Dream It (And It Will Come True)

 

It all started as a suggestion – more of a joke suggestion than a real suggestion suggested by raging fangirls currently under the high of spazzing. Just how dangerous was that? Well, it was dangerous enough to change paths. Not lives, because this was their life, but paths because the road they were going to take was a road full of uncertainties. But what road isn’t, really?

Opportunity knocked and they – Laurel Lee and Mia Kim – didn’t want it to be but once which was why even if they both have secured jobs in the Philippines, jobs that would most likely feed them and make them seem like normal, functioning adults, they still packed their luggage, enough supplies for them to survive even if things didn’t work out in the end, withdrew as much money as they have in their bank accounts and left some, in case things didn’t work out like how they hoped it would (See? They weren’t that delusional.), kissed their parents, thanked them for everything, and convinced them that no, they wouldn’t be flying to a foreign country because of some boyband but because they wanted to try this dream, with boy group or not, and flew to Seoul.

It wasn’t that stupid. Really. And they also weren’t that, you know, high. If things didn’t work out discouragingly, there were still jobs for them waiting in the Philippines hopefully. They didn’t resign. It was unfair to their companies, but they needed to have security, too, right? Fangirls had to be smart.

There were job offers for both of them. It just didn’t exactly fit with their qualifications because they were over qualified. Their agent – Ms. Hanni – was even convincing them to look for better jobs, white-collar jobs, like the ones they have back in the Philippines. It might not be as white as what they had back but just something white, because they were that qualified. But those job offers were under the JYP Entertainment. If they were lucky enough, they could even ride the elevator with the GOT7 and meet their biases’ eyes while walking around the building. What better job could they ask for? Okay. So maybe they were still young and they were just chasing over their happiness – their dream (See? It wasn’t all lies, more like a cover up.) – but who could blame them? Aren’t we all? Or better yet, shouldn’t we all?

It was like that quote Laurel saw in Facebook, “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in your office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” They climbed the mountain. Or the plane, more or less. They flew to Incheon and – fortunately – everything turned out perfectly.

 

Perfect is and will always be a relative term though.

Perhaps because Ms. Hanni was also a fangirl like them, a hardcore fangirl, if you were going to ask them, she felt her heart move towards Yura (or Laurel) and Mijin (or Mia) as she helped them adjust in Korea. (They both decided that to adjust easier, it would be better if they use Korean names since Mia and Laurel was, well, very foreign. Mia chose Mijin because it was close to her Taiwanese name. Laurel, on the other hand, had a more complex descent. Her mother was half-Japanese and half-Korean while her father was half-Russian and half-Filipino. Most her life, she lived using her birth name Laurel because she was born in Russia and she was baptised as Laurel there. Using Laurel was not a problem in the Philippines, too, even though she was often bullied when she was younger because her name was also the name of an herb people use for cooking. It was a different story when they were visiting her mother’s family in Japan though. She was called Yura there because of her grandparents. They gave her that name when she first visited there when they couldn’t understand what Laurel meant. Yura meant “joined love”. It was sort of fitting from Korea to Japan to Russia to Philippines. So she decided to just use Yura in Korea as well.)

They met Ms. Hanni during her vacation in Manila near Gateway when GOT7 had their second fanmeeting in the country. She became unfamiliar with the place after being away for more than five years and the stars probably aligned in luck for Yura and Mijin because they were the ones who met her. She was a Filipino-Japanese (so she and Yura actually had a lot to talk about) but she lived most of her life in the Philippines until she flew to Korea to fulfill her dreams of living there permanently, in the country where she truly thinks and feels she belongs. She was – and is – an H.O.T fan even after the group disbanded. She said she never felt the same pull and hold H.O.T had in her from other, younger idol groups but she still loved the hallyu wave very much, and the girls could understand. Some people think that you only dream of living in Korea because of some boy or girl groups, and while that may be the case for others, there are still more to Korea than hallyu. It’s a beautiful, beautiful country. Plus, you get to be more than a thousand and six hundred miles nearer to your idols which is really a big plus.

A couple of days after flying to Incheon and driving to Seoul, looking for a safe but cheap place to live in with the help of their kind, kind agent, they started working under JYP Entertainment, despite the initial slight discomfort because of the drastic change in temperature since it was literally fever-temperature in Manila and it was snowing in Seoul. It was mid-November then. Talk about climate change.

Even though Mijin suggested that they should be personal maids, fortunately, they didn’t because their parents might go to Seoul and drag them back to the Philippines if they were really maids. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a maid, no. Of course not. It was a decent job. But they knew their parents would still drag the hell of them back to Philippines and well, they could honestly understand. 

They started out as janitors.

.

.

.

Kidding. Well, they were sort of janitors? Sort of but not exactly. To be completely fair, Ms. Hanni have been very persuasive even after they were already at Seoul that they should look for better jobs first in other companies; she even offered to help them until they can find better jobs and transfer to JYP Entertainment, if that’s where they really want to work, when the company has better job offers for them but neither of them wanted to pass on the chance of working in JYP Entertainment already. She told them they would be part of the staff team but she couldn’t be certain as to what specific job assignment would be given to them.

They were assigned to an up and coming boy group called DAY6 and while they also love the boys, they were honestly hoping that they would be assigned to GOT7. Never mind that their job was cleaning after everything the artists, managers, coordinators, and stylists leave as part of the team but not really anybody in the above mentioned titles. And never mind that they really didn’t have a job description besides doing practically everything the above mentioned titles weren’t doing. Or couldn’t do anymore. Oh well, at least their job title is “staff.” It was the professional term for “helper.”

