“Okay, let me get this straight, he’s Seulgi’s childhood friend?” Sehun asked, brows furrowed.

“Correct.” Seungwan nodded.

“And he’s working here now, too?”

“Right again.”

“And that’s what he looks like? He’s not wearing a super realistic mask or anything?”

“Unfortunately for you, that perfect face and flawless hair is what Jongin really looks like.” Seungwan gave Sehun a brief look of sympathy.

“Jongin? , even his name sounds oddly attractive too.”

“Yep. You’re toast now, Oh Sehun.”

“No, no, wait, I still have one more card. Okay, what if…what if he’s gay?”

“Negative. I’ve stalked his social media within five minutes of meeting him. They’re all full of girls clinging to him like koalas. Except that the koalas wore bikinis and looked like supermodels.” She responded without missing a beat.

“.”

This was how Sehun and Seungwan spent the better part of their late Wednesday afternoon; conducting this exchange while gazing at the scene by the counter in Café Creamery. Said scene consisted of Seulgi arranging cupcakes inside the glass counter and the latest addition to their little café workforce, Jongin, standing a little too close to her, his hand casually resting on her arm. Sehun wanted to come up with sensible reasons on precisely why Jongin had to have his hand on Seulgi but he kind of lost it when he realized Seulgi didn’t exactly look like she minded. In fact, it even looked like she enjoyed the physical contact.

Sehun stood up and strode towards the counter.

“Here we go.” Seungwan muttered under her breath, standing up and following Sehun.

“Kang Seulgi.” Sehun announced once he got close.

Seulgi, who was finishing up with the cupcakes took a second to look up. “Yes?”

“I am…I will, I mean there is, a…there, I want…” And it is at that moment Sehun realized he didn’t actually have anything to say. All he wanted was to distract the two of them so Jongin can get his dirty paws off his girl. Which didn’t work at all. The jerk still had his hand on her, damn him.

Seulgi looked at him expectantly, tilting her head to the side in mild confusion. On the other hand, it didn’t take long for Jongin to pick up on things.

“Hey dude, what’s up? I’m Kim Jongin.” Jongin extended his hand across the counter.

Sehun stared at the other guy’s outstretched hand and had a mini fantasy of him taking that damned hand and breaking the bones on his fingers. “Hi, I’m Oh Sehun.” He said flatly, settling for a quick handshake.

Seulgi looked happy for the two to be acquainted. She turned to Jongin. “Sehun is our regular customer here. He’s crazy for the macaroons.” Then she turned to Sehun. “I grew up with Jongin, our mothers were best friends.” She shared, laughing as if that piece of information was anything close to humorous.

, , . Things were turning into crap real fast. This introduction was supposed to be the real deal. It was the measure of how far they’ve gone in their relationship. A bar of comparison, if you will, that would indicate which of the two of them held more importance in Seulgi’s life. But that’s now because while Jongin was bestowed the unwavering title of fond childhood friend whose family is practically interwoven with hers, he was given the designation of macaroon maniac.

Is that all he is to Seulgi?

Jongin chuckled, casually putting an arm around Seulgi. “Oh they were, weren’t they? Gosh. Me and Seulbear? We go way back.” His tone was playful but Sehun recognized the look in Kim Jongin’s eyes. The bastard was pulling his leg.

Sehun wanted to punch his perfect nose. “Seulbear?”

Before Seulgi or Jongin could explain the nickname, a customer came up to the counter and both of them attended to his order. That left Sehun to go back to his table and gather his thoughts.

“Well, that was pathetic.” Seungwan commented, following him.

“Yeah, thanks for nothing. You were so unhelpful, I forgot you were still even here.”

“What did you want me to do? They were so adorable together, I didn’t want to break up the whole thing. Plus, you looked so miserable; I couldn’t tear my eyes away.”

“It’s always a pleasure to be a source of entertainment to you.” Sehun rolled his eyes. “And I’m not even gonna ask why you’re not working and torturing me instead.”

“Look Sehun, I know it all feels so overwhelming right now but hear me out.” Seungwan smirked and sat down across the table. “That was Seulgi simply spending time with her friend and there’s absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about that. What is out of order is your reaction to all of this.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re jealous, honey. Jongin recognized it off the bat because you reek of it. Frankly, Seul should have seen it too but our angel is always so dense, it’s worrying me sometimes.”

Sehun smiled fondly at the thought of a confused Seulgi.

“Focus, Sehun.” She snapped her fingers at him. “What I’m trying to say is, manage your envy because newsflash, you aren’t in the position to be jealous at all.”

“And why not?” Sehun looked genuinely confused.

Seungwan smiled as though she had been waiting for him to ask just that. “You’re not her boyfriend, genius.”

And Seungwan was right of course. On top of being annoying, she had to be right as well. And that, in itself, was also irritating as hell. But maybe not as irritating as logging on to Facebook and seeing Seulgi’s update.

Grabbing ice cream with the Seulbear—at Haagen Dasz

Apparently, she was tagged by Jongin and there they were, stuffing their faces with ice cream and smiling into the camera. He sighed and closed his laptop. Of course he was jealous. Granted, they weren’t a couple but somehow, Sehun always had the impression that they were acting like one, anyway. They went to the movies together, talked on the phone until way past midnight and they always, always ate out. Seulgi was the best food buddy in the entire world. She had no qualms about trying anything, she wasn’t greedy and she didn’t make fun of him when he couldn’t take too much spicy food.

He grabbed his phone and fired her a text message.

Oi Seulgi

She replied not a minute later.

Yo~

He pressed call and counted the rings before she answered. Two rings.

“Hey you, what’s up?” Seulgi answered, her cheerful voice oddly putting him at ease.

“Nothing, loser. Watcha doin?”

“Hmm, nothing, just folding my clothes, my closet is a mess.”

“You’re a mess.” He blurted out. . He’s talking nonsense now, heaven help him.

Seulgi giggled but even he could hear the bewilderment in her voice. “Wh