[CONTENTID1]Chapter 6—A Suspect[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]

Frantic footsteps were heard through the halls of a famous Fashion building. Heavy breathing was also heard while the person  was hurrying up the stairs.

At last, the latter arrived on the floor that she needed to be on and dashed towards the door that was labelled, The CF Studio. The female opened the door and there she met nine pairs of angry eyes.

The tardy person gulped.

"H...Hi unnies! Sorry that you had to wait for me. Shall we start?" The blond singer giggled her nervousness away for a moment but the eldest spoke up instantly.

"Where were you last night?" Taeyeon glared at the youngest.

"That's not important right now, unnie. We need to start the CF..." Aria waved off the serious question but another voice made her froze up.

"You are not going anywhere until you tell us where did you go and why didn't you come back to the dorm." A stern voice, in fact. It was Jessica. Aria turned towards her.

"I just went to a friend's home and I forgot to tell you, unnies..." Aria lied, more like half lied. It wasn't a complete lie because it was also a part of the truth but she couldn't tell them, especially Jessica, that she was with Krystal last night. Especially, when Krystal never told her sibling of her extended holiday in Korea yet, the younger Dong knew that the ice princess would do something if the latter found out that her sister was with her and not in Japan. Aria would be in so much trouble so she believed it would be best to keep that information to herself.

"Who is this friend, Aria?" Tiffany crossed her arms, her eyes curling into smiles but her face was nowhere near pleased.

"Just someone, unnie. Don't worry! Come on, let's get started on the CF!" Aria wanted to rush this photo shoot and get back to her house. She would rather spend the day at home, where she could stay away from all the stress and her problems including the thoughts of a certain SNSD member.

"You aren't going anywhe—" Tiffany continued on but she got interrupted by their manager.

"Aria, you're here! Great! We can start and you are the first one. Come on!" The friendly man smiled happily and grabbed the blond's shoulder to drag the girl away from her group members. 

As they walked away, she cast a glance over her shoulder to see the girls sending their manager a menacing glare. Aria shook her head from how silly the older ones were acting. The man, however, leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"You better thank me for saving your , Aria. The girls probably hate me now~" He whined which made the singer giggle.

"Of course, Oppa. Maybe we'll grab some food after?" She offered and he made a funny face.

"Are you asking me out, Aria? I'm sorry but I already have my sweetheart." He said, making the other cringe at the pet name.

"Ew! Manager Oppa! I don't like you in that way. I just want to repay you with a bite at a restaurant or something!" She complained and smacked his shoulder, earning a yelp from the male.

"Yah! That hurt~!" His voice full of Aegyo which caused the girl to shiver from the sound of it. Anyway, they went over to the dressing room to prepare Aria for the shoot.

Meanwhile, the rest of the members watched this and turned towards one another. Each had a similar frown on her face.

"Okay. There is something going on with Maknae..." Yuri started, getting scoffs from the other artists.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Sooyoung rolled her eyes.

Yuri was about to retort back but Taeyeon put a hand on her arm and shook her head. The tan girl pouted but listened to her leader.

"I still wonder why she won't tell us the person's name?" Yoona her nonexistence beard. Then, the second youngest raised her hand to speak which she had gotten the permission to do so.

"Maybe Aria has a boyfriend and she doesn't want to tell us." Seohyun stated. All the other females gave her a frightened expression.

"Seohyun, don't say scary things like that! I can't imagine my Baby dating a boy!" Sooyoung ruffled the girl's hair.

"Yeah, our precious Maknae should remain pure and not influenced by bad people like her!" Taeyeon pointed at the girl, who was once again occupied with her phone. Jessica, who was sweet talking with her boyfriend, muted the call for a moment to glare at the oldest.

"Be quiet! I'm on the phone!" She exclaimed before turning off the mute to be able to talk to her boyfriend.

"Well, excuse us for not talking to our loved ones because we are definitely not working right now." Hyoyeon sarcastically replied. She got a glare from the ice princess but the dancer flipped the girl off with her middle finger which shows how much Hyoyeon cares for the girl's personal business.

"Anyway, what should we do?" Yuri spoke her worry for their youngest which Taeyeon rubbed circles on the latter's arm to calm her.

"We could ask her but..." Sunny trailed off.

"But?"

"We shouldn't give the impression that we are sticking our nose in her business. She deserves her space after all." Hyoyeon continued for the Aegyo Bunny. Everyone awe'd at her from hearing what she said.

"If you say that, then why can't you respect mine?" A cold voice was heard once again. 

Jessica had just finished her call a few minutes ago and heard the girls mention her name.

Before Hyoyeon would say anything that could cause another fight, Yuri hastily responded for her.

"Because you are the phone constantly, Sica. You barely hide your relationship status and you'll be found out eventually if you keep this up. We are trying to not make it obvious especially when you did