That morning, all DIA members huddled around Jooeun, eager to hear every little detail about her date with Jonghyun last night.

Jooeun told them about the date, watching their starry eyes light up with fascination as the story unfolded.

The DIA members absolutely loved hearing the inside scoop about Kim Jonghyun. According to what Jooeun had told them, Jonghyun was shy and nervous, but still put in so much effort to please her. For them, he was almost too good to be true.

Truly, Jonghyun was a very good person, and Jooeun felt lucky to have him. He was almost perfect, but not quite there yet.

Jonghyun tried very hard to please her, but he was still awkward since the start, and that made the night less than perfect. She didn’t tell her members though, and instead she let them revel in their image of Jonghyun as the perfect mate who was sweet, sensitive and wonderful in bed (which he wasn’t).

Jooeun honestly felt like Jonghyun only went through with that whole night because she initiated and he didn’t want to turn her down. He was still prude, still shy and unkempt with matters related to ual pleasure. But he knew that she wanted this, and carried along for her. She appreciated that he was trying, but she wanted a person who was a lot most open about such things.

She didn’t tell her members that though. It would have made the story a lot less romantic.

She also didn’t tell them about how they found Jonghyun’s ex-boyfriend sleeping on the stairs outside…

Minhyun made her feel self-conscious sometimes. Jooeun was aware that Jonghyun still loved him; he had warned her of that since they started seeing each other again. He had promised her that they were keeping a distance though, which was the only reason that Jooeun decided to get back together with him in spite of it.

Still though, she hated feeling like she had to compete with Hwang Minhyun.

-

Hello, this is Pledis Entertainment.

Regarding the photos being spread online of Ong Seongwoo and Kang Dongho: the two are only friends. Dongho was only helping Seongwoo, who was under the influence of alcohol, into his room. He left shortly after.

Apparently, this had made things worse, because the reporters said insisted that Baekho absolutely did not leave the love suite. Netizens were wondering why Seongwoo was going into a love suite to begin with, and demanded a statement from Fantagio.

Fantagio released the following statement:

Hello, this is Fantagio.

Seongwoo was under the influence of alcohol yesterday, and he had drunkenly requested a love suite. Kang Dongho was only helping him and left later that night.

But the problem was that Baekho never actually left, and that there were reporters by the dozens waiting outside the hotel waiting to catch a snapshot of Baekho in order to prove that he did indeed spend the night there. Which meant that Baekho was stuck in that room until the reporters cleared so that the companies aren’t outed as liars and the whole things blows over in their face.

It was a huge mess, and a huge blow on both Seongwoo and Dongho’s images. It seemed like no one believed the companies’ statements. To the public, the situation was clear as ice: Ong Seongwoo and Kang Dongho spent the night in a love suite together. There was nothing to mistake.

The hotel manager had called the room and apologized for all the of discontent that the media had caused them, and told them they could stay in the room, free of charge, for however long they desired until the press cleared. He also offered free room service.

But not even free food could cheer Baekho up.

Seongwoo didn’t seem to mind the whole scandal much, but Baekho did. Baekho had an image to uphold; he was the y noona-killer, the idol that older women flailed over and loved. The fact he spent the night with a pretty boy did not help that image at all, and judging by the comments, his noona fans were not very happy.

If it were true what they were accusing him of, maybe it would have bothered him less. But it wasn’t true, and that’s what drove him crazy and made this entire scandal so unfortunate.

At this point, Seongwoo and Baekho were just two sad and stressed out idols caught in a scandal and stuck in a room together. As Seongwoo was still dealing with the heartbreak of a break-up that didn’t even happen yet, Baekho dealt with the stress of a scandal that was definitely going to be a blow on his career.

They didn’t talk much, spending most of the time on their phones reading comments and feeling worse and worse about themselves.

At one point, Seongwoo’s phone rang, and Baekho looked over Seongwoo’s shoulder and saw that it was Minhyun calling.

“Are you gonna answer that?” Baekho asked when Seongwoo didn’t look like he had the intention of picking up.

“No,” Seongwoo mumbled. “I don’t have the strength to face him now.”

“Just pick up and break up with him. Get it over with,” Baekho urged.

Seongwoo let out a heavy sigh, but he heeded Baekho’s advice and hesitantly picked up.

“Seongwoo… how are you?” Minhyun said when he picked up.

“Fine,” Seongwoo replied abruptly, not wanting to prolong this longer than it needed to be.

“I’m calling to check up on you,” Minhyun continued, “and to apologize for ditching you last night. I didn’t know you got us a hotel room...”

Seongwoo pouted; he hadn’t wanted Minhyun to find out about the hotel room, but now that the whole of Korea knew about it, Minhyun did too of course. Seongwoo felt so stupid paying so much for the room just to please someone who chose to break up with him that same night.

