"After the Spotlight Fades"

The morning after was quiet — everyone groggy from the drinks. Yeji and Ryujin exchanged glances, the air thick with lingering, unreadable tension, both remembering how things got too real during the game. Yuna spoke up first, her voice husky from the night's revelry. “That was… intense.” Ryujin groaned, her eyes drifting away. “Let’s blame the alcohol.” A half-hearted chuckle escaped her lips, but she avoided eye contact. Yeji added, her voice laced with a hint of mischief, “Jinwon told us to act like it’s real, even around you guys. I guess I got too into it.” She shot Ryujin a quick glance, her lips twitching into a faint smile. Chaeryeong blinked, her expression still hazy from the previous night. “So it wasn’t real?” Yeji's response was laced with a half-laugh, her shoulders shrugging in a nervous gesture that masked something deeper. “Nope. Just fake tension. Drunk improv.” Yuna laughed, a wave of relief washing over the group as the tension dissipated. “Good. I thought y’all were about to confess for real.” The mood lightened, and jokes started again, casual teasing resuming as if the previous night's intensity had been nothing more than a drunken aberration. But under the table, Ryujin's knee nudged Yeji's, a subtle, affectionate gesture that didn't go unnoticed. Yeji smirked, her eyes locking onto Ryujin's. “You didn’t seem to mind.” The teasing tone was laced with a hint of something more, a spark that only they understood. Two weeks after the alleyway kiss — long buried under playful banter and innocent glances — a grainy, slightly blurred photo circulated late at night in a small Discord server under the K-pop rumors thread. The sender’s name? YG_leaker. Caption: “Alleged photo of ITZY’s Ryujin and Yeji caught kissing. Unconfirmed.” At first, it’s dismissed by fans — until someone zooms in and recognizes the exact outfits they wore during a convenience store run weeks ago, matched to a fan-taken selca of Yuna. The image spreads fast. Within hours, #RyujinYeji trends. The group chat blows up: Yuna: “What the hell is this?” Chaeryeong: “Is this real??” Lia: “Tell me this is photoshopped…” Jinwon calls an emergency meeting, her voice calm but sharp. “I don’t care if it’s real or not. We can’t afford this.” Ryujin tries to speak, but Yeji interrupts, her voice steady: “It’s just fan service… wrong angle. That’s all.” A long pause hangs in the air, and Ryujin and Yeji exchange a glance — tense, unreadable. The others buy it, mostly. Yuna looks convinced, but Chaeryeong keeps glancing between them during the meeting, her skeptical eyes darting back and forth when they think no one’s watching. Privately that night, in their shared room, Ryujin sits on the edge of the bed, her hands balled into fists. “Do you want me to delete the real one?” she asks, her voice barely above a whisper. Yeji's response is measured, her eyes gleaming in the dim light. “No. I want to keep it… just not let anyone else see.” The air is thick with unspoken understanding, the tension between them crackling like electricity.