"It's what everyone has been waiting for: The Miss Inki nominations!" The principal's voice echoed all over the school during the first period: homeroom. People were sitting in their seats, listening to the morning announcements. "The Miss Inki contest is a contest that awards the most honorable students. Receiving this award means that they are like a role model to most of the student body, someone to be admired and to look out for in the future. This contest is reserved for third years to participate, but first and second years may vote."

Everyone in the school knew that the first and second years wouldn't vote. This event was solely for the third years, especially since they were going to graduate. This would be something that would look great on their resume. There was no way that the third years would let the first and second years sway the votes.

"This year, to be nominated, you must receive at least five nominations. Any less than that will result in an automatic disqualification. You must also fill out the nomination forms in order to properly count your vote. Failure to fill out the forms properly will not count towards the nomination votes."

Soojung looked her lips. Hyeri already had two people: her and Sehun. 

"It's totally going to be Seulgi this year," someone in the room whispered. Seulgi heard her fellow classmate and smiled as she folded her hands.

"Nominations will go on for two weeks. After the two weeks, we will spend a week to count the votes. Once we announce the nominations, we will allow participants to campaign. On the day of the festival, people will be able to cast their votes and we will host the Miss Inki competition last."

Two weeks should be plenty of time, Soojung thought.

"Results will be posted every other day starting on Wednesday," the principal continued. "Voting will start today at noon, so please vote promptly. Thank you and have a wonderful day."

The announcement ended. Silence filled the air. Then, people began to surround Seulgi, chattering and praising her.

"Seulgi! You're going to win!"

"I can't believe the winner of Miss Inki is coming from my class!"

"Seulgi, I'm going to vote for you!"

"Seulgi, you definitely got my vote so don't forget me!"

Soojung watched Seulgi. She had a calm polite smile, but Soojung could tell that her heart was pounding with excitement. She was swelling with happiness, enjoying the endless praises and flattery. She, of course, remained humble throughout the entire conversation until the teacher told everyone to get back to their seats. 

Seulgi smiled and looked around her. She met eyes with Soojung for a brief moment. Her smile disappeared and she suddenly looked a bit pale. Then, she whirled back her head, staring at the front with a slight look of fear on her face.

Oh. She gets it, Soojung thought. She knows that I can be a threat. Soojung grimaced. That's right. Seulgi is more observant than before. I might not be able to handle this as easily as before. She looked ahead. I should talk to Sehun about this as soon as possible…

/ / / / /

"So is this where you and Seulgi had your secret meetings?" Sehun asked as he stepped inside the abandoned classroom.

Soojung looked around the room for a few seconds before she sat down on one of the chairs. She gestured her hand to the seat across from the table. 

"Sit," she instructed. He clicked his tongue and slipped his hands in his pocket. Then, he plopped down in his seat and looked around the dark room.

"It's dark here," he remarked.

"Is that a problem?" Soojung asked. She was wondering if it was a mistake to bring him into her secret room, but she figured that it would be the best place for them to talk. If anything, Seulgi might come in and try to talk to them, but she highly doubted that Seulgi would do such a thing, especially since she was so occupied. "I need to talk to you about Hyeri's nomination process."

"Oh, so she agreed?" he asked, his ears perking up.

"Not exactly," Soojung muttered. "It's more like she doesn't care. If anything, she's very angry at us."

"Us? She doesn't know that I did anything."

"She knows you were a part of it."

Sehun grimaced. "You told her?"

"She deserved to know."

"You really at getting people to be on your side," Sehun said. 

"I didn't tell all the details," Soojung argued back. "You need to watch your mouth if you want to work with me."

"I don't even know if I want to work with you anymore," Sehun grumbled.

"You and I both know that we have to work together if we want this to work. We can't do this alone," Soojung pointed out.

"So what's the plan?" he asked.

"I've got none. You?"

"Me? I usually make the counter-plans."

Soojung sighed. "And here we thought that I was impossible to work with…" She gave him a serious look. "Okay. It's clear that we're incompatible."

