That afternoon, Jongin arrived at the set to see the four actors seated together in the waiting room—Sehun and Seulgi on one side, Chanyeol and Krystal on the other—in a heated game of scrabble. Yes, scrabble. That’s how wild popular celebrities like them were (note the sarcasm). They played it like they always did: in pairs (because Jongin wasn’t good with words and would never play). From the looks of it, Sehun and Seulgi were winning.

“Well aren’t you here early.” Soojung immediately said as he plopped down beside her. Out of habit, she brought a hand to cover her letters, but quickly realized what she was doing and stopped midway. Jongin cracked a smile, completely ignoring her statement, as he checked her tiles—with that many vowels, they were sure to lose.

“Well it’s not like I missed out on anything. Oh wait, I did. I missed out on a very intense scrabble competition.” Jongin let out huff, slapping his knee for effect. “Damn, what a shame.”

“Well don’t sulk now but…” Sehun leaned in, looking left and right and wriggling his eyebrows like he had a dark secret to tell. He paused for a good two seconds to allow the suspense to build. “Before this, we played…snakes and ladders.”

Jongin gasped and stood up. “Not snakes and ladders!”

“Yes!” Sehun copied him, slamming his hands on the table and leaving a few scrabble tiles askew. “The thrill of throwing the dice and not knowing whether you’ll get a ladder or a reptile aka the best part of the whole game is what you missed!”

Jongin bellowed out a long ‘noooo!’ and clutched his chest like he was a forsaken action movie hero who just got shot. The others could only laugh and shake their heads at the duo (Well Seulgi did, Soojung did her usual is-it-a-smirk-or-smile thing and Chanyeol just kind of clapped like an overly excited seal.) They were all pretty used to the two actors playing around, maybe even expected it. It was one of the things that made hours of filming fun.

“Anyway, my turn.” Sehun smiled mischievously before placing down his tiles, continuing the ‘boo’ that was already on the board. It didn’t take long for the rest to figure out what word he was trying to form.

“ies? Really, Sehun?” Soojung said with disgust as Sehun placed the last letter on a box marked with triple word. '33 points’ Jongin noted.

“Yeah man, that’s totally inappropriate.” Chanyeol agreed, much to his partner’s delight. He was, however, caught red-handed as he tried to give Sehun a high-five behind Soojung’s back, earning him a hard punch on the arm. “Ow! That hurt!”

“I know, I meant for it to.”

“What’s the matter, Soojung?” Sehun asked, wide-eyed, as he feigned innocence. “This is a competition—I have to score points. Believe me, I didn’t want to form such a…such a revolting word, but I couldn’t possibly let our dear Seulgi down, right Jongin?” He turned to the said said actor who only kept his mouth shut. Sure they played around, but annoying Soojung was definitely not something Jongin wanted to do (especially now that Chanyeol and she were behind by fifty points.)

Sensing that the girl was starting to get pissed (and not wanting to suffer with Sehun) Seulgi quickly changed the subject. “Anyway, how’d the Pepsi event go, Jongin?”

“Did you puke?” Chanyeol asked, going with the flow. By then Soojung’s attention was directed to the conversation, so was Sehun’s, and the game was momentarily forgotten.

“I did, actually.” Jongin began, happy that the tension was gone but shuddering as he recalled what had happened. “Did you know they made me drink two whole cans of that stuff just to get a good picture? Ugh, it tasted so goddamn awful. It’s a miracle I managed to hold it all in till after the photographers were—are you handing him money?”

Soojung froze, arm still under the table. “Huh?”

It took him two seconds to figure out what was happening. “Did you guys make a bet on whether or not I’d puke?!” Jongin asked in disbelief. He scanned each of their faces but no one dared to look back; even Sehun seemed guilty as he pocketed the money (probably from both girls) given to him. “I can’t believe you guys!”

Chanyeol placed a hand on his shoulder sympathetically. “I’m sorry man, but look at the bright side: this is the easiest money Sehun and I’ve ever made!”

“Yeah right,” Jongin scoffed, shaking the guy’s hand off. It was no use getting worked up about it; it wasn’t like he never bet on them too. Still, he couldn’t resist a jab at the two. “But I’m pretty sure the easiest money you guys have ever made was from your college o.”

“Hey!” Sehun cried out, blushing from embarrassment the same time Chanyeol did. He turned to see Seulgi trying to hold in her laughter as she scrolled through her phone and blushed even harder. There was no college o of course, they all knew that, but still. “I’m as straight as a ruler!”

“Sure you are, now shush! Seulgi’s going through another blind item report.”

She looked up from her phone. “I just wanted to see if we’ve been listed again because of that reporter.”

Soojung leaned forward to get a closer look, her nose scrunched. It was a habit of hers that turned up whenever she was judging someone internally, so basically it was a daily thing. “That fashion eyesore of a reporter from this morning? She already published one?”

“Damn right she did.” Sehun answered for her, shaking his head and clenching his fist. “Must be easy manipulating our words like that. Only took half an hour after she posted it for it to appear on the