Side Story 6 : completed

She thought he would talk about the elevator issue inside the car, she definitely needed an explanation about it. Why did he casually continue holding her hand despite the fact that they weren’t in cover and the residents could clearly recognize them? Wasn’t he afraid of the consequence? They might not take pictures like how usually fans did, but there was a big possibility they would spread this at least to their relative, then continued to their friends, and it could be worse if they planned to broadcast it through their SNS.

She needed to talk about this, but he seemed too ignorant. The talk was started with him complimenting her hair instead.

“I remember your Remember era, you had this kind of hairdo, right? It looked beautiful, and still does,” his focus was on the front, Eunji could see a flattered smile plastered on his face. “I was quite concerned, that time.”

“Why?”

She earned a glance for that question.

“Well, you should sometimes give credits to yourself, Eunji.”

“What does that even mean, Oppa? Don’t confuse me,” and she just crossed her arms.

Chuckling, Yoseob continued, “I mean, you looked beautiful in that hairdo that it became my concern at that moment. Isn’t my sentence clear enough? I was afraid, Babe. What if that bunch of men began to forget that you had me already,” his laughter became louder, he’s trying to hide his embarrassment. This topic used to bring a huge concern to him. Now that they were adult enough the burden wasn’t that big compared to those early years, when they just started dating publicly.

Eunji didn’t reply. She darted her gaze to her lap instead, she was visibly blushing, that her gut to look at him slowly weakened, afraid that he noticed.

“Bomi did it,” quietly she said. He smiled there, planning to send small thanks for her best friend.

“So, what’s the plan, Oppa?”

“Hum … Han River, dinner, and Hyukoh concert, like I told you on the phone.”

She gazed at him, who now still seemed fine with everything. “Okay,” quietly she reciprocated before soon focusing her thought to the road. Deep down she believed he had prepared everything more than simply going to Han River, having dinner, and watching Hyukoh performance. He was a man with plans anyway. She believed on this.

The ride continued, and so did the talk. It wasn’t something heavy though. Eunji shared with him the latest break up of her best friend and the real issue was. Yoseob was there nodding, listening to her talk while giving some of his opinion. He then told her about Beast comeback plan which would be started processing in two months. Junhyung had been making songs and as Dongwoon came back from military they would start recording right away.

Contrary to Beast, Apink had been in hold since last year due to individual activity. Namjoo wanted to apply for her master degree, so she asked for a break at least for a year. Naeun, not too different to Eunji, her schedule was packaged with dramas and CFs. Their maknae, Hayoung, owning such gifted body had been busy with modeling, so her routine was in circle of Milan, Paris, London, or Tokyo. Chorong was doing good in the management, since she bought some of their stock years ago she had more concerns in the management, they were planning to debut a new boy group soon and she had a big role in it. Bomi, well, among the others she was maybe the busiest one, having an interest in business she opened up her own clothing line, building a small boutique in Itaewon two years ago, and it kept growing.

So they decided to take a rest as being a group. It was a huge issue when it was first announced. However time seemed to handle it well. They didn’t do promotion but twice a year they still released songs, and once in awhile they would do fan meeting special for their fans.

Yoseob parked his car on the side road of a busy street where rows of branded shops were. She looked at him confusedly, he noticed her questioning gaze as he unhooked his seatbelt.

“Your shoes are pretty enough, but trust me, you need sneakers,” he said calmly, with a smile.

“Are we going to shopping?”

He hummed twice as he helped her undoing her seatbelt.

“Oppa, but there are too many people out there,” she sounded concerned.

Yoseob didn’t answer and giggled instead. “Let’s go!”

He came out first before walking around the car to her side, he was about to open her door but she did it first. Surprised, his eyes widened. She was now in cover, mask on, cap on. They exchanged look for seconds, he could see she was startled as well. He made a frown, questioning her through his gaze while she was actually more than just confused.

“Y—you aren’t wearing mask?”

Sighing, Yoseob lifted his hand instead, moving to her cap and pulling it away.

“Oppa?!”

He could see she was flustered.

“You’ll waste your lovely hair, Ji. And Bomi will be sad,” he said as his hand moved to her ears, now carefully taking off her mask.

“But people …”

“Let’s go!” he cut her words again, hand grabbed her hand as he carefully pulled her out of the car. He tossed both her cap and her mask on the seat before the door was closed.