"Clearly." Sehun added a snort at the end of his sentence, ticking her off.

"You know what we need? A third party," Soojung said.

/ / / / /

Hyeri found herself sitting in an empty classroom with Soojung and Sehun. She was clearly annoyed with the entire situation. She was planning to have lunch with Youngji again, even going as far as promising that she would be at the location promptly. However, the moment the bell rang for lunch, Sehun had grabbed her by the arm and Soojung arrived at the front door. The two quickly escorted Hyeri out of her classroom, creating a small scene of confusion amongst her classmates before they resumed their daily tasks. There was no time for Hyeri to stop by at Youngji's classroom to notify her odd situation and there was no way that Sehun and Soojung would let her go without having her listen to whatever nonsense they were planning to spout.

Hyeri crossed her legs and tapped her finger angrily on her harm, glowering at them.

"Make it fast and make it quick," she ordered. "I promised to have lunch with Youngji and I'm being incredibly rude for breaking that promise right now."

"Hyeri, this is important. It's about your nomination for the Miss Inki position," Sehun said.

"I said that I'm not interested in participating," Hyeri said.

Sehun turned his head to Soojung. "You said that she was fine with it!"

"I told you that she didn't care about it," Soojung corrected him.

"I told you that I'm not planning to participate," Hyeri reminded her. Soojung bit her tongue.

"Okay, look. Let's all drop our facade," Soojung said. "We three are clearly experts. We know what we're doing and how to do it. Let's drop the act and actually focus on this."

"I've already dropped mine," Hyeri said. She pointed her finger rudely at Soojung and Sehun. "It's you two who haven't dropped it yet."

"No, I dropped mine," Soojung said. She eyed at Sehun. "But you're right, Sehun hasn't."

"I did," he argued. "It's you who hasn't."

Hyeri sighed. "You two are completely hopeless. Look, I don't know what you guys are planning or anything, but I have no plans on entering that contest. I've already did my little research and everyone is voting for Seulgi. Seunghwan and Taehyun are making sure of that. They got Jinri and Naeun backing them up, and Minzy and Yeri are also encouraging their people to vote. She's got the votes from both those who are popular to those who are not. There's no room for me."

"That's where you're wrong," Soojung said. "As long as a nominee gets five votes, they're on the list. The list doesn't show many people voted for who. It just shows those who are qualified to stand on the stage."

"Even if you guys get five votes, there's no benefit for me. It still shows that majority of the students are going to vote for Seulgi," Hyeri said.

"But it'll make Seulgi paranoid," Soojung explained. "If I know anything about Seulgi, it's that she's dumb and clumsy. Right now, she's basically a doll for everyone to idolize. What she doesn't know is that rather than a doll, she's more of a puppet." Hyeri gave her a confused look. "Mm… Okay, it's kind of like chess. You know, when a pawn makes it to the other end of the board, they become a queen? Yeah, Seulgi is a queen that used to be a pawn, and now she's going crazy with power. She thinks she can do anything she wants, but she'll only realize that she's still limited when she sees a threat." Soojung pointed at Hyeri with her pen. "And that threat is you."

"I'm just seeing this as making me the bad guy and Seulgi the good guy," Hyeri said.

"It'll break her," Sehun murmured, realizing Soojung's plan. "If she sees Hyeri's name on the list, it means that Hyeri's popularity didn't 'die' yet. It means that Hyeri has a chance to reclaim her throne." Sehun looked at Soojung seriously. "You're planning to break Seulgi, aren't you?"

"It's the only way," Soojung said.

"I don't want to hurt her."

"Don't be soft on her now, Sehun. You know that she's completely unfazed at the moment. We need to shake her up a bit."

"She's your friend, isn't she?"

"Not anymore."

"How cold."

"My relationship with Seulgi is no different than yours with Jongin's right now, so don't call me 'cold' because I wasn't the one avoiding my friend," Soojung snapped.

"My reason for ignoring Jongin besides class is legitimate. He knew that I liked Seulgi and I knew that he liked someone else."

