Be at Mon&Park Studio at Gangnam-gu by 7:20am. Shoot starts at 7:40. I already booked your stylists, they'll meet you there. I can't pick you up, so go there on your own since you're on your break anyway. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mino swears he left their building's parking lot at 7 am, yet here he is, in front of the closed studio at 6:10 am. He stares at his manager's text again willing the letters to change itself just so that he can justify his ridiculous punctuality. Is he really this excited to finally meet Hur Youngji on an official schedule? Chuckling, he slaps himself on the cheek. Maybe he's dreaming? He slaps himself harder, suddenly nervous about the possibility of melting back to reality and finding out this has all been just a silly boy's illusion.

"Uhm. What are you doing?" In a cruel twist of fate, someone, a girl at that, witnesses Song Mino's self-inflicted torture session. He freezes for a second but then looks up. Oh, how he wishes he's somewhere else right now.

"Uhm. Ahh" Mino is taken aback at seeing the owner of the voice. It takes him a while to realize his mouth is wide open all this time. It takes him another while to question all the events that have happened leading up to this moment. To this very moment where Hur Youngji witnesses Song Mino, the swag, supposedly cool member of Winner, slap himself while laughing. She must think he's crazy.

“Hello...”, he says, lowering his hand down. Can he still save himself?

"What are you doing?" She asks again. A hint of amusement in her eyes.

"Ah, sorry. Nothing. I'm just waking myself up. It's early.. haha.." Damn it. He looks so uncool right now. So uncool. Fck.

"Yeah. It's still a little past 6 am. Uhm, you're here alone? Your manager.." Ah fck, she's gonna think he's creepy now. Appearing way too early to a photoshoot schedule.. alone at that... But then he realizes how she's here early too... and alone.

"Yeah, uh, my manager has something else to take care of... You too?" Mino peeks behind her at the small black car she parked just next to his. Yup, that doesn't look like a company car.

Youngji giggles nervously at the question. She definitely didn't come early because of too much excitement. She definitely didn't squeal to herself after her manager told her the male celebrity she's supposed to pair up with backed out and was replaced with Winner's Song Mino. She definitely didn't stay awake thinking how lucky a chance this is.

"Ah... I just woke up early so.." She smiles at him, but slowly lowers her gaze to the ground, her smile growing. She's known herself to be great at keeping eye contact with whoever she's speaking with, however, right now seems like one of the rare moments where she can't. It's a bizarre moment for her and she tips her head in confusion while still looking anywhere but at the man in front of her.

Mino's heart fluttered at the action. He panicked a bit thinking he might collapse if she keeps this up. He’s barely managing to keep himself calm upon finally seeing her up close for the first time. Seeing her doing remotely anything adorable will definitely make him combust.

"I'm Song Mino," Mino introduces himself, extending his right hand, still red from slapping his face earlier. We should start conversing. He thinks to himself. He’s determined to keep himself from rudely checking her out. He’s failing miserably.

Youngji lost sleep last night but instead of tossing and turning aimlessly on her bed, she spent hours choosing what to wear to this fateful day. She wants to leave an impression, but not to the point of looking too obvious. She opted for a black cross halter tank top under a denim jacket paired with denim shorts. The red plaid shirt she’s using as a wrap-around was a last minute addition because she suddenly felt too daring.

Mino feels jittery. He’s nervous but also excited. He wants to keep looking at her, but afraid that she might find it uncomfortable. She’s definitely very pretty, and so white. Not ghostly white, but creamy, milky white? She’s wearing a jacket, but her halter top is peeking out and it almost takes all of his self-control to just step right in front of her and touch her. The photos he looks at shamelessly every day does not do her justice. She’s unquestionably cute, but also low-key sultry. He blushes at the thought.

"I know. I’m Heo Youngji," Youngji answers, accepting Mino's hand in a firm grip. She notices how warm it is, and she almost doesn't let go.

“I know, too,” Mino can’t help but grin. It hasn’t been 30 mins since he arrived at the studio but he’s already shaking hands with the person who may make or break him. He doesn’t want to let go of her hand, but he’s starting to sweat nervously and the last thing he’d want is to leave an impression in the form of bodily fluids. Well... at least not the sweaty kind. Stop.that.thought.right now!

“What should we do for now? The studio is still closed. Haha we’re really here early..” Youngji’s mind is whirling at the coincidence. Sure, she decided to arrive at the scene way ahead of time, but she originally planned on just driving around the area until the clock hits 7am. That way she’ll appear professional and punctual. Not eager. Not desperate? And definitely not fangirl-level excited. She did not expect him to do the same. Both of them arriving just after sunrise without their managers, using their own cars, seem only to indicate trouble. She hopes it’s the good kind of trouble.

