Complete Private Playing With Fire

[Luthien]

　

 [ Unnie  ]

 Pin has been dropped.​

　

Here’s the location to Ari’s place​

　

And don’t eat on the way​

　

Lunch should be ready by the time you get here​

​

Those were the last messages Val had sent out once the Korean idol had confirmed she was getting ready to head out and board the train, a happy hum echoing as she’d turned back to the ingredients on the counter. "Doubt we’ll find out much, but still worth a shot." She’d read the stories on the web and, after sharing one Val had found amusing, the trio had eventually decided to give the 23&Me test kits a try.

It’s not like they’d break the bank anyways and, at worst, they would simply reveal nothing new and they’d be left with the same questions they’d started with…

A glance towards her screen showed it was almost the scheduled time expected for Dayeon’s arrival, the blonde hard at work pulling the last batch of fried chicken from the hot oil before they were set aside to drain and cool off. "Think she’ll make it in time, or is Philly’s traffic ass at this hour?" She’d been excited to impress her unnie with the fried chicken recipe Dee had shared back in Hawaii, though the blonde had been mindful enough to make two batches por today—one sporting the iconic red of buldak, and another that was just the traditional way of making Korean fried chicken.

"I’m done over here, what about you?" She’d taken the chance to bump her shoulder softly against Ari as the blonde took the trays towards the table, a cheeky grin on her lips before she fiddled with the tiny cheese fondue kit she’d gotten. Ari might be lactose intolerant… but Dayeon and she weren’t, and melting cheese always went well with fried and spicy things.

@Ari | @Dayeon

 

[Lune]

　

 [ Val ♡ ]

​

　

Just got off the train

　

Taxing a taxi there rn, see ya

​

Initially, she dismissed it because she thought there was nothing more a DNA test could tell her, as Dayeon was certain that she was one hundred percent Korean anyway. But then Val told her that there were more interesting things such as disease risk, characteristics, and most importantly: family tree and relative finder.

As someone who never got to know her parents, the idol didn't know if she even had relatives somewhere in the world after her grandmother died. As strong as she was, eventually she could not throw away the feeling of loneliness. Second cousins, an aunt, or uncle out there, maybe?

After receiving the kit two weeks ago or so, they sent it back and agreed to gather it for Ari's belated birthday party or something after he got food poisoning on his actual birthday.

Perfect time to do some fun reveals, too, they thought.

Stepping out of the taxi, she made her way to Ari's place. Pressing the bell, she waited until someone opened the door before greeting them, showing the plastic bag she brought with her. "Hi! I bought drinks!" There was two boba milk tea and one lemon tea with grass jelly specifically for the man who lost the genetic roulette.

@Ari | @Valeria

 

[Yugam]

"Doubt we'll find out much, but still worth a shot."
"Speak for your fucking self," Ari said with a laugh as he set out some plates on the counter for Val to put the chicken on once it was done. He already recognized the spicy red color of the sauce from Hawai'i and knew he would need some rice to make it edible. Thankfully, he'd already started a batch in the rice cooker, which now sat warm on the countertop. "I know jack shit about my birth family. What if I turn out to be related to someone famous?" he said jokingly.

"Traffic's always bad in Philly. Shouldn't be too bad at this hour though," the man answered back, taking a seat at the counter to wait. It had been almost six months since the three of them had all met up in person like this. It was only a shame that Nico had decidedly disappeared from all three of their lives.

"Been waiting on you," Ari said bumping Val back, before scooping a rather large portion of the cooked rice into bowls for each of the three, and taking those to the table as well. He'd only just set them down when he'd heard the bell ring. "Comin!" A chorus of greetings as he pulled the doors open, culminating in a rather deadpan look as Ari took the drink carrier from Dayeon and started placing them at the table. The names on the drinks made the man look over at the older woman with a raised brow. "The fuck is this?" he asked, pointing at the one odd drink in his hand.

