plot twist
Apartment Block 17
[PLEDIS UNIVERSITY - FRONTING THEATRE]
Today 2:45 PM
me
> wONNNUUUUUUUU
> GUESS WAHT
Mingyu couldn’t contain his excitement as he texted his roommate. He had run to the university after his classmate texted him saying the audition results were posted.
Sure enough, sheets were pinned up on a board outside Fronting Theatre. Out of breath, he had scanned through the sheet when he saw his and Junhui’s names.
[LEAD] Byun Baekhyun, played by Kim Mingyu
[LEAD] Park Chanyeol, played by Moon Junhui*
[LEAD] Jung Yerin, played by Jung Eunji
[SUPPORTING] Kim Sojung, played by Kim Sohye
[SUPPORTING] Lee Jinki, played by Kim Seokjin
Please come to Room #507 for a meeting tomorrow (Friday) at 4:30 PM.
Other extra background characters have been listed on Board #2. Extras do not need to attend the meeting. Information and rehearsal schedules will be emailed.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the auditions.
“What?” Mingyu said in disbelief, tracing the page with his hands as if it were an illusion.
He read over the sheet at least ten times, not believing that his name was printed next to a lead role.
“Junhui and I got the leads?” he said to himself once again. He noticed that his acting partner, Sohye, as well as Junhui’s partner, Eunji, also got important roles.
Classmates who were passing by recognised him and congratulated him. This was undoubtedly his chance; the annual Pledis production was recognised by many talent managers and directors and those who acted in it almost always were guaranteed some sort of career in the drama industry.
He was about to text his family the good news when Wonwoo replied.
Today 2:50 PM
wonton
> sorry, i just got out of a class.
> did you get a role?
me
> WONUUUUUUUUU
> I GOT A LEAD ROLE
> I CANT BELIEVE THIS
> BUT GUESS WHAT AGAIN
wonton
> jun got the other lead?
me
> JUN GOT THE OTHER LEAD !!!!
> wait what
> oh how did you know ????
wonton
> wait seriously?
> omg
me
> you must be a wizard jeon wonwoo
wonton
> HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA WAIT REALLY
me
> YES REALLY
> You sent a photo.
wonton
> NO WAY
> do you remember me saying
> imagine if you guys got both male leads
> and now... YOU ACTUALLY DID???
me
> I KR
wonton
> now i get to watch you and jun fight over a girl
> i can’t wait
me
> :( wish me luck, hyung
wonton
> you dont need luck
> i’m the one who’s going to need the luck
me
> why??
wonton
> i’m going to have to listen to you rehearse
me
> help me rehearse then????
> please [prayer emoji]
wonton
> we’ll see
> but anyway, congratulations
me
> THATS NOT A NO
> THANKS HYUNG<3
wonton
> i told you, just call me wonwoo
me
> THANKS WONWOO<3
Junhui arrived just as Mingyu walked away from the board. He was just as out of breath as Mingyu had been, as well as hanging on to a tired-looking Minghao.
“Guys!” Mingyu greeted, jumping with excitement.
“Did we get anything?” Junhui asked hopefully.
“See for yourself,” Mingyu grinned, stepping aside to let them look at the board.
Minghao laughed and hit Junhui’s chest as he read the sheet. “See, I told you it would be fine.”
“No way,” Junhui said in disbelief. He brought Mingyu into a hug with Minghao.
“We should go celebrate,” Minghao smiled. Mingyu noticed that Junhui was looking at Minghao cautiously.
Minghao insisted on a trip to Jam Jam, saying ‘I’ll treat you’.
“But I’m the one who works there, Minghao,” Junhui raised his eyebrow.
“I’m aware,” Minghao poked Junhui, “I’ll use your employee discount and pay the remainder.”
Junhui laughed. “Whatever you want.”
“So, who do you reckon will get the girl in the end?” Minghao asked teasingly.
“What, you think this is going to be a clichéd love triangle?” Junhui asked.
“Two male leads, one female lead. What else could it be?” Minghao said.
“What if the female is the third wheel to the two male leads?” Mingyu suggested.
