( 𝘫𝘪𝘺𝘦𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘷 )
"Jiyeon!" Soonyoung crushed my body with his infamous bear hug the moment he opened the door.
Both Mingyu and I knew that if we were going to talk with his members we better get it over with as soon as possible or else procrastination would hold us captive. Then soon enough, months would go by without discussion.
Despite my hesitance in the situation that was about to unfold I still hugged the poor kid back. I'm glad he was back to normal and everything had been settled quickly between us seeing as Soonyoung is infamous for holding grudges. Thankfully that wasn't the case this time.
"Oh hey Mingyu." I could practically feel Soon's mood depleting although I decided not to pry about it. If he wanted to sulk then goodness gracious shall no one stop him.
Mingyu gave his co-member a wave. "Hey, could we come in? We need to talk to you guys" Soonyoung looked between the two of us and after a moment, gave us a curt nod as he stepped aside to let us in. I completely forgot I'd never even visited Seventeen's dorm before but if my staff apartment looked that luxurious, Seventeen's might as well be a fucking castle.
Yup. Definitely a castle.
The moment we walked in I started to admire the architecture and stylistic depictions used in decorating the apartment until I heard Soonyoung's ear-piercing yell.
"Guys, group meeting!" I would have expected the members to take a long time getting to the living area but to my surprise, I suddenly heard a whole herd of feet "galloping" against the hardwood floor. Soon enough, members started emerging from the staircase, the hallways, and behind doors I hadn't even noticed were there.
All of them met us almost in sync with the same confused expression on their face. "What's going on Hosh, normally I'm the one calling group meetings?" Seungcheol's chuckle was laced with confusion as he waltzed up to the performance unit leader.
"I dunno, ask them." With his gesture to the two of us Seungcheol's gaze finally met mine, luckily enough it softened. I would say that we were on pretty good terms, especially after the whole misunderstanding, so I was internally hoping this would go well.
The last to come from the hallways was Jihoon who appeared to have just woken up and with that, the entirety of Seventeen had settled on the couch as Mingyu and I stood in front of them. With the way they sat one could assume they had a seating chart or some shit and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they did.
A few of the members smiled at me (more specifically Jeonghan and Joshua who sent glances at each other, giggling about something—who knows what) while some just had their eyebrows raised in confusion.
I tilted my head to look over at the "twins" and found them wiggling their eyebrows.
"Okay um, so I guess you guys saw the articles" Mingyu clasped his hands together as the members nodded at his statement.
"I was gonna go over and ask you about them actually," stated Chan who got a few grunts of agreement from his co-members. I noticed the boys who already knew about us sitting with smirks and oh my god do I wish I could slap it off their faces.
I nudged Mingyu to continue speaking, "And so I guess I'll just say it?" He looked over at me briefly but long enough for me to give him a nod. I would have assumed that they would discuss first but I guess it makes more sense for them to know if the rumors are true or not before conjuring up a game plan. Seventeen as a whole were being affected after all.
"We're uh..." He gently grabbed my hand before continuing, "Actually dating." The room was silent for about 5 seconds before chaos erupted.
"What!?" Chan was the first to give his exclamation as he jumped off the couch, followed by Seungkwan whose jaw was absolutely dropped.
"I knew it."
"You know everything Hao," Hansol commented.
"Hell yeah I do."
At this point, everyone's jaws were on the floor as they tried to process how their clumsy co-member could actually get bitches, or at least that's exactly what I heard Jihoon mumble. All of a sudden, Wonwoo, who had kept quiet this entire time, decided to speak up. "How long have you guys been together?" I could sense confusion in his voice and his following statement assured me of it. He seemed pretty nonchalant as he normally did but it then occurred to me that the two giants were best friends, it would make sense for him to be confused as to why he wasn't informed of this beforehand.
"I know Won, I'm sorry for not saying anything but we've only been together for like a week and a half, and between our comeback, dealing with the older guys, and this rumor, I guess I forgot to tell you." The rest of the members had gone quiet as they watched the younger apologize.
Wonwoo gave him a small smile before quickly raising his eyebrow in larger confusion, "Yeah it's alright but what do you mean dealing with the 'older guys'?"
I chuckled seeing Seungcheol and Soonyoung freeze up as all eyes went to them. Jeonghan seemed to pick that up as he started giggling along with me, eventually bringing Joshua into the laughter.
Mingyu on the other hand was not at all amused. "Well someone, aka Soonyoung, decided to get all dramatic and drag Cheol into it and they forced the info that we were dating out of me." Before anyone got a chance to even open their mouth, Seungkwan and Seokmin jolted up.
"So you two knew and said nothing!?"
"Wow. Just wow."
"We knew too." I looked over at the duo and patted their shoulders. "Not helping guys."
"Well let's just move on!" The rest of the members laughed at their leader's obvious attempt at changing the topic along with the offense on the vocalists' faces.
"Back to the topic at hand!" Seungkwan side-eyed Seventeen's leader before crossing his arms and leaning back on the couch. Soonyoung luckily seemed to be safe from being a target but I could see it in his face that he didn't want to push it.
All the members became silent as they waited for their leader to instigate the conversation, some still smirking from the previous fiasco. Honestly, it surprised me just how quickly everyone moved on because if I was close with the entirety of Seventeen I would be on the floor dying of giggles.
"To be real, we, as the backbone of Pledis and one of the biggest groups in HYBE, can have a large hand in deciding the damage control used for the rumor. They trust us so nearly anything we say goes. That being said, does anyone have anything to say?"
Mingyu and I had now found ourselves sitting on the accent chairs facing the couch seating the Seventeen members. He looked at me with love in his eyes and I swear that I was about to melt and forget what we were even talking about.
"I'm great with whatever Yeon wants." He said softly and I could sense everyone's eyes fix their focus on me.
I hesitated for a moment. Working for this industry had shown me just how brutal fans could be and quite honestly, I was scared. A few hate comments wouldn't hurt me, but seeing as I'm dating Kim Mingyu, one of the most popular and sought-after idols in the K-pop industry, there would be more than just a few hate comments. From Saesangs to protests, to vandalism, to full-on in-person encounters, there was no telling what could happen.
Seungcheol could sense the hesitance in my movement and quickly went to speak. "I know how you feel Jiyeon, doing something like this has a possibility of having loads of consequences. On the contrary, though, this could all go well and open a gate of opportunity for you both. There's no telling how good or bad the outcome will be, it's a 50/50 chance."
I nodded as I took in his words. "Could Mingyu and I talk it over first? In private?" And with a smile from Seungcheol, all of the members got up from the couch, making their way back to wherever they came from.
I turned to Mingyu and just by seeing the understanding smile on his face I knew we were both thinking the exact same thing.
