Joohyun-unnie was the one who fell in love first.

At least that’s from what I can tell.

I remember when I first noticed them. It was when we were trainees, I was new back then but for one reason or another, I ended up getting included in a project group made up of ten girls who are all my seniors in the company. In fact, the only other person that I actually knew back then was Sooyoung, who got accepted around the same time as I did so we share a lot of dance classes together.

It was there, when I was sitting with Sooyoung inside a practice room filled with intimidating senior girls (half of which are younger than me), that I first saw the two of them.

I’ve heard of them before that, everybody has. Kang Seulgi, the legendary trainee who’s been there longer than everybody else and Bae Joohyun, the eldest female trainee with a face that belongs to the movies.

The already tense room tightened up even more as soon as they entered. We all know what a project group means, we might start together, but not all of us are going to survive until the end. And there wasn’t even a guarantee that the ‘end’ will be a debut, we might just get dissolved again in favor of a new project group. But still, it’s something. It’s still a battle of wills and determination.

And the two people who had the biggest chance of making it just entered the room.

“Damn, she really is pretty,” I hear one of the girls whisper to her companion while gesturing not so subtly at Joohyun-unnie.

The other girl scoffs, “I’ll do better with debuting with actual talent than just being a pretty face.”

The temperature in the room seems to drop even more as soon as she said that. Nobody is looking but I’m pretty sure everybody heard what she just said. Including Joohyun-unnie and Seulgi.

“Speaking of,” the girl continues, seemingly oblivious of the icy atmosphere. Or maybe she’s just doing it on purpose, “Seulgi! Why don’t you sit over here where you belong?”

The way she says it makes it clear that Joohyun-unnie isn’t invited.

I watch as Seulgi looks up with a blazing look and speaks clearly, ignoring Joohyun-unnie’s restraining hand on her arm, “Last time I checked, Joohyun-unnie ranks higher than you for the dance monthly evaluation, Chanmi. So I don’t think you should be saying those kind of things.”

The girl, who’s apparently named Chanmi, gapes incredulously before scoffing and slamming her earphones in her ears.

There’s a beat of silence before another girl, who looks no more than thirteen years old but seems to exude an aura of seniority with the way she plops down easily beside Joohyun-unnie and Seulgi, lets out a loud cackle, “That was awesome, Seulgi-unnie. I was waiting for someone to push her off her high horse.”

Seulgi snorts at the girl while Joohyun-unnie just blushes beet red, “Knock it off, Yerim.”

I watch as the three of them converse. Or more like Seulgi and Yerim talk while Joohyun-unnie stares at Seulgi with something akin to admiration.

And something more.

I said that Joohyun-unnie fell in love first.

And I’m sure of it then as I watch her eyes turn to honey as Seulgi lets out a laugh at something Yerim said.

She never took her eyes off of Seulgi the entire time they were there.

•••••

Joohyun-unnie fell in love first. But she’s also ultimately better at hiding it.

As soon as we debuted as Red Velvet, I barely catch Joohyun-unnie’s longing looks and hearts for eyes anymore. She’s always been a professional. And I admire her for hiding her heart so that the team dynamics won’t be damaged.

So things go smoothly (an oversimplification, since our debut days were anything but smooth but that’s a different story altogether) and we get to have our debut, our first comeback, and our second comeback.

At some point, I thought they’ll be stuck like this forever, with one of them pining by herself while the other remains oblivious.

Until Joohyun-unnie gets casted to host Music Bank with Park Bogum.

It goes well for the first few weeks. But then it becomes super evident that the two of them have phenomenal chemistry together and it’s not long before news outlets pronounce them the ideal couple and you see pictures of them together everywhere.

Then Seulgi starts getting grumpy. She starts to ignore everyone, especially during Friday's where she would lock herself in her room and blast loud music as a sign to not be disturbed.

The two maknaes thought she’s just having a late rebellious stage. I know better. Because I can recognize these symptoms when I see one. Especially when she started avoiding Joohyun-unnie like the plague.

It goes on for a few weeks and I actually contemplated intervening because it’s going to be our comeback soon and it won’t work out for them to be fighting while we’re promoting. And also because I was getting tired of seeing Joohyun-unnie’s brokenhearted face whenever Seulgi evades her.

As it turns out, I didn’t need to. One day, Joohyun-unnie asks me to take the two maknaes out for a day with a Please, Seungwan. I just need to talk to Seulgi for a bit.

Needless to say, I didn’t need much convincing.

We come back to the two of them happily cooking dinner together, looking euphoric. It’s the first genuine smiles that I’ve seen from the two of them in weeks, though both their eyes has a hint of red. I’m positive that they were both crying earlier but I’m not too worried, especially when I see Seulgi stealing some food from the stove and Joohyun-unnie punching her affectionately in retaliation.

The maknaes stare at the two of them, looking confused at the sudden reigniting of their friendship but they both just take it in stride and head to set the table (though Yerim has a knowing look in her eye and I remember that she’s known them both far longer than I did).

I remember asking Joohyun-unnie, who had been wearing something different before I left this morning, “Joohyun-unnie, why are you wearing a turtleneck? Are you going out?”

I take it from the way Joohyun-unnie turns tomato red and the way Seulgi smirks smugly that I really don’t want to hear the answer to my question.

“Nevermind. Let’s eat.”