Wheein's POV:

"Wheein, wait!" I heard Minhyuk-oppa call out, and I turned around to see him with Irene-unnie and Seulgi.

"What's going on?" I asked with my brows furrowed, confused why they'd follow me.

"Come on, we all know you don't really have a date." Seulgi stated.

I smiled, I did expect them to not buy my lame excuse, but still, it was nice of them to actually follow me. Although they weren't who I was expecting it to be; not that I expected anyone specific to follow me or anything; still, I was both relieved and disappointed.

"So where are you heading?" Seulgi asked, her arms are wrapped around Irene's waist and I couldn't help but feel a twinge in my heart because not so long ago, I was secured in Byul's arms the same way.

"I was actually planning to text Taehyung and..." I confessed with a sigh.

"Well, it's a good thing we followed you, so you won't have to do that." Minhyuk-oppa commented before I could even finish.

"I'm glad you did." I said honestly.

The four of us went to restaurant to have lunch together, quickly falling to random conversations, just like old times.

"You know...you have to face Byul eventually, Wheein. You're in the same circle of friends. You can't just pretend that she doesn't exist." Joohyun-unnie stated after I asked where Hyejin and Sowon is.

I noted how she didn't answer my question.

"I know. But its not like we're going to fix this if we talk." I reasoned, because we've done a lot of talking and it always ends up with one of us in tears if not both of us.

"I don't know if I'd call Byul lucky or unlucky because all of you are in love with her. Like, I'm here. Are you guys blind or something? Why aren't you in love with me instead?" Seulgi joked, trying to turn the conversation on a lighter note.

"I'm in love with you, babe." Irene remarked which managed to render Seulgi blushing and speechless.

"You are so whipped, it's disgusting." Minhyuk commented, earning a slap in the arm from Seulgi.

It's hard for me to contain the smile that my lips just formed. I haven't seen Seulgi so flushed, in a long time. It's rare to witness her like this; probably because I barely see her and Irene-unnie act so freely in public, or see them together at all. It hadn't crossed my mind when was the last time we were all genuinely happy.

Come to think of it, Seulgi and Irene were more affectionate before they became a couple than after they became a thing.

"Going back...are you sure, you don't want to talk about it, Wheein?" Joohyun-ssi asked.

I noticed that Seulgi is now more focused on her phone than our conversation, which was pretty unusual because Irene-unnie was already beside her.

"Seulgi, who are you texting? You seem to be consumed in your own little world there." Minhyuk commented, before I could ask her myself.

"Oh." She looked up. "It's Byul." She answered casually.

I kind of guessed it is her so didn't react.

"She's going to come here." Seulgi added.

"Well, did you tell her that we're almost finished with our food?" I asked because I don't think a conversation right now would do us any good.

"She's not coming here for the food." Seulgi stated; which she didn't have to say, by the way, because all of us know.

"I thought she was with Yongsun-unnie?" I asked which caused the three of them to look like deers in the headlights.

"AND Sowon and Hyejin." Seulgi emphasized- more like lied, because it was obviously not true. I don't believe that Hyejin would willingly eat lunch with Yongsun-unnie and Byul in the same room, let alone in the same table; it just doesn't seem right to me after what transpired the last time.

"You don't have to lie to me, Seulgi-ssi. I appreciate it, but don't." I stated firmly, trying to let the truth come out.

"How'd you know?" Minhyuk said before Seulgi could say another excuse, causing both Joohyun and Seulgi to look at him disapprovingly.

"It doesn't matter." I sighed. "It's okay, it's normal for them to talk." I said trying to act like it wasn't a big deal. And it really shouldn't be a big deal; they're best friends. Friends shouldn't get jealous when their friends talk to their other friends; I should probably start doing the same.

"No, its not." Seulgi disagreed.

"So you're saying we're not friends anymore?" I retorted.

Seulgi raised her eyebrow. "What I mean is that, you shouldn't say it's normal, when you're obviously affected by it." she explained.

"Well, what do you want me to say?" I asked, crossing my arms defensively.

"Friends should also tell each other their problems, no matter how big they are." Seulgi points out. "So I think-" she stopped when Irene held her hand.

"Is it okay if she comes?" Joohyun-unnie asked me, making sure that I'm not being forced into anything.

I offered her a grateful smile. "Honestly? I don't know, but knowing her, she'd go to my house later anyways, so I don't know?" I know how persistent Byul can be sometimes.

"I'm sure if you say no, she would respect that." Irene-unnie answered.

"Can you do that for me?" I asked, hoping to delay my inevitable conversation with Byul. To be honest, I don't know what I'm supposed to say to her.

"Of course we can." Minhyuk-oppa replied. "Although..."

"Hey." I heard Byul greet shyly as she approached the booth we were seated.

"Byul, you're already here." Irene said, acknowledging her presence. "We were just talking about..." she trailed off, looking at me as if asking if she should tell Byul that I'm not ready to talk yet.

"Have you eaten yet?" I asked, genuinely concerned, I'm not sure if Yongsun-unnie and Byul decided to eat or not, and its past lunch time.

She shakes her head. "You should probably order." I said signaling them that it's okay.

"We should probably leave you two then," Seulgi said. "Irene and I have things to talk about too." she reasoned.

"And I'm going to find Sowon and Hyejin." Minhyuk said, bidding their farewell right after paying the bill.

"I thought you were going to eat lunch with the others?" I asked casually, pretending not to have any idea, while she sat across me.

She sighed, before answering. "It doesn't matter."

She seemed guilty about something which makes me rethink my decision; maybe this really isn't a good idea.

"Of course it does." I answered.

"Yongsun insisted that we talk." She answered briefly, not really giving me concrete answers. At least she didn't lie to me about it.

I didn't know how to react so I settled for a simple question, "What did you two talk about?"

Friends talk to each other about their potential girlfriends, right?

"Let's just talk about us. Please?" She requested, but her not wanting to talk about what their conversation makes me even more curious about it.

"Byul-unnie, there's no 'us' anymore. We broke up, remember?" I tried to say casually, but my voice failed me when it cracked in the end.

"Wheein-ah" she said sternly. "You can throw away that label of 'us' all you want, but not our relationship." Something in her demeanor