“Why did you ditch me?” Seongwoo asked, even though he knew the answer would hurt.

“Can we talk about that later? In person?”

“I actually don’t want to talk to you anymore,” Seongwoo stated. He knew he was being harsh, but it was the only way he could go about this. “I want to break up with you, Minhyun. Right now.”

Minhyun fell quiet on the other end of the line.

“Thank you for the past year and a half we spent together,” Seongwoo managed to say despite his trembling lips, “but I really don’t want to be with you anymore.” He then hung up, because he felt like he wanted to cry, and he didn’t want Minhyun to know that.

The tears came out as soon as he hung up though, and so even though Minhyun didn’t see them, Dongho did. Seongwoo rushed into the bathroom before Dongho could see any more weakness from him.

-

When Seongwoo hung up, Minhyun felt like had lost something very precious.

He knew the end was coming, but he didn’t expect that it would come from Seongwoo. He didn’t expect that it would come so soon. He didn’t expect it would end on the phone, without a proper goodbye or closure.

Seongwoo had given him many unforgettable memories, and it was hard to come to terms with the fact it was all over. Overcome with a sense of loss, his heart felt heavy and he was tempted to text Seongwoo, to get something more from him. Because it couldn’t just end like that; it felt so wrong for things to end like that. At least he should have been given the opportunity to apologize properly.

But when he opened the chatroom with Seongwoo and read the last message from him, he felt like an absolute that didn’t even deserve to apologize.

“I love you,” Seongwoo had written just yesterday. “I can’t wait to spend time with you tonight.”

Feeling even more awful, Minhyun couldn’t bring himself to apologize anymore. He just wished he could go back in time and change everything and spare Seongwoo and himself all of this. It was hard to think that he had caused so much heartache to someone he cared about.

He felt like he had failed Seongwoo the same way he had failed Jonghyun when he ended a three-year-long relationship with him. He was simply a failure at relationships; he always hurt the people who loved him.

It took a major toll on him that day, and he felt like he couldn’t talk to anyone. When Aron and Ren came to ask him about what happened, Minhyun said he didn’t want to talk about it and locked himself in his room.

Minhyun was not the kind of person who ever “didn’t want to talk.” He was not the kind of person who ran away from his problems; if something bothered him, Minhyun always voiced his concerns, but this time, his head was not in the right place.

“What is wrong with him?” asked Ren, narrowing his eyes at the door that Minhyun locked in their face.

Aron tried knocking on the door and calling out to Minhyun. After trying for about five minutes, he gave up, hoping that Minhyun would come out to talk when he was ready.

But hours passed, and Minhyun didn’t come out. He stayed locked in his room for a very, very long time, and Aron was getting concerned.

He figured that if no one else could get through to him, surely JR would.

JR had been afraid to try and talk to Minhyun and overstep the carefully-set boundaries between them. But he couldn’t just let Minhyun lock himself in the room like that. For that reason, he decided to step in, but not as Minhyun’s friend, rather as his leader who was concerned about the group.

“Minhyun, open the door,” he bade softly when he knocked.

Minhyun still didn’t answer.

“If you don’t open, I’ll break it,” he threatened with as much firmness as he could manage. “Open the door now.”

“Please JR,” Minhyun finally answered. “I just want to be alone today.”

“Open the door,” JR insisted firmly once again, until finally Minhyun unlocked the door.

When JR opened the door, he saw Minhyun with one earphone in his ear. He looked sad­– very different from the regular happy-go-lucky, bright Minhyun.

It was hard to see him look so sad.

JR closed the door behind him as Minhyun took a seat on the floor beside his dresser. From the looks of it, Minhyun had been reorganizing the clothes in his drawers while listening to music before JR came in.

“Tell me what’s bothering you,” JR said brusquely as he stood over him

Minhyun continued folding clothes, completely ignoring JR.

“Is this about Seongwoo and Baekho?” JR pushed. He knew it had something to do with them, but he couldn’t guess exactly what about them was bothering him so much. He couldn’t possibly believe that something happened between the two, right?

Minhyun closed his eyes and let go of the t-shirt he was in the middle of folding.

“What?” JR asked. “Talk to me, Minhyun,” he pressed.

“JR, please,” Minhyun said through heavy breaths, “I don’t want to talk. Just leave me alone, okay?”

JR was not a firm leader most of the time, but he was when he needed to be. When Ren would laze off during practice, or when Aron would drink too much, or when Baekho would let his tongue run loose… JR had it in him to set them straight with strict resolve. Thinking back, Minhyun was the only member with whom JR never felt the need to be firm. Minhyun was always well-mannered, always positive, always hardworking, and never had JR felt the need to scold him. Until now.

“You shunned Aron and Ren when they wanted to talk to you. You locked the door and ignored Aron when he tried to see what’s wrong with you. Right now, I’m speaking to you, and you’re barely even making eye contact with me,” he said with as much authority as he could. “As the leader of this group, I’m concerned right now.”

