Soomin jolted awake the next morning. It usually took her much more effort to wake up but it was strange that morning, something felt different. She stretched and she ended up punching something. Shocked, she sat up and found Kai soundly asleep. What was he doing on her bed? She thought back to what happened the night before and covered her face in embarrassment.
 
Kai has offered to sleep on the sofa despite what Soomin's mother had said. He didn't want to make things uncomfortable for Soomin. After lying on the sofa, her mother appeared in the living room and chased him into Soomin's room. "You can't let our guest sleep on the sofa! And besides, he slept over before. So what's the problem?" Her mother seemed irritated, which in turn it made Soomin irritated too.
 
"The problem is we are just friends now! Please, omma, don't make things awkward for Jongin." She tried hard to speak her mind but at the same time still being respectful to her mother. She knew how much her mother adored Kai but this was going overboard, even when there were no cameras around.
 
Her mother sighed. "I don't see how this is making it awkward for Jongin. You guys are friends and you've shared a bed before. I'm only saying this because it's cold tonight!"
 
Soomin was about to argue back but Kai grabbed her arm gently, telling her to stop. "I'll talk with Soomin about it, don't worry. It's late, please head to bed first." He smiled sweetly as he ushered her mother out of the room. Without another word, he started arranging some blankets on the floor below Soomin's bed.
 
"Are you really sleeping on the floor?" Soomin asked softly. She didn't want him to sleep on the floor but she couldn't possibly share a bed with him either.
 
Kai nodded nonchalantly. He didn't mind sleeping on the floor. He was glad enough that he could spend the night at her house, just like old times. He quickly got comfortable and pulled a blanket over him. "Go ahead and sleep. It's late. Good night Soomin."
 
She crawled into bed and pulled the covers over her, immediately feeling guilty. Kai chose to sleep on the uncomfortable floor without complaining whereas she was trying her hardest not to share a bed with him. After she lay down on her bed, she found herself unable to fall asleep. It reminded her of their trip to Bali. They slept on the same bed then too. So it wouldn’t be weird if they shared it again right?
 
She peered at Kai from her bed, after convincing herself that it wasn’t right to let him sleep on the floor. Kai felt her looking at him. “Is something wrong?” He asked sleepily while keeping his eyes closed.
 
“I… I can’t sleep.” She confessed.
 
Without any warning, Kai picked himself off the floor and got into her bed beside her. “Better? Now, sleep.” She was slightly taken aback but followed his instructions anyway. She snuggled under the sheets and soon, she fell asleep.
 
He heard her breathing calming down and opened an eye to peek at her. As expected, she was fast asleep. He couldn’t help but smile to himself. “Goodnight. Sweet dreams.” He whispered.
 
Soomin found herself staring at Kai as he continued sleeping. Suddenly he stirred and a smile crept up on his face. “How long are you going to stare? If these sun rays don’t burn a hole through me, I’m sure your stare would!” His voice was unusually husky.
 
She turned her head away quickly, blushing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
 
He chuckled. “Don’t you need to get ready for work?”
 
She didn’t need to be told twice, she sprang out of bed and into the bathroom. It was her first time starting off a day by feeling embarrassed. While washing up, her mind constantly wandered to Kai. He wouldn’t leave while she was in the bathroom right? With that, she found herself speeding up.
 
Sighing inwardly, she was relieved to find Kai still in her room when she was done changing. “Wow, that’s fast.” He had already changed his clothes and looked pretty presentable. “Girls would usually take a long time in the toilet.”
 
She frowned. “And how would you know that?”
 
He thought she looked cute when she would frown like this. Was she being jealous? He laughed. “My sister takes forever to get ready!”
 
“Oh…” She felt herself turning red again. It was becoming a habit whenever she was around Kai.
 
Before he could say something else, she received a call from her manager telling her that he was waiting for her downstairs. He wanted to spend more time with her but with their busy schedules it wasn’t always possible. “Go ahead. I’ve to head back to the dorms before anyone notices I’ve been gone. I’ll text you later.” He assured her knowing that she would feel bad.
 
Soomin was called into her director’s office as soon as she arrived. Her comeback was approaching and there were things left to do. Her director was pleased with the songs and the album’s concept but he was worried about her schedule. “We’ve been discussing about it for some time and I don’t think you’ll be able to cope filming your virtual marriage show while promoting for your comeback.”
 
“I think I’ll be fine besides it’s good promotion.” She tried to convince her director who ultimately had the final say what she would be doing.
 
“You aren’t getting very positive feedback from the show. Do you know how many anti-fans you have now? Maybe it’s time to stop. It’s indirectly affecting your popularity and it might affect albums sales.” Her director was serious. She had never seen him so serious before.
 
“But sir…” She gave her best sad expression. “I really don’t think that it’ll be that bad. Plus, I haven’t been on the show for a long time and we haven’t had the virtual wedding yet.”
 
He frowned as if he was thinking really hard. “It’s been about 4 months and I think that’s long enough. Anyway, whatever decision is made is for the benefit of you and your future. So, that’ll be all for today. You may leave.”
 
Soomin left the office with a heavy heart. Her director didn’t sound supportive of her continuing and even the other couples on the show before her would leave when their comeback came around. She was confident she would be able to film and promote her new album but things didn’t look too hopeful. She started to mentally prepare herself for the virtual marriage to end the coming week.
 
She spoke to Kai as per normal and he didn’t suspect a thing. Many a time she wanted to tell him that their virtual marriage would come to an end but she didn’t know how to say it. A part of her didn’t want it to end because she didn’t want to know what would happen between them after it ended. Deep down inside, she felt that Kai still liked her but at the same time she thought this was all just part of the show. Once their virtual marriage ended so would everything else – including her current friendship with Kai.
 
The following weekend, a cheerful Kai walked into the house not expecting anything interesting to happen. He went around opening the windows while waiting for Soomin to arrive. She came in just as he was done. He greeted her with a warm smile. “Hey…”
 
“Hey! Did you wait long?” She tried to hide her nervousness.
 
He shook his head. “Just got here. So what are we doing today?”
 
Before she could respond, the staff held out a mission card and she received it with a trembling heart. She could guess what it was. Kai took the card from her and opened it. He had his own suspicions and it was confirmed when he read out the card. Their virtual marriage would be ending that day.
 
He smiled at her bitterly. “So what shall we do?”
 
She replied with a weak smile and a shrug. “I guess we should pack up our things?”
 
He nodded rather reluctantly. He saw this coming too. In fact, he felt that Soomin was behaving strangely over the week and this must be why. He hated that it had to end but he didn’t want her to tire herself out. Of all people, he as a fellow singer should understand the amount of time needed to practice and perfect their comeback. It would be better for her if she could focus on her comeback.
 
They put their things away mostly in silence expect for the occasional giggle at items that brought back memories. They weren’t worried about being edited out or having little screen time. It was already the end and that seem as important anymore.
 
With a box in their hands, they walked out of their house after one last look around. Although she had mentally prepared herself, saying goodbye was still something difficult to do. Her manager was already waiting for her. He helped her load her things into the car, giving her some privacy with Kai to bid farewell.
 
“So… I guess this is it…” She shifted awkwardly, reaching out for a handshake while avoiding looking directly at him.
 
He put down his box and held onto her hand. To her surprise, he tugged on her hand gently pulling her into his arms. She froze, not knowing what to do. She hesitantly held onto his jacket. “Jongin…” She whispered.
 
“You know I’ll always treasure you, Soomin. I really really like you.” He whispered back.
 
She felt tears forming. He just confessed to her but it felt like he just stabbed her heart. Why did he only say it now… in front of the cameras? 

Posted 7th June 2014