+Did you see how they were looking at each other?

+How many scenes do they share in the actual book?

+I love how the director made their fight seem like

+My god! All the humping on the stage

+There’s no way I’m missing next weekend’s show

+Does anyone know where I can find the novel?

+I ship BooYoung so hard

+Did the school actually commission a gay play?

+I think the proper ship name is YoungBoo

+Where have they been all this time?

+It’s not a novel –it’s a play. It’s called “To Want What’s Mine”

+I hope the play never ends

+Maybe they’d have on stage…

Jihoon slammed his laptop shut and sat in the darkness of his dorm room. This was ridiculous. People were ridiculous. Hoshi had advised against reading club reviews after just one week on stage but Jihoon had been too curious. Being the newest addition to the drama club for course points, he’d been desperate for some feedback because Professor Mangmu was being very tight-lipped about what he truly thought of Jihoon’s performances during rehearsal and on stage. It wasn’t like he’d had a choice.

But this… this was so silly. Minyoung and Boohyun had nothing between them. The script had said so. What were all these people –girls- thinking? Now, the next time he stood on stage with Boohyun, he’d feel weird. And it would be weird for only Jihoon because he was the only one stupid enough to read student reviews.

He dropped his head on his laptop, sighing into the dark. Why had he let this happen at all? He should have just let it be. He was going to let it be from now on. He’d learned his lesson and he was just going to have to leave his fate to Professor Mangmu and accept whatever it was by the end of the semester.

*****

Seungcheol’s classes usually ran late on Tuesdays so he knew no one would be surprised that he was an hour late for rehearsal because he always was. So he’d taken the chance to stop by his dorm and have some dinner before he eventually showed up for rehearsal that day.

When he entered the auditorium, he could hear the finishing tune of “Clear My Doubts” as the two main characters in the drama swept off the stage through opposite sides. He regretted showing up as late as he did. He always loved to watch Junghan and Soojong take that scene as they sang till tears sometimes came to Seungcheol’s eyes.

He made his way down the stage as the stage manager handed him a new script.

“I have my lines down.” Seungcheol said, waving his copy of the original play but the manager shook his head.

“There’ve been some changes.”

Seungcheol took the script from him, frowning as he swept through the ten scenes for the next weekend’s production.

Boohyun

Minyoung

Boohyun

Minyoung

….

Boohyun

Minyoung

Boohyun

Min…

“Uh…” Seungcheol called out to everyone. “Why do I now have so many lines with…” He trailed off staring at the actor who played Minyoung. “Minyoung?”

“Jihoon.” The boy said.

“Why do I have so many lines with Jihoon?” Seungcheol asked. “And what is this? ‘I’ve been watching you for a while now.’ Boohyun is supposed to say, ‘leaning back in casual seductiveness’. Are you freaking kidding me?” What the heck were they doing? “Whose idea was it to destroy a classic?”

“A word, Seungcheol.” Seongsu, the director said, waving Seungcheol over to the side of the stage. “You guys can keep on with practice.”

“Hyung, what are you doing?”

“We had to make a few changes.”

Seungcheol laughed, covering his mouth as he looked back at the stage where the boy –Jihoon- was watching him and the director quietly from the corner of the stage.

“Okay, first of all, I decided to play Boohyun because I have finals this year. I told you about this. I want to be in the play but I want a tiny role. Now Boohyun and Minyoung are in almost all of the ten scenes for the weekend.”

“But Seungcheol-”

“Second of all, since when are Boohyun and Minyoung flirting? Hyung, they hate each other.”

“Well, they don’t anymore.”

Seongsu pulls out his phone as he clicks around and hands it to Seungcheol.

+You could see Minyoung’s throughout the fight scene.

+Did you see them making eye contact at the back of the stage?

+It’s so weird that Anna and Jaebum are having a beautiful scene in the front but all I’m seeing is BooYoung.

Seungcheol handed the phone back to Seongsu.

“So what? A couple of reviews and you’re changing everything?”

“It’s not a couple of reviews, Seungcheol. The school paper carried it.”

