite register her roommate’s words. She’s too busy getting lost in that familiar glow that lights up Jeongyeon's eyes. 

Maybe she’s just imagining things, but at that moment it feels like she can actually smell the honey in the air. 

Chapter Text

Tzuyu slowly reaches forward and taps on the spacebar, pausing the video to put an end to their fifth viewing of the music video for Jackson Wang’s ‘Alone’. 

“It’s pretty different now that I can actually understand the English lines.” Jeongyeon says, “who would’ve thought Jackson-oppa had it in him to write such deep lyrics?” 

“I’d like to see you say that to him nowadays.” Tzuyu deadpans. 

Jeongyeon gives a playful roll of her eyes in response. “Oh please, even if he’s running his own company now, he still acts like the same overprotective big brother he’s always been. None of those idiots have changed a bit.”

“What? How would you know? Have you even seen any of them since you left?” 

“Um, yeah.” Jeongyeon answers, “did you forget that Mark is constantly doing work in the U.S.? Not to mention your boss. They used to insist on taking me out to dinner all the time but they never let me pay even once. It was ridiculous.” 

“Just like you insisted on paying for dinner the other day?” 

"Hey, that's different. You guys are like, actually my sisters."

“And I’m pretty sure they’d say the same about all of us.” Tzuyu smirks, “in fact, you’d probably break Jackson-oppa’s heart if he ever found out you even implied that we aren’t all family.” 

“We are family.” Jeongyeon says, “I just… you know what? Forget it. We really should be focusing on the song. Did it give you any ideas?”

“Well... Maybe. I guess ‘alone’ doesn’t really quite fit, I mean I’ve always had you guys taking such good care of me.”

“Okay, well how would you describe it then?” 

Tzuyu sinks back slightly on the bench, letting out a deep sigh as she ponders the question. “Maybe… lost? I mean, coming so suddenly to a new country without knowing the language, even though I had people supporting me it was still really hard.” 

“I know what you mean.” Jeongyeon hums, “I mean my English was always one of the worst out of all of us, and yet I ended up being the one moving to America of all places.” 

“Your English really has gotten incredibly good.” Tzuyu replies, “in your latest cover, what was it… Thinking Out Loud?  You almost sounded like a native speaker.” 

Jeongyeon raises an eyebrow. “Wow, you really have been following my channel.” 

“You… of course I have!” She can feel the blush starting to creep into her cheeks, “did you think I was lying?” 

“Well no, but I guess I didn’t expect you to have actually kept up with every upload.” 

Tzuyu bites down on her lip, knowing that she wouldn't be able to get away with hiding how obsessively she'd been following the channel again, she's such a bad liar that it was a small miracle Jeongyeon hadn't seen through it the first time.

“I… what can I say?" Tzuyu mumbles, "I kind of… missed you." 

Jeongyeon's expression drops almost instantly. 

"Tzu…"

"I'm sorry," she says quickly, "I shouldn't have…"

"No!" Jeongyeon interrupts, eyes stretched wide in panic, "no, I should be the one apologizing. I… it doesn't matter how busy things were, I should have made more time for you… uh… all of you I mean."

"It's okay unnie, we all understand that life gets in the way."

She can see the conflict still present in Jeongyeon's eyes, clouding over the gentle glow enough for Tzuyu to instantly regret opening her mouth at all. 

And she's just about to say something to try and shift away from the somber atmosphere that had fallen over the two of them, but Jeongyeon beats her to it, voice quiet and taking on this almost wistful tone that threatens to knock the air right out of her lungs.

"I tried to leave earlier, you know, I fought with my manager for weeks because I wanted to be back in time… well, I wanted to be home over a month ago."

"Well," Tzuyu says, "all that matters is that you're home now."

Jeongyeon doesn't respond immediately, instead boring into her with an intensity to her eyes that she doesn't quite recognize. And it's only then that she realizes how close they're sitting on the couch. 

"Jeongyeon-unnie?"

The older woman finches, giving a slight shake of her head to snap herself out of whatever it was that had taken over her. 

"Sorry." Jeongyeon says, "I… you're right. I'm here now, and you want me to help with your song so let's stick to that."

"Unnie," Tzuyu begins hesitantly, "are you…"

But she doesn't get any further when Jeongyeon abruptly stands up, loudly clapping her hands together and stepping around the couch. 

"Well, there's no use just sitting around and listening to Jackson's music. If we're going to make any progress we'll have to get something down on paper. I'll go grab my notebook and then maybe you can show me these new piano skills Dahyun was telling me about."

And there's something strange about Jeongyeon's voice, it's strained and unnatural, almost forced. Tzuyu thinks that she might have actually heard it somewhere before, but she can't quite place it. And the tinge of doubt that she feels is enough to fuel the indecision that keeps her from speaking out.

She doesn’t even know how long they’ve been going at the piano but Tzuyu is stuck in a state of absolute awe at how ridiculously talented Jeongyeon is.

Of course she's always known the woman's voice was beautiful, but after so long not being able to hear it in person, she’s a little ashamed to admit that she’d sort of forgotten how captivating it can be. And she really shouldn’t have, after all, Jeongyeon was by far the member of Twice that Tzuyu tried to learn from the most when it came to vocals. 

Sure, Nayeon and Jihyo were usually given more lines and definitely had aspects to their singing technique that were undoubtedly superior, but for Tzuyu, there was just always something about Jeongyeon's voice that drew her in. 

Maybe it's the rich, smooth as silk tone that even now is gently spreading its intoxicating touch to every inch of her body, or maybe it's just the simple fact that Jeongyeon’s voice was more similar to her own than any of the other members, but even from the days before they debuted, Tzuyu had always admired Jeongyeon's singing. 

“Tzuyu?” 

She snaps her head up, cringing slightly as she realizes that she’s been caught staring a bit.

“Uh, sorry. I was just… zoning out I guess.” 

“Do you want to take a break? We’ve kind of been at this for a while now.”

“No that’s okay, I’m actually having a lot of fun.” 

Jeongyeon cracks another beaming smile. “Me too. Honestly, I'm kind of amazed at how incredible you sound."

"Are you saying that I sounded bad before?" Tzuyu teases, shooting the woman a playful, side-eyed glance.

Jeongyeon clicks her tongue in annoyance. “You know that’s not what I…” 

“It’s okay unnie, I know I’ve always had things that I’ve needed to improve on.” 

“We all do Tzu. But that doesn’t change the fact that you’ve always had great vocals. Actually I think it’s just your confidence that’s making the difference now.” 

“Confidence?” 

“Yeah.” Jeongyeon says, “I mean, I remember Nayeon used to try so hard to get you to be the Center more often, but you were always too scared to do it. Now look at you. Going pound for pound with Jihyo and Nayeon every award season, you’re like… a different person.” 

“It does feel pretty crazy. I mean we were just talking the other day about how I could barely speak a word of Korean when I first started as a trainee. But I guess I don’t need to tell you that, I mean, you went through the same thing in America didn’t you?” 

“God, don’t remind me,” Jeongyeon groans, “those first few months in the US, I felt like a lost puppy, following my manager everywhere she went, barely able to hold a conversation for longer than thirty seconds.” 

Tzuyu lets out a quiet chuckle. “I guess even if neither of us were ever ‘alone’, we still had plenty of other problems.” 

Jeongyeon laughs along with her for a second, before she abruptly cuts herself off, eyes going wide and jaw suddenly dropping open. 

“Oh my… Tzuyu, you’re a genius!” 

Tzuyu blinks a couple of times as the gears slowly turn in her head. “I… what?” 

Jeongyeon’s excitedly jumping up to her feet before she can even react. 

“That could be our duet song!” The older woman says.

“‘Alone’?” She asks, “how would that even make sense with two people singing?” 

“No no no,” Jeongyeon quickly slides back onto the bench, catching Tzuyu off guard by the sudden proximity, “okay, you know how all our old songs incorporated a bunch of English lyrics right?” 

“Yeah… I mean I feel like all KPop songs do that nowadays.”

“Right right. But, what if we took that to the next level?” 

Tzuyu can’t help furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Well, think about it. I mean… we speak three languages just between the two of us and we’ve both had to suffer through moving to a new country and learning on the fly. We could write about that while using three languages to add a whole new layer of depth to the lyrics.” 

“You mean… write about how hard it was making it in a completely new country, and using each of our second languages to show that we’d slowly adapted?” 

“Yeah!” Jeongyeon’s leg starts shaking a bit as her eyes go wide, and Tzuyu has to bite back an amused laugh at the fact that even after all these years, she’s still so easily excited by the smallest things. “We could start out with each of us only having lines in our native languages, Chinese for you and Korean for me…” 

“And end with us singing lines in our adopted languages.” 

“Yeah!” Jeongyeon repeats. “We could even make it more of a gradual thing, like we were slowly learning the language and getting more confident with it. Oh but then, how would we do the cut-off where we make the switch?” 

Tzuyu bites down on her lip, letting the question stew a bit in her head before hesitantly responding. 

“What if we built the split around the chorus?” Tzuyu says, “where each time we repeat it, the meaning of the lyrics is the same, but each time, more and more of the actual words are switching to other languages.” 

“Yeah… We could do like… three versions of the chorus.” Jeongyeon continues, eyes growing wider by the second, “maybe keep a couple of key lines in Korean so that they gradually go from me singing them to you singing them. That way we would be building the switch around the same lines in Korean, which would make it a lot easier to follow.” 

Tzuyu nods her head enthusiastically, feeling her smile starting to shine brighter and brighter. 

“Yeah! And then for the others they could go from Chinese to English, so it’s kind of like… we end up trading lines by the end.”

“Ooh!” Jeongyeon exclaims suddenly, “but right at the climax of the song we could have the version of the chorus with lines in all three languages! Oh my god, that would be so cool!” 

And even Tzuyu can’t contain her excitement, especially with Jeongyeon bouncing up and down in her seat like this. 

And normally Jeongyeon would be the first one to notice Tzuyu’s reaction, but somehow in this moment, the woman is weirdly unsure of herself, turning back with a nervous look in her eye and a strange amount of tension in her shoulders. 

“So,” Jeongyeon says hesitantly, “what do you think?” 

She almost wants to roll her eyes at how ridiculous it is that Jeongyeon’s suddenly being so self conscious, and she might even do it if it wasn’t so adorable. 

“Honestly,” Tzuyu says, feeling herself cracking a grin as Jeongyeon bites down on her lower lip, “I kind of love it.” 

With her nose buried in her notebook, Tzuyu barely even notices when Dahyun gets home. She’s far too preoccupied with trying to make sense of the pages upon pages of notes that she and Jeongyeon had hastily scribbled down in between their excited jam sessions at the keys of her piano. 

It’s honestly amazing how much they’d gotten through in such a short amount of time, with lyrics and melodies bouncing back and forth between them with a breezy flow that was smoother than silk. 

And even more than that, it seems almost unbelievable how comfortable it had all felt. Even on that first night, seeing Jeongyeon at the restaurant after so many years, she hadn't felt for a second like there was any sense of awkwardness or tension from their time apart. It was so easy that Tzuyu hadn't even given a second thought to following the woman through the city for a late night snack, exchanging stories and laughing at each other's expense the entire way. 

Almost like Jeongyeon had never even left. 

"I take it," Dahyun says, putting an end to her wistful daydreaming, "based on that goofy grin on your face, that you two actually made some progress today."

"Yup, we came up with this great idea and the lyrics kind of just started pouring out afterwards."

Dahyun lets out a quiet hum as she plops down on the couch next to her, a bottle of wine and two sparkling glasses in her hands. 

"I have to admit that I might be a little disappointed."

"What? Why?"

Dahyun doesn't respond immediately, choosing instead to hand over a glass of wine that Tzuyu wordlessly accepts. 

"Well," her roommate finally says, "honestly, I was kind of hoping that I'd come home to you telling me that you made zero progress... and instead spent all day getting pinned to the bed by Jeongyeon-unnie."

And the casual tone of Dahyun's voice leaves her completely unprepared for the sharp left turn that sentence takes, resulting in her whipping her head to the side and spewing a mouthful of wine over the end of the couch. 

"Oh my god!" Dahyun shouts, "Tzu, that wine's expensive!"

"Then don't say things like that!" She fires back, wiping at her lips with the back of her hand.

"Oh come on! After all that drooling you did over Jeongyeon-unnie's legs the other day? And then this morning I couldn't help but notice that you changed out your bedding for those custom made Italian silk sheets. I mean, what was I supposed to think?"

"Not this!" Tzuyu shouts, "I mean my sheets were changed by the cleaning people… oh my god, I can't believe you actually thought something like that would happen!"

"Well… what then?" Dahyun says slowly, "are you saying you're more of a 'top'? Because if so…"

The girl doesn't get any further before Tzuyu's cutting her off with a series of harsh slaps to her arm, sending Dahyun into a fit of uncontrolled cackling as she collapses onto the couch. 

"Tzuyu! Tzuyu the wine!" Dahyun cries dramatically. 

With a frustrated huff, Tzuyu begrudgingly backs off, sinking into the cushions to take a long swig from her glass. 

“Look I’m sorry,” Dahyun says, “somehow I forgot how shy you can get about all this stuff.” 

“If I recall, you used to be pretty shy yourself. You know, before you started sleeping with anything and everything that moves.”

Dahyun responds with a laugh, one that, for what seems to be a more and more common occurrence lately, feels a little… off to her. But once again it’s over so quickly that Tzuyu’s immediately second guessing herself. 

“What can I say?” Dahyun smirks, “I’ve got game. I was just holding myself back all those years so that the rest of you would have a chance.” 

Tzuyu rolls her eyes, this time pounding back the remainder of her wine in one large gulp. 

And Dahyun’s quick to refill her glass, something that she's learned over the years is pretty pointless to try and stop, not that she minds anyway, at this point hanging around Dahyun and Nayeon so much has turned her into a borderline alcoholic.

“But seriously,” her roommate says, “did you guys really just write music all day?” 

“We did!” Tzuyu answers fiercely, “I have the proof right here if you want to see.” 

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, I’m just disappointed.” 

“Disappointed? Disappointed that my manager isn’t going to fire me for missing my deadline?” 

This time it’s Dahyun’s turn to roll her eyes. “You know that’s never going to happen. Their company would collapse without you pulling in those crazy numbers.” 

“There’s no way I’m that important,” Tzuyu says, “and does that mean you don’t want to see the lyrics?” 

“No, of course I do. I mean if it’s enough to keep you from making a move on Jeongyeon-unnie then it must be something seriously special.” 

And despite the exasperated scoff that escapes Tzuyu’s lips, she can't help the sudden wave of nervousness that floods into her chest as she hands the notebook over. 

It feels a little ridiculous, after all, she's so far past the days of anxiously reading fan comments on their music videos, but even if she’s a lot farther in her career now, there’s still something oddly terrifying about surrendering her own work for peer review like this. 

And it only gets worse as she watches Dahyun’s eyes flicker over the page, as stone faced as ever and leaving her with no other option than to gnaw on her lip as she takes the occasional sip from her glass. 

“This… this is really cool!” Dahyun finally says, eyes lighting up as she reads through a second time, “my Chinese is a little rusty… but it looks like you guys wrote the chorus to have the same meaning in three different languages?”

“Mhmm,” Tzuyu answers excitedly, “we wanted to tell the story of our struggles making a life in a new country.” 

“Well it really works. Surprisingly well actually. I’m guessing it was Jeongyeon-unnie’s idea?”

“What makes you say that?”

“No, I didn’t mean...” Dahyun stammers quickly, “it’s just that she was asking you about it the other day so I just kind of…” 

“No, you’re right.” Tzuyu admits, “the initial idea was hers, but…”

“But?” 

She hesitates, knowing that she’ll probably be opening herself up for some more teasing, but eventually it ends up spilling past her lips anyways. In retrospect, this might have been the reason Dahyun had brought out the wine to begin with. 

“Well,” Tzuyu begins slowly, “it kind of changed a lot throughout the day. Honestly I was kind of surprised at how well we worked together. I mean, we basically spent the whole time bouncing ideas off of each other and… I don’t know, it just felt so… easy.”

She doesn’t quite catch the grin spreading on Dahyun’s face.

“Isn’t that how it should be though?” Dahyun asks, “I mean Jeongyeon-unnie is basically family at this point.” 

“No it is,” Tzuyu answers, “and I’m happy that it was. I just… after so many years and… all of the drama surrounding my feelings, I guess I didn’t expect it.” 

Dahyun gives an understanding nod. “Yeah… but honestly, that’s just how it is with Jeongyeon-unnie. I mean, even dinner the other day was like that, right? She came back after three years but it was like she never left.” 

“Yeah, it was.” 

“And you two even went out for tteokbokki afterwards didn’t you? I don’t think I ever asked how that went.” 

“It was great.” Tzuyu says, “surprisingly comfortable actually. I mean she got me to spill about how much trouble I’ve been having writing these songs, which is actually how we ended up with the idea to do a collaboration in the first place.” 

“And look at you now. You guys should be practically ready to take it into the studio to record, right?” 

“Well, not quite. I mean we have a lot of lyrics but the actual music hasn’t been worked out yet. Not to mention the fact that I still have to run this idea by my managers.” 

“Well yeah,” Dahyun replies, “but do you really think they’re going to object to this ? I mean having a song this cool and collab-ing with another Twice member? That’s title track material right there.” 

“Chaeyoung wrote like a dozen songs for my last two albums.” She points out, “and those were all B-sides.”  

“Yeah, but she wasn’t singing. Plus, with how long people have been waiting to hear Jeongyeon-unnie’s voice on an actual record again, you guys are going to like... break the internet if this is the title track.” 

“Well, I guess we’ll have to see if my manager agrees.”

“What about the rest of the album?” Dahyun asks, “haven't these past couple of days with Jeongyeon-unnie given you any other ideas?” 

With that Tzuyu lets out a deep sigh. “No... I mean I guess it isn’t a bad thing considering how much progress we’ve made on this one, which, I’m now realizing that we haven’t figured out a name for, but yeah, no ideas yet.” 

“Seriously?” Dahyun hits her with a deadpan stare.

“What?”

“You actually haven’t been able to think of anything? ” 

“Um… no?” Tzuyu says, “I just told you, I’ve been busy writing this one.” 

“You’re kind of forgetting a pretty big thing.” 

“What do you…” 

“THAT YOU’RE WRITING THIS SONG WITH THE FREAKING LOVE OF YOUR LIFE!” Dahyun yells, hands flying up to her head, “HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO WRITE ABOUT?” 

“Wha- you want me to write a song about Jeongyeon-unnie? ” 

“Um… hello? Yes! That’s literally what like ninety percent of music is about! LOVE dude!” 

Tzuyu can already feel the furious blush creeping into her face. “I… there’s no way I could write a song like that! It’s way too embarrassing! Plus… what if she figures out that it’s about her?”

“Okay, first of all, ” Dahyun says, “if she did figure it out it would literally be the best thing that’s ever happened to any of us. We’d finally be done with this ridiculous idea that Jeongyeon-unnie doesn’t love you back. And second, I’m not telling you to name the freaking song ‘Yoo Jeongyeon: The Love of My Life’, I’m just saying that you can write about your feelings for her.” 

“I…” Tzuyu stammers, “do you really think I should?” 

“I’m not saying that necessarily, I’m just saying that if you give it a shot, you might find that it’s a lot easier to write about. I mean why do you think Jeongyeon-unnie had you tell that story about the first time you met? It’s because she knew that it would stir up all these memories about when you were still just trying to figure things out in Korea. I mean, feeling lost, helpless, left out? Those are the kinds of strong feelings that you can channel into your music. And honestly, I'm not sure if I can think of anything in the past ten years that you've had stronger feelings for… than Jeongyeon-unnie."

That's enough to finally stun her into silence, falling back into the couch and clutching so tightly on her glass that there's a very real chance of it shattering in her hand. 

Because of course Dahyun's right, writing a song about Jeongyeon probably would mean that she'd have a lot more to say than normal, but whether or not she can bring herself to bare her soul like that is another matter. 

Dahyun wakes up in the middle of the night like she always does, feeling cold and empty in her ridiculously large bed. The first few times it started happening she'd flop against her pillows and try to fall back to sleep, but at this point she's so used to it that she can't even find it in herself to be disappointed. 

She lets out a weak sigh as she sits up, almost on instinct flicking her eyes over to the photo resting inconspicuously on her bedside table before she decides there's a thousand better ways to deal with her insomnia than staring at a picture for the next few hours.

So she slides off the bed, feet landing on the floor with a dull thump before lethargically shuffling to her door and quietly easing it open. 

She tries digging through her exhausted brain to think if they have any sleeping pills left anywhere in the apartment when she suddenly stops in her tracks, a small smile spreading on her lips as she takes in the sight of Tzuyu sleeping peacefully on the couch. 

Dahyun shakes her head as she walks up, pulling a blanket off the back of the couch and gently draping it over her roommate’s body. It's not exactly the first time that she's stumbled upon her sleeping on the couch like this, although usually there'd be an episode of a drama or something still playing on the TV. 

And it's only when she's tucking the blanket around Tzuyu's shoulders that she notices the notebook still clutched tightly to the woman's chest.

Honestly this girl. When she'd told her to try pouring more of her feelings down onto the page, she hadn't expected her to actually stay up all night doing it. 

Deciding it would probably be best to keep Tzuyu from ruining the pages in her sleep, Dahyun slowly reaches forward to try and gently pry it out, chuckling quietly to herself as she hears the girl letting out an uncharacteristically pitiful whimper.

It takes some doing to get the notebook free, Dahyun even has to resort to throwing in a few gentle strokes to Tzuyu’s hair to keep her calm, but eventually she’s able to worm it out with a fair amount of careful maneuvering. 

And really, even with all the willpower in the world she wouldn’t be able to resist sneaking a quick peek, and when she does, is actually a little surprised at how the page is mostly just a mess of scribbled out words. 

She’s just starting to wonder how Tzuyu had ended up asleep on the couch without actually writing anything when she catches the small blurb at the bottom of the page etched in Tzuyu’s eternally perfect handwriting. 

That beautiful glow, that wonderful shine 

Her smile so bright and sunny

But it's that delicate gold that can never be mine

Those eyes as sweet as honey

She tosses the words around in her mind a couple of times, deciding on the third or fourth that it definitely sounds like a chorus, but it’s only after repeating it a few more that she realizes the significance of the words. Her breath catches in her chest as her mind digs up the distant memory from many years ago of a cool summer night interrupted by Tzuyu bursting into their room back at the dorms, wearing the widest smile she’d ever seen and gushing about the beautiful color of Jeongyeon’s eyes. 

It feels like a lifetime ago looking back at it now, and somehow it brings this light, airy feeling to her heart that she almost doesn’t recognize at this point but finds more relieving than she can even believe. And as she stands back up, gently setting the notebook down on the coffee table, she decides that maybe she won’t be needing the sleeping pills tonight.

Chapter Text

Tzuyu sets her notebook down at the sound of a gentle tapping on the hard oak of her front door. 

It’s kind of odd hearing it at all, normally any guests to their apartment would be buzzing the intercom in the lobby to have the elevator unlocked, but recently it’s started to feel like the restrictions in their building had been loosening a bit. 

And she’s only just remembering that it was Jeongyeon who’d last managed to circumvent the security systems when she opens the door to said woman holding up two large cups of iced tea with a beaming smile on her face.

“Jeongyeon-unnie?”

“Hey Tzu!” 

“Wha- what are you doing here?” 

“What?” Jeongyeon answers, faking an offended look, “I can’t visit my favorite maknae out of the blue like this? I even brought you your favorite.” 

Almost immediately Tzuyu’s eyes are stretching wide. “Peach green tea?”

“Yup!” 

“Wow, thank you unnie. You… really didn’t have to.” 

Jeongyeon cuts her off with a dismissive wave, pushing the drink into her hands as she steps back to let the older woman inside. 

“Like I said, anything for my favorite maknae.” 

Tzuyu lets out a quiet whine as she shuts the door behind them. “I’m not the maknae anymore! I’m a solo artist now!” 

But Jeongyeon turns around without missing a beat, flashing a gentle smile before reaching up to give two soft pats to the top of her head. “You’ll always be our maknae Tzu.” 

And that’s pretty much enough to fry her brain, leaving her frozen to the spot as she fights the smile slowly spreading on her lips. 

“So,” Jeongyeon says, snapping her out of her daze, “how’s the songwriting going?” 

This time Tzuyu’s brought crashing back to reality as her eyes immediately dart over to the notebook sitting on top of the piano.

“Uh… it’s… I haven’t made much progress today.” 

It’s a total lie, she’d actually written several pages in just the past hour or so, mostly just random thoughts and drabbles about the feelings she’s struggled with in the past few years, but it’s still more than enough for her to die of embarrassment if Jeongyeon actually reads it. 

“Really? Dahyun said that you’ve been writing non-stop these past couple of days.” 

“Uh…” She can feel the panic starting to bubble up in her chest, “yeah, I… ended up scrapping a lot of that. None of it was very good.” 

“I’m sure it was better than you think.” Jeongyeon says, “but if you’re not feeling it then that’s more important. Have you talked to your manager about our collab yet?” 

“Oh!” Tzuyu answers enthusiastically, “yes I did! They really liked the idea and actually were wondering if we could get into the studio sometime in the next couple of days to start recording.” 

“That’s awesome! Well, you know my schedule is pretty open so whenever you’re free I guess.” 

“Well, would you just want to go tomorrow?” Tzuyu asks, “my managers seemed surprisingly eager to make this happen.”

“Well who wouldn’t be?” Jeongyeon replies, flashing a cocky grin that already has her rolling her eyes, “we’re the two prettiest members of Twice after all.” 

“You’re so ridiculous.” 

“You know I’m just telling the truth. But anyway, I’m not sure tomorrow’s going to work all that well.” 

“Oh? I thought you said you were free.” 

Jeongyeon lets out a light sigh. “I’m guessing Nayeon didn’t tell you.” 

“Tell me what?” 

“This is so freaking typical. It’s actually part of why I’m here, she wants us all to go out tonight.” 

Tzuyu scrunches her eyebrows. “What? It’s a Wednesday!” 

“She says it’s just for dinner,” Jeongyeon huffs, "but knowing Nayeon she's probably going to end up wanting to drag it out and get a couple of dozen drinks passed around."

“I guess we should count ourselves lucky that Nayeon-unnie didn’t want to drink too much last time.” 

“Yeah but that was only because she hadn’t seen Mina in months. This time though…” 

Tzuyu lets out a groan. “I think I’m going to have to buy some more Ibuprofen. Every time Nayeon-unnie gets the urge to go to a bar, Dahyun and I end up half dead in the bathroom."

Jeongyeon furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "Do you guys only have one bathroom in this massive apartment?"

"No, we have three." She answers, "but somehow we always end up in the one at the end of the hall. Probably because we want to take care of each other."

"That's sweet."

“You’d think so, but you haven’t experienced how much Dahyun can throw up when she tries to out-drink Nayeon-unnie. All that alcohol in her tiny little body…” 

“Geez,” Jeongyeon says, “I can’t even imagine. I mean… when did Dahyun even start drinking? The only time I’d ever seen her even touch alcohol was on her nineteenth birthday and that was literally just like a single glass of wine.” 

“I’m not actually sure. I mean, I guess I don’t really remember the specifics… but one day she just came home wanting to go out to a bar and… I don’t know. After that, she kind of just kept up with it.” 

“When was this?”

Tzuyu runs a hand through her hair. “Wow, I’m not really sure. A couple of years ago at least.” 

"Huh." 

And if she didn't know Jeongyeon so well she might have let that slide, but the far-off look in the woman's eyes has her too curious to stay quiet. 

"What is it?" She asks quietly.

"I'm… not really sure. It's just… Dahyun's kind of changed a lot since I've been gone." 

"We all have unnie."

"No, of course!" Jeongyeon says quickly, "and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. But… I don't know, the drinking, the sleeping around, it just doesn't seem like her."

"She's just grown up." Tzuyu answers, doing her best to be reassuring despite the flicker of doubt lighting up from Jeongyeon's words, "it had to happen eventually."

"I guess…"

“I mean if there really was something more serious going on, I think she’d tell me about it.” 

“Would she? Look, I don’t mean to imply anything about your friendship, I know you and Chaeyoung have something seriously special with her. It’s just… Dahyun was always so secretive about stuff like this, with anything related to her feelings really. It’s actually one of the things I used to worry about the most back in the day.”

Tzuyu can’t help cracking a small smile. “Well it’s good to see that your motherly instincts are still intact.” 

“Yah!” Jeongyeon clicks her tongue in annoyance. “I’m being serious here!” 

“Okay okay, you’re right.” She concedes, “well, I guess I see what you mean. I could talk to her if you want, or if you want you could too. I’m sure it would mean a lot to her coming from you.” 

“Do you think I should? I mean I’ve only really just come back, I’m not sure if she would really appreciate me butting in again...” 

With that, Tzuyu finds herself furrowing her eyebrows. “Unnie, where is this coming from? You said the same thing the other night when we went out for tteokbokki.”

“I don’t know.” Jeongyeon answers, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, “I guess I just get worried.”

“Worried about what?” 

“It… it’s stupid.” 

Tzuyu takes a step forward without even realizing it. “If it’s bothering you this much then it definitely isn’t.” 

And when Jeongyeon looks up, there’s a slight tinge of pain, or maybe... insecurity dulling the light in her eyes, something that feels so foreign and out of place that it immediately puts Tzuyu back on edge and she has to fight the urge to pull the girl into her arms.

“I… I don’t know.” The older woman mumbles, “I guess I’ve been kind of worried for a while now that people might have been mad at me for leaving on such short notice.” 

“Unnie…” 

“I know it’s stupid. But everyone’s always making jokes in the group chat about how I never respond to anything and then there have just been so many articles and comments about how me going to America was the real reason Twice hasn’t had any kind of reunions in the past couple years.” 

“You know those people have no idea what they’re talking about.” Tzuyu says, “and sure, maybe we were all a little sad that we haven’t been able to see you as often, and I’m not going to pretend that people haven’t been a little upset that you’ve always been so busy, but that doesn’t change how proud of you we are, or how happy we are to have you back.” 

“Yeah but… it’s like you said, so much has changed while I’ve been gone, and even though I really loved my time in America, I can’t help but feel like all I’ve accomplished by leaving was missing out on all of your lives. Or that… maybe I’m not really part of the family anymore.” 

This time Tzuyu doesn’t let herself be held back by any foolish fear of exposing her feelings and immediately rushes forward to throw her arms around Jeongyeon’s uncharacteristically frail-looking frame. 

“You’ll always be family to us unnie.” She whispers soothingly, lips pressed closer to Jeongyeon's hair than she'd even dared to in the past.

And almost immediately the older woman is collapsing into her embrace, letting out a long, terribly shaky breath that betrays exactly how real of a fear this had been for her. 

“Thank you Tzu.” Jeongyeon mumbles into her shoulder, “you’re always so sweet to me.” 

“I’m not just being sweet.” She answers, reaching up to stroke the woman’s hair as she feels a couple of tears starting to seep through her shirt, “it’s the truth. And if you really don’t believe me, you can ask the others.” 

“I… I’m scared.” 

“And that’s okay. Just… try to believe me when I say that I…” She feels her eyes instantly shooting wide, “ everyone loves you.” 

For a second Tzuyu’s practically consumed by the wave of panic from her slip-up, eyes flaring a bit and closely watching Jeongyeon for any hint of a reaction. But thankfully, the woman doesn’t seem to have noticed, only responding with a series of tiny nods against her chest. 

“So,” Tzuyu continues, “do you still want me to talk to Dahyun for you? I can tell you're still really worried.” 

“No,” Jeongyeon answers, “you’re right. I should do it. Just… probably not tonight. I’ll take her out to lunch this weekend or something.” 

“That’s probably a good idea, I think she’s been wanting to spend some time with you since you’ve been back.” 

“Well, she could just ask, but no you’re right. I’ll ask her if she wants to get lunch later. Where is she by the way? We should probably get going soon if we want to meet Mina and Nayeon in time.” 

“I’m not sure.” Tzuyu answers, “she’d usually be back by now. But I can just text her to meet us. Where did Nayeon-unnie want to go tonight?” 

“Uh, I don’t remember,” Jeongyeon says, sitting up to check her phone, “I didn’t recognize the name but knowing Nayeon it’ll be another ridiculously fancy restaurant.” 

She can’t help the tiny smirk that cracks on her lips. “Do you want to eat before we go? I have some kimbap in the fridge.” 

And for a second Jeongyeon looks like she wants to say yes, even going so far as instinctively licking her lips a bit, but ultimately shakes her head.

“No, the last time I tried that, the food actually ended up being really good and I was too stuffed to enjoy any of it. It just means I have to gamble every time.” 

“Well if you end up not liking the food, we can always sneak out for tteokbokki again.” 

And then Jeongyeon gives her this smile, gentle and beaming and with a glint in her eye that Tzuyu has to fight to not read too much into, but still feels the shockwaves in her heart all the same. 

“Sounds good to me.” 

The restaurant ends up being closer than either of them expected, a nice Italian place that only takes a few minutes to reach in Jeongyeon’s car. Tzuyu thinks it’s a little strange that they’re going out for Italian food when Mina had always been so good at making it herself, but it’s nothing compared to how perplexing it is that Dahyun has yet to answer anyone’s calls or texts. 

She wants to tell herself that Dahyun might have just had something come up with the show that’s keeping her busy, or maybe even that she’d left her phone at some random girls house again, but there’s just something about the timing of it all that doesn’t feel quite right. 

Still, she tries to put it to the back of her mind, especially after how worried Jeongyeon had been earlier, the last thing she wants to do right now is add any fuel to that fire. 

The walk up to the hostess booth is spent with Tzuyu doing largely the same thing that she'd done last time with Dahyun, shooting judgemental glances at the lavish decorations on every surface, only this time it comes with the ulterior motive of keeping herself from admiring how long Jeongyeon's legs look in such a short skirt. 

Only it's pretty much hopeless trying to keep her eyes from wandering a little, the only problem coming when Jeongyeon just happens to turn around at such an unfortunate moment, leaving Tzuyu with no other choice than to snap her head up and desperately fight the blush threatening to creep in. 

"I think I see Nayeon over there at the bar."

And she’s pretty much too embarrassed to come up with a response, opting instead to give a nervous smile as she follows Jeongyeon through the tables. 

Of course, with her stupid brain, the entire walk over to the bar is filled with intrusive thoughts that Jeongyeon had actually noticed her staring and she honestly doesn’t even know what she’ll do if that happened to be true. Probably moving back to Taiwan or something would be her best bet, or would that be too obvious? 

Thankfully she doesn’t get much further in her irrational panicking when they get to the bar and Nayeon looks up at them with a weary expression on her face. 

“Are you okay?” Jeongyeon immediately asks. 

“Um, yeah.” Nayeon answers, “here, I got you a drink.” 

With that, she slides over a tall martini glass filled to the brim with bright blue liquid. 

“What even is this?” Jeongyeon says, “and you didn’t get anything for Tzuyu?” 

“She… I can get something for her in a second. Right now it’s really important that you drink that.” 

Tzuyu and Jeongyeon share a confused look. 

“Unnie, is everything okay?” Tzuyu asks hesitantly. 

Nayeon lets out a deep sigh before spinning back over again, “listen, I know it seems like I’m at the center of all these stupid ambushes, but I swear neither of them were my idea. It just… happens. Okay? I can’t help it if all our friends are these ridiculous drama queens and… and this is just karma for you pulling the exact same thing like a week ago and…” 

“Woah woah!” Jeongyeon interrupts, “Nayeon calm down!” 

“Unnie just tell us what’s…” 

Tzuyu doesn’t get any further when a loud, instantly recognizable high pitched voice is cutting her off. 

“Yoo Jeongyeon!” 

All three of them turn to see Sana standing at the exit of the bathroom, wearing a very expensive looking business suit that she can’t even appreciate because of the extremely pissed off look on her face. 

She’s barely able to register Mina and Momo making a futile attempt at pulling Sana back before the woman is suddenly right in front of them, having closed the distance in a series of surprisingly quick steps. 

“Sana?” Jeongyeon says, “I thought you were still in Japan. Wha-” 

But the woman’s words are cut off by a sudden and harsh slap to the face. 

And for a second she can see a flicker of hurt in Jeongyeon’s eyes, enough for Tzuyu to immediately think back to the worries she’d poured out earlier about losing her place in the Twice family, but it’s quickly replaced by a significantly more rage-filled glare.

“Ow!” Jeongyeon cries, her hand immediately going up to her already reddening cheek, “Sana what the fu-”

But Jeongyeon trails off, the brief flash of anger quickly fading away into something considerably more shell shocked.

And right as Nayeon is pulling her back with a gentle tug to the back of her shirt, Tzuyu sees the tears welling up in Sana’s eyes. 

“Sana…” Jeongyeon repeats quietly, shakily reaching out a hand as if drawing on an instinct long since rusted over. 

"No!" Sana snaps, slapping the arm away before it even gets close to her, "we've barely heard from you at all for three years! Three years Jeongyeon! And then when you finally come home you do it without even telling us?" 

"I never meant to…"

"Do you know that we only found out because Momo randomly happened to see your last Instagram post? And once we get here, Nayeon tells us that you've actually been back for almost two weeks and didn't think to say anything ? Do… do you have any idea how that… that…"

And this time, as Sana fully breaks down into tears, Jeongyeon doesn't let herself be pushed away, rushing forward and quickly wrapping her arms around Sana's trembling shoulders even as the woman weakly knocks a clenched fist against her chest. 

"I'm so sorry Sana." Jeongyeon mumbles, tears starting to well up in her own eyes. 

Sana immediately gives a weak shake of her head. "We… we were supposed to be a family! But you… you…"

"I was an idiot. I'm so sorry Sana. But… I'm here now… and I promise I'm not going anywhere. Okay?"

"You better not." Sana mumbles, before immediately throwing her arms around Jeongyeon's waist and pulling her in tight to continue sobbing into her chest.

It only takes a couple seconds of this before Momo slowly shuffles up, having been nudged forward by a gentle shove to the back courtesy of Mina. And Tzuyu can see the way Jeongyeon melts all over again at the similarly tear-filled look in Momo's eyes. 

“Momo…” 

“You made my girlfriend cry.” Momo mumbles, her voice shaky and weak, “I… should be beating you up or something.” 

But Jeongyeon’s only response is to give a watery chuckle as she extends a hand, one that Momo takes without hesitation, collapsing into her arms with a muffled sob of her own. 

“God, I’ve missed you so much.” Momo breathes, “please don’t ever do this again.” 

“I won’t.” Jeongyeon answers quietly, “I promise.” 

And it’s barely a second later that Nayeon is dragging her and Mina up to join them, piling in for a group hug that has all six of them tumbling to the ground in a fit of tearful giggles. It’s a nice blast from the past, stirring up nostalgic feelings that makes Tzuyu wish that the rest of the group could be here too. 

But then she looks up and sees the way Jeongyeon is laughing along at Nayeon’s jokes about being such a sentimental idiot, all the while with the three Japanese members clinging to her body, each one tearing up harder than the next. And Tzuyu thinks to herself that even if there’s still a couple of members missing, that this is the most whole their little family has been in years. 

And she has a funny feeling that it’ll just be a matter of time before all nine of them are back together again.  

Chapter Text

“Where’s Dahyun?”

Tzuyu snaps her head up at Sana’s question, instinctively shooting a look at her phone resting face-down on the table. “Um, I’m not actually sure. She hasn’t gotten back to me. But she could just be busy, she’s been doing a lot for her show recently.”

“That’s too bad,” Momo pouts, “I really wanted to see her. Did you tell her that we flew in?”

“Um,” Nayeon says, “I might have mentioned it at some point this morning. Mostly because Mina and I weren’t sure if we could pick you up from the airport and wanted a backup plan just in case.”

“But she still decided not to come?” Sana asks, voice going weak as she shares a wide-eyed look with Momo.

“Oh guys come on.” Jeongyeon cuts in quickly, “there’s no way Dahyun wouldn’t be absolutely ecstatic to see you guys. It’s probably like Tzuyu said and something just came up.”

“But… she hasn’t answered any of my texts or calls for a long time now, from me or Momo actually. Honestly, she’s been just as bad as you lately Jeongyeon.”

“I’m sure everything’s fine.” Tzuyu repeats, “in fact, I’ll just go call her right now.”

And before any of the others can voice a protest, she’s already pushing her chair back and heading away from their table.

She finds a quiet spot at the end of the bar that's luckily fairly deserted, hopefully enough so that some nosey reporter doesn’t hear her entire conversation… or the quietly muttered curses that leaves Tzuyu’s lips when she hears Dahyun’s voicemail message for the hundredth time that day.

And it’s just in time for Mina to hop up on the stool next to her, eyebrows raised as Tzuyu sheepishly tucks the phone back into her purse.

“Everything okay?” Mina asks, flagging the bartender down for a couple glasses of wine.

“Yeah.” She huffs in response, “it’s just… Dahyun’s never really done something like this before. I’m starting to worry that something might actually be wrong.”

“You and me both.”

“Oh?” Tzuyu’s eyes immediately go wide at the serious tone. “What’s going on?”

“Well,” Mina says slowly, “I didn’t want to say anything at the table. I mean Sana and Momo were already upset enough without me adding onto it, especially when there’s such a good chance that I’m just being crazy here.”

“I’m sure you’re not being crazy.”

“That’s nice of you to say, but I mean… Dahyun was texting or calling me almost every single day while I was out on my press tour.”

“Okay…”

“And none of us have ever had trouble getting ahold of her to get dinner or just hang out or something. Even this morning when Nayeon texted her to see if she could go to the airport she responded really quickly.”

“Unnie, what are you…”

“Do you think Sana could be right? That Dahyun really is avoiding her and Momo?”

"What? No." Tzuyu says quickly, "I'm sure that was just Sana-unnie worrying too much again. You know how she gets."

"Yeah," Mina answers, "but this time Momo seems to be right there with her. And if she really hasn't been answering any of their messages…"

"I'll ask her about that next time I see her. I'm not sure what's going on but I'm certain that it's not because Dahyun hates the two of them or something."

"I never said hate…"

"What?"

"Nothing." Mina says quickly, "just… forget I said anything. You're probably right anyways, it's probably just… all the stress those two are under from running a freaking company. God, I don't know why my mind keeps jumping to such ridiculous conclusions these days. I think Nayeon's been getting me into too many dramas."

"It happens," Tzuyu chuckles, "a few months ago Dahyun got super invested in these detective shows and spent a week freaking out about how we needed to ramp up our security.”

“Well, at least she's trying to keep you guys safe.”

"Yeah, but then one day I came home to find three extra locks on the door that I didn't even have keys for."

With that, Mina breaks into a fit of quiet giggles. "I imagine Dahyun got an earful for that."

"Luckily she was home that day for some reason," Tzuyu says, taking a sip from her glass, "but she freaking answered the door with a frying pan in her hand!"

"Still… it sounds like you two have a lot of fun living together."

And there's something in Mina's voice that makes her look up, just barely catching the pained look in the woman's eyes as she knocks back the rest of her wine.

"Unnie? Is something…"

It's right then that Tzuyu catches a flash of red over by the front door, and she sits up in her seat just in time to catch sight of Dahyun pushing her way through.

She and Mina are by her side in an instant.

“Dahyun!”

“Where have you been?” Mina adds. “We’ve been worried sick!”

“I’ve called you like… thirty times today!”

“Sorry sorry,” Dahyun answers sheepishly, “My phone’s been dead all day. Guess I forgot to plug it in last night. And I uh… kind of lost track of time.”

“What,” Tzuyu scoffs, “did you guys hire some hot new intern or something? You know your publicist said you aren’t supposed to be hooking up with strange girls in your office anymore.”

Her roommate's eyes instantly go wide. “Wha- no! And will you keep it down with that?”

She shoots Mina a confused look. “Why? You’ve never been shy about any of this before, why start tod…”

“Maybe,” Mina cuts in weakly, “we should just listen to Dahyun on this one.”

“Um, okay…”

“Thank you unnie.” 

Once again Tzuyu’s eyes flick over to Mina, not completely sure how to interpret the satisfied grin on the woman’s delicate features. But then she turns her attention back to her roommate, and her train of thought is immediately derailed.

“Dahyun, you look… incredible.”

This time a deep blush spreads on Dahyun’s pale cheeks as she looks down at her outfit, self-consciously smoothing out a few nonexistent wrinkles on the red satin cocktail dress wrapped around her body like a second skin.

“What, this? It’s… nothing”

“It’s definitely not ‘nothing’,” Tzuyu argues, “I mean you’ve even…”

“Dahyunnie!”

She doesn’t even get a chance to react before Sana and Momo are flying past her and slamming into Dahyun, both of them pressing right up against her as another blush lights up her cheeks.

Tzuyu feels a smile spreading on her face, bumping her shoulder against Mina and sharing an amused look as they watch the familiar sight of Dahyun struggling to fend off the barrage of kisses.

After Dahyun's arrival, dinner goes by much more smoothly, with the seven of them able to fall comfortably back into their old routine as they catch up on each other's lives. Because there's a lot to talk about with Sana and Momo's company having kept them overseas for so long, not to mention the fact that there's still so much to hear about Jeongyeon's time in America.

But somehow the biggest consequence of all the stories they exchange is the mountain of wine bottles that slowly build up on the table.

And just as Jeongyeon had predicted, the second everyone had finished with their meals Nayeon had suggested that they keep the party going at a nearby club. And maybe it was just because of their little mini-reunion, or more likely it's down to Nayeon's expert level timing at posing the question right as everyone was at the perfect level of tipsy, but even after several minutes of discussion, they find that nobody can really find a reason to say no.

But it isn't until they actually arrive that Tzuyu remembers how much she hates places like this.

With the strobing purple lights and the pounding music, it's just… so noisy. And crowded. And she usually has to spend the entire night fending off the advances of drunk idiots who just want to 'score' with the Chou Tzuyu.

Overall the experience tends to be a bit more nauseating than fun.

Luckily, in their years together as the nation's girl group, Tzuyu had learned a thing or two about surviving these kinds of outings, and chief among them was to hide behind Mina, who had long since developed the impressive superpower of scaring off any moronic would-be suitors with a single, well-placed glare.

And that's precisely how she finds the woman now, sitting at one of the quieter bars in the club, a tall, colorful drink in hand and casting an intimidating aura that deters all the vultures from even thinking about circling.

"You look tired," she remarks, plopping down on the seat next to her, "although I guess I would be too if Nayeon-unnie was dragging me all over the dance floor like that."

"She always has so much stamina." Mina sighs, "it's hard to keep up sometimes."

"Wow, that's something I didn't need to know."

It takes a moment for Mina to process her words, but the second she does, the woman's expression contorts in a mixture of amusement and annoyance as she throws in a light slap to Tzuyu's arm.

"You know that's not what I meant!" Mina whines.

Tzuyu only gives a quiet giggle in response before turning to the bartender to order another drink.

"Actually," she says, "speaking of Nayeon-unnie, it seemed like you were about to say something back at the restaurant, right before Dahyun arrived?"

"Oh, no that… that was nothing. Just some stupid issues… it’s really not..."

"Unnie." Tzuyu interrupts, "this is me you're talking to. You don't have to hide anything."

It's a little manipulative if she's being honest, but the withdrawn look in Mina's eyes tells her that it's more than necessary.

"Well…" Mina sighs, "you were talking about all the ridiculous stuff you and Dahyun get up to living together."

"Yeah…"

"And well, lately I've been thinking a lot about the old days back in the dorms, how nice it was to have… all the girls around all the time."

Tzuyu raises an eyebrow, lips cracking into a sly grin as she brings her straw up to her lips. "All the girls? Are you sure you don't just mean Nayeon-unnie?"

Even in the dim lighting of the bar, she can see the blush that lights up Mina's face.

"I… well…"

"Use your words."

"Okay fine, yes. I'm talking about Nayeon."

"And?"

"And…" Mina continues slowly, "I've been thinking... about maybe asking her to move in with me."

Tzuyu's eyes light up, lips spreading in a gentle smile, "that's great!"

But Mina only lets out an exasperated huff. "Is it?"

“What? Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I… I don’t know. I guess I’m just… nervous. I mean, what if she doesn’t think we’re there yet? Then it’ll just be opening up a really unpleasant conversation and…”

“Unnie.” Tzuyu cuts in, putting an end to the woman’s rambling with a firm grip on her hand, “you’re being ridiculous. You and Nayeon-unnie are great together. Do you really think she wouldn’t want to move in with you?”

