Taeyong panted heavily as he leaned back on the wall, waiting for the elevator to reach the top floor. He rolled up his sleeve and looked at the watch, "shit," he cursed and wiped off the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. He was always late, late to meetings, photoshoots, and so on. But he usually only made people wait about five minutes or so... Except for the photoshoot with Seulgi whereas they were a whole hour late. And now, he was an hour late as well.
As the elevator doors opened he took big steps towards the second door to the left. He stopped and inhaled the air, calming himself down before knocking on the door. He heard Lee Soo Man call for him to come in so he opened the door, carefully peeking his head inside the room before walking in. He closed the door and bowed ninety degrees.
"I'm so sorry for being late," he apologized and went to sit down on the empty chair beside Seulgi. His expression turned from an apologetic one to a confused one as he noticed both Lee Soo Man and Seulgi eating one bowl of pasta each.
"We knew you would be late so we ordered Italian." Lee Soo Man told him and did a gesture to Seulgi. She put her bowl down and reached for a plastic bag next to her.
"I didn't know if you preferred Alfredo or Bolognese so I ordered both," she said and handed him the bag. He noticed her looking down at the bag, not even sparing a glance at him. He didn't think too much of it and accepted the bag, a little "thank you," coming out from his mouth. He furrowed his eyebrows as he put the bag on the floor, he knew that Lee Soo Man always liked Seulgi, but he would've never expected to see them eating pasta in his office room so casually.
"Let's begin, shall we?" Lee Soo Man smiled and leaned forward on the table, his elbows supporting him. "Your performance at MAMA was really successful and fortunately many fans liked and supported it. You've been trending everywhere for the past week and the stocks have gone up by ten percent."
"That's great, isn't it?" Taeyong implied, not knowing why Lee Soo Man sounded so disappointed.
"It is very good for the company," Lee Soo Man said and took a pause. "However, I know that you two don't like each other that much and I don't want to force you two into this dating scandal anymore."
"So, you are saying that..?" Seulgi asked, even though she knew what he meant.
"I'm not going to force you into any more couple schedules, you two can focus on your own schedules and lay low until we release a break up statement later this year when the hype around you two together has gone away."
Taeyong turned to look at Seulgi, hoping to get a "telepathy conversation" to know what she thought about the situation. But he saw her looking the other way and noticed her fixing her hair multiple times. "Did something happen?" he thought.
"You don't have to feel like you're forcing us into this dating scandal," he then stated with an unsure smile and from the corner of his eye he noticed Seulgi swiftly turning her head to him. He shut his eyes and cursed in his head, she probably did not think the same.
"Is that so?" Lee Soo Man asked him. "What have I missed?" he then said while pointing at the two of them.
"Actually," Seulgi spoke before turning her head back to Lee Soo Man. She pursed her lips before continuing, thinking deeply about what to say. "Recently, Taeyong and I have gotten along and I don't think it would be a problem to continue with the fake dating."
"Yes," Taeyong stated, feeling relieved that she wasn't mad about this. "It is beginning to lead to great things. I mean, the fans support us now and the hate has died down. The stocks are going up and Red Velvet are one of the most popular girl groups in the industry at the moment while NCT are still doing well."
"Exactly," Seulgi agreed.
Lee Soo Man looked at them with amusement clearly showing in his expression. "Are you two dating?" he then asked them and Seulgi immediately widened her eyes.
"What?!" she exclaimed, maybe a little too quickly, causing Lee Soo Man to raised his hands in surrender.
"Alright," he smiled. "Then I'll let you continue with the fake dating. I still won't force you into any schedules together so feel free to just hang out in public or so."
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"Hey, are you alright?" Taeyong asked Seulgi as they walked out of the company building together. "You seemed a little off today."
"I'm still overwhelmed by the sudden support, I think." She turned to him with an unsure smile. "I got so used to the hate."
"The netizens love you right now," he smiled and she shook her head in disagreement.
"I wouldn't say that they love me," she spoke. "But I'm happy they're starting to appreciate my hard work and talents now, even if most of them just like me because I'm in a relationship with you."
"Yeah," he uttered and they continued walking along the streets.
