‘’Let’s face it, Hanbin’’ Jiwon paused, as if he wanted this issue to be dramatic. ‘’You won’t have a girlfriend anytime soon.’’ he laughed out loud - this has been, perhaps, the best way of teasing the male over the years as everyone else seemed to have some kind of experience with girls. Everyone but Hanbin. This was one of those days where Hanbin seemed to be quite inspired in talking back to Jiwon. ‘’Wanna bet?’’ he asked as he pulled away from the computer he was working. Jiwon wasn’t even expecting him to pay attention to him as every time he did he’d say something along the lines of ‘’They require too much attention and I want to focus on my career. Things like that come later in life.’’

‘’You’re on.’’ with a soft smirk and the deadline of six months, the bet was on. And that’s exactly how all of it started.

Hanbin stood by the living room with his girlfriend. This has been going on for two months and it was rare for him to come home. Jiwon never really expected him to take the bet as he himself wouldn’t do something so stupid - things would end up messed in his side so he’d rather just stick to his skills, he knew better than that.

‘’I’ll be right back, I need to use the restroom.’’ After watching Hanbin nod once, Chiq smiled and walked towards the restroom as she claimed before. She took her time, being quite excited over the place she took in Hanbin’s world, the guy who she has been looking up to for a while. It doesn’t happen everyday. Stepping up from an ikonic straight into his girlfriend is something that nobody thought could happen to her or to any other ikonic.

She came out quietly, walking back towards the living room her boyfriend stood in but she saw Jiwon and Jinhwan. She was about to say something to them but their conversation seemed more interesting. ‘’What is he waiting for?’’ Jinhwan asked, tilting his head slightly as Hanbin’s actions looked way too childish, in his point of view at least. Jiwon shrugged quietly ‘’I mean, the situation isn’t great itself. How do you think he’s supposed to tell her it was just a bet and break up with her? She’d be hurt.’’ he told the elder who nodded his head agreeing with him. Little did they know she heard it.

‘’A bet huh? Is that all I’m worth?’’ she spoke out loud, earning the male’s attention. Jinhwan gasped at the sight of the female while Jiwon bit his lip; she’d find out sooner or later. The elder male held out his arm, trying to stop Chiq from leaving but she ignored him and still left the place, sighing.

‘’We’re in trouble…’’

Hanbin wasn’t the one to call often but seeing Chiq hasn’t answered his calls for over a month got him worried. He tried to reach out to her, wondering what may have gone wrong but his brain still told him she was okay, she was probably busy and his friends didn’t even find the courage to tell him what actually happened. It kind of was his fault for taking the bet, not theirs as she was supposed to find out sooner or later, by him or by anybody else. And it happened to be by someone else. She got to know it from two of his closest friends and they were only commenting it.

‘’What’s up? Why are you so down…?’’ Jiwon laughed right after kicking the joke, clapping his hands like a seal as Hanbin glared at him, before rolling his eyes. He wasn’t in the mood for his jokes and today they sounded less funnier than the rest of the year and even any other day, the joke would only get Hanbin to roll his eyes at him and a few others to judge his choices in life. ‘’Do you wanna talk about it? I mean, usually you at least try to make it sound funny and all... ‘’ he crossed his arms over his chest at how annoyed his friend actually looked.

After some good five minutes wondering if he should or should not let Jiwon know about what was bothering him, he finally spoke. ‘’Chiq has been ignoring me’’ he sighed after saying those words. Everything pointed to it. For the month they dated, she used to call him every week as he claimed that every day was too much. If he told her they couldn’t meet on the weekend, she understood but when they met, she always seemed so bright and happy over it. Now, he didn’t seem to have that. He frowned ‘’She left our dorm that day without saying goodbye and since then, I’ve been trying to talk to her and she has been ignoring me…’’ he seemed to be very sad over this.

‘’Hanbin, can you possibly have feelings for her?’’ the question got Hanbin shocked. He looked at his friend and thought for a while but no answer came to his head as he was confused over what Jiwon just said. He couldn’t possibly like her, right? She was just a bet...he was just trying to find the best moment to break up with her, right?

