Seulgi shifted uncomfortably in her seat as four pairs of eyes were set on her. She pursed her lips together, knowing they all wanted some answers.

“Do we really have to talk about this now?” she then asked, implying that she would rather just rest than wanting to have a long discussion right after their schedule just ended.

“Yes!” the girls replied at the same time and Seulgi rubbed her temples as she sighed heavily.

“Alright,” she breathed out and prepared herself for the hundred questions the girls probably had, as well as a long discussion that would follow. “Ask away.”

“Just to clarify, this TY on your contacts. It’s Taeyong, right?” Seungwan asked and Seulgi immediately frowned at her best friend.

“Did you go through my contacts?” she asked and Seungwan raised her hands in defense.

“No, no! I just saw his text pop up on your phone!”

Seulgi sighed before letting out a tired chuckle. “TY is not Taeyong. I don’t even have Taeyong’s number saved on my phone,” she told them.

“Then who is TY?” Sooyoung asked.

“It’s Taeyang from SF9. His group is still promoting O Sole Mio and I met him in the cafeteria at Music Bank last week. We talked a little and exchanged numbers,” Seulgi explained and realization dawned on the girls’ faces.

“So Taeyang texted you ‘sweet dreams’? Not Taeyong?” Joohyun asked.

“Maybe we should talk about your relationship with Taeyang instead,” Seungwan mumbled, a teasing smirk slowly appearing on her face.

“Actually, Taeyang did send it but he was meant to send it to someone else. He is dating someone so don’t even think about us two being a thing.” Seulgi clarified.

“Okay, but still…” Sooyoung furrowed her eyebrows. “If we bring back the topic about Taeyong…” She mumbled as she was still thinking about Taeyang while also trying to remember what she was actually going to ask Seulgi.

“How come you and Taeyong were laughing together when you just told us you hated him? And even though that happened, you’re not friends?“ Seungwan then continued for her instead.

“Well…” Seulgi trailed off and thought about it. “I don’t see us two as friends. But I can talk to him normally now.”

“What happened that made you two dislike each other less?” Joohyun asked.

“Did something happen when you practiced for MAMA?”

“Wow, you really tried to play investigator, huh?” Seulgi laughed. “Okay, it went like this…”

FLASHBACK:

“I guess we’re done for today, right?” Taeyong asked as he unplugged his phone from the speaker.

“Yeah, I’m confident about the choreography now. I just hope everything goes well at the award show,” she told him as she put on her coat.

“Are you nervous?” he asked her.

“A little. I don’t know what the netizens will say about our performance,” she admitted.

“I see,” he mumbled and scratched his neck, thinking about something. “Hey, I know it’s late, but since we pretty much practiced over dinner time… Would you like to go out for dinner?”

“Why are you acting like we’re friends or something?” she then hissed softly.

“I thought we were over that,” Taeyong spoke with a more serious tone.

“No. You are acting like nothing happened between us. As if the past five and a half years didn’t exist.” She crossed her arms.

“I haven’t forgotten it but can’t you see that I’m trying to make an effort to become friends with you?” he argued, not understanding why it was so hard for her to forgive him after how much he had been trying to make up for.

“I don’t want to be friends with you.” She simply stated.

“Alright, we don’t have to be friends. But can we at least set this childish behavior aside?” he suggested, hope in his eyes.

“I’m not being childish. I’m just telling you that I don’t want to be friends with such people like you.” She said coldly and glanced to the side, feeling irritated by his words.

“You won’t even give me a second chance!” he suddenly snapped which caused her to look up at him, surprised.

“You just want to be my friend because you feel some kind of responsibility,” she muttered.

“Responsibility?” he frowned.

“Yes. Now that you know how my life actually is, it makes your nice acts seem forced,” she explained to him.

“They’re not,” he said softly.

“So if you didn’t know about my anxiety and my smoking addiction, would you still try to befriend me?” she asked him.

“Yes!” he hissed. “I was even thinking about that before I knew how serious your situation was.”

Seulgi felt taken aback by his sudden confession and couldn’t find the right words to say. She scoffed quietly as she crossed her arms. “Even so, I don’t want to be friends with you. It feels weird,” she stated stubbornly.

“Well life is weird. Stop thinking so much. Life is too short for that.”

“Life is too short for paying your regrets and mistakes.”

Taeyong sighed heavily at the stubborn girl in front of him. “I guess you don’t want to get dinner then.” He concluded.

Seulgi didn’t respond to him and just stood still with her arms still crossed. Taeyong ran his fingers through his hair and walked past her, getting his jacket.

“We don’t have to be friends,” he spoke. “But we should at least get on better terms. We are going to be working with each other for quite some time and since we’re in the same company. We’ll see each other often.”

Seulgi thought about the things he said and felt very conflicted as his actions and words from the past month went through her mind as well. She groaned inwardly before turning around to face him.

“Fine,” she sighed. “Let’s go to the convenience store.”

-------------------------------------------

If someone would tell Seulgi just one week ago that she would be out eating dinner with Taeyong, she would have scoffed and said: “As if.” But here she was,