"Hey," he then said and they both stopped in their tracks.
"Hm?" she said and turned to him.
"Do you have any plans right now?" he asked her.
"Uhh..." she trailed off and fixed her bangs. "I'm supposed to meet up with a friend for dinner, but that isn't until in three hours."
"Could you help me with something then?" he asked her and Seulgi furrowed her eyebrows.
"With what?" she asked.
"I need to find a christmas gift for my friend," he told her and she raised her eyebrows this time.
"Who?" she asked.
"No one you know," he said and she fake gasped.
"You have friends outside the company?" she asked, acting surprised.
"Very funny," he stated sarcastically and earned a playful smile from her.
"Why do you need my help for that? I'm pretty sure you know what your friend likes more than I do." She then said as a matter of fact and Taeyong shook his head.
"I need advice from a girl."
"You're buying a gift for a girl? That's easy! Just buy her a piece of jewelry or something."
"I am planning on buying a necklace, I just need help with what design to buy. Just come and help me find something, it'll take one hour. Maximum."
"Why can't you just ask your mom or something?" Seulgi sighed.
"Why can't you just help me?" he sighed, copying her tone.
"Because honestly, I don't want to," she admitted.
"I know you don't really want to hang out with me outside of work, but I'm just asking you to help me pick a necklace for my friend, and then you can go to your dinner with your friend. Okay?" he then explained, a little seriousness in his voice.
"No you idiot, I don't want to hang out with you because I don't want to risk falling for you even more. It's enough that I like you a little more than I already should! " she thought and shut her eyes for a moment.
A sigh escaped her mouth and she looked at him. "Fine," she agreed and earned a small grin from him.
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"Which one?" Taeyong asked as he held up two pairs of necklaces. Seulgi sighed as they had already looked at at least twenty other types of necklaces and knew Taeyong would hesitate to pick the one she told him to buy. She looked at the necklaces, both of them had thin, silver chains and about the same length. The only difference was the pendant. The first one had a small silver key and the other one had a small heart.
"Uhm.." she mumbled as she looked closer at the heart pendant, noticing the keyhole in it. "These are couple necklaces."
"Are they?" Taeyong furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the necklaces.
"Well, what does she like?" Seulgi asked him and he averted his eyes back to her. "I mean, if she likes roses then you should probably buy a necklace with a rose pendant or something rather than asking me what looks the best."
"The thing is, she likes everything. Or so it seems like." Taeyong reasoned.
"Bu-"
"Seul!"
Seulgi jumped as she felt a small hand on her shoulder. She turned around and widened her eyes before smiling brightly as she noticed the person in front of her.
"Jennie!" she half-whispered and gave her friend a tight hug.
"Hi," Jennie then mumbled as she released the hug and noticed Taeyong standing there.
"Hey," Taeyong responded and put away the necklaces.
"I saw your collab stage together," Jennie formed a thin smile at him. "It was great."
"Thank you," Taeyong spoke and took out his phone from his pocket, looking at the screen for a few seconds.
"I have to go," he turned to Seulgi and put his phone away. "I have to prepare for our comeback."
"Okay," Seulgi nodded. "Try not to be late," she joked and his lips curled up into a small smile.
"I already am," he stated and waved goodbye before walking out of the store.
"I thought you two hated each other," Jennie then spoke as soon as he was out of sight.
"We did," Seulgi paused. "But we agreed to stop wasting our time hating on each other and we tried to become friends instead."
"Just don't fall for him," Jennie said and then smiled quickly, trying to cover it as a joke.
"I noticed some tension between you two you know," Seulgi pointed out. "Has something happened between you two?"
"I just don't know the guy, it was more of a awkward situation." Jennie explained, not making a big deal out of it.
"Alright," Seulgi nodded.
"And do I need to remind you that we've been in a couple of dating rumours? Of course there would be some awkward tension."
"Oh yeah," Seulgi said, remembering the rumours.
"How are you, by the way? After everything that's been going on in your career for the past half year you must be exhausted." Jennie said with a worrying tone.
"It's been a nightmare," Seulgi sighed and they headed out from the store.
