Avoiding me became Mingyu's new favorite hobby. Well, maybe it wasn't a hobby, rather the only thing he knew to do, but still, somehow it felt like he enjoyed doing so. It could've been my imagination, but quite often I caught him staring at me, smiling like the devil himself, showing me that he was quite alright now. That only I was suffering while he was having the time of his life.

And so I was left with no other choice but to accept the fact that I wouldn't get my best friend back, at all.

Since promotions for our debut song "Adore U" began right after our actual showcase, I didn't have many possibilities to be alone with Mingyu. Scratch that, there wasn't even a single one. 

Promoting was hell.

Remember how I said that Seventeen Project had stressed the hell out of us? To be honest, compared to the stress we were facing right after the debut, that was nothing. Not only did we visit music shows non-stop, but there were fan signings, meetings, radio shows and often more than only one of them in a day, our schedule packed to the fullest so that nobody would miss out on the new boy band called 'Seventeen'.

The other members didn't seem to hate it, but in fact, everyone enjoyed to be on stage, the spotlight making them shine. Since everything was new and exciting, nobody really cared about the stress but simply smiled, sang and gave their best to make the public and fans like us. Honestly, I couldn't do that. Sure, I showed my fake smile and did what I had to do in order for our appearances to go well, but the cheerfulness and sincerity everyone else wore so naturally wasn't something I owned. 

I was way too upset to be like them and therefore, I started to hate myself for ever wanting to be an idol. Because, without Mingyu by my side, I didn't know how to be happy anymore and I was well aware that an idol had to be happy, always. 

The other members didn't talk about the issue between Mingyu and me anymore. They'd probably realized that both of us clearly didn't want to open up about that night and so everyone left it at that, trying to ignore the fact that we weren't close to each other anymore. Sometimes, I'd catch a member eyeing the two of us, probably wanting to know if we were back to interacting with each other, but that was all. 

They were probably too busy to give it another thought and actually, I was quite thankful for that.
 
Soon, a month was over and Mingyu and my relationship hadn't progressed at all. Even if he occupied my thoughts all the time, a real talk never really happened. Of course, in front of the cameras we acted like everything was okay between us, but as soon as those were off, Mingyu instantly gave me the cold shoulder and pretended I didn't exist.

And not only did I have to accept Mingyu not wanting to be close to me, but I also had to watch him laugh and be all touchy with other members. June 27th, for example, was one of those days where I simply sat there, at a fan signing, and watched how close he'd gotten to Seungcheol, hugging him and smiling brightly, the way he'd used to smile at me.

It broke my heart.

Knowing that Mingyu had easily gotten over us not being friends anymore was already enough, but seeing him replace me so effortlessly, as if I'd never been special to him at all, was way harder. On top of that, I wasn't even allowed to show a single sign of sadness, because I was in front of cameras, in front of our fans. And they didn't want to see me unhappy, which was why I smiled the whole time, pretending I didn't care, didn't notice, didn't hate my life at all.

But I did. A whole lot.

The next day we held a fan signing once again and for some reason, whoever had planned the signing apparently felt like torturing me. Mingyu and I were assigned to sit next to each other and when sitting next to another member, we all knew we had to act like we were close to them. It was one of many parts of the so-called 'Fanservice', which had been introduced to us during our trainee days. Basically, to make fans happy, we had to do bunch of stupid things, like acting cute, throwing hearts and well, apparently also acting close with other members. Sure, it wasn't something we were restricted to do all the time, but not doing it made the fans unhappy and therefore, we had no other choice.

So, when the fan signing began and Mingyu sat right next to me, I didn't hold back. Leaning towards his side, I opened my mouth, daring to talk to him for the very first time since that morning after our debut.

"I know we're not on good terms but-"

"Damn right, we aren't", he cut me off, smiling at me with innocent eyes: "But the least you could do right now would be to put on that fake smile you've mastered."

I was shocked at his words. They were direct and clearly showed no sympathy nor affection at all. Instead, they once again confirmed how little Mingyu cared about me anymore and at the same time, how much he actually knew me. Even if we didn't talk and clearly weren't close to each other anymore, he was still the one who could read me better than anyone. And to know that, to know that he was aware of my feelings and simply ignored them, was a heart-breaking thought.

But I faked a smile, because I had to.

While signing albums and talking to fans, I was able to blend out that Mingyu was right next to me, but as soon as no fan was there to talk to, my whole body felt tense and I honestly couldn't stand how wrong it felt to be by Mingyu's side without talking to him.

"Wonwoo-hyung", he then broke the silence between us, throwing me off-guard. Not only hadn't I expected that he would be the one to speak up first, but I also didn't understand his words. Mingyu had never called me 'Hyung' when the cameras were off. He'd always insisted that we weren't even a year apart and since we were so close, it felt wrong to do that. But now, even though nobody could hear us and no camera was there to catch our words, he suddenly did add the 'Hyung' to my name, as if wanting to distance himself from me even further.

I looked at him, confused, before realizing that he probably wanted to tell me something, which was why I leaned in to be able to hear his words.

"Good, now laugh as if I told you something funny because I seriously can't stand you frowning the whole time. You're ruining the fans' expectations", he explained. Honestly, my heart hurt so damn much, wanting nothing more than to hear Mingyu say something nice, something assuring, but all I could do was to accept the truth and fake a laugh, just like he'd told me to do.

And just like that, the fan signing ended and my chance to talk to Mingyu was gone. 

