It was twenty minutes past seven o’clock in the morning, too early for Kang Seulgi to be in the company building. She should still be in bed at this time considering she didn’t have any schedule. However, Seulgi found herself groggily walking towards the director’s office. 

An employee bumped into her while running an errand, waking her up a little. She managed to give him a scowl. On normal days, an averaged-rate employee would panic upon bumping into her but this was not any other normal day. People were running around the building in a frenzy, leaving Seulgi with an arched brow as the employee only bowed at her for apology then took off running again. Lucky for the guy, Seulgi was in no state to dwell on the matter so she continued her way to where she was summoned. 

Opening the glass door, she found her band mates, two of her managers, and the director rounding up the small conference table. 

“You’re late. Where were you? I called you an hour ago.” Sooyoung asked.

Seulgi just shrugged her shoulders and took the empty seat beside Joy who didn’t even look up from her phone to acknowledge the new comer.

“Just let her be Sooyoung. That is not why we’re here.” The director said in a firm voice.

Seulgi wasn’t quite sure why she was called or why there was an emergency meeting. All she remembered was Sooyoung barking over the phone asking her to get her lazy in the company building as soon as possible. She tried thinking of a possible reason why this was so urgent. 

A dating scandal?

Probably. 

But who would get into a dating scandal when all of them were single? 

Drugs? Public disturbance? DUI? Scratch the last part, half of the band didn’t even have licenses. 

That leaves... A scandal?

Their leader Luna wouldn’t. She had this religious thing going with family and friends every Sunday. She was so God-fearing that Seulgi even doubted Luna knew how to kiss a boy – or girl.  What was Luna's preference anyway?

Their drummer Joy, well, she was too cool for a scandal so she was out of the option. 

Seulgi hadn’t seen Krystal with anyone else aside from close friends and her sister in the span of 3 years they debuted. Also knowing Krystal the most since they shared 7 years as trainees, she highly doubted the girl would do anything crazy. It was not in the nature of the shy and introvert Krystal Jung to make scandals.

Then there was Amber, the tomboyish rhythm guitarist of the band. Well, she could get into a scandal considering her large group of friends ranging from beautiful girl group members to high quality rappers and even some A-star actors and actresses. Amber’s name was the sh*t in the industry which made Seulgi lost count on how many connections Amber made. 

So Seulgi placed her bet on Amber.

But then there was also her. Kang Seulgi, the lead guitarist of I SCREAM. In public, she was that darling who can rock everyone’s world with a few strum of her guitar strings and an eyesmile to accompany her adorable bear-like face. But Seulgi was never a darling. Not in their dorm, not to the members, not in the company, and definitely not in a private hotel room with J---- 

“I presume you haven’t read the news.” Hyoyeon pushed a tablet to her, breaking her thoughts.

Seulgi picked up the tablet and to say Seulgi wasn’t shocked was an understatement. The moment she read the headline, her mind shut off. She looked at the director in the middle of the conference table, then to the sympathetic eyes of their managers, then to each of the members in which Seulgi just realized they were incomplete in the room.

BREAKING NEWS: GUITARIST AMBER LIU LEFT I SCREAM TO PURSUE RAPPING CAREER

“This is a joke, right?” Seulgi tried to sound okay but the girl was far from it. Amber was her roommate. They weren’t that close but still, they were roommates. That should still count as whatever sh*t-like feeling she had right now. 

Betrayed? Confused? Hurt? 

This wasn’t what she expected when she placed a bet on Amber. Sure, she hit jackpot with the right member but not with the reason.

“If it’s a joke, we wouldn’t be here .” She heard Krystal retort.

Slamming the tablet on the table – like Seulgi would even care if the tablet broke, or the table – she stood up and scrambled her way to get to Krystal who was sitting across her. She only had a little patience over the introvert princess being a smart . On better days, Seulgi would ignore such a remark, but there was nothing “better” on this day.

“Hey! Hey! Stop!” Sooyoung was quick to pull Seulgi back to her seat. The tall manager might look like stick and bones but her reflex and strength were not to be taken for granted.

Seulgi was pushed back to her seat while she was breathing out her anger, confusion, panic, and even stress. 

“Sit down Kang Seulgi!” The director roared. She stood up and massaged her temple. There was a bigger issue to be resolved but they wouldn’t get anywhere if there was no cooperation from the band members. 

“What do you plan on doing Miss Hwang?” Luna asked as soon as it was safe to speak.

“I can’t think of anything for now. Not when I have two of your members wanting to pull each other’s throats.” The director glared at Seulgi and Krystal.

“Fine! I’ll let her live.” Seulgi shook her arm from Sooyoung’s grip and slouched down on her seat.

The rest of the meeting went smoothly with Director Hwang instructing how the members should react if asked by the media or by the fans in their individual SNS accounts. She also briefed them on some changes, although a follow-up meeting would be scheduled. They still need to talk about I SCREAM’s comeback which was originally scheduled in a month. 

It took an hour or so for the meeting to finish. The director still had to deal with a lot of things with Amber’s withdrawal from the group. She needed to meet other board members and discuss with them how to handle the issue.

Seulgi was the first one to step into their van. She was drained mentally, emotionally, and physically so she closed her eyes, hoping for a nice nap. She felt a movement beside her and thought Joy came to sit beside her at the back. The perfume said otherwise. 

She scrunched up her nose to the familiar scent. Strawberries. Only Krystal would smell like strawberries. She opened her eyes and she was right. When was Kang Seulgi ever wrong? 

Beside her was a tired-looking Krystal. The news and meeting were also taking a toll on her, after all Krystal was Amber’s closest friend. She watched as Krystal untangled her earphones and placed each bud on