Chapter Text
I look up at the clock. An hour. It's been a solid hour that Suyeon has sat there, monopolizing the television, watching our videos over and over and over again. "I Don't Like Your Girlfriend," then "Butterfly," then "La La La," then start the whole thing over again. Each cycle takes ten minutes. I know that because this is how she's spent all her free time for the past month. Ten minutes per cycle, so six cycles an hour. When today's seventh cycle starts, I can't take it anymore. I walk up and stand in front of her, blocking the TV. She leans first to one side, then the other, trying to see around me.
"I was watching that!" she protests, still trying to see around me.
I reach behind myself and turn off the TV, then I sit down on the couch and turn to face her. "I know," I say. "You've been watching nothing but our videos every spare minute for the past month. It's driving the rest of us crazy. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were either super vain or else losing your grip on reality."
"What?" she says, trying to look innocent. "I'm just reviewing our choreography!"
I roll my eyes. I know this bugs her, which makes it that much more effective when I do it now. "Do I look stupid to you? First of all-" I begin counting my points off on my fingers- "I know that by the time we made those videos, you already knew the choreography well enough that if the rest of the ground was abducted by aliens, you could grab seven random trainees and recreate Weki Meki by the end of the afternoon. Secondly, if you were reviewing our choreography, you'd be watching the choreography vides rather than the official music videos. And finally, if you really were just reviewing our choreography, you wouldn't be watching 'Butterfly' at all, because we don't have choreography for that."
She leans back and crosses her arms. She knows she's busted; she just doesn't want to admit it yet. "Okay then," she says, "if you're so smart, what do you think I'm really doing?"
I lean closer so our conversation can be kept quiet. Not because I expect any of the other members will overhear us - given Suyeon's monopolization of the IV, no one spends much time in the common room - but because it lends what I'm about to say a more dramatic effect. "It's not about thinking," I say. "It's all about watching your facial expressions." She opens her mouth, about to say something, but I steamroller over her. "Yeah, yeah, you're about to say you weren't making any facial expressions. Well, you were making a good attempt at it, but since you've been hogging the TV all month, I've had plenty to time to watch you.
She smirks at me. She actually thinks I'm not onto her! "And what do you think you've figured out?" she asked.
Smiling, I lean closer. "I've figured out-" I pause dramatically- "that you've got a thing for Sei!"
An "oh-shit-I'm-busted!" look flashes across her face before she manages to gain control of it. "I do not!" she says, fooling no one.
"You think you're so hard to read Suyeon, but it might as well be written across your forehead." She shakes her head as I go on, trying to deny it. "Every time Sei comes on screen, the corners of your mouth turn up just a little bit, in the tiniest little smile. And every time Sei and Lucy are on screen together - especially if Lucy's touching Sei - you get a little scowl line right here between your eyebrows." I tap the spot with my fingertip for emphasis.
She flings herself dramatically backward into the depth of the couch. "Even you are right-"
"I am right!" I interrupt her, smiling triumphantly.
"Even if you are right," she tries again, "so what? Sei and Lucy are together, and have been since we were filming 'I Don't Like Your Girlfriend'."
I scoot closer to her, talking even more quietly. "So? Didn't you see what happened last week?"
She looks puzzle. "What? What happened last week?"
I laugh. "For someone who claims to be so observant, sometimes you really don't see what's going on around you. Last week you got your hair dyed black."
She stares at me, obviously get getting what I'm driving at here.
"And then the next day," I add, "Sei got hers dyed red."
She still doesn't get the connection. "Yeah. And?"
I roll my eyes again, and then, in order to throw her a little further off balance mentally, I start talking lower and slower, as if I was explaining this to a small child. "After you dyed your hair black-" I hold out one hand- "she dyed her hair red-" I hold out my other hand, about 10 centimeters higher that the first one- "so that you two would still be a matched set:-" I move my hands so they're even. "A brunette and a redhead, both with bangs. And besides that-" I look around, so that she sees I'm trying to be sure we're still alone, which means what I'm about to say must be secret and important- "besides that, I talked to Lucy yesterday, and she knows that she's just a replacement girl - that she's only there because Sei got tired of waiting for you." I raise my eyebrows significantly. "She told me that if you made a play for Sei, she'd put up the appearance of a fight in order to to save face, but she wouldn't stand in your way."
Suyeon's face lights up with excitement. "Really?"
I smile and nod. "I think you'll find them in the park," I say, leaning back slightly.
Suyeon jumps up, runs for the door, then rushes back and gives me a hug that rattles my head, saying "Thanks Doyeon! I owe you one!" Then she runs for the door, scrambles to get her shoes on, and rushes out of the apartment.
As soon as she's gone, Yoojung strolls around the corner from the kitchen. "Oh my God!" she mouths, her eyes wide, as she walks around the couch and flops down next to me on the couch. "Did Lucy really say that?"
"No!" I scoff. "She doesn't know that Suyeon's got a crush on Sei. I don't even know if Sei knows."
She stretches up and kisses me on the nose, then does her best impression of a stern schoolteacher. "You're evil. You know that, don't you? Causing drama between our members like this?"
I grab the remote and turn on the basketball game I'd been wanting to see, then lean back and put my arm around Yoojung. "The thing about drama," I say, "is that eventually it ends. But there's no limit to how long Suyeon could pine for Sei, and if I had to spend one more day listening to our songs on constant loop, I was going to scream."
Yoojung cuddles up closer, putting her arm around me. "I still think you're evil," she says.
I laugh. "And you love me anyway."