"They are a couple, a couple, what if you had seen that?"

"True enough, what did you do, Irene, to make Xin’an angry?"

Bae Juhyun instinctively clutched Liu Xin’an’s arm; this was the first time she had candidly admitted to Liu Xin’an about what had happened back then.

She was slightly nervous.

"Actually, when I discovered my feelings, I ran away."

"You ran away?"

Liu Xin’an wasn’t too surprised. He roughly guessed Bae Juhyun’s feelings at that time and also realized... the story about her phone being broken was a lie.

The real truth was probably just as Bae Juhyun was saying now.

Of course, he wasn’t very angry; he felt more heartache for his girlfriend.

After all, when Bae Juhyun ran away, the next time he saw her, her fearful and trembling look still lingered in his mind to this day.

"Well... I’m an entertainer, an idol, so when I discovered I had feelings for Xin’an, I didn’t know how to face them, so I just deleted the chat apps on my phone and slunk back to the dorm. "

While saying this, Bae Juhyun kept gripping Liu Xin’an’s arm, occasionally glancing at him.

Until Liu Xin’an gave her a gentle smile, she finally relaxed a bit.

The perceptive variety show personalities could also notice Bae Juhyun’s guilt. Kang Hodong looked at Liu Xin’an, knowing that it was the right time for Liu Xin’an to share his thoughts.

"Xin’an didn’t know at the time?"

He nodded, "Well... this is the first time knowing the real situation. She indeed suddenly disappeared for a few days, didn’t reply to messages, couldn’t be found. I thought I did something wrong to upset her."

"Then why did you suddenly meet up with Liu Xin’an again, Irene?"

"Because of Seulgi."

"Ah! Seulgi played a role at that moment?"

"Yes." Bae Juhyun nodded vigorously, "Seulgi noticed something was off with me, and came to ask if something had happened... I thought maybe it would be easier to share, so I told Seulgi about my situation."

"Then Seulgi was very surprised and asked why I ran back."

"Yeah, why did you run back?"

The audience listening chimed in with questions, catching Bae Juhyun off guard.

Her at a loss look made everyone burst into laughter again.

"So after Seulgi’s counseling, I chose not to keep running from my feelings, and went back to find Xin’an... of course, I couldn’t let him know my feelings at the time, so I lied."

As for the details of the counseling, Bae Juhyun wasn’t about to divulge them here, so she skipped over this point.

"What lie did you tell?"

"I just said my phone suddenly broke, and I didn’t have his contact, plus something came up, so it took me two days to get back..."

"...Such a flimsy lie, did you believe it, Xin’an?"

Liu Xin’an nodded begrudgingly, he truly believed it at the time.

Thinking back now, there were many flaws in the story; at worst, if that were true, careful Bae Juhyun could have left a note if she didn’t want to disturb his work.

But back then, he was too distracted by Bae Juhyun, who almost seemed on the brink of tears, to pay attention to such a clumsy lie.

No matter if it was a lie, at least Bae Juhyun’s panic at that time wasn’t faked.

Liu Xin’an was very sure that Bae Juhyun was genuinely afraid he would be angry back then.

"Did Xin’an not know back then that Irene liked you?"

"Hmm... I didn’t think much about it at the time; seeing her so anxious, I just believed it afterward."

"Were you very angry when Irene suddenly disappeared for two days?"

Liu Xin’an nodded, not denying it.

"To be honest, a bit... after all, suddenly disappearing for two days without any news, a friend you got along with so well suddenly losing contact, anyone would be angry, right?"

There was something important that Bae Juhyun didn’t mention, which was that at the time, to prevent Liu Xin’an from discovering her identity, she even made up a relentless admirer chasing after her.

Liu Xin’an was genuinely worried about this pursuer when Bae Juhyun suddenly disappeared for two days, which was why he felt angry about her sudden farewell afterward.

"Back then, Xin’an didn’t realize he liked Irene either?"

"Yeah... not at that time."

"Then what happened afterwards?"

Kang Hodong was very curious about the rest of the story, eagerly pressing for answers, as if he were a viewer unable to see the next episode of a drama.

His eagerness appeared a tad comical considering his large build.

His demeanor tickled Bae Juhyun’s funny bone, and she bowed her head, silently laughing, pretending to adjust her long hair to hide her amusement.

"Why is Irene laughing? Did something funny happen next?"

"Cough, cough... not quite funny, really. Because I shared my feelings with Seulgi, since then, Seulgi became very curious about our situation, and coincidentally, I was curious whether Xin’an had similar feelings for me, so Seulgi helped me probe Xin’an."

After she said this, the expressions of several people in the audience became somewhat subtle.

Among them, Lee Soogeun’s commentary was the most spot-on.

"What, why are you two dating, but Seulgi is the busiest one?"

"Hahahahaha." This time, Bae Juhyun couldn’t hold it in, letting out a distinctly witch-like laugh, leaning against Liu Xin’an.

Getting teased by Lee Soogeun like this, she suddenly felt she really owed Kang Seulgi back then.

Later... I should treat Seulgi to a big meal!

——

Getting carried away writing... I feel like I should write two more Chapters for this variety show scene.