𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈.

y o u a n d i

1, 2, 3, 4

5, 6, 7, 8

1, 2, 3, 4

5, 6—

gahyeon's legs slid underneath her, sending her down, shoulder first, to the cold, wooden floor of the dance practice floor. the resulting bang left gahyeon's ears ringing, and by the time she could hear properly, the song stopped, and only her heavy breathing was heard in the room.

gahyeon wasn't a dancer.

not that she didn't try.

gahyeon spent hours practicing the same moves the other's did; it's just...taking her a lot more time. happyface had done wonders to improve her dance skills, with the tough choreography since their debut song, chase me, and until now.

but that didn't mean that dancing was easier, by any means.

it's just that the other members had much more experience and practice compared to her. take her bora-unnie, for example.

bora had the longest trainee time out of all of them, and with those skills as a dancer, she was elected as their main dancer.

gahyeon sighs, there was so much room to improve.

so she'd volunteer to stay after.

(the group had just finished another long, exhausting day and were getting ready to head home.

minji had paused, glancing at the one person who didn't seem to join them.

gahyeon was walking towards the speaker, ready to go back to the first position.

"gahyeon? are you coming?" minji asked tentatively. the others had long before taken off, walking the few minutes to get from the practice room to the dorm.

gahyeon turned and flashed the leader a smile.

"i'm just finishing up this move. i won't take long, i promise."

"do you need help? i'm sure the others won't mind if i stay longer."

gahyeon feels something sharp in her chest—guilt, maybe? she didn't know.

"kim minji. do you really doubt your maknae-on-top?" gahyeon pretends to be hurt and pouts, "i can handle myself!"

minji just laughs and any traces of concern disappears from her face. she puts her hands up, relenting, before swinging her bag over her shoulder.

"of course i don't doubt my maknae-on-top."

gahyeon just smiles, "that's what i thought."

minji moves to open the door, but not before she points an accusatory finger at gahyeon, "you will be home soon, right?"

gahyeon just hums, and focuses on the position of her arms.

"yoobin was worried last time."

gahyeon fumbles the next step.

it was quiet.

"i'll be home soon." gahyeon promises, waiting for minji to leave.

once it was just her, she starts to dance from the top.)

sometimes she'd ask the others for help. sometimes she'd work on her own.

today was one of those days when she'd work on her own.

she almost got this routine set, and she'd never been so close to being satisfied with her own dancing, sometimes even comparing it to bora-unnie or minji-unnie or yoobin-unnie's skills. she was going to put in whatever effort to finally get it right.

she was only meant to polish a move or two.

but if she'd read the clock right, and it wasn't any sleep deprived hallucination, it was already three o'clock in the friggin morning.

yoobin was going to kill her.

or if it wasn't yoobin, it's going to be minji.

they're at least going to make her feel incredibly guilty about how she worried them.

maybe she'd just sleep in the practice room tonight.

she weighed the pros and cons.

there was no handong-unnie to steal her blanket, nor was there a yoohyeon-unnie to crawl in her bed tonight...

a series of taps broke the silence.

gahyeon screamed.

she probably would've continued screaming if she didn't trip herself in backing away.

when she finally comes to her senses, now flat on her back, she heard the giggles behind the door.

what if it's a robber?

or a sasaeng?

thinking fast, gahyeon grabbed the nearest thing she could reach—a hairbrush—flung the door open, and threw yoohyeon's hairbrush.

the person squeaked, slapping gahyeon in the arm.

"yah, what kind of disrespect is this?" yoobin scoffs

gahyeon only giggles, "you startled me. it serves you right."

"no, i meant why didn't you go home earlier than expected?"

at those words, gahyeon turns sober. she didn't want to make yoobin angry or disappointed in her.

every one didn't.

"i took longer than i expected. i really didn't want to—" gahyeon was cut off by yoobin pulling her into a hug.

"promise me that you won't do that again. i was worried gahyeon, every one was." yoobin whispers to the younger's ear, resting her chin in gahyeon's shoulder.

"i promise, unnie." gahyeon says, voice filled with guilt.

yoobin pulls away and kisses the crown of gahyeon's head. "let's go home, maknae."

"yeah, okay." because gahyeon is exhausted, she didn't really register  that yoobin was carrying her until she fell asleep in the elder's arms.

yoobin sighs, rubbing small circles in gahyeon's back. she wished that her maknae wasn't like this. she wished that gahyeon would be more open and ask for help.

because, like yoobin says, "it's just you and i."