Two months later, Yura was transferred to JYP’s newest girl group, TWICE, because they lack people in their team with more members in the group than DAY6. It was about eight months. They practically couldn’t see each other because DAY6 and TWICE have different schedules. There would be times when Mijin would be gone for a couple of weeks abroad for DAY6’s schedule and just when she was about to return to Korea, Yura would be flying to Japan or China for TWICE’s schedule.  The only time they could catch up was during phone calls or when they see each other at home, which was rare, by the way. Sleeping at home has become an inconvenient option for them even if they wanted to. Sleeping just wherever has become more convenient than taking time to go home. They learned to sleep in empty practice rooms or in dressing room while they wait for the artists’ particular schedule in a particular location.

Luckily, they did meet GOT7 around the company multiple times (too many times for them to handle the feels each time, actually), and also during music shows and events where DAY6 and TWICE were also participating in. Even if meeting them around should be normal after eight freaking months, they would still fangirl whenever they did.

 

To: Mijin

From: Yura

OMG!!! Youngjae talked to me

/dead/

 

To: Yura

From: Mijin

WHAT?!!!! NOT FAIR. YOU’RE IN THE COMPANY?!!! THEY’RE THERE???

 

To: Mijin

From: Yura

YOU TALKED TO THEM LAST WEEK WHEN I WAS IN JAPAN T^T AND YOU SAID JACKSON EVEN SMILED AT YOU AND CALLED YOU NUNA T^T

YOUNGJAE CALLED ME NUNA, TOO

 

To: Yura

From: Mijin

RIIIIGHT. JACKSON AND I TALKED IN CHINESE AND MARK SMILED AT ME >O< I HOPE I’LL SEE THEM AGAIN NEXT WEEK WHEN WE GET BACK ><

HAPPY FOR YOU!!! XD

PS. WE’RE OLD T_____T

 

Things like that. And those were supposed to be long distance calls or messages if not for KaTalk.

They already sent their resignation letters to their companies in the Philippines which they wrote even before boarding the plane to Korea after knowing that yes, there were jobs for them in JYP Entertainment and they wouldn’t starve to death in a foreign land, several days after they started working. After eight months, they were getting the hang of working as part of the team for DAY6 and TWICE. Even if they weren’t exactly their bias group, it could get worst, right? Like, if they were still in the Philippines, wondering when would be the next time they’ll be able to see GOT7 up close, not in their phone screens or their computer monitors or in their minds, or go to Seoul, working in cubicles where you couldn’t even spazz properly without being regarded as “crazy.” At least there, they already saw them like, over fifty times in the past months. They even talked to them. Besides, they think they would seriously faint first before they finish getting the dressing room cleared up if, say, Mark and Jackson sit in each of Mijin’s side to rest their head on her shoulders because they were tired and they needed a dependable nuna or Yura simply hears Youngjae’s one of a kind laugh half a meter away from her.

But it seems like fate has more in the room for them though.

Yura had seen it before in Filipino dramas. She didn’t expect it to happen in real life though. It was just an ordinary day. She was just running around the company, getting errands done before TWICE leaves for another schedule that day when she ran onto a closing elevator. She could fit in. Really. She already lost a lot of pounds running around and keeping up with the members of TWICE, who were more handful than DAY6, if you asked her.

She could practically hear Mijin’s voice in her head as she thinks that. “You don’t know my struggle~”

Then, there was an old woman entering the elevator. And the thing was, she couldn’t anymore. It was already too packed for a grasshopper to enter after Yura did.

“Um, here,” Yura moved forward and stepped out of the elevator without more thought than her own grandmothers in Japan and in Philippines needing to ride the elevator but couldn’t anymore. “I’ll take the next one.” She smiled at the old lady even if there was a voice in her head that was scolding her, ‘You need to get back immediately!’ And also, ‘Take the stairs! Hurry up!’ She sighed to herself before bowing at the old woman again and running to the stairs.

She had only seen it in dramas. In exaggerated dramas, by the way. So she didn’t expect it at all when the old lady turned out to be JYP’s – yes, the CEO’s, Park Jin-young’s (Senior’s?) grandmother. She had seen JYP’s mother many times but she didn’t even know his grandmother’s still alive. Or visiting him.

At first, she thought she was going to be in trouble when she was called to JYP’s office but it turned out to be the start of the next fortunate events that happened to them after. JYP and his grandmother thanked Yura for that one small act of kindness and she thought that was it.

It didn’t happen immediately and there were a lot of hurdles in the way such winter, language and cultural differences, winter again, jetlag, sleeping in hours and sometimes even in minutes, winter again, and yes, winter. Yura and Mijin both love the snow but sometimes, it gets too cold. Yura became friends with JYP’s grandmother who convinced her that it was okay to call her Halmeoni. Like, they actually became friends. She really didn’t mean to get anything out of it because it was just nice to have someone like a real grandmother in a foreign land and she knew Mijin would agree. They would eat meals with Halmeoni and tell her stories from back in the Philippines, how they came in Korea, and why they decided to. Halmeoni treated them like she would her own granddaughters and she would bring them hot meals during winter or if she couldn’t come, she would send them along with her grandson’s meals. Yes, along with their CEO’s meals.

After three months, Mijin and Yura were extracted from DAY6 and TWICE’s team, much to their team’s dismay. It has been over a year since they began working for and with the team and regardless of the stress and fatigue they were getting, it was also fun. Besides, the kids were nice and they both felt happy taking care of both groups.

