Son Seungwan, who was eating melon on the side, was dumbfounded. She could tell from her good friend's sincere tone that Kang Seulgi was not joking.
This... came to eat melons and got herself involved?
Isn't this a bit ridiculous?
"Hey, hey, hey, are you crazy?"
"No, in terms of looks and personality, he's my ideal type. Is it strange for me to have a crush?"
It's not a lie. To be honest, Liu Xin'an perfectly matches Kang Seulgi's ideal type.
She gets along well with her brother at home, so she doesn't have much resistance to guys with a mature yet gentle demeanor.
Plus, with Liu Xin'an's overly handsome face, someone who can be friends with Bae Juhyun wouldn't be bad. She had a lot of confidence in Bae Juhyun's taste, so if Bae Juhyun really...
"No!"
Bae Juhyun firmly interrupted Kang Seulgi's thoughts.
"We have activities coming up soon. Neither you nor I can afford to fall in love."
"If the company doesn't find out..." Kang Seulgi tried to struggle a bit more. She really thought they clicked! Missing out on such a handsome guy would be something she'd regret for a long time.
"Even if you do get together, we're going to be so busy that you won't have time to maintain the relationship."
Bae Juhyun's words made sense. After thinking it through, Kang Seulgi sighed.
"Then we'll wait until we have some free time. Hopefully, he'll stay single until then."
Bae Juhyun also breathed a sigh of relief. As for finding free time...
It's unlikely. Liu Xin'an was only going to stay here for six months.
By the time Kang Seulgi wanted to see Liu Xin'an, it would be a hassle!
Thinking this, Bae Juhyun's beautiful eyes dimmed a bit without realizing it. But at this moment, Son Seungwan, who was teasing Kang Seulgi, and Kang Seulgi, who was annoyed by the teasing, didn't notice Bae Juhyun's unusual behavior.
"Are we heading back now?"
Suddenly, Son Seungwan's voice snapped Bae Juhyun out of her daze. She blinked and glanced at the time on her phone.
Before Bae Juhyun could speak, Kang Seulgi hugged her from behind.
"Let's stay at Juhyun's house tonight~ It's rare to visit."
Although she temporarily gave up on the idea of getting to "know" Liu Xin'an better, at least she had to get his contact information, right?
He was Bae Juhyun's neighbor and friend, so she couldn't directly ask Bae Juhyun to set them up. Today was a rare opportunity!
Of course, both Bae Juhyun and Son Seungwan could guess Kang Seulgi's intentions at a glance.
"If we all stay here, what about Yerin?"
"Let her come over too. We can also grab some food on the way."
To be honest, Kang Seulgi's suggestion was quite persuasive, at least Son Seungwan was clearly convinced.
But Bae Juhyun shook her head vigorously.
"Let's vote. Raise your hand if you agree!"
After saying this, Kang Seulgi raised her hand high. Son Seungwan gave Bae Juhyun an apologetic glance before raising her hand as well.
She was persuaded by Kang Seulgi's words. Besides, staying at the dorm every day could get boring; an occasional change of environment was a good option.
The only dissenting vote looked resigned.
It was her house, after all, right?
At the dorm.
As the youngest in the group, Kim Yerin felt speechless after receiving calls from her older sisters.
Going to Bae Juhyun's house wasn't a problem, but the issue was the sheer amount of stuff her sisters asked for.
She even had to scroll through the chat to read everything, showing just how troublesome this was.
But she wouldn't totally obey her sisters' requests.
After buying only a few items, she got into Kang Seulgi's car.
Well... she couldn't drive and had just become an adult. It wasn't necessary to bother the manager, so Kang Seulgi reluctantly offered to pick her up.
"Why suddenly go to Juhyun's house?"
Kim Yerin had no idea what was going on.
Kang Seulgi didn't hide anything, briefly explaining the situation between Bae Juhyun and Liu Xin'an, which left Kim Yerin completely bewildered.
"He doesn't know their identities? No way!"
"It should be true." Kang Seulgi recalled Liu Xin'an's expression and nodded, "But who knows how long it will last. We'll be performing soon enough."
"So Juhyun..."
"She said she's not interested."
"Eh~"
By the time the two of them had arrived at Bae Juhyun's house with a bag full of food, it was already evening.
"Whew... We really eat a lot."