“I mean, I want to say she would. But…”

“But nothing. Let me ask you this. Does Nayeon-unnie love you?”

“Well,” Mina stammers, “I think she does.”

Tzuyu levels a deadpan glare. “You think? Do I need to remind you what she did for your birthday last year?”

“Um, well she…”

“Because I seem to remember her renting out an entire island just to throw you that surprise party. She chartered three private planes and had that… ridiculous virtual reality chamber built. And that’s not even mentioning that necklace she got you with gemstones the size of my fist!”

“It was nowhere near that big.”

“Last time you got sick,” Tzuyu continues, “Nayeon-unnie flew back from the Philippines in the middle of the night just to make you soup.”

At that Mina lets out a quiet chuckle, fondly shaking her head at the memory. “She was going to cancel the next three stops on her tour before Jihyo talked some sense into her. And even then she called me basically every single day to check if I was feeling better.”

“And you’re still telling me that you’re not sure if she truly loves you?”

“I never said…”

“Exactly. She loves you. And you know this. You guys say it to each other literally dozens of times a day. Now stop being dumb and just talk to your girlfriend about it.”

With that Mina breathes out a deep sigh. “Okay, you’re right. I should just talk to her. Maybe tomorrow though, I don’t know if it would do much good with her this drunk.”

And as if on cue, a loud roar erupts from the dance floor, prompting both of them to look up in time to catch a glimpse of Nayeon dragging a very flushed Jeongyeon up on stage as the instantly recognizable tune of ‘My Ear’s Candy’ starts blasting through the speakers.

Tzuyu shakes her head in disbelief, desperately trying to hold back a smile when Sana, appearing practically out of nowhere, suddenly plops down on the stool next to her, leaning back against the bar and fanning herself with her shirt that's been unbuttoned far lower than Tzuyu would ever dare to get close to.

But then again, Sana had never been shy about showing herself off a little, even after all these years as a big-shot CEO.

“You doing okay?” She asks, eyebrow raised and voice dripping with amusement.

Sana weakly shakes her head. “I’m getting too old for this.”

“Oh please.” Mina scoffs.

“It’s true! I used to be able to dance all night and wake up in the morning for rehearsal. Now look at me.”

“Maybe you’re just out of practice? I mean I can’t imagine running a company leaves much room for partying.”

“You’d be surprised.” Sana remarks with a smirk.

“Then maybe it’s more because you haven’t had anything to drink that wasn’t out of a shot glass all night.”

“I suppose.”

Without another word, Tzuyu reaches over and slides a glass of water across the bar that Sana accepts with a grateful smile.

“Well,” Mina says, nervously clearing her throat as she takes a sip from her drink, “it looks like Momo and Dahyun are certainly enjoying themselves out there.”

Tzuyu looks up, almost immediately dropping her jaw when she spots the two of them doing… something that looks a whole lot more like a standing lap dance on the edge of the crowd. And that’s saying something considering all the years she’s spent around people like Sana and Nayeon.

“Yeah…” Sana giggles, “I guess Dahyunnie gets a little handsy when she’s drunk.”

Her eyes rapidly dart back and forth between the two women on either side of her to the rather intimate display still playing out on the dance floor as she feels the panic bubbling up within her.

“Wha- I can go talk to her,” Tzuyu says quickly.

“Oh don’t worry about it. I mean she was just as bad with me when I was out there.”

“Wait. Really?”

“Yeah.” Sana answers casually, “besides, I trust Momo. And she trusts me. We’re not going to be bothered by harmless stuff like this. Honestly, both of us would probably…”

Tzuyu raises an eyebrow as her friend trails off with a blush that’s barely visible in the horrendous lighting.

“Probably?” Mina gently prods.

“I… never mind.” Sana answers quickly. “The point is, there’s nothing you have to worry about Tzuyu. Hell, you can get out there and join them if you want, I’m sure Momo wouldn’t mind getting a hands-on look at all the work you’ve been putting in at the gym.”

At that, Tzuyu feels her face heating up to a whole different level.

“Oh my god.” She stammers awkwardly. “That… there's no…”

“Oh stop torturing her Satang,” Mina scolds, “you know Tzuyu doesn’t do stuff like that.”

“Right right… how could I forget,” Sana answers slowly, “our Tzuyu is a ‘one woman’ kind of girl."

Tzuyu immediately looks away, knowing that hiding her embarrassment is hopeless with all the blood rushing into her cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure. As if you haven’t been staring up at that stage ever since I got here.”

“What? I have not been staring at…”

“Uh yeah, you have. And unless you’ve suddenly developed feelings for Nayeon…”

“She hasn’t.” Mina deadpans through her drink.

“Then I’d say it's pretty clear.” Sana says, flashing a gentle smile, "you know you don't have to hide it Tzuyu."

And that pretty much leaves her without any real options other than letting out a defeated sigh.

"I don't know what's wrong with me." Tzuyu replies, "I mean, even after all these years… three of which she’d spent living on the other side of the world, I still can't get over her?"

"Who says you have to get over her?" Sana answers sweetly. "If you really love her, and it certainly seems like you do, then why keep hiding it?"

"Well… I mean…"

"We aren't being held under dating bans anymore, I think it's pretty clear with the rest of us that the world's gotten a whole lot more tolerant about people like us, so what's stopping you?"

"It's not that simple." She protests weakly.

"How?"

"Well… what if she doesn't feel the same way?"

Sana lets out a loud groan, leaning back to dramatically smack a hand against her forehead.

"What?" Tzuyu exclaims.

"Tzuyu." Mina chimes in gently, "ever since Jeongyeon-unnie's come back, she's been spending almost every minute of her free time with you."

"Well sure, but that's only because we've been…"

"Writing a song together!" Sana finishes for her, "do you think it's just a coincidence that she jumped at the first chance to spend that much time alone with you? I mean… I don’t know if I could think of a more casually romantic activity if I tried!"

"But… that's just how Jeongyeon-unnie is." Tzuyu argues, "she's always gone the extra mile when it comes to taking care of us."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"I don't…"

"Okay," Mina cuts in, "why don't I put it this way. You've been following Jeongyeon-unnie's Instagram pretty religiously, haven't you?

"I… don't see how that's relevant."

"Just answer her," Sana says.

"Uh… well…"

"Exactly." Mina replies, "and in these past three years, have you seen her post any selfies with anyone? Or even seen her involved with any dating rumors back in America?"

"Well no, but…"

And she doesn't get much further before Sana's cutting her off again, this time in the form of a phone shoved directly into her face.

"Tell me what you see," Sana demands.

"Um, this looks like the selfie Jeongyeon-unnie and I took at the piano the other day."

Sana nods, swiping down on the screen. "And what about this one?"

"Uh… the one we took when we went out for tteokbokki."

Another swipe.

"And this one?"

"The one we took before we left for the restaurant today."

"That's three! Three selfies in less than two weeks! Back when we were in Twice, Jeongyeon barely uploaded three pictures of any kind in a year!"

"And," Mina adds, "the only things she’s uploaded since moving to America have been pictures of food."

"Okay," Tzuyu huffs, "look, that all sounds great, but it isn't proof of anything. I mean just look at tonight, she's been spending almost all of her time with Nayeon-unnie."

"Well yeah," Sana answers, "but are you seriously telling me that you haven't noticed the way she's been looking at you?"

“I don’t know what you’re…”

“Tzuyu!”

She barely snaps her head up in time to see Jeongyeon stumbling over, and she’s just wondering to herself how she hadn’t noticed that the song had ended when the older woman is suddenly throwing an arm around her shoulder.

“Uh, hi Jeongyeon-unnie.” Tzuyu stammers, grunting slightly as Jeongyeon slides up close to hug her from behind.

She has to fight back a blush as she notices Sana and Mina wearing nearly identical smirks.

“Tzuyu!” Jeongyeon shouts again, slightly slurring her words and swaying against her body, “why aren’t you dancing with us?”

“Um… well I’ve been here talking with Mina-unnie and Sana-unnie.”

“You should dance with us! You’re such a good dancer.”

She doesn't even have to look to know that the two Japanese girls are shooting glances at each other the entire time.

“Who’s ‘us’ Jeongie?” Sana asks, “I don’t see Nayeon anywhere.”

“Mmm… think she went to the bathroom.”

“Then I guess that means it’ll just be you and Tzuyu, right?”

Jeongyeon lets out a quiet giggle before suddenly breathing out a loud gasp that has Tzuyu tensing up immediately.

“Jeongyeon-unnie?” She says, trying to turn around to catch the wide-eyed look on her face.

“That would be your name if we got married,” the woman says, as if stumbling upon some life-changing discovery, “Yoo Tzuyu.”

Her heart comes to a crashing stop.

And she'd probably be starting to feel the first few symptoms of cardiac arrest if it weren’t for Mina spitting out her drink, face beet red and a hand pressed over her mouth as she struggles to hold in her laughter. Sana on the other hand instantly breaks into a furious fit of giggles.

“Oh my god,” Jeongyeon says, stumbling her way over to Mina’s side, “Mina are you okay?”

Mina can only respond with a quick nod, eyes pressed into a thin line as her shoulders tremble under the effort of containing her laughter.

Tzuyu probably wouldn’t complain if the earth opened up and swallowed her whole right there.

“Wait here, I’ll go get Nayeon.”

And before anyone can stop her, the woman is taking off toward the bathroom, showing a strange amount of dexterity in her steps considering how much she’s had to drink, but at the same time it feels pretty typical for Jeongyeon to sober up so quickly when she thought one of the girls needed help.

Even though in this case it’s about as far from the truth as you could get.

She’s brought out of her thoughts by Sana leaning up to her side with a suspiciously wide grin on her face.

“Even I haven’t made any jokes about marriage to Momo.”

Tzuyu clicks her tongue in annoyance, shooting the girl a weak glare that dissolves into a defeated sigh as Sana and Mina break down in yet another fit of laughter.

And it's right then that Jeongyeon returns, still looking every bit the panicked mom as she drags a confused looking Nayeon by the wrist.

“What?” Nayeon says, “Jeong, she looks fine to me.”

“You don’t understand! She was like… choking or something before!”

Nayeon shoots her another strange look before stepping up to her girlfriend, gently pressing a hand to her shoulder. “Babe? You okay?”

"I'm fine." Mina chuckles, leaning forward to press a kiss to Nayeon's cheek, "Jeongyeon-unnie just worries."

Nayeon lets out an annoyed whine, whipping back around to land a weak slap on Jeongyeon's arm. "Dude what the hell? You made it sound like she was about to die!"

And this is where Tzuyu pretty much tunes out. It's basically a reflex at this point, years and years of living with the two of them have taught basically all their members how pointless it is trying to follow along with their constant bickering.

It's only put to an end when Sana hops up with a loud clap of her hands.

"Well, seeing as how we’re all feeling so much better now, I think we should be getting back to the dancing."

Tzuyu narrows her eyes. There's something about Sana's tone that she finds suspicious. Maybe if she was a tiny bit more sober, she'd be able to recognize it a little better, but her mind is moving way too slowly to dig into it properly.

"Ugh," Nayeon groans, "I don't know about that, I might need a break after that little show we just pulled onstage."

And without missing a beat, Mina turns to her girlfriend with a slight glint in her eye as she throws on an expertly crafted pout.

"Oh…" Mina says slowly, “I was hoping we could go out and dance some more. But I guess if you prefer dancing with Jeongyeon-unnie…”

Almost instantly Nayeon’s eyes go wide. “What? No! Of course I want to dance with you! It’s just… they played the song and… and you said you were tired… but if you want...”

"Great!" Mina chirps, flipping her mood like a coin as she hops off the stool, "let's go!"

And with that, Mina grabs her hand, ignoring the bewildered look on Nayeon's face as she drags her toward the crowded dance floor.

“Well,” Sana announces, “I think I’m going to go find Momo and Dahyun.”

And right as she turns, Sana flashes this infuriating smile, shooting one last horribly unsubtle look over at Jeongyeon before taking off to weave her way through the crowd… leaving just the two of them. Alone.

"Um, so…"

"Tzuyu!" Jeongyeon exclaims, rushing back over and immediately throwing her arms around her neck.

"Hi unnie." She stammers, struggling to hold onto the composure that’s crumbling more and more with as Jeongyeon leans close to whisper in her ear.

God her perfume smells amazing.

"Tzuyu!" Jeongyeon repeats, "you know something?"

“What?”

“You never answered my question earlier.”

Tzuyu furrows her eyebrows in confusion struggling to comprehend just how much Jeongyeon's behavior changes after a couple of drinks. “Um. What question?”

“I asked you…” Jeongyeon trails off in an uncharacteristically high-pitched giggle, “why you weren’t dancing with us.”

“Oh, well I mean…”

“You said that you were talking with Mina and Sana. But they’re not here anymore.”

“Um,” Tzuyu stammers, “you’re right, they aren’t.”

“So then come on, let’s go dance!”

And Jeongyeon has this smile, gentle and expectant yet still containing all of the bright, excited energy that always makes it impossible to ever say no to her.

“Unless… you don’t want to…” Jeongyeon says hesitantly.

“What? No! No, of course I want to! I just…”

But Jeongyeon cuts her off before she can get any further.

“Great!” The woman chirps, "let's go!"

And with that, Jeongyeon is suddenly grabbing hold of her wrist, eliciting a surprised squeak from Tzuyu as she's dragged out onto the dance floor.

It all goes by in a bit of a blur as she clumsily follows her through the crowd until they're finally lost in a sea of people wildly dancing to the endlessly pounding beat of the music.

But everything that's threatening to overwhelm her senses, the blaring speakers, the flashing lights, all of it fades to into the background the second she locks onto Jeongyeon's eyes, somehow still finding a way to shine through all of the distractions with this gentle glow that washes the entire rest of the world away. 

And she can't even blame the encroaching crowds when she almost instinctively takes a step forward.

But for all the hesitance and overthinking that’s slowing her movements, Jeongyeon doesn’t seem to feel any, not missing a beat as she starts showing off the years and years of dance training that they’d had under JYP.

Tzuyu on the other hand, follows slowly, awkwardly, suddenly unable to recall any of the several thousand dance moves she’s learned in her career as an idol.

But Jeongyeon, for her part, just smiles, giving a slight shake of her head as she leans in close to her ear.

“You need to loosen up!” The woman shouts.

And before Tzuyu can even think about how she can possibly make that happen, Jeongyeon is already moving, suddenly taking one of her hands in her own and bringing it up over her head to send her into a quick twirl.

It’s a little awkward, even though Jeongyeon was the next tallest member of Twice, there’s still a bit of a height difference that always made moves like this a little harder to pull off. But even considering that, and the fact that it doesn’t really match the music all that well, Tzuyu finds herself immediately starting to laugh as Jeongyeon struggles to pull her back in on the reverse.

It’s significantly easier when she goes to spin Jeongyeon instead, with the woman moving with a kind of graceful elegance that could give Mina a run for her money. But then as she comes back, in typical Jeongyeon fashion, she throws in a dramatic flair that has her stumbling back into Tzuyu’s chest.

From there, the dance pretty much devolves into nearly uncontrollable laughter as they spin each other back and forth, repeatedly bumping into people around them as they find more ridiculous and elaborate ways to swing the other around.

And this absurdly high energy dancing probably goes on for far longer than it should, to the point where by the time the third or fourth song finishes, they’re pretty much exhausted.

And right as the next song starts to kick in, one that doesn’t quite fit their wild spinning as well with its much slower and bass heavy beat, Tzuyu just happens to be pulling Jeongyeon back in, and the woman collapses into her chest with a weak laugh before letting her head fall back to rest against the crook of her neck.

Tzuyu finds herself letting out a hesitant, painfully unsteady breath as her eyes fall to meet with the dangerously intense and heavy-lidded look that Jeongyeon's giving her out of the corner of her eye. In less than a second, the mood completely flips, and before she knows it, her body is moving on its own. It’s slow, almost agonizingly so, but it’s the most she can manage as she releases the woman’s hands, shakily sliding her own down to rest comfortably around Jeongyeon’s waist.

And Jeongyeon responds in kind, one hand reaching down to weave their fingers together as the other comes up around the back of her head to gently stroke Tzuyu’s hair.

It’s only when Jeongyeon begins slowly grinding her hips back against her to the steady beat of the music that they finally tear their eyes apart, and as Tzuyu starts to follow just a step behind, she finds herself thinking that, despite her reservations about coming to a club at the beginning of the night, right now there’s no place in the world that she’d rather be.

Chapter Text

When Tzuyu wakes up the next morning she's greeted for the second time in less than a week by the sun glaring through the windows and shining directly into her face.

She lets out a groan as she feels the horrible skull piercing ache that stabs through her head and immediately goes to roll back into her pillows to hibernate for a few more hours. 

But she’s barely even able to shift her arm an inch before she bumps into something kind of soft… and warm, or at least, warmer than anything she’s used to feeling in her bed. She cranes her head, awkwardly turning to look behind her, only to choke back a startled screech when she comes face to face with Jeongyeon snoozing peacefully into the pillow. 

And her panic only grows when she realizes that the woman's arm is actually wrapped around her waist, not to mention the fact that their legs are tangled together under the blankets. 

She tries to think back to the events of the previous night, desperately searching for answers as to how on earth she’d ended up in this situation, but no matter what she does, finds that nothing comes to mind after her dance with Jeongyeon had taken a rather… intimate turn. And that kind of only fuels her worries about what exactly could have happened last night. 

Probably the more rational thing to do right now would be to just wake Jeongyeon up and get some answers, but Tzuyu’s not really sure if she has even a fraction of the level-headedness necessary to think straight like that. 

Honestly it’s all she can manage to not just start hyperventilating right there. 

And all of a sudden it’s like she can’t be in the bed for another second, causing her to immediately try to wriggle out of Jeongyeon’s tight hold without waking her up. 

It takes… a ridiculously painful amount of time to pry the woman’s arm off of her, and even longer to pull her legs out of the mess of limbs under the blankets, a task that’s made all the more difficult when she realizes how shockingly bare both of their legs feel. 

She doesn’t actually have the courage to lift the blanket and look but once she’s actually free, lets out a deep sigh of relief when she can finally confirm that she’s at least wearing… something. But that doesn’t do much to calm her down when she sees all the clothes scattered wildly around her room. 

She tries to put it to the back of her mind as she hurriedly throws on a pair of sweats from her closet and, as quietly as she can manage, sneaks through the door and out into the hall. 

Another deeply relieved sigh escapes her lips once she’s finally out of her room, and she slowly shambles toward the kitchen in search of something, anything that could help her understand things a little better when she finds Dahyun hunched over the island with a cup of coffee. 

“You look awful.” 

“G’morning to you too,” Her roommate croaks. 

"Sorry," Tzuyu replies sheepishly, "although I guess it could be worse, I mean I can't help but notice that we didn't wake up in the bathroom together."

"Yeah, what's up with that? Did someone put us to bed last night?"

And then, as if on cue, there's a knock on the door, loud enough to elicit painful groans from both of them. She's got to talk to someone at the front desk about letting people up without getting buzzed in. 

Seeing the sorry state that Dahyun is in, with her head now pressed to the countertop, Tzuyu decides that she should probably be the one to answer the door, swinging it open with an exasperated huff to reveal an altogether much too chipper looking Japanese couple. 

“Morning!” Sana chirps as she steps inside.

“Not so loud,” Dahyun groans from the kitchen. 

Momo follows her girlfriend with an amused chuckle and immediately makes her way over to the island to hug the girl from behind, which brings a faint blush to Dahyun's pale cheeks.

“Ahhh! You look so cute all hungover!” 

Dahyun only lets out another low groan in response.

“You two might feel a little better with some food in your system.” Sana giggles, setting a paper bag down on the counter, “here, we brought some breakfast.” 

“What is it?” Dahyun asks, face still very much planted against the table.

“Some pastries and sandwiches from the bakery by our hotel, they’re pretty good too.” 

Tzuyu’s eyes light up a little, suddenly starting to feel a small injection of energy just from the mouthwatering aroma. “You’re a lifesaver unnie.”

Sana gives the two of them another quick, definitely judgemental look. “Have you two even been drinking water?” 

“I just woke up.” Tzuyu says.

“All I’ve had is coffee.” 

With that, the Japanese woman shakes her head, heading over to the cupboard to retrieve a couple of glasses. “Honestly you two, it’s like without Jihyo or Jeongyeon watching over your every move you’d be landing yourself in the hospital.” 

Tzuyu lets out a nervous chuckle, blood rushing to her face so quickly she’s sure her cheeks are burning brighter than the lights shining above. “Actually, it’s funny that you mention Jeongyeon-unnie…” 

She sees all three of them turning to her with confused looks. 

“Do either of you two remember what happened last night?” She asks hesitantly. 

Momo furrows her eyebrows, shooting a quick glance at Sana. “Um… for the most part, yeah.” 

“Do you guys not remember anything?” Sana asks.

She and Dahyun both shake their heads.

“Last thing I remember,” Tzuyu says, already feeling her cheeks starting to heat up at the memory, “is getting on the dance floor... with Jeongyeon-unnie.” 

"Hmm," Momo responds, "well there was definitely a lot more to the night after that."

“Really?” She says nervously. 

“Um yeah,” Sana giggles, “at some point after you two finally started dancing, Nayeon-unnie ran into a bartender that I guess she knew and he gave us like three rounds of free shots.” 

“That explains the axe going through my head.” Dahyun chimes in. 

Momo just laughs and passes her another glass of water. “After that, we all ended up on the dance floor together, only you two were acting kind of… different.” 

“What? Different how?” 

"Well…" Momo trails off, turning to Sana with uncertainty painted all over her face. 

"Um," Sana says, "well, there was a lot of… tension."

Tzuyu furrows her eyebrows. "Tension?"

"Yeah. There was a lot of really unsubtle staring and bumping into each other. Honestly it was like you two were seconds away from tearing each other's clothes off. Nayeon-unnie kept joking about locking you two in the bathroom."

And any other day, she'd probably be absolutely mortified, most likely to the extent of burying her face in the nearest soft surface. But given the ridiculous situation she'd woken up to this morning, finds that she doesn't have more than the same flushing in her cheeks that she’s been struggling with all morning. 

“Um… and after that, did anything… else happen?” 

Momo narrows her eyes a bit in confusion. “Uh… I don’t think so? I mean we were all dancing for a pretty long time.” 

“And did you happen to see how everyone got home?” 

“Uh, no? I mean our Uber was the first to pick us up but I thought...”

“Hold on Momo,” Sana interrupts, looking Tzuyu up and down with a suspicious glint to her eyes, “Tzu, why do you ask?” 

“Uh…”

“Tzuyu…" Sana repeats. 

She lets out a light sigh, seeing that avoiding a bit of teasing is probably impossible at this point if she wants to get any answers. “Okay, so… this morning when I woke up, I uh… kind of wasn’t alone.” 

Almost instantly three pairs of eyes are going wide, with Dahyun choking on her water and Momo biting all the way through her breakfast roll to send it bursting open against the countertop in an explosion of sausage, egg, and potato. 

“W-what?” 

“Uh… yeah.”

“Wait, earlier you said... ‘speaking of Jeong-’,” Sana trails off, eyes quickly darting over toward the hallway.

And before Tzuyu can even react, the three women are practically sprinting for her bedroom, hangovers apparently forgotten. 

She gets to the closed door a step or two behind the others, just in time for Dahyun to slowly crack the door open so that all four of them can peek inside. 

“Oh my god!” Sana whispers, “that is definitely Jeongyeon!” 

“She…” Momo stammers, “holy shit, is she naked?”

“Dayum Tzu…”

“Shut up!” Tzuyu hisses, “and she’s not naked! At least… I don’t think she is.”

“What do you mean you don’t think?” Dahyun asks, “you woke up next to her, how can you not know if she was wearing clothes or not?” 

“I was freaking out too much to look!” 

“Oh my god…” 

“Look, not everyone is as used to this kind of thing as…” Tzuyu doesn’t get any further before Dahyun is firmly clamping a hand over her mouth with a threatening glare that she doesn’t quite understand. 

“Well,” Sana continues apparently oblivious to their minor scuffle, “she looks pretty freaking naked to me.”

“All we can see is an arm and a leg.” Momo points out, “the rest is covered by blankets.” 

“No. You can see her shoulder too. And look. There’s literally nothing there. No shirt, not even a bra strap.”

“That… that doesn’t mean…” Tzuyu stammers. 

“Dude, Jeongyeon-unnie never shows her shoulders,” Dahyun says, “are you sure you couldn’t tell if she was wearing anything?” 

“There are a lot of blankets.” Momo says diplomatically. 

Tzuyu bites down on her lip as she thinks back to the tumultuous events of the morning. “Well, I don’t really know. I mean like I said, I was kind of freaking out. It was pretty much all I could do to get some clothes on and run out here to...”

“Wait.” Dahyun cuts in, “ you weren’t wearing any clothes either?” 

"Uh…"

"Oh my god."

With that, Dahyun shuts the door, immediately whipping around to drag them back into the living room.

"So, you're telling me that you were both naked in bed this morning and you're still not a hundred percent sure that something happened?"

"I wasn't naked!" She protests weakly, "I… I mean I was wearing underwear..."

"And we still can’t be sure that Jeongyeon isn’t wearing anything either.” Momo adds.

“Are you two kidding me?” Sana exclaims, causing everyone to cringe at the sheer volume of her voice, “how can you still be in denial? Literally the only thing that could be more damning is if there was a hickey on your thigh!” 

“Oh my…” Tzuyu trails off, feeling the heat rushing back to her face in a way that has Sana quirking an eyebrow. 

“ Is there a hickey on your thigh?” 

“Wha- no! No, there's no hickey!” 

Dahyun rolls her eyes. “If there was, she probably wouldn’t have noticed it. I mean how could you not know if Jeongyeon-unnie was wearing anything or not?” 

“If you want, you can get in there and look under the blankets.”

“Oh god, no thanks.” Dahyun answers quickly, “I do not need to see Jeongyeon-unnie naked.” 

“She’s got a nice body.” Momo says casually, immediately drawing the eyes of the others, “what? We used to be roommates, remember?”

“So?” Tzuyu exclaims.

“What? I mean are you really telling me that you and Dahyun don’t see each other naked all the time?” 

“What the fu-”

“No!”

“Really? Even in all those years at the dorms?” 

“No! We always changed in the bathroom!” 

“Wow.” Momo replies, “that’s crazy. Jeongyeonnie and I used to get so tired that we’d just strip down and flop into bed.” 

Sana shakes her head, letting out a light chuckle. “You’re lucky I’m so understanding. If Nayeon-unnie said something like that to Mina, she’d be sleeping at her parents’ house for a week.” 

“Oh right, like I’m supposed to believe that Mina never stole a peek at any of you guys in the main bedroom.” 

“What? Of course not! Minari would never do anything like that!” 

"Hate to break it to you babe, but Mina was never quite as innocent as you seem to believe. I mean there are entire compilations on YouTube of her staring at all of our…"

Luckily, for the sake of her own ears, Momo doesn't get a chance to go any further before she's cut off by an unfamiliar ringtone. 

Tzuyu furrows her eyebrows, "is that someone's phone?"

"Not either of ours'." Sana says. 

She follows the sound over to the couch, where she digs out a phone from between the cushions. 

"Is that… Jeongyeon-unnie's?" Dahyun asks. 

Tzuyu thinks she hears someone confirming that it is, but her mind pretty much goes blank when she sees the Caller ID. 

"Oh my god." She huffs, "it's Seungyeon-unnie."

"Don't answer it!" Sana says quickly, stopping her mid way through accepting the call.

"What? Why?" Momo asks. "She's probably worried sick that Jeongyeon didn't make it home last night."

The phone vibrates in her hand with another piercing ring.

"Fine, do what you want." Sana replies flippantly, "I just don't think she's going to be too pleased when she hears that Tzuyu banged her baby sister."

Dahyun winces. "Ooh, that's a good point. Tzuyu, don't answer it."

"Why do you always take her side?" Momo whines. 

"I'm not! I just would like to avoid seeing my best friend getting her ass kicked by an overprotective older sister."

Another ring.

"Seungyeon-unnie would never do that."

"She won't have to if we just let it go to voicemail."

"Dude she's going to call the police if we don't…"

That's all she needs to hear, and before Sana and Dahyun can voice another protest, she's stepping into the kitchen and bringing the phone up to her ear. 

"Hello? Seungyeon-unnie? It's Tzuyu."

"Tzuyu?"

“Yeah, Jeongyeon-unnie’s actually… still sleeping.”

The older woman lets out a sigh. "I'm guessing my idiot little sister had a bit too much to drink last night."

A small smile forces itself to her lips at the brutal way the two sisters have always addressed each other. "Um, yeah." 

"Well, I guess that explains why she hasn’t been answering any of my calls."

"I'm sorry," Tzuyu says sheepishly. 

"Oh, don't be. In fact, I should be thanking you for letting her crash with you. I hope she wasn't too much to handle."

"Um, no she wasn't."

"Well, that's a surprise." Seungyeon deadpans, "anyways, I have to get to work soon but if dealing with that hungover idiot is too much just let me know and I'll have one of my assistants go and pick her up."

"Oh, that won't be necessary." She answers, "I'm more than happy to take care of her for the day "

Tzuyu can practically hear the woman smiling through the phone. "You're too sweet Tzuyu. Has Jeongyeon been treating you well? I know you two have been spending a lot of time together recently."

"What? Of course she is." Her eyes flick nervously over to her three friends watching keenly from the seats that they've taken back at the counter. "She uh… she actually hasn't let me pay for a single meal since she's gotten back."

"Well that's good to hear, at least I know that she hasn't ignored all of my life lessons."

"No, it's way too much unnie, and they're all really expensive too."

Seungyeon lets out a quiet chuckle. "Just let her spoil you for a little bit. It's more than you deserve after she ran away from you for so long." 

At that, Tzuyu narrows her eyes. "Ran away?" She says, "what do you mean?"

"Uh, nothing!" Seungyeon answers quickly, "listen Tzuyu I've got to head to work now. Thanks again for taking care of Jeong, if she's too much of a pain just let me know and I'll straighten her out."

"Um, okay. Have a nice day unnie."

With that, the line clicks off, leaving Tzuyu with the three sets of wide, curious eyes drilling a hole through her head.

"What?"

"Oh nothing." Sana answers slowly, "just good to see that you're already on such good terms with your future in-laws."

"Oh my god."

"Seungyeon-unnie always did seem particularly fond of you." Momo comments, "almost more than Jihyo or Nayeon even."

“I… there’s no way that’s true. Jeongyeon-unnie’s known them for so long, they're practically family.” 

“We’re all family Tzuyu-ah.” Sana says. 

And the sincerity in the woman’s eyes is enough to shock her into silence, looking over to Dahyun and Momo who only answer with nearly identical smiles. 

“Well,” Momo says suddenly, “before we get any mushier and Sana here starts crying…” 

“-Hey!” 

“The three of us have decided to go out for lunch and maybe some shopping or something.” 

“Oh?” 

“Yup. That means you’re free to play nurse with Jeongyeonnie all day.” 

“Wha-” 

“You did promise Seungyeon-unnie that you’d take care of her.” Dahyun says.

Sana nods her agreement. “And Jeongyeon easily drank the most out of all of us last night so she’ll probably really need it.” 

“Wait.” Tzuyu replies quickly, “guys, you really don’t need to do this.” 

“I think we do.” Momo says, “I mean if you guys still couldn’t hook up after all of that last night, then we clearly need to pull some more drastic measures.” 

"Unnie…" 

"Nope. This is happening. Now if you need anything, just let us know. Otherwise, enjoy your time alone with the love of your life!"

And with that, Momo starts heading for the door, dragging a slightly apologetic looking Dahyun behind her as they look for their shoes. 

Sana follows them just a step behind, turning to blow a kiss in her direction right as she’s slipping through the door.

"Remember this day when you two are picking godparents for your kids!"

And then they’re gone, leaving Tzuyu rather dumbfounded as she turns back to cast a bewildered glance back toward her bedroom.

In total it ends up taking well over an hour for Tzuyu to muster up the courage to even consider walking back to her room, and even then she spends another couple of minutes standing outside the door, a glass of water in one hand and a bottle of painkillers in the other. 

But eventually, she puts her anxieties to the back of her mind and pushes through, finding Jeongyeon in much the same position that she’d left her this morning. 

She walks up slowly, setting her things down on the nightstand as she nervously sits down on the edge of the bed and gently sets a hand on Jeongyeon’s shoulder. 

“Jeongyeon-unnie?” Tzuyu says quietly, “unnie.”

The woman lets out a quiet groan, rolling over a bit to bury her face into the pillow. 

“Unnie, it’s time to wake up. It’s almost noon.” 

Another groan, only this time, it’s followed up by Jeongyeon leaning back to ever so slightly crack open an eye. 

“Tzuyu?”

She feels her lips spreading into a small smile. “Good morning unnie.”

“Tzu… wha- am I in your bed?” 

“Guess you don’t remember much from last night either.” 

A flash of panic flickers through Jeongyeon’s eyes, and she sits up quickly, only to double over in pain a second later with her hands pressed against the sides of her head. Tzuyu lets out a quiet chuckle, biting back a sigh of relief when she sees that the woman’s exposed shoulder is simply due to the fact that she’s wearing an oversized shirt. Although the fact that it happens to be her favorite sleep shirt with the Eevee print on it does raise some red flags. 

“Headache?” She asks, voice dripping with amusement.

Jeongyeon only responds with another groan, and Tzuyu reaches back for the glass of water which Jeongyeon accepts with a grateful but weary smile. 

“Oh my god, how much did we drink last night?” 

“I’m told we had quite a bit.”

Jeongyeon risks opening her eyes again, albeit with a slight grimace at the light flooding in through the window. “You’re told?” 

“Yeah, Dahyun and I were pretty much in the same boat this morning.”

“God…” 

“Here,” Tzuyu says, reaching back again for the painkillers, “these might help.” 

“Oh you’re a lifesaver.” 

“Do you want some food? Sana-unnie and Momo-unnie stopped by and brought some sandwiches and things.” 

Jeongyeon looks like she’s pondering the prospect for a second, before her eyes suddenly go wide, quickly pushing the glass back into Tzuyu’s hands and launching herself off the bed to make a quick dash into the adjoining bathroom. 

Tzuyu lets out a light sigh, shaking her head as she hears the unmistakable sound of retching as she follows her into the bathroom, setting the glass down by the sink and kneeling down to hold Jeongyeon’s hair.

Tzuyu looks up when she hears another muffled groan. The two of them are on the couch now, having finally moved here to watch some TV after spending much of the morning in the bathroom as Jeongyeon emptied her stomach. 

“Jeongyeon-unnie?” She says quietly. 

The woman doesn’t respond, instead choosing to fall over to the side to lean her head against Tzuyu’s shoulder. 

“Do you need me to take you to the bathroom again?” 

Jeongyeon shakes her head, burrowing deeper into her blankets. “I feel… cold.”

Tzuyu rolls her eyes, letting out an amused chuckle. “That’s because you still haven’t eaten anything other than a couple bites of porridge. You could at least drink some tea or something.” 

“No.” The woman whimpers, “can’t keep it down anyway.” 

“Porridge is pretty easy on the stomach, you could at least try.” 

Another shake of the head.

“Well if you’re feeling this bad maybe I really should take you to a doctor.” 

Another shake. 

“Well do you want some medicine or something? I have some nausea pills, or maybe…”

Another shake. 

“Unnie.” She laughs, “you have to talk to me, I can’t help you if you don’t say anything.” 

Jeongyeon lets out another pitiful whine, nuzzling further into her shoulder and tangling their legs together. 

It’s an amusing sight to say the least, seeing the once mother of Twice reduced to this clingy mess of quiet, adorable little whimpers. And when Tzuyu feels the woman shivering against her shoulder… well she can’t exactly help wrapping an arm around her frail frame. But then Jeongyeon lets out this sigh, one that has Tzuyu’s heart pounding so heavily in her chest that it would be a miracle if Jeongyeon couldn’t hear it. 

So she keeps her eyes glued to the screen, hoping to distract herself with the long-forgotten drama that they’d thrown on to pass the time, only for Jeongyeon to pull her attention back just a second later. 

“This is so embarrassing.” The woman mumbles.

Tzuyu furrows her eyebrows, finally looking down to find Jeongyeon nervously averting her eyes. “What is?” She asks.

“All of this. I mean, you probably would’ve used this time today to get some work done on your songs. Hell, I was supposed to help you with it. But instead you have to spend all day taking care of me.” 

“Oh, don’t worry about that unnie, I’ve actually gotten a lot done in the past few days.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, like I said, my managers are already planning for us to get started on recording our duet, and I think I have at least one more that I can take to them for arrangements.” 

“That’s great! What’s the song about?” 

At that, Tzuyu feels the blood draining from her face. Because if she was nervous before about just having the woman cuddled up against her side, she’ll probably die if she has to tell her that she’d actually written an entire song about the color of her eyes. 

“Uh…” she stammers, “I… guess you’ll have to wait until the release to find out.” 

“What? Seriously? You won’t even give me a little teaser?” 

“I… I can’t.” 

Jeongyeon puffs out her lip, eyebrows furrowing in a rare pout that’s so unbelievably adorable that Tzuyu can literally feel her resolve starting to crack. “Not even for your favorite unnie?” 

“I… I…”

And just as Tzuyu is starting to kick into full blown panic, Jeongyeon suddenly relents, falling back onto her shoulder with an exhausted sigh.

"It's okay," Jeongyeon says, looking up with a weak smile on her lips, "I know there's a lot of legal stuff involved so I'll stop messing with you. Just know that I’ll be lining up outside the store for the release.” 

“Oh my god, you don’t have to do that, I can just give you a copy.” 

“No way!” Jeongyeon answers, with probably the highest energy she’s heard from the woman all day, “no matter what happens, I have to buy your album. I mean what kind of unnie would I be if I didn’t offer at least that level of support?” 

Tzuyu gives a playful roll of her eyes. “You know you don’t always have to act like the perfect role model or whatever, I mean Chaeyoung and I always kind of preferred it when you let yourself relax a little.” 

Jeongyeon raises an eyebrow. “What, like right now? Are you saying that you’re actually enjoying my current state of suffering?” 

“Maybe I am.” 

“Wha-”

“Not that I like watching you suffer!” Tzuyu interrupts quickly, “just that… it feels like you’ve never allowed yourself to let loose before. And even though you’re feeling a little under the weather now, after all those years of you watching over us, it’s kind of nice to have the chance to take care of you for once.” 

“Well when you put it like that…” 

With that, Jeongyeon brings the blanket up to cover her face, burrowing back into Tzuyu’s chest in a vain attempt at hiding her embarrassment.

She feels a smile spreading on her face, finding endless amusement at the endearing display as she finally releases the breath she’d been holding. And Jeongyeon seems to enjoy it too, if the contented hum that the woman lets out is any indication. 

Tzuyu tries to write it off as just Jeongyeon enjoying the warmth of her body after spending the whole morning with such little food in her system, but even still she finds herself tightening her grip on Jeongyeon’s waist, allowing herself for the first time to sink further into the couch and simply enjoy the rare moment of peace. 

Chapter Text

12 Years Ago

Tzuyu’s not sure she’s ever been so nervous in her entire life. 

She’s standing just outside the door to the JYPE Cafeteria, sneaking glances around the corner every few seconds only to immediately pull away each time out of sheer embarrassment. 

She’d spent the past couple of days more or less agonizing over how to thank Jeongyeon for all the help she’d been giving her, and for the most part she’d been content to take her time and think things through. But then things had come to a head yesterday when the girl had actually lent Tzuyu her phone to use for the entire day, all but forcing her into making a quick, knee-jerk decision and going with the first thing that came to mind. 

Which is how she’d ended up here, on the verge of tearing her hair out as she clutches this stupid vase of flowers to her chest. 

There’s a part of her that wants nothing more than to tuck tail and run, especially because in addition to the fact that there are way more people in the cafeteria than she'd really like to do this in front of, there's also the issue of Jeongyeon's friends that she hadn't really considered.

Which is honestly pretty freaking moronic. After all, why wouldn't Jeongyeon have friends amongst the trainees that she'd eat lunch with? In the past week or so the girl had shown exactly how friendly and outgoing she was, add that on top of her borderline unbelievable good looks and you have a recipe for an insanely popular trainee.

The thought of walking in there now is so terrifying that she finds herself actually starting to shake. 

She’s just about to turn around and make a run for it when she suddenly hears someone calling her name. 

“Tzuyu-ssi!” 

For a second she's practically frozen to the spot, desperately trying to work through the fog clouding her brain and figure out whether or not the voice had actually belonged to Jeongyeon. 

But luckily when she turns around, she's greeted by a bright, disarming grin that she can't imagine ever seeing in anyone else.

"Oh, Jackson-oppa." Tzuyu says, breathing out a deep sigh of relief. 

"Hey, look at that," Jackson answers, "your Korean is getting better already."

She shyly shakes her head. "It's still not enough." Tzuyu replies in Chinese. 

"You'll get there soon." It's right then that Jackson's eyes flicker towards the entrance to the cafeteria. "Why aren't you going in? Do you not have enough meal tickets today? Because I have some extras if you need one."

"No, thank you, I was actually… um… just about to leave."

And then Jackson's attention falls to the flowers clutched tightly in her hands. 

"Ah," he says, a slightly more devious smile spreading on his face, "just about to leave… right. And I imagine if I look inside, I won't see Jeongyeon in there?"

Tzuyu doesn't respond, too busy dropping her head in embarrassment. 

"Can't say I blame you exactly, Jeongyeon does tend to attract a bit of attention wherever she goes. But I've got to say, I'm impressed by how bold you're being, I mean as confessions go, this might be the bravest I’ve ever seen."

"Confession?" Tzuyu cries, eyes stretched wide, "no! This… this was just to thank her for all the help she's given me!"

"Really? With a bouquet of flowers? That kind of seems like…"

"Not a bouquet! They're in a vase! And they're hydrangeas, they're supposed to represent gratitude."

Jackson gives an appreciative hum, nodding his head in contemplation before cracking another grin. "Hmm, nice. I like it. Well, what are you waiting for? She's right in there, and lunch is going to be ending pretty soon."

“What? No, I can’t go in there now!” Tzuyu cries.

“Why not?” 

“I… there are way too many people!”

“Oh, no way,” Jackson answers, “she’ll love it. Plus, don’t you think it’ll feel much more genuine if you did it in front of everyone?” 

“I… I really don’t…” 

“Just trust me on this one.” 

And with that, Jackson’s putting a hand to her shoulder, giving her just the gentlest of shoves that still has her stumbling through the door. 

Her eyes go wide as saucers as she draws the attention of several tables closer to the entrance, curious expressions etched on each of their faces as she whips around to shoot a panicked look back at Jackson. 

But her frantic head shaking is only met by another infuriating smirk, accompanied by a thumbs up that she supposes is meant to be reassuring.

Almost on instinct she takes a hesitant step backward, only for Jackson to match it by blocking off the doorway, a clear sign that she won’t be getting out of this one even if she wanted to. 

And so, with a couple of shaky breaths, Tzuyu turns back around, immediately blocking out everything else around her and honing in on Jeongyeon still sitting at the table with her friends. 

She’s in a bit of a haze as she slowly shuffles forward, barely able to register anything around her other than the relentless pounding in her chest. 

And before she knows it, she’s already there, standing just to her side as she watches Jeongyeon slowly turn to face her. 

“Oh, hi Tzuyu!” The girl chirps. 

“Hi unnie.” She answers shakily. 

“Do you… want to eat with us?” Jeongyeon asks, drawing out the words in a clear effort to help her understand better.

"Um, no." Tzuyu replies, "thank you. I… give you this."

Jeongyeon's gaze flicks down to the flowers in her hand, and Tzuyu can see the eyes of the other two girls at the table spreading wide, jaws hanging open as they watch the horrifically awkward scene unfolding before them.

"Oh," Jeongyeon says, "thank you Tzuyu."

Tzuyu nods quickly, desperately digging up all the words she'd translated on her laptop last night. "Flower is… blue hydrangea… means… grateful. Want to say… thank you"

Jeongyeon’s eyes soften considerably as she stands up to hesitantly take the gift.

“Oh Tzuyu, you didn’t have to, but… thank you. It’s very sweet.” 

For a second she pretty much just stands there, frozen to the spot and mesmerized by how surprisingly comfortable it feels to talk to Jeongyeon, even in her broken Korean. And it seems like Jeongyeon is going through something similar, gazing back at her with the gentlest smile she’s ever seen...

Until one of the girls at the table loudly clears her throat, snapping both of them out of their daze and sending a furious blush to Tzuyu’s cheeks as she notices the knowing smirk on the girl’s face. 

“Um… yeah, thank you!” 

And with that pathetically stuttered goodbye, Tzuyu immediately spins on her heels and takes off for the exit. She’s in such an embarrassed state of panic that she doesn’t even hear Jeongyeon calling after her as she tears through the cafeteria, weaving through the tables of curious onlookers and straight into Jackson, who doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her with an amused chuckle as he mumbles his quiet reassurances.

Present Day

Tzuyu doesn't even know how long she's been standing like this, eyes stretched wide and breath caught in her chest as she stares through the crystal clear glass in the recording studio. But what she does know is that while Jeongyeon had sounded good during their casual jam sessions in her living room, right now with the proper equipment and acoustics, her voice is absolutely breathtaking.

Unfortunately the angelic melody coming through the speakers stops all of a sudden as the door opens, allowing one of the producers to step into the recording booth. She watches with a whole new level of interest as Jeongyeon turns to the man, freeing one ear of her headphones as she nods along to his notes. 

And it had always been so interesting seeing Jeongyeon working like this, focused and driven but always receptive to suggestions, all in all the model professional. 

But she's brought crashing out of her thoughts by a sharp jab to her side and she snaps her head up to see Jackson looking at her with a cheeky grin. 

"She sounds good doesn't she?"

"Of course she does." Tzuyu stammers awkwardly.

"And she looks as beautiful as ever too."

"I… I suppose so yeah, I… wasn't exactly paying attention to her looks."

"Oh really?" Jackson says, "because I called your name like three times. But somehow, it didn't seem like you could hear me."

Tzuyu clicks her tongue in annoyance, shooting a half-hearted glare out of the corner of her eye. "I… you're the worst boss ever."

"No I'm not."

"You are. I should quit."

"Oh please don't, my company would collapse without you."

Tzuyu rolls her eyes. "Oh whatever, as if your last album didn't go platinum in less than a month."

"Yeah…" Jackson answers sheepishly, "it did a lot better than I expected."

"Well at least you've learned to delegate now," she says, nodding her head back at the recording booth, "when I first signed with you it was like you had to micromanage every little detail yourself. Now look, actually letting your producers do something? It's like you've become a proper CEO."

"Had to happen eventually." He chuckles, "but on that note, how has the rest of the album been coming along?"

At that, Tzuyu lets out a deep sigh, releasing only a fraction of the tension that's built up over these past few weeks. "It's been slow." She replies, "Honestly I only have one other song fully written, everything else has just been vague ideas."

"Well there's no rush, and if you want to lighten the load a little we could release it as an EP, maybe just six or seven songs at most."

"That does sound more reasonable."

"So what are the ideas you've been juggling? Maybe I can help."

Tzuyu bites down on her lip, eyes instinctively flicking over to her purse, where her notebook is still hidden inside. 

"Well…" she says slowly, "I can give you what I have for the… other song later, but in terms of the rest, I was actually thinking of covering an old Chinese song maybe? I know you said you wanted me to write the songs but..."

"No, that would be really cool." Jackson nods, "I mean it really isn’t about whether or not you write them, just as long as the songs show who you really are. What were you thinking?"

"Um, mainly I was looking at 'The Moon Represents My Heart' or maybe 'Tian Mi Mi' ."

"Teresa Teng huh? Excellent choice."

"Do you think it might be a bit too… presumptuous though?" Tzuyu asks nervously, "I mean she's kind of a legend in Taiwan."

“Not at all. She might be a legend, but you shouldn’t sell yourself short either. I mean with the number of fans that you have, not just in Taiwan but the rest of Asia too, honestly I don’t think I can think of a better singer to cover one of her songs.” 

Tzuyu’s breath catches in her chest. Hearing such high praise from not only her boss, but someone she has such endless respect for, it’s overwhelming to the point that she’s not even sure what to say. 