Then, they were transferred to GOT7’s team.

 

When they were transferred to GOT7’s team, it was very awkward at first.

They knew they were fangirls. Halmeoni and JYP found it cute, actually. Cute. Like, shouldn’t it be practically impossible that the company would hire fangirls to work with the idols? But JYP and his grandmother found it cute. (It turned out Halmeoni has been retelling Mijin and Yura’s stories to her grandson.) It was their dream and it finally came true but it didn’t start as how they expected it to be.

“So, who’s your bias?” Jackson was pestering them the whole morning when they were introduced to the team on who their biases were. They would just exchange uneasy glances and smile politely at Jackson. They wouldn’t dare say their bias members to him. He was like a Greek statue! A talking Greek statue. He was so handsome and cute and hot and y and the girls were dying inside but couldn’t show it. It was a real struggle. But after being around the company for over a year, they kind of learned how to hold everything in and when it was just the two of them, they would die spazzing away.

They would never admit who their biases were.

Or so they thought. Jackson turned out to be even more persuasive than he is usually shown on screen. He wouldn’t give up.

“I’M NEITHER YOUR BIAS! HOW DISAPPOINTING.” The way he said that when they finally told him after four days – that’s the longest someone held after Jackson’s persuasion! – was like, they just told him the world would be collapsing tomorrow and he wouldn’t be saved. He even sounded more disappointed. The other members turned to look at them and were glancing curiously from Jackson to Yura to Mijin and back to Jackson. Even some of the team members were looking at them.

“YOU’RE NEITHER THEIR BIAS, HYUNG!” Yugyeom didn’t lose a second to tease Jackson about it.

“SHUT UP. YOU’RE ALSO NOT,” Jackson said as he ran after Yugyeom around the dressing room.

“Who’s Yura-nuna’s bias?” Youngjae asked curiously, looking from Jackson running after Yugyeom to Yura who was like she’s been caught stealing blue cheese from the counter during Christmas. Jackson was busy running after the big maknae. “Hyung, who’s Yura-nuna’s bias?”

“ASK HER!” Jackson was still hurt that he was neither Yura’s nor Mijin’s bias.

Youngjae turned his attention to Yura then. “It’s not Jackson-hyung,” he mumbles thoughfully. “JB-hyung?”

“It shouldn’t matter, Youngjae,” Yura tried saying, shaking her head.

“Not JB-hyung, too?” Youngjae nodded, thinking carefully. JB looked a little disappointed, too, as he turned his head back to the mirror. “Junior-hyung?”

“Youngjae,” she began saying. She looked helpless at Mijin but she was just looking at the ground after Jackson caught Yugyeom and she saw Jackson whispering something into Mark’s ears.

“It’s not me as well, huh?” Junior said, smiling gently at Yura. Yura – or anybody – could die because of that smile. Really. Heavens! But Yura couldn’t afford to die at this moment because Youngjae was still guessing.

Youngjae was about to say another name but Jackson was already beside him in a second but unlike what he did to Mark, he didn’t whisper anything. He practically broke Youngjae’s eardrums when he revealed Yura’s bias. “IT IS YOU, IDIOT!”

Yura had to take a deep breath before sighing altogether, standing up to fix the clothes they would be wearing for the afternoon’s pictorial, pretending that nothing happened and no, it wasn’t just revealed that she has a crush on someone two years younger than her. She didn’t see Youngjae’s big smile when Jackson told him – and everybody on earth – that he was her bias.

Even though it was awkward at first – very, very awkward for Mijin and Yura since Jackson didn’t lose any chance to tease them with Mark and Youngjae – the members were all nice and the entire team was very welcoming and friendly to them, too. They missed their previous teams and the kids of DAY6 and TWICE. They did spend over a year with them but GOT7 family was just pure love.

 

Even though they weren’t exactly sure how it happened, like, they would still tilt their heads in a slow manner when they were asked how it happened, they were just thankful that it did. From being transferred to GOT7’s team and they weren’t certain, too, as too how it transcended that from simple almost no-job-title team members, Mijin actually got the impossible job title of assistant manager (that no one else did before, by the way) while Yura became an assistant coordinator. Mijin was the first assistant manager ever while Yura was still learning the craft. They were both grateful.

Even if Jackson could be a real pain sometimes, he wasn’t that bad. He would still often tease Yura and Mijin but he was a very hardworking person. And he could be kind and gentle sometimes, too. The other members were also not that different from how they were seen through the screen. JB could be awkward at times but he was a good leader and a good hyung. He was like the father of the group and if there would have to be the mother, it would be Junior. Yugyeom and Bambam were kids. Sometimes, Jackson would be a kid along with the maknaes, too. Youngjae’s laugh was the best. Even if Jackson would tease Yura that she was staring too much, she really could not with that laugh. Mark could be extremely silent at times and Yura would just see him staring at Mijin from afar with a smile on his face. When he noticed that he has been caught, he would give her a sheepish, embarrassed smile before nervously going back to s.

When Mijin came to Yura, breathless, hyperventilating and almost, well, dying, she wanted to ask who did it to her.

“He said… He said…” Mijin’s voice was breaking.

“OH MY GOD. HE SAID WHAT?! WHO SAID WHAT?!” Yura couldn’t keep her calm any longer.

“He said he likes me,” her friend’s voice is almost inaudible as she couldn’t believe her own words. Her eyes glistens as Yura wraps her arms around her and hug her tightly.

“I’m so happy for you!” Yura tells her. “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. I’m so happy for both of you.”

