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"Let's take a quick water break before we go over the moves again!"
A series of "Yes" and other words of acknowledgement rang throughout the practice room, as the group of trainees stepped away from their formation to grab their water bottles or head towards the restroom.
Youngeun took a swig from her bottle, taking a moment to catch her breath as she leaned against the back walls. She knew U+Me was a technically difficult song to master in a week, let alone a few days, but the choreography was almost headache-inducing. It wasn't something she couldn't handle, but it definitely made her performance of My House seem like child's play.
After a couple more gulps of water, she noticed from the corner of her eye that someone was approaching her.
"What's up, unnie?" She gave a quick smile as she turned to face her older team member.
Suyeon returned the gesture with a teasing smirk. "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts about being kicked out."
Youngeun lightly scoffed. "No way, I'm just replenishing my energy!" She almost wanted to respond with a snake soup joke, but the cameras were still rolling and she didn't want to take the bait. There was too much at stake now, and one wrong move could jeopardise her chances to debut. A part of her ached as she remembered the most recent elimination round.
I know you'll make it. I'll be rooting for you, Youngeun ah.
She shook away the memory.
She needed to focus on moving forward now.
The blonde girl in front of her softened, noticing the slight frown on her friend's face after she answered. Suyeon stepped closer to Youngeun and whispered into her ear, "After practice, let's meet in my room. You look like you've got a lot of things on your mind."
Youngeun blinked a couple of times, but slowly nodded her head.
With a warm smile and a reassuring pat on the shoulder, Suyeon left her alone and skipped towards where Mashiro and Shana were, joining in on the girls' conversation with broken Japanese.
As she stood there with her now empty bottle in hand, Youngeun suddenly couldn't wait for practice to be over for the day.
Because she did have a lot of things on her mind.
...No, that wasn't true.
More like someone on her mind.
---
Knocking on the door, Youngeun was greeted by a freshly-showered Suyeon, now clad in a grey hoodie and shorts instead of the usual blue uniform they wore during practice. "I was starting to wonder if you got lost or something," the older girl cheekily said as she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.
"Wait," Youngeun blinked owlishly. "We're not heading into your room?"
"I don't think we should talk in there. Wouldn't want Mnet to listen in on our private conversations, right?"
She had a good point. Though, it was probably a little too late to mention that since most of the girls might have already slipped something out, or were caught sharing a bed. Youngeun would be lying if she said that she didn't miss having a warm body sleeping next to her.
"Alright, so where should we go?"
"I know of a place. Follow me!"
Suyeon led the way with the younger girl in tow. The campus building they were filming at was large . It had only been a few months but Youngeun still gets lost on occasion if she wasn't paying attention. While Suyeon was leading her around as if she owned the place. After some turns and ignoring a bunch of 'No Entry' signs, they climbed up a secluded staircase on the far side of the building and emerged up to the rooftop.
Youngeun gasped in awe at how clear the night sky was. There were so many stars twinkling and the moon was the most perfect crescent. Across the horizon, she could see the forested mountains which surrounded the building. It was honestly such a waste that this part of the campus was denied access to the trainees.
"How did you even find the way up here?" The younger girl asked as she walked nearer towards the balcony.
"Let's just say I like to wander around," Suyeon's lips curved into a sheepish smile. "Actually, my cell-mates know about this place too. Yaning unnie and Shana followed me up here when they noticed I kept sneaking out during bedtime. We decided to make this rooftop as our unofficial hide-out if we ever needed some time alone. I don't think they'll mind that I brought you up here."
Youngeun was pleasantly surprised. She had no idea that Suyeon's cell (a.k.a the all-rounders) were that close and it made her heart warm knowing the fact. It reminded her of her own cell, how quickly they clicked and bonded despite the language barriers. Maybe when there was some downtime, Youngeun will drag Xiaoting and Yurina up here too.
"Hey, hey, I know that look,” Suyeon suddenly broke her train of thought. “Don't start telling everyone about this place!"
Well, that certainly put a damper on her plans.
"Oh alright,' the younger girl pouted. "I'll keep my mouth shut on one condition though."
"What is it?"
"If you promise not to bring yourself down while we're still in this competition."
"That's gonna be a little hard, but I'll try." Suyeon leaned against the railing, standing a little closer to her friend. "For some reason, I expected something along the lines of debuting together."
