“How do you feel about Seulgi?” Amber asks casually, one day when they were all waiting for the dance instructor to show up.

    “Who?” Soojung asks absentmindedly, looking away from her form in the mirror. Their company is in the final stages of forming this girl group, and Soojung can’t afford to be cut- not for any reason, and especially not this stupid dance move that she can’t seem to get right.

    “Kang Seulgi. We had dance practice with her yesterday,” Jinri informs helpfully, and Soojung remembers an unimpressionable, scrawny girl, and little to nothing else.

    “She was a bit mediocre,” Soojung confesses bluntly with a small shrug of her shoulder. “Honestly, I don’t think she’s going to make the final lineup.” The room immediately quiets and it confuses Soojung until she turns around. Seulgi’s standing there with a hand on the door and a frozen smile on her face, but then she walks away and just like that, it was over before it even started. (What- exactly that was over- isn’t something that Soojung knows until she meets Seulgi again years later.)

.

    When Soojung first reads the script for Radio Star and sees Seulgi’s name, she almost flinches and drops the script. So she managed to make it this far, Soojung thought, and she’s not exactly sure if she feels relieved or anxious. If their company is putting this much effort to promote her- Seulgi, she reminds herself, and the image of the other girl’s frozen smile flashes through Soojung’s mind- then she’s probably going to debut. And Soojung will probably have to eventually face her again.

.

    Later, their company releases a video of Seulgi dancing with another trainee- an Irene, Soojung thinks- and Soojung tries to avoid watching it no matter how much Luna and Amber praise them (no matter how much Soojung actually wants to).

.

    But then Seulgi debuts and suddenly she’s everywhere. (She’s beautiful.)

.

    Soojung has been lucky enough to be able to avoid confrontation of any type with Seulgi this far into Red Velvet’s debut, but then their company puts them together for a special stage and her luck runs out.

.

    The first thing Soojung notices when she first meets Seulgi again is that Seulgi isn’t scrawny anymore. Time translated that scrawniness into a lithe lankiness that Soojung indulges in running her eyes over as discreetly as possible. But Seulgi’s more than lankiness- she filled out in her own right, Soojung can’t help but think as she watches Seulgi’s hips move.

    Yeah, Soojung thinks with a blush as Seulgi lifts up her shirt to wipe the sweat away from her face and she’s awarded with a flash of the tan skin of Seulgi’s stomach (Seulgi’s abs, Soojung corrects herself with an audible gulp), definitely not scrawny anymore.

The second thing Soojung notices, as Seulgi hits the dance moves with a passion that all of the air out of the room and draws all attention onto her, critical eyes trained on her own form in the mirror, is that Seulgi is no longer mediocre. Far from it. Soojung can’t seem to take her eyes off of her. (She’s not sure if this says more about her or Seulgi.)

“You’re really talented,” Soojung shyly compliments as they both take a small break together on the floor, backs against the mirror. Soojung forgot her water bottle so Seulgi shares her own with the other girl, and Soojung can’t help but take this as a good sign.

“So no longer mediocre then?” Seulgi teases- not unkindly- with unjudging eyes and an easy smile gracing her face. Soojung flinches and looks away. Guess she shouldn’t have been so hopeful that Seulgi had forgotten that little event.

    “I’m sorry,” Soojung says sincerely, “I really am.”

    “It was true,” Seulgi says with a shrug and Soojung wonders how she can say it so easily, as if Soojung hadn’t hurt her back then. “I’m not talented,” Seulgi confesses. “At least not in the same way Wendy and Joy are.” And Soojung remembers hearing about them, about the trainee whose voice blew everyone else out of the water and the young high schooler who managed to quickly skyrocket her way into the final lineup of the new girl group SM had been planning for the past few years. “Everything that I am right now- the main dancer, the lead vocalist- it’s all because of hard work and nothing else. So you were right,” Seulgi says, looking over to Soojung, “I was mediocre. But I’m not anymore. Now I’m one of the best there is,” Seulgi finishes with an unyielding confidence that reveals itself in the brightness of her eyes and the firmness of her words.

    “But still, I shouldn’t have-” Soojung cuts off and looks down. “I don’t understand why you’re not mad at me.”

    “I could be, but grudges are tiring and more trouble than it’s worth,” Seulgi shrugs before stretching and standing up.

    “So you forgive me?”

    “I forgave you a long time ago,” Seulgi replies, and in the curve of Seulgi’s smile, Soojung learns to hope for the beginning they never had.

A/N: Mostly because I feel like Krystal and Soojung don't know each other as well as we'd like to think. My Seulgi bias is showing through too much in this one. Whoops.