Gary couldn’t remember when he started to develop real feelings for her. Not the eye-candy type of feelings, but the I-really-want-to-be-with-you kind of feeling. Filming and real feelings became a blur to him. At some point in time, he had been trying to hypnotize himself, telling himself that it was just for the ratings. But somehow, someday, he realised that he really loved her. He didn’t want to be just a Monday boyfriend, he wanted to be a boyfriend, everyday.

To say that she loved him like she did would be an overstatement. However, she too, had developed feelings for him. Any girl would, if a man constantly told her romantic stuff, genuinely cared for her, protected her, find ways to make her smile…. She was strong, she was the ace, but behind everything, she was still a girl. And how hard was it to fall for someone who understands you without you saying anything? She found her heart fluttering whenever he was around; she found herself enjoying every moment of skinship with him; she found herself missing him when he wasn’t around… she found herself looking forward to Mondays… She knew that her relationship with him was supposed to be only on screen, but she felt that whatever Gary said or did to her onscreen was sincere. She didn’t know why, either…. But being a professional actress, she tried hard to keep her feelings suppressed. She didn’t want it to affect the filming. But feelings are strange things, the more you suppressed it, the more it grows. You could push it aside and ignore it, but it wouldn’t go away.

After so many months of filming, Gary had gotten used to seeing Jihyo’s (and only Jihyo’s) energy. Initially, he tried to shut it out, like how he does it for the rest, but it wouldn’t work. Gradually, he just got used to it and took no notice. However, one day, he realised that whenever he was around, pink and violet would overwhelm the rest, and the lines would flutter around, twisting and turning into an entangled mess. It was then he realised she had fallen for him too. He was elated. Who wouldn’t be when he realised the girl of his dreams loved him back?

But the happiness was short-lived….

**

Stars don’t usually date non-stars. It wasn’t forbidden, and technically there was nothing wrong with it. But most of the time, this type of combination wouldn’t last.

Why? Because one of them has telepathic abilities and one does not. By definition, telepathy is the transmission of information from one person to another without the use of our known sensory channels or physical interaction. There may be different ways of carrying out telepathy, but for Stars, they will form what they want to say in their mind, and the others will receive it in their minds too. It wasn’t simply talking in your heads. They don’t exactly form words. It is a mixture of feelings, ideas, and images.

When ordinary people speak, the brains first process the meaning of each word, then join them together to from a piece of meaningful information. But in telepathy, they feel the entire message in their brains as a whole, together with the emotions behind every information.

And thus Stars usually understand each other without even explaining how they feel. Hence they cannot understand a non-star as well, nor can the non-star understand him as thoroughly. While for Gary’s case, it is different, because he can understand her through her energy, one-sided understanding would not be sufficient for the relationsip. 

And then, Stars have a world of their own, known as Oasis (will talk about this in future). It was place/ alternate universe (?) that existed in their minds. While non-stars can enter the place if they found the right way, they wouldn’t be able to communicate at all.

And finally, how would the non-star partner react if they found out that their spouse was a Star. Or a freak, to put it crudely …

Gary loved her, so he had to let her go; so that she could find someone that would be suitable for her….

The perfect chance came when they were drinking together after filming one day….

Jihyo excused herself to go to the toilet. When Jihyo left, the guys talked about their love life and gradually linked it to Monday couple.

“Hyung are you really interested in Jihyo?” HaHa teased.

“If you are really interested we could help you set things up, hyung,” Gwang Soo added.

“….” Gary ignored them.

They talked about some other things before linking back to Jihyo again.

“Aiy hyung, don’t be shy, just tell us!” HaHa nudged him. “She isn’t even here now!”

But she was.  She was about to come back when she heard them talking about his feelings for her. And she was curious. She knew that if she went back they would stop, so she sat some distance away, near enough to hear their conversation, but far enough to be hidden. But it wasn’t far enough for Gary, he felt her energy. And because he knew, he purposely answered this time.

“Ahhh. Of course I love her…..”

Jihyo’s heart skipped a beat. She felt herself blushing.

“…as a sister….”

Jihyo’s heart sank. She felt like crying, she didn’t even know why. It wasn’t even like she was rejected. But she just felt disappointed. Gary sensed a wave of deep blue, close to black, overpowering her other colours. The lines stopped glowing, and they moved about slowly and restlessly. His felt his heart tightening.

“Eh….. what a spoiler!!”

“Aishhh, really! I treat her like my sister, just like all of you. Monday couple’s just for the show yah!” he forced himself to say.

Unable to listen anymore, she went back to her seat, trying to hide her disappointment. “I’ll go now, I think I drank too much.”

“Ya, really, you are the best drinker of us all you know,” Gwang Soo teased, earning a smack.

“Yah! I have a schedule tomorrow.”

“Arasso, do you want me to fetch you?” JaeSuk asked. He said what Gary would have offered.

“Aniya, I will take a taxi, oppa. Thank you..” She glanced at Gary briefly but he was staring at his glass, swirling the wine around.

“See you guys next Monday!”

Gary didn’t even wave goodbye. He couldn’t bear to see her in so much pain. But yet, he couldn’t leave her alone.

“I need to go too. I have a recording tomorrow..” he said a few minutes after she left.

He could still sense her energy, which meant that she was still around the area. He looked for her and found her sobbing on a bench.

He wanted to go up to her, hug her, and wipe her tears, but he can’t. He has to stop the feelings from going deeper. He himself was crying in his heart.

“STOP SENDING YOUR HEARTBREAK EMOTIONS OVER” some Star sent. He realised that he had unknowingly sent over his devastation.

Days like this, he wished he wasn’t a Star…