A/N: This chapter is super long so… I hope you have awhile lol.

Chapter 12: One Time

“Seriously, Yong oppa,” Seohyun said to him after awhile. “We have to know where we’re going.”

“Hyun, don’t get upset, but I think we’re lost.”

“What?!”

The panic in her large eyes made him crack up laughing. “I’m just kidding. I know where we are.”

She slapped him on the chest with her free hand, and his heart began to pound yet again.

They were reaching civilization by this point, and in a couple of blocks, they would be identifiable in a heartbeat the minute anyone saw them. What had started out as a regular walk with no aim of an actual destination turned into a search for him. Here was one place he did want to go, and he wanted to go there on this night where she was by his side.

“I want to check out this one place a few blocks from here,” he explained. “We always drive past it, but I’ve never been inside.”

“We can’t just walk in. We’d be spotted right away. Plus, it’s really late, almost 3 in the morning. Everyone will worry about where we are.”

“They haven’t called us yet, which means they’re doing fine. I don’t want this night to end yet so come with me to this place. Just once. One time.”

She whined in , but eventually agreed. “But we don’t have disguises.”

“Let’s find some.”

He dragged her down the street until they reached a well-lit area, searching for a store that would still be open at this time of night. Right when it seemed downright impossible to find one, there was one open, cluttered-looking shop.

Yonghwa took his glasses from his backpack and put them on to go inside, but Seohyun took them from his face. “I’ll go in. I don’t want to stand out here alone.”

He was hesitant to let go of her hand, but she reassured him with her eyes that she’d be back soon. Ten minutes later, she emerged with hats, a black bobbed wig, and a pair of glasses for herself.

“You bought a wig?” he asked in amusement.

“Oppa, it’s for you,” she replied, sticking it half-hazardly on his head. He laughed and straightened it out. After joking around, they put on the proper disguises and walked several more blocks until they heard a loud bass sound and saw a group of people hanging out in front of a building surrounded by closed shops.

It was an underground music venue where Korean Indie bands usually played. Yonghwa had always wanted to go there after having passed it in the van several times. He always imagined a tiny stage where the crowd pressed against it, dancing and giving over their bodies to the music. That was one thing he loved about being in a band. The sound of the instruments and the delivery of the lyrics into the microphone got the crowd so excited and crazy, that energy pushed and pulled everyone in the room.

“Oppa, I can’t do this,” she suddenly clung to his arm. “They’ll definitely recognize us.”

“I’ll protect you. I promise,” he assured her with a long gaze.

After a few deep breaths, she clung to him closer, and they entered into the club. The deeper they went inside of the place, the more she pressed against him for protection. The long, dark hallway opened into a large, dim chaotic room where everyone moved and swayed to the band onstage. The band was loud and clumsy, but it made Yonghwa smile. It reminded him of Japan.

Seohyun looked around with partly open. Yonghwa imagined her large doe eyes behind her sunglasses blinking and taking in the atmosphere.

“Are you ok?” he shouted in her ear.

An uncharacteristic smile broke out across her face. “Yeah!” she shouted back in what sounded like excitement. “This is crazy!”

“I know! I’ll get us some drinks.”

“No thank you! I’ll wait here!”

He flashed her a warm smile before heading to the bar. He was tempted to drink, but he needed to be alert in a place like this. They could get caught at anytime, and he needed to be able to run for it. But he felt like a man strolling up to the bar, his girl waiting and enjoying the date. He felt like the person he always wanted to.

……………………………

Seohyun was scared. And amazed. And somewhere in between the two. In fact, she was all over the place as the band in front of her slammed into their instruments enthusiastically. A CN Blue concert was like this too but more professional and controlled. Maybe the band playing was a new one who hadn’t practiced much, yet still, the crowd was having the time of their lives. She chuckled at the thought that some time long ago, Yong, Jungshin, Minhyuk, and Jonghyun once played this way together as well.

