Love you as much as the Land, Sky, Sea

Stay With Me

"Why are you always picking on me?!" Hwasa pushed Solar harshly on her chest.

"Well, you should be on time! How many times should I tell you that?!" She retorted.

"It's not like I'm late every day!"

"Once a week is too much, Ahn Hyejin! Don't you have any respect for your unnies? How could you make us wait before practice and keep your tardiness habit?"

"How could I respect you when you nag at me here and you nag at home?!"

"What?!"

"You're a clean freak at home! Hyejin-ah, take the trash out. Hyejin-ah, clean it up. Hyejin-ah, don't leave this here," She mimicked Solar, "And you're so sensitive at work!"

"As a leader, I must keep you all in line to obey basic rules and punish you for disobedience!"

"Nobody wants you to! Even Kim Daepyo almost chose Byul unnie as our leader! So get off your high horse before someone slaps you, unnie!"

Provoked by the threat, Solar grabbed Hwasa's collar and yanked her menacingly, "What did you say?!"

Hwasa's hot-tempered reached its peak and she shoved Solar hard by her stomach. Her action worked as Solar lost her grip, she's forced to take a step back. They glared and were about to launch at each other when Moonbyul and Wheein who stood nearby watching finally decided to intervene.

"Hyejinnie, that's enough," Wheein dragged Hwasa outside their practice room.

"Unnie.." Moonbyul approach the angry girl with caution. She waited until the maknae walked out and they left alone in the room before she asked, "Are you okay?"

Solar huffed tensely, she turned and walked to the floor-to-ceiling mirror. Solar was pissed at Hwasa's behavior the past couple of months, she's messy at home; not clean up after cooking or postponing washing the dishes, left her stuff in their living room for days before she picked them back, and she's often late to their practice. They left the house on their own as some decided to work out or visit the minimarket or pharmacy before getting to the office. Somehow, Hwasa was always the last one to arrive.

"Do you think I'm a crappy leader too?" Solar can see Moonbyul staring back at her through the mirror reflection.

"Are you kidding me?" Moonbyul said using an incredulous tone, "Do-hoon Daepyo did the right thing by choosing you instead of me,"

Moonbyul meant that with all her heart, she has seen what Solar did for MAMAMOO the past few months. After they got back from Moonbyul's parents' house, Solar learned how to rap, she initiatively taught herself during her downtime and then shared the knowledge with Moonbyul. Having zero alternatives, Moonbyul reluctantly lured into their rapping session.

They learned by doing; memorizing rapping parts from songs and after they got the hang of it, Solar and Moonbyul added Moonbyul's distinct style. Sometimes, it worked really well and Moonbyul would smile at the newfound joy in speaking quickly chasing after the melody, it's kinda thrilling and involuntarily boosts her confidence for a second. But some other times, it left her frustrated as she lack the skills and technique to do it.

Seeing the girl having a hard time to the point that she refused or whined about going to work, Solar sympathized and helped as much as she could.

But it's not like there's plenty of free time, to begin with. Since January, they have been busy recording the collaboration project with senior idols; Bumkey, K.Will, Wheesung, and Geeks. They also shoot two music videos for the featured songs. Do-hoon finally has the chance to prove his worth to the girls, pulling many strings to create projects with his connections. It's his introduction strategy; placing the idea of MAMAMOO as talented singers created by other singers. And he did so by emphasizing the girls' vocal ability above all else.