Nichkhun thought he heard a jack hammer and it was digging into this skull. He heard conversations in between the relentless pounding he felt:

"I only have ice cream. It's in the fridge." A voice said in Korean. It sounded funny but cute. He knew that voice. It felt very calming but also sent his heart fluttering in uptick beats and he wanted very much for it to continue talking.

He couldn't open his eyes. He was lying on something hard and smooth and cool. The floor? How did that happen? He was supposed to be at the backstage at Hunan TV studios, preparing for the very first promotion activity and reducing himself into a mix of nerves and anticipation as he saw Victoria again for the first time after that disaster of a morning when he walked out on her. She was across that hallway of sorts which was the space between the stage set and the exit and entrace doors, now walking towards his direction with Xiao Li.  

"Where? There's only milkshake here. Are you sure, unnie? You're not hallucinating?" Answered another, equally familiar voice and weird Korean, that reminded him of a cute animal at a farm somehow. It snapped him back to the present. Or was this the present? Arghhh... His head was about to explode literally from the pain.

"Yes, Ben & Jerry's. I'm sure it's there - I can even tell you what the flavor is: vanilla. Use your eyes and not your mouth!" Nichkhun wanted to laugh at the exasperated tone but the minute he started to, the pounding in his head got worse.

"What is he even doing here anyway? Barging into unnie's apartment like this?" This time, even with his eyes still shut, Nichkun could still vividly picture someone rolling her (yes, it was a she!) eyes at him.

"But it's expired, noona, 1 month ago!" A male voice answered. Who's that guy? Nichkhun wondered.

"Aish, pabo! We're not feeding it to appa, we're putting it on that lump on his head! Here you go, umma." Yet another different voice rebutted and everyone else was became silent.

"Appa? Umma?" Who were these people that were so familiar, they sounded like his family. Nichkhun wondered in his state of befuddlement. Suddenly he felt a very cold solid mass was being pressed on his forehead and he came to slowly, remembering as he racked his brain for what really had transpired.

[A few hours earlier, Hunan TV station studios]

He was standing there in the hallway, waiting for his queue behind the set, when he saw her: the love of his life, Victoria Song Qian. His Qian. Just that she didn't know yet because for 10 plus years he never had the b*lls to confess and tell her clearly. "Damn it, Khun, man up!" He berrated himself as his heart did another sommersault as Victoria was now closer and he could see how radiant and beautiful she looked; the outfit was simple - a modest silk top, very chic and a skirt that despite it barely above her knees, was hugging her figure and accentuating it.

Although he thought privately that she might be getting too skinny recently and was a bit worried about her health as he followed news and saw photos of her before and when he finally met her in person, it still sure had a certain effect on him. He remembered how she felt in her arms that night, so fragile that he was very careful so he woudn't hurt her as he hovered above her and when he finally pushed into..."Stop! Stop! Jamkkaman!" He had to catch his wild imagination before as he felt the stirring of his little buddy downstairs with the recollection of their intimate moment. He crossed both arms in front of him to cover whatever might already be bulging on his pants, below his belt line. He didn't notice he was blanking out until the goddess, err, Victoria, in front of him waved her hand in front of his face.

"Nichkhun-ssi, you don't seem yourself. Are you alright?" Victoria said with a small smile, stepping closer towards him, concern on her face.

"Ah, yes, of course" He answered finally, schooling his face into a more civilized man's expression. "Damn it, Horvejkul! Get your brains outta the gutter!" he scolded himself and cleared his throat with a cough. "Sorry, I was just a bit under the weather." He felt himself calm down finally as he focused on her eyes.

"I figured you must be. You weren't responding for a while. So, I was saying, in case we need to discuss anything related to the promotion tour, can I get your number?" Victoria asked. When Nichkhun was still not responding, she hurriedly added: "Or even just your handler's number - that'll work just fine. Just so we can coordinate schedules or other details needed."

To say that Nichkhun's brain got short-circuited could be a contender for the biggest understatement in the world. He was first stunned finally breathing the same air as "his Qian" that he thought he was having a cardiac arrest (with an added side of an almost "hard-on") and then caught off guard by her unusually casual tone. It was a miracle that he was able to gather his wits about him and managed to nod with a faint smile, to say "Of course! You can contact me directly - I'll give you both my personal mobile and work number. My personal number didn't change you know."

