Weekly Girls' Im Nayeon

Nayeon is definitely a flawed human being, no doubt about it. When she decided to write a cheesy romance comics on impulse and jokingly submitted it to Jihyo for screening when she was 27, she didn't know that it would be a hit to the over-dramatic, high pitch voiced, flirty and love hungry teenagers that she never regrets using a pseudonym credited to her. Not that she doesn't want to reveal that she is THE Kim Tokki korean teenagers talk about, the fact that she wrote it at age 27, with a decent job that has nothing to do with her hobby, embarrasses her to a degree that she can't bear. She even asks authors that have the same genre and around her age in an online community how are they comfortable that their identity is exposed, and how they beat procrastination. Don't start on her procrastinating habit... It is so bad that she has to go into hiding— care of Tzuyu— everytime Jihyo and Jeongyeon arrange a meeting in her house when she forgets to pass chapters for publication.

Not only is she bad at managing her time, Nayeon is definitely worse when it comes to managing and checking her supplies' stock. Nothing gets her cold feet and her whole body soaking in sweat like how it happens when she miraculously runs out of markers, especially the one she uses for skin tones. But running out of markers when the submission is tomorrow has far more worse aftermat than getting sweaty underwear and cold feet.

Her irrational fears of Jihyo are not helping her everytime she remembers being visited by her in the middle of the night after she told Jeongyeon she can't pass a chapter that day. She had her do many humiliating things that she couldn't help having her stomach do a flip whenever she tries to say it. The second time was so traumatizing that she had to sleep in a church with all communications cut off just so Jihyo won't track her.

"How did you even run out of ink that fast?!" Tzuyu asks Nayeon, remembering that she bought one last month as she aggressively drives to the nearest bookstore twenty minutes before closing hours.

"Because I keep drawing!"

"You don't have colored pages that much!"

"I have a lot but it didn't top my standard!"

"You mean you're wasting papers and colored markers and just throw them down the shoot but keep advocating Hashtag Save the trees Hashtag Save the turtles in your artist wall?!"

Offended and in shock, Nayeon gasps and hit the younger girl's arm causing the car to swerve a little.

"What the hell!" Tzuyu shouts from the violence.

"Don't bring turtles in this conversation!"

Reasons and rebuttals fly to each other with Tzuyu not planning to concede and Nayeon heavily offended by the turtle remark. She reasons that papers don't kill the harmless, cute, little creatures and Tzuyu just wants to mess with her but as soon as she replies something related to trees, it sends her to the edge from the humiliation and being offended. Tzuyu doesn't even intend to offend the older girl, she's just tired of her wasting paper and not even bothering to recycle them, but she did not expect Nayeon to also exhaust her markers supply that she can't help to imagine if she drinks it like her favorite beer. The only reason she's helping her this night is because nothing feels more sinful for her than seeing her friend sleeping on a church bench murmuring profanities addressed to Jihyo on a Sunday morning while the first mass of the day is taking place.

"How can you possibly forget the cover of your tankobon ?" Tzuyu sighs as soon as she hit the break. How Nayeon unfastens her seat belt in a hurry but keeps on failing to open the door just adds to her stress greatly. She gives another sigh and reaches the door for her that very much opens and is perfectly working, Nayeon is just dumb at things when under pressure.

"I am sorry, okay? Let me treat you tomorrow. I'll be the driver!" With one last sigh and forcing her to hurry inside, Tzuyu can finally relax after she saw her enter the bookstore. Though she has a big hunch that everything will not go well and she has to take her to another wild goose chase with the publishing company.

She sighs as soon as she feels the pent up stress from the possibility of having one of their impromptu roadtrips tonight.

Nayeon runs aisle per aisle with her fist clenched bitting her nails in another hand. Her heart beat doubles within the past hour, thighs has fingers tapping on it, fidgeting from time to time that she can. The sensation of fear and the adrenaline kicking in does not end in a pleasant situation and she knows that she might stop functioning later even if she gets the markers that she needed because she will be too burned out from her own fear. Thinking about things Jihyo can do to her never helps and it makes everything worse, she rather leave dangerously being chased as a wanted individual for breaching the contract than to face Jihyo and her humiliating punishment. She knows it is a petty and messy mentality but Tzuyu knows Nayeon being an outlaw was part of Nayeon's weird dreams.

