A few days later, as Sehun continuously practiced his script, Jongin couldn't get the words out of his head.

"A-Ah, that's because we usually have a substitute who does Ren's photo shoots for him."

Yeah, he came by a while ago but we told him that Ren had agreed to film today. We were all pretty shocked but it turned out well anyway."'

The dark skinned male stood outside the company building of Windler Productions, contemplating whether he should go in or not.

"What if it's not him?...What if-"

"Oh-!"

Jongin turned around to face a familiar face.

"Ren," Jongin says, surprised. The young actor had on a black camp and face mask to hide his identity but was dressed in casual clothing.

"What are you doing here?" The kid asks before looking around. "Where's Sehun?"

Jongin runs his hand through his hair. "Ah..Sehun's practicing right now.."

Ren frowns. "So he's not here? You should have asked me! I could help him with his script."

Jongin shakes his head politely. "It's alright, he can manage. And, I'm sure you have schedules to go to."

"I do but it's nothing my sub-" Ren quickly catches himself and stares at Jongin with wide eyes. "A-I I mean, my ma-manager can't postpone.."

Jongin watches as Ren's face become slightly pink and flustered.

"Ren, as Sehun's manager, can I ask you a few questions?"

Jongin could see the kid tense and take a deep breath.

"What could you possibly want to know that isn't on the internet?"

"I heard a few things about..a substit-"

Ren quickly covered his mouth and gave him a hard stare. "Yah! Y-You can't just say these kinds of things in public."

Jongin had almost forgotten they were standing outside the company building. But it definitely made him suspicious with how Ren reacted.

"Sorry.." Jongin mumbled as Ren took his hand off. People began to stare at them as they walked by and Ren quickly grabbed Jongin's arm.

"We can go inside and talk."

-

"So...is it true?" Jongin asks. They sat face to face in one of the empty meeting rooms. Filming was scheduled to start in 3 days and if there was an opportunity to see who the substitute was, Jongin had to take it.

Ren tried to avoid Jongin's gaze. There was no superior-inferior tension between the two with such a small but Ren was somewhat intimidated.

"I'm not supposed to say anything without my manager."

Jongin holds back a sigh. "Do you want to call him?"

Ren shakes his head. "He's on a short break at the moment..besides, w-why are you curious about this?"

"I can't completely explain it at the moment but we need to find someone."

Ren raised his eyebrow. "What does that have to do with me?"

"Se- I believe that your sub might be the person we're looking for." Jongin generally explains. He couldn't tangle the boy into the mess they were in.

Ren hesitates,"Well, there's no one else but me now. We got rid of the sub."

Jongin stands up in shock. "What!?"

Ren doesn't meet Jongin's gaze. "Y-Yeah.. He wasn't good so he was fired..a while ago."

Jongin lets out a frustrated sigh and plops onto the chair. "This is absolutely ridiculous. Why now- By any chance, do you know anything about him? Where we can possibly find him?"

Ren's hands clench tightly in his lap. "N-No. At least I don't.."

Jongin sighs again. "We were so close!" He mumbles and Ren watches Jongin.

"But now that you know, you should be aware of the consequences."

Jongin looks up. "What do you mean?"

"No one is supposed to know about the sub and to be honest, I can't say if you're a trust worthy person or not. You can be sued millions of dollars if we find out you've told people about this." Ren tells him seriously but Jongin wasn't threatened.

"Don't try to scare me with money. I have enough to survive even if you sued me ten times."

Ren frowns, not expecting this sort of answer. He couldn't tell if Jongin was just lying or if he really had some sort of wealthy connections.

 "Just please, please, I beg of you, please don't say anything about this to Sehun."

Jongin can't help but pity the boy. It was obvious his feelings for a certain blonde had been developing. Jongin had been observing enough to tell.

"Sehun is already taken."

At that, Ren's eyes immediately widen and his ears turn slightly red.

"W-Who said anything about liking Sehun? I never ask and-"

"For a top actor, you're not very good at hiding your feelings." Jongin crosses his arms over his chest and Ren freezes.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I don't like Sehun.."

Jongin chuckles. "Whatever you say."

Ren frowns. "I really don-"

Just then, Jongin's phone rang, interrupting Ren's rebuttal.

"What's up?" He says, puttng the phone to his ear.

"Where are you?" Sehun seemed out of breath.

"Uh..Just walking around, why?"

Ren stared at Jongin as he spoke.

"I swear, I just saw Kyungsoo walk into a-"

"Kyungsoo?!" Jongin immediately stood up, taking Ren by surprise.

"Yeah, he...he walked into a restaurant but when I went in, he wasn't inside." Sehun explains. "I ran around the block, hoping maybe he hadn't gone to far off but I can't find him."

"No no no, he's got to be around! I can't lose him again!" Jongin says desperately before rushing to the door.

"Don't panic, we'll find hi-"

"Kyungsoo is the reason why I came here. I have to find him, I-"

Jongin's stopped when Ren pulls on his forearm. They're standing in the empty hallway and Jongin wants nothing more than to brush the idol off and run to Kyungsoo. There was hope that he was here. There was a chance that he would be able to see his other half, here, in Beijing.

"What?" Jongin asks, hurriedly.

"The sub issue. You haven't promised me." Ren says and Jongin sighs before hanging up on Sehun.

"Look, I'd really like to help you out but Sehun needs to know. Sue me if you want bu-"

"You mentioned a Kyungsoo.." Ren says slowly. Jongin had almost forgotten Ren couldn't understand Korean.

"I did. He's someone extremely important to m