Seulgi let out a loud groan as she sat down on the floor, feeling exhausted as the sweat kept on dripping down her face. She reached for the water bottle beside her and almost gulped the whole thing down. A tired sigh escaped her mouth as she got up and went to turn off the music that was blasting from the speakers. She grabbed a small towel and wiped off the sweat from her forehead and neck as she grabbed her phone and unlocked the lock screen, opening the message she had gotten from Joohyun.
"You've been in the practice room for four hours now, come home and get some rest."
Seulgi tightened her lips as she had a hard time choosing between staying to practice and going home to rest. Their comeback was only one week away and she knew that she needed all the rest she could get for the comeback, but all the extra practice was just as important.
As soon as she felt herself yawn she knew that she needed to rest and quickly put her hair up in a ponytail as she got annoyed by the hair touching sticking to her sweaty face. She unplugged her phone from the speakers and went to put on her coat and grabbed her bag before walking out of the practice room. Almost walking faster as she went past the certain practice room where the voices of about eighteen people were heard.
She wasn't scared of facing them or anything like that, but she really didn't want the possibility of them walking out of the practice room and staying to chit chat with her happen. She was already too tired and even though she enjoyed their company, most of them, she just didn't feel like meeting anyone. The comeback was the only thing on her mind at the moment and she didn't want anyone to disturb her practice or rest.
Even when she finished all of her group schedules, she still decided to stay in the building and just practice alone. Her will to impress the public with her talents was still as strong as ever, and even if her coaches told her she was already good with the choreography or the song she knew she could improve even just a tad bit more.
Reaching the entrance, she immediately inhaled the cool air as she opened the door got out, feeling the cold air cool her down a little from the intense training. She decided to walk back to her dorm instead of calling her manager to come and pick her up since her dorm was only a few blocks away anyway. She looked up and noticed that the sky had turned pitch black already. Had she really been practicing for that long?
As she took one step she instantly felt her stomach growling, begging her for food. She tilted her head back as she cursed mentally, realising that she hadn't eaten anything for the past ten hours.
"I want to eat," she mumbled to herself as she turned to the convenience store that was just across the road. "But I also want to sleep..."
She groaned stubbornly as she took quick steps towards the convenience, knowing that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep if her stomach kept on growling like it did. She walked into the store and greeted the cashier before making her way to the section with food. She picked a few things from the shelf and a bottle with strawberry milk and carried them to the cashier, placing all the things in front of him.
"Do you want anything else?" he asked her as he finished scanning all the products.
"N-... Actually, could I get one, please?" she asked as she pointed at the cigarette packets behind him. He nodded and picked one packet and scanned it before putting it in the bag with the food.
"That would be twenty two won, please," he told her and as she took out her card to pay, she immediately got startled by seeing someone's hand reaching into the plastic bag and taking out the packet with cigarettes.
"She won't buy these."
Seulgi looked up and instantly frowned when she recognized the young man. "Yes, I wi-"
"No, you won't." He interrupted her sternly and gave the packet back to the cashier.
Seulgi rolled her eyes and just payed for the food since she didn't want to spare any time arguing with him. She grabbed the bag and bowed slightly to the cashier before walking out of the store, ignoring the guy that was now hurrying to catch up with her.
"What were you thinking?!"
"I thought we had a deal," she replied as she turned around to face him, but backed a bit as she felt his hands on top of her head.
"What do you think you're doing?!" she snarled at him and immediately grabbed the scarf that was covering her head and face and tossed it back to him.
"What do you think you're doing? You do know that you just tried to buy cigarettes without having your face covered, right? Someone could've seen you and post a picture on the internet or something!" he whisper shouted at her.
"Why do you care?" she hissed.
"If you have already forgotten, we're actually fake dating and your actions will affect me as well," he told her which caused her to snort.
"I knew you caring about me was too good to be true," she muttered while narrowing her eyes at him.
"Oh so now you suddenly want me to care about you," he scoffed.
"Don't worry, I won't ruin your perfect reputation." She quickly assured him as she didn't want to continue the conversation they were having.
"Seulgi!"
Both of them turned to the way were the voice was coming from and saw Youngho running towards them. When he reached them he bent down and placed his hands on his thighs while panting heavily.
"Here," he breathed out while handing his phone to her.
She furrowed her eyebrows at him before looking at the caller ID and immediately pursed her lips as she put the phone by her ear.
"Hel-"
"Seulgi why the hell aren't you home yet?! And why didn't you answer your phone?!"
"I was just going home," she responded softly as she scratched her nape.
"Were you going to walk home?!" she heard Joohyun screech. "When it's this dark outside?!"
"It's not that long too walk," she reasoned and noticed Taeyong whispering something to Youngho before walking away.
"Let me talk to Youngho," Joohyun told her and she immediately gave the phone back to him.
"Yeah?" Youngho said and Seulgi waited patiently for him to finish the call while watching Taeyong walking back to the building behind him. She then turned back to look at the stack with cigarette packets through the big glass windows, but immediately shook her head and turned back to Youngho.
"Alright, we'll be there soon," he said and hung up. "Damn, she's really on a bad mood today," he whispered and put the phone in his pocket.
"But you still like her, don't you?" Seulgi teased as she nudged him slightly with her elbow.
