I hurried over to Sungho who was waiting at a table near the door and impatiently tapping his fingers against the table top.
‘So here are you guys heading?‘ Joowon casually asked us.
‘Eh, just out to eat.’ I quickly said and then smiled proudly as I looked over at Sungho. I had learnt my lesson from the very first time. Sungho just rolled his eyes and chuckled.
‘Ooohhh, you guys have been going out a lot together lately.’ Minny snickered from behind the counter and then intentionally whispered loudly to Joowon, ‘I think they’re hiding something from us.’ before eyeing us and giggling. Joowon only managed a half-smile before continuing to clean the coffee machine. It was definitely not she was thinking of but she was technically still correct. We were actually heading over to where the MV shooting was going to take place which we were not going to openly admit of course. We had also been ‘going out’ together because we were always going to where the other guys were, whether it be for dance practice or a group dinner.
‘Just get back to work!’ Sungjo grumpily cried out at her and then walked to the door. ‘Let’s go, we’re going to late.’ He said and I followed after him after waving to the others.

~

Even dancers had to professionally get their outfits coordinated and their hair and makeup done. As soon as we arrived, Sungho left me to get ready for the shooting and I was left stranded in the hustle and bustle of the warehouse. I didn’t want to go find the guys yet in case I was distracting them from their work so I went exploring  by myself. The warehouse was sort of messy with people running around and heavy equipment set-up everywhere. There were racks of clothes and tables of makeup randomly set up in different places. The most impressive sight was the actual sets themselves which were massive and detailed.
As I was walking, a security guard startled me from behind and scanned me from head to toe with his cold stare.
‘Where’s your pass?’ He interrogated. My blank expression gave away the fact that I didn’t have a pass on me nor did I know I had to even have a pass.
‘I’m going to have to ask you to come with me,’ he calmly informed, ‘Only authorised personnel are allowed on this site.’ He lightly grabbed one of my arm and started walking me towards the entrance.
‘No, wait a minute…’ I tried to shake his firm grip on my arm off.
‘She’s with us!’ Sungjoo cried out as he jogged towards us.
‘She has to have a pass on her.’
‘Ah, sorry. She must have left it in my bag. I will make sure I return it to her.’  His charming smile was probably too nice for the security guard to argue with so the man forced a cough and went on his way. ‘Sorry for causing you trouble.’ Sungjoo exclaimed to the man whilst bowing down slightly. He then turned to me and ruffled my hair.
‘Come, let me get you a pass.’

With a pass dangling around my neck, I was now able to comfortably walk around with Sungjoo by my side as he showed me around. The others were all busy getting their hair and makeup done. The amount of shootings they had to do was insane with a combination of group and individual filming. It was also awkward to see lots of the dancers roaming around half- and casually greeting me whenever they saw me. Especially with Sungho, I had to avoid bumping into him just because we were actually co-workers and you kind of never want to see what a co-worker looks like half-. I was able to watch the filming as it happened by standing just a little bit behind the director and with the amount of effort that went into it, I knew it was going to be a long night.

~

There were a few breaks between the assembly of the different sets and style changes. I was scrolling through Instagram when I came across this post on my feed.


‘Heeeeey.’ I quickly went over to Seungyoun, who was busily stuffing his face with food, and showed him the photo. ‘It’s the one I took for you!’ Seungyoun continued chewing but leaned in to take a better look at the screen.
‘Oh yeah, it was my favourite photo the entire day so I told them I wanted to upload it.’ He beamed at me with his cheeks still full of food.
‘Well, I would like to get paid in lots of teokbokki on our way home later thank you very much.’
‘No ma’am, I will pay you with something else. Something even better.’
‘What?’ I asked him. He had to swallow and wipe his mouth before replying to me properly.
‘Some time alone with Sungjooooo~’ He nudged me on the side with his elbow. My smile faded and I just stood there at a loss for words. Seungyoun slyly glanced over at Sungjoo who was getting his hair done on the other side of the warehouse and then back at me with a huge grin stuck on his face.
‘What!?’ I shouted. I glanced around, realising I was probably being too loud.
‘Aaayyeee, don’t need to hide it from me. I’m actually rooting for you.’ Seungyoun gave me a thumbs up. ‘Chi fighting!’
‘No! No ‘Chi fighting’! It’s not like that…’ I vehemently denied him, feeling my blood pressure rise.
‘Are we talking about the Chi and Sungjoo loveline?’ Yibo casually joined in with fresh cornrows and a bandana on his head. My eyes widened at his remark. Seungyoun, I understand, but Yibo too...
‘Yessir!’ Seungyoun saluted.
‘Yah!’ I angrily cried out at both of them. Judging from the cheeky and evil smiles glued on their faces, I could tell they weren’t taking me seriously.These damn kids!
‘Oho, what’s this? Are you guys bullying Chi again?’  Yixuan said with a raised brow and his hands of his hips as he too joined us.
‘What do you mean again?’ Seungyoun acted as if he was offended that Yixuan had accused them. ‘We’re not, I swear!’ Yixuan abruptly bent over a tiny bit to examine my face more closely.
‘Chi, are you alright? Why are you so red?’ He inquired without knowing the consequences. Nooooo! Seungyoun laughed uncontrollably whilst rolling on the table whilst Yibo desperately tried not to laugh out loud.