“I…”

“If you want, I can get our lawyers started on figuring out the rights to the song. Honestly I don’t imagine it’ll take much. As long as someone gets a cut of the royalties I’m sure they’ll be even more excited than I am about having you sing one of her songs.”

“If you’re sure.” 

“More than. You have a lot of influence Tzuyu, there’s nothing wrong with flexing it a bit.” 

“Thank you oppa, you know I’m not all that confident with stuff like this.” 

“And I’m getting the sense that this isn’t the only thing you need a bit of a boost in.” Jackson says, flashing another grin. 

“What are you…” 

She trails off as Jackson points his thumb back to the recording booth where Jeongyeon is still going back and forth with the producer over something on his iPad. 

And any potential attempt at protesting pretty much dies with the blush that lights up her cheeks, eliciting another quiet chuckle from Jackson. 

“You know,” he says, “you’re not the same scared girl making flower deliveries in the cafeteria anymore.” 

“You promised you’d never bring that up again!” Tzuyu hisses. 

“My point,” Jackson continues, “is that you’re a different person now, a world famous solo artist. You don’t have to be so scared of your feelings anymore. Plus, I’m not one of those stupid bosses that puts a dating ban on my artists. You’ve got to take advantage of that.” 

She lets out a deep sigh. “Everyone keeps saying that, but ever since Jeongyeon-unnie came back, it almost feels like the past few years never even happened… like I’m sixteen again.” 

The smile on Jackson’s face widens considerably. “You really do love her.”

“Shut up.” She grumbles. 

“I’m guessing… that there might be a couple of songs on the album about her?” 

This time her face lights up to a whole new level. “I…”

“Wow. You really are bold.” 

“Shut up.”

“I mean, declaring your love for her on a globally released album? That’s pretty impressive.” 

“I’m not declaring my love for her!” Tzuyu argues, “I just… one of the songs is… inspired by her.” 

“Uh… you didn’t write about any of her… assets did you?” 

Almost immediately her face is contorting in disgust, and before she knows it she’s throwing in a weak slap to his arm. “What? No! Of course I didn’t… oh my god!” 

“I just thought I’d check!” Jackson laughs. 

“You’re disgusting.” 

“I’m sorry!”

“No you’re not.” 

“Okay well, if you’re not writing the next ‘Thong Song’ , then what are you writing about?” 

“I…” Tzuyu trails off, dipping her head in the vain hope that her hair will somehow hide the blush lighting up her face, “her eyes…” 

"Aww… that's so romantic!”

Tzuyu flashes another glare. “I really will sign with Sana and Momo’s company.” 

Jackson only laughs in response. “If you were going to do that, you would’ve done that when you guys first disbanded.” 

“No. They were too swamped at the time to take on any actual artists. But now...” 

“If you stay I’ll beef up your contract.” Jackson offers jokingly.

“How?”

“Well, for starters, I was thinking I could build a second cafeteria just for you to confess to random girls in.” 

She slaps his arm again. 

And she's thinking about throwing in another one when the door to the recording booth suddenly opens. 

"Mr. Wang?" The producer calls. 

"Park. How many times do I have to tell you to just call me Jackson?"

"I…"

Jackson lets out a sigh. "What is it?"

"I just want her to try the last line a few more times and then if Tzuyu-ssi wouldn't mind, we can move on to recording their harmonies for the chorus."

"That'll be fine Mr. Park." Tzuyu answers.

"Perfect."

With that, the music switches back on, and she can see Jeongyeon nodding along to the beat as she waits for her cue.

And as Jeongyeon's silky smooth voice once again comes dripping through the speakers, Tzuyu finds herself letting out a deep sigh, instinctively taking a small step forward as a gentle smile spreads on her lips. 

“You two really wrote quite the song.” Jackson says quietly, “have you decided on a name for it yet?” 

“Not quite.” Tzuyu answers, “so far we just… haven’t found anything that feels…” 

“Perfect?” 

She gives a solemn nod in response. 

“Don’t worry so much.” Jackson replies, “I know it feels different because you’re taking the helm now, but you’ve gone through this all before. You’ll figure it out.” 

“I know,” Tzuyu sighs, “thanks oppa.” 

“And like I said, if you need more time we can make something work. But I mean, if you have this song, the one you’re going to show me later, plus a Chinese cover, that’s like half of the album already. I’m sure you can get another three in the next couple of weeks or so.” 

“Yeah, and I guess I have some vague ideas about a Chinese original too.” 

“That’s great!” 

“That one I’ll definitely need your input on.” Tzuyu says, “I’ve never even tried writing anything in Chinese before.”

“Well you know I’m always happy to help.” Jackson answers with a huff, “lord knows I have enough free time now.” 

“That’s supposed to be a good thing oppa.” 

“I know. It’s just… hard taking a step back like this.” 

Tzuyu can’t help cracking a smile. “You should be happy. No more late nights and early mornings, actually getting the chance to enjoy your life? Most people would give anything for that chance.” 

Jackson lets out another deep sigh, falling back against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest. “So everyone keeps telling me. But you can give me life lessons later. For now, I think it’s time for you to get into the booth, Park is just too polite to interrupt us.” 

She looks back up, seeing the producer wearing a sheepish smile as Jeongyeon shoots her a grin through the glass. And Tzuyu has to admit that listening to the earlier performance has her feeling a little nervous. But then she steps inside, and Jeongyeon has the same warm and inviting glow to her eyes that always seems to put her at ease, and before she knows it she’s cracking a shy smile as she slips the headphones over her ears.

“Man, I forgot how hungry I get from just standing in the recording studio.”

An amused chuckle escapes Tzuyu’s lips. “Well, do you want to get something to eat? There’s a noodle place near here that everyone kind of can’t get enough of. It’s the only thing I’ve seen that can get Jackson-oppa to consistently cheat on his diets.” 

“That’s impressive.” Jeongyeon replies, “do they have good jjajangmyeon? It’s been forever since I’ve had any.” 

“Sounds like there’s a lot of food we need to get you caught up on. And yeah they do, some of the best I’ve ever had.” 

“Well then let’s go!” Jeongyeon says excitedly, “do you want me to drive?”

Tzuyu looks up to the sky, sees the sun just starting to dip over the horizon as the gentle summer breeze kisses her skin and cracks a small smile. “It’s actually pretty close, and the weather’s nice, if you aren’t too tired we could walk.” 

Jeongyeon cracks a gentle, beaming smile. "I'm starting to sense a pattern with you."

"What can I say? I like walking. It's relaxing, especially when it's this nice out."

"It is strangely cool for July." The woman notes.

“So, do you want to?"

"Another walk through the city with my favorite maknae? How could I ever turn that down?” 

Tzuyu gives a playful roll of her eyes before stepping out onto the sidewalk, already feeling her own stomach starting to grumble at the thought of finally getting some food after so many hours in the studio. 

But they only make it a couple of blocks before she hears someone calling her name, to which both of them almost immediately tense their shoulders, basically a reflex at this point from all the years of being hounded by paparazzi. 

She turns around slowly, already bracing herself for the blinding flash that thankfully never comes. 

And she barely has the time to react before there’s a body slamming into her, once again putting her on edge for a second before she finally recognizes the familiar scent of the woman’s perfume. 

“Elkie?” She says, pulling back a bit to be greeted by an instantly recognizable smile. “What are you doing on this side of the river?” 

“What, I can’t come over to visit my number one girl?” 

She gives a playful shake of her head, reaching forward to give her friend a proper hug this time. “Well when you put it like that…” 

Elkie lets out a high pitched giggle as she pulls back. “No, I was just heading over here to meet up with some friends for dinner. You’re welcome to come if you’d like.” 

It’s at that moment that Jeongyeon finally decides to make her presence known, loudly clearing her throat as she steps up to Tzuyu’s side.

“Oh Jeongyeon-unnie!” Elkie says, eyes stretching wide, “I had heard some rumors that you might have come back to Korea but I wasn’t sure if they were true or not.” 

“Well I’m here,” Jeongyeon answers, her voice taking on a slightly terse tone that she doesn’t quite understand, “and I’m actually taking Tzuyu out to dinner tonight.” 

“You always were such a good unnie. Well in that case, Tzuyu, maybe we could do a rain check? You still haven’t even called me after skipping out on dinner last time.” 

“I promise I’ll make that up to you.” Tzuyu says quickly, pausing to shoot an uncertain look at Jeongyeon, “I’ve just been really busy lately.”

“Oh you know I’m just messing with you, but that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.” 

“I know, I know. How about we get brunch next weekend or something?” 

“Hmm,” Elkie says, “it’s not perfect but I’ll take what I can get. You better call me.” 

“I will, I promise.” 

With that, Elkie launches herself forward for one last hug and a brief but polite goodbye to Jeongyeon before taking off, expertly weaving through the swarming crowds and disappearing into the distance. 

“So,” Jeongyeon says, shuffling up next to her with her hands tightly clasped around her purse in a way that seems oddly tense, “you two seem… even closer than I remember.” 

"What? I've always been close with Elkie."

"Well sure but, you guys still talk?"

“Well yeah, I mean I guess it started because it was just nice to have someone I could communicate with more comfortably. It’s better now of course, I mean we don’t even always speak Chinese with each other anymore, but there’s just something different when you have someone easy to talk to, you know?” 

“Yeah…” 

Tzuyu furrows her eyebrows at the woman’s somber tone. “Unnie? Is everything okay?” 

Jeongyeon immediately snaps her head up. “Oh yeah, totally!” She says, voice just a little too cheerful for it to be fully convincing. “Let’s uh… let’s go, I’m freaking starving.” 

And with that, Jeongyeon starts heading back down the sidewalk, the whole time absentmindedly fiddling with the zipper on her bag and leaving Tzuyu to clumsily catch up with the woman’s long, determined strides. 

“So uh,” the older woman says, “it was pretty strange seeing Jackson-oppa all business-like.”

Tzuyu eyes her a bit suspiciously, sensing something off in the obvious attempt at lightening the mood. 

But in the end, she decides it would be better to just go with it. 

“You should have seen him when I first signed.” She replies lightly, “he was working himself half to death almost every day.” 

“I can’t even imagine. But I guess all of us went through something similar for our first solo projects.” 

“Some of us still are.” Tzuyu responds, “did you hear that Jihyo-unnie insisted on personally visiting each of the venues for her upcoming tour?” 

Jeongyeon lets out a quiet scoff, “that idiot’s always taking on more than she can actually handle.” 

“Have you told her you’re back yet? She might actually take a break for once if she found out her best friend had come home.” 

“Not yet,” the woman answers sheepishly, “I guess I probably should.” 

“Probably. I mean if you thought Sana-unnie’s reaction to you sneaking home was extreme…” 

“Then Jihyo’s probably going to kill me.” 

“She does get rather upset being left in the dark… particularly when it comes to you.” 

Jeongyeon lets out a deep sigh. "Guess I dug a pretty big hole for myself by going radio silent all this time."

Tzuyu reaches over to give the woman a gentle pat on the back, throwing in a few extra rubs for good measure. 

"You're not just realizing that now are you?"

Jeongyeon clicks her tongue in annoyance and quickly yanks her arm back. 

"Yah!" The woman cries, "I'm being serious!"

Tzuyu presses a hand to her lips, struggling to contain her giggles as Jeongyeon shoots her a glare that's so adorably weak that it comes off as more of a pout. 

"You're right, I'm sorry." Tzuyu says, voice cracking at the end with another round of chuckles. 

Jeongyeon's eyes narrow. "You don't sound sorry."

"Then how about I apologize by buying your noodles."

"Oh is that how this is?"

"Unnie, you have to let me buy something eventually."

"I already told you that's not going to happen. Besides, I still haven't thanked you for taking care of me when I was so ridiculously hungover."

"You know you don't have to thank me for that," Tzuyu answers, "besides, if anything it should be counted as me thanking you for helping me with the song." 

"Nope." Jeongyeon says, "no matter how you slice it, I still have years of meals that I should've been buying for you to make up for."

That's finally enough to truly set off an alarm in Tzuyu's head and her pace slows a step. 

"Is that why you've been doing this? Because you still feel guilty about going to America?"

Jeongyeon turns, eyes stretched wide in surprise. "What? No. No I just…"

"Unnie." She cuts in firmly, 

With that, the older woman stops, letting out a deep sigh as she runs a hand through her hair. "Okay fine. Maybe… a little."

"Unnie."

"I know, I know. It's stupid. But it's just kind of been gnawing at the back of my mind for a while now just how much I've missed by trying to make it on my own."

"Like what?" She asks gently. 

"Well like… like Nayeon and Jihyo's first Daesangs, Sana and Momo opening that huge office in Japan, or even Chaeyoung releasing her first rap single. All I could do was watch videos on Instagram and read articles online. I mean… I couldn't even make it back in time for your birthday last month."

"Just because you were too busy to fly all the way back to Korea doesn't mean you're any less a part of our family."

"So you keep telling me." Jeongyeon answers sullenly. 

"And it's the truth."

"How can you be so sure? I mean, what if the others are still mad at me? Hell, Sana freaking slapped me the other day."

"Sana-unnie was just upset that we hadn’t heard from you in so long, honestly a lot of us have been. But that doesn’t change how happy we are that you’re back.”

“Yeah but…” 

“But nothing Jeongyeon-unnie.” Tzuyu cuts in firmly, “all that stuff that happened in the past, none of it matters anymore. The only thing I care about is that you’re here now, and with you back, honestly Korea is already starting to feel a whole lot more like… like home again.” 

“I… really?” Jeongyeon’s eyes go wide, mouth hanging open in shock as tears start to well up in her eyes.  

“Yes. I mean, you’ve always been here for me unnie, all the way back to my first week in Korea. And without you here it just hasn't been the same.” 

Without warning, Jeongyeon launches herself forward, instantly throwing her arms around her neck and holding on for dear life as a few tears drip onto her shoulder. It takes a second for Tzuyu to hug her back, her own eyes stretching in surprise as she hesitantly slides her hands around the woman’s waist. 

And somehow, with the storm of emotions raging in her head, the only thing that Tzuyu can really think of to dry Jeongyeon’s tears is to quietly hum the song they wrote together as she gently runs a hand through her long, silky hair. 

They stay there like that for a while, lost in the comfort of each other’s embrace and completely oblivious to the world spinning around them. 

In some part of her mind Tzuyu knows that they must be getting a thousand judgemental looks from people passing by, there might even be a few reporters uploading photos of the two of them to tabloid sites within the hour. 

But she doesn’t care about any of that.

The only thing that matters is that the pain and fear is gone when Jeongyeon finally meets her eyes again. 

“I think you just found the name for our song.” The woman says quietly. 

Tzuyu furrows her eyebrows in confusion, tilting her head slightly. “What?” 

And this time Jeongyeon cracks a small smile, her gaze softening considerably as she gently answers, “Home.” 

Chapter Text

Dahyun wakes up in much the same fashion that she usually does on a Saturday morning, head fuzzy and in some stranger’s bed. 

She falls back against the pillows with a huff, turning slightly to see the girl still sleeping peacefully on the other side and lets out a quiet sigh of relief before slowly sliding onto the soft, plush carpet. 

It's always so much easier doing this when they're asleep, less hurt feelings, lower chance for confrontation overall really. And this one she definitely doesn't want to see crying and begging her to stay. 

But even then, as she's quietly slipping her dress on and searching for her phone and wallet, she realizes that she doesn't even remember what the girl's name is. 

How ridiculous is that? That she cares enough to not want to see her hurt as she's walking out the door but not enough to actually remember her name. 

She was pretty, that much was more than clear, she was the bartender at a place she'd blindly stumbled into last night to get away from everything. She'd been nice too, didn't ask for an autograph or selfie or anything like that, and the night's… activities had been fun, but like all the rest of them, had still ultimately felt hollow and empty where it really counted.

It was the little things really, the way she chuckled rather than giggled, how she didn't glare when Dahyun teased her, or blush when she flirted. All in all, this girl just isn't what she's looking for. 

Which is why she's here. Again. Sneaking out through the door with her newly recovered belongings in one hand and her heels in the other.

When she first started doing this kind of thing she would've left a heartfelt note about how her heart had been shattered long ago and that she's sorry for potentially doing the same thing herself. 

But she'd kicked that habit years ago.

Not that it matters today. She doesn't even fucking remember the girl's name.

She's just stepping into the hallway, carefully easing the door shut behind her, when her phone suddenly starts buzzing. And with her senses on high alert from sneaking out, the sudden blaring ringtone is practically enough to send her into cardiac arrest. 

She brings her phone up quickly, only barely able to keep from spilling everything else onto the floor as she hurriedly calls the elevator. 

"Hello?" She says, anxiously tapping the button a few more times as she casts a glance back down the hall.

"Hey!"

"Jeongyeon-unnie?" 

"Yeah!"

She scrunches her eyebrows in confusion as she steps into the elevator. "Um hi, what uh… what's up?"

Jeongyeon's voice comes bright and energetic, almost distractingly so, a far cry from her current sorry state, slipping her heels back on in the elevator of her latest one night stand. 

"I was wondering if you wanted to get some brunch with me."

"Brunch?" She shoots a wary glance at her reflection in the mirrored walls. Not pretty. "Um…"

"Yeah! It's really nice out and… and I don't know, it kind of occurred to me that you and I haven't really gotten a chance to hang out… what do you say?"

And there's this shift in Jeongyeon's tone, losing the cheeriness that had felt slightly out of place to begin with in favor of something much more hesitant, almost insecure. And with that there's not much choice Dahyun really has in the matter. 

"Brunch sounds great." She says, "um, maybe I can meet you there in like an hour?"

"Oh, I was actually thinking I could just pick you up. I mean I live pretty close after all."

The elevator dings and opens up into the lobby, and even just looking through the glass doors at the front already has Dahyun losing all hope of slipping back to her place before Jeongyeon would notice. Because she's looking at a surprisingly nice view of the river. Which, while undeniably beautiful on a day like this, tells her that she's at least an hour away from her place by any form of public transportation. 

"Um…" she stammers, desperately trying to think of any excuse that could buy her some time, "actually…"

"Dahyun if you don't want to we really don't…"

"No I want to!" She answers quickly, letting out a deep sigh as she comes to grips with the corner she's been backed into, "I might actually need you to pick me up. But I… I'm actually not at home."

"What? Where are you?"

Dahyun takes an anxious sip from what's already her second mimosa.

Jeongyeon has barely even finished half of her first. 

The older woman had been kind enough to drive her back home for a shower and a change of clothes without so much as a question to her whereabouts the previous night, but now it's clear that she can’t wait any longer.

“So.” Jeongyeon says carefully, “whose apartment was that?” 

“Um, I actually just met her last night. She’s a bartender.” 

“Hmm. Think you’ll call her?” 

She doesn’t quite manage to stop the scoff from escaping her lips, but she regrets it the second she sees Jeongyeon raising an eyebrow.

“My… ‘relationships’ don’t typically last much longer than a night or two.” 

Jeongyeon bites down on her lip, absentmindedly fiddling with her fork as she contemplates her response. 

“Look I… I hope I’m not overstepping here but… do you mind if I ask why?” 

“Why what?” 

“Why your dating strategy is… like this?” 

“It’s really not important. And if you wouldn’t mind, I really would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about this.” 

“Why not?” Jeongyeon asks, “doesn’t everyone already know?"

“No. Okay? They don’t. And honestly, I really don’t want them finding this out about me.” 

“Dahyun. I don't really think you should keep doing this. It’s not healthy.” 

“What’s so bad about it?” She answers sharply, “I’m just having fun, enjoying the single life. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“Then why keep it a secret?” 

“It… that doesn’t matter.”  

“Dahyun.” 

“What?” She spits out. It’s defensive, automatic, and harsher than she really intended, but she finds herself almost completely unable to control her emotions. “Do you have a problem with it?” 

“No I just… this doesn’t seem like you.” 

“And how would you know?” She snaps, “you left us Jeongyeon! You don’t get to just come back after three years and pretend that nothing happened.” 

Dahyun’s not totally sure where the harsh response came from, but she regrets it immediately when Jeongyeon flinches, snapping her head to the side with tears already welling up in her eyes. 

Almost instantly the fire that had been burning so unexpectedly hot in her chest dies down to nothing. 

“Jeongyeon-unnie…” She whispers.

“No, you’re right.” The older woman chokes out, pressing her trembling lips into a thin line, “I… I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No unnie, I’m sorry, I just…” She trails off, unable to string together two words that could in any way justify talking to such a dear friend like she just had.

So she falls back into her chair, head hung in defeat as she feels her own eyes starting to sting. 

God, why did it have to be Jeongyeon? Jeongyeon, who always used to watch over her, who took care of her in her worst moments. The older sister she never had. If it were literally anyone else she’d be able to clam up, maybe force out some poorly formed excuse about how her life had taken this drastic of a turn. 

But she can’t. Because it’s Jeongyeon, the very person who had unknowingly comforted her all those years ago when all of this had truly come to light. 

And before she knows it, the words are already tumbling past her lips. 

“I… I guess this all kind of started a long time ago, maybe just a couple of years after our debut.” 

Jeongyeon snaps her head up, eyes stretched wide in surprise, and it only makes her heart break that much more to know how personally Jeongyeon had taken her rejection. 

“Actually… you were there.” She continues shakily. 

“W-what?” 

“Yeah. Do you remember that day where I missed practice and nobody could find me? I had run away from the dorm and gone to that cafe that my brother worked at.” 

“Yeah.” Jeongyeon answers, “you… said that you had gotten into a fight with your parents.” 

Dahyun breathes out a deep sigh. This is it. If she spills her guts now, there really won’t be any going back. 

“That was just what I told people.” She says hesitantly, “but the truth is, that was actually the day that I realized… I had fallen in love.” 

At that, Jeongyeon’s eyes go wide again. “You… love? Who?" 

All of a sudden Dahyun finds that she can’t quite meet her eyes anymore. “Uh that… that’s not important. The bottom line is… that my feelings are one-sided.” 

“How could you possibly know that?” 

“Because… look I just know, okay?” 

“Dahyun…”

“And I know it’s stupid, and childish, and a million other things to deal with my problems by trying to drown it in alcohol or sleep my way through the city, but I just… it’s the only way I could think of to even try to get over them.” 

“Them?” Jeongyeon says. 

Almost instantly Dahyun’s eyes stretch wide in panic. “No. ‘Her’ I meant ‘her’!” 

“Wait…” Jeongyeon continues, “you’ve been so worried about keeping all of this a secret even though the only ones who haven't been here to personally witness it have been me and…"

Dahyun drops her eyes, not sure if she can bear to see the moment of realization that's undoubtedly lighting up Jeongyeon's face. 

"Dahyun," the woman says quietly, "are you… in love with Sana and Momo?"

Her lips are pressed into a thin line now, trembling like crazy as she desperately tries to fight the tears already streaking down her cheeks. 

"Dahyun…"

A strangled sob escapes her lips, and in an instant Jeongyeon is kicking her chair away to kneel down on the ground in front of her, gently wrapping her arms around her. 

When Dahyun finally calms down enough to actually raise her head after what feels like hours of blindly stumbling along under Jeongyeon’s gentle guidance, she realizes that her surroundings are... strangely familiar.

It’s a distant, hazy memory, half forgotten after so many years, but still enough for her to breathe in a sharp gasp.

“Jeongyeon-unnie, this is…” 

“The park I took you to after I found you at that cafe. I’m sorry, I didn’t know where else to…” 

“No,” she cuts in weakly, “no this is… very sweet. Thank you unnie.” 

Jeongyeon sets her down on the swingset, giving her one last lingering touch on the shoulder before taking the one next to her and weakly swaying along to the gentle summer breeze. 

“I uh,” Jeongyeon says hesitantly, “I’m sorry for prying so much. I never wanted to force you into saying anything you weren’t ready to.” 

“No, it’s okay. Honestly you were right, I never should have kept it to myself for so long.” 

“I… do you want to talk about it?"

"I guess I might as well. I mean, it's all out in the open now."

"We really don't have to if you don't want to." Jeongyeon replies quickly. 

"No, no it's fine, at the very least I think you deserve an explanation. What do you want to know?"

"Well, I guess… anything you're willing to tell me?"

Dahyun finally cracks a small smile at the nervous tinge to the older woman's voice. "In that case, I guess it's best to start at the beginning."

Jeongyeon only gives a gentle, encouraging nod in response. 

"That day, the day you took me here, it was probably one of the toughest days of my life. I had literally just woken up and stumbled into the living room where I found Sana and Momo asleep on the couch. I guess they had stayed up late to watch a drama or something and never made it back to their beds."

"Okay…"

"And it was… weird. My first thought was to go up and throw some blankets around them, but for some reason, I just couldn't. I felt so angry all of a sudden. Or, maybe angry isn't the right word, more like… hurt? It was ridiculous, and totally irrational, but out of nowhere it was like the two of them spending time together was some huge betrayal." 

"Because…" Jeongyeon prods gently.

"Yeah," Dahyun continues, "at first I told myself that I was just feeling left out or something. But before I knew it, I was running out of the dorm crying my eyes out and it was kind of clear that it wasn’t that simple.”

“And, that was when you realized you were in love with both of them?”

“More or less. I guess it wasn’t fully clear until a few hours later. I did a lot of thinking before you found me at the cafe but eventually I realized that I was actually feeling jealous. And it wasn’t until right before you found me that I realized I was jealous of both of them.” 

“That must have been hard dealing with that on your own, I’m so sorry Dahyun.” 

“It’s okay.” 

“It really isn’t. I should have been there for you.” 

“You were,” Dahyun says, “you were the one that found me, actually I don’t know if you ever told me how you knew where I was.” 

“Oh,” Jeongyeon answers sheepishly, “I… kind of freaked out I guess. So while the others were running through the city, I went straight to the managers and had them track the GPS on your phone.” 

“That certainly makes sense.” 

“I’m really sorry, I know it’s a pretty big violation of privacy.” 

“No, don’t apologize. It’s what I get for running off like that. Besides, I actually think it’s really sweet that you went to such extreme measures just for me.”

“You know I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” 

“I know.” Dahyun says with a soft smile, “thank you unnie. It’s really good to have you back.” 

Jeongyeon cracks a shy smile of her own, kicking off the ground to swing up next to her to exchange an affectionate bump on the shoulder. 

“It’s good to be back.” 

“But yeah,” Dahyun continues wistfully, “after that day, I pretty much resigned myself to never doing anything about my feelings.” 

“Why?” 

“Well you have to remember, this was way before any of us got together, I didn’t know how people would take it.”

“Did you really think any of us wouldn’t accept you?” Jeongyeon asks. 

Dahyun bites down on her lip, absentmindedly kicking her legs out in front of her to avoid meeting Jeongyeon’s eyes. “Well… kind of. I mean I don’t mean to imply that any of our members are prejudiced like that or anything. I just… I don’t know, I felt scared, and alone.” 

“I’m so sorry Dahyun.” 

“It’s okay. It got a lot better over the years, I mean who could’ve imagined so many of our members would be into girls?” 

“It is pretty crazy.” Jeongyeon admits. “But if things are so much better now, why didn’t you ever tell either of them how you feel? Or at least, you could have talked to Chaeyoung or Tzuyu about it.” 

“Actually, I was going to confess at one point.” 

“Really?” 

“Um… yeah. It was after you left for America, honestly it seemed like everyone was kind of questioning their lives when you moved. I mean Mina-unnie and Nayeon-unnie got together like the day after we saw you off at the airport.” 

“And you decided you’d tell Sana and Momo?” 

“Yeah.” She can feel her eyes starting to sting again at the painful memory, “I uh… had this whole thing planned out about how nothing had to change between us and that I valued our friendship more than anything, but when I finally found them, they were kind of… kissing in one of the practice rooms.” 

“Oh, Dahyun…” 

“After that I pretty much ran… from everything really. Actually I think that might have been the day I really drank for the first time. I went straight back to the apartment and dragged Tzuyu and Chaeyoung out to the nearest bar. Since then, well I guess it’s just been one big spiral to where I am now.” 

“So,” Jeongyeon says slowly, “the reason you’ve been hooking up with all these girls is because…” 

“Yeah.” She finishes, “except it never works. No matter what I do, I just can’t seem to get those two out of my head. And I’ve met some really nice girls too, people that by all means I should’ve fallen head over heels for, but I just can’t. Every single time I find these stupid little things that turns me off to them.”

“Like what?” 

“Well like… like the way they laugh, or hug me, even the way they smile sometimes, it can all be pretty or cute or whatever, but it just… it’s not them.” 

Jeongyeon lets out a contemplative hum, drumming her fingers together a couple of times before turning to face her again. 

“Do you want my opinion?” 

“Of course.” Dahyun answers. 

“I think… you’ve been going about this wrong.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, I guess I’m just saying that if you’re trying to get over Sana and Momo by finding love with someone else, well that’s never going to happen if what you’re really looking for is a knockoff version of what you have with the two of them.” 

Jeongyeon’s words are blunt, maybe even a little harsh, but what really has Dahyun breathing in a sharp breath is how perfectly it describes the exact fear that she’s been refusing to admit to herself all these years. 

“I…” She chokes weakly, “unnie, then what… what do I do?” 

“Dahyun, I don’t really know if I… if anyone can really tell you.” 

Almost immediately her eyes go wide in desperation. “No please, I need to… at least tell me what you think. Please unnie. I feel so lost.” 

Jeongyeon breathes out a deep sigh, standing up to come up close and give her a gentle hug from behind that Dahyun melts into completely. 

“I… want to make it clear that no matter what, you should do what feels right.” 

She nods quickly even as she turns to burrow her face into the older woman’s chest. 

“Well,” Jeongyeon continues, “honestly, it seems like you really only have two options: either you go for it and shoot your shot, or give up and move on. And really either way, I think the bottom line is that you have to talk to them first.” 

Dahyun freezes, tenses up against Jeongyeon’s arms as her breath catches in chest. “I… I don’t know if I can.” 

“I know it’s scary. Believe me. But it’s the only way you’ll know for sure.” 

Tears start welling up in her eyes as her breathing pics up pace. “But what if…” 

“Don’t.” Jeongyeon cuts in quickly, “don’t think about all the things that could possibly go wrong. Just focus on the things that you know to be true.”

“Like what?”

“Well… like the fact that you love Sana and Momo, that you presumably want to spend the rest of your life with them, that no matter what happens, the others and I will be here to support you. But most of all, that on some level, Sana and Momo love you too. And whether or not they’d be open to a relationship, that doesn’t change the fact they’ll always be by your side.” 

And with that, Dahyun pushes herself off the swing, throwing herself back into Jeongyeon’s arms with a tearful wail as she knocks both of them onto the ground. But for her part, Jeongyeon doesn’t miss a beat, protectively pulling the girl into her comforting embrace as she whispers quiet reassurances into her ear. 

Tzuyu sets her notebook down with a long, drawn out yawn, and she’s just reaching over to turn on the lamp at the end of the couch to replace the light of the now setting sun when she hears a quiet and somewhat uneven knock on the door.

Another yawn escapes her as she slowly shuffles up to the entryway. Maybe she should’ve been more receptive to Mina’s suggestion of taking a break every once in a while. 

But, with how anxious she’s been about making her deadline, there was really no way she could have wasted a burst of inspiration like that. 

She quickens her pace a bit when another knock comes, this time a little more urgent than before. She finally gets to the door, letting it swing open to reveal a rather flustered looking Jeongyeon holding Dahyun in her arms, curled up in a tight ball and snoozing peacefully against her chest. 

She raises an eyebrow. “Glad to see you took my advice and talked to her. Can’t say I’m surprised that you put her to sleep though.”

“Oh ha ha.” Jeongyeon deadpans quietly, “I didn’t put her to sleep, she’s just… had a tough day, a tough couple of years actually.” 

 “Do you want a hand?” 

Jeongyeon looks down, affection shining through in her gentle gaze as she tightens her grip on the girl’s frail frame. “No, no I’ve got her, just help me get her door open?” 

Tzuyu gives a soft smile and a nod in response, turning to lead her down the hall toward Dahyun’s bedroom. 

They take a little time to tuck her into bed, carefully changing her into a set of pajamas from her closet, all the while exchanging amused smirks at the adorable whimper that Dahyun lets out when they try to pull away. 

With that done, they sneak back out into the living room, and Tzuyu can see that Jeongyeon’s attention is still fixated on the girl now sleeping comfortably in her own bed. 

“Something on your mind?” She asks.

Jeongyeon lets out a quiet huff. “Yeah, Dahyun just… she had a lot to get off her chest. It kind of wore her out. By the way, that picture on Dahyun's nightstand, how long has it been there?"

Tzuyu furrows her eyebrows. "Which one?"

"The uh… one of her with Sana and Momo in Tokyo?" 

"Oh um… I don't actually know. Honestly I feel like she's kind of always had it by her bed one way or another."

Jeongyeon doesn't respond right away, biting down on her lower lip and casting an anxious glance back at Dahyun's room that Tzuyu doesn't quite understand. 

“Is everything okay?” She asks quietly.

Jeongyeon flicks her head back quickly, the tension deflating from her shoulders the second their eyes meet. “Yeah, just… you should wait for her to tell you. I don’t think it’s really my place to do it for her.” 

“I get that.” Tzuyu replies, “well, in any case, I’m glad you could be there for her, she doesn’t always like talking about… well anything really. Even Mina-unnie has trouble getting her to open up.” 

“I’m sure I just came along at the right time.” Jeongyeon says shyly. 

“No, she’s always been more comfortable around you. You tend to have that effect on people.”  

“Oh really? Is this coming from experience?” 

Tzuyu feels a light blush forming at Jeongyeon’s cheeky grin. “I… you know it is.” She mumbles. 

Jeongyeon lets out a quiet chuckle, giving her a playful nudge on the arm before stepping around the couch to admire the mess of papers on the coffee table.

“Still hard at work I see, Nayeon mentioned that she and Mina couldn’t even drag you out for five minutes today.” 

“Yeah,” she answers sheepishly, “I had to stay focused on this one.” 

“Can you give me a clue this time? Or does it all still need to stay secret?” 

“Well… I guess I can tell you a little. This one is going to be in Chinese, which is honestly kind of scary.” 

“I’m sure it’ll be amazing.” Jeongyeon says, “can I ask what it’s about?” 

“Um yeah. It’s… kind of random actually.” 

“I like random.” 

She lets out a light chuckle. “Well, before I came to Korea, I used to love taking walks at night. Night markets are really common in Taiwan, but there were usually too many people for me so I’d take these paths down by the river where it was more peaceful. I used to wander around for hours watching the lights flickering in the distance or reflected in the water, and… I don’t know, even now they’re some of my favorite memories of growing up in Taiwan.” 

“Wow,” Jeongyeon breathes with a far off look in her eyes, “I don’t think you've ever told me that before.” 

“Actually I haven’t really told anyone, this is something that I’ve kept pretty close to my chest.” 

“But you’re giving me the first look? Wow, I feel so special.” 

Tzuyu responds with a playful roll of her eyes. "I meant it when I said that I feel comfortable with you."

Jeongyeon awkwardly clears her throat. “Right, well uh… so the song’s going to be about these walks that you went on?” 

“Yeah,” She answers, “maybe focusing more on the lights? I don’t know, it’s still not even close to being finished and honestly I’m a little worried that it might feel too… pointless to put on an actual album.” 

“I think it’s great. I mean, it’s important to you. And as long as you’re okay with sharing it with the world, I actually kind of love the idea.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah.” Jeongyeon says, “plus, you don’t always get the chance to connect with your Chinese speaking fans the same way, it’ll be good to have this kind of a personal touch.” 

Tzuyu breathes out a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you Jeongyeon-unnie.” 

The woman responds with a soft smile before casting a quick glance to the clock hanging on the wall. “Well, it’s getting late, and I wouldn’t want to keep you up.” 

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I don’t have anything in the morning, other than more of this I guess.” 

“Well in that case…” Jeongyeon trails off, nervously biting her lip.

“You could stay for a bit if you want.” Tzuyu finishes, “we could watch a movie, or start a new drama or something. I could even order us some tteokbokki.” 

Jeongyeon’s eyes light up in that way that Tzuyu just can’t really ever get enough of as a gentle smile spreads on her lips. “Sounds good to me.” 

Chapter Text

Tzuyu watches with great interest and a fair amount of amusement as Jeongyeon descends further and further into restlessness, fingers twitching, feet tapping, and teeth gnawing on her lip, it’s every single nervous tick that she’s learned to recognize over the years all rolled up into one. 

Even just the way Jeongyeon is endlessly shifting back and forth on the couch is telling in its own way.

Tzuyu honestly isn't sure if she’d seen her this anxious at any point during their time in Twice, and that was saying a lot. 

“I… this is stupid.” Jeongyeon huffs, “why can’t I just like… write her an email or something?” 

Nayeon lets out an incredulous snort. “Are you kidding me? If you thought Jihyo was going to kill you before, it’s going to be a thousand times worse if you pull something like that.” 

"But like, isn't she really busy? I mean she isn't supposed to come back for a few more weeks right?"

Mina quickly shakes her head. "She's just being neurotic and checking out all the venues for her upcoming tour. It's work that can and should be handled by her managers. You'll be doing her a favor by asking her to come back."

"Not to mention," Momo adds, "that if you don't tell her that you're back before Chaeyoung comes home, she's really going to lose it."

"She's going to lose it anyway." Nayeon scoffs, "do you really think she's going to take it any better being second-to-last to find out?"

Dahyun smacks the older woman on the arm as Jeongyeon falls forward to slam her head into the coffee table. 

“Don’t listen to her Jeongyeonnie.” Sana chimes in, “Jihyo loves you just as much as the rest of us. There’s no way she’s going to kill you.” 

Momo nods in agreement. “Yeah, at most she’ll just like... punch you or something.” 

“Yeah but that would suck.” Dahyun says, “Jihyo-unnie’s really strong. Remember that guy that wouldn’t stop hitting on Mina-unnie at Somi's birthday? He ended up in the hospital for like a week with a broken rib.”

Jeongyeon lets out another groan as Nayeon mockingly returns a slap to Dahyun’s arm. 

And with that, Tzuyu decides it’s time to intervene, sitting up in her seat and gently resting a hand on the older woman’s back. “Unnie?” She says quietly. 

Jeongyeon raises her head with this miserable, puppy dog look in her eyes that has Tzuyu choking back a giggle. 

“What?” 

“Unnie, don't listen to any of them. I don't really think you need to worry so much.” 

"I don't know, I'm not really keen on spending time in the hospital. Plus, my agent's going to kill me if I get any bruises on my face or anything."

"Jihyo-unnie isn't going to punch you." Tzuyu says, "she won't even slap you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because that's just not who Jihyo-unnie is. Sure, she might be upset about not hearing from you, but the bottom line is that she loves you. And you know she would never ever put her own feelings above how proud she is of you. I mean, you know she watched every episode of your show as it was released right? That meant changing her entire schedule around just to keep her mornings clear on what would have been the busiest day of the week. She used to work extra late every night to make up for all the lost time and even turned down certain jobs just because they would've required her to miss an episode.” 

“I…” Jeongyeon stammers, “she really did that?” 

“Yes.” She answers, flashing a gentle smile at the genuine shock on the older woman's face, “because that’s what Jihyo-unnie does. I mean… she’s our leader for a reason.” 

She watches closely as Jeongyeon presses her lips into a thin line, looking amongst the other girls before finally responding with a shaky nod. 

“Okay. Okay, I’m going to go call her.” 

With that, she jumps to her feet, quickly making her way out into the hall with an adorably determined look on her face. 

“Wait wait!” Sana says, hopping off the couch and dragging a confused looking Momo behind her, “we want to say hi too!” 

Tzuyu raises an eyebrow as the three of them shuffle towards the door, with the two Japanese women coming up to Jeongyeon to teasingly poke at her sides. And right as they’re slipping out the door, Jeongyeon lets out this embarrassingly high pitched whine, weakly slapping at their hands as Sana breaks into a fit of giggles. 

But it isn’t until the door finally closes behind them that she realizes how quiet the living room has become, causing her to slowly turn back to see three pairs of eyes boring into her. 

“Why are you guys looking at me like that?” She asks suspiciously. 

“Oh nothing,” Dahyun answers quickly, “just can’t really ever get enough of you staring at Jeongyeon-unnie.” 

“What? Oh my god, I wasn’t…” 

“And,” Nayeon cuts in, “I couldn’t help but notice that you left out the fact that the only reason you know about Jihyo watching Jeongyeon’s show on release is because you were right there with her every week.” 

“God,” Dahyun groans, “the amount of times I’ve walked out here to you two emptying a box of tissues just because Jeongyeon-unnie’s character refused to confess to some idiot working at the hospital with her…” 

“She’s not an idiot!” Tzuyu protests on reflex, “and can we please keep that quiet?"

"Why?"

"Well I mean, it's… embarrassing."

"Oh come on," Nayeon snorts, "do you really think she wouldn't absolutely love hearing that? I mean, you already freaking slept with her, what do you possibly have to be…"

"What?" Tzuyu interrupts, voice going surprisingly high pitched as her eyes anxiously dart over toward the door, "I did not sleep with her!"

Nayeon furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "What? But Sana said…"

"I told you Satang was embellishing things." Mina sighs, "Tzuyu would never do something like that."

"Maybe not normally, but that was the drunkest I've ever seen any of them. Plus, you saw them on the dancefloor that night, they might as well have been having sex already."

"It was nowhere near that bad."

"Oh don't play innocent now." Nayeon argues, "when we went out to brunch last week you were all about the idea that those two could have hooked up."

Mina's eyes sheepishly flick over to meet Tzuyu's. "That's only because I want you to be happy Tzuyu."

"I appreciate that Mina-unnie," she answers, "but I still didn't sleep with Jeongyeon-unnie. At least not like that ."

"Okay," Nayeon says, "well even if you think that you two didn't do anything that night, at this point even you can't possibly keep denying that Jeongyeon hasn't been acting the same around you."

"Well I mean, I still don't really…"

"Dude." Dahyun cuts in, "were you even awake during that whole thing we just went through?" 

"What thing?"

"Oh you know, Jeongyeon-unnie sitting here for an hour staring at her phone? Occasionally freaking out about getting punched by Jihyo-unnie? Hello?" 

"Okay," Tzuyu huffs, "yes I was plenty awake for that. But I don't see how…"

"Oh my god." Dahyun groans, falling forward to rest her head in her hands. 

"What?"

Nayeon looks like she's on the verge of another outburst with a slight flare to her eyes and words already halfway past her lips when Mina deftly reaches over to clamp a hand over her mouth. 

"Maybe I should take this one." Mina says, "and don't you dare lick my hand." 

The older woman doesn't respond, instead choosing to level a venomous glare at her girlfriend before falling back into the couch with an adorably childish huff. But the pout melts away in an instant as Mina gently brushes her hand across Nayeon's leg as she turns back to Tzuyu. 

"Okay," Mina continues, "Tzuyu… I think what they're trying to say is that while Jeongyeon-unnie was sitting here and panicking about calling Jihyo or about how Chaeyoung would be coming home in a week, she wouldn't listen to any of us. Sana tried, I tried, the others… said things, but she wouldn't listen to any of it unless it was adding onto what she was already afraid of. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Well, yeah. I mean that much was pretty clear, Jeongyeon-unnie kind of gets in her own head a lot so it's nothing out of the ordinary."

Mina quickly nods her head, "right, but can you tell me how she finally got past it? Why she's out there right now with Sana and Momo talking to Jihyo on the phone?"

"Well… I guess…"

"It was you. After over an hour of arguing back and forth and watching Jeongyeon-unnie endlessly tap her foot against the coffee table…"

"God that was annoying." Nayeon sighs. 

"-all it took was just a couple of quick words from you for her to forget about everything that was bothering her and face her fears." 

"And you know how bad it can get when Jeongyeon-unnie worries." Dahyun adds.

"God," Nayeon groans, "do you remember that day Tzuyu got dinner with Elkie without telling us?”

Dahyun drops her head back with a dramatic huff, “and she forgot to bring her phone? Yeah, how could I forget? I had to talk to so many freaking police officers that day.” 

“Jihyo really did almost kill Jeong that day, I mean can you imagine coming home from a date to that disaster?” 

“The point,” Mina cuts in firmly, “is that Jeongyeon-unnie is just different with you Tzuyu.” 

Tzuyu’s quick to shake her head. “Yeah but that’s not specific to me, Jeongyeon-unnie worries a lot about all of us. That’s just how she is.” 

“That’s true,” Dahyun replies, “but it’s still not the same. When you’re involved, it’s like… she can’t think the same way. That day that you went ‘missing’, all of us tried to talk her down and it was no use. It was just like today, she wouldn’t listen to anyone, not even Mina-unnie, and that’s saying something.” 

“Guys…” 

But once again Mina’s cutting her off before she can get any further. “Listen Tzuyu, we aren’t saying that you have to make a move on her right this minute or something. But, we can all tell your feelings for Jeongyeon-unnie are very real. All we’re saying is that if you’re holding yourself back because you’re afraid that she doesn’t feel the same way or that it’ll ruin what you have with her now, well maybe you shouldn’t.” 

Tzuyu lets out a long, exasperated sigh, running a hand through her hair as she slumps back into the couch cushions. “I… it isn’t that simple.” 

“I know that,” Dahyun says gently, “believe me we all do. But… it also doesn’t have to be that complicated either. I mean you love her, don’t you?” 

She feels blood rushing to her face as she bashfully nibbles on the corner of her lip. “Well… yeah.” 

“And even if you can’t be sure how she feels, surely you have to know that Jeongyeon-unnie loves you too, at least on some level.” 

“I…” Tzuyu feels her breath catching in her chest. “I mean I know she really cares about me.” 

“It’s more than just that. And even on the off chance that she doesn’t love you that way, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to lose her.” 

There’s something different about Dahyun’s words that has Tzuyu narrowing her eyes. It just has this deep, whimsical tone that she isn’t quite used to hearing, almost like she isn’t just saying it for Tzuyu’s sake. 

And apparently she isn’t the only one to notice.

“Wow,” Nayeon breathes, “when did you get so romantic?” 

“I…” Dahyun drops her head in a weak attempt at hiding her embarrassment. “I can be plenty romantic.” 

“I guess that’s true. You probably wouldn’t be able to bang so many random girls if you weren’t.” 

And as right as Dahyun’s burying her face into her hands, Tzuyu hears Mina smacking her girlfriend on the arm. 

“Ow!” The older girl exclaims, “why is everyone hitting me today?”

Mina rolls her eyes. “Maybe it’s because you keep saying such insensitive things. Besides, this is what you get for all those years of hitting us whenever you laugh.” 

“Yeah but that was always out of love.” 

“Doesn’t make it hurt any less.” 

At that Nayeon deviously squints her eyes, a small, bunny-toothed grin spreading on her lips. “I thought you said you always liked it a little rough.” 

In an instant Dahyun and Tzuyu are both clapping hands over their ears. 

“Can you please not …” 

“My ears! ”

For a second it looks like Mina is about to scold her, the woman already rising to her feet with her eyes flaring up in that terrifying way that never really fails to strike fear into all of their hearts. But then, out of nowhere, she freezes, expression immediately morphing into one of pure concern as a quiet whisper escapes her lips. 

“Jeongyeon-unnie?” 

Tzuyu turns around quickly, not even noticing Nayeon and Dahyun matching her movements, and immediately feels her lips turning into a frown as she sees Jeongyeon standing in the kitchen, wearing a dazed expression on her face as Sana and Momo rush through the door and latch onto the woman’s arms.

“Jeongyeonnie don’t take that personally...”

“She probably just lost service or something.”

“Yeah! I mean, you know how terrible Jihyo always is with her phones.” 

Out of the four of them in the living room, Nayeon is the quickest to react, quickly rising to her feet and stepping into the kitchen. “What happened?” 

Sana turns to her with a slight grimace. “We um… we were talking with her for a bit, just catching up a little. Everything seemed fine, she was a little confused maybe, but still really happy to hear from us, but then Jeongyeonnie mentioned that she’d come back to Korea and…”

“She hung up on me.” Jeongyeon chokes. 

Somewhere in the back of her mind she recognizes Dahyun and Mina saying something about how there’s no way Jihyo would ever do that, along with a shaky confirmation courtesy of Momo, but she doesn’t hear any of it. The only thing she can see right now is the shattered look in Jeongyeon’s eyes as she fights back a torrent of tears.