"I know. He likes me."

"Exact—" Sehun stopped himself. He widened his eyes and stared at her. "You know?"

"It's obvious," Soojung said, rolling her eyes. She looked at Hyeri. "You knew, right?"

"I had a feeling. I didn't want to admit it," Hyeri said casually. 

"Then do you like him?" Sehun asked.

Soojung was caught off-guard. "Huh?"

"Do you like Jongin?" he asked seriously.

Soojung kept silent and blinked once. "No, I don't."

Sehun groaned. "Why didn't you confront him about it? If you had rejected him, I'm sure that he wouldn't be in a relationship with Seulgi in the first place!"

"No, that was inevitable," Hyeri told him. "Seulgi was going to get Jongin one way or another, and Soojung was going to help her with that. Jongin didn't have a chance in the first place. He dug his own grave by ignoring the signs." She looked at Sehun. "He came by my house, too. He knows about my living condition."

"Why did he go to your house? What did he say?" Sehun asked.

"He regretted everything and needed my help. I told him what he needed to hear," Hyeri said vaguely.

"Then we can act like we're best friends," Soojung said. "That'll catch his attention."

"And he'll have an excuse to break up with Seulgi," Sehun added. "Because he's going by what you said—You know, about 'not forgiving anyone who hurts your best friend.' By the way, that was a dumb move on your part and I hate you for that."

"My goal at that time was to help Seulgi. If things were going to be this chaotic, I wouldn't have done anything," Soojung said.

"Why did you help her anyway?" Sehun asked.

Soojung kept quiet for a few minutes. Then, she pulled out her precious journal and tossed it on the table. Hyeri looked at it casually like she had seen it before. Sehun, on the other hand, grew curious and picked it up. He flipped through the pages, skimming through its contents. With every flip, his eyes grew slightly wider.

"What is…this?" Sehun asked, unsure of what to call it.

"It's my personal notebook," Soojung said. "I gave up on popularity when I got into high school, but I don't think I ever grew detached from it. I became obsessed with observing people, figuring out their motives and all. Myungsoo trained me too well. I wasn't able to stop." Soojung looked at the journal with shame. "Seulgi got ahold of my journal. She wanted to use it to get popularity and I told her to show me how much she wanted it." Soojung looked at Hyeri. "Then she went up to you and you started to make a scene and cried." Soojung's eyes rolled over to the journal. She began to remember Seulgi standing in front of Hyeri and her old friends, alone, struggling. "And then I remember seeing her being so pathetic…so pitiful… Before I knew it, I was pretending that I was her friend and we began this whole thing."

"The more I hear about everything, the more I'm wondering why I'm still a part of this," Hyeri murmured.

"I'm really sorry with what happened to you. Really, I am," Soojung said to Hyeri. "That's why I want to make things right."

"But that wasn't your initial intention, was it?" Hyeri pointed out.

"I… It wasn't," Soojung admitted. "But it wasn't supposed to get this messy. Myungsoo make it worst—"

"Why do you keep blaming Myungsoo?" Hyeri asked her. She let out a sarcastic chuckle. "You keep saying that you're sorry, but you keep putting the blame on Myungsoo. Are you really sorry and aware of what you did? I know what Myungsoo did. I know he's not sorry and I know why." She got up from her seat. "Honestly, at this point, it seems like you both want to use me to fix the mistakes you made." She looked at Sehun. "You want to use me to get Seulgi." She glanced at Soojung. "And you want to use me to get revenge on Seulgi." She shook her head. "Here's one thing you two both need to know about me: No one uses me except for me." She checked her watch. "Look, you two can do whatever you want. Nominate me, don't nominate me—whatever. I don't care. But I'm not going to cooperate you with the campaigning. I'm not going to say anything flattering or apologize or anything."

Soojung and Sehun remained awfully quiet. They knew what Hyeri was doing and why she was doing it. If she were to cooperate with them, then that meant that the two could manipulate and use her to as they liked, but if she were to not cooperate, then they would have to prove to her that they actually care and will do whatever it takes to get her back in the rankings. 

