"Naeggeoha ja, naega neol saranghae, eo" Taeil sung as he walked across the park near his house.

Taeil started dancing a bit as he walked when he suddenly saw someone familiar sitting on the swings. As Taeil got closer to the person, he realised it was another trainee from Brand New Stardom.

"Excuse me, are you perhaps...." Taeil stood in front of the person to find out it was, "Jiho-ah!" Taeil exclaimed.

Jiho stood up from the swing he had been sitting on. "Hyung! It's been a while hasn't it? What have you been up to lately? I can't believe we haven't spoken to each other when we're in the same company." Jiho chuckled slightly as he said the last sentence.

"Yes! It has been a while, I've been pretty good, I'm still working part-time jobs though, my parents won't give me an allowance," Taeil chuckled.

"That's sad, your parents are slack," Jiho commented as he pouted slightly. Taeil chuckled at his dongsaeng.

"Nah, I think they're not giving me an allowance, because they want me to be independent so I don't rely on them in the future. So, how have you been?" Taeil said as he ruffled Jiho's hair. "Wow hyung! You have a good way of thinking about things. Yeah, I've been pretty good; I'm currently working on a new song with Kyung hyung. You remember him right? The guy that has a really long face."

Taeil nodded as he laughed at Jiho's way of describing Kyung.

"Jiho-ah you've got an interesting way of describing people." Taeil said as he continued laughing.

"Hyung, you should sit down, we have a lot to talk about!" Jiho exclaimed as he sat back onto his swing. Taeil sits next to his dongsaeng on the swing beside him.

"Has the CEO said anything about your debut yet?" Jiho said as he lightly swings on his swing.

"Yeah, he has...” Taeil said looking down at his feet. Jiho stops his swing a looks at his hyung.

"Really!? That's great hyung, you won't have to train anymore and you finally get to live your dream. This life will finally be over for you!"

"Yeah, but the thing is....." Taeil said but didn't finish his sentence.

"What hyung? Do you think the contract is unfair? Is the CEO forcing you to debut in a group or solo? Are you being threatened? HYUNG! WHAT'S WRONG!?" Jiho lost his calm. Jiho got off his swing and was now in front of Taeil. He started to shake his hyung's shoulders demanding an answer from him.

"Yah, yah, yah! Stop that, then I'll tell you," Taeil said as he push Jiho off him slightly. Jiho stopped shaking Taeil and stood back a bit.

"The CEO wants me to debut in a duo, I want to be in a duo with a female but the CEO totally disagrees with me, he says my vocals will only match male vocals. I've always wanted to have female vocals with mine...." Taeil looked at Jiho, who was grinning at him.

"Hyung, I think I might know someone who can help you. Tomorrow, instead of going to your normal vocal practices and come to recording studio 2. Come around after lunch okay? You will totally thank me for this."

"O-okay," Taeil managed to say, afraid of what his dongsaeng was planning. Jiho looked at the time on his phone.

"OH CRAP HYUNG! It's so late! My mum's going to kill me! I'm going hyung! See you tomorrow! Jiho shouted as he ran home.

'Why am I so worried about tomorrow....? Yah, Lee Taeil, you can trust Jiho-ah..... right?' Taeil thought as he left the park.

 

~ In Recording Room 2 ~

 

Taeil knocked before opening the door in front of him. "Jiho-yah? Are you here?" Taeil asked.

The door was now fully opened but there was no one in there. Taeil sighed as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him. He looked around the studio and sat on the couch opposite of the machines for recording.

'What if this is some joke of Jiho's he's trying to play on me.' Taeil thought as he spaced out.

About 2 minutes passed and the door suddenly opens and Jiho walks through with a very pretty girl next to him. It looked like they were talking about something really serious.

"... Yeah, I really think it could work, your vocals and his are really...” Jiho said until he saw Taeil in the room. Taeil was already standing up.

"Hyung! You're already here!” Jiho exclaimed as he walked up to Taeil. The girl Jiho was with closed the door.

"Yeah, I just came..... Who's that?" Taeil said as he looked at the girl behind Jiho.

