Mina lets out a breath, loosening her arms. “Okay. So our reputation is fine?”

“For now,” Sumin chimes in. “Mr. Han said that we can’t be photographed with them ever again, though. It’ll be harder to deny if there’s a second occurrence.”

“Who were they anyway?” Lizzie asks.

At this, Ari and Sumin pause, glancing at Jiyoon. It’s odd to see Jiyoon so quiet when she’s usually the one speaking her mind. She’s the kind of person who has zero patience for bullshit, always bubbling with strong opinions. But right now, she just looks empty.

“Jiyoon?” Youngeun says gently.

Jiyoon sighs. “It wasn’t a totally baseless rumor,” she confesses. “It was actually my boyfriend and his two cousins.”

I blink, stunned. Jiyoon? A boyfriend? How could she have a boyfriend that I don’t know about? We’re roommates!

But then again, would I tell any of the girls if I started dating someone? Honestly, I’m not so sure.

“How long have you two been together?” I ask, trying to keep my voice neutral.

“We’ve been together long-distance for almost a year. He’s an old family friend who lives back in Daegu. We met up when I went home last Christmas, and things just kind of developed from there. One of his cousins lives in Singapore, so we planned a meetup for us all to get together, except now…” Her voice catches and she looks away, blinking rapidly. “We have to break up.”

“Break up?” Sunhee’s eyes widen almost comically. I’m sure she’s just trying to be supportive, but something about the way she’s sitting on the edge of her seat and soaking in every bit of Jiyoon’s story makes me think Sunhee’s just seeing this all play out as if it’s some tragic heroine from one of her romance novels—instead of a real, actual heartbreak that one of her own groupmates is suffering.

“There’s no other choice,” Jiyoon says, still not looking at any of us. I can tell she thinks she’ll cry if she does. The fact that the girl who usually has no problem staring any one of us down can’t even look us in the eye right now is really breaking my heart. “If I get caught with Jin again, my career is over.”

It’s like I tried to explain to Alex yesterday. For a female K-pop idol, dating isn’t ever just dating. It can end up in disaster. It’s not fair, but it is what it is, and we all know it.