Best Kept Secret

Sana's Wish

"The members are like my family, since I spend more time with them than my family. They're so precious where it's difficult to define it with words.

We dream the same dream as each other, we're moving towards the same goals.

We have a special relationship where we're able to share the same feelings just from the expression in each other's eyes." Momo told Dicon, the magazine interview they had before vacation.

Lights are off in the van. Momo's eyes couldn't be seen. Though this dongsaeng is easily startled, she isn't sheepish nor cowardly. She has no qualms in telling what's in mind.

"Wah~ Unnie jincha?! Do you really not know? Wah!"

"Well, I just know that each of us can have different wants in life. I respect whatever changes your mind goes through."

Nayeon can only recognize the amount of time and space Momo has shared with her. But the unnie doesn't know that that is the dongsaeng's loyalty.

Momo mutely sighs. It frustrates her because the answer is simple. She works hard to be happy in life. To be able to eat well with the people she likes, as time is precious for her. The answer—Momo finds happiness wherever she is.

"Unnie, where am I now? Right at this moment?" Her frustration is addressed in these rhetorical queries that she plucks off the SaMo ring.

"More questions don't answer the question."

"Here unnie, keep this for a while." Momo hands the ring to Nayeon, "This is my answer."

"O?" Nayeon is taken aback, she almost drops it. Knowing it's a unique ring, she holds it tight careful not to drop it in this van.

Momo turns to the window sulking. The unnie senses this through the silence. She tries to lighten her up by poking some tickles, "Waegure~ Why are you lending me this?"

The dongsaeng whines.

"Araseo. Araseo", unnie halts. "But really, why? How can you just give me this?"

"Well, I trust unnie." Momo then mutters, "And- it's not about the ring. It's not what I'm giving."

Time—once it's spent, it can't be taken back. It's only given to those that matter. And even so, it isn't always easy.

Jihyo took time to pull something off. It wasn't merely for Sana's sake but, hers too. Ever since the dating news, Jihyo couldn't claim Sana out in public. Count those days to now, that's how much it is missed.

It's a month into 2020 and the resolution is of health and happiness. That stage was a necessary coping expression to a long overdue reverence. With Jihyo's inclination to responsibilities, she does it by giving queenly Sana what is due.

Passing that much time also means it is now Jihyo's birthday. Sana didn't expect the grand gesture from the celebrant. As far as she's concerned, Jihyo is supposed to be the one catered to. Nonetheless, Sana too has to cook something up as she had promised.

It was in the Korean Season Greeting 2020 calendar, which was prepared July last year, when the girls got to write comments on a member's birthday. Jihyo wrote "Holiday vacation? <3" on her own birthdate.

Meanwhile, Sana wrote "A surprise for Jihyo!"

She had grand ideas then. But with the stresses of her partner's dating news plus the recovery process, Sana learned that surprises can instead be in a form of a deeper bond.

Thus, in Jihyo's birthday dinner, Sana sits beside the celebrant filling the side dishes and cup of rice for her. The Japanese with the tongs and scissors is also cooking the premium grade meats tossed on the grill.