Walking side by side, Eunji had her eyes locked on the path under her steps, it was the only option to hide her face. Nothing could explain how anxious she was, truly afraid if people recognized them. It was crazy. This was crazy. She was so afraid, her mind seemed dull, and her heartbeat fastened. However then, Yoseob brought her hand inside his pocket’s jacket, surprising her even more.

When she lifted her gaze she met his smile, that soothing smile. It was his usual wide smile, the smile that as if telling her everything was fine. And he did look compelling. Look at him now, look dashing in his messy black hair and no cover at all. With single glance people would easily recognize him as Beast Yang Yoseob. But even with it, he still kept that smile remained, which now gave her a reason to forget her fear.

Maybe his smile had something magical in it that Eunji without complaining had just copied it.

Coming to one of branded shoe shops on the street, they were greeted by a flustered look. The shop employees could definitely recognize them. However just like it was something normal, Yoseob smiled at them, which this time Eunji followed next to him.

“Good evening,” one of them recovered, he put high his smile, “may we help you?”

“Ah, yes. My girlfriend needs a pair of sneakers. Can you give her something simple and comfortable?”

Eunji looked up at her boyfriend when the word my girlfriend was mentioned. She might be—again—startled, yet she didn’t plan to complain.

They soon were led to a certain corner where the sneakers were. Two more employees came in help, one standing next to Eunji to explain the displaied shoes while the other ready to bring the samples for her. Yoseob was there next to her, eyes were on her, studying every gesture she made. The way she talked, the way she asked, the way she smiled, all owned his attention. A small smile lingered on his face.

He could tell she had so many concerns before. However the calm her now had proved him how she trusted him. And he couldn’t be more flattered than this. That’s how she always was, and that’s also the reason he wanted her even more.

Crossing his arms, he looked around, the shop was pretty empty. There weren’t many costumers inside. However then his gaze found a bunch of young boys were standing on the wall glass, visibly staring at them. His eyes caught some of them were about to pull out their phone. His smirk awakened.

Yoseob turned to Eunji, she was in the middle of trying one of pairs. He called her then, “Eunji, I’m out for a sec, Ok?”

“Huh? W—waeyo?”

A chuckle escaped, “I won’t leave you, don’t make that face, Ji.” And he successfully dragged the laughter out from the shop employees.

“Just for awhile,” he convinced while moving closer and sending a soft pat on her back.

After she gave him a nod, Yoseob walked out the shop. To her oblivion he was heading to the bunch of those young boys. He stopped for three seconds to count, and there were five boys. Perfect. Walking to them, they seemed clueless of his presence. Even when he stood next to one of them, they barely noticed it, so he casually spoke, “she’s beautiful, right?”

“Um,” the boy next to him nodded. Leaning to the glass wall, he had his eyes focused on Eunji. Yoseob’s smile went wider. This was getting interesting, he thought.

“What’s her name again?”

“Jung Eunji,” again, the boy still didn’t pay much attention to his presence.

“Ah, right. How can I forget that.. What’s she doing here?”

“I think she’s on a date.”

“Oh really? But where’s his boyfriend?”

“I don’t know.” coldly the boy replied. It seemed like he’s getting annoyed. And Yoseob began to enjoy this.

“Do you know her boyfriend?” he teased.

“Of course. Don’t you know?!” the boy’s voice rose although his attention hadn’t moved a bit from his girlfriend.

“Um, I forget his name. But I think he’s pretty cool since his girlfriend looks so beautiful.”

Yoseob was ignored as the boy took out his phone.

“What you’re gonna do with that?”

“Not your business!”

“Are you gonna take her picture?”

“Um.”

“Why?”

Again he was ignored as they boy trying to zoom in his camera, trying to get the best capture of Jung Eunji.

“What you’re gonna do with the picture then?”

Startled, his camera was shaken and his picture was blurred. Pretty pissed off, he eventually got enough, hissing and turning to Yoseob in super fast move, the boy yelled, “I’M GONNA PUT IT ON MY SNS, HAPPY?! NOW SHUT—up ….”

A sly smirk visited.

“Hi!”

As expected the boy was surprised, so flustered that Yoseob could see him gulping. Taking a step backward, he then lost his balance and automatically grabbed anything near which was his friend’s jacket. Again, Yoseob could see him gulping again, stuttering, he muttered, “Y-yoseob-nnim!”

Of course then the rest followed his friend’s ugly stutter. And their reaction wasn’t that different.

“H