“A guy and a guy? You think Pledis would have the balls to perform something like that?” Minghao raised an eyebrow.
“Alright, then it’s a love triangle,” Mingyu pursed his lips. He secretly hoped that Junhui would get the girl in the end; especially if there was to be a kiss scene at the end of the play. He wasn’t sure he could convincingly act out being in love with Eunji, the female lead. Plus, Eunji had obvious chemistry with Junhui on stage, judging from their audition.
“I wonder if there’ll be a kiss scene,” Junhui voiced Mingyu’s thoughts, poking Minghao playfully.
“There better not be. Unless I’m the one you’re kissing.”
“But unfortunately, you and I both know that you can’t act for ,” Junhui turned to look directly at Minghao, grinning cheekily.
“If it’s kissing you, I’m sure I’ll be able to put on a good show,” Minghao shot back.
“Ugh,” Mingyu rolled his eyes jokingly. “Save that for the bedroom.”
“I’m sure you’ll love to do a kiss scene, Mingyu,” Junhui turned to him.
“Yeah,” Minghao agreed, “Show Wonwoo what he could have,” he winked.
“Shut up,” Mingyu turned away, cheeks heating up.
“Guy with your looks, surely you’ve kissed plenty of people,” Minghao punched Mingyu’s arm. “It’ll be a cinch.”
“I’ve never kissed anyone,” Mingyu admitted.
“I don’t believe that,” Junhui said with a sly expression. “If anything, I’ll bet you’ve already kissed Wonwoo.”
Mingyu jumped back in horror. He realised they had finally reached Jam Jam Café. “We-we’re here. Buy us food, Minghao,” he shoved Minghao forward.
“That’s rather suspicious behaviour, Mingyu,” Junhui smirked.
“W-why would I ever think about kissing Wonwoo?” Mingyu stuttered. Minghao laughed from the counter.
“Jun! You’re in early today,” Junhui’s coworker, Taehyung, called as he noticed them behind Minghao. “Wonwoo’s in the back if you want him.”
“Oh yeah. Forgot Wonwoo had work now,” Junhui said. “Perfect timing,” he nudged Mingyu.
“Perfect timing for what?” Wonwoo’s voice sounded as he exited the back kitchen.
“Uh, to say hello?” Mingyu stammered.
“Oh, hello,” Wonwoo said, unsuspicious. “I thought you guys were still at Pledis. What are you doing here?” He wiped his hands on a towel and started cleaning the counter.
“Minghao dragged us here to celebrate,” Mingyu sighed.
“Oh, okay. Congratulations, you guys,” Wonwoo gave a small smile.
“Thanks. We were just talking about a possible kiss scene,” Junhui told Wonwoo. Mingyu coughed.
“Oh,” Wonwoo looked surprised. “Is there going to be one?”
“Would you want to see one?”
“Between who and who?”
“Mingyu and a girl, obviously,” Junhui laughed.
“Oh. I was thinking you, but okay,” Wonwoo exhaled a small laugh.
“Why me?” Junhui demanded.
“I wanted to see Minghao’s reaction,” Wonwoo smirked. Minghao glared at him. “So, are you getting the scripts at that meeting on Friday?”
“I hope so. I wanna know what I signed up for,” Junhui said.
“I wanna know what you signed up for,” Minghao echoed.
“You guys in the annual Pledis production?” Taehyung joined the conversation as he finished making a customer’s order. “Wasn’t last year’s play performed on Christmas? That’s less than a month away.”
“True. But they’re normally prepared under a really short time period. It’s truly a display of professionalism,” Junhui said thoughtfully.
“Don’t you do drama too, Tae? Did you try out?” Wonwoo threw his towel into an accumulated pile of dirty ones in the corner.
“I do, but my workload’s too much to balance learning an entire play within a month,” Taehyung sighed. “Just between us, though,” he leaned in closer, “I heard they’ve made this year’s play a really sad one. Possibly sadder than last year’s.”
“Sad? Like, Romeo and Juliet kind of tragedy ‘sad’?” Mingyu raised his eyebrow.