“As the leader? What about as my friend?” Minhyun muttered back. “Because I really don’t want to talk to you as my leader right now.”

“If you want to talk to a friend, I’m sure Aron-hyung is willing to be there for you.”

The implication of those words was much harsher than JR intended. It seemed to affect Minhyun a lot too; his face visibly dropped, and then he lowered his head and wouldn’t raise it again.

“Please leave,” Minhyun said, eyes still downcast. “If you insist, I’ll talk to Aron or Minki. I would rather talk to my friends than my co-worker after all.”

“I didn’t mean that…” JR trailed off.

“I know you mean well, JR,” Minhyun continued, “but talking with you will only make me feel worse.”

“Why don’t you just try me then?” JR asked as knelt on the ground and leveled with Minhyun. His voice was calmer and less authoritative. He dropped the plan to fix this as ‘a leader,’ and now all he wanted to do was be there for his Minhyun as a friend.

When Minhyun didn’t say anything, JR continued: “you know I love you, right? You know I care about you more than anything. If you want me to break all the walls I built between us for now to be here for you as your friend, I will.”

Finally, Minhyun lifted his head to look at JR. After a brief moment of eye contact, he said: “Seongwoo broke up with me.”

JR froze.

JR had always hated that Seongwoo and Minhyun were together. He had subconsciously always wanted them to break up, but for some reason, in spite of those longings, this break-up only made JR’s heart hurt.

Minhyun must be so heartbroken, and that made JR feel awful.

“I… I don’t know what to say,” JR said.

“Don’t say anything,” Minhyun replied. “Just you being here is enough.”

JR nodded. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around Minhyun, who willingly leaned into JR’s embrace.

-

“Okay, I really need to pee,” Baekho called through the bathroom door. Seongwoo had been in there recovering from his breakup for nearly an hour now, and Baekho had been holding it in all that time waiting for Seongwoo to finish. However, it now came to the point where he couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“I’ll close my eyes,” Baekho promised jokingly. “I won’t see you cry, I swear. I just want to pee!”

Seongwoo opened the door and finally came out, nose pink and eyes bloated. Baekho thanked him and hurried inside do his business. When he came out, he found Seongwoo flipping through the television channels.

At this point, both of their phones were dead and neither had a charger, and so the television was the only thing they had to pass the time. Baekho thought it was good for both of them to not have their phones at the moment; it meant they would be disconnected from all the toxicity on the Internet for a while.

Baekho took a seat on the bed beside him, watching the comedy show that Seongwoo had chosen to watch.

The show wasn’t all that funny, but Baekho chose not to say anything because it seemed to entertain Seongwoo well enough, as he smiled occasionally while watching it.

When the commercial break rolled, there was an awkward silence that Seongwoo filled by asking him: “you won’t tell Minhyun I cried, right?”

“I won’t,” Baekho promised. “But if he asks and I lie, he’ll see right through me.”

“I don’t think he cares enough about me to ask,” Seongwoo muttered. “So that won’t be a problem.”

“Trust me, he cares a lot,” Baekho said. “For the past two years, I’ve been telling him how much of an you are, and he would always scold me and tell me to stop being so judgmental and get to know you first. To be honest, the only reason I ever tolerated you was because you obviously made Minhyun happy, whether you see it or not.”

Seongwoo’s eyes lit up when Baekho said that; he seemed glad to know that Minhyun cherished him, and it made Baekho feel even more sorry for the guy. He really loved that noisy big-head, didn’t he?

It wasn’t good to keep talking about Minhyun, because obviously thinking about Minhyun was only making the smitten ex-boyfriend even sadder, and so Baekho tried to change the subject and cheer him up. “Besides Minhyun, Daniel also praises you a lot…”

Seongwoo raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued. “What does Daniel say about me?”

“Ask him that,” Baekho shrugged. “Actually, before he travels away tonight, talk with him. I feel like you two need to have a long heart-heart conversation…”

Seongwoo eyed Baekho curiously, but nodded his head.

“I actually also need to talk to him,” Baekho suddenly remembered with a grin. “He owes me a date with Jisung’s sister.”

Seongwoo narrowed his eyes. “What?”

“We made a deal. He said he’d introduce me to Jisung’s sister if…” Baekho trailed off. If you and Minhyun broke up within a year.

“If what?” Seongwoo asked when Baekho didn’t say anything.

“If I lost 3kg,” Baekho lied. He was not going to tell Seongwoo the truth and remind him of Minhyun just when the guy was starting to think about something else.

Seongwoo could tell a liar when he saw one. Mostly from the way that Dongho said it, but also from the fact that he totally did not lose 3kg. If anything, he gained weight. Not that Seongwoo was keeping tabs or anything, but Dongho’s biceps were definitely not that defined before, and so he definitely gained some muscle weight.

