nine

                                    

                                          
Before you could respond the loudspeaker came on again: "Team Gears and Beers, please make your way up to the podium at this time."
You just shrugged and followed your teammates through the crowd onto the stage. As you walked passed Hanni she gave you a quick high five, giving you that warm giddy feeling again.
Standing on the top spot wasn't something any of you had imagined as you were presented with your medals and team trophy. You looked out at the massive crowd gathered below you and cheering; your teammates were smiling in a half-stunned kind of way, like it still hadn't sunk in.
As the awards ceremony concluded and the teams were leaving the stage you got Hanni's attention.
"Hey!"
"Hey Y/N!" She turned to her team. "Guys this is Y/N, the one who helped me fix my bike."
Jin, Jungkook, Chaewon and Minji smiled and introduced themselves to you and your friends.
"Thank you for helping our baby bunny, she's quite quite clumsy sometimes" Chaewon giggled.
Hanni's face turned red. "Unnie! I am not."
"Whatever you say Hanni banani. Anyway, it ended up working out. You got to meet this beauty right here" she said, giving you a wink. "So Y/N, 500 thousand! Woww. How did you manage to raise that much?"
The other idols - and your friends - stopped talking amongst themselves to hear your response. 
Although you couldn't be sure, you were 95% sure you knew where the money had come from. Judging from your friends' expressions they also had an idea. I can't bring her up, not now.  
You shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "We have some pretty generous friends I suppose."
Chaewon laughed. "No kidding! And here I was thinking we raised a lot, until they announced your team."
"What can I say, we all did our part. By the way it's cool that your Kpop groups combined to make a team."
Chaewon nodded. "On that note I'm gonna put you on the spot - NewJeans or Lesserafim?"
You didn't know what to say and glanced at Hanni, not wanting to pick sides.
Chaewon giggled and pushed you playfully. "I'm only joking pabo, you don't have to choose one over the other."
She continued talking to you, leaning in close and making alluring eye contact. You couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was as well, and tried not to get flustered.
Hanni frowned and went off to talk to the others instead. You felt bad and were about to get her attention until Chaewon distracted you again with her dazzling smile. 
After talking for a while and getting to know her, as well as Minji, Jungkook and Jin, you wanted to talk to Hanni more. You looked over and saw her and Minho leaning in close and putting their numbers in each other's phones. 
There was an immediate jealous feeling that caught you off guard; you hadn't felt this way about any girl other than Rosé for so long. In fact, you couldn't even remember the last time you'd felt this way for another girl. 
"Hey guys" you said, interrupting them. "Are we exchanging numbers? Great, Hanni let me get yours as well."
"For sure Y/N" Hanni smiled and took your phone to type it in.
"Ooohhh don't forget me" Chaewon said, scooting over. 
You couldn't help but notice Jae, Nari and Eunha looking at you talking to these pretty Kpop girls and smirking amongst themselves.
By the time the two groups said their goodbyes, dark had fallen and almost everyone else from the race had already left. You followed Minho to his car and joined him putting your bikes on the rack. 
"Good day eh?" he remarked, opening the door and getting into the driver's seat. 
"Great day" you replied, sitting down next to him. 
Before he started the engine he turned to face you. "So - you gotta tell me now - that was Rosé who donated the 500 thousand, wasn't it??"
"I don't know for sure, but must've been. I mean who else do we know with that kind of money."
"I thought you broke up a while ago! The donation must've just come in this morning."
"We did break up" you sighed. "But a while ago she promised me 50 thousand... I guess she decided to add another zero, probably because she felt bad."
Minho shook his head as he began to drive home. "To have that kind of money... I sometimes can't believe you dated a girl that rich. Never thought that was your type honestly."
"You're forgetting I've known her since she was a trainee. I still remember when we used to have to save our pocket money together to go to the theme park." It hurt thinking about those times. Where had that Rosie gone?
"True. Damn I forgot how far back you two went, when I met you she was already Rosé of Blackpink, making millions with the modelling and all that. Maybe she thought she could buy you back...?"
For some reason you felt defensive of her. "Rosie's really not like that at all man, she just wanted to help. I know she's caught up in the star life now, but she's really a good person at heart-"
"Anyway forget it, sorry to bring her up. I'm glad you've moved on. And hey, I saw you talking to Hanni there. Maybe you could get to know her a little more" he said with a wink. 
I saw you talking to her as well... You thought but didn't say out loud. "Yeah we'll see. She's cute and seems nice. But who knows."
Later that evening you were watching a movie together while keeping your conversation going with Hanni over texts. You noticed Minho's phone also kept buzzing and he kept looking at it and grinning. 
"Who you talking to?" you asked, peering over.
"Oh, nobody" he said, turning his screen away from you.
"What do you mean nobody. Who is it, one of the idols we met?" you said with a smirk.
"Oh uh... yeah."
"So which one?"
His hesitation and uncomfortable fidgeting let you know the answer before he said it. "Uh, Hanni."
You scowled. "Why her? Obviously you're allowed to or whatever, I'm not gonna stop you, but I thought you wanted me to 'get to know' her."
"Y/N don't worry ok? It's nothing, look..." He fumbled with his phone for a moment then showed you the screen. "She just wanted to say thanks actually."

                            

                                
                            
                              
                                  
                              
                              
                                
                                  
                                  
                                
                              
                             
                            
                            
                          
                          
You sat back. "Ah I see, my bad." 
The conversation seemed completely innocent. However, you had this niggling feeling that he'd just deleted a few messages before showing you. But probably you were just overly suspicious; he was your best friend, after all.