When Joohyun came back into the room, Seulgi was sitting sideways in Sunmi’s lap, her head resting on Sunmi’s shoulder.  With a business-like look on her face, but a somewhat pained expression in her eyes, Joohyun sat down across from them. She shot Sunmi a questioning glance, and Sunmi nodded knowingly.   “Okay,” Joohyun started, patting her knees. “Here’s the deal. A few of us in the industry have been planning this for a while, but in light of this recent development, we might need to accelerate the announcement..”  Seulgi looked at Joohyun with a confused look on her face, having no idea where she was going with this. But as she was about to continue, Sunmi put her hands on her cheeks, agape. “Wait, Joohyun.. I just thought of something we could do first, to make the announcement easier!”  Seulgi looked at Sunmi now, feeling equally confused. Joohyun also gave her a bemused look, tilting her head slightly. Sunmi put her hand on the top of Seulgi’s head and ran her fingers through her hair. “Sweetheart.. How about we perform Heroine together at the KBS song festival in two weeks?”  Seulgi sat up and looked into Sunmi’s eyes, covering in excitement. “That would be amazing! I love that song.. And I would love to do it with you..” she started happily, but then hesitated, remembering there were some dance sequences in the MV that would be exciting but scary to do with Sunmi on national television.  “...But do you think we could do that? “ she continued cautiously. “Don’t worry.” Sunmi said reassuringly, grasping Seulgi’s hands in hers. “I had already talked about doing it with Daehwi, but I am sure he won’t mind if I add you to the performance. He was super excited just to be asked in the first place” she finished with a grin.  Seulgi nodded, “Yes that makes sense” she said thoughtfully. “You two can dance, and then I can join in after the chorus..” But before she finished, she noticed Sunmi shaking her head. “No, Seulgi-ah..” Sunmi said, her face now quite serious. “I want to do the dance segment with you, not Daehwi.. If we are going to be together they might as well start getting used to seeing us together..” she finished. Seulgi felt a warm blush spread across her face as she heard Sunmi’s words about being together, and all she could do was nod happily in agreement. She was realizing that the worst day of her life somehow was becoming one of the best.

Seulgi showed up at the dance studio early, but still a bit tired, not having been able to sleep much the night before.  She was wearing her baseball cap and a mouth mask for disguise, as the announcement of the collaboration wasn’t out yet, but she was looking forward to maybe one day not having to hide every time she interacted with Sunmi off stage.  However, she felt a bit like hiding today, knowing she would be working in close proximity with her. Seulgi was wearing her favorite sports top and track pants, with her hair in a ponytail, and felt pretty good about her appearance, but she had to admit her confidence always waivered a bit the closer she was to meeting Sunmi.  Today was no exception, as she felt herself get shy when she first saw Sunmi’s beaming smile as she entered the studio room. “Seulgi-ah!” Sunmi exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air excitedly. Seulgi, still a bit nervous about public displays of affection, looked both ways briefly before letting herself get enveloped in a warm embrace. “I am so glad we are doing this!” Sunmi said excitedly, rubbing her hands together with childlike glee.  Seulgi could feel her nervousness melt away now the she was actually interacting with Sunmi, as she always made her feel like she mattered. It took Seulgi a bit to notice that Daehwi was also in the studio, but she made sure to give him a polite bow. She could tell right away that he seemed happy to be here, and his wide smile to her made her realize he was okay with her joining them for this performance. “I am actually a big fan of you too,” he told her humbly with a bow. “It’s an honor to be able to do this with the two of you. I promise I won’t get in your way” he added with a shy smile.   Seulgi couldn’t help but blush at that, realizing she would be working closely with Sunmi with an audience, but then remembered what Sunmi had said a few days earlier about this just being the beginning, and let herself relax again.

Seulgi wiped the sweat off her brow after the third repetition of the the early part of the choreography, and was relieved to finally get a thumbs up from the choreographer.  She bit her lip in anticipation, remembering that next they would rehearse the parts with her and Sunmi together. She saw Sunmi standing ready on the other side of the stage, and was amazed how she could look so good in just shorts and baggy sweater with her hair in a top bun, before taking a deep breath and going through her moves, ending them with her hand resting on Sunmi’s shoulder while turning her head dramatically. She swore she could feel Sunmi’s heartbeat through her fingertips, and took a deep breath, before moving into the next pose where Sunmi moved in from behind and ran her hand down in front of Seulgi with an intense look on her face.   Seulgi shivered involuntarily at having Sunmi’s hand just millimeters from her chest, albeit just for a brief moment. Seulgi couldn’t help wonder what people watching on television would think, but also didn’t really care anymore. As the choreographer praised them for completing the routine, Seulgi breathed a sigh of relief. She felt even better when she felt Sunmi’s arms wrapping around her from behind, and her voice in her ear whispering how she had done a great job. She leaned back, and let any doubts about doing this on live television drift away.

Half an hour before the actual performance, Seulgi felt some of the doubts creep back. She put her fists together and rested them on her chin and took a deep breath.  A gentle hand on her shoulder startled her a bit, until she noticed it was Joohyun, looking at her with a concerned smile. “Are you okay, Seulgi?” she said in her sooth, calming voice. “I know this might be a bit scary for you, but don’t let anyone ever make you doubt yourself about Sunmi.  You deserve to be happy, and you deserve her. And I will always be here for you if you need someone to remind you.” she finished with a wistful smile. Seulgi thought she could see some sadness in Joohyun eyes, but it was always so hard to tell with her. Reassured, she headed towards Sunmi’s dressing room, wondering how Sunmi was feeling.   However, as she got closer, she immediately heard Sunmi’s distinct laugh, and when she looked in, she saw that, rather than being nervous, Sunmi was casually playing a charades game with Chung Ha. As they finished, Sunmi gave Chungha a big hug, and Seulgi couldn’t help feeling a stab of jealousy, but then reminded herself that the other two were good friends, and that she would have to get used to Sunmi hugging other girls.

The closer it was to the key dance sequence during their live performance, the more Seulgi could feel her heart beating faster.   She focused intently on her moves and singing, but knew all eyes were on her. Memories of the blackmail pictures flashed through her mind, but she felt proud that at this point, rather than hiding from the fact, she was almost literally embracing it. As Sunmi moved in behind her and completed the hand movement in front of her, grazing the front of her shirt just barely, Sunmi felt like a burden lifted, as they had just showed the world audience that they weren’t afraid to be real,   Leaving the stage on a performance high, Seulgi found herself in Sunmi’s dressing room. Chung Ha was there already, and had her jacket on ready to go, but then Sunmi decided she wanted to continue her charades game.   Seulgi laughed and couldn’t help but shake her head at how adorable her girlfriend was.  However, she paused briefly when she realized she had just thought of her as that. Still keenly aware of the cameras filming for Sunmi’s behind the scenes show, Seulgi joined in on the game, and the more she guessed right, the more the sheer joy in Sunmi’s face made her forget all about the cameras probably catching every time Sunmi gave her another hug.  At this point, Seulgi didn’t even care, and realized she was ready for whatever it was Joohyun had planned for them to do next.