‘I’ll go get a bucket of beer for us so we don’t have to go in and out of the room,’ Jong Suk told them excitedly. On his way to the door, he stopped and turned back. ‘Do you want something to eat, Shin Hye?’

‘Ya, bring me some dried squid,’ Woo Bin said, hitting random balls on the table. ‘You’re a great host, Lee Jong Suk,’ he raised a thumb up and made a pumping motion with his hand. Jong Suk scowled at him then looked at Shin Hye again. She smiled and shook her head.

After Jong Suk left the room, and with Woo Bin busy wildly hitting balls, Shin Hye took this chance to casually walk beside Min Ho. He was looking smug and satisfied at himself for getting the guys to agree to his silly suggestion. ‘I know what you’re doing,’ she whispered, careful not to let Woo Bin hear. ‘Stop it right now.’

Min Ho turned around so his bottom was leaning on the billiard table, and his back to Woo Bin who was still ‘practicing’. ‘Didn’t we say we were going to tell Woo Bin about us dating anyway? This just makes it more fun,’ he replied while buffing his stick with the cue chalk.

Shin Hye turned around too. ‘Ani, I think you have other motives,’ she narrowed her eyes. ‘Is this another way for you to get me to reveal things about me? You could just ask me straight. You know I’ll tell you anything.’ Shin Hye knew Min Ho just wanted to have fun, but with Jong Suk and Woo Bin there, it could get really dangerous.

Min Ho bent down slowly, his face just a few inches away from Shin Hye’s. ‘Keunde…it’s not your secrets I want to hear,’ he said softly. His gaze was intense, and Shin Hye could feel his breath as he spoke. She furrowed her brows, trying to make sense of what he just said. I don’t get it. Min Ho smiled down at her, as if mocking her cluelessness, his eyes as mischievous as they could get.

‘Ah meoya!’ Woo Bin yelled, breaking the silence in the room. Shin Hye’s whole body jumped at his voice and she automatically took one step away from Min Ho before turning to face Woo Bin. Min Ho, seemingly unfazed, turned his head coolly.

Woo Bin held his stick up and used it to point at the two of them accusingly. ‘Are you two still doing this to me, huh? You’re still excluding me? Ya, you’re not TanSang anymore! For all I know, you’ve been ignoring me but you've been texting each other all this time!’

Min Ho scoffed. ‘What are you talking about?’ He walked to where Woo Bin was standing and put his elbow on his shoulder. He looked at Shin Hye and smiled naughtily. ‘It’s Shin Hye who keeps sending me good morning messages.’

Shin Hye widened her eyes and opened to protest, but she couldn’t think of what to say.

Woo Bin’s expression darkened. ‘Park Shin Hye. Do you like him more than me? Are you playing favorites?’ Min Ho put his arm around Woo Bin’s shoulder, held up his forefinger and wagged it at her.

She suddenly had flashbacks to their drama filming when the boys would always get together for the sole purpose of teasing and ganging up on her. Admittedly, there was something about wearing high school uniforms again that made them act more childish – she wasn’t an exception. She’d whine like a teenager, and try to get the other girls to be on her side. She couldn’t completely hate Woo Bin and Min Ho for teasing her now, because this was one of the things she missed most from their shoots.

Woo Bin continued to glare at her. ‘Ya, you used to tell me you like me more because Min Ho hyung is kind of distant. Was that a lie?’

Min Ho looked at Woo Bin. ‘She said that?’

Shin Hye’s jaw dropped as if she just heard something absurd. ‘OMO! Onjae? Onjae??? When did I say that?’ She noticed that her voice went up a few pitches higher. She was already on high school mode.

‘You told me after we filmed our first scene together, right after you got back from L.A. You even said that you’re sure he has a lot of girls because he seems like a flirt.’

Min Ho removed his arm from Woo Bin’s shoulder and faced Shin Hye with a look of disbelief. ‘Ah, cheongmal? She said I’m a flirt?’

‘YA KIM WOO BIN! Chugule?! Stop lying!’ Shin Hye cried out. She was feeling helpless without the other girls around.

Woo Bin pretended to hide behind Min Ho and leaned to whisper in his ear. ‘Hyung, she told me that she suspects you have a girlfriend because you were on your phone all the time.’

This time, Min Ho’s expression changed. He frowned slightly. ‘You didn’t believe me when I told you it was my Mom I was talking to?’ He asked her, sounding serious.

Shin Hye waved her hands vigorously, but it seemed like something was blocking . Kim Woo Bin was giggling behind a somber-looking Min Ho. If this were high school, she just lost the fight. The boys win again.

Just then, Jong Suk entered the room carrying a tray with a bucket full of beer soaked in ice and some snacks. ‘What’s happening here? Why does Shin Hye look like that?’

Woo Bin walked to him and grabbed some chips from the bowl. ‘She’s in a fix. Serves her right for playing favorites,’ he chuckled.

Jong Suk put the tray down on a corner table and walked to where Shin Hye was standing. ‘Shin Hye, they’re just trying to distract you. Don’t pay attention to them. We still have to win this.’

Jong Suk’s words seemed to have woken Shin Hye up. She took one look at Min Ho and Woo Bin’s self-assured expressions and hissed. ‘I’ll make sure you two don’t win again.’

‘Ohhhh. Pretty good for a girl,’ Woo Bin smirked. ‘You’re really full of surprises Shin Hye-ah. Too bad no ball went in.’

