Momo’s day begins with barbecue. No documents. No overthinking. No turning love into another responsibility. Just smoke, food, water, and the simple act of letting John enjoy something because he wants to.
Momo’s day started before I officially belonged to her. That was how the rotation worked sometimes.
The handoff did not always happen with ceremony. No clean bell. No curtain drop. No dramatic shift where yesterday’s girlfriend stepped back and tomorrow’s stepped forward. Sometimes it happened over breakfast. Sometimes it happened while Ben was trying to get a second kiss out of Yeji by weaponizing sadness.
Sometimes it happened while I was still sitting beside Jeongyeon, eating because she had made not eating more difficult than surrender. By the time we reached the pavilion, breakfast had already become impossible.
ITZY was there. TWICE was there. Ben was too attached to Yeji to be called seated in any normal way. Ryujin had the expression of someone who had survived trouble and planned to deny all details. Yuna was glowing with the reckless pride of a person who had definitely made something worse. Lia looked peaceful enough to be suspicious. Chaeryeong was quiet, but not absent.
There had been something about headphones. I chose not to ask. That was growth. Probably.
Jeongyeon sat beside me like a woman who feared nothing and had slept well enough to prove it. She did not announce victory. She did not look smug. She only placed food on my plate whenever my attention drifted too far from it.
The first time, I noticed. The second time, I obeyed. By the third time, I had stopped pretending this was not happening. Across the table, Momo watched.
Momo rarely watched loudly. She could be loud when she was happy, confused, or offended by bad food, but when she was thinking, she went still in a way that made people underestimate how much she was taking in. She looked at the food on my plate. Then at Jeongyeon’s hand. Then at me, chewing.
Her expression changed by one quiet degree. I did not know what it meant yet. That made it dangerous, yet breakfast kept moving around us.
Ben received one kiss from Yeji, then immediately became tragic enough to attempt emotional fraud for another. The table encouraged this because everyone had apparently chosen violence before coffee. Yeji saw through him, punished him by understanding him too well, then kissed his cheek anyway.
Ben lit up “Second treat.”
Yeji pointed at him “That was pity.”
“Pity treat still counts.”
“It does not.”
“It touched my face.”
I groaned “I hate that I understand his argument.”
Mina nodded “Contact was made.”
Yeji looked at Mina “Why are rich people like this?”
Mina blinked “I am not involved.”
“You confirmed him.”
“I observed.”
Jihyo laughed. Not loudly. Not fully. But enough that everyone saw it. Nayeon gasped. “She laughed.”
“I did not.”
“You did.”
“I exhaled.”
“With joy.”
Sana leaned against her “Our leader is healing.”
Jihyo covered her face with one hand “Breakfast has become impossible.”
Ryujin grinned “Breakfast has become free.”
Jihyo lowered her hand and looked at me again. I was eating. Still eating. Jeongyeon had won. Jihyo smiled faintly “Maybe that is not the worst thing today.”
That softened the room for one small second. Momo waited for that second. Then she set down her chopsticks “I want barbecue later.”
The entire table shifted. I looked at her “Barbecue?” Momo nodded firmly “Outside. Grill. Meat. Vegetables. Seafood if they have good seafood. Rice. Side dishes. Everyone can eat properly.”
There was something in her voice this time. Not just a suggestion. A decision. Simple. Bright. Very Momo. She looked at me “And I want you with me.”
I paused. The table quieted slightly. Not teasing now. Listening “With you,” I repeated.
“For grilling?”
“Yes.”
“As emotional support?”
“For grilling,” Momo repeated, more seriously “For tasting. For eating properly. For not doing documents.”
I blinked “No documents?”
“No documents.”
“That sounds suspiciously kind.”
“It is my day,” Momo said simply “I choose kind.”
The words settled. Softly. Even Nayeon did not immediately ruin them. I looked at Momo for a second longer. Then nodded “Okay.”
Momo smiled “And meat.”
“There it is.”
The table relaxed into laughter again. Not because it became less sincere. Because Momo made sincerity edible. Chaeryeong straightened immediately “I can help prepare side dishes.” Momo turned to her “Yes, please.”
