Nearly half of the hotel’s restaurant had been reserved for the team involved in shooting the ad campaign and everyone had come down for dinner except Hyoyeon. Siwon scanned the tables, hoping to find her, her manager and her stylist team were seated at a table near the door but she wasn’t with them.

“Who are you looking for?” Sunwoo asked curiously.

“No one in particular…” he replied, turning his attention back to his half finished plate of food.

“Really? You’ve been craning your neck over the table every five minutes, you’re clearly looking for someone…”Sunwoo went quiet as Siwon threw him a look that clearly translated to “Let it go.”

After a few more minutes in which he only succeeded in turning the remaining food on his plate into some unrecognisable mashed mess, he turned to his manager.

“Any idea where Hyoyeon is?”

Sunwoo looked up at him, a sly smile on his face that seemed to say, ‘I knew you were looking for someone before, I just didn’t know it was Hyoyeon.’

“I haven’t seen her since the shoot wrapped…so I was just-”

“Not to worry, I’ll go find out, be back in a second,” Sunwoo replied stopping him mid sentence.

“I’m not worried!” Siwon called.

That was the bad thing about having a manager who seemed to know what you were thinking before you even thought it. Then again after his little show on the set that day it was a wonder a scandal hadn’t erupted already. He’d gone a little overboard with the skinship but that was something he’d only realised later. When he’d held her no one else had mattered. The looks thrown their way hadn’t mattered.

‘Aren’t they being a little too friendly?’

‘Even though they’re just acting aren’t they being too close?’

He had seen those thoughts reflected in the eyes of some members of staff on the set that day.

He took a sip of the sweet red wine that the waiter had assured them was some rare vintage from before most of them were born. He had to give the waiter some credit. It was very good wine. Just not good enough to distract him from the multitude of thoughts in his head.

What was he doing? Why was he acting the way he was around her? Chasing what he really couldn’t have…

“Hyoyeon isn’t feeling very well so she decided to have her dinner up in her room,” Sunwoo said, settling back in his seat.

Siwon downed the remainder of the wine in his glass, excused himself from the table and walked out of the restaurant.

There were many good things about being famous but the best perk was the inclination of everyone to believe that you were being very honest and straightforward with them. The front desk personnel were all too happy to tell him which room Hyoyeon was in, they didn’t even question his reasons.

“Room 502,” he said, “Thank you very much,” he smiled sweetly at the receptionist who’d checked the details for him.

She met his gaze for a brief moment placing her hand over to cover her shy smile.

What exactly did he want to talk to her about? He wondered. His mind drew a blank. All he knew was that he wanted to see her. The rest would follow, hopefully.

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“Just a second,” he heard Hyoyeon’s muffled voice come through the door. The door opened.

 “Eonni did you forgot your ke…” she paused. “What are you doing here?” the smile on her face faded.

He didn’t know what he’d expected when she opened the door to find him standing there but a frown was not on his top 5 list.

‘What was he doing here?’ He wondered.

“I heard you were feeling unwell so I thought…”

Her gaze softened.

“I’m fine Siwon, just tired, it was a long day that’s all,” she replied, “Thank you for checking up on me though.”

He knew that was his cue to leave but he just stood there waiting.

‘Don’t do it,’ Hyoyeon’s subconscious whispered. ‘Don’t do it.’

“Would you like to come in?” she asked.

‘Why did you do that?’ her subconscious asked incredulously.

Siwon smiled graciously, that smile that had at one time stolen her breath and made her incredibly tongue tied, and stepped into the room.

“Oh your room is bigger than mine,” he said with a laugh.

She didn’t respond. Maybe his smile still had at least one of its effects. She was feeling a little tongue tied.

Siwon sat on one of the armchairs in the lounge section of the room. It was just like him to make himself comfortable while she was left standing around, twiddling her thumbs. She took a seat opposite him and waited. He’s the one who’d seemed like he wanted to come in, let him come up with a topic.

“The shoot…went well today,” he turned his head to look at her.

“Yeah it did,” she replied looking away.

This was going to turn into one of those conversations in other words, stunted, awkward and unbearably long. She could feel it.

