The spring came and gone really fast. After ending the shooting of their drama, EXO was again busy with practices for their comeback. “Call me baby” came out to be another bop of generation, with more y and playful vibe from the boys. Not only long after that, boys came back with “Love me right”.

That spring Irene was proposed for the role of new MC for Music bank. And she actually took it, “this is the best chance for you. You can do what you wanted to do once,” her manager’s words were a plus in making a decision.

With all the comeback stages EXO also had interviews to do. “Now it’s my turn to MC,” she said glancing at the boy who came near her.

Baekhyun pulled on his infamous smirk looking at her playfully. His cheeks were slightly protruding, making his skulls more prominent.

“Why? Are you nervous?”

“What?” Irene rolled her eyes and looked back at the cards in her hands. Memorizing everything was not as easy as it seemed. Now she understood of what Baekhyun felt when he was interviewing them. But she is strong enough to endure it. Her dream once was to become a news reporter. She could handle this, she thought about it that way.

“Hey! How are you, noona?” she heard from her other side. Park Bogum, was smiling at her brightly, when she looked at him.

“Oh, hi Bogum-ah!” Irene replied.

“Now, it’s starting!” the director said after they got their make-up checked.

The interview went well, and Irene laughed at her mistake at the very beginning. She tried to seem composed, but actually forgot to check the name of the song she was going to announce.

Baekhyun found it funny and concluded that he now could tell one of her cute quirks. Even though they were already friends and maybe even close friends, Baekhyun never denied that she was indeed cute without even trying. And her habits were the things that made her interesting in her own way.

One day after the practice he heard laughs coming from the other dance room. And he assumed right when through a little transparent glass on the door was seen her bright figure having fun. Interested in what made her laugh so much, Baekhyun dipped his head to the side to get a clearer view.

It was Bogum. At first he thought she was with other Red Velvet girls. But when he saw a guy near her, his instant smile dropped a little. Baekhyun didn’t know where this feeling came from. It wasn’t something that would’ve hurt him deeply and hardly. It was more of a lingering and annoying bugging feeling. He wasn’t even sure if it was his emotions speaking or was he delusional.

‘Maybe it’s because I’ve been growing attached to her in some sense. It happens when you see your friend making another friend and enjoying time without you. Yeah… it is just a simple attachment.’ At some point he lost track that he was still standing in front a door to dance room. “I should go then,” he pouted involuntarily and left to his next destination.

Irene on the other hand was having fun with her new friends on TV. She became close with the staff that worked on Music Bank. Bogum, who is two years younger than her, immediately befriended her on the first day of their meeting. He knew some idols from other companies too.

Somehow the rumors of the Baekyeon couple splitting up run in the hallways of the company building and soon, almost everyone was thinking if it is true. Since there was no other news about the infamous couple, Irene was hesitating to ask Baekhyun himself. She knew and felt that they became close friends, but they never talked about personal things. Baekhyun was in shock when he found out from Chanyeol that she never actually dated anyone in her life. Well her flirting with guy friends is not considered dating.

“Did you really never date anyone?” he once asked her. They were in SM’s cafeteria, getting some coffee after lunch.

“You’ve asked three times already. YES. I never actually dated anyone.” Irene had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

“You didn’t date. But had some flings then?”

“Baekhyun, why are you asking?”

“Nothing. Just curious.”

“Well don’t be. I don’t ask you about your past relationships.”

“You had to have your first love then. When was it? In school, in kinder garden?” Baekhyun was unstoppable. Without any reason he wanted to have this information.

“My first love was in middle school. And second was in high school. I dated neither of them. Done. Are you happy now?”

After getting the answer, Baekhyun was not as enthusiastic as he was a minute ago. “You had two 'first' loves? But why didn’t you-”

“Baekhyun, I have to go, okay? Bye,” Irene turned to leave the annoying friend but he caught her hand.

“Promise me you will tell your story one day,” Baekhyun insisted. And Irene promised him in order to get away from him faster. “You promised! Remember!”

If only she had a power to shut him up. He was opening not so comfortable topic for her. But she couldn’t tell him everything at one go.

All summer they were busy with their schedules and didn’t have time to hang out. Not that they were consistently meeting before. Irene thought they might have grown apart from each other at some point, and Baekhyun thought of her the friend who always freaks out when he scares her. Aside from that, he noticed that she became even prettier.

Before, she was cute and pretty. Now, she was becoming mature and beautiful. Baekhyun was unconsciously attracted to her charisma. He couldn’t figure out how a person can be so calm and composed outside yet so bubbly and chaotic with her friends. Plus, her posters everywhere in the company had done its business in attracting his attention to her. 

Joohyun, on the other hand, was sure that she didn’t have to get closer to Baekhyun than this. It almost felt like she forgot about her crush towards him, but every time she caught his glance at her, she blushed somehow unable to control it. Joohyun knew she became the next visual of SM and was getting attention not only from her company but the whole industry now, which made her a little more confident in presence of others.

She now understood her strengths, admitting that it was not that bad to be the sigh of million fans. She loved her fans dearly and loved her idol life. Red Velvet was complete now with Yeri joining the group this year, and Joohyun was happy that the maknae reached her dream.

Irene, as the leader and the mom of the group, was doing chores in their shared apartment along with Wendy and Seulgi. She liked ironing girls’ clothes and the 94 liners helped her in cooking and cleaning the house. Wendy was baking a lot of sweet stuff and it was hard not to eat them. But that day Irene was making them do the running to burn the calories. She had to make sure that they were eating healthy and asked her mom to send some homemade cooking.

She was rarely in touch with her family nowadays, and was missing them badly. Eunbin, her best friend from school days, texted her a lot lately.

“Ah, Eunbin-ah, what’s up? Why are you spamming me with messages?” Irene laughed at the phone seeing how her bestie sent her million texts. She decided to video chat with her.

“How are you, Renie? Oh my god! How long has it been since I've heard your voice and seen your pretty face? I’m kidding. I’ve been blasting out to ‘Dumb Dumb’ since last week,” Eunbin’s voice was lively as always.

“Yah… what are you doing?” Irene giggled loudly, “have you gone crazy listening to our track?”

“Of course! This is so good.” After a moment girls’ laughs slowed down and Eunbin looked at her meaningfully with a smirk on her lips. 

“What?” Irene was clueless.

“I am happy that you are happy…” her bestie told her.

“Stop!” Irene burst out laughing joyfully. “Can you not?”

“How can I stop bragging about my best friend? Do you know that I fell in love with someone? You better praise me that I didn’t tell anyone in the shop about how my bestie is a pretty idol-”

Irene was grinning ear to ear when suddenly, she heard a little confession from Eunbin. At first, Joohyun thought she was hearing things, so she wanted to be sure.

“Wait, wait, wait… did you say that you are… in love with someone?” Irene was glad she was in her room. Or else, girls would be coming to ask Eunbin, before she could open .

Eunbin’s little shy smile crawled to her face and her pupils were avoiding eye contact with her for a second. ‘Okay, this is some serious sign.’

“Renie… it is…”

“Are you dating someone?”

“No! What are you saying? I am even afraid to confess to him. I found out not to long ago too, and was hesitating on what to do even. Do you remember Namsoo? We met each other in supermarket half a year ago. He was so handsome that I gave him the last cupcake set th