It didn’t take many days for Seulgi to regret ever agreeing to Joohyun’s suggestion.  The full length “Addict” had really taken off, and Sunmi was everywhere on social media again.  Seulgi was resisting contacting her, but every time Sunmi’s smiling face showed up on her instagram feed she broke a bit.  “This is ridiculous!” she fumed to herself.. “I love her.. I should be able to see her.. Be with her.. Hold her in my arms.. “ she closed her eyes, reliving the experience of having Sunmi so close, her scent enveloping her, her warmth transferring everywhere their bodies touched.  But she knew she couldn’t see her in private yet, so she gritted her teeth and realized she had to settle for knowing that they would both be at the same live show again tomorrow. She was still annoyed that Joohyun had been able to always make sure they weren’t taping the same time as Sunmi anymore, but also understood that she was just looking out for her and the others.  And sure enough, as soon as she opened instagram, another picture of Sunmi showed up, this time with more of a pout than a smile.. Seulgi smiled and inadvertently ran her finger over the lips on the picture.. “Wow, you really like that picture, eh” Wendy said jokingly, her voice surprising Seulgi from behind.. “Don’t tell me you have gotten soft for her, Seulgi”. Seulgi shook her head, relieved her blush wasn’t visible at this angle. But she also realized she really needed to start telling the others too, but was stuck mentally on who to tell first.  She just knew it wouldn’t be easy.

Seulgi couldn’t help feeling nervous as she entered the studio for the live show, since she knew she would run into Sunmi sooner or later.  And it didn’t take take long before she noticed her in the waiting room, her silver dress shimmering in the light. Seulgi felt Joohyun’s hand grab hers as she led them to the opposite side of the waiting room. But Sunmi noticed them and headed over to their side. As she approached, Seulgi could see Joohyun give Sunmi a serious stare, which caused her to hesitate a bit before she approached anyway, waving at the others but reaching out her hands, which Seulgi grasped briefly, before letting go, but long enough to instantly miss the warmth of her touch.  As they were all called to the stage, things got a bit crowded, but Seulgi felt a hand run cross her back and shivered when she noticed Sunmi had just passed by her. As they got to the stage everything soon became blur as the announcer let them know that Really Bad Boy had just won their second Inkigayo award. Returning to the changing room exhausted after their encore performance, Seulgi noticed an envelope with her name it on the bench. Thinking it was something tied to their win, she opened it excitedly, only to stop in shock as she noticed that they were photographs of her and Sunmi kissing, from what must have been security camera footage. She quickly put the pictures back in the envelope, but then noticed a note that said that unless she paid 100 million won per instructions to follow by Friday, the pictures would be leaked to the press  Seulgi covered in dismay, and realized that things had just gotten very complicated indeed.

“Wow, winning really must have gotten to you this time, Seulgi”, Joohyun said as she approached Seulgi, who quickly tried to dry away her tears.  But as she got closer her expression changed as she must have noticed Seulgi wasn’t crying tears of happiness. Joohyun looked both ways, and then led Seulgi into a side room. “Seulgi, what’s wrong? I know you miss her, we will figure something out soon” she added after she closed the door behind them. But Seulgi just shook her head and felt the tears well up.  She noticed she was still holding the envelope in her hand. For a brief moment she wondered if she should keep it to herself, but then realized if anyone could help it was Joohyun. Hesitatingly, she handed the envelope over to her, gritting her teeth in preparation for the response. Joohyun opened the envelope and looked at the content, her expression changing from concern to anger. “Oh hell no.. “ she sneered. “This is unacceptable! Come with me.. “  She grabbed Seulgi’s arm and pulled her with her out into the hallway. Seulgi quickly dried her tears with her other arm. “Seulgi, go wait in that office” she said firmly, and then headed down the hallway. Seulgi went in and sat down in one of the chairs, inadvertently starting to bite her fingernails in frustration. About five minutes later a combination of surprise and happiness washed over her as she saw Joohyun come in with her hand on Sunmi’s back.   “Okay, you two need to talk, I’ll be back in 10 minutes or so, but I’ll be outside the door pretending to be on my phone making sure no one enters. Just try to remain calm”. However, seeing Sunmi just a few feet away made Seulgi nothing but calm, and the seriousness of the situation didn’t help either.

“Seulgi-ah!” Sunmi exclaimed as soon as the door closed, and reached her arms out in a familiar gesture.  Unable to resist, Seulgi stood up and wrapped her arms around Sunmi’s waist, and rested her head on Sunmi’s shoulder. “Joohyun explained what happened on the way over here..” Sunmi said, in a more serious voice than Seulgi had heard before. “She also told me what she thought we should do, but what do you think?” Sunmi said softly, running her hand through Seulgi’s hair. Seulgi took a deep breath and realized she was being quite immature about this, and looked up into Sunmi’s eyes. “I love you, Miya.. “ she said, surprising even herself. “I love you too, sweetheart.”  Sunmi responded, before kissing Seulgi’s forehead gently. “I don’t want to hide it, but.. “ Seulgi continued, her voice trailing off. “I don’t want to either, but we will have to be careful.” Sunmi responded quietly. “But I think Joohyun has a plan that might work” she added with a thoughtful expression. Seulgi look up at Sunmi inquisitively.” I will let her explain it when she comes back. “ Sunmi finished, supportively, leaning her forehead against Seulgi’s. Seulgi hugged her tightly, and closed her eyes to make the anxiety go away, and felt the weight of it lift almost magically as she felt Sunmi’s soft lips against hers. “Maybe it really will be okay”, she thought optimistically, feeling that nothing could wrong as long as she could be in Sunmi’s arms.