The flowerbed - Aespa's Giselle x M!Reader

The countryside (Part 4)

The sound of laughter drifting from the kitchen felt surreal. I stood in the store's doorway, watching through the window as my mother fussed over everyone like she'd been waiting years to have daughters to spoil.

"You're all too thin," she scolded gently, piling more food onto Ningning's plate. "What were they feeding you at that company?"

"Energy drinks and protein bars mostly," Winter replied, carefully recording the breakfast with her ever-present camera. Some habits never changed.

"Aish, no wonder! Sit, sit. There's more kimchi coming."

Karina caught my eye through the window, her smile soft but knowing. We'd barely spoken since the morning's emotional confrontation, both needing time to process everything.

The store's bell chimed as an elderly customer entered, drawing my attention back to work. But before I could move, Ningning appeared beside me.

"I'll help!" she announced brightly. "I'm good at customer service!"

"You just want to organize the candy aisle," I said without thinking, falling into old patterns of teasing.

"That too!" She bounced toward the shelves, somehow still radiating that endless energy despite everything. "You kept the jellies I like!"

"Force of habit," I admitted quietly. They'd always been her favorite during late-night practice sessions.

Watching her methodically arrange candy by color (while sneaking pieces when she thought I wasn't looking), felt like stepping back in time. Before scandals and crashes and Manager Choi's cruelty.

"She missed this," Winter said softly, appearing beside me with her camera. "Missed you."

"Winter-ah..."

"We all did." She adjusted her lens, focusing on Ningning's concentrated expression. "Even when it hurt too much to say it."

The guilt must have shown on my face because she lowered her camera with a sigh. "That wasn't meant to make you feel worse, oppa. Just... we understand why you left. We do. But understanding doesn't make it hurt less."

Before I could respond, my mother's voice carried from the kitchen: "Food's getting cold! Everybody in here now!"

Lunch was a chaos of overlapping conversations and passed dishes. My mother kept piling food onto plates, clucking disapprovingly at how thin everyone had gotten. The familiar scene felt both perfect and painful - all the pieces falling back into place except one.

"You should eat more," Karina said quietly, noticing I'd barely touched my food. Always the leader, always watching out for everyone.

"Not hungry."

"When was the last time you actually were?" She didn't wait for an answer. "You can't take care of us if you're not taking care of yourself."

"I don't deserve to take care of any of you anymore."

The words slipped out before I could catch them. The table fell silent, even Ningning's endless chatter stuttering to a halt.

"That's not your choice to make," Karina said firmly. "We decide who gets to care for us. Who we care for back."

"After everything that happened..." I started.

"Everything that happened made us stronger," Winter cut in. "Together or apart, we survived. But we're tired of being apart."

"Unnie's right," Ningning added softly. "We need our family whole again."

The word 'whole' hung heavy in the air. We all knew who was missing - whose absence felt like a physical weight around the table.