"I heard the netizens loved you after the collab, maybe it was worth it," Jennie said, trying to see the situation from an optimistic perspective.
"Maybe," Seulgi muttered and suddenly felt a huge urge to just smoke and eat five plates of panda express and then sleep for a whole week.
"So what are your plans for today?" she then asked Jennie, changing the subject.
"I'm meeting up with an old friend later," Jennie responded.
"Really?" Seulgi said. "Same."
"Hey," Jennie then spoke as they sat down on one of the benches inside. "I have to ask something."
"Yeah?" Seulgi noticed Jennie hesitating and gave her a reassuring smile. "Take your time."
"W-well, you know that our company has a dating ban, right?" Jennie started.
"Yes," Seulgi nodded.
"Lately, I've been seeing this guy. And I really, really like him. But at the same time, I can't be with him because of this dating ban and I'm sick of hiding it. Not only that but I'm also scared of the public finding out about it. What should I do?"
Seulgi pursed her lips together and leaned back on the bench. "I'm not the best with dating advice, however... From my perspective, I think you should only be friends with this guy for now. You're still a rookie and this could affect your career. And trust me, the hate is not fun."
"So I should just call it quits?" Jennie asked and Seulgi shook her head.
"I'm not implying that you stop seeing him and ghost him or so. I'm just saying that you should focus on your career for now, and still be friends with this guy, best friends even. And if it's meant to be, you'll find your way back to each other later on when the dating ban is over and when your fan base is strong and loyal enough to support you."
Jennie nodded as she took in Seulgi's words. "I guess you're right," she said, a little disappointment in her voice, but also thankfulness.
"Trust me, it's for the best. You don't want to cry yourself to sleep and smoke twenty cigarettes a day," Seulgi told Jennie, causing her to immediately turn her head to Seulgi, her eyes widened.
"Did you relapse again?" she asked worryingly.
"I did," Seulgi said, "and I may still feel an urge to smoke, but I haven't touched a single cigarette for almost a month now."
"Really? What made you stop?" Jennie asked and Seulgi felt her breathing stop for a moment. She looked down on her lap and a smile lit up on her face.
"Taeyong helped me a lot," she admitted and looked up at Jennie.
"For real?" Jennie asked, almost not believing it and Seulgi only nodded.
"Wow," Jennie then said, almost speechless. "Don't fall for him."
"What is it with you? Do you have a problem with him?" Seulgi asked, not knowing why Jennie was so upset about that matter.
"No, but I just- Just, promise me you won't fall for him, okay?" Jennie begged.
"Jennie..." Seulgi became quiet and Jennie shook her head.
"You already fell for him, right?" she asked.
"I haven't fallen for him, but I have a crush, yes. Now tell me, why can't I like him? Is he the one you are seeing? Is that why there was such a tension between you two?" Seulgi asked, a small hint of anger in her tone.
"No, Seulgi." Jennie protested and stood up. "Even if he might have helped you a little with your smoking problem, just remember that he was one of the reasons why you also the started, even if he only had a small part for that matter. He was the person you hated the most for five years, he was always selfish and made mean comments about you."
"You sound just like Joohyun now, has she talked to you?" Seulgi interrupted, feeling tired of people trying to lecture her like this when she was well aware of the situation.
"Yes, yes she did talk to me. And I agree with her. Being involved in this fake relationship with him may have benefited your career but you fell back into your old bad habits, your anxiety became worse and now that you have the fame and support I know you don't like it, because you don't feel like you're worth it because of what actually caused it. Am I right?"
Seulgi sat there, speechless. Just... Speechless. She felt the lump in her throat and for every second they sat there in silence Jennie's words just kept on replaying in her head. She wanted it to stop but Jennie kept on attacking her with her words about all of this.
"He has only caused you problems Seulgi. And he will continue to do that. I can guarantee you that just in a week there will be a problem in your life, and I can already tell who the person behind that is."
"Jennie..." Seulgi trailed off, she just wanted everything to stop. But at the same time, deep down, she just knew. She knew, that every word Jennie told her, they were all right. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. That's why she couldn't risk to fall for him even more, but could she control her feelings?
"He's a toxic person, Seulgi. Please try not to fall for him more than you already have."