A big fat tear rolled down Minji’s cheek. Lee Joon reached out to wipe it from her cheek, and ran his fingers through her thin, golden brown hair. She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed him away. “Stop pretending that you care about me.”

Lee Joon’s face twisted into a pained expression. “I do care about you.” He reached for her wrist. However, she took a deep breath, pulled herself away, and walked off the set.

“Anddddd CUT!” shouted the director. “Good job everyone, let’s end filming for today.”

A group of coordi-noonas and unnies rushed forward to meet Joon and Min, rubbing off their make up and handing them clothes to change into.

Joon turned to Minji, “I’m going bowling with some guys now. Do you want to come?”

Minji smirked, “Is anyone else coming?”

“Yoseob, Doojoon and Seungho,” Joon listed.

“Yoseob is coming?” Minji gasped. “Nice. Can I invite one of my friends too?”

Joon shrugged. “Why not?”

As Minji pulled out her phone to text her friend, Hyesung, Joon started toward his dressing room. “Meet you back here in ten.”

By the time Minji was done changing into a pretty dress with a floral print and white tennis shoes, Seungho and Yoseob had arrived to pick them up. She waved energetically, and Joon and Yoseob mirrored her, while Seungho smiled back shyly.

She smiled and happily greeted them, “Seungho-sshi, Yoseob-sshi annyeong!”

“Yah, you take so long!” Joon whined.

Minji stuck her tongue out at Joon and took his arm. “Hyesung just has to finish going over the script with our director, and then she’ll be here.” Her friend was a popular new screenwriter who was writing the script of Minji and Joon’s drama. As they waited for her, Minji chatted with Yoseob about how talented her friend was, because to say that Hyesung had a huge crush on the lead vocalist of BEAST was probably an understatement.

Soon, a small, bubbly girl with long black hair scurried down the hallway and screeched to a stop in front of Minji. She swept her disheveled hair behind her shoulders and out her hand. “Hi! I’m Hyesung! It’s really nice to meet you all!” Seungho and Yoseob exchanged looks, for it was customary to bow in greeting, before each taking her hand tentatively and receiving a firm handshake. She then pulled Minji and Joon into a tight hug. “I love bowling!”

 

The group made their way to the front of the production studio to wait for their van. As the large white van arrived, Minji and Hyesung climbed into the backseat, followed by Yoseob, who barely fit, and then Seungho and Joon, who sat in the middle row of seats.

Minji dropped her voice and whispered in Hyesung’s ear, “Aren’t I super cool? You love me. Admit it.” Hyesung smiled as Yoseob nudged her to get her attention.

Joon couldn’t help but notice how tense Seungho was. “Hyung,” he murmured. “Minji is really nice, but she’s really shy around people she doesn’t know well, so if you want to talk to her, you have to loosen up.” Seungho rolled his shoulders and pursed his lips. “Thanks.” Earlier that week he had finally admitted to Joon that he thought his costar was very, very attractive, and Joon immediately transformed into Seungho’s Cupid.

When they finally arrived, Joon shoved his way out of the car first, while Seungho waited to help Minji out. She smiled at him and then ran to catch up with Joon. Seungho sighed when her face lit up as she walked side by side with Joon. This wasn’t going to be easy.

 

Their friend Doojoon had already set up a lane as the rest of the party walked into the bowling alley. Doojoon waved Seungho over to be on his team, and Minji quickly joined them as well, so Yoseob, Hyesung, and Joon were on a team.

The teams were quite unevenly matched. Hyesung actually pretty much at bowling, while Joon wasn’t really good at anything, so even though Yoseob was relatively good, he had no chance to hold up the rest of his team. On the other hand, Doojoon’s swing was accurate and strong, and Seungho probably could’ve have gotten all strikes with his eyes closed. Minji started out poorly, but after some kind pointers given by Seungho, she quickly improved.

After three rounds, Doojoon had to return to his dorm because he had an early start the next day, and Joon got a call from a friend, so both left, while the rest of the group decided to take to the streets.