“I don’t deserve him,” Mijin cries. “He’s so good. He’s so perfect! He’s my dream!”

“And you are his,” she tells Mijin, hugging her best friend. “You are his, Mijin. He likes you. Didn’t he tell you that?” Yura smiles at her, her own eyes tearing up because this is just too much happiness. This happiness that can’t be withheld by one person alone. She knew Mijin must be feeling so overwhelmed with too much happiness and it proved again, that happiness is the only thing that when divided is multiplied.

“He did…” It’s like it just dawned on Mijin. “OH MY GOD. WHAT DO I DO, YURA? WHAT DO I TELL HIM? WHAT SHOULD I SAY?”

Yura looked at her funnily. “Of course you tell him you like him, too.”

 

About a year later…

 

Listen, I have something to say

Listen, I like you

This much, this much, this much, this much

I love you

 

Yura just watched a video of her friend’s boyfriend, Mark, singing the infamous “confession aegyo song.” She thinks Mijin must have downloaded the video and replayed it over a thousand times already, if not more. She also downloaded an mp3 version so she could listen to it, too, without playing the video when she’s on public. Not that she was ashamed of it, she told Yura. She just felt a little ownership with her boyfriend, that’s all.

“Um, the video is online, friend,” Yura pointed out.

“I know,” Mijin shrugged, replaying the video again. They were just home that night, munching on McDonald’s fries and burgers despite their inexistent diet as their symbol of freedom on those rare nights that they were not on some undisclosed location to the public for a pictorial or abroad, for a concert or fanmeeting. “But this is my video and he is my boyfriend.”

“I still don’t get it. Although, he is your boyfriend, yes,” Yura nodded, dropping five pieces of fries in .

After replaying GOT7’s Weekly Idol appearance with two versions of the song, one with JB’s cute version even though he looked like he was being possessed while he was singing the song and the next with Yugyeom and Jackson, with Jackson kissing Yugyeom’s cheeks in the end which was totally adorable, she hasn’t been able to get the words out of her head.

Which was why the next morning, even before the sun breaks into the horizon and most ordinary people were awake, when she was fixing the clothes of the members after that morning’s pictorial, she was singing it like breathing air. Only, she found out you could actually change the first word of the song with a person’s name. So instead of starting with ‘Listen’, she was singing:

 

Youngjae-ah, I have something to say

Listen, I like you

This much, this much, this much, this much

I love you

 

She shouldn’t have. Really. Because when she turned around at the dressing room’s door, Youngjae was staring at her, amused.

She was freaking out inside and she knew color was drained from her face. She could tell because she could also tell her blood was frozen, too. Like every single organ and every single nerve inside her body was astounded that Youngjae was standing over the door. Moreover, she would be stupid to convince herself that the younger had not heard her.

Youngjae was two years younger than her and a freaking idol. Freaking GOT7. She was just a coordinator. It was good that they were friendly to them – both to her and Mijin, even if they weren’t Koreans in the first place – but that’s just it. She wasn’t exactly sure what divine grace poured down from the heavens to Mijin and Mark. They were together now. But even though she couldn’t understand, she was very happy for her – for both of them. If there was anybody who probably knew the extent of Mijin’s happiness, that might be her and she was truly happy for her. But again, she knew that’s Mijin and Mark. They were different from her and Youngjae. Mijin was a smart and wonderful person. It was also a miracle she met her during a fanmeeting and they became friends. When it comes to her, she knew they were only being friendly.

“That was just the lyrics I saw online!” Yura immediately said, obviously defensive even though Youngjae hasn’t said anything, yet. “It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t really mean anything!”

Youngjae took a long look at her and she felt like she was a criminal caught in the act before shrugging and entering the dressing room. He muttered, “Oh, I thought you were being serious.”

He sounded disappointed but she didn’t let herself believe it until the rest of the members pile inside the room to change.

 

Strangely, she felt like Youngjae was avoiding her after that.

Under normal circumstances, the members would be fooling around behind the scenes of whatever they were doing. Bambam and Yugyeom would often pester her for being single, Jackson would also pester her about her hair or her clothes, and Youngjae was always laughing in that loud, boisterous way. But there was no laugh like that anymore. He wouldn’t even look at her when she fixes his outfit although he still would mutter, “Thanks.”

If she was the only one who noticed that, she could have dismissed the thought that she was just being paranoid after being caught in the act. But even Mijin was able to tell something was wrong.

“You what?!” her friend was obviously freaked out after she told her about the little incident that happened in the dressing room three days ago. She didn’t tell Mijin about it before because she thought it was just nothing. It turned out, it wasn’t just nothing.

“It was an accident! I didn’t really mean it!” Yura defended herself immediately, looking more nervous that she already was.

“You didn’t mean it or you didn’t mean him to hear it?”

“I…” She was stammering. She likes him.

“Yura, you could save yourself all this trouble if you just tell him honestly,” Mijin suggested, as a matter-of-factly, looking concernedly at her friend.

“Tell him I like him?” Yura didn’t even think of denying it. “No! He doesn’t like me, Mijin. Besides, I’m two years older than him. He shouldn’t like someone like me.”

“Why do you think that?” Mijin asked, frustrated. She dumped herself beside her friend on the couch because she feels more stressed now because of what Yura was saying than because of work since yesterday night.

“Because…” Yura started, shifting herself to give more room for Mijin. She was practically hogging the couch because she felt like it was the only thing who would hug her. “You know why.”

