Chapter 17

"Soon-young," Seventeen’s leader said as he walked out of one of their dorm rooms into the living room, "let’s talk."

Soon-young had just finished eating. The other members – some of whom had already gone back to their rooms, while others were talking to each other in the living room – had ordered jjajangmyeon and jjamppong, and luckily they had left four portions for Soon-young and the three younger members who had arrived too late. Speaking of those three younger members, they were currently walking past Seung-cheol into the living room and had guilty expressions on their faces. They must have been scolded by our leader for being late, Soon-young thought.

Right after they had finally arrived at the dorm, Seung-cheol had told the four latecomers once more that he’d like an explanation, preferably as quick as possible. Seok-min had offered to explain everything one-on-one, but Seung-cheol thought it’d be better to talk with Seok-min, Seung-kwan and Chan at the same time. Ji-soo had told him earlier that those three went somewhere together, while Soon-young had already left the dorm some hours before them, so talking to the three younger members as a group seemed appropriate. And since he considered Soon-young to be more responsible than the other three, he decided to first talk with the youngest three.

Soon-young scrutinised Seung-cheol’s expression, trying to judge from the leader’s mood if he was going to get scolded or not. Reluctantly he stood up and followed Seung-cheol into the room, while Seok-min, Seung-kwan and Chan quickly sat down to start eating their dinner.

While Soon-young sat down on one of the beds, Seung-cheol closed the door. Besides them, there was no one else in the room.

Seung-cheol spoke first. "The others already explained why all of you were late and why I wasn’t able to reach them. I guess I wouldn’t have had to worry if I just called you first."

Soon-young sighed in relief. Seung-cheol at least wasn’t going to scold him for being late.

"But they also told me they saw you in a hotel..."

"Hyung," Soon-young interrupted him, "I know a hotel might not be a good place for an idol to meet a friend, but at the moment, it’s probably the best spot for us. I don’t think you have to worry. I’m being careful. I always go to the special facilities before going to the apartments. Only hotel guests can go there, so it should be fine."

Seung-cheol raised his eyebrows. He still had a lot of other questions, but decided to ask this one first. "Only hotel guests can go there? Then what about you?"

"Ji-yeon’s father gave me one of their guest cards. They have a spare card until her mother arrives. According to her father, the owner said it was fine if I use it." As Soon-young said this, he realised that it must actually be quite strange for the owner of a hotel to allow a hotel guest to give a guest card to someone who that owner doesn’t even know. Soon-young started to wonder if Ji-yeon’s father was a VIP or something like that.

He clearly wasn’t the only one who didn’t really understand that part. Seung-cheol still looked confused.

"Okay..." Seung-cheol decided not to question that for now. "And Ji-yeon is the name of your friend, I assume?"

"Yeah."

"And she’s the friend you met yesterday and the day before yesterday as well?" Seung-cheol asked, since that’s what Seok-min had told him earlier.

"Yeah." Soon-young said again.

"Are you going to meet her again tomorrow?"

"Yeah..."

"But she’s really not your girlfriend?"

"Hyung!" Soon-young looked astonished. "Did Seok-min tell you that?"

"Seok-min didn’t say anything about a girlfriend. He just told me that he thought you’ve been meeting up with the same girl for the past three days. Anyone who hears that a young, single, guy who doesn’t have any close female friends, suddenly meets a girl this often, will at least have to consider the possibility of that girl being his girlfriend, don’t you think?" Seung-cheol sounded like he was teasing Soon-young, but his logic made sense.

"I had never even thought about any of that before... I was just glad to see her again..." Soon-young’s voice sounded sombre.

Seung-cheol became serious again. But this time, he didn’t sound like he was speaking as the leader of the group, but as a hyung trying to help out his dongsaeng. "Do you mind telling me more about her?"

Soon-young told Seung-cheol everything he had explained to Seok-min and the others, and more. How he had known Ji-yeon since they were little, how they started learning how to dance together, that she was on vacation in Seoul now and that they were working on a choreography together. After some hesitation, he even told him about Ji-yeon’s fears and that he was trying to think of ways to help her.

Seung-cheol was sympathetic and told Soon-young he’d try to help out as well. But he still thought they needed to be more careful. "Are you planning on letting any of our managers know that you’re spending so much time with her?" He asked.

"Not necessarily..." Soon-young admitted honestly. He didn’t know what they’d think of it, but didn’t want to risk not being allowed to meet her this often.

"Then we’ll have to make sure that there’s nothing for them to worry about..." Seung-cheol said, while his eyes turned away from Soon-young. He stared at a random spot in the room while he was trying to think of a good way to help Ji-yeon without taking too many risks. "When did you two plan to meet up tomorrow? You know we have practice in the morning and that you have a meeting with Young-joon hyung in the afternoon, right? You probably won’t be home before the evening."

Soon-young definitely hadn’t forgotten his appointment with the choreographer that he worked with the most. They were going to discuss their plans for the next album, so it was an important meeting. Because Soon-young knew he’d be busy in the morning and afternoon, he had already told Ji-yeon he’d come in the evening. "I was thinking of going to her after dinner. Ji-yeon said I could also eat with her and her dad if I’m back earlier than expected. Do you think that’s okay?" Soon-young asked hopefully, although he was afraid of the answer.

"Sorry, Soon-young, but I think it’d be better not to go to the hotel in the evening. During the day should be fine, as long as you try to stay away from reporters and fans. As much as possible, of course."

Soon-young nodded sadly, but he understood Seung-cheol’s concerns. "But Ji-yeon will only stay in Seoul for a few more days. Today it looked like she wasn’t afraid at all to dance in front of me! But if we don’t dance together tomorrow, perhaps... she’ll start to have other thoughts again..."

Seung-cheol pondered whether there was another way to solve this. After a while, he thought of something. "What do you think of sending another member?"

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