"Okay, I'll tell you my idea now, I was telling Hyojin noona just before. I want you two to convince the CEO to be a duo together!" Jiho said looking as happy as ever.

"W-what!? I just met her though! I don't even know what type if vocals she has. What if her vocals don't match mine? And you, Hyojin right?" Taeil looked behind Jiho to talk to Hyojin. "Have you agreed to this?"

"Hyung calm down first, I think this can really work out, I've heard you sing and I've heard Hyojin noona sing, vocals will totally match, I promise! You two will totally look good together and you two are in the same situation, Hyojin is supposed to debut in a trio in 2 months with 2 other girls, so maybe this can help both of you. Also, the reason why we are here today is, because we are going to record a song together, this song is to convince the CEO to make you two a duo!" Jiho said as he shot is fist into the air.

"I totally agree with this, if this doesn't work, it'll still be a good opportunity, for the both of us." Hyojin said.

'Wow! Her voice sounds really low for a female...... can I really work with her?' Taeil thought.

"I guess we could at least try...." Taeil said looking at Jiho. "YAY!" Jiho shouted while jumping up and down. Jiho stopped jumping and grabbed two sheets of paper and handed one to Taeil and one to Hyojin.

"These are the lyrics, let's listening to the demo first and then we can start recording." Jiho said as he sat on the chair in front of the machines. He did a few clicking and the song came on. The title of the song is Calling You.

The song totally matched Taeil's vocals but Taeil was worried for Hyojin who had to sing the higher parts. The song ended and Hyojin looked up to look up at me and then to Jiho.

"I think it's obvious which parts are whose. I'll go and record first." Hyojin got up and walked in the next room.

"Jiho-ah, I don't think she'll be able to sing the high parts, after hearing what her voice sounded earlier. And I won't be able to do it either." Taeil said to Jiho whose back was turn to him. Jiho turned around, "Hyung, trust me when I say she's an AMAZING singer," Jiho turned back around.

Jiho pushed down the big red button next to the controls, which allows the next room to hear what is being said in the other room.

"Okay, Hyojin, we're going to record the first part."

"Ne," Hyojin replied back.

The music started and Taeil started worrying. Hyojin started singing her part and to Taeil's surprise she was having no difficulty with the song at all. She was singing at the right pitch and at the right time. It sounded perfect. For someone with a low voice she had pretty high pitched vocals. The music stopped as Hyojin stopped singing at the chorus.

"Jiho-yah," Hyojin said as she took off her headphones, "Are we going to share the chorus or are we going to split it so it's even?"

"I think you guys should decide, see if you can get along with each other," Jiho said as he pushed the red button and turned to look at Hyojin and back at Taeil.

"Umm... Hyojin-ssi, I think we should recorded the chorus together, it'll make the song sound better rather than having the chorus split," Taeil said looking down at his sheet.

"Okay," Hyojin said as she continued to record her part.

They finished recording after about 4 hours, and now it was 7pm.

"Finally, we're done!" Jiho said as he stretched in his seat. Jiho stood up and took his bag from behind the chair he was sitting on. "I'm going now; I'm having dinner with a bunch of friends. See you guys around," Jiho said as he walked out the door, waving to the duo.

"So, ah, do you want to, ah, like, grab a meal with me?" Taeil asked timidly.

Hyojin chuckled at the boy, "Sure, I don't have any plans tonight, what do you want to eat?"

"Hmm, anything I guess, you should decide." "Well, we should have samgyupsal to celebrate shouldn't we? Let's go." Hyojin grabbed her bag and waited for Taeil at the door, as he tagged behind her.

The pair walked out the building of Brand New Stardom, trying to let out small conversations in their awkward silence. As they approached the closest samgyupsal restaurant, Taeil let out an awkward laugh, trying to show interest.

“Wow,” Hyojin exclaimed, “It’s packed in here.” The two walked into the restaurant and a waiter was there to lead them to a table. They spent an hour in the restaurant talking about their similarities and differences while having things to eat and drink. As the restaurant was being to settle down from the amount of people who left, they both decided to order a bottle of soju.

