The cold winter air whipped against Seungwan’s cheeks as soon as she was out of the subway station. She walked the short distance home with hunched shoulders, trying to bury as much of her face as she could under her scarf. Once she was safely inside, she wasted no time waiting for Joohyun. She had left work late and her neighbour must be cosy at home by now. Following suit, she hurried to her own apartment, rushing inside to find three women on the sofa. It was at least one more than she’d expected to find.

Thankfully, her body continued moving on auto-pilot and she simply walked by them with a wave, stepping into the bedroom to change from cold outdoors clothes into warm, fuzzy pyjamas, slippers and a nice robe on top. It was only when she walked back into the living room, stopping to pet Mr. Fluffers since he showed no sign of wanting to leave the bed, that she began to wonder why Seulgi sat with Yerim and Sooyoung.

“Hey, Seulgi. Did we have something planned?” She assumed her friend had come to wait for her and run into the two younger women who frequently sequestered her apartment to take advantage of its warmth, quiet and entertainment system. Seulgi looked at the two, sitting on each side of her, and shook her head.

Seungwan’s brow furrowed and she began to feel a twinge of fear. After Joohyun’s strange behaviour with Byulyi, her friend had nearly talked her ear off, insisting that it meant something. Something good. In the worst-case scenario, it was further evidence of Joohyun’s growing interest in love and romance, a sign that she was beginning to pay attention and perhaps want something for herself as well. She might just start noticing a little of the world around her, Seulgi insisted optimistically, oblivious to the panic that rose in Seungwan’s chest at the thought.

She shut Seulgi down before she could get started on the best-case scenario, unwilling to even entertain whispers of jealousy and possessiveness soothed only by the knowledge that Byulyi was already taken. Nothing good could come of seriously considering such a possibility. She only foresaw disappointment if she actually managed to convince herself that there was something to it.

Regardless, here was her best friend, surrounded by the two demon children, looking at her expectantly, and what else could it possibly be? “This isn’t another intervention, isn’t it?” she asked, a little afraid to hear the answer.

Their reaction was unexpected, as Seulgi gazed at her with confusion while Sooyoung’s eyes widened with surprise and amusement and Yerim looked vaguely displeased. “Not everything’s about you, Seungwan,” the youngest pointed out with a raised brow. “We were just hanging out.”

“Oh,” she replied, her instinctive fear retreating and leaving only puzzlement behind. She sat on the arm of the sofa by Sooyoung’s side. “Um, why?” she finally asked, a little timidly.

“Are you asking why people hang out?” Yerim deadpanned, and Seungwan felt vaguely chastised.

“Yeah, sorry, I should have expected that all my friends would magically befriend each other and hang out without me,” she pointed out, aiming for sarcasm but apparently missing her mark as Yerim only nodded in agreement.

“Anyway, we should get going,” Sooyoung intervened, patting Seungwan’s leg as she rose from the sofa. “We’re late for a party.”

Seungwan eyed her questioningly, but she only turned to Yerim. “Saeron invited us,” the youngest provided cheerfully. “It’s mostly people from the theatre department, but there’s a hot tub so…” She trailed off with a shrug, like no further elaboration was needed.

“A hot tub?” Seungwan asked with a slight grimace.

“Yes, what about it?” Yerim asked warily.

“Nothing, they’re just really unsanitary. I wouldn’t get into a hot tub at a party if I were you.”

Yerim rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed. “Okay, dad. I’m sure we’ll live.”

“You say that because you don’t know the things I’ve done in a hot tub,” Seungwan said suggestively. She wasn’t usually this open with her past experiences, preferring to keep her tragic romantic history to herself, but she’d broach the topic if it meant she got to see the shock on their faces. It was priceless.

“Oh, ew, come on!” Yerim immediately complained loudly as Sooyoung scrambled to get as far away from Seungwan as possible. Seulgi didn’t move from her place in the sofa, her expression landing somewhere between amusement and surprise.

She settled for a smug smirk, shrugging as she studied the two women who huddled on the other side of the sofa. Their eyes were narrowed and Yerim’s lips curled into a sneer of displeasure.

“I think you’re bluffing,” Sooyoung finally said, pointing an accusing finger in her direction. Seulgi followed the exchange like she was watching a tennis match. “I think you haven’t done anything in a hot tub.”

She tilted her head, accepting the possibility. Sooyoung was right, of course. But that wasn’t the point. “And how confident are you about that?” she asked with what she was sure to be an infuriating grin. Sooyoung wavered.

