Previous chapter:

“That girl never changes...” He said to himself. “I hope she remembers me when I finally reveal myself.”

Behind the counter, Ji Won, the receptionist, smiled. “Nevertheless, it’s a good thing you were able to get IU outta there quick.”

“It’s all thanks to you eavesdropping on In Na, Ji Won-ssi. Care for dinner after work?” He said playfully.

“In your dreams,” Ji Won laughed. “I got Won Bin on my back lately and I’m sure you don’t want to bear the cross.”

The man lifted up both of his hands in defeat. “Okay! Well, see you later then, noona!”

He walked off, waving his hand in the air. Ji Won grinned.

“Your drama’s really good by the way!” She shouted back.

The man lifted up a peace sign before striding out of the building.

Chapter 16:

“I hope the viewer ratings for the last episode are high!” Jaesuk said enthusiastically, “Up until now, it’s been Happy Together. See you next time!”

Everyone clapped and cheered to Happy Together’s theme song as it blasted on the speakers in the set. IU and the other cast members from her drama, “You’re the Best, Lee Soon Shin”, joined along in the commotion, laughing at the others and their silly actions.

“CUT!” The PD-nim shouted. The camera stopped rolling.“Suguhaeseumnida!”

“Suguhaeseumnida, Suguhaeseumnida,” IU smiled as she did her usual 45 degree bow routine to the other actors as well as the MCs.

“You did well today,” Jaesuk said, approaching IU from the back.

He patted her on the shoulder lightly in a joking and friendly manner.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. You should come back on Running Man soon!”

IU laughed.

“Neh, neh. The next time the Running Man staff invite me, I promise I’ll come running!”

With a few more breaks of laughter, the filming farewells were over. IU made her way to the back dressing rooms and opened the door. Inside, her manager looked as busy as ever, packing up all of IU’s belongings and at the same time, taking on a call for what sounded like an offer.

“Opp_”

She was silenced by her manager’s hand in her face. She pouted at his gesture but decided to be quiet anyway. It looked like he was having a serious conversation with someone on the other line, and she hated to be a bother, no matter how much she liked to oppa.

“Ah, give me a second. I got a call.”

Her manager momentarily took his phone away from his ear, and accepted another call that came in.

“Neh, neh. Mianhaeyo! I know it’s not an easy offer to get, but I’m not sure if she’ll be too willing to give up that show for this...Give me a second, I’m so sorry...”

His phone left his ear once again as he tapped another call.

“Yeh, yeh, anieyo, I’m not that busy. I was just looking through Ji Eun’s schedule. I heard about your offer on this...Yeah, I’ll get back to you on this as soon as possible. Nehh, thank you, hyung!”

After he hung up that phone call, he immediately put his phone down. IU could tell that he didn’t want to deal with the other managers and PD-nims anymore. She laughed and gave her manager a little massage on the shoulders.

“Kwenchana?” She asked with a hint of giggles in her tone of voice.

Her manager rolled her eyes.

“I wonder who it is that is so important that made me feel not okay.” He grumbled.

“Mianhe, mianhe. Jeez, why does someone as handsome as you hold grudges for so long? It’s not like you. Besides, it’s not like I necessarily expected this many offers to come in at once.”

She blinked a few times cutely, before shooting her small pout. The moment she saw her manager mutter a few indecipherable words, she knew her pout was a winner.

“I know, I know it’s not your fault.” He murmured, finally zipping up his and IU’s backpacks. “Anyway, I signed you up for a new show recently. You’ll be an MC of a music show, finally!”

“Huh?”

The news was too sudden for IU to handle and her manager smiled.

“You got an offer to be an MC from the show coordinators of Inkigayo, and they want you to be a co-host with another person.”

IU gasped.

“Seriously?! You’re not joking, right? Oppa? You’re serious this time, right?”

Her manager sighed, though he did know why IU was so unacceptant of the news. There were many times she was tricked by his jokes saying that she got accepted by a music program. April 1st was one of those days, and her birthday was another of those days. To be honest, he felt a tad bit bad. Just a little.

