She looked around her. The cloud pattern on the wall behind her was nothing but familiar to this point. If she didn’t saw it, she would think that she was in the wrong room, probably in the wrong company. She continued looking at her surroundings. The practice room was empty and she could hear the night life outside.

Everyone from her group had left already, all of them completely exhausted after hours of practice. The other four girls were saying they wanted to eat something before they went to sleep. She on the other hand said she would stay in the practice room, trying to get better at certain moves that she wasn’t doing properly. They all knew it was a lie since she managed to get the dance moves on point seriously fast.

But they decided not to pressure her to go with them. Their comeback was in a couple of days and they were all stressed out so pressure from the other members would be no good. They knew it better than anyone. They had been there more times than many others. And being in the company they were it didn’t help either.

Their managers actually tried to tell them to relax and that they were perfect, but the CEO’s demanded more than perfection so they couldn’t just let the girls rest when they wanted. Not to mention new endorsements were coming, new drama characters, new shows…it sounded amazing, but it made their schedule really tight and the only sleep they could get was in the van. “It‘s hard to be an idol…”

She whispered but couldn’t help but smile. This was what she signed up for and even with sore muscles, swallowed feet and dark circles under her eyes, she still loved every single minute of it. It was what she loved, so she was okay with all of those things.

She closed her eyes for a second. She was starting to feel those butterflies on her stomach. Those butterflies that only appeared when she was nervous and knew the comebacks were going to happen. But it was worse when she debuted.

Three weeks before their first stage, she felt like throwing up and didn’t ate at all. She was dizzy and she actually lost a little bit of weight. But now…her nerves attacker her in other ways. Last comeback she couldn’t sleep for 3nights in a row. The amount of make-up she had on her face was scary.

“I should relax like Victoria-unnie…” Usually the older woman would go for yoga classes to relief stress and she was starting to think she should do the exact same thing as their leader, but then again, she was a little lazy to do something like that. Or maybe she should do like Luna and Amber. They would act all hyper to the point the lost all their energy so they couldn’t feel anything else. There were millions of ways to get rid of the stress. All she had to do was to find out the way that fitted her best.

Then, she heard the door open. Maybe it was her manager or another member, so she stood in her place with her eyes closed. It wasn’t until she heard her name being called that she realized it was neither of her previous thoughts. “Oh, Soojung.” Hearing her real name was a surprise, since almost everyone called her Krystal, but when she recognized the voice, she wasn’t that surprised anymore.

She turned her head towards the door and smiled weakly. There she saw a tall, tanned man with a small smile on his face. “Oh, Jongin.” The EXO member stood there looking at her and then asked her if he could enter or was bothering her. He could see she wanted to be alone and he didn’t want to bother her. “No, not at all.”

She paused and made a sign for him to join her. “Want to sit and stare at the mirror with me?” she asked with a smile on her face making her friend smile as well. He walked towards her and sat to where she pointed. They were shoulder to shoulder and he had to admit, it was a very comfortable position to be in, even if they were standing on the floor. “Sure. It sounds incredibly fun.” He said as he showed a small smile.

The two stood looking at each other through the mirror and couldn’t help but smile a little. They haven’t had a quiet time like this in a while, and they really needed to relax, to just breathe and be themselves. Be normal. Forget that they were idols and that they had those stage names. Right now they were only Kim Jongin and Jung Soojung and no one else.

People couldn’t really understand how heavy their stage names were. The amount of pressure they had every time they used them. Sometimes it was overwhelming, but they would just show a smile and say everything was alright and that there was no point on worrying because really, what would people say besides ‘they gave you the name because if fits you.’

In a way, it was good to have a stage name. It was like it was an escape for them. They would become someone who was absolutely perfect, but when they came home, they would be normal people. They saw it as alter-egos or something like that.

“I didn’t think you would be here today.” She said as she grabbed her water bottle. EXO just came from a long trip and she imagined that all members would be resting at their dorms, sleeping or trying to get rid of their jetlag. “I wanted some alone time…and you can’t have that while living with 11 other guys.” She nodded. Living with another four girls could be a pain, so she didn’t want to imagine the chaos that was to live with 12 people in the same house. The amount of laundry was absurd, for sure.

