Sorry noona. Paparazzi. Let’s arrange another date. Be careful.

Okay, another time then. You too!

Once he had sent out the message and received a reply, Minho placed his phone onto the table and then looked over to where Key was sitting on the bed with his back leaning against the headboard and legs fully stretched out.

“So. If you don’t mind me asking…” Minho waited for any signs of frustration from Key that indicated if he had the green light to carry on and when he saw that there was none, the actor cleared his throat to ask, “What are you doing?”

“Googling you.” Key replied casually as he shot a glance to Minho who was sitting rather awkwardly in the chair over at the desk before returning his attention to his phone.

Key had noticed that the other was constantly fidgeting but he purposely chose to remain silent, refusing to do anything that would make him come across as friendly or welcoming because he was out to make Minho uncomfortable. Call him cold, antisocial or whatever you want but Key wasn’t one to act in ways that were socially acceptable just to please others. If he was unhappy, he was, and he wasn’t going to hide how he truly felt.

Upon hearing Key’s answer, Minho’s eyes widened with horror. To Minho, the internet was filled with false information, most of which were rumours that he couldn’t even understand how they could come about. You couldn’t blame him for his moment of panic because the last thing Minho needed now was for Key to see him in the wrong light and leave Key with an even worse impression of himself. After all, he still had twenty five more minutes to go before he could leave the hotel room. That, and he was a public figure who didn’t need one false personal account to spoil his squeaky clean image. His career as an actor was on the line here.

“You can’t believe anything you read online.” The actor instantly warned, hoping that Key wouldn’t take what he had searched online seriously.

“Really?” Key smirked. “It says here you’re a promising actor who acts as good as you look.”

Minho stilled and looked closely at Key’s expression to try to see if his words were worth believing. The smirk on Key’s face really couldn’t mean anything good. Yet, he hardly knew Key to come to any conclusion so he gave up trying to figure out if there was any truth in his words.

“Look, if there’s anything you want to know about me, you can just ask me directly.” Minho decided that this was a better option.

“Alright.” Key tossed his phone aside and turned his body to face Minho, crossing his legs and sitting upright. “Fine. I will.”

“Please. Go ahead.” Minho gestured at Key to start.

“Alright… your real name?”

“Minho. That’s my birth name. Choi Minho.”

“Age?”

“I’m 22.”

“Year that you were born?”

“1991.”

“That makes us the same age.”

“We can drop the formalities then.” Minho commented.

Key nodded patronisingly because right from the start, he hadn’t been polite to Minho.

“How long have you been in the entertainment industry?” Key asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“4 years.”

“Did you know all along you wanted to be an actor?”

“Not at all.” Minho shook his head and then added, “I was casted on the streets.”

“What happened then?”

Minho was about to answer when he suddenly stopped himself, swallowing his words and choosing instead to shoot an expectant look at Key. “I think it’s only fair that I get my turn to ask questions too before I let you in on the story of my life.”

Key shrugged nonchalantly. “Fine, your turn.”

“Your real name?” Minho questioned as he smiled in satisfaction.

“Pass.”

And his smile disappeared, instantly replaced with a frown. “Hey! That’s not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair, get used to it.” Key’s mode was fully activated.

“Damn it, are you always like this?” Minho was pissed, and he didn’t bother hiding it in the tone of his voice.

“Actually, no.” Key surprised Minho with his answer and said ever so sarcastically, “You’re just lucky to have the pleasure of meeting me on a bad day.”

“What happened?” Minho asked with a little too much concern towards a person who he hardly knew.

“I met you.” Key simply replied with a straight face that made it seem like he was commenting about the weather.

At that moment, Minho could swear his face had visibly turned red with anger. Dealing with Key had to be the most challenging task he had ever came across. Perhaps, things would have been better if he had just chose some other room door to knock on or maybe just go with his original plan and get caught entering a hotel room with Yuri inside. Minho was certain he wouldn’t feel as agitated as he felt now if he went with those options. Taking in a deep breath to calm himself down in hope that he wouldn’t lose it completely, Minho clenched his fists by his side and forced himself to hold back the vulgarities because he was on the verge of cursing. Minho didn’t want to carry on the conversation but when he caught sight of the hint of mischief in Key’s eyes, he couldn’t stop himself from speaking.

“Are you enjoying this?”

“What?”

“I don’t know, making things difficult for me?”

“Am I?”

“Are you not?”

“I wouldn’t think I am.”

“But I think you are.”

“Does it matter?” Key retorted. “Besides, you’re an actor… you should have dealt with situations worse than this before.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to deal with the situation now.”

“What’s there to deal with anyway?”

“You.” Minho then emphasised his point, “I have to deal with you.”