Mijin promised Yura that she wouldn’t tell anybody else. Well, Yura made her promise. What happened in the Philippines was what happened in the Philippines. Like, when Yura’s first boyfriend turned out to be a complete for dating Yura because of a bet or when someone asked her out because she was worth a thousand bucks if he gets her to sleep with him or when the guy he thought would be the one for him turned out to be a complete phony. He only went out with her because he thought she was rich and stupid, someone who would give him money and everything he wants. She wasn’t even thinking about the guy who turned out to be gay. Like, she didn’t have any problem with his uality but did he have to lie to her, to convince her he loves her when he was just testing himself if he could be with a woman? Was she some sort of an experiment variable?

“I’m weird,” Yura laughed it out even though the sound of her laugh sounded force, burying herself more on the couch. “Youngjae could never like someone like me.”

Mijin looked at her sadly and pursed her lips. She couldn’t say anything anymore.

 

Yura didn’t want to mind it at first. Youngjae was a good person, her ray of sunshine. His eyes crinkles whenever he smiles and when he smiles, it’s like everything in him is really smiling. When he truly smiles, she feels like smiling herself. His smile was worth more than the thousand sad movies she loves watching. Whenever she sees him when he smiles and his eyes disappears into tiny crescents, it was enough to lift her up despite the worst day of her life. She really didn’t want to mind it at first but it was hard when your ray of sunshine was avoiding you.

Her eyes were like the panda’s and she couldn’t even take a leave from work. To be honest, she loves her work. It’s just that, she wasn’t really feeling it these days.

“What’s wrong with them?” Mark asked his girlfriend when he was able to pull her out of her busyness. She was just talking to some directors about the group’s appearance and was confirming the questions that would be asked during the interview.

“Is Youngjae okay?” Mijin asked instead of answering. “He looks… out of it.”

“He likes her very much, you know,” her boyfriend answered, staring sadly at Youngjae who was sitting by himself at the back of the studio, watching JB blankly as he strikes poses for the camera.

“I know,” Mijin sighed. “Yura… She’s afraid.”

“Afraid of Youngjae?” Mark looked surprised. “He won’t hurt a fly!”

“No, hon,” his girlfriend shook his head and smiled at him a little. “She’s afraid. Of getting hurt. Of rejection. Of losing someone she loves again. She’s so afraid she’d rather keep him at bay like this than lose him permanently.”

Yura can’t take Youngjae’s avoidance anymore. It’s not like it’s everything personal but they’re also workmates. She could take Junior’s hatred over too much makeup even though the concept was supposed to be dark or JB’s annoyance with bright outfit even though the concept was supposed to be lively but she couldn’t take it when Youngjae won’t even look at her as she does his makeup or say anything other than, “Thanks.”

“Youngjae, is there something wrong?” she finally approached him when he was sitting alone again far from the members. They were just waiting for a final signal that it was good for them to go before leaving for another schedule. And she hated that she had to ask if there’s something wrong because obviously, there is. Otherwise, Youngjae would still be talking normally to her.

But she didn’t know what else to do. Or rather, say. 

Everyone was silent. Even Jackson and Yugyeom who were wrestling around completely stopped. Mijin reached for Mark’s hand and Mark gave her a gentle squeeze, giving her an assuring but also visibly slightly nervous glance. She moved closed to his boyfriend, even more nervous for her friend.

“Yura,” Youngjae said after taking a deep breath. It was painful for him to avoid her, too, but he didn’t really know what to do.

“Not nuna anymore?” she smiled at him, surprised that he called her with her first name. He had done it before in the past, with Yugyeom and Bambam, but it was just them teasing her. This was the first time he called her that seriously.

“I like you,” he said firmly. He knew the others could hear them but he couldn’t bring himself to care anymore. If he avoids her any longer, he’ll honestly lose his mind, but he also couldn’t go on not knowing what’s going on between the two of them because he knew she likes him, too. Youngjae could feel it. And he heard her, even though she denied it. “I like you, Yura.”

It was like the universe froze for three years for everyone until Yura began laughing. She was laughing like mad.

“Don’t joke like that, Youngjae!” Yura laughed loudly, hitting Youngjae’s shoulder lightly. “Did you avoid me for weeks because of this prank?” She laughed more.

Everyone – even the ant in Jackson’s pants and Chris Brown in Yugyeom’s mind – facepalmed.

 

The tables turned because after that. It was Yura who was avoiding Youngjae now. She would joke around with the other members but she wouldn’t even meet Youngjae’s eyes. She still did her job as a coordinator but she did everything so she wouldn’t be left alone with Youngjae. It hurt him but he couldn’t do anything anymore, right? He literally told her how he feels – and she regarded it as a joke.

He thought he convinced himself that he was alright.

Until he saw her fooling around with JB and Jackson too much. Not to mention Junior was lingering around her, too. It was not an understatement that Yura’s relationship with the ‘94-liners were practically like siblings, the way they tease and fool around, but seeing Jackson put his arm around Yura’s shoulder lightly when he couldn’t even stand a meter away from her without Yura flinching, that just broke everything inside Youngjae.

“Hyung, can you…” Youngjae collided against Bambam, effectively crashing him down on the ground if the giant maknae wasn’t behind him. “What…” None of Bambam’s sentences were ever finished because Youngjae was already running out of the building where they were preparing for another pictorial.

“What’s wrong with him?” Yugyeom asked, puzzled.

“Do I look like I know?” Bambam sighed, helping himself back in balance.

They knew. That’s the problem. Only Yura seemed to not know, or she pretends she didn’t know.

