Moonbyul felt bad for avoiding the leader for the next several days. She tried to behave normally but every time she attempted to be, it just made it harder for her. With the current success of Mamamoo’s album Melting, the group has been planning several occasions to celebrate with their fans who graciously supported them throughout their promotion. Everyone noticed how quiet she was, just nodding along to whatever they said and whatever they told her. And when they asked her for her opinion she just replied that she was okay with it.

Noticing that her unnie was behaving weirdly, Wheein pulled out Hwasa out from the meeting room to confirm her suspicions with her best friend.

“Do you think she knows…?
 

“What do you mean…?”

“She’s hardly talking to anyone; she won’t look at Yongsun unnie or even talk to her… Hyejin…I’m scared”

“Don’t worry…I’m sure…she doesn’t. Did she say anything to you?”

“Nothing… I talked to her and got totally ignored”

“You don’t think she’s still hung up about the idea of Yongsun unnie being on We Got Married do you…?”

“Who’s to say she isn’t…? That girl is all smiles and no talk. It’s like she’s hardly with us…”

“That’s what I’m trying to say!”
 

“She seemed alright with the idea… I mean we were all there”

“I wasn’t…. I mean it’s great that Yongsun unnie is getting exposure although not the kind I would approve but….”

“I know what you mean… I think it’s great for us too…. But…”

“But nothing” a voice interrupted their conversation.

The maknaes turned to see their unnie standing in front of them. It wasn’t like the Moonbyul they know. This one didn’t smile and she was somewhat emotionless and only stared at them.

“I don’t know what you guys were going on about but this is a great opportunity for us all. Solar gets to promote herself and our group, we get more exposure. That’s always been the plan and it stays that way” the rapper continued with a stern tone, the maknaes hardly heard her use.

“Unnie….” Wheein tried to speak when the girl dismissed her.

Moonbyul headed back into the meeting room and grabbed all her things. It was getting too obvious. The maknaes were paying too much attention to her. She needed out from the place, she needed to reset herself. She was lucky enough that everyone else was out on a break so she could sneak out without anyone noticing. Picking up her Moon varsity jacket, she headed towards the door where Solar was walking into to grab her phone.

“Oh…Byul ah… where are you going…?” asked the older girl.

She couldn’t bring herself to talk. No words would come out from . The rapper walked pass her but she managed to grab hold of her hand and held it tight in hers.

“What’s wrong…? Did something happen? Talk to me Byulyi…” said Yongsun worriedly. 

“I have to go back home…” lied Moonbyul without turning to face her, afraid, Yongsun might see the tears threatening to fall off her eyes.

“Did something bad happen…? Is your mother alright?” Yongsun continued to bombard her with questions.

She shrugged out from the girl’s grip and headed out without an explanation. Yongsun turned to watch the girl walk away only to meet with the maknaes’ faces who had a look of extreme worry.

Moonbyul finished her text and sniffed as the air was too cold that night. She shoved her hands into her jacket’s pockets, anxiously waiting for a reply. Her phone vibrated and she took it out to see the recipient’s name popping up on her screen, the reply ended with a smiling emoji. That seemed to somewhat soothe her aching heart. She shoved her phone into her pocket and continued waiting. Fifteen minutes later, a familiar face showed up with a smile, rushing her way to greet her.

”Slow down, it’s okay you’re not late” laughed Moonbyul.

“I didn’t want to make you wait unnie…” the girl replied in between pants.

“How was your day?” Moonbyul asked casually.

“It was alright. Vocal practice… Dance, more vocal practice and the usual scheduling stuff, same old, same old. What about you?” replied the girl, now slightly calmed.

“Eh. The usual, shall we go?” said Moonbyul, offering her hand for the girl to hold.

She blushed at the sight of Moonbyul’s gesture, the way the taller girl offered her hand and the small smile on her face. 

“Where to…?”

“Anywhere, your call, my treat”

“Why are you suddenly being so nice?” she teased the older girl.

“Ya Kang Seulgi, you’ve hurt my feelings. What, suddenly being nice?” Moonbyul responded, feigning a hurtful but playful expression.

“Okay, okay I’m sorry!” the girl quickly apologised.

Moonbyul smiled and offered her hand again. This time the younger girl took it and gladly held it in hers.

“Are your members okay with this?” Moonbyul looked to her.

“I… I didn’t tell them….” confessed Seulgi.

“What…?!” Moonbyul nearly shouted but careful enough not to attract that much attention to them. “What if you get into trouble?”

“I don’t mind if it’s you unnie…” Seulgi gave her a small shy smile.

“Ehk…” Moonbyul chuckled. “What grease”

The two shared a laugh before walking down the street hand in hand, not noticing that people were already looking at them. Ever since Mamamoo and Red Velvet became close, Moonbyul was rather fond of Seulgi. The younger girl thought she was genuinely funny, something her members would slightly disregard considering the fact that they were all equally hilarious. Seulgi often shared things with Moonbyul whenever she had the time, her worries, her dreams, what she does for the day.

