5. Good Luck Cakes

“Eh, stop texting your girlfriend, hyung! You’ll see her in Hong Kong too!” Hyuk called out. He laughed as he made a dash for the waiting elevator, with Jaehwan hot on his heels. Hyuk tried to duck behind Hongbin, but not before Jaehwan managed to deliver a knee kick to his .

VIXX were heading to the airport for a concert in Hong Kong, and their manager was waiting in the two cars parked on the ground floor to ferry them.

“Apink will be in Hong Kong too?” Hongbin asked as he pushed the ‘door close’ button after both of them came into the elevator.

Jaehwan looked up from his phone and nodded with a smile. “They are performing on Sunday, the night after us.”

Hongbin’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wow, that’s a coincidence. Same venue too?”

Jaehwan nodded, still smiling. Both he and Eunji couldn’t believe their luck when they told each other of their upcoming concert in Hong Kong. To be able to find a few hours each week to meet up was already a feat; to have a concert one night after another at the same venue overseas was like the stars and planets aligned in the universe.

“Same hotel too?” Hyuk teased, mimicking Hongbin’s tone.

Jaehwan rolled his eyes and tucked his phone into his pocket. “How would I know? I don’t even know what hotel we are staying at.”

“Do you know,” Hyuk quipped to Hongbin. “Apink is flying into Hong Kong today too, even though they are performing one night later.”

“Oh really? That must be nice, having more free time. Are you and Eunji going to meet up?” Hongbin turned to Jaehwan.

Jaehwan shrugged as the elevator reached the ground floor. “We didn’t make any plans, but I doubt it. There’s just too much risk. Now, shut up about Eunji,” he hissed, particularly to Hyuk. “Before the whole world knows.”

Hyuk gave Jaehwan a wink and cheeky smile, before dashing out of the elevator. Hongbin just laughed at the exchange, patting Jaehwan on the back as he followed Hyuk out.

-----

Their flight went without a hitch, and VIXX arrived safely at their hotel with all their bags, waiting patiently for the organizer and their manager to sort out the rooms and schedules. It was nice hotel – definitely luxurious and no doubt 5-stars – but small and cozy enough to not have that many guests that would recognize them and cause a frenzy.

“Okay Hakyeon, these are the room keys for VIXX,” their manager called out, and also rattled off the standard stuff: numbers for emergencies, things to take note of, and their schedule for the rest of the day. Jaehwan usually tuned out at such times (or either that he would be goofing around with Hyuk and Hongbin and therefore not paying attention) because he felt he never had the need to know all these information – he was always with one of the other members anyway. But this time, he snapped back to attention at the mention of “Apink”.

“Apink sunbaenium is also staying here too?” Ravi asked.

Their manager nodded. “The organizer told me that they would be checking in this evening after their flight lands.”

“Wow, that’s such a coincidence. Do you know their room numbers? Do you think we should say hi or give them something?”

Jaehwan shot Hyuk a look. Are you crazy?!

Hyuk just gave him a wink.

Luckily for Jaehwan, their manager had turned away and was not paying attention. Everyone was used to the maknae saying the most random things.

However, Hakyeon had heard and brightened. “That sounds like a good idea, Hyukkie! How about we go walk around to see what might be a good gift after we settle into our rooms?”

-----

Annyeong oppa, we have just landed in HK. Collecting our bags and will be heading over to the hotel soon (: 10:48pm

Jaehwan smiled as he texted his reply back to Eunji. It was unlikely that they could meet up tonight – VIXX had a packed schedule the next day and so Hakyeon had ordered everyone to be in bed by midnight – but at least Jaehwan could sleep peacefully knowing that she had arrived safely.

“Texting Eunji?” Hakyeon asked as he stepped out of the shower.

Jaehwan nodded. “Yeah, they just arrived at the airport.”

“Oh, I see.” Hakyeon tossed his towel over the armchair and flopped onto his bed. Both guys were preoccupied with their phones for a moment, a comfortable silence between them.

