Laughter erupted, causing managers and filming crew to stop and turn towards the group of young 20-something year olds guffawing. At the centre of their attention were a red-faced Kang Min Hyuk and Krystal Jung.

Park Hyung Sik’s camera flash began going off as he sniggered at the images of red-faced Min Hyuk and Krystal. ‘Omo! Look at them blush!’ Hyung Sik said as he gave Min Hyuk a playful poke on his shoulder. Min Hyuk flippantly pushed Hyung Sik’s finger away and closed his eyes, as if doing so would be able to shut them out.

‘Yah! Why’re you blushing so hard? If it’s nothing, there’s nothing to be ashamed of!’ Hyung Sik reasoned.

Kim Woo Bin leaned in towards Krystal but said loudly enough for everyone to hear, ‘Could it be…he likes you?’

Woo Bin’s mock question made Min Hyuk visibly choke and he began breaking out into a series of coughs. Krystal, on the other hand, shot her head around to face Woo Bin and lifted her hand, ‘Woo Bin-ssi~’ Krystal wailed. ‘Min Hyuk Oppa was only trying to help!’ Woo Bin winced in pain when her raised hand came in contact with his back.

‘Yah! If there was anything to not learn from Shin Hye, is to not beat your co-stars!’ Woo Bin bemoaned, ‘Eh? Oppa? He’s Oppa? Yah~ How about me?’ He teased, causing Krystal to turn a brighter shade of red.

Hearing her name mentioned, Shin Hye who had been looking down at a text, flicked her head up, ‘Wae?’

Kim Ji Won peered over her shoulder and saw the first name in her inbox and broke into a sly grin, ‘Kim Tan?’ she said questioningly.

The group suddenly forgot all about Krystal and Min Hyuk and they began to shift themselves to face Shin Hye.

Shin Hye looked up at the sea of faces watching her closely. Jeon Soo Jin stood just a little behind Krystal and leaned in to whisper something. In an instant, Krystal began giggling as she bent forward. Swiftly, she tried to grab the loosely held iPhone 5s out of Shin Hye’s left hand.

Quick to react, Shin Hye inclined forward, and shielded her phone with her torso, ‘Yah!’ she yapped. In doing so, she missed seeing Hyung Sik slipping away from the group and sneaking up from behind her. Before she realized what was happening, Hyung Sik had managed to slide his hand between the cracks of her so-called hiding place, and yanked the phone out from the grips of her hand. ‘Darn it!’ Shin Hye mumbled under her breath as she watched Hyung Sik race back to stand with the others.

‘Let’s do this!’ he shouted in victory. He pressed the top right button and attempted to swipe the unlock button, only to have his face fall, “Yah! Why do you have a passcode?’

A wave of relief flooded over Shin Hye as she leaned back in her chair, and crossed her arms, a wicked smile plastered across her face. The group began bending over her phone as Hyung Sik called out for ideas.

‘Her birthday?’ The phone shook in refusal. Hul, that would’ve been too easy! Shin Hye thought to herself.

‘YAB filming end date?’ Nope.

‘Heartstrings?’ Min Hyuk offered, Hyung Sik tapped the 4-digits but still, the phone shook.

Five attempts later, Hyung Sik looked up in disgruntlement, ‘WHAT IS IT?!’ He squalled.

Shin Hye stretched out her hand, indicating for him to return her phone, ‘Are you done? 2 more tries and you’ll lock me out of my phone for an hour.’ Please don’t keep trying! She implored silently.

‘Is Kim Tan, Min Ho Hyung?’ Hyung Sik demanded, passing the phone to Woo Bin for safekeeping. He inched forward, ‘More importantly, what was the text about? Are you two hiding something? Why is he saved as Kim Tan and not Min Ho?’

Shin Hye ran her fingers through her hair, ‘Aissssh! He just wanted to know how was filming!’

‘Why did he ask you? And not me?’ Hyung Sik asked, choosing not to accept Shin Hye’s matter-of-fact answer.

‘Why would he ask you?’

Hyung Sik and Shin Hye began bantering back and forth, neither answering each other’s questions. Visibly bored from the lack of answers, Woo Bin set Shin Hye’s phone down on the table and walked away with the other four.

What felt like many moons later, Hyung Sik finally relented and galloped off to annoy the rest with his camera flashes. That punk is so persistent! Shin Hye thought to herself. She grabbed her phone and keyed in her passcode—not before peering around her to ensure that no one was behind her.

Kim Tan: You’ve been avoiding me.

