The arm swung hard to her left and she dodged it, swaying her body backwards Keanu-Reeves-matrix-style on reflex. It felt so cool to have avoided that powerful swing from her experienced opponent so she confidently counter-attacked with an upper cut against his chin. He staggered slightly from that blow on his chin. He was proud of her reflexes and strength. He did train her in kick-boxing for some weeks already. Yenny grinned widely from her awesome counter-attack on her trainer. She was not the only one impressed with herself as she heard a cheer and applause from someone at the sides of the boxing ring in the gym. She turned away from her opponent to acknowledge whoever was cheering her on, only to be surprised at the sight of a smiling Chansung clapping and shouting out “Great shot! Yenny!”

 That acknowledgement was a mistake because her trainer seized the opportunity to land a huge blow to her right cheek.  She landed on the floor, out.

Chansung sat with an ice bag massaging the delicate cheek on Yenny who was lying unconscious on the sofa. He had quickly carried her to the trainer’s office after she suffered that last blow. She had always been that sweet friendly girl to him, never had he seen her playing tough physically. It was a rare and interesting sight and he couldn't help cheering her on when he saw her throw that quick upper cut blow.

"Yenny, Yenny! You OK?" He asked when she started to wake up. She was unconscious for a few minutes.

"Chansung? What are you doing here?" Yenny woke up feeling that sore pain on her right cheek, remembering how embarrassing it must have been for Chansung to witness her being punched. She wondered why he was in the gym she had been attending kickboxing lessons for some weeks but she didn't remember seeing him so far.

"I came to visit my old friend, who by the way is the guy who knocked you down. I used to train here in the past." He replied, punching lightly on the stomach of her trainer who quickly apologized to Yenny for hitting her too hard.

So Chansung was friends with her trainer. She shouldn’t be surprised that Chansung had at least some gym training, after she accidentally caught him one time shirtless at the staff quarters at work when he was changing after work. That washboard abs she spotted on him stopped her from breathing for a few seconds.

"It’s OK. I must have embarrassed myself with my skills, huh?" She tried to take the ice bag from Chansung to soothe the pain on her cheek but he offered to do it for her instead.

"Nah. You did good. I was impressed. We should challenge each other some time." Chansung answered her with an encouraging smile. 

Yenny was glad to see more of friendly happy Channie lately. This time was even better because he was tendering to her as well. Ever since Yubin flew off to Thailand, she and Chansung had more to chat on a personal basis. She realized he was not such a quiet cool person but one who also enjoyed a good laugh. She even found his laugh y.

 Chansung was careful with the ice bag. Earlier, he got so worried when Yenny was knocked out flat by his friend and rushed to her side trying to check if she was ok. By now, he could see a blue-black patch forming on her cheek and felt guilty that he was partly the cause of it.

“I’m sorry I distracted you earlier, or else, you could have avoided that blow.” He admitted.

“It’s ok. I feel fine now.” She said cheerfully.

“Ermm.. but if you look in the mirror, you might blame me.”

Yenny quickly turned to the mirror reflection on the side of the gym and saw the obvious patch on her cheek. She felt ugly all of a sudden and hid her face in her hands but immediately felt the pain on her cheek again and gasped in pain.

“It’s ok. Don’t move so much.” Chansung held her hands away from her cheeks and then he leaned forward to land a light comforting kiss on her injured cheek. He didn’t know why he suddenly did that and was surprised at himself. All he knew was he just wanted to comfort her seeing her in pain and that there was nothing wrong with a temporary ugly patch on her cheek.

But I could have just told her that and not do it with a kiss! He said to himself silently. Too embarrassed with his sudden intimate comforting act, he quickly stood up, bowed slightly, apologizing to Yenny and walked out of the gym in speed mode. Yenny watched Chansung leave but she was too shocked to move. She found herself in cloud nine. That kiss definitely cured her of any pain on her right cheek. It was the best medicine to her.

----     

Taecyeon rubbed his hands roughly on his face as the captain on the plane announced they was going to land in Seoul in half an hour’s time. He felt his heart aching for Yubin. Just only a few hours without her, he was yearning for her already. Their 4-day vacation was the happiest time he had ever had in his life. He was deeply and madly in love. They spent their days sun-bathing, indulging in water sports, sensual lovers spa and even hiking. It was never a day boring and the endless love-making just made it even better. He obviously couldn’t bear to leave her in Thailand but Yubin insisted. She wanted to face the showdown with the royal queens alone. Having Taec with her during the showdown was not going to be helpful at this point. He was not of any royal blood or chaebol background to go against the royal families. Also, this was a mutual agreement between Khun and her and they both preferred to leave Taec and Steph out of their family settlements for the moment.

Taec refused to leave at first, preferring to stay by Yubin’s side all the way in Thailand but Khun asked of him a favor. He asked if him could to go back to Seoul with Steph and to make sure Steph was safe back home. Khun was worried about her safety in Thailand and maybe even in Korea, knowing that if she stayed in Thailand while he planned to announce his real intentions of not marrying Yubin to the royal family, he wondered what his powerful parents might just do to make sure Steph was not in the way. At first, they all thought that Krabi was safe enough for them until a royal guard appeared suddenly on the island to summon Khun and Yubin back to the royal palace in Bangkok. This meant that their whereabouts and possibly who they were spending their vacation with might have been found out by the royal families already.

Taec felt the need to do this favor for his new royal friend who had been a great help in reuniting him and Yubin so he agreed.

“Oppa, are you ok? We’ll be landing soon. Or, are missing her already?” Steph asked, noticing Taec’s tired or worried face.

“I’m fine. I’m just worried about her. I’m sure you’ll feel the same way about Khun too.” He explained.

“I know when he said he’ll come get me in Seoul later, he’ll do it. I trust him.” Steph said rather confidently and that made Taec smile.    

Yubin wasn’t alone in Thailand. Her mother was still in Bangkok awaiting the return of her daughter and sooner or later they would be back in Seoul. Khun was in his home country and for him to escape to Korea against his parents’ wishes, it might be real tough but yet Steph was feeling confident because of in their love and faith for each other.

“Yeah. You are right. We’ll all reunite together in Seoul one day and I’ll make sure we celebrate that in a big way.” Taec concurred, initiating a hi-five with Steph.

A/N: Next chapter will obviously be titled The Show-down.