As Joohyun waited backstage before the Sunmi and Seulgi’s collaboration stage, she realized she was actually surprisingly calm about it.  Yes, she knew it was sort of a point of no return, but she was okay with that. She was moving on. However, the sudden need to quickly repress her  anxiety about her upcoming date made her realize she was still in the very early stages.  After briefly zoning out, her protective instinct kicked in and reminded her that Seulgi was probably in dire need of her moral support, so she quickly headed out to look for her.

Joohyun found her a few minutes later, standing alone in a hallway, facing the other direction, but looking at seemingly nothing. The way she had her hands on the sides of her neck made Joohyun realize she must be quite stressed, so she approached and carefully put a hand on her shoulder. As Seulgi seemed to startle, Joohyun gave her an apologetic smile.  

“Are you okay, Seulgi?” she asked calmly. “I know this might be a bit scary for you, but don’t let anyone ever make you doubt yourself about Sunmi.” Feeling suddenly emotional, she quickly made an effort to repress it and hoped Seulgi didn’t notice. 

“You deserve to be happy, and you deserve her. And I will always be here for you if you need someone to remind you.” she added, partially to remind herself too. This was Seulgi’s day and the last thing she needed was for her leader to get soft on her.  But Seulgi’s relieved smile made Joohyun realize she had made things a bit better,  so everything was good.  

“Now go find Sunmi!” she added enthusiastically. Seulgi nodded with a smile and headed off down the hallway, while Joohyun gritted her teeth and headed to her audience seat. She realized she hadn’t quite let go of all her feelings yet, but it was getting a bit easier each time. 

Later, as the performance got underway, Joohyun realized her main feelings were pride that her best friend was getting this opportunity and doing it so well, and happiness that she was doing it with someone she clearly cared a lot about. When Sunmi went in for the killing move, she couldn’t help but gasp at the intensity of it. She had to admit that they really looked amazing up there together, and even caught herself wishing she could have that kind of chemistry with someone one day too.  She blushed a bit realizing that it was no longer completely theoretical, but she also knew she was still a long way from anything even close. “One day at a time,” she thought to herself.  

What needed to be done first was to execute the plan to save Seulgi and Sunmi’s reputation, while at the same time improve the situation for lesbian and bi women in the kpop community. As she was getting ready to make this happen the next day, Joohyun looked through her list of names, and hoped all of them were still on board, given the suddenly accelerated schedule. 

Walking into Seulgi’s room a few minutes later, she noticed she was still sound asleep, laying on her stomach and sprawled across the bed tangled in her blanket.  “How can someone be so adorable just sleeping,” she thought to herself with a smile, and laid down across Seulgi’s back playfully to wake her up.

“Seulgi, wake up..It’s time..” she said happily, before suddenly realizing this was probably not what she should be doing to someone else’s girlfriend. She quickly rolled off and sat up, straightening Seulgi’s blanket while feeling slightly guilty. Seulgi sat up too and rubbed her eyes.   

“So what IS your plan, Joohyun-unnie?” Seulgi asked curiously.  Joohyun hesitated a bit. 

“Well, I can’t say yet, but you will find out as the plan comes together..” she continued cautiously. “We will need to make some phone calls to see if it’s ready. But I know we don’t have much time..”  

Seulgi scooted next to Joohyun, while giving Joohyun an inquisitive glance. Joohyun took a deep breath, and looked through her phone contacts, pausing at the entry for Yongsun.   She gestured to Seulgi to be quiet, took a deep breath, and hit “call”.  She secretly hoped she wasn’t making a mistake, but didn’t want Seulgi to realize she still had doubts. After what seemed like forever, Yongsun answered cheerfully:  “Joohyun, what a pleasant surprise! We don’t talk very often, what’s up?”. 

Joohyun paused for a bit, and then started slowly: “Yongsun, do you think we can move up the plan a few weeks? Something has happened to Seulgi that makes this time critical.  Oh yeah, and I guess she is part of the plan now too, ” Joohyun added, gritting her teeth slightly. 

“Oh i see..” Yongsun said slyly. “So you and S..”  A feeling of panic overcame Joohyun. Yongsun was always good at reading people, and maybe she had figured out the crush she used to have on Seulgi. “She has a girlfriend!” she interrupted quickly, feeling her face blush inadvertently. Seulgi covered and gave Joohyun a wide eyed look.  

Hoping that expression didn’t mean what she thought, Joohyun continued awkwardly and finalized the plans for Yongsun and her fellow Mamamoo members. But just as they were wrapping up, Yongsun turned the tables: “How about you, Joohyun?” 

Joohyun hesitated before she replied.  “Yes, I am in too.  I may be single, but that’s irrelevant in this context.  The more of us do it at the same time, the harder it will be for them to tear us down.” She was certainly not going to bring up her future date at this point, but she realized that if this went well, that might be less complicated too. 

After hanging up, Joohyun finally looked over at Seulgi awkwardly. She was hoping she could clear things up without having to bend the truth. “I am not sure what you thought you heard, but I never implied to Yongsun that you and I... “ she started, but trailed off, realizing this had hit a bit too close to home.  

Seulgi put her hand under Joohyun’s chin and tilted it up. “It’s okay, Unnie. I know a lot of people assume we are a thing and I think that’s cute. If I didn’t love Sunmi I would be lucky to have you as my girlfriend!” she continued, blushing slightly. 

Her mind reeling at what Seulgi had just said, Joohyun simultaneously realized that the last thing she wanted right now was to confuse Seulgi, so she quickly cleared things up: “Sunmi is a lucky girl and I am happy for both of you!”  she interjected, forcing a smile. Seulgi smiled back, and Joohyun breathed an internal sigh of relief.  “Okay.. ahem. Where were we?” she continued, shaking her head at almost slipping up.  “Ah yes.. Hani..”. 

After Hani, Sana and Eunha all agreed to participate, Joohyun took the time to explain the plan while Seulgi listened attentively, with tears in the corners of her eyes. After Joohyun finished. Seulgi hugged her tightly and buried her face in her shoulder.  

“Joohyun.. You are amazing.. I know you said you were working on this for a while, but you are moving all this up just because of me..” Seulgi exclaimed passionately, tears running down her cheeks. 

Feeling a bit self-conscious, Joohyun petted Seulgi’s head gently and continued calmly: “Of course, Seulgi-ah.  You have always been special to me, and I could never stand by and see someone hurt you or make your life miserable. And this is long overdue, so in some ways I am grateful to you and your impulsiveness..” she concluded with a smirk, but quickly realized she may have been a bit too direct.  Seulgi did indeed blush, so Joohyun patted her back reassuringly.  With the arms of her best friend wrapped tightly around her, any lingering doubts that this was the right thing to do finally disappeared from Joohyun’s mind.