Irene is currently waiting to see her boss, who is no other than SM Entertainment CEO. She was told to meet him at 5Pm and she is actually 10 minutes early. why do I have to come here? Maybe it is to introduce a new comeback concept? But that seems weird since there aren’t the other members? Maybe they’re already inside? I have a bad feeling about this, it doesn’t seem like a regular meeting. Gosh I hope I didn’t do anything bad! But I’m pretty sure I didn’t? Not something that I can recall at least? Or is it…. Suddenly her boss opened the door wide, bringing her back to the reality, not forgetting to startle her. “You are early Joohyun! You can come in!” he almost screams happily. She immediately flashes a light smile and nods still trying to recover from her shock. As she enters the office she recognizes another person that is already sitting in a chair. “Seulgi? What are you doing here?” “Hello, Irene. Um, I guess just like you I was asked to come?” Honestly, Joohyun couldn’t be more uncomfortable right now. Is the universe against me or? “Yeah..” The CEO, sits and begins to talk. “So Joohyun, take a seat!” she immediately did in the only one available, next to Seulgi of course. “You’re probably wondering why there are only you two here!” Seulgi and Irene looked at each other, and they clearly both understood that they were as lost as each other, they could almost see interrogations marks above their heads. The older woman started to feel anxious, did he know?  “The reason is really simple! Remember your Be Natural cover?” he continued. The girls nodded of course how could they forget their first performance. “Well, I want to talk to you about an idea... You see right now the Psycho promotion is going really well and I thought that it would be great to do a sub-unit with you two!” The girls once again look at each other, really surprised and Seulgi decides to answer first. “I guess that’s a good idea, but why us sir?” her face literally screams confusion. “I thought you would be more enthusiastic?” This time Joohyun replies, after all Seulgi can be clumsy sometimes and she doesn’t want her boss to become suspicious.  “Don’t worry we are really happy about this!” as she says those words she can feel the other girl gaze on her, “It’s just unexpected; I thought the next comeback will be with everyone, and I suppose it’s the same for Seulgi. No one tried to bring a sub-unit idea.” “I understand, I’m going to tell you why I think it’s a good idea! First, you two are the most relevant pair for that, take an example with Be Natural that I mentioned earlier! The fans loved it, they are craving for more it would surely be a success! Second, you two are one the most liked duo in the group, it would be a total waste to not exploit the idea.” Joohyun understood his point, the fans surely love her pairing with Seulgi. “You can see this as the Be Natural 2 or the next chapter… Plus, let’s take a look at your main concurrents, Twice and Blackpink, neither of them tried a real sub-unit, it would bring originality… So what do you think? We need to build the project but we already have a few ideas.” Joohyun thought really fast about it, her relationship with Seulgi isn’t at the best right now, it’s even at the worst, so it’s not the best timing. But in another way it could help them fix it. Without forgetting that they just can’t say no to their boss like that, it’s still work after all, they have to be professional. “I-“   “Can we have some time to think about it?” Seulgi cut her off. Joohyun eyes immediately widen. “Yeah sure, just give me your answer before tomorrow, if you don’t have any questions you can go.” Seulgi mumbles a thanking and quickly heads out. Irene immediately tries to follow her, they really need to talk becau- “Joohyun? Can you stay for two minutes please, I have some questions.” She nods but sighs, it seems like the universe is against her. At the same moment she hears the shut of the door, meaning that Seulgi is out and that she’ll have to wait… again. “It’s actually about Seulgi, is she okay? She seems… weird?” Irene decides to lie, because she is not dumb, she perfectly knows why Seulgi is like this. “I don’t know, I guess she’s just tired. We don’t really have the time to talk we’re all pretty busy.” “Okay, she just seemed a little bit off, as the leader I count on you to improve her mood and help her.” “Sure you can count on me. Is that all?” She scoffs internally, it won’t be that easy. “No I have another question, how is it going with Bogum?” he smiles. Oh Bogum, the reason to Seulgi’s mood,of course she didn’t admit it directly but Irene’s personal investigation tells her that there’s 99% of chances that he’s the reason. It’s been 4 months since she started dating Bogum, It’s the first time she