All things considered, Jaehwan was glad that he got paired with Hakyeon for the weekend. He never enjoyed being paired with Wonshik… well, simply because he snores. Don’t get him wrong; he loves the guy, just not sharing the same room with him. Jaehwan always admired Hyuk for that.

He was kinda glad that he wasn’t with the two youngest members either. He wasn’t sure if he could deal with Hyuk’s teasing and Hongbin’s sassiness for a whole weekend, both likely to go on and on about his and Eunji’s relationship. Although he could kind of understand their curiosity – no one in VIXX had been in a relationship since they debuted, so this whole secrecy thing is kind of a novelty and a big deal.

As for Taekwoon… Jaehwan couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but somehow things had become silent between them. And hardly anybody was ever silent with Jaehwan. This seemed to have started ever since he announced his relationship with Eunji to s. Call him over-sensitive, but it almost felt like he had betrayed his hyung in some way.

Of course, Jaehwan knew that Hakyeon had also purposely chosen him as his roommate so that he could find out more about his relationship. Hakyeon had made no secret to Jaehwan that he thought their relationship as extremely risky, and had told him multiple times to be careful. Jaehwan knew where Hakyeon was coming from; as leader he had to look out for reputation of the group as well as the welfare of all s. But Jaehwan also knew that Hakyeon would have his back and fully support him in whatever he decided.

“So… how are things going?”

Jaehwan didn’t need to ask what Hakyeon meant by ‘things’. “It’s going well,” he beamed. “A lot smoother and less scary than I expected actually.”

Hakyeon smiled. “That’s good. I’m happy for you, Jaehwanie.”

Jaehwan turned and lay on his back too, mirroring his hyung’s actions. “Thank you.” He paused for a while before speaking again. “Am I doing the right thing, hyung? I really don’t want to screw anything up.”

Hakyeon chuckled. “I don’t think I’m qualified to give you relationship advice Jaehwan…”

Jaehwan shook his head. “No, I’m quite clear on that,” he said firmly. “I meant us. VIXX.”

Hakyeon lifted his head and turned to his side in surprise. “VIXX?”

“I guess I should say more specifically: Taekwoon-hyung.”

Hakyeon’s brow furrowed. “Taekwoon? Why, did he say something with you?”

“No, I thought he might have said something with you.” Jaehwan gave an inaudible sigh. “If you haven’t noticed, we haven’t really been saying things to each other lately.”

“Oh, I caught that. I just thought it’s because you’ve both been super busy.” Hakyeon sat up. “Is there something else going on?”

Jaehwan shrugged and paused for a bit before replying. “I just got this sense that things changed after I told you guys about my relationship with Eunji. For the most part, you’ve all been super supportive, and I’m really thankful and grateful. But I can’t help feeling that I might have betrayed Taekwoon-hyung –“

“Because he used to like Eunji.” Hakyeon came to the realization. “I see…” he murmured, deep in thought.

Taekwoon had shared it in confidence with Hakyeon and Jaehwan one night back in 2014 while he was in the midst of the ‘Full House’ musical. Eunji was his female co-lead, and Taekwoon had admitted that he enjoyed being around her and that she made him smile. He only shared it with the two of them, and made them swear not to tell it to anyone, not even their maknae line. Back then, Hakyeon and Jaehwan both urged him to take it a step further with her, but Taekwoon refused. He never fully explained why, but Jaehwan sensed that it was because he chose to put VIXX first.

He immediately felt a stab of guilt.

“Does he?” Jaehwan asked tentatively. “Still like Eunji, I mean.”

Hakyeon blew out a breath. “I honestly don’t know. We never spoke about it again after that night.”

He turned and saw Jaehwan’s face scrunched up with worry, something that was very unusual for their 4-D member. His heart went out to his dongsaeng.

“I’ll talk to him, Jaehwan,” he told him reassuringly. “I’m sure after all these years it’s nothing now. Besides, he didn’t react much when you first told us last year that you liked Eunji.”

