87. Bad friend

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| January 20th, Wednesday, 2021 |

Annie quickly looked at the others' reactions and, luckily, no one seemed to be paying attention.

"You mean from the vending machine, right? I can't go out because of a dating scandal I got involved in."

"Yeah! I wanted to talk with you about it. Should we go before our managers arrive?"

As soon as she nodded, Sungyoon led the way outside.

Surely, everyone else noticed them sneaking out, but no one said a thing.

"What should I get you?"

"Milkis!"

The girl jumped excitedly.

"Thank–"

Just as she was about to grab the can, he took it back.

"Is that guy still bothering you? Did he show up after the article came out? You should be careful with stalkers. You don't go home on your own, do you?"

Sungyoon questioned, his tone getting more anxious at each question.

"Thanks for worrying. I don't think he knows where I live now, so it's all good."

"Still, always be careful. It's pretty easy for people to find out our info in this field."

Annie nodded and smiled gently, making her small dimples appear.

"So..."

She raised both eyebrows, signing for him to continue.

"...did you know your coworker likes you?"

"Coworker? Wait! You mean–? No!"

"I'm sure, Rim. Who was the first to tell you about Kangmin, again?"

The elder recalled that day years ago when he easily found out his label mate had a crush on her.

"That's– Whatever, doesn't matter. I don't like him and, even if I did, I'm not in position to date anyone right now."

He nodded understandingly.

"Alright, just letting you know before you lose him to someone else."

Huh?

Is he talking about Minnie?

"That would never happen."

● ● ● ● ●

"I'm thinking about confessing to Minho."

It was the next day, Annie had been invited to her leader's room so they could talk.

She had a dozen ideas as to why she wanted to talk: scold her about something, pass a message their manager had given her, ask her to produce a track...

Anything but a confession to her boyfriend.

"You can't!"

She nearly shouted.

"Listen, I'm telling you this first because I know you two hate each other and I don't want my boyfriend and my friend to be on bad terms!"

She's already considering a "yes"?

"No, that's not why I'm against it."

"Then?"

Jaein tilted her head, confused.

"He has a girlfriend."

"What!? How–"

"...and it's me."

"Huh??"

She blinked countless times, trying to understand what her friend had just said.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I was really scared because I know I'm wrong by breaking the contract and–"

"Yeah, you are."

Annie stopped her sentence, taken aback.

"What?"

"You made a mistake. Not only that, but how could you betray me like that? You've always hated Minho. Did you start going after him after I revealed I had a thing for him? So you could feel accomplished?"

"What? No, I–"

"Or is this revenge because I started going out with Changbin?"

Annie stared in shock at her friend – if you could still call her that.

She was aware Jaein liked men very much, but to treat your friend like that because of someone you "have a thing on"? As a leader of a group too?

"Look, I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, but you're going too far. I understand you're upset, but the things you're saying are pretty offensive to me."

As always, the girl tried to answer reasonably and calmly.

"You understand? How?"

Because you had dates with my crush of five years, then dumped him and I was there to comfort him.

"Because I've been there, okay?"

"You've never liked anyone, Haerim, be serious."

Annie felt tears of anger forming.

"I have, Jaein. You just never paid enough attention to me to notice."

"Are you calling me a bad leader now?"

I'm calling you a bad friend.

"It's not late, Jay. We were both wrong, so why don't take this opportunity to start over and be nicer to each other, hm? I'm sorry for dating the person you like without consulting you first and for hiding things that a leader should know."

She took a deep breath and smiled subtly.

It took some time, but Jaein finally spoke.

"Sorry for assuming things about you."

Annie waited for a continuation but after realising the girl's apology was only that, she got up from the bed.

"I'm going to be in my room in case you want to talk about anything else."

The leader nodded as she watched her fellow member leave the room with a sigh.

Considering FLASHLIGHT has a reality program to shoot this weekend and the comeback preparation next month, things will end up badly if they don't solve their problems as soon as possible.

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