// 𝕠𝕟 🆁🅴🅿🅴🅰🆃

          HAVING EUNJI’S EYES ON HER made alexis become conscious for a couple of seconds, not knowing if her answer was what the other had expected or even welcomed at all. the manager’s following reaction didn’t ease her concerns and neither did the silence that ensued shortly after, it only had her wondering if she made the other angry somehow. upon further observation, though, it seemed like the woman was simply thinking deeply about something and she couldn’t help but stare with a tilted head, patiently waiting.

what eunji says manages to make her laugh wholeheartedly while shaking her head in amusement. “between us?” alexis says, leaning only a little over the table with a mischievous grin. “we are humans too.” after a brief pause, she continues. “very shocking, i know.” as if she had just made the biggest reveal of the century, the leader of the upcoming group sits back again with a shrug, her lips still curled into a smile. “there’s nothing to be sorry for”.

“i know… honestly, i’ve gotten tired of telling them not to do it. at this point, i only remind them to be careful and make sure no one recognises them.” alexis scratched her temple before sighing. she was really aware of what was at stake, after all, she has experienced the consequences of a scandal firsthand before. “hm?” she’s curious as to what the manager wants to show her, thus she doesn’t hesitate a second to unceremoniously plot beside eunji and rest her chin on the woman’s shoulder. “what is it?”

eunji straightened her back as she could feel alexis’ chin on her shoulder –– most likely just to ensure that the other was comfortable. reaching over with a hand, she pinches the woman’s cheek carefully, letting out a low huff. “yeah, does feel human to me. but you’ll have to continue to prove yourself.”, the manager said with a small chuckle. 

clearing her throat, she clicked through some windows on her laptop. “finances. monthly spendings, nothing interesting for you, at least for now.”, eunji hummed, finally pulling up their social media accounts. for a few moments, she just stared at the website, the hand she wasn’t using to navigate the trackpad, placed on alexis’ knee. with fingertips gently tracing small circles over the fabric of her pants, she finally remembered what she wanted to show the leader of the group.

“right, sorry.”, she let out a laugh, pulling up a graph. “i know it doesn’t look like much, but there’s this amount of people just waiting for dreamdrop to debut. weirdly enough.”, her brows raised tilting her head a little to get a glance of the other’s face. “and i don’t really mind you sneaking out. or anyone. it’s my business but not really at the same time, you know? however nowadays, with the internet and super obsessive people, just one picture taken at the wrong time at the wrong place and the whole thing is over.”, she almost whispered at this point, not wanting to catch the attention of anyone else. funnily enough, if someone would have taken a picture of them in this position right now, at a coffee shop, maybe wouldn’t have been the best image either. but who cared. 

“i know this is boring.”, eunji laughed, closing her laptop and pulling the plate with cake closer to alexis. “just be careful. i know you won’t make much trouble, i am not sure about the others, though. and they will most likely rather listen to you than to me.” 

the culmination of the many years that nari had been forced to get up early because she had some sort of commitment that she was required to go to almost every day. even when she had been sick, unless she was close to dying or something equally extreme then she rarely was let off from her commitments. you would think it would have made the main vocalist a morning person but as the sun rose and tried to spill into the room, alarms that buzzed incessantly into her ear, which were never turned off unless daeun decided to. but no, nari was firmly and completely unwilling to get up most mornings, especially not at an ungodly hour like five or six am. no, if she had her way, then she definitely wouldn’t have even climbed out of bed till at least ten am or later. double digits or else.

the part of idol life that she hadn’t expected was living in dorms. keeping the group together almost at all times and the rooms itself were much smaller especially considering many of them were put together as roommates. though she had gotten lucky that daeun was her roommate, she couldn’t have asked for a better roommate, one who totally respected her need to sleep when they weren’t being dragged to something early in the morning. if nari were still asleep, she’d quietly do something of her own, trying not to bother her because she knew how grumpy the princess could become with lack of sleep.

