Years passed by. I was now in my late twenties, a prominent actress, and APink was currently inactive. I was also engaged to a photographer named Choi Hyunsoo.

            He and I had met during one of my magazine photoshoots and we hit it off right away. He was funny, charming, intellectual, and was also not bad looking himself. He always seemed to make me laugh with his witty jokes. Not to mention he was very familiar with the motorcycle. I was always such a er for bad boys.

It’s not like it was a secret, him and I. We’d gone public almost only two months after courtship, and had stayed together for almost two years now. Since he wasn’t some super popular idol, most people didn’t really care. Hyunsoo brought up the possibility of tying the knot and I agreed that it was the perfect idea. We were great together and he understood me well.

            Now, I was at my company’s office, reviewing a new project.

            “It’s a commercial contract,” my manager said, “modeling and advertising for clothes and stuff. Hyunsoo will be the photographer. Are you up for it?”

            I nodded. “Of course! I always love working with Hyunsoo.”

            “There is a catch, though.” He pushed forward one of the informational sheets and pointed to a certain sentence.

            Naeun will be paired up with another celebrity participating in this photo shoot. We do not know who it will be yet since we’re stumped on a couple of choices, but we’re clarifying that it will be a co-ed photo shoot. Please sign below to agree.

            “Are you okay with working with another guy?” my manager asked.

            I shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

            “I don’t know, since Hyunsoo will be the photographer and all, I—

            “—it’s no problem,” I said. “He and I trust each other. It’s fine. Plus, this company is super popular, right? I have to do what I have to do and Hyunsoo will understand.”

            My manager grinned. “Great! Then it’s settled. Your photo shoot will be scheduled this weekend.”

            “Sounds good.”

            On the day of the photo shoot, I met up with Hyunsoo at the venue.

            “So,” I was saying to him as the two of us were hanging by the staff and crew, “what’s the concept for today?”

            “Edgy,” Hyunsoo said. “Dark, mysterious. Kind of like the photo shoot Ed Westwick and Leighton Meester did all those years back.” He showed me an example on his phone. 

            “Wow,” I said. “That seems very…”

            “Scandalous?” Hyunsoo laughed. “But it’s cool Naeun you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be guiding you every step of the way.”

            “Who’s the guy I’m supposed to be doing this photo shoot with?” I asked, still studying the picture.

            Hyunsoo surveyed the room, his neck arching. “The director told me that he’s quite tall, my height perhaps…usually wears black to photo shoots and has an incredibly handsome face…”

            I was still too busy looking through Ed and Leighton’s photo shoot to fully pay attention.

            “Ah!” Hyunsoo exclaimed, as if he’d just found hidden gold. “There he is!”

            There’s always that sense of shock when you see someone who you never expected to see ever again. The blood that rushes through your veins, the chill down your spine. All of these things came to me at once when I saw none other than Kim Myungsoo walking towards me and Hyunsoo. He was wearing all black to the shoot, as expected, and his hair was styled handsomely on the top of his head. When he saw me, he looked pretty stunned as well.

            “Naeun?”

            “Myungsoo?”

            “You guys know each other?” Hyunsoo said, pointing to the both of us. “Well, that’s great! Less awkward photo shoot then!”

            Myungsoo and I looked each other with shaky eyes, as if we were mentally telling each other sarcastically, “Suuuurrreeee. I haven’t seen you in forever and we were one of those couples who dated but at the same time never did so things are obviously not awkward as .” Then I noticed that his eyes went to my ring finger, where Hyunsoo’s engagement ring lay. He swallowed hard, suddenly looking away.

            While Hyunsoo was talking to the staff about lighting, Myungsoo and I decided to take this time to make some small talk, since we will be doing quite a steamy photo shoot together.

            “So how are you?” Myungsoo asked me.

            I nodded. “I’m good. You?”

            “Same,” he replied. Then he grew silent, and I knew that the aura had changed. “You and Hyunsoo. You guys look good together.”

            “Thanks,” I said. “He’s a good guy.”

            Myungsoo nodded, agreeing. “He seems like one. A good photographer, too.”

            That was when I remembered. Myungsoo was a photographer as well, although not a professional one like Hyunsoo.