"E000, E000, E00..." a trembling finger traces hastily across the color codes that didn't match.

"E..." she whispers under her ragged breath, starting to lose hope as she keeps on tracing each pen from its color code on top. Her breathing starts to get heavier and her nails are close to getting blunt, she's near the end of the markers and yet no sign of what she needs. Her mind is starting to play tricks on her, telling her that she will never find it and that scares her so much that she bites her nail too hard on the last pen.

"Shit" a loud thump in her chest hits as the horrors start to creep up her spine. She can already feel the sensations of the possible punishment— Jihyo on one side with a broom and Jeongyeon on another, laughing out loud at her that makes it much worse. She leans her head on the shelf wishing for the markers to get back in stock.

"Nayeon?" a deep soothing voice of a man calls her. Of course she recognizes that voice.

Park Jinyoung. Jihyo's older brother, her work mate that has his cubicle next to hers, and also her long-time high school crush... Aaaaand Jisoo's boyfriend.

To reveal or not to , Nayeon thinks dramatically at such time that Tzuyu will likely judge her later. Revealing that she's the teenager's literary god, Kim Tokki , and convincing Jihyo to extend her deadline will possibly have some setbacks like she can't have the same dignity and the cute image to him but that's not really something she should worry when breaching contracts is an issue.

She slowly shifts her gaze to the direction of the voice, surprising Jinyoung as the stress is evident from her face, asking her a worried "Are you okay?"

But he surprised Nayeon more with her Vol. 3 tankobon on his hand! The shiny blue surface with the fancy cute letters colored in yellow complimented by the sparkles all over the cover that Nayeon very much let Tzuyu design that she will never forget is the first thing that she noticed when she sees him. Much to Nayeon's chagrin, she stutters as she tries hard to utter a word, wide eyed and a hand blocking her gasp while a finger points at his occupied hand.

"A-are you reading that?" Her voice trembles in every word, not even the chuckle of the man in front of her can ease her up.

"Oh, this? Yeah. I saw Jihyo proof-reading this a lot but she won't let me take a peek and gave me the first volume instead"

For the love of God, Nayeon thinks, she might have already beheaded and obliterated Jihyo's whole existence in her mind. A part of her contract states that no one from the publication should leak a lead towards her identity. If Tzuyu would be here and answer this ridiculous phrase of a contract for Nayeon, Jihyo is not liable for breaching of contract because in the first place her story is a payable material that anyone can read and Jinyoung is a consumer. He is only reading her story without Jihyo telling who the author is, she's just panicking and embarrassed at her whole ordeal.

"It's kinda' embarrassing that you caught a 33-year old male reading this" Nayeon almost forgot her dilemma by the way Jinyoung rubs his nape with a sheepish smile because it only takes his puffy smile to make her knees weak. His stare at her own dilated eyes just doubles the beating of her poor erratic heart.

"No, don't be! Hobbies and preferences have no gender and age at all!" she answers in panic, tearing first from the eye contact, assuring him that his hobby is fine.

But Nayeon is a very bad liar. Not that she is bad at the deed but she has trouble with keeping up to make the lie seem true. Replying Jinyoung with "I read that too!" enthusiastically in panic just starts her thread of unnecessary lies.

"Really? I think you and Jisoo will get along since she's a big fan of the series"

Nayeon bit her tongue so hard that it hurts. Jisoo shouldn't know that she's the author. But that just makes her want to impress her ex-best friend with good chapters and hear good feedback through Jinyoung.

While Nayeon's busy panicking from her lies, Tzuyu's waiting for her patiently inside her car, listening to Day6's new song with already-hooded eyes, body molded to the surface of the seat cover, tired and half asleep. She deserves an expensive mattress to lie into after the long-office hours of designing that even her perfect posture gets crooked, and taking care of Nayeon after an over-time really requires her to have the most expensive one because it is somehow more tedious than her actual work.