Before she knows it, Tzuyu's jumping to her feet, brushing past the others and pushing everything else completely out of her mind as she rushes right up to Jeongyeon to firmly wrap her arms around the woman’s shoulders. And without missing a beat, Jeongyeon melts into her embrace, burying her face into Tzuyu’s shoulder with a quiet whimper. 

With that, the apartment falls into an almost unsettling silence, but again Tzuyu barely even notices. 

"Jeongyeon-unnie." She whispers quietly. 

The woman tightens her grip on Tzuyu's shirt. "I can't believe she…"

"Don’t let your imagination run wild. We still don’t know what happened. Like Sana-unnie said, she could’ve just lost service or her phone could have died.” 

“Or she could just hate me, her shitty best friend who totally abandoned her.” 

“Unnie…”

“I know, I know. I’m being stupid. But I just… she’s my oldest friend.” 

“And because she’s your oldest friend,” Tzuyu replies, “she’ll understand your reasons for leaving. You’ll see.” 

Jeongyeon looks up with a light sniffle. “Do you really believe that? Or are you just trying to make me feel better?” 

She can’t help cracking a light smile in response. “Is it too much to ask for both?” 

“God,” Jeongyeon huffs, shaking her head as she falls back into her arms, “pretty and smooth-talking? How’s a girl supposed to stay miserable around here?” 

And with that, the energy in the room completely flips on its head, with the others throwing in a couple of lighthearted jabs at Jeongyeon’s cheesy line as they pile in to join the hug. And as Tzuyu feels the tension starting to drain from the woman’s shoulders, she finally lets herself breathe out a deep sigh of relief, which has the unintended side effect of allowing her to notice all of the little reactions from the other girls. 

It’s small things mostly, a knowing look from Nayeon or a small lip bite from Sana, she even sees Mina bringing a hand up to hide the grin tugging at her lips. And she’s not totally sure why, but Tzuyu finds herself shooting the others a halfhearted glare that only seems to egg them on more. 

It ends up taking a bit of time for them to really cheer Jeongyeon up, and even then she isn’t truly back to her normal goofy self. 

And they’d truly tried everything. From marathoning a seemingly endless amount of romantic comedies to ordering an absolutely ridiculous amount of food, they’d truly exhausted all of their typical options. But even still, nothing they did seemed to be able to take her mind off of things for long enough to make a difference. 

Tzuyu’s honestly not sure what to do at this point. The others had decided to stick around for probably far longer than they’d planned to for the day, none of them really feeling comfortable with leaving Jeongyeon when she’s feeling so down, and she can tell that Mina in particular is starting to lose her mind from watching all of these movies that she absolutely hates. 

She just wishes it would be enough to distract Jeongyeon from her endless worrying. 

She’s just about to start thinking about some other activities that might be better at occupying their attention, maybe karaoke or god forbid even going to another bar, when she hears a sharp knock on the door. 

Dahyun shoots a quick look at her as Tzuyu rises to her feet, and all she can do is respond with a quick shrug of the shoulders, quickening her pace as another set of knocks thumps against the wood, this time coming through with an even greater sense of urgency than before and even accompanied by a couple of rapid rings on their doorbell. 

She’s practically running by the time she finally reaches the door, throwing it open and breathing in a sharp gasp when she sees the instantly recognizable form of Jihyo standing just outside. 

“Jihyo-unnie? Are you…” She trails off, taking in the scene before her. Overall, the older woman looks like… kind of a mess with her hair flung all over the place and her face beet red as she doubles over to catch her breath. 

“I… went to Seungyeon-unnie’s… said… here...” 

“Tzuyu?” Dahyun calls from the living room, “who is it?” 

She casts one last hesitant look at Jihyo before slowly stepping to the side, watching as six pairs of eyes stretch wide in surprise. 

But by far the most shocked is Jeongyeon, who slowly rises to her feet, hands trembling as she lets the blanket drop from her shoulders. 

“J-Jihyo? I thought you were in the Philippines.” 

“I caught the first flight I could.” Jihyo answers, hesitantly stepping through the door, “I can’t believe you…”

“I know.” Jeongyeon says shakily, “listen Jihyo, I’m really sorry. I know I’ve been a really shitty friend, I just… I was really busy for so long. And I know that’s not an excuse… but then I just got really scared that…”

But she doesn’t get any further before Jihyo cuts her off, closing the distance between them in a surprisingly quick couple of steps, even leaping over the back of the couch to throw her arms around the woman's neck. 

Jeongyeon's eyes go wide and she blinks a few times in shock, shoulders tensed at the sudden and unexpected contact before she slowly brings her hands down to Jihyo's waist.

Tzuyu can see the relieved tears already starting to well up in her eyes. 

"You… you stupid… fucking idiot." Jihyo sobs.

"Ji…”

Jihyo weakly pounds her fist against Jeongyeon’s chest. “Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Do you have any idea how much I've missed you?"

Jeongyeon breathes in a sharp breath, looking down at the woman in surprise before she melts forward to wrap her arms around Jihyo’s trembling shoulders and leans in to nuzzle her cheek against the top of her head. 

“I missed you too.”

Tzuyu feels a wide smile spreading on her face at the touching reunion, and with a quick glance around the room she finds her feelings mirrored in the expressions of the other girls, she even spots Nayeon wiping a couple of tears from the corner of her eye. 

And as is basically tradition at this point, the others finally decide to pile in, throwing their arms around the two of them and effectively tackling them into the couch in a mess of teasing giggles and tangled limbs. It’s ridiculous to be sure, maybe even a little childish to be doing this at this point in their lives, but it’s also so unbelievably nostalgic in a way that feels absolutely perfect for their latest reunion. 

Just one more until their family is complete again. 

It’s getting close to three in the morning when the latest movie finally ends, and Dahyun feels herself cracking yet another smile as she takes in the scene before her, with the girls all sleeping peacefully in progressively more uncomfortable positions across the room. 

Mina and Nayeon had claimed the loveseat early into the third movie of the night and were now looking quite cozy with Mina’s arms wrapped protectively around her girlfriend. 

Then over on the main couch was Jihyo, who had categorically refused to let go of Jeongyeon the entire night and was even now, still clinging tightly onto the woman’s shirt. Tzuyu had joined them at some point too… having apparently gotten over some of her fears and finally decided to opt for some cuddle time with Jeongyeon. 

She finds herself shaking her head in disbelief at her roommate, looking more peaceful than Dahyun’s probably ever seen with her arms resting easily around Jeongyeon’s shoulders. If only she could muster up the courage to do this kind of thing more often. 

And of course, that left Sana and Momo, who had fallen asleep fairly early into their fourth movie and were now sleeping peacefully on her shoulders, blissfully unaware of what it had been doing to her heart all night. 

She’s not sure if it’s just the fact that her legs are starting to fall asleep, or more likely the insecurity that kind of always makes itself known when these two are involved, but she suddenly has the urge to wriggle out and try to get a few hours of sleep in her own bed, even knowing how futile that typically is. 

But then, right as she’s trying to snake her arm out of Sana’s tight grip, the woman immediately lets out a soft whine and nuzzles closer into her shoulder. She presses her lips into a thin line, thinking about possibly slipping her other arm out instead, when Momo slides her head down to rest in her lap. 

Dahyun lets out a quiet sigh. 

It’s never really been much of a secret that Sana and Momo liked to cuddle, especially while sleeping, actually it was something that Jeongyeon used to complain about endlessly when they’d moved into their first dorm, so this was more than likely just a reflex for the two of them at this point. In which case, she could probably get herself free if she could somehow find a way to get them into each other’s arms instead. 

But she’s barely able to even shift her weight before she hears another quiet whimper, and she’s too flustered at this point to even identify who it’s from… or figure out which one of the two lets out a quiet “Hyunnie”. Because right as she hears it Sana kind of falls forward into her neck and Momo curls up against her with a hand snaking up her thigh and it pretty much instantly melts her brain. 

And the thing is that it’s not even really the intimate contact that ultimately makes her freeze. In the end, it’s just the simple fact that one of them, or maybe even both of them had called out her name in their sleep. And that alone is enough for her to melt into the two of them with a contented smile, letting her head fall to rest against Sana’s and lace her fingers together with Momo’s. 

If she’s being honest with herself it’s a little gratuitous, maybe even selfish to take advantage of the two of them like this, but at this point she can’t really help it. 

So for the first time in years, Dahyun lets her eyes flutter to a close for what might actually be a deep and relaxing night of sleep.

Because she’s tired, unbelievably so. Tired from all this time she’s spent suppressing blushes and biting back smiles. And with all of the heartfelt reunions of the past couple of days, not to mention the deep heart-to-heart she’d had with Jeongyeon, she just doesn’t think she has the strength to fight her feelings anymore. 

Chapter Text

Tzuyu slowly opens her eyes to an incessant tapping on the top of her head. 

It stops for a second, and she briefly thinks about going back to sleep, already feels herself drifting back into the comfort of the cardigan wrapped around get shoulders, until she feels another tap, followed by a series of light giggles. 

She finally lifts her head, still feeling the grogginess fogging up her senses when she’s greeted by a shockingly familiar pair of brown eyes shining right into her face. And it's almost as bright as the thousand watt grin on the lips just below. 

“Good morning sunshine!” 

She lets out a groan as she leans back to stretch her arms over her head, squinting in confusion as she finally feels a spark of recognition. 

“Momo-unnie?” 

She gets another amused giggle in response. “She lives.” 

Tzuyu brings a hand up to rub the weariness out of her eyes, letting out a long drawn out yawn as she finally recognizes her surroundings. 

"Wha- how did you even get in?"

"Your door was unlocked. Man Jeongyeon wasn't kidding, you really are working way too hard." 

"She… she said that?"

Momo cracks a knowing grin, one that comes with a mischievous glint to her eyes that immediately sets off a red flag. "Yup. We talk about you a lot actually, the other day she even asked me what kind of ring I thought you'd like."

With that, Tzuyu instantly wakes up, letting out a slightly annoyed huff and leveling a deadpan glare. "Did you come over here just to make fun of me?"

"No, actually one of the reasons I'm here is because Jeongyeon really is worried about you. She said when she came over yesterday that you hadn't slept all night. Now I'm actually starting to believe her."

"I can sleep after I get these songs done." Tzuyu huffs, looking back down to the tornado of papers strewn about the coffee table.

“I don’t understand,” Momo says, sitting down on the couch next to her, “didn’t Jackson-oppa say that you could take all the time you needed?” 

“He did, but my managers still want it done in time for our current promotion schedule, which is much sooner than it should be. Plus, I don’t always feel comfortable taking advantage of my relationship with him like that. I have to show the same kind of respect for deadlines that I would with any boss.” 

“Wow. Our little maknae is all grown up. If even half of our artists had this kind of professionalism Sana and I might be able to take vacations more than once every three years.” 

“Well it seems like this one’s lasting kind of a long time, you two have been here for like a month now.” 

“Yeah…” Momo says, sheepishly running a hand through her hair, “but this isn’t really a vacation strictly speaking.” 

“What? What do you mean?”

“Well…” 

“Are you two getting married or something?” 

Momo’s eyes instantly go wide. “What? No! No, that… that wouldn’t even make sense. We’d have to go to America or… Taiwan or something.” 

“But you are thinking about it?” Tzuyu asks. 

A strange, conflicted look creeps into Momo’s eyes as the woman drops her gaze to her fingers, fiddling nervously with the bracelet on her wrist. "I… I don't know. Things are complicated right now." 

Tzuyu sets her pen back down, eyebrows scrunching in concern as she scoots back up on the couch to sit face to face with the older woman. "Is everything okay?"

"No yeah," Momo answers, "everything's great. I mean, I love Sana. But… we just have so much going on right now and there's just a lot we have to figure out before we can even think about something like that."

"Well," Tzuyu says gently, "you know we're always here for you if you need any help."

“Thanks Tzu, but I think Sana and I are going to have to figure this one out on our own.” 

"Okay," she flashes a gentle smile before reaching for her now cold mug of tea. "Just know that you don't have to be alone in this."

Momo lets out a quiet chuckle that she doesn't quite understand. "Trust me, that's about as far from the issue as it could possibly be."

She doesn't really know what that means, and there's definitely a part of her that wants to press a little further. But she gets the sense that Momo doesn't feel like talking and Tzuyu never really was the type to push people beyond their limits. 

So, she lets out a contemplative hum and goes to take a sip from the mug, only to grimace in disgust as she tastes exactly how stale her tea has gotten. 

Without a second thought, she rises to her feet, hearing Momo starting to follow her with an amused laugh. 

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah, I need fresh tea." She answers, already filling up her electric kettle, "would you like some unnie?"

Momo's eyes light up with excitement in that adorable way they'd done since their days as trainees. "Is it that Taiwanese stuff you get from your mom?"

"Of course."

"Oh my god, it's been forever since I've had that!"

"Well," Tzuyu chuckles, "if you and Sana-unnie would come back more often…"

"Well, we might have to now."

She raises her head in confusion, just in time to catch the panicked look on Momo's face.

"What?"

"Uh…." The Japanese woman sputters, "nothing! I didn't mean… I meant…"

"Unnie…" she says suspiciously.

"Look just, please please forget you heard that, okay? There are some things that we're working on and I promise we'll be filling all of you in really soon. It just… it really needs to wait for just a bit longer."

Tzuyu shakes her head at Momo's ridiculous panicking, reaching forward to catch one of the woman's flailing hands. "Woah woah, unnie calm down! I promise I won't mention anything to anyone."

Momo locks eyes with her, breathing out a slow, cautious breath as Tzuyu goes to fill up two mugs with tea. 

"Not that there's really anything for me to say," she remarks, "but I'm kind of surprised you still have such a loose tongue even after all these years in the entertainment industry."

"God, don't remind me," Momo groans, practically collapsing against the counter as Tzuyu gently presses a cup into her hand, "Sana's already basically banned me from going on talk-shows by myself because I've leaked so many things."

"How did that even start? I mean I don't remember you leaking anything for us back in the day, that was mostly Nayeon-unnie."

"I don't even know." Momo huffs, shoulders deflating as she takes a long sip from her mug, "I guess somewhere between running a company and going public with my relationship with Sana I just… got even worse at thinking before I speak. Plus, a lot more of these interviews are in Japanese now and it's way easier for words to just slip out."

"I get that." 

She gets a playful roll of the eyes in response. "Oh whatever."

"What? Of course I do!"

"Maybe in terms of the language barrier." Momo says, "but ever since you've gone solo you've been like, the freaking perfect idol."

Tzuyu immediately shakes her head in denial. "You're exaggerating."

"I'm really not. You have no idea how often our stupid marketing people are bugging us to tell them what makes you tick. As if Sana and I know some secret of yours that we can just transfer to all of our artists."

“That’s ridiculous.” Tzuyu says, “I mean, there’s nothing I do that’s particularly special.”

“That’s not true and you know it.” Momo answers quickly, “but now that you mention it, that really is exactly what they love about you. I mean in the years since you’ve gone solo you haven’t stirred up anything. No dating scandals, no disorderly conduct at clubs in downtown Seoul…” 

“That… it’s not like I do that deliberately though, I just don’t really like that kind of scene. Plus… Jackson-oppa doesn’t do dating bans.” 

"And yet, you're still shockingly single."

Tzuyu clicks her tongue in annoyance, "wha- why does it feel like every single conversation I have these days somehow circles back to my love life?"

"Um, maybe because everyone has to watch you batting your eyelashes every time Jeongyeon so much as looks at you." 

"I… I do not bat my eyelashes!"

Momo playfully rolls her eyes despite the small grin on her face. "Oh please. Do you have any idea how easy it is to notice with how big your eyes are? And for that matter, it's also super obvious when you're staring at her legs." 

"I don't…"

"Not that I can really blame you I guess, I mean Jeongyeon does have really nice legs."

"Wha-"

"But still, you could at least try to be a little more subtle. Wait, actually no. Don't be more subtle, maybe then one of you will actually get a clue and you two idiots can finally get together."

At this point Tzuyu doesn't even know how to respond, and with all her indecision she's pretty much left to stare at the woman in a mixture of shock and embarrassment. 

"You can keep giving me that look all you want," Momo says, "but in the end, this is for your own good. But we can discuss that in the car, we really should be getting going soon."

Tzuyu narrows her eyes in confusion. "Going? Where?"

"Seriously?" Momo says with a raised eyebrow, "wow you really do need a break. As today's resident unnie I'm deciding you're taking tomorrow off."

"What?"

"You seriously have no idea what I'm talking about do you."

"Um no?" Tzuyu replies, "what are you…"

"Hello? Dude. Chaeyoung is coming home today. Remember Chaeyoung? Kind of short? Likes to rap?"

"Wait what? I thought Chaeyoung wasn't flying in until Friday."

Momo's face drops into a deadpan glare. "Today's Friday Tzuyu."

Tzuyu gets another roll of the eyes as her jaw drops to the floor. 

"Alright." The older woman huffs, "it's official. You need a break. And this is perfect because we're going to drag Chaeyoung out to dinner."

"Dinner does sound nice." Tzuyu admits, "and of course it'll be good to see Chaeyoung. Where was she off to this time?"

Momo levels another deadpan glare. 

"What?" Tzuyu replies, "look, this one isn't me being tired. She just does this kind of thing a lot. I mean it's half the reason the three of us aren't living together anymore."

"Okay, I guess I have to give you that one." Momo concedes, "and I think Dahyun said she spent the last couple of weeks in South America or something?"

"She did seem weirdly into The Emperor's New Groove before she left."

"Wow. Well I guess when you have a job like hers you can indulge those kinds of spontaneous urges."

"And it certainly helps that she's good too." Tzuyu says, "it feels like everyone who wants to win anything these days is hiring her to write their lyrics."

Momo nods her agreement. "We've certainly done a lot of that for our Korean artists. Are you going to have her take a look at the songs you're writing?"

Tzuyu can't help cringing a little at that, her grip on the mug tightening subconsciously. "Yeah, I think I might. I wasn't going to originally, but the further along I get, the more I find myself questioning every word I've written."

“Well I’m sure Chaeng’s going to tell you the same thing everyone else will. I mean your writing has always been great Tzu, and I can see how much effort you’re putting into this. Honestly I can’t wait to hear it.” 

“Thanks unnie.” She says gratefully, “I don’t know, I guess I’m just… nervous.” 

“Which is perfectly normal. I mean this is your first time doing this kind of thing. But speaking of nervous, we really need to be hitting the road. I don’t want to miss Jeongyeon freaking out about seeing Chaeyoung again.” 

At that Tzuyu gives an amused shake of the head. Over the past few days, Jeongyeon’s anxiety over the final reunion had continually spiraled out of control to the point of repeatedly calling people in the middle of the night. All of them had tried to talk some sense into her, mostly saying that Chaeyoung was the most mellow out of all of them and if Jihyo hadn’t punched her then she really didn’t have anything to be afraid of, but just like with Jihyo, none of them really seemed to be able to get through. 

“Are we picking her up from the airport?” Tzuyu asks. 

Momo shakes her head. “No, it would probably be a bit more press than any of us really want to deal with, especially with all nine of us back together for the first time in so long. But Dahyun said she gave you guys a spare key so we figured we could just break in. Oh and Mina’s been in touch with her manager so she’s going to keep us updated on Chaeyoung’s progress in transit.” 

“Well, I guess that’s about as good of a plan as any.” 

“Good! Now you should probably go get changed. Jeongyeonnie’s going to be there and I’m already worried about how much you’re going to second guess your outfit.” 

“What? I don’t…” 

“Oh please. Dahyun’s told me why you two have been late the last three times we’ve gone out. Just… go try on your first outfit so we can get this over with. Plus I lived with Jeongyeon for years so I know what she likes.” 

Tzuyu feels her jaw hanging open. “I… we haven’t been that late… wait has she not liked my outfits so far?” 

Momo's eyes flare in a mixture of bewilderment and amusement, throwing in a light shove to her shoulder for good measure. “Oh my god just go! We’re already going to be late as it is!” 

Tzuyu feels her cheeks flushing deeper and deeper as she gives another self conscious tug at the hem of her skirt. 

She’s not sure how she’d let Momo talk her into wearing an outfit this revealing, honestly the past hour or so had been kind of a blur, but now that she’s sitting here behind the couch with Jeongyeon barely a foot away from her she’s starting to regret letting Momo have any input at all. 

Like, seriously, how does she keep ending up in this situation? She doesn’t wear crop tops unless it’s for a stage outfit or something and even that’s embarrassing enough. Plus wearing one with a skirt this short… it’s giving her traumatic flashbacks to the ridiculous dress Dahyun had made her wear to the first reunion with Jeongyeon all those weeks ago. 

Luckily, today Jeongyeon seems a little too busy nervously fiddling with the little Bulbasaur charm dangling from her phone to really notice anything going on around her.

“You’re going to ruin the surprise if you keep making so much noise.” She whispers. 

Jeongyeon snaps her head up, eyes stretched wide as she sheepishly tucks her phone back into her purse. 

“I can’t believe you’re actually this nervous.” Tzuyu continues, “you know Chaeyoung isn’t going to be mad right? I mean she barely even got upset that time Sana-unnie accidentally destroyed that expensive coat she bought.” 

“I know I know. I just… can’t get myself to stop imagining all these horrible possibilities where she just leaves the second she sees me or something.” 

“Well we know that’s not going to happen. Chaeyoung hates traveling so even if she does hate you she’ll probably be too tired to run."

Jeongyeon shoots a glare out of the corner of her eye, clearly not amused with her light-hearted teasing. "Do you want to see me cry? Because it's not a pretty sight."

"Um, it's prettier than when I cry."

"Are you kidding? You cry just like Mina, all graceful and princess-y, tears glistening like freaking diamonds. All I do is snot and blubber like a wet dog.” 

Tzuyu looks down, shyly pressing her lips together as she fiddles with her skirt. “I actually like to think you look more like... a sad puppy… or something.” 

“I… really?” 

There’s something in Jeongyeon’s tone, a certain vulnerability that keeps her eyes glued to the ground in front of her. "Um… yeah," she stammers, "plus… I feel like half the time you cry it's because you're worried about the rest of us or something and I don't know, it's just really sweet."

"Wow." Jeongyeon breathes, "all this songwriting has turned you into a real softie."

"Wha- it has not turned me into a softie.” 

“You’re absolutely right.” The woman answers quickly, “you’ve always been one. I’ve never seen anyone cry so much over random animals in the middle of recording.” 

“That was only because the staff liked to mess with me so much!” Tzuyu protests, “they were always telling me that they were going to leave bunnies in the woods or throw fish away or something!” 

"God you really are a Disney princess. I'm surprised you haven't written a song about those poor little creatures yet."

"Just because I like animals doesn't make me a Disney princess. And there's no way I could write an entire song about a bunny that I didn't even know. Although it would certainly be nice if things were that easy."

Jeongyeon raises an eyebrow. "I take it you're still stuck on the last two songs."

"Yeah." Tzuyu huffs, "well, I guess I have some ideas for one, maybe a couple of rough lines written out. But as for the last one… I don’t know, maybe I’m overthinking things but it feels like I need to round out the album with something really impactful and important to me."

"I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Yeah but the deadline is coming up really soon. If I don’t at least come up with an idea of what to write about I’m going to have to ask Jackson-oppa for an extension.” 

“Well if you want some more help I could…” 

But she doesn’t get any further before Nayeon is cutting her off, sharply hissing at them from her spot from behind the recliner. “Hey lovebirds, I hate to interrupt but Chaeyoung’s going to be here any minute now. Maybe you can wait until later to keep up your flirting.” 

And the response comes from both of them in unison, only to be shut down by a harsh chorus of shushing from various spots throughout the room. 

It looks like Jeongyeon wants to protest further, already halfway to her feet with a retort hanging on her lips, but before she can, they hear the unmistakable sound of a key sliding into the lock on the front door and the entire room instantly falls silent. 

She hears it more than sees it, Chaeyoung walking in with two enormous suitcases trailing behind her, as well as a third one in the hands of her manager, but it’s washed out the second someone flicks the light on and all eight of them burst out from their various hiding places. 

“Surprise!” 

Chaeyoung’s reaction is comical to say the least, shoulders hunched and bringing two clenched fists up to her chest as her eyes stretch wider and wider. And the girl only really relaxes a little bit as recognition slowly washes over her face and she squeezes her eyes shut to let out a playful wail. 

Sana and Momo are the first to rush up and pull Chaeyoung in for a hug, one that’s full of sloppy kisses and has the shorter girl devolving into a fit of embarrassed laughter. 

The rest of them filter in a little slower, having seen Chaeyoung right before she’d left on this impromptu vacation, giving the girl a few gentle hugs and asking her how her trip went. 

And Chaeyoung is just pulling out of her arms, starting to raise an eyebrow at Tzuyu's peculiar choice of outfit when she freezes suddenly, eyes stretching wide again and fixated on the woman still glued to her spot by the couch. 

“Jeongyeon-unnie?” Chaeyoung breathes shakily.

“Um… hey Chaeyoung.” Jeongyeon says, sheepishly bringing an arm up to fuss with her hair, “I… I tried to call… tell you I had come home and everything but…” 

She doesn’t get any further before Chaeyoung is pulling herself out of Tzuyu’s grip and slowly making her way across the room. 

"Are you… you're really here?" Chaeyoung says, voice still quiet as she looks up into the older woman's nervous gaze. 

"I… yeah?" Jeongyeon replies. 

And for a second there's nothing but tense silence, broken only when Chaeyoung carefully reaches forward, hand visibly trembling and lets out a sharp gasp the second she comes in contact with Jeongyeon's arm. 

She recoils for a second, eyes wide and her entire body now starting to shake before a quiet sob breaks past her lips. Her whole body looks tense even from where Tzuyu is standing, and for a moment she's actually not sure what's going to happen next, until Chaeyoung finally lets out a pitiful wail and jumps up to wrap herself around Jeongyeon like a koala.

The older woman looks shocked for a second, eyes wide as saucers and glued to the girl clinging desperately to her shoulders.

“Chae…” Jeongyeon whispers.

Chaeyoung only responds with a quick shake of her head, burying her face deeper into Jeongyeon’s neck with a muffled sob. And with that, Jeongyeon finally cracks a small smile, letting her own eyes squeeze shut as she wraps her arms around the girl’s trembling body. 

The rest of them stay rooted to their respective spots for a bit, exchanging warm looks with each other as they give the two a brief moment to themselves for yet another long overdue reunion. 

Of course it’s Sana that breaks first, dragging Momo along with her to start their first complete group hug in over three years. And with them joining, the rest of them are quick to pile in as well, with Mina flashing her an encouraging smile as they take up their traditional role of shuffling in at the edge of the huddle only to be dragged in by some of their more aggressive members. 

Almost immediately it becomes an absolute mess. Basically all of them are crying already, although none of them can really match the intensity of Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung’s uncontrolled wailing. And she feels a sharp tug on her sleeve as Sana tries to get her arms around as many of them as humanly possible while Nayeon throws in a couple of heavy slaps to Jeongyeon’s shoulder. 

It’s… familiar, almost achingly so, the way all nine of them fall so effortlessly back in step with one another. They’re truly a family after all, maybe even closer than sisters would typically be, and a couple of years apart hasn’t done anything to dampen how much she loves these girls. 

And a few more tears start welling up in Tzuyu’s eyes as she realizes that her last song could really ever only be about one thing. 

Chapter Text

The relatively peaceful evening Tzuyu had been having, probably the first she’d really gotten in weeks, is suddenly interrupted by a jarringly harsh knock on the front door. 

She can’t help letting out a low groan. She’s probably gone to the front desk three times at this point telling them to stop letting people up without ringing on the intercom first, but apparently that message hadn’t really gotten through. And sure, every time so far it’s been one of the girls that the security guards must have recognized, but one of these days she’s going to open the door to some crazed fan demanding a selfie or something. 

There’s a part of her that’s expecting, okay maybe more like hoping to find Jeongyeon standing on the other side again, maybe with another cup of tea or spontaneous proposition to get dinner somewhere in the city. But to her surprise, instead of Jeongyeon’s familiar heart-stopping grin, she’s greeted by two puzzlingly concerned expressions. 

“We need to talk.” Chaeyoung says, unceremoniously shouldering her way past her and into the apartment. 

Jihyo flashes an apologetic look as she politely follows the shorter girl through, and it’s only as Tzuyu’s gently shutting the door behind them that she notices the notebook in Chaeyoung’s arms that's absolutely bursting with sheets of paper jammed between the pages. 

“What’s going on?” She asks suspiciously. 

“Um,” Jihyo answers, “well you asked us to take a look at the lyrics you’ve been writing…” 

"Uh huh…"

"And we just… wanted to talk to you about a couple of them."

Tzuyu furrows her eyebrows in a mixture of concern and confusion. "What? But I already submitted them to my managers like a week ago. Did you not like them or something?"

Chaeyoung's quick to shake her head, spinning on her heels with her eyes stretched wide. "No, all of them were great!" The girl says, "honestly Tzuyu, you've improved so much as a lyricist it makes me wonder why I ever had to write songs for you at all." 

"I've got to agree with her there," Jihyo nods, "I mean I actually cried when I read Nine or None ." 

"Oh my god, yeah." Chaeyoung agrees, actually starting to tear up a bit herself, "that was… honestly Tzuyu, you should have included some kind of warning that you'd written something so beautiful about the rest of us."

"Okay," Tzuyu says slowly, "so if you guys liked it so much then what's the problem?"

Chaeyoung and Jihyo exchange a brief look before they both silently reach an agreement to guide her over to the couch.

A beat passes with Tzuyu just staring at the two of them as they anxiously study the carpet in front of them. And it takes a lot less time than it normally would for it to wear on her patience.

"Well?" She snaps, causing both women to jump slightly in surprise. 

"Okay," Chaeyoung responds, "we just felt that we should talk to you about the fact that half of the album seems to have been written… about Jeongyeon-unnie."

"What? It's not… how do you even know that…"

"Well," Jihyo cuts in, putting a quick end to her awkward rambling, "admittedly the lyrics for Home aren't inherently romantic or anything, but just the fact that you wrote this duet with her about finding your place in the world… it kind of feels like it comes with some pretty suggestive undertones."

"Okay, but that…"

"And then there's the second song, Sweet As Honey ?" Chaeyoung says, "I mean… is there anyone alive that isn't going to realize that you wrote an entire song about Jeongyeon-unnie's eyes?"

"Look," she sputters, "you only know that it's about her because I told you and Dahyun back in the dorms."

"Actually it's a little obvious to me too." Jihyo says hesitantly. "And if I could figure it out…"

"Okay fine. Yes, Sweet As Honey is about Jeongyeon-unnie's eyes. But that's only two songs. That's hardly…" 

"There's also Blue Hydrangeas. " Their leader interrupts. 

Tzuyu, in her ever-worsening state of panic, throws on her best interpretation of an innocent look. "What? That song is about gratitude! What makes you think that has anything to do with Jeongyeon-unnie?"

But Jihyo only levels a deadpan stare, eyebrows raised as she crosses her arms across her chest. "Tzuyu. I was there." 

"There? What are you…"

"Uh, that day in the trainee’s cafeteria all those years ago where you gave Jeongyeon a vase of flowers in front of half the company?" 

That's about the last thing that Tzuyu had been expecting and she can already feel the blood starting to drain from her face. "I… you were?"

"Even if she didn't have front row seats to the whole thing," Chaeyoung says, " everyone heard about it. I mean people used to make bets on how long it would take for you two to get together." 

"Oh my god!" She cries, bringing a hand up to cover her face, " please tell me you’re kidding." 

"Sorry," Jihyo replies sheepishly, "but like I said, you did kind of do it in front of a ton of the other trainees. Plus Jeongyeon had always kind of been popular and there were a lot of people who had already noticed you in the halls and stuff, so word ended up spreading kind of quickly."

All she can muster up in response is a low groan as she falls forward to let her head slam against her knees. 

“But that’s not important!” Jihyo says quickly. 

Chaeyoung hums her agreement. “Exactly. It’s all in the past now. We need to be looking more towards the future.” 

"And… that's kind of what brings us here today."

At that Tzuyu finally looks up, confusion screwing up her features as her gaze slowly flicks between them. "What?"

Chaeyoung lets out a deep sigh, at last loosening her grip on the notebook and setting it down on the coffee table. 

"Look we just… we want to make sure that you're really sure that you want to do this. These lyrics, they're extremely personal, soul-baring even. Are you absolutely certain that you're prepared for the world to see this?"

Tzuyu hesitantly bites down on her lip. "Well I mean, Jackson-oppa said that the music should show my real self."

"We're not asking about what your boss wants from you." Jihyo says, "we're asking about you. What do you want?"

"I… I'm not really sure I understand… I mean did you really think that I wouldn’t consider the fact that people would hear these lyrics when I wrote them?"

"Well maybe on an abstract level." Chaeyoung answers, "but… have you considered that Jeongyeon-unnie is going to hear them too?"

"What do you…"

"She told us that you haven't let her see the songs yet, even though she even wrote one of them with you." 

"Well, yeah." Tzuyu mumbles. 

"What's the point Tzu? I mean she's going to hear them anyway."

She doesn't respond immediately, trying to think of some way to get out of answering before she quickly crumbles under the combined might of their intense gaze.

"I don't know." She groans, this time falling back into the couch to let her head slam against the cushions, "I know it's ridiculous, and it's not like I'm embarrassed or ashamed by what I wrote or anything, but the first time she asked to see the lyrics I just panicked and made up this stupid excuse. And after that… it kind of just kept going."

“Do you not want her to hear them?” Chaeyoung asks. 

“No of course I do! I mean… I guess there’s a part of me that wants her to hear it more than anything, but at the same time it feels terrifying to even consider that she would… god that doesn’t even make any sense.” 

“No it totally does!” Jihyo says quickly, “these things are scary. And that’s kind of why I’m wondering if it’s such a good idea to release what’s basically a love confession for the entire world to see.” 

“Well, maybe it isn’t the best idea I've ever had, but it was really important to me that these songs on my album would truly be from the heart. And that’s more or less how this all happened. I mean I struggled for weeks to get anything down at all and Dahyun told me that I needed to find something that I felt strongly enough about for the lyrics to basically write themselves, it just so happens that a lot of that involves Jeongyeon-unnie.” 

Chaeyoung lets out a light sigh. “Look Tzu, I… I agree with all of that, okay? And you’re right, it makes a world of difference when you can feel the passion behind the words like with the songs you’ve written. But I just, are you sure you’re ready for Jeongyeon-unnie to hear this? And in this fashion?” 

Tzuyu finds herself tilting her head in confusion. “I thought you guys would be happy about this. I mean you’ve all been trying to get me to tell her how I feel for years now.” 

“We are.” Jihyo answers quickly, “and you know how perfect I think you are for each other. It’s just… we’re still a little worried that this might be a bit too public. And also…” 

She raises an eyebrow, seeing the woman trailing off with such an uncharacteristically hesitant look on her face. “Yes?” 

“Well it’s just that with the current timeline, how long it always takes for musical arrangements and recording sessions, not to mention press tours and everything, it might be a while before Jeongyeon finally hears it.” 

“So? It’s not like we’re under any time constraints are we?” 

“Well not necessarily,” Jihyo answers slowly, “but I’ve heard a couple of things about how Jeongyeon’s agent has been pressuring her to find another project to work on and that she’s actually been getting a lot of requests from foreign studios.” 

It’s irrational to be sure, but in an instant Tzuyu feels the blood draining from her face as her heart practically stops. “W-what? But she said…” 

“There’s nothing in the works yet.” The woman says, eyes stretched wide and the tension more than clear in her shoulders. “And Jeongyeon definitely hasn’t even really been listening to her agent at all. Actually she doesn’t really seem to be on such good terms with anyone on her management team right now.” 

“Wait really? 

“Yeah, I mean… she mentioned that she fought with them for weeks and even went as far as to get herself written out of the show. I can’t imagine that anyone would be too happy with her after that.” 

“I guess not.” She mumbles. “But hasn’t she made it clear that she wants to take some time off?” 

“She has,” Jihyo replies, “but that doesn't mean that they’re happy about it. And I just… I don’t know, it’s a little selfish, but there’s a part of me that thinks that with all of the pressure they’re putting on her and everything... maybe you could give her a reason to stay.” 

And Jihyo just has this ridiculously hopeful expression that she immediately sees mirrored in Chaeyoung’s glowing eyes, as if the idea of her and Jeongyeon getting together was something they’d been waiting for since their debut. And honestly the pressure of that being a possibility is more than a little overwhelming. 

“I… I don’t know about that.” Tzuyu says, “I mean even if I was willing to do that to her, we don’t know that she would actually stay for me.” 

Chaeyoung immediately raises an eyebrow. “Are you kidding me?” 

“What?” 

The shorter girl lets out a deep sigh as she runs a hand through her hair. "Dude. You're literally the only one that could've kept her from leaving the first time." 

"That… there's no way…"

"Let me ask you something," Chaeyoung continues, "we’ve been talking about how Jeongyeon-unnie's been having so much trouble with her managers lately. Why do you think that is?"

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean that Jeongyeon-unnie hates stirring up trouble for other people. It’s just who she is. But from what I hear she even fought with them because she wanted to come back to Korea a month earlier than they originally planned. Why do you think that was so important to her?” 

Tzuyu feels her eyebrows furrowing. “How should I know? Maybe she was just feeling homesick or something.” 

With that, Jihyo leans in closer. “She very well might have been feeling homesick, but what we’re focusing on is the timeline. Isn’t there anything you can think of that she might have been trying to come home in time for?” 

“Um… no? I mean it’s not like she had anything to…”

Chaeyoung cuts her off with a frustrated huff. “Your birthday dude.” 

That finally stuns her into silence, wiping her brain completely as she blinks away her shock. “What?” 

Jihyo gives a slight shake of her head. “Tzuyu, just think about it. Jeongyeon came back on July 3rd. Your birthday is June 14th. She fought, as in actually fought with her managers, with the producers on her show, basically with everyone involved just because she wanted to come home a month earlier. Can you think of anything else that she would care enough about to go through all that effort for?”

“Well I don’t know.” She answers weakly, “maybe there was something in her family or…” 

“I just had lunch with her and Seungyeon-unnie.” Jihyo interrupts. “Try again.”

“Okay, well maybe she just…” 

“Tzuyu.” Chaeyoung says, reaching over to firmly set a hand on her leg, “listen to us. Jeongyeon-unnie came back for you. She’s been making sure to jump on every single possible opportunity she can find to spend time with you. I mean the others have been talking endlessly about how she actually slept here with you the other day, in the same bed I might add, how are you…” 

“Wait.” Tzuyu cuts in, “you guys are still talking about that?” 

“Oh come on, you can’t honestly expect Sana-unnie and Nayeon-unnie to ever let something like that go.”

“Plus,” Jihyo adds, “they felt it was really important that they get us up to speed with everything that we’ve missed.” 

“They also had a rather… intimate looking video of the two of you dancing at some club.” 

“Oh my god yeah, I almost forgot about that! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jeongyeon move like that before.”

Chaeyoung raises an eyebrow. “You were focusing on Jeongyeon-unnie? Personally I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Tzuyu’s wandering hands.” 

“Please stop.” Tzuyu groans. 

“What’s the matter Tzu?” She doesn’t even need to look up to know what kind of grin Jihyo has on her lips. “”Need me to turn on the air conditioning?” 

“You guys are the worst. Why am I friends with you?” 

“Because,” Chaeyoung answers cheekily, “without us you would have to write your song about seven people instead of nine. And that’s just way harder to find rhymes for.” 

Jihyo nods her head in agreement. “Not to mention the fact that if we hadn’t volunteered to give you the nice version of this pep talk, you’d be dealing with Nayeon-unnie instead, and her first idea was to slip some kind of aphrodisiac into your food. Oh that reminds me, apparently they’re inviting us all over for dinner next weekend or something.”

Tzuyu can’t quite stop herself from gawking in horror at the implication. 

“Oh relax, she’s not actually going to drug you.” 

“Yeah,” Chaeyoung says, “thank god Mina-unnie was able to talk her down. It felt like she wouldn’t let that go no matter what we said.” 

“Yeah, I don’t know what we’d do without Mina. God knows that me and Jeongyeon have never been able to keep Nayeon under control the way she does.” 

“Just how much are you guys talking about this kind of stuff when I’m not around?” Tzuyu asks. 

“This was all in the same night.” Chaeyoung answers, “but I mean, everyone’s kind of been waiting for you two to happen for years now Tzu, and now that Jeongyeon-unnie’s finally back it’s kind of been on our minds even more than usual.” 

“Wha-” 

“Look,” Jihyo says, “the bottom line is that we want you both to be happy Tzuyu. You two have something special, and none of us can bear to see it go to waste just because you’re not sure if your feelings are reciprocated.” 

“But how can you be sure?” Tzuyu asks, feeling a tinge of insecurity finally bleeding through her weak attempt at staying level headed, “I mean if I get it wrong… Jeongyeon-unnie is way too important to me to risk losing her.” 

Chaeyoung gives her a sympathetic smile. “You aren’t going to lose her. You didn’t lose after her three years in America and you certainly won’t now. It might be hard to see, but you’re important to her as well, and no matter what happens, nothing is going to get in the way of that.”

Dahyun looks up as she hears the distinct clinking sound of yet another set of freshly refilled glasses being set down on the table. 

“Thanks unnie.” 

Jeongyeon answers with a light smile. “This is so weird. I mean all those years you barely even touched any alcohol we offered you. But now that I come back you’re suddenly the only one who will drink whiskey with me?” 

“What can I say?” Dahyun answers, flashing a cheeky grin as sets her phone down on the sofa, “I’m a changed woman now. The innocent little girl that you once knew has been replaced by an alcohol swilling playboy.” 

“We both know that you’re more than that.”

“Am I?” She asks, reaching forward to bring the glass up to her lips, “because that kind of seems like all my life really amounts to right now.” 

Jeongyeon gives her a small frown. “Dahyun…” 

“I know I know, I’m sorry. Whiskey tends to make me… weirdly emotional.” 

“Well, maybe that’s a good thing. Is there anything else you want to get off your chest?” 

Dahyun lets out a quiet huff. “Nothing that hasn’t already been discussed to death. Just more stupid angst and heartache.” 

“I take it that means that you haven’t decided on what you’re going to do with Sana and Momo.” 

“No.” She says, letting out a deep sigh as she takes a long swig of whiskey, savoring the bitter taste as she leans back against the couch, “actually I haven’t really answered any of their texts in a while.” 

“Dahyun.” Jeongyeon groans, “you know how personally those two take things like this.” 

“I know, it’s just… I don’t have any idea what to say to them.” 

“Well what do you want to say?” 

A seriously dramatic and forlorn sigh escapes her lips. “I don’t know… that I love them? That I never could’ve made it as an idol without them constantly brightening my day? That when they moved to Japan it felt like I’d lost the most important part of my life? Or now that they’re back I’m not even sure how I’m supposed to handle the idea that they’re going to have to leave again? I don’t know, I feel like that might be a little too much to dump on their plate out of the blue.” 

“But at the same time, don’t you think they would want to know what you’ve been going through? I mean, they really care about you Dahyun, we all do.” 

Dahyun presses her lips into a thin line. “I don’t know…” 

“Well I do.” Jeongyeon cuts in gently, “and even if you don’t feel up to telling them everything quite yet, you could still take them out to lunch or something. I mean they really miss you.” 

“Okay, you’re right. I’ll call them in the morning.” 

“We can go out now and get a bouquet of roses or something. Or would you need two so they each get one?” 

Dahyun clicks her tongue in annoyance at the familiarly cheeky grin on Jeongyeon’s face. “Yah! It’s hard enough for me to do this at all without you teasing me!” 

“You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry.” 

“And why are we always talking about my issues? What’s going on with you and Tzuyu?” 

“What?” Jeongyeon’s eyes go wide. “N-nothing! Why?” 

Dahyun can’t help responding with an incredulous shake of the head. “Oh come on unnie, you don’t have to play dumb with me. You like her, don’t you?” 

“I… I don’t…”

“I see the way you look at her when you think no one’s paying attention. I mean you practically glow every time she smiles.” 

A light dusting of pink bleeds into the older woman’s cheeks. “Is it really that obvious?” 

“Well, probably to all of the members except for Tzuyu herself.” 

The cringe on Jeongyeon’s face is enough to elicit a light cackle as Dahyun brings the glass back up to her lips. 

“God…” Jeongyeon groans. “Nayeon’s always giving me shit for it but I was kind of hoping that she was the only one that knew.” 

“Really? You don’t talk to Jihyo-unnie about this?” 

“No. Honestly I didn’t even want to tell Nayeon, but it ended up slipping out one day, also thanks to a bit of whiskey.” 

“Maybe you and I should consider switching to gin or something.” 

“I do like my gin on occasion.” Jeongyeon answers.

“Me too," Dahyun says wistfully, "I dated this bartender for a while that… okay you know what? Not talking about that right now. We're focusing on you and Tzuyu. Are you going to do anything?"

"I don't really know. I mean is she even single?"

"Definitely." She answers quickly.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty sure if Tzuyu was dating someone I would know about it."

Jeongyeon falls back into the cushions, gently gnawing on her lip as she absentmindedly twirls the ice in her glass. 

"Unnie?" Dahyun says, "are you okay?"

"Yeah it's just… I kind of got the feeling that there might have been something going on."

"What? With who?"

"Um… Elkie? We bumped into her the other day and they were just really… friendly with each other."

Dahyun squeezes her glass a little tighter. This was a complication that she definitely hadn't anticipated. If her head wasn't feeling so fuzzy from what's already her third or fourth glass, she might be able to finesse a better response, but unfortunately she just doesn't have the mental capacity right now. 

"I… okay, I'm not going to lie to you, you might not be totally reaching with this one."

"What?" Jeongyeon replies quickly, "but you just said…"

"They never actually dated or anything like that. But Elkie never really bothered to conceal her feelings for Tzuyu." 

The older woman sinks a couple inches further into the couch. "I knew it."

"Unnie there’s nothing to worry about. Tzuyu never considered her as anything more than a friend. Plus, all of this happened years ago. I can’t imagine that Elkie would still be holding onto feelings after all this time.” 

At that Jeongyeon lets out a quiet scoff. “I spent three years in America with that specific goal in mind and I still couldn’t get over her.” 

“What?” Dahyun says, eyebrows raised as she whips her head back up.

“Uh… holy shit, did I say that out loud?” 

“Sort of?”

The sound of Jeongyeon’s glass thumping against the coffee table is deafening in the heavy silence that falls over the living room. 

"Uh… look I didn't mean to…"

"Unnie." Dahyun cuts in, "did you take a job overseas just to get away from Tzuyu?"

"Well, it's not like there weren't other reasons. I mean it was a great opportunity and I'd always wanted to live abroad." 

"But?" 

Jeongyeon lets out a sigh. "But yes. A big part of why I left was because of my feelings for Tzuyu." 

“Why unnie? I mean I know I’m not exactly one to talk when it comes to running away from your feelings, but why go to such extreme measures?” 

“I don’t really know.” The older woman admits, “looking back it does seem pretty ridiculous, but at the time I just… I didn’t really ever consider me and Tzuyu being together as a real possibility. I mean she was just starting to entertain the idea of debuting as a solo artist and I didn’t really want to weigh her down with all the negativity that would’ve come from dating me.” 

“So what’s changed?” Dahyun asks gently, “I mean it seems like something must have happened for you to decide to come home so suddenly.” 

Jeongyeon takes another slow, contemplative sip of her drink. “I mean, it wasn’t anything specific, just a lot of little things all put together. They’re a lot more accepting in America, at least in some parts, and then I saw that Sana and Momo got together, and then Nayeon and Mina, and it kind of started to feel like maybe I had underestimated how ready the world was for people like us.” 

“The response has been pretty remarkable, but that stuff all happened years ago. Why’d you decide to come back now?” 

“Well, I guess the thing that finally did it was that I walked into this jewelry store one day.” 

Dahyun can’t help raising an eyebrow. “Oh?” 

“Yeah,” Jeongyeon answers, sheepishly rubbing her neck with her free hand, “I saw this necklace and I just… I don’t know, I had this thought that I just had to get it for Tzuyu’s birthday and it kind of ballooned out of control from there.” 

“How so?” 

Jeongyeon lets out another sigh, this time with a more dramatic touch to it that has Dahyun chuckling to herself. 