“Probably, yeah. They wanted to do something more emotional this year. But anyway, you didn’t hear this from me. I’m not supposed to know anything,” Taehyung winked.
“Guess we’ll find out when we get our scripts,” Junhui sighed. Wonwoo and Taehyung returned to work before their manager spotted them slacking off.
While Junhui was distracted, Minghao snuck into his pocket, grabbed his bank card and swiftly paid without him noticing.
------------
[PLEDIS UNIVERSITY - ROOM #507]
The next day, Junhui and Mingyu found Room #507 in the drama building and entered to see the director of the production, as well as the three other actors already gathered in the small meeting room. Seungcheol was sitting on a table in the corner, eating some chips and talking to one of the actors - a tall, handsome boy with bleached hair and round glasses sitting on his nose.
“Hey, it’s the stars of the show,” Seungcheol peeked over the boy and grinned at Junhui and Mingyu as they entered, bowing to the director.
“Are we late?” Mingyu asked sheepishly.
“No, no. We were just about to get started. Since you’re here, we might as well start now,” the director said.
They all took a seat around the biggest table and waited for him to begin.
“Thank you all for trying out. We’re really blessed to have such a talented bunch of students this year. It was incredibly hard to choose, but we’re proud to have you star in this year’s Pledis production.”
The others clapped politely and Mingyu followed along awkwardly.
"As you all may have heard, we wanted to try something quite out of the ordinary for this year’s play. But first, I must clarify the biggest change; it will not be a female-male romance."
Mingyu turned to look at Junhui, whose eyebrows were raised in surprise. So, does that mean….
"Mingyu, Junhui,” the director turned to face the two lead actors, “Are you comfortable with acting as gay characters?”
Junhui spluttered. “Y-Yes, of course?”
Mingyu nodded. Looks like I was right. Ha, take that, Minghao.
“Alright. With that out of the way, I will give you a brief overview of the plot,” he flipped through his notes and handed them each a page-long plot summary. The title of the play was ‘Again and Again’.
“There are character profiles and an outline of the main events on there. Please study it before you open the actual script. The play will be performed in three separate parts, each an hour long. It’s scheduled to be performed in the first week of January, which is much later than previous years, due to the time constraints we will face in prop development and rehearsals. This means we have about a month and a half,” he explained.
Mingyu glanced through the character profiles and found Byun Baekhyun, the character he would be playing.
A junior college student and childhood friends with Jung Yerin. He is in love with her, though she does not feel the same way.
“The play centres around the character Byun Baekhyun, who is played by Mingyu,” the director began, indicating in Mingyu’s direction. “His character is in love with Eunji’s character, Jung Yerin. They are childhood friends.”
Eunji smiled at Mingyu. Mingyu nervously flashed a thumbs up. But if my character is gay, why is he in love with her?
“Sohye’s character, Kim Sojung, is in love with Baekhyun. She’s pretty psychotic, so after realising that Baekhyun loves Yerin, she decides to hire an assassin to kill her.”
“That’s… not cool,” Sohye laughed. “I can’t wait to play a psychotic .”
“This is when our other male lead, Park Chanyeol comes in. He’s played by Junhui,” the director continued. “He’s an orphan who grew up in a rough neighbourhood, and he’s the assassin hired by Sojung.”
“Assassin, huh? I never expected I’d play the bad guy,” Junhui grinned.
“Chanyeol isn’t necessarily a ‘bad guy’. He’s just doing his job. The play explores his attempts at taking Yerin’s life. Each attempt fails because Baekhyun protects her, and as a result, Baekhyun and Chanyeol get closer.”
“Wait, is this where the gay part comes in?” Seungcheol interrupted.
“Yes, pretty much,” the director confirmed. Junhui glanced at Mingyu cautiously.
“Baekhyun ends up spending more time with Yerin in order to protect her. Yerin gets annoyed and after an argument, she decides to seek comfort from Jinki, who is played by our Seokjin.”
“Jinki is Baekhyun’s best friend, isn’t he?” Seokjin asked.
“Yep.”
“Aw, isn’t that sad for Baekhyun?” Seokjin said. “The girl he loves doesn’t love him back… but instead, loves his best friend. Man, my character’s going to be hated.”