“And you chose the practice room for that?” She asked as she raised a brow. “It’s either this or tons of screaming fans.” He paused and passed a hand through his hair. “I’ll take the practice room at any day.”

Being in an idol group was stressful sure, but men had it way worst than girls. The fans would go crazy and would lose it if their precious Oppa even talked to a girl or looked in the same direction as her. It was in times like that she was happy her fans were actually somewhat sane.

“So, how was Russia?” She asked as she tried to change the subject and continued looking at their reflections. She saw the smile spreading on the man’s face. “Hot. Nice. Fans there were really polite.” Soojung nodded and closed her eyes for a while. “We also went to a couple of bars there.”

Soojung smiled at that. The one thing that all idols had to agree on was, foreign countries where only a handful of people knew who they were, was nothing but fantastic. They could go out without fearing their actions or the people around them. They could just be themselves and no one would judge them. Unless they did something horrible. “Really? How was it?”

“Very fun. Chanyeol-hyung was the first to get drunk. He wanted to try Russian vodka and ended up throwing up behind a car. I’m surprised he was fine after.” She almost laughed at the image of Chanyeol throwing up and being drunk. She was surprised he was alone. She expected Baekhyun to do the exactly same thing. She continued listening to Jongin and then remembered something. “Well, that would explain the drunken message I got from you on Kakaotalk.”

Jongin stopped talking and looked at the girl next to him. He looked scared and almost in panic, making her smile at him. “Don’t freak out! You just sent something like” She grabbed her phone and opened the message she received from the man next to her and started reading it out loud.

“‘Hi Soojung! Russia is awesome. Oh look a bird….no wait, it’s a paper. No wait, it’s….I don’t know…something fun! FUN! I want to go jump! Sehun-ah, let’s go jump!’” When she finished reading she placed her phone on the floor next to her things and looked to the embarrassed man. “You’re a fun drunk.”

She said and Jongin glared at her. “Shut up.” He said with a small blush and looked away. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about his drunk text. At least he didn’t make a call. That would be even worst and he was sure she would record it and show it to everyone. At least this was easier to erase and easier to forget.

Trying to make him feel a little better, Soojung looked to the mirror and relaxed her back against the cold wall. “You did great.” He looked at her. “In the show I mean. You were amazing.” She was proud of EXO.

Out of all those groups in South Korea they were the chosen ones to perform in front of millions of people in a strange country, not to mention the billions of people who would watch the event in their own homes. They behaved like professionals, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride.

She smiled at his reflection and he smiled back. “Thank you. I could swear I was going to throw up.”  He had been really nervous, but he decided to forget about his nerves and just go for it. It was a once in a life time chance. He couldn’t blow it because he was nervous.

The silence took over the two again and they enjoyed it. Both closed their eyes and took deep breaths. It was something they couldn’t do that easily. But now, they were alone and could do whatever they wanted because, now they were just themselves. Two normal people enjoying the silence after a seriously noisy day.

She opened one eye and looked to their reflection. Jongin had his legs spread on the floor, arms on the both sides of his body, hands resting on his tights. He actually looked at peace. She closed her eyes again and allowed herself to just rest. Forget about all the things she heard all day, about some mean comments she read online about her and just relax.

“You look good as a blond.” Jongin smiled with the compliment. Soojung hadn’t seen his blond hair, and he actually wanted to know what she thought of it. Everyone told him he looked good, that he looked adorable, but he still felt insecure.

He wanted to know what she thought of his hair since it was such a dramatic change and he was pretty sure it didn’t look good on him. But hearing her saying it did, he couldn’t help but be happy.

He opened his eyes a little and saw her. She looked like she was sleeping and she looked so peaceful. He was actually a little scared to talk to her. She looked like she was about to fall asleep at any moment and he felt like she was about to wake him up. He gave a small smile and closed his eyes again. “You look good with pink.”

