This is the story of Ryujin & Yeji from childhood, through Itzy, and into retirement. During that time, an intense and sometimes painful love blossoms, made difficult by the demands of fame and the search for meaning and purpose during Itzy and afte...
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The practice room was pitch dark save the glowing exit sign over the door. The five girls were sprawled on the floor, with Yuna resting her head on Chae's ankles, sound asleep - and drooling all over her socks.
"If this isn't love," Chae whispered to the others, "Then I don't know what is!"
Practice had been truly, truly unforgiving, made worse by the fact that Ryujin, Yeji, and Chaeryeong were nursing sore knees. Lia was sore but doing ok and Yuna was, of course, immune from all injuries. Nothing could stop her. Was it a maknae superpower?
The rest of the students filed out of the practice room to return to the dorm. The instructor had made a big, dramatic gesture of stepping over them while huffing and muttering to himself. The girls didn't hear what he was saying, but they were pretty sure it was along the lines of "They don't make idols like they used to!!!"
"Let's go get some dinner," Yeji yawned. She could barely move.
"That's not going to happen," Ryujin said with a pained grin. "We'll never make it to the cafeteria, and I'm guessing it's closed now anyway. But I have a box of microwave popcorn pouches in our room. Let's just have that and we can eat and still lay flat on the floor and watch videos."
"Is that it? Popcorn!?!" Chae asked, incredulous.
"I have some M&Ms," Lia offered with a smile.
Suddenly Yuna was awake. "Dinner is served!" she said loudly. "M&Ms and popcorn. Come to think of it, that would make a great name for our group!"
"Why do you unnies always make fun of my ideas?" Yuna pouted.
Lia spoke up. "Yuna, I'm not making fun of you. We need you! Plus your arms are long enough to reach inside the vending machine in the middle of the night and steal candy bars."
"Awww, I love you, unnie," Yuna replied. She dragged herself across the floor, her sweaty legs squeaking on the wood floor. After what seemed like an eternity to the others - and they had to work hard not to burst our laughing - she finally reached Lia, laid her head in her lap, and smiled happily.
Lia gave her a peck on the cheek. She felt goosebumps all over. She prayed that Yuna wouldn't notice.
Yeji sighed. "I think about us being in a group together all the time. Sometimes I think we might be like SNSD*, part of a big group. But it just doesn't feel right. We can do choreo with our eyes closed because we just know each other so well. My nightmare is that we'll be split up. I like the other trainees, but it just wouldn't feel right. I think I might leave if that happens."
Ryujin's heart skipped a beat. "Leave? Like go to a different company?" Ryujin asked.