“Don’t do it,” Yerim cut in, pushing Sooyoung back with her arm. “We have too much to lose.”

 Seungwan laughed at her dramatic words and even Seulgi risked a chuckle, although her face was a little red at the topic. She finally slid down from the arm of the sofa to sit more comfortably, leaning down to pick up Totoro and settle him between her legs.

“You know, just because you’re not a sad like we thought, it doesn’t give you the right to torture us like this,” Yerim grumbled once it became clear that neither Sooyoung nor Seungwan were going to pursue the topic.

Seungwan looked up from where she’d been playing with Totoro’s arms, moving them up and down like he was dancing. “Okay, first of all, the concept of ity has no biological basis, it’s just patriarchal propaganda,” she began, waving her stuffed friend’s right arm in Yerim’s direction like he too judged her usage of such a charged term. By her side, Seulgi nodded absently. “Second of all, did you seriously think I was completely inexperienced? I’m a grown adult.”

“So is Joohyun,” Sooyoung pointed out with a shrug.

“That’s… Okay, yeah,” she admitted quietly. Seulgi patted her shoulder in a show of support.

Yerim’s phone buzzed and her eyes widened almost comically as she studied the screen. “We are so late!” she exclaimed, tugging on Sooyoung’s sleeve. “Come on, we don’t have time to reassure Seungwan that she doesn’t look like a ,” she added, heading resolutely towards the front door.

Sooyoung turned around to wave awkwardly when she was already halfway out of the apartment, dragged along by Yerim. She smiled as Seungwan and Seulgi mumbled amused goodbyes.

“So, you guys are friends now?” Seungwan asked in the silence that followed. At least from Seulgi she could expect an explanation, rather than complaints, insults or plain old glares that insisted that somehow she was the one to blame.

“I… actually, I wanted to talk to you about that,” Seulgi admitted with a nervous voice, turning around to face her more fully. Her eyes darted around Seungwan’s face, like they always did when she was worried, and Seungwan felt something give way in her chest. With her head so full of Joohyun, had she missed something?

“When you found out that I was sending you on bad dates and we got it all out in the open, I felt really relieved that I wasn’t keeping that secret anymore. I hate keeping secrets, especially from you,” Seulgi admitted slowly, her nose wrinkling at the thought. Seungwan knew that her friend could keep something to herself if it were really necessary, but she avoided it at all costs.

“But there’s another secret?” Seungwan guessed, since it seemed like the only logical conclusion. She wasn’t mad; it made no sense to jump to conclusions before Seulgi had made her case, but it still felt a little strange. She wasn’t used to secrets between them.

Seulgi frowned, tugging at the sleeve of her jacket. “I wanted to tell you right then, get it all over with, but it wasn’t just my secret,” she continued with a frown. “I had to talk to Yerim and Sooyoung first, they’re the ones who asked me not to tell you, but they said it’s okay. They didn’t want to cause any problems between us.”

Seulgi’s smile was fond and it only raised more questions. Was the secret their sudden friendship? Or was there something more? Something going on all along, something that the two youngest didn’t feel comfortable sharing with her? For a moment, she got an idea of how Joohyun must feel when she was left out of their plans. Of course they were allowed their privacy, but it still felt a little like a betrayal.

“So, uh, we’re friends. Me and Sooyoung and Yerim,” Seulgi said decisively, smiling brightly as soon as the words were out. For once, Seungwan had landed soundly in the best-case scenario. Nobody was pregnant or dying or trying to kick her out of the group. They were just secret friends. She almost sighed with relief.

“That’s it?” she asked with some surprise. “They really thought they had to keep that from me?”

“Well, originally they contacted me because of you and Joohyun. They put me in this group chat with them because they wanted to know more about you and maybe get me to help them bring you two together?” Seulgi started, not sounding very confident. “It was a little confusing, honestly, but they made me promise not to tell you about it. Anyway. they stopped trying to interfere after Joohyun’s intervention and then the chat just kind of became a place where we talked about whatever. They’re really funny, actually, they post all these funny pictures and memes and stuff.” She seemed ready to carry on gushing about how the demon children were so entertaining, but Seungwan held up a hand to stop her before she got too carried away.

“After Joohyun’s intervention?” she asked, brows furrowing. Seulgi only nodded. “That was months ago! How long have you been talking? How did they even get your number?”