“ no… ” the words slurred out of her mouth, trying bury her head further into the pillow in an effort to ward eunji off. she didn’t know why or how eunji had decided to make waking her up a normal thing, but she couldn’t dissuade her from it. “ it’s too early eunji. way too early. ” it didn’t help that she stayed up far too late last night resulting in less sleep. maybe if she didn’t look at eunji, then the manager would go away.

☆ ° for whatever dumb reason, eunji had thought that the coffee trope would somehow help. but it didn’t. a brow rose in surprise as she pulled a face at the half-sleeping figure of nari underneath the blankets. of course. the manager let out a sigh as she placed a hand on where she supposed her shoulder would be, shaking the almost lifeless body gently. if this wouldn’t work, she would have to come back to more aggressive measures. 

“what do you mean –– ‘no’?”, she almost whispered as she leaned down, closer to the other. she didn’t want to be harsh, yet, so the sweet tone in her voice hadn’t left for now. sometimes, in her dreams, eunji had explored the possibility of just rolling them all out of bed with an eager push or pull, but in reality, she would never dare to be harsh to any of the dreamdrop members. with the others already up and going, she questioned why the other wasn’t up, nor showed any signs of being willing to get up anytime soon. not even for coffee. 

“nari, i am still here. i am not going anywhere until i am sure that you are awake. if you’re naked under there just tell me and i’ll turn around.”, maybe wrong assumptions would wake her? she continued to gently sway the younger, starting to push a little harder. “come on, we got some schedules today and i need you to look nice, and be nice, and get up.”

𝐈𝐓 𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄  of acting skills he had to maintain a serious expression as he said with a deadpan tone, “if being a manbaby means that i get the privilege of sleeping whenever i want and doing the bare minimum in life, please sign me up.” what an absolute dream it would be to be able to use ‘i am baby’ as a legitimate reason for anything that is even the slightest bit difficult or distressing. however, that can will only remain a dream and besides, everyone knows that even if he was presented the opportunity to do the least, taeyang would go the extra mile in doing the most. if he truly wanted to do nothing in life, he would have chosen to remain in the family. “instead i have many babies in my care.” both literally and figuratively. 

it was reassuring to hear that at least out of the both of them, she was confident about the current situation. it is refreshing for a change, considering how it was usually the other way around. you could say that he has a deeper understanding of her feelings and positions on things better now after being on the flipside of things, crossing his fingers that they have not jinxed themselves with the discussion of terrible scenarios they could encounter. “the perverts, as bad and notorious as they are, is one of the easier problems to deal with because, at the very least, we can turn them towards the law and have them be dealt with. sasaeng, on the other hand, that is where it gets murky.” while it is good that in recent years, there is a law in place to have them be punishable for their actions, that certainly has not deterred them from continuing on with their behaviours. now that would be the worst nightmare for him, having only heard the horror stories of other managers dealing with them. 

“i would like to think of myself as a jack of all trades but alas, i do have my shortcomings and performing is one of them.” it is why he never participated in talent shows: because he had none when it came to performing besides playing the piano. “you can train them in having discipline. it can be like a boot camp and you can wear something like an army captain’s outfit as you drill them on responsibilities and whatnot.”  the image of it in his mind is pretty amazing and he would be all up for it becoming a reality, snickering to himself the more he thought about it. “maybe we could rebrand the company as a school for idols, in that case.”  