“Do you what I like about you Taeil?” Hyojin said holding her shot glass while swaying side to side. She had taken her 5^th shot and she was already tipsy. ‘I guess she can’t hold her liquor well,’ Taeil thought.

“Hmm, no, what do you like about me?” Taeil asked curious to what she was talking about. “You, you listen to me,” Taeil looked up to her.

“W-what do you mean?” Taeil cursed to himself for stuttering. Hyojin let out a small giggle, “You’re cute.” A blush was now visible on Taeil’s face. As Taeil was cooling off from Hyojin’s remark, Hyojin was on her 7^th shot. Her eyelids were slowly closing and her head was getting closer to the plate of leftover meat in front of her. Taeil quickly reached over the table to hold her head up.

“Whoa! I think you’ve had enough to drink tonight,” Taeil said holding her head while getting up to hold her properly. Hyojin was still conscious, but she wasn’t aware of her actions. Taeil was holding Hyojin by her waist as he went to the counter to pay.

“Okay, that adds up to \36000,” the middle-aged woman said from behind the counter. “What?!” Taeil exclaimed, “How is that possible?”

“Maybe because of her?” the woman said while gesturing to Hyojin whose face was hiding in Taeil’s shoulder, obviously tired. ‘Oh, I forgot I was eating with something else today,” Taeil thought to himself. Taeil hesitantly handed the money to the lady. Part of that money had been part of the money he was saving up to pay for his apartment rent. Taeil sighed as he walked out of the restaurant, remembering to check they had forgotten anything on their previous table.

“Hyojin-ssi,” Taeil said shaking he shoulders, “Wake up, you need to get home.” “Don’t want to,” Hyojin whispered softly in Taeil’s ear. “Hyojin! Come to your senses, you need to get home!” Taeil dropped the honorifics, being annoyed with Hyojin’s actions. “Don’t want to; don’t want to, DON’T WANT TO!” Hyojin was now out of Taeil’s grip and running across the street towards the park. Taeil cursed to himself and ran after her.

“Hyojin-ssi! Where are you?” Taeil lost her after arriving at the gates of the park. It was like she had disappeared in thin air. “Aish, where did she go?” Taeil was scratching the back of his head when he heard giggling from the back of the tree next to him. “Eh?”

Taeil went to look behind the tree but saw nothing. “That’s strange.” Taeil then looked below him and found Hyojin squatting in front of the tree carving something onto the tree. “Goodness, you’re so childish Hyojin-ssi.” Hyojin looked up at Taeil and smiled before her eyes started to close. Taeil quickly reached out for her head before it hit the ground, resulting him rolling on the ground while holding Hyojin. If anyone had walked passed them, they would think they when doing something inappropriate.

Taeil looked at Hyojin’s face and realised what had happened. He quickly let go of Hyojin and sat up. ‘Thank God she’s not awake right now,” Taeil thought. “I guess I should just take you to my apartment,” Taeil said while getting up to pick up Hyojin. The pair walked all the way to Taeil’s apartment which wasn’t too far from that park. Taeil had difficultly pulling the now unconscious Hyojin into his small apartment. Taeil dragged her into his bedroom and laid her on his now messy bed. Hyojin wouldn’t stop moving in her sleep and so Taeil had to tuck her in after taking off he shoes.

“I can’t this is happening to me right now,” Taeil said aloud as he went to grab extra blankets and a pillow for himself to sleep on the couch. “The first person and the first girl to come into my apartment, what is this supposed to mean?” Taeil lied down on the couch looking up at his ceiling. ‘I should just wait for tomorrow, maybe this plan could come out well,’ Taeil thought as he drifted off into his sleep.

 

~ The Next Morning ~

 

Taeil’s eyes fluttered opened as he could smell eggs being cooked. “Eh?” Taeil said sitting up to look at his surroundings. “Morning, sorry about last night,” Hyojin said putting the eggs onto a plate. “I’m not sure of what happened but thank you for looking out for me.” Hyojin set up the table for two and beckoned Taeil to come over and eat. “No, I should be apologising for you to be cooking all of this, I should have woken up first.” Taeil said taking a seat in front of Hyojin.