“Well, originally I actually decided not to buy it, thinking that it would be too much of a hassle to ship and that it would suck not to see her reaction when she opens it.” 

“Okay…” 

“But then over the next few days I just couldn’t stop visiting the shop. It even got to the point where I got on a first name basis with all of the employees.” 

“And?” Dahyun asks, feeling a strange amount of anticipation at the answer, “did you end up buying it?” 

“I uh… yeah I did.” Jeongyeon answers, the blush now fully lighting up her cheeks, “like I said, I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. But in the end I couldn’t get back in time for her actual birthday.” 

“So? You should still give it to her. I mean the bottom line is that you want her to have it right?” 

“Yeah, I’ve actually kind of been carrying it around with me a lot, but the timing just hasn’t felt right. There was actually a moment the other day after our recording session that I thought I might have had a good chance, but that’s when we ran into Elkie and I just wasn’t sure anymore.” 

“Unnie I promise you there’s nothing going on between the two of them.” 

“I don’t know Dahyun,” Jeongyeon says, “I’m just… really not confident about stuff like this.” 

“Hey, neither am I.” She replies, “but as long as you keep pushing me to tell Sana and Momo how I feel, I’m going to make sure you do the same with Tzuyu.” 

With that, Jeongyeon lets out a light sigh. “I guess it would be pretty hypocritical of me to not practice what I preach here.” 

Dahyun feels a grin spreading on her lips. “Exactly. Now, about this necklace…”

“Yes?” 

“I’ve got to see it.” 

“What? Why?” 

“Oh come on,” she whines, “if this thing was enough to get you to suddenly come back to Korea and finally confront your feelings then it’s got to be something special.” 

Another exasperated huff escapes Jeongyeon’s lips. “If you really want to, I’m sure it’s around here somewhere.” 

All Dahyun offers in response is a raised eyebrow. 

“Okay fine.” The older woman says, “it’s in my purse, I’ll go get it.” 

Dahyun lets out a triumphant whoop as Jeongyeon slides off of the couch, throwing the rest of her drink back as she patiently listens to the woman’s shuffled footsteps across the apartment’s hardwood floors. 

And when Jeongyeon finally comes back, sheepishly biting her lip and face flushed a deep crimson, Dahyun actually has to fight to contain a squeal of excitement. 

She eagerly takes the black velvet box into her hands as Jeongyeon sinks back into the couch, carefully easing the lid open with a gentle creak and letting out a quiet gasp as she takes in the absolutely gorgeous sapphire glow shining back up at her. 

“Wow…” 

Chapter Text

12 Years Ago

Tzuyu lets out an exhausted huff as she steps out of the subway tunnel and into the smothering heat radiating from the sidewalk. 

To call this day a little stressful would have been an understatement, to say the least. Throughout the entire morning, she’d had to put up with endless phone calls from her parents that varied from trying to make sure she’d be doing something fun today to crying over how this was the first time that they weren’t able to celebrate together. 

Call her crazy, but she kind of thought that birthdays were supposed to be fun or something. 

And to top it all off, she still has another few hours of dance practice to deal with before she can even get started on her homework for the night. 

She lets out another sigh, adjusting the bag on her shoulder as she pushes through the excessively large glass double doors. By this point she’s already pretty much fallen into a fairly consistent routine, waving a quick hello to the front desk staff before heading for the elevators toward the back of the lobby. It’s definitely a far cry from her days of struggling to even understand the words on the map that they’d given her at orientation. 

But she’s only just starting to make her way toward the elevators when she hears someone calling her name. 

“Tzuyu-ssi?”

“Yes?” She looks up, already feeling a touch of unease when she sees the receptionist holding out a sheet of paper. 

“I’ve been instructed to tell you that your schedule has been changed for today.” 

“Changed?” She steps forward to examine the sheet, immediately finding a rather excessively formal looking request for a special training session in Studio 15C. 

15C? Tzuyu feels her eyebrows scrunching almost immediately. In all her time here so far, the highest she'd gone had been the ninth floor. So why were they suddenly calling her all the way up there? 

She tries to put it to the back of her mind as she steps back from the desk, stopping to give the receptionist a polite bow before slowly making her way toward the elevator. And the entire ride up is pretty much a mess of trying to keep herself from freaking out. The way she sees it, this sudden and ridiculous change of her schedule can either be good, maybe a recognition of her skills to be assigned a special training session... or really bad. So bad that it somehow warrants an entire evening’s worth of correction with a dedicated instructor.

Tzuyu’s grip tightens on the strap of her bag, knuckles going whiter the closer she gets to the practice room. It’s only when she’s halfway down the corridor that she realizes that the whole floor is eerily quiet, which feels more than a little unsettling when compared to the insane amount of commotion that’s usually present in the hallways of JYP Entertainment. 

Her unease really only gets worse when she finally arrives at the door, and with a hesitant peek through the window, sees that the room appears to be completely dark. And it feels a little ridiculous, but just the added unexpectedness of the whole thing suddenly has her so uncertain that she finds herself hesitating even as she reaches forward to turn the door handle. 

A light creak breaks through the silence of the deserted hallway as she slowly steps into the dark room. And she’s only just starting to recognize some shrouded figures in the shadows when the lights suddenly flick on. 

“Surprise!” 

Tzuyu practically jumps out of her skin, nearly dropping her bag as her entire body tenses up in shock. 

It’s only after a second or two that she recognizes Jackson and Jeongyeon rushing up to her with Dahyun and Chaeyoung following close behind with a large cake held between them. She spots a couple of other trainees as well, some of the girls from their classes that she had gotten closer to recently and it’s right then that her mind finally catches up to what’s really going on. 

A light whine escapes her lips even as she cracks a deeply relieved smile. The others gather around her to form a tight circle, showering her with handfuls of confetti as Jackson leads them into a loud and hilariously disorganized rendition of Happy Birthday. 

The next few minutes are kind of a blur, with the others immediately dragging her by the hand to show off all the food that they’d gotten the second she finishes blowing out the candles, and it’s only after the third dish that’s presented to her that she realizes they’d somehow figured out all of her favorite foods. 

And it’s so touching that it’s not like she can really say no to any of it, which means that by the time she reaches the end of the table she has a plate piled high with a towering pile of snacks and a ridiculously large slice of cake. 

She’s just starting to wonder how this all fits into the dietary restrictions that they’d all been following when Jackson slides up next to her with a wide smile on his face. 

“It seems like our attempt at a surprise was pretty successful.” He says in Chinese. 

“I was definitely surprised.” She answers, “although I’m not sure how much of this cake I should really eat.” 

“I’d eat every last bite if I was you. Jeongyeon went to a lot of trouble figuring out how to bake the thing even with her ridiculous schedule.” 

At that, her eyes go wide. “She made this herself?” 

Jackson flashes a cheeky grin in response. “Yup, actually this whole thing was pretty much her…” 

He doesn’t get much further before a balled up napkin bounces off his face. 

“Yah oppa!” Jeongyeon calls, rushing up to smack him in the arm, "you swore you wouldn't tell her!"

Jackson raises his hands in feigned innocence. "Who, me? I didn't say anything."

"Don't play dumb with me! I can understand enough Chinese to know what you were talking about!"

Jackson gives a weak laugh in response. "Well I mean… come on, there's no way I was going to let all your effort go unrewarded."

Jeongyeon lets out another quiet whine, already raising her hand to throw in another slap to his arm when Jackson takes off running, leaving the older girl with no other options than to turn back to face her with a sheepish smile on her face.

"So uh…" 

"Unnie." Tzuyu says quietly, "did you really do all of this for me?"

"Kind of." Jeongyeon answers, nervously running a hand through her hair, "I um… figured that it can't be easy being away from all your family and friends on a day like this, so I don't know, I just figured you might need a little something." 

A moment passes where Tzuyu can do nothing but stare at the girl in shock, and it isn't until she feels something wet dripping down her cheek that she realizes she's actually starting to tear up a bit.

Which immediately sends Jeongyeon into a state of panic.

"Oh my god. It's too much, isn't it? Nayeon told me that you wouldn't like something like this. Holy shit, I should've listened to her. I just… after you gave me those flowers I wanted to do something nice and…" 

"No unnie," she cuts in shakily, "all of this is… I love it."

Jeongyeon slowly pulls her hands out of her hair. "Really?"

"Yes. I think I can honestly say that this is the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me."

At that, a small smile creeps back onto the girl's lips. 

"I really hope it isn't too much." Jeongyeon says nervously, "Dahyun had a ton of ideas that were kind of crazy but I just didn't feel like I could turn all of them down."

Tzuyu lets out a quiet chuckle as she quickly swipes at her cheek. "How crazy are we talking?"

"Well among others, she wanted to rent a ton of zoo animals to unleash through the halls for some kind of scavenger hunt. I had to find a polite way to tell her that pulling something like that would get us all kicked out of the company." 

She can't help the amused giggle that spills past her lips. "As much as I love animals, that probably wouldn't have been the best idea."

"Well um, I really hope you like it." Jeongyeon says, once again anxiously running a hand through her hair, "I was so busy planning all of this that I forgot to actually get you anything. I'm really sorry, I just..."

Tzuyu cuts her off with a quick shake of the head, instinctively taking a small step forward. "Don't worry about any of that. This… is already way more than anything I could've expected. Thank you unnie."

And with that, Jeongyeon finally cracks a bright, beaming smile that brings this beautiful glow to her eyes that Tzuyu can't help wondering how she hadn't noticed before, but is one that she already can't get enough of.

Present Day 

Dahyun takes another deep breath as she tightens her grip on the steering wheel. 

It's okay. She can do this. It's just brunch. She likes brunch. I mean what's not to like? Eggs. Pancakes. Breakfast potatoes. Mimosas . Gorgeous… Japanese women. 

She falls forward and slams her head into the wheel. 

God. How did she let Jeongyeon talk her into this?

She remembers going over to her and Seungyeon's house for drinks a week ago, having a rather soul-baring heart to heart over several glasses of whiskey, and looking at the necklace Jeongyeon had bought… and then things kind of blurred together, resulting in her waking up the next morning to a text from Momo saying that she and Sana would love to get brunch with her.

And it's not like she can cancel or anything, all she'd heard the whole rest of the week leading up to today was about how excited Sana and Momo were that she was finally free. She'd even gotten a call at work the previous day from Sana chirping about how much they were looking forward to seeing her. 

And really, there's just no way she'd be able to live with herself if she were to disappoint Sana and Momo of all people. 

So, she finally flings her door open, giving herself a few quick slaps to her face to psych herself up. It's a little ridiculous, but it gets the job done, at least enough for her to walk up to the front door, only stopping to once again obsess over her reflection in the window. 

She runs a hand through her hair, practically hearing Tzuyu's voice scolding her for being so ridiculous about it all, which is pretty rich considering how much she's had to deal with in regards to her roommate's crush on Jeongyeon. And that really only reminds her that she still has to tell Tzuyu about her own complicated feelings. 

Dahyun tries to push the thoughts away as she reaches for the handle, only for her mind to go completely blank when she spots the two women chatting with the hostess just inside the door. 

It's not exactly anything new, Sana and Momo had always been absolutely gorgeous, but between Sana's sinfully short sundress and Momo's shorts and crop top combo, Dahyun finds herself wondering why she had even bothered to put all this thought into picking out an outfit in the first place. Because it's clear now more than anything that nothing she could throw on could ever even compare to the two supermodels in front of her. 

And it's only as she's stepping through the door that she remembers that they aren't technically supermodels anymore and actually highly successful businesswomen.

She can't decide if that's more or less intimidating.

The first one to notice her is Momo, who immediately lights up with a bright smile as she throws a wave in her direction. And as if that simple act isn’t enough to send Dahyun into cardiac arrest, Sana then decides to go full Mina-mode and spin around, causing her hair and skirt to whip up in a way that seems a little too picturesque to be real life. 

And the next thing she knows, the woman is rushing right up to her, squealing her name in a way that draws the attention of everyone in the vicinity. 

“Dahyunnie! It’s so good to see you!” 

A light grunt escapes her lips as Sana wraps herself around her shoulders, sending her stumbling back as she struggles to support the sudden weight. 

“Oof, unnie you’re crushing me. And we saw each other just last week.” 

Momo walks up a few steps behind, looking considerably more reserved even as she pulls her in for a hug of her own. 

“Yeah, but that was with the whole group.” Momo says, “it’s not the same as getting you to ourselves like this.” 

Dahyun has to bite down on her lip to keep from digging too deep into what that could possibly mean. 

“Should we uh… get to our table?” She asks shakily, “I specifically made a reservation for one of the nicer ones.” 

“Ooh.” Sana’s grin spreads impossibly wider. “Pulling out all the stops for us huh?” 

“No, nothing like that. I just…” 

“You don’t have to be so shy Dahyunnie. Personally, I’m kind of looking forward to seeing all of this charm I’ve been hearing so much about.” 

Momo gives her girlfriend a playful shake of the head as she gracefully slides back up to the hostess booth. 

Except Dahyun can barely even register that, too busy dealing with the bomb that Sana had just dropped. 

“Wait you… you what?” She stammers weakly, feeling the blood draining from her face. 

But Sana just gives another devilish smirk in response. “Come on, it looks like our table’s ready.” 

And the walk through the dining room is kind of a whirlwind of emotions as Dahyun tries to ease the panic bubbling up inside. Basically since the moment she’d gotten news that the two women had come back to Korea she’d been desperately trying to make sure that they don’t find out about her more… promiscuous tendencies. Now that any hope of that seems to be out the window, she doesn’t even know how to react. 

But it feels like Sana and Momo have some idea of her inner turmoil as they find their seats, both of them flashing reassuring smiles as Momo breaks the silence. 

“So, how have things been going with you and Tzuyu?”

“Good." She answers quickly, "I actually thought about inviting her today but she’s having brunch with a friend.” 

“A friend? It’s not Jeongyeon is it? Last time we were at dinner it felt like there was even more tension than there usually is between those two.” 

“God,” Dahyun huffs, thankful for the change in subject, “Definitely not. I think it was Shuhua and Elkie actually. But honestly those two... occasionally it seems like there might be some hope that something might happen, but then the next day it’s just immediately ruined by some new information coming to light.”

“Oh?” Sana says, curiously raising an eyebrow, “what’s happened this time?” 

“Well, I guess it might be exaggerating a bit to describe it like that but I just… so yesterday Tzuyu came home talking about how she’ll be starting with promotions soon for her album release."

“That’s awesome!” Momo chirps, “has she finished writing already? I know she was having some trouble rounding out the last couple of tracks.” 

Dahyun nods as she leans back into her seat. “Yup. She just had to make a few edits in the past day or so but the arrangements and everything are all done. I’m so proud of her for finally finishing, especially considering how hard it’s been.”

“We all are.” Sana agrees, “it's a huge accomplishment and we definitely need to celebrate with her.” 

“Maybe we could just tie it in with dinner at Nayeon’s tomorrow?” Momo suggests. 

“That could work, although it kind of seemed like Minari had something she wanted to celebrate herself. Seems like there’s going to be a lot to announce.”

“Well, maybe we'll ask her about it first then. The bottom line is that our maknae is releasing her first fully written album. We’ve got to at least do something, right?” 

“Yeah…” Dahyun breathes. 

Sana turns her large, piercing eyes back on her. “You don’t seem happy about all of this Dahyunnie.” 

“No, I totally am.” She answers quickly. “I mean this is such a huge step for her. I just can’t help but wonder if this’ll make it even harder for her to commit to… other big steps.”

“You’re still talking about her and Jeongyeon.” 

Dahyun nods her head slowly, contemplatively biting down on her lip. “Yeah. And as much as I want her to succeed, there’s still something about the timing that has me worried.” 

“Promotions can get pretty busy.” Sana admits, “and it definitely seems like she’s hesitant enough as is.” 

“Well sure,” Momo says, “but it’s also only a couple of days at most. And it’s not like Jeongyeon’s going anywhere, right?” 

“I’m not sure about that, Jihyo seemed to be a little worried that there might have been something in the works with Jeongyeon’s managers.” 

At that, Dahyun immediately furrows an eyebrow in concern. “What? How is this the first I’m hearing of this?”

“I think it’s a fairly recent development. Obviously it’s mostly just rumors at this point but… I don’t know. If Jeongyeonnie decides to run off again, I don’t really see a way for those two to figure this out.”

“Do you think we should do something?” Momo asks hesitantly, “I mean I don’t want to overstep or anything, but it seems like those two would be really happy together. I’d hate to see them miss yet another opportunity just because they’re both too shy to make a move.” 

Sana furrows her eyebrows as well, reaching forward to fidget with the end of her napkin. “I don’t know, I mean what even could we do? I feel like we’ve all tried everything we can in the past few years and it really hasn’t gotten them anywhere.” 

“Well,” Dahyun muses, “maybe meddling any more than we already have isn’t really much of an option, but I’ve been talking with Jeongyeon-unnie a lot lately and there have been some things that she’s said that gives me some hope.” 

“Oh really? Like what?” 

“Well, I don’t know how much she’d want me to say, but at the very least I can tell you that she definitely came home for Tzuyu. She even got into a fight with her agent because she wanted to make it back in time for her birthday.” 

“Well I think we all had our suspicions about that.” Momo admits, “but it definitely is something for sure.” 

“But it’s only confirming that Jeongyeon still has feelings for Tzuyu.” Sana says, a little surprisingly considering how positive the woman’s attitude usually is, “that’s not quite enough for me to believe that she’s suddenly moved past the fear that’s crippled her for all these years.” 

Dahyun bites down on her lip, wondering if she should be revealing everything she’d learned about the deeper meaning behind the necklace Jeongyeon had bought. And there’s certainly a part of her that wants to do it, if nothing else then to hear the excited squeal that Sana would undoubtedly release. Hell, even she had barely been able to contain herself when Jeongyeon had revealed all the details. 

But in the end she decides that there’s no way she can betray Jeongyeon’s confidence like that and she falls back against her chair with a quiet huff. 

“Well, all I can say is that there’s still a chance.” 

Jeongyeon finds herself bouncing on the balls of her feet as the dim red glow shining above her head tells her that the elevator is coming down far too slowly for her taste. 

Her grip tightens, feeling every little detail on the black velvet box as she absentmindedly wonders if the front desk staff are watching her suffer through this little anxious breakdown. 

They probably… no they definitely are. Every time she's come over here in the past few weeks they've given her some weird knowing look or not so subtly exchanged some money. Plus the way their eyes had bulged when she'd waved hello with the necklace box in one hand means they're probably watching even more intently than ever. Either that or they're texting the other employees to make more bets. 

She should probably find it somewhat strange how public some aspects of her still non-existent relationship with Tzuyu have become, but life in the spotlight has a way of desensitizing you to stuff like this. 

The piercing ding of the elevator brings her crashing out of her thoughts, and she does her best to ignore the pounding in her chest as she steps inside. 

She definitely spots a look or two from the front desk staff as the doors are closing, but she's way too busy turning the necklace box over and over in her hands to even really give it a second thought. 

She tries to focus on controlling her emotions, her heart still pounding a mile a minute, but no matter what she does all she can do is freak out over what she's supposed to say once she actually gets up there. Although really it's just more of the same spiralling she'd done all throughout the drive over here… as well as for the past few days since her night of drinking with Dahyun.

And honestly, she still has nothing. 

Of course there are vague ideas bouncing around, other than apologizing for delivering a birthday present over a month late, it's mostly just a mess of all the tugging heartstrings and jumbled impulses she's felt for so many years now. And yeah, there are some specifics that she has in mind, like how there’s just so much that she loves about her, or maybe how hopeless it had been trying to get over her even after three years in another country, but even to this moment she still has no idea how to actually put that to words. 

So apparently her plan is now to just… wing it. As Sana would say, speak from the heart. 

As if that’s actually something she can just do at the drop of a hat. 

Luckily, or unluckily depending on the point of view, she doesn’t get any more time to panic when the doors slide open with another gentle ding. And this time she rushes out immediately, knowing that if she hesitates even a little bit she could find herself staying glued to the spot for hours on end. 

And somehow the walk to Tzuyu’s door feels longer than it ever has, so much so that she probably runs through a thousand worst-case scenarios in her mind by the time she finally finds herself standing on the all too familiar paw-shaped welcome mat. 

But even with all of her relentless panicking and jumping to horrific conclusions, she’s still completely unprepared for the face that greets her when the door opens. 

“Oh, Jeongyeon-unnie?” 

It’s all she can do to keep her jaw from dropping. 

“E-Elkie?” She stammers, quickly hiding the necklace behind her back. 

And no matter what she does, Jeongyeon can’t quite help letting her eyes wander a bit, knowing immediately how big of a mistake it was the second she follows the path of her very conspicuously bare legs up to the girl’s oversized shirt, the same one with the adorable image of Eevee printed on the front that she herself had slept in that night they’d all gone out to the clubs. Tzuyu had revealed that the shirt was actually her own go-to choice of sleepwear and seeing Elkie in it now immediately fills her mind with images that are an order of magnitude worse than the simple fear of rejection that had been plaguing her just a second ago.

“Were you looking for Tzuyu?” Elkie asks, “I can go get her if you…” 

But Jeongyeon can barely hear her, she’s too preoccupied with going back to her conversation with Dahyun just a couple of days ago and how adamant the younger girl had been that nothing was going on between Tzuyu and Elkie. And when she finally forces out a response, her voice comes out so weak that she can barely hear it herself.

“No. No I was just um…”

“Unnie? Are you okay?”

“Yeah I was uh…” Jeongyeon desperately searches her brain for some kind of excuse as she stumbles back a step. “I was just looking for… Dahyun? But it looks like she isn’t here so I’ll just... go.” 

“Wait.” Elkie says, concern etched all over her face, “I think Tzuyu said that she’s supposed to be coming home soon. Why don’t you just come in and wait for her? I’m sure we could make you some tea or something.” 

And on some level Jeongyeon should be able to recognize how nice Elkie is being right now, honestly the girl had never been anything but friendly and inviting, but she just can’t bring herself to do it. The only thing running through her mind is Elkie’s choice of words in what she’d just said. 

‘We’. She said ‘we’, as if this apartment was partially hers to invite people into. 

And maybe it is. 

“No I… I really can’t.” She chokes out. 

“Unnie, what…” 

She can feel her breathing starting to quicken, and she’s definitely clutching the box a little too tightly.

“Unnie...” Elkie repeats, cautiously taking a step forward. 

But she doesn’t stick around to hear another word, honestly she doesn’t think she could bear it if she tried. And before she knows it she’s taking off down the hall, completely ignoring the sound of the voice calling out after her as she blows past the elevator, choosing instead to take whatever turn she can find that’ll get her as far away from the apartment as possible. 

It’s ridiculous. Unfathomably stupid. She should have known that Dahyun was wrong about those two, after all, she’d seen how they were together with her own eyes. But she just wanted so badly for it to be true that she’d allowed herself to be convinced far too easily.

She should have known better. She should have known that there would be consequences to her leaving for three years. Even more, she should be happy that Tzuyu had found someone in that time, someone who makes her happy and treats her well. And she knows Elkie. There’s no way that girl would ever do anything to hurt Tzuyu. At the very least she certainly wouldn’t ditch her to run off to America. 

She should be happy. 

And yet, Jeongyeon just doesn’t have it in herself to fight the emptiness spreading in her chest. And as she stumbles into a nearby stairwell, tears now starting to blur her vision, she finds that she can’t even muster up the strength to even pretend to resist. So she falls into the wall, letting out a strangled sob as she slowly sinks to the ground, the whole time pressing the box closer and closer to her aching chest. 

Chapter Text

“Hey Dahyun?” 

The girl looks up at her through the mirror, halfway through putting on a new pair of earrings to where she’s sheepishly standing in the doorway. 

“Yeah?”

Tzuyu bites down on her lip, shooting an anxious glance at the phone still clutched in her hand. “Have you heard from Jeongyeon-unnie recently? It feels like she hasn’t texted me back in days.” 

Dahyun lets out a quiet huff as she turns back to the mirror. "Are you sure? I can't imagine it would be that long with how codependent you guys already are." 

"It’s already been two days... And we are not codependent!"

"Oh please. You guys can't go more than two hours without checking in on each other and you aren't even together yet. I don't even know if I'll be able to handle what you guys turn into once you actually start dating."

She narrows her eyes as Dahyun continues to fiddle with her earring, seemingly unable to get the post quite secured before Tzuyu decides to take over, kicking off of the door frame and plopping down on the stool next to her. 

"Are these the diamond earrings you got for your birthday last year?"

Dahyun's cheeks light up a bright shade of pink as Tzuyu finally gets the tiny piece of metal to fasten somewhat securely.

"They might be." 

She finds herself narrowing her eyes as she pulls back, stopping to shoot a slightly self conscious glance at her own reflection. 

"You know it's just dinner with the members right?" She asks, "you don't have to go all out."

"I guess," Dahyun replies, still not quite able to meet her eye, "but Sana-unnie and Momo-unnie got these for me and they still haven't actually seen me wear them yet." 

“And the pushup bra? Was that a gift from them too?” 

“What? No! I mean… obviously… it’s not even…” 

And normally she’d probably find her roommate's awkward sputtering rather amusing, and on some level she kind of does, but really it just ends up being more concerning than anything that she’d be so affected by such a simple joke.

“Dahyun?” She says carefully, “is everything okay?” 

"What?" Dahyun sputters, "of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don’t know. I mean maybe I’m totally off here but it kind of seems like something’s been bothering you lately.”

“And why would you say that?” 

“Well,” Tzuyu answers, nervously fussing with the hem of her shirt, “you’ve been more distracted, you’re always showing up late to things, and I haven’t seen you hook up with any girls in weeks. But most importantly, it feels like you’ve been acting kind of… weird around Sana-unnie and Momo-unnie.” 

At that Dahyun lets out a deep sigh, jaw clenched and shoulders slumped as she spins the stool back in her direction. 

“I wasn’t even sure if I should have said anything,” Tzuyu continues, “Jeongyeon-unnie said something about how you had a lot going on and that it would be better to wait until you’re ready to tell me about it. But I just want you to know that if there’s anything you want to talk about… I mean I know I’m not quite as good of a listener as Jeongyeon-unnie but…”

“No!” Dahyun interrupts, eyes stretched wide in clear panic, “it’s not you. I mean, I’ve wanted to tell you more than anyone but I just… I don’t know, I know you would never judge me or anything like that, but every time I tried to talk to you about it, I guess I couldn’t ever quite find the words.” 

“But you could tell Jeongyeon-unnie?” She asks gently.

“Well yeah,” Dahyun replies, “but it wasn’t as much me telling her as her figuring most of it out on her own.” 

Tzuyu nods her head in understanding. “Jeongyeon-unnie does have a certain way of dragging these things out of people.” 

“That’s for sure.” 

Tzuyu gives the girl a sympathetic smile. “Well I promise I’m not trying to pressure you, or guilt trip you, or anything like that. I just want to make sure you’re okay and that you know I’m here for you.”

“Of course I know.” Dahyun says, flashing a soft smile of her own, “and I’m really sorry that I haven’t told you already. Honestly you probably understand what I’m going through better than anybody.” 

“Well if you want to talk now I’m all ears.” 

At that Dahyun raises an eyebrow. “Do you think we have enough time? Last time this stuff came out I talked Jeongyeon-unnie’s ear off for hours. And you know how much Nayeon-unnie is going to tease us if we show up late.” 

"Well, luckily for us you decided to start getting ready like two hours before we really needed to leave, so…"

"Oh," Dahyun fires back, "as if you weren't running in and out of your closet the second you got home to put together that outfit, which by the way, is just as over the top as my earrings." 

Tzuyu casts another self conscious glance at her admittedly form fitting sundress. "I… it's not that bad, is it? This is way more casual than what I… oh you know what? Don't even try that. You're not going to get out of this by teasing me about Jeongyeon-unnie." 

"Okay okay, you're right." Dahyun concedes, letting out yet another breath as she mentally prepares herself, "well I guess you've already figured out that this all has something to do with Sana-unnie and Momo-unnie." 

"Yeah…"

"And well, I guess this all kind of started around the time Jeongyeon-unnie left for America…"

Tzuyu has to admit that her head is absolutely spinning by the time they get to Nayeon’s extravagant riverside penthouse. 

They’re late of course, she couldn’t really give anything but her undivided attention when listening to Dahyun pouring her heart out, but that meant that neither of them had really been able to keep an eye on the clock. 

And the second they’d walked through the door they’d been greeted by the much expected teasing from Nayeon, as well as a particularly warm welcome from Sana who had immediately tackled both of them to the ground. 

But even that hadn’t been enough to take her mind off of the shocking revelation that her best friend had been holding onto so much heartache all of these years. Suddenly everything was making a whole lot more sense. Between the drinking, dating all the random girls, even the strange behavior since they’d reunited as nine members, all of it could be traced back to the moment Sana and Momo had gotten together. 

And now she finds herself standing in the kitchen, a glass of wine clutched tightly in her hand as she watches Dahyun talking to the two women over in the dining room.

She has to wonder how she’d never noticed anything before. With all of the lingering glances and excessive giggling it feels like anyone should be able to tell how obvious it is that there’s something more there. It has her worried about how transparent her own feelings have been. 

And somehow it’s only then that she realizes that she and Dahyun weren’t even the last to arrive. 

“Nayeon-unnie?” She says, noticing the older woman still rifling around with something in the back of the refrigerator. 

Nayeon lets out a startled yelp, flinching violently and slamming her head into the shelf above before pulling herself out to face her. 

"Oh my god, how long have you been standing there?"

"Um I don't know, a few minutes?"

Nayeon furrows her eyebrows as she gingerly rubs the top of her head. "Wha- why the hell didn't you say anything?"

"Sorry," she mumbles, "I guess I just had a lot on my mind." 

At that, Nayeon's expression finally softens and she straightens up to give her a concerned look. "Is everything okay?"

“Um, kind of.” 

“What’s going on?” 

“Well, actually… I was wondering if you or Jihyo-unnie… or any of the others have heard from Jeongyeon-unnie recently.” 

Nayeon shoots a look towards the door before letting out a frustrated huff. “No. That idiot hasn’t answered my texts all day. She said she’d be here to help set up today and somehow she’s still nowhere to be seen."

And that truly sets off alarm bells in Tzuyu’s head. “I… you don’t think something’s happened to her do you?” 

“What? No. Tzu, I’m sure she’s fine. She probably just forgot or something.”

“Jeongyeon-unnie doesn’t forget things like this. And she certainly doesn’t just go off the grid without any warning. Plus, the other day…”

“What? Did something happen?” 

“I don’t know… I guess?”

“What do you mean ‘you guess’?” Nayeon says, arms already crossed in front of her chest. 

“I mean… okay so yesterday I got brunch with Elkie and Shuhua.” 

“Okay? What does that have to do with…” 

“I promise it’s related.” Tzuyu answers quickly, “so yesterday I had these plans and afterwards we went back to my place to watch some movies. And at some point last night Jeongyeon-unnie apparently stopped by.” 

“What?” 

“Yeah. I was in the bedroom with Shuhua looking for clothes for us all to change into, we… kind of had an incident with some cupcake batter exploding on us. But anyways, Elkie ended up answering the door and… she said that Jeongyeon-unnie was acting really weird and ran off.” 

“And what did you do after that?” Nayeon asks, a certain edge to her voice that catches Tzuyu off guard. 

“Well I tried to look for her. I even called her like a thousand times too and she never picked up once. And then this morning I tried again and she still wouldn’t answer. I don’t know, I’m starting to get really worried.” 

With that, Nayeon lets out a deep sigh, bringing a hand up to rub at her temples. “Um… I don’t really know how to tell you this Tzu, but I don’t think you really need to worry about her getting hurt. At least, not… physically .” 

“Then where has she been? I even called Seungyeon-unnie this morning and she told me that Jeongyeon-unnie wasn’t home.” 

At that, Nayeon visibly cringes a little, slowly forcing out her words as if they’re physically hurting her. “Well, have you considered the possibility that Jeongyeon might be upset about something?"

"Well obviously," Tzuyu whines, "I just can't think of anything I did that would make her react like this."

She sees Nayeon briefly gnawing on her bottom lip, clearly weighing her options and heavily wearing on Tzuyu's patience, something that's already been stretched to its limit by days of anxious spiraling. 

"Well…" Nayeon hums hesitantly, "by any chance did Jeongyeon actually know that Shuhua was there with you guys? Or did she just see Elkie?"

"I… don't know. But what does that even…"

But she doesn't get a chance to get any further before the door suddenly opens, drawing the eyes of everyone in the apartment as Jeongyeon slowly steps inside. 

Mina’s the first to react, gracefully walking over from the living room with a warm, inviting smile and offering to help with her jacket. And right as Momo steps into the kitchen to pour a glass of wine for their newest arrival, Nayeon turns to her with a conflicted look, clearly debating whether or not she can fit in an abbreviated explanation in what little time that they have. 

But ultimately there just isn’t quite enough privacy for them to get into it, and Nayeon gives her one last apologetic grimace before throwing on her most convincing smile as she heads up to play the perfect host and greet her best friend. 

She half hears some light hearted jokes about how late Jeongyeon is, as well as some gentle questioning from Mina about where she’s been all this time, but all of it kind of fades to background noise the second Tzuyu spots the look in Jeongyeon’s eyes. 

There’s no more of the gentle sparkle as she fires a joke back at Nayeon, and the glow that would normally be present when answering Mina’s questions is replaced by a certain hollow emptiness that Tzuyu’s never seen before. 

But what really seals the fact that something really is wrong is when Jeongyeon meets her eye. It’s just for a second, and normally she’d be expecting at least a fraction of a smile to creep back in, maybe even light back up to her normal self like all the other times they’d had to cheer each other up, but this time all she catches is a glimpse of the most heart shattering look she’s ever seen. 

And just as Jeongyeon is turning away, Tzuyu feels her veins going to ice and just a hint of tears starting to well up in her eyes as Nayeon’s words from just a second earlier force themselves to the forefront of her mind. She tries to fight it, desperately searching for whatever rational or even remotely logical explanation she can find, but in the end, she just can’t shake the gnawing suspicion that all of this is actually her fault. 

It’s well over an hour later by the time they actually sit down for dinner, and the food that Mina and Nayeon had prepared is truly delicious, but Tzuyu can’t focus on any of that. Because from the second Jeongyeon had stepped inside, she had tried to find some opportunity to get her alone and apologize. To be honest, she still has no idea what she would have been apologizing for, she just knows that she can’t stand the idea that something she did might have made Jeongyeon upset. 

But unfortunately, no matter what she tried, she just couldn’t seem to pull her into a somewhat secluded corner for even a short talk. And that’s saying something considering how big Nayeon’s place is. 

It was only about halfway through that it became clear that Jeongyeon was actively avoiding her. 

And that revelation on its own is pretty much enough to bring tears to her eyes. But there’s no way she’s going to break down in front of all the others. Because as supportive as everyone would undoubtedly be, she really doesn’t want to ruin the wonderful night the others are having. 

That isn’t to say that none of the girls have noticed either of their depressed moods, they’ve been together far too long for that, but any attempts to remedy the situation have mainly amounted to inquisitive glances and whispered questions that are immediately shut down with a quick and unconvincing assurance that she’s just tired from writing so much in the past couple of days. 

Dahyun and Jihyo in particular seem to be having the most trouble letting it go, continuously casting worried glances from their seats on either side of her as she busies herself with filling her plate back up. 

She can tell that they're just dying to ask again if she's okay. And obviously she appreciates that they care so much, it's just that she's not sure if she'll be able to contain her frustration if she has to hear it for the hundredth time.

But luckily it doesn’t come to that, as barely a second later, Mina clears her throat, pushing her chair back to stand up with her glass in hand, drawing the attention of everyone at the table.

“So um… before we get to dessert I think there are some things that we need to toast tonight.” 

The others all grab their glasses, with Dahyun actually going for the nearby bottle to refill her and Tzuyu’s. 

“First off, I think we all wanted to give Tzuyu a huge congratulations for finishing her very first self written album.” 

The table erupts in cheers as a deep blush spreads on Tzuyu’s cheeks, quietly thanking them for their kind words as the commotion dies back down. 

And this time Mina looks considerably more nervous, casting a couple of quick glances to her girlfriend who rises up herself to show her support. 

“And next,” Mina continues, voice a little shakier than before, “Nayeon and I actually had a bit of an announcement today.” 

A silence falls upon the room as seven pairs of eyes shoot confused looks in every direction. 

"Oh my god." Chaeyoung says suddenly, "why do you guys look so serious? Are you two engaged?"

"What? N-" 

"Neither of them are wearing rings." Momo points out.

Dahyun gasps loudly as she slaps a hand down on the table and jumps to her feet. "Then you're pregnant! Holy… can I be the godmother?"

Jihyo lets out an exasperated groan. "Dahyun, will you just let them finish? And… and if anyone is going to be the godmother it's going to be me." 

"What about us?" Sana shrieks, already halfway to her feet with her hands planted firmly on the table. "We would actually be able to teach the kid Japanese and it's super important to honor Minari's heritage!"

Chaeyoung gives an incredulous snort from behind her glass of wine. "Yeah but you two? If there were ever two more likely candidates for dropping a baby…"

And with that, half of the table erupts into a storm of screaming and finger pointing as the rest of them fall forward to rest their heads in their hands, something that only stops when Nayeon finally decides to put an end to it. 

"Oh my god!" The oldest yells, "will you idiots shut up? Neither of us are pregnant!"

Tzuyu lifts her head just in time to see the shocked faces around her, a sight that's made all the more ridiculous because of how obvious it was that a child wasn't even part of the discussion in the first place. 

"You're not?" Sana says, slowly sinking back into her seat. 

Mina pinches the bridge of her nose. "No. Where did you guys even get that idea?"

"Well if you aren't pregnant then what…" 

Dahyun's eyes go wide again. "Ooh! What if…"

"Nope!" Nayeon interrupts, "no more guessing! Just. Listen." 

And for a second the room falls back into a somewhat tense silence, until Mina stands back up and laces their fingers together, instantly causing Nayeon's stone cold glare to melt into a warm, glowing smile that Tzuyu can't help cracking a smile of her own at. 

"Well," Mina says, "it might seem a little lackluster when engagements and pregnancies were on the table but…" 

The two exchange one last anxious but excited look before turning back to face them. 

"We're moving in together!" They squeal in unison. 

Another beat of silence passes before the dining room is erupting again, only this time it's a lot less yelling and more excited shrieking. Although the difference is only barely noticeable to Tzuyu's sensitive ears.

And with that, they of course have to pile in for a group hug, one that Tzuyu can't help but notice has Jeongyeon finally cracking a bright smile. 

It feels ridiculous, and unbelievably petty that the first thought that comes to her mind is to wonder why Jeongyeon can't seem to manage a fraction of that kind of happiness with her today. And it gets so bad that it’s still swirling around in her head even as Nayeon is raising her hands to restore some semblance of order. 

"Don't celebrate too quickly! I expect all of you to help us move."

"Wait, you aren't keeping this place?" Chaeyoung asks. 

Mina shakes her head. "Nope, we decided to get a place downtown. The only downside is that it’s going to be about a month before we’re allowed to move in but it’s a lot bigger."

Dahyun raises an eyebrow. "Bigger than this? Are you sure neither of you are pregnant?"

Nayeon lays a heavy slap to the girl's arm as the group falls back into a fit of giggles that only ends when Sana hesitantly pipes up.

“Well seeing as we’re making announcements tonight, Momo and I actually have one as well.” 

“Are you sure you’re not just trying to hijack our moment?” Nayeon teases. 

“No!” Sana whines, “I even asked Mina for permission yesterday!” 

“We don’t need to hog all of the attention today.” Mina scolds gently, “go on Satang, what do you have to tell us?”

Sana lets out a quiet giggle at Nayeon’s childish pout before turning back to address the group. “Okay, well Momo and I have actually been working on this for a couple of months now and it really hasn’t been easy.”

“And we wanted to tell you guys earlier,” Momo adds, “but we didn’t want to say anything until it was actually finalized in case something got in the way.” 

A few confused looks are exchanged at the couple’s vague words. 

And Momo and Sana, much in the same way that Mina and Nayeon had done a few minutes earlier, share a quick but adorably affectionate look before linking hands and taking a deep breath in preparation that has all of them on the edge of their seats. 

“We’re moving back to Korea!” 

This time the room doesn’t quite explode in the same kind of powerful cheers typical of their group, replaced instead by a more muted air of shock. 

And it’s Jihyo that’s first to finally break the silence.

“You… you what?” 

“We’re moving back to Korea.” Momo repeats. 

“But how?” Chaeyoung asks, “what about your company? Did something happen?” 

And for her part, the lackluster response doesn’t seem to bother Sana in the least, as evidenced by the sly grin on the woman’s face. “That’s the second part of our announcement. With all the signings we’ve made in the past couple of years, operations in our Tokyo office have gotten kind of hectic.” 

“And so,” Momo continues, pausing to give her girlfriend a proud smile, “we’ve decided to open a second office in Seoul!” 

This time, the expected celebration comes immediately, with excited shrieks typical of their group. And with that, they all have to file in for another group hug, one that they each join in with congratulatory smiles on their lips. But after a second, it becomes clear that they’re actually missing a member, it’s kind of a sixth sense that they’d developed over the years and Tzuyu slowly turns her head to see Dahyun standing on the edge of the circle, eyes still stretched wide in shock with her bottom lip just starting to tremble. 

“Dahyunnie?” Sana says gently, taking a small step forward with Momo just behind, “are you okay?” 

“I…” Dahyun chokes out, “you guys really aren’t going back to Japan?” 

Momo shakes her head, flashing a beaming smile at the girl. “No. We’re not going anywhere.”

“You… all of you are our family.” Sana adds, “and we decided that we’ve already been away from you for too long as it is.” 

And with that, Dahyun lets out a strangled sob, a few tears already starting to stream down her cheeks before she takes off running straight into Sana and Momo’s arms. 

Tzuyu finds herself utterly incapable of fighting the smile that spreads on her face at seeing her best friend furiously sobbing in the arms of the two women she’s in love with. Of course, there’s still a long way to go to an actual confession, but not having a big time limit hanging over their heads certainly seems like it would help their chances. 

And the others seem to agree as well, with nearly identical smirks on almost all of the members betraying that she and Jeongyeon aren’t the only ones with an idea of how deep their relationship really goes. 

But of course, they can’t exactly just all continue standing around watching the three of them have their moment, and not a minute later Nayeon is tearing her eyes away from the scene before them with a loud clap of her hands. 

“Well, I think this is cause for some real celebration. We have a few bottles of champagne and this seems as good of a time as any to break them out. That is, unless there are more announcements that need to be made.” 

There are some light chuckles around the room at the joke, and for a second it seems like they’ll be following Nayeon into the kitchen, until Jeongyeon hesitantly opens her mouth. 

“Um actually…”

In an instant the room falls back into a heavy silence, with all eyes darting over to Jeongyeon as a wave of uneasiness washes over Tzuyu. 

“You have something you want to say unnie?” Mina asks quietly. 

“Um yeah.” Jeongyeon answers, “I kind of wanted to wait until later, but seeing as how people are making announcements now…” 

“Well we aren’t going to stop you. Go ahead.” 

Jeongyeon gives an appreciative nod in response, nervously reaching up to run a hand through her hair. “Well it’s not really as exciting as what you guys have going on, but uh… I’ve actually been offered a part in a new movie coming out next year. And I think I’m going to take it.” 

She can feel the tension in the air growing thicker as the others seem to arrive at the same conclusions she is. 

“That’s great!” Mina says, as always being one of the more levelheaded members of Twice, but still shooting an uneasy glance at the others all the same, “what movie is it? Or… wait, are you even allowed to tell us what it’s called?” 

“Um, well I’m not under any ridiculous non-disclosure agreements or anything like that, but I don’t actually remember the name, it’s something in English…” 

Tzuyu feels her heart stop. 

“Which kind of brings me to the next part. It’s kind of a complicated project so shooting is actually going to start in a couple of weeks and will go on for at least a year, so I’ll actually be looking to get an apartment.” 

“Well," Jihyo says, "I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say we’ll all be happy to help you move in as well.” 

“Um, that probably won’t be necessary.” The older woman mumbles. 

“Why not?” Momo asks, mirroring the cautious expressions of basically everyone at the table. 

“Because the movie isn't going to be filmed in Korea. It's a western film, which means I’m going to have to move… to London.” 

Chapter Text

Dahyun lets out a deep sigh, running a hand through her hair as she throws back another large gulp of whiskey, enjoying the familiar burn in the back of her throat. 

"Guys, are we sure about this? I mean, Tzuyu hates it when people meddle in her life. Even us." 

"Well, I don't know about you," Chaeyoung answers, swirling the wine in her glass as she falls back into her seat, "but I don't think I'm brave enough to deal with the fallout of telling Nayeon-unnie that we chickened out."

Mina huffs her agreement. "At least you guys would be able to hide from her. I'm going to be moving in with her soon and I am not spending the rest of my life listening to her talk about how it's my fault that Jeongyeon-unnie missed out on true love."

“The rest of your life huh?” Dahyun says, lips spreading into a cheeky grin. “Do I hear wedding bells already?”

“Oh god,” Mina groans, “please don’t…” 

“I have a friend that sells jewelry,” Chaeyoung cuts in, “maybe we should start asking for engagement ring ideas.” 

“Guys…”

Dahyun dramatically strokes her chin in mock contemplation. “I dunno Chaeng, Nayeon-unnie has always been one for pretty ridiculous and elaborate displays of affection. We’re probably also going to need to rent some zoo animals, probably a pyrotechnics crew, maybe even some acrobats from Cirque du Soleil.” 

Mina lets out another low groan as she falls forward to rest her head in her hands. “I don’t know what’s more annoying, the teasing or the fact that I’m not immediately disregarding your ludicrous suggestions.” 

Dahyun feels her eyebrows shoot up and her heart practically stop completely as she exchanges a shocked look with Chaeyoung. 

“Wait,” she says slowly, “are you telling me that you’re actually considering marriage?” 

“Is that so unbelievable? I mean we are moving in together.” 

“Well yeah,” Chaeyoung says, “but you’ve always been so terrified of commitment that even that seems a little hard to believe.” 

Dahyun emphatically nods her agreement. “I remember one time Jihyo-unnie made an offhand joke about kids. Not even you two having kids, just kids in general, and you got so nervous that you downed an entire bottle of wine by yourself.” 

Another groan escapes Mina’s lips. “Okay, that… wasn’t exactly my proudest moment…”

“Not your proudest moment?” Chaeyoung snorts, “We had to kick down two doors after you passed out in the restaurant bathroom. Nayeon-unnie even broke her brand new heels because she was so freaked out that you weren’t responding.” 

“I know… I felt horrible. And Nayeon wouldn't even let me replace them afterward."

"Well if there was ever any doubt about how much she loves you…"

"I definitely don't have any doubt." Mina replies quickly, "which I guess is why I'm more comfortable discussing… things like this."

"Not completely comfortable I see." Dahyun remarks. 

"Well it still feels kind of weird to talk about so openly, but I don't know… we've been together for three years now, it's kind of hard not to think about stuff like this on occasion."

"Any thoughts to a maid of honor?" She asks, throwing in a small wiggle of the eyebrows for good measure. 

Mina lets out another groan. "Not this again."

"If she's picking anyone it's got to be me," Chaeyoung cuts in, "I mean, we used to be the original pairing that all the fans shipped!” 

“Oh my god, that’s not even close to being a legitimate factor for consideration!” 

“It totally is! It means Mina-unnie and I are the closest out of the nine of us.” 

“Really?” Dahyun deadpans, “you really want to die on this hill?” 

“This isn’t a hill to die on! It’s just a fact.” 

“You really want to try and make this point that you two are closer than anyone else? Even Nayeon, Jeongyeon, and Jihyo? Or Momo and Sana? Or you and me for that matter?” She reaches up, mockingly wiping a tear from her eye with a dramatic sniffle. “I thought our friendship meant something to you!” 

Chaeyoung breathes in a sharp breath that she holds for just a fraction of a second before deflating with a roll of the eyes. “Oh… shut the fu… do you really think any of us would be convinced by that at this point?” 

Dahyun immediately flashes another ear-to-ear grin. “I’m pretty sure I had you for a bit there. Guess you do still care about me.” 

She gets another eye roll in response. 

"As much as I enjoy watching you two doing… whatever that was," Mina says, "I feel like we should get back on topic."