☆ ° she was amused by his words, sometimes she would forget how funny he could be with all of the more serious topics they had to discuss on a day-to-day basis. rarely there was a good time to make jokes or tease each other about the most mundane things. but now, this really helped to lighten the mood. “considering you’re a baby, maybe you shouldn’t be taking care of so many babies yourself.”, eunji let out a soft chuckle. “that’s just... a lot of babies in general.”, she explained, even though there was really no reason to get that deep into this baby-talk. “and i don’t even enjoy babies that much. unless they’re extraordinarily cute.”, she wasn’t lying –– the thought of handling an actual baby seemed more than just scary to her. maybe a lack of hormones; who knew?

she nodded her head as she listened to his words, thinking that he probably wasn’t wrong. “well, on the one hand...”, she started off, taking another sip of her drink. “you want the idols to create this kind of bond with the fans, but then the fans think they somehow know the idol personally, that there’s something deeper to it when there’s not.”. the manager shrugged, clearing her throat a little. “they’re just doing their jobs to try to get as much money out of others as possible –– i mean, at least from our point of view. obviously, you’ll start to feel entitled if you’ve invested thousands into some other persons who just cater to your needs for a few hours of your life. but they don’t really owe anyone anything, neither do we.”, eunji let out a sigh, bringing a hand up to rub at her nape as she thought. “they know the idols, at least they think so, on some deeper level but the idols don’t know the fans personally at least, so it’s some sort of weird brain mix-up. might happen to more people than we think it does. which is a bit worrisome.”, the woman explained, taking another sip afterward. 

“is that what i am good at? training and, or, acting like a boot camp sergeant?”, eunji laughed at his words, shaking her head. it wasn’t really a surprise, yet she was amused. “a school? a school?”, she let out another chuckle, “you mean one of those horror-movie schools that treat students absolutely horribly since we already got to the topic of boot camp, huh?!”

☆ ° there wasn’t a lot to find. there wasn’t much in general –– they weren’t much. but, as eunji’s eyes landed upon certain words online, it made her quirk a brow. 

           ‘don’t they seem very close?!’            ‘ohh, i ship them!’            ‘they must have a good relationship kkkk’

it wasn’t anything inherently bad, nor was it a whole lot, the picture depicting two dreamdrop members, arm in arm, apparently just on a little walk. at night. it shouldn’t have been much of a bother, as they still hadn’t debuted yet, however, eunji was bothered to say the least. the real stress hadn’t even started yet and she was already stressed out by rumours like these?! unacceptable. 

she needed someone to help her out with this, but she could definitely not ask any of the dreamdrop members, nor did she think that taeyang would be the right option for snooping around. tapping her fingers against the desk, the manager eyes her phone, seeing how she had messaged ohkyung just earlier. getting up from her desk, she made her way through the company building, reaching the studio soon enough – she just assumed the other would most likely be found there. peering through the crack of the door, she made her presence known. 

“hey mister moon.”, she said with a smile as she entered the rather small room. “i got some ... bad news.”, she pushed further, letting herself sink down onto the couch, placed against the wall. “and i need your help.”, she let out with a chuckle.

𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒  he had expected her to be hung up on the most, taeyang would not have thought that it would be on the subject of her when they had been discussing things like the kids or furries. it seems that the idea of her being considered adorable is a harder idea to accept than seeing and being a furry and that fact alone has him feeling extremely amused. sometimes, she makes it too easy for him to tease her and mess with her. “eyebags are eyebags and bedhead and bedhead and there is everything cute about it if it is on a cute person. especially on you.” the teasing does not let up even as he was being dragged and if anything, it only heightened it as they reached the restaurant. taking her hand to hold it in his instead, he leans in close to her to whisper. “empty stomach or not, sober or drunk, it does not change the fact that you are cute, you know? but i appreciate that you find me cute. that means a lot coming from a cute person.” nothing she could say or do would have him change his mind, grinning widely as he takes the lead instead to bring them to a table after a waiter shows them to an empty table. 

all it takes for one glance at the menu before he decides to get one of everything and a few bottles of beer to go along with it, his tone and expression chipper and bright as he orders because finally, he was excited to be getting some food and not the mini-sized snacks from a vending machine. popping off the cap of a bottle as soon as their drinks arrived, he pours for the both of them before clinking his glass against her, downing it all in one shot and letting out a satisfied sigh at the end of it. he might regret this tomorrow but that is something for him to think about tomorrow when it comes. “here is to hoping that our sanity will remain for the rest of the year!” 

