Jang Sua never considered herself a hardcore fan. Sure, SEVENTEEN’s music played in her apartment as she got ready in the morning, their melodies drifted through her earpods on slow afternoons, and sometimes—just sometimes—she found herself humming along without realizing it. But she wasn’t the type to attend fan meetings or memorize every little detail about them.
Yet, fate had a funny way of weaving their worlds together.
Three times a week, she pushed open the heavy glass doors of her gym, unaware that the routine she had built for herself would place her in the same orbit as Choi Seungcheol. It started subtly—brushing past him in the hallway, catching a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye. He arrived just as she was leaving, his presence unmistakable in the way the air seemed to shift around him. A black shirt stretched over firm muscles, sleeves rolled up just enough to reveal veins along his forearms. Hair pulled back into a small ponytail, damp from the evening air.
The first time their eyes met, it was brief. A flicker of recognition on her end, a passing glance on his. Nothing more.
And yet, her heart betrayed her.
She told herself it was ridiculous. A fleeting crush, a momentary thrill. Still, she found herself looking forward to their near-silent encounters—the small thrill of seeing him in real life, so different from the polished idol on her screen. But Seungcheol, for all his commanding presence, remained distant, unreadable. He never lingered, never acknowledged her beyond the occasional glance. His cold manners made it clear—he wasn’t one to be easily swayed.
So she let it go.
—
The days blurred together, each one marked by the promise of a fleeting glimpse. He'd catch sight of her as he entered the gym, her lithe form moving with grace through the exercises. Sometimes their eyes would meet, a spark of something unspoken passing between them before she looked away, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.
He couldn't deny the effect she had on him, this mysterious woman who seemed to occupy his thoughts more and more. Her beauty was understated, her confidence quiet yet undeniable. In a world where everything felt manufactured, she stood out as genuine.
One evening, as they passed each other in the hallway once again, he found himself speaking before he could stop himself. "Wait." The word hung in the air between them, heavy with unspoken meaning.
She turned back, surprise evident in her wide eyes. Her breath hitched. She hadn’t expected him to speak—hadn’t allowed herself to imagine this moment beyond stolen glances and silent longing.
Seungcheol stood there, unreadable yet intense, his presence commanding even in the quiet of the dimly lit hallway. For a second, neither of them moved.
Then, hesitantly, she asked, “Me?”
Her pulse quickened as he took a slow step closer, the air between them charged with something neither of them had put into words. She had spent weeks convincing herself he was untouchable, out of reach. But now, standing here, caught in the weight of his gaze, she wasn’t so sure anymore.
He nodded, a slight movement of his chin, his dark eyes holding hers captive. "Yes, you."
His voice was low, almost rough, as if the words were being dragged out of him against his will. He took another step closer, closing the distance between them until she could feel the heat radiating off his body, could see the individual lashes framing his intense gaze.
"I've noticed you here. Every week, like clockwork." A ghost of a smile touched his lips, gone as quickly as it appeared. "I thought... maybe we could grab dinner sometime. If you want to."
It sounded casual, but there was an undercurrent of tension in his posture, a tightness around his eyes that suggested this wasn't as easy for him as he was trying to make it seem.
Sua’s lips parted, but no words came.
For weeks, she had told herself that he didn’t see her—that to him, she was just another passerby in the blur of his routine. And yet, here he was, standing so close that the scent of his cologne curled around her senses, his voice still lingering in the charged space between them.
Dinner. With him.
The thought sent a shiver down her spine, equal parts excitement and hesitation. She wasn’t dumb—she knew who he was, knew what being in his world entailed. There were lines drawn between them, invisible yet unyielding.
Still, standing here beneath the weight of his gaze, feeling the unspoken pull between them, she found herself answering before she could second-guess it.
"I'm Sua," she breathed, introduced herself briefly, "and why me?"
Seungcheol exhaled a quiet chuckle, shaking his head slightly. "I don’t know." His voice dipped lower, almost as if confessing to himself. "But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you."
His hand reached out, fingers grazing her arm in the lightest of touches. The contact sent electricity skittering across her skin, raising goosebumps in its wake.
"There's something about you," he murmured, his eyes searching hers intently. "Something different. Real."
He stepped even closer, until barely an inch separated them. The heat of his body enveloped her, his presence overwhelming in the best possible way. When he spoke again, his voice was low and intimate, meant only for her ears.
"But there's something you should know first. Being with me... it's not simple. There are complications. Expectations." His jaw clenched, a flicker of something dark passing through his expression before it smoothed away. "If we do this, there would need to be some... precautions taken. To protect us both."
Sua's breath caught, the weight of his words settling over her like a veil she wasn’t sure she wanted to lift.
Precautions. Expectations. Complications.
She wasn’t naive to what he meant. He wasn’t just any man asking her to dinner—he was Choi Seungcheol, the leader of a group loved by millions, a name too big to exist in quiet corners. A relationship with him wouldn’t be simple, wouldn’t be just theirs.
Still, the way he looked at her—like she was something rare, something real—made her pulse stutter.
Her throat suddenly dry. The weight of his words settled between them, heavy with meaning. Precautions. She knew what that meant before he even had to say it.
An NDA.
She swallowed, forcing herself to keep her voice steady. “And what exactly do these precautions include?”