She recognized that they were singing in bad English too, which pulled the whole act together. From the words she could make out, they were doing a rather loud cover of Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory”. She laughed out loud and the locks of her fake wig.

Someone slid next to her near the wall she was leaning against waiting for Yonghwa to return.

“Never in a million years did I expect Joohyun-ah to step foot in a place like this,” said the male voice.

Seohyun looked up startled. It was her friend and college classmate, YoungJoon, YJ for short. Any other time, it would’ve been wonderful to see him around, but now was absolutely not that time. “YJ Chingoo, what are you—“

“Doing here? I belong here. You, on the other hand,” he snickered, then motioned over to Yonghwa heading back her way with his drink. “Let me guess. CN Blue leader?”

“Sssh!” hissed Seohyun. “YJ chingoo, please. Keep this quiet. How’d you know it was me?”

“How long have I known you? When it’s you, I know!” YJ laughed.

“Joohyun, is there a problem?” Yonghwa asked, having approached to the two of them. She was surprised to see he hadn’t got alcohol but some water.

Seohun stuttered. YJ casually bowed to Yonghwa with a smirk. “No problem here. I’m Joohyun’s friend. We go to school together.”

 Yonghwa glared at him and turned to Seohyun. “Who is this?”

“A school friend. Nothing else. He’ll keep the secret.”

“I’m not so sure,” said Yonghwa.

YJ was still grinning, very pleased with himself, and she resisted the urge to snap at him.

“Joohyun, I didn’t know you had it in you. Sneaking around like this. With him! I thought it was just a show.”

“Joohyun, we’re leaving,” demanded Yonghwa, but YJ cut in.

“Ok, ok, relax, Hyung. I can call you ‘Hyung’, right? My name’s YJ. I like to joke, that’s all. I won’t give you away.”

The boys had a stare-down in front of her, but YJ was cowering under Yonghwa’s gaze. YJ did that to people. He could be funny but annoying when he wanted to be. She would never hear the end of this now. He would about this date?—no, outing with Yonghwa. To make things worse, she had to pee.

“YJ, it was nice seeing you,” said Seohyun quickly, “but I’ll talk to you later. Oppa,” she turned to Yonghwa apologetically, “I’ll be right back.”

She teetered off to the bathroom hoping that when she returned, YJ would be gone, and Yonghwa would be back to his cheerful mood. One thing was for certain though, she couldn’t hold his hand anymore if YJ was in sight of her.

……………………………

Yonghwa drank all of his water in a couple of gulps and sat his cup on a random table. He watched the band finish up “Edge of Glory” and begin talking and joking with the crowd. He couldn’t enjoy anything anymore. Seohyun’s “friend” was still standing there, sticking his nose into other people’s business. Yonghwa wasn’t one to willingly show jealousy, but he wanted to punch this boy. She had no business being friends with boys, not unless they were his CN Blue dongsaengs who knew how to behave around her. Seohyun still hadn’t confessed to him, but Yonghwa was already feeling like a boyfriend.

“I have to admit, Joohyun doesn’t seem your type,” said YJ after awhile. 

“What?”

“Well, she’s kind of boring.”

Yonghwa breathed slowly. “What kind of person would say that about his friend?”

YJ snickered. “That’s why I’m saying it, Hyung. Because I’ve known her for so long. If she wasn’t a singer, she’d probably be a diplomat or something. She doesn’t belong in this type of place. Please, Hyung, take care of her more than that.”

Yonghwa paused. He didn’t know this guy’s deal. Maybe he had a crush on Seohyun or had a grudge against him, but either way, he didn’t want to put up with it. “Joohyun belongs wherever she wants to go, and she’s not boring. Maybe you’re not as close as you think.”

“Ah, you must think I’m competition, Hyung.”

Yonghwa snickered in spite of himself.