“Your character did nothing wrong though,” Mingyu said defensively. “It’s my character’s fault for liking Yerin.” Seokjin laughed.
“Anyway,” the director interjected, “Yerin goes to Jinki. Baekhyun still looks out for her secretly, and ends up meeting Chanyeol again. Baekhyun learns that Chanyeol was ordered to kill Yerin, but Chanyeol doesn’t say who ordered him.”
“Loyal to his master. I like it,” Sohye grinned.
“Well, Sojung paid him after all,” Junhui pointed out.
“A short time later, by chance, Baekhyun meets Chanyeol at a coffee shop,” the director continued.
“Coffee shop? How cliché,” Eunji pursed her lips. “Yet, I love it. I’m such a er for coffee shop AUs.”
“Me too!” Seungcheol blurted out. He seemingly realised his outburst and quickly muttered, “Uh, kidding.”
“Anyway,” the director said, seemingly fed up with their constant interruptions, “Baekhyun and Chanyeol start talking. Like normal friends. And Baekhyun nearly forgets he’s talking to the guy who tried to kill the girl he loves.”
“Aw, that’s cute,” Mingyu said. “I like this relationship already.”
“Kinda stuffed up, though,” Junhui added.
“What happens at the end?” Seungcheol asked.
“If you all stop interrupting, maybe we’ll get there,” the director sighed.
“Guys, shut up,” Seungcheol commanded. "Okay, tell us how it ends. I want to go back and sleep,” he said.
“About the coffee shop, Baekhyun actually followed Yerin and Jinki there. And Chanyeol happened to walk in as well.”
“Wow, your character’s such a stalker,” Junhui nudged Mingyu.
“Baekhyun and Chanyeol talk, and it eventually leads to Chanyeol telling Baekhyun ‘I like you’.”
Junhui grinned and nudged Mingyu harder. “Bet Wonwoo and Minghao won’t be happy about this.” Mingyu frowned at the mention of Wonwoo.
“Baekhyun abruptly leaves the coffee shop and causes a commotion, and Yerin sees him. Later on, Sojung approaches Chanyeol because she’s impatiently waiting for Yerin to die. Since Chanyeol hasn’t completed his job, Sojung decides to kill Yerin herself.”
“That escalated quickly,” Seokjin laughed.
“While Sojung heads to Yerin’s house, Yerin is talking with Baekhyun about the coffee shop incident. This leads to Baekhyun leaving the house in anger. On the way out, he bumps into Sojung.”
“Oh, ,” Seungcheol interjected.
“Sojung comforts an upset Baekhyun.”
“Boo,” Seungcheol complained. “I don’t ship it.”
“Long story short, after sending Baekhyun home, Sojung goes into Yerin’s house and attacks her. Chanyeol has been following Sojung the whole time, and tries to stop her from killing Yerin.”
“Damn, not so loyal anymore,” Sohye shook her head.
“Yerin’s terrified, so she calls Baekhyun. When Baekhyun arrives, he sees Sojung stab Chanyeol with his own knife.”
“Wait, my character dies?” Junhui exclaimed, flipping quickly to the end of the script.
“Yeah. After Chanyeol dies, there’s an epilogue scene which takes place ten years later. You can read the scripts tonight,” the director concluded.
“My character dies?” Junhui repeated.
“Oh, and I should mention that one of the most important scenes of the play is Chanyeol’s death scene. He kisses Baekhyun right before he dies,” the director added.
Mingyu coughed. “What?” He snatched Junhui’s copy of the play from him.
[CHANYEOL] Aw, why are you crying? (coughs) Don’t tell me… you actually like me back? (with a sarcastic tone)
[BAEKHYUN] What if I did? (a pained expression)
[CHANYEOL] (sits up with a groan)
[BAEKHYUN] What are you—
[CHANYEOL] (kisses him insistently and abruptly. As they pull apart, Baekhyun is speechless and they maintain eye contact for a while. Chanyeol breaks the silence with a soft voice) I’m sorry for leaving you before we could even begin. (groans and falls back to the ground, clutching his wound)
[BAEKHYUN] (silent for a while. He doesn’t hold back tears anymore; after a while, he whispers) Then don’t leave.
