< A cozy place for a night time snack >
< Our new couple enters awkwardly…>
< What will happen now? >

What is that you have there?

Yoona: Oh, this? [holds up a white diary] It’s a diary Seohyun got me when she heard I was going to be on the show. She said I should document everything that happens from here on out. [flips through the book] She says I should write my thoughts and expectations here… I don’t know. Isn’t it such a Seohyun thing to do?

Have you started writing in it?

Yoona: [nods slowly, sheepishly] I have, actually. Like Seohyun, I like to write as well and I ended up writing something on the way back home from meeting my ‘husband’. [grins] It’s a secret though, so I can’t tell you.

* * * *

There were plenty of moments Yoona could remember where she enjoyed a bowl of steaming ramen with a good friend. A couple of those moments were made just recently with her members in Japan while they were preparing for their first single after the first Japanese album and it had been great, real fun. Happy and friendly, the way good friends – almost sisters – should spend time together. She was used to that kind of feeling but tonight was far from the norm she’d been living.

Tonight was different – tonight, she was with someone she’d known since she’d entered the company. Someone who was considered the V.I.P. the moment he walked into the marble steps of the SM Entertainment building. Knowing him for years shouldn’t have to be a problem, but what did she know about Shim Changmin anyway?

No, wait – he’s Choikang Changmin now, Yoona reminded herself and tucked her hair back behind her ear as she carefully stepped in time with him towards an almost hidden ramen shop around the corner.

The steps they took were almost identical, comfortable even except that wasn’t the case. The air was awkward, so much so that it felt like she could cut it with a dull knife. Changmin walked into shop easily, ducking his head a little and looked back at her with a smile. Gosh, even his smile was awkward, Yoona thought as she returned the smile and entered through the door.

“Good evening, oba-san.” Changmin greeted, bowing slightly at an old Japanese woman standing over the cashier. The woman smiled at him and nodded her head, motioning towards the back while muttering Japanese words so fast she barely had any time to translate them in her head. He simply nodded back at her words and bowed again, glancing back at her curious expression moments later.

“Come on, our table’s at the back.” He said, smiling that semi-sweet (handsome) and slightly awkward grin she wasn’t so used to seeing at such close proximity at her.

“You’re a regular here, aren’t you?” Yoona said, following him to the back of the shop. Changmin simply shrugged, pushing past a curtain of small shells. Her nose was hit with an intoxicating scent of ramen noodles, meat, herbs and spices. Her stomach started to grumble and she silently willed it to quiet down. It would be embarrassing to hear her stomach growl loudly on TV – much less in front of her respected senior. She pushed back her hair and stepped on.

The back wasn’t as well-lit as the tables in front but it felt a lot cozier there and comfortable. Changmin pulled out a chair at one of the tables and looked at her expectantly. Her lips lifted a little at the action, finding it strange to see someone so… Gosh, what was a good word to describe the Changmin his fans knew? In any case, it was strange and cute – and she liked it. Wow… did I really just think that he was cute? Yoona bowed her head slightly in thanks and sat on the chair, tucking her flowing blouse carefully behind her as she watched him take the seat opposite her. And then she looked around, smiling at the lit overhead paper lanterns and admiring them.

“This place fits you somehow,” she observed, her grin widening at Changmin when he handed her a menu. Yoona opened the menu and quickly scanned the delicacies. “Partially concealed and mysterious…”

“What does that mean exactly?” Changmin asked, raising an eyebrow at her from behind the menu. Yoona shrugged her shoulder in response and continued to smile shyly.

“Oh, you know… just that you’re… charismatic.” She said simply, enunciating and shrugging again with that bright grin on her face.

Changmin’s own lips pursed into smile as well and he leaned back against his chair, shaking his head at her (he couldn’t classify whether that last bit was sarcastic or sincere – he figured it was more of the latter kind) response.

[ MC#2: Wow… look at those smiles they’re exchanging.
Aren’t they supposed to be awkward?

