Seungwan was exhausted. 

After eight long months of endless travel and shows, her second world tour finally came to an end. The moment she got off the stage, she went directly into the changing room, relief flooding through her as she kicked off her heels and pulled the rest of her stage outfit off. 

Before long she was ushered out of the concert hall and into her awaiting van. She climbed into the van and settled into her seat with a soft grunt, her muscles protesting at the exertion. As the van began to pull away, she leaned her head back with a soft sigh, a familiar ache in her heart. 

She loved music, she loved performing and she loved her fans, but she hated the emptiness that came after every show when all lights dimmed.  How many more shows do I have left before they forget my name?

“To Byulyi’s house?” 

“Yeah.” Seungwan hummed, gazing out the window, eyes lazily following the blur of lights that were speeding by. It was practically tradition at this point that they all got together every December 12th. She just never expected her concert to happen on the same day. “Who scheduled the concert for today? You said you would tell me when it all ended.”

There was a beat of silence. “Byulyi did.” Seungwan sighed, rolling her eyes. Of course she did. 

“Did she say something about new beginnings and good memories?”

Her manager laughed. “That’s actually not far from what she said.”

Typical. Seungwan groaned, throwing her head back. “Whatever.” She yawned, eyeing the pack of makeup remover wipes next to her before deciding against using it. She could just use Byulyi’s products and wash her face at the house. “Can we stop by the convenience store by her house?”

“Is there something you need? I can just grab it before your next schedule.”

“No, I was just going to buy a toothbrush. I don’t like the ones Byulyi unnie has and I think she threw mine out.”

“Alright.”

The rest of the ride passed by quietly. Jiwoo was probably just as exhausted as her, if not more, considering she had to keep up with her ridiculous schedule and actually do more work preparing around it. She made a mental note to treat all of her staff out to a nice meal the next time she had a change. 

The trip to the convenience store was uneventful. When the van came to a stop, she unbuckled her seatbelt, ready to exit the van until Jiwoo insisted on grabbing the toothbrush for her. “I have feet, too.”

“You’re a celebrity.”

Seungwan huffed, leaning back against her seat. It didn’t take long for her manager to reappear with a black plastic bag in hand. She frowned, it seemed excessive to get a bag for just a toothbrush.

“Here you go.” Seungwan’s eyes widened when she saw four bottles of soju in the bag. “Celebrate, okay? You have no schedules tomorrow and you deserve it.” 

Seungwan could only nod as the woman got back into the van, beginning to drive again. Another mental note to get a present for Jiwoo in addition to the dinner for all her staff members. “You really are the best.” Jiwoo only laughed. 

When the van came to a stop in front of Byulyi’s house, she hopped out with a loud “thanks for everything, you’re the best.” She waved her manager off with a smile, before turning to walk up the driveway to the front door, which swung open before she even got there. 

“Took your sweet time.”

Seungwan beamed at the sight of Hyejin at the front door, holding up the bag in her hand. “I bring gifts.”

“You’re forgiven.” Hyejin returned her smile, pulling her into the house. 

“Where’s Byulyi unnie?”

“She’s taking a shower right now, you could probably do that too if you wanted.”

“Yeah, I’ll probably do that. Is she doing alright?”

“She’s in a pretty good mood, actually.” 

“That’s, good.” She put the bag down on the coffee table. “I’m going to take a shower.” 

“Yeah, you should really do that. You stink.” 

Seungwan rolled her eyes. Typical Hyejin. But she went towards the bathroom without any more complaint, smiling when she saw a fresh set of clothes along with an array of skincare products already set out for her.

There was a soft tune filling the air that Seungwan didn't quite recognize when she walked out of the bathroom and settled beside Hyejin on the living room floor.

“Have a good shower?” Hyejin asked.

“Yeah, I feel like a human again.” 

Byulyi laughed as she walked into the living room, shot glasses in hand. “That bad?”

“You know what it’s like after concerts.” Seungwan shrugged as she eyed the bottles of soju set on the coffee table before them, there were definitely more than four bottles on he

“How was your concert?” Byulyi asked as she placed the glasses on the table, sitting down on the floor beside her.

“It would have been better if it were yesterday.” Seungwan shrugged.

“I heard you took off your shirt.” Hyejin spoke up when Byulyi didn’t respond.

Seungwan gaped at the younger girl. “How do you already know?”

“There are pictures.” The younger girl laughed. “Like all over the internet.”

“So you did have a good time.” Byulyi raised a brow at her as she reached for a bottle, pouring a shot for all of them. 

“Whatever.” Seungwan grumbled as she reached for her glass, a small clink filling the air as they all raised their glass before downing it. “Why did you reschedule it?”

Byulyi downed another shot before answering. “I don’t want this day to be a sad one anymore.” 

“Oh.”

Byulyi gave her a tired smile before pouring them another round of shots. Seven years of friendship allowed them this much—a quiet companionship. Seungwan didn’t know what to say so they just drank. She couldn’t remember how many bottles they had gone through before she had crawled onto the couch, falling asleep.

The next thing she remembered was Byulyi shaking her awake saying “I figured out the song.” And then she was being pushed up the stairs into Byulyi’s personal studio while she whined. “Why are we recording at four AM in the morning? I can’t sing drunk and you know that.”

