Special shout out to inten17eu,totoro,PearLee,momoiu_jjang and iueru for commenting. Reading your comments made my day. As per momoiu_jjang's suggestion,I decided to include more of Suho in the story but I will start doing that in my next chapter. Although none of you seemed that curious about who the second female lead is,I still have to introduce her. I decided to go with another one  of IU's best friends since it'll make it easier.I know that none of this would actually happen in real life yeah but since this is basically au,I'll just go with it. Also if I make mistakes in regards to the timeline when I include stuff that actually happened,please do forgive me. Feel free to let me know what you liked or didn't like and even make some suggestions?I'll try to put them in the story if I think it'll work. Also feel free to give me constructive criticism. The more you all comment even if it's just one line,the more I'm motivated to update quickly and maybe complete this story earlier too. ^_^

    "Ok,cut," the director finally yelled out and a weary IU immediately headed to her assigned chair before practically falling into it. She had just repeated the same scene about ten times because he hadn't been completely satisfied with how the scene was shot. The director was well known for being a perfectionist and IU admired him for it because she was like that too especially when it came to her music but after so many takes,she kinda wanted to strangle him.

   Closing her eyes,she used her break to rest for a while. She remained like that peacefully until suddenly two hands covered her already closed eyes. IU shrieked in surprise before she caught the  scent of a familiar perfume. Grinning she scolded the person, "Suzy,take  your hands off my face before I pinch them". Laughing in surprise at having been caught that easily,Suzy complied while sitting next to her with an adorable pout on her face, "Unnie,how do you always know its me?"

   Smirking mischievously,IU answered in English,trying her best to imitate Gossip Girl,a show they both loved to binge watch together, "That's a secret I'll never tell," which elicited more laughter from the younger idol. Suzy's eyes crinkled as IU glanced curiously at her,already knowing what she was going to ask her, "Before you ask the obvious,I'm here because I'm actually the second female lead. Surprise!". Almost immediately after she finished,IU jumped up,pulling Suzy up as well and started squealing.

  Once again,IU's actions made Suzy break into laughter as it reminded her of how much she had missed it when IU unnie made her laugh. She had been much too busy lately and hadn't been able to hang out with her best friend in a while so when she had received the script and heard IU unnie was in it,she simply had to accept. The script itself for the 16 episode drama was quite captivating which was always a plus point but being able to hang out with her most favourite person in the industry while working on improving her acting was really why she had choosen this drama instead of countless other dramas. As IU continued jumping up and down in excitement,Suzy felt a pair of eyes on them. Glancing away from IU briefly,she realized Song Mino from WINNER was staring at the both of them. He was doing it surreptitiously but Suzy had been the recipient of enough sneaky glances to be able to recognize one immediately.

   The strange thing about it was that this time it wasn't Suzy who was the recipient of the glance because it was obvious if you were looking at him closely enough like she was currently doing that his eyes were solely on IU. The soft,tender gaze he was sporting while staring sneakily at her oblivious best friend immediately raised Suzy's suspicions. After a moment,he finally noticed that Suzy was looking at him with a curious look on her face and he instantly turned away and seemed to strike up a conversation with a guy who seemed to be his manager. "Looks like things will definitely be interesting on set," she thought to herself.

   Finally after IU had regained her composure,Suzy took the opportunity to quench her curiosity as they both sat together in IU's waiting room,just the two of them, "So I heard that you've been spending a lot of time with both Mino oppa and Suho oppa." Hearing the suggestive tone in her question,IU simply shrugged which wasn't quite the reaction her best friend had been hoping for. Still she persisted, "Come on,unnie!Do you like either one of them?"."Of course,I like them. They're both really sweet and decent guys," IU replied,again not taking Suzy's bait.

  Frowning openly at her best friend's answer,Suzy pinched both her cheeks causing her to yelp, "I mean are you interested in them,you know,as something more than a friend? Stop playing dumb,unnie. " Caressing her red cheeks while glaring half heartedly at the younger girl,she scolded her, "Bae Suzy,stop fooling around. " 'Come on,they're both good looking and you seem to like them well enough.",the younger woman pressed on. IU just crossed her elbows while commenting adamantly, "We're co-stars and that's all there is to it.Why do you keep talking about this?Do you like one of them?",deliberately placing an extra emphasis on the word 'you' while staring pointedly at her.

   Just like she had expected,Suzy immediately became slightly defensive and started ranting about how much guys pissed her off these days. Relieved that she had  somehow managed to finally change the subject,she just listened indulgently as Suzy continued her rant while interjecting every now and then. Her best friend clearly still hadn't gotten over her recent break up.

    It only took her only three days of being  on the set of the drama for her to realize that Mino wasn'tmerely interested in IU. From's Suzy's constant observations of him whenever both him and IU were together,his feelings for her had clearly surpassed the 'crush or fanboy' phase and were now verging quite close to the 'head over heels in love' border. He honestly did a fairly good job hiding it but Suzy had always been good at reading people and years of being in the spotlight hadn't dimmed that trait of hers,if anything she had gotten much better at it over the years. Therefore,it was extremely easy for her to look past his painstaking attempts at hiding it especially since whenever she or IU weren't shooting,the two besties were always together.

