Chapter 03

Year 2017, Seoul

“Hello~” Siyoo bowed to every staff member she walked past. She had just changed into the white dress the stylists picked out after getting her hair curled and her makeup done. Sungwoo and Jisoo had finished getting ready a few minutes before Siyoo did and were sitting on the plastic folding chairs behind the cameras. The two men wore the same black button up shirt with two buttons undone; they even had the same thin silver bracelet dangling off their wrists, the only difference being which hand they wore it on. Sungwoo’s was on his left and Jisoo’s was on his right.

Siyoo seated herself in the chair next to Jisoo and immediately struck up a conversation with him. Sungwoo could only watch in jealousy as the two laughed together. The feelings of the Hwarang Ong Sungwoo were slowly starting to surface.

He snapped out of his daze when one of the photographer’s assistants called for the three actors to get ready for the shoot. Both Siyoo and Jisoo slipped of their slippers and walked over to the sofa in the middle of the room quickly, their conversation still going on. The makeup artist who was fixing Jisoo’s base makeup ten minutes ago let out a loud “Wah,” attracting the attention of all the staff nearby.

“Kang Siyoo is only a rookie in the industry, but her aura makes it seem like she’s a veteran,” she mused. Other staff members—the hair stylists and makeup artists, the lighting and tech crew, and even the photographer—nodded in agreement.

“Sungwoo-ssi, please come over to the shooting area! We’ll be starting with the pictures of you and Kang Siyoo-ssi together!” The same assistant shouted. Sungwoo slipped off his slippers and strode over to Siyoo’s side, who seemed fairly comfortable standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

“Just sit against the bed and pose freely!” The photographer directed. Sungwoo and Siyoo nodded and sat down on the cold wood, leaning their heads against each other and intertwining their hands. Sungwoo felt his lips curl up at the contact, but he couldn’t tell if it was Hwarang Sungwoo that was happy or Idol Sungwoo that was happy.

“My one pick was Chun Entertainment’s Kim Yongguk.”

When Sungwoo heard this, he dropped his phone onto the floor of the van. Daniel and Minhyun stopped their conversation and glanced over at him. Sungwoo let a laugh, which was more of a scoff, and buried his head into his hands.

“Hey, you okay?” Daniel asked. Sungwoo nodded with his head still in his hands. Minhyun picked his phone off the floor and chuckled when he saw the phone screen.

“Kang Siyoo? Are you sad that you weren’t your co-stars one pick?” He asked. Sungwoo didn’t respond and kept his head down. Minhyun pressed the play button and turned up the volume for the three of them to continue watching her interview.

“What about your co-star Ong Sungwoo-ssi? What pick was he?”

Siyoo paused for a moment and counted each of the trainees in her head. Yongguk was first, then it was Haknyeon, Seonho, and Guanlin.

“He was my tenth pick.”

Minhyun and Daniel glanced over at Sungwoo, who had rose his head from his hands when his name was mentioned. When he heard that he was only her tenth favorite, he dropped back into his previous position and groaned.

Minhyun and Daniel glanced at each other before looking back at Sungwoo.

“Do you like her or something? Is that why you’re upset that your only her tenth favorite?” Minhyun asked again. Sungwoo didn’t answer and stayed still instead. Did he like her? Or was it Hwarang Sungwoo coming out again? And why did he feel so sad when she said that Yongguk was her favorite trainee?

The door to the van slid open, revealing the eight other members that had gone to the convenience store or to the bathroom. Guanlin was lined up last, and Sungwoo stopped him from entering the van.

“Did Siyoo happen to tell you who she liked the most on Produce 101?” He asked. Guanlin nodded slowly, confused. He looked over at Sungwoo’s arm that was stretched across the door of the van; Sungwoo got the clue and quickly lifted his arm, letting Guanlin take the seat beside him.

“She told me once over the phone, but I don’t remember the ranking of everyone. Why?” Guanlin asked. Sungwoo shook his head and turned around in his seat, taking his phone back from Minhyun. Siyoo was still on the screen, which shocked Guanlin enough for his jaw to drop.

“You were last place hyung!” Guanlin blurted out before jamming his earbuds in and turning up the music.

…

Sungwoo and Siyoo stood across from each other at the Han River, not saying a word. Siyoo walked away after a few minutes, but Sungwoo caught up to her and hugged her from behind. His arms s around her waist and he nuzzled his head into the crook of her neck.

“Don’t go,” he whispered. “Don’t go to him."

Siyoo tensed up at the contact and froze in place. Hesitantly, she grabbed his hands and slid them off her, stepping away from Sungwoo.

“Please don’t show up in front of me ever again,” she begged before running off, leaving Sungwoo standing there by himself.

“Okay cut!”

Siyoo jogged back over to the crew, who had started reviewing the footage. The director gave them an okay, which meant that Siyoo and Sungwoo could change out of the high school uniforms they were wearing and into their street clothes. Filming for the first two episodes had just finished, and everyone was going to be flying to America in two days to film the next four episodes there. That meant that Siyoo, Sungwoo, Jisoo, their managers, and the rest of the crew would be out of Korea for the next week and a half or so, and Wanna One would be promoting without Sungwoo.

Siyoo was ecstatic for the upcoming filming. When the director announced that they would be filming in her city, she couldn’t help but to let out an excited squeal. It had been around three years since she’d been back to America, and she couldn’t wait to see her friends and family.

Unlike Siyoo who was packing her suitcase with a smile on her face, Sungwoo was trudging around in the room he shared with Daniel and Jisung, dumping his clothes into his luggage without a second thought. Jisung and Daniel glanced at the pile or shirts forming in the suitcase, but didn’t say anything as Sungwoo continued to drop more articles of clothing in.

“Why is he like this?” Jisung whispered to Daniel, who shrugged in response.

“It’s probably because of Siyoo again. He found out he was only her tenth pick earlier this week and he was sad the whole day because of it,” Daniel whispered back.

Daniel was right. Earlier that day, before they started filming, Sungwoo was desperate to find out the order of Siyoo’s favorite members of Wanna One after Guanlin wouldn’t tell him. He asked Minhyun to ask Sunho to ask Siyoo, and when Minhyun showed him the screenshot that Sunho sent him, Sungwoo smiled like an idiot for the rest of the day.