[Mia’s POV]

We’re halfway down the extra challenging week as we filmed the beautiful landscapes of Ulsan amidst the scorching summer heat. I only remembered having a maximum of four hours of sleep for the past two nights, and everyone in the team literally turned into walking zombies by the day. Nevertheless, Ulsan’s picturesque natural sites along its coasts are always awesome reminders that life isn’t that cold and ruthless after all.

“Okay guys, lunch break!” The production director finally called out for a one-hour break. Nikki and I immediately grabbed our share of the packed lunch and secured a spot in one of the numerous round tables with yellow umbrellas which was especially set up for the filming.

“I’m starving.” Nikki uttered, opening the lunch box.

“I feel like I have no more energy left in my system.” I murmured while slurping my cold noodles.

“Ya, tell your team to end your meeting earlier tonight so you can all have at least six hours of sleep.” Nikki started nagging. “Health should still be your priority. What will happen with our filming if your team continues to lack sleep?”

“I know. I know. We’re just going to stop by a few attractions later for our filming tomorrow and then we’ll call it a day.” I said.

“Just make sure you don’t skip meals. Eat a lot. Forget diet. We need energy.” Nikki gulped the lettuce wrap in one go.

I laughed as she struggled to chew the food inside her big mouth. “I don’t do diet.” I said.

“Yeah. You’re ttak joha! Let’s just forget about diet and blame GOT7 and their song later on.” Nikki had her serious face on as she continued eating.

“They’ll be having their live comeback at M Countdown later.” I said, drinking my bottle of orange juice.

“Yeah. Too bad we have to wait until tonight for us to watch their performance. Have you heard anything from Mark?”

“We talked briefly yesterday afternoon. It’s not much. He has a schedule to catch up, and we were pretty much busy with the filming so… yeah…” I said.

“Dating a celebrity is definitely not a bed of rose petals.” Nikki chattered.

“You mean, bed of roses?” I corrected.

“No. I have to put emphasis on the rose petals…” She paused to form a quote in the air. “…because if I just say roses, it would probably mean that there’s a stem and if there’s a stem, there’d be thorns, and then the metaphor would eventually lose its sense.” She argued as if the topic was a huge issue. I just laughed at her.

“You’re obviously hungry. You should eat some more.” I declared, plunking some meat on .

“Bulgogi is such a life-saver. My eyesight was starting to get blurry earlier.” Nikki was talking even if the food was all over .

“You should have told me. We could’ve sneaked out some food from the car.” I smirked.

“Right. I forgot.” She responded as if what I said was the most logical thing we could have done.

“I have a feeling that you’re going to stay single for the next one and a half year.” I said, laughing.

“I am fully aware that it’s hard to date someone like me. Stop stating the obvious. Just… hajima.” She said overdramatically, raising both of her hands in a stopping gesture.

“I didn’t mean that. There’s a guy over there…” I stealthily motioned my head towards the right. “Don’t be too obvious!” I scolded when her curious head faced the right side.

And then she looked at me again. “Did I just catch him staring at me?” She questioned curiously.

“Yes. He’s from Team D. He’s been stealing glances at you since Monday!”

“That’s creepy!” She reacted.

“No, it’s not creepy. You’re just dense. But I understand why.”

“Enlighten me, master.” She said, gulping another mouthful of lettuce wrap.

“Because you only have Jackson Wang in your head.” I whispered with force.

“Ya.” She moved her head closer to mine as if she was about to tell me a secret. “Who in their right mind would not wait for Jackson Wang when he says to wait for him for a year and a half!? Mia, you’d probably be doing the same thing, right?” Her animated expressions kept me amused.

“We’re soul sisters for a reason. I’d probably be doing the same thing.” I patted her back in dramatic intervals and looked at her with gentle understanding like how a mother looks at her daughter, but with mocking intention.

“Thanks, mom.” He replied with sarcastic humor.

“Anytime, dear.”

“But hey, haven’t you realized that Mark is violating JYP’s rule right now?” Nikki questioned.

“The what?” I asked.

“Stop acting like you have no idea.”

“We’re. Not. Dating.” I said, emphasizing each word.

“You guys are obviously dating. You may not admit it but both of your actions tell me you are exclusively dating. He likes you that much that he’s even violating the dating ban.” She is now grinning like a weird psychopath. Forgive me for the redundancy.

I rolled my eyeballs upwards as if giving a deep thought as to what she just said, but I just gave her a blank look afterwards.

“But do you think the other members are aware that you guys are now dating? Wouldn’t they feel injustice that their hyung is happily dating while the rest of them are deprived of feeling that romantic spark?” Nikki laughed.

“I really don’t think we’re exclusively dating…. Flirting, maybe?”

“He may also think that way. It’s a defense mechanism. He doesn’t want to feel guilty that he’s violating the dating ban. But on your part, you have to admit it to yourself no matter how too good to be true it is!” She was at it again – overdramatically expressing herself.

“I think you have a point.” I uttered.

“Of course!” She replied forcefully.

“But I also think I have to make this thing clear with Mark.”

---

1:25AM.

Calling…

Mark Tuan

“Hey!” I answered the phone even before the second ring came.

“Hey. Why are you still up?” Mark asked at the other end of the line.

“I can’t sleep. You know I usually sleep past 2AM these days. How about you?”

“We just arrived at the dormitory.” He said. I could hear him closing the door just behind him.

“Right. I’ve seen your performance earlier. You guys were awesome! Like seriously!” I talked in my usual fangirl tone.

He laughed. “Thanks. How’s the filming?”

“It’s midweek so my body’s starting to feel exhausted.”

“Yeah. You do sound a bit exhausted.”

“I do? I kind of feel like my energies are now coming back, though.” I said, diving into the bed.

“Why? Because I called?” I heard him chuckle at the other line.

“You wish!” I retorted and laughed, not wanting to feed his ego. Both of us have been dead busy with our respective work lately that we rarely had time to catch up on things. But hearing his voice now seriously made a world of difference.

“How’s Ulsan?” He asked.

“It’s so hot during the day that I could feel my whole body melting. It’s like there’s a heat wave or something, but no, I’m just exaggerating for exaggeration’s sake. But seriously it’s so hot that we have to take a lot of water breaks during the filming. I even think we’re going to extend our stay here until Saturday. I might miss your performance in Music Core, but I’m really praying we could finish everything by Friday though…” I paused when I noticed that I was like talking to thin air. “Still there?”

“Still here.” His deep smiling voice somehow made me feel I was assured that he’d be willing to listen to all my random musings about almost everything under the sun.

“Yeah.” I continued. “But still, the filming was fun as it always has been. Ulsan… whoa…” I sighed and paused for a while as I remembered the vast Ulsan green fields that seemed to touch the sky. “Ulsan is such a beauty… really! You have to see it for yourself. It’s so hard to express its beauty in words. And I’m not really good with words, and sometimes words talk too much that I might miss on the very essential details. I don’t think I’m really making sense to you right now.” I finally laughed at myself. “You’re not sleeping now, aren’t you?” I chuckled, and there was a short pause that lasted for about three seconds before I heard him talk.

“I miss you.” He said; his words instantly inflicting a sweet, addicting poison into my system.

I smiled inwardly. “I miss you too.”

“But we can’t do anything about it for now. If only I had superpowers…”

“What? You’ll teleport your way here?” I laughed, cutting him in mid-sentence.

“Why not?” He chuckled.

“You watch too many sci-fi movies.” I laughed again.

“But you have to be back to Seoul on Saturday.” He said.

“We’ll try.”

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