The sound of the camera shutter snapping filled the closed space. White lights complimented the skin tones of the three alluring ladies at the centre of the room. Their body accentuated the different outfits they had worn – making the already attractive outfits more appealing. An okay from the photographer signalled a solo shot for one of the girls. The other two made their way to a smaller room to have a short break. It won’t be long till their turn for the solo shots come.

Seo Joohyun went straight for her bag. She smiled as soon as she saw a blinking light in her bag. Her hand reached for it. As she made herself comfortable on the sofa, she viewed the four unread messages from a certain someone.

Hyu~un.. tone down on the beauty, will you? Your fan boys are killing me >:( CFs after CFs, they kept going on about how much they want to be your boyfriend. I was right in front of them when they said so :( :{

Seohyun chuckled. He just can’t seem to let go of his childish jealousies. She found it endearing, though she doesn’t say so. She knew he will make full use of that information against her when needed. She will usually just wave the remark away and remind him that all that matter is the fact that both of them know who the other’s partner is. He has her. She has him.

But, Seohyun had her childish side too. She can’t help it when she have a choding as her boyfriend. She would pretend to like the idea of dating someone else. And being a choding he is, he would tell her to do so in order for him to date other people too. A battle of childishness would soon ensue. But, they would always end their battle with a look into one another’s eye and an exchange of I-love-yous.

Hyu~un.. preview please :’{ I need to prepare my heart against my enemies. Just one picture from the CF please :)

“Aish. Choding,” she said under her breath. Her smile still hadn’t left her face all this time. They’d been texting one another since morning. He had no schedule for the day and hence, he was accompanying her virtually.

The next message was a photo. A lone mug on a table top. It was the same mug that they had bought when they first met. The photo was taken in such a way that the mug is on the left side. The empty space on the right emphasised the loneliness of the mug. As she read the last message, her smile slowly vanished.

Wish you were here..

Seohyun stared at her phone screen. She pressed the photo to enlarge it. She could imagine him placing ice cubes into the mug and filling it with his favourite coffee. He’d bring it into his bedroom and place it on his study table. The mug accompanying his lonely self while he composes. She thought of her own mug that they had bought on the same day. It’s sitting on a rack in a kitchen back at her group’s dorm. His mug wasn’t the only one that looked isolated. Her mug was as isolated as his.

She typed in a reply. But before she could hit the ‘Send’ button, someone said sorry. She looked up to the owner of the voice. It was her unnie’s. The eye smile had been observing her since they entered the room. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. Seohyun wondered what had happened. She looked around. Nothing was amiss.

“Because of your unnies, you and Yonghwa can’t meet,” she finally revealed the reason. She smiled with remorse as she apologised for the third time. Seohyun could see the regret in her unnie’s eyes. She knew what her unnie meant. Besides, this wasn’t the first time her unnie had apologised because of it.

The year had been a wild ride for artists and celebrities, especially to those who are hiding something. Paparazzi were on fire. Relationships after relationships were publicised as careless parties got caught on camera. The year began with the news of her youngest unnie dating a singer. Before the news could even cool down, a similar headline hit another one of her unnies. Their company told the rest of the member who were dating to lay low for a while.

When the company gave them an all-clear, Seohyun wasn’t able to meet him due to their conflicting schedules. And when they already planned to meet, another member got entangled with the same bomb. Lay low was something their company kept telling to the rest of the members. It didn’t really pose as a problem to Yonghwa and her because when one is back at home, the other is overseas. She felt as though their companies were determined to keep them apart.

More than half of her members had to disclose their relationship to the public in the first half of the year. Her company was even more determined not to let another headline hit them. When she come to think about it, they hadn’t went out on a date since the year had started. They did see each other.. during music shows, concerts, etc. But, they had to pretend that they were just friends and not more than that. Other than the two of them, only their members, companies, family and few close friends knew about their real relationship. They didn’t want to make it into a big deal. Therefore, not many people knew about them.

Because they couldn’t enjoy a proper date, Yonghwa and Seohyun had to settle with phone calls, messages and internet video chats. There were some humps and bumps in maintaining a virtual relationship. But, they managed to hold onto each other in the long run. Now, keeping in touch was natural for them.

Her unnies may feel that they were partly at fault in causing the obstacles in their maknae’s relationship, but truth is they were actually improving her relationship with him. Without those incidents, they wouldn’t know what missing each other meant. They wouldn’t realise how much they value their relationship. It was a blessing in disguise. Being together doesn’t mean they have to see each other. Being together meant being in each other’s heart. Something they had to learn the hard way.

As usual, the maknae’s reply to her unnie’s apology was to wave it off and said there was nothing to be sorry about. Instead, it was her who was grateful to her unnies for accidentally giving them a test – a meaningful test – to see how well she and Yonghwa can hold onto each other. Her unnie replied with her famous eye smile. The maknae was always kind and had always see the bright side of life. She sometimes wondered if she can withstand the same situation as well as her maknae.

Seohyun glanced down at her phone. She smiled. She deleted her initial reply to the sender. She originally wanted to say that she misses him too. But now, after she was reminded of what it really meant to be together, she sent him a new reply.

I love you, Yo~ong :D