Chaeryeong blinked, surprised by the direct acceptance. Momo continued, “But you eat too.” Chaeryeong’s mouth closed. Then she nodded “Yes.”
Momo looked satisfied. “Good. Then you help me.” Chaeryeong’s face softened “Okay.” Nayeon smiled “Momo planned a date.”
Momo looked at her “Yes.”
Nayeon paused. Everyone paused. Momo returned to her food “With barbecue.”
Sana covered her mouth “That is so Momo.”
Tzuyu nodded “Food is important.”
Jihyo leaned back slightly, still watching me “Barbecue is fine.”
Everyone looked at her again. She sighed “What?”
Nayeon smiled “You’re really allowing things today.”
“I am choosing not to create unnecessary structure while everyone is behaving.”
Ryujin opened her mouth. Jihyo pointed at her “Relatively.”
Ryujin closed her mouth “Fair.”
Momo kept eating after that. Like she had not just claimed the shape of the day. Like she had not made kindness sound like a plan. Like smoke, fire, meat, vegetables, rice, and not doing documents could somehow become a date if she put them in the right order.
I looked down at my plate. There was still food on it. I ate. Momo saw. She smiled into her breakfast. That was where her day began.
The beachside grill station looked like something the resort had built for people who wanted to feel rustic without ever being in danger of inconvenience. There were prep tables under wide umbrellas, a charcoal grill near the sand, folding chairs arranged around a low wooden table, and enough distance from the main pavilion that the waves could be heard without everyone needing to raise their voices.
Momo loved it immediately.
She did not say that. She just stood there for two seconds longer than usual, looking at the grill, the table, the trays, the space where everyone could sit later, and the cooler path leading back toward the kitchen. Then she nodded once “Good.”
That was praise.
The staff had already brought the grill equipment and basic setup, but Momo had insisted on handling the food herself. Chaeryeong had come with her.
Not because anyone made a big thing of it. Not because there had been a formal assignment. She simply drifted toward the prep table when Momo started checking vegetables, accepted a cutting board, and became part of the work before anyone could ask if she wanted to. Momo handed her a bowl “Sauce?”
Chaeryeong nodded “I’ll adjust it.”
“Good.”
Then both of them turned back to the food like the decision had already become fact. Ben arrived shortly after, clearly trying to look like a man who had chosen this voluntarily and not a man whose girlfriend had told him to spend time with people who were not her.
He looked at Chaeryeong. Then at Momo. Then at the trays “I can help.” Momo looked up. Suspicious. Ben straightened “Normally.”
That did not help. I stepped beside him “Try again.”
Ben exhaled “I can stand somewhere and be useful without making anything more expensive.”
Momo considered that. Then nodded “Okay.”
Ben looked relieved. Too soon “I can arrange better meat,” he said.
Momo looked at him “No.”
“You do not know what kind yet.”
“Billionaire meat.”
Ben blinked “That is not a category.”
“It is today.”
I looked at him “She’s right.”
“You haven’t even heard the offer.”
“The best part of barbecue is doing it yourself.”
Momo pointed at me immediately “This.”
I looked at her. She was already checking one of the trays, but the agreement had come so fast that it landed a second late. Then, without looking up, she added, “That is why I like vacation John more than manager John.”
Everything in me stopped. Ben looked at me. Then at Momo. Then very wisely said nothing. Chaeryeong, who had been stirring sauce, paused for half a second. Not long enough to make it obvious. Long enough for me to know she had heard it too. Momo noticed the silence and finally looked up “What?”
“Nothing,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed “You made the face.”
“That was a lot.”
“It is true.”
Then she went back to inspecting the meat like she had not just disarmed me with one sentence and left me standing beside a grill with no defensive structure. Ben leaned closer.
“For the record, I understand why that hit.”
“Shut up.”
“Emotionally, not logistically.”
“Shut up twice.”
Momo lifted one tray and handed it to me “Bring this.”
“Yes.”
Ben looked around. “Why did the staff not just bring it all the way here?”
I looked at him. He looked back, innocent in the way only a billionaire could be innocent while asking why physical objects had not moved themselves “Stop thinking in rich.”
Ben’s mouth opened. Closed. Then opened again “Thinking in rich is my first language.”