Having been bandmates with Yves for years and friends for even longer, Chuu usually knows the older girl’s feelings before she even voices them. And since Yves is pretty closed off when it comes to things like emotions, Chuu’s sixth sense comes in handy pretty often. Whenever Yves got tired, stressed or angry, Chuu makes sure to stay by her side, trying her best to help her friend get through it. Distracting her when she didn’t want to think about it, letting her vent, giving small bits of advice.. Chuu did her best to alleviate the older girl’s negative emotions. It's the least she could do. Yves has helped her so much in the past, after all.
It’s been months since they had last done any promotions. The girls had busied themselves by training blindly, covering random songs with no clue as to when they would learn any new choreography that's actually theirs. Chuu comes home, muscles tired from training, to find Yves holed up in her bunk, scrolling mindlessly through what looked like articles. Articles which (Chuu craned her head so she could see the screen better) are apparently about their group.
Chuu has watched her for days, ever since Yves wordlessly left halfway through practice. If there's one thing Yves loves, it's to dance, so it struck Chuu as odd when Yves sneaked out with no apparent reason. She could feel Yves secluding herself and now that she finds her looking at news about them (something she never does), Chuu’s worries seem all the more accurate.
Direct as always, Chuu situates herself into Yves’s bunk, tearing the iPad from her hands. “I’m worried about you,” Chuu blurts.
“Why?” Yves asks, tone so monotone it doesn’t even sound like a question. She takes her iPad back, not even looking up at Chuu. “Don’t be. I’m fine.”
Chuu doesn’t look down at Yves’s screen for long but it's enough to piece together what her worries were about. All of them have their doubts about having such a long hiatus period, but Yves.. Chuu knows there's nothing that scares Yves more than the thought of being forgotten.
“This is about the delayed comeback, isn’t it?” She places a hand on Yves’s shoulder, a reminder that no matter what, Chuu is right here next to her. The way she’s always been. “I know it’s frustrating. But there’s nothing we can do..”
“Exactly.” Yves sighs. The dejection in Yves’s voice is worrying but Chuu smiles when Yves turns her hand around to interlock their fingers. She’s letting Chuu in, that’s all that matters. “Some days I just want to post a selfie, to go on vlive, tell Orbit that we’re fine and still working hard.. But we can’t. And it’s so..” She squeezes Chuu’s hand too tight but Chuu doesn’t wince, squeezing back just as tight reassuringly.
“Annoying?” Chuu guesses. “Frustrating?”
“.. disappointing.”
Chuu slings her arm around her shoulder, hoping her warmth is appreciated. “It’s okay. We’ll get through it.”
Yves nods slowly but Chuu can tell she doesn’t believe her.
xx
Their conversations continue, some nights the two doesn’t fall asleep because they're too busy sharing their worries. Although Chuu is glad that Yves is finally opening up more, her worry only deepens as it seems like Yves’s tension about the situation isn’t letting up. In dance practice, Yves is clearly stiffer, movements chastized by their teacher because Yves’s body refused to loosen up. And in vocal training, a similar occurrence - Yves failing to hit notes because her shoulders and stomach were too tense.