“You know when I met Joohyun at the diner?” Seulgi began, and Seungwan had some trouble stifling an affronted yelp. That had been ages ago! “Well, I gave her my number in case she needed anything and I guess she gave it to Yerim and Sooyoung and they added me to their chat.”

Seungwan sat in stunned silence, jaw working but no sound escaping . “And they never thought to tell me?” she finally managed to wheeze out. “I thought we were friends.”

“Well, I guess they just didn’t want you to see that side of them. We talk about a lot of personal stuff, things that they might be embarrassed to share with you,” Seulgi said diplomatically, but it just made Seungwan feel even worse. She really was the dad of the group. They would come to her when nobody else could help but they wouldn’t ever get comfortable and treat her like one of their own.

“But they told you,” she said in a small voice, because everything else felt too complicated to articulate. And really, who was she to complain about it when all along she’d known that this was how they treated Joohyun and she’d never tried to change it? Or maybe not, because at least Joohyun had known about Saeron before Yerim showed up with her in tow.

“Oh, Wannie,” Seulgi said slowly, reaching forward to pull her hands away from where they clenched around patches of Totoro’s fun. She brushed them gently with her thumbs, trying to catch Seungwan’s eye. “Those two really look up to you, you know? They want you to see them at their best, not when they’re all nervous about asking a girl out.”

“Yerim got nervous because of Saeron?” Seungwan asked, perking up at the comment. Seulgi nodded with a grin. “I guess I lose the moral high ground if I about it, huh?” she joked. Mostly.

When Seulgi only continued looking at her expectantly, she knew she couldn’t joke her way around the issue. “I just… I don’t really get why they’d look up to me. I’m a mess,” she concluded, gesturing around the room like the very walls bore witness to the disaster that was her life.

“You’re someone who always listens and comforts them and offers to help however she can. You know what to say to cheer them up and you make them laugh when they need it. You’ve been through a lot and you learned from it and you use that experience and that knowledge to give them good advice. I can see how they’d be impressed,” Seulgi added with a giggle, amused by Seungwan’s shock.

“But I don’t know what I’m doing,” she replied simply, unsure how she could possibly explain how much she should not be looked up to.

“Nobody does, Wannie. But you do it anyway, you keep trying. Not everybody is that brave.” It all sounded wrong, describing her with things like “brave” and “impressive”. Sure, it came from Seulgi, and she always had good things to say about everyone, but was Seungwan really supposed to believe that Yerim and Sooyoung thought the same?

Seulgi poked her arm, trying to pull her away from her thoughts. “Sooyoung thought it was really cool that you would tell her about your past relationships like that.”

“What, that I would willing humiliate myself?”

Seulgi flicked her forehead at that, switching from gentle to forceful at Seungwan’s continued refusal to take a compliment. “No, that you would open up without hesitation, even if it’s such a charged topic,” she said with an eyeroll, too dramatic to be caused by genuine exasperation. Seungwan couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across her face at her friend’s efforts to cheer her up and Seulgi took it as a sign to ease off the praise, well aware that there was no point in pushing too hard with Seungwan.

“You know, when you told me how you two had talked at the party, when she snuck off to your place, I got super nervous,” she admitted, letting her hands drop on Totoro to make him sway gently from side to side. “I thought she’d told you about the group chat and you were going to be extra mad at me for hiding all those secrets.”

“Wait,” Seungwan said simply, her brow furrowing as a new question rose to her mind. “If you guys have been friends for months, why were you so weird about coming to the party?”

“I wasn’t lying about that,” Seulgi rushed to explain, dropping the toy in a flash to shake her hands vehemently in denial. “It’s just that Yerim had her girlfriend and Sooyoung was upset and I’m actually not that close with Joohyun. I really did think it might be a little weird to go,” she concluded with a shrug.

“I guess that makes sense,” Seungwan said slowly. “I’m glad you guys weren’t just putting on some act for my benefit,” she added with a laugh. Then she perked up, an idea coming to her mind.

“Does this mean you know who Sooyoung likes?” she asked mischievously. “Or liked, maybe? She said she was over it.”

Seulgi’s face fell at the question. “Wannie,” she whined, dragging out the word.

“I know, I know, you couldn’t tell me even if you did,” Seungwan accepted easily. “It’s up to her to decide whether to tell me, or whatever,” she grumbled on.

