Together As One

Dinner? No thanks.

[Yong San's POV]

When Wheein highlighted to us about the maknae being abit aloof today, that's when I took more notice to the maknae's actions and expressions. Indeed, she looked rather bothered today, as though something was buggin her and dragging her mood down. Hyejinnie was orginally on the quiet side unlike most people thought but today she was far more quiet than usual.

"Everyone good work today! Shall we go grab dinner?" I cheerfully ask.

"Yes! Let's go! I'm starving!" I heard monkey and the older pig reply.

I turn and looked at the younger pig for a response.

"I'll pass this time unnie. Sorry, I'm tired and want to go home to rest tonight." I heard her reply.

I was worried. Hyejin never declined an opportunity to eat together. It was something she normally looked forward to, both eating and spending time together.

"You sure Hyejinnie? I'll treat you know hahaha" I said with a laughter trying to entice her to join us. She shook her head again and gave me a weak smile before grabbing her bag and waving goodbye, leaving the 3 of us in the room in silence.

There was wave of worry and concern in the room and no one seemed to be saying anything.

"Well... I'm 100% sure something is wrong." Wheein broke the silence and the 2nd-oldest and myself nodded before we switched off the lights and left the room to head to find food to eat.

"Shall we buy take out and surprise Hyejinnie?" Moonbyul suggested.

"That's a great idea unnie!" Wheein replied with a hint of excitment and I nodded smiling at the idea.

[Moonbyul's POV]

I don't know how much you know about Hyejin but let me tell you what she means to me. I always hold the members very close to my heart. They were my everything, literally. Hyejin especially was a baby. She was our baby. She always appeared as a person with a strong look, being fierce-looking and having a mature appearance. Honestly, Hyejinnie was just a Hyegi. Soft-hearted, extremely kind, careful with words, gentle when talking to people, and very loyal. She was easily hurt by people though, so us older ones, as well as dear fellow maknae Wheepup made it our responsibility to make sure she would be protected from the evil of this world. We knew how much the words of nasty people hurt her, and she didn't really have much of a social circle other than us, so of course, we had to look after her.

After dear Wheein-ie had told us about her concerns about Hyejin, it seemed like everything seemed to click. The past few days from the few days before the release of her first solo song, Twit, she had already been a lot more quiet than usual. Usually she would be the quiet but very effective and committed mood maker among the 4 of us, but she had been looking a bit more moody and anxiety seemed to persistently pay her a visit. It was written all over her face today as well. I had thought she would have been a lot happier looking after all, this kiddo had won 1st place just a day ago but she still looked sullen though it was evident that she was trying very hard to hide her sad facial expressions, masking them with a fake smile. It was definitely not safe to leave her alone at home right now, at this moment, she needed support, and we should be there for her. Now... I wonder how we can do that... suddenly a fantestic idea hit me - we could crash her house with food! Hyejin loved food. She didn't eat a crazy lot of food but she enjoyed eating definitely. I hated how stupid haters would always come at her for enjoying food. I mean come on, seriously? She's a living creature, she needs to eat, let the girl eat gosh!!!! I knew she was really affected by such comments on her appearance at times and she persistently worked out to try to lose weight even though she was already skinny.