(but Chanyeol is no longer breathing)
“What?” Mingyu repeated. Seungcheol’s uncontrollable laughter filled the room.
------------
[APARTMENT #607; Wen Junhui, Xu Minghao]
Minghao couldn’t stop laughing. “Wait, let me get this straight. You and Mingyu have to kiss?” he said between laughs, clutching Junhui’s shoulder for support.
“I don’t get why you’re laughing, Minghao,” Junhui sighed. Minghao only laughed harder.
“Doesn’t this... mean... Junhui’s going to be your... first kiss?” Minghao said between his laughs, repeatedly slapping Mingyu’s back.
“Jesus Christ, Minghao,” Mingyu whined, shoving Minghao away lightly.
After the meeting, Junhui and Mingyu had met up with Wonwoo back in Junhui’s apartment. Wonwoo was sitting at their dining table, studying the plot summary intensely.
“Wait, can I see that?” Minghao calmed his laughter and sat down next to Wonwoo to read the sheet.
— CHARACTER PROFILES —
BYUN BAEKHYUN (played by Kim Mingyu)
A junior college student and childhood friends with Jung Yerin. He is in love with her, though she does not feel the same way.
JUNG YERIN (played by Jung Eunji)
A junior college student and childhood friends with Byun Baekhyun. In love with Lee Jinki, the best friend of Baekhyun.
PARK CHANYEOL (played by Moon Junhui)
An underground assassin hired by Kim Sojung to kill Jung Yerin.
KIM SOJUNG (played by Kim Sohye)
A junior college student who is madly in love with Byun Baekhyun. Hires Park Chanyeol to kill Jung Yerin, the girl who Baekhyun loves.
LEE JINKI (played by Kim Seokjin)
A junior college student and best friend of Byun Baekhyun.
“This is so much like those Korean dramas we watch, Jun,” Minghao commented.
“Right?” Junhui buried his head in his hands.
“Okay, but... objectively speaking,” Wonwoo said slowly, “shouldn’t Junhui play Baekhyun? Since he and Eunji had really good chemistry.” Minghao narrowed his eyes.
“I did ask the director why I was chosen,” Mingyu admitted, “Since I was slightly worried deep down that I was only chosen for my looks.”
Mingyu’s mother had always joked about him getting what he wanted because he was good looking, and he tried not to take the comments too seriously, but sometimes he wondered if it was actually true. He wanted to be recognised for his actual skill, not the fact that he was good looking.
“He said that my improvisation skills were really good.”
“So, forgetting your script turned out to be a good thing?” Wonwoo said incredulously.
“Yeah! He said that I actually improved on the original lines in the written script,” Mingyu said proudly.
“Anyway, I don’t think chemistry with Eunji matters as much... I mean, in the end, it’s Mingyu and Junhui kissing,” Minghao pointed out.
“Once again; why are you so happy about this?” Junhui grabbed Minghao’s shoulder.
“It’s hilarious, obviously,” Minghao grinned. “I admit, I was wrong about the love triangle thing.” Mingyu shot him an ‘I told you so’ look.
“It’s a pretty cool coincidence that this happened,” Wonwoo slipped in. “You and your acting partners all got main roles. Imagine if only one of you got the role and you had to kiss a complete stranger?”
“Yeah. Could be worse,” Junhui grinned. “But wouldn’t you love to take my spot, Wonwoo?” he added with a wink.
“No way,” Wonwoo shut him down without hesitation. “I have stage fright,” he said blatantly.
Junhui laughed in disbelief. “That’s his only reason?” he whispered to Minghao. Minghao nodded, having thought the same thing.
They were interrupted by the doorbell ringing repeatedly. Minghao glanced at the clock and jumped up immediately.
“, I forgot. I’ve got dance,” he rushed to the door, where an impatient Soonyoung was waiting.
“You can make out with Junhui later. We’re late,” Soonyoung said cheekily, poking his head in the door and waving at the others inside. Mingyu waved back.