MC#1: Not entirely probably, if they can smile at each other like that.

MC#2: It’s cute. They’re awkward, but cute. ]

He tried to remember a time when he’d last spent time with just her – and found that he’d never had a moment alone with her. There were always other people around – managers, colleagues, their respective members, his dog – and they’d never really had anything to say to one another except for the usual pleasantries of “Hello” and “How are you?”.

Changmin glanced back at her concentrating on her ramen choices and wondered why the producers of the show cast them together in the first place. Was it because his fans had asked him to get on the show – an attempt to get him to come home to Korea more often rather than just staying in Japan? Or was it because people expected her to be part of the cast by now – especially since two of her members had already been cast and she was SNSD’s visual and it was her job? He cleared his throat and found that he liked neither of those reasons and let out a soft sigh.

Whatever the reason was—it didn’t change the fact that Changmin knew nothing of the girl in front of him except for what he heard from the mutual friends they shared. It was sad really… SMTOWN was supposed to be a family and neither of them were close to that point. Not even a little bit.

He looked up from his menu and watched Yoona pout, clearly concerned between getting the super-sized ramen bowl and the regular sized one. Such a small decision, but an extremely hard one to make… at least, it was for someone like him -- and her, apparently, as she’d already been voted as the new ‘shikshin’ of SNSD. It was one of those things Changmin found himself worrying over as well when he went out to eat, and he grinned to himself at realizing this.

They at least had a ‘love for food’ in common… but maybe there were more things they had in common… maybe… it wasn’t completely impossible, right?

“I’m getting the super-size one, Yoona. How about you?”

Her lips slipped into a sheepish smile as she looked up at him with an eye smile so bright, his eyes slightly watered. “I’m thinking the same… is that okay?”

Changmin grinned, pulling the menu of her hands. “It’s no problem.”

* * * *

How long have you known Yoona?

Changmin: Yoona and I entered in the same year. She got into the company a week or two before me, so I guess in terms of training – you could say that she’s barely senior?

What was she like back then?

Changmin: [laughs] You know how other members of SMTOWN say that she hasn’t changed since trainee days? That’s the truth. Yoona hasn’t changed – at least in terms of personality. She’s always been bright and playful, a choding who loves to make fun of herself whenever possible. [shakes head] That effect she has that makes people feel an insatiable need to smile whenever she’s near is no joke either... it’s natural to her, I think.

Since you entered the company on the same year, does that mean you are actually good friends with your wife?

Changmin: [pauses] I like to think that we were good friends. But these days… I don’t— [looks thoughtful for a moment and pauses again] I debuted barely three years after I’d entered the company and she had to wait for six or so years before she could have hers so… I don’t know… I guess that didn’t really help with our keeping in touch…

[ MC#1: What was the expression on his face?

MC#2: Somehow it feels like something happened…

MC#1: Who knows? ]

* * * *

After tackling a super-sized bowl of steaming ramen into their stomachs, the pair heaved a satisfied sigh as they both leaned back against their chairs and smiled happily to themselves. Not much conversation had gone on between them, but with a sumptuous meal in front of them – how could anyone expect a chat between two shikshins? Changmin didn’t mind though, because he felt energized enough to finally get into the filming and to get to know his ‘wife’ all at the same time. He gave a short snort of laughter and shook his head. It was weird just thinking of it… Yoona as his wife was just not something he’d foreseen.

“What’s so funny?” Yoona asked suddenly, raising an eyebrow at him from her end of the table. Her fingers were laced in front of her and placed delicately on her stomach. “Were you just thinking about how strange it is that we were paired up?”

“As a matter of fact, I was thinking that.” Changmin replied, raising an eyebrow back at her as well. He leaned onto the table and looked at her expectantly. “I bet you were expecting Yunho-hyung. He’s a better fit to this role than I am, I think.”

“Everyone else is a better fit than you,