dates since she entered this industry, she has always declined every proposition, mostly because of one reason, Seulgi. Since the trainees days it has always been her, first they became friends, then they slowly catched feelings, and they both hid it for a long time, for years. They clearly both knew what the other was feeling, it’s no secret. Even Sooyoung, Seungwan and Yerim started to have doubts as well as the fans. But there is a few problems, first in the idol life, dating a man already is problematic, imagine two women together? In this homophobic country? It’s not possible, they would lose everything, and Joohyun doesn’t want that, she wants Seulgi to be happy, and then she isn’t a vampire. She ages, and her dream of forever is to have a perfect family, she is almost 30 years old, and it doesn’t matter if she looks 20 or not. So this situation of loving Seulgi isn’t possible anymore, it’s been too long already, because how much would she has to wait again, and even wait for what? Seulgi can’t bring her a family, so what do they have to wait for? Red velvet disband? The end of homophobia? No, and she knows it’s not only her, she knows other idols are scarifying their love, so if they can do it, she also can and so she did what she had to do. There is no happy ending for them. 3 months ago Joohyun’s stomach is aching, actually she wants to throw up, she is scared. She is scared because she has to tell the woman she has fallen in love with, that she is currently dating Park Bogum, the one that everyone think is perfect for her. This situation has lasted too much, and maybe Bogum can make her fall in love with him instead? As selfish as it sounds it would be better for everything. He’s lovely and she’s attracted by him so why not? She has to tell her now, because Dispatch is going to expose their couple tomorrow. And she can’t, she can’t let Seulgi discover it because of Dispatch, as much as she wants to avoid it she can’t. It’s already been 1 month and she started to get distant, obviously the younger girl noticed it so she can’t lie to her anymore. So here is she, waiting for Seulgi return at the dorm. But she’s not stressed or anxious it’s worse, she can barely breathes. They never admitted it to each other, that they’re in love, because of this industry, they aren’t allowed to. But their actions spoke for them, even though they never crossed the line, not once. They hug each other, kiss on the cheek, etc.. But never went beyond that, because they both secretly know that once they really enter the circle, they can’t get out, so neither of them had the boldness and selfishness to do it. Suddenly she hears the door unlock, Seulgi is back. “Oh, Hi Joohyun! I missed you” she says as she flashes her best smile, the one that reach her ears. Joohyun starts tearing up as soon as she hears her voice. “Seulgi.. Come here please..” “What’s wrong Hyun?” her smile rapidly turned into a frown. “We need to talk.” And so she explains her, she explains Seulgi how she is dating Bogum, how she knows Seulgi’s feelings, and how they can’t. She never saw Seulgi like that, no matter what happened, she never saw the light in Seulgi eyes totally disappear. Until now. They’re both a crying mess by now. Joohyun sees how Seulgi looks like her soul has disappeared of her body. And it breaks her too, more than she would let her see. She sees how Seulgi is disgusted only by the thought of Bogum touching her, how Seulgi’s heart is broken because it’s done, she would never be like she was with Joohyu again. But Seulgi is the sweetest girl, and she’s crazy about Joohyun, so she doesn’t insult Joohyun or anything like that, she controls her anger and just asks one question with her voice trembling. “Does he make you happy?” “Yes, he does.” And Joohyun’s answer was partly a lie, because Bogum is an angel with her, but no one can make her happy like Seulgi does, not even a half. And that’s at this exact moment that Seulgi totally broke, still she manages to smile, or at least she tries. She looks straight in Irene’s eyes and tells her one last sentence. “So I wish you two the best.” And after that she was gone. And Joohyun knew a part of her also died. Since this day, Joohyun and Seulgi never had another proper conversation; it was only Irene and Seulgi interaction in public event. Sooyoung, Seungwan and Yerim were informed of the situation, and they understood it completely, tried their best to not force anything. Seulgi was not okay, and Joohyun knew it. She saw how Seulgi often came back totally drunk, she heard her cry, she heard her throw up every night. It destroyed her too. She also knows that the members are trying to take care of her, since they always tell her to go back to her room. They weren’t mad at Joohyun because they knew the