Scandal

5: Songwriter

Jiyoung-ie?

Oppa ?

What the actual fuck just happened?

I stood frozen in front of the mirror, trying to digest that little interaction by the door.

"Ya hyung," Jimin called to me, nudging my side. "Did you see that? Yoongi-hyung!"

I did. But my brain was rejecting the damn scene. An inner voice was screaming for me to act normally—anything I could say or do would draw attention.

I pursed my lips and commandeered a calm I did not feel. "So?" I huffed between my teeth, unable to say anything more.

Thankfully, Jimin abandoned my side to join the others flocking Hoseok. I wanted to ask him how Jiyoung-ssi was suddenly Jiyoung-ie, and how the hell Jhope-ssi suddenly became Oppa. I also wanted to run outside, catch up with Jiyoung, and ask her, instead.

I wanted both things, and my mind couldn't decide between the two. I did neither. I stared at everyone's reflection while they interrogate Hoseok.

A flashback of the Club Diamond dance floor cut through my thoughts—Hobi and Jiyoung danced together, yes, but they left pretty much after that, and on the rooftop...

Were they in contact after that?

"Jung Hoseok, you said you just wanted breakfast," Jin-hyung began, crossing his long arms across his chest. "What are you doing with Jiyoung-ah?"

Jhope shrugged, eyes wide open and suspiciously innocent. "I just checked if she wanted to have breakfast and we did."

The gasps from the members were too dramatic. They matched the anchor that just dropped in my stomach.

Namjoon-ah visibly bristled, jutting his chin out in indignance. Hobi was being purposely coy and it made me want to smack his face with my water bottle. "And how, pray tell, did that little date happen?" He demanded. Our leader was not having it and he wanted straight answers.

So did I.

Hoseok held up his hands. "Ya, don't misunderstand," he let on, stepping back slightly from the increasingly agitated members. "We're just friends, arra? Sheesh. Relax. It wasn't a date."

I didn't know I was holding my breath until I let it out in one long, choked huff. I scrutinized his face while his attention was still focused on reassuring the others. Hobi wasn't a liar; he wouldn't hide something like a relationship from the members.

Unlike someone, my inner voice sneered at me.

The eldest wasn't fully convinced, though. "You were being awfully familiar with her during the party. I had to interrupt just so you wouldn't ask her for a slow dance, you know that."

Taehyung had been silent the whole conversation, observing, but nodded his head at what Jin said. He was there; he would have seen the whole thing.

"Whoa, Hobi-hyung's trying to date a girl," Jungkook exclaimed, almost in awe. Jhope had never attempted dating since we debuted—it was practically a historic moment for our maknae who had next to no experience in seeing his hyungs in a relationship, save for some short flings the older members had before.

Suddenly that blasted anchor was back in my gut.

But Hoseok just waved them off, giving them a look that said he found them utterly ridiculous. "You guys are the worse than Dispatch rumors," he complained, walking towards the corner where we dumped our bags. He shrugged off his jacket and tossed it to the side. "I'm not stupid. I know what you're harping about. I won't do anything that would cause me or Jiyoung trouble." That shot a painfully true arrow through my conscience. "I repeat: We. Are. Just. Friends. Leave me alone. Where's seonsaeng-nim?"