“Could it be..by any chance,” he uttered. “Seo Yuna-ssi, have you fallen for me?”

Not expecting that, Yuna choked on her own saliva and kept coughing as she tried clearing .

“Mwoh? What are you talking about?” she rebutted.

“You just said you got a nice feeling?”

“That doesn’t me I like you.”

“Oh. But you have a thing for me?” he leaned in, a smirk creeping up his face.

Yuna frowned, and quickly unlocked her door and shut it behind her. She smacked herself on the head for phrasing herself in that way.

“Araso, I get it!” she heard him shouting.

What did he get? She wasn’t even implying anything. Yuna sighed and quickly washed up before heading to bed.

..

She was awakened by the loud guitar from next door the next morning. As she grumpily sat up and stretched her back, she reminded herself again that she was the one who had allowed him to play again. After washing up, she decided to head out to buy some groceries so that she could get away from the loud noise. She returned home after an hour or so, muttering to herself. It was a habit she had; talking to herself whenever she had a lot on her mind.

“Seo Yuna, you need to work hard now. You need to be strong from now on. Just hold on a bit more. The truth will clear up soon. Appa will be fine. Seo Yuna fighting!”

When she reached her floor, she noticed there was a young woman in front of Jonghyun’s door. She walked up quietly, not really caring who she was.

“Oh! Are you living here now?” the girl suddenly asked, sounding surprised.

Yuna turned, and nodded. She grinned at her answer, as if she had just heard some good news, but didn’t say anymore. Yuna slipped into her house, finding her question weird. She continued to do her work, editing the pictures from the day before so that she could upload it onto the homepage.

Her eyes landed on the pictures of Jonghyun she had taken the night before and for a while, she just sat there admiring his face. Something about him intrigued her. Behind that icy cold stare and annoying attitude, there laid a soft guy whose life depended on the music he could make.

She heard a conversation in the corridor and decided to be nosy and peeked through her peephole to see who it was.

The pretty girl, who was much shorter than Jonghyun, was standing at the door, laughing along to whatever they were talking about. Yuna’s eyes moved towards Jonghyun, and for the first time, she saw a genuine smile on his face.

“Woah,” she breathed out. “He’s smiling.”

They hugged before she went on her way, but Jonghyun was still standing there smiling before he finally went back inside. That’s a sight of him she had never thought of seeing. Was the girl his girlfriend? Yeah, she nodded to herself, it seemed like it. She sighed emptily as she continued on with her work.

She wondered what her life would be if she had a boyfriend. She laughed out loud to herself, quickly brushing the thought off. She had no time for boys. All her life, she had been running away and escaping danger with her dad. She hadn’t even had her first crush, yet alone her first kiss. Life was too complicated as it is.

She uploaded a few pictures and quickly readied herself for work. Once again, right as she left her house, Jonghyun too came out from his. He nodded slightly at her, and walked off first. Yuna stood there for a second, shocked that he had acknowledged her presence, before catching up to him. He must have been in a good mood after a visit from his girlfriend. This time, he was walking in front of her.

They arrived together, and Yuna was immediately greeted by Hyejeong. The grin on her face told her that she had seen the uploaded pictures.

“Daebak!” she squealed. “All the boys looked so great! Especially my Minhyukkie!”

“I guessed I did hire the right person,” Jungshin added, walking up to her to pat her. “Jonghyun, have you seen the pictures? Yours were the best.”

Yuna smiled awkwardly as they all complimented her work. She glanced over at Jonghyun, who was being forced by Jungshin to look at the pictures on their homepage.

“I also have BTS pictures of you guys, but I don’t know if I should post it up as well,” Yuna asked.

“Of course!” Hyejeong immediately jumped at the idea. “Fans would go gaga over that!”

Yuna beamed at her enthusiasm and did a mental note to herself. Her eyes slyly glanced over Jonghyun again to watch his reaction. She was expecting him to be his stone cold self, but to her surprise, he was smiling widely at the screen. She noticed the dimples on his cheeks which she hadn’t got the chance to see, and smiled to herself. She turned away just in time as Jonghyun looked up to her. She hid her smile and gulped down her drink, pretending like she hadn’t been staring at him.

“Those pictures,” his voice came from behind. “They’re pretty good.”

Yuna stared at him as he sat down on the seat next to her.

“I mean, of course, the pictures turned out great because of the model in it. But anyways, you did a pretty decent job as the photographer too.”

As expected of him, Yuna stifled a laugh at his attempt for a compliment. He wasn’t that bad perhaps. They sat there waiting for the opening time, having reached the club a bit earlier. Just then, Yonghwa entered the place with a wide smile, holding hands with a girl. Yuna stared at her, surprised to see the pretty girl that was over at Jonghyun’s place just a few hours ago. She darted her eyes at Jonghyun, who had his icy cold stare back on his face as he watched Yonghwa and her together. Yuna, confused over the whole situation, sat back in silence hoping someone would explain.

“She’s back!” Yonghwa exclaimed out to the whole club.

Everyone turned and as soon as they all saw the girl, everyone got up to their feet excitedly, gathering around her. Yuna watched from her seat, and noticed Jonghyun still beside her, not budging from his seat.

“Jun Hee? Jun Hee!” a squeal came out of nowhere.

Hyejeong ran past everyone and threw herself onto Jun Hee as they laughed at each others’ embrace. Hyejeong kept on babbling about not having met her for a long time and missing her, which made Yuna even more confused.

 “Ah Seo Yuna-ssi! I saw the pictures just now. Great job!” Yonghwa told her as he walked up to her.

The girl followed him silently, smiling from cheek to cheek while she greeted the others. She was really cute, with her bangs making her look like a child. Yuna thanked him, but her eyes continued following the girl. She finally noticed Yuna there, and her eyes widened in surprise at her sight. She grinned at her, as if glad that they met again.

 “Ah right,” Yonghwa said. “Seo Yuna-ssi, this is my girlfriend Choi Jun Hee.”

“Girlfriend?” she blurted out loud.

 “Wae? I can’t have a girlfriend?” Yonghwa asked.

“Ani..aniyo. You can have one. I was just surprised,” she feigned laughter to avoid the awkward situation.

“Annyeong, we meet again,” she greeted. “Oppa told me about having a new member here. I didn’t expect it to be you.”

Yonghwa looked at her confused. “When did you meet her?”

“Oh right, I forgot to tell you! I went to meet Jonghyun at his house just now, and bumped into her in the corridor,” she explained.

Yuna noticed how Yonghwa’s expression on his face suddenly changed, but it seemed that no one else noticed it.

“Yah Jun Hee-ah, when did you come back?” Minhyuk asked her.

“Yesterday! My manager is allowing me some time off since I did well on the new album,” she explained, still smiling.

“Album?” Yuna blurted out again.

“Uri Jun Hee-ah is a musician, just like us! She just debuted in Japan a few months ago so we haven’t been able to see her for a long time. We’ve missed her so much,” Jungshin explained.

“Imagine my agony then,” Yonghwa added, bringing laughter to everyone.

Except Jonghyun, though. Yuna continued studying him, and noticed that he was the only one not quite happy with seeing Jun Hee around, especially when Yonghwa kept talking to her. Could it be he’s jealous?

The situation kept getting weirder the more she tried to understand the dynamics of their friendship, but soon it was opening time and Yuna had to throw all her concerns to the back of her head. She was helping out Hyejeong with the sound system that night, so she had to pay more attention.