Jaehwan snorted. “He’s Taekwoon-hyung. He doesn’t show much expression to anybody.” He sobered up and threw Hakyeon a grateful smile. “Thanks, hyung.”

“We’ll sort it out fine, you’ll see,” Hakyeon told him, laying back down on the bed and settling between the sheets. “Now stop thinking so much and get some rest,” he ordered. “We have a concert tomorrow.”

“Yes, hyung.”

-----

The next day, both VIXX and Apink went about their separate schedules. VIXX was busier with a fan sign in the morning and then straight to concert rehearsals afterwards, while Apink had the luxury of sleeping in slightly later and exploring the city for a bit before heading to their fan sign in the afternoon after VIXX.

“Since we’re done for the day, shall I check with manager-oppa if we can drop by VIXX’s backstage to wish them luck for their concert later?” Chorong suggested to her members while they were backstage resting after their fan sign.

Eunji visibly brightened. “Can we?”

“I can ask,” Chorong replied. “The concert venue is just next door; it’s still early enough for us to slip in without much people noticing yet.”

“Eunji-unnie will definitely love that,” Hayoung teased, nudging Eunji. Eunji blushed as the other girls gave their agreement to the plan, and Chorong went to find their manager.

The Apink members were not as savage as the VIXX members in their teasing of Eunji; they all knew that it was a thin line that Eunji was threading on in having this relationship, and hence were careful in their teasing and what they said. They also had prior experience in keeping such big secrets – in particular, when Naeun dated Taemin briefly during their WGM days.

Although the rest of the Apink members did not know Jaehwan that well – none of them had ever worked with him before – it was widely known that VIXX were humble and down-to-earth guys that were super tight as a group and crazy creative. Jaehwan had dropped by Eunji’s dorm a couple of times, and through those short interactions and observations, the Apink members all gave their approval, much to Eunji’s thankfulness.

“Girls, unfortunately we can’t go over,” Chorong came back with sad news. “They had a really busy day and are currently behind schedule, so it is not convenient for us to drop by.” She turned to Eunji and gave her a squeeze on her arm.

Eunji threw Chorong a grateful smile. It’s okay, she mouthed.

There was a general chorus of disappointment from the other members. They were hoping to have some interaction with VIXX – it was rare to bump into another idol group overseas apart from organized music concerts.

“Let’s look on the bright side, girls,” Eunji spoke up cheerily. “There’s more free time for us tonight!”

They laughed, and this time Chorong gave Eunji a grateful smile. She could always count on their group’s happy pill to lighten the mood.

“I know! Let’s have snacks and food by the pool at the hotel!” Bomi suggested, and turned to Chorong. “Do you think we can do that?”

Chorong considered. “I think if we don’t draw so much attention to ourselves, it should be okay. But let me run the idea by manager-oppa first.”

The girls cheered as they packed up their things and headed back to the hotel.

-----

Apink had an enjoyable night by the pool playing and enjoying themselves until late. Thankfully their hotel was a small one with few guests, and hence they could enjoy themselves without having anyone recognize them. They even had the use of the pool all to themselves.

After playing around and eating, they were sitting around on the deck chairs by the pool, feeling the night getting colder, but reluctant to leave.

“It’s been such a great night,” Namjoo commented. “I wish that all our concerts and schedules will have such a chill timetable like this weekend.”

The girls laughed. They knew that their seemingly free weekend was a rare one and they would unlikely get such schedules when they return back home.

“Not to mention the snacks,” Bomi sighed. “Hong Kong is really a place for tasty food!”

“Time to exercise and diet soon,” Eunji teased Bomi, poking her on the sides. “I can hear the fat growing.”

“Really, Bomi?” Chorong mock-gasped. “Stop eating those snacks now!”

Everyone laughed again at Bomi’s pouting. Bomi was far from fat – in fact she was one of the skinniest member at their last comeback – but unfortunately when she put on weight it was often easily visible on her cheeks. Hence it became a running joke that once Bomi starts dieting, it meant that Apink were going to be doing something serious, such as a concert or comeback.