He hands the phone to Seungcheol again and he’s suddenly staring at a picture of himself and Jihoon. He’s sitting at the edge of the stage with his legs hanging off to the side but Jihoon’s behind him, watching him attentively with his hands in his pocket. The caption above reads: CHEMISTRY AMONG ENEMIES. And Seungcheol has to stop because he can swear he already knows what the article will say.

“Tickets are sold out for next weekend, Seungcheol and it’s just Tuesday.”

Huh?

“Hyung, there a thousand seats in this auditorium.”

“Precisely.” Seongsu said. “And if they paid to see you and Jihoon make googly eyes at each other, that’s exactly what they’re going to get.”

*****

Rehearsal turned into an awkward mess after Seungcheol came back, sulking and completely uncooperative. He stood beside Jihoon, staring down at his script like he wanted to be anywhere else but on the stage.

By the time Jihoon and Seungcheol ran the three first scenes that they had with other people, Jihoon was so done. Everything . Seungcheol’s mood hadn’t improved the fact that everyone had to work with a new script wasn’t helping much, either. So the director called for an early close and asked that they all get better acquainted with their new lines.

As Jihoon went to pick his bag, he spotted Seungcheol talking to the lead character, Junghan by the door. He was just about to look away when they both turned to him and Jihoon froze, feeling caught.

“Hey, Jihoon!” Junghan, the pretty one called. “Are you busy?”

“Not… not right now.”

“Come have drinks with us.” He commanded and Jihoon nodded, taking out his phone and typing a quick text to Hoshi that he was in desperate need of backup. Hoshi was good people. He’d play back up for Jihoon any day.

By the time he got to them, Junghan was slinging an arm around his shoulders and squeezing up to Jihoon like they’d been friends since forever. Jihoon just laughed, going with the flow. If the two most popular drama club students wanted to hang, he was so down with that.

However, as it turned out, Hoshi was so not the backup he’d thought he’d be getting. He’d forgotten that Hoshi had been in the drama club with Junghan for the last three years and so was a part of the Seungcheol and Junghan inner club, sharing their jokes and laughing with them and almost completely oblivious to how uncomfortable Jihoon was.

“You’re not drinking.” Seungcheol said, nodding at his full glass.

“Jihoonie doesn’t drink.” Hoshi cooed trying to rub Jihoon’s chin as Jihoon swiftly smacked his hand away.

“Really?” Junghan asked.

“What’s wrong with alcohol?” Seungcheol asked, twirling his cup around as Jihoon watched the liquid swish and swish inside of it in an almost mesmerized fashion.

“It’s… it’s just not my thing.”

“Right.” Seungcheol said, still looking at him. Jihoon felt weird under the attention. He also suddenly felt the need to pull his sweater around himself and scrunch his fingers further into the sleeves. Because Seungcheol was looking at him and it was… it was different.

“Hey.” Hoshi said. “You two should be sitting together. You need to bond.”

“No, we don’t.” Jihoon was going to kill Hoshi later. Or maybe unfriend the disloyal .

Jihoon was then pulled up and dumped on the cushion beside Seungcheol as Seungcheol shifted to accommodate him.

“Yes, you do.” Junghan agreed. “You’re about to become lead roles and we can’t have you both showing up on Sunday without any chemistry.”

“We have plenty of chemistry.” Seungcheol said dryly. “There’s even an article about it.”

“Well, there wasn’t any from today’s rehearsal.”

Seungcheol hit Junghan on the head.

“You take that back.”

“Hit me all you want but you still need to get to know each other.”

“Fine.” Seungcheol said, looking up at Jihoon from his lean against the wall. “Get to know me. God knows we need it.”

What was he supposed to say now?

“Why don’t you get to know me?” Jihoon asked back, trying to mirror Seungcheol’s position but he had less space to spread into and he wasn’t as inebriated as the rest of them were, having avoided his drink the entire time.

“Oh, lookie, rookie.” Seungcheol said, eyes shining as he watched Jihoon. “There’s a kissing scene this weekend.”

“I know.”

“We’re going to kiss each other.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Have you kissed a guy before?”

No, he definitely had not. And before today, he’d never even thought it would be an item on his college experience list. But before he could answer, he heard smacking sounds coming from the other side of the table and he looked over, wishing he hadn’t, only to find Junghan and Hoshi kissing slowly as they caressed each other on the neck, the shoulders, the body.

What were they doing?<