They exchanged numbers. Initially, Nichkhun felt a wave of relief that Victoria seemed so calm and composed. The only ripple in an otherwise placid lake was that Victoria's eyebrow slightly darted up when he mentioned that his number hadn't changed. She didn't make a comment but just took out her phone in her purse to hand to Nickhun. As he typed his number on her phone and pressed the green button to call his own mobile, he decided she was too calm that her level of self-possession in that moment him was very weird. It left Nickhun with a sense of unease.

As the show finally started and continued, every time the PD cued for a break, Victoria even managed to smoothly initiate a conversation with him in a casual manner and they shared jokes with the host, leaving the audience none the wiser about the emotional complexities between them. He couldn't put it to words clearly but he felt as if an invisible barrier was again between them, a formidable moat guarding her emotions. Despite his inner turmoil and suspicions that Victoria's composed demeanor seemed like a deliberate shield, fortifying the walls he had hoped to break through and even if it left him with with a foreboding feeling specially about the success of his main goal of coming back to Beijing this time, Nichkhun maintained his composure.

The filming wrapped up and the host graciously thanked them both for coming. Nichkhun tried to move close to Victoria and Xiao Li to talk to her. He had to get working on that goal of his -- to at least apologise for just leaving that morning and at least re-build that connection between them. However, there was a bit of commotion in the studio as the fans in the audience started filing close to the stage to get their pictures and autographs. Although Victoria did take a few photos with some of the fans, she had to apologise along with Xiao Li explaining that she had to go somewhere else for a prior commitment. Victoria did nod and smile politely his way and just like that she was gone. "Did she learn ninja skills as well after all these years?" Was all Nichkhun could think of as he absent-mindedly signed more autographs.

Nichkhun finally arrived at the hotel he was staying at in Beijing after what seemed to be an eternity (even if it was just another 15 minutes after Victoria left) of tortorous smiling at the selfi-cameras for fans given that he felt so deflated since Victoria was no longer in proximity. He was in for a pleasant surprise and his eyes widened in delight as he spotted two familar figures in the lobby. He approached them with a wide smile. "Amber! Henry! What are you guys doing here?"

Amber grinned mischievously. "We're here for the new season of Hot Blood Crew, but don't spill the beans - it's supposed to be a secret!" As they chatted for a while there, Nichkhun learned that the rest of f(x) girls were actually in Beijing as well. Luna's musical premiered a couple of days ago and Krystal was flying in tonight from promoting a film in Cannes. "Yeah, so Vic unnie probably went to pick her up from the airport that's why you said she left hurriedly. I'm headed there after Henry and I get catch a couple of drinks, just waiting for unnie's text that they're back at her apartment." Amber added.

Nichkhun felt relieved. Perhaps the distance and coldness he felt from Victoria during the TV guesting was just because she had her mind pre-occupied with picking up Krystal from the airport and her members visiting her in Beijing. He quickly hatched a plan. "How about we hang out? All of us: f(x), I'l be 2PM's representative, and Henry for Super Junior M? It could be a great way to catch up. Just like the old days!"

Henry chuckled. "I don't mind at all! We were looking for something to do anyway since an important judge in the show called in with an emergency and filming start is pushed to the day after tomorrow."

"Call! It'll be a surprise for Vic unnie! Let's get some drinks at the bar here first then while we wait. There's a service van that will drive us to unnie's place when they're ready to have us."

So the three of them went to the bar, with Nichkhun secretly hoping for a chance to see Victoria. After about an hour, they were on their second pints already. They laughed, shared stories, and enjoyed the evening, but things took an unexpected turn. Henry's phone buzzed and as he read the message, his forehead scrunched a bit and then his eyes (and nostrils too!) grew wide as he looked up from scrolling on his phone to both Amber and Nichkhun's faces that were full of anticipation. "Hyung," he finally managed to begin. "Are you back together with her?"

Nichkhun thinking it was Victoria that Henry was pertaining to, raked his hair nervously. "Umm, I was finally going to tell her how I felt all these years but I just haven't gotten the chance yet. She just left so fast and--"

"Ya! You've gotten back with Tiffany?" Amber asked Nichkhun. "But isn't the internet on fire just a couple of weeks ago because you posted a selca on your IG account with Vic unnie?"

"What? Who?" Nichkhun was just as perplexed if not more than the two before him.