When he said that, she touched her hair right away. As soon she changed her hair color he saw it. As soon she went from natural color to pink she showed him. Not to mention that he took pictures with her for their teaser.

“You already told me that.” She said with a small smile as she turned her head to look at him. He smiled and looked back at her. “I know, but I wanted to say it again.” At this time, he remembered the photo shoot they had together when they were preparing the photo book for f(x)’s new album. He was surprised when his manager told him he would be the male model to be with the girls, but he was happy nonetheless.

But what he didn’t expect was to be, paired up with Soojung. He thought he would take pictures with the all the girls, but he ended up taking pictures with Soojung. The two of them holding each other, staring at each other and, the one that would become a hot topic, at least with his fans, the one where he placed her arms around his neck and he closed his eyes. People who saw the picture would think they were kissing, for sure.

He would never admit how nervous he was when she stood so close to him. he would never admit how he started sweating when she held him like he was the most important and only person on earth for her. He knew it was all for the pictures, but it still made him nervous and feel his heart increase its beating my a 100%.

“Soojung…” He called as he continued remembering those moments that made him feel like he was going to lose it. She opened her eyes and looked at him. Both were now staring at each other through the mirror.  He remembered the time when she placed her head on his shoulder and told him she was tired and wanted to sleep.

They were so focused in their own little world that they didn’t even realized the photographer was taking pictures of the two. When they did, it was too late and everyone was praising them, saying they looked natural and like a real couple. Soojung smiled at those words and just continued doing what she was told to while Jongin stood behind the camera staring at her. She was jumping around, smiling brightly and all he could do was smile back.

At that moment he was sure he should leave, but he didn’t want to. His work was done at that point, but he wanted to stay there until she was done with her pictures. So he stood. He stood there until Soojung was done and was allowed to go and wait for the rest of the members. Back then, he just stood there next to her, watching her talk happily with the staff. She was happy and all he could do was watch from afar. Sure, he could go and talk to her. They were friends weren’t they? But no. Instead he stood on a couch and stood there looking.

He remembered that he had called her just instants ago and didn’t want an awkward silence to take over so he decided he should just talk. “…Remember what I told you?” She looked at him a little confused, not sure of what he was talking about. “Remember what I told you? The day of the photo shoot for your album?”

She continued staring at Jongin a little confused, not really sure of what the man meant with his words. She was a little lost and he could see it perfectly. He passed a hand through his blond hair and stopped staring at the mirror and looked directly to her. Just thinking about it made him frustrated and nervous at the same time.

“…Remember when….when I asked you.” He paused and he could feel the words stuck in his throat. He wasn’t that confident he would be able to tell her what he wanted, but it was now or never.

He had no idea when they were going to be alone again. Not like this with any managers, with no band members.  This was probably the last chance he would ever get. After this day, the two of them would become so busy that he was pretty sure they would have a hard time to have a proper conversation face to face.

He would probably only be able to talk to her via Kakaotalk and he would rather not use it. For all he knew fans would manage to know his username and password and read things they wouldn’t like. Not only they would see the conversations he had with Soojung but they would also read the deep conversations he had with Sehun and all his fears. So yeah, he would rather use the old method.

He refrained himself from grabbing her hand. It was right there, within his reach, but instead of doing what he wanted, what he longed for, he closed his hands into fists and stood still in his position. Sometimes he was surprised with his own self control.

 “When you were holding me. For that photo we looked like we were kissing.” Soojung continued looking at him with no clue of what he was asking her. She remembered the day. She remembered the way he was holding her, the way their faces were close and how both of them closed their eyes, even thought their faces weren’t seen. 

She felt butterflies in her stomach at that moment. She could feel how tight his hold was on her and she could swear she was going to pass out.  She had had her fair chair of photo shoots with men, but that particular photo was just too much for her to handle.

“Remember that I asked you something right?” She nodded as she started remembering what had happened that day. She could feel her cheeks burn as she recalled every single bit. She couldn’t look Jongin in the eyes. Not after she started remembering what he had asked her. “I asked you if….if I could kiss you for real.”

