지나

the time on jina's phone showed that it was well past one in the morning when she reached the filming studio, where nayeon had spent the entire day recording the music video for 'pop!', the title track of her upcoming solo debut. the korean-japanese girl herself had had a busy day, packed with schedules, but although she had completed the last thing she needed to do about an hour ago, she had yet to go home. no, not when she knew her oldest unnie was still at work alone.

she crept up the stairs that led to the older's dressing room, looking over her shoulder at the manager following behind her, who was holding a video camera to film her, while putting a finger to her lips as a way to ask the woman to be quiet. she paused at the top of the staircase, lowering herself a little to stay out of sight from the people in the dressing room.

“it was nice of momo and chaeyoung to stop by so late earlier,” one of the staff members in the room said. “jina is the only one who hasn't come to see me.” jina could hear nayeon speaking in a slight whiny voice. although she couldn't see nayeon yet, jina could just imagine the pout her unnie was currently wearing, and the thought made her silently giggle. “well, she was really busy today, so it's understandable...but still, i miss her. i wonder if she's home yet...”

facing the video camera, jina placed her hands over her heart to convey that she felt touched. she gestured to the manager to follow her, before she continued making her way to the dressing room, poking her head in to make her presence known. nayeon whipped her head around to the door when she spotted movement in the corner of her eyes, and jina could see the way the older's face lit up with joyful surprise upon realizing that it was her.

“pups!” nayeon called out in a high-pitched voice, getting up from the chair she was previously sitting on to approach jina with her arms open wide. happily, jina met her halfway, the two embracing in a tight hug. “unnie, how are you? has filming been going well? you must be really tired.”

nayeon pulled away from the hug to grin at jina, the latter smiling affectionately when she saw the former's bunny teeth. “i'm feeling much better now that you're here. we're almost done, just one scene left for today,” nayeon told her. “it's already so late, aren't you going home?”

“i wanted to visit you first,” jina answered. “and i figured i might as well wait for you to finish up, so we can go home together.”

nayeon's jaw dropped a bit hearing this, a look of shock in her eyes. “are you kidding? this could still take hours! you don't have to wait up, really.” concern was evident in her tone of voice, but jina simply shrugged. she had the whole day off tomorrow anyway, so she had no problem staying up just a little longer to accompany nayeon. “i don't mind, unnie. i want to do this,” she reassured the older, who pouted and pulled her in for another hug.

“why are you being so sweet like this, pups?” nayeon whined, making jina chuckle in amusement.

.

.

.

sitting on a plastic chair, jina watched from behind the camera as nayeon shot the last scene scheduled to be filmed for the day. it had already been a couple of hours since jina had first arrived, but she still wasn't sure if nayeon was close to finishing yet. nevertheless, she stayed seated there and waited, stretching her back out from time to time and occasionally giving nayeon a thumbs up or two in between takes, just to give her the strength for the last push. finally, the director announced the final take, and jina visibly perked up—at the moment, she wanted nothing more than for nayeon and herself to go home and finally get some much-needed and well-deserved rest.

once the camera stopped rolling after the last take, jina stood up and joined in on the applause to end the day, bowing to and thanking the staff members present. she walked up to nayeon who slumped her shoulders in exhaustion upon seeing her. "i wanna go home," she murmured, leaning forward against jina. “we are, don't worry,” jina told her while smiling softly and rubbing her back soothingly. “you did so great today, unnie.”

with nayeon out of her costume and allowed to leave, she dramatically trudged towards the car with an arm draped over jina's shoulders. although she truly was exhausted, she couldn't help but exaggerate her fatigue so jina would have to drag her, just to annoy the maknae a little. jina rolled her eyes playfully, knowing what nayeon was doing—it was evident in the smile she was failing miserably to hide—but she stayed quiet until they were finally in the car.

“gosh, what a day,” nayeon sighed out as she slumped back into the car seat, turning her head just enough to look at jina next to her. “thank you for staying,” she whispered.

“of course, unnie.” jina's voice was as soft as the smile she wore while she gazed at nayeon. “i'm always with you, even when you're soloist nayeon instead of twice nayeon.” she grinned at her own words, a rather cheeky one at that, while nayeon could only let out an amused scoff.

nayeon's journey as a soloist was just beginning, but jina swore that she, just like the rest of twice, will be there for her every step of the way.