“It’s freezing,” Yura suddenly muttered, turning and looking after Youngjae’s shadow when she saw him from her peripheral vision. “That kid didn’t even bring ear muffs or anything, did he?” She tsked before immediately separating herself from Jackson’s koala attachment and grabbing her own ear muffs, scarf and gloves.

 

“Youngjae! Youngjae!” she immediately saw him but he wouldn’t stop running even though he was obviously freezing. They were in the middle of winter and snow was not stopping. Yura ran after him faster and she eventually caught up with him. “What are you…” she was panting, breathless. “Stop running, Youngjae.”

“What… What are you doing here? Why did you follow me?” Youngjae said between hiccups.

It was only then that Yura got a proper look on his face. He was crying. “Youngjae…” she began, her eyes widened.

“Why did you follow me?!” he cried again, this time more exhausted. “Why?! You don’t like me, right? You hate me, don’t you? Why did you follow me?!” He was trembling as he fell down on the ground, snow seeping against his pants to his knees. He shivered but he didn’t feel the cold in his skin. He felt it more in his heart. “I don’t know what to do anymore… I… I don’t know anymore.”

He was crying.

He was freaking crying.

“I tried everything. I even told you how I feel for you directly… but I guess you just don’t like me, do you? I can’t… I can’t force you anyway… I…” He was crying. That was the only thing that’s registering in Yura’s mind. He was crying because of her. Her ray of sunshine was crying because of her.

That’s everything she could think of as she knelt down on the coldness of the snow, insensible to the extreme cold because there’s nothing colder than her heart breaking because Youngjae was crying. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

“I’m sorry for making you cry,” she said softly, tightly keeping him in her hold. “I’m sorry for making you cry. I’m sorry, Youngjae.” She kept on repeating it, those words. “I’m sorry for making you cry.”

Her warmth enveloped Youngjae and his miserable cries turned into exhausted hiccups.

“I’m sorry, Youngjae,” Yura whispered again.

Youngjae calmed down a little, being in her arms. He could finally feel the warmth he’s been looking for. He didn’t want it to end because he was afraid that if this moment finishes, she might be gone again.

“Youngjae,” Yura began again, lifting Youngjae’s face so he would properly look at her. She smiled and confessed softly, truthfully, “I like you.”

Youngjae blinked. He blinked several times, unbelieving to what was happening. He opened and closed his mouth, not knowing what to say or how to respond before he buried his face on her shoulder again, tightly embracing her back. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

She could only hug him back, from bringing too much sorrow in him.

Then, he pulled away. He looked properly at her, in her eyes and he asked, “Could you… Could you say that one more time, please? Please? I… I want to hear it again. I want to make sure… I want to…”

Yura gave him an endearing smile and cupped his face between her hands. “Youngjae, I like you.”

Youngjae stared at her eyes and he saw them glisten. He realized she was also crying. She was still afraid but even if she was afraid, she was telling him she likes him.

He could only hug her tightly again and she let him, even if they were both soaking under the snow already. She let him, even though she knew it was cold and they were both probably going to end up with cold. She couldn’t believe it herself. The painful memories of every person who broke her heart in the past, made her feel like she was unworthy of loving and being loved back, played in the back of her head but she ignored all of those. Because now, she only wanted to see Youngjae.

She hugged him back just as tightly.

 

On their way back to the building, Youngjae was holding her hand and walking ahead, leading the path. He suddenly looked back at Yura and said, “Can you tell me again?”

She smiled at him. “I’ll tell you every time you want to hear it until you get tired of it,” she said, walking forward a little so she was standing beside Youngjae. She looked at him in the eyes and repeated, “I. Like. You.”

Youngjae’s smile was worth ten pounds of chocolate and every sweet in the country. “I like you so much, too! I like you, I like you, I like you! And no, I’ll never get tired of it. I’ll never get tired of hearing it. I like you!” He was yelling and Yura could only laugh.

They were just about to enter the building but Yura stopped shortly before entering. Youngjae looked back at her worriedly but she was only smiling.

“Youngjae,” she said again. “I like you.”

The words sounded like music to Youngjae’s ears.

 

When the others saw them back, Youngjae’s smile lighting the room more than a thousand watts could do and Yura standing behind him, looking down, crimson-faced, they all cheered before anybody could say something.

“About damn time!” Jackson was hollering, hopping towards them like a kangaroo. “Seriously, you guys, about damn time! Mark and Mijin have been together for over a year and you guys have been going around for more than two years! This is about damn time!”

Mark and Mijin wanted to strangle Jackson.

 

To be honest, when Yura thinks about it now, it didn’t really matter that Youngjae was two years younger than her. She could still remember Mijin’s words when she first mentioned that she must really like Youngjae as more than a friend or a younger brother and Mijin was like, “Am I supposed to be surprised?”

Yura started doubting what could be for her and Youngjae, if they were in a relationship. She was two years older than Youngjae after all. Then, Mijin made a face at her and said, “Are you seriously going to let a two-year difference stand in the way of your and Youngjae’s love for each other?”

Mijin was right. It didn’t matter because maturity evidently doesn’t come with age alone.

 

“You fought over what?!” Mijin was already exasperated because of a migraine that was breaking her head into two that day. She spoke in Japanese because they were in Japan the other day and today, she has been speaking in Chinese nonstop after arriving in China three hours ago. But even if that could have resulted to her migraine, speaking with her friend was like having her head split in more than two.

“He kept saying Quicksilver should die,” Yura muttered, talking about the movie she and Youngjae watched together on the plane.