Hyeri gave them one last look. "I'm leaving. I have lunch with Youngji and need to apologize to her."

She walked away with her bobbed hair swaying from left to right. Sehun and Soojung continued to remain silent. 

"So now what?" Sehun asked. "Hyeri's not cooperating."

"…That's fine," Soojung said. "We're still going with the plan. We'll nominate Hyeri and get her the three other votes."

"How?" Sehun inquired.

Soojung looked at him. "We'll campaign for her, of course."

/ / / / /

For the next two weeks, Sehun and Soojung had been encouraging their fellow students to vote for Hyeri. Sehun did most of his work by word and socializing with others, while Soojung did it secretively by planting the idea inside people's heads or 'coincidentally' leaving notes that reminded people of Hyeri's existence.

On the other hand, it seemed like their way of advertising completely backfired. They weren't sure who was doing it, but they had a feeling that Seunghwan and Taehyun had said something to the students that made them ignore Hyeri and consider Seulgi.

"Isn't it just easier if the Miss Inki competition had one winner? There would be no competition and everything would be at peace."

"I'm sure it's Hyeri who's pulling Sehun and Jongin apart. Look, Sehun is still rooting for Hyeri while Jongin is on Seulgi's side. It's just awful."

"Hyeri was cool, but Seulgi made everything better. Hyeri was kind of hard to approach, but Seulgi makes me feel welcomed."

Soojung was taking notes of people's remarks and feelings towards the election. As she finished down writing in her little notebook, she heaved a loud and depressing sigh. She glanced at Sehun, who was sitting next to her. The two had been doing everything they could to get people to vote for Hyeri, but without Hyeri attempting to do anything, it seemed like they were trying to get Hyeri just to embarrass her. Not only that, but more baseless rumors began to appear about Hyeri, and not a single one of those rumors was good for her image.

"Hyeri's right," Soojung whispered. "There really isn't anything we can do."

"Two weeks," Sehun mumbled. "I wasted my two weeks for nothing."

The two continued to sit in silence. They still had a stack of paper and several pencils for students to use to vote. The box remained empty for the past two weeks except for the two votes from Sehun and Soojung themselves.

The sun continued to set. An orange hue casted down from the windows. The hallways were quiet. School was nearly over and that meant that voting would be over, too.

Suddenly, they heard giggling. They looked up and saw Seulgi, Seunghwan, Taehyun, and Jongin walking towards their way. The four were all smiling, grinning from ear to ear, enjoying each other's company. Jongin was the only one who didn't look too happy being there. When he diverted his attention away from the group, he locked eyes with Soojung. His heart skipped a beat and he immediately froze.

"Soojung," he accidentally whispered out loud.

Seulgi, hearing Soojung's name coming out of Jongin's lips, stiffened. She looked up and saw Soojung sitting next to Sehun, occupying one of the voting booths. She had seen Soojung and Sehun attempt to campaign for Hyeri, but since Seunghwan and Taehyun had done a wonderful job of doing her campaign, campaigning for Hyeri was useless.

"Well, well, well," Seunghwan said. "It's those traitors."

"Leave them," Seulgi told her. "They don't matter."

"They look really sad," Taehyun said. He snorted. "I can't believe they're trying to campaign for Hyeri."

"I know, right? Like, you think that after everything Hyeri did to Seulgi, they'd wake up and see that Seulgi should be Miss Inki. But no, since Sehun is childhood friends with Hyeri, he's obligated to vote and campaign for her," Seunghwan complained. She looked at Jongin with a small smile. "I'm glad that you're in your right mind, Jongin. Sehun needs to understand that sometimes, he needs to leave his friends and vote for the right person."

"Y-Yeah," Jongin stuttered. He felt his stomach churn at the thought of badmouthing his best friend. 

"Well, you didn't really need Sehun in the first place," Taehyun said. He casually rested his arm on Jongin's thin shoulder. "I'm your best friend now, so if you're ever feeling blue, let me know."

