Jaebum’s first basketball game for the season is coming up, and Seulgi is nervous. It’s an away game, and she’s already told him to go ahead with his teammates and she’ll just meet him there. She goes with Youngji and Seungwan, carpooling in Youngji’s car, equipped with his jacket to show support. His jersey number is proudly stitched on the back, and Seulgi puts her hair in a bun specifically to show it off.

When they arrive at the rival school’s gym, Youngji shows them where they can sit, and it makes Seulgi laugh because Jaebum wasn’t exaggerating about all the girlfriends of team members sitting and wearing their boyfriend’s jackets. “I feel left out.” Seungwan teases, sitting down next to Seulgi.

“If it makes you feel better, even after sitting in on so many practices, I’m still horrible at knowing the rules. We’ll just have to follow Youngji’s lead.”

“I can do that.”

The teams are doing warm-ups, practicing their shots and such, and Seulgi waves at Jaebum when he glances over. He waves back, a huge smile on his face, and Seulgi’s face feels a bit warm. “So…how much longer are you two going to keep this up?” Seungwan suddenly asks, whispering it into Seulgi’s ear.

“I… I don’t know.”

“You two are kind of cute together.”

“You think so?”

“Uh…yes! He normally gives off this cold city boy vibe, but when he’s around you, he’s constantly smiling. Plus, whenever you two hang out, which is like all the time now, it’s cute seeing your little pictures. I saw the one he took when you two were sharing headphones that day you both went for a walk in the park…so cute! If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you two were the real deal.”

“Well, I guess that makes us great actors, and we were once really close friends.”

“Oh, come on! Be honest with me, would you even consider dating him?”

“I mean… yes, but that doesn't matter. He would probably never like me that way, and it’s just temporary. Nayeon’s relationship is still new, so she’s still extremely interested in Brian, which is fine… she’ll eventually grow tired of him, and before we know it, she’ll probably be crawling back to Jaebum. I give it a month.”

“If you say so…though, if I was you, I’d be making the most out of my time with him.” Seungwan states.

“The game is starting.” Youngji announces, and the girls cheer with the crowd.

Ten minutes into the game, Seungwan is tapping Seulgi on the arm, “What is it now?”

“Isn’t that Nayeon’s new boyfriend??” Seungwan points at one of the players on the other team, that’s trying to steal the ball from Jackson.

“Oh my god, it is!”

“That means Nayeon is probably here.”

“Yes! Maybe you can really make her jealous.” Seungwan giggles, as Jackson passes the ball to Jaebum. “Go on! Cheer for your man!”

“He’s not my man.”

“Everyone else thinks he is.” Seungwan reminds her as Jaebum shoots the ball, watching it swoosh through the net. Seulgi jumps to her feet in excitement, while the boys all run to pat Jaebum on the back for the first basket of the night. Jaebum looks over at her again, and she gives him a thumbs up, while he blows her a kiss, making the other girls on the team coo. “Now there’s no doubt in other people’s minds.” Seungwan laughs, and Seulgi fans her face, trying to cool down. “And I think Nayeon might have caught on now…” She points across the court.

Across the court, it appears like Nayeon is staring directly at her, so Seulgi avoids eye contact. “You think she hates me even more?” Seulgi asks Seungwan who shrugs her shoulder.

“Maybe. I probably would if you dated my ex.”

“Thanks for the reassurance.”

“I mean, who even cares? She hasn’t exactly been your friend lately, and it’s not like she’ll really do anything to you.”

“You’re right.”

Their school ended up winning and Seulgi stood with everyone as the players shook hands before running over to their coach for congratulations. Jaebum then ran over after, “Hey! Thanks for coming.”

“Congratulations on winning!” Seulgi exclaims, Jaebum hugging her tightly. Seungwan did her best and caught a few photos of the moment. “How do you celebrate?”

“Usually with burgers, you down? You’re invited too, Seungwan.”

“Thanks. I’d love a burger.”

“Sit tight, and I’ll come fetch you after I change out of these sweaty clothes.” Jaebum states, tucking stray hairs behind Seulgi’s ear. She nods her head and watches him leave, ignoring the stars in Seungwan’s eyes.

“You two are so stinking cute!”

“Shut up.”

When Jaebum comes to get them, he has Mark following him. “Jackson is going to ride with Youngji, so you two can ride with me. Mark’s coming with us too.” Jaebum silently holds out his hand, and Seulgi grabs hold, intertwining their fingers. They’ve recently been doing this more, various forms of affection coming off more naturally. “Mark, you know Seungwan right? She’s Seulgi’s best friend.”