She never wanted a piece of fortune the older girl is getting, hell, she doesn't even care about the fame that can shed her light. Watching Nayeon draw and happily let her read the script first just brings her joy more than a few coins she can get from it. As for her, a happy Nayeon is a happy Tzuyu, it instantly becomes her source of delight. No money or fame can ever replace the happiness she gets from helping her put her name out there in the industry.

"Got what you need?" Tzuyu pulls back her reclined seat and groggily asks the deranged girl who just got back, slamming the car door too hard.

"File an emergency leave, we're going on a road trip"

Even in her groggy state, Tzuyu really has no choice. The girl did not get her markers but something just says that she got something more important than that. Maybe she's filled with slight terror but Nayeon is definitely glowing. Jinyoung's confession that Jisoo reads her story just gives her enough fuel to have an idea for 9 chapters ahead and all she has to do is to draw them immediately when they get back. But for now they have to run, leaving the tired Tzuyu no choice but to follow— the last train left, and walking 2 hours back to their unit in the middle of winter is suicide, maybe possible but she doesn't want to go home with amputated parts of her. She sighs at how this is going to escalate tomorrow, but she understands Nayeon. Jihyo is truly terrifying if angered, that's why she just goes with the other girl when she's in a pinch.

Heart keeps skipping a beat with butterflies in her stomach, Just going anywhere with Tzuyu and watch the seaside sunrise nowhere near Seoul as they evade Jihyo's watchful eyes gives Nayeon the euphoria she has been craving for. But Nayeon chooses to ignore the fluttering feeling and dismiss it as the aftermath of her excitement. She chose to focus on her newfound inspiration for new chapters as she has the empty markers to thank later.

______________________________

Nayeon thinks that she will forever have a crush on Jinyoung but that doesn't compare to what she felt for his girlfriend Jisoo. They used to be Dumb and Dumber, the Romeo to her Juliet, an inseparable duo with a hint of a budding romance until an ill-fated hindrance happened between them that flipped the table for them. Everything is not the same when Jisoo decided to date Tzuyu... Then Jinyoung.

Yes, Nayeon is one indecisive sly woman who likes 3— THREE— people at the same time but hides it and likes to dismiss everything with a lie.

Though one thing she is sure of. Those ridiculous crush on them were never love

By the time Nayeon has finished her fifth chapter for the week, she already wasted 30 sheets of paper. Yes, she is full of ideas left and right two weeks after the bookstore incident but that alone is not enough to form an actual storyline that would make sense, but nonetheless, an idea is still better than a blank piece of paper. Look what her ideas have got her into— 4 chapters in a week is such a feat for a procrastinator like Nayeon.

"Tzuyu! You can do the backgrounds now" Nayeon exits her room and sees the other girl ready with her own tools on the coffee table as she actively looks at references for the scenes. Her approved manuscripts are on the side, already inked while some are still up for inking.

She decides to ink it to decrease the younger girl's workload. She can either start on the next chapter but she knows it is bad for her to put her brain on overdrive, it never ends well. Tzuyu will probably tease her if she ever do something stupid. Besides, she has 8 chapters ready for publication and 4 chapters up for review and revisions.

She flips the pages but stopped instantly when she sees a cute turtle markings on different scenes that needed inking. While most people may react in adoration if they see Tzuyu's cute turtle, Nayeon is the opposite. It triggers her so much just because of a certain argument last time they went to the bookstore. Her left brow raises and twitches her lips in a displeased smile, releasing a smug "ha" and points it out to the younger girl.

"Do you have an issue with me and turtles? Who uses turtles for beta markers"

But Tzuyu shrugs and continues to draw backgrounds.

"Says by someone who uses detailed chibi rabbits as beta markers" pencil and ruler now placed down, she looks up at her and say "use that energy to think of plot improvements instead of placing too much details on a beta marker"

To be insulted at something she admits to be wrong just offends Nayeon to another degree that she can't explain. Who even draws detailed drawings for beta markers? Only Im Nayeon and she has the guts to feel offended.

She bites her tongue to stop her from arguing further when suddenly her phone rings and finds Jeongyeon's caller ID.

"Hello?" Nayeon answers anxiously. The only reason that her editor is calling right now is to either give feedback on her new chapter or asking her to proceed without revisions. Annoying her is not in the agenda since the publication date is near.

Nayeon hopes it is the latter.

