CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Most Precious Girl.

________________________________________________________________________

A special gameshow involving most of SM idols and a few from other smaller companies was announced after the scandal. Since such a big program was not something could be forgotten easily by the public, two weeks after the date of YongHwa and Seohyun, they met again on the set, along with many of their colleagues. However, this time, everyone in SM, even Soshi, made sure that YongHwa had no chance to be close to Seohyun.

The game required everyone to team up by draw random numbers from a box. However, as expected from SM idols, they wouldn’t settle with the results that quickly. They convinced, threatened, and bribed others in order to swap around. It became too chaotic that Lee Soo Man, who only wanted to give it a quick visit, had to take the matter into his hand.

- Seohyunie, Yuri, YoonA could you three go to the center first? Everyone moves out of the way. We will start with their teams.

So many pleading eyes were looking at Lee Soo Man, but he ignored them all, pretending that he didn’t know how everyone fell under his beloved students’ magic:

- Kyuhyun, you will be on Seohyun’s team.

- Seosaengnim, th-that… - Changmin urged Yunho to speak up, since Yunho had always been the most favorite ones of the CEO

- What’s matter, Yunho? SeoKyu has been a big thing.

This time, Seohyun exclaimed and her cheek turned to the brightest shade of red

- Seonsaengnim!

- That’s unfair. – Minho blurted out.

- And how so, Minho?

They looked at each other nervously, while Lee Soo Man kept grinning. No one except Seohyun knew that he actually was aware of everything, but she knew better than to say anything.

- Thank you, seonsaengnim. Thank you very much.

And without letting others prevent his way to her, Kyuhyun quickly bowed to his teacher and ran to stand next to Seohyun, smiling widely.

- Could I be on her team? – Minho stepped closer to the center, frustrating that he wasn’t the one who got picked.

- Which girl are you talking about, Minho?

Lee Soo Man was smiling, pretending that he knew nothing, but his smile quickly faded and his face became serious in a blink.

- Of course, it’s my … - Minho couldn’t finish his sentence as someone started screaming

- The lighting!

- Step back!

- Watch out!!!

Minho looked up, and before he could think clearly, he realized that he had lain on top his most precious girl, trying to protect her from the falling lighting equipment.

________________________________________________________________________

Seohyun didn’t know what happened when someone suddenly shoved her down on the floor and lay on top of her, covering her head and her petite body with his masculine and strong one. She heard glasses shattering, steels breaking, people shouting and feet rushing, but amid all the noises, the thing that was the clearest to her was his comforting voice

- I’m here, Hyun.

The warmest voice on Earth. The voice gave her so much strength whenever she was on the edge of collapsing. The voice of her knight in his shining armor.

________________________________________________________________________

Unexpectedly, she didn’t feel strong weight fell on top of them right away.

- Joohyun? Joohyun-ah…

Someone was calling her name dearly, his voice trembled so much that it hurt her to listen to it and sensed how much pain he was in at the moment.

- Are you both fine?

He was trying to hold the part of the truss so that not all of it would fall on them. He couldn’t stand straight, was out of breath and his body was shaking under the weight of the truss. Seohyun was tearing up seeing that scene, but even when everything became blurry, she could still see his beautiful eyes clearly.

The eyes that were always full of love and longing for her. The eyes that had watched over her and soothed her pains since the day they first met. The eyes of her guardian angel.

________________________________________________________________________

Seohyun had vague memories of what happened after that. Someone probably pulled them out of those lightings and trusses, medical staff had come over to check on everyone, and her loved ones were brought to the hospital. She remembered sitting on the floor, waiting for her turn to be checked, when someone suddenly hugged her tightly and mumbled something quietly that she could only caught some phrases. And she wasn’t sure if it was her imagination or if he did confess his feelings directly for the first time.

- Don’t worry, Seohyun-ah. You are safe. I’m here.

Seohyun kept quiet. His embrace was warm, his hands’ movements were lulling, but there was something missing that she couldn’t get her mind to be at peace.

- Yonghwa oppa, is this also my fault?

- Of course not. It was an accident.

- If the scandal…

YongHwa squeezed her and said sorry repeatedly. He felt terribly guilty. Seohyun didn’t finish the sentence, but he knew what she meant. If there were no scandal, this show wouldn’t have to be recorded. And nothing, absolutely nothing, would ever happen.

- YongHwa, that’s enough. People will notice.

CNBLUE’s manager tried to make YongHwa to stand up and leave. As the chaos slowly died out, people would start noticing their unusual behaviors.

- Just another minute

- Have you not learnt anything? As long as we don’t know who that traitor is, better be careful.

Yonghwa ignored his manager’s warning. He rarely had any chance to see her, needless to think about the chance of having her in his arms like the moment. And God knows how much he missed her. He missed everything about her: her silky hair, her beautiful eyes, her scent, literally everything.

- We have to go, YongHwa. Now!

His manager’s voice showed no room for negotiation, so YongHwa reluctantly kissed Seohyun’s hair and whispered in a split second

- Seohyun-ah, I…love you.