“I don’t think I do. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

The group of four make their way to the parking lot, passing by other teammates and reconfirming that they would all meet up at their favorite burger joint. On their way to the car, Seulgi tells Jaebum how much fun she had at the game, and how cool he looked scoring all those baskets. “Seulgi!” Someone calls out, causing the pretend couple to pause in their tracks. Seulgi’s eyes widen a bit when she sees Nayeon waving her down, and she quickly drops her hold on Jaebum’s hand. “I had no idea that you liked basketball.” Nayeon smiles, sweetly but Seulgi knows its fake. Nayeon’s arms are wrapped around her new boyfriend, and Jaebum stands a bit straighter, he’s practically the same height as Brian, if you ignore the slight centimeter difference in Brian’s favor.

“Well, yeah, Jaebum’s teaching her all about it.” Seungwan speaks up.

“Oh… really? I almost forgot you two used to be friends. What brings you here together anyway?” Nayeon questions but Seulgi sees through it, “Oh, and this is my boyfriend Brian. He’s the small forward of the team, and he’s also in a band with his friends.”

“Seulgi is my girlfriend,” Jaebum speaks out, “And nice to formally meet you, Brian. Good game tonight.”

“Yeah, it was a good game.” Brian states, and Nayeon’s attention returns to Seulgi.

“I had no idea that Jaebum was even your type, Seulgi.”

“Well, you know… I don’t really have a type.”

“True…but still, Jaebum was the last person I saw you hooking up with.”

“You know, this little reunion is nice, but we should really get going.” Seungwan urges.

“She’s right, we should make it to the restaurant before Jackson goes around telling all the staff that we won our game and tries to get free milkshakes.” Mark adds. “Nice seeing you, Nayeon.”

“Mhm…” Nayeon hums, eyes narrowing in Seulgi’s direction as Seulgi blindly reaches for Jaebum’s hand again.

“See you around at school.” Seulgi waves off, before turning to quickly walk away.

“That was so awkward.” Seungwan pouts, “I can’t believe she said those things to your face! Like who does she think she is??”

“It’s fine,” Seulgi tries to assure her friend as the boys talk to the host for a table.

“It’s not fine! You should show her that Jaebum is your type, and just how unnecessary her comments were. ‘Jaebum was the last person I saw you hooking up with’, like please. She barely knows you anymore.”

“Seungwan, it’s fine.” Seulgi pokes at Seungwan’s cheek, making the other girl simmer down.

“Tables ready!” Mark announces, following the host.

“We’ll talk later.” Seulgi tells her best friend as they follow.

By the time that they sit down, it doesn’t take too long for the other boys from the basketball team to show up, and then the noise level rises steadily. Seulgi sits at the end of the table, Jaebum on her right, with his arm draped over her shoulders. Seungwan is across from her, sitting next to Mark. They all have ordered and are just waiting for their food to be delivered. Seulgi’s sides hurt from laughing so much, because the team is rowdy, with Jackson spearheading all the commotion. “I think our captain should say something.” Jackson stated, pointing over at Jaebum.

“No, I’m good.”

“Come on! Just a few words.”

“Coach already said what I wanted to say earlier, after the game.”

“Just say something else then.” Seulgi prompts.

“Okay…”

“Whipped.” Jackson mutters under his breath, ignoring the glare that Jaebum gives him.

“It’s the first game of the season, and we came out as victors. If we keep this up, we can easily make it to the playoffs which is our goal after a hard season last year. Let’s all continue to work hard at each practice and play our best games in the future. There, speech done.”

“We love you too captain!” Jaehyun teases with Yoo Youngjae.

“Speech done.” BamBam mimics.

“Seulgi! Did you know your boyfriend can fit an entire hamburger into his mouth?” Jackson then questions and Seulgi breaks out into even more laughter.

“What are you saying! I can’t do that!” Jaebum counters.

“You totally can!” Mark chimes in.

“Did you know that he’s ambidextrous? He writes with his left hand, but eats with his right.”

“Why are you all sharing these random facts?” Jaebum questions, embarrassed as Seulgi continues to laugh.

“Seungwan! Share some facts too!” Jackson requests.

“If she laughs too much, she cries.” Seungwan shares, peeking over at Seulgi. “It’s starting now.” Sure enough, Seulgi’s laughter changed to weeping. It made everyone else laugh more, which made Seulgi cry more as she tried to stop laughing as well. Jaebum pulled her close, letting Seulgi hide in the crook of his neck as she calmed herself down. “So cute.” Seungwan teases, starting more hoots and hollers from other guys, who then have to be calmed down by their own girlfriends.

Seulgi peeks up at Jaebum, surprised to find him already looking at her. “Are you okay?” He asks, keeping his voice low. She nods and Jaebum reaches forward, wiping away a stray tear. Seulgi pulls away, sitting up and straightening Jaebum’s jacket on her frame. The food comes out shortly after, giving them relief from their friends’ teasing.

After dinner, and more conversation, they all go their separate ways. Jaebum takes Seungwan and Mark home first, and then Seulgi. He walks her to the front door, and thanks her for coming to his game. “It’s in the contract…” She reminds him, “But I did have fun.”