~

Eventually, very late into the night, they were getting ready for the last part which seemed to involve lots and lots of glowing neon paint as some of the crew members brought in bucket loads. I was going to help out by painting some of the manicunes. Just before I began, Wenhan scrambled over to my side and cried out, ‘Wait, wait, wait.’
‘Arms up.’ Wenhan instructed. I found myself just following what he said without questioning him. He squatted down and pulled an oversized white T-shirt over my arms and head and then pulled it down. I tilted my head in confusion.
‘So you don’t get your clothes anymore dirty.’ Wenhan said coolly before heading off. I looked down at the gigantic white shirt and then back up to say thank you.
Whilst I was painting a leg, Seungyoun called out for me from across the warehouse.
‘Chiiiii, can you come here for a second?’
‘What is it?’ I asked curiously as I walked over to him. He grabbed my wrists, and dunked my hands into a large container of paint before planting my hands flat onto his chest.
‘Gah! Someone help me! I’m being harassed by Chi!’ Seungyoun cried out, trying his best not to laugh. Flustered, I tried pulling my hands away but Seungyoun had a firm grip on them. Some of the crew members quietly laughed as they walked past us. Once he finally let go, he admired the two clear handprints on his chest and goofily chuckled. I jabbed him in the stomach with the tip of fingers a few times. Before I was able to return to the manicunes, Wenhan asked me to help him draw on his face.
‘I want a handprint on my cheek.’ He puffed out his cheek and turned it towards me.
‘What colour?’
‘Any.’ With that, I dipped my small hand into the pink paint and planted it straight onto his cheek.
‘Can I paint your eyebrows too?’ I excitedly asked with my two thumbs already ready to go with different colours on each. He nodded and jokingly started wiggling his eyebrows for me to straighten out with my thumbs.
‘Wenhan? Where's Wenhan?’ One of the crew members called out.
‘Here, coming!’ Wenhan shouted back and then turned back to me to say ‘Thanks Chi!’ and winked at me. I was a little bit surprised when he straightened himself and was suddenly almost two heads taller than me. I hadn’t realised he was bending down so much just to be on face-level with me.
‘My turn, my turn.’ Sungjoo cutely shuffled across in front of me out of no where whilst holding the tray of paint just as Wenhan was leaving.
‘Service not available sorry.’ I teased.
‘That’s not very fair.’ Sungjoo looked at dejectedly with a pout. I jokingly pinched his cheek and tugged on it.
‘Can you lower yourself a little?’ I asked him. Sungjoo immediately lowered himself by doing the splits until we were face-to-face. For some reason, I felt more uneasy touching Sungjoo’s face than I did with Wenhan’s but tried really hard to ignore it. I was finished decorating his cheeks and my eyes glazed over to his lips. Despite being nervous for some reason, I dipped my thumb into the paint and then carefully wiped it onto his soft lips. I half-expected him to stop me but instead was just met with his gaze which watched me strangely adoringly. His eyes then followed his thumb as he dipped it into the paint and wiped it on my nose with a sweet smile on his face. I hope I'm not blushing...

With my keen ears, I picked up the sound of obnoxious whispering and giggling from behind me and turned around in time to catch Seungyoun and Yibo ogling at us from afar. Once they saw me looking at them, they oh-so-casually stopped and pretended to be doing other things like the dorks they were. Those brats!
I shook my head and grumpily returned to Sungjoo. I then realised both my hands had been holding onto his entire face the entire time I was looking at Seungyoun and Yibo and quickly released them, leaving two hand prints over his cheeks.
‘Ah, sorry!’ I apologised with my paint-covered hands hovering in the air. Sungjoo warmly chuckled. The sight of him smiling made my heart beat just a tiny tiny bit faster and that was enough to annoy me.
 

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed it, hehe. ╰(✿´⌣`✿)╯♡