Road to Recovery

"Arasseo... Mafia, who will you kill?"

Jeongyeon held in a laugh at Dahyun and Jihyo. They were silently debating on who should they kill. Jihyo kept insisting to kill Sana- who she suspected to be the doctor- while Dahyun wanted to kill Chaeyoung. When asked why she chose Chaeyoung, she simply mouthed, "No reason." Jeongyeon's shoulders were shaking with laughter at her reasoning, she had to cover her mouth with two hands to stop the sound of her laughter from coming out. In the end, they chose to kill Sana. It wasn't much of a choice, anyway, Sana was too good at sussing out the mafias. She was already suspicious of Jihyo when the game started. Jihyo didn't try to kill her then as she would've definitely been voted out as the Mafia.

The girls were seated around Jeongyeon's hospital bed. The hospital was generous enough- or is it because they were celebrities?- to provide them with eight chairs so the members could sit around their bed-ridden member. It was the morning after the SOBA award show and they were visiting Jeongyeon in her hospital room. She had received surgery for her neck the day before and hadn't been able to attend the award show with her other members.

It was fun watching them having fun on the stage. She'd also seen how Sana gave a shout out to her, promising to bring the awards to her. The three trophies they received last night sat on the nightstand beside Jeongyeon's bed.

This was one of the reasons why she loved these girls. They never excluded each other and always thought of each member's welfare.

Despite having a hard time moving- she had a cast around her neck and she was confined to the bed- she was having fun with her members there. Her family was there a while ago but the girls sent them out to eat their lunch and freshen themselves. They'd been with Jeongyeon since the day before and hadn't even cleaned up yet. They promised to take care of Jeongyeon while her family was away.

They were nearing the end of their third round of the Mafia game. It had been a while since they played again. Jeongyeon volunteered to be the narrator since she liked the feeling of knowing everything. Besides, it was hilarious watching her members accuse each other.

The two Mafias were still alive along with the doctor and one citizen. Momo, Tzuyu, and Nayeon were killed beforehand. Tzuyu was killed on the first night, Momo was voted out on the second morning, and Nayeon was killed on the second night. Poor Mina was voted out on the first morning when the game started. She was usually the first one they voted out, Jeongyeon knew the game would end early if Mina was the Mafia. Mina sat back comfortably on her chair, looking on at the members in amusement.

"Arasseo. Doctor, please raise your head and choose who to save." Chaeyoung responded to the command, raising her head. She looked around her members before pointing to herself. Jeongyeon bit her lip and nodded in assent. Once Chaeyoung had lowered her head once again, Jeongyeon and Mina glanced at each other with knowing grins on their faces.

"Ne, algesseumnida. Police, please raise your head." Here, Jeongyeon had to pause for a few seconds as no one from the remaining group raised their heads. She smirked towards Mina who only rolled her eyes at her. Nayeon who was killed at the latest round pointed towards Mina with eyes wide in surprise. Momo held in a laugh, covering her mouth at the look on Nayeon's face. Tzuyu had her arms crossed in front of her chest, staring blankly at the members who had their heads down.

"Morning has come," Jeongyeon announced. The remaining members raised their heads to look at Jeongyeon in anticipation. Smirking, Jeongyeon continued, "Sweet Sana has died. Mafias win."

Jihyo and Dahyun jumped up from their seats squealing and laughing at each other for their win. Chaeyoung's mouth hung open in shock as she looked at Sana.

"Ya! I told you it was Jihyo, you never believe me!" Sana complained to the other members in a squeaky, high-pitched voice and pointing an accusing finger at their leader who was laughing giddily with Dahyun. The other members aside from the four mentioned laughed at Sana's expense and Chaeyoung's apparent lack of decision-making skills. She hadn't saved anyone in that round and Sana was glaring at her now.