    Another week passed by before she came to realize that Suho also seemed to be in the same boat as Mino which wasn't nearly as surprising for her as Suzy had been aware that Suho was one IU's many celebrity fanboys. While she was amused at both of the male idol's attempts to cover up their feelings,what really amused her the most was that both of the guys were clearly irritated by Suzy's constant presence by IU's side.

   IU's stylist had already divulged that before Suzy started shooting,both of those guys had constantly competed with each other for IU's time. Most of IU's break then had been spent with at least one of them if not both but  nowadays IU spent almost all of her free time with her. And both of the guys didn't bother joining IU and Suzy probably because Suzy kept smirking at them knowingly when she caught them staring at IU. Because of that,more than once,Suzy had been the recipient of irritated glances whenever IU immediately approached her as soon as the director yelled "cut".

   Any  other time,those annoyed looks might have bruised her feelings slightly but knowing the reason behind them just made her laugh. Ever since she had made the connection that both the male leads had a thing for her best friend,she had been toying with the idea of letting IU know about it since she still seemed unaware. Eventually though she decided against it,at least for the time being.It would be more fun to see if either of them would actually succeed or if they would even have the guts to confess in the first place. Although if  she had been asked to choose between which guy would be better for IU,she would probably have answered Mino,not that Suho wasn't a great guy for her friend but it was just that WINNER's fandom seemed more chill than EXO's. She knew that not all of EXO's fans were sasaeng's but they were still pretty scary and she didn't want her best friend to get unneccessary hate. Even the fact that EXO's leader was acting with two of the most famous female idols in the industry was already making the fandom angry and there had been quite a few hate comments aimed at the two women. She shuddered to think what would happen if IU ended up dating Suho.

 As much as JYP's favourite daughter loved IU,it couldn't be denied that her best friend of five years was still pretty dense when it came to matters of the heart. This was partly because she had never actually dated,she had had crushes but Lee Jieun had been too busy striving for her dream to ever find time to date. Which was why although Suzy had decided not to meddle,she was knocking on IU's apartment door,bundled up in an oversized hoodie which was pulled up along with a cap and sunglasses,the basic celebrity disguise honestly. A tired looking IU opened the door and before she could utter a single word at Suzy's unannounced appearance,the younger idol pushed past her cheerfuly.

   IU just sighed as she locked the door and followed Suzy to her hall. It was only 9 p.m but IU had wanted to hit the sack early as she had been spent almost ten hours on the drama set today. Suzy's sudden appearance basically ended that plan. "Oh,come on,don't glare at me like that,unnie. I even brought your favourite ice cream," Suzy looked pleadingly at IU. Despite her lethargy,IU couldn't help but smile at the sight of Suzy's aegyo. "Fine,we can have a sleepover tonight," the older woman relented.

  After handing Suzy a spoon,the both of them shared a tub of vanilla ice cream while sitting next to each other on the couch. They enjoyed the ice cream in a comfortable silnce for a while before Suzy decided to engage IU in coversation. "Jieun unnie,please tell what your dream guy is like." The out of the blue question made IU pause as she stared at her friend,her surprise at the sudden topic clearly etched on her face,"Why are you suddenly asking me that,Suzy?". Deciding to just be honest,Suzy looked back at her pleadingly, "I'm just curious,unnie.We've been close for years but you've never talked about this even when me and the others bring it up. And Taeyang oppa doesn't count since that was just you being a fangirl."

  Her honest answer caused IU to sigh in defeat as she hesitatingly began to descibe her ideal guy, "Hmm,well I suppose he would probably have to be part of the entertainment industry since we would be able to understand each other better.Also it's not like I have any chance of meeting guys outside of our field. Honestly,like most girls,I would prefer a guy who would make me laugh and can comfort me whenever I feel down and hurt.Most importantly,I guess I just want him to love me enough to fight for me and never give up on us because the truth is dating in this industry is never easy especially with all the anti fans who would proably throw so much hate on us." After finishing,she looked at the woman beside her with such a heartbroken expression on her face that Suzy's heart clenched at the sight, "But that guy doesn't exist,does he?"

  The way her voice broke as she voiced out her fear,made Suzy immediately pull her into a hug, "Don't be like that,unnie.Of course,he exists." "Suzy,you don't need to console me.Even if he does,what's the point?You know how hard it is to date for people like us.Even if we hide it,it would still be hard." Suzy broke the hug and nodded,tears b in her eyes, "You're right,unnie."

  Realizing her mistake,IU reached for Suzy's hands and held them tightly as she too begin to tear up,"I'm so sorry,Suzy.I didn't mean to remind you of him." "Aniya,it's ok.It;s just that I really thought he was the one but in the end,everything just fell apart without me even realizing it." Despite IU's own fears and pain,she could sense that the break up had left quite a mark on the normally cheerful and bright idol. That night the two of them cried and consoled each other as they finally talked about their fears and frustrations that they both normally just tried to ignore.

       Firstly,I mean no offense at the comments about EXO's fandom,I'm only referring to the types of fans who are extreme and don't like it when their oppas are connected to other females even briefly.I apologize if I caused any unintentional offense. Also sorry for the lack of Mino and Suho in this chapter. The next chapter will definitely have Suho and IU in it and I'm thinking of including IU's SM friends in it as well if possible. Please leave some comments,it would totally make my day! Thanks for reading this btw. ^_^