It’s true. She has been avoiding him. As happy as being around him made her feel, she didn’t trust herself enough to be around him. She didn’t want to get too attached; too close…she didn’t want to get her hopes up. Every time he looked at her, smiled at her, touched her, she’d feel her pulse quicken. When he turned away, she found herself anticipating the next look, the next smile…the next touch. On the outside, she played it cool, treating him like any other friend. Still, on several occasions, she had caught him quietly observing her, making her feel like he was reading her like an open book.

Am I being too obvious? She had thought to herself. If he finds out, it’s going to get very awkward between us…So she decided staying away was her best option. However, it seems her plan had backfired on her.

Shin Hye leaned back and closed her eyes, thinking of all the possible replies:

Oppa, Mian, I’ve been busy! Ha! Like he’d believe her! While it wasn’t a total lie, it still didn’t explain why she’d been disappearing straight after filming and only appearing just before filming started. It was no secret that aside from filming, she was pretty much free.

Bongji hasn’t been feeling well, and I’ve just been worried about her. Tch! It wouldn’t be right to bring her baby into her dramatic, non-love story. Also, a little superstitious, she didn’t want her little lie to lead to Bongji’s ill health.

What about playing it cool? Oppa~ You’re imagining things. Are you too used to girls fawning over you? No. This won’t do. Such a response would still eventually lead to him asking about her quick disappearance and late arrivals. Moreover, mischievous boy that he is, he’d probably and she wasn’t sure she was up for that.

Ani, I wasn’t avoiding you. I was simply trying to tap into Eun Sang’s feelings towards Kim Tan now. Now she was just getting desperate.

Shin Hye squirmed in her seat, screaming silently inside. APPPPPAAAAA!

Her preoccupation with her current predicament made her miss Woo Bin’s initial call, ‘SHIN HYE-AH!’ he bellowed a third time.

She bolted straight up, ‘WAE?’

‘What were you thinking so hard about?’ Before Shin Hye could think of a witty response, Woo Bin continued, ‘Anyway, we’re going to begin filming soon. Straight after, we’ll be filming with Kim Tan.’ He turned to walk away, motioning for her to follow.

Shin Hye gulped, He’s here? Ottoke?

Woo Bin turned back around, ‘Aren’t you coming?’ Looking at her expectantly.

‘Oh…’ She hopped down from her seat and began dragging her feet after him. I haven’t replied his message yet! Ottoke?

~.~

Min Ho stood behind the cameras and watched Shin Hye and Woo Bin film their scene by the tin cans.

He tried to catch Shin Hye’s eye between takes, but he could tell that she was deliberately avoiding eye contact. He wasn’t sure if she was acting this way because she had seen his text message earlier that day. Whatever the reason, he did not like the awkwardness that stood between them.

He missed spending time with her, he missed her smile, and most of all, he missed her. Though she didn’t know it yet, he intended to let her know before The Heirs filming ended. He just didn’t know how. He was running out of time though, they were already filming the eleventh episode, meaning they had less than 5-weeks left together.

He had sent the message in the spur of the moment, when emotions drowned out logic. As far as he was concerned, she was avoiding him, and it was bugging him why.

‘Cut!’ Kang PD yelled. Min Ho smiled to himself; he was also going to miss Mr Meticulous Director. After a long, tiring day, nothing satisfied him more than hearing Kang PD’s resounding, Cut! for it only meant one thing, Perfection. ‘Take ten! Then we’ll film again with Kim Ta by the big tree!’ He told the crew, before taking a giant swig out of his water bottle.

Greeting the members of the filming crew, he crossed the park towards Shin Hye and Woo Bin, gravel crunching under his feet. Shin Hye caught sight of him before he could reach them, and she quickly excused herself.

‘Hyung,’ Woo Bin greeted him as he approached. ‘Did you have a good rest?’

‘Oh. We managed to finish filming the hotel room scene yesterday, so I was able to sleep in today.’

‘Jiltu! Most of us woke up at the crack of dawn to get here on time,’ Woo Bin complained, ‘but we had fun. Kang PD gave us some time to play with the equipment that the camping team provided. Shin Hye has a mean aim when it comes to paint ball.’

At the mention of her name, Min Ho was reminded of Shin Hye’s sudden departure, ‘Where did that girl go?’

‘She said she was feeling tired. I think she went to freshen up,’ Woo Bin glanced around then leaned in, ‘Hyung, what did you text her just now? We saw a text from you in her phone.’

Min Ho could feel Woo Bin’s keenness, perhaps hoping to hear something juicy that he could share with the others later. These kids he thought to himself. The fact that Woo Bin was asking him now indicated that Shin Hye must’ve brushed it off with a lame excuse. ‘Oh. I was just asking how filming was.’ He related.

‘Ya! Chincha? That was all? She said the same thing too!’