 

[Luthien]

She chuckled at his joke, the thought about an unknown relative being someone rich and/or famous being intriguing—and she’d read some of those while scouring the internet stories—but it was also so unlikely… rarer than a Hoyo gacha pull for a 5 star, and they were famous for their abysmal rates. "I think we have better odds of uncovering a secret family drama, but realistically speaking it’ll probably be just mundane everyday people like us."

Regardless of how boring the outcome might be, it had been a good enough excuse for a get together outside of the game, the normalcy of it all welcomed after… well, everything that had happened as of late. The doorbell’s chime reached them just as Val finished arranging the table, the blonde turning to look at the door with a happy "Hey Dee!" once Ari had opened it.

"Hi! I bought drinks!"
"The fuck is this?"

Curiosity got the best of her before she joined them, happily accepting the boba milk tea drink that Dayeon had brought for her, before staring at the choice Ari had received. "Pffft...!" It wasn’t hard to guess why the idol had chosen it for her boyfriend, the man unlucky to have lost the gene roulette when it came to dairy, but despite her best efforts a small titter slipped out.

"We can trade if you’re gonna pop a Lactaid anyways," Likely considering the cheese fondue awaiting them back at the table, and it’s not like she minded having lemon tea with fire chicken and rice. "That said I’m starving, so let’s figure this out over food hmm?"

With that she gently nudged them both towards the meal, closing the dorm behind Dayeon before the blonde joined them at the table. "Made Korean fried chicken bites, and tried my hand at the buldak sauce you showed me with half of 'em."

@Dayeon | @Ari

 

[Lune]

"The fuck is this?"

"It's... lemon... tea?" Dayeon raised her left eyebrow before letting out a small, playful chuckle at the man's peculiar confusion at the concept of lemon tea, a common drink everywhere around the world. "Guess you never served it in your cafe."

The idol waved as the blonde joined them, her hands already grabbed one cup and popped the big straw to suck a mouthful of chill sugary milk tea. "Hi, Val!" They proceeded to move to the table, unveiling the lunch for the day. Fried chicken and rice, what a heavenly duo.

"Made Korean fried chicken bites, and tried my hand at the buldak sauce you showed me with half of 'em."

"Boneless?" The woman inspected closer to the red-sauced one that looked identical to the one she had made months ago. "Nice, lemme see the other one. Oh, nice crispy, golden breading there." She turned to Val and gave her two thumbs-up of approval. "You are truly an honorary Korean. That makes us three Koreans here."

Seating herself, she took some pieces of the boneless chicken bites and set those on the top of the warm, steamed rice in her bowl. What goodness.

"I assume you two haven't spoiled yourselves with the results." Dayeon looked at the other two, pulling out her phone.

@Ari | @Valeria

 

[Yugam]

Ari could hear Valeria's amusement at his confusion about whatever drink Dayeon had brought him. "It's... lemon... tea?" the idol explained. "Guess you never served it in your cafe."
"I work at a coffee shop, not a tea shop, Dayeon," Ari countered. "This is A-mer-i-ca, not Asia," he said, exaggerating his enunciation for the woman.

At Valeria's offer of swapping drinks, the man curiously took a tentative sip of the lemon tea. It wasn't bad, until he hit whatever weird jelly was at the bottom. He instantly grimaced in disgust, but forced himself to swallow anyways. "Yeah, please..." the man muttered, thrusting the offending drink in Val's direction while making a grabby hand for her drink with the other. God bless sweet girlfriends. "Thanks."

The group began to gravitate towards the food, and they all took their seats. The angry red color of the chicken was already making Ari grateful for the almost excessive amount of rice he'd cooked. He chuckled as Dayeon dubbed Val with the title of 'honorary Korean', before they all moved on to the topic at hand. "Of course not," the man said with a laugh. "Where's the fun in opening them early?" The notification on his phone had been tempting though, but Ari had swiped it away before it grew to be too much. "Do we wanna eat first or what?"

@Luthien | @Lune

 

[Luthien]

Their banter earned a laugh from the blonde that witnessed it and, for a moment, it almost felt like they were back in Hawaii. The absence of a certain pinkette weighed heavily on her mind then, before Val finally forced down and locked the bittersweet memories away—it was pointless to sour their meal with things that none of them could change.