Watching all the items they had bought, Kang Seulgi wiped the sweat from her forehead and couldn't help but comment.
Bae Juhyun, who was helping put things into the fridge, rolled her eyes and turned around to greet Kim Yerin.
"Yerin, thank you."
"It's no problem, but Juhyun, is it true your neighbor doesn't know we're celebrities?"
Bae Juhyun glared at a grinning Kang Seulgi before nodding calmly.
"He really doesn't. He's a foreigner, so he's not familiar with our celebrities."
"But... can we always hide it?"
Bae Juhyun bit her lower lip and took a deep breath.
Even if she couldn't hide it, she had to... What else could she do? Go over and reveal their identities now?
After all, there was no need to be honest with Liu Xin'an. They were just neighbors and friends, not anything more intimate.
"No need to tell him. He's not anyone special, so why bother?"
"Exactly, and it's fun to keep it a secret. It's rare to have someone who doesn't know our identities."
Kang Seulgi chanted on the side.
But Kim Yerin widened her eyes. Was it because she had an outsider's perspective? She seemed to detect a hint of awkwardness in Bae Juhyun's tone.
Something's off about this sister.
What Kang Seulgi said didn't match up at all!
To verify her thoughts, Kim Yerin felt she needed to observe with her own eyes.
———
Streams usually started around 8 PM, and tonight was no exception.
Considering the one-hour time difference with his home country, Liu Xin'an had to start an hour later, at 9 PM here.
Eating while streaming wasn't Liu Xin'an's style, so he turned on his phone and started looking for his dinner.
Going out to eat was too much trouble. Locally, he didn't like many foods, so he decided to get Japanese or Chinese food.
Seoul did have authentic Chinese food; he discovered this a few days ago.
As he was picking his favorite dishes, the doorbell rang, stopping his actions.
Curiously, he walked to the door and looked through the peephole before quickly opening the door.
Standing outside was Bae Juhyun, who had returned not long ago.
She was holding a plate with a steak in it.
"I'm sorry for bothering you today, please accept this as an apology."
The steak was packaged from the restaurant. Since they weren't eating it there, Kang Seulgi smartly asked for it to be cooked medium-rare.
Over the time from the restaurant to now, the meat had gone from medium-rare to medium-well. While it wasn't as tender as medium, it was still quite good.
The aroma of the steak made Liu Xin'an's nose twitch involuntarily.
Bae Juhyun noticed this and smiled, her beautiful eyes filled with curiosity: "Haven't had dinner yet?"
"Umm... I'm still deciding what to order."
Liu Xin'an didn't hide this. He showed Bae Juhyun his phone screen to prove he wasn't lying.
"Oh, planning to eat Chinese food tonight?"
"Yes, but seeing the steak you brought, I'm thinking about having Western food now."
Liu Xin'an swallowed and took the plate, then turned towards his apartment.
"Why don't you come in and sit for a bit while I get a different plate."
"Oh, sure."
Bae Juhyun didn't hesitate; she nodded, took off her shoes, put on the slippers Liu Xin'an had prepared, and walked into his place.
Earlier, she was too focused on how to handle those two girls to observe much about the place she hadn't seen in days.
Now, looking around, she noticed Liu Xin'an's apartment hadn't changed much.
"Didn't you say you were going to do some renovations? Why hasn't anything changed?"
In the kitchen, Liu Xin'an, washing a plate for Bae Juhyun, heard her curiosity from the living room. He sped up his actions and soon came out with a clean plate.
He might not cook, but he had basic tableware.
Sometimes, when eating takeout, he would take the food out of the container to store it properly. He wouldn't just shove the container directly into the fridge.
"I'm not staying long. If I renovate, the landlord would laugh."
"Pfft..."
This quirky perspective made Bae Juhyun chuckle, and she laughed softly, taking the plate and standing up from the sofa.
"If you really can't decide what to eat, you can come to my place. We bought a lot of food since friends are over."
"Oh! Speaking of which, you rushed back; are you sure it's okay?"
"Hmm? Ah... it's fine."
"That's good. If that annoying guy comes around again, you can call me."
After all, they were just a few girls, not well-suited to deal with unreasonable men. He'd love to play the hero in this situation.
Bae Juhyun awkwardly nodded and seriously responded: "Then I'll trouble you."
"No big deal."