Speaking of which, he wanted to talk to her alone before filming, ‘Chincha. Oh, I’ll see you later! I need to smoothen out some details with Shin Hye for the next scene.’

‘Arasso.’

Min Ho turned to leave and began walking around the campsite, poking his head in and out of tents, in search for her.

So she did see the text…he contemplated. He found her sitting inside the camper van, anxiously drumming her fingers on her phone.

‘I’ve been looking all over for you.’ He said to her back. He could see her body tense at the sound of his voice, but she made no move to turn around.

Instead, he heard her soft reply, ‘Is our ten minutes up?’

He stepped further into the bus so he could face her, ‘Nope, we’ve still got plenty of time. Are you okay?’ He peered closely at her face. Her face was devoid of emotion, but he could see the dark circles under her eyes, ‘Hey Panda, didn’t get enough sleep again?’ He joked. 

Finally she lifted her head and chuckled, ‘Why do you always catch me after a sleepless night?’

He wanted to ask her why she didn’t respond to his text, but her tired expression made him rethink that it wasn’t such a good idea, ‘Maybe because I know you were thinking about me,’ he quipped.

His light jape seemed to have startled her and he caught a flicker of panic in her eyes before she replied jokingly, ‘Oppa~ the thought of you would put me right to sleep.’

He recognized their conversation heading down a familiar path. They had a habit of jokingly mocking each other in between takes to keep the mood light, especially after a long day of filming when all they were probably thinking of was going home to their beds. Though, bed with Shin Hye isn’t so bad either, He thought to himself. Aisssh! Now’s not the time! He chided himself silently.

‘Ya! I am seriously beginning to question your taste in men!’

The side of Shin Hye’s eyes creased as she giggled, ‘But you’re not a man! So my taste in men shouldn’t be called into question!’

He narrowed his eyes, ‘What did you say? I’m not a man?’ He sat down on the seat beside her, causing her to inch sideways, away from him. I’ll show her!

He edged himself closer to her as she desperately tried to find more room in the small 2-seater seat. Before long, her shoulder hit the wall of the camper van. She looked around to look for another way out but he quickly placed his palm against the wall of van, thus, sandwiching her between the backrest of the seat and his arms.

She shifted in the seat such that her back was leaning against the metal sides of the van and eyed him cautiously, ‘Oppa, you have a bad habit.’ She accused.

She was referring to his tendency of cornering her, ‘You’ve got a pretty bad habit yourself.’

Her eyes widened, ‘What?’

‘Mocking my good looks and apparently, now, my manliness.’ He was sorely aware of how close they were. Any nearer and he’d be able to continue where they’d left off in the storage closet. All he had intended to do was to indulge in a couple of teasing minutes, not immerse himself knee-deep in . ‘Men liked to be praised.’ He said casually, moving away.

‘Arasso, we must gently your egos, yes?’ Shin Hye replied, voice a little huskier than he remembered.  

Min Ho smiled to himself. It affected her too.  Before he could respond, Shin Hye gently requested, ‘Oppa, can you slide out? I need to stretch.’

Is that her way of saying she needs to be alone? She’s even avoiding conversations now? Min Ho slid out of the booth seat and stood aside, ‘Long day?’ Well, I ain’t going anywhere…

She quickly slid out and propped her left leg on the edge of the seat and bent forward slowly, ‘Yea.’

After a few minutes of him silently watching her doing a series of stretches she asked, ‘Oppa, did you want something?’

She doesn’t seem to want to talk about the text. If she did, she’d have mentioned it already.

‘Ah, Oppa, sorry I didn’t respond to your text earlier…’ Was I thinking aloud? ‘I read it, but I didn’t have time to respond.’ And? And? And? Wait…if Woo Bin and the gang saw the text, that’d mean they were on a filming break. Why is she lying?

‘Chincha?’ He answered lamely. He could feel his anger rising a little. Why am I getting angry? I don’t have a right to get angry. It’s not like she’s answerable to me…But why is she lying? Now I’m even more curious to know her answer!

‘Yea.’

He decided to let her be, clearly he wasn’t going to get any answers, and standing around watching her stretch wasn’t doing much for his growing temper. If I did something wrong, she should at least tell me! ‘I better go do last minute touch-ups.’ He said gruffly.

He exited the camper van before she could respond, ‘She’s probably happy that she didn’t need to waste her breath responding anyway’ He thought bitterly.

Author's Note:

Hi all! Thanks for the encouraging comments! 
I began writing this fan fic with no exact story in mind. Just something to do to fill my time.
Anyway, after finishing this chapter, I believe we're heading down a very corny path. 
Hehe! I'm sorry. I'll try to keep the corn factor to the minimum...I'll try.