Which doesn't mean that there wasn't a new one.

The next day, both of us were told to go talk to our manager. I suspected that he wanted to solve the fight we were having, but apparently, he didn't. He probably hadn't even noticed that there was something going on between Mingyu and me because obviously, he wouldn't have asked us the question he did after we'd entered the conference room.

"You guys are pretty close, right?", was what he said, raising his eyebrows and waiting for an answer. I didn't know what he was getting at but simply wanted to be honest, so I opened my mouth to tell him we weren't, not anymore. 

But Mingyu stopped me. 

His hand was suddenly on mine, holding it close. And instead of saying the truth, Mingyu nodded, smiling widely at our manager. Perplexed, I only stared at the happy figure next to me and then, after realizing that our manager was talking, I turned my head towards him.

"Well, the fans have noticed so too and since the two of you are so popular together, we think it's best to let you know that we want you to stay as close as you are, maybe get even closer", our manager explained, making my eyes go wide. 

What was he trying to do?

"Actually, we've noticed that the fans keep asking where your friendship has gone since the two of you didn't really show much of that in public lately, so I guessed that encouraging you to show a bit more skinship and affection isn't wrong. I mean, I could ask some other members to take care of this but I think the two of you suit this position best", he kept talking, making me sick to my stomach.

"So what you're saying is that you want us to pretend that we are best friends because the fans would love it?", I asked, my voice barely loud enough to be heard. Mingyu started laughing awkwardly and pressed my hand, indicating for me to shut up.

"We are best friends so that won't be a problem at all", he said, emphasizing the 'are' and giving me a look which clearly told me not to up the whole situation. But I was confused and didn't know why he pretended to be my friend when he actually hated my guts. I didn't understand him and what he was doing, at all.

"Great. Just keep your hand-holding and hugging thing up because you know how it is, the fans love it when idols do that. And since they miss the two of you together, just try a bit harder from now on, okay?", our manager asked, making Mingyu nod almost instantly.

I, on the other hand, was silent and didn't move a single muscle. I couldn't process what exactly was happening, but I knew it was something bad. 

Something very bad.

"Wonwoo-hyung is okay with it too", Mingyu spoke for me, laughing slightly. Once again, he pressed my hand, making me jump in surprise. Awkwardly, I just nodded, which made our manager smile: "Alright, thanks boys."

And just like that, he left, making the room go silent.

The first thing Mingyu did was to let go of my hand, his face showing clear disgust. I just stared at him, my face completely blank since I was too confused by his behavior to show an emotion.

"Congratulations for almost ing that up", Mingyu hissed, closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Not listening to his words, I only looked at him and wondered to myself what kind of drug I'd taken to be hallucinating this situation.

"What's going on?", I questioned after a while. Mingyu let out a groan, rolling his eyes in annoyance: "Okay, maybe you're too stupid to understand what just happened, but it's totally pissing me off. Our manager basically just gave us the main position to take care of the fanservice in the group and you almost let go of that chance!"

"What?", I only let out, totally overwhelmed by the situation: "What are you even talking about?"

"Did I speak unclearly? I said that we got the main spot to take care of the fanservice", he explained once again. 

"But why do you want to do that? More importantly, why with me? You hate me", I mumbled, making Mingyu laugh sarcastically: "God, you don't get this stuff at all. Basically, the fans are obsessed with us since we were so close before our debut, so there is no other person for me to do this with except for you."

"Well, then don't do it. Just let others do this whole fanservice thing, I don't like it anyways", I told him. Mingyu smiled at that, honestly, he smiled so innocently, totally contradicting his words: "I don't want others to take care of it. This will put us in the spotlight and I've wanted that for a long time now. Ever since I got to know about the whole 'shipping' thing I knew that this would be the best way for me to become popular."

"But I don't like it!", I yelled, shocked at his selfishness, his sudden crave for fame, his disgusting words which totally didn't sound like him. Since when had Mingyu thought about wanting to be in the spotlight? 

I didn't know. Apparently, one month had been enough for him to change into a person I wasn't familiar with.

"Well, I don't care, okay? You've been selfish enough when kissing me without my permission, now it's my turn to use you to get what I want", he answered, almost spitting out his words. Shocked, I took a step back, not knowing what was happening.

"Mingyu, this is so wrong. How exactly did you come up with the thought that I used you when kissing you? I know I made a mistake that night, but I honestly have an explanation for that. Just, please, stop behaving like this because you're not this kind of person", I tried to talk to him about the issue for once, but Mingyu just smirked at my words, probably not taking them serious.

"Well, what kind of explanation do you have? Don't tell me that you got caught up in the moment because I know that's just an excuse. Isn't the reason for the kiss a simple one?", he laughed, suddenly putting on a sickening bright smile. I didn't know what he was going to say but judging the look on his face, I was sure it wouldn't be something nice.

"Isn't it the fact that you're in love with me, Wonwoo-hyung?"
______

A/N: Well, that escalated quickly. So, is Mingyu right, is he wrong? I guess you have to wait for the next chapter to know the answer.

Alright, so here are the pics of the days (and events) I was referring to:

150627, Mingyu and Seungcheol being close to each other + Wonwoo trying to smile but obviously failing.

And 150628, Meanie sitting next to each other but looking kind of distant?

Yeah, that was it, thank you so much for reading and making my day with your comments!! And yes, I enjoy breaking hearts, sorry about that :)