“Did you ever ask?” Seulgi pointed out gently, and only then did Seungwan realize that no, she really hadn’t. She’d asked whether it was one of them, but she’d never prodded further. Her shoulders slumped at the thought. “I’m sure she’d tell you if you did. Sometimes we’re just waiting for someone to ask,” Seulgi added wisely.

Seungwan sighed, letting the words wash over her. She felt unusually unobservant, like she’d been so busy focusing on her own issues that she hadn’t noticed the way the rest of the world kept moving. She didn’t like the thought. How could she be a good friend if she didn’t even know what was going on in Seulgi’s life?

“I can’t believe you guys have been friends for months and I never noticed,” she huffed out, setting down Totoro with care so she could lean across the sofa and rest her head on Seulgi’s lap. “What was I thinking?”

“It’s not your fault, Wan-wan,” Seulgi said kindly, like she’d seen right past the attempt at lightness and into the insecurity in Seungwan’s heart. “It’s like I was saying the other day. There’s lots of stuff happening right in front of us that we never notice.”

“But I want to notice,” she whined, poking at Seulgi’s leg.

“You can’t,” Seulgi exclaimed with fake horror. “Not all of it! Your head would explode.” She raised her hands to her head to mime the event, smiling at Seungwan’s giggles.

“You know, speaking of exploding heads…” she started with a smirk, but Seulgi smacked her shoulder before she could suggest watching any scary anime. She was sure she could find one with head explosions, too. “Maybe next time, then,” she said instead.

Seulgi smiled brightly, her eyes shrinking to tiny crescents, and Seungwan couldn’t help but return it whole-heartedly. She might not be a very good friend, not nearly good enough for Seulgi, but her friend certainly seemed to like her the way she was. Maybe that was enough.

(…)

(Seulgi POV)

It felt a little strange to be in Joohyun’s apartment without Seungwan. The action felt like less of a betrayal now that Seungwan knew all about her friendship with Yerim and Sooyoung, but there was still a part of Seulgi that told her she shouldn’t be here.

As if she’d read her mind, Sooyoung leaned over to squeeze her knee reassuringly. On the other side of the sofa, Yerim immediately seized the opportunity to pull out her phone and try to send a text before Sooyoung’s attention returned to her.

The friendship between those two was an odd thing. Seulgi remembered being surprised at the way they traded insults back and forth, looking almost vicious until she realized that it was their own way of showing affection. These days, she knew enough to understand that when Yerim called Seungwan a sad she was actually showing that she saw her as a friend, in a way. Of course, it would work better if Seungwan understood that too.

“You okay there?” Sooyoung asked in a low voice while reaching out her free arm to smack Yerim’s hands away from her phone. Seulgi’s face contorted into something halfway between a smile and a grimace.

“Are you sure it’s fine for me to be here?”

She looked back at Joohyun, who paced in front of the sofa, clearly waiting for her friends to settle down. She seemed eager to get into some serious topic that Seulgi wasn’t sure she was entitled to listen in on.

“You’re our friend, too,” Sooyoung replied with an eyeroll. She squeezed Seulgi’s knee one more time then released her hold, a reassuring smile on her lips. “Seungwan doesn’t get to monopolize you.”

Sooyoung was a little better at handling people. Yerim was more skittish, like she was embarrassed that anyone would know she cared. Apparently that wasn’t cool. But Sooyoung, while perfectly happy to play along with Yerim’s banter and deliver some pretty vicious insults herself, was also capable of showing a more vulnerable side. She’d show people she cared if that was what they needed, sometimes even at her own cost. In that way, she reminded Seulgi of Seungwan.

“But Joohyun barely knows me,” she continued, her lips squeezing into a small pout. Sooyoung reached out to pinch her cheek, making a show of cooing at the cuteness, then patted it a few times like she was trying to snap Seulgi out of it.

“You’re our friend, so she’s fine with it. She trusts our taste,” she said like it was obvious. Seulgi looked up at their host, not very convinced, but Joohyun only smiled at her and nodded gently, prodding them to finish up their conversation. She didn’t want to keep Joohyun waiting, so she didn’t ask any more questions and just settled back with a nod of her own.

“First of all, hello Seulgi, it’s nice of you to join us. Feel free to drop by anytime,” Joohyun began pleasantly, and Seulgi returned her wide smile with enthusiasm. “So, I’ve gathered you here today because I wanted your help with something.”

Sooyoung leaned closer again. “Welcome to the couch monologues,” she whispered in Seulgi’s ear. She pulled up her legs to sit more comfortably and followed Joohyun with a somewhat distracted gaze, like she was only half paying attention.