“I’m also sorry for Nayeon, I didn’t think she would speak to you that way.”

“I can handle Nayeon.”

“We’ve been dating for like… two weeks now. People aren’t really looking at us anymore, but that doesn’t mean we have to get lazy.”

“I understand.”

“… So I’ll pick you and Yerim up at the usual time, right?”

“Yes.”

“Goodnight Seulgi.” Jaebum smiles brightly, opening his arms for a hug. Seulgi returns the embrace.

“Goodnight Jaebum.”

~~ 

“My mom wants to invite you over for dinner,” Jaebum tells Seulgi a week later after school as they walk together to his car.

“Really?”

“Yeah… what do you think?”

“I’d like that.”

“I’d probably cook, so I can pick you up and we can go shopping and then you can help me.”

“I’m not good at cooking, you know that.”

“Yeah, but I’ll be there to help you.”

“Okay, sure… does this weekend sound good?”

“Totally.”

“Ah! That reminds me.” Seulgi stops walking and digs around in her bag for her sketchbook. “I’ve been working on this piece for my portfolio and I wanted to show it to you. It’s not finished but I still wanted to share it with you.” She turns a few pages and then proudly displays a photo. It's a sketch of Jaebum, laughing freely, based off a candid Seulgi took last time they watched movies with Yerim.

“Seulgi…this is amazing.” Jaebum compliments, “You’re so talented.”

“Thanks… it’s one of my favorite photos of you, so I wanted to try and recreate it on paper with some watercolor practice in the mix.”

“It’s really good.” Jaebum reiterates, “Wow, my girlfriend is an artist.”

“Shut up…” Seulgi pouts, getting embarrassed from all the compliments, “Are you doing anything tonight?”

“Nope.”

“Stay at my house for a bit?”

“Would your dad mind?”

“He won’t be home, Yerim has a parent-teacher thing today.”

“Sure, I can stay and keep you company.”

Jaebum has become well acquainted with Seulgi’s home, hanging out here on the weekends if they don’t go out with their friends, so he makes himself comfortable on the couch as Seulgi gets some drinks and snacks for them. When she comes back, taking a seat right next to him, he feels giddy for some reason. Part of him could easily find himself falling for Seulgi, but he always reminded himself that this wasn’t real, and she probably wouldn’t feel that way about him, especially when the premise of this relationship is trying to get him back with Nayeon. It’s just hard because the more time he spends with Seulgi, the more he realizes that Nayeon doesn’t make him as happy. Things are effortless with Seulgi, while he always has to work hard with Nayeon.

Seulgi drapes her legs over his lap as she scrolls through her phone, snacking on some chips she poured into a bowl. Jaebum takes out his own phone, launching his snapchat. He has so many snaps saved, memories of this brief romance with Seulgi, that he’ll be able to look back on. He launches one of the filters, pointing the camera at Seulgi and snaps a photo, typing out a quick caption of ‘chilling with my baby bear’. The line is corny, cheesy really, and though he usually hates cheesy things, he can’t help it around her. “We should do homework or something, but I don’t feel like it.” Seulgi suggests.

“Same, I’m content just sitting here.”

“Let’s listen to music then.” Seulgi quickly scrolls through her playlists, and selects one.

“Let’s also play a game.”

“What game?”

“20 Questions?”

“Okay…” Seulgi sits up, removing her feet from his lap and instead folding them under herself, “Can I go first?”

“That’s your first question.” Jaebum teases, chuckling softly when she pouts. “I’m kidding, go ahead.”

“Why did you decide on getting so many piercings?” Seulgi asks, reaching out to jingle the three dangling from his left ear.

“I don’t know… fit the bad boy image I was trying to portray.”

“You’re way too sweet to be a bad boy. Tsundere maybe.”

“Not everyone shares that same thought.”

“Maybe because you don’t share this side with everyone.”

“Why did you ask about my piercings? Do you not like them?”

“I like them! You kind of make me want to get another one.”

“Really? I’ll go with you!” Jaebum reaches out, tucking some hair behind her ears to examine them, “A second piercing would look good on you.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah…”

“More questions! Uhm…” Seulgi nibbles on her bottom lip, “What made you so interested in Nayeon?”

“I’m not really sure? I remember Choi Youngjae telling me that she liked me, and I thought she was cute, so I figured why not? It seemed like everyone else around us was dating someone then, so I guess I felt like I should too.”

“Oh…”

“How come…you haven’t really dated anyone?”

“Unrequited love appears to be my thing. Every time I developed a crush on someone, the timing was wrong.” Seulgi answers, truthfully, looking down at the frays in her jeans. She begins picking at them, only stopping when Jaebum grabs hold of her hand.

“If I were to ask…would you tell me who else received a love letter?”

“…Probably.”

