Starstruck
Mr. Perfect
“Be my slave for a week,” Sungjong repeated. “Then I’ll trust you.”
“Aren’t you being too much?” Myungsoo exclaimed in disbelief. “You want me to be your slave just so that we can later be friends? Thanks, but no thanks.”
“I’ll pay you,” Sungjong added hurriedly. “I will-”
“Are you crazy?” Myungsoo interrupted him. “Pay me? Am I some kind of paid friend that you call up when you want to play?”
“I didn’t-”
“Whatever,” Myungsoo shook his head. “Forget I ever said anything.”
He was stupid to try to get close to Sungjong. What did he expect? Sungjong was the icon of vanity after all. No, even if Myungsoo desperately wanted to get closer to Hoya, and even though he really needed spending money, he would not agree to something like that. He wouldn’t steep so low.
‘But you already have once,’ a tiny voice whispered inside his head. ‘You already threw away all of your pride yesterday. Why not do it again?’
The day before and that day were two completely different situations. He just pretended to be Sungjong’s friend… for money… Now that Myungsoo thought about it, the situation wasn’t as different as he’d thought it was. Still, that didn’t change anything. He would never let Sungjong treat him like a dog.
“Yah, Kim Myungsoo, where are you going?” he heard someone call. Turning around, Myungsoo spotted Sunggyu walking toward him.
“What, hyung?” Myungsoo gritted through his teeth.
“We need to talk about the project,” Sunggyu said.
“What project?” Myungsoo asked impatiently.
“The one that we’re doing with Sungyeol,” Sunggyu replied.
“I know,” Myungsoo rolled his eyes. “I meant what is the project about, hyung.”
“Oh,” Sunggyu grinned. “We’re having a cardboard boat race!”
“A cardboard boat race?” Myungsoo frowned. “You mean like the one on Running Man?”
“Yes, exactly!” Sunggyu nodded. “We have to make it at home, though, and bring it to class on Monday, when we’ll be racing.”
“Why?” Myungsoo grimaced.
“It’s a tradition at our school,” Sunggyu explained. “Every year, the senior class competes in some kind of activity. They want us to have the last fun event before the college entrance exams.”
“So how do we make it?” Myungsoo asked. “And where do we make it?”
“About that,” Sunggyu began slowly, “you see… my place isn’t really a good place to build anything. I have two younger siblings, and they just destroy whatever they see. And Sungyeol won’t let anyone in his house.”
“You want to build it at my place?” Myungsoo exclaimed. “But I live on the sixth floor in an apartment!”
“What do you want to do, then?” Sunggyu asked.
“Wait a minute,” Myungsoo rolled his eyes in annoyance and walked toward the tall boy in the back of the room. “Yah, Lee Sungyeol!”
“What do you want?” Sungyeol yelled back.
“We have to build it at your place,” Myungsoo said, trying to sound as commanding as he could.
“No!” Sungyeol shook his head violently. “Not at my place! Do it at your place!”
“I live in an apartment on the sixth floor!” Myungsoo said angrily.
“So what?” Sungyeol retorted. “You’re not going to my house!”
“I’m telling you, we can’t!” Myungsoo argued. “How are we supposed to get the finished boat through the door?”
“I don’t care!” Sungyeol exclaimed. “I’m not doing it!”
“What?”
“I’m not doing this stupid project with you!” Sungyeol shouted. “You and small-eyes do it on your own!”
With that, Sungyeol walked away, leaving Myungsoo completely dumbfounded. Was he really not going to work with Myungsoo just because he didn’t like him? Even though Myungsoo didn’t think very highly of Sungyeol, either, he wasn’t that childish to sacrifice a class project just because of it.
“Don’t worry,” Sunggyu said, as if reading Myungsoo’s thoughts. “He won’t leave us. Sungyeol’s really competitive; he’ll want to win the race.”
“Are you sure?” Myungsoo asked.
“Yeah,” Sunggyu nodded. “By the way, do you have any idea where we can get some cardboard boxes?”
“Maybe.” Myungsoo pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed his sister’s number. After a couple seconds, she picked up.
“What now?” She didn’t sound very happy.
“Noona, do you think I could get some old cardboard boxes?” Myungsoo asked. “We need them for a school project.”
“Cardboard boxes?” she repeated. “Actually, yes, there are quite a lot of them lying around. Come and get them.”
