Y/N had a crush on Minhee.

Of course she did. It seemed like the whole world did. He was the boy with prince like visuals, the sweet voice, and the charming smile. He was the kind of person that people claimed to fall in love with the moment they met.

He'd always been like that.

She remembered meeting him for the first time, a couple years ago.

She'd just become a trainee at Starship, and occasionally the female trainees would see the male trainees and get to talk to them. And she'd been enchanted with Minhee the second she'd met him.

Sweet and kind and funny and sometimes sarcastic, she'd felt that some of her happiest moments had been when she was near him.

They'd used to be friends, kind of. The trainees had their group chat, something that they all still used occasionally, though not often anymore.

One time, she'd even mustered up the courage to text him privately, hopefully in a way that was subtle enough to hide her feelings for him.

It must have been. Their conversations were pleasant, happy, sometimes even funny. But he gave no indication to ever liking her.

Of course not. He was Kang Minhee and she was...

She was...

She was distracted.

"You're supposed to be practicing," she told herself sternly, sighing as she stared at herself in the mirror.

Placing a smile on her face, she went through the dance steps again.

"Keep going," she whispered to herself. "If you work hard enough, maybe you can debut soon."

She glanced at her watch, remembering that she had a meeting in five minutes.

For some reason, the CEO wanted to talk to all the female trainees.

Her heart thumped harder just thinking about it. Maybe it was a debut plan...

Maybe she'd be chosen...

Y/N ran out of the practice room and to the meeting, where her friends were waiting.

Soojin took her hand and squeezed it nervously. "I wonder what the CEO is going to say."

Y/N opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the CEO coming in.

With Cravity.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him.

Minhee smiled at her, that composed, charming smile that got her every time.

Taeyoung and Seongmin both grinned and waved at her and Soojin. Y/N and Soojin had been there longer than most other trainees, and were the closest to the Cravity members.

"Today, I'm going to announce a collaboration," the CEO announced proudly. "Two trainees will be chosen to feature in a track and music video of Cravity's new album."

Soojin squeezed her hand tighter.

"Ow," Y/N whispered. Soojin didn't seem to realize just how strong she was.

"You're going to all try out and the results will come our next week."

****

"Do you think we made it?" Soojin whispered.

"I hope so," Y/N responded. "I really hope so."

"Maybe then you can finally confess to Minhee."

"Ha. I'd never do that."

"Why? What if he likes you?"

"How would that be possible? We hardly speak anymore."

Soojin frowned, not knowing what to say to that.

The staff member came out, posting the results on the bulletin board.

A bunch of girls ran up to the board, but she waited with Soojin, neither of them ready. They waited for a minute before going up.

And finding their names on the wall.

Soojin screamed, bouncing up and down. "We got it! We really got it!"

"Congrats," said a voice from behind them.

Y/N turned, and found Minhee, smiling at the two of them.

Soojin laughed awkwardly. "I think I'm going to go... water my parakeets."

Minhee's brow furrowed. "You're going to what?"

Soojin blinked at them once before running away, leaving them alone.

"I'm really happy for you," he said sincerely. "You deserve it. You've been working really hard."

"I hope that this means I'll be debuting soon."

"I'm sure you will," he assured her. "There were times I wasn't sure I'd be able to debut myself."

Y/N wrung her hands together nervously. She wanted to ask him why he hardly spoke to her anymore, why he seemed so distant nowadays. She wanted to ask him a lot of things, but she wasn't brave enough to voice any of them.

"Hey!" Allen exclaimed, walking up to them and giving her a hug. "Congrats. Where's Soojin?"

"Aren't you happy enough talking to me?" She teased.

Allen was her closest Cravity friend, for a number of reasons. Not only was he super easy to talk to and always went out of his way to be nice to the trainees, he'd also been dating Soojin for the past two years, and treated her like the queen she was.

Two years ago he'd caught her boyfriend cheating on her and beat the fellow up, earning Y/N's permanent respect.

He'd been so nice to Soojin and the two of them quickly became close.

And then soon enough Allen had come to her, confessing to Y/N that he liked Soojin and timidly asking what would be the best way to confess to her, and if confessing was even a good idea.

Soon, they were dating.

They were the cutest couple ever, but also the most secretive one. No one suspected they were dating. The trainees didn't know. Even Allen's fellow Cravity members had been surprised when he told them.

Y/N said bye to Minhee, tired of talking to him and trying to guess at why he seemed to far away. Instead she walked with Allen, going around to find Soojin.

"You still like Minhee, don't you?"

"Is it obvious?"

"No, not really. Not unless you know."

"He's been so distant lately. And I don't know why."

"Maybe he likes you," Allen suggested, his voice serious.

"I don't think so."

"Try confessing to him."

"I don't want to do it first."

Allen shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't either."

Y/N glared at him, but he didn't notice. He's seen Soojin and was bouncing up to her, engulfing her in a hug and kissing her happily, congratulating her.

Just confess. They'd both said that.

She clenched her teeth, suddenly angry.

Minhee was acting strange for no reason, and if he wouldn't tell her why, she should gather her courage and ask.

She should gather her courage and confess.

She ran back to where she'd left Minhee, finding him not too far from where they'd been talking.

He was sitting on a bench, staring at nothing. He looked sad.

"Hey," she said, sliding next to him, her anger evaporating when she saw him like that.

"I have something to tell you," he said.

"So do I."

"You go first," he told her.

"No you go."

"No, you can."

Neither of them said anything for a long moment.

"I like you," they said at the same time.

Y/N blinked, a smile coming to he face.

Minhee grinned at her, the familiar sparkle in his gaze. 

"I like you," he said again, giving her a hug.