industry, how impossible it is, they simply didn’t want to make Seulgi suffer even more. Seulgi slowly became paler, thinner. Almost like a zombie. But since a few days it seems like she’s been better. It took her 3 months to get a little better, so how much time will she needs to accept a sub-unit with the woman she once loved so much? Joohyun shakes her head to reconnect herself to the reality and her boss mistook it as a response to his previous question of “how is it going with Bogum?” “Oh, is there a problem?” “No, no! I was thinking about something else! Everything is going well with Bogum, it’s perfect actually.” “Right, he’s a good guy, the contrary would have surprised me. You can go now, goodbye!” “Thanks, goodbye!” she sighs and lowers her head, she’ll never be able to talk to her normally again. Joohyun is currently looking for Seulgi, after the little appointment with her boss, she had a date with Bogum and a meeting with the stylists. Since they need to give the CEO their response tomorrow they have to talk. Bogum knew something was off today, but he was kind enough to not dig, and let Joohyun keep her privacy. The fans loved them, they were the Korea it couple. She decided to keep the sub-unit idea for herself, in case Seulgi said no, since Bogum isn’t aware of her past with the girl he wouldn’t understand a rejection. She was walking in a corridor when she spotted the person she was looking for. “Seulgi!” Joohyun can already see Seulgi trying to run away but she managed to hold her wirst before. She senses Seulgi stiffens within the contact so she immediately let go. “Seulgi please, we need to talk about the sub-unit!” “I can’t Irene, I have to go somewhere.” “Please, it would only take a few minutes!” “I can’t I’m already late, let’s talk when I comeback tonight.” Joohyun can still clearly see that Seulgi is bothered by her, but she doesn’t know if she’s lying or not, and since the subject is important she still tries. “Please Seulgi, stop avoiding me, I just want to talk about the unit!” “I have a date Joohyun.” “What?” Joohyun feels like someone just stabbed her in the heart, the softness of Seulgi’s voice don’t make this sentence easier to take. Don’t get her wrong, she knows she has absolutely no right to be mad, to feel bad or anything else, but still her world is falling apart. “I have a date.” “Okay, let’s talk tonight I’ll be in the lobby at 10PM.” Joohyun didn’t expect her voice to be that weak, and Seulgi surely noticed it. “Sure, see you later.” And right after that, Seulgi leaves, with a broken Joohyun behind her. But didn’t Joohyun do the same a few months ago? Wasn’t Seulgi allowed to pay back? The response to all these questions are indeed yes, she knows it, and still she’s crying alone, wondering why the her life is so complicated. She runs to the nearest room and lock herself, it’s a little living room, and there’s no one. She falls on the sofa and cries even more. Wondering for hours if Seulgi loves this person, or if she’s trying to forget Joohyun? Or has she already? Is it a simple date? Are they in a relationship? All these questions that will surely remain unanswered for a long time. It’s finally 10Pm, Joohyun is going to the lobby, like she said earlier. She is a bit drunk, alcohol is really helpful in these situations. When she arrives she spots Seulgi. She came earlier. Joohyun immediately wonders if her date went well? She decides to approach Seulgi. “Hey let’s talk outside?” “Sure” They go out of the building, the sky is already dark. There is a lot of stars and the moon is shining bright. It reminds Joohyun of Seulgi once again. 2 years ago “The sky is beautiful tonight.” “You’re right Hyun I love it.” Seulgi and Joohyun were cuddling together in the fresh grass, watching the sky and the beauty of it. “Hyun?” said Seulgi while looking at her. “Yes?” Joohyun turned her head just to meet Seulgi’s gaze full of love. “You’re even more beautiful than the stars.” “YAAH, stop with your cheesy pick-up lines.” she responded while hitting Seulgi’s arm without forgetting to blush. “I can help it sorry!” Seulgi said while laughing out loud, soon joined by Joohyun. Suddenly Joohyun fell backward. “Hyun? Are you okay?” the tone of Seulgi voice showed that she was anxious. “Hyun?” she leans forward, still no answer. Suddenly Joohyun whines and smirks. “Seulgi I’ve fallen for you and I can’t get up.” And this time it was Seulgi turn to blush.   “So Irene, for the unit?” Seulgi said. “Ah yeah, sorry, I wanted to ask you if it’s okay to accept it? I’d still like to do this with you if you don’t mind…” “Yes, I’ve been thinking about it, there’s no reason to refuse it we’ll tell the boss we accept. We’re coworkers before anything” No emotions can be heard in her voice. The last sentenc