"Aw, that's so cute!" Seunghwan exclaimed. "But don't be so chummy because you're going to make my Seulgi jealous!"

Jongin wanted to run. Since when was he "best friends" with Taehyun?

"Let's go karaoke!" Seulgi exclaimed.

"Oh! We can also try to new parfait shop afterwards," Seunghwan added. The two girls and Taehyun began to chatter as they moved away from the halls. Before Jongin disappeared, he glanced at Sehun and Soojung once more.

Again, Jongin thought. He felt something stab his heart. Again, they're together. Without me.

"Jongin, sweetheart! Come on!" Seulgi exclaimed.

Jongin gasped and looked at her. "I'm right behind you…"

He finally disappeared from their sight. Soojung sighed, shaking her head a little at how pathetic Jongin looked. She turned to Sehun, who had a dark expression on his face. She was thinking about comforting him, but decided against it when she checked the time.

There's only ten minutes left, Soojung thought. She grimaced. "We're not going to make it."

"Is it seriously just the two of us?" Sehun muttered. The two lowered their heads, frustrated that all their hard work was for nothing. "…What were you planning to do if Hyeri got nominated?"

"Try to change her image," Soojung said nonchalantly. "Try to make her a better person, or at least to make her seem like a better person." She sighed. "What about you?"

"Me?" Sehun chuckled. "I was going to tell Seulgi that I like her."

"Even though she has a boyfriend?"

"Even though she has a boyfriend," Sehun repeated, nodding his head. "Jongin doesn't even love her anyway."

"And if Hyeri didn't get nominated?"

"Keep quiet because it really is my lost in the end," Sehun said. "If Hyeri isn't nominated, there's no point for me to try to break Jongin and Seulgi up. Right now, she thinks that she's the happiest person alive. If Hyeri was nominated, I wanted her to realize that she still has competition…and that I can make her the happiest person in the world instead of Jongin."

"Cheesy," Soojung murmured.

"Well, don't start cringing," Sehun said. "It doesn't look like Hyeri's going to get nominated, anyway."

The two sighed and lowered their heads. They knew that they were finished. Everyone was practically gone from the school building. Most of the student body was probably heading towards the library or had extracurricular activities. There was no one else who could cast their vote.

Just then, they both heard someone take a slip and scribble it down with pencil. They looked up, noticing Jackson signing the form. Once he filled out the nomination form, he slipped it in the box.

"T…Thank you," Soojung stammered. "Wait, didn't you vote for Seulgi? You two are friends, no?"

"I've been spending all week thinking about this," Jackson started. "It just didn't feel write for me to vote for Seulgi, especially since she abandoned Youngji to be alone. I'm trying to win Youngji back, but she's been resisting because she's waiting for Seulgi to return to her side." He slipped his vote into the box.  "Knock some sense into Seulgi for me, will you?"

Jackson smirked when he saw Soojung's baffled expression. He walked away without saying anything else.

Someone else came over and filled out the paper. Sehun recognized the neat handwriting. He looked and stared, seeing Suzy's serious expression.

He smirked. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you around."

"Of course I'm going to vote for my best friend," Suzy said. "It's not likely that she'll win, but at least this will help give her some dignity."

"Why didn't you vote earlier?"

"I couldn't vote with so many people swarming the booths," Suzy said. "I'd stand out and that would put Hyeri in a threatening situation. A few minutes before the final turn-in was the perfect time for me to vote without bringing any attention." She glared at Sehun. "If you screw Hyeri over, I swear I will have you dig your own grave."

"I promise that I'll take good care of Hyeri and her image," Sehun told her. As soon as Suzy left, Sehun looked at Soojung. 

"That's four votes," he said. 

"We still need one more," Soojung said. "How many minutes left?"

"Two," Sehun said. "Actually, maybe one minute because we need to run to the office and submit this."

"We're not going to make it," Soojung muttered. Sehun made the same dejected look.