"Right right," Dahyun answers, sitting up to set her glass back on the table, "so maid of honor?"

"No! Oh my god… we're here to talk to Tzuyu about Jeongyeon-unnie!"

All of a sudden Dahyun feels a wave of nervousness bubbling back up. "Oh right. That. Look guys, I'm still not really sure about this. I mean last time when we tried something like this, it didn't exactly go that well."

"Well yeah," Chaeyoung says, "but this is different."

"I'm not seeing how it's different."

"Well for one thing, this time around we aren't throwing this together the day Jeongyeon-unnie has to leave for the airport."

Mina nods her head in agreement. "Exactly. Last time all we could do was huddle together in Jeongyeon-unnie's closet and throw around our last minute ideas. Now, we have more time, we have a cohesive plan, we even have a binder of all the possible arguments Tzuyu could come up with and the way to handle them." 

"God Nayeon-unnie really has too much time on her hands."

"The point is," Mina continues, "that this time around we're actually prepared. And even if we weren't, we still have to try. If Jeongyeon-unnie really does end up moving to London, it's just going to be another three years of misery for both of them."

Dahyun lets out another deep sigh as she refills her glass. Because of course Mina's right, except they can't just try. They have to make this happen. She certainly can't handle seeing Tzuyu falling back onto that kicked puppy look that always used to show itself whenever Jeongyeon was brought up in conversation, no matter how cute it might have been. 

“Yeah, okay,” she concedes, leaving the bottle cap unscrewed as she takes a long sip from her glass, “I mean we’re already here. Guess it’s a little too late to back out now.” 

She sees Chaeyoung checking her phone with a slight cringe at the wine in her hand. “Dubs, when did you say she’d be coming home? If we have to wait here any longer I’m going to be too drunk to even have this conversation.” 

"Well she said she just had some stuff to take care of with her manager," Dahyun responds, "but I guess she never actually said how long that would take." 

"Wait. What?" Mina narrows her eyes into a slight glare. "Back at Jihyo's you said Tzuyu would be back soon. That was the whole point of us waiting here on the couch!"

"Well… I mean she usually gets home around this time, if she isn't here already. Honestly I don't know if I've ever seen her come home later than five o’clock  on a weekday." 

Mina falls forward to bury her head in her hands again. 

"Dude." Chaeyoung groans, "it’s almost seven! Why did you wait until now to say anything?”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t really think anything of it. Do you want me to call her?” 

“Might as well.” Mina huffs, “I just hope she’s not hiding away getting plastered at a bar somewhere.” 

“No way would Tzuyu do something like that.” Chaeyoung replies hesitantly, “right?” 

“Well,” Dahyun huffs, “she actually did come pretty close last time Jeongyeon-unnie left. And since then, Nayeon-unnie and I have done a pretty good job of turning her into an alcoholic.” 

Chaeyoung cringes at the suggestion. “Well… hopefully it hasn’t come to that. Although it looks like all that planning we did with Nayeon-unnie on ‘coordinated strikes’ was all for nothing. They’re probably already at Jeongyeon-unnie’s right now.” 

Mina responds with a light scoff. “Knowing Nayeon and Jihyo, they're probably thirty minutes into a screaming match already.” 

Dahyun shoots the two an uncertain look as she listens to the dial tone switch to the familiar sound of Tzuyu’s voicemail message. “It… surely won’t be that bad.” 

“Will you guys calm the hell down?” 

Jeongyeon sees Nayeon opening her mouth with a sharp retort dangling on the edge of her lips when Jihyo beats her to it. 

"We've been calm!" Their leader shouts, sending yet another piercing shock straight to her already ringing eardrums, “okay maybe not entirely calm, but considering that this has been boiling under the surface for this long, I don’t think our reactions are really all that unreasonable."

"Okay," Jeongyeon huffs, feeling the frustration pounding harder in her chest as she roughly runs a hand through her hair, "I don't know what world you guys are living in, but kicking down the front door to my sister's house does not strike me as very reasonable at all!"

"I already told you there's a repairman on the way to fix the door." Nayeon answers. 

"Doesn't matter! Sane people don't go around kicking doors down! And I'm going to have to explain to my sister why her key probably isn't going to work anymore."

"Oh, Seungyeon-unnie already knows about all of this." 

That finally gets her attention long enough to stop pacing about the room.

"What?"

"Seungyeon-unnie knew." Nayeon repeats. "We told her what was going on this morning. She tried to get her keys to us but that didn't end up working with her ridiculous schedule and she told us to just get inside by, and I quote, 'any means necessary'."

Jeongyeon lets out a low groan, bringing a hand up to rub at her temples as a headache starts forming to join the throbbing in her ears. "I can't believe… at some point during this ridiculous planning did any of you even consider just knocking?"

"We couldn't take the risk. You could've bolted the second you heard us, god knows anyone can hear Jihyo from a mile away."

"Hey…" 

"Why the hell would I have ran?" Jeongyeon shouts, cutting the other woman off mid-protest. 

"Well, you're running off to London now." Nayeon grumbles.

“What?” And in an instant Jeongyeon can feel her blood go to a full boil, eyes flaring as she takes a threatening step in the woman’s direction before Jihyo finally rushes up to set a hand on her chest. 

"Okay," the ever-responsible leader says, "let's just all take a breath before we do something we'll regret."

She locks eyes with Jihyo for a second, still tossing around the idea of snapping back at Nayeon with something sharp enough to spark a full-on screaming match before she deflates back onto her bed with a frustrated huff. 

She feels the mattress sinking around her a moment later, accompanied by some horribly unsubtle whispering on either side. 

It only takes a second or two for it to grate on her nerves. "Oh for fu- if you idiots have something to say to me just say it."

It's Jihyo that scoots up next to her with a light sigh. "Look Jeong, we just want to know why you're doing this. I mean we only just got you back. Last week you were on my couch looking at apartment listings and now…"

"I already told you guys. This job is a huge opportunity for me."

"You said that last time." Nayeon cuts in, "we barely bought it before, it's even harder to believe this time around."

"Wha-" Jeongyeon stammers, "I'm not making this up. This movie is going to be huge."

"Jeongyeon, that's not the part we're doubting okay?" Jihyo answers carefully, "we all know how in demand you are right now. What we're questioning is whether or not that's the actual reason you're leaving."

"Dude, why else would I…"

"Oh my god," Nayeon groans, "enough playing dumb. We know what happened the other day with Elkie."

That's finally enough to stun her into silence, eyes flicking from Nayeon's frustrated expression over to the more uncertain look on Jihyo's face. 

"You… you what?"

It's almost an hour later that Dahyun follows Mina and Chaeyoung out of their Uber and honestly, she's about ready to kill something. 

She'd spent an unbelievable amount of time spamming Tzuyu's phone with no response whatsoever before finally getting a call from Shuhua telling her that she was in fact at a bar with Tzuyu and apparently her roommate wasn't doing too hot. 

She tries her best to control her anger, thinking about all the times Tzuyu has bailed her out of similar situations, but somehow it just feels so much worse that someone so dignified and composed has stooped down to this level. So she stomps through the door into the dingy and altogether much too poorly lit bar, grimacing at the kind of patronage this place seems to attract. 

Honestly, of all the places for Tzuyu to drown her sorrows…

It's Mina that spots her first, sitting at the bar with a concerned looking Shuhua who's struggling to wrestle a bottle of vodka out of her hands and Dahyun cringes in sympathy for the woman, knowing how deceptively strong Tzuyu's arms could be.

The three of them share a concerned look as they hurry over, and Dahyun can't help but notice the intense look of relief on Shuhua's face when she sees them. 

"Tzuyu," Dahyun says hesitantly, one hand on the girl's back as she sets the other on the bottle still locked in a deathgrip between them, "Tzuyu it's me. I think you have to let go."

The girl turns in her stool to face her, squinting hard at the older woman until she finally lights up in recognition. 

"Dahyun-unnie?" Tzuyu slurs, releasing her hands to level a quizzical look that feels disturbingly hollow, compared to the kind of warmth that she's used to seeing. "And Chaeyoung and Mina-unnie? Whudd're you all doing here?"

Dahyun stifles a grimace at how hard the girl is slurring her words. "We're… here for you actually. I think it's time for us to go home now."

"Buh why?"

"Tzu, how much have you had?"

Tzuyu narrows her eyes. "Wuh? Not… tha mush…" 

She shoots a look over to Shuhua who only lets out an exasperated sigh before holding up all ten of her fingers.

She hears Chaeyoung breathing in a sharp hiss as Mina groans into her hand. Because ten drinks would be bad enough on their own, but adding on the fact that Tzuyu's tolerance still wasn't much better than their time in Twice and you have a recipe for a real disaster. 

"Okay," Dahyun sighs, "it's time to come home Tzu." 

"Noooooo. Don't wanna. Rather… stay here. And… drink."

She finds herself furrowing her eyebrows as she subconsciously takes a step closer. "Why? Tzuyu, this isn't you."

And Tzuyu only turns back to the bar, hunching over the counter and fiddling with an empty bottle of soju.

With that, it's like the entire bar falls into this deafening silence, one that's only barely disrupted by the faint sound of Chaeyoung sliding onto a stool from somewhere behind her and Mina quietly slipping to the other side of the maknae to examine the absolute mess that has practically engulfed this side of the bar. 

"Tzuyu?" Mina asks, carefully pulling at the nearest stack of crumpled papers piled up between the glasses, "what is all this?"

Tzuyu doesn't respond immediately, choosing instead to tighten the grip on the bottle as her head drops even further. 

"Doesn't matter." She grumbles quietly. 

With that, Dahyun turns over to Shuhua who's nursing a rather tall glass herself in what must be an attempt at fending off the special kind of migraine that can only come from taking care of your drunk friends. 

"Well," Shuhua says hesitantly, "when I got here she was telling me something about… changing some of her songs."

"What?" Chaeyoung answers, head snapping over to Tzuyu who's now squeezing the bottle so hard that Dahyun is certain that it must be at risk of shattering soon. "Tzuyu, why would you do that?"

"Becuzzzz," the girl replies weakly, "I… I wrote the songs… like... half the album for… for..."

Tzuyu trails off and the rest of them fall into silence. 

Nobody needs her to finish that sentence. 

After a minute that seems to stretch on for a lifetime, she sees Mina pursing her lips in sympathy as she gingerly reaches for one of Tzuyu's hands. 

"Tzuyu…" 

But the girl immediately pulls away with a lethargic flinch. 

"Look Tzuyu," Mina continues, "you don't have to change your album just because Jeongyeon-unnie's leaving." 

"Easy for you to say," Tzuyu grumbles, hands clumsily closing around the sleeve of her shirt. "Your soulmate actually cares enough to give you the time of day."

Once again they fall into an uncomfortable silence as they exchange uneasy glances with each other. 

“You…” Chaeyoung quietly stammers, “you consider Jeongyeon-unnie your soulmate?” 

“Well… well yeah.” Tzuyu says simply, blinking in confusion as if she’d just stated some kind of commonly known fact, “I mean like, I’ve been... love with her since I was like… a teenager, since before I could even really understand her, 'fore I even knew what love is… izzz just always been Jeongyeon-unnie… y’know? But it doesn't matter. Jackson-oppa won't lemme do it. -nd now the whole… freaking worlds gonna know how sssstupid I am."

And with that Dahyun bites back what feels like the thousandth sigh of the night. Because of course she knows. She knows all too well the kind of longing and emptiness that her friend has been suffering with for so many years. What she doesn’t know is how to handle it. Well, at the very least she doesn’t know what she could possibly suggest beyond what’s already landed Tzuyu in this awful situation in the first place. Lord knows that the pain she’s feeling has long since developed a tolerance for everything she’s tried to drown it in. 

She can tell the others are just as lost as she is, and after what feels like an eternity of silently debating what to do, all four of them end up pulling up seats at the bar. 

This was going to be an even longer night than any of them expected. 

Jeongyeon lets out a quiet yelp as her shaky hands come just short of dropping the bottle of Chardonnay and spilling it all over the table. 

"Oh my god, how much have you had?" Nayeon's voice is even more piercing than normal after a glass or two of wine. And they're far past that point now. 

"Uh…" Jeongyeon stammers, shooting an uncertain look at Jihyo over the table full of empty bottles on the coffee table.

"This is nothing." Seungyeon says, cradling a large glass of her own over the ear to ear smirk on her lips, "you should've seen her the other night. Hugging a bottle to her chest, tears streaming down her face, looked like a freaking baby."

Jihyo turns to her with a raised eyebrow. "This wouldn't happen to have also been the night with Elkie would it?"

Jeongyeon raises her now refilled glass up to her lips in a vain attempt at hiding the embarrassment lighting up her cheeks. "It… might've been…"

"Jeong…"

"Look I'm sorry okay? I kind of developed a taste for wine over in California and… well let's just say that these kinds of feelings tended to get stirred up every now and then."

Her sister narrows her eyes from across the room. "Should I be cutting you off?"

"I promise everything's fine," Jeongyeon says quickly. 

"Oh really? Because it kind of sounds like you're on the fast track to alcoholism."

"If I were, you're half of the reason. I mean who the hell actually suggests for people to kick their own door down? I nearly had a god damn heart attack." 

All she gets in response is an indifferent shrug. "Nayeon said it was an emergency."

"It was." Nayeon chimes in.

"And as much as it might impress Mina," Jeongyeon fires back, "normal people don't immediately jump to kicking down doors whenever the smallest issue comes up."

And it looks like Nayeon's about to shoot back with some fiery retort when Jihyo cuts her off with a hand clapped unceremoniously over her mouth. 

"As much as I'd enjoy listening to you two bicker for the millionth time, maybe we should get back to the reason we're here in the first place." 

"I don't know what you're…"

"Jeong." Nayeon cuts in, firmly throwing Jihyo's arm aside to scoot up on the couch. 

She breathes out a deep sigh, seeing the sudden seriousness mirrored on all three of the faces in front of her now. "Okay fine. But I mean… what do we even have left to discuss? We've already established that I'm hopelessly… pathetically in love…"

"It's not pathetic." Seungyeon interrupts. 

Jihyo nods her agreement. "Or hopeless. I mean if you would just tell her…"

"What would be the point?" She asks sharply, already feeling the stinging return to her eyes, "she… she has Elkie now."

"Jeong, you don't know that." 

"Dude. Do I really need to go back into what she was wearing? I mean I can't really think of any other reason she'd be wearing Tzuyu's nightshirt and nothing else . Can you?" 

"Uh… well I… I mean…" Jihyo sputters, exchanging a panicked look with Seungyeon as the two of them wrack their fuzzy brains in a desperate attempt at coming up with a response. 

But it’s Nayoen that answers instead.

“Jeong.” Nayeon sighs, “Tzuyu told me the other night that they all had to change because of some kitchen disaster or something.”

“What?”

“Yes. She said that she just let Elkie change into some clothes for the night because her’s were ruined. And she said that Shuhua was there with them.”

With that, Jeongyeon takes in a long, slow breath, feeling the collective gaze of the others boring into her. And maybe if she was feeling a little more level-headed she’d be able to sift through that new information a little more logically, but she can’t. Because this is the kind of thing that happens when such deep-seated fear is mixed with years of longing and too much alcohol, it gets so powerful that she can’t even string her thoughts together.

And when she finally lets the word come tumbling past her lips, it’s filled with so much heartbreak and spite that it ends up burning her mouth on the way out. 

“Bullshit.” 

The others stay silent for a second, eyes stretched wide in shock as they try desperately to comprehend her reaction.

“W-what?” Jihyo stammers. 

“Bullshit,” she repeats, “I don’t believe that at all.”

“Why don’t you…”

“Because I was there!” Jeongyeon half-sobs, “I didn’t see any mess in the kitchen, I didn’t see shoes by the door, I didn’t hear anyone in the bedroom…” 

Jihyo tries to cut in, “Tzuyu’s place is pretty big…” 

But Jeongyeon doesn’t let her. “It doesn’t matter… it… I know what I saw.” 

“Jeongyeon,” Nayeon pleads, “you’re saying that she lied to me? Why would she do that?”

“Maybe because she doesn’t want anyone to know.” The answer comes out painful and insincere, like regurgitating plastic, “maybe she knows that if one of you finds out that it’ll end up getting to me. Maybe…” she swallows through the lump in her throat, “maybe she’s known about my stupid feelings all along and is just too nice to say anything about it.”

There’s another moment of tense, painful silence and all Jeongyeon can do is tighten her grip on her glass and hope it doesn’t shatter before she can stop the tears from spilling. 

"Look Jeong." Nayeon says carefully, "even… even if she did sleep with Elkie, and I'm not saying she did, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Like, they could just be casually dating or… friends with benef…"

"No." She cuts in, "no way would Tzuyu ever do something like that." 

"Dude, she's not your precious little maknae anymore. She’s a beautiful young woman living in the city, you can’t expect her to not attract attention."

“I know that. Trust me you don’t need to remind me how gorgeous Tzuyu is.”

“Well then what are you freaking out about? I mean you were gone for three years dude, did you really not expect her to find anyone?” 

“I didn’t…” Jeongyeon trails off with a frustrated huff, “okay fine, maybe it was a little much to hope for Tzuyu to still be single after running off for three years…"

"We still don't know for sure that she isn't," Jihyo interjects. 

"-But I mean, I know it's really stupid and childish but… yeah, there might have been a part of me that was hoping that coming back would mean finally having a chance with her."

"You still could have one." Her sister offers gently. 

“Oh really?” She snaps back, “how? Because no matter what you guys try to tell me, I know Tzuyu. And she isn’t the kind to just casually sleep around with random girls, much less someone she’s been friends with for years.” 

“Jeong…”

“No. I’m sorry guys. I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but if she’s happy with Elkie then I’m not going to do anything to get in the way of that.”

“Yeah but running off to London?” Jihyo says, “don’t you think that’s a little unnecessary? I mean… we just got you back Jeong.” 

At that, she actually bites down on her lip, three years' worth of guilt threatening to overwhelm her right then and there. 

“I know…” She replies slowly, “and I’m sorry. I… I promise this time I’ll stay in touch better, but… I don’t know if I can stick around and watch her be with someone else.” 

“Well sure, but…” 

“I’m sorry guys.” Jeongyeon repeats, “but this is happening. And besides, I’ve already signed the contract.”

Chapter Text

Dahyun lets out a seriously over dramatic sigh as she slumps over the side of the still half constructed bed. 

"I don't get it!" She wails, "aren't Nayeon-unnie and Mina-unnie like billionaires or something? Surely there's some room in their budget to hire a couple of movers. At the very least we shouldn't need someone as weak as me to lug boxes up the largest staircase in the history of the world."

She hears a couple of amused chuckles around her and it's almost enough to bring a weary smile to her face.

"Maybe Nayeon-unnie just enjoys torturing us." Jihyo grunts, voice slightly muffled by the mattress she's currently struggling to shove through the door. 

"Did you get that up here by yourself?" Chaeyoung asks incredulously. 

"Don't be ridiculous. In this place? I swear to god even the old JYP building had fewer stairs."

"Yeah who would've thought Mina-unnie would choose a mansion like this?"

"I’m pretty sure we all know that Nayeon-unnie was the one who fought for this place.” Dahyun says, “I mean the second Mina-unnie gets involved it’s like all of a sudden she doesn’t care about money anymore.” 

Jihyo lets out a quiet chuckle. “And yet, she’s perfectly happy forcing all of us to move them in for free.” 

And before anyone can respond, Nayeon’s absurdly loud voice is cutting through the silence all the way from down the hall. 

“I can hear you idiots!” 

She sees Chaeyoung stifling a laugh as Jihyo shoots a playful glare at the door. And for a second it looks like their leader is about to fire back with something, so much so that Dahyun is already mentally preparing for the schock that’s bound to come to her ears. But then, surprisingly, Jihyo ends up deciding to let it go with nothing more than a slight shake of her head.

“Well,” Jihyo says, “Sana and Momo said that the ridiculous bookshelf that Mina insisted on keeping is a lot heavier than it looks so they might need another person down there.” 

Dahyun takes one look at Chaeyoung, still sandwiched between the bed and the wall amidst a pile of screws and decides that she probably isn’t in much of a position to lend a hand. 

“I’ll go.” She answers, “as long as you’re not worried about a little old weakling like me dropping the thing.” 

“I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Jihyo says, giving a playful roll of her eyes as she goes back to wrestling with the mattress. 

And the second Dahyun steps out into the hallway she’s once again blown away by the extravagance of it all. Everything from lighting to the floor-to-ceiling windows, and yes, even the grand staircase leading straight to the foyer that they’ve been struggling with all day, screams a level of luxury that is actually kind of intimidating. 

But if she was feeling speechless before, she’s absolutely floored when she actually steps outside and she’s confronted with the sight of Sana and Momo standing by the moving truck. 

And it’s not just the fact that their choice of clothing for a day of hard work is more than a little revealing, seeing the two of them wearing revealing clothes is something she should be more than used to by now, but it’s also the sweat glistening off their skin and the slight breeze blowing through their hair that has her mouth going dry in an instant. 

She doesn’t even realize that she’s stopped mid-step until Mina is gently poking a finger into her side. 

“You know you’re practically drooling right?” The woman asks, flashing an infuriatingly embarrassing ear-to-ear grin. 

“I… have no idea what you’re talking about.” Dahyun sputters. 

“Oh really? And I suppose the reason your face is so red is what, the heat?” 

“Yes, exactly. It’s… just really hot out today.” 

And normally she’d be expecting some further teasing over what had been a truly terrible attempt at covering up the fact that she’d been caught blatantly staring, Jeongyeon had certainly done enough of that since learning of her feelings for the Japanese couple, but when she looks up at Mina, she’s surprised to find a rather concerned look on her face.

“You know Dahyun, if there’s anything you want to talk about…” 

But she doesn’t get a chance to get any further before Sana and Momo are rushing up to join them. 

“Oh my god Minari,” Sana whines, “what the hell is that thing made of?” 

“Seriously.” Momo huffs her agreement, reaching down to fan herself with the collar of her shirt, an act that exposes even more of the woman’s insanely toned core and has Dahyun suddenly feeling a whole new wave of heat washing over her. 

And any hopes that her latest moment had gone unnoticed are dashed when Sana turns to face her with her eyebrows scrunched in concern. "Dahyunnie? Are you okay? You're all red." 

And of course that only makes her blush even harder.

She's barely able to stammer out the beginnings of a response before Sana's reaching forward to gently press a hand to her forehead, effectively short circuiting her brain as she breathes in the woman's perfume.

It smells like… strawberries, or maybe raspberries? Either way it's something intoxicatingly sweet that makes her head feel even lighter somehow. 

And right as she's just starting to attempt to voice a poorly formed reassurance that there's nothing wrong, Momo is rushing up right next to Sana with an equally concerned expression on her face.

"You're right Sana," the woman says, carefully setting her own hand right next to her girlfriend's, "oh my god, Dahyun you're burning up! Have you been drinking enough water?"

"It's really hot today." Sana adds, "do you want some water? I can go get you some."

"No Satang, she needs electrolytes. Maybe Mina has some sports drinks in the fridge?"

"I don't think so. We were just in there, remember? Their kitchen is still completely empty."

A wave of anxiety washes over Momo's face as Dahyun faintly registers the sound of Jihyo snickering off to the side. 

"Well… maybe I should drive down to the supermarket and buy some." 

"Guys…" Dahyun mumbles weakly. 

“And maybe you should grab her some ice too." Sana adds, "I don’t think the machine in their freezer is really ready yet.” 

Momo quickly nods her head. “Okay. I’ll just... grab a bunch of stuff. Just get her inside. Quick!” 

And before Dahyun can even react, Momo is taking off for their car parked at the end of the driveway, throwing in one last gentle stroke of her hair as Sana starts pulling her inside. 

Dahyun doesn't get a moment of peace for the next twenty minutes as Sana all but duct tapes her to the couch, constantly pressing glasses of water to her lips or cold soaked towels to her forehead. 

It's only when Sana runs off to see if there's some way she can accelerate the ice maker in the freezer that Dahyun can finally sit back up and let out a deep sigh of relief, only for Mina to walk in a second later, wordlessly sitting down on the edge of the couch with a curious look on her face. 

"So." Mina says carefully, "how are you feeling?"

"Um… I'm okay. Honestly Sana-unnie and Momo-unnie are just overreacting."

"Uh huh. Well if you're not actually sick then why haven't you told Sana?"

"I tried, but she wouldn't listen! She just wouldn’t stop with the cold compresses and the water and the fanning and..." 

Mina gently cuts her off with a raised eyebrow and a gentle smile. "Dahyun." 

And with that, Dahyun is left with her jaw hanging open as realization finally dawns on her. 

“You… you know?” She breathes.

Mina’s smile spreads just a little wider as she reaches down to give her leg a gentle squeeze. “Kind of?” 

“I… how do you… when did you...”

“Well I’ve kind of always had an idea.” The older woman answers, “you’ve just always acted really different with the two of them. I guess it sort of took me a while to be sure, but then... do you remember that one night in Tokyo when you got sick and Jihyo gave you all that cough syrup?” 

“Oh god…” Dahyun immediately cringes at the memory, falling forward to bury her head in her hands. “That was not one of my better nights.” 

“Yeah. Well we all spent hours trying to get you to go to bed and get some rest, I remember Jeongyeon-unnie was practically begging you to go to sleep, but you got all loopy and wouldn’t even step foot in your hotel room until Sana and Momo got back from visiting their parents.” 

At that, she can’t help cracking a small smile as her voice takes on a strangely wistful tone. “Yeah, that was actually a surprisingly good night.” 

“Even though you were sick?” 

“Well sure,” she answers, “that was pretty awful, but I mean…” 

“You mean,” Mina finishes for her, flashing another cheeky grin, “that the second Sana and Momo heard you were sick they immediately raced back to the hotel and cuddled you until morning.” 

This time she can’t help cracking a wide smile even as her cheeks heat back up. “Yeah… you saw that huh?” 

“It would have been kind of difficult to miss seeing as I was supposed to be the one sharing the room with them.” 

“I’m sorry unnie...” 

“Don’t be.” Mina says. “I was more than happy to bunk with Chaeyoung and Tzuyu for a night. And besides, I actually thought it was really cute.” 

“You… really?” Dahyun stammers. 

“Yes Dahyun. And I’m certain the other girls will too if they haven’t figured it out already.”

And it's right then that they hear the front door opening, accompanied by the instantly recognizable rustle of grocery bags that has Dahyun’s heart instantly starting to race again.

“Well.” Mina says, “sounds like your second nurse is here. I’ll go check on how Nayeon’s doing in the office.” 

“Wait, no unnie, you don’t have to… we came here to help you guys, I shouldn’t be laying here slacking off like this when I’m not even…” 

But before she can get up, Mina’s pressing a hand to her shoulder with a knowing smirk on her lips. “Don’t worry about that. We’re pretty much done for the day anyways. For now... just enjoy this. And should you need it, we have two extra bedrooms with doors that lock.” 

Then Mina gives her this wink, one that immediately makes her face light up a deep crimson at the embarrassing implication. And then Mina just… leaves, as if she hadn’t just dropped the most out of character innuendo in all of human history. 

She doesn’t even get a chance to call after her before Momo is sliding up to the couch in a mild panic, her own face flushed red and panting from the exertion as she sets down two massive grocery bags. 

“Oh my god, Dahyunnie!” Momo coos, “I’m sorry I took so long! There was so much traffic!” 

“Unnie you really weren’t gone for that long.” Dahyun answers sheepishly. 

“Oh but look, you’re still so red!” The look in Momo’s eyes is absolutely heartbreaking. “Here, take this quick!”

Dahyun’s eyes go wide as the woman presses a bottle of Pocari into her hands, and she has to admit that the cool drink feels really nice against her skin… as does the ice pack that Momo is holding to her forehead, an act that apparently requires the woman to lean in so close that she’s practically laying directly on top of her. 

And if the crop top that Momo’s wearing had made her flustered before, now she’s practically coming apart at the seams in what’s quite possibly the worst instance of gay panic that anyone's has ever seen. 

And it only gets worse when Sana comes in a minute later only to somehow find a way to sit even closer to her than her girlfriend has. 

"Momo-yah, you can't just put the ice pack directly on her skin like that! You could give her an ice burn!" 

"Sana…" Dahyun begins, only for Momo to instantly jerk her hand back with her eyes stretched wide in shock. 

"Oh my god! You're right!" Momo exclaims, "Dahyunnie are you okay? It… does it hurt at all?"

"No. Guys I promise I'm fine." Dahyun cuts in, "the uh… the Pocari is really helping." 

"Are you sure?" Sana asks, "because I have a towel here that we can wrap the ice pack in."

"Um…" There's a part of her that definitely knows she should tell the truth and finally put an end to all of this, but then she sees how worried both of them are, as well as just how many things Momo had bought at the store, and finds that she doesn’t quite have it in herself to discredit their efforts. 

Because the concern that they’re showing her, (as well as the attention if she’s being honest with herself), is more touching than she can believe. 

And besides, Mina had told her to enjoy it…

So she hesitantly bites down on her lip before slowly and ever so slightly leaning into their shared embrace. 

“Well if it’s not too much trouble…” She mumbles bashfully. 

And she’s immediately greeted by a chorus of reassurances as Sana presses the now wrapped ice pack to her forehead and Momo retrieves a fresh bottle from the bag. 

There’s some brief discussion of leaving her alone to rest, as well as allowing her to cool off without the added heat of two extra bodies pressed up against her, but Dahyun is quick (maybe a little too quick) to make sure they know how comforting it is to have them so close. And so, with a pair of gentle smiles, the couple settles in around her, burrowing into the couch and pulling her in to settle against both their chests in what she finds is actually a surprisingly comfortable position. 

And for the next couple of minutes it’s nothing but absolute bliss being pampered by the two women of her dreams, watching random YouTube videos on Sana’s phone as Momo gently strokes her hair and they all pass around a bottle of Pocari. 

If she’s being honest it feels a little too perfect to be true, their little moment of peace amidst all the chaos of the past few weeks, so it’s almost expected when all of it comes tumbling down to the familiarly piercing sound of Nayeon’s shrieking voice. 

“What the hell is this?” 

All three of them turn to see the woman standing at the entrance to the kitchen, a glass of water in her hands and a somewhat irritated look on her face. 

“Dahyunnie was feeling sick.” Sana answers, “and we just wanted to make sure she got better.” 

Nayeon’s expression betrays a significantly greater amount of concern than before. “Oh what? Dahyun are you okay?” 

“Yeah I’m fine,” she answers quietly, “I was just a little dehydrated is all.” 

She sees Nayeon raising an eyebrow before flopping down on the loveseat on the other side of the coffee table. 

“You got groceries?” The older woman asks.

Momo nods her head. “I had to get some stuff to cool Dahyun down.” 

“Did you at least grab some beer like I asked earlier?” 

“Oh… sorry Nay’, I was… kind of focused on this and uh… forgot.” 

Nayeon gives a playful roll of her eyes as she sifts through the bags. “You got five cases of Pocari Sweat? Were you planning on hydrating an entire soccer team?” 

“I panicked!” Momo whines, “you didn’t see her earlier! Her face was all red and hot, we got worried!”

“You two are ridiculous.” 

But when Dahyun looks up, instead of yet another eye roll that she’d be expecting to see from the older woman, Nayeon actually has a strangely affectionate smile on her face, making her wonder whether or not Mina hadn’t been the only one who’d noticed the complicated relationship she has with Sana and Momo. 

Except there’s no way Dahyun can just ask that out loud, so she falls back on listening to Nayeon playfully complaining that Momo hadn’t bought any beer as Momo slowly gets up and threatens to pour one of the bottles down her throat. 

She finds herself leaning back against Sana’s chest, exchanging an amused smile with the woman as they listen to the familiarly childish exchange that seems to have no end until the rest of their group finally makes their way into the living room. 

“Babe, stop torturing Momo.” 

Nayeon’s eyes instantly go wide at her girlfriend’s gentle scolding. “Me?” She exclaims incredulously, “I'm the one that's about to get waterboarded!” 

“Uh huh,” Mina plops down on the other couch as Chaeyoung hands her a bottle, “I know both of you well enough to know that she’s doing that for a reason.” 

Nayeon lets out a pitiful whine that has all of them wincing and clutching their ears. “You’re taking her side? Is this what it’s going to be like when we have kids?” 

And almost immediately Mina’s face goes white as a sheet. “Wha- kids? What are you talking about?” 

“What do you mean what am I talking about? I thought we discussed this already.” 

“We definitely did not !” Mina shrieks.

Nayeon furrows her eyebrows in confusion. “What? We totally did! I mean why do you think we got a house with so many bedrooms?” 

She feels Sana burrowing her face into her back in a vain attempt at stifling her giggles. 

“I…” Mina stammers, “I thought that was just... I mean we haven’t even…” 

Mina trails off to the sound of five women failing to muffle their laughter, to which she immediately jumps to her feet, stomping her way over to Nayeon and dragging her out to the kitchen by the collar of her shirt.

"Well," Jihyo remarks, "that was certainly something." 

"You know I was wondering about all the bedrooms." Sana adds, "I think I pulled something in my back moving all of those freaking mattresses." 

Chaeyoung nods her head with an exhausted huff as she falls back into the couch. "And my god, putting all of those bed frames together… my knees are going to be bruised for a week."

"I still don't understand why it came down to us to move everything." Dahyun says. "I mean, my god where did they get so much stuff?"

"It might've been better if we had our two strongest members helping like we were supposed to."

"Yeah," Momo grumbles, but they're too busy making up excuses to avoid seeing each other."

"Well, Jeongyeon does actually have a lot of packing to do." Jihyo cuts in diplomatically, "I mean her flight leaves tomorrow morning."

All at once, the group explodes into an all together different kind of chaos. 

"Tomorrow?"

"She said she wouldn't be leaving for another few weeks!" 

"Without saying goodbye?"

"We already made reservations for her farewell dinner!"

"Oh this is so…"

"Woah woah, calm down!" Jihyo shouts, rising to her feet so that her already loud voice projects even further than normal, "it's just to look at apartments and meet the producers. She'll be back next Sunday!"

And with that, the room falls back into a stunned silence that's only broken by Chaeyoung hesitantly chiming in. 

"Wait… did you say next Sunday?" 

"Uh yeah?" Jihyo answers, "in fact I'm supposed to be picking her up at the airport even though…" 

"Are you sure?" Chaeyoung interrupts, voice taking on a strangely tense tone that she doesn't quite understand. "Sunday?"

And the confusion that Dahyun feels is mirrored by the expression on Jihyo's face as she turns to respond. 

"Uh yeah? Why are you being so…"

Chaeyoung cuts her off with a low groan. "Uh hello? Tzuyu's album is dropping on Saturday? We're all going to her live show? Is any of this ringing any bells?" 

A beat just long enough to hear the pin drop passes before they fall back into a collective groan. 

"She… she wouldn't have scheduled it like this on purpose, would she?" Momo asks quietly. 

Sana's quick to shake her head. "No way. There… Jeongyeonnie would never do something like that, no matter how much she's hurting. I mean she practically moved mountains for Tzuyu's first award show all those years ago and that was just as bad. There's no way she'd miss out on this on purpose."

"Are you sure? Because last weekend when we forced them both to come to lunch it was like she was ready to break down in tears the second Tzuyu stepped through the door." 

At that Dahyun lets out a deep sigh. "Tzuyu hasn't been much better. That lunch was the first time she'd left her room in weeks."

"That bad huh?" Chaeyoung says. 

Another sigh. "She keeps saying that she's just busy working on stuff for her upcoming release, but a couple of times I've heard her sniffling through the door. And whenever I ask it's still the same answer." 

Momo slumps against her legs with a huff of her own. "Well, I guess there isn't really enough time to implement the next step in our plan if Jeongyeon’s going to be gone for a whole week." 

"Not that it really matters." Sana says, "the whole 'trapping them on a ferris wheel' thing was kind of reliant on them actually speaking to each other a little at lunch." 

"Well… then what do we do?" Chaeyoung asks, "at this rate those two are never going to figure this out. Unless they somehow decide to patch things up with each other on their own." 

Dahyun lets out a skeptical scoff, falling back into Sana's embrace as she crosses her arms in front of her chest. "As if that's ever going to happen."

Jeongyeon reaches up to wipe the sweat off of her forehead, feeling a slight ache creeping into her back as she zips up her suitcase. 

Maybe it’s a little ridiculous to check her luggage for a third time the night before her flight leaves, but that’s just kind of how she is. Her sister had spent a large part of the evening drinking wine and watching with a fair amount of amusement as Jeongyeon catered to her own neuroses, but she can’t help it. After so many years of experiencing first hand exactly what can go wrong on the road, these are the kind of habits that she’d developed. 

She lifts her head up, scanning the room a couple of times and getting ready to shout across the apartment to ask Seungyeon if she’s seen her purse anywhere when the doorbell suddenly rings. 

Her eyebrows scrunch on their own as she starts heading toward the front door, absentmindedly wondering to herself what idiot could possibly be visiting at this time of night or if her sister had ordered takeout without telling her. 

That would honestly be extremely upsetting. 

And apparently that thought alone is enough for her to start randomly feeling hungry again, leading her to consider whether it’s worth ordering something herself even at this ridiculous hour. 

But all the thoughts of tteokbokki and fried chicken floating around in her mind dissolve into thin air the second she steps back to let the door swing open. 

It’s honestly somehow even more painful than all the times they’ve crossed paths in the last couple of weeks, and even then it was all she’d been able to manage to not just break down in tears in the middle of the restaurant. 

Somewhere in the back of her mind she registers the way her heart goes from pounding away in her chest to stopping altogether.

Her hands are shaking. 

And her mouth is dry. 

A sharp gasp forces itself into her lungs and before she knows it, there are words shakily tumbling past her lips. 

"T-Tzuyu?"

The younger girl looks up, flashing her a hesitant smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. She watches intently as Tzuyu brushes back a stray lock of hair knocked loose by the wind, boring into her with those huge, piercing eyes as the familiar and gentle sound of the girl’s voice floats its way into her ears. 

"Hi Jeongyeon-unnie."

Chapter Text

3 Years Ago

There’s some voice in the back of her mind that’s telling her that she should be more nervous. 

Or excited.

Or maybe even scared.

At the very least her heart should be pounding or something like it did back when Twice was attending their first award show all those years ago. 

But it’s not. And in place of the typical rapid beating, there's nothing but a hollow emptiness that aches in her chest so hard that she feels like she could break down in tears right there.

Of course she can’t because she’s sitting in the middle of a sea of celebrities with hundreds of cameras trained on her as always. But therein kind of lies the real problem. She’s sitting here on an uncomfortable seat in a ridiculous dress with more people than she would ever feel comfortable with, but she feels alone. 

Because for the first time in Tzuyu’s life, she’s tackling an entire award show season on her own. Without her members. Her family. And to say that the prospect is intimidating, daunting even, is a drastic understatement. 

It just feels… wrong. Sitting here on this huge bench on her own, no Jihyo to calm her nerves with a single well timed hug, no Mina or Momo to make smart comments about the dance choreography, no Sana and Dahyun to ease the tension with their ridiculous antics, not even any sassy quips from Chaeyoung or Nayeon about people’s outfits. 

But easily the presence that she’s missing the most is Jeongyeon's. 

And it’s not even just that she’s always left breathless at the sight of Jeongyeon in slightly more formal attire, or that the atmosphere of the night always ends up resulting in a few extra opportunities at grabbing the girl’s hand or cuddling up against her chest. Rather it’s just the little things Jeongyeon always does for her throughout the course of an award show that always seems to make it feel more… manageable somehow.

Because in a way, Jeongyeon kind of encapsulates everything that she appreciates from the other members.

She hugs as well as Jihyo, is just as sassy as Nayeon or Chaeyoung, notices little things in performances like Mina and Momo, and pulls all these little pranks that bring a smile to her face just as well as Sana and Dahyun can. 

And it’s so much more than that too. 

Whether it happened to be handing her a couple of extra blankets, bringing her a glass of water, offering her candy hidden somewhere in her dress, or even scaring off sleazy guys asking for her number, Jeongyeon always seemed to find every opportunity possible to make sure that she was feeling comfortable. 

But this time… this time she has no one. 

Sana and Momo had only barely been able to respond with a few quick apologies because they were so busy setting up their new music company in Japan. 

Mina had been booked for a runway show in Australia, a side effect of branching into another industry was that their schedules didn’t fall into place with the same award seasons. And Chaeyoung had more or less the same problem, having been hired to write a new song for a singer half the world away. 

Jihyo and Nayeon were a little more questionable in that regard, but having not actually had any releases this season, were still apparently in the middle of preparing for their upcoming comebacks, which she has to admit had hurt a little to hear. 

Dahyun had apologized profusely all throughout the previous night because she’d been hired to participate in the broadcast coverage of the show, throwing in an endless amount of heartfelt promises to come with her to the afterparty.

And of course, that just left Jeongyeon, the one person whose presence she’s missing the most hadn’t been able to manage more than a congratulatory text from all the way in her penthouse in Los Angeles. 

It’s all she can do to not break down in tears right here for the entire world to see.

Obviously saying that she’s completely alone is a bit of an exaggeration. Jackson had of course come with her to show his support, as had Shuhua and Elkie. And all night she’d exchanged greetings with a dozen other idols that she’s gotten to know over the past few years, Bang Chan and Felix had even brought a bouquet of flowers as congratulations for having such a successful solo debut. But it just wasn’t the same. 

Especially now, as she, like all of the other solo artists here tonight, is forced to sit alone just for the stupid taping of the show. 

And somehow it gets even worse when the MC takes the stage for the Song of the Year award, a category that she knows she’s nominated for, and she finally feels her heartbeat starting to pick up speed. 

Her fingers start to twitch just from the sheer memory of all the times Sana had grabbed her hand as they eagerly awaited the announcement of the winner. Her shoulders feel painfully empty without one of her members’ arms wrapped around them, and now more than ever she’s missing the lack of Jeongyeon calming her down with nothing more than a reassuring smile. 

It’s strange when she realizes that for as much as her adrenaline is pumping right now, there’s actually a part of her that doesn’t actually want to win. Because winning would mean going up on that huge stage on her own, giving some kind of speech, drawing in all of the cameras, all when she’s barely able to hold back the tidal wave of tears threatening to spill harder with every passing second.

But then, of course, the envelope is unfolded and the MC leans up closer to the mic and says the two words that elicit the most conflicted storm of emotions that she’s ever experienced. 

Chou Tzuyu

A collective roar tears through the concert hall. And the next thing she knows people all around her are rising to their feet. 

Someone just to her right, Somi she thinks, is ushering her to get up, and it takes another second or two for her to muster up the strength. 

Her heels are uncomfortable. And it’s made all the worse by the way she slowly shuffles down the aisle, feet dragging with every painfully lethargic step. 

Honestly she's not even sure how she makes it to the stage, much less up the tiny staircase carved into the side, but she does. And the next thing she knows, she's standing in front of the microphone, the award laying heavy in her hands, flashing a sheepish and embarrassed smile as she takes in the thousands of eyes boring into her from around the crowded hall. 

It's only after a horribly awkward second that she realizes she has to say something, and when she does it comes out shaky and weak, not at all the calm and collected image that she's supposed to be conveying right now. 

"Um…" 

The tears are making their presence known in the way her voice trembles as she pulls away. 

But she can't exactly just stop now. 

"So… I want to say thank you to… well, everyone who made this possible." 

It feels like every word comes out more broken than the last. 

"I uh…" she pulls back again to clear her throat. "Thank you to all the fans for all the support. I couldn't… um I couldn't…" 

She can see two of the production crew exchange a worried glance out of the corner of her eye. 

She breathes in a deep breath, summoning every ounce of willpower she has to try and regain some form of composure. 

"I couldn't do this without each and every one of you." She says, a little more clearly this time. "It's… really unbelievable standing up here. Honestly, I never thought I'd ever get the chance to come to an award show alone like this. I…" 

But she doesn't get a chance to get any further before a familiar voice is suddenly and very loudly cutting her off. 

"Who says you're alone?" 

Her entire body freezes, and even though there's some distant part of her mind that knows that the sound had definitely come through the speakers, she still finds herself rapidly flicking her eyes throughout the concert hall in search of the source. 

And for the most part she finds a similar amount of confusion on the faces of all the audience members. But then she makes eye contact with the MC, and sees this warm, knowing smile on his lips that instantly sets off red flags. 

But she doesn't even get a chance to process her suspicion before she notices the curtain slowly rising behind her. 

And she doesn't know what it is, maybe some deep and significantly more intuitive part of her brain that actually seems to understand what’s happening, but time seems to move in slow motion as she spins around. 

Which is probably why she's so in tune with every little reaction her body has, eyes widening, heart racing, and tears immediately threatening to spill over, as if her body knows who it is before she even really registers it. 

Sana is the first to reach her, followed closely by Momo who wraps her in a tight hug as the tears start to fall. 

Chaeyoung is next, with Jihyo and Nayeon not far behind, all three of them pressing sloppy kisses to her cheeks and ruffling her hair in a way that's sure to upset the half dozen people it had taken to put together her look tonight. 

Mina follows just behind, joining in their hug with a gummy smile and a soft squeeze of her hand that Tzuyu can barely even show her appreciation for through the tears now fully streaming down her face. 

That just leaves Jeongyeon, who comes up more slowly with this beaming glow to her eyes as she reaches up with the gentlest touch and brushes a couple of tears from her cheek. 

And somehow, with that simple gesture, all of the overwhelming input around her from the glaring lights to the deafening roar of the crowd fades away to nothing. Even the tears blurring her vision seems to clear for just that moment, allowing her to truly appreciate the words that Jeongyeon whispers into her ear. 

“Congratulations Tzu. I’m so proud of you.” 

And just like that, Tzuyu instantly breaks down into a fit of uncontrolled sobbing, something that seems to make the crowd cheer even louder as her girls pile in and somehow find a way to hug her tighter than the vice grip that they already had on her. 

Present Day 

Even the way Jeongyeon says her name at this point seems to have a profound effect on Tzuyu’s heart. 

And maybe it’s just the fact that she hasn’t truly seen the older woman in well over a month, but there’s something about it that has her ducking her head as she nervously runs a hand through her hair. 

Her voice comes out quiet even for her, and it’s embarrassingly shaky given how much she’d rehearsed how this was supposed to go on the drive over. 

“Hi Jeongyeon-unnie.” 

“Tzuyu…” Jeongyeon repeats, eyes spread wide and almost instinctively pushing the door open just a little bit wider, “wha- what are you doing here?” 

It’s honestly a little concerning that she’s in such an awful state of mind that the first thing she jumps to is this nagging insecurity that Jeongyeon doesn’t want to see her. But she pushes those thoughts to the back of her mind. Because for the past few weeks she’s done nothing but let these fears control her, and given how much it had taken to muster up the courage to come here, feels like there’s no way she can back out now. 

But even with all she had done to prepare herself for this, she still finds it surprisingly hard to come up with the words necessary to respond. 

“Well,” she says hesitantly, “I just… I know you must be busy and everything but I… I really wanted to see you.” 

Her eyes are now trained on the older woman’s face, watching intently for any sort of reaction that would indicate that it would be better for her to just leave now, but thankfully she doesn’t see anything beyond a brief flicker of uncertainty in Jeongyeon’s eyes before they soften back into a slightly more familiar gaze.

And that’s enough to give her a spark of confidence just barely strong enough to keep pushing.

“It’s been a while unnie.” She continues, “and I’ve missed you.” 

With that, Jeongyeon brings a hand up to sheepishly rub at the back of her neck. “Yeah… I’m really sorry I haven’t been able to hang out recently. It’s just been kind of busy with the move and everything.”

“I understand.” Tzuyu answers quietly. She bites down on her lip, feeling a whole new wave of nervousness wash over as the two of them fall into an uncomfortable silence. 

"I…" 

"Did…"

Both of them abruptly trail off to allow the other to speak, nervously tearing their eyes away the second they come into contact with the other's. 

Honestly, how had it come to this? 

Silences had never been uncomfortable with Jeongyeon. That was one of the things she appreciated the most about the older woman. Sure, she wasn't quite as content to just sit with her as someone like Mina, but Jeongyeon had always been one of the members that respected her more introverted tendencies, even if that occasionally gave way to light-hearted pranking or poking her side in a deliberate attempt to annoy her. 

But now it feels like the entire dynamic of their relationship has been shattered out of nowhere.

