Pairing: Seulgi and Jimin [Seulmin]
Concept: Idol!Au Note: [definition of "rumor has it"] a way of conveniently approaching an opinion or rumor without making it sound like you're the only one who thinks it [Completed] It was the second strike. By the third, there wouldn't be anything left to save or justify. Seulgi hesitantly glanced to her side. It was the second time and yet they still had to explain themselves like kindergarteners who got caught doing something bad. It was the procedure for any type of rumor that lasted over a few months and Seulgi knew how necessary it was but it had been going on for two years now. It was getting out of hand. Seulgi knew how ridiculous it was but she couldn't explain why this was happening, how exactly did it start, who started it and when it started precisely. It was all a mystery to her. She just knew at some point that she would be associated to this man until one of them would be caught in a dating scandal with someone else or worse, until the end of their career. They were exactly there to prevent that. "Hey," Jimin said after a while. Seulgi fully turned to face him. "Do you know when we'll be able to leave?" Seulgi shrugged. "They said it wouldn't be long," she added to not look too stuck up. Seulgi always kept her answers short with Jimin in case they would find something weird in them, twist her words and hold it against her. Who was "they"? She didn't know, she simply made sure whoever wanted to frame Jimin and her into a relationship wouldn't have any proof. This whole story made her a bit paranoid, her whole career was at stake after all. Jimin nodded. The first time they met to clarify that they weren't dating to Seulgi's manager and SM's representatives, she thought that he perhaps felt as uncomfortable as her to be entangled in this situation and wanted to apologize (for what? Once again, Seulgi didn't know. It was just in her nature to apologize for something she felt a little bit responsible for) but Jimin looked rather calm. He didn't look nervous like her, well not in front of her manager or the representatives, he was only nervous when he arrived in the waiting room and had to introduce himself for the first time. Seulgi had pointed out back then how ironic it was that the first time they met without their respective groups was to prove that they weren't dating but Jimin hadn't laughed very much. In the span of two years, not much had changed. It was still so awkward between them although Seulgi had to admit there was more flow to their exchange now. They used to bow to each other all the time, avoid looking at each other in the eyes and stutter whenever they talked. There was just something so embarrassing and awkward with having to constantly see from schedule to schedule someone that they were considered in love with and that they didn't know much at the same time. Seulgi and Jimin just became used to it at some point. But this didn't change the fact that Seulgi couldn't really understand how people misunderstood them for a couple, it was truly beyond her. She was aware of their supposed couple items and she had seen those hundred articles' headline about how they were probably going to get caught soon but the reality was that they had never done anything a couple would. "Do you know if it will be long?" Jimin asked her again. "They said they just wanted to confirm with us another time. I doubt it will be long," Seulgi reassured him. "Hm… Jimin," she called hesitantly. There was also this: she was older than him but he was her senior in the music industry which made their relationship even more ambiguous. Jimin had insisted that she called him however she wanted to not make her uncomfortable but the burden only became heavier as Seulgi didn't know what to do. "Yes?" he said as his face noticeably lit up. Jimin pushed himself a little closer on the bench to hear her better. It was one of those rare times Seulgi called his name. "I wanted to ask you if you perhaps knew about the reason why we're here." Jimin frowned. "We're here because your company cares about who you date and that's why we have to tell them that we are not dating. Like last time," he said a bit confused. "No, I mean the realwhy," Seulgi explained. "How this all started. How the rumors brought us to this point." "Oh…" Jimin scratched his head. "I'm not sure." "Because if you think about it, it does not make sense," Seulgi turned to face him. She seemed a bit livelier and agitated than before. "We have been promoting together since a long time ago, right?" Jimin nodded. "But the rumors started in 2016, right?" Jimin nodded again as he scooted closer. "I tried to search a bit about it and nothing goes back before that," Seulgi said as she took out her cellphone. "I am used to it now but I was very surprised back then to see that every time I looked up my name, yours would always follow somehow." "Yeah, I noticed too," Jimin said a bit embarrassed. "What do you mean? My name does not appear after yours when you search for 'Park Jimin' though," Seulgi blinked in confusion. "I don't think it even appears at all." "Really? I-I thought maybe it did too," Jimin said with an unconvincing laugh that Seulgi brushed off. "But the worst is those things," she said as she showed him her phone screen. "What is that?" he squinted to see better. Seulgi told him to come closer. "It's what I think they call shipping videos," she hesitantly said. "And what does that mean?" "These are videos that are meant to show that we are a blind item." "Videos to show that we are dating?" Jimin frowned. "How?" "That's how they find and share the proofs," Seulgi answered. She was even more restless than before as she tried to explain to Jimin what was truly happening and how they were the victim of a strange situation. "The most surprising thing is that these videos are made by fans." "Your fans?" "No, your fans," Seulgi almost said defensively. Although Jimin wanted to refute because he couldn't believe his fans would do such a thing, he couldn't argue with Seulgi. He had never found a way in years to get over the thought that he could possibly irritate Seulgi and always preferred to let her be right somehow. "I know it might sound weird," Seulgi continued. "I also didn't know about them until I asked Wendy to translate the content for me—" "You did?" Jimin said surprised. "It must have been embarrassing." "It was," Seulgi nodded with a sigh. "But what is even more embarrassing is what the videos say." Jimin waited for Seulgi to reveal the content of the videos but she simply blushed and avoided his eyes. "Is it that bad?" "They make no sense," Seulgi said. "These videos are always based on one single thing and that proof is weak. That's why most of the time, the content does not make sense and I can't believe some people are fooled by it!" Seulgi's cheeks had noticeably heated up since she started talking