"You and Tiffany got back together during Shiwon's birthday party earlier in April this year. She wasn't happy about you filming a drama with Victoria and she got mad with your post in IG of that selca with Vic noona. You had fight and that's why you suddenly left Beijing for Thailand to meet Tiffany there to settle things. She flew with you here to Beijing to keep you in line, to make sure your fickle heart doesn't get lured in again by Victoria's charm. That's what it says here." Henry put up his phone for Nichkhun to read for himself.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Maldo andwae! No, that's impossible!" He whipped up his cellphone to quickly call Victoria. To his relief, the call connected and he heard the very voice he missed so much "What's up Nickhun?"

"Did you see that news? About me and--"

"Tiffany? Yeah."

"Look, Qian ~ Victoria, I need to explain--"

"[Unnieeeee!!!!!]" Nichkhun heard an excited screaming of another voice at Victoria's side of the line. "I really have to go, Nichkhun-ssi." Victoria said.

"But--" And the line went dead amidst Nichkhun's protest. He looked at Henry and Amber. "I'm not with her. She was just on board the same flight to here and we did coincidentally were seat mates. I didn't even know she was in Thailand..."

"So you said you were going to finally confess your feelings and those feelings are for my Vic unnie?" Amber asked to which Nickhun only nodded, his brows still frowned and nursing the bottle of beer in his hands.

Henry put up a fist pump! "Assa! See, I was right! A guy wont take photos of a girl and post them on his social media if he wasn't interested."

While Amber and Henry were engaged in their ususal playful and hilarious banter of "I told you so / No you didn't!", a text message arived for Nickhun. It was from Victoria and it read: "Chukhahaeyo. I'm happy for you both."

"Noo!!!!! NO!!!" Nickhun quickly redialed but Victoria wasn't answering. He tried to call her many times but it at some point the voice message clicked in. What was he gonna do now? He could already hear the gears turning in Victoria's mind, adding 2 and 2 and coming up with the conclusion that he was just a good for nothing womaniser after all. He slept with her while he was supposedly in a relationship with his ex. He wanted to make Victoria a sort of a "mistress" / third-party in all this mess and that was why it that easy for him to leave her that morning. Why would he bother or waste his time arguing with her when clearly there was another willing woman waiting for him if all he wanted was someone to warm his bed and a tussle under the sheets? The bar tender approached at that time. "Any more last orders?"

"Scotch on the rocks, whiskey -- double shot. A bottle of tequila! Yes, all for me!"

"Hyung!!!" Henry shouted in protest.

"Oppa! Appa!" Amber tried to stop him from downing the rest of his beer in one shot. It was still quite full. But she couldn't stop him. When his additional orders of lethal drinks came, they couldn't stop him either. He swigged them all and at some point he out.

That was the last that Nichkhun could remember and he was back to the present where he was lying on the floor with something cold pressed on his forehead. He was feeling more lucid and the loud jackhammering was toning down to a dull pounding on his forehead, right at the spot in contact with the cold compress. He dared to open his eyes slowly. He saw his feet and beyond them, a few feet away, he saw rows of shoes neatly stacked on racks and beside it was what looked like a solid wooden door with carvings. So he seemed to be inside someone's home, or barely made it inside, as he's obviously in the foyer still. He continued to look up, initially he was blinded by the strong light from the ceiling. When his eyes adjusted finally what he saw made the corners of his mouth automatically curled up in the what he could feel was the biggest smile he ever flashed that day -- one that probably would make Hottest fans faint all over the world -- and all because of what he saw: a pair of the loveliest and cutest bunny eyes, capped with equally lovely brows even if they hinted surprise.

"Nae wife-ida!" He said dreamily. Another pair of critical eyes popped within his line of vision, blocking his view and said: "Oh my gosh! Finally he's awake! What's with that smile, ewww? All that's missing is some drool and the picture would win the Daesang for the silliest epxression award wanbyeokhagae! (perfectly), baek pureu (100%)"

"Ya, Soojung-ah. Stop that and just help me get him up. Nichkhun-ssi, can sit up?" Victoria said, removing what seemed to be a pint of frozen ice cream from his forehead and setting it down by his side as she tried to prop him up next.

"Oh so the expired ice cream worked!" Henry happily boomed next. Nichkhun murmured as if on queue "Vanilla". He heard Victoria click her tongue "Tsk, he's still down I think." 

"Appa's brain might have suffered a lot of damage." Luna came to help Victoria heave him up to make him lean against a nearby wall.

"You shouldn't have slammed the door that hard, Soojungie." Said Amber but Krystal just gave her a cold glare as she stood up. "I'm calling my Jessica unnie to get Tiffany unnie's number, she should come over and collect her mess of a boyfriend."

"Aniyo! Stop!" Nichkhun finally came to his senses at that.