"Hey!"

A pat on his shoulder made Mingyu stop looking at Solbin from distance. He turned his face to his manager who was patting his shoulder with question look. "Yes, hyung?"

"It's almost break time. Let's have a lunch outside!" He replied cheerfully. Mingyu was about to say yes before his manager continued saying, "And we have to ask your costar to go along with us!"

"What?!" Mingyu frowned at those words. "No! I mean... She probably will have lunch with her own manager..."

"I know but I want to try," the manager said then without waiting for Mingyu's reply, he approached Solbin who had done talking with the director.

Mingyu did not know what his manager planned but he eventually followed him behind with a slow pace. He honestly wanted to have lunch together with Solbin but he did not want to have an awkward moment with her.

His manager had managed to talk with Solbin before Mingyu came near them. The girl looked surprised with the offer while looking at his manager and Mingyu in turn. Slowly her expression loosened a bit and said, "That sounds good but I have to ask my manager first." Then she got up from her chair and left his manager after saying she would be back soon.

"How's everything going?" asked Mingyu, pretending not to look care with the answer but deep in his heart he wished Solbin did say yes.

"We have to wait. She's asking her manager first," his manager said. "I have a good feeling for this. She definitely will have a lunch with us!"

And just like what the manager said, Solbin came back to them with her manager and said she could have a lunch with them but she had to go with her manager. Mingyu's manager did not mind it so they all went to the nearest restaurant after that. During their way, Mingyu could feel Solbin's manager cold stare bored into his skull that made him gulp in nervousness.

***

Mingyu could barely enjoy the lunch because of Solbin and her manager's presences but those two persons acted like he was not there. Sometimes, Solbin laughed at his manager's lame joke as if they were old friends and it made Mingyu jealous. How could you be so carefree when I'm around you right now? He wondered as he digged in his lunch unpassionately.

Without his knowledge, it was hard to act like that for Solbin. She had to bottle in her feelings because she did not want to make his manager get suspicious at them or they would be in danger yet again.

After they had finished the lunch, the idols and managers went to an ice cream parlor for dessert. In the midst of it, Mingyu's manager asked Solbin's manager to go with him to look for toilet. Her manager refused it at the first place but then he was eventually willing to go. So, there the idols-slash-used-to-be-couple were, sitting awkwardly on a bench with ice cream in each hand.

Solbin did not expect this kind of event would happen so she was kind of nervous but when she remembered what the director said to her earlier, she used that time to solve her problem. "Hey," she called Mingyu without looking at him.

"Hm?" Mingyu responded as he ate his ice cream. He was also nervous for being left alone with his costar-slash-his-ex without preparation but he tried to play it cool.

Getting a cold reply made Solbin's heart hurt a bit. She was not used with Mingyu's cold side but she could understand. Maybe he wanted to make their relationship clear that they were just actor and actress, not a couple like they used to. It was fool for her to hope the man still loved her.

"I thought you wanted to say something," Mingyu snapped Solbin out of her wandering mind. He looked at her in concern.

"Oh!" Solbin blinked her eyes twice before she got herself together then she chuckled timidly. "Yeah, there's something I want to say- No! There's something I want to ask to you." She said as she braved herself look at Mingyu.

Mingyu frowned and could feel his heart almost skip a beat because of her words. Could it be...? He stopped his mind from wondering then he nodded, signaling Solbin to go on.

Solbin took a deep breath before she let out the following words from her lips to the man next to her. "You know, I've made a lot of mistakes for today's shooting, don't you?"

Mingyu nodded again as he finished the ice cream in his hand.

"And the director said that I looked awkward acting with you so... He suggested me to practice my dialogues with you. It's good to find the chemistry between us, he said." Solbin paused for a while to eat her already melted ice cream quickly.

"Ah..." Mingyu responded dumbfoundedly. He thought she would talk about their past and would ask him not to be awkward. He assumed that the girl might have moved on and it made his heart hurt a bit. "Then... What do you think of it?" he asked.

Solbin shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know but I'm willing to try," she said after finishing the ice cream in her hand. She looked at Mingyu in the eye, hoping she would not stutter when she asked him. "Would you be my acting practice partner?"

Mingyu knew he should not have felt his heart flutter but he could not help. Suddenly, he felt the heat gather on his cheeks and chest and it made him turn his face away from Solbin and faked a cough. He did not want her to see his face like that. It would be embarrassing.

Solbin was a bit surprised to see Mingyu avoid eye contact with her and it made her sad. Does it mean...? "You don't want to...?"

"No!" Mingyu quickly cut her word as he looked at Solbin again. "I do want to be your partner- I mean... acting practice partner." He did not know what kind of face he showed up at the girl right now. He might look stupid because of his undescribable feeling but as long as she smiled widely at him, he would keep his face like that for her.