about themand Jimin had wished it were for different reasons but he could somehow understand why she was feeling wronged. "I have to admit that it happened once or twice at first, and then thrice and then too many times but still, is that a simple reason to say two people are dating?" "What is that?" Jimin asked as he scooted over again. He could finally see the distance between them decrease. "Glances," Seulgi answered. It was Jimin's turn to be flustered. "What do you mean?" he pretended to not know what she was talking about. Truthfully, Jimin had seen those videos before and they shocked him at first but not for the same reasons they shocked Seulgi: he couldn't believe he had been caught. "They add random arrows anywhere, they pretend we are sending each other coded messages, they assume we are constantly looking at each other," Seulgi enumerated. "Can you believe it?" "It could be possible," Jimin shrugged. "What?" "I mean it could be possible that they make videos like that," he corrected. "But why?" Seulgi asked him completely clueless. Her helplessness mixed with genuine confusion was almost adorable. "Does it make sense to them that you are looking at me when I am at the other end of the room?" Jimin cleared his throat but didn't say anything before shrugging again. "And I'm not trying to sound like Yeri but I am pretty much blind so I can't see this far without my glasses." "You can't see well?" Jimin asked surprised. Seulgi nodded which made him understand a bit why he thought so many times that Seulgi was avoiding him because she never answered to his eye-contact. She would usually look away as if she had never seen him and bring back her attention onto her members or the MC. "And this! What is this," Seulgi said frustrated as she pointed to a part where it said that Jimin was looking at her and started smiling during one of the year-end award show back in 2016. "You are obviously looking at the MC." Jimin sighed before ruffling his hair. What was he supposed to say when she was so heated up in front of those "fake" proofs? He hesitated a bit before glancing to Seulgi's side. She was intently watching the video and kept pointing out how they were not looking at each other and that these were not proofs. "Maybe… maybe they are not completely wrong, have you thought of that?" Jimin started hesitantly. "You mean to tell me that this is not false?" Seulgi asked with a raised eyebrow as she showed him a clip of a zoom of himself pretendedly looking at her when she was very far from him. "They add hearts everywhere when we bow to each other Jimin, this is not very concluding." "Maybe not this one but in the one you showed me earlier, I waslooking at you," Jimin finally admitted. "How?" "And the one you showed me before that too, I was again looking at you," he continued. "That clip of MAMA in 2015? Again. During the music festivals? That too. Okay I was dancing to Red Flavor and Power Up and it shouldn't mean anything because it is something trivial and it definitely seems pretty far fetched but the most important thing here is that it could be the truth and that it couldmean something." "W-whoah wait a second," Seulgi stuttered when she saw the look in Jimin's eyes. "Where are you going with this?" "I'm just saying that these are not all false and that maybe they are right," he shrugged playfully. "Theseas you say are proofs that we are dating," Seulgi reminded him. "Proofs that I like you and that you like me, proofs that we are probably secretly married with two kids and a cat hidden in some rural area of Daegu." "They're literally just saying that I have a crush on you, you're pushing it too far," Jimin chuckled. "And you're saying that sometimes it's true?" Seulgi asked again incredulous. "Don't say maybe, I'd rather take a no than that." "I am saying that it istrue, not sometimes." Seulgi blinked and frowned, she pondered out loud and furrowed her eyebrows before blushing. It seemed she went through many realizations in this short time which brought a smile to Jimin's lips "Then it means that you lied last time," she finally said. "That's all you have to say?" Jimin scoffed. "You did say you didn't like me to the representatives though." Seulgi was obviously flustered but kept focusing on the less important matter to not have to answer to Jimin's subtle confession. She hadn't imagined this scenario at all since she couldn't believe that Jimin could had been so obvious in those videos. So he was really looking at her all those times? Seulgi blushed harder. The truth was right under her nose and she hadn't noticed. "That's none of their business who I like or not, your company is strange," Jimin said. "Plus, it's not like I could tell you right in front of them." "Then what are we supposed to do now?" Seulgi asked. "They're going to ask us the same questions again. Are you two dating? Do you have feelings for each other? Do you have each other's numbers? Do you ever meet secretly? Don't lie," she mimicked with a grumpy voice. "And I'm not good at lying…" Jimin took a few seconds to think. "But we don't have to answer," he said. "What?" "Do you want to go watch a movie?" Jimin asked after another pause. It took him a lot of courage to finally ask her out and he knew it was reckless, sudden and she had many reasons to refuse but he wanted to try once at least after waiting for so long. If Seulgi knew a bit about his feelings, then maybe she would at least think about it. "Now?" Seulgi asked taken aback. She bit her lower lip and hesitated a lot. Jimin could almost hear her list all the reasons she had to say no. This was dangerous after all, it would mean to take a risk and he knew how safe Seulgi was. He was preparing to get rejected when she finally nodded. "B-but I choose the movie," she smiled. "I'm not used to go with someone else," she explained before getting up. "You go to the movies alone?" Jimin asked surprised as he followed her. He tried not to look too delighted by this progress and played it cool by opening the door for Seulgi who bowed to him in return. They still had a long way to go before becoming close but for now, it was enough. "All the time." ... "Hyung, they left." "Didn't you say you made sure to tell them to stay?" "I swear I did," the younger male staff shook his head. "So are they dating or not? I can't tell." "Do you think they left together?" "I think we should prepare a statement in case they get caught. What do you think of 'an innocent love bloomed between two passionate idols who found themselves in each other over the past years' ?" "Too cheesy, we're not even sure if they are really dating. They're a blind item." "Whatever, they'll deal with the rumors on their own, even I don't think they're unfounded. Have you seen that compilation video from 2015 to 2018? They're done for." "Yeah I saw it, it was cute."
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