“We’ll finish this later, then,” Minghao winked and ran after Soonyoung, who had already left.
“No, please don’t,” Wonwoo slumped and let his head hit the table.
With Minghao gone, Junhui’s expression suddenly turned serious. “Hey, have you guys felt like Minghao’s been a bit weird lately?” he asked immediately.
“Wait, what do you mean?” Mingyu was shocked by his sudden graveness.
“Have you noticed anything weird with him? Like if he’s been spacing out, or hiding from someone...”
“Hmm, when you mention it... We were going to go to Mansae together a few weeks ago. We got there and we were going to go in, but he suddenly went all pale and pulled me out of there,” Mingyu recounted. “Then he said he was sorry because he forgot he had some important work and just left. It was so sudden and when I asked him about it later, all he said was ‘sorry about that’.”
“Something’s up,” Junhui pursed his lips. “He doesn’t seem to want to tell me what it is.”
“Oh, and this thing’s been happening for quite a while, but I didn’t think about it until now,” Mingyu continued. “Sometimes I meet up with him to go for lunch in between our classes. Normally, my class ends early so I go to the dance studios to meet up with him. But almost every time I meet up with him, he always seems like he’s in a hurry and also slightly agitated or scared.”
“He does? I meet up with him sometimes and he always seems fine,” Junhui said worriedly.
“Oh, it only happens when I meet up with him at the dance studio,” Mingyu said. “I’ve met him at other classes and he seems fine.”
“That’s not like Minghao,” Wonwoo said, concerned. “Especially not telling you if something’s wrong. He tells you everything.”
“I’m worried he’s gotten into some trouble,” Junhui said. “Can you guys keep an eye out on him?”
“Of course,” Mingyu nodded.
“Thanks, you guys,” Junhui sighed in relief. He glanced at the clock. “I should probably go. I pushed my shift up to 6:30 today.”
“Ah, we’ll leave you to it, then,” Wonwoo rubbed his back comfortingly. “See you around.”
Mingyu and Wonwoo left Junhui’s apartment slightly worried about Minghao.
“Minghao has seemed a little quiet this semester,” Wonwoo said thoughtfully as they waited for the elevator.
“It’s Junhui and Minghao. They’ll be fine,” Mingyu said with a tone of finality.
-------------
[PLEDIS UNIVERSITY - FRONTING THEATRE]
“You haven’t seen him?” Minghao asked.
“Nah, I haven’t seen him a while,” Seokmin said. “He hasn’t talked to me in a while. It’s a bit weird, especially for Seungkwan.”
“Seungkwan’s never missed a dance class since we started,” Minghao pursed his lips.
“He looked off when we saw him at the aquarium,” Junhui added.
“Hmm. I’ll go round to his apartment today. What about Hansol?” Seokmin asked.
“We haven’t seen him around either,” Minghao sighed.
“Well, they uploaded a new cover a few days ago,” Seokmin pursed his lips. “They’re not dead.”
“That’s reassuring,” Minghao said sarcastically.
“Oh, there’s Jisoo. I’ll ask him if he knows anything,” Seokmin said as he jogged ahead to catch up with Jisoo.
Minghao and Junhui were at Fronting Theatre for the first rehearsal of ‘Again and Again’. Junhui had read through the script and practised some lines, but he was pretty nervous about actually starting to rehearse the play. Seokmin had tagged along for ‘moral support’.
Minghao followed Seokmin and listened in on their conversation.
“Hansol? He came round yesterday,” Jisoo said, confused. “He seemed fine. I haven’t heard about Seungkwan, though.”
“If you see him, can you tell him to answer my messages?” Minghao asked Jisoo.
“He’s ignoring your messages?” Jisoo asked.
“He never does that,” Seokmin frowned.
Minghao pulled out his phone and showed them.
Friday 9:04 PM
me
> seungkwan???
> where were you at dance
> did u ditch??? u never ditch
Saturday 1:53 PM
me
> seungkwan !!!
> are you alright?
> jun and i saw u at the aquarium on thursday...