Youngeun could only give a forlorn smile at that, letting her tired eyes gaze over at the moon-lit scenery down below. Keeping promises was proving to be more difficult at this point and she learned that the hard way.
"You miss Jia, don't you?" Suyeon softly asked.
At the mention of her name, it was like a dam broke. Youngeun closed her eyes tightly and brought her head down, her long locks of hair desperately hiding the tears flowing down her face. Her grip on the metal railings tightened, the edges of her knuckles turning white.
"I should focus on myself," she sniffled. "I should be happy that I’m still in. I know that...but why do I keep feeling like I lost anyways? Was I naive to think that we were going to make it together? Should I have not grown so attached to her? Should I have just kept my distance? I don't know anymore…"
Suyeon quietly listened, placing a gentle hand on the crying girl's back and started rubbing it in a comforting manner.
"I want to see her or at least hear her voice again," Youngeun continued. "You have no idea how much I'm cursing the "No phones" rule here."
Suyeon couldn't help but chuckle at the last line. Even when she's bawling her eyes out, the normally bubbly and hyperactive Youngeun could still crack a mild joke through her tears. "You're in luck, Youngeun."
The crying girl finally looked up at her, confusion present on her expression. "What are you talking about?"
From the pocket of her hoodie, Suyeon fished out a slim, rectangular object and presented it to her friend.
Youngeun gawked at it. "Unnie!? You actually—!"
"What do you think I've been coming up here for?"
In her head, Youngeun was deliberating between giving her friend a bear-hug, or tackling her to the ground and demanding answers about the phone. The nerve of this girl!
"I'm this close to smacking you, Suyeon unnie," Youngeun slowly approached the blonde with a threatening grin on her tear-soaked face. "This whole time…"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up!" Suyeon flailed her arms while backing away. "I know I'm breaking the rules—"
"You sure did!"
"BUT. I only used this to call my family! Nothing else! I swear!"
Youngeun stopped looming over her, her expression softening into a defeated pout. "That's still not fair for the rest of us, you know."
"I...I know. I won't try to defend myself over this," Suyeon guiltily fiddled with the "offending" object in her hand. "I brought this out today because I had a hunch that it might help with whatever that's bothering you."
Youngeun eyed the phone hesitantly. "I appreciate it, Suyeon unnie. I really do. But I can't remember what her number is."
At that moment, Youngeun swore she saw a glint in Suyeon's cat-like eyes.
"Today really is your lucky day, Youngeun," she excitedly said as she scrolled through the phone. "I'm way ahead of you."
"What!? Since when did you and Jia gotten close?"
It wasn't out of jealousy, Youngeun genuinely was surprised. If she remembered correctly, Suyeon and Jia were not team-mates until Snake happened. Of course, being part of the K-group meant that they were bound to interact eventually. She just never knew.
"We exchanged numbers after the elimination round," Suyeon answered matter-of-factly. "Asked her if we could keep in touch and she happily agreed."
Youngeun nodded. It made sense, but there was a hint of knowingness behind her voice. Also, she swore she saw another glint in Suyeon's eyes flashing across them again.
"Here ya go," the blonde handed over her phone.
On the screen was the familiar interface of a chat-room, with the ID and profile photo of a familiar girl at the top.The chat-room was empty. No messages exchanged. A blank canvas, with the exception of Suyeon's background photo featuring cutely-drawn cats.
Youngeun's heart raced. "Okay, I didn't plan this far ahead."
"Oh my god…" Suyeon had to laugh at this ridiculous situation. "Alright, let me help you at the start and then you're on your own, my little fox." Suyeon snatched the phone from Youngeun's unusually stiff fingers and proceeded to type out something on it.
"Wait, actually—"
"Too late!"
The sound of the message being sent felt louder than it was during this quiet night. Youngeun quickly grabbed the phone again from the older girl and read through it.
Hi Jia! Hope you don't mind me texting you at this ungodly hour haha. Are you awake?
"Oh shoot, I forgot it's already past 2AM. Do you think she's already asleep?" Youngeun asked, slightly deflated.
"Probably," Suyeon shrugged. "Let's just wait and see. Who knows, she might still have a completely ruined sleep schedule like the rest of u—"
A loud ping broke the silence of the night, startling the two girls and almost dropping the phone. Thankfully, Youngeun's reflexes were still in top shape. Both huddled close, eager to read the reply.
Suyeon unnie!!! How are you? Are you doing well? Wait, how are you even sending this message if the staff confiscated your phone?