There was a pause, and Seungwan wondered if for once they were going to let her off. Her hopes quickly vanished, however, when Hyejin threw a wallet at her. “Good point, go buy some coffee and sober up. We'll set up while you’re gone.” 

“Where do you expect me to get coffee from at this time?”

“A new convenience store opened up like a block away from here.”

“You want me to walk to the store?”

Seungwan rolled her eyes at Hyejin, letting out an angry squawk as she was pushed out of the room. “It’s not far. Just turn left, and you’ll see it at the end of the block. Stop whining, and make sure you get snacks, too. Good snacks.”

The door shut behind her with a soft click and Seungwan considered just going into one of the guest rooms to continue sleeping. “But I really like this melody line.” She groaned as she began walking down the stairs. 

“The things that I do.” She grumbled as she pulled on her shoes and exited the house.

Thankfully, the shop wasn’t far and it was exactly where Hyejin said it would be. She greeted the employee with a small bow, ignoring the shock on his face as she began to walk towards the drinks section until she heard a soft lilting voice accompanying her song that was playing from the store’s speakers. Her feet seemed to move on their own towards the sound, and her breath caught when she saw the woman sitting in the corner of the store, singing softly to herself with a steaming cup of coffee before her. 

She was beautiful.  Breathtakingly so.  

The song stopped, and at the sight of the small smile playing across the woman’s features, all of her fatigue seemed to melt away . Before she could stop herself, she was already moving towards the woman.

Seungwan wanted to blame the alcohol, but she couldn’t remember ever feeling more sober. All of her senses felt as if they had been sent into overdrive, and the words were tumbling out of before she even knew it. “I don’t know if it’s your eyes, or if it’s your smile, but you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” 

She winced internally when the girl jumped, facing her with wide eyes. Regret immediately filled her as she stammered out an apology. “Sorry, I’m Wendy, Son Seungwan—you probably don’t care. Right, sorry, I hope you have a nice night.” 

She immediately scurried away. Well, that was dumb. She let out a sigh as she found the fridge section, grabbing three of the first bottles of coffee she saw. 

Her face was burning as paid for the coffee, the mirror in the front letting her know that the girl was still staring at her. In her rush to leave the store, she almost forgot her change. She laughed awkwardly as the cashier handed her the money before nearly running out of the store, and then actually running all the way back to the house. 

The first words she heard upon entering the studio again were from Hyejin. “Where are the snacks?” 

She dropped the bottles of coffee onto the table before flopping on the couch. “This is all you get.”

She groaned into the couch. Seungwan wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and disappear. There was no logical explanation for why she walked up to an absolute stranger and said what she said. It was the smile, it had to be. The moment she saw the woman smile, everything stopped making sense.

“What’s up with you?” Hyejin asked.

“I just did something really dumb.”

She felt the girl plop onto the couch next to her. “How dumb? Like Sooyoung replacing all the dry erase markers with permanent markies dumb, or Wheein changing the company logo to a picture of her cat dumb?” 

Seungwan found herself snorting despite laughter being the last thing on her mind. “It’s more like a I told a girl at the convenience store she was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen dumb.”

“That’s thirsty, not dumb.” 

Seungwan made an affronted noise. She wasn’t thirsty, though she really didn’t know what it was that made her so bold. “You’re really not helping.” 

“You know what would help? If you went into the recording booth and sang. It’s what Byulyi unnie sent you a few weeks ago.”

“I can’t sing right now, I’m in a crisis!”

“We’ll talk about your hormones later, get into the booth and sing. It’ll help you get your mind off of things, anyway.”

This was her lot in life. What great friends I have, she sighed. But Hyejin had a point. Singing did offer her an escape from the problems in life.

“Fine, but I’m doing this because I want to, not because you told me to.” She grumbled as she walked into the recording booth, ignoring Hyejin’s response of “whatever floats your boat.” 

Byulyi reappeared not too long after, and the recording began. Recording went by quickly, which wasn't surprising since this was a song she had been obsessed with for the past month. Before long she was exiting the booth as Hyejin entered, feeling more tired than she ever had in her entire life. 

“Thanks.” She said as Byulyi tossed her a bottle of coffee. She nearly dropped the bottle, however, when she saw the logo. “That’s her.”

“What?” 

“The girl at the convenience store that I called beautiful, that’s her!” Seungwan held up the bottle, pointing at the smiling face on its label. 

Byulyi laughed. "Of all the people you could hit on. I’ve got to hand it to you, kid, you’ve got standards."

"You know her?" 

“I guess you wouldn’t know since you were on tour for so long, but she’s been in all the biggest movies and dramas this year.”

“Bae Joohyun?”

“Yep, that’s her name.”

There was only one good thing that came out of that night in one Seungwan’s mind.

By the time she woke up the next day, the song that they recorded was at the top of almost all the charts. 

Then, she got a text from her manager about singing an OST live with an actress for some TV show. Of course, the actress would be the one and only Bae Joohyun.

Note: I hope this was okay, let me know if anything felt off or rushed. This chapter is a probe of sorts, honestly, I've never really written fiction like this. I do have a story arch planned for the most part, but I didn't know how to begin. Please feel free the reach out to me, I would love to make friends and all that! 

Update: Sorry I saw some typos and had to fix it.