Either of them knew who was blushing harder, but Soojung was pretty sure that her cheeks matched her hair at that point. She started playing with her fingers and she could feel the stare from the man on her. She knew he was waiting for an answer and she knew he wanted it now because it was killing him.

He had asked her that but before she could answer him, their photo shoot ended. He wasn’t sure if she was aware that he was willing to kiss her in front of her members, in front of the entire staff! He knew the photographer would love it and everyone around would just think they were acting. He was about to do it until they were surrounded with stylists that were getting Soojung ready for her solo photos.

“So?” He started. “Could I have done it for real back then?” He asked and he found himself getting closer to her. He started feeling his mouth going completely dry but at that point he really didn’t care. He placed his right hand under her chin and made her look up so they could face each other.

They were close. Maybe too close for her taste but she couldn’t bring herself to pull away. She could feel his hot breath against her face, his nose bumping into hers and all she could do was stare at him. “Could I have kissed you? In front of everyone?” He asked again, his voice getting deeper than usual.

She looked away for a second and then back to him. She took a long, deep breath and looked in his eyes. “You could have done it….” She paused and she could swear her heart was ready to get out of her chest. Jongin was basically feeling the same, but was trying his best to look calm and composed. The world could collapse around him at that moment; the only thing he could hear was Soojung’s voice.

“You still can do it.” It was all he needed. It was all he needed to hold her face and press his lips against hers. She was surprised with how fast he was, but didn’t pull away. Instead she closed her eyes and allowed her mind to go blank. She honestly didn’t care about anything else besides what was happening between her and Jongin.

He let out a groan. He could feel all that stress, all that frustration, those nerves leave him completely as he continued kissing her. As he kissed her he couldn’t help but smile to himself. He always imagined Soojung’s lips tasted like cherry and mint but instead they tasted like coffee and caramel. He always imagined they would feel like pure silk against his but instead they felt like velvet and he wanted more. It was much better than all those fantasies he had.

The amount of times he played this scene in his head were not even close how reality actually was. He always imagined kissing her for the first time after a date. They would be standing in front of the Han River, they would confess and then they would kiss. But unfortunately Jongin knew such thing would never happen and to be honest, this was much better than anything that he could have planned.

He felt her grabbing his shirt and as an instinct he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her a little closer. They stood in that position and Jongin could swear he was hearing his own heart beat and honestly, he was surprised how he wasn’t having a heart attack.

He wanted to keep tasting those beautiful red lips, but instead, he forced himself to pull away. He didn’t want to. Jongin wanted to be attached to those perfect lips for as long as he could, but there were things to be told, so he had no other choice.

Soojung looked down to the floor trying to hide how embarrassed she was and Jongin couldn’t help but smile a little. He placed a gentle hand on the back of her neck and made her rest her head on his shoulder like before. “….I….I…” He couldn’t believe he was actually nervous about saying it after what he just did.

She waited. She wanted to hear it. Hear it all. “….love you…” it came out as a whisper and a little shaky, but it was enough for her. It was all she wanted to hear. She could feel tears coming but she managed to stop them. She refused to cry because this was a moment where she would only show happiness.

Slowly, Soojung held Jongin back and he felt more relaxed, but still not sure if he was going to get rejected or not. “….me….too…” He stood quiet when he heard her. “…I love you too.”

If he could create fireworks just with his eyes, he was pretty sure Seoul would explode. He was feeling a kind of happiness that he only felt once in his life, and it was when he debuted. He never felt anything like this before and he was sure that he was dreaming.  But if he was dreaming, he prayed that he would never wake up ever again because this was just a beautiful dream.

His hold on her waist got tighter and he kissed her forehead. No words were need. Not anymore.

They stood in that position with small smiles in their faces. This was exactly what they wanted, what they needed. They knew it would only last until they left the practice room, but they didn’t mind.

This was their moment; their moment to feel wanted, cared, needed and loved. This was their moment and no one could take that away from them.

A/N: 3K.....seriously, I don't think I've ever made such a big oneshot....
I'm even surprised I made a oneshot! I thought I couldn't do it!
I always end up making chaptered fics xD