"Don't beg and expect what you are expecting honestly"

The sigh on the other line crushed Nayeon's fragile hope but what hope is she talking about? She knows she did poorly on the last chapter. Thanks to Tzuyu's ideas, that chapter is saved from being scrapped.

She quickly gets the manuscript in question and a paper to write on for feedback as she sits across Tzuyu at the table.

"On page 3, what did the heroine feel?"

"Happy"

"On page 7 on the lower left panel?"

"She's happy"

"On page 18?"

"She's happy"

The creeping fear starts to surface in Nayeon as she hears a pause followed by the sigh from the other line. All she's waiting for is Jeongyeon's onslaught complaints so she can already end the unnecessary release of adrenaline that she's currently feeling.

"I'll be professional and forget the fact that you are my friend" Jeongyeon inhales deeply before screaming "The fuck is your character that shallow not to experience complex emotions?"

That is definitely not in the line of being professional.

"But getting a lunch box from your crush will make you happy" she whines, fake sobbing through the phone and making faces to the point Tzuyu has to stop drawing and watches her in disgust.

"I know but think about the thought of the act" Jeongyeon started "You forgot your lunch at home with no money at all and you are already hungry. Your crush gave you lunch but you also hate him the same amount you like him. Let that sink in to you. I don't think happiness is the right emotion for all of that"

Nayeon ended the call and immediately tried to do the revisions but nothing came into her mind as to how to change the emotions that she needs to portray. Even with the help of the reluctant Tzuyu since she's too busy with drawing backgrounds, nothing really changes. Frustrated as she is, Tzuyu suggested she retire for the day and head to sleep with a promise that she will help her tomorrow.

The next day Nayeon is surprised to see Tzuyu up so early when her work starts at noon, already in her jeans, black shirt with the front hem tucked in, white shoes, and a long trench coat ready to be worn at the side. Her usual get up for work is surprising her so early in the morning.

At first she thinks that Tzuyu will try to redraw the panels but this only earned her a nonchalant clapback that sends her back to reality— that Tzuyu will never do everything for her— slapping her some senses.

"I'm looking for my renders for my presentation later"

Oh. Nayeon's heart sinks. What did she even expect? But the older unnie inside her kicks in even when she is in such a horrible state and Nayeon finds herself looking for what the younger girl needs. Maybe it is the notebook Tzuyu keeps on drawing at? Are those even considered renders of house designs?

The questionable brown, leather-covered notebook that has her name engraved on it flashes through Nayeon's peripheral view. Now that she has an actual look on it, she remembers that this was her gift to her 3 years ago.

"Is this it?" The older girl picks it up and examines the outer cover.

But Tzuyu didn't plan to even let Nayeon remember that notebook at all, she didn't even notice that she already had it in her hand in a span of a millisecond. Thank God for the adrenaline rush that made her faster than light that the swing of her hand created wind that was strong enough to move Nayeon's shower bangs.

Apologetic as she is to Nayeon after seeing her surprised face, she just can't let her see the content of it. "T-That's not it" Tzuyu immediately hides the notebook inside her bag. "I think I left it in the office"

Tzuyu leaves for work before Nayeon can even get into her work clothes, leaving her alone without talking about the revisions at all like she did not promise her. Her mind can't even focus on one topic now that Tzuyu's mysterious notebook starts to creep in and distract her from the revisions. Of course she value's her privacy let alone she's not even a nosy person but she didn't know that her notebook is too precious to let any people take a peek inside. The only reason she dared to look is because architectural drawings are damn amazing and Tzuyu is very good at it to not even take a peek.

-----

Hungry and frustrated, Nayeon continues her work trying to ignore Jinyoung on the other side of her cubicle that keeps getting surprised and awed with her story and for the first time, she is irritated at him. All she wants to do is to run away from anything related to her story that will remind her of the revisions.

11:58 AM. Nayeon receives a text from Tzuyu if she can go out since she's around the area. With just a single text, she hurries to fix her table and asks Momo to go down with her. She knows the japanese girl has been stalking Tzuyu's social media accounts.