“This is the least I could do for you, you looked after me and even had to take me to your house,” Hyojin said picking up her chopsticks, “You have an awesome apartment by the way.” Hyojin and Taeil smiled at each other as they began to eat.

It was now 12pm at the Brand New Stardom building and Taeil, Hyojin and Zico were waiting in the foyer after being called by the CEO. “Why am I so nervous? This doesn’t benefit me in any way!” Zico exclaimed as he was pacing up and down room. “Because you’re my friend,” Taeil let out a small chuckle and check the time on his phone. “He should be here soon,” Hyojin said placing her hand on Taeil’s knee. The two were sitting on the couch while Zico was forced to stand impatiently.

Zico looked at the two with suspicious eyes, “Is there something going on between you two?” Zico asked. Just when Taeil was going to deny their relationship, Cho PD walked into foyer. “Ah, you’re all here.” Taeil and Hyojin were now standing up. “What did you think?” Hyojin asked without greeting him.

“Oh, is that how you think of me? That person who just manages you, the one that doesn’t give you freedom in your choices, I’m so hurt,” Cho PD said as he held onto his chest with his right hand. “No, no! Not at all, it’s just we’re really anxious right now.” Hyojin exclaimed as she felt bad now.

“No, it’s fine, I understand. Now about that song, it was good. No, scratch that, it was brilliant, but we can’t have you two in a duo together.” Hyojin’s once happy face was now gone. It didn’t work. A waste of their hard work. “You won’t be able to debut together, but once Taeil debuts with his partner, the song will be featured in the single. I know it is upsetting news, but the company has planned out the debut dates for the two duos and it is too late to rearrange that now.” Taeil was now sitting on the couch with his head hanging low.

“You two will have the opportunity to work to together in the future, but being in the same group is a no-no. Now, if you excuse me.” Cho PD left the foyer and there was silence in the foyer. “Sorry,” Zico said has he too left the foyer not wanting to show his sympathy to them as they probably don’t want it right now.

The two stayed like that for a good 10 minutes until Taeil broke the silence. “We should go now.” Taeil got up from his position and walked to the lift. He held the door for Hyojin as she stood next to him. The two walked around aimlessly outside when they had both realised they were in the park they were in yesterday. “Oh, we were here yesterday,” Taeil said turning his head to Hyojin who tried to rememeber the events yesterday.

“I don’t remember being here…” Her voiced drifted off as she realised that Taeil was now gone. She looked around at the empty park and started to look around for Taeil. “Taeil-ssi, where are you?” She walked around for a minute and was about to call out to him again when she heard a chuckle come from behind a tree. “Eh?” She walked around a saw nothing. She looked down and found Taeil. “So this is where you were.”

Taeil was sitting in front of the tree smiling to himself. “What are you doing?” Taeil stood up from his position and looked at Hyojin directly in the eye. “T-Taeil-ssi, what you are d-doing?” Hyojin asked again, unsure if she wanted the question to be answer now. Taeil moved in closer and in a just a few seconds the gap between their lips were closed and they locked lips.

They shared their first kiss. What felt like minutes to Hyojin, was just seconds that had passed as Taeil broke the kiss. “I like you too,” Taeil giggled to himself. “W-what? How did you know?” Hyojin asked surprised that Taeil knew about her crush on him. Taeil pointed down at the tree and Hyojin moved her head to look at what was there. Hyojin’s eyes were full of shock as she read was craved on the tree. ‘I like you…. Taeil...’ moved away from the tree as she looked at Taeil.

“Did I write this?” Hyojin asked unsure whether she did or not. “Last night you were carving something to the tree and I didn’t have enough time to look at it. I guess this was it,” Taeil said with his hand on the back of his head. Hyojin had her head facing her feet when Taeil pushed her head to look at him. He smiled once again and pushed his lips on to hers. Hyojin pulled him into an embrace, “I want to confess again, directly this time.”

They pulled out of the hug and they looked at each other in the eye. “I like you, no, I lied. I love you, Lee Taeil.” Taeil’s joy couldn’t be hidden on his face, “Be my girlfriend?” “Of course,” the two embraced each other.