Her guess was proven right after she’d watched her boyfriend tentatively take a sip of his drink, a piece of grass jelly quickly shooting up his straw and out of view, before he grimaced in response. "Not a fan, right?" Not like she could blame him though, their texture was quite different from boba and—if she was honest—Val wasn’t fond of the grass jelly either.

"Sólo porque te amo~" Her words were followed by a quick peck to his cheek, quickly swapping the drinks in their hands before Ari could have second thoughts about it. "Come on, food’s gonna get cold."

The excitement that crossed her gaze as Dayeon began to comment on the results of her cooking was hard to miss as the blonde sat down, a soft blush spreading over the top of her cheeks when her unnie dubbed her as an honorary Korean. She didn’t miss the way Ari’s gaze lingered on the buldak longer than the others, a gentle nudge given to his foot with her own to catch his attention.

"The cheese fondue should tone down the heat quite a bit," And melted cheese paired well with almost everything, anyways. Her head nodded towards the second plate of fried chicken on the table: they were golden brown, crispy and, more importantly, devoid of any fire sauce. "I’m not gonna be mad if you stick to those."

It just meant more buldak for Dee and her, a win-win for everyone involved.

"I assume you two haven't spoiled yourselves with the results."
"Of course not, where's the fun in opening them early?"

She nodded in agreement to his words, her sentiments aligned with those of Ari, before she piped up as the question that followed. "Food." Prepping all of this after skipping breakfast had certainly opened her appetite. "We’ve already waited over two decades to find out, so what’s a little more right?"

@Dayeon | @Ari

 

[Lune]

"I work at a coffee shop, not a tea shop, Dayeon,"

"Coffee shops sell lemon tea, you Korean boy group idol lookalike." She playfully bantered, flicking Ari's shoulder. "Guess yours aren't premium enough." Watching the display of affection in front of her, she couldn't help but exhale. "Get a room, you two."

"We’ve already waited over two decades to find out, so what’s a little more right?"

"Yeah, I'm famished. Let's go." Dayeon placed her phone on the side of her plate, turning to the plate of chicken pieces covered in so much spicy sauce. Picking up the tongs, she took three pieces of the buldak and served them on top of Val's rice bowl.

Turning to Ari, she went to take the plate of crispy fried chicken without sauce. "This one's for you." She served three pieces for him with a smug smile, before sitting back down. After mumbling a short prayer, the idol picked up the chopsticks. "Let's eat!"

She first tested the waters by trying just the buldak itself, without the cheese fondue or the rice to see if it was well seasoned. The first bite was very crunchy, and she could feel the salt and pepper in the batter. The sauce? It was nice. Spicy, sweet, and umami. "Mmm," Dayeon let out a sound of enjoyment, nodding her head while making a thumbs-up with her left hand.

"Very good," She praised Val. "I would make it slightly spicier, though"

@Ari | @Valeria

 

[Yugam]

There was an audible groan as Ari listened to Dayeon's arguments, pinching his temples between his index finger and thumb. He doubted she didn't understand that lemon tea and grass jelly wasn't a thing in western coffee shops, she had to just be stubborn to annoy him. Had she been talking to Nico lately?

At least now they were sitting to eat. "Uh, you know there's only so much Lactaid can do, right?" Ari said with a raised brow towards Val as she suggested him dunking the chicken in the cheese fondue. "I'm gonna die if I do that, and wind up in the hospital again." Little bit of chicken, a lot of rice. That was the play here.

Or just some chicken without the angry red sauce. "Thanks, D," the man said as he took the plate from the idol. Respectfully, the man waited for Dayeon to say her little prayer, performing his own cross before starting to eat.

"You guys are insane if you want that shit spicier," the man said. "It nearly set my colon on fire last time."