She burst into tear after hearing his words. Her face suddenly lost all colors that it had left after the accident, her body was quivering like his words had caused an outburst of emotion in the usual calm Seo Joohyun, and her voice was full of misery, murmuring something that YongHwa wished that he never had had to hear:

- Oppa, please… please don’t love me.

And she collapsed on the floor.

________________________________________________________________________

Minho knocked on the door of a practice room, but he didn’t wait to hear any answer before walking in.

- I know I can find you here, Seororo.

The room was full of music from SNSD’s upcoming album as Seohyun was practicing alone even at midnight. Minho sat against the wall, watching his close friend finished the last few moves before she turned off the music so that they could talk.

- I heard you are still recovering?

- Oh, because I need a break from all the modeling.

- And from me too, perhaps?

Seohyun sat down next to him, half-heartedly said. They hadn’t seen each other since the incident. She was perfectly fine because her loved ones had protected her so well, so she didn’t have to stay in the hospital. When she went to the hospitals to visit others, Minho would pretend to be sleeping, or told her that he needed to see his doctor in a few minutes and ran off as if she was something scary. If Seohyun didn’t know that Minho was fine, she probably had thought that he had hit his head somewhere.

- So, what bring you here today?

Minho was playing with his nails, his mouth kept open and close, like he didn’t know how to answer such simple question.

- Choi Minho! Did I do something wrong? Just tell me.

Seohyun became impatient. If there were something wrong, she rather they talked about it.

- I’m sorry.

- Huh?

- I wanted to date you.

- Oh…

Well, that’s not something new. Seohyun sighed in relief, until…she realized something

- Wanted? So, you mean no longer?

- Yes. No… I mean… Yes.

- Huh?

- Aishhh!

Minho scratched his head in frustration. How could he talk about his stupid problem and childish temperament, even when Seohyun might know it already?

- So… you mean we will be only friends from now on, right?

Seohyun decided to help both of them out by asking the thing that was the most important for their relationship in the future.

- Yes.

- That’s good enough, Minho. I don’t need explanation.

She turned to face him and put her hand on his shoulder understandingly.

- Love is not something that can be explained easily, or need to be.

- I love someone else.

Minho spat it out, and quickly shut his eyes like he was waiting for his death sentence. He had loved another girl for the whole time and tried to deny it. Seohyun was the first girl that he fell for, and they had been best friends, so when his feelings changed, he felt as if he had betrayed her, or betrayed their relationship.

- Who is the lucky girl?

Seohyun sounded totally calm, so Minho opened one eye to look at his best friend. When he realized that she was only curious about his new girl, he was surprised:

- So you are…not mad at me?

- Why should I?

- Because I…everyone knew that I liked you.

He shut his eyes again and breathed heavily.

- That doesn’t mean you can’t like someone else?

Seohyun was confused and surprised. What have been going on inside your head, Minho?

- You are not worried that people may compare her to you? And you became…

She broke out to laugh, to the point she was almost crying. Well, her friend had stayed the same for years: competitive, and caring nonetheless.

- Listen, and listen well, Choi Minho. There is no loser or winner in love. Stay true to your heart and everything will be fine.

- I’m sorry.

- What for?

- For being childish. I don’t know when and how my feelings started changing. And I was too stubborn to give up on the thought that I might have a chance with you, the Seo Joohyun whom so many males could die for. Then we had the Golden thing, and I…

Seohyun jumped in to help when Minho couldn’t admit the fact out loud:

- Never want to lose on anything, right?

Minho didn’t respond. He looked defeated and guilty, like a child who stole another kid’s favorite toy and got caught.

- Minho-ah…

- I don’t deserve to be your friend.

Seohyun started giggling at the innocent thought, but it quickly became a secret sigh

- I’m not perfect either.

- I guess we are even then?

This time, both of them laughed whole-heartedly.

- Thank you, Seororo.

- Thank you, Minho. Thanks for…

- Withdraw from the competition without you telling me straight to my face that I would never have a chance with you?

He ranted and flicked her head. Seohyun elbowed him:

- Yah, not everything is a competition. Do you know that?

- You know me.

Seohyun chuckled and shook her head in disbelief. She didn’t have many close friends of the opposite gender and somehow, it seemed as if all of them had developed romantic feelings for her. She felt terribly guilty for hurting any of them, but of course, she couldn’t reciprocate their feelings to every single one of them. Thus, she was glad that another friend of her had found his love somewhere else

- I knew it was the end when you picked HyunKi hyung over me.

- Min…I’m sorry about that.

- I was mad at you. My pride had taken the better of me for the whole time that I couldn’t give up my original dream of having you, and that last time was no exception.

Seohyun slapped his arm jokingly:

- You haven’t learnt your lesson, have you?

- Not until the moment I saw that she was in danger. My body had decided to protect her instead of you. That’s when I knew for sure whom my heart belongs to.

- And that would be…?

- I didn’t know Seo Joohyun could be this nosyyyy!

- Yah, Choi Minho!

His face had become redden and he kept his mouth shut, despite Seohyun’s effort. She almost wanted to give up, until a scene flashed through her mind

- It’s not…not…

Seohyun gasped in disbelief, while pointing to his arms, where the marks from the incident were still new and recovering. Minho nodded without saying anything.