"I do," he smiled before reaching for something in his other pocket. "Here," he said as he handed her a face mask. "She told me to walk you home and I don't want people to start rumours of you cheating on Taeyong with me or something," he chuckled and she accepted the face mask and put it on.
"Thanks," she smiled and they began walking away from the building.
"So, did you and Taeyong make up or something?" he asked her.
"Not really," she sighed and looked up at the sky, "I didn't accept his apology but at least we agreed to stop our little 'fued'. We also decided to act like strangers outside of work," she explained.
"Well that's better, isn't it?" he answered.
"I guess," she shrugged.
"You guess?" he asked with his eyebrows raised.
"I don't know," she trailed off as if she thought deeply about something.
"Let's talk about you and Joohyun instead," she then said with a teasing smile, quickly changing the subject. "When are you going to confess to her?" she asked which caused him to chuckle and push her slightly while she just laughed at him.
---------------------------------------------
Taeyong walked into the practice room and spared a glance at the girl who was warming up before bowing to the choreographer. "There you are!" their choreographer exclaimed with a big smile while motioning for him to go and stand with Seulgi.
It was time for them to prepare their dancing collab for this year's MAMA and both of them had already practiced on their individual choreographies and were now focusing on the new dance moves that the choreographer was showing them.
Taeyong studied the small details for the couple dance and for the first time in the past three months he actually felt nervous about doing this collab. He wasn't nervous about doing the V live or the photoshoot because he simply didn't care, so being nervous about the collab weirded him out. But he soon understood that he wasn't nervous about what the public would say, but he was nervous about doing it with her.
The dance they were doing together was really short so they both got into position and went over the choreography a few times before they both learned the whole thing completely. During their third try, he glanced at her face and noticed the unbothered look on it. He then remembered the photoshoot they had two months ago and it was as if their roles were reversed this time. Even if their dance was short, it was still somewhat intimate and normally he wouldn't have cared. But now he did.
Was it because he felt uncomfortable around her this time? He had never once in the past five years felt uncomfortable around her, which always resulted in him confidently making remarks and comments about her without caring. But now he was almost scared of talking to her, fearing that he would say or do something wrong again.
He had managed to convince himself multiple times before that he didn't feel guilt about their argument at the restaurant. But after very long thinking he realised that he indeed felt guilt, a lot of it. And after his interaction with her at the rooftop during the halloween party, the guilt had already started to eat him alive.
He placed his arm around her shoulders and felt her gentle grip on his wrist as they both tried not to look into each other's eyes, even if their faces were only a few centimeters apart.
"That's great you two!" he heard the choreographer praise them and they both let go of each other in an instant.
"Thank you!" Seulgi bowed and Taeyong did so as well.
"I have to be somewhere else right now, but stay here and practice a little bit more, okay? Make sure to work a little bit more with your chemistry as well."
Both Seulgi and Taeyong nodded at him and he went out of the room, leaving the two of them alone. "Can we go over it quickly one more time today? I have to go and practice with the girls before our comeback stage," she told him.
Taeyong rubbed his neck as he looked at her, feeling somewhat shocked that she spoke with such a nice and gentle tone. Or that she spoke with him at all. Their last encounter was a few days ago and since then they had ignored each other when they passed by each other, not even bothering to spare a glance or make rude comments like they usually would.
"Sure, I have to practice with the guys in a few minutes anyway," he agreed and she nodded before turning on the music.
Taeyong stood by the side and watched her get in position before doing her solo dance. He bopped his head to the smooth rhythm and watched her hit every beat. As he got prepared for his part, his eyes quickly widened when she collapsed on the floor.
"Seulgi!" he called and ran over to her. She began coughing vigorously and pointed at her water bottle that was placed by the mirrors. He got up and grabbed the water bottle and handed it to her, letting her drink it as he went to turn the music off.
"Are you alright?" he asked her as she closed the water bottle and let out another small cough.
"I'm fine," she assured and went to grab her bag.
"No, you're not," he then said, "I told you to quit smoking. And didn't I tell you before to eat?" he then told her, almost sounding like he scolded her.
"I'm trying," she sighed before going to open the door.
"Wait!" he shouted which made her stop in her tracks.
"Yeah?" she asked as she turned around and faced him.
"Am I one of the reasons to why you're smoking?" he asked her and Seulgi raised her eyebrows, appalled by his sudden question.
"Why are you asking me that?" she asked him calmly, stopping herself just in time from snapping at him and saying something like: "not everything is about you." or "mind your own goddamn business."
"It's just that... I've probably been provoking you a lot during these few years and some things I've said must've been really hurtful. Too hurtful. And that combined with the hate you're getting and everything else must've been stressful." He told her honestly and bit his lips nervously as she just stood still and stared off into the distance.
"No," she then spoke after a long pause.
"What?" he mumbled.
"You're not one of the reasons to why I smoke. The thing you told me before did hurt me, but I think I've said a lot of hurtful things to you too," she told him and gripped harder onto the water bottle in her hands before continuing. "Don't worry about it, okay?"
Taeyong felt a small wave of relief wash over him and he felt joy for taking the courage to ask her about it, or else he would've continued to be very guilty about that incident. "Sure," he then said..
Seulgi opened the door a little bit more and as she was about to step out she heard him call for her again. "Yes?" she asked him, this time with more impatience that was very noticeable in her tone.
"Actually... Nothing," he told her.
"Alright, but don't talk to me again if it's not about work," she mumbled before walking out of the room.