@Luthien | @Lune

 

[Luthien]

It wasn’t hard to guess her boyfriend was getting frustrated as an audible groan slipped out, though he wasn’t wrong exactly when it came to lemon tea. The closest experience most Americans had with that was probably from Lipton’s iced teas or the AriZona cans—a personal favorite of hers—instead of proper lemon tea… and the only reason she knew of grass jelly was because of Val’s own natural curiosity about Asian cuisine.

"Get a room, you two." The idol’s quip caught her attention then, the corners of her mouth tilting upwards in a mischievous smirk before she replied. "You’re standing in it~"

A playful lilt colored her words before the blonde chuckled softly, before the trio finally gathered at the table for a meal.

"Mmm..." Extra effort was placed in as she pulled off the most serious expression possible, index finger tapping her bottom lip as if in deep thought over Ari’s words regarding Lactaid and its limits. It didn’t last long however as her shoulders bounced lightly in a shrug, the iconic gremlin smile™ on display as she spoke. "Live by the dice, die by the dice~"

Hands reached out to receive the plate of food Dayeon had prepared for her, a grateful thanks given to the older woman, before patiently waiting for the others. Religion had never been big on her, though that didn’t mean Val would be inconsiderate of her friends' beliefs. She was patient enough to wait for the completion of Dee’s prayer before finally picking up her cutlery.

"Let's eat!"
"Finally!"

The piece of buldak chicken was quickly dipped into the awaiting cheese pool, only taking enough time to blow the piece a few times—and hopefully avoid burning her tongue or the roof of her mouth—before it immediately disappeared from view. She was famished after skipping breakfast and, while she wasn’t about to complain about the actions that led to that, the joy she felt after finally getting to eat was on display as the blonde hummed a little tune to accompany her happy dance.

@Dayeon | @Ari

 

[Lune]

"I'm gonna die if I do that, and wind up in the hospital again."

She paused briefly before catching on to what happened to the man. "Hospital... again?" Dayeon tilted her head to the unknown fact, questioning as she turned back and forth between Ari and Val while sporting a concerned look. "When did this happen and how?"

"It nearly set my colon on fire last time."

"My insides still die the next day every time I eat these, but my mouth loves it so it's kind of worth it." The idol revealed that despite her rock-solid abs, her stomach was still a human's, and a lot of spice would cause problems.

More of the buldak were then dipped into cheese fondue, adding glorious umami and saltiness into the mix "It's way better with the cheese. Though that's like extra 50cals per dip." She nodded while slowly munching, joking with Val. "Hopefully I don't lose my abs tomorrow."

The fiery chicken was definitely Dayeon's favorite, even mixing the sauce with the rice almost cleaning the full bowl of rice in such a short time before finally trying the one without the sauce. Just pure, battered crispy chicken.

"This one is also nice," The boneless chickens brought back some memories to her. "We used to train until 2 AM and order a lot of chicken afterward. Chicken shops are open 24/7."

@Ari | @Valeria

 

[Yugam]

"Or just stop rolling the dice," Ari quipped, knowing how much his girlfriend seemed to love leaving her entire fate to fickle chance. "Not sure what dice have to do with chicken though."

Ari's attention turned to Dayeon as he remembered that they'd never actually told her about his most recent trip to the hospital. "Oh uh, like a few months ago or something like that?" the man said, lifting a brow as he tried to recall just when it had happened. "I tried teaching Nico how to cook and she somehow created a bio-weapon. So, you know, typical day in paradise."

The chatter between Dayeon and Val slowly turned towards the chicken and Ari quietly nibbled on his blessedly flame free chicken and just listened to the girls talk, restraining himself from making a comment about how they were both masochists.

@Luthien | @Lune

 

[Luthien]

A playful shrug of her shoulders followed his comment about chicken and dice, the mischievous smirk on her lips one her boyfriend was undoubtedly well acquainted with by now as she spoke. "Dunno, sounds like skill issues to me~" Sure Val, keep racking those points up… they're gonna get cashed in eventually.

