It’s one of those lame university balls, and they are currently in one of the halls in school. Seulgi is at a table with Yerim and Joohyun, their usual squad missing Sooyoung who is preparing for her performance later. Seulgi and Yerim are just stuffing their faces full with the free food, while Joohyun are trying to control them.

“Would you kids please calm down? There is still a lot of food left.” Joohyun grimaces as she wipes the corner of Yerim’s mouth.

Yerim ignores Joohyun’s advice and talks with full. “I’m so going to laugh at Sooyoung-unnie later if she makes a mistake. I’m ready.”

Seulgi has a little more decorum than that, so she swallows her food before she talks. “Let her live for once, Yerimie. And she’s sick today too.”

The light dims and the whole auditorium erupt into cheers and the emcees for the night appear from behind the red curtains. Nichkhun and Tiffany appear, bowing.

“Hello everybody, I’m Nichkhun,”

“And I’m Tiffany,”

“And we are your special emcees for tonight!”

The crowd cheers again, the loudest coming from Nichkhun’s group of friends seated a few tables away. They continue emceeing, introducing the first performance of the night.

“Now without further ado, let us present you with the first performance of today; a sweet duet by Park Sooyoung and Kim Doyoung!”

They all hollered as the red curtains opened, revealing Sooyoung and Doyoung standing a few feet apart, looking at each other. As they harmonized, the music starts playing. The beat of the song starts picking up pace, and they turn to the audience and do a little dance to the beat of the song. Then, it’s Sooyoung’s solo part and cheers erupted from the audiences. Seulgi is surprised at the support Sooyoung is getting from the audiences, but nevertheless she turns around to share a laugh with Yerim as they lock eyes.

The crowd cheers and they continue to wave until the stage lights go off. Yerim whoops the loudest out of them, and Seulgi knows that despite the teasing, the younger girl still supports Sooyoung from the bottom of her heart. A few other performances roll by and Seulgi is beginning to get bored of it when Nichkhun and Tiffany appears again.

“Wow, the atmosphere’s so good tonight! I hope everyone is having a good time!” Tiffany says and Nichkhun nods.

“Yes and here’s hoping everyone is having a good time today!” Nichkhun continues and Tiffany beams at him.

“And if you aren’t, the next performance will definitely make your day! It’s Wendy, performing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!”

Seulgi immediately stills, watching the curtains pull apart to reveal Wendy in a sleeveless black dress, the spotlight shining down on her. It’s like the whole world around them disappeared, Seulgi can only see the girl on stage. The piano starts playing and if Seulgi wasn’t mesmerized before, she is definitely gone now when Wendy starts singing. Wendy’s warm and soft voice makes Seulgi feel like she’s melting, or swimming in a pool of honey. She’s rendered speechless, and can only stare at the girl on stage as she sings her heart out, smiling every now and then. The song comes to an end, Wendy giving a little bow before the light goes out.

Seulgi is still reeling from her performance and only regains her focus with a tap on her shoulders. Turning around, she’s blown away again; because in front of her, stands Seungwan and at that instance, Seulgi believes in the existence of angels because there is one standing right in front of her. falls, wanting to say something, anything, but her brain fails her. “Er…”

Seulgi gulps. “You look very beautiful just now.”

“Yeah unnie you did great just now!” Yerim and Sooyoung (who had joined them after her performance) chorused while Joohyun just pats her for a job well done.

Seungwan smiles shyly at the waves of praises as she looks down to the ground. “Thank you.”

Seulgi is about to say more, but the lights dim again, signaling the next act and Seungwan squeals as she claps her hands together excitedly. “It’s Taeyeon-sunbaenim’s stage now!”

Seulgi just smiles and nods. She looks back to the stage and Taeyeon is sitting on a swing as she sings. Seulgi’s not sure when, but she finds herself staring at Seungwan as Taeyeon sings. It’s rude not to pay attention to the performer, but Seulgi doesn’t mind before a rude if it means she gets to stare at Seungwan for the rest of her life. It’s only when Wendy is cheering when she realizes the song is over and she promptly turns her attention back to Taeyeon, clapping for her, hoping no one caught her.

--

The concert has ended, but people are now starting to pair up to dance. Seulgi is left alone with Wendy, the two just standing around with no dance partner. Seulgi spots her friends gliding around with their partners on the dance floor and she envies them, especially Yerim who has her arms around Saeron. She wonders where Yerim has all that courage when she’s just this small little girl. She doesn’t care about other people’s judgment and Seulgi applauds her for that, wishes she can be half as courageous as the younger girl, but alas, she’s just standing here, sipping on lemonade with her best friend.

The sound of someone clearing their throat brings Seulgi out of her reverie and she turns around to see a sheepish Mark standing a few feet away from them, scratching his nape. “Hi Seulgi, Hi Wendy.”

