Happenstance

“When I tell you I love you, I don’t say it out of habit. I say it to remind you that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

“Ah seriously London really is the best!” Yonghwa stated after he took a big sip of his beer.

It was early evening and Shinhye and he had already visited Madam Tussauds, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, almost completing the L – tour he had planned around the city. The name was actually Shinhye’s idea after she took a look at the map he had printed out. If you connected each attraction with a line it formed the letter “L”. Yonghwa had then jokingly called it their Love tour around London and Shinhye playfully suggested that he should better write a song about it later on. Now they only had the London Eye left but since they were both a bit exhausted and Yonghwa’s stomach ached for some food they had decided to take a break first.

They were sitting in the very back of a small, traditional restaurant, enjoying fish and chips since Shinhye had really wanted to try it once. There were only a couple of locals around who didn’t pay any attention to them at all. It was the best holiday they ever went on, Yonghwa thought. It almost felt like they were just another ordinary couple and he loved how they were able to simply be themselves in public for a change.  

Shinhye couldn’t help but giggle a little. Some of the whitecap of Yonghwa’s typical british beer had stayed behind on his lips making him look like a very happy but grown up too fast five-year-old child that just had some milk during lunch. She felt her heart flutter seeing the cute side of her rock star boyfriend. It was hard to imagine this sight of him whilst knowing how he looked when he performed songs like Coffee Shop or Tattoo on stage.

Even if there were millions of fangirls out there she was the one  woman being able to see the rare sides of him. Yonghwa could be serious, playful and y – as everyone knew - but you seldom saw him showing off a cute image. There were so many facets to Jung Yonghwa that the public – sometimes even his band mates - didn’t know about and she felt very lucky to be the one to actually get to see each and every of them.      

“Yah, Yong-ah! How come you cannot even drink like an adult when you are so old already?” Shinhye teased while looking at him adoringly.

“What do you mean?” He asked confused.

“Aish this guy! You still have half of the foam on your lips…” She laughed.

“Jeongmal?” Yonghwa uttered.

Just when he was about to wipe it off Shinhye caught his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. She gave him one of her very deep and meaningful looks that never failed to make his heart beat faster, letting him freeze for a second. She grinned cheekily at the sight of his facial expression before suddenly leaning forward and softly kissing away the rest of the whitecap left on his lips.

Yonghwa’s mind went blank at her unexpected action. It was the first time they ever kissed in public while still being surrounded by other people and the moment couldn’t have suited the both of them better, he thought. Their playfulness was getting the best of them again.

Yonghwa never imagined Shinhye to anticipate something like this but to him it was a break through moment he would probably cherish forever. It seemed like his girlfriend finally felt save, being so far away from Korea and their sometimes burdensome fame. She was eventually finding back her true colour and Yonghwa couldn’t help but blissfully smile into their sweet kiss while feeling truly blessed that - after everything that happened - they were still together, going stronger than ever.

“Saranghae Shinhye-yah” Yonghwa whispered after they finally broke their kiss.

Shinhye smiled at him happily.

“Not as much as I love you” she stated showing him a bit of aegyo which caused him to grin even wider.  

“I am not sure about that. Let’s go with we love each other equally, arasso?”

“Hmmmm…well… okay, because you’re cute Yongie today” Shinhye agreed after looking at him teasingly, causing Yonghwa to crunch his nose at her last comment.

“Yonghwa-ssi” The both of them were suddenly interrupted.

Yonghwa’s and Shinhye’s head immediately spun around when they realised that someone was talking to them in Korean. Their hearts were racing until they recognised two familiar faces looking at them in surprise.

“Suzy-ssi” Yonghwa eventually answered while tightly holding onto Shinhye’s trembling hand under the table. Since they came to London he felt like he had lost at least ten years of his life due to unnecessary scares, always feeling on the edge of finally being found out. He wondered if it actually was a good idea to set up this city date after all.  

“Annyeong, Shinhye-yah. I didn’t expect to see you here” The other person greeted as well.

Shinhye slowly lifted her head to be able to look straight at the couple standing in front of their table. She took another side glance at Yonghwa and felt her heart drop. Their trip around London had been like a rollercoaster ride so far. Whenever she finally started to relax something would pop up and cloud the sunshine. It was as if they were jinxed.

“Annyeong Minho Oppa. It’s been a while” Shinhy