Maybe this was it. Maybe Seulgi won and that was that. Maybe this was supposed to happen. Maybe—

There was a soft scribbling on a sheet of paper. The two looked at the person writing on the slip. She submitted the papers and smiled at the two.

"Youngji?" Soojung said. "I thought you voted for Seulgi."

"I voted for the person I thought deserved the Miss Inki position," Youngji said. "I've thought about this carefully and observed the two for the past two weeks. Sure, I'm friends with Seulgi, but I think Hyeri should be rewarded with the Miss Inki title."

"I'm shocked that you're not voting for Seulgi," Sehun remarked.

"I'm still supporting Seulgi. I'd love to see her win, too, but I just felt like Hyeri deserved the position more," Youngji explained. "Either way, I'll be happy for either to win, and I hope they'll be satisfied with the results." She checked her watch. "You have a minute to turn this in to the front office. Can you make it in time?"

Soojung grabbed the box and shoved it into Sehun's hands. "Go."

Sehun scowled. "Why do I have to run—"

"Go!" Soojung ordered. He groaned and started running off, submitting the box just seconds before the teachers stopped accepting submissions. 

Soojung turned to Youngji, who smiled at her.

"Are you sure you're okay with this? You know, voting for Hyeri?" Soojung said slowly.

"Yeah. If I could vote for both, I would, but I can't." Youngji laughed to herself. "Besides, they're both my friends. They'll understand."

/ / / / /

The next morning, Seulgi gnawed her nails angrily as she looked at the list of nominees for the Miss Inki competition. Her name was on there, of course, but the one name she couldn't shake off was her mortal enemy's name: Lee Hyeri.

"I can't believe it," Seunghwan whispered. "Hyeri's name actually appeared."

"I can't believe she thinks she has a chance," Taehyun said, scoffing.

Seulgi whirled around and stormed off. Seunghwan and Taehyun followed after her, trying to give her words of encouragement, to not worry about Hyeri at all. If Hyeri's name had not appeared on the list, then that Miss Inki crown would've been hers without hesitation. The other candidates weren't as popular as her or weren't as deserving. 

But Hyeri? If her name got on the list, then that meant that she still had some popularity left. She wasn't completely crushed, which meant that the title for the most popular girl was still out there. 

It meant that Seulgi's position was threatened.

"Seulgi!" Jongin exclaimed. Seulgi whirled around. She glared at him a little before giving him an awkward smile.

"Hey, sweetheart," Seulgi said. 

"Did you look at the list?" he asked.

Seulgi pursed her lips and made a tight smile. She studied his expression, trying to figure out who he voted her. Being her boyfriend, she knew that he probably voted for her. After all, Jongin wouldn't vote for Hyeri after he sided with Seulgi publicly. 

But what if? she wondered. What if he did vote for Hyeri instead of me? What if he's using me and messing around with me?

"Are you okay?" Jongin asked, noticing her darkened expression.

Seulgi snapped out of her thoughts and let out a nervous laugh. "I'm fine. I'm fine! I guess I'm just a bit…overwhelmed and nervous? I don't know, I didn't think I'd be nominated…"

"What are you saying? Of course you'd be nominated!" Seunghwan cried out. "No one deserves that position more than you and you should know that!"

"Yeah. I know that more than half of the school voted for you," Taehyun added.

But did you two vote me for? Seulgi wondered. She began to feel uneasy about the entire situation. 

"Honestly, I don't even know why the others were nominated," Seunghwan said. She frowned. "Especially Hyeri. God, hasn't she learned her lesson yet?"

"It can't be helped," Seulgi said with a tight smile. "Hyeri was popular for a long time, so people probably want to vote for her over me."

"She was popular," Seunghwan agreed. "But not anymore. Honestly, who would want to vote for someone like her? She has a terrible personality and caused so much drama. It's insane!" Seunghwan fixed Seulgi's hair. "Well, don't worry so much about it. You're going to win and I know." She grinned. "I'm going to make sure that you win."

"Yeah, and I'll tell everyone I know to encourage them to vote for you," Taehyun added. "Jongin has a lot of connection and has a great image, too. He can definitely help you get more votes, right?"