“You’re telling me that you lost 3kg?” Seongwoo crossed his arms.

“I should have known not to lie to the infamously perceptive Ong Seongwoo,” Baekho grunted. “But is it really that obvious that I gained weight? Do I look fatter?” he asked with a pout on his lips as he recoiled self-consciously.

“Not fatter. Stronger. You seem to have way more muscle now since you started working out with Daniel.”

Baekho was very pleased to hear that. “I can’t believe you noticed,” he said with a small smile.

“Of course I noticed,” Seongwoo scoffed. “My gay eyes always notice the attractive body parts of other men. Like the biceps that smothered me in my sleep last night…”

Baekho smiled, bit his lip, and shook his head, not knowing how to respond to something like that.

“Oh my God, are you blushing?” Seongwoo pointed his finger at Baekho’s flushed cheeks, smirking in triumph for being able to do that to the big old Kang Dongho.

“No,” Baekho claimed, but his flushed cheeks involuntarily failed him.

“You’re totally blushing!” Seongwoo sassed. “How I love making straight men blush!”

“I’m not blushing,” Baekho insisted. “I’m just glad someone noticed the result of my efforts, that’s all.”

“Trust me, Dongho. Your efforts show very well. Take it from a very perceptive gay man who has an eye for these things. You know, I noticed your biceps from day one. I’ve always thought you were the second most attractive member of NU’EST.”

“Only second? I’m offended,” Baekho bit back.

“Yeah, second. Sorry, but no one can beat NU’EST’s number one, top visual. I mean have you seen Kwak Aaron?” Seongwoo joked, making Baekho burst out laughing.

Seongwoo smiled; he felt like it had been a long time since he made someone laugh like that.

When Baekho’s laughter died down a bit, he said: “you’re a funny guy, Seongwoo. If we didn’t have that brawl two years ago, I think we could have been good friends.”

Seongwoo knew exactly the brawl that Dongo was talking about; it was kind of like the elephant in the room that neither wanted to talk about because it went back to a very painful part of Dongho’s life. But now that Dongho brought it up, Seongwoo felt the need to acknowledge it: “I’m sorry, by the way,” he apologized, “for threatening you back then.”

“I accept this apology,” Baekho told him with a nod. “We’re good now.”

“The irony is that I was still the one who ended up ruining your image though,” Seongwoo noted flippantly. “Because of me, people no longer think of you as a lady’s man. Now, you’ve got whole forums of people online talking about how you’re into dudes.”

“I have experience dealing with untrue rumors,” Baekho replied with a shrug. “Also… it never mattered to me before, but now it does for some reason: I want you to know that the girl who accused me two years ago– she really was a liar.”

“I know,” Seongwoo said with a nod. “Minhyun told me, and he didn’t even have to. Contrary to what you think, I never hated you or thought you were an , Dongho. You were important to Minhyun, and I knew Minhyun would never be so close with a jerk.”

“Well, I’m not gonna lie, but I hated you,” Baekho responded, making an effort to veer the conversation away from Minhyun again.

“Past tense?” Seongwoo noted with a small grin.

“Yeah… past tense,” Baekho relented, smiling.

“It’s a shame that this heart-to-heart bonding didn’t happen when me and Minhyun were still together. Minhyun would have been really pleased to hear that me and you started to get along…” Seongwoo trailed off as he thought about Minhyun. That stupid big-head would never get out of his thoughts, would he?

“Let’s order ice cream,” Baekho suggested when he noticed Seongwoo’s expression dim at the mention of Minhyun. “It heals all broken hearts,” he added, grabbing the room service menu from the bedside counter.

Seongwoo nodded, inching closer to Baekho to have a look at the menu.

For the rest of that day, Seongwoo and Baekho just ate ice cream, watched television, and talked. With no phones to distract them and only one another to entertain them, the time actually went by relatively fast. They bonded over music, jokes, and making fun of Minhyun, and realized that they had a lot more in common than they originally thought (especially in the making-fun-of-Minhyun department).

Eventually the hotel management was able to sneak them both out of the hotel from the back garage where all the supply trucks were parked, and they were able to leave the hotel undetected by the paparazzi waiting outside for them. The manager himself drove them away and dropped them off at their respective companies, apologizing for all the trouble the hotel’s lack of security had caused them.

Generally, it was a very bad day for Seongwoo: Daniel was travelling away; his year-long relationship with a man he still loved ended; and he was caught in a serious scandal that was sure to impact the rest of his career. But despite all of that, Seongwoo was okay– because even though he lost a lover that day, it felt like he also gained a friend.

A/N: I’m a very bad author that doesn’t keep her promises well. I’m sorryyy... my excuse is writer’s block (and Ramadan!)