They’ve gotten used to dealing with backlash over the years. It’s not unusual to get a few spiteful comments on their Weibo posts, to hear a few rude remarks when they’re out in public. But they’ve never had this much of a reaction.

Yifan is skeptical about the idea at first, when the company tells them about the concept of their comeback. Up until now, they’ve usually stuck with something safe and sweet, singing about the innocence of young love. Their songs are bright and catchy, the lyrics light enough that they aren’t taken seriously.

The innocent image can only last so long, though, and the company is aware of this. It won’t be long before their songs get repetitive, before the public gets tired of seeing the same concept again. It’s better to stay just one step ahead, so even if they aren’t quite ready for this, they’re pushed to do it anyway.

It’s not really that big of a deal, though. The other songs in their album are consistent with the image they’ve built up the past few years; it’s their title track that receives the brunt of the attack. They’d gone with something darker this time, the melody a little more haunting, and Yifan gets more than a few lines of rap this time.

The lyrics alone are innocent enough, but it’s the music video that really gets the most attention. It’s a story of a boy who’s always liked a girl, only for them to be forced apart when they grow older. There are a few hints of darker underlying themes—the unnecessary pressure that parents and teachers put on students to do well in their exams, even some mental instability subtly portrayed in the rows and rows of characters that the boy spends hours writing in his notebook.

Yifan, as the face of the group, plays the boy in their music video. TF Entertainment chooses one of their own actresses to play the main female character—Lin Shimin, who had allegedly been a trainee at the same time as Yifan had. Yifan’s never met her before, but he gets to know her pretty well through the scenes that they do together. She’s nice, easy to talk to, and they even exchange phone numbers when the shots are done, promising to keep in touch.

Shimin is a year older than Yifan, and she’s already appeared in a few movies and TV series. She’d always been a supporting role, though, never one of the main characters, so when XO Boys’ newest music video is released, she receives a lot of attention.

Not all of the attention is positive, though. Clearly, the company had underestimated how much controversy a few scenes could cause. There hadn’t even been much in the music video; the most Yifan had done, beyond writing her anonymous love letters and holding her hand, was hug her and kiss the top of her head. Maybe the ease that they’d had around each other hadn’t been faked, but it certainly didn’t call for the outrage that followed.

There were positive responses, of course, from viewers who agreed that they had good chemistry together, but didn’t speculate beyond that, and from fans that approved of their new concept, their attempts to try out a different genre.

Yifan and Shimin had become close friends, but the articles that claimed that they were dating and the rumors that started to spread weren’t factually based at all.

Yet, as ridiculous as most of the rumors were, they spread pretty quickly, fueled by the Internet. It’s funny that the very medium that had helped the XO Boys gain fame is damaging their reputation.

And although Yifan had been prepared for it beforehand, had braced himself when he’d received hundreds of comments on his Weibo asking him about his relationship with Shimin, even though the company had already scripted answers for him, he’s still not prepared for the questions that the interviewer fires at them.

“Would you like to tell us about your newest music video?” the host begins, smiling as he looks up from the card that he’s reading from.

Yixing has the lines memorized, and he gives a general description. The rundown version tells of the struggles a young couple has to deal with when they’re growing up, how they try to stay together even after they’ve grown up and the magic of young love has already faded.

The interviewer turns to Yifan, clearly not quite satisfied with Yixing’s description. “Yifan, would you like to tell us about your part in the music video?”

“I’m the main character in the video,” Yifan says slowly. He’s gotten used to all of the cameras around them, but he’s never felt so exposed before. It’s like the media is weighing his every word and trying to find some way to use it against him. “I have a love interest in the storyline, and we’re trying to stay together as we grow up.”

“Have you ever acted before?” the interviewer asks.

“No.” Yifan has done a few advertisements with Joonmyun and Yixing, but that hardly counts. The three minutes of screen time he’d had in the music video hadn’t really counted, either. “I’d like to, though,” he continues, flashing a smile at the camera. “It was a lot of fun, and the staff really helped me get comfortable with being on the set.”

“So you’ve never met Shimin before this?” The interviewer isn’t even looking at the cards anymore, instead asking questions that the public wants to know the answers to.

Yifan hesitates. He has an answer ready, but this wasn’t part of the script. He hopes that this part of the interview will be cut out. “Never.” The interviewer opens his mouth to ask another question, but Yifan quickly interrupts him, already knowing what he’s getting ready to say. “We’re only friends, nothing more.”

He looks taken aback for a moment. “Just friends?” the interviewer asks anyway, and Yifan bites down a flare of annoyance.

“That’s what he just said,” Joonmyun cuts in, and even Yifan is startled by his sudden answer. “There’s nothing going on between them.”