They all stared at Jongin. Jongin made a smile, but it wasn't genuine.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "Of course. Anything for you, Seulgi."

Seulgi looked at him. Did he vote for Hyeri?

Her heart pounded against her chest. She felt her blood run cold at the thought of Jongin cheering on for someone else. It was highly plausible that he would be someone who voted for Hyeri. After all, Soojung was campaigning for Hyeri. It was likely that Soojung probably seduced Jongin into voting for Hyeri, even though Seulgi knew that Soojung was not interested in Jongin.

Or did she know? 

She felt her palms become sweaty. How did Soojung feel about Jongin? She never got a clear answer from her before. Heck, she never even tried to bring up the topic. She was always changing the topic, fearing that Soojung might—even just an ounce—hold feelings for Jongin. 

"Seulgi, are you okay?" Jongin repeated. "You don't look so good."

"I-I'm fine," Seulgi said. Anxiety began to run through her veins. "Excuse me. I'm going to the restroom—"

"Oh, I'll come with you!" Seunghwan exclaimed.

Seulgi placed her hand in front of her. "Um, no. It's okay. I'll go by myself. You guys go to your class. You'll be late."

Seunghwan frowned. She meekly nodded and obeyed. Seulgi looked at Jongin, who stared at her back.

"See you at lunch?" he said.

"Um, yeah. Lunch." She gave him a weak nod and walked away from the group. 

She turned around at the corner and continued to hang her head low until she heard a familiar voice:

"You know, if he's giving you a hard time, there's always me."

Her sneakers squeaked. She froze and turned around, noticing Sehun leaning against the wall. Clearly, he had eavesdropped on all of her conversation. The memory of him suddenly kissing her reappeared in her mind. Her cheeks went red and she looked away. She cleared .

"I'm perfectly happy with where I am, thank you very much," Seulgi said in a tight voice.

"You know he doesn't love you," Sehun pointed out.

"He's still my boyfriend."

"You only have the title. You don't have his heart," he said.

Seulgi, angry, whirled around. "So what if I don't—"

She gasped when she realized that Sehun was standing right behind her. She tried to step back, but he quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her close. Sehun stared at her brown eyes, watching her every move. She immediately turned into a brighter shade of red. She struggled to escape his grip, but he wouldn't let go.

"You're too close!" she snapped. "What if people see? They'll misunderstand!"

"So let them," Sehun said nonchalantly.

"Are you crazy? Let go!" She gave one final tug and he released his grip. She almost fell back until Sehun caught her by the waist. Seulgi felt her heart race as Sehun continued to keep his golden brown eyes on her. "What are you doing?"

"You almost fell," he said, helping her back on her feet. He looked at her. "I'm going to help Soojung with Hyeri's campaign."

Seulgi froze. Soojung was helping Hyeri? 

"S-So? Why are you telling me this?" Seulgi asked, hostile.

"I want you to know," he said. "I want to be honest with you from now on."

"What? Why?"

"Because I like you."

Seulgi stiffened. She could feel her heart pound against her chest. Her cheeks felt hot and she knew this feeling all too well. It was the same kind of reaction she would have whenever she saw or thought about Jongin. The only difference was that she felt this emotion more intensely compared to the past.

"W-W-What?" she stuttered.

"I like you, Seulgi. I want to support you, but I can't support you as long as you're Jongin's girlfriend," he told her earnestly. 

"If you like me, shouldn't you support me?" Seulgi retorted. "Or actually, if you really like me, then shouldn't you be acting as a spy for me?"

"It's because I like you that I'm not supporting you for this," he reasoned. He took a step forward. She stepped back, but she found herself against the wall. She gulped as he neared her. He gently scooped some of her hair, running them with his fingers. She quickly shut her eyes, fearing that he might kiss her unexpectedly again. He smirked and pulled back. "Watch out for me, Seulgi. I'm serious."

He walked away, leaving Seulgi completely flustered and speechless.