The brief pause as Dee put two and two together reminded the pair that they hadn’t quite informed her about the unexpected ER visit he’d suffered not too long ago, an apologetic smile given to her unnie as Ari filled her in on the details. "You should’ve started her with something simpler, like a caprese sammich or something." Then again a part of Val was certain the pinkette would’ve found a way to turn that into a chemical nuke too.

"Really?" An eyebrow rose as the idol spoke about her experiences with buldak, the confusion on her face evident as she listened. She’d learned early on that Ari and spicy things only mixed to a certain level, but she’d assumed Dayeon would’ve had a better tolerance all around for it. "The one in Hawaii was spicier than this one for sure, but I was fine after it."

A short snort followed as the woman joked about losing her abs due to the meal. "As if, it’d take more than a little bit of fire chicken and some cheese to wipe that granite slab of yours." While the blonde was proud of the physical shape she kept herself in, Val was aware it was nothing compared to the core strength that Dee had cultivated over the years as an idol.

"Besides," She happily dipped a new piece of fire chicken into the cheese without an ounce of hesitation, clearly more than willing to eat whatever portion of the fondue that Ari couldn’t partake in. "Everyone knows calories don’t count when you’re on vacation~"

They were content to chatter as they ate, or the girls did at least, and Valeria couldn’t help the smile that remained on her lips as time passed. Food always tastes better with good company around.

"No way, for real?!" The shock on her voice was almost palpable as Dee mentioned the 24/7 fried chicken shops she’d frequent in the past, a frustrated groan escaping Val in return. "Man I wish, I consider myself lucky if I find one still open past midnight—no way I’d get freshly fried chicken at two in the morning though."

@Dayeon | @Ari

 

[Lune]

"I tried teaching Nico how to cook and she somehow created a bio-weapon. So, you know, typical day in paradise."

"Oh no..." She facepalmed in response. How was a food able to send someone into the hospital that quickly? "You didn't get salmonella, did you?"

Still, glad to hear they were still in touch with the pinkette though, after the whole Szofrit thing that led up to her getting worked out and leaving the group chat.

"Really?"

"Yup, stomach never got used to the heat. The real battle is in the toilet later." Dayeon joked, before adding a disclaimer. "Alright, that's such an un-idol-like thing to say."

Setting her empty bowl aside, the idol continued to enjoy the fried chicken pieces, picking them up with her chopsticks while conversing, occasionally slurping some milk tea boba to counter the heat that started to build up in her mouth.

Both plates of chicken were finally empty. "Thank you for the food." She declared, stacking the plates in the middle to wash later before pulling out her phone. "Alright, is it time for the main event?"

"So how does this work, we just open the page?"

@Ari | @Valeria

 

[Yugam]

"Skill issue my ass," Ari scowled at Val. If anyone had a skill issue, it was her. She wouldn't be rolling the dice as often if it wasn't. Of course, trying to explain that to Val was a losing battle. Much like Nico, Ari fully expected the woman to continue to argue with him just to annoy him. Although the 'why' of the matter was entirely different.

At the suggestion of having taught Nico something simpler, Ari's brows furrowed slowly, until he swallowed, and looked at the other two. "Honestly...it never occurred to me that Nico might not be able to make a sandwich..." It felt like an insult to the woman's intelligence, and yet, it didn't seem impossible. The most Ari had even seen her do was put milk in cereal, or leftovers in a microwave. And even that was hard for her sometimes. "Fuck if I know what she gave me though. I think it was just really bad food poisoning? They flushed my stomach." A horrid ordeal if you asked Ari.

Soon enough they'd all managed to eat enough food (and make Ari look at them both with incredulity) that it was soon time to look at their results. "There's an app, D," Ari explained to the idol, holding up his phone as the company's logo popped up on screen. "Just login, should be there."

@Luthien | @Lune

 

[Luthien]

She couldn’t help the shit eating grin that pulled at the sides of her lips as Ari retorted, though it was hard to tell if she’d stopped teasing him due to the scowl on his face or just because they had company over today. Part of her couldn’t blame him for thinking that Nico should’ve been able to handle a simple carbonara dish, especially when he’d been guiding her through the process, and yet the results had spoken for themselves.