☆ ° whatever he was saying to her, she had gotten distracted by his hand on hers, only catching parts of his sentence –– however, she knew that it had to have been something cheesy. eunji had stopped in her tracks, brows knitting into a frown as she was about to protest his words. there was no way anyone thought about her in that way, nor did she think he was allowed to think that. but maybe, just maybe he could do it a little bit. there was no time for her to process as she was dragged into the restaurant with a surprised expression on her face. once she had sat down, she eyed the other manager, fingertips running over the surface of the table, watching him order. 

with her slender fingers wrapped around the glass, she let it clink against taeyang’s, a smile appearing on her lips slowly. after taking a sip of the cold beverage, she shook her head as she placed the glass back down on the table. “i don’t think i will remain sane for the rest of the year if you keep calling me cute.”, she almost mumbled, looking off to the side, before taking another sip. “but i am sure we’ll manage.”, she added on. “there’s nothing we can’t do if we really want to succeed. and i am glad to have such a competent partner.”, raising her glass once more, she smiles at taeyang. “but i have already said that today and i don’t want to stroke your ego too much.”, she let out a soft laugh, leaning back as some of their orders arrived at their table, grabbing the metal chopsticks, snatching a piece of vegetable from on top of one of the dishes. 

“do you think it’s getting easier or harder for us?”, she asks with a tilt of her head. “with international recognition and all that. is it harder, or easier?”, eunji mused, staring into the void behind her partner, finally shrugging her shoulders.  

☆ ° out of all dreamdrop members eunji had expected to be sleepyheads, she didn’t expect it to be nari. the younger woman had left a good first impression on eunji, she seemed like she was someone who knew what she was doing, what she wanted to do. she also knew the other was well off, but she had never gone too much into details. eunji just assumed that none of them actually wanted to live in the shitty dorm, but it was more a requirement than anything else, and it made it easier for her to keep everyone under one roof and gather them whenever she needed. 

getting up at five a.m., or sometimes even earlier, took a toll on the manager as well. from time to time she just wanted to tell the youngsters to learn to get up on time themselves, sometimes she wanted to quit her job and sometimes she wanted to just disappear into a hole in the ground. but with time, she got used to it, very slowly, but with every time she got up earlier, her body stopped to protest. however, entering the dorm bright and early obviously still got her protests from the soon-to-be idols. 

“nari.”, eunji had sat down on the other’s bed groggily, a gentle hand on the woman’s shoulder as she shook her figure slowly. nari never wanted to get up, and eunji couldn’t blame her. if it was for her, she would also still be in bed. sometimes even the shaking wouldn’t work. “let’s get coffee.”, she whispered as she leaned down a little, trying to get the other to at least make eye contact with her. 

𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐒𝐀𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄. the pictures look fine and the kids were doing well to not allow what happened to get in the way of their work, proving that all the training they have been doing is not for nought. in the worst-case scenario, they would have to find another photographer to take new photos if the photos are not up to standard. that means forking out more money out of the already tight budget that they have but money was not what he was the most concerned about. it was the possibility of the company’s name or worse, the image of the company is shown if the photographer decided to go online and complain about the ‘mistreatment’ he faced while on the job. taeyang would like to think that someone cannot be that petty but you just never know these days. 

the worst part is that there is nothing they can do to prevent it from happening either. people say money solves everything but money will just worsen things in this situation, not willing to rule out the chance that they were willing to say that they were bribed for their silence if money was offered out for no mentions of the incident. the only thing that can be done is to brace themselves and prepare for whatever that might happen, as much as it sucks. he was never going to hear the end of it when he heads back to the office. only he because there was no way he was going to allow eunji to be dragged into the mess. he was the one who started it, after all, so it should only be him to deal with it and the consequences from it

taeyang realises belatedly that he had not answered any of her questions, tearing his gaze away from the kids to give eunji a half-smile while keeping his voice low. “brown sugar milk tea. is it bad that i am hoping that the sugar rush i might get will be enough to get through the day?” probably. “the photos should be okay. with these being the photos for their profiles, i do not think people are expecting or hoping for much in terms of the photos beside a face to a name. so we should be able to get away with it. if not, i am willing to pick up the camera if i have to.” 