“It’s true, I liked her in middle school, Joohyun-ah has never wanted a boyfriend. But over time, she just became a friend I couldn’t get rid of,” YJ laughed, and Yonghwa glared at him. “Men like you should date girls like this,” YJ waved out to the crowd.

“I’m going to say this as nice as possible, YJ-sshi, but you aren’t familiar with me nor do I like what you’re saying about Joohyun. She’s not boring, but intelligent, she’s not plain but pretty, and her voice hits every beautiful note possible. This is what kind of girl I find to be my type. We are here together because we want to be, and Joohyun trusts you to keep her secret. You and I have nothing else to say to each other, so I’d appreciate it if you let us enjoy the night and found someone else to hang out with.”

YJ simply stared. “I have a feeling you left out a bunch of swear words. Ok, I didn’t mean to cause trouble. I’ll say goodbye to Joohyun and find my date.”

“Date?” Seohyun had returned.

“Dae,” said YJ, shrugging. “Hyung just told me to get lost. I wanted to tease you a bit, but I think I went too far. I’ll see you at school?”

“Ok?” Seohyun was a little confused but said her goodbye. When he disappeared into the crowd, Seohyun looked timidly at Yonghwa. “Mianne. Was he too much?”

“He was more than that,” Yonghwa sighed. “Are there any other guy friends I need to know about?”

“Annio,” she smiled. “He’s harmless. Really he is.”

“He had a point though. We’ll leave after one more song. This isn’t really our crowd, is it?”

“Annio! But it’s fun. I always experience new things with you.”

Neither Yonghwa nor Seohyun had been paying attention when the band had been announcing their next song that they were going to cover, but when the music started up, both looked up in astonishment. They began playing “One Time”, his song.

“This is our song,” whispered Yonghwa.

“I know. From the First Step album.”

He looked at her in surprise.

I told you, Oppa!” she shouted over the music. “I’m a Boice!”

“Oh, really? Then who’s your bias?”

“Minhyuk, Jungshin, and Jonghyun oppa. All 3 are my biases,” she joked.

“What about the leader, Yonghwa? Shouldn’t he be your bias?” he pointed indignantly to himself.

“Ah, well it’s difficult. I was once married to the leader. Is it right for me to go back?” she didn’t wait for his answer. Instead she proceeded to cheer loudly for the band.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the crowd. The awkwardness with YJ was forgotten, and together, they danced and cheered during his song. She was happy, and it made him feel happier. How was it possible that he could fall in love all over again with the same person?

After the song ended, they slipped out of club. They decided to walk all the way to the Han River. There were other people this time but no one paid them attention. Mostly, people had had too much suju and were stumbling along, friends trying to support them but were the same amount of drunk. There were even some foreigners laughing out loud and going on about the Korean sky. One drunken foreign girl even wandered up him and Seohyun and told them in terrible Korean that they were perfect and went on to say some stuff in English that none of them could catch.

By the time they made it to the Han river, they, too, felt drunk. They were laughing and mimicking the voices of the drunk girl with the English accent and pointing up at the night sky. The best part was that no one noticed them.

“Yooong,” Seohyun giggled, throwing her hands up in the air and doing a spin. “We’re in disguise. We can do whatever we want. What should we do?”

“What does Hyun want to do?”

“Hmm,” she mused, as he claimed her hand. “I want to… sleep!”

“Sleep? Out of everything we can do tonight, you want to sleep?”

“Dae, very much.”

Yonghwa looked around and then guided her over to a bench. Together they sat down, and she leaned back against his arm around her shoulder. They stared out at the city lights reflecting off the river and felt a slight chill set in.

“Oppa,” she asked quietly. “In ten years, where do you see yourself?”

“Still making music with CN Blue,” he responded without hesitation. “I’ll be a good husband, and a fun dad. I’ll teach my kids music, and they’ll all travel with me when they can. There’ll always be music in our home. Never a silent day.”

“Ah, your wife will be exhausted,” replied Seohyun with a sigh.