> u didnt say hi :(
Sunday 7:42 PM
me
> answer me boo seungkwan
“He seemed fine the last time he talked to me,” Seokmin said, frowning. “But he hasn’t talked to me in a few days, now that I think about it.”
“Damn, what’s his deal?” Minghao muttered.
“He doesn’t seem like someone who’d get moody,” Junhui frowned.
The director clapped and called for actors to go backstage. Minghao squeezed Junhui’s hand as he walked off. He took a seat next to Seokmin and Jisoo. There were several people there, watching the rehearsal; including Seungcheol at the front, who looked rather tired.
“Wait, why are you here, Jisoo?” Seokmin asked.
“Jeonghan’s here to help out with props,” Jisoo said. “Plus, I wanna watch Mingyu acting, since I didn’t get to see his audition.”
After a few minutes, tables are brought out and the actors emerged and stood in position. The director came out as well, and gave them some instructions.
“We’ll be trying out some of the scenes today. They’re not in order yet, but we need to build up chemistry between all of you.” The actors nodded. “We’ll start with the coffee shop scene.”
The actors flipped through their scripts and settled down. The director called action.
Mingyu sat at a table, looking wistfully at Eunji and Seokjin, who sat at a further table.
Suddenly, Minghao sensed someone sit next to him. It was Wonwoo, who looked rather out of breath.
“Wonwoo? What took you so long?” Minghao whispered.
“Had... class,” Wonwoo whispers back, breathing heavily. “Did I miss anything?”
“They’ve just started,” Minghao said.
Back on stage, Junhui walked into the scene confidently. Mingyu suddenly looked panicked. He grabbed Junhui’s hand and pulled him down onto the seat opposite him.
“Chanyeol? What are you doing here?” Mingyu asked angrily.
“Oh, nice to see you too, Baekhyun,” Junhui smirked. “Relax, I’m just here for a coffee. I’m not going to kill Yerin here.”
“Why should I believe you?” Mingyu narrowed his eyes, gaze locked on Junhui.
“Do I look like the kind of person who’d give up a coffee to kill a girl? I have my own priorities,” Junhui said.
The two continued on talking, and Minghao couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was Junhui and Mingyu, yet, it wasn’t. They seemed so different to their usual selves it was weirding him out.
“It’s so obvious you love Yerin,” Junhui teased. “I feel bad that I have to kill her.”
“I don’t love her,” Mingyu laughed nervously. “But if you feel so bad, then don’t kill her!” his voice rose.
Junhui had to check the script again, but he delivered his lines perfectly, at least from what Minghao had read in the script.
“I’m just doing my job,” Junhui leant forward.
Mingyu scoffed. “Well, your job is stupid.”
“I’m sorry you love the girl I have to kill,” Junhui said sarcastically. “Life’s unfair.”
“Well, what about you then? Who do you like?” Mingyu demanded. “What if the person you liked were killed?”
Junhui grinned playfully. “What if I said I liked you?” Minghao gritted his teeth. He was glad it was Mingyu, and not anyone else on stage. He could barely handle Junhui looking so affectionally at Mingyu. Does he look at me like that?
Mingyu spluttered on an imaginary coffee he was drinking. “Excuse me?”
“I like you,” Junhui smiled at Mingyu.
Minghao clutched his head. That line felt too familiar.
”I like you,” Luhan whispered. “I really like you.”
Minghao gripped the armchair. Wonwoo noticed, and assuming it was because of what was happening on stage, patted his back comfortingly. Minghao was soon drowned in his own memories.
”Minghao, I love you,” Junhui smiled and hugged him. “Do you want to move in with me? Since like... you’re staying in such a dodgy apartment and... I mean, you’re still learning Korean and... You don’t have to if you don’t want to, it was a little stupid of me to ask so fast... I’m--”
“That sounds fake, but okay,” Minghao interrupted.
“What? No, I really do... I mean...” Junhui stuttered.
“I’m sorry,” Minghao whispered, as he hugged Junhui harder. “My feelings are just a bit weird right now.”
“Oh, that’s fine... I’m sorry, I’ll just--”
“Thank you.”
When Minghao snapped out of it, the scene had finished and the actors were preparing to rehearse other scenes. Wonwoo was looking at him worriedly.
