so... they were actually dating?
edited to add more context: as a saerom biased flover i didn't believe this for two reasons: (1) the rumours were initially spread by sojang, who is known to have spread misinfo on so many idols, just to stir shit on them. and (2) the pictures of them at that exhibition were clearly on different days - one of the exhibits was a banana taped to the wall, which was fresh and yellow when chanhyuk went, but had gone all brown during saerom's visit. this is something that could have happened only over the course of a few days
however i really don't give a shit if they were actually dating or not, i really don't care if my faves were. i'd honestly love for a more open atmosphere in the idol industry, where (a) idols can comfortably be in public relationships without being harassed by fans, (b) idols can be close to idols of the other sex without any party being harassed (one of the reasons hyunadawn went public was fans slutshaming her and calling her a predator. they wanted to make it absolutely clear that their relationship was consensual), and (c) idols can maintain their privacy wrt their love lives, without fan speculation. i'm just surprised these rumours seemed to have wide acceptance within the kpop fandom, if not actually a grain of truth to them.