☆ ° she could still feel the worry seeping off of him, biting her lip as she watched the flash go off the camera repeatedly. debating on whether she should be nice or just drop it with the photographers, she took a sip from her drink. “i don’t think sugar rushes last that long.”, she said, rather plainly. “unless you’re a manbaby?”, with a quirk of her brow, she looked up at the other, grin tugging on the corner of her lips. 

“you’re right.”, a deep sigh left eunji, watching how the other’s were striking poses. she felt a bit bad knowing that, in the end, only one or two pictures were going to be used, and how they would change with every comeback, but that’s just how it was going to be –– at least for a few years. if they made it. “at some point we will look back at these pictures and wonder why we even worried this much.”, she gave him a gentle pat on his back. “don’t worry too much about it. i am sure companies fight people all the time. at least we haven’t encountered any perverts or worse by now.”, eunji shrugged, knowing that the entertainment industry was more than likely to become more grisly than they were experiencing it right now. she just hoped that with taeyang and herself looking out for the dreamdrop members, they could prevent situations like that in the future. 

“mhm, that’d cut even more costs. good idea.”, she mentioned. “you cook, you take their promo pictures. maybe you can also do their make-up and train them in dancing and singing?”, the manager tilted her head at the male, letting out a gentle laugh. “i’ll train them in...”, she taps her chin, encouraging her own thinking process. “i don’t even know what i am good at.” 

𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐃𝐔𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐁𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓 or he has reached the point of the night where everything is ten times funnier than it is to his tired mind but he found himself stopping in his tracks and doubling over with laughter. “you truly sounded like a worried mother right there and then.” despite all the laughing he was doing, taeyang understands and agrees where she was coming from. there are always risks when it comes to managing an idol group but with this day and age where anything can be posted out of context onto social media with an intended narrative, it places greater importance in ensuring the prevention of potential scandals from happening. especially with dreamdrop being a mixed group, it means that there is double the efforts in having the kids not act in a way with each other that will allow for gossips and sensationalised headlines to occur. “but you are right. i get it. i would be lying if i said that there has not been a time where i felt like i needed to have a measuring tape with me at all times so that i can take it out and measuring what would be an appropriate distance between members on camera so that they will close to each other but not too close.” some would think that he was being over the top or too much. he would say that they clearly do not know how even with the smallest of things, it can cause an uproar in the media. 

taking a few deep breaths to stop himself from laughing any further, taeyang tilts his head when he hears her say something, not sure if he had heard her correctly. he would ask her to repeat herself but when he sees how only half of her face can be seen by this point and he reviews what were the things he said in the past five minutes, there was only one reason why she was acting that way all of a sudden. who ever said that eunji could not be adorable because she was being exactly that right now. “i do. i have no reason to lie to you too. you could be sporting dark eye bags or taming your bedhead and you would still beautiful.” he could not help himself from laughing a little and ruffling up eunji’s hair. “it pops up at random times but when you are cute, you are really cute.” 