Seulgi nods at him while Wendy smiles a small smile at him before looking down at the floor again, her cheeks turning pink. She watches as Mark takes a deep breath, as if mustering his courage before stretching his hand out towards Wendy. “I was just wondering if you would like to join me for a dance?”

Seulgi feels go dry. She sees Wendy looking at her, as if asking for her permission and even though she didn’t want her to go so very badly, she still nodded while forcing a small smile on her face. Wendy puts her hands in Mark’s gently, and he leads her to the dance floor with a charming smile on his face. She sees the way he puts his hands on her waist, and sees the way she loops her arms around his neck and she averts her gaze. That should be me, she thought bitterly.

--

Seulgi doesn’t know what to do with herself, now that she doesn’t have any company and has to deal with this growing ache in her heart as she watches Seungwan prance around with Mark on the dance floor. For the first time, Seulgi actually wants some alcohol in her system. Too bad this is a school function with no alcohol.

“Hi Seulgi!” Someone calls out brightly, and she sees Tiffany greeting her with her signature eye smile and Taeyeon following behind in toll, smiling her dimpled smile and just nodding at her as an acknowledgment, preferring to leave the small talk to her best friend. “How have you been?”

Seulgi wants to say she might actually be dying from pain, but she forces a smile and gives a politically correct answer. “Good, thank you for asking. And Taeyeon-unnie, you did great just now.”

“Right?!” Tiffany exclaims, agreeing with Seulgi’s compliments and goes on to shower even more compliments on her best friend. “She’s like, the best singer, ever!”

Taeyeon lets out a breath, face contorted in embarrassment. “Stop it, you are embarrassing me.”

Seulgi smiles at her cute seniors. They bicker like an old married couple, and it’s so cute. Suddenly, Tiffany’s eyes seem to sparkle as they focus on something behind Seulgi. “Sorry, excuse me for a second.”

Seulgi turns to follow Tiffany, watching her senior walk up to another table and into Nichkhun’s arms, the guy kissing her as they pull apart. Okay… she didn’t expect that. Seulgi turns back to focus on Taeyeon, and she swears she sees a hint of disdain on the latter’s face before a more neutral expression is pulled on. The atmosphere suddenly dropped a few degrees, and Seulgi is not sure why. “Er unnie, do you want some lemonade?”

Taeyeon’s lips quirk up slightly as she accepts the drink. “Thanks.”

They slip into silence, and Seulgi takes a peek at Mark and Wendy. They are still dancing, and there’s a sour taste in , and it’s not because of the lemonade.

“So,” Taeyeon begins and Seulgi turns back to her senior, “You like Seungwan, huh?”

“Wh-what?” Seulgi feels her blood run cold and hands turn clammy. How did she know? Her brain screams at her to deny it, but Taeyeon’s next words seals the final nail to the coffin.

“Yah you brat,” she calls affectionately as she sends a gentle knock to Seulgi’s forehead, “you weren’t even paying attention to my performance at all just now. You just kept looking at her, like a love struck fool. I can see everything on stage.”

Seulgi opens , and then closes them again. She didn’t expect Taeyeon to be the first person to pick up on it, but then again she doesn’t really try to cover it up anyway. She sighs and nods in agreement. “Yeah, sorry for not paying attention to your performance though.”

Taeyeon laughs a hearty laugh. “Judging from your face just now, you weren’t sorry one bit.”

“Unnie!” Seulgi retorts, feeling her face flaring up. Taeyeon laughs again, her unique laughter inducing Seulgi herself to laugh too. With a small smile on her face, Taeyeon holds out her hand.

“Welcome to the club, mate.”

Seulgi doesn’t know what her senior is talking about, but just accepts the hand shake anyway. “What club?”

“The ‘I-fell-in-love-with-my-best-friend’ club.” Taeyeon says as she shakes Seulgi’s hands. Seulgi’s eyes widen and she turns to look at Tiffany, who is currently being peppered with kisses by Nichkhun, before turning to look at Taeyeon again. Taeyeon just gives her a nod and a bitter chuckle, as if answering her unasked question of confirmation of this fact.   

“Does it… does it get better with time?” Seulgi breaks the silence to ask. She points at her chest. “Does the pain get better with time?”

Taeyeon gives her a bitter smile and Seulgi knows the answer. It doesn’t. It never does. She gulps down the remainders of her lemonade and sighs. “What are we going to do, unnie?”

The older girl shrugs, a forlorn look in her eyes as she looks over to where Tiffany is. “There’s nothing we can do except wish the best for them. After all, they are our best friends and we want them to be happy, even if it means we aren’t.”

Seulgi looks at Wendy, sure that she has the same forlorn look that Taeyeon had on her face. Fate really has its way of playing with people and she chuckles as she resigns herself to it. Okay, the best friend it is. 

--

a/n: this is supposed to be uploaded on Christmas but lol I write very slowly so here it is!!

also Joy and Doyoung's First Christmas is so dope I listen to it like 5000 times everyday pls go listen to it if you haven't!!