"Sorry." Jeongyeon says. 

"No, don't be." Tzuyu replies quickly, "I… are you busy right now?" 

Jeongyeon weakly shakes her head. "No, I just… I don't know if you'd really want to come inside. It's kind of a disaster in there with all the boxes." 

She feels her heart start to pound a little harder. 

"Well, maybe we don't go inside then. It… it's a nice night out. Maybe we could go for a walk or something?"

Jeongyeon raises an eyebrow and finally lets the tiniest hint of a smile spread on her lips, a welcome sight that she can't even remember when she'd last seen. 

"A walk?" The older woman says, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she leans casually up against the door frame. "Where to?"

Tzuyu bites down on her lip, finally looking up into those glowing amber eyes as she tosses the idea in her mind. Because of course she'd given some thought to where she wanted this night to go, and even on the drive over she'd still been unsure of the best way to approach this, but in the end there's just this nagging memory in the back of her mind that she just couldn't seem to let go of over the past few days. 

"I'm not completely sure, but I was thinking that it might be fun to walk down by the concert hall downtown."

"Where did you learn how to do this again?"

Jeongyeon shoots her a quick glance out of the corner of her eye before turning her attention back to the door. 

"It was part of my character's story that I had a rough childhood. There were a lot of scenes that involved picking locks so I kind of had to learn. Especially after the first couple of episodes aired and a ton of fans commented on how terrible I was at it."

Tzuyu furrows her eyebrows. "So you just started breaking into places for practice?"

"What? No." Jeongyeon answers, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she jams her hairpin back into the keyhole, "no, they sell these little sets with different kinds of locks. This is the first time I've actually had to use it in real life."

Tzuyu shoots another wary glance down both ends of the alleyway. 

"Are you sure we should be doing this? I mean we could just come back some other time when it's actually open."

"It'll be fine. And besides, who knows if we'll get another chance before… uh… before it gets all booked up for award season." 

The awkward, fumbling recovery makes Tzuyu cringe. Basically the entire walk over here had been pleasant enough, with a nice gentle breeze kissing their skin as they made lots of comments and light-hearted jokes about Mina and Nayeon getting closer to tying the knot. But even if they'd fallen back on some fairly comfortable subject matter, it still wasn't quite the same, not with the unspoken issue of Jeongyeon leaving hanging over both of their heads. 

And it's because of that giant, glaring elephant in the room that Tzuyu finds herself at a complete loss for words, leaving her with no other options other than to anxiously fuss with the hem of her skirt until the door unlocked with a satisfying click. 

"Ha!" Jeongyeon exclaims triumphantly, "told you I could do it!"

"I never doubted that you could, actually I'm more afraid about how it's going to look on the arrest report."

"Oh don't be so dramatic. Now come on, you said you wanted to take another look around, right? Let's go." 

With that, Jeongyeon slips through the door, leaving Tzuyu standing just outside battling her inner turmoil before stepping inside with an exasperated huff. 

It takes a second for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light, and it's after a fair bit of panicked searching through the suffocating darkness that she finally spots Jeongyeon's figure standing at the entrance to the main auditorium, clearing a path through the velvet ropes and pushing open the large double doors. 

Tzuyu follows a bit more slowly, arms tucked behind her back and admiring the familiar surroundings before coming up to join Jeongyeon who's sitting on the stage, staring up at the moon shining brilliantly through the skylight. 

"It's been a while since you've been here, hasn't it?" She asks gently. 

"Yeah." Jeongyeon answers, "actually, it was… probably for your first award show as a soloist wasn't it?"

"Mhmm. That was a nice night."

"It really was. You know Jihyo actually cried while we were waiting backstage? She was feeling all sappy because her 'little maknae' was suddenly all grown up. It was pretty ridiculous."

"Oh really?" Tzuyu cracks a sly grin. "Because Nayeon-unnie said that you were the one that cried for the entire car ride over."

"W-what? No! I didn't…"

"You can quit pretending unnie. Sana-unnie said she saw it too. Besides, we all know that you're the real sap out of all of us."

"That is not true!" Jeongyeon protests, "I just got… emotional. And besides, I seem to remember you bawling your eyes out on this very stage that night."

"Hey, that's not my fault." Tzuyu says, "you all pretended that you couldn't come! And it was already kind of hard coming to an award show on my own…"

Jeongyeon scoots a tiny bit closer. "I'm sorry Tzu, we just wanted to surprise you. And at first it wasn't even a lie. A lot of us actually were really busy."

"So then what happened? Even to this day nobody will even tell me how you guys organized it all."

"Really? Not even Nayeon with her big mouth?"

"No." Tzuyu replies, "I even tried to ask Dahyun one night when she got drunk at Chaeyoung's birthday and I still couldn't get any answers. Honestly I've never seen the others so committed to keeping a secret. I can't even figure out why they won't tell me."

Jeongyeon lets out a sheepish chuckle, reaching up to rub the back of her neck before falling back against the stage. "I… actually might have the answer." 

Tzuyu snaps her head over to see a nervous look on the woman's face. "Really?"

"Uh yeah. It's kind of a long story but it more or less started when Jackson-oppa visited me in LA a few weeks before the award show. He mentioned that you were looking like a favorite for a couple of big awards."

Tzuyu narrows her eyes, leaning a little closer to the woman currently unable to look her in the eye. 

"After that…" Jeongyeon continues hesitantly, "I kind of started asking the others what their plans were for the day of the show. And then after it became clear that a lot of them hadn't actually told you whether or not they could go, the idea kind of formed on its own."

"Wait." Tzuyu feels her breath catching in her chest. "So you were behind all of it?"

"Um… yeah. Admittedly Sana and Momo actually had a lot of stuff they had to move around schedule-wise, and Dahyun really was supposed to host the live broadcast, but after all the trouble I went through to rearrange my own filming schedule…" 

Tzuyu lets out a shaky breath, head practically spinning at the bombshell that Jeongyeon had just dropped. 

"Unnie… you really did that?" 

All she gets in response is a shy smile that she can barely see in the dim lighting. 

"I… why?" Tzuyu stammers. 

"Um… well I mean you were the first one of us to get any kind of award after we split," Jeongyeon says, stumbling over every other word, "and I don't know, you're our maknae and I just thought that uh… we should do whatever it takes to support you." The woman looks back up with an anxious apprehension in her eyes. “You… you aren’t mad are you?” 

“Mad? No.” She feels herself instinctively leaning closer. “Unnie... that night was probably one of the most touching and heartwarming experiences of my life. I don’t know if I can honestly say that I’ve ever felt so loved before.” 

“Really?” Jeongyeon’s eyes go wide, finally meeting her own for what feels like the first time that night. 

“Yes.” Tzuyu answers, “and really, I should have known that you were the one behind it. You’re always the one who’s looking out for me and taking care of me.” She trails off for a second, eyes flicking down and noticing for the first time just how close they are to each other. “I’m… really going to miss you unnie.” 

It comes out shaky and weak, so quiet that she’s actually surprised to see Jeongyeon reacting at all, the older woman breathing in a sharp breath as they finally break through the topic they’d both been working so hard to avoid all night. 

And when Jeongyeon finally responds, it’s with a hushed sense of vulnerability that she’s never heard before. 

“Tzuyu, are you okay with all of this?” 

“Am I okay?” 

“With me leaving.” 

She holds the woman’s gaze for a second, finding just the slightest cracks in the unreadable mask that Jeongyeon had been wearing all night. 

And honestly? Up until a second ago, she wouldn't have known the answer to that question, even though she had spent basically every second on the way here thinking, replaying all the events of the past couple of weeks until her head was spinning. 

But now, with Jeongyeon's honey sweet eyes right in front of her, tinged with a trepidation that makes her heart ache, Tzuyu finds herself with a rare moment of clarity. And with it, a flurry of raw emotions and memories washes over her. 

She sees so many things all at once, all the moments big or small that they've shared over the years. 

She sees Jeongyeon fixing her hair in the middle of a shoot, her lips pressed thin and eyebrows furrowed in concentration even over something so trivial. 

She sees Jeongyeon waking her up in the dorms, a gentle smile on her lips and a steaming mug of Tzuyu's favorite tea in her hand. 

And even as tears start to build up in her eyes, the memories still don't stop flooding in. 

Memories of Jeongyeon offering her jackets and blankets, carefully wrapping Tzuyu in their comforting warmth even as her own shoulders trembled in the cold. 

Memories of Jeongyeon arguing with reporters and shutting down rude fans, every time opening herself up to an ocean of criticism and public backslash, all to protect her. 

And finally… finally she sees herself on this stage, crying like a baby in her arms, surrounded by the family that Jeongyeon had brought back for her. 

It's only then that Tzuyu knows the answer. 

Really it's been in the back of her mind this entire time. She's just been too scared to admit it. 

Because no matter what, everything Jeongyeon has ever done has been for her. 

And no matter what her intentions were coming into this night, she knows that if the situation was reversed, there's no way Jeongyeon would even consider being selfish here. 

“I…” Tzuyu finally mumbles, her voice so thin she feels it could shatter if she tried to put anything more into it, “of course I am.”

Jeongyeon's eyes go wide, just the slightest waver in her voice that barely makes it through to Tzuyu's ears. “Really?” 

“I mean,” Tzuyu follows weakly, “I’m… going to miss you… so much. Honestly, it hasn’t quite felt the same around here without you. But… but I also think it’s incredible how far you’ve come in such a short time." She swallows, forcing the words past her lips even as the walls of her heart start to splinter painfully into her chest. "And I… I know how important something like this is for you. Beyond that, nothing else matters… other than how proud I am of you.” 

It’s not perfect. It’s not the soul-baring confession that the others probably want from her… what she had originally come here to do and what a significant part of her still wants to say herself, but then she sees the timid smile that spreads across Jeongyeon’s lips, thinks back to every single beautiful memory that had come back to her so suddenly little more than a minute ago, and just like that she knows that making this sacrifice is the right choice. Because she loves Jeongyeon, so much that she doesn’t ever want to see her leave again, but also enough that she’s willing to let her go if that’s what she really wants.

And sure, there’s still so much about her feelings that she needs to address, especially because it tastes so similar to that bitter heartbreak she’d barely survived three years ago. But this time, for now, maybe she can find a bit of peace in the knowledge that, if nothing else, at least she’s put her feelings out there in some form. 

And for Tzuyu, that in itself is a bigger step than she could have ever imagined herself taking. 

Chapter Text

“So Tzuyu-ssi.” 

She breathes in a deep breath, cheeks hurting a bit from having to keep the smile plastered to her face all day as she turns to face the host, desperately trying to forget about the hundreds of faces staring down at her from the audience. 

“Yah unnie!” She cries, clicking her tongue in mock annoyance and throwing on her best impression of a cute voice as she gives Dahyun’s arm a gentle slap. “We’ve been friends for years now! You don’t have to be so formal around me!” 

The crowd laughs at their banterful exchange as Dahyun sinks back into her seat with a quiet chuckle and a slight blush on her cheeks. 

“Okay, okay, Tzuyu. ” 

“Yes Dahyun-ssi.” She answers with a cheeky grin. 

She can tell that it's taking every ounce of professionalism that Dahyun has to not reach over and smack the back of her head.

“It’s been less than twelve hours since your first self-written album was released and it’s already looking like it’s going to be breaking records on streaming platforms around the world. I know you’ve already more than established yourself as a solo artist, but this one has to feel especially good.” 

She has to admit that she’s always appreciated the kinds of questions that Dahyun asked her guests, a lot more personal and genuine than you would typically find on a variety show. Sure there’s a lot of the same goofiness that you would expect, especially when you have a host like Dahyun, but honestly, this show is where you’d find some of the most heartfelt moments in a celebrity’s public life. 

Normally she finds it refreshing. But now, when the first thing that comes to mind is that she’s barely had anything but emptiness in her chest since watching Jeongyeon leave for the airport less than a week ago, the question suddenly becomes a whole lot harder to answer. 

“It’s been unbelievable. I never would have expected anything even close to this, I mean there are still a lot of times that I feel like I have so much to prove.” 

“Why is that?”

“Well… I mean for a lot of our time in Twice, it felt like I was mainly recognized for my looks. And I guess that’s partially why I wanted to go this route to begin with. I mean I’ve been fighting all this time to have people recognize my talents and I’m just hoping that with this album, people can start to see me as more than just a visual.” 

She gets a sympathetic smile in response. “Well for the record, you’ve always been more than just a visual. And if there was still anyone doubting how ridiculously talented you are, then I’m certain they’ve been silenced by now. I mean this album… everyone who’s heard it has been absolutely blown away.”

“Well, I can’t take all the credit. None of this would have even been possible without the support from all of my fans, from Director Wang…” 

“Now who’s talking too formally?” Dahyun cuts in, “for all the time I’ve known you he’s always been ‘Jackson-oppa’.” 

“Well I owe him quite a lot.” She answers easily, “he was the one who originally thought of this idea to put out a self-written album and seeing how much people have been enjoying it, I think it’s fair to say that I owe him a little extra respect.” 

“Fair enough.”

"But," Tzuyu flashes a shy smile, dropping her head for just a second before meeting Dahyun’s eyes once again, "I also have to thank Dahyun-unnie. Without her supporting me every day I don't think I would've finished a single song." 

This time Dahyun's blush lights up practically her entire face, leaving the questions up to one of the co-hosts sitting on the opposite couch. 

"What do you mean by that?" 

It comes from a man, someone Tzuyu knows she's seen before, even been introduced and talked to at many of Dahyun's work events over the years, but somehow for the life of her she's never been able to remember the guy's name. Which is why in her head all she can ever really refer to him as is 'Pushy' because of how much he pushes for more information every time she's had a conversation with him. 

It's probably part of why he's had so much success working on talk shows. 

"Well…" she answers carefully, "when I first started it felt like I didn't know what to write at all. I would spend hours and hours at the piano playing with melodies but nothing ever stuck. And it was right when I was about to give up that Dahyun-unnie told me that the problem was that I wasn't writing from the heart, that no matter how much time I spent or how hard I worked at it, none of it would matter if the lyrics didn't truly mean something to me." 

The crowd devolves into a chorus of oohs and ahhs, as do the other hosts on the show, all except for Pushy, who seems to lean forward in his seat with a dangerous looking glint in his eye. 

"So," Pushy says, "you're saying that all of the songs on the album draw from your own personal experiences?" 

Tzuyu nods her head. "Yes. Either that or they just represent something important to me. For example, Lanterns is about the times I would take walks down by the river back in Taiwan, whereas The Moon Represents My Heart is a cover that I picked because of how influential Teresa Teng was on not only me, but everyone in Taiwan growing up. It's a little old fashioned I admit, but everyone's parents, including my own, listened to her music all the time. It's kind of like I grew up with this song, which is why I felt that I really wanted to honor her by singing it on the album." 

"Well," one of the other hosts chimes in, "I'm sure she would have been honored to have you sing it." 

And she flashes a grateful smile in response, about to respond with her thanks when Pushy cuts back in. 

"But what about the other songs?" He asks, "like for instance, Blue Hydrangeas? On the surface that one seems to be about expressing gratitude, but when you look a little deeper it has some rather romantic undertones."

She sees Dahyun's eyes flaring ever so slightly in her peripheral vision as she fights to keep her own from narrowing into a glare. 

Maybe ‘Pushy’ was too kind of a name for him. 

“Uh… I’m sure Tzuyu-ssi drew inspiration from a variety of sources when she was writing these songs.” Dahyun tries, “just because the lyrics are intimate doesn’t necessarily mean they’re romantic.”

“Well sure,” Pushy continues, “but then there’s also Sweet as Honey, where you’re very clearly writing about the eyes of an unnamed individual. It sounds to me like you’re writing about a former lover?” Tzuyu feels her jaw clenching, something that seems to be noticed by just about everybody. “Or maybe not even former?” 

She could seriously jump across the table and strangle this guy right now. 

The second she makes it into her dressing room, Tzuyu falls onto the couch with an exhausted sigh. 

She’d done her very best to dodge all of Pushy’s questions, with the guy deliberately ignoring any of Dahyun’s attempts to steer the conversation back toward the promotion of her album, but in the end, she hadn’t been able to completely avoid revealing anything. 

Honestly to this moment she still isn’t quite sure exactly how much she’d said, but at some point she had definitely let slip that the nature of the ‘relationship’ written in her songs was a lot more one-sided than what Pushy was probably hoping to uncover. 

Beyond that, she’s pretty sure nothing else had gotten out, even when the guy had started getting dangerously close to making the connection between those two songs and her duet song with Jeongyeon. Luckily that was the moment Dahyun decided to dispense with the subtleties and immediately cut to a commercial break, which thankfully meant that all she had left for the show was to perform a song or two once the normal broadcast resumed. 

And that part had gone smoothly enough. Well, about as smoothly as she could ask for given how much was still going through her head by the time the opening notes started playing. 

Definitely not one of her best performances, but it also probably wasn’t too close to her worst. Honestly, at this point she’s not even sure she really cares. On some level she’s just glad to be done for the time being. 

Because she still has a couple of shows to record in the next few hours, as well as a live performance in the evening which she’s honestly dreading. And she knows she shouldn’t, it’s supposed to be the big live debut of the album. But honestly even singing a few more songs feels like too much to handle right now when it involves a big concert hall and a couple thousand people in attendance. 

But of course, none of that is what’s really bothering her. After all, she’s done all of that stuff before. 

No, what’s really sticking in her mind is that Jeongyeon won’t be there. 

When she and Jackson had originally planned out what this day would look like all those weeks ago, they had decided to close her live set with Home, hopefully getting some kind of huge reaction from the crowd with the big reveal that Jeongyeon hadn’t just recorded a couple of lines with her, but would actually be doing the live shows with her as well. 

It was meant to be a bit of a treat, not just for the fans, but for her and Jeongyeon too, a bit of nostalgia to finally take the stage again with another member of Twice, but apparently it wasn’t meant to be. Because Jeongyeon is still in London looking at apartments. And instead of Home , the song that just might be her favorite of the entire album, she’s going to be finishing off her set tonight with one of the songs from her debut, something put together by producers that she hasn’t even met, with lyrics that mean next to nothing to her. 

It just all feels… so wrong. 

She doesn’t get much of a chance to dwell on it before the door suddenly opens, and Tzuyu looks up just in time to see Dahyun stomping in with her eyebrows furrowed and face flushed bright red. It’s probably the angriest she’s ever seen her. 

Thankfully a bit of it drains away the second Dahyun locks eyes with her and immediately rushes over to kneel down by the couch. 

“Oh my god, Tzuyu. I’m so sorry about that… fucking idiot. I’ve told him a million times to stop doing that kind of stupid shit and hounding our guests but he just never listens! I’ve already told the editors to cut out that bit at the end where he started asking about Jeongyeon-unnie, I swear I’ll get him fired or something, I…” 

“Woah woah Dahyun, calm down!” Tzuyu interrupts, quickly sitting up and putting her hands around her shoulders, “unnie, it’s okay. I know it wasn’t your fault.” 

“But it was. He’s part of my staff. And when that kind of stuff happens under my watch, then by definition it’s my fault.” 

She gives her friend a sympathetic smile. “Dahyun, you’re taking this way too hard. I mean yes, his questions were really obnoxious and intrusive, but I would never hold any of that against you.”

Dahyun looks back up at her, eyes stretched wide in shock and mouth hanging open. “You… are you sure? I'd be more than happy to fire him for you." 

"As much as I appreciate the thought, I feel like you don't exactly have real cause for it. And the last thing I'd want is for you to be on the end of a lawsuit."

"I guess…" Dahyun grumbles. 

Tzuyu cracks a small smile, reaching over to pull Dahyun up onto the couch. “This is a cute look on you.” 

“What is?” 

“You playing the overprotective unnie.” She answers cheekily. “It’s a far cry from the girl who used to find someone to hide behind while Jihyo-unnie took care of everything.” 

The blush that lights up Dahyun’s pale face is visible even with her back turned. 

“I uh… I’m still not really used to the idea of it.” 

“What?”

“All of this.” Dahyun mumbles, dipping her head to nervously fuss with the straps on her shoes, “it’s already been more than two years and it still feels ridiculous that people are coming to me with all these questions about how we should be running the show. A lot of times I just feel like this dumb girl making it up as I go.” 

“You’re way more than that and you know it,” Tzuyu says gently. “I mean you’re smart, you’ve always been hilarious, and you’ve worked in the entertainment industry for ten years now.” She can see Dahyun cracking a shy smile as the girl turns to bury her face into Tzuyu’s knees, prompting her to go on. “They look up to you for a reason unnie. And you deserve every bit of respect that they’re giving you.” 

She doesn’t get a response immediately, with Dahyun still too busy trying to fight off the blush on her cheeks, but when she finally looks up, there’s this distant look to her eyes that Tzuyu doesn’t quite recognize. And all she can do is scrunch her eyebrows in confusion. 

“You’ve changed Tzu.” 

“What? How so?” 

“Well I mean… even just that interview is the perfect example. Honestly if someone had told me five years ago that you would’ve handled such a difficult solo interview so elegantly I would’ve called them crazy.”

“It wasn’t that good.” She mumbles, “honestly half the time I was thinking about how easy it would be to jump across the stage and strangle the guy.” 

“Well you didn’t.” Dahyun replies, “and beyond that, the way you answered the questions or even deflected his, all of it was done well and in a really entertaining way. Honestly I have to say that you’ve come a long way from the girl that used to just go radio silent for the entirety of a variety show recording.” 

Tzuyu cracks a shy smile, pulling Dahyun into her side and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Sounds like we’ve both grown up.” 

“Had to happen sooner or later.” 

Her grip tightens around Dahyun’s petite frame as she lets out a quiet chuckle, letting her eyes flutter to a close as she enjoys the rare moment of peace with her best friend, one that's immediately interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. 

"Tzuyu! We need to leave for the next show in twenty minutes!"

She lets out a deep sigh before calling back. "Yes oppa!"

"Now that's a part of the idol life that I definitely don't miss." Dahyun remarks. "For all the other kinds of stress involved in this job, at least I don't have to pull a full day of schedules anymore."

Another sigh escapes her lips as she rises to her feet, dragging herself over to the makeup station to remove her jewelry. "God, you have no idea how jealous I am right now." 

"Oh you know I'm just messing with you. Besides, you have nothing to be jealous of. You're doing something seriously incredible. You should be proud. I know I am, and the other girls are too."

She gives Dahyun a grateful smile through the mirror. "Thanks unnie. Is everyone coming tonight?" 

"You know there's no way we would miss this. Although Chaeyoung texted me just as we were heading up to record the show to say that she has something right before so she might not be able to make it for dinner. How she managed to forget that for the past week and a half of planning is… amazing to me, but she promises that she’ll be on time for the show.” 

“Okay, and did you guys decide whether or not you wanted to actually sit in the audience? Because if not, you’re more than welcome to hide backstage with me and avoid all the press.” 

“Jackson-oppa did offer to get us some backstage passes that I’ll at least probably accept in case there’s anything you need during the show, but some of the others had the idea to get some seats right up at the front. I think Nayeon-unnie said something about giving you strength with the ‘beauty of her face’.” 

Tzuyu lets out a quiet chuckle as she shakes her head in disbelief. “I suppose it would be comforting to have some familiar faces in the crowd, especially in a spot where I can actually see them. But… it would be really nice to have you backstage with me. I’m actually kind of nervous about tonight.” 

She feels a gentle pat on her back as Dahyun sinks down to rest an arm over her shoulders, flashing a strangely reassuring grin at her through the mirror. 

“You’re going to be great Tzu, Jackson-oppa has personally seen to it that nothing’s going to come at you from out of left field or will be surprising in any way. Beyond that, this is something you’ve done a thousand times before. So, nothing to worry about. Right?” 

Tzuyu’s pretty sure she could throw up at any moment. 

She’s hiding behind the curtains right now watching the MCs on stage exchanging some banter that she hasn’t heard a single word of. 

If she was able to think at all, she’d probably be dragging herself into the green room to find some water or food or anything that might calm her overactive nerves. But she doesn't. Because it's pretty much all she can manage to not pass out on the spot right then and there. 

And it feels even more ridiculous because this isn't even her first song of the night. In fact, she's already over halfway through her set list by this point. And while normally this would mean that she'd be just getting into her rhythm, shaking off any anxiety as her voice warms up, she'd instead found that her nervousness had only gotten worse with every song. 

The worst part is that she knows why.

It's because she had chosen to start off her set with easy songs, favorites from old albums as well as Lanterns and The Moon Represents My Heart from her new releases. Both those songs had been harmless, nothing too personal or soul bearing, but now… now she’s supposed to go out there and sing Sweet as Honey, the song literally written about Jeongyeon’s eyes.

She’s really starting to hate her past self for ignoring everyone’s precautions about the consequences of writing such intimate lyrics. 

And it only gets worse as she vaguely hears the sound of her name booming through the sound system, something that can only mean that she's slated to go back out there soon. 

Yeah, she's definitely going to throw up. 

And she's just looking around for a trash bin or a plastic bag or something when she feels a firm hand clapping down on her shoulder. 

"Hey there superstar!" Dahyun says, "ready to pour your heart out for the entire world?"

The glare that she levels has Dahyun instantly recoiling in shock. 

"Woah okay, so I take it you're still feeling a little nervous?" 

She doesn't respond immediately, instead opting to tear her eyes away and continue anxiously scanning the audience until she feels a hand gently tugging her back. 

"Hey." Dahyun's voice is gentle and calming as the girl brushes a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "It's going to be okay. I mean, the first half went well, didn't it?" 

"Well yeah," Tzuyu grumbles, "but the next song…"

Dahyun's grip tightens around her arm. "Is one of the most touching and heartfelt pieces of music that I've ever heard." 

"Well I don't know about that…" 

"I do." 

Tzuyu bites down on her lip, trying to make herself see the reasoning behind her friend's seemingly endless confidence, but comes up short. 

She lets out a deep sigh, clenching her fist around the skirt of her dress in a way that's sure to earn her a scolding from her managers. "I just haven't ever performed a song quite like this before."

Dahyun gives her a soft smile. "And that's why it's going to be so great."

She blinks once. Then again. And it's only by the third that she arrives at the conclusion that Dahyun must be suffering from sleep deprivation or something. 

"What?" She says, cringing internally at how she stumbles over a single basic word, "how is that supposed to…" 

"Because you've never sung a song that means as much to you as this one does," Dahyun answers firmly. "And if you can sound that amazing singing stuff written by people you’ve never even met, then you're going to freaking blow the roof off of this place when everyone out there hears you actually singing from your heart."

Tzuyu breathes in a long, drawn out breath, trying to add Dahyun's comforting words to every other little trick she's learned for dealing with nerves over the years. And it actually kind of works, at least well enough for her to slowly walk out on stage when the MCs announce her for the second half of the show. 

But then, right as the opening notes start to drip through the speakers and the soul-baring lyrics she had written begin fading into her mind, she catches just the slightest glimpse of an achingly familiar face… all the way in the back of the auditorium and barely visible with the lights dimming all throughout the room. But even as the spotlight flares up overhead and practically blinds her to the world more than a few feet away from the stage, she can still make out that unmistakable glow to the eyes that had inspired this very song. 

She has to thank whoever happens to be watching over her at that moment that she isn't standing just a step or two closer to the microphone, otherwise everyone in the concert hall… not to mention the millions of viewers on the various streaming services across the world would have heard the name that escapes her lips in the form of a single shaky gasp. 

"Jeongyeon-unnie."

Chapter Text

The second the song comes to a shaky end, Tzuyu is rushing backstage, hands going up to practically tear her hair out as she pushes her way into the green room. 

"What is she doing here?" 

A wave of panic washes over Dahyun's face as she closes the door behind her. "I don't know. Tzu, I promise I didn't have anything to do with this." 

She can feel a hint of tears starting to sting the back of her eyes. The entire show had pretty much become hopeless the second she'd seen Jeongyeon in the crowd, something about doing a live performance of a song written about the eyes of someone actually in the audience had been so nerve wracking that all her years of training had pretty much gone out the window. 

Her voice had gone flat, she'd stumbled over lyrics, and even mistimed the key change in the middle of the song. All in all, it had been a horrible performance that she would probably be absolutely distraught over if she wasn't so busy freaking out about the fact that Jeongyeon was actually here. 

"I thought she was supposed to be in London until tomorrow night!" 

"She was!" Dahyun answers, "Jihyo-unnie was even complaining yesterday about how she's going to have to pick her up at the airport tomorrow because Seungyeon-unnie is still in Jeju for a shoot."

Tzuyu runs a hand through her hair, pacing back and forth across the dressing room as she lets out another deep sigh. And honestly, it feels somewhat doubtful that she’ll ever find herself stopping… until Dahyun’s quiet voice breaks through the tense silence. 

“Tzu…” The girl says carefully, “do you not… want her here?” 

She stops in her tracks, whipping around in time to catch the inquisitive look on her friend’s pale face. 

“What?” She snaps. 

“Do you not want her here?” Dahyun repeats. 

"This is Jeongyeon-unnie we're talking about." Tzuyu fires back quickly, "I mean… you know how I feel about her. Why wouldn't I want her here?"

Dahyun's expression softens a little as she scoots up in her seat. "You tell me."

Tzuyu breathes in a slow breath, seeing how pointless it is to keep up the charade when her friend has seen through her so completely. 

And as if sensing her inner turmoil (which she probably has), Dahyun opens up her arms to invite her in for a hug, an offer that Tzuyu accepts without hesitation as she sinks into the embrace with a weak sigh. 

"You know it's okay if you're feeling conflicted," Dahyun says, voice quiet as she begins tenderly running her fingers through Tzuyu's hair.

“Is it?” She grumbles. “Because to me, it seems like I’m freaking out about something that I had supposedly made my peace with months ago. I mean, Jihyo-unnie and Chaeyoung even came to me to ask if I was sure about all this.” 

“And what did you tell them?” 

“I told them the same thing I’ve been telling everyone else: that one way or another I wanted Jeongyeon-unnie to know how I feel, and since I have such a hard time talking about stuff like this… that maybe it would be better this way.” 

She hears Dahyun give a contemplative hum in response. "And now you don't feel the same?"

Tzuyu's weak reply dies before it even makes it halfway past her lips. Because the truth is she doesn't even know how she feels right now. Everything's just a ridiculous tornado of complicated emotions and she can't seem to make heads or tails of any of it, especially not well enough to put her thoughts to words. 

"Tzu?" Dahyun says, adding in a gentle poke to the side of her head.

"I don't know." She groans. "I mean… if you asked me a few weeks ago I'd probably still say something about how I'm tired of hiding all of this, that ever since Jeongyeon-unnie came back from America it's like I suddenly feel whole again, but now..."

"Now?"

Tzuyu rolls out of Dahyun's lap, falling back into the couch to stare at the ceiling for a second or two before clapping her hands over her face with a frustrated groan. 

"I mean what would be the point of going through all that? She… she's leaving Dahyun! Again!" 

And Dahyun doesn't miss a beat, immediately scooting up next to her with a hesitant sigh. "But Tzuyu, don't you think that Jeongyeon-unnie running off for the second time might be the perfect reason to tell her how you feel?” 

“I did!” Tzuyu’s fierce reply loses steam almost immediately, fizzling back into the shy, soft-spoken voice that she’s more accustomed to as the memory starts coming back to her. “I mean I even… went over to her house the other night.” 

That finally seems to get Dahyun’s attention, as evidenced by the way the girl tenses up against her body and snaps her head up. “Wait. You actually went to talk to her? When?” 

“Um… it was the night before she flew out? So about a week ago I guess.”

Dahyun’s eyes go wide. “And you never told me? Wha- what happened? Did you confess?”

“No.” Tzuyu answers shamefully, “we… we just went for a walk. Actually, we ended up coming here to the theater and… she told me that she was the one that came up with the idea of surprising me on stage that night I won my first Daesang.” 

“Wha- she told you that?” 

Tzuyu gives the girl a quizzical look. “Yes?”

With that, Dahyun jumps off the couch, hands flying to her head as she spins around to shout, “and you still didn’t tell her that you love her?” 

Tzuyu sinks back into the sofa, instinctively shying away from her friend who's now practically glaring down at her from above. “Well, no. I mean… it… actually was part of the reason that I didn't tell her."

"What… I… Tzuyu…" 

If it weren't for everything else going on, Tzuyu would probably find it funny watching her friend's brain implode like this.

"Tzuyu…" Dahyun stammers, letting out an exasperated breath as her fingers only seem to tighten in her hair, "after hearing Jeongyeon-unnie doing something like that… how could you not tell her?"

Tzuyu breathes in a deep sigh. "Well… because it's Jeongyeon-unnie. She always does these kinds of sweet things."

“No no no,” Dahyun cuts in quickly, “I don’t think you understand. This wasn’t just ‘sweet’, this wasn’t just making a group chat and bouncing around vague ideas or arranging carpools. Okay? This was huge. Jeongyeon-unnie literally spent weeks making calls, in the middle of the night because of the time difference mind you, talking to each and every one of us to make sure our schedules were clear, booking flights and hotels before there was even any mention of being able to pay her back. She made the whole thing happen out of nowhere, all because she was afraid that you’d feel lonely on your first award show season.” 

Tzuyu breathes in another deep breath, falling back into the couch and running a hand through her hair. "Dahyun… I just… I know all of that. Okay? Please just sit back down and hear me out?" 

Dahyun gives her a skeptical look, as if she's actually afraid of the consequences that would come from taking the seat next to her. And it's only after an eternity of forcing the most reassuring smile she can manage onto her face that Dahyun finally relents, slowly sinking down onto the couch without a single word, eyes glued to hers the entire time.

Tzuyu bites down on her lip, feeling her heart picking back up at the idea of bringing this all to light. 

"Look I…" she starts shakily, "I know that what Jeongyeon-unnie and I have is… special. And I… when I went to her house the other night, there really was a part of me that was ready to tell her how I feel."

At that, Dahyun's eyes go wide, just for a second, and Tzuyu can tell that it takes every ounce of her willpower to keep from interrupting again. 

"And honestly," Tzuyu continues, "I guess I had been kind of ready for a while. I mean all these songs that I wrote for her were basically because I couldn't keep it to myself anymore… even if I couldn't quite find the courage to actually say it to her." 

"So then what happened?" Dahyun asks quietly.

At that Tzuyu lets out a quiet huff. "Well, she told me that story about how she organized everything to surprise me at the award show, and that's when I had this realization that… Jeongyeon-unnie always does what's best for me and makes sacrifices for me… for all of us honestly. So I thought maybe… maybe this time, I would be the one to make the sacrifice for her." 

"Tzuyu…" Dahyun whispers. 

"I thought…" Tzuyu can feel her throat choking up, "that maybe I could just be okay with putting these songs out there and making my peace with the fact that I at least did something ."

Dahyun blinks slowly, eyes honed in on every single detail on her face. "But?" She offers gently. 

Tzuyu lets out another quiet sigh, her hands tightening around the fabric of her dress as she starts to dive into the storm of emotions stirring back up in her chest.

"But now… now she's here. And I… I don't know what to do. I mean it was already hard enough to make the decision to even try to let her go the other night. And I thought I could do it… until I saw her out there. I mean… what is she even doing here?"

Dahyun bites down on her lip, eyes dropping down to her hands for a second as she thinks over the situation, before looking back up with a fiery determination lighting back up in her eyes. 

"What do you think Tzuyu?" 

She feels herself blinking in confusion. "Well, that's kind of what I'm saying. I don't know." 

"Well," Dahyun says with a quick nod, "then maybe we should just focus on what you do know." 

"What do you…"

"I mean. We know that she's here." Dahyun cuts in, "we know that she wasn't supposed to be until tomorrow but she came back anyway."

"I…" 

"Why do you think she did that Tzu? Can you even imagine how expensive a last-minute flight from London could be?"

"I mean I have an idea…" Tzuyu mumbles. 

"And what about how long the flight is?" 

"W-what?" 

"I've been doing the math in my head this entire time." Dahyun answers, the urgency in her voice growing with every word, "it's only been about fifteen hours since your album was released." 

Tzuyu slowly nods her head. "Yeah…"

"We looked it up just the other night with Jihyo-unnie, a flight from London to Seoul is around eleven to fourteen hours."

Tzuyu feels her heart drop into her stomach as a knot forms in her throat. "You mean she…" 

"Yes." Dahyun says with an emphatic nod, "she came back here for you, Tzuyu. It was true when she first came back to Korea and it's true now. She's here because she understood what you were trying to tell her with your music."

And of course, that thought had crossed Tzuyu's mind, in fact, it's probably the one thing that she hasn't been able to get out of her head the second she'd stepped off the stage, and now that Dahyun is laying it out so clearly for her, even she's having trouble denying the logic. 

"I…" she stammers, her voice barely louder than a whisper, "I thought this was what she wanted."

"What if you're wrong Tzu?" Dahyun asks, "what if you think you're making this huge sacrifice for her when all she really wants is to be with you? I remember how hard it was for you after Jeongyeon-unnie left. But have you ever considered that she might have been feeling the same thing? And if she did… is that really something you want to put her through again?"

"I…" Tzuyu trails off, losing her last shred of willpower as the weight of Dahyun's words slams into her. 

Because of course she's right, as much as Tzuyu might try to avoid admitting it, something had died inside her the day Jeongyeon left. It was little things at first, manifesting in habits that she'd already developed as one of the more introverted members of their group, but eventually… it was like the world around her had begun to lose its luster. 

She stopped enjoying things the way she used to, food started to lose its flavor, even the light of the sun seemed to be dimmer. And as much as Dahyun and the others had tried to help, constantly inviting her out to eat or offering to stay in and watch dramas, it had still taken months for Tzuyu to feel something even resembling normal again. 

The thought of Jeongyeon going through something similar because of her is too much for her to handle.

“No,” Tzuyu says weakly. "No, I couldn't do that to her."

She can see the nervous anticipation etched all over Dahyun’s face as she slowly replies, “okay, so then… what are you going to do about it?” 

Tzuyu holds her friend’s gaze for a moment, gently gnawing on her lip as she attempts to process the whirlwind of emotions bubbling up in her mind before finally letting out a deep sigh and dropping her eyes to the ground. “I guess it’s time to just… tell her.” 

"You…" Dahyun's eyes go wide. "Really?" 

"Really." She answers softly, "I think I've waited long enough." 

And for all the nerves she'd been feeling all day, the feeling that's now taking over her body is a kind of anxiousness that she's never quite experienced before. It's less of the high strung adrenaline rush that she's been struggling to hold at bay and more of a gentle tingling, intense and similarly overwhelming, but altogether much more of a serene sensation than before. 

But where Tzuyu's just starting to relax a bit for the first time in hours, it seems Dahyun's emotions take a drastically different course. 

"Oh my god!" Her friend exclaims, jumping to her feet to take over Tzuyu's earlier role of pacing about the room. "Okay, this is huge. Okay, how do you want to do this? I could go out and bring her back here? Although I guess that would mean finding Jackson-oppa to get an extra backstage pass. But I guess I could do that and text Sana-unnie or something and have her bring Jeongyeon-unnie here. Only this green room isn't exactly the most romantic setting… maybe we should find some candles? Oh, I think I saw some string lights in one of the closets or something, we could get those and…."

"Dahyun!" She puts an end to the girl's rambling with a firm tug on the wrist and a slightly embarrassed smile. "I don't think we need to do any of that."

"R-really?" 

Tzuyu gives a quick nod of the head in response, tightening her grip around the hem of her skirt with her free hand. "It's… I guess part of why we're in this situation in the first place is because I'm so awful with words. So I don't think getting her backstage would be very useful, I probably wouldn't even be able to get out half of what I'd want to say."

"Okay, you're right. Okay, so then…"

"Actually, I think I already have an idea of how I want to do this. The only thing is… I would need to run it by Jackson-oppa, would you mind finding him for me?"

It seems to take a second for her words to really click, but the second it does, Dahyun is practically sprinting for the door, leaving behind a jumbled mess of promises to be back as soon as possible and leaving Tzuyu to contend with the relentless pounding in her chest. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to just go backstage? I mean, Jackson-oppa offered us passes.” 

Jeongyeon lets out a deep sigh, turning to see Chaeyoung still in her spot leaning up against the wall, restlessly tapping her foot and arms crossed in front of her chest. They’re hiding all the way in the back, just inside the ridiculous double doors that had been inexplicably locked when they’d arrived, hoping that it would mean not drawing too much attention from the hordes of paparazzi buzzing about the auditorium. 

"I already told you Chae, I'm not going to do anything to mess with Tzuyu's head on such a big night."

"Well sure but… this is so huge." 

Jeongyeon tightens her grip on her jacket, doing her best to not be swayed by Chaeyoung's endless stream of encouragement to make her move right now, even when there's a part of her that wants nothing more than to do just that. 

"It doesn't matter," Jeongyeon says, voice so tight and robotic that even she herself isn't convinced by the sheer lack of sentiment. "Whatever I might have to say to her can wait until she's done." A moment of silence passes between the two of them before she hastily adds, "and besides, she's only got one more song, it'll just be a few more minutes." 

Chaeyoung gives an incredulous snort in response. "Yeah, if they ever get the show going again. I mean it's been like, fifteen minutes already. Do you think something's wrong?" 

"I'm sure everything's fine Chae." 

Another pause, this one not even long enough for her to take a full breath. 

"You know that bouquet of roses is still in my car.” 

Jeongyeon lets her head thump back against the wall as she lets out a frustrated groan. 

"Chae…"

"I know I know, I'm sorry." The girl says quickly, "I just… want this to go well. Honestly, there’s a part of me that still can't believe this is finally happening." 

"Well it is. And I already told you, the roses won't be necessary." 

But instead of the understanding nod that she's looking for, all she gets in response is a frustrated groan. 

"You've been saying that for like, hours !"

"That's because it's true." Jeongyeon answers. 

Chaeyoung claps a hand over her face out of sheer frustration. "Can't you at least show me what this thing is that you're giving her?" 

"No." 

"Why not?" 

She turns to give the younger girl a confused look, eyebrows furrowed at the uncharacteristically persistent questioning. "Why are you so hung up on this?" 

"How could I not be?" Chaeyoung fires back. "All you've given me since you called me last night has been one cryptic answer after another. I'm dying unnie!" 

"I'm sorry about that." Jeongyeon replies sincerely, "and I really do appreciate everything you've done to help. I mean between getting me a flight on such short notice and secretly picking me up from the airport, I don't even know how I could begin to repay you."

Chaeyoung gives a dismissive wave of the hand in response. "Oh don't start with that. This is what family is for, isn't it? We help each other and we don't keep score. Although on that note I'm kind of wondering why you're so adamant about keeping this a secret from the others." 

"I… I don't know. I'm just feeling kind of nervous and I don't need the added pressure of everyone else getting involved." 

"Unnie." Chaeyoung says gently, "you know there's nothing to be worried about." 

Jeongyeon drops her gaze back to the ground, anxiously shuffling her feet as her hands tighten even more around the smooth leather of her bag. 

"I'm not so sure." She mumbles.

"Well I am." Chaeyoung answers, carefully reaching forward to set a strangely comforting hand on her arm. "You and Tzuyu are perfect for each other. I'm sure whatever you do or say is going to completely sweep her off her feet." 

Jeongyeon raises an eyebrow, forcing a weak smirk onto her face despite the still relentless pounding in her chest. "Really? Even if I don't go in there with a bouquet of roses?" 

Chaeyoung gives her a playful roll of the eyes as she pulls her hand back, leaning back against the wall as she gently bumps their shoulders together. "Well obviously. I mean Tzuyu would take you even if you walked in there wearing a garbage bag. But I still think you should go with the flowers.”

“I don’t know Chae. Isn’t it kind of… corny?”

“I promise it’s not.” The girl insists, “and even if it was, you know how much Tzuyu loves mushy stuff like that.” 

“Well…” Jeongyeon bites down on her lip. “I guess you’re right about that one.” 

“Of course I’m right. And don’t you want to see that look in her eyes when you walk through the door and she sees you with all those flowers?” 

“Well, when you put it like that…”

“Yay!” Chaeyoung chirps, drawing a couple of curious eyes that the shorter girl doesn’t seem to notice at all, “I can go get them now!”

And before she can reach out to stop her, Chaeyoung is already jumping into action, reaching into her pockets to search for her keys only for the lights above them to dim again, causing the girl to freeze in place as they see the curtain finally rise. 

“Or… maybe I’ll wait a couple of minutes.” 

Jeongyeon gives an absentminded nod in response, eyes absolutely glued to the stage as her heart starts to take off again. 

She’s just starting to wonder what kind of entrance Tzuyu has planned for her final number when the lights on stage dim as well, leaving just one large spotlight illuminating the center. 

Chaeyoung shoots her a confused look. And Jeongyeon only barely has the time to meet it before a strangely familiar figure walks out with two tall stools in hand. It isn’t until she sees the guy do a quick scan of the audience, something that immediately sets off red flags as behavior not typical of a real stagehand, that she recognizes Jackson. 

And if she didn’t know better, Jeongyeon would almost say that Jackson had seen her as well. Because for just a second she could have sworn that she had seen him cracking the same infuriating grin that she’d come to know so well over the years. 

But before she can put any thought into the matter, he’s already gone, disappearing behind the curtain and once again leaving the stage empty save for the two stools he’d placed right in center stage. 

She can hear a wave of confused murmurs starting to build amongst the crowd, and it’s right at that moment that Chaeyoung leans over, quietly whispering in her ear, “who’s the second stool for?” 

But of course, she has no idea either. Honestly, her brain hasn’t really been functioning properly since the album had first dropped almost a day ago and it wasn’t until Chaeyoung had pointed it out that she’d realized that this would probably mean a duet of some sort. 

And before she can dig into it enough to start some more irrational spiraling, Tzuyu steps out on stage, and just like that, her mind is wiped completely.

It’s honestly ridiculous how even after all these years just the sight of the girl is enough to leave her absolutely breathless, but what is she supposed to do when she always looks so unbelievably gorgeous? Especially now, walking across the stage in an absolutely stunning red dress that has Jeongyeon questioning her own sanity for showing up to such a big moment in nothing but ripped jeans and a leather jacket. 

God, she probably looks like a homeless person. Maybe that’s the real reason the paparazzi hasn’t bothered them this entire time. 

And just as she’s wondering if she should break her vow of silence and ping the group chat to see if anyone has an extra dress or something, the sound of a second pair of footsteps rings through the tense silence that had fallen over the audience and effectively extinguishes any other thoughts going through her head. 

Cheers start to build up in the crowd and Jeongyeon feels her eyebrows furrowing as she finally recognizes Dahyun, following just a couple of steps behind Tzuyu, a familiar smile on her face as she waves to the crowd with one hand and… carries a guitar in the other? 

In some distant corner of her mind, she recognizes the sound of Chaeyoung voicing her confusion just barely breaking through the deafening roar of all the fans, but she doesn’t really hear any of it. 

It takes another few seconds before they're both standing in front of the stools, only with Dahyun giving Tzuyu a gentle, reassuring touch on the back before hopping onto her stool and the taller girl steps up to the mic, head dipped and nervously clearing her throat in that adorable way that she does before looking back up to the sea of faces in the audience. 

“So,” Tzuyu says, stepping up just a little closer to the edge of the stage, “first I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for coming out to support me tonight. It means so much to me to get such a great response to my first self-written album.” 

There’s another absurdly loud cheer in response that seems to shake the very foundations of the building. 

Tzuyu gives a small smile as she waits for the noise to die down. “And I was originally going to end the show tonight with a bit of a throwback, but now, I think I want to go a different direction and sing one of my new B-Sides instead.”

Another cheer. 

“Unfortunately we didn’t have background music ready for this one but we’re all super lucky that Dahyun-unnie has agreed to help us out and play the guitar instead. Can you all help me thank her?” 

A light blush lights up Dahyun’s face as the crowd erupts, and the girl takes a break from her last minute tuning to give a sheepish wave in response.

“And um…” Tzuyu’s voice breaks through the noise again, this time taking on a much more nervous tone that has Jeongyeon unknowingly biting down on her lip in anticipation. “I know a lot of you have been curious about this song, and initially I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to reveal this to the world but… here I am doing it anyway.” 

A wave of laughter rolls through the crowd, one that Jeongyeon wishes she was relaxed enough to join in with. 