Tapping her left foot and biting her thumb, Nayeon and Momo stand in the middle of the lobby of their building as they wait for Tzuyu. Momo seems to be too enthusiastic about meeting Tzuyu for the first time that she keeps on using her front camera of her phone as a mirror, fixing her fringes and finding non-existent dirt on her face. Nayeon ignores the slight annoyance because why is she suddenly annoyed at Momo? She never knows, maybe it's just the time of the month.

She keeps a watchful eye on the door for minutes already, thinking about what Tzuyu has to give. The big automatic door swings open for a hundred times as a crowd of employees come in and out. By the time Nayeon loses count how many times it slides open, she sees an unusual head sticking out of the crowd taller than most females. She started gawking in shock, too surprised to talk and call Momo to tell that their visitor had arrived. 5"7 Architect Tzuyu in light blue blazer and slacks with just white shoes and a shirt tucked inside, sporting her rounded glasses and a ponytail causes a short-circuit in Nayeon's system.

She's already numb from Momo's slap that she didn't even notice that both of them are gawking at her.

Her heart beats double and she can't even close her mouth for her own good. Why is she having a crush on Tzuyu in smart-casual get up? Because if she's going to rate the fashion, it is 10 out of 10! Of course Tzuyu's usual black jeans with denim-like polo over her white shirt is also top notch for Nayeon but this whole professional style is just her style .

"I have to meet a client near here so... Your lunch" Tzuyu snaps her back to reality and hands over a thermal bag with food inside. "I did the grocery already so don't bother going to the supermarket later"

Her whole surroundings suddenly feels like an anime scene inside her head. Flowers all over the ground with pink background as a strong blow of wind passes by them— Momo suddenly is invisible to her.

She's fucking happy that happy is not enough to describe it. Tzuyu doing the grocery shopping for them before her work starts then delivering her warm lunch to the office? A major turn-on for Nayeon.

Butterflies all over her stomach, pink cheeks that she doesn't care to hide anymore, Nayeon mutters a "thanks" and sees Tzuyu follow with a smile that shows her dimple and a little chuckle, making her messier than ever.

"Hello I am Momo, are you free this weekend?" Momo shoves her aside and offers a handshake.

"I am Tzuyu. My schedule's already full with taking care of Nayeon unnie"

Nayeon feels a string was struck inside her heart by how she rejects Momo but she ignores it, dismissing it as a fact that she really needs guidance to function properly in her daily life.

Tzuyu bows and bids goodbye, Nayeon relaxes for a bit until Momo irritates her for another second.
"I can't believe you're living with her" she slaps her shoulder hard "If you're not fucking her, can I have her?"

Of course, Nayeon doesn't want that. She leaves Momo hanging and goes back to her cubicle without talking to her. Is this the promise Tzuyu is talking about— to re-enact the feelings in her story? If it is, Tzuyu succeeds, with Nayeon feeling more than she should.

As soon as Tzuyu reaches her car, Nayeon already sent her a text
"Please send me a full body picture! It's for research purposes"

Tzuyu's pride swells up greatly. Dressing up in Nayeon's secret fetish definitely made the older girl feel things and she knows it. The text message just proves everything to be true.

______________________________

The stress gets into Nayeon too much these days. Not a day passes by that she never sees Jinyoung reading her story in secret except to her. They even exchange opinions and ideas on how to make the story more entertaining. Things were good until what she has been afraid of happened.

"Huh? How did you know about that? What you said last week is correct. Every detail"

"Shit" Nayeon bites her tongue and internally screams at herself for slipping such important information.

One thing Nayeon is also bad at? Making decisions on the spot, more likely on impulse that she immediately regrets.

"I- uhhh I actually do inking for that artist! She's my friend"

Jinyoung definitely buys it. With the accuracy in the story that Nayeon just told him last week, of course he would believe her. She really wished that he didn't because her mouth suddenly ran on its own again and definitely will regret it in the following days.

Nayeon's thread of lies just keeps longer for Tzuyu to do the damage control in the near future.

______________________________

"You could have told him you are a psychic or it is some shit you just made up" Jeongyeon sips her tea as she watches Nayeon prepare her own coffee, feeling too much at home in the latter's apartment.

