The faint sound of the vocal unit singing ‘We Gonna Make it Shine’ drifted to the changing rooms backstage. The vocal unit was practicing their stage. Seungcheol sat on a chair and looked into his palms. They were cold and sweaty. He looked at himself in the mirror and mentally cussed at his reflection. In his own eyes, he looked so lame and pathetic at that moment. He sighed again, for the hundredth time since waking up, before dropping his gaze back to his lap. “Yah… Why are you being like this? It’s like you got rejected already,” Soonyoung walked behind him and placed his hands on his shoulders. “I’m just so nervous… I can’t believe I’m about to do this. It seemed like a good idea when I thought about it but now that the time is coming closer, I’m thinking of all the ways this could go wrong…” Seungcheol looked slightly pale and miserable. “Hey, stop thinking like that. Nothing bad will happen,” Hansol tried to comfort the leader. “What if he says no? What if he says yes out of peer pressure and feels like I forced him into this? What if Carats start hating us and want us to leave Seventeen?” he blurted out all of the things that were worrying him. “Why would he say ‘no’? C’mon hyung… We all see how you and Jeonghan hyung behave with each other. You guys have practically been a couple since predebut days...And he never stopped your skinship and advances. We’re all pretty sure he feels the exact same way,” Hansol tried again with his comforting words. “And as for Carats, I think they will be over the moon. I mean, they ship the two of you so hard haha. They’ll go crazy when their ship becomes real,” Soonyoung chuckled. “Well, the Jihan, Jicheol and Cheolsoo shippers may be sad but I’m sure they’ll accept reality over fiction,” Hansol added. Seungcheol still seemed a bit unconvinced. “C’mon bro…You’ve been planning this for so long. You even talked to the CEO and got permission to do this. We all made preparations. This will be the moment you’ve been waiting for,” Soonyoung tried again. The elder sighed and nodded his head. “You’re right. I can’t chicken out now. I’m sure Hannie’s been waiting for me to make the first move. I can’t let him down,” there was determination in his eyes now.

Stage rehearsals were over and the concert started later on without any problems. All the Seventeen members, except Jeonghan, were extremely excited for the main event of the concert. Seungcheol couldn’t help but give extra attention to the person who won his heart all those years ago. He was sure that the fansites were having a field trip taking pictures of all their skinships that day, and he was determined to give them even more. Soon, the concert was winding down to its last few moments. The ending ment would start soon and Seungcheol felt his heart beating incredibly fast. This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for. He could finally confess to Jeonghan, the person who had been his everything for years.

One by one, the members started giving their final goodbyes to the Carats. Just as the last of them finished talking, the entire arena went dark. “W-Wha…?” Jeonghan was bewildered in the darkness, ignorant of the fact that the rest of the members had planned this and were sneakily walking backstage. He noticed the absence of his group mates and felt somewhat anxious. The Carats were also screaming, thinking that this was part of the concert. Just then the lights came back and a video started playing on the large screen. Jeonghan was confused about the whole situation and was about to walk backstage when the video suddenly caught his eye. He was shocked and took a step back and placed his hand over his mouth. The video showed moments between him and Seungcheol. There were clips of them from predebut days all the way to recent times. Lots of pictures and moments that were not shown to their fans but they stored those moments in their hearts. After a moment, all the clips were of him. Jeonghan was sure they were the ones Seungcheol took of him when he wasn’t noticing. In those clips, Jeonghan was smiling or laughing or he was speaking quietly to Seungcheol. “W-What is this..?” his eyes were starting to get a bit glossy. The audience was going wild.

“Yoon Jeonghan,” and then, a deep voice echoed through the stadium. Jeonghan looked at the stage entrance and saw Seungcheol coming in with a very affectionate expression. “Seungcheol, what’s going on..?” the blonde boy asked without his mic so only the other person could hear. “You and I, we’ve been friends for a very long time. We’ve been through thick and thin and we’ve been each other’s strengths for years,” the dark haired boy continued, not being phased by Jeonghan’s confused interrogation. “You tease me and put me in tight spots. Sometimes, I get very annoyed by you and I’m sure I annoy you a lot too. But when everything feels tiresome and I get restless, you’re the only one who can give me peace,” he walked up to the younger until they were only a feet apart. “In turn, I always tried to be the best version of myself for you. I hope I could give you the same comfort that you have given me,” he looked into the blonde’s eyes. They were slightly watery. “Jeonghan…” he called out his name with so much love and affection that it gave goosebumps to the spectators. The owner of the name could only squeak out an incoherent response.

“I love you. I really love you. I’m confessing to you in front of thousands of people who have gathered to support our dreams. I’m confessing my devotion to you in front of the world. You mean everything to me. So please, won’t you accept me as yours and give yourself to me?” Seungcheol spoke every word sincerely and his heart was racing in anticipation of the response. Jeonghan looked down at his feet and fidgeted. He looked at the audience and then back at his feet. The gathered Carats started chanting “Say Yes! Say Yes!” Every second seemed like a year for Seungcheol. And then finally…

“I’m sorry…”

Everything ended.

Jeonghan rushed out of the stage, leaving behind a dumbfounded Seungcheol. There was deathly silence all around the arena. It took a moment for Seungcheol to come out of his shock but his mind was completely blank. “Uh… That’s all! Thank you for joining us today! Good night!” Jihoon thanked the audience and quickly brought Seungcheol backstage. “Jeonghan…he…” the older boy couldn’t even think of what to say. “I’m so sorry...” Jihoon quietly rubbed his friend’s back. The boy was slightly shaking. “Just give it some time. Everything will be okay. It’ll go back to normal,” the smaller boy couldn’t help but hold his trembling friend in his arms.

But things didn’t go back to normal.

Things got worse.

After that day, Jeonghan started avoiding Seungcheol at every given moment. Their story blew up all over media in the worst way possible and there were people talking about them in every talk-show. The fancams sh