“Well I’m sorry I’m not your fan so don’t expect me to be all enthusiastic that I’m stuck with you alone in my room.”

“I don’t need you to be enthusiastic but the least you could do is make the remaining…” Minho glanced at the time on his phone and then continued, “fifteen minutes bearable for both me and you.”

“You’re welcomed to leave any time.” Key placed on a smile so fake that it was almost painful to see.

“You know I can’t.” Minho groaned.

“It’s just fifteen minutes more, why don’t you just leave now?”

“It makes a difference.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“You don’t know anything.”

“Alright. Fine. Let’s not talk then.”

“Good with me.”

It was as if a round of gunfire had ceased when Minho and Key finally stopped talking to each other. Their exchange of words was like bullets shooting out of guns, more or less trying to attack one another and now, like war, it was finally time for a ceasefire.

Minho purposely let out an audible sigh as he got off the chair and walked towards the door. Ignoring the fact that Key’s eyes were following his every movement, he peeked through the peep hole to assess the situation outside. It came of no surprise that the reporter was now waiting openly in the hallway just outside the door. Minho was right to guess that after some time, the reporter would end up desperate enough that he couldn’t be bothered to hide himself anymore. Now, it was up to Minho to decide if he wanted to spring a surprise on the reporter, perhaps embarrass him by saying hello…

“What’s so interesting outside?”

Minho instantly turned around and raised an eyebrow at Key who was looking at him with a curious expression from the bed.

“Thought we weren’t talking?”

“If you want to be that childish…”

“You’re the one who needs to learn how to grow up.”

“See? This is why I suggested we shouldn’t talk.”

“Alright alright, you wanna know what’s interesting outside? Well, we have a very restless reporter standing right outside the door.”

“You serious?” Key perked up and immediately got off the bed, walking straight to stand beside Minho and have his turn at looking through the peep hole.

“Wow. I always thought the paparazzi were smart since they never get caught but this one…” Key shook his head with sympathy and turned back towards Minho. “He has no brains.”

Minho couldn’t hold back a laugh from escaping. “He’s mostly just eager to catch some juicy news.”

“To do with you?”

Minho nodded. “And he would have if I didn’t spot him.”

“Right… that’s why you had to hide.” Key nodded as well. “And I presume you’re still not going to tell me why you’re hiding right?”

Minho nodded again, this time with a helpless smile on his face. “Like how you’re not going to tell me more about yourself.”

“Whatever.” Kibum rolled his eyes and then motioned with his head towards the direction of the door. “What are you going to do with him then? He doesn’t look like he’ll be gone in fifteen minutes.”

Minho rubbed his chin in thought. “Well, I was thinking of going out there, say a hello and then leave like no big deal or… if you’d like, we can leave this room together, greet the reporter as friends, and I’ll treat you supper after?”

“I don’t need a minute of fame, thank you.”

“You do need to fill your stomach, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“I’m giving you a chance to rip me off, because it’s the least I can do to thank you for putting up with me, and you’re not going to take it?”

“Hmm…” Key pondered out loud. “If you put it that way…”

Minho waited, he wouldn’t say in anticipation but something near that, for Key’s answer. He could only say, as much as Key frustrated the hell out of him, Minho found Key interesting; he was someone who had a character or a personality that Minho had never dealt with before and the actor was simply fascinated with how Key was like a breath of fresh air, that much he had to admit.

So when Key finally made a decision and said, “Alright then, tell me what I have to do when we face the reporter outside.”

Minho smiled his first true smile of the night and briefly told Key what he had in mind. This basically involved the plan of Minho himself saying an overfriendly hello to the reporter and volunteering for his picture to be taken since Key was to take on the role of Minho’s childhood friend that just got back to Seoul (hence the hotel room) and was going to catch up with each other over a meal. They even had a script prepared if the reporter asked. Obviously, that wasn’t going to be scandalous enough for the paparazzi to publish. So if Minho predicted right, the reporter would end up thoroughly embarrassed and forced to retreat. Things were definitely going to get interesting… and perhaps even more when Minho and Key went on to have supper together. Somehow, Minho was excited already. An eventful night like this in his rather mundane life wouldn’t hurt once in a while.

Author's Note: oh woooow, the response for this fic is so wonderful, i can't thank you lovely readers enough for subscribing and commenting! i hope the 2nd chapter didn't disappoint! let me know how you feel! the first two chapters are more of a foreword to this story, and the following chapters will go into the story proper. but work is piling up for me with assignments and midterms coming... so updates will be slow. still, i hope you guys stick to the story and come back when i do update (hopefully in a week or two weeks' time)! in the mean time, have a nice weekend everyone! ♥

ps: i'm glad AFF now allow us to reply comments easily! ^^