Donned in their smart black and pink accented costumes for their performance at Inkigayo, a couple of staff members have the four of them pressed up against a white-wash wall for photographs. Taemin squeezed casually in between the four of them with a friendly smile, and Joy quickly starts a conversation with him after a few flashes of light emit from the various sized cameras pointed in their direction. Wendy joined in not long after the maknae, and the three of them begin chatting it up about his solo album Ace, which they were all nervously excited about, their voices matching the jittery feeling of an audience of students watching football game against their rival school - quietly thrilled to the core and bursting with happiness. 

   But Seulgi barely notices the three chatter birds happily getting along together or the bursts of pearly light emitting from the camera when they blind her vision temporarily like white hot starbursts, her lips stretching into a little quirk that could pass off as the slightest smile. Her mind was focused on more important things, such as the elegant hand twining intricate fingers through hers as she stared, mindlessly, at the lenses pointed at her, brain too blank to function more than that half smirk of hers. When exactly had their leader slipped over to stand beside her? Seulgi wasn’t sure - time seemed like some unfathomable measurement the second velvety soft skin skidded over the top of her hand and melded with her fingers. 

   There was an undeniable warmth flowing from the older girl’s grip into Seulgi’s body like wind rolling over the ocean or the swell of a sea’s wave. The orange ombré haired girl never wanted to let go, but just like the undeniable future of oblivion or stop of a roller coaster ride, all good things must come to an end. And so a moment later, before she had enough time to wallow in the sensation their palms were creating pressed together, Irene let go of her first, untangling the roots of their fingers and withdrawing back into her skin once more. Seulgi wanted her to stay in that instant of serene calm. Those were the moments Seulgi wanted to treasure forever, the simple ones where words weren’t needed and actions were the only way they communicated. And so she closed her eyes and tried to memorize with the mind what the eye couldn’t remember. 

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