Youngeun looked over at Suyeon with an almost threatening glare. "I'd like to know that too."
Suyeon simply gave a cheeky grin and snatched the phone again.
Ahahaha long story but I'll tell you about it another time! I'm good! Actually, the reason why I'm texting you this late is cause there's someone here with me who really wants to talk to you~
"There. Now it's all up to you now," Suyeon happily announced and gave it back to Youngeun. "Make it count."
If Youngeun's heart was racing before, then it totally was going on full throttle now. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, though it did little to stop her fingers from trembling. There was a pause before three animated dots appeared underneath the previous message. It went on for a few seconds, stopped, continued again, and stopped.
"Oooh, a long message?" Suyeon teased.
"Not helping my nerves, unnie," Youngeun sheepishly said. "Maybe I should just say it's me."
"I think she already knows."
Another ping came through. The reply simply said:
Call me?
Both girls looked at each other and nodded.
Youngeun inhaled another deep breath and exhaled. "Okay", she said as her thumb hovered over the call button.
"Don't be dramatic," Suyeon gave a few reassuring pats on her shoulder. "She's your best friend, not the CEO of a company. I know she misses you a lot too." With that, she walked away to give Youngeun some privacy.
The younger girl finally pressed the button. It took a couple of seconds before the call was picked up.
"Hello?" A familiar, deep but feminine voice answered on the other end.
"Hey Jia," she replied, almost as a whisper.
"Hey Youngeun," the other voice followed. She couldn't see her face, but Youngeun knew there was a sweet smile behind that reply.
"You're not asleep yet?"
"I was going to, but then I got the text. Are you still practising?"
"No, it ended an hour ago," Youngeun paced back and forth on the roof, her eyes looking around but not focusing on one single thing. She caught a glimpse of Suyeon on the opposite side, randomly skipping around the ventilation system on the roof. "My arms and legs are still a little sore though. By the way, wanna know a spoiler?"
"Sure, hit me."
"I got kicked out of the Snake team," Youngeun chuckled. "Suyeon unnie too."
"Seriously!?" Jia exclaimed. "What happened?"
"Tune in to the next episode to find out!"
There was laughter coming from the other end. It sounded like honey to Youngeun's ears. Her heart lulled to a calm, relaxed state as the conversation went on. Everything felt natural. As if things didn't really change that much between them.
They were still the same Hot Sauce duo, despite being apart.
As the call went on, it naturally came to a comfortable pause after getting each other up to speed on what they were doing. The girl on the rooftop leaned forward against the railing, gazing up at the beautiful night sky with the phone in her hand.
"I miss you," Youngeun finally said. "I just wanted to let you know that."
There was a sniffle on the other end. "I miss you too."
Oh no. She didn’t mean to turn this into a waterworks show.
"Hey, don't cry!" Youngeun was trying her very best not to, despite her voice wavering and the corners of her eyes dangerously watering.
"I'm blaming you for making me emotional at two in the morning," Jia jokingly said, accompanied by a couple more sniffles for added measure. "You almost sound like a boyfriend who went off to serve in the military."
"Wait for me! I'll finish my enlistment soon!" Youngeun confidently said, rubbing away the pesky tears that were starting to drip down her face. She started to think there weren't many tears left in her by now, but she thought wrong.
A cute giggle, followed by what sounded like tissues being pulled from a box. "I've said this like a million times but I'm going to say it again. You will make it, Youngeun ah. I believe in that."
Jia's voice held so much pride and confidence in those statements. They were words that didn't seem to hold much weight to Youngeun back when they both just started filming the earlier episodes, but as the show went on, she gradually felt Jia's sincerity.
And on this night, standing on the campus's rooftop underneath the stars, those words resonate strongly within Youngeun's being.
"You…" the younger girl uttered with a tender smile on her face, "...are really wonderful."
"Now what is this about?"
Youngeun could almost hear the hint of uncertainty behind Jia's amusement. She has spent enough time with Jia to know that her more introverted friend sometimes lacked a bit of self-esteem.
Jia was always showing her support to other people.
But who was doing it for her?
"I think you're amazing," Youngeun raised her non-occupied hand and began counting with her fingers. "And talented. A great performer. Absolutely gorgeous. But also totally cute. Have I ever told you how amazing you are? Wait, did I already say that? Let me repeat that again. You are amazing, talente—"
"Okay, okay! I hear you!" The other girl's voice sounded a tad higher than usual.