"Of all people, you're asking me that? You know that my mind is not capable of deciding things on a whim. It is out of its capacity"

Nothing is the best response to what she heard except for sipping a piping hot tea while hearing Im Nayeon admitting what everyone has been teasing her for years. With wide eyes as she sounds her sip in an exaggerated manner. "I am proud of you for finally realizing" Jeongyeon mocked the distressed girl with a smile, ending in monotone with a victorious clap.

"You already heard what you want. Are you happy? Then so help me" rolling her eyes, Nayeon groaned loud and face palms

"Do you realize that our circle of friends overlap, Nayeon? You're a fucking shut-in that rarely let people close to you! His friends are literally your only friends!"

"Hey! I have plenty of friends, too!"

"But only who knows how to draw, huh?"

"T-Tzuyu..."

The taller girl slams her hands on the table, claps and points a finger at her for getting the right answer.

"You got it. It's Tzuyu, you're going to use Tzuyu again for your mess like you always do"

Nayeon raises a brow and cocks her head looking confused "Are you condoning me this time for using Tzuyu again?"

"No, that was sarcastic"

Nayeon sighs and shakes her head. Why did she even hope her to support her antics? Jeongyeon never agrees without dissing her first and ends with a sarcastic remark.

But Jeongyeon did make sense. Nayeon's confidence in impulsive lying is because Tzuyu keeps saving her by making every single lie that comes out of her lips true for a moment. After hearing those savage remarks by Jeongyeon earlier, she's starting to realize how kind of Tzuyu to keep saving her sorry ass.

Speaking of Tzuyu, Jeongyeon has an observation that she's been itching to tell the other girl.

"Don't you think Tzuyu's been too cooperative with you these days?"

Of course she did but just dismissed it as an act of kindness. Tzuyu is overly kind afterall.

"Nothing new actually. She's been like that since we were kids"

"Of course I know that" Jeongyeon clarified "But I mean something in her vibe just feels different and I think I have seen it before"

"Like what?"

Jeongyeon almost speaks but still managed to stop herself, thinking if Nayeon is the right person to tell her observation . If she ends up right and makes things bad for them, she doesn't think she can handle the onslaught of complaints from Nayeon.

"Just forget what I said. You're right, she's been like that since the beginning" she can see the confusion painted on Nayeon's face. She is too, actually but it is not right to paint a person an opinion that has not been proven.

"But don't you think it is time for you to go digital? Time to lessen Tzuyu's burden"

"You know I can burn a house with these hands"

Nayeon doesn't fancy the idea of using anything related to technology when it comes to her manhwas. For one, she's not tech savvy; two, she likes the vintage feel of the inks and those sparkly screen tones you put on top of the panels for romantic scenes. The first one is enough for her not to get a drawing tablet because a flat surface can magically spark fire with the kind of hands she has and she already hates imagining that Tzuyu will definitely pour buckets of water at her for preventive measures . Though she knows that her way of publishing is already outdated, the fact that her style caused her to gather a niche has her story keep going, her anonymous identity even added to the curiosity of the readers. They are going to scan them and publish it online anyways.

Nayeon leaves Jeongyeon's place when the clock strikes 9 bringing all the thoughts about Tzuyu that should have stayed in Jeongyeon's house. It's not everyday that she hears observations from her about Tzuyu because the girl has always been open with Jeongyeon. The fact that she did ask her that question means that it is something Tzuyu has never said to the former.

"Ugh!" Nayeon groans as she waits for the elevator to open. Everything in her life is all about Tzuyu these days and she's starting to feel weird. why is everything reminding her of Tzuyu, every action of her and every decision, she will consider Tzuyu's opinions, situation— her everything. Since when did her life have been reliant on the girl? Not that she's complaining but she does wonder when it all started.

There is a ding and the elevator opens, Nayeon has never been so surprised like this for a while. She felt a small thump in her chest, feeling like she's resisting a gamble that can worsen her desires. Tzuyu's inside the lift with her phone on her ear. Her phone suddenly rings with Tzuyu's caller ID.

"T-Tzuyu..." she froze on her spot, surprised to see her, letting her phone ring.