Sometimes Hwasa thinks Moonbyul has a secret boyfriend because she’d text Seulgi at every chance she got and the other girl would do the same. They had dinner at a decent restaurant and Moonbyul kept her promise of treating Seulgi if the girl would grant her the pleasure of her company.

“How are the rest? You guys ended your promotions already right?” said Seulgi, striking up a conversation.

“Yeah… we did. We have a performance to do on Immortal Songs again tho” said Moonbyul.

“Again…?” I’ll remember to watch it. You guys always take my breath away with every performance” Seulgi said in between bites.

“Do we…?” Moonbyul raised her eyebrow suggestively.

“Yes unnie, especially you” Seulgi replied, absentmindedly.

She stopped then realising what she had just said to the older girl and quickly felt a blush creeping up her face.

“It’s okay…. Continue eating” smiled Moonbyul teasingly.

She leaned in further towards Seulgi and halted just inches away from the girl’s face and held eye contact with the flustered girl.

“I’ve been known to take people’s breath away” Moonbyul gave her a wink.

“Eyyy” Seulgi rolled her eyes. “Unnie…please”

They laughed and continued their dinner. Whatever that bothered Moonbyul earlier, dissipated for a moment. She just wanted to escape before running into it again, as selfish as it sounds to her. After munching down on their food, they walked around in the streets of Seoul.

The two were engrossed with each other’s company, they hadn’t realised that people had been snapping their pictures together, pictures of them holding hands, laughing, hugging and embracing one another like what Moonbyul usually does to her members.

“So this is what a date feels like” Seulgi muttered to herself.

“Date….?” Moonbyul looked to her.

“Uhh….” The younger girl tried to find the proper words to reply.

“It’s…okay…We’ll treat it as a date then!” Moonbyul said enthusiastically and held onto Seulgi’s hand.

Walking at Dongdaemun, Moonbyul and Seulgi discovered a whole level filled with cheap goodies. They walked hand in hand together, like a real couple and looked around. A particular shop caught Seulgi’s attention as she pulled the older girl along with her. It was neat, hipster like vendor with unique trinkets for electronic gadgets.

“iPhone covers!” cheered Seulgi, going through them one by one.

Moonbyul smiled and watched the girl excitedly picking out a few designs, deciding which to buy.

“Why don’t you kids get the same one?” suggested the Ahjumma.

“Ehh…?” said Moonbyul, looking at the Ahjumma.

“It’s quite a popular trend with friends these days. They buy matching covers. Why don’t you guys get one?” said the Ahjumma again.

“That’s….” Moonbyul trailed off when she saw Seulgi’s slightly disappointed face.

“A great…idea… Seulgi…why don’t you pick one?” continued Moonbyul.

“Really unnie..?!” the girl’s face lit up.

“Oh…” smiled Moonbyul.

Seulgi picked up a pair of Disney’s covers, one with Minnie’s name on it and the other with Mickey’s. While it did seem a little bit childish for her, the covers were designed nicely and had the hipster feel to it with its varsity wordings. Both the covers were black. Seulgi picked the one with Minnie on it, the character’s name in black but highlighted and outlined with white and the number 01 beneath it. Moonbyul’s was the same design except for the name and the number 02 on hers. This was definitely going to attract much attention.

“Do you… like it?” asked Seulgi innocently.

“Yeah I do….” smiled Moonbyul.

It was getting late and both of them had schedules to attend to the next day. They said their goodbyes at the bus stop where Seulgi plucked up just enough courage to kiss Moonbyul on the cheek. The older girl was taken aback by the sudden gesture but just smiled when Seulgi ran off to chase her bus.

“That kid….” She muttered to herself and touched her cheek.

Moonbyul felt guilty for using Seulgi as a mean to escape. She didn’t want to take advantage of their friendship or nor she intended to use Seulgi to numb her emotions even just for a second. But that night she decided that for once she just wanted to be a little bit selfish.

The next following day, Moonbyul headed to work as per normal. She didn’t check her phone that was bombarded with notifications. She took a sip from the coffee she usually bought and made her way into RBW Entertainment.

As Moonbyul headed into one of the vocal practice room to warm up her vocals, she got pulled by both Hwasa and Wheein into another.

“What’s the damn deal!” she said loudly, looking at the two maknaes.

“Unnie…” Hwasa began. “Have you gone mad?”

“Huh…” Moonbyul looked to her quizzically.

“Where were you last night?” asked Wheein.

“What’s it to you guys?” she replied defensively.

“Show her” said Hwasa, looking at her best friend.

Wheein shoved her phone to Moonbyul and the rapper looked at the screen and began reading the headline of the article.

Mamamoo’s Moonbyul seen together with Red Velvet’s Seulgi out on a date in Seoul, the rapper was seen waiting out in front of SM Entertainment for the other singer. The two linked arms happily and had dinner together.

Pictures of her and Seulgi streamed down the article where it showed them holding hands, casually laughing and touching each other. One picture showed Moonbyul’s arm around Seulgi’s shoulder, the other girl’s hand linked with hers that dangled over her shoulder. The last picture showed a more intimate scene with Seulgi leaning into Moonbyul as if giving her a kiss on the lips.

“…” Moonbyul muttered and the two maknaes looked to her for an explanation.