“As you will recall, I recently had the pleasure of entertaining Seungwan’s new friend, Byulyi. She was also Seulgi’s friend, I think,” Joohyun added as an afterthought, nodding towards Seulgi but not actually making eye contact.

“What are the couch monologues?” Seulgi asked after a moment, a bit afraid of interrupting whatever was going on. Thankfully, Joohyun didn’t seem to notice she’d spoken.

“Our own little natural phenomenon.”

Yerim leaned over, placing a hand on Sooyoung’s thigh and shifting her weight onto it, eliciting a yelp of complaint. “I think she goes into a trance,” she offered with enthusiasm before Sooyoung pushed her away.

“Apparently, Seungwan looked at some photos of Byulyi and her girlfriend and knew they were in love right away,” Joohyun carried on obliviously. “I looked at them as well, but couldn’t find what was so obvious to her.”

Seulgi opened , taking a breath, but Sooyoung’s hand landed on her shoulder before she could speak. “Don’t bother,” she said simply, her eyes still on Joohyun. “She never listens.”

“Well, even if she’s a little stubborn – “

“No, you misunderstand. She literally doesn’t hear us.” Looking up at Joohyun, who seemed completely unaffected by their hushed conversation, Seulgi began to understand what Sooyoung meant.

“I’ve come to the unfortunate conclusion that I don’t actually know what love is like. Or what it looks like, I suppose,” Joohyun concluded with a chuckle. Her eyes swept over the occupants of the sofa without really acknowledging them, but Seulgi nodded anyway, just in case. She didn’t want Joohyun to think nobody was listening.

Sooyoung had shifted away and was now closer to Yerim, whispering something reproachful as the youngest woman leaned strategically away in an attempt to keep her phone out of Sooyoung’s reach. It was a futile effort, of course, because her arms were much shorter, and soon they were both struggling for possession of the device. Yerim was at a clear disadvantage, but she made up for it with ferocity.

In the meantime, Joohyun’s speech continued and Seulgi was torn between paying attention to it and trying to intervene in the fight taking place by her side. “When Byulyi told us about her girlfriend, I was so happy for her. But clearly, even though I’ve grown more interested in the topic of love, I still have no practical experience with it. This lack became glaringly obvious when I looked at those photos”, she said placidly, not bothered in the least by the scene unfolding in front of her, which was about one chokehold away from a wrestling match.

“Stop texting your girlfriend,” Sooyoung demanded, her voice growing inadvertently louder as she was distracted by her efforts. Yerim had raised a knee to keep her at a distance and Sooyoung was attempting to flip her on her side to remove the obstacle. If she fell off the sofa entirely, that would just be an unfortunate consequence, or at least Seulgi assumed that was her reasoning.

“I would ask those two, but I doubt either of them would want to discuss their personal experience, especially with me. And you, well, I assume you have none,” Joohyun continued, and Seulgi was startled to realise that she was addressing her directly. Looking away from the conflict, she found Joohyun looking straight at her with a small smile. Unsure whether she should alert the other two, and a little afraid of getting between them, she only nodded slightly to confirm Joohyun’s assumption.

“Yes, unfortunate. I could always ask Seungwan but…” She paused, frowning as she thought of this option. “She doesn’t like discussing those things with me and I wouldn’t want her to misunderstand and think I was trying to meddle again.”

Joohyun seemed a little down at the memories, so Seulgi offered a reassuring smile. She was encouraged by Joohyun’s attention and hoped that she could be of some help guiding her to a conclusion. The woman in front of her smiled back.

“I can see why Seungwan likes you so much, you’re a good best friend to have. You have a very positive presence,” Joohyun said, and Seulgi felt immensely flattered. She grinned shyly, feeling her cheeks warm up. Meanwhile, Joohyun grew sheepish, looking at the floor for a moment. “I know that you are each other’s best friends, and I wouldn’t dare to question that, but… I consider Seungwan to be my best friend,” she finally admitted with apprehension, like she was worried that she was overstepping some line by admitting this so brazenly to Seungwan’s own best friend.

