Chpt 19

A Reason to Stay

Their next location was at a campsite, where there were cameras surrounding a grill, next to which stood a long table filled with side dishes and prime Korean beef and beef brisket. The members immediately expressed their excitement, especially JunHo, who did a little dance in front of the cameras.
As the PD and the cameramen began rolling, the PD announced,
“Okay, so today, whoever wins the game will get that delicious meal over there, that will be prepared by a very special guest.”
“A girl group?” JongMin hurriedly asked.
The PD shook his head and glanced behind him, towards the group of cameramen, just as someone emerged.
“Our guest chef today will be…Lee JongHyun of CNBLUE!” the PD announced.
Momentarily forgetting to act, Nari’s face dropped as she saw her ‘boyfriend’ arrive. 
JongHyun ran over to Nari and placed his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. Nari caught on and smiled widely, leaning into him. 
“I just want to say,” JongHyun announced, “that even if Nari loses, I will serve her more than any of the winners.” 
The other members, all but JooHyuk, clapped, acknowledging his boyfriend-like behavior. 
Nari nodded along with JongHyun and smiled for the cameras. 


As the cameramen set up for the game, the members sat around a picnic table, mindlessly chatting. JongHyun went to sit next to Nari, but JooHyuk rushed in and took the spot. 
“Excuse me, hyung, but can I sit next to my girlfriend, please?” JongHyun asked, emphasizing the word ‘girlfriend’..
JooHyuk looked at the idol and smirked. “The cameras are off; you don’t need to act right now.”
JongHyun scoffed at his hyung. “She may be acting, but my feelings are sincere.” There was no mistaking the confidence in his voice. 
Nari and the other 2D1N members looked at JongHyun, shocked. They had no clue of JongHyun’s feelings. 
Ignoring the idol’s words, JooHyuk stood up. “No matter what you feel, Nari’s feelings are the most important. Therefore, as long as she says that she doesn’t feel anything for you, the two of you will never be anything more than Agency pals.” JooHyuk’s tone was vicious and, sensing the rising tension, Nari got up to separate them. Neither of them looked at Nari, too immersed in their own silent conflict.
When the PD called over to them, all signs of tension dissipated. Despite what they individually felt, their desire to be professionals came to the forefront. 

After the games ended, it was resulted that Nari, JoonYoung and JunHo lost. 
As the winners moved to get served by the deemed grill-master, JongHyun, JooHyuk nudged Nari to sit next to him, on the end.
When JongHyun took the first piece of meat off the grill, he moved it to Nari, who graciously accepted it. She gave the members and the cameras a thumbs up, clearly satisfied with the taste of the meat. Afterwards, Jonghyun served the winners equal amounts and, as he was about to feed Nari another piece, JooHyuk called her.
“Nari-ah, taste this for me,” he said, holding a piece of perfectly cooked meat in front of her. Upon seeing this, JongHyun pushed his piece closer to . For the sake of the cameras, Nari accepted JongHyun’s piece. 
JooHyuk’s face fell, but just before he turned away, Nari took his chopsticks from him, managing to keep the meat between them, and served the piece to JooHyuk. When she served him, JooHyuk blushed, for the world to see.
JongHyun sensed that he was losing, but he knew he had an advantage. Quickly, he bent down to face Nari and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, ensuring that the cameras were on the two of them. JooHyuk didn’t miss a thing and when he turned to glare at the guitarist, JongHyun did the same thing, except this time, he pulled Nari’s face towards him and gave her a peck on her lips. 
Nari sat still, while JooHyuk slammed his clenched fist on the table, surprising everyone. TaeHyun signaled the cameramen to avert their cameras for the time being. While JooHyuk and JongHyun continued to glare at each other, JooHyuk pulled Nari to stand up. He held her shoulders and angled her to face him. Nari looked at him, her eyes wide and confused. JooHyuk held Nari’s face and bent down, kissing her hard. The members gasped and stopped eating. However, the kiss didn’t last long. Nari pushed him away and slapped him across the face, enraged. Then she turned and did the same thing to JongHyun. Next to being framed, she hated being played with. 
“If you’re going to kiss me, don’t let it be because you want to prove a point!” Nari yelled before returning to her seat.  
The tension grew, as the two men slowly sat back down. 
“Nari-ah,” they both said, synchronized. They glared at each other once again and made a move to apologize, but Nari was too worked up to accept anything they had to say.
“Could we get back to lunch, please?” Nari asked, looking at the PD. He nodded and the cameras were up once more, and everyone, professionally, returned to their happy selves.

When the shoot was over the next day, Nari saw JooHyuk waiting for her in front of her van. She knew that she couldn’t avoid him forever, so she strolled up to him, looking him squarely in the eye.
“Nari-ah, I just wanted to apologize for….” He began to speak, but Nari lifted her hand, signaling him to stop.
“I know and I forgive you, but don’t you dare try to pull a stunt like that again, okay?” she said, scolding him but smiling at the same time.
JooHyuk breathed a sigh of relief and smiled for the first time that morning. He pulled Nari towards him and lifted her face to his, before kissing her passionately. 
“Hey, must you do that here?” JunHo yelled as he passed by on the way to his van. 
Instead of breaking away from each other, JooHyuk waved him off and kept Nari in place simultaneously. He felted Nari smiling through the kiss and continued. Eventually, YongKi’s Manager approached them, and they finally broke away from each other. 
“Oh, Nari-ah!” JooHyuk said, as she entered the van. “I want to introduce myself to your father, properly this time. Do you think we can?”
Nari’s face stilled at the mention of her family. She wanted everyone to know the truth about her and JooHyuk, but as long as the article about her and JongHyun’s ‘relationship’ was around, she didn’t want to challenge the press and risk her fans. 
“Oh, right,” JooHyuk said, remembering how she felt about her parents. “Maybe later, when things clear up. You should go home and get some rest. I’ll call you later, okay?”
Nari nodded and smiled at him once more, before the van left. She looked back at him and felt a wave of guilt overcome her. She knew the protocol of introducing someone to your parents, but after her father’s warning last time, she didn’t know if she could go through with it. She had strong feelings for JooHyuk, of course, but was the right to act on them? 

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City-of-Cnblue #1
Chapter 37: Enjoyed this soooo much! Debak!
Yongmi5 #2
Chapter 37: Thanks for writing such a great story. I really enjoyed it. Fighting!!
Yongmi5 #3
Chapter 15: Nari is more complex than I thought. She does have many issues to resolve. Food being just one of them. Thanks for the update. Fighting !!
Yongmi5 #4
Chapter 9: I just found this today and I thought I would give it a try. It 's really good and the flow is good too. You are very talented and just want to encourage you to keep writing. I like Nari a lot. I think she and Jonghyun would make the perfect couple since they are both musicians. Anyway fighting!!