“Quicksilver? You mean that movie character from Avengers? Are you kidding me?!”

And it was going so much like that with Mark’s conversation with Youngjae, too.

“Quicksilver?!” Mark exclaimed, fiddling with his phone because he need to talk to Mijin. He was worried about her migraine and Youngjae not speaking any sense was not helping.

“She’s practically in love with him, hyung!” Youngjae complained, burying his face on Mark’s pillow. “He should die. He deserved it.”

“Are you… Are you jealous over a movie character?” Mark shook his head disbelievingly.

 

“Can you talk to Youngjae, hon?” Mark finally said over the phone to his girlfriend. He could feel his head hurting from his recent conversation with Youngjae. He might be having a migraine, too.

“I was about to ask you to talk to Yura,” Mijin replied, sighing.

 

Well, there were also those better times.

“I don’t know why she’s so mad, Youngjae,” Mark complained, messing his own hair in a frustrated way. “Didn’t she know I was up for more than forty-eight hours yesterday?”

“Did you tell her that, hyung?” Youngjae inquired, flipping over their couple picture album on his phone for the nth time. He was even giggling sometimes, remembering why they took the photo or where. 

“No,” Mark muttered. “Because she was so mad!”

 

Meanwhile…

“He doesn’t love me anymore. Mark doesn’t love me anymore,” Mijin was close to tears.

“What?!” Yura couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It wasn’t like Mark and Mijin to fight often but when they fight, it was usually something fight-able but even so, she knew they love each other so much. “You know that’s not true, Mijin, right?”

“I waited there for five hours!” Mijin exclaimed, more sad than mad. “And when I complained why he was that late, he was even more furious than I should be.”

“Did he know you waited for five hours?” Yura patiently asked.

Her friend shook his head slowly.

“He didn’t know, Mijin,” she smiled thoughtfully at her friend.

 

In the end…

“Just say you’re sorry, hyung,” Youngjae told Mark. “Yura-nuna would already give me hell for being five minutes late. Maybe Mijin-nuna waited there for over an hour or so.”

“You guys should talk. Being mad at each other won’t work,” Yura told Mijin before she answered her phone in two rings.

“WHY IS YOUNGJAE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ME NOW?!” Mijin complained but Yura was already disappearing into her room, sending flying kisses to her.

“Did you talk to Mijin-nuna, nuna?” Youngjae asked, turning his back on the bed to face the ceiling and imagine his girlfriend’s face there, like he was talking to her personally.

“You call Yura “nuna”?” Mark asked incredulously.

Youngjae nodded, “Yeah. I wanted her to call me oppa but she said it wouldn’t be right. So I call her nuna. Sometimes we call each other sunshine. And she also likes calling me baby.”

Mark wanted to say he wasn’t really interested to know but instead, he didn’t answer anymore. He could only think of Mijin but he did began wondering why he haven’t noticed it before but they do call each other “sunshine.” Which is, well, a bit unusual for a couple nickname.

“Yeah,” Yura answered. “You?”

“I did. Mark-hyung’s still here with me,” Youngjae said. “I said he should say sorry.”

“Did you tell him Mijin waited for over five hours?”

“Nope. I think they should talk, sunshine,” Youngjae told her.

“You’re right, baby,” Yura agreed.

“I have to go, ‘shine,” Youngjae said. “A dependable dongsaeng is needed. Duty calls.”

Yura laughed. “Schedule?”

Youngjae sighed. “Why are we here and you’re not here? You’re supposed to be here, too, because you’re also part of the team.” She can honestly hear him pouting.

“Baby, it was explained, right?” Yura cooed him through the phone. “It was a short business there. We shouldn’t all fly there for a two-hour business. Besides, it’s just Busan, baby.”

“Even though!” he stubbornly said.

Yura chuckled. “When will Mijin and Mark have the chance to talk?”

“I don’t know but they will if they want.”

“Right,” Yura smiled. “Take care, okay? Don’t forget to eat your meals and don’t get cold!”

Youngjae laughed in that adorable way. “I will,” he said.

He was about to hang up. “Baby.”

“Nuna?”

“I love you.”

And no, Youngjae didn’t stop squealing until their manager pulled the phone out of his hands and was the one who said goodbye to Yura (who was laughing really hard) because he needs to brush his teeth and wear his socks. No one would do that for him. Mark was sympathizing with him though. He called Mijin while he was waiting for the others to get their feet on their socks because it was still freezing despite it being February already.

They were silent for about a minute before Mark finally spoke. “I’m sorry I made you wait… I wouldn’t do that intentionally. It was just… Never mind. There was no reason. I shouldn’t have made you wait and I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t sleep for two days?”

“Huh?”

“Why didn’t you tell me…” Mijin whispered. She was close to sobbing.

“I… You were going to get worried,” Mark said softly. “I didn’t want you to get worried.”

Mijin was now sobbing. “I’m sorry I got mad. I didn’t know…”

“Don’t cry, honey,” Mark told her like she was really in front of him. He honestly wanted to talk to her personally but he didn’t want another second to pass that they were not okay. Even the thought of losing her was enough to make him go crazy. “Don’t cry. I shouldn’t have made you wait for five hours. I… I’m sorry.”

She couldn’t for a while and Mark hushed her even if it was only through phone. They might not be able to see each other for another hour more and Mark couldn’t wait to see his girlfriend again. When Mijin stopped crying, Mark wanted to cry because of what she said.

“I’d wait for you, hon. I would always wait for you.”

“I’ll not let this happen again, honey,” Mark whispered.