Shin Hye muttered curses under her breath. She was usually a pretty good breaker, at least one ball would go in after she makes the first shot. She looked at Woo Bin’s smugly satisfied face and bit her lip. This is the worst time to be bad at billiards.

He bent down and targeted a striped ball. The three watched in silence as Woo Bin concentrated.

Don’t go in. Chaebal, Shin Hye thought to herself.

The ball easily slid into the corner pocket as soon as the cue ball hit it. Min Ho whistled before raising his hand to exchange a high five with Woo Bin.

‘Kure. Surprise us with a secret, Shin Hye,’ Woo Bin crossed his arms and grinned.

Shin Hye groaned in frustration. She closed her eyes and searched for a secret in her head. I can’t believe I agreed to this.

‘Fine. I went on a blind date once,’ Shin Hye started to say. Min Ho’s expression brightened, his lip curling up as she started to speak. ‘I tell people I haven’t been to a blind date, but truthfully, I have. I just couldn’t talk about it because… well, you’ll find out later. It was just one time, three years ago. I couldn’t normally meet guys who weren’t actors or idols so I really wanted to try a blind date. Everybody was doing it, and I didn’t want to be left out. They told me it might be hard since I was an actress, but eventually, one of them agreed to help me. She said that her boyfriend was willing to set me up with his friend. Except her boyfriend didn’t know that I was an actress. But he told his girlfriend that the guy was smart and handsome, and that he was also a student from our university.’ Shin Hye paused, as she tried to recall more details.

‘And then?’ Jong Suk asked eagerly.

‘On the day that I was supposed to meet him, I was so excited that I went to the meeting place early. I waited for him, but he didn’t show up. I was there for more than an hour, I think. It was kind of embarrassing.’

‘You got stood up?’ Woo Bin asked in disbelief. ‘That’s just... mean.’

‘I know, right? When I got home, I was so devastated I actually felt like crying. I had thoughts like maybe, he did go to the café, but once he saw me, decided not to go through with it.’

‘Impossible. No guy in his right mind would do that to you,’ Jong Suk said.

Shin Hye chuckled. ‘Keuchi? I convinced myself he was probably a jerk and I dodged a bullet right there.’

Woo Bin nodded his head. ‘Yeah, I can see how that could make the headlines – ‘Park Shin Hye stood up in blind date.’

‘That’s not the best part,’ Shin Hye added excitedly. ‘The next day, I got a text from the guy. He apologized profusely for not being able to make it, so he asked if he could make it up to me by buying me coffee that afternoon in front of our school. I was still mad, but I got so curious so I agreed. When I got there, I saw the guy sitting at the corner reading a book. When I approached the table, he took one look at me and he froze.’

‘Ha! I can imagine this dude’s face, going to a blind date and finding out that the girl is a famous actress,’ Woo Bin said. ‘Did he faint or wet himself?’

‘Ani,’ Shin Hye replied. ‘As a matter of fact, he started laughing. And I laughed, too.’

The three guys looked at her curiously, waiting for an explanation.

She smiled. ‘Because we knew each other. My blind date was Kim Soo Hyun.’

Jong Suk’s eyes widened. ‘Kim Soo Hyun? As in You Who Came From The Stars’ Kim Soo Hyun? The alien?’

Shin Hye nodded her head. ‘Eo. It turned out he was filming Dream High then and his shoot ended a lot later than planned so he couldn’t make it to our date. It was really funny.’

Woo Bin held his hands up. ‘Chamkan. So are you telling us that… you dated Kim Soo Hyun?’

‘Of course not,’ Shin Hye replied. ‘It was just a blind date. He told me it was his first time to be set up, too. His friend was begging him to do it because he wanted to look good to his girlfriend. Since he was also curious, he agreed. So it was kind of an experiment for both of us.’

Shin Hye turned to Min Ho who was the only one who hasn’t asked her questions. He was listening keenly just a while ago. But now, Shin Hye couldn’t read his expression. Note to self: Explain Kim Soo Hyun situation to Lee Min Ho in detail later.

‘So you two…’ Min Ho finally spoke up, ‘…didn’t meet up again after that?’ His tone was curious, but also hesitant.

‘We did,’ Shin Hye answered nonchalantly. ‘But just once, and with the couple that tried to set us up. We planned to hang out but I had to film Heartstrings so that never really happened. We saw each other a year after at the Baeksang Awards and we were still laughing about it. I mean, the only reason we agreed to a blind date was to meet an ordinary guy and girl, but we ended up meeting each other.’

‘Daebak! Imagine if you two ended up dating though. Power couple!’ Woo Bin exclaimed. Shin Hye saw Min Ho and Jong Suk shoot him a look, but Woo Bin didn’t notice. ‘You didn’t like him?’

‘Ya, what girl wouldn’t like him? He’s really nice, and very good-looking,’ Shin Hye said deliberately, eyeing Min Ho. When he didn’t seem to mind, she smiled. ‘But you know, there were just no sparks there.’

‘Great story, Shin Hye,’ Jong Suk beamed.

‘Gumawo. Although I don’t know if I have any more juicy secrets to share that could top that.’

‘I’m sure you do,’ Min Ho blurted out, looking at Shin Hye in the eye. He cleared his throat. ‘Let’s move on, shall we? My turn.’

Min Ho studied the table and tried to decide w