☆ ° eunji couldn’t help but let out a laugh at his comment. obviously, she sounded like a worried mother, even though she would most likely never ever admit to that. however, he was right with his words and she agreed –– sometimes, she’d like to keep everyone apart and just control their every movement, but in the end, they were just young humans as well and there was no way for them to control them. at least not to that extent. “at least for now i still sound like a worried mother and not a worried GRANDmother!”, she exclaimed, chuckling at her own words. “i am not about to throw my whole career out of the window just because some people get horny, sheesh.”, she almost whispered, trying to not catch too much attention from bypassers. “so you better get that measuring band, tae!”, she pushed her fist against his arm playfully, still laughing. 

his words made her calm down, stopping herself from laughing as she could feel the heat rising to her head, cheeks feeling suspiciously warm. “wha–?”, she managed to blurt out, tilting her head at the male. “no way.”, she dismissed his words quickly, even though she knew he probably meant it. “eyebags are eyebags and bedhead is bedhead, there’s nothing cute about that, especially on me.”, eunji tried to argue, even whilst knowing it wouldn’t make a big impact on the cheesiness of the other. “but... thank you. you’re cute too.”, she said, voice low as she grabbed onto his sleeve, pulling him towards the entrance of a restaurant, swinging open the door rather quickly. “let’s get something to eat before you come up with more nonsense due to an empty stomach.”

𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐃, albeit in a more subtle and discreet way, proved enough to crack a smile out of him. it must be odd for onlookers to see both of them displaying affection to one another when moments ago, either one looked like they were ready to burn down the studio at any moment. in his case, affection has always been one of the ways to calm himself down, regardless if he was the one giving it or receiving it. “i will try to not get myself into more trouble.” no promises for today.

slipping outside the studio after he reassures the girls he was fine by sending a smile their way, he sighs as soon as he was out, carefully closing the door behind him. he checks his watch and he can only groan when he saw the time. they have not reached lunchtime yet and he already feels worn out by the day, walking down the hallway to the staircase while loosening the collar of his shirt. he may have the image of being the ever-patient and peaceful man amongst many but he too has his limits and when pushed enough, even the nicest person you know is capable of bearing their teeth and claws at you once provoked a number of times. 

pulling out his phone, he started to leave a message to the ceo to give up a heads up about the situation as he headed down the stairs. he turns his phone to silent mode once the message was sent, knowing too well that the moment the ceo sees his message, his phone is going to be spammed by paragraphs after paragraphs of messages asking what happened and honestly, talking, even if it is through text, is the last thing he wants to do right now

which is why as soon as he was out of the building and was at the bubble tea cafe across the street, taeyang had just shown the cashier a list of the kids usual orders for bubble tea on his phone before silently paying for it and waiting for the drinks to be prepared. in his short time away from the photoshoot, it allowed him to gather himself together a bit while waiting for the drinks. so by the time he stepped foot back on the set with drinks in hands, he was mostly back to how he was when the day started. with eunji’s drink in hand, he taps her gently on the shoulder to hand her the drink, joining her in watching the kids as he stood next to her. “how are the kids doing?”

☆ ° taeyang never seemed like much a troublemaker to her, thus she was getting slightly impatient as he had stepped out. she never got much enjoyment out of having a bad temper herself, neither did she enjoy people fighting around her. with her arms crossed over her chest, she was tapping her foot against the linoleum floor, eyes never leaving the members of dreamdrop, trying her best to keep a gentle smile on her lips. she knew she should worry about everyone being in a good mood, but deep down her organizational self was hoping that it would at least have been money well-spent and they could get at least a few good pictures out of the shoot. but who knew. with a sigh, she fished her phone out of her pocket once more, eyes glued onto the seemingly unchanging numbers of the digital clock it was displaying. 

“fuck me...”, she mumbled, letting the device sink back into her pocket, a sigh leaving her lips. she knew this event would be on her mind for the remainder of the week, unsure why stuff like that always stayed on her mind, even though it made her uncomfortable. eunji knew she probably would have to talk about it in-depth with the other manager later, just to make sure that she did the right thing by calling the photographer an asshole or not, or if karma would find her and bring her to an early grave. 

the taps on her shoulder almost made her jump, turning around quickly just to finally see taeyang again, drink in hand. she couldn’t help herself but smile widely, letting out a low “thank god”, as she grabbed the drink with one hand, linking her arm with his as she pulled him closer to her side. eyeing the drink, she smiled up at the other. “oh? my favorite. thank you.”, she mentioned as she gave his arm another gentle squeeze. “what did you get for yourself?”, eunji asked as well before she pulled her shoulders into a slight shrug. 