            I was going to say something, perhaps something like, “You’re a good photographer too.” But then he was backing away from me, saying, “I should probably get to hair and makeup. You and Hyunsoo have a good one.” Before I knew it, he was walking away from me. All I could do was stare at him as he got farther and farther away.

            The photo shoot proved to be a challenge. Not only were Myungsoo and I on awkward terms, but my freaking fiancé was the one watching him and I be awkward. Hyunsoo knew something was up, but didn’t say anything during the shoot.

            When the shoot ended, I asked Hyunsoo how I did. “Good,” he said. “Really good.”

            I gave him a “stop lying” look and said, “I knew it was bad.”

            Hyunsoo sighed. “It was pretty bad. But it’s okay because we have photoshop. The editors said that they can just do a few touchups and it’ll be fine.”

            “I’m sorry,” I said. “I knew this was important to you.”

            “It’s okay,” Hyunsoo said. “Really. It is.”

            “Naeun!” a staff member was calling me. “Arirang is here. Your interview with them and Myungsoo will start in about ten minutes.”

            “Okay,” I said. “Got it.”

            Usually after photo shoots, some interview teams would come by and ask us some questions, just to get some footage/coverage of the event. Myungsoo and I sat in our designated chairs next to each other, across from the interviewer.

            “So,” the interviewer said, “Myungsoo, Naeun. This is quite a collaboration huh? I know fans have wanted to see you two together for years!”

            Myungsoo and I laughed. “Well Naeun is a great girl. Any guy would be lucky to work with her.”

            “Awhhhh!” the interviewer said. “Naeun, we all know you’re engaged to Hyunsoo, the photographer of this shoot. Did you feel like you needed to do anything different with Myungsoo since that was the case?”

            “Um…” I thought about it. “Not really. Hyunsoo and I have a very mutual understanding with each other so it turned out great.”

            “Myungsoo, how do you feel about the engagement?” the interview asked.

            What the ? “Excuse me,” he snapped. “But what kind of question is that?”

            “It’s just a—

            “I pass.”

            “What?”

            Myungsoo looked straight at the interviewer, cold. “I said I pass.”

            “O-Okay.” The interviewer proceeded to the next question. “So what kind of food do you like?”

            Later that night, I got a call.

            “Naeun? Naeun is that you?” I recognized the voice to be Sungyeol’s.

            “Yeah,” I said. “What’s up?”

            “Have you seen Myungsoo?”

            “Um, no,” I said. “Not since the photoshoot ended. Why?”

            “Naeun. He’s gone missing.”

            “Missing?”

            “He didn’t return back to the loft after the photoshoot. We’ve tried calling his cell and everything but he’s not picking up. We’re afraid something’s happened to him since he stopped taking his medication.”

            “Wait,” I said. “Medication?”

            “ I shouldn’t have mentioned that,” Sungyeol mumbled on the other end.

            “Sungyeol,” I said sharply. “What medications?”

            Sungyeol sighed. “Anti-depressants.”

            He’s been depressed?

            “Look,” Sungyeol said, “I just wanted to let you know that if you see him, then to make sure he comes back home safely. If it’s anyone who can talk him to his senses, it’s you.”

            “What?” I grew puzzled. “Why me?”

            “Are you seriously asking me that? Naeun,” his voice grew serious, “you’re the love of his life. He would never admit to that because the guy has issues expressing his feelings correctly. But he looks at no one the way he looks at you.”

            “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said. “It’s been years.”

            “Some things never change.”

            After my phonecall with Sungyeol, I was horribly confused. I had a feeling I knew where Myungsoo was. I just didn’t know whether I should go look for him.

            I gazed at Hyunsoo, who had been peacefully sleeping beside me. He’s your life now, my mind said, Myungsoo is a thing of the past. If I ran after him now, who knows what will happen? I didn’t want to hurt Hyunsoo.

            But then I started thinking about Myungsoo’s anti-depressants, how he’d been under such critical condition without my knowledge. Something bad could’ve happened to him. And I didn’t want to be responsible.

            So I told Hyunsoo that I had some business to take care of and took off in the middle of the night, driving down the highway all the way back to the place I knew he would be: our high school.