The stage lights glowed a little too bright. Every camera flash felt like a pop against the skull. Glamour hummed around you like static — glittering gowns, sleek suits, nerves glossed over with rehearsed smiles.

And Seonghwa… sat beside you in perfect posture, looking like he was carved straight from a luxury perfume ad. Impossibly elegant. Calm. One hand resting lightly against his thigh, the other folded neatly in his lap.

Until you leaned in.

“Okay, but don’t look right now,” you whispered under your breath, barely moving your lips, “but see the girl two rows ahead? The one in red?”

His eyes flicked once — subtle. A slow blink. He tilted slightly toward you, like it was nothing.

“Yeah,” you continued, keeping your voice low. “She was dating the main vocal from Dionysia, but—plot twist—she was also secretly dating their manager.”

Seonghwa didn’t move. Not a twitch.

Except for the tiniest lift in the corner of his mouth.

“She got caught because she accidentally texted the wrong guy a goodnight selfie. And the worst part? The manager sent it to her boyfriend. She thought she was being cute.”

His hand slowly came up to his lips. He wasn’t smiling. Not really. But he was absolutely not not smiling.

You kept going, because of course you did.

“And then, she wrote a breakup song about the whole thing. It’s that unreleased track everyone thinks is about public pressure. It’s not. It’s about him throwing her Yeezys off the dorm balcony.”

That did it.

Seonghwa let out a tiny cough — covered his mouth, eyes twinkling. He cleared his throat and nodded politely as if he were acknowledging a compliment from the MC.

“You’re evil,” he whispered, just loud enough for you to hear beneath the next burst of applause.

But he was leaning closer now.

“What else?” he asked calmly, eyes locked forward, expression serene — like he wasn’t dying to hear more. “Who else is falling apart behind these rhinestones?”

You grinned. The night was young. The tea was boiling. And Seonghwa? Seonghwa was so in.