young & wild | chaeyu

thirty-six ; words

   Butterflies filled Momo’s stomach as she walked through the quiet company halls, down the stairs from the practice room they were in and to the lobby. Truth to be told, she had no idea where Jeongyeon could be, so she was going to just wander and ask the first knowledgeable person she saw. The lobby was likely a good place to start, and the brunette who worked at the desk, Chaeyoung, was usually there when Momo looked.

    As she descended the stairs, she exhaled softly. She was just looking to resolve the issue at least somewhat, and justify her own emotions. Momo understood that any interaction she could possibly have with Jeongyeon had the potential to go massively wrong, but she felt that dancing around the topic would only worsen things. She wondered if returning to only one company building had changed the awkward dynamic between the two co-founders that had formed after their split. And she wondered what that meant for her. She wondered if Nayeon even knew it was her. Or that there had been a girl at all. She almost hoped she didn’t know, since she didn’t need to give her another reason to be mad at her, after her failed attempts at Korean during monthly evaluations. But then again, Jeongyeon had been the one who was angry at her during the last one they had. Momo remembered that interaction clearly. She’d been cheerful and hyper. She was with the girl she liked and had done a new skill at evaluations, rapping. And maybe Jeongyeon would hold her hand or kiss her or agree to finally go on a real date! But then, all of Momo’s hopes had crashed and burned. Predictably, but it had still hurt.

    And, all at once, everything just stopped. Momo’s attraction to Jeongyeon, their relationship, them interacting at all. She didn’t mind that, to be completely fair. She missed their interactions, but they never connected enough for her to feel a strong emotional loss. 
 
   Then there was Dahyun, who Momo felt a genuine rush of emotions for. And she knew that Jeongyeon had missed Nayeon. So they were definitely better off this way. But still, Momo needed to tell her that. Maybe she too had been internally struggling with letting go and didn’t know what to do. If that was the case, Momo wanted to talk to her, and she needed to talk to soon while she still had the nerve. 

    Momo paused at the bottom of the stairs, taking a deep breath. Okay, she told herself. Get focused. Just find Jeongyeon and worry about the situation once you have a hold of her. 

    And so she entered the lobby, clearing her mind of all thoughts about Jeongyeon and instead focused on looking around for someone who seemed to know what they’re doing. 

    As she suspected, the girl that worked in the lobby was there, clicking at something on the computer. Momo hadn’t spoken to the girl alone before, but she knew Chaeyoung and Dahyun were close friends, and even earlier that day Dahyun had been practicing a part Chaeyoung recommended her. So Momo knew she could talk to her without worrying. Dahyun seemed to have good instincts about people, and Chaeyoung seemed nice enough.

    Momo approached, feeling like even her footsteps were too loud in the silence of the nearly empty lobby. “Chaeyoung?” she asked softly. 

    The brunette looked up, seeming a bit disconnected and sleepy. “Hey,” she said with a soft smile. “Momo! How are you?”

    “I’m okay. Looking for Jeongyeon right now, do you know where she is?”

    Chaeyoung nodded. “I think so, she should be in her office at the moment.” 

    Momo exhaled. “Okay. I’m going to go talk to her then. Thank you Chaeyoung.”

    “Of course, any time! Is Dahyun around?” asked the shorter girl with a curious smile that Momo couldn’t interpret. 

    The raven hair girl brushed her bangs out of her eyes, looking down and hoping she didn’t look at all taken aback by the mention of the pretty trainee. “Yeah, I think she’s practicing right now, using the rap materials you gave her.”