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“Is skydiving completely off the table?” Danielle asks, a playful giggle escaping her lips.
“Don’t even,” Minji says, her voice firm, but she gives her a small smile. They’ve just finished filming an episode of Jeans’ Zine, which consists of Danielle and Minji attending a pottery class and ending the day off with paragliding, something that Minji was hesitant about but seemed to have enjoyed it.
“It looked like you enjoyed it up there,” Danielle winks, teasing her. They’ve dressed back in their regular clothes after getting out of the jumpsuits they wore for paragliding and are getting a breather as the staff gathers their equipment. “But maybe I’ll take Haerinnie next time.”
“She might enjoy it more than I did,” Minji shrugs. Danielle knows the older girl is not a big fan of heights, but she knows if it wasn’t for her, Minji wouldn’t have mustered enough strength to do this. They’re sitting on a hill, overlooking the view they got a bird’s eye view of just a few hours ago.
“Hey, you should be proud of yourself.” Danielle nudges Minji. “You faced your fears, unnie!” She will honour the older girl’s words of not doing it again because the last thing she wants to do is force her into doing something she doesn’t want to do. Minji is firm in what she likes and dislikes, especially regarding food.
“That’s true,” Minji sighs, nodding her head. She props herself up with her hands splayed, leaning back. “I couldn’t have done this without you, Dani-ya.”
Danielle slots herself in between Minji, as all of the girls are used to sleeping or leaning on each other. Personal space is non-existent with them now, the result of them spending so much time together but with Minji… it’s different. She leans back against Minji, letting her head rest on the older girl’s shoulder.
“Hey,” Minji says softly. “Don’t get too comfortable,” she reminds her. “You fell asleep the last time we sat like this in the dorm and Hyein kept taking pictures of us.”
Danielle gasps softly. “She did?”
“Yeah, I asked her to send it to me, but she never did.” Minji shrugs. “You know she’s the one that was most excited about us filming this.”
Danielle hums in agreement, feeling rather comfortable against Minji. Their faces are dangerously close and if Minji just turns her head a bit—
“Dani?”
“Hmm?”
“You’re not gonna take a picture of the sunset?” Minji raises an eyebrow at her. “You usually take pictures of the sky.”
“Not today…” Danielle says, keeping her gaze fixed on Minji. The older girl gets the hint as their eyes meet and as Danielle gets ready to—
“C’mon girls, let’s get going!” Their manager calls a few feet away. The two girls sit up abruptly, following their manager back to the waiting car below.
They’re able to make a detour to a café before Minji heads to a solo schedule, so Danielle arrives at the dorm and manages to have dinner with the rest of the girls before heading into her room and decides to go live on Phoning, where she talks a little bit about today’s events—omitting some details, of course—and manages to not spoil too much to the fans. She stays live until she realizes her phone’s about to die and charges it while she gets ready for bed. It’s getting late, anyway.
Stepping out of the bathroom, she grabs her phone and sees there’s an unread text from Minji. She’s home. Leaving her phone to charge, she tip-toes over to the older girl’s room and knocks on the door softly.
“Come in,” she hears Minji say, and with that, Danielle enters, closing the door behind her. Potter—Minji’s teddy bear—is propped up on the other side of the bed. “Hey,” she greets.
“Hey,” Danielle greets back, suddenly feeling shy. She feels the bed sink underneath her weight. “Did you… actually have fun tonight?”
“Of course I did,” Minji laughs softly, laying down and patting the space beside her to let Danielle lay beside her. “I still mean what I said, though, I’m not going to do it again.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, unnie.” Danielle laughs, lying beside the older girl.
“Alright, Dani,” Minji chuckles, reaching over to turn off the lamp in her room. “Good night.”
“Good night, unnie.” Danielle hums and gets herself comfy and closes her eyes to sleep. She can fall asleep pretty fast, but not as fast as Minji. She wants to say something, but she figures Minji needs to sleep, she came home a little later than Danielle, so Danielle closes her eyes again, trying to ignore Potter’s gaze. Yes, she knows he’s just a teddy bear—an inanimate object—but she can’t help but wonder if she projects Minji.
“Dani?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you asleep?”
Danielle turns to her side to face Minji, who is very well awake. “I can’t sleep.”
“Neither can I, what’s on your mind? Besides the obvious.” Minji nervously chuckles, sitting up.
Danielle sits up as well and hesitates for a moment. She wonders if she should mention the almost kiss they had. Minji doesn’t like talking about her feelings all that much, but with everything going on, they’ve been more transparent with each other, more than ever. “I… you know… we almost kissed.”
Minji’s eyes widen slightly and the corners of her mouth quirk up. “Yes, we did. Are you worried that manager-nim saw it?”
Danielle doesn’t say anything but nods. They’re all going through so much right now, the last thing they need is to complicate things within the group. They need to be united, but—
Minji leans in to kiss her, and Danielle kisses her back, wrapping her arms around her neck. When they break from the kiss, they let their foreheads touch, slightly panting. “That felt good, right?”
Danielle nods again. “Yeah, it did.”
“We’ll figure this out, one step at a time,” Minji says, brushing a stray hair out of her face. “Don’t overthink it.” She tells her, and Danielle feels herself lying down with Minji again, her head resting above her chest as they hold hands, Minji’s much bigger hands practically envelop Danielle’s smaller ones entirely.
Before Danielle knows it, she falls fast asleep in Minji’s arms.
It’s no surprise that out of all the girls, Danielle is a morning person. She is the most willing to get up early without a fight or falling back asleep. Whether she’s off or has a schedule, she’s up with the sun.
Minji’s room feels a bit cooler than hers, naturally, since Danielle’s room is full of plants and gets the most sunlight. She stares out at Seoul, waking up with the rest of the city, and it’s a city that she’s called home for the past few years. There’s an uneasy feeling in her stomach and she’s worried, worried about herself and the rest of the members. She’s so lost in thought that she jumps when she feels Minji embrace her from behind. It’s like second nature when Danielle leans back against her slightly, how easy this is for her.
“Good morning,” Minji rasps in her sleep-filled voice. “You should come back to bed and we can sleep in a bit more.”
“I’m okay, unnie.” Danielle says, clearing her throat. She doesn’t look up at Minji and her gaze is fixed on the city below them. “I don’t think I can go back to sleep.”
“I know what’s on your mind,” Minji sighs. “Because it’s been on mine, too. But you know what? We’ll all be okay, all five of us."
“I think so,” Danielle says, feeling lighter as she feels confident in the older girl’s reaffirmation.
But for now, the two of them enjoy each other’s presence. In their constantly changing world, it’s nice to take a minute, have a breather and just be.