The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

John 1:9

To say Seulgi was pissed was an understatement.

When she first saw the news, she was merely shocked. In disbelief. She briefly wondered if this was some sort of sick April Fools joke by Dispatch, but before the thought could really comfort her, she realized Dispatch, though a source of gossip rather than actual news, wouldn't joke about something like a dating scandal. It would piss off a lot of people.

But in the end, by telling the truth, Dispatch still managed to piss off Seulgi.

She pressed the home button to get out of the Internet browser, unable to look at the article or pictures for much longer. She tapped the messaging app and then his name, about to type angrily when she suddenly stopped. Rationality asked what she would even say to him. It asked if she would type in a serious tone or an angry one, if she'd type curtly in a professional manner or jokingly in a best friend manner.

Best friend.

God, she's never hated that label more than how she hated it now.

In the end, after moments of indecision, Seulgi thought, "oh whatever," and typed a message to her so called best friend. Well, actually three messages after she decided one wasn't enough.

Yah, why didn't you tell me, you noob
11:56 AM

I thought I was your best friend :(
11:56 AM

You have a lot of explaining to do, mister!
11:56 AM

She was tempted to type more but realized she'd seem like a nagging best friend if she did, so with a lot of self restraint, she turned her phone off and tried to go back to practice.

When she kept messing up, one attempt after another, her patience wore thin and she cursed herself for checking her phone earlier during her break. She knew her mind and heart were still troubled after the revelation that her best friend was dating someone and he didn't even bother to tell her.

Next time, she grumbled to herself in her head, I'm never touching my phone during practice.

Yet she couldn't help her eyes from falling onto her silent and unmoving mobile. Why wasn't he responding?

Seulgi shook her head. No, focus. She had to focus. Taking in a deep breath, she began the music and positioned herself for her routine when the door suddenly banged open.

“Seul, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you oh my god, I was sworn to not tell anyone and--”

She quickly got over her shock and held up a hand to quiet her slightly out of breath friend.

“Whoa. It's...fine, Jongin,” she said quietly, giving a small, reassuring smile. And she was sort of telling the truth. Her anger had subsided during her practice and any lingering feelings of it dissipated the instant she noticed how panicked he seemed.

“No, it's not,” he argued. “You were right. You're my best friend, and you should have known.”

For a moment, she was silent. Then she asked, “Did Sehun know?”

At the mention of their other mutual friend, Jongin bit his bottom lip. Seulgi wished he didn't do that. “Yeah, but only because he's my group mate and he lives in the same dorm as me so he knew sooner. I'm sor-”

“I said it's fine, Jongin,” she cut him off exasperatedly. Hearing him apologize hurt for some reason, and she couldn't figure out why.

“But still--”

She stopped him with a glare. Then she looked down, and she sighed before she could force herself to look at him again.

“So how did you guys start dating? I mean, I knew about your crush on her, but I never expected the Princess Jung Soojung to look at a peasant like you,” she joked because that was the only way to temporarily ignore the pain.

She expected him to punch her for her teasing or laugh it off or something, but she definitely wasn't expecting him to smile and get a dreamy glaze over his eyes.

“Honestly Seul, I don't know how it happened. I still don't believe it happened.”

Seulgi still couldn't believe it happened either (a tiny bit of her refused to).

“One day, we were just talking and then, I offered to take her out to a cool place that I knew, and she replied she'd like that, and she smiled at me with that smile-”

“Jongin.” Her stern tone snapped him out of his happy daze.

“Sorry,” he replied sheepishly. They were friends for so long, she didn't need to say more for him to know what she wanted, which was to get to the point.

“Anyway, that one time we hung out was just so great, we made plans to hang out again and again until our group members pointed out they weren't hang outs, but dates.”