His jaw tightened, hesitation flickering in his eyes. Then, finally, he exhaled.
“A nondisclosure agreement.”
Silence stretched between them, the moment shifting from charged to fragile. The weight of his world pressed in, threatening to smother whatever this was before it even began.
She should walk away. She should tell him this was ridiculous. But then he spoke again, softer this time—uncertain in a way she had never imagined he could be.
“I know it sounds… transactional. But it’s not. I just—” He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to risk losing you before I even get the chance to know you.”
And just like that, impossibly, the decision became that much harder.
Of course. He wasn’t just Choi Seungcheol—the man standing before her, the one whose voice sent warmth curling through her chest. He was S.Coups, leader of one of the biggest groups in the world. His life wasn’t his alone to give.
She should’ve expected this. Should’ve been prepared for the reality that came with being noticed by someone like him. And yet, a part of her had allowed herself to believe, just for a moment, that this was simple. That it was just him wanting her.
Her gaze flickered to his, searching for something—hesitation, regret, a sign that maybe this was difficult for him too. And she found it, just beneath the surface of his carefully composed expression.
“So,” she finally said, forcing out a breathless laugh, “you’re saying I have to sign something before I can even have dinner with you?”
A ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Something like that.”
Sua looked away for a second, letting the thought settle. It should’ve been an easy answer. No normal person would willingly step into something like this—something bound by conditions, where love had rules and secrets.
But then she looked at him again, at the way his fingers still hovered near her skin, at the quiet tension in his posture, as if he was bracing for her rejection.
And suddenly, she wasn’t so sure.
"What's in for me?"
His eyebrows rose slightly at her question, a flicker of intrigue crossing his features. He studied her for a long moment, as if trying to gauge her seriousness.
Finally, he spoke, his voice low and measured. "What's in it for you? Besides the obvious, you mean?"
He stepped closer, the heat of his body palpable in the scant space between them. One hand came up, fingers brushing lightly along her arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake.
"You'd get to see behind the curtain, to know the man behind the image." His thumb traced idle patterns on her skin. "Exclusivity. My attention, focused solely on you."
His other hand came up to cup her cheek, tilting her face towards his. His eyes searched hers, dark and intense. "I'm not offering a fairy tale, Sua."
Sua’s breath hitched, her heart pounding against her ribs. His touch was light, almost hesitant, yet it sent a current through her veins, grounding her in the weight of this moment.
Not a fairy tale.
Of course not. This was Choi Seungcheol, a man who lived under the glare of flashing lights, whose every step was scrutinized, whose life was dictated by rules she could barely begin to understand. He wasn’t promising romance in its purest form—no effortless love, no stolen kisses under streetlights without consequence.
What he was offering was something raw, something real.
Her eyes flickered to his lips for just a second before she forced herself to meet his gaze again. “And what happens when the curtain falls?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Seungcheol’s thumb stilled against her cheek, his expression unreadable. “That depends.”
“On what?”
His jaw tensed, as if choosing his words carefully. “On whether you’re still here when it does.”
There it was—the unspoken truth beneath his offer. This wasn’t forever. Maybe it was never meant to be.
Sua exhaled slowly, her pulse thrumming with uncertainty, with something dangerously close to temptation. She should say no. She should walk away before she got tangled in something far bigger than herself.
But with his hands on her, his voice wrapping around her like a secret only they could share… she wasn’t sure if she wanted to.
He leaned in closer, his forehead nearly touching hers, his breath mingling with her own. "I know it's a lot to take in," he murmured, his voice low and intimate. "I know I'm asking you to step into a world that isn't always kind to those who aren't used to it."
His hand slid from her cheek to the back of her neck, fingers tangling gently in her hair. "But I also know that there's something here, something between us that I can't ignore." His eyes searched hers, dark and intense. "Tell me you don't feel it too, and I'll walk away right now. No hard feelings, no expectations."
He paused, giving her a chance to respond, to push him away or pull him closer. The air between them crackled with tension, with the unspoken possibilities hanging in the balance.
Sua let out a slow breath, her lashes fluttering as she absorbed the weight of his words. The way he held her—gentle yet firm, like he wasn’t just touching her skin but something deeper, something unspoken—made it dangerously easy to forget the complications of this.
She tilted her head slightly, just enough to look at him properly, her lips curling into the faintest hint of a smirk. "One dinner," she murmured, voice steady despite the rapid beat of her heart. "And I’ll decide whether it’s worthy or not."
A beat of silence. Then, a slow, amused exhale from him, the corner of his mouth twitching like she’d just given him a challenge he was all too eager to accept.
"Fair enough," Seungcheol murmured, his thumb tracing one last, lingering stroke against her skin before he finally—reluctantly—let go.
But even as he stepped back, his eyes never left hers. And Sua knew, without a doubt, that this was only the beginning.
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Hi! This is my very first writing, please do tell me your thoughts! Will be updating soon 🫶🏻
Little bust of my femboy Saiga antelope fursona, Serik, in a... specific situation 😇
I did this a couple days ago but since I only just added myself
to the tumblr community I have a LOT of stuff that I'm
going to be posting periodically whenever I get the chance
so that anyone who sees my stuff on here may also see it
if they don't follow me already on Insta/DeviantART ^-^ <33