"Oh! I guess there's no signal in there" her smile sends Nayeon in such a wild roller-coaster ride "I was on my way home and unnie told me you're here so I decided to pick you up"

Jeongyeon is right. Tzuyu's too cooperative these days that she's getting the butterflies in her stomach , leaving her to wonder why is she feeling this way? What is she even feeling at all?

Nayeon shrugs the feeling again for another month, making things go back to normal (for her) for the meantime.

______________________________

Nayeon doesn't know what to focus on as of now. The stress of her lie and the burn out period is starting to eat her alive. She knows she already has 9 chapters pending for publication— 9 weeks of rest— but the thought of impressing Jisoo and Jinyoung just gets her in the mood to write and draw. She wants them to see her very productive and very active to the point of burning herself out. She's now out of ideas and keeps scrapping paper per paper, something Tzuyu hates to see. Working on mostly digital based drafting and handouts made Tzuyu aware of paper usage and even started joining campaigns. By this time, Nayeon has wasted a total of 60 sheets of paper

Stress without eating and feeling her stomach aches and grumbles just worsens her mood. She can't write and draw, she can't cook, and now she's too hungry to function. It's supposed to be Tzuyu's turn to bring food to the table and it's already 8 PM, where is she actually? Nayeon thinks. If she's not bringing take-outs and plans to cook when it is already late, She doesn't know what she can do to the younger girl.

She rests her head on the table, cheeks getting squeezed by the surface and gravity, completely sulking from her problems when suddenly the door swings open, the scent of food greeting her lovingly as it makes her stomach growl violent.

"Chewwyyy... What took you so looooong?~" baby talks and unnecessary nicknames never faze Tzuyu by a slight

Sort of... In the physical aspect. She actually has a soft spot for Nayeon's annoying baby talks.

Tzuyu keeps a straight face and places the plastic bag on the table making the older girl flinch with the vibration and smell.

"I went to Yongsan"

"Little Tokyo?"

"Yeah, I was thinking you might want to go Japanese today"

As long as it is food, Nayeon is happy. The fact that Tzuyu brought her warm Japanese food and even have a serving separated for her midnight snacks just delights her and giddy inside. She just hopes the younger will not see the pile of paper she has in the trash bin and everything will be perfect.

She starts to prepare the table, removing her kits and places each bento box across each other with chopsticks on its side while Tzuyu changes to comfortable clothes. She comes out with her baggy purple hoodie and sweatpants, something Nayeon finds cute for her height and composure.

The dinner went by peaceful, friendly banters from time to time until a thought struck her.

"Shit" She realizes that she should have asked Tzuyu to buy her Japanese colored markers that she's currently out of since there is a Japanese bookstore there with the brand she is using. Jihyo's been directly contacting her to hurry up with the next tankobon cover.

"Ah, I forgot. I have something for you. Wait there" Tzuyu returns to her room while Nayeon sulks at her long overdue problem. She quickly asks Tzuyu the moment she returns.

"Hey, can we go to the bookstore?"

The tall girl sits across from her in confusion "Huh, your supplies ran out again?" as if she's judging her and her magical hands that sucks everything dry.

Tzuyu already had her hand extended, passing something to Nayeon even before she could reply.

"Huh?"

"Don't you need this? This was the reason I went to Yongsan, the food was just a side trip actually"

Nayeon looks straight into her hand and sees 4 pieces of the marker she badly needs. She keeps looking at the pens and Tzuyu's smiling face, a dimple visibly in show making her cuteness level up in Nayeon's eyes.

"Oh" she let out a dry chuckle. Feeling something struck her heart to beat erratically

Her stomach is churning, her heart is definitely beating faster with the sight of her dimple. "What is happening with me?"

She tries to shrug the feeling off her system like she used to but not everything works in her favor. She keeps finding herself staring at the younger girl that she started to make a fool out of herself. Her face is a mess, the sauce is all over her mouth and some bits of rice on her cheeks yet she continues to look at Tzuyu that is minding her own business until she sees the sorry state she was in.

Tzuyu wipes her face like a baby, leaving Nayeon frozen and a mess with her beating heart.

Oh

The long overdue feelings that she shrugs everytime she feels weird , those feelings from 3 years ago— No, maybe years beyond that she managed to ignore, is coming back to haunt her.

She's feeling things for her again.