"Mianhe, unnie," Chaeyoung apologized, giggling. "Jihyo-unnie was the Mafia the last round so I thought hyung wouldn't pick her again. Sumimasen." Sana had been insisting that Jihyo was a mafia since the start of the round. The members should've known better since her first instincts were usually right. Pouting at the citizens' loss, Sana sat back on her seat and sulked. Momo patted her head in sympathy, laughing at the situation.

Meanwhile, Jeongyeon was wiping tears from laughter. Nayeon who sat beside her was slapping the mattress as she guffawed loudly. Jeongyeon was quite thankful Nayeon wasn't hitting her arm while she laughed- which was her habit. It seemed the older girl wasn't oblivious of her current situation and had enough sense to hit something else this time other than her when she laughed. She had to shush her unnie with a finger raised to her lips while still laughing since they were in a hospital and they were becoming quite rowdy.

"That was fun, we hadn't played in a while," Dahyun commented when they'd all calmed down and she sat back on her seat.

"I know, right? When was the last time we played?" Momo pondered rhetorically. They all knew the answer to that. They had played Mafia quite a lot in the months while Mina was still in Japan for her therapy. When she had returned on the month of Chaeyoung's birthday, their schedules piled up and they were so busy there was no time for leisure. This was the first time in almost four months that they were able to play again.

Jeongyeon laid back on the elevated bed, groaning a little. Nayeon took note of the slight noise of discomfort and instantly rose to her feet, her face scrunched up in a frown. "Wae? Does your neck hurt? Do I need to call the doctor?" She was grabbing at Jeongyeon's arms while scanning her body for any sign of injury on the younger girl.

Jeongyeon gripped Nayeon's hands to stop her fussing. She couldn't shake her head so she had to answer verbally. "Ani, I'm just feeling stiff and sore. No need to worry, unnie." She smiled to ease Nayeon. It was true, though. She couldn't feel pain in her neck anymore thanks to her surgery but having the brace around her said body part since the day before felt really uncomfortable. She was dreading the moment it would start to itch.

Nayeon nodded though she still had a small frown present on her face. She sat back on her seat and squeezed Jeongyeon's hand. When Jeongyeon turned to look at her other members, they had the same expression as Nayeon on their faces.

"Ya, yeorobun. Don't look at me like that. I'm perfectly fine."

Jihyo shook her head. "No, you're not. You have a cast around your neck and confined to a hospital bed. You might say you're fine but we all know that's not the whole truth." Sitting back in her chair and crossing her legs, she continued, "No offense but it looks kinda disturbing, you know."

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes but she had a small smile on her face. "Thanks for the comment, Jihyo."

The others chuckled at their leader's teasing.

...

Two days later, Jeongyeon was being released from the hospital. She was supposed to stay there for at least three days but she'd done enough whining and begging for the doctor to release her earlier than intended. She still wasn't supposed to be moving much but she figures it was better to stay in her house rather than be cooped up in the hospital with nothing to do.

"We're locking you up in your room, just so you know," her second sister, Seoyeon, teased. She and Seungyeon were currently packing their things as well as Jeongyeon's for when they leave the hospital. Their parents left earlier to go home and prepare Jeongyeon's room for her week-long stay there. "Doctor's orders."

Jeongyeon decided to stay at her home in Suwon instead of staying at their dorm since the management gave them a rest week. No one would stay there anyway and she didn't want to burden her members in taking care of her when she could just go home to her family. The foreign members- Momo, Sana, Mina, and Tzuyu- were flying home to their own countries to spend the week with their own families. Nayeon, Jihyo, Chaeyoung, and Dahyun were going home too.

"That gives me time to work on my Legos," Jeongyeon countered, unimpressed with her sister's taunting. "And since I'm not allowed to move around, you and Seungyeon-unnie will be my slaves for the week."

Seungyeon, who was quietly packing her things, marched over to Seoyeon and hit the back of her head, earning a pained grunt from the second-born Yoo. "You just had to tease her. Now she's going to take advantage of her current state and have us at her beck and call."

"You can't complain either or I'll tell eomma about it," Jeongyeon triumphantly said, crossing her arms and raising her chin a little as if to look down at them- not like she hasn't done enough of the latter already with the brace around her neck.

"Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that, you brat," Seoyeon sneered. "Unnie and I will be working anyway so we won't be home for you to boss around," she finished, sticking her tongue out to taunt Jeongyeon. The youngest Yoo mimicked her and stuck her tongue out as well.

Seungyeon rolled her eyes at her sisters' behavior. "Ya, hajima. You're not children anymore. Let's just finish packing, Seoyeon-ah. The doctor will be here any minute."

It was an hour later when they finally reached home.

Jeongyeon would have wanted to dive into her bed but she had to move slowly and cautiously for a while due to her still healing neck. Gripping onto Seungyeon's hand for support, she gingerly sat on her bed. Once she had settled in her bed, Seungyeon and Seoyeon bid her and their parents goodbye as they still had to work. Jeongyeon was left alone in her room, feeling bored, when her phone rang beside her. She smiled as it was her members calling. Jihyo initiated a group video call and had invited the others to join.

"Annyeong, yeorobun," Jeongyeon greeted after she answered the call. Jihyo, Chaeyoung, and Dahyun were the only ones there. The J-Line plus Tzuyu were probably still in the middle of their respective flights so they couldn't answer their phones. As for their eldest...

"Where's Nayeon-unnie?" Chaeyoung asked. She was probably in her room, Jeongyeon deduced, as she was laying down on her stomach with a pillow to prop up her upped body.

"No idea. She hadn't texted me today," Jihyo answered. "Anyways, I wanted just to check on you guys. Especially you, Jeong."

Jeongyeon smiled. "I just arrived home and I'm really bored. I wanted to play with Nanan and Bomb but appa won't let them stay in my room," she said with a pout. Nanan was the Yoo family's dog and Bomb was Seungyeon's cat.

Jihyo had a look of pure disgust on her face at the blatant display of cuteness. "What's with the aegyo, you pabo? Stop that."

Dahyun and Chaeyoung laughed at Jihyo's expression and Jeongyeon who was now exaggerating her aegyo by pouting more, batting her eyelashes, and making a finger heart. Jihyo was fake gagging while she was doing this. Jeongyeon chuckled at Jihyo's reaction to her aegyo. It was apparent she deliberately made it cringey to disgust Jihyo.

"You need some company, hyung? I can come over, you know," Chaeyoung asked.

Jeongyeon shook her head, although inwardly touched by the maknae's offer. "Aniyo, gwaenchanha. You should spend the week with your families. Besides, I might be asleep the whole day because of my medications."

"For how long do you have to take them, unnie?" Dahyun asked. She was in their dining room, seated on the dinner table. Her phone was propped up on the table and she was munching on chips. Seeing her eat made Jeongyeon a little hungry. She debated calling for her mom to ask for some snacks.

"Until I don't need the neck brace, I guess? So probably a few days."

"That sucks. Jeongyeon-ah, fighting!"

Just then, a loud bell was heard around the house. Jeongyeon frowned at the familiar sound.

"What was that?" Jihyo asked. Apparently, the bell was loud enough to be heard through her phone.

"That was our doorbell. Eomma probably has visitors over." Her mother hadn't mentioned anyone coming over to their house. It seemed kind of suspicious since her mother would always tell her and her sisters if someone was visiting whenever they were around. Maybe she just forgot to tell me, Jeongyeon thought. Shrugging it off, Jeongyeon was about to continue conversing with the them when there was a knock on her door.

"Just a sec, girls," she said to them in a low voice. Without waiting for their reply, she called out in her normal voice, "What is it?"

The door opened slightly and her mother peaked her head through her room. With the smile on her face, Jeongyeon thought she looked pleased about something. "What is it, eomma?"

"You have a visitor, dear."

And with that, she opened the door wider to reveal someone that made Jeongyeon's jaw drop open in surprise. She could vaguely hear her members asking her who it was from her phone.

"What are you doing here, Nayeon-unnie?!"