hwiyeon hadn’t been planning on staying the whole night. sleeping around other people was unnerving – and be caught snoring? she’d rather stay awake for forty-eight consecutive hours – and the dessert table had sounded promising but there wasn’t even a trace of it, so what was–
oh. no, there it was, coming into view when the right person shifted and revealed a few glittering rows of sweets. hwiyeon excused herself from the small talk she’d been making by the door and made a beeline for the table, because she’d also heard that there would be a fondue fountain.
instead, she found jiyeon. well, she found the fondue fountain too, but it was…
“oh, jiyeon-ah,” she echoed in dismay, moving away from the mess starting to coagulate in the back. one glance at jiyeon told her that she didn’t need to say anything else, and she felt a resounding pang of sympathy when she noticed the slight shine to jiyeon’s eyes. i really do, she was about to say, but she couldn’t handle her crying! “i mean, yeah. i saw the bastard who did this two minutes ago. the nerve of some people.”
“who?” a newcomer cried out from the other side of the table, looking aghast at the sight of the fountain. “what am i going to have with my strawberries now?”
“i don’t know,” hwiyeon clicked her tongue, shaking her head in grave agreement, “but he better hope someone catches him before i do.” she waited for the stranger to throw up their hands and walk away, still babbling about their strawberries, before she exhaled and turned back to jiyeon. “okay, it’s okay, we can fix it. was there—a screw? did you take something out?” stay calm. stay calm. “usually there’s– oh, god. why is it bubbling like that?”
she could only let out a rather unceremonious sniffle in reply as hwiyeon fully realized what was going on. she didn’t know if the hwiyeon had some magic mirror that told her when jiyeon was in trouble, or what exactly, but they seemed to have some otherworldly knowledge from an all knowing source. “i really am sorry...” she offered, her voice barely above a whisper. when hwiyeon glossed over her involvement in the malfunction she felt like she could breathe just a little bit better. she managed to crack a smile, still sniffling a bit as she did but her tears were beginning to dry.
another voice cut through their conversation and her ears burned bright red and she tucked herself in to make herself smaller, hoping to avoid their ire. the panic in her eyes was evident as her head snapped in their direction. before she could even begin to vomit apologies, hwiyeon stepped in a saved her, yet again. she mouthed words of thanks to the singer, feeling the embarrassment of the entire situation suffocate her. she could only imagine how the other felt always having to come to her aid but she was thankful for it. she wished she knew how to thank them.
“i really don’t know. i dropped my marshmallow in there and wanted to get it so i used this fork. i couldn’t just stick my hands in there, that’s poor hygienic practice for events like this. maybe i accidentally hit something inside with the fork?” her cheeks were once again a shade of deep crimson as she tried to walk through the events that led to the malfunction. “oh gosh, should i tell one of the staff? is it going to explode?” she panicked, holding a napkin up to shield them from the chocolate.