When they finally saw each other, they hugged for about five minutes until Yura had to pull Mark for his makeup. “I’m so happy for you, guys,” she grinned at Mark and Mijin. “But I have to separate you for about thirty minutes, alright? After that, you can go back to being Jack and Rose again. But please, Mijin, don’t touch his hair, okay?”

Mijin frowned at her friend as she wiped stray tears in her eyes. “Moment wrecker much?”

“Just a good coordinator, Mijin,” Yura made a face at her.

“Sunshine! Can you give me my big hat?” Youngjae suddenly appeared beside Yura while she was doing Mark’s hair, giving her his best puppy eyes.

“No, sunshine,” she told him, her focus completely on Mark’s hair. It was a trait she learned after becoming Youngjae’s girlfriend, how to talk to the younger while accomplishing her job. “It doesn’t go well with your outfit.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“Nope.”

“Please, nuna?” Youngjae pouted.

“No,” Yura closed her eyes because she might give in if she looks at Youngjae’s adorable face. She honestly wanted to hug her boyfriend if she wasn’t doing Mark’s hair. “No, baby. You could wear that hat tomorrow, okay? I’ll pull you something to wear that would suit it but not today.”

“Please? Please? Please?”

Yura was about to answer again but before she could, Mark exclaimed as patiently as he could, “UM, EXCUSE ME, GUYS. I STILL WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO MIJIN SO IF YOU COULD JUST HURRY I WILL APPRECIATE IT A LOT. AND NO, YOUNGJAE, YOU WILL NOT WEAR THAT HAT TODAY.”

Youngjae’s face dropped at first but he and Yura just laughed after as she finally began focusing on Mark’s hair again. Youngjae kept on bothering Yura only to tease Mark until Mijin finally went inside the dressing room and strangled Youngjae out of Yura’s sight.

 

So, it wasn’t all perfect. Not quite. Like it was said, perfect was and is always going to be a relative term but perfect is being with each other no matter what. Being there for one another in fear, in confusion and eventually, in happiness. So everything might not be all perfect but it’s perfect enough because they have each other. Mijin and Mark. Yura and Youngjae. And well, everybody else.

 

End?

 

“Is it done? Is it done? Is it done?” Jackson is peering over Yura’s laptop like the cure to every sickness in the world was formulated there.

Mark slightly pushes Jackson to the side so the others could see as well.

“Are we going to post it now?” Yugyeom excitedly asks.

“Won’t it be too obvious?” Mijin nervously looks over her boyfriend beside her.

Mark smiles at Mijin and holds her hand. “I think it will be fine, honey,” he says with an assuring smile. “Yura changed your names in Hangeul. It won’t be obvious at all.”

“There are over a million fanfictions in the Internet, Mijin! Don’t worry, this won’t get tracked,” Yura excitedly says, still having the adrenaline rush when she and Bambam first thought of writing a story – well, sort of a true-to-life story but no one else would know it but them, of course – of them and uploading it online as, well, a fanfiction. She wrote the story for like, five days in whatever free time she had, may it be in the van or in the pictorial set or in the studio or even in the comfort room. Youngjae had to confiscate her laptop just so she would sleep. “Besides, I’ll use a new pseudonym,” she adds.

Yura entered her username and password quickly.

“Wait, don’t upload it, yet!” Jackson protests.

“What? Why?” Junior frowns at a whiny Jackson.

“I don’t have enough parts!” Jackson says.

“Because it’s not your story, hyung! Duh,” Bambam shrugs at him.

“But –” Jackson is about to protest again.

“How about we make it chaptered?” JB suddenly interrupts. “I had too little exposure, too! I would like to have more exposure.”

“Oh my God, guys,” Junior is the only one in the right mind at the moment from the 94-liners. “You’re not the main characters!”

“You can’t make it chaptered!” Youngjae exclaims, glancing at Yura who seemed to be liking the idea of making the story chaptered. Her eyes are practically twinkling. “Oh, no, no,” he says to his girlfriend. “If you write for more than two hours a day, I’ll confiscate your laptop again, sunshine.”

Yura pouts. Like, she’s the one two years younger.

“Can we, like, upload it first and see people’s reaction first and then decide what to do after?” Yugyeom finally says, looking expectantly at the introduction Yura is writing before Jackson protested for his little exposure in the story.

Everybody looks at each other and shrugs.

“Fine,” Jackson mutters, agreeing half-heartedly. “I get to be a main character next time, okay?!”

“Why are you even upset, hyung?” Youngjae says, in defense of Yura’s story. “This is our story, you know.”

Yura looked up and smiled at Youngjae. Our story. Their story. “Tell you what, Jackson,” she begins while continuing to type in the introduction. “If you find a girlfriend, I’ll write a story for you, too. Or if anyone else, really. If that’s impossible in the near future, I’ll make a sequel with you as a main character if this gets more than a thousand views in a day.”

“REALLY?!” Jackson’s eyes brightens.

“Yeah,” Yura nods with a raised brow and an amused smile. “But only if this gets more than a thousand views, okay?”

The following day, the story had more than five thousand views with over a hundred comments and Jackson’s grin is the brightest in probably the entire country. He only has one thing in his mind: He’s going to be a main character in the next story.

 

END

 

 

A/N:

And it's done!

Or is it really? Jackson won't let Yura sleep because he wants to be a main character ;-;

Do tell me what you think of this. Is it overly, well, emotional or fluffy or the angst needs some up? Does anybody here wants angst though? LOL.

xoxo Hana