He smiled to himself, staring over at her shyly.

“You would be exhausted?”

“Of course! Running after the children and their appa all the time. It’d drive a woman crazy.”

“Annio,” he chuckled. “You’d be running with us. Singing all the time. And dancing.”

Seohyun grew quiet. He was referring to her, and he assumed she had picked up on it. “When we were married, did you ever feel exhausted?”

“Oppa, when you say it like that, it sounds real,” she laughed comfortably.

He wished that one day, it would be. But that was a long time off. She still hadn’t thoroughly confessed anything to him. He was the one speaking from his heart, and she was along for the ride, but her heart was still closed in some way. He wanted her to reveal more of what she felt.

“Did you?” he pressed on.

“It was a good exhaustion. We were always laughing, and there was always a joke, or a fun misunderstanding. By the time I caught my breath, the entire day had gone by with you.”

“It would be the same, in the future,” he replied. “What about you, Seohyun. Where do you see yourself in ten years?”

“The members and I always joke about being grandmothers’ generation once we get older. As long as I’m performing music, I’ll be happy. I’ll probably marry too, and take pleasure in teaching my children how to sing and play piano. But I’d make them wait a little longer before training, if they wanted to be a performer. I missed a lot of precious time with my mother.”

“We’ll train the kids at home first and foremost and guide them very well so that when they do train, it won’t be so difficult for them. We’ll be a strong family. Supportive.” He blurted, then realized that this should not have been voiced to her. He was acting like they were already engaged.

She looked at him strangely, smirking, but he knew she wouldn’t dare ask him the question. Are you talking about us getting married and having a family?

“Seohyun, what kind of books are you reading these days?” he changed the subject.

“The book I was reading tonight is called How to Lead with Both the Heart and Mind.”

“Sounds interesting,” he lied. “What’s it bout.”

“Well, it talks about the concept humans have of following the expressions of their ‘heart’, essentially, doing things and making decisions based purely off of feelings and morals as opposed to using logical reasoning where people make decisions based on practicality. The book combines both ideas and explains that separately, the heart and mind undermine each other, but if humans learn to use them together, the decision or the action will most times be the correct one.”

Her teacher speech ended, and he wondered for the 100^th time since he had met her why she had not been a professor and had instead chosen to be a singer. 

He blinked a couple of times. “What happens if someone has a bad heart and an evil mind?” he questioned. “What does the book say about that?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t gotten that far,” she replied, looking surprised that he was willing to discuss a little more. Seohyun was interested in this sort of thing, and even if he wasn’t, he wanted to show that he accepted her for who she was. “But, I think that person like that wouldn’t succeed in the end. If you have a bad heart, it’s not really a heart at all.” 

Right then, both of their phones went off. They answered at the same time.

“Yoboseyeo?”

“Hyung, where are you?”

Yonghwa hesitated. He didn’t really want to go back to the group. He wanted to be alone with her for as long as he could. Still, he heard Seohyun tell whomever had called her that they were at the Han River in the park. Almost like magic, the van appeared.   

Yonghwa found himself claiming her hand again. If they had been looking for them this long, already searching in the place they already were, it meant the night was just about over. He wanted to feel the warmth of her hand before he had to give it up. And he would eventually have to give it up.

A/N: Yongseo’s night is almost over :(

Sorry it’s been literally a month. Some crazy stuff happened in my life, some of it great, and some if it not great at all :( On top of that, the site seemed to be having several issues so I wanted to wait until it was sorted out to update. As for YJ, if you want to know who I’m talking about, I’m talking about Seohyun’s college guy friend when SNSD was on that show, Starlife Theater. They never said what his name was so I just gave him one. He was funny to me, but I feel like Yong wouldn’t like him very much. Just look at how jealous he got when his own bandmates tried to interact with her lol. Anyway, next update in a couple of days hopefully. Again, I apologize for the huge delay. Still shipping Yongseo like it’s my job!