With Joon gone, Minji and Seungho took to walking together, since neither wanted to be third wheels with Yoseob and Hyesung. Minji had never really talked to Seungho before, and getting a chance to know him was somewhat refreshing.

“I like your new album!” Minji said, showing him two thumbs up.

“Thanks!” Seungho replied. “I helped write a few songs.”

“Wow, I didn’t know that.”

“I’m just learning how to compose music, so it’s definitely a challenge, but my goal is to write music after my idol career is over.”

“I’m sure you’ll succeed!”

They made eye contact and smiled at each other. Seungho felt a mixture of relief and exhilaration. Minji and Joon have been best friends since they were born, and his first meeting with her was when Joon carried her into their dorm, passed out from drinking too much. Joon could barely keep her standing, so as he fell asleep on the couch, Seungho led Minji to the bathroom and held her hair back as she heaved up the contents of her stomach. She doesn’t remember any of it, because Seungho left before she woke up to spare her the embarassment. From that moment on, he was smitten.

Seungho had suspected that Joon was interested in her, so he mentioned none of his feelings to his bandmate, and instead waited patiently for over half a year for another chance to meet her. Of course, he was the victim of the green-eyed monster for many weeks after finding out his band mate was going to be the fictional object of affection of his secret crush. Now, Seungho finally had the opportunity to properly start a friendship, and hopefully something more, with his dream girl.

“Do you want to go to a noraebang?” Seungho asked, pointing to one that was across the street from where they were.

Minji frowned. Did she want to be alone in a small, dark room with a man she barely knew? But before she could come up with an excuse, two girls rushed up to them.

“Omo! You’re MBLAQ’s leader Seungho, right? Wow! You’re so handsome in real life!! Please give us your autograph!”

Seungho chuckled, relieved that he could be spared Minji’s rejection, even for a moment. Luck was on his side, however, because the two girls stirred so much commotion that they were attracting quite a lot of attention.

Minji turned to Seungho and said in a low voice, “Actually going to the noraebang might not be such a bad idea. We should get off the streets.”

Seungho nodded and gave her his hat so she could hide her face better. They entered the nearest noraebang and rented a small room for an hour.

 

Minji loved to sing, so they chose some popular pop songs, like Girls Generation’s “Gee” and SHINee’s “Ring Ding Dong,” and also some ballads, like FT Island’s “Bad Woman” and Taeyang’s “Eyes, Nose, Lips.” If Seungho could fall any more in love with her, he did, because her voice was the one he imagined singing the songs he wrote. He was enchanted and never took his eyes off of her.

Minji, however, was exhausted. A whole day of shooting the drama and hours of bowling and wandering the streets had finally caught up to her, so she collapsed on the lengthy couch and insisted that Seungho sing her some songs. She grabbed a tamborine and shook it lightly as he sang some old timey ballads.

Soon, she closed her eyes altogether and drifted off to sleep. When their hour was up, Seungho gently caressed her forehead and rubbed her shoulder to wake her. Minji groggily blinked a few times, realized that she’d fallen asleep, and bolted straight up.

“Woah! It’s okay, Minji,” Seungho said, putting an arm around her.

“I should go home now,” Minji said suddenly. She shrugged his arm off and made for the door. Seungho quickly caught up. “I’ll call my manager to pick us up.”

“No, I’ll take a taxi!” Minji insisted. She immediately jogged to a busier street and began trying to wave one down. A taxi stopped in front of her.

Seungho smiled uncomfortably. “I had a lot of fun!”

“Me too.” She opened the door to the cab.

“Can I text you? To hang out again some time?”

“You can get my number from Joon.” Minji gave him a smile but didn’t make eye contact. “Bye!”

She pulled the taxi door shut before he had the chance to say goodbye.

Minji could see Seungho getting smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror. That was so irresponsible. I barely know him, and I fell asleep in a room with him. How could I be so careless? What if Lee Joon finds out and thinks something happened between us? I could have ruined everything. Ugh! Why did Seungho even want to hang out? I should have gone home after bowling. Minji rubbed her temples and tried to forget the events of the night.

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I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I'll post the next chapter tomorrow, and then in the future every Monday and Tuesday.