“Oh my god unnie, you didn’t—?? Oh my god I’m so sorry!” Jennie gasped after realizing how Joohyun reacted to what she asked. She immediately went on and hugged the older but shorter girl, patting and caressing her back to somehow bring comfort for what her talk revealed.

“I wish you luck then Byulyi. I know you; you can do this. We’ll go now.” Yongsun patted Moonbyul’s head while the latter pouted. The president just chuckled then cleared . “Jennie-yah, let’s go.”

Jennie looked so apologetic when she broke Joohyun and her embrace. “I’m so sorry unnie. I got to go.” She said at the zombie-like bassist and waved goodbye, all the while bowing in apology as she followed their president then went out of the auditorium.

Seulgi just watched Jennie and Joohyun while they interacted. Did her Hyunnie just confessed and got rejected?? Why did she look so devastated and shock while Jennie looked so apologetic and guilty?? Wow, she didn’t think that her Hyunnie could this be gutsy.

But with that aside, she had expected herself to feel happy, or relieved at least, assuming that what’s in her head was what happened. But she doesn’t. It somehow pained her that Joohyun won’t have her love realized, if that's what really is, which it really looked like.

“Well,” Moonbyul huffed.

That Seulgi snap out of her thinking.

“Just call me Seul-ah if you have any ideas, okay? You too Lalisa.” Moonbyul continued. “Thanks for stopping by Seul-ah, I appreciate it.”

Seulgi feigned a smile then jumped from the stage then run towards Joohyun who was still standing frozen. “We’ll be going now Byul-unnie!” She shouted then wrapped her arms around Joohyun’s shoulder. She felt her flinched at that and when she looked down at her, dragging her out of the auditorium at the same time, she had that still shocked expression on her face. She just smiled reassuringly. “Let’s go home?”

At which Joohyun just nodded.

+++

As they were walking, Seulgi observed Joohyun being quiet all the way. She just kept quiet too, understanding that what happened might be a little too much for Joohyun to take.

Self-discovery isn’t easy, and scary, after all. Seulgi understood why Joohyun didn’t tell her about Jennie, or how she leans towards girls. Hell, she herself didn’t had that courage to tell Joohyun about herself too. She knew Joohyun wouldn’t judge her and would support her a hundred percent, even if she knew. But, it was because it’ll probably warrant a question of who, too, so she kept mum; she knew how she’s a bad liar and Joohyun reads her all too well.

She side glanced at her and it was as if she was too deep in her thinking. She wanted to reassure her that everything’s going to be alright, but for now, she’ll let her be. She needed the alone time.

Once they were in front of Joohyun’s house, she bumped her shoulder with the older girl’s who was still entranced. “Hey Hyunnie, we’re here.”

Joohyun snapped out of it and looked around at her surroundings. Realizing they have arrived at her house, she cursed herself for being so absentminded. “R-right… I’ll get going now… S-Seulgi-yah…” She cursed herself again for stammering.

Seulgi smiled at her fondly and worriedly. She held her by her shoulders and tried to look into her eyes but Joohyun just flinched and averted her eyes at her gesture. She sighed. “Hyunnie, you know you can tell me anything, right?” She mimicked her exact words back then when she injured her right arm. She saw how the older girl flinched and looked everywhere except her eyes.

“W-what??? T-tell you what S-Seulgi-yah????” Joohyun asked in exasperation, unable to look directly into the younger girl’s eyes. She can feel her stomach churn again in a weird sensation and her face started to feel hot.

Seulgi just shrugged. “You know, just anything.”

“Y-yeah yeah… I know Seulgi-yah…” Joohyun answered in defeat, just to get out of the current situation. She tried to wiggle out of Seulgi’s hold but before she can, Seulgi had removed her hands on her shoulder, and was now enveloping her into her tight bear-hug. She felt her tapping and caressing her head gently, mumbling reassuring words of everything going okay, but it’s not.

Her heart stopping and beating wildly weird at the same time, her held breath upon smelling Seulgi’s after-dance scent combined with her perfume, something inside her stomach making rampage and her whole body both stiff and shaking—doesn’t seem like something everything going okay.

“There’s a lot of bunnies in the rabbit hole, Hyunnie.” Seulgi chuckled as she broke their embrace.

Joohyun knew she was being teased but she didn’t even understand what the taller girl said. All she knew was that this will probably the end of her winning teasing streak, as Seulgi patted her head gently, with her gentle gaze and smile at her, in a cliché slow motion, up until she was gone from her sight, with her stuck on that place with no idea how to deal with all these. Self-discovery is scary.

+++

“New competition, huh? How and where can we find that unnie?” Yerim asked as soon as she entered Sooyoung’s car after her. She looked beside her, and the tallest girl was fiddling something on her phone.

“You.” Sooyoung shortly answered without looking.

“What unnie?? You’ve seen it already I don’t pose as any threat to Irene-unnie anymore.” Yeri huffed.

Sooyoung sighed. She flashed her phone to the youngest.

Yerim moved back to see properly. “Uh… what am I supposed to see, Joy-unnie??” She asked confusedly, Sooyoung’s phone was on its calendar app.

“I thought you’re our biggest fan??” Sooyoung raised an eyebrow. “Seulgi-unnie’s birthday is coming up.” She brought her phone back and fiddled further.

“Yeah, I know that, but what’s it got to do with solving SeulRene’s problem?” Yerim asked, more confused than ever.

Soo