Summary: Yeojin didn't want to bother other members when they were resting so she went to the dance studio alone only to see Yves practicing by herself. A YeYo bonding chapter.

Comfort (Yves and Yeojin)

After saying goodbye to her friends, Yeojin walked out of the school ground to see one of the managers waiting by the service van.

“Sorry if I took too long.” Yeojin said, earning a smile from the manager.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve just arrived.”

The manager opened the side door to let her in.

After making sure she was seated properly, they drove out of the school area towards the direction of the Loona’s dorm. Yeojin glance at her wristwatch, its still a bit early to go home.

“PD-nim, can we stop by the company?”

The manager gave a quick glance at the rear-view mirror, looking confuse.

“Of course, but why do you want to go there? As far as I remember, you girls don’t have any schedules for today.”

Yeojin twiddle her fingers, trying to act natural.

“I think it’s too early for me to return, so maybe I could go to the dance studio to do some extra practice.”

The manager sighed, “Yeojin-ah, this is the third time this week, as your manager I would advise you to take a rest for now.”

“I know, I know. But I just want to get some extra practice since our schedules are mostly free this week. I just want to improve my dancing skills so that I won’t be a burden to everyone.”

“You do know that they don’t think that way, right?”

“I know, but still. Please just this once PD-nim?”

“…fine. But only this one time.”

And so, the manager turns and drive towards the company HQ. Yeojin was thankful for the manager’s willingness to fulfill her selfish wish. She knew she should be resting since her foot was injured but she can’t keep skipping on practices even though her role in the choreography wasn’t that big.

They arrived at HQ and after one last warning from the manager, Yeojin sped off towards the locker room to change to her dance clothes. On her way to the dance room, Yeojin began to feel a bit guilty when she remembers Haseul chided her for pushing herself too hard. The leader was always worry since Yeojin recently recovered from an injured leg, and she asked Yeojin to call her whenever she wanted to practice some more. But against her better judgment, she didn’t. She continued keeping it a secret from the others because she didn’t want to trouble them. This week was their schedules aren’t heavy so why would they be spending it for practicing instead of resting.

When she near the dance room, she vaguely heard the song, butterfly. Did someone have the same idea as her? She cracked open the door and was surprise to see Yves already there, dancing halfway through the song.

Yeojin didn’t want to interrupt so she waited outside for the song to finish. She took the time to study Yves’s movement, hoping to get some pointers to improve her own dance skills. But Yves movement was too fast and its hard to see from her vantage point.

As the song reached its end, Yves finally spotted Yeojin peeking through the door.

“Yeojin? What are you doing here?”

The maknae hesitantly walked in, looking oddly nervous.

“I wanted to get some extra dance practice.”

Yves stared at her for a moment, “Alright then. Come on, I’ll help.”

“Y-You don’t have to, unnie.”

Yves smiled as she ruffles the girl’s hair. “I insist, you know what they always said, two is better than one.”

“They said that?”

Yves chuckled, “Maybe not but the more the merrier!”

Yeojin smile and both started practicing to all their new songs.

They spent almost an hour dancing and Yeojin was already breathing hard. Yves suggest they should take a break to which Yeojin gladly agree.

The maknae slowly lay down on the floor, catching her breathe. Yves went to her bag and pulled out two bottles of water, one of them she offered to Yeojin.

“Thank you, unnie.” She sat up and proceed to gulp it.

Yves sat down next to her, uncapping her own bottle before gulping it down. They sat together in silence, enjoying each other’s company. Yves closed her eyes, trying to calm her erratic beating heart. The doctors had already warned a few times not to overdo it since she has low blood pressure but it doesn’t stop her from doing things that she love. Dancing was always been everything to her, if she stops or slows down now... she didn’t want to think about it.

“Unnie,” Yeojin suddenly called.

“Yeah?”

“How can I be a good dancer like you?”

Yves looked down to the little girl, looking frustrated with the water bottle.

“What are you talking about, Yeojin-ah? You’re already a good dancer.”

Yeojin smile weakly, “You’re only saying that to make me feel better, unnie.”

“Don’t say that. I really think you’re a good dancer, Yeojin-ah.”

“If I were, then we wouldn’t get hurt during the concert…”

Listening to Yeojin made her remember about the conversation she had with Haseul and Kim Lip a few days ago. It was the start of their short break when Haseul asked her and Kim Lip to see her up the dorm’s rooftop. She called it, the leader’s meeting and jokingly told everyone not to interfered.

Hasuel had mention about Yeojin’s self-doubt and asked them for advice. They didn’t know anything else other than to confront her but even so, the maknae still look sad, especially when she thought no one was looking.

The sound of sniffling broke Yves from her musing. Yeojin was now sobbing, trying desperately to wipe the tears away.

“Shhh, why are you crying? Come on, Yeojin-ah. You really improve, don’t doubt yourself.”

“No, I’m not! I practice over and over and its sill not enough. Even our dance teacher thinks so!”

“…what are you talking about?”

“…I was always being assign to the back. Especially when we lift Chaewon unnie, the teacher probably didn’t know what to do with me so he wanted me to be at the back…”

“Yeojin-ah, you shouldn’t say that. You might think it’s an easy job but your position as a spotter is very important.”

Yeojin was about to argue but she stops when she sees Yves looking serious.

“You know, before I was a trainee, I was a dancer in those dance academies. My friends and I sometimes like to do the lifting technique to add more flare to our choreography.

We participate in one of the dance competitions. There were five of us and together, we create our own choreography. There was that one part that we agree to lift a person up to show how different we were compare to other girl group dancers.”

Yves suddenly turn gloomy, her facial expression furrow.

“Our dance teacher advised us to at least have three people holding someone up, two at the side and one from behind, but we thought two of us were enough. We don’t need another person watching at the back… and because of that selfish thought, something terrible happen.”

“Unnie?”

“The day the competition happens…everything was going well. But when the lifting part happens, she slips. There was no one to watch at the back and because of that, she fell down on the stage floor.”

Yves became quiet, probably remembering the horrible past.

“Unnie, your friend… are they…?”

“She’s fine… but she suffers ligament problem especially at her back. And because of that, she can’t dance properly anymore.”

Yves hugged her knees, her hands trembling at the memory of her friend’s body lying on the floor.

“…it was actually my fault. I was the one who insist we didn’t need another person. And even though she didn’t blame me for it, I still can’t forgive myself… for taking away her ability to dance.”

She felt a weight beside her and small arms wrapped around her waist. Yeojin didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t good at giving words of comfort and reassuring Yves that it wasn’t her fault might not work much since Yeojin doesn’t know next to nothing about Yves’s friends. So, she could only offer the thing she does best, a hug of comfort.

“I’m sorry, unnie. I might not know about your friend, but I’m sure your apology reached her.”

Yves smile weakly and thank Yeojin.

“If I could, I would prefer to be the one behind Chaewon. But since the teacher gave that task to you, that means they trust you more. And so far, you dutifully full fill that task without any problems Yeojin-ah.”

She pats the maknae on the head, smiling happily. “Thank you, Yeojin-ah.”

Yeojin felt an inexplicable warmth from her chest as she felt tears forming by the corner of her eyes. The two hugged once again and for a moment, things were rather calm and peaceful until a loud growled echo throughout the room.

Yves blushed and cough awkwardly. Yeojin could only laughed at the older girl’s embarrassment.

“Uhh, wanna eat out, Yeojin-ah? My treat.”

Yeojin grinned, “Sure unnie!”