Seulgi was about to reassure her that this was fine when a flailing arm nearly hit her on the face as the battle over Yerim’s phone moved closer to her side of the sofa. Yerim quickly pulled her arm away, trying to recover her balance after she’d crashed into Sooyoung. The taller woman raised a leg to Yerim’s stomach and tried to push her away, both her hands wrapped around the phone that Yerim had now almost let go. With a grunt, they rolled away again, Yerim pulling her head up to bite Sooyoung’s arm. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Joohyun followed the action with an amused smile, then looked back at Seulgi conspiratorially. “I love those two, but they can be a little tiresome,” she said good-naturedly. Seulgi acquiesced easily, although she had to admit that they weren’t usually this intense. They must have let go a little under the assumption that Joohyun wasn’t paying attention.

“With Seungwan, it’s just… easier,” Joohyun added thoughtfully. “Although I don’t know whether the feeling is entirely mutual. I can think of a few times when I’ve certainly been difficult,” she said with a small laugh, even though her eyes reflected more uncertainty than humour.

Seulgi looked cautiously at the two women beside her. Sooyoung held Yerim’s head at bay with a forearm under her chin, while the youngest hesitated between keeping both hands firmly on her phone or releasing one to help pull away Sooyoung’s arm. They looked busy enough, so Seulgi thought it might be safe to actually say something. Just in case, she leaned forward, closer to Joohyun.

“Don’t worry,” she said softly, her eyes immediately darting towards the duo to test the effect of her words. Neither seemed to have noticed, so she turned back to Joohyun. “She’s crazy about you,” she finished with a wide smile.

Joohyun seemed shocked at her words at first, silently blinking as she digested them, to the point that Seulgi was afraid that she might have revealed too much. She’d meant to share Seungwan’s platonic affection for Joohyun, which was definitely overflowing, but had Joohyun misinterpreted it?

As the older woman’s features melted into shyness, punctuated by a small pleased smile that fought to spread further over her face, Seulgi realized that her fears were unfounded. “I really like her too,” she admitted with reddened cheeks. “You know, I started getting out of work a little earlier to run into her on our way home. She’s such a homebody; if I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t see her for the whole week!” she exclaimed, like the very possibility was painful to consider.

Seulgi’s lips curled into a smile of their own volition. She recognized those impulses, the blushing and the shy smiles. Joohyun was almost as bad at hiding them as Seungwan. Her heart nearly burst with happiness at the thought, her joy so infectious that soon Joohyun was smiling widely as well, shyness somewhat subdued.

“It’s strange,” she carried on cheerfully, and Seulgi didn’t have a lot of experience with these couch monologues but she had the feeling that Joohyun had snapped out of it a while ago and was just chatting by this point. “You’re Seungwan’s closest friend and we get along just fine. But somehow, all I could think when Byulyi was around was that she wasn’t good enough, deserving enough of Seungwan’s attention. Until she distracted me with all that talk about her girlfriend, that is.”

Joohyun shook her head like she was puzzled by the thoughts, which surely had no logical explanation. Seulgi leaned forward, smiling soothingly.

“Joohyun?” she began gently, sparing only a quick glance at the two women, who had finally stopped fighting and were now arguing in angry loud whispers. “Do you know the difference between liking someone and… liking them?” she asked, emphasizing the word the second time around to make her meaning clear.

Joohyun’s eyes widened with curiosity, all her attention on Seulgi, and she shook her head eagerly. “I used to think it was just wanting to kiss them. But then I realized that’s not it,” she started slowly. It was a little ironic that she was the one to talk about this, when all her experience had been obtained through second-hand accounts. But somebody had to do it. “It’s wanting them to be yours, just yours, in a way that they aren’t with anyone else,” she concluded. She hoped she wasn’t getting it all wrong, but regardless, it felt like it might be what Joohyun needed to hear to connect the dots.

Yerim and Sooyoung seemed to have finally settled their issues and Yerim texted her girlfriend amidst grumbles that Seulgi couldn’t make out but she assumed were about Sooyoung’s rough handling of her precious phone. Sooyoung herself looked over the youngest’s shoulder and snorted at whatever it was she was typing, probably expressions of affection, considering Yerim’s quickly reddening face. Seulgi wondered whether they had pet names for each other. She found it hard to think of one that wouldn’t have Yerim cringing in disgust. Then again, if Saeron said it, she probably wouldn’t have such a problem.

Neither of them noticed the way Joohyun stood frozen, mouth opening and closing with no sound coming out of it, eyes furiously attempting to blink away confusion without much success. Then her brow furrowed, like she was almost offended that her mind refused to wrap itself around the new reality Seulgi had revealed.