Naeun frowned as she noticed a group of people walking out from the hotel onto the pool deck. “Who’s that? I hope that it’s not manager-oppa coming to chase us to sleep; I don’t want to leave yet,” she whined.

Chorong squinted. “It can’t be manager-oppa, I told him that we will take care of ourselves tonight –“

“Oh, it’s VIXX!” Hayoung cut in. She turned to Eunji. “Eunji-unnie, it’s VIXX. They must have finished their concert already.”

Eunji whipped around and frowned. “But what are they doing here?” she wondered. Her question was left unanswered though, as VIXX had arrived where Apink was.

“Annyeonghaseyo…” There were polite greetings around as the two idol groups greeted each other, shaking hands and bowing. Jaehwan and Eunji caught each other’s eye and grinned at each other, but both stood obediently with their groups behind their leader.

“Sorry if we are disturbing you,” Hakyeon said. “We heard that you wanted to come visit us at the concert venue. Sorry that we couldn’t host you earlier.”

“It’s alright, we understand,” Chorong replied. “How was the concert?”

“It was good,” Hakyeon replied excitedly. “The venue is great; I think you all will love it for tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you can really see the fans up close,” Hongbin added.

“That’s great, we’re really looking forward to it,” Bomi replied enthusiastically.

“Oh, here’s a little something for you that we got as a group,” Hakyeon gestured to Hyuk, who stepped forward with a cake box. “It’s some good luck cakes to wish you all the best for your concert tomorrow.”

“Oh, kamsamida, that’s very thoughtful of you,” Chorong received the present gratefully, as the rest of Apink bowed their thanks to the group. “I’m sorry we didn’t think to get you all anything,” Chorong apologized.

“It’s no problem. There’s no need to be so formal anyway, since we are practically family now…” Hakyeon teased.

Both groups started nudging Jaehwan and Eunji like high school students caught in a crush.

“Well… I think two of our members would like to spend some time alone,” Hakyeon he told Chorong with a grin. “How about we share the cakes over at the other side of the pool while the two catch up with their precious time together?”

Jaehwan and Eunji blushed immediately. “Oh no, it’s fine –“ Eunji started.

“I think that’s a great idea!” Chorong beamed. “Girls, let’s go over there and share the cakes with VIXX. Eunji, you can stay here with Jaehwan,” she called out over her shoulder as she pushed the rest of the members with her. Hakyeon was doing the same with VIXX.

“Don’t take too long, hyung,” Ravi winked at Jaehwan, before following the rest to the other side of the pool, leaving the couple together behind.

“This is embarrassing,” Eunji muttered.

Jaehwan chuckled. “Well, anything for some time alone together, right?” He gently guided Eunji by the waist to the deck chairs away from the view of their members and gestured for her to sit.

“I hope you were not the one to come up with this plan,” Eunji continued as she lay on the reclining deck chair. Jaehwan took the one beside her and pushed it to join hers. He lay down and reached for her hand as Eunji rested her head on his shoulder.

“Nah, if I came up with a plan it would be a lot more cool than this. Probably involving climbing up to your window or picking your lock or something.”

Eunji rolled her eyes. “Yes, of course you’ll be superman,” she teased, and then sighed. “How long do you think our leaders planned this?”

Jaehwan shrugged. “I didn’t know anything until I realized we were on the pool deck. The rest knew though.”

Eunji chuckled, and turned to look up at him. “Well after all that, I’m glad that we got to meet,” she said softly. “It almost feels like we are on a holiday together.”

Jaehwan brightened. “That’s an idea…”

Eunji laughed. “That’s impossible,” she countered, and squeezed his hand. “But feeling like we’re on one now is good enough.”

Jaehwan used his free hand to cup her cheek as he leaned to give her a kiss.

“Any time with you is good enough.”

-----

Inspiration: VIXX and Apink performing in Hong Kong on the same weekend, and staying in the same hotel. VIXX was reported to have sent 'Good Luck' cakes to Apink at their hotel rooms too.