"But I was about to repeat it a million times more!" Youngeun cheekily grinned. Yup, she was really enjoying this.
"You've made your point loud and clear," Jia lets out another giggle, though this one sounded a little more bashful to Youngeun's ears.
She could picture Jia going red at all the compliments, maybe hiding under the sheets, and wondering why in the world this crazy girl was keeping her up like this.
"Can't I do the same for you?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Support you every step of the way, like what you've done for me."
A pregnant pause.
One that made Youngeun a little uneasy. Her grip on the railing tightened as she waited for an answer. Did she say something wrong? Just as she was about to speak again, the voice on the other end spoke.
"But you've always done that since the beginning," Jia said softly.
"I know, but you're not here anymore," Youngeun started to move away from the railing again and paced about. "I thought you would like to hear that—to remind you that you're special too. People better watch out because Yoon Jia is coming for world domination!"
"How many times are you going to make me cry tonight, Seo Youngeun?" Jia gave a slight chuckle, followed by another sniffle. “I’m going to run out of tissues at this rate…”
“Well, you better get used to it eventually,” Youngeun said, her expression softening with a gentle smile. “I won’t be holding back.”
A comfortable silence shared between them.
Even though they couldn’t see each other face-to-face, this call was more than enough.
From the corner of her eyes, Youngeun noticed a flurry of movements with blonde hair.
Suyeon was now pretending to be a track and field star, doing a mixture of sprints, jumps, and hops on the rooftop. This was probably a good time to end the call, much to Youngeun’s slight disappointment.
“Uh, hey, I don’t wanna keep you up for too long,” the younger girl sheepishly scratched the back of her head. “And Suyeon unnie is probably getting tired of waiting for me.”
“Oh! Sure, it’s already late anyways,” Jia agreed. “Let me talk with unnie too for a bit?”
“Yeah, I’ll hand the phone over to her,” Youngeun mentioned as she started walking over to where the blonde was.
“Also, Youngeun...”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for thinking about me, and for the call.” Again, that honey-like tone coated Jia’s voice. It almost made Youngeun melt on the spot.
“You should thank Suyeon unnie for the call, not me.”
“Right,” Jia gave a small chuckle. “Find out how she managed to sneak her phone out, yes? Tell me all about it when I see you again.”
“Oh, I’ll be hounding her about this for the rest of the night, thanks for reminding me,” Youngeun smirked evilly.
“Hounding who for the rest of the night?”
Perfect timing. Youngeun was already right in front of the criminal who had stopped pretending to be a track star.
“Nothing!” Youngeun put on her most innocent grin, and quickly handed the phone over to a clueless Suyeon. “Jia wants to talk to you!”
“Really!?” Suyeon excitedly grabbed the phone to her ear. “Hi Jia!”
She watched on as Suyeon happily chatted with the other girl, noticing the bounce in her steps. Youngeun could only hear the blonde’s answers, but it seemed to revolve around how they were both doing and that they will meet again soon. She noticed when Suyeon glanced at her with a knowing look, and then went back to staring at the sky with that sly smile plastered on her face. Youngeun was now completely sure that she didn’t imagine that evil glint from before.
“No problem! Anything for a friend,” she heard Suyeon’s reply. “Good night Jia!”
With that, the almost half-hour call ended.
A cold breeze swept through the night, prompting both girls to jam their hands into the depths of their hoodie’s pockets.
“I think this is the perfect time to head back down,” Suyeon said. “I’m tired.”
As they headed towards the door leading to the staircase, Youngeun suddenly wrapped a possessive arm around the blonde’s shoulder, the threatening smile back on her face. “So, how did you sneak your phone out from the staff? Also, I saw that look you gave me when Jia was talking to you. Something tells me that you planned this from the start.”
“I have no idea of what you’re talking about,” Suyeon curtly replied.
And suddenly, the older girl slipped away from Youngeun’s grasp and darted down the stairs with an agility that far surpassed hers.
“Oh, you’re not getting away from me again!” Youngeun let out a battle cry and rushed after her.
The chase went on, all the way back to the dorm rooms. Those who were still awake witnessed their cat and mouse game with a mix of confusion and amusement. It even woke up some of the other trainees who were already in bed, disgruntled and wondering what the hell was going on.
One thing’s for sure though.
Youngeun’s persistence was admirable, and Suyeon learned the hard way to never outsmart a fox.