“Sooyoung-ah, did you eat?”

Seulgi smiled at the fans cheering loudly as Sooyoung stood up to wave at Dohwan, knowing that a lot of fans loved their chemistry together. She turned her gaze to the left, chuckling as she watched Sungjae drink his water which she knew meant he was nervous. But while the fans loved Sooyoung and Dohwan’s chemistry, she herself loved Sooyoung’s chemistry with Sungjae a lot more.

You could see how madly in love they were with each other during the days they spent together on We Got Married. Sooyoung would always come home from her shoot and tell the girls about all the lovely moments she had with Sungjae and the other, more lovely, moments they had off camera.

And thanks to Eunkwang, Seulgi had known that Sungjae did the same. He would come home to the guys and ramble up all the perfect things about Sooyoung and Seulgi found it really cute. She and Eunkwang would always make sure Sooyoung and Sungjae got paired together whenever the two groups would meet and hang out. Everytime they got together for picnics, fun days at amusement parks, or shopping sprees. They were technically in-laws, right? Of course they would hang out more often than usual.

And thanks to all the time they spent together, and thanks to all the time they let Sungjae and Sooyoung get at least a few minutes of alone time, they had both opened up about their feelings for each other. They weren’t dating yet because of the fear of scandals, but you couldn’t deny that they were meant for each other, and that once they started dating, they would never stop.

Seulgi smiled even more as she saw Eunkwang ensuring Sungjae that there was nothing to worry about. “Cute,” she mumbled and turned her gaze to the front.

“Bonsang, Red Velvet. Congratulations!”

Seulgi widened her eyes, not knowing if she heard right since her mind was somewhere. However, she didn’t hear wrong and she and the other girls stood up from their seats, everyone in complete shock.

“We won?” Seulgi exclaimed, not believing it. She covered with her hand, feeling the lump forming in .

“Our first award is a bonsang?” Yerim asked, tears in her eyes as she couldn’t believe it.

“Come on, let’s go,” Joohyun told them excitingly and they walked up to the stage, listening to the sound of fans cheering as well as Peek A Boo that was playing in the arena. Seulgi pressed her lips together as she tried to fight the tears, but she couldn’t fight the delight feeling she felt right now. This was their first ever award claimed at an award show, and not just any award, it was a bonsang. An award that truly showed their determination and hard work in the industry. The group’s hard work had finally paid off.

“The eight bonsang of tonight is awarded to Red Velvet!”

“Yes, in 2017 they released Rookie, Red Flavor, and Peek A Boo. Red Flavor was a huge success and let the group achieve 219 hourly perfect All-Kills, breaking the record for most hourly perfect All-Kills.”

“This is Red Velvet’s first award and let’s hope they gain many more in 2018!”

Seulgi bowed to the hosts and went to stand by one of the mics, waiting for Joohyun and Yerim to go and accept the award and the flowers.

“One, two, three.”

“Happiness, we are Red Velvet!” the girls introduced and loud cheers were heard once again around the arena.

“Wow..” Joohyun laughed as she looked out to the audience. “Thank you so much for all the love we received throughout 2017 up until now, and thank you for believing in us and our hard work. I think this bonsang award we received today is a confirmation for our hard work and I can promise everyone that Red Velvet is going to work even harder this year. Also, we certainly hope you will enjoy our comeback that’s soon.” She smirked as the fans cheered, excited for their upcoming comeback. “Please give it a lot of love, thank you.”

Seulgi smiled as she leaned forward to the mic. “We would like to thank our beautiful families and friends who always believed in us and gave us a lot of strength and support. We would also like to thank Mr. Lee Soo Man, our staff crew, and our SM Family who always supports us as well. And of course, we would like to thank our amazing ReVeluvs,” she smiled even more as the fans cheered once again. “Without our luvies I don’t think we would be where we are at today. It’s thanks to them that we are able to work so hard and come out with new music. Let’s stay together for a long time. Thank you.”

“Thank you! We love you!” the girls chanted and bowed before walking down from the stage. Seulgi looked up and saw Youngho cheering for her and mouthing congrats bestie!! Her lips curled up into a big smile, but it soon turned into a small frown as she saw Taeyong standing behind Youngho, smiling while cheering for them as well.

“Can we go back to hating each other? I can’t stand you being so nice to me, and I definitely can’t stand you smiling at me. It’s only giving me reasons to not stop liking you… Can you please give me a reason to start hating you again…” she thought bitterly. Her lips formed a thin line and she walked back to her table, recalling her and Taeyong’s meeting with Lee Soo Man.

FLASHBACK:

Seulgi opened the door to Lee Soo Man’s office and bowed at him. She closed the door carefully and proceeding to walk up to his desk, sitting on one of the empty chairs.

“Isn’t Taeyong with you?” Lee Soo Man asked her and she shook her head.

“No… Is he late today again?” she asked, causing Lee Soo Man to chuckle.

“Some things never changed,” he shook his head but looked up as he heard a knock coming from the door.

Seulgi turned her head and saw Taeyong walking into the room, bowing to them before sitting on the chair beside her. She straightened her back and brushed her bangs, suddenly feeling uneasy.

“Alright, let’s start the meeting, shall we?” Lee Soo Man spoke and leaned back on his chair, looking at Taeyong.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Kim Chungha before?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“I’m sorry,” Taeyong apologized and bowed once again. “We agreed on keeping it a secret.”

“Keeping it a secret is not what I’m disappointed about,” Lee Soo Man stated. “I just want to know why you didn’t tell me about her when I suggested you to be in a fake relationship with Seulgi?”

“I only began dating Chungha a few weeks after the scandal…” Taeyong trailed off, trying to find his words. “I’m sorry.”

Lee Soo Man sighed heavily as he rubbed his nape. “Well, there’s nothing we can do now,” he said. “People still can’t identify the girl on the picture so we’re still on the safe side. But a lot of people still believe you are cheating.”

“So…” Seulgi mumbed. “What are we supposed to do?” she then asked.

“As much as I want to, I can’t release a break up statement since it will be too suspicious and there’s a risk that everyone, not only the haters, will start calling Taeyong a cheater.” Lee Soo Man answered as a matter of fact.

“However, if more pictures are released it will cause just as much problems. So I think it’s the best if you two publicly act like you’re still in love with each other. That will show the public that your relationship is still healthy and strong and more people w