Day after day, the waiting turned out to get past over a year. A year? No, two. Jiwon only asked Hanbin to forget about her as there was no chance for him to find her and it was better this way. He’d rather have him suffering now than actually have him being dragged out of the bed everyday or overworking himself because he couldn’t get over her. He would do everything to help him out, trying wouldn’t hurt.

Everything seemed to be going well to the point another year was recorded down on tapes and music videos that were quite successful. Hanbin was able to open up to his friends once again, everything in general seemed to be going quite well. Everything was just back on track.

‘’Also, YG said we have a composer helping us out for a song.’’ Jiwon laughed at what their leader just said but the words he thought exited Donghyuk’s mouth ‘’You mean you’re going to let someone else in your work? Oh my!’’ everyone laughed after that, even Hanbin who thought it was funny. He wasn’t like that, he did let people participate, the thing was, it was easier for him to write alone anyways. A little help never hurt anybody.

Later, that day, Hanbin found himself walking inside the room he usually wrote the songs in but the room was strangely full. ‘’What are you guys doing here?’’ he laughed noticing that Yunhyeong, Chanwoo and Donghyuk. The female sitting down stopped for a second as she heard the guy’s voice. She missed his voice even if he only played with her. She did like him after all.

‘’Hanbinnie, you gotta meet the new composer.’’ Yunhyeong chuckled as they simply found funny the fact they started writing down a dissing song about each other just to warm up as they waited for Hanbin. ‘’She’s really good at writing.’’ he laughed a bit harder as he remembered the lyrics they had come up with.

Hanbin laughed as well even if he didn’t hear the lyrics but soon his smile faded away as the girl turned around. She got up from her seat and held out her hand ‘’I’m Chiq, it’s nice to meet you.’’ was she really acting like she didn’t know him? He stared at her for a second and nodded his head ‘’I’m Hanbin.’’ he told her, coldly, walking past her to sit down on the chair she previously sat in.

‘’Rude.’’ she spoke and scoffed, watching him read what she wrote down - she even noticed he laughed at what she wrote but he tried to hold it back - typical mad Hanbin. She didn’t pay too much attention to him as she thought he’d get over it.

Just like that, weeks had passed by, they were working well as they were most of the time, the people who stood behind and took time to do their own thing. But as time passed by, he noticed he wasn’t over her and he also noticed she didn’t seem to care about that anyways. It got him hurt. He even had the chance to see that she had gotten close to his friends. To his band members and all of them seemed to be fond of her, even Jiwon and Jinhwan who hid that little secret - she didn’t hold a grudge on him as they - accidentally - spilled the truth out for her.

However, enough was enough. There was this day, when the snow was falling outside, setting up the perfect mood for a couple outing. Except, Chiq and Hanbin weren’t a couple, they were far from it. In fact, they were stuck inside the studio, arguing with each other over Hanbin’s behaviour while he accused her of some other things.

‘’So let’s get this straight. Firstly, I was a bet for you. A bet that you’d get rid as soon as you got your money and proved yourself to your friends and now you’re acting all jealous because I can’t hang out with your friends? Get something straight, I’m not yours to obey you and even if I was your girlfriend, you couldn’t order me around like that. I’m not a puppy you buy and order around, I wish you could understand that.’’ she glared at him, resting her hands over her hips as she glared at the male who stood there, quiet.

‘’You didn’t have to leave the way you did!’’ he pointed his finger at her ‘’And you certainly didn’t have to come here and get all over my friends just to get back at me.’’ to which she just laughed out loud. ‘’Honey, you’re not that important anymore. Do you really think I’d give you that spotlight on my life after what you’ve done? Then you’re dead wrong.’’ she scoffed and shook her head slowly as she thought over his words. It was ridiculous. Ridiculous to the point she wanted to laugh at his face but she wasn’t someone to disrespect someone like that.

Hanbin turned around, sulking at how things didn’t go according to what he wanted ‘’This is driving me crazy. All I want is for you to be gone so I can go on with my life. I was doing just fine before you came back!’’ he half shouted at her who gasped ‘’I didn’t come here for you. I came here for work so I’ll go back once I’m done with my task.’’