“I’ve been a little too invested in Seungwan’s love life, haven’t I?” she suddenly asked, almost catching Seulgi by surprise. She shrugged slightly, tilting her head ambiguously. Joohyun wasn’t wrong, but it felt a bit rude to confirm it. Honestly, she was having trouble just containing her excitement at the scene unfolding, so it was good to keep shut and her movements to a minimum before she got carried away. “That night I followed you, when we talked at the diner, I wasn’t returning a hair tie.”

Seulgi thought back to that encounter, months before. At the time, she'd assumed it was just Joohyun being a bit eccentric. Seungwan did say she was a little gullible sometimes. Seulgi didn't like that she was proven right so often.

“That was a lie. I heard you two coming home and I thought she was in love with you. So I followed you. I wanted to know more about you, about both of you. I needed to know more,” Joohyun carried on in a strangely neutral tone, like her body had moved on and her mind was still struggling to catch up, leaving to work on auto-pilot.

Now Seulgi thought of her conversation with Seungwan the day after the diner, of her funny story about Joohyun being secretly in love and consumed with jealousy. She hadn't been that far off, apparently. Not in love, but in something. Not jealous, but building up to it. Apparently, Joohyun was realizing it alongside Seulgi.

When Joohyun sat down heavily on the sofa, right next to Seulgi, she finally caught the attention of the youngest two. Her hand rested on Seulgi’s leg, which she probably hadn’t noticed, and her furrowed brow began to clear, returning her face to a more neutral expression. She nodded once, twice, thrice, each time growing a little more resolute. Then she turned to her expectant company.

“I have feelings for Seungwan,” she announced in a surprisingly steady voice. She nodded again with a satisfied smile, looking proud of herself for reaching the conclusion on her own. With a little assistance from Seulgi, maybe. The latter was unable to fight it any longer and her face broke into an almost painful grin. She nearly pulled Joohyun into a tight celebratory hug, but they probably weren’t close enough for that, were they?

A hand landed on Seulgi’s shoulder and tightened painfully, causing her to turn around in surprise. Sooyoung looked at her with a very confusing mix of emotions, foremost of which was either awe or anger; Seulgi wasn’t sure yet. Her eyes were eerily wide as she stared her down.

“How did you do that?” she gasped out.

“She just talked to me,” Joohyun answered in Seulgi’s stead, as she only seemed capable to respond in a fearful squeak. There was something like amusement in her voice, poking fun at the way Yerim and Sooyoung had been too busy with their fight to pay attention to her speech. She probably wasn’t aware that they had tried talking before, with little success, and that Seulgi’s breakthrough owed more to lucky coincidence than anything.

Sooyoung turned to gaze at Joohyun, incredulity and frustration rising quickly in her eyes. Suddenly, she shook her head and released her hold on Seulgi, dropping back against the sofa and sighing deeply. “You know what, I don’t even care anymore.”

“Now you’re getting it,” Yerim remarked from her side of the sofa. She looked up from her phone when she felt three pairs of eyes on her. “What? Congrats on the feelings,” she offered lazily.

“Yes. Congrats to me,” Joohyun repeated, back to nodding, and now she was beginning to look a little less confident and a lot more lost. “What do I do now?” she asked hopefully.

Seulgi kept quiet. Seungwan and Joohyun could have something great, but the situation was still fragile. They needed to find their way to each other or the whole thing could implode. She certainly wasn’t eager to offer up the wrong advice and be responsible for this collapse. She shifted uncomfortably and looked to her right, where Sooyoung sat.

The latter seemed about to speak, but something held her tongue, either her promise not to interfere, made long ago, her recent decision that she didn’t care anymore, or possibly a fear similar to Seulgi’s. The uncertainty was clear in her eyes as she her lips and kept shut.

Once more, all eyes were on Yerim, who looked at each of them in turn then shrugged, looking uncomfortable with the attention. “Google it?”

“Don’t google it,” Sooyoung muttered, bringing up a hand to cover her face.

“I guess,” Seulgi started uncertainly, raising a hand to pat Joohyun’s shoulder awkwardly. “On your own time, when you feel more confident and comfortable with your feelings… Try to show her how you feel?”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Joohyun said, the clouds of doubt on her face dissipating somewhat. The corners of tilted up in a tentative smile. “I’ll show her how I feel,” she concluded decisively, sounding out the words as she spoke them.

Seulgi had a bad feeling about this.

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A/N: And that's the end of Act 2! Come yell at me on twitter @numot94 ^^