"Should’ve started her with scrambled eggs instead." Less ingredients for the pinkette to fuck up with, though given the pinkorilla’s culinary skills—or lack of in this case—perhaps the results would’ve still been the same. "... I’m just glad it wasn’t too bad."

A leg quietly reached and pressed against his underneath the table, seeking comfort from the physical touch as the blonde chased away the worry she’d felt from the moment Nico had sent her a singular text up until she’d finally arrived at the hospital and confirmed Ari was relatively alright. Their chitchatter made time fly by and it didn’t take long before both platters of chicken were cleaned out.

"Yeah, it’s the same app used to register the sample before sending it out." She picked up the stacked plates with an ease that could only come from working in the dining industry, everything kept balanced and in place as the blonde took them over to the sink. "We got an email notification a couple days ago saying the results were up, you should’ve gotten one too Dee."

The sound of running water followed soon after, giving Ari time to explain further if the idol was still unsure of the process, as Valeria made sure to leave the dishes soaking in soap and warm water for now.

@Dayeon | @Ari

 

[Lune]

"Ah, let's see," She quickly opened the mail app, and the notification of the result was there. "Oh, same app? That's handy, I thought we'd be getting boring pdfs." With a few presses, Dayeon finally arrived at the home screen. "Hope this is accurate, then." The idol waited for Val to rejoin them back at the table after leaving the dishes at the sink to soak so they could do the fun reveals together.

Ancestry Report, DNA Relatives, Health Highlights, Blood & Biomarkers, and more. She was already impressed by the number of available reports to see, so naturally she started with the first option. A map of the world and a donut chart quickly appeared on the screen, with detailed descriptions and numbers.

"Oh hey," She scrolled down to see what's under the majority of the Korean ancestry. "I have Japanese DNA according to this." Around eleven percent, too? It probably contributed to the fact that she was the most popular Slime Girls member in Japan for a while according to surveys.

(Spoiler alert, it didn't. It was just because they liked a Korean idol that could speak Japanese well.)

Some minor Chinese ancestry mixed in there too, but it's a given considering the nations were close throughout history. "Always assumed I was one hundred percent Korean, but I guess things got mixed hundreds, thousands of years ago." So far, so good. Dayeon turned to the other two, interested in their ancestry composition. "What about you two?"

It was fun finding out about these previously unknown facts, but the next thing was even more curious. The company claim they could track down relatives, provided they have also used the service by using DNA matching or whatever. Swallowing her saliva, Dayeon pressed on the menu, and after one second an entry in the "Close Relatives" tab appeared, almost causing her to jump out of surprise.

A brother, with forty-six percent DNA shared. The name wasn't even remotely Korean, weird.

"See, this thing is not so accurate after a—"

Chotto matte.

She paused for a second. Minimizing the app, she promptly brought up the messenger app to send a message to the man who was sitting just right in front of her.

　

 [ Ari ]

　

Uh

　

Any weird error on your DNA relatives tab?

​

This is why these kinds of ancestry thingies are just a gimmick, right? Errors and mixed data.

@Ari | @Valeria

 

[Yugam]

"Nah, she would've fucked up the eggs too," Ari said half-joking. "I'd have gotten food poisoning and eaten half the eggs shells."

Ari felt Val press her leg against his, the reason understood even without a word being passed between them. She worried after Nico, in spite of the way she left. Ari, for his part, couldn't muster up any care after her suddenly cutting ties. If Nico wanted nothing to do with any of them, that was her problem, not his. Still, Ari gently knocked his knee against Val's in a playful manner, giving her a quick glance and a faint smile before turning back to Dayeon.

"...I thought we'd be getting boring pdfs."
"Did you look at the site, like at all, before we did this?" Ari said with half a laugh. Knowing Dayeon it wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibility.

Everyone started to sign in to their respective accounts, and silence waited for a couple moments before Dayeon started to talk about her ancestry. "Oh, yeah me too!" Ari said glancing up from his phone as he scrolled. Korean. No surprise there. Japanese. Twinning. A little Chinese. Huh, Ari would've never guessed.

