Kikwang’s smile was plastered on his face ever since he left Min in front of her apartment. He was walking happily, not caring about the people who had glanced at him, thinking that he’s weird for smiling alone. His house wasn’t that far from Min’s but he needs to ride the bus if he wants to get home immediately. But he was totally oblivious of time and everything else. For at that moment, he was genuinely happy.

Why do I feel so light?

Then, a big hand landed on his back. He was startled and he turned around in a heartbeat.

“Yah, Lee Kikwang! Don’t you hear me calling you??”

“Yang Yoseob! Ahahaha~” He laughed and gave him a brohug. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean? I live here! What are YOU doing here at this time with that big freakish smile on your face? And why do you have gauze on your chin?”

“Ahahaha~” he looked around and saw that he had already crossed Min’s district into Cube’s.  “Wait, since when do you live here?”

“Since I became a trainee!” Yoseob said proudly with his hands held up.

Kikwang laughed and congratulated Yoseob sincerely. He has always adored Yoseob and his voice. To see that he will possibly be training with him excited him. They went over to the nearest park and sat on the bench while Yoseob dined on a sandwich. They talked about what’s been up with each other, so Yoseob found out the reason behind Kikwang’s smile.

“Aahhh~ I see you’re in love again, aren’t you!” Yoseob teased while Kikwang only laughed. “You were always the guy that was always in love with someone!”

“I am not in love!” He argued with a laugh. “I just really like her company, that’s all!” He said with a nod, trying to convince Yoseob and himself that he wasn’t growing a crush.

“Aigoo~ You are! Look at those cheeks flush! How long have you known her?”

Kikwang laughed again and held his face and felt that they were warm. “I am not in love, Yang Yoseob! And I just met her…” he thought about when he met Min but felt like he has been with her for a long time. “I met her this Valentine’s day.”

Yoseob’s face was in awe. “You guys met on a blind date?? Amazing!” Kikwang laughed and told him that there was no blind date and that he met her by chance in a convenience store. He told him how they met and about Min being a former JYP trainee like both of them.

Yoseob was admiring their story. He told Kikwang that it seemed so unrealistic that it could only happen in movies. Kikwang laughed and said, “But it did happen! It really is how we met each other!”

Kikwang smiled and thought about the day he had spent with Min. He then remembered about Min’s complexity. “You know… She’s so weird. It makes her so interesting… I can’t stop thinking about her.” he thought aloud. Yoseob snickered at Kiwang’s words. He shook his head and continued eating.

“She is so full of energy. She moves with so much grace as if every movement she makes is a dance.” He said, not looking directly at Yoseob. “And her voice… Though I haven’t heard her sing, it’s… Very soothing to my ears. Sometimes, her voice jumps up so high when she’s excited. Her voice is like her moodring.” He snickered and continued, “She’s like the very personification of spring… Lively and beautiful.”

He looks like he’s lost in a trance… Cheesy and creepy.

Kikwang was enthralled and his eyes gave it away to Yoseob. But his expression changed to a more serious one. “She doesn’t like to be touched though. And she becomes aloof even in the slightest movement I make that may seem like I would touch her… While that’s a bit understandable as she is a girl and I am a guy she just met… It kinda seems too much, you know? And she gets scared a lot… She looks like she wants to cry oftentimes… Does she think I will hurt her?” he asked himself. Yoseob just stared at him, listening.

“I don’t want to hurt her though… She seems so fragile. I won’t hurt her…” He looked at Yoseob and added, “I feel like… I should protect her.” He stopped as he remembered the story the guard told him. “I fear that something really bad had happened to her and that she still hasn’t forgotten about it. I wish I could protect her from whatever it is that she’s scared of…” he sighed and felt bad that he doesn’t know what to protect Min from.

Yoseob nodded, realizing that Kikwang is indeed very infatuated over this girl he is talking about. “You got it bad, man… So bad!!” he shivered and Kikwang felt embarrassed. He feared for their future and said the unthinkable, “She probably knows Hyuna, right? Since she was a JYP trainee…” Kikwang looked at Yoseob and hoped that he’s wrong. “Does she know about what happened in 2007?”

Kikwang slowly shook his head, feeling a sharp pain in his chest. He wanted to hold on to it, but restrained because of Yoseob. “Kikwang, this is just my advice, okay? I just don’t want to see a dear friend making the same mistakes again, you know what I mean?” Kikwang nodded as Yoseob put his hand over his shoulder.

“If you wanna be an idol, I hope this time around you restrain yourself. Dating an idol might have been hard on you because of all the scandals, but I think dating a normal person is harder…” He stopped and sat back on the bench’s armrest. “They would have a hard time understanding that what you do is purely work.  They would probably make conclusions in their head about people you work with. Or they would find out about the scandals that involve you and they would think twice whether the relationship you two have are genuine! And they could get hurt, too...” he said faintly while looking at Kikwang. Kikwang was just staring into the front, listening to Yosoeb attentively. “You know how fans are… You wouldn’t want to hurt someone you love, right?”

Kikwang remembered the time Hyuna and him were just JYP trainees. They were happy just to be able to see each other training. The only time they could be together was at night or at other secret places. And when Hyuna told some of the trainees about their relationship, it got slightly better because they helped cover for them. But then she debuted and all the problems started popping. Then he found out about a secret he never thought existed…

He closed his eyes to make the memory go away. “Thanks, Yoseob…” he said as he faced him with a weak smile on his face. “I think I’ll do just that.” Kikwang nodded. “I won’t let myself fall in love with her.”  He looked up at the sky and sighed. “She deserves someone better than me anyway…”