“That’s true,” Yifan quickly adds. “We’re all really busy with our studies and our career. I won’t even consider dating for the next ten years, so please don’t spread rumors that aren’t true.”

This is different from most things that he’s said before, but Yifan is tired of being seen as a young, defenseless kid. After all, it’s the company that has given them a more grown up image this time to highlight how much they’ve grown in the past few years. Yifan has pretty much learned the fine line between firmness and outright rudeness, although it feels like he’s wavering on the edge.

“I see,” the interviewer says. He looks ready to ask something more, but he obviously thinks better of it as he turns to Yixing and asks him to explain the choreography.

Yifan turns to look at Joonmyun while everyone else’s attention is focused elsewhere. He tries to smile at him as a silent thank you, but Joonmyun isn’t looking at him. Yifan swallows, letting the smile fall from his face again. It’s okay, he tells himself as he refocuses his attention to what Yixing is saying. In a few days, no one will remember this anymore. It won’t be long before the media moves on, finding a far more interesting story to latch onto.

Yet there’s no way of telling how much damage this will cause. As a group, the three of them have gotten pretty well known in the nation, but they’ve received too much negative attention over the years.

“Hey, thanks for saving me back there,” Yifan says after the interview. The three of them are in the back seat of the car headed back to the company. It’s unusually late, and the light from the street lamps outside aren’t quite enough to fully illuminate Joonmyun’s face.

“It’s not a big deal,” Joonmyun replies. “I don’t know why the interviewer was making such a big deal out of nothing.”

“It is a big deal,” Yixing says, leaning past Joonmyun from the other side of the car. “Yifan getting his first girlfriend should make national headlines.”

There’s a moment of silence, falling unnaturally stiffly over the car, before Yifan laughs loudly. He can see their manager glancing at them through the rearview mirror as he talks on his phone, making sure that the three of them are fine.

“We’re just friends,” Yifan says, tugging on the strings of his hoodie nervously. “If I were in a relationship with someone, I’d tell you.”

“I saw you asking for her phone number,” Yixing says. “You were really cool about it, for once.” He holds his hand out for a high five, and Yifan barely touches his palm. “He has more game than I expected,” Yixing adds, directing this statement at Joonmyun, who only shakes his head without responding.

They still have about an hour’s drive before they get back to their dorm. Yixing falls asleep just a few minutes later, his cheek pressed against the window. Yifan wraps his hoodie’s string around a finger, glancing at Joonmyun out of the corner of his eyes. He can tell that Joonmyun isn’t asleep, since Joonmyun has never been good at sleeping upright.

The radio is playing in the background, but it’s set to some talk show station. There are never good stations on this late at night, anyway, and Yifan doesn’t try to keep up with whatever the hosts are saying.

He jerks a little when Joonmyun unexpectedly starts speaking. “That was pretty cool of you.” Joonmyun turns, his bright smile barely visible. “Are you serious about not dating for the next ten years?”

“I say really dumb things sometimes, don’t I?” Yifan hadn’t really been thinking, had been too agitated to recall word for word the answers that the company had prepared for him. He knows that he’d sounded a little too rash, but he hopes that his words will do something to stave off the rumors.

“At least you admit it.” Joonmyun leans his head on Yifan’s shoulder, looking up hesitantly right afterwards like he’s asking, “Is this okay?”

In response, Yifan brings his hand up and runs his fingers through Joonmyun’s hair. He pulls Joonmyun a little closer, resting his cheek against the top of Joonmyun’s head.

“You are pretty close to Shimin, aren’t you?” Joonmyun asks. They’re close enough that he barely has to speak above a whisper for Yifan to hear him.

“Not you too.” Yifan takes Joonmyun’s hand in his own, absently interlacing their fingers together. “You know that we’re just friends.” It’s not unusual for them to read each other’s texts. Joonmyun had been reading over Yifan’s shoulder yesterday as he’d texted Shimin. They don’t even text often, just a few words here and there between their schedules.

“So you really don’t like her?” Yifan can tell that Joonmyun is starting to get sleepier from the way his words are starting to blur together, his accent becoming more prominent as he neglects to stress some of the consonants.

Yifan’s tempted to ask why Joonmyun wants to know, but he supposes that he’ll have to go through a questioning with Yixing as well, sooner or later. He’s seen and heard boys his age talking casually with girls, and it’s not like there’s anything shocking about a boy being friends with a girl. It’s just that Yifan has been a celebrity from a young age, so he’s been required to stay a safe distance away from even his own classmates. Besides, texting his cousin is different from texting Shimin.

“I don’t,” Yifan says. “How can I when—” He breaks off, and Joonmyun doesn’t say anything else, doesn’t ask him to continue. Yifan thinks that Joonmyun must have fallen asleep against his shoulder. He doesn’t finish the sentence aloud, but he says the words in his head. How can I when I already have you?