“I’m really excited for Friday. The CF shoot sounds like it’ll be fun,” he said.

She wasn’t so sure about that. Video was different from photos. With photos she could fake looking him in the eye, she could fake a loving smile for the two seconds it took to get a shot, her hands could hover as opposed to actually touching him but with video the camera would be rolling non-stop. She wouldn’t manage, she couldn’t, especially now, with all these unnecessary thoughts flitting into her head every so often. Memories that she had fought for so long to keep at the back of her mind flooded to the fore front. When they shot the CF with him smiling at her like that, looking at her the way he had all those years ago, how would she react. The worst thing in the world was not being able to separate reality from fantasy. They were over and had been for seven years.

She was over him.

“I guess so,” she replied coolly.

“Feeling nervous?”

“Yeah… amongst other feelings,” the words were out before she could stop them.

“What feelings?” he asked.

“Just other feelings,” she replied. “Listen, it’s getting kind of late so…”

“It is getting late…but you didn’t answer my question Hyoyeon, what feelings?”

She didn’t need to look at him to see the intense look on his face. He was sitting close to the edge of his seat, waiting for her to answer him.

“Ignore me. I’m just worried over nothing.” She replied.

“Then tell me about this nothing,” he didn’t miss a beat. “We are still friends right?”

She looked him in the eye for the first time since he’d come in.

“Are we still friends?” she asked genuinely curious.

His brow furrowed, “Of course we are…”

She turned her gaze to the view outside. Here she was in Jeju, the beach just a couple hundred metres away, a million stars filling the night sky and a full moon lighting up the white sands of the beach, she had her own product campaign contract, she was getting paid more money than she could ever have hoped for, her career seemed to finally have some definite direction and yet she was the most confused she had been in her life. And it was all because of Siwon and his seemingly double sided questions and his attempts to reminisce about the good old days.

And suddenly another emotion jostled the confusion to the side. What right did he have to come back in and disturb of her perfectly ordered life? What right did he have to make her confused and second guess herself, make her feel like that over eager fifteen year old that had turned red and flustered whenever he spoke a kind word to her?

“I know the past few years have been kind of tense and I know it’s my fault but…I trust you more than anyone I know and I still care about you,” he replied. “I’d hoped maybe you still felt the same.”

“Well I don’t.”

Siwon’s mouth opened then closed. For the first time since she’d met him, he didn’t have a clever response at the ready and the realisation of that satisfied her more than anything she could think of.

“You don’t mean that,” he replied at last, “I know you don’t.”

“Why would I still ‘trust you more than anyone else’?” she asked.

She did not want to get into this with him. This chapter between them was closed and yet there she was asking questions that could only lead them back to that time.

“Because I still…care about you and I still think about how we were back then. And I know you do too.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” she let the anger lie for her, “I don’t think about how we were back then.”

She thought of his last words to her, “It was after all just a few kisses and a childish infatuation that I’d get over in a few months. You were right. I did get over it.”

Again he was speechless.

Siwon balled up his fists and stood up. He wanted to pick her up and shake some sense into her but he knew he deserved her anger. So much for the assumption that he could win her back with a few well timed words and a couple of hugs and kisses.

The fact that even after they’d returned to Korea she had maintained a polite façade and acted as though nothing had happened had surprised him at the time but it had helped to make him feel like less of a jerk. Yes, he had told her that they have to go back to acting the way they had before they’d got together but he hadn’t expected her to do it so well. He’d told himself that the reason she hadn’t blown up at him was because she hadn’t really cared for him that much. And over the years as they’d grown more distant he’d almost become convinced of that lie.

He looked down at her. It was hard to believe that the person looking at him so coldly was the ever smiling Hyoyeon, the Hyoyeon who time and again found it so hard to express her feelings. Well, she seemed to have gotten over that in a hurry.

“I can see you’re feeling better now so I’ll just leave. Sorry for taking up your time,” he said as politely as he could.

She didn’t respond and only reached for the remote on the coffee table and turned the TV on.

_{*I decided to upload 2 chapters this time. Happy reading.*}