“Well… who else?”

Seulgi’s playing with his fingers now, refusing to look at him, because this is embarrassing. “I wrote Sungjae one back in grade seven… then I wrote another one for a guy named Taeyong that was in a dance class with me for a summer. Freshmen year, I wrote your letter…and then this past summer, I wrote one to Bogeum.”

“Your neighbor?”

“Also, Joohyun’s boyfriend, yes.” Seulgi frowns.

“Why didn’t you send them when you wrote them?” Jaebum asks carefully. He’s not really sure if he wants the answer, but it’s too late to take it back. He also can’t help himself from wondering what would have happened if she confessed to him back then, it was dated before he dated Nayeon…maybe things would have been different? Maybe this would have been real.

“I wrote them for myself, more than for actually confessing. It seemed cowardly that I could only do so on a piece of paper instead of in person, but I couldn't keep them bottled up. I guess I was saving myself from rejection.”

“Was Bogeum the one you were trying to avoid that day?”

“Yes,” Seulgi nods, finally looking up at Jaebum again, “I still am avoiding him. I’m afraid of what could happen. I wrote the letter because I was forcing myself to get over him. He and my sister were so happy, and I couldn’t stand that at one point I actually thought I would be better for him. I hated myself for a bit because of it, still kind of do.”

“I think it’s pretty brave that you were willing to bare your heart out on paper, even if you didn’t plan on sending them. You have to give yourself credit there.”

“I guess, you’re right…but I still was rejected by Sungjae, and then you. Bogeum too, I’m just not ready to actually hear it.”

“What makes you think you’ll be rejected? Seulgi, you’re amazing, you're talented, you're kind and you’re beautiful. Any guy would be lucky to call you theirs.”

“Even if he wasn’t to reject me, I could never do that to my sister.” Seulgi squeezes his hand, “Enough about this, you pretty much blew through half of your questions. I have one that’s kind of serious.”

“Alright.”

“We’ve known each other since middle school…why did our friendship end after you dated Naeyon? I mean, I knew she didn’t care for me, but I never realized it was enough for you to stop caring about me too.”

“I never stopped caring about you, Seulgi. You still were my friend, but I… I wanted the relationship to work out. Nayeon was so happy with me in the beginning, and I didn’t want to disappoint. So I put my all into our relationship, and unfortunately that meant distancing myself from other friends that happened to be girls. She could get jealous easily, and it’d start fights, and I wanted to avoid those fights… I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings in the meantime. I didn’t mean to.”

“I really missed you, Jaebum. We got along so well as kids, but now we’re different people. We still have a lot to learn about each other.”

“Well… good thing we’re friends again. We can start over, learn all of those new things.” Jaebum smiles, “By the way, have you ever received a love letter yourself?”

“No… no one really writes letters anymore.”

“You do.”

“I still read cheesy romance novels.”

“Would you like to receive them?”

Seulgi pauses, thinking over his words, “Maybe someday, yes I would.” Jaebum opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of a key turning a lock made him stop. “Oh? Appa and Yerim are home.” Seulgi stated, turning the music down and letting go of his hand, standing to greet her family as they entered the house. Jaebum smiled, standing and greeting them as well.

“Jaebum, nice to see you again.” Joonmyun greets, hands full with groceries.

“Would you like some help?” Jaebum asks, taking a step forward to grab a bag.

“Oh no, no. I’m fine. Thank you… are you staying for dinner?”

“Actually… I think I should head out. I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“You’re welcomed to stay!” Joonmyun counters.

“No, I insist.” Jaebum turns to Seulgi, “I’ll be leaving now…”

“Okay, I’ll walk you out.”

“No need.” Jaebum gathers his bags, but before he leaves, Seulgi pulls him close, quickly placing a kiss on his cheek. “I-I’ll text you.”

“Okay…”

After dinner with her family, Seulgi packed the leftovers away to bring to Jaebum during lunch. As she did so, her mind replayed their earlier conversations. They got a little personal during their game of 20 questions, and it made Seulgi happy that they got to share this moment and open up to each other. It did not, however, help their predicament. They weren’t in a real relationship, it was all for show, but it feels more and more real with each passing day. She feels like she’s slowly entering crush territory again the more they hang out, the more they text, the more they post about each other on their social media accounts.

Shortly after Jaebum left, Seulgi posted about him for the first time on her Instagram. It was a series of photos, the first one that displays just so happens to be of Jaebum, but when you scroll you saw photos with others from the basketball team along with her own friends; all taken when they went bowling a few days ago. It didn’t down right reveal that he was her ‘boyfriend’, mainly because she still hadn’t told Joohyun. Honestly, she’s been avoiding all conversation with her older sister, afraid that she’d let something slip. However, this was the start of something. Their act would only become harder from now on, and she hoped she would be able to keep her feelings at bay until it was over.