Butterfly- Enhypen 8th Member

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛¹⁴♬

1:35 ───ㅇ───── 3:47
⇄ ◃◃ ⅠⅠ ▹▹ ↻

"NCT 127 sunbaenim's 'Kick It'?" Sunghoon said with his hand raised in the air.

The rest of the members waited in anticipation for the hosts to say whether or not Sunghoon's guess was correct, and when it was, Heran didn't waste a second and ran to the middle with Niki.

It was 3 days before Christmas, and they were filming their first-ever Weekly Idol episode. It was a Christmas special, so everyone was dressed in themed jumpers for some coordination.

It was 3 days before Christmas and over a week since Heran had last spoken to Jieun. Going over to her house the week before to check up on her was a complete mistake. Not only was Jieun not there but she wasn't completely honest with Heran in her text messages either.

"Heran?" Jieun's mother asked in slight shock upon seeing her at their front door that late on a Friday evening.

Heran managed a close-lipped smile and opened her mouth to speak but she was suddenly pulled into a bone-crushing hug by Jieun's mother who was all too happy to see her daughter's best friend after so long.

She pulled back to get a better look at Heran. "I can't believe that you're back. Congratulations on your successful debut my dear."

"Thank you, Mrs Kim," Heran said shyly and slightly bowed her head forward.

Jieun's mother couldn't stop herself from pulling her into another hug. "I can't wait for the day that I get to see you and Jieun on stage together."

Yep. Jieun was a trainee as well under CUBE Entertainment. She started training a couple of months after Heran and they always talked about performing at award shows together and how fun it would be if they got to be in the industry together.

Most friends talked about starting podcasts and YouTube channels together, but for Heran and Jieun it was being successful artists together. A shared dream that was starting to come true.

Heran awkwardly laughed off her nervousness while she fiddled with the hem of her hoodie. There was no reason for her to be this anxious but there was still something bothering her.

"I came over to check if Jieun was home. Her phone is off so I started worrying."

Mrs Kim shifted her weight to her right leg and crossed her arms over her chest. "She left a while ago," her eyebrows knitted together. "She went out with some friends."

What.

It felt like someone ripped her heart out of her chest. Maybe she was overreacting about the entire situation and Jieun was fine. But even then, she couldn't push down the twinge of jealousy coursing through her veins.

Jieun had sounded so upset over the phone that Heran had started to wonder if she had done something wrong. If she was the problem and not Nayoung.

"Uh, it's fine then." Heran took a few steps back and tried to rationalize her thoughts. "I'll just talk to her at school."

"Dear, she won't be back until after Christmas. They went on a trip to celebrate the end of finals."

☆

"Eonnie!"

Yerim's voice echoed through her aunt's house early that Christmas morning. The 4-year-old was unable to hide her excitement and immediately ran into Heran's arms the second she heard the front door open.