LIA’S POV

“Lia-yah! I told you to bring ice cream, why is it only a cream in a tub?!” 

I came back to the dorm and Yeji greeted me with a suspicious look, and scolded me for bringing melted ice cream for our supposed movie night later. I saw Yuna signaling Chaeryeong to calm down the raging light fury. 

“Yeji-unnie let’s just place it in the freezer and eat it after the movie”

“I shou— yeah we should” 

They both left the living room to place the tub inside the freezer, which left me with Yuna staring at me with her round, curious eyes. I knew this look, for sure they definitely saw it, they saw me outside with Maseul.

“Look, Yuna, whatever you guys saw, it was nothing”

“Well if it was nothing unnie, then you shouldn’t be all smiley when you entered the dorm. Oh! Also add the fact that you are super red like right now”

I sighed. What to be expected? We were at the parking lot in front of our dorm, of course there was a chance that they will see me with the stranger who just paid for the ice cream, now melted ice cream technically, hugging each other. It wasn’t part of thanking her, It just felt like embracing her was the right thing to do. It would have been awkward if Maseul tensed for the whole time while I pray for my hug to be reciprocated. 

“Yeji-unnie took a video. Here let me show you unnie.”

Yuna took her phone out and showed me a video, just at the right time when I went towards her, wrapping my arms around her, and Maseul, brought hers around my waist. Truth be told, I’m kinda mad at them for watching our moment by the window, it was supposed to be a moment shared by us two but Yuna, Chaeryeong, and Yeji captured it. On the bright side, I’m happy they took a video of us, I get to relive that moment again and again. 

“So was that your Shin Ryujin earlier? Never saw you that way to other people, well aside from us I mean” Yeji sat down at the couch after they placed the ice cream in the freezer, she wiggled her eyebrows as she smiled playfully.

“Uhm, no she isn’t” I sighed. It was Chaeryeong’s turn to raise an eyebrow at me. “Really unnie? If she wasn’t Ryujin, then you hugged a complete stranger! You don’t even know what her intentions are”

I ushered Yuna and Chaeryeong, who were standing beside me, to sit on the couch with Yeji. I frustratingly grabbed my hair before I stood in front of them. “You know what guys, just calm down okay. You all should be thankful to Maseul that you still got that melted strawberry ice cream. I forgot to bring my wallet and she had to pay for it”

“Okay, okay chill. Wait unnie, what was the girl’s name again?”

“Maseul. Ma Seuljin”

The girls jumped up from their seats, looking at each other weirdly. They were whispering but obviously, I could hear them, with how loud Yuna’s voice is, I could understand a few words coming from the three of them.

“So she doesn’t know?” Yuna started.

“Maybe that’s why she doesn’t freak out yet?” Chaeryeong added.

“So who’s gonna tell her?” Yeji inquired.

“Really? Duh! Yeji you are the leader, you should be the one informing me of what I don’t know yet. Am I right?” I butted in.

I saw Yeji gulp and laugh nervously, scratching the back of her neck and looking elsewhere, clearly avoiding my eyes. I glared at the two, who were trying to do the same and were about to exit the living room, going to their respective rooms. I grabbed their shoulders and said. “Where do you think you’re going? You have a lot of explaining to do.”

Now, I was the one sitting at the couch and they stood in front of me, hands clasped tightly in front. I crossed my arms as I waited for one of them to explain.

“So uhm, when you were at Han river, JYP-nim called us that we will have a new album that will be released next year” Yeji was the first one to speak up. She nudged the person on her right, Chaeryeong, to continue what she said. “Apparently, he said he was negotiating with one of the most talented producer here in South Korea to produce an album for us”

“JYP-nim said that the producer’s name was Ma Seuljin” Yuna finished.