"Always assumed I was one hundred percent Korean, but I guess things got mixed hundreds, thousands of years ago."
"Eh, not really how that works, D," Ari began to clarify. "Just goin' off what the app says, it looks like by the seventh or eighth generation, stuff gets pretty washed out." But that was neither here nor there.

"What've you got babe?" Ari asked Val as he went back to the home page before tapping on the DNA relatives. Huh...

Dayeon

Uh

‎

Any weird error on your DNA relatives tab?

‎

‎

Uh that depends...Whats your last name again?

Song

‎

Wordlessly Ari looked up at Dayeon, his face expressionless before lifting his phone to show her the name at the top of his screen.

@Luthien | @Lune

 

[Luthien]

"Point taken… though she would’ve increased your calcium intake, at least?" Jokes aside munching on eggshells sounded like a special type of hellish torture. Things that would only happen with a certain pinkorilla around, and the thought alone was enough for the blonde to miss her presence. Despite the hurt Nico’s actions had caused Val she couldn’t find it in herself to not care over the pinkette’s wellbeing.

The light smile on his lips was returned by one of her own before she’d gathered the plates and taken them to the sink. "Bet she only looked at the bare minimum to send the sample out, and then forgot all about it." Her voice joined Ari’s as they questioned the minimal knowledge Dayeon seemed to have about the app and the process, a soft chuckle escaping as Val dried her hands with a kitchen towel before rejoining the pair at the table.

A quick tap from her finger brought the app to life on her phone, her eyes looking over the various options at the top. "Hmmm, I didn’t expect half of these. They even have ‘health highlights ’ and ‘blood and biomarkers’..." The big ‘Insomnia’ labeled icon on her home screen was tempting, but she resisted taking a look into it for now as Ari and Dayeon chatted about the different places in the world their genes came from.

"What've you got babe?"
"Everything except Asia and Australia apparently?"

Unsurprisingly considering the melting pot of races that Puerto Rico truly was, though what caught her attention shortly after was the rather high percentage of Italian genes listed within Europe. "That can’t be right…?" Brows furrowed as she looked at the screen, the silence that reigned on the table unnoticed as each one of them were absorbed into their results. She’d expected some, sure, but at best it should’ve been no higher than a third of her entire composition unless…?

Two taps had her phone switching from ‘Ancestry Report’ and into ‘DNA Relatives’, before a frustrated "Tch!" escaped Valeria upon seeing the closest one was a first cousin once removed with a 5.28% of DNA shared between them.

"Well, this answered absolutely nothing." The phone clattered as it was unceremoniously placed atop the table with a huff. She’d known from the start this would be the result, but logic had never stopped her from hoping for something more before—and it sure as hell wasn’t about to start now.

@Dayeon | @Ari

 

[Lune]

"Did you look at the site, like at all, before we did this?"

"Bet she only looked at the bare minimum to send the sample out, and then forgot all about it."

"Indeed, if I wanted to read, I would have returned to high school." She joked, referencing the fact that she never finished her education. "Not to say I don't want to, but at this point, I'm as old as the teachers."

Message reply quickly came back from Ari, asking for her last name. Why? She just replied with "Song", as she never had other names. Only a few seconds after her response, the man who was sitting across from her suddenly showed his phone, with a 'Dayeon Song' sitting at the top of the list. Her eyes wandered to the label underneath the name.

Not a distant cousin, not even a half-sibling. Sister, 46% DNA shared.

"Ha, ha-ha. Looks like you also got the same error too." She let out an awkward, forced laugh.

She froze, thinking of how ridiculous it was. and the other huge implication if it was true. But of course, it couldn't be true, it'd be one hell of a coincidence and the chance was astronomically tiny. Maybe some things finally made sense because of it.

Or maybe it just makes things worse.

"Well, this answered absolutely nothing."

"Uh, well..." She looked back and forth at Ari and then Val "... For us, this just created more questions."

@Ari | @Valeria