“seems like they’re doing fine. i just hope the pictures don’t look too painful. but they’re professionals already, i am sure they can handle a bit of fighting on set.”, eunji explained, whether she was unsure if she was telling the truth or not. “what do you think?”

            leaning   forward   in   her   position   on   the   couch,   daeun   oozed   with   enthusiasm   for   the   subject   discussed   and   was   way   too   invested   than   she   should   have   been  …   but,   who   was   going   to   crush   her  spirit   when   she   was   just   this   excited?   daeun   was   somewhat   known   for   creating   elaborate   theories,   that   no   completely   sane   person   was   to   ever   even   entertain   the  idea   of,   her   whimsical   mind   forever   floating   away   with   the   fairies   –   and   eunji   just   so   happened   to   be   the   first   person   daeun   would   go   to   with   her   discoveries.   “ that’s   another   good   theory, ”   the   female   responded,   fingertip   pointed   in   air   as   if   making   a   mental   note,   “ but  here  …   i’m   convinced  it’s   to   improve   skills. ”   palms   wrapped   around   her   own   cheeks,   bursting   air   puffed   in   cheeks,   “ like,   how   steroids   can   help   athletes,   you   know?   ”   daeun   attempted   to   explain,   but   she   didn’t   have   full   answers   to   what   was   being   asked   …   she   needed  to   yet   work   these   finer   details   out,   gather   some  findings   (   and,   maybe,   she   knew   the   perfect   person   for   the   task   ).   “ i   need   to   examine   it   further,   and   i   would   like   to   request   your   assistance   …   there   is   nobody   else   i   can   trust   with   this   information. ”

☆ ° she was intrigued, to say the least. daeun’s theory somehow fit together with her own, even though she had her doubts about that as well. “it wasn’t me, though.”, eunji said, raising her hands in the air, an act of defeat and not-knowing. she didn’t know if she was alluding to something, but she had to make sure the other knew she had nothing to do with poisoning her water or anything of the likes. “not putting anything into dreamdrop’s water bottles. or not ordering some sort of special water for you guys anyways.”, the manager tapped her chin, raising a single brow in a questionable fashion. “unless taeyang is drugging all of you, which...”, the woman shook her head, “probably not.”, it was the truth, she didn’t think the man would even dare to give them anything even slightly unhealthy.  daeun had all of eunji’s attention, her lips pursed in thought. how was she going to examine water? especially since she thought everything was going just fine and normal. it must have been the wrongdoings of the government or the higher-ups of the entertainment industry, she always knew something had to be up in general. “how do you want to do this, daeun? test it for chemicals? and why... how did you even think of that?”, eunji inquired, curious. 

｡:°ஐ  SHE USUALLY WAS the last one to pass out amongst her peers, being that her tolerance was far too high for her own tastes. today, of all days, she volunteered to clean the place up and babysit the ones who didn’t know when to stop, though that was usually her. this time around, she found it far more adorable to laugh at them with the pleasantries of remaining buzzed, rather than shitfaced like eunji was tonight. she watches from the end of the hall, the living room spic and span as the last of the trash bags were propped up beside the door, ready for someone else to take it out as she was just about ready to get to bed. “you’re way too blasted to be coming home like this,” she lets out a low laugh, as she pushes herself out of her position to crouch over to where the older sat. “your shoes deserve a break, too. come sleep with me.” she makes sure to make her voice extra sweet in attempts to sway her manager, partially worried that she wouldn’t be able to make it in time, but mostly excited at her own expense for having eunji to cuddle all night. jiyeon reaches over, combing the hair away from her face and massaging her neck. “you’ve got to behave and stay quiet so you don’t wake up heart, though.” 