“You alright?” he asked.
“Just zoned out,” Minghao said blankly. “It’s nothing to worry about.” Wonwoo frowned, clearly not believing him.
The actors wrapped up their rehearsal an hour later. Normally, rehearsals were longer but for the first day, the director let them off early. Minghao didn’t exactly want to sit there for hours, either, even if Junhui was acting on stage.
Mingyu and Junhui walked up to them, talking to another actor, Seokjin.
“I knew I’d seen you before,” Mingyu was saying.
“You two should come eat with me sometime,” Seokjin smiled. “We could do a broadcast together.”
“Getting money from eating on camera? I’m down,” Junhui grinned.
Seokmin stood up as they approached. “Wait, it’s you,” he pointed at Seokjin.
“Yes, it’s me,” Seokjin said.
“No. You’re the one who slammed the door on us--”
“Oh, you were with Seungcheol, right?”
“We wanted a Pikachu.”
“Oh, right. Sorry about that,” Seokjin said jokingly. He started laughing.
Mingyu introduced Seokjin to them; it seemed that Seokjin was a popular mukbang personality. Which meant that he broadcast himself eating, live on the internet, and people watched him.
“I’d love that kind of job,” Wonwoo sighed. “Mingyu’s probably watched you before. I always catch him watching weird stuff.”
“Not creepily,” Mingyu added quickly.
Seungcheol passed by and said hello to everyone before hurrying out of the theatre.
“He always seems like he has somewhere to be,” Mingyu sighed.
“He’s a busy guy,” Seokjin agreed.
Jisoo suddenly appeared, having gone to meet Jeonghan backstage. He had been helping prepare props with other artists.
“You guys were so good, honestly,” Jisoo said, complimenting Mingyu, Junhui and Seokjin. Jeonghan nodded. “I was pretty interested in the play.”
“How does it end?” Jeonghan asked.
“My character--” Junhui began.
“Spoilers,” Mingyu interrupted.
“Jisoo will show you a special trick if you tell us,” Jeonghan prodded.
“Stop selling me,” Jisoo prodded back. “We’ll just wait till you perform the rest of the play,” he looked pointedly at Jeonghan. Jeonghan looked disappointed.
The two of them said goodbye and left. Minghao and the others followed a while later.
“When’s the next rehearsal?” Wonwoo asked.
“Tomorrow. It’s going to be a lot longer,” Mingyu sighed.
“I’ll help you practise if you want,” Wonwoo said quietly.
“Wait, really?” Junhui interrupted.
“The play’s interesting,” Wonwoo said curtly.
“I must be dreaming,” Junhui shook his head.
Minghao gave Mingyu a -eating grin.
“Thanks, Wonwoo,” Mingyu said.
But Mingyu soon realised that practising with Wonwoo was scarier than performing in front of hundreds of strangers.
-------------
[APARTMENT #607; Wen Junhui, Xu Minghao]
Today 7:41 PM
mingu the chingu
> Help
me
> how’s practice ;)
mingu the chingu
> i’m scared
me
> ???
mingu the chingu
> wonwoo’s so good
> no offence to you but
> he’s so
me
> ur opinion is biased so i’m not offended ;)
mingu the chingu
> remember how i said i’ve never kissed anyone
me
> yeah
mingu the chingu
> i dont think thats true anymore
Junhui choked a little. He really needed to scream at someone, but Minghao was at dance class.
Today 7:43 PM
me
> jeon wonwoo
wonu
> i ed up, jun
me
> did you kiss mingyu
wonu
> it wasn’t me, it was chanyeol
me
> ....
wonu
> we were acting
me
> JONE WONWOOI
a/n;
*moon junhui is his ‘korean’ name so i just used that lol
i got a little bit too invested in writing the story of the play AHAHAHA (who doenst love an angsty tragic romance amirite)
hopefully its easy enough to understand
// also yo are u guys as shook as i am by boom boom ?! //
i’m in love with the entire album. probably my favourite album as a whole so far!! they keep on improving and i’m so proud of them for showing off such a different side yet managing to stay true to their roots.
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