“Do you want to drink some coffee? There’s a coffee shop not far from here.” Mino suggested, glancing at the direction of the shop. Youngji takes this as a chance to check him out. From afar, anyone would know he’s a fashionista. From his white cap with the seemingly out of place paper clip, to the stud earrings, down to his elaborately ripped jeans, he’s a walking mannequin. He’s really tall, slender, but not weak-looking. In fact, he seems to work out? His chest muscles are definitely showing even beneath the loose sweater he’s wearing. Over that, he has on a red plaid oversized long sleeve shirt that looks exactly like the one she’s using as a wrap-around skirt right now. She wonders if he noticed. She hopes he did. And her fingers are curling on itself trying to cull the thought of how those muscles will feel under her hand.

“Sure!”, Youngji says. Her voice a note higher.

-----

They arrive at a coffee shop a block away from the studio.The place is empty save for an elderly reading a book at the far left corner. Mino leads Youngji to the opposite corner where a small table for two is set. A small ray of sun casts itself across the table, illuminating the area with a soft warm glow.

“What do you like?”, Mino asks her, pulling his wallet from the back pocket of his pants.

“Oh you don’t have to—” Youngji fumbles for her own wallet.

“Please?”

She’s never one to let someone else pay for her food. That’s just not her style. If she’s with someone else right now, she would insist to pay for her own even if it takes them until sundown. However, the idea of having to pay him back for this later invites a foreign sensation within her.

She contemplates before nodding. “Okay. I’ll have a caramel macchiato.”

“Okay.” Mino smiles widely at her before going to the counter to order.

Youngji can’t help but smile back. Somehow, even with his rugged appearance, Mino’s actions can only be described as cute, exactly as how others described her. He seems to do things with a bit of happy bounce in them, just as she does. Except this time, it’s taking her a while to come back to her normal self. Right now, she’s nervous and excited and still kind of unsure. She’s feeling a lot of new feelings today and she’s now anxious that she might mess up this photo shoot today. She feels really uncute right now.

Mino is back a few moments later with their drinks in hand. Youngji sees his drink of choice and smiles.

“An iced americano huh? I’m really good at making that.”, she says with pride. “People always asks me to make them one.”

Mino adds getting to taste her iced americano one day to his bucket list.

“Oh? Ah, right! Your parents own a coffee shop, I saw you in Roommate. I’m actually a big fan of you.”

Youngji knows. Of course, she does. Her fans made too sure she knows. She started getting tagged in everything related to him ever since Winner’s first Weekly Idol appearance was released. In the episode, he talked about how he’s a fan and how he can imitate her silent laugh. She saw clips but ended up watching the whole episode and, as they say, the rest is history. She became a fan of the group, too. She even bought all their albums. Needless to say, her bias is obvious.

She’s thinking about acting surprised but believes that she shouldn’t, so she says, “I know. I saw that episode in Weekly Idol.”

“Ahh, right.” Of course, she would know. Mino silently prays she doesn’t ask for his notorious impression of her laugh.

“Can you do it again? Your impression of my laugh?” And.she.does. Youngji chuckles at his stunned expression. He clearly was fearing she would ask that.

Mino covers his face with his hands, feigning tears. “I really wished you wouldn’t ask that~”

Youngji laughs out loud for the first time, and it was not silent. Mino appears shocked, but somehow, she knows he isn’t.

“Haha as you can see, I don’t laugh silently anymore. Having worked with a lot of people, I naturally adapted a normal kind of laugh. I’m kind of sorry about it. A lot of people really liked me because of it. I’ll understand if they hate me now. Haha!” Youngji takes a sip of her caramel macchiato.

“I know. I agree. They won’t.” Mino takes a sip of his own coffee.

“Huh?” Youngji looks at him. She notices how good his skin is. And how incredibly plump and red his lips are while wrapped around the straw like that...

“I know you laugh “normally” now. I agree a lot of people came to like you because of your silent laugh. And they won’t hate you just because you don’t do it anymore.” His voice is deep but quiet. Youngji has the sudden urge to record it.

“You don’t know that~” Youngji can’t seem to stop laughing now. And when she talks while laughing, her aegyo comes out. It’s a fact that even she acknowledges.

Now it’s Mino’s turn to want to record it.

Youngji receives a text message from her manager. A moment after, Mino receives one as well.

Youngji, sleep a bit more. The photo shoot is postponed. It’ll start this afternoon. The studio has some problems right now. Something with their pipes. Anyway, I’ll text you the new time later when I get it.

“Oh. Oops.” Both of them look up at the same time. Somehow this situation has become even funnier. It’s still 7:10 in the morning.

“What do we do now? We’re really here early..”. Mino asks this time.

A/N: Guys, what should they do now? Lol

Please leave comments!! Thanks~