Managing the Spotlight

It's been a year since I first met Eunchae. Crazy how it all started, like fireworks going off in the middle of a storm. We've gotten closer since then, if you can call sneaking around and fucking "getting closer."  

We text every single day. I send her dumb memes and screenshots I know will piss her off—she always fires back with something equally annoying. And yeah, sometimes she sends me those private pics that get me instantly worked up. Not gonna lie, those always hit different.

Same routine as always sent her a couple dumb memes right before my morning class, just to give her something to laugh at while I’m stuck in lectures. By the time she hit me back, it was already afternoon. Just a waving sticker at first, then before I could even type anything, she hits me with: "You miss me already?"  

I fired back with "Nope," but we both knew that was bullshit. The reply came way too fast.  

We went back and forth like that for a while, until she suddenly dropped a mirror selfie on me. Off-shoulder white top, loose jeans, one hand hooked on her belt buckle like some kind of cowboy. No warning, no context. Just ~BOOM! There she was, looking stupidly good, and my brain short-circuited for a couple of seconds. Couldn’t even come up with a reply. Damn her.  

They keep texting me until I finally get home, alone again. Parent's off on another work trip overseas. Seriously, I wish she was here right now.

Feeling kinda mopey, I end up texting "I miss you" without even thinking. I was about to hit delete when her reply pops up: "I miss you too." My face goes hot and I just collapse onto my bed. Then she adds, "Text you later, just wrapping up some stuff," and suddenly I'm stuck there, all flustered and grinning like an idiot.

Her fingers hovered over the screen, heart pounding. "What the hell.. did I actually send that?" The text stared back at her, undeniable.

A sharp knock interrupted her panic. "Eunchae-ah, you ready?" Manager-nim’s voice cut through the door. Like she’d ever say no, Hong Eunchae didn’t half-ass rehearsals, even if her brain was currently short-circuiting over a dumb text.

Practice with ILLIT and Katseye was brutal but fun, their new track "Iconic by Mistake" demanding every drop of energy. Between laughing at inside jokes and nailing formations, she almost forgot about her phone, almost. The practice video wrapped, dinner got inhaled, and by the time she collapsed onto the dorm couch, her notifications were flooded with Luc’s usual nonsense: memes, cursed TikTok edits, that one clip of a screaming raccoon she’d sent him last week.

She thumbed out a lazy "you up?" just to watch the typing bubbles appear, vanish, then reappear after a painfully long pause. 

Was about to sleep, he finally replied. She could practically hear his stupid smirk through the screen. 

"So I'm free Thursday. Wanna get lunch or whatever?" 

"Only if you were free..that is." She texted. 

"Sure, my grades aren't gonna slip coz I skip one day," he replied. 

"Don't be an idiot, Luc." 

"I'll gladly be your idiot.😜" Luc fired back at her. 

"Pabo!" she shot back, grinning like an idiot herself, a mistake when Unnies were lurking. 

"Manchae's texting her boyfriend again~" Yunjin sang, draping over the couch arm. 

"Yah! It's not—" Eunchae chucked a pillow at her, but the damage was done. The dorm erupted into chaos.

Eunchae retreated into her room, waiting until she heard the dorm settle down before grabbing a towel to clean up. 

But then she paused, catching her reflection in the mirror. Still wrapped in just that towel, she lifted her phone and snapped a quick pic. Just as she lowered it, the bathroom door creaked open.  

Kkura stood there, arms crossed, eyebrow raised. She took one look at Eunchae's guilty grip on her phone and smirked. "Damn. Whoever's got you sneaking around like this better treat you right."  

"Yah! He's not~!" Eunchae huffed, face burning, but Kkura was already backing away with that same stupid, knowing grin.  

Back in her room, Eunchae stared at the photo. Should she send it? Her thumb hovered—then slipped.  

Luc was half-asleep when his phone buzzed. He blinked at the screen then choked. Eunchae, damp from the shower, towel barely hanging on. "Holy fuck," he breathed. But before he could even think to save it, the message was deleted.  

"...Hey. What was that?"  

"What was what?"  

"The you know what."  

"Nothing. Good Night, Luc." She hurled her phone onto the bed, face burning. 

Somehow it was already Thursday.

Eunchae slipped out of the dorm and shot Luc a quick text: "Meet me at Banpo Park, don't be late." 

Luc replied with “🫡”,

then ten minutes later: "Here. Where are you?"