* * *
“Why can’t we go see her?” Sunggyu asked as soon as they exited the car. Myungsoo bit his lip in annoyance. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Sunggyu had a car, he would never have brought the older boy with him.
“Why would we?” Myungsoo retorted. “I see her every day at home. No need to see her here as well.”
“But I don’t…” Sunggyu mumbled. “So where are the boxes?”
“Over there,” Myungsoo pointed at a door across the parking lot. “Noona said it’s in that warehouse.”
“Is it OK if we just barge in?” Sunggyu asked as they neared it.
“No one ever goes there,” Myungsoo shook his head. “Everything inside is trash, so no one cares where the stuff ends up.”
“Still-”
“It’s OK, hyung,” Myungsoo interrupted him as he grabbed the door knob. “I’m telling you, there’s no one inside-”
Of course, at that moment, something just had to make a huge noise from inside the warehouse. Sunggyu’s eyes widened and he immediately covered his mouth. “What was that?”
“I don’t know,” Myungsoo blinked in confusion. He was fairly certain that there was no one inside, seeing that the window was completely dark.
“A thief?” Sunggyu mouthed almost inaudibly.
“There’s nothing inside worth stealing,” Myungsoo shook his head and placed his ear to the door. He could hear faint voices whispering something, and everything went silent again. “Someone is definitely inside.”
“Should we run?” Sunggyu almost sounded hysteric.
“Hyung, we didn’t do anything,” Myungsoo rolled his eyes. “What are you scared of? Let’s just go in.”
He didn’t wait for the other to start whining and just swung the door open. The storage room was completely coated in darkness. It was perfectly still; in fact, so still that for a moment, Myungsoo thought he had only imagined the voices.
“Hello?” Myungsoo called cautiously, his hand reaching for the light switch. “Is anyone in here?”
His hand finally found the switch, and with one swift movement, he turned it on. There was definitely someone sitting in the far corner of the room. “Excuse me?”
“Oh-oh, hi,” the figure said and stood up. Myungsoo immediately recognized her—it was none other than Hyuna of 4Minute.
“Hyuna-shi?” Myungsoo blinked in confusion. “Why-why are you in here?”
“I was just-” she blinked in confusion, but was interrupted.
“Hyuna-yah.”
Myungsoo turned to Sunggyu. Did they know each other?
“Oh, oppa,” she seemed just as taken aback as Myungsoo was. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to pick up some stuff from here,” Sunggyu answered. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”
“Three years,” she smiled, blushing slightly. “You haven’t changed much.”
“Neither have you,” Sunggyu said with a small smile. “How have you been?”
“Pretty busy,” she replied. “You know, killer schedule, repetitive performances, stalking fans… Just the usual. How about yourself?”
“Nothing much,” he responded smugly. “Oh, by the way, this is my classmate Myungsoo.”
“Nice to meet you,” Hyuna bowed her head slightly in Myungsoo’s direction.
“Nice to meet you too,” Myungsoo replied. “How do you guys know each other?”
“We used to date,” Sunggyu looked away. An awkward silence followed, interrupted only by their breathing. Finally, Myungsoo couldn’t stand it and spoke again.
“I thought I heard voices in here.”
“Vo-voices?” Hyuna stuttered. “You must have heard wrong; I’m alone here.”
“So what were you doing here?” Sunggyu asked again.
“Just-just chilling.” It didn’t take a genius to see that she was lying. “You know, avoiding managers and fans.”
“Here?” Sunggyu raised an eyebrow.
“It’s cozy,” she gulped. “Do you want to go outside? It’s a little hot in here.”
That was when Myungsoo noticed a small bruise near her collarbone. “Is that a hickey?”
“Wha-what?” she blinked, her hands immediately covering her neck. “Wha-what are you talking a-about?”
“You’re dating someone?” Sunggyu asked quietly.
“No-no, oppa, that’s not-”
Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by a resonating crash. All of them immediately turned to the direction of the sound and spotted another person, ducking behind a deteriorating bookshelf. As the boy realized that his position had been compromised, he lifted his head slightly, just enough for the three of them to see into his face.
“Ho-Hoya?” was the last thing Myungsoo heard before his vision darkened.
But now I'm back, and hopefully will return back to my previous state soon. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter nonetheless, and again, sorry if it's not as good as usual, and that it's late. I'll try to write the next chapter light-heartedly as I usually do. I'll update on Sundays from now on, so await next update on May 11th, when Myungsoo will hopefully finally get over his crush... and when the romance really will start.
Karma~
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