“I wrote Blue Hydrangeas about someone who is… very very important to me. This person has been there for me since the beginning. And honestly, I don’t think I would be here today without their endless support. I wish there was a way to show just how much everything they’ve done has meant to me, I'm sure everyone knows that I'm not always the best with words so in the past I've tried to express how thankful I am with gifts and small gestures, but this person deserves… she deserves so much more than that. So… here I am using my words in the only way I know how. I hope they reach her." 

And with that, Tzuyu slowly takes her seat next to Dahyun, exchanging one last quick nod with her roommate before the girl starts gently strumming the guitar. 

It barely takes a second for Jeongyeon to recognize the melody, after all, she’d listened to the song on repeat for basically the entire flight from London. It’s different of course, acoustic now, but it still has the same heart stopping effect as when she’d first heard it the previous night, alone in her hotel room and hands trembling as she stared blankly at the title that she could barely even believe she was seeing in the dim blue glow of her laptop. 

But for how much she’d been captivated hearing the song through her old beat up headphones, it’s an entirely different experience hearing the song live, especially when Tzuyu’s silky smooth voice starts ringing through the speakers. 

When I go back to the time
To that time we first met
Back to that day
The one I can't ever forget

Jeongyeon remembers that day too, stumbling upon the beautiful foreign girl just outside of the JYPE building, tears in her eyes and ready to pull her hair out. Neither of them had any idea just how much their lives were about to change. 

It isn't the way that I was so ready to fall
Or that I had nobody else there
To catch me at all

That verse is probably one of the ones that hit the hardest. Every time it had come back up she had been slammed with a wave of memories from her days as a trainee seeing Tzuyu wherever she went, in the halls, in the practice rooms, even in the cafeteria, always plenty focused and motivated, but alone.

All I see is that smile
And it keeps me alive
Keeps me going…
For just another little while

This one stirs up plenty of memories as well, of early days and late nights in the practice rooms, of hitting walls that she’d never imagined being able to climb over, only to be pulled over by one simple act by one of her girls, by Tzuyu.

But as visceral as her reaction to that verse always is, it’s nothing compared to what comes with the chorus. 

And I…
Never really found a way to say it
To you
So right now
This is all I can do
And I hope
You can see
How much I need you

And her reaction this time is the same as it’s been with every repeat listen since the very first.

First, comes the stinging in her eyes. Then her heart stops, only to kick into high gear half a second later. She presses her lips into a thin line as the first tears spill down her cheeks, and the last thing that crosses her mind as she gets lost in the rhythm is how empty she feels without Tzuyu by her side right now, a feeling that she’s become more than familiar with over the years, but somehow can’t stand living with for another second. 

Chapter Text

For all the other songs that she’d performed tonight, Tzuyu had left the stage in a hurry, always scrambling into the green room to change her outfit or have her makeup touched up, which had left basically no time for standing around to enjoy the atmosphere of the bustling stage.

And of course on a more personal level, keeping busy like that was always her own little way of dealing with her nerves, and tonight that had been more prevalent than usual. Even her first couple of songs, ones that she’d sung a thousand times before had resulted in her practically bolting off stage and straight into her green room to hide. 

But now… after pouring her heart out for the entire world to see, effectively confronting the very thing that she’d been terrified of all night, she finds herself with a strange sense of serenity as she slowly shuffles behind the curtain. 

Honestly she’s not sure she’s ever felt so light before, as if a weight that she’s been struggling under for all these years has suddenly been lifted off her shoulders. And sure, there’s still a lot that she’s nervous about, a dark and distant part of her mind still worrying about how Jeongyeon would respond to such a public confession, but she’s not going to let that stop her from enjoying this brief moment while she can. 

Because it’s just like everyone’s been telling her all these years. At the very least, this way she won’t have to spend the rest of her life wondering about what could have been if she’d just summoned up a tiny bit more courage.  

Somewhere in the back of her mind she can register the dull roar of the crowd as she rounds the corner to all the dressing rooms, but she doesn’t really hear it. 

There are people passing by carrying all kinds of equipment and clipboards, giving her their congratulations, but it’s all she can do to respond with a gentle ‘thank you’ as she slowly makes her way towards her assigned room.  

And honestly she'd probably just keep going forward in her dazed shambling if it wasn't for Dahyun finally catching up to her, clapping a hand onto her shoulder and flashing a cheeky ear to ear grin. 

“That went well, don’t you think?” 

“It did.” She answers quietly, “I don’t know how to thank you unnie, honestly I’m still kind of amazed at how quickly you were able to pick up the song.” 

“Well it helps that I’ve been listening to your album like nonstop.” Dahyun says, “but let’s not focus on that. Do you think Jeongyeon-unnie got the message?” 

“I hope so.” Tzuyu replies, letting out a deep sigh as she runs a hand through her hair, “I couldn’t quite see her after the lights dimmed but… I don’t know. I guess it all depends on whether or not she remembers such a vague detail from over ten years ago.” 

And as Dahyun reaches forward to offer a soft stroke on the arm she gives her this smile, one that’s gentle and full of affection but still with this strangely suspicious glint to it that has Tzuyu wondering if there’s still something that her friend isn’t telling her. 

“I bet she does.” Dahyun says, “I mean… how could she not remember getting flowers from someone like you?”

She can’t help cracking a grateful smile at that, even if she’s just a little too flustered to respond. 

And luckily she doesn’t have to, because barely a second later, both doors at the end of the hall suddenly and loudly swing open to reveal Jackson with a smirk on his face that rivals Dahyun’s and still wearing his sunglasses despite the fact that they’re indoors. 

“There’s my superstar!” He calls, sauntering over to her as his smile only grows. 

“Oppa…” Tzuyu groans, feeling her cheeks starting to flush under the praise. 

“Nope!” Jackson cuts in, “you’ve earned this one. Both of you have. That was honestly one of the most beautiful performances I’ve ever seen. Maybe I should make some room in the budget so Jeongyeon can make surprise flights more often.” 

“I’d be willing to chip in on something like that,” Dahyun adds. 

But all Tzuyu can do is bury her head in her hands in a vain attempt at hiding the furious blush on her face. 

“Please stop.” She grumbles. 

Jackson lets out a quiet chuckle. "Oh come on, think of the numbers that we'd pull."

And all she hears in response as she lets out her frustrated groan is two sets of amused cackles before Jackson finally joins in on her free side to pull her in for a hug. 

“In all seriousness,” her boss says, “you were great out there Tzuyu, I don’t think there’s any world where Jeongyeon doesn’t fall in love with you all over again.” 

"I hope so." She mumbles, taking a second to collect herself before looking up to meet his gentle, caring gaze, "but either way, I want to say thank you for letting me do that. You talk about numbers but you're risking just as much backlash as I am for what just happened. I mean, I practically came out to the entire world. There are going to be a lot of fans that aren't…" 

"Anyone who has anything to say about that," Jackson interrupts quietly, "can't call themselves real fans if they don't appreciate the real you." 

And that pretty much shuts her up instantly, bringing an altogether different kind of tears to her eyes as she rushes forward to throw her arms around Jackson’s neck. 

“Thank you oppa.” 

She feels a hand gently pressing onto her back as she gets a quiet laugh in response. “You can thank me later,” Jackson says, “right now I think it’s far past time that you go and find Jeongyeon. Do you know where she is?” 

“No,” Tzuyu answers, “but I’ll find her. Actually, I was going to ask you if you’ve seen her anywhere. I don’t know if she can actually get past security without one of your backstage passes.” 

“I only caught a glimpse of her when I was setting up the stage. And I gave all the passes I had to Jihyo. But, they’ve probably found each other by now right?” 

“I don’t know,” Dahyun says, “Jeongyeon-unnie has a habit of dropping in and out without giving any notice whatsoever. Plus from what I saw it seemed like she was hiding way in the back of the auditorium. That doesn’t give me a ton of confidence that she’s told anyone that she’s here.” 

Jackson furrows his eyebrows. “Yeah but wasn’t Chaeyoung back there with her?” 

“Was she? Honestly, it was hard enough to see Jeongyeon-unnie at that distance.” 

“Plus Chaeyoung’s so short,” Tzuyu adds with a huff. 

Dahyun puffs out her lower lip in a hilariously adorable pout. “She’s the same height as me!” 

“You’re short too.” She deadpans. 

And for a second it looks like Dahyun’s about to argue, mouth half open and eyes narrowing in clear offense, but she doesn’t get a chance before Jackson is cutting her off with a loud clap of his hands. “Okay, as entertaining as this is, I think it would probably be best if we focus on finding Jeongyeon. I’ll go out to the stage and see if she’s still lingering in the audience somewhere.” 

Dahyun lets out a weak sigh, visibly relaxing as she casts an uncertain glance back down the hall. “I guess I’ll ping the group chat and see if any of the other girls have seen her. Although knowing our members, we should probably be expecting to see them any minute…” 

And right then, as if on cue, the doors suddenly swing open, slamming into the two doorstops on either wall with a bang that would probably be deafening if it weren’t for the unmistakable screeching of Nayeon and Sana. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Jackson, having experienced these kinds of antics from the girls countless times in the past, cracking a small grin and waving a quick hello to the new arrivals before sneakily disappearing around the corner, leaving Tzuyu and Dahyun to be engulfed by the ensuing group hug. 

There’s a lot of the typical congratulations that’s expected from their group, coming in the form of Jihyo and Sana delightfully screeching about how proud they are directly into her ear, whereas Nayeon and Momo opt for their normal lighthearted teasing and Mina offers a beaming smile and a gentle rub on the back. 

But for how touched she is at the overwhelming support, she can't help but notice that two of them are missing, only confirming their earlier suspicions of Jeongyeon’s secretive tendencies.

"Thanks guys," Tzuyu says, giving her girls a soft smile as they finally pull apart, "I don't want this to sound ungrateful because I really can't even begin to say how much I appreciate you guys being here but… where are Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon-unnie?"

A wave of concern flashes over all five faces and Nayeon exchanges a quick look with Jihyo that she doesn’t quite understand. 

"Um Tzu…" Jihyo says slowly, "are you feeling okay?"

"What?" She answers, slowly blinking her eyes in confusion, "uh yeah?" 

Before she knows what's happening, Sana is stepping forward to press a hand to her forehead. "You feel a little warm Tzuyu-ah."

There's a collective murmur amongst the girls that has Tzuyu and Dahyun both searching their faces for answers. 

But before either of them can ask what's going on, the entire group is practically erupting. 

"Was it too hot on the stage?"

"Are you feeling lightheaded at all?"

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Have you been drinking enough water?" 

"Have you been drinking other things?"

And that's the one that finally has her deciding that she's had enough. 

"Wha- what are you guys talking about?" She shouts, taking a step backwards only to find herself bumping into the wall. 

Another look is exchanged right in front of her, this time between Sana and Mina as Nayeon hesitantly takes a step forward. 

"Tzuyu…" the woman says, so slowly that it seems like she's afraid some kind of bomb is about to go off, "Jeongyeon left last week. For England." 

Her jaw drops as Dahyun stifles a laugh that draws a confused look from Momo. And it's only then that it finally clicks. 

They actually think she's freaking lost her mind. 

"Tzuyu?" And the careful tone of Jihyo's voice is enough to make her want to tear her hair out. "Do you not remember? She got a role in a movie. She…" 

"Oh my god," she finally cuts in, "do you guys seriously think that I don't remember all that? She's here tonight!" 

There's a brief pause, tense as all hell as nothing but more bewildered looks are bounced around until Momo finally breaks the silence.

"Do… do you see her right now?"

And that's finally the breaking point that has her slamming a hand onto her forehead and Dahyun bursting into a furious fit of cackles. 

"Dahyun, what the hell is so funny about this?" Nayeon snaps. 

The girl lets out a light chuckle as she looks up to meet five piercing pairs of eyes. "It’s funny because Tzuyu isn’t going crazy.” 

“We didn’t say she was…” 

“Jeongyeon-unnie really is here.” Dahyun continues, “Jackson-oppa and I both saw her hiding in the very back row, apparently she had Chaeyoung with her.” 

With that, the group falls into a stunned silence that lasts for only a couple of seconds, until all hell once again breaks loose. 

“She’s here? As in, in Korea?” 

“When would she have even…”

“I was supposed to pick her up from the airport in the morning!”

“-you’ve got to be kidding...” 

“-without telling us?” 

“-so fucking typical…” 

“-why wouldn’t she even send a text or…” 

“-and after all the shit she pulled coming back…” 

“-never tells us anything, never…”

“-I’m seriously going to strangle…” 

All Tzuyu can do is watch with her eyes stretched wide as the girls get more and more worked up, thinking to herself that this definitely means that none of them know where Jeongyeon is. 

And she’s just starting to feel like the conversation is maybe getting a little out of hand when Dahyun decides to step in. 

“Okay. Okay!” The girl shouts, effectively putting an end to any further outbursts from the sheer surprise of hearing Dahyun raising her voice like this, “I think we’ve established that there’s plenty to be annoyed about at Jeongyeon-unnie for coming back without saying anything. But right now, we really need to focus on finding her.” 

“Finding her?” Nayeon says. “Wha- why are you…” 

“Wait.” Jihyo cuts in, clapping a hand over the older girl’s mouth in a way that definitely looks like it would hurt. But even with the startled yelp that Nayeon lets out, Jihyo doesn’t seem to notice, her wide eyes still locked onto her with no sign of ever relenting, “Tzuyu. So, the reason you changed your setlist today… we all thought it was just because you were missing her. But if Jeongyeon was actually in the audience tonight, are you saying that...” 

Jihyo trails off, and for how calm she had been feeling prior to this, now she’s suddenly feeling the nerves build up again, so much so that all she can do to respond is offer a slow, shaky nod. 

And the reaction she gets is comical to say the least. 

Momo and Jihyo immediately drop their jaws and Nayeon's eyes go wide despite the hand still clamped over her mouth as Sana breathes in a sharp gasp. 

"Tzuyu…"  Mina whispers. “Are you… really going to tell her?” 

She bites down on her lip, suddenly filled with an inexplicable amount of anxiety despite knowing that she'll have their support, and gives another weak nod in response. 

Nayeon slowly pushes Jihyo's hand away from her mouth, eyes stretched even wider than before. "Holy shit." She says quietly, before her voice starts rapidly building in volume, "holy shit! Is this really… holy shit!"

"This is so exciting!" Sana chirps. 

Momo flashes a slight smirk. "It's about time."

"I knew there was something more behind that speech!" 

"Holy shit!" Nayeon shouts again. 

"Wait but… okay," Jihyo stammers, visibly trembling under the effort of holding back the same kind of excitement that has the others buzzing so hard. "So you're saying that you don't know where she is right now?"

Tzuyu shakes her head. "Jackson-oppa went out to the stage to see if he can maybe spot her in the crowd."

"And it doesn't seem like there's much signal in here." Dahyun adds, "I've tried calling her, I've tried calling Chaeyoung, I even messaged the group chat but nothing seems to be going through." 

Mina gently gnaws on her lip in contemplation. "Well, I guess it could just be the wiring in the building causing some kind of interference." 

"Plus, having all those people out there probably doesn't help with the bandwidth or anything," Nayeon adds. 

"The crowd is pretty ridiculous right now." Momo agrees, "we had trouble getting back here even with security helping us through. Honestly, I doubt Jackson-oppa is going to have much luck finding her with all those people in the way." 

"Well if she and Chaeyoung aren't here already," Sana says, "then there's a good chance that they're in the lobby somewhere. I can go take a look." 

"You'll need help with all those people out there." Nayeon chimes in, "I'll go with you. But we'll need some disguises. We aren't going to be of any use if we just get swamped by the press the second we go out." 

"Wait guys," Tzuyu interrupts weakly. 

But the others don’t seem to hear her, as evidenced by Momo immediately responding, “I think we passed a coat closet on our way in. I’m sure we can find something in there to cover ourselves up with.” 

“Guys…” 

“That’s a good idea Momo.” Mina says, “I think I’ll go see if I can find a security room. There are a ton of cameras around here, maybe I can spot her on one of those.” 

“Well with all our phones down you’ll need someone to run and find someone in a hurry if you actually spot her.” Jihyo adds, “I’ll go with you. Plus, it might help to have another person if it comes to convincing some security guard to actually let us in.” 

She sees Nayeon nodding her agreement. “And, it’ll help to have Jihyo if you need to knock the guy out or something.” 

And that’s the final straw that finally has Tzuyu deciding to step in.

“Guys!” She shouts, drawing over the eyes of everyone around them including a couple of staff members passing by, “This… this is too much. I can’t ask you to...” 

"You aren’t," Jihyo answers simply, not missing a beat as she shares a determined look with the others, “we’re volunteering.” 

“Unnie…” Tzuyu half groans. 

“We’ve been waiting over a decade for this to happen.” Nayeon says, “there’s no way we’re going to let this slip away now.” 

“But…” 

She doesn’t get a chance to argue any further before she feels a hand firmly taking hold of her own and she looks down to see Dahyun giving her a gentle smile. 

“Tzu, just let us help. I mean, this means a lot to us too, and honestly, I don’t think any of us can bear to see two people we love so much miss a chance like this again.” 

And it’s not like she can really argue against that, especially when the others are piling on with sincere smiles of their own to grate away at her already paper-thin resolve. So she just lets out a sigh, one by one locking eyes with each of her members before slowly, somewhat reluctantly nodding her head. 

“Okay.” Tzuyu finally says, “just… don’t get yourselves into any trouble? I’d hate for this night to end in having to bail you all out of jail.” 

All she gets in response is a series of amused grins before the girls go back to discussing how to go about their various self-assigned duties. And the only thing going through her mind at the moment is that she can barely believe how lucky she is to have a family willing to go to such great lengths for her sake, until Dahyun cuts back into the conversation. 

“Wait,” the girl says, “so I get that I’m sticking with Tzuyu in case one of us can actually get a phone call through, but what are we actually supposed to be doing? Because it sounds like we’ve already got all the main areas covered.” 

She sees Nayeon exchanging a slightly uncertain look with Jihyo, one that Sana and Momo share with Mina as well, before Jihyo finally responds. 

“I think that’ll be up to you, Tzuyu.” 

“Me?” Tzuyu says, “what about your whole plan? Isn’t there somewhere that we fit in more efficiently or something?” 

“We’re just doing this to try and increase the chances of finding Jeongyeon, but she could still be hiding in a corner somewhere that none of us would think to check.” 

Nayeon nods her agreement. “She’s right. As much as I don’t want to admit it, you might understand her weird little habits even better than Jihyo and I do. If anyone can find her in the midst of all this, it’s you.” 

She finds herself blinking once. Then again. “Wha- but what am I supposed to do with that?” 

This time the look that Jihyo shares with Nayeon is considerably different, more of a knowing grin than anything else that has her flicking her eyes between the two in sheer bewilderment as they say in unison…

“Just follow your heart.” 

Chapter Text

Tzuyu lets out a deep sigh as they round the same corner for what feels like the hundredth time. 

‘Follow your heart’ they’d said, as if that kind of stupid sage advice is something that’s actually applicable in the real world. 

And as dumb as it may sound, there was actually a small part of her that had believed that it really was that simple, that she could roam the halls with Dahyun and something, some distant memory of a late night adventure or a half remembered habit of Jeongyeon’s would just magically pop up in her head. 

But it hasn’t. And now that they’re approaching an hour into their search, she’s starting to feel like her heart isn’t going to lead her anywhere but deeper into this pit of frustration and heartache. 

And it isn’t even just that she and Dahyun hadn’t been able to find anything, literally every single part of their little heist had ended up failing horribly. Because despite the brilliant disguises of a couple of scarves wrapped around their faces, Sana and Nayeon had in fact been recognized the second they’d stepped foot into the lobby, with a similar fate befalling Momo and Jackson when they’d tried to sneak around back, and worst of all, Jihyo and Mina had by some miracle actually been able to find the security room only to be immediately turned back by a pair of guards threatening to use their tasers on them. 

Which is how they've ended up here, tired, frustrated, and exactly where they'd first started in the narrow corridor leading up to the dressing rooms. 

"I… we could still try luring the guards out or something," Jihyo says weakly, clearly dejected from having to come back empty-handed.

"At best we could hope for one of them to chase us partially down a hallway," Mina replies. "And even then I'm pretty sure that would mean at least a few of us getting arrested."

"Or tased," Nayeon adds with a grimace.

“Did you guys manage to at least see anything while you were out there?” Dahyun asks hopefully. 

And it’s Sana of all people who answers with a defeated huff, something that already has Tzuyu worried about the collective mental state of the group when their most optimistic member is looking so downtrodden. 

“No. We barely made it past the doors before some stupid reporter screamed our names.”

“We didn’t get much further either.” Momo says, “honestly I probably wouldn’t even be back here now if it wasn’t for Jackson-oppa running interference.” 

“Is he still out there?” 

“I'm not sure, we got separated. But I wouldn't be surprised if he was. Honestly, I don't know if I've ever seen fans getting so crazy.” 

“What the hell is even going on out there?” Nayeon whines, “something has those people seriously freaking out. Plus, there were nowhere near enough seats in the auditorium to hold all of them.” 

At that Tzuyu lets out a sigh, falling back against the wall as she runs a hand through her hair. “I’m not sure. I mean, usually when I do a show there's bound to be some people that hang around hoping I'll do some kind of impromptu fan sign or something.” 

“I mean, didn’t you pretty much do exactly that during one of your shows in Japan?” Jihyo asks. 

"I thought it was in the Philippines," Mina says. 

"Pretty sure it was both." Nayeon answers dryly, "and I only know because last time I was there for my tour, I saw a lot of the same thing. Our Tzuyu's a real trendsetter. But that would be at least somewhat manageable. What's going on out there is another level entirely." 

"Tzuyu always did have some of the most… devoted fans." Sana muses. 

"Oh right," Momo snorts, "like you're one to talk. Do you have any idea how much hate mail I got after we went public with our relationship?"

“We got a ton of support too Momoring. Don’t you remember all the fanart? Or the letters? Or even the rallies that all our real fans put together?” 

“Well yeah,” Momo answers weakly, “and I loved all that, but it was still really hard waking up everyday to a flood of hateful messages on my phone.” 

There's a collective murmur of sympathy from the others, all of them having experienced that kind of attention in one form or another as Sana slides up to gently take her girlfriend’s hand and give it a light squeeze. It’s a tender display that they’re normally all used to seeing to the point where Tzuyu barely even notices, until Dahyun comes up on the other side to offer a tender stroke along the woman’s back. 

And even despite all of the drama of the past few hours, Tzuyu can’t help cracking a small smile at the scene unfolding before them, especially when Momo responds with a look that’s absolutely dripping with affection. 

“Well,” Nayeon says, loudly clapping her hands to bring them all back despite the ear to ear grin on her face, “I think we’re losing focus. We’re supposed to be here getting Tzuyu some hate mail!” 

Tzuyu gives a playful roll of her eyes in response, inwardly happy to have Nayeon’s remarkably uplifting presence with them in such a stressful time of her life.

“You make confessing to the love of my life sound so horrible.” She jokes, leveling a halfhearted glare at the woman who catches her by surprise with the gentle glow to her eye. 

“That’s because you’re not finding her to confess. You already did that with that beautiful song.” 

“She’s right Tzuyu,” Mina agrees, “especially now that we know that Jeongyeon-unnie’s here, it’s like something out of a fairytale.” 

Nayeon quickly nods her head in agreement. “Exactly. And just like a fairytale, all that’s left to do is for you to find your ‘happily ever after’.” 

“If only it were that easy.” Tzuyu says, falling back against the wall with a dramatic sigh, “honestly…” 

She abruptly trails off, pressing her lips into a thin line with the thoroughly unrealistic hope that somehow none of them had heard her. But she can already tell just by the concern that flashes through Nayeon’s eyes that her hopes are horribly misplaced.

“Honestly what?” The older woman asks. 

Tzuyu finds herself almost reflexively clenching down on her jaw, crossing her arms across her chest as her resolve starts to crumble under the sheer weight of the eyes boring into her. She hates this, absolutely despises that even now, after what was easily the most heart-pounding performance of her life, she’s still faced with the last remnants of the same insecurities that have been haunting her all these years. 

And for a while, she doesn’t even know if she can respond, eyes dropping pitifully down to the side until, finally, Mina comes up to her with Jihyo not far behind, eyebrows furrowed in concern as they stoop down to meet her eye. 

“Hey…” Mina says slowly, “Talk to us. What’s going on?” 

“I just,” she starts, voice quiet and weak, as if there’s still a part of her that’s not ready to bring the words to light, “I… what if we just aren’t meant to be?” 

Mina blinks, pulling back to take in the full weight of Tzuyu’s words as Jihyo comes up next to her.

“What do you mean?” Their leader asks, “Tzuyu, what could possibly make you think that?” 

“I mean,” She breathes out another deep breath, drawing on every trick she’s ever learned to stay calm despite the tension building up in every corner of her body. “I can’t help but feel like it shouldn’t have been this hard to find her. I tried following my heart like you said, I even let you guys all help me search all over this stupid building, and that song… that song. At this point I have to believe that either Jeongyeon-unnie didn’t understand it and that moment just didn’t mean as much to her as it does to me, or that she did understand… and simply doesn’t feel…” 

“Okay no.” Sana cuts in suddenly, a fire burning in her eyes as she drags Dahyun and Momo up to close in around her, “Tzuyu. There could be a thousand perfectly acceptable reasons that we can’t find Jeongyeon, but no matter what's really happening, it's not going to help if we start jumping to conclusions now.” 

“She’s right Tzu,” Dahyun adds, “we’ll find her.”

“How?” Tzuyu chokes, her eyes are starting to sting now, bitter memories of the first time Jeongyeon left for America starting to flood uncontrollably back into her mind, “because it’s already been an hour and we haven’t gotten anything. The phones are still dead and we’ve lost Jackson-oppa to all the people outside. Honestly at this point I have to wonder if Jeongyeon-unnie is actively hiding from me. And if she is, then… then maybe I should just respect her wishes and leave her alone.”

That finally seems to stun the others into silence, each of them looking desperately at one another, hoping that someone might have a response. And she has to admit that there’s a part of her deep inside that hopes someone does too, but when even Sana is dropping her head in defeat, Tzuyu knows that’s it… until a familiar voice cuts through the silence from somewhere down the hall. 

“I don’t know about that.” 

Seven pairs of eyes snap up and search for the source, and the crowd that had built up so tightly around her slowly parts to reveal Chaeyoung standing just at the corner of the hallway, leaning up against the wall with a curious smirk on her lips. 

“Chaeyoung…” Tzuyu whispers, some distant corner of her mind registering the way her heart kicks into overdrive. 

“Because honestly,” the girl continues, not missing a beat as she kicks off the wall, slowly making her way in their direction, “it would be a real shame to see all of Jeongyeon-unnie’s efforts go to waste when we’re so close to the finish line.” 

She instinctively takes a step forward. "Wha-" 

"Not to mention all of my effort. I mean, I don't think anyone is supposed to drive that fast. It's a freaking miracle that we made it here at all."

"Chae." Another step.

"Plus then we had to get the stage cleared out which caused some kind of stampede outside…"

"Cleared out?" She breathes, "what are you…" 

"I'll explain that later." The shorter girl answers, closing the last of the distance between them as she lets a small smile spread on her lips. "For now, I think it's time that you two idiots finally put an end to this weird little dance of yours." 

Tzuyu's breath catches in her chest as Chaeyoung's smile grows brighter. "I… what?" She stammers, trying to force her tired brain to work out whether she'd actually heard that correctly. 

But Chaeyoung simply turns, casting a glance down the hall to the large double doors leading up to the stage. "She's right out there Tzu, go get her." 

Her eyes immediately go wide. And she feels a gentle nudge to her back that sends her stumbling forward a couple of steps. 

She makes it a few more before she turns around, feeling one last tug of insecurity dragging at her heels that dissolves into nothingness the second she feels the warmth of the smiles shining back at her. It’s touching to say the least, to have the support of her girls so unconditionally, and she feels a remarkable urge to match Sana and Jihyo in the tears already streaming down their cheeks. 

But she can’t. 

Because that can come later. 

Right now, she has ten years of lost time to make up for. 

And so, with a grateful smile and an extraordinarily deep breath, Tzuyu turns back to the door, barely even able to register the supportive words ringing out behind her as she pushes through to the stage. 

For all the determination that Tzuyu had been feeling with her members by her side, she’s practically overcome by a new wave of nervousness the second she steps foot into the dimly lit area behind the curtains. 

It’s quiet, a far cry from the bustling atmosphere of roaring fans and anxious stage hands that had taken over it less than an hour ago. 

Somewhere in the back of her mind she wonders to herself how the auditorium could have possibly been emptied so quickly, but it gets pushed even further down as she quietly shuffles toward the curtain. 

Chaeyoung hadn’t exactly given specific instructions about where she should be going, but she finds that something is guiding her steps. Maybe it’s the quiet whispers of her heart that Nayeon and Jihyo had urged her to listen to or maybe it’s something else entirely, but whatever it is, somehow she just has this feeling, like she’s being drawn to where she’s meant to be. 

And the feeling only grows stronger as she gets closer to the curtains hanging from the ceiling. She pauses for a second, taking a strange comfort in the softness of the velvet brushing up against her fingers, before finally pushing her way through. 

The stage is dark, the absence of the blinding spotlights shining down from above more notable than ever for someone so used to performing in front of a crowd of thousands. 

But in its place is the more gentle and inviting glow of the moon and stars twinkling through the skylight, a spectacle that, while more than welcome, has Tzuyu furrowing her eyes in confusion as she continues forward. She definitely remembered seeing the skylight covered for the concert, how had it been opened so quickly?

However any lingering thoughts on the matter die away as she spots the instantly recognizable figure of Jeongyeon sitting at the very edge of the stage and she immediately feels a small smile spreading on her lips. 

Tzuyu continues forward. Slowly. Making sure to remember every last detail about this precious moment. 

The first thing that she notices is the way Jeongyeon is sitting the exact same way she’d found her barely a week ago in this very spot, arms propped back behind her and gazing up at the moon, the cool, laid back image of her leather jacket and windblown hair broken only by the incessant fidgeting of her feet kicking in a way that has Tzuyu’s smile growing just a little bit wider. 

Jeongyeon doesn’t look up as she closes the last of the distance between them, or when she sits down next to her and joins her in gazing up at the stars. 

It’s funny, and maybe even a little ridiculous, how calm she feels just being by the woman’s side when just a few minutes ago she was just on the edge of tearing her own hair out. 

But that’s just the effect that Jeongyeon has on her. 

They spend a moment or two in a comfortable silence, simply enjoying the rare moment of peace in their otherwise tumultuous lives, before Jeongyeon quietly brings her thoughts to light, finally breaking through the last of the barriers for the both of them.

“That song…” Jeongyeon whispers, “you wrote it about me, didn’t you?” 

It comes out as more of a statement than a question, and Tzuyu leans back a little further, eyes still glued to the soft twinkling of the night sky. 

“Dahyun told me to write from the heart.” She says simply, “and… I guess when I finally opened that door, I couldn’t really stop everything from finally coming out.” 

Jeongyeon lets out a quiet chuckle, allowing a small grin to crack on her lips. “I’m guessing this is why you wouldn’t let me in on any of the details while you were writing them.” 

Tzuyu finally lets herself cast a quick glance at the older woman out of the corner of her eye, and the second she does, finds that she’s no longer able to hold back the beaming smile that’s been quietly forcing its way through the walls of her heart. “It might have been.” 

She gets a playfully curious look in response, with the same eyes glowing beautifully in the moonlight threatening to take her breath away. 

“Seriously?” Jeongyeon says, “you had to keep me in the dark for this long? You’re so mean.” 

“I… it’s not my fault!” She cries, voice trembling with an embarrassingly girlish giggle, “It’s not like I’ve ever done anything like this before. I was scared of what you might think! And besides,” Her voice drops lower as her eyes fall to her feet. “You know I’m not good with my words, it took me a while to figure out a way to… ‘say’ this to you.” 

“Well, I guess that’s just another thing that you and I have in common.” 

She brings her head back up slowly, eyebrows slightly furrowed in confusion as she takes in the gentle blush on Jeongyeon’s face. 

“What are you…” 

“I uh…” Jeongyeon stammers, clearing her throat as she straightens back up, “I got this for you… back in America.” 

Tzuyu feels her heart starting to race as Jeongyeon slowly reaches into the pocket of her jacket, bringing out a small, black rectangular box. She shoots a quick glance up at her, seeing the nervousness etched all over Jeongyeon’s face as the older woman turns to face her, and slowly eases the lid back. 

She has to admit that it takes a second, but the instant she recognizes what it is, her breath catches in her chest and her heart stops entirely. 

Inside the box, hanging on a silver chain against a deep black velvet cushion, is a single pendant. Simple, elegant, shining in the gentle light with this beautiful sapphire glow, and cut into the unmistakable four petaled shape of a single hydrangea flower.

Her jaw drops as she looks back into the woman’s eyes, seeing Jeongyeon’s gaze fixed intently on her own, watching for any hint of a reaction. 

“You…” she stammers, “you got this back in…” 

Jeongyeon gives a careful nod in response as she trails off, head dropping slightly and letting her hair fall forward to partially cover her face. “Yeah… it’s a long story, but the second I saw it I knew I had to give it to you. I wanted it to be your birthday present but…” 

“Unnie.” She breathes, voice so quiet and shaky that it’s barely audible even in the dead silence of the empty auditorium. 

“I guess what I’m saying,” Jeongyeon says, slowly bringing her eyes up to lock back onto her own, “is that… I need you too.” 

Tzuyu breathes in a sharp gasp, some distant part of her brain recognizing the lyrics to her own song. 

"You… you know that wasn't the original word I wanted to use," Tzuyu whispers, her voice trembling uncontrollably despite the relative calm she feels. "I had to change it because it didn't quite fit the line." 

She pauses for a second, the weight of what she's about to say threatening to overwhelm her until it all disappears… with a single look into the gentle and intoxicating glow of Jeongyeon's honey gold eyes. 

"The original word," Tzuyu continues, each syllable floating past her lips seemingly coming out slower than the last, "it was going to be…"

But Jeongyeon beats her to it, finishing her sentence with an impossibly soft smile that seems to wipe her mind entirely. 

"Love."

And before she even knows it, her body is moving on its own, one hand reaching up to brush the hair back behind Jeongyeon’s ear as the other drops down to grip tightly around the zipper of her jacket, giving a slight tug on the smooth material of the leather… and bringing their lips crashing together. 

She hears a slight whimper of surprise, just barely enough to trigger a tiny amount of panic in the back of her mind, before Jeongyeon is melting into her, leaning forward to deepen the kiss and sending her heart soaring up to the stars.

Tzuyu doesn't know how long the kiss lasts, honestly it feels like forever, and yet somehow she still finds herself wishing for more even by the time they finally break apart. 

And in the end, they wind up kind of cuddled together on the stage, gazing up at the gorgeous light of the moon hanging carelessly above them as they enjoy this moment so long overdue.

It's Jeongyeon that finally breaks the silence, letting out a shaky breath before slowly loosening the grip around her waist with a quiet, "wow." 

"Yeah." Tzuyu breathes out slowly, shakily.

"You… really know how to sweep a girl off her feet."

At that, Tzuyu cracks a small smile, sitting up with a quiet chuckle as she relishes the pounding in her chest. “Compared to you though? I don’t know if I can really compete when you’re coming home with a necklace like that .” 

Jeongyeon gives a soft smile in response, casting another anxious glance at the box still held loosely in her hand. “So you like it then?” 

Tzuyu gives a shy smile before nodding her head, turning just to the side and brushing her hair back. "Could you put it on for me?"

She hears the sound of Jeongyeon scooting up across the smooth surface of the stage, feels the warmth of her breath gently kissing the back of her neck as she drapes the chain around her.

And the second the clasp is clicked shut, the pendant falls to rest comfortably against her chest, instantly bringing a smile to her face as she takes the opportunity to lean back into Jeongyeon’s soothing embrace.

“How does it look?” She asks, craning her head back just in time to catch the honey-sweet glow in the woman’s amber eyes.

“Like it was made just for you.” 

Tzuyu bites down on her lip, bringing a hand up to fiddle with the pendant as a light blush creeps into her cheeks. “It feels pretty perfect. But…”

“What’s wrong?” Jeongyeon asks quickly, body instantly tensing against her, “does it not feel right or something?” 

“No, unnie. I love it! I really do. I mean, just the fact that you remembered…” 

“So then what is it?” 

“Well it’s just… it looks really expensive…” 

She feels Jeongyeon instantly deflating against her, bringing her hands up to wrap tightly around her waist. “Oh. That’s what you’re worried about?” 

“Well I mean… I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sapphire this big.” Tzuyu mumbles. “I feel so spoiled.”

“Having a couple of nice things doesn’t make you spoiled.” Jeongyeon answers, “and besides, you can’t blame me for wanting to spoil a girl like you a little.” 

She gives a playful roll of eyes, letting out a light huff as she decides to play along, spurred on by the sheer comfort of having Jeongyeon’s arms wrapped so tightly around her. “Well in that case, I guess I should’ve written those songs about you sooner.” 

“Wait. Songs? As in more than one?” 

Almost instantly she snaps her head up, eyes stretched wide as she realizes her mistake. “Uh no…” she sputters, “no I meant ‘song’ as in, singular!” 

“No,” Jeongyeon replies slowly, “you definitely said ‘songs’. And other than Blue Hydrangeas, there’s Home that we wrote together, the two Chinese songs, one of which is apparently a cover and the other that you actually explained to me, Nine or None which is obviously about all the girls, that just leaves…”

With that, the woman trails off, eyes going wide and face flushed a deep shade of crimson that’s almost enough to rival her own. 

And it’s all she can do to bury her face in her hands until Jeongyeon finally breaks through the horribly awkward silence. “You… you wrote a song about my eyes?” 

She can’t muster up much more than a quiet whine in response. 

“Wow.” Jeongyeon breathes, “honestly I’m kind of surprised.” 

“What?” She responds, only looking up to give the woman a pouty glare out of the corner of her eye, “that I would write something so cheesy?” 

“No.” Jeongyeon shakes her head, bringing her hands up to pull Tzuyu back against the chest and quietly whispering in her ear, “I’m surprised that someone would write such a beautiful song about these old things, especially when that ‘someone’ has without a doubt the most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen.” 

And that immediately has her face heating back up in full force again. Because sure, it’s a bit of a cheesy line, but it’s not like she’s really gotten many of those before, especially from someone she actually wants to hear them from. 

So with a breathy sigh, Tzuyu melts back into her chest, tucking her head perfectly into the crook of Jeongyeon’s neck before tilting back to catch her lips in another tender kiss. And this one already feels more intense than the first, so much so that she’s already turning in Jeongyeon’s lap to push things a little further, when she hears a strangely familiar squeak that has them slowly pulling apart.

“What was that?” She asks. 

And all Jeongyeon offers in response is a deep sigh. “I knew I heard something earlier.” 

“What?” 

Jeongyeon presses her eyes shut before tilting her head back, raising her voice slightly to call out, “you idiots can come out now!” 

A tense pause follows, one that has Tzuyu just about to look back to Jeongyeon in confusion when she finally hears the latch of a door unlocking and seven pairs of feet quickly shuffling over.

And just as realization slowly starts to dawn on her, Jeongyeon leans back in, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek before whispering in her ear, “brace yourself.” 

She barely has time to even register Jeongyeon’s words before a loud squeal cuts through the air. Tzuyu doesn’t even need to look up to know who it’s from. 

And as the girls pile in around them with all kinds of ear-piercing shrieks and tears streaming down their faces, Tzuyu can’t help but remember that night so long ago when she’d first stepped onto this very stage, filled with heart wrenching thoughts of having to take on the world all alone. 

It’s almost unbelievable just how wrong she had been. 

She’s not sure how long the endless congratulations end up taking, it’s probably a bit longer than would normally be expected because of how many jokes the girls have to get through at their expense, but neither of them have much heart to complain about it. One way or another, they’ve all earned this moment. 

But eventually, the girls run out of jokes, grow tired of admiring the necklace around Tzuyu’s neck and poking fun at Jeongyeon for it, and the nine of them end up sitting on the edge of the stage with a strange feeling that everything has finally fallen into place… until the doors at the end of the hall suddenly fly open to reveal a rather flustered looking Jackson. 

“There you guys are!” 

“Oppa?” Jihyo says, already rising to her feet. “What’s going on?” 

“What do you mean ‘what’s going on’?” Jackson says, “Jeongyeon, did you not tell them?” 

Tzuyu feels the older girl tensing up against her, enough to spin around in her arms to give her a curious look.

“Uh… no, there wasn’t exactly a good time to mention it.” 

Jackson lets out an exasperated sigh, bringing a hand up to rub at his temples. “Well, you better tell them now. I’ve done everything I can but I’m not sure how much longer I can hold them.” 

Nayeon perks up next to them, eyebrows furrowed in a mixture of confusion and concern. “Tell us what? Jeongyeon, what’s going on?”

“Uhh…"

Tzuyu can't help the amused chuckle that escapes her lips as she peeks around the corner to see Jackson arguing with a police officer about not having the proper permits in place for an event like this. 

Apparently after hearing her live rendition of Blue Hydrangeas, Jeongyeon had decided that their big moment couldn't happen anywhere other than right there in the middle of the stage, which had only left the small problem of how to empty the concert hall so they could actually have some time alone, to which Chaeyoung had come up with the brilliant idea of announcing an impromptu Twice reunion concert out on the street. 

There had been a lot of yelling from the girls, as well as a fair amount of hitting Jeongyeon on the arm, especially when Momo had realized that this had been the reason for all the swarming fans getting in the way during their attempted search of the building, as well as Jackson disappearing so early on in the night. 

But eventually all of them had begrudgingly agreed to do the show, not that they really had much of a choice with the equipment already set up and fans crowding the street. Which brings them here, piled up in the alley outside as Sana and Momo keep the crowd entertained with one of their early Japanese singles to give the rest of them time to make some last minute adjustments to each other's outfits in the absence of real staff to help them. 

It's kind of a hilarious sight, especially because Chaeyoung hadn't really had the same opportunity to dress up that the rest of them had, having had to pick Jeongyeon up from the airport without much notice to rethink her schedule, and they'd spent a rather large amount of time trying to put together an outfit from whatever extra pieces of clothing that they'd brought or could find in the empty dressing rooms.

It isn't too much of an issue, Chaeyoung always had been able to pull off almost anything the stylists could throw at her.

But as funny as it is, Tzuyu can’t quite bring herself to enjoy it, she’s too busy focusing on the way her nerves are going haywire and making her skin crawl. 

“Breathe Tzu.”

She looks up just in time to see Dahyun sliding up next to her, standing on her toes to throw her arms around Tzuyu’s shoulders with a gentle smile on her face. 

An airy sigh escapes her lips. “I’m trying.” 

“There’s nothing to be nervous about anymore.” Dahyun says, “I mean, you got the girl, and half the world probably already figured out who you were singing to, now you’re just… confirming it for them.” 

“Well what if they don’t actually get it? What if it doesn’t come across the way we want it to? Or what if…” 

“No matter what happens,” the girl interrupts, “we’ll all be right here to support you.” 

Tzuyu finally lets a grateful smile spread on her lips, finally feeling the tension starting to drain from her shoulders with a long, slow breath. 

“And besides,” Dahyun continues, “if there’s anyone dense enough to not understand after this, then they’ll figure it out when you eventually do the press release or whatever.” 

“Okay, okay, you’re right. I’m being ridiculous.” 

“Of course I’m right. I’m so much older and wiser than you.” 

At that Tzuyu gives a playful roll of the eyes as she wraps an arm back around Dahyun’s shoulders, allowing the girl to drop her hand down to the taller girl’s waist. 

“I… should probably thank you.” She mumbles, “I don’t know how much of this would have been possible without you pushing me along the way.” 

“Sometimes that’s all it takes to take even the biggest steps.” Dahyun answers quietly, “just a little push.” 

She looks down, curious at the girl’s strangely wistful tone, only to crack an understanding smile as she sees Dahyun’s gaze locked intently on the Japanese couple shining under the spotlight of the stage.

“You still haven’t told them?” Tzuyu asks gently. 

“No.” Dahyun responds, eyes still unmoving as she lets out a light huff, “I still haven’t quite worked up the courage yet. But… I'll do it soon.” 

“Well, no matter what happens, we’ll all be right here to support you.” 

Dahyun turns to shoot an exasperated look up at her for echoing her own words, but then Tzuyu gives her a light grin and squeezes her shoulders just a little tighter. And just like that the girl’s pale face quickly melts into a somewhat tired smile of her own as she leans over to rest her head on Tzuyu’s shoulder. 

“At least you know there’s no rush,” she says softly, “they’re moving into their new house in Seoul in a week or two.” 

“I know. But there’s a part of me that’s just dying to tell them, and another part of me that’s too terrified to even think about it.”

“I know what you mean, and when you’re ready to tell them, you know I’ll be happy to help in whatever way I can.” 

Dahyun looks up to give her a gentle, beaming smile, a hint of tears welling up in her eyes as she whispers, “thanks Tzu.” 

She holds the gaze for a second before pulling the girl in for a hug, enjoying the way that Dahyun practically melts back into her embrace until she hears the roar of the crowd picking back up. 

“Sounds like you’re up.” Dahyun mumbles into her chest.

“Yeah.” 

The girl pulls back, quickly wiping away at her eyes and giving her a soft smile. “You’re going to be great Tzu, go get em’.” 

She nods, giving Dahyun's shoulders one last squeeze before tearing herself away, breathing in a couple of deep breaths as she passes Sana on the stairs and steps back out onto their makeshift stage. 

It’s not exactly the kind of production level that they’re used to, it’s actually a portable stage mainly used for festivals that the staff had managed to pull out of one of their moving vans, and it creaks and shakes with every step that Tzuyu takes toward the microphone. 

She takes in another deep breath as a hush falls on the crowd, she’d always appreciated the way that their fans always quieted down more for her than for the louder members like Jihyo or Nayeon, and it means that she doesn’t have to work extra hard to project her voice, which she’s more thankful for than ever during intimate moments like this. 

“So um…” she stammers, “I wanted to thank you all for coming tonight.”

A quiet cheer ripples through the crowd. 

“For this next song, I thought I’d sing another song from my new album for you.” 

Another cheer, this one building up into a bit of a roar that’s strong enough to start to rumble through the foundations of the stage. 

“I know a lot of you have been speculating about who I’ve written all these songs about, especially after my… embarrassing speech back in the auditorium.” 

She hears a low laugh, stretching all the way down to the back of the street where fans had made do with setting blankets on the top of their cars or climbing up on nearby trees. 

“And I thought about letting you all keep crafting theories for a bit longer, but I guess I don’t see a real point in hiding it anymore.” She finally cracks a small smile at the collective gasp that silences the crowd. “Some of you have guessed correctly that the answer actually lies in one of the other songs, it’s... actually my favorite in this album and I hope you all can enjoy it today.” 

With that, she backs up, enjoying the way that the confusion on the faces looking up at her instantly morphs into a mixture of excitement and sheer disbelief as the lighting shifts, and the instantly recognizable clicking of Jeongyeon’s boots rings out from the other side of the stage. 

The ensuing roar is absolutely deafening, so loud that she can actually see Momo jumping in surprise from her spot at the bottom of the stairs.

And even now she finds it kind of hard to believe that all of this is real. Only a couple of months ago she had been struggling to get anything down on paper, frustrated to the point of tears at the thought of digging through the lifetime of emotions that she’d locked away so long ago. 

But then Jeongyeon steps up next to her, flashing a reassuring smile as she hesitantly takes her hand and everything just feels… right. 

And just as they turn back to face the crowd together, seeing the absolute pandemonium that’s taken over the street, Tzuyu cracks a small smile, shooting yet another look out of the corner of her eye as she hears a familiar and heartwarming melody start to shine through the speakers. 

She lifts the microphone up to her lips, sees Jeongyeon start to do the same as they both tighten their grips on each other’s hands, and even as she starts to let loose with the beautiful lyrics that they’d written together through all those long nights so many weeks ago, the only thing going through her mind is one intrusive thought, so powerful and overwhelming that she can barely keep the tears out of her eyes.

It gets stronger as she and Jeongyeon hit the first chorus, building up in her chest and threatening to choke off what's left of her already shaking voice, but it’s only when they turn to face each other, trading lines back and forth and eyes locking together as if they’re the only two people in the world that she knows without a doubt... 

She’s finally found her home.