☆ ° eunji’s brows furrowed,  as the shoe fell out of her hand, dropping to the floor. “is.. is this what the shoe deserves?”, she asked, words slurred as she finally lifted her head to look at the younger crouching close to her. “oh, jiyeon.”, the manager stated, a wide grin tugging on the corner of her lips as her brain finally worked through what was happening and the words she had just spoken. “sleep with you?... stay quiet? you’re the one who will need to stay quiet.”, she let out a small laugh, beyond amused, even though she was most likely the only one amused by her words. she thought she was smooth, even though she really wasn’t, especially in her clouded and drunken state. heaving herself off the couch, she grabbed onto jiyeon’s shoulder for support as she wobbled to her feet. dragging the other woman along with her, eunji made her way –– more slowly than anything –– through their dorm, thankfully knowing the layout like the back of her hand. peeking into the room, squinting her eyes, she barely could make out anything, turning around to lay her head onto the other’s shoulder with a low groan. “i want to take off my pants.”

ancientsvn·:

          AS THEIR DEBUT APPROACHES alexis is, admittedly, more and more nervous each passing day and ,to avoid overthinking too much, she likes to keep herself extremely busy. this meant she liked to stay behind to practice for an extra couple of hours, or to ask the staff if there was anything she could do to help. it’s come to the point that she pesters the managers to involve her a little bit more in their activities and decision making. though, this proved to be a difficult task to accomplish since she had activities of her own and they told her most of the time that she shouldn’t worry too much, but she did and she couldn’t help it.

thus jia was over the moon the moment eunji asked her to come along to a nearby coffee shop, what for? she didn’t know, nonetheless she was on board when noticing that the other woman was taking her laptop and some files with her. she truly hoped it was a work-related meeting or something of the sorts. it wasn’t, and it was obvious she was disappointed when being told it was simply to have something sweet while the other worked. hiding her disappointment with a smile, alexis sits quietly across eunji after ordering a matcha green tea latte. a moment later she’s playing some games on her phone waiting for the manager to be over so they could go home.

“huh?” the question makes her feel a little bit nervous, fully knowing what habits the other was talking about. alexis immediately puts the phone down and looks at the woman before her. “well… they are not that horrible.” she defends with a casual shrug and, even though she doesn’t agree to a few things they do, it still felt right to stand up for the other girls at that moment. “you know, it’s not easy to be literally locked up all day, eunji. we basically wake up, stay the whole day in at the company just to stay the whole night in at the dorm and repeat.” she then, chuckles a little at the tiny fork, simply finding its size a bit hilarious. “not more sneaking out… for now. back to your question, though. it’s been a while since i’ve known them and i still have no idea how to ‘control’ them…” as she continues, she makes sure to emphasize that by making air quotes with fingers. “but mainly because i don’t believe control it’s the answer.”

she had stared at the other for a few moments, wondering about a few things; one of them being why they had chosen a girl with such a cute appearance to be the leader of a group, but it was none of her business, in the end. just something that had crossed her mind randomly. eunji let out a low sigh, placing down the small fork onto the plate, leaning back into the chair. with her hands running over the wooden table, she thought for a few more moments. the manager was sure her constant thinking might be annoying to some, but there were a lot of schedules and questions rummaging through her head. 

“you can’t control them because you think control is not the answer.”, she repeated, brows raising, slightly suspicious of the younger’s words. propping up her chin with the palm of her hand, she picked at her skin a little. “it almost sounds like you’re saying idols are humans too, and not just some sort of entertainment machines?”, there was a small grin tugging on the corner of her lips, shaking her head lightly. “sorry.”, she still grinned as she leaned slightly over the table, offering alexis a gentle smile. 

“i get that. you just gotta keep in mind that for you and anyone in dreamdrop one wrong step could be enough to ruin everything.”, eunji cleared her throat, moving herself and her laptop further to the side, patting the space next to her on the cushioned bench. “come here, let me show you something.”, she said as she pulled up some documents.