“Yes, this time, I’m totally serious. And the person you’ll be MCing with, I heard, is someone you used to be really close with.”

“Eh?”

IU looked at her manager with questioning eyes.

“Remember that city oppa that you met when you first bought a house in Seoul?”

“Ani. Oppa, you know I met many city oppas when I first found a place to live over here.”

“Hell, you think I wouldn’t know? Player.” He muttered under his breath.

“Yah! IU’s manager isn’t supposed to say bad things about IU like that!” IU shouted, giving him a scoff of disbelief as she almost enjoyably smacked him with her backpack a few times.

Her manager defended himself from the wide range of attacks he was getting by a girl.

“My name is JUNG HYUN, not IU’s manager!” He rebutted as he ran out of the waiting room and through the back doors of the ON-AIR set.

IU laughed as she ran out of the waiting room and up to their car. She tried opening the doors, but they were locked. Sometimes she couldn’t believe how childish her manager could get.

“Yahhh~, I’m sorry, Junghyun oppa. Now, can you open the doors for me?” She whined as she knocked on the drivers window.

The window slowly descended, revealing the top of her manager’s face.

“Do you promise to call me Junghyun oppa instead of IU’s manager now?” He asked playfully.

“Arasseo, arasseo, pali pali, before we’re late to the next filming!”

“Who are you telling to open the doors for you?” He asked again.

IU rolled her eyes as she couldn’t help but giggle at her oppa’s behavior.

“Junghyun! Junghyun oppa!”

She heard him laugh as he unlocked the doors to the car, and as she climbed in, he quickly held up his own backpack to counteract her petty attacks.

“Kanda!” He exclaimed. “We’re leaving! Put on your seatbelt and stop hitting me!”

With that, she slid the doors closed and he swiftly pulled out of the parking spot and off to the next destination: her first music show.

~*~

Should I take up the project...? It’s not like it’ll be a big deal and it sounds like a pretty good storyline to me...

After excusing herself from a 'Potential-drama' meeting, Park Shinhye stood outside the conference room pondering her options. She sighed as she stared at the script in her hands.

They said that the main male lead hadn’t confirmed yet either, but there are rumors that Lee Jongsuk-ssi’s considering. What if he says yes? Should I do it too? No, what if I become dazzled by him and end up falling in love with that guy? Wait...Oh please, there’s no way that would happen. He’s too popular and hot for someone like me to intervene...Besides, being the girl I am, he would fall for me too hard, wouldn’t he?

Shinhye couldn’t help but giggle at her own thoughts.

“He would fall for me too hard? What am I thinking, Shinhye. There’s no way.” She said out loud. She fiddled with the script in her hands and returned the packet to the first page.

“Who would fall for you too hard? Me?” A voice said, echoing from down the hallway.

Shinhye turned to the source of the voice and upon doing so, literally dropped her script to the ground. Stride by stride, footsteps quickly approached her and Shinhye had no idea how to react.

“N-no way, what?” She stuttered with a small smile. “What did I say? Did I say anything?”

The source of the voice laughed as he approached. He held out his hand. Right in front of her was the handsome young and unmistakably hot man she had seen on TV multiple times, first in his amazing drama School 2013, and then his equally amazing drama, I Can Hear Your Voice, the following year. She'd basically watched all of his television appearances and although she thought it embarrassing, she also signed up for Jongsuk's fancafe. Okay, yes, it was completely embarrassing. However, in front of her today, was a man wearing a simple white tanktop and a plaid button down on top, plus the most vintage denim jeans. Too plain? Well, she thought it was just damn attractive.

“Nice to meet you for the first time, I’m Lee Jongsuk. Hope to work well with you in the future!”

He held out his hand again for emphasis as he looked at her with gleaming eyes. She hesitantly took his hand to shake it, before tilting her head as she looked up at him.

“It’s nice to meet you too, but...I still don’t know whether or not I’m gonna take up this project so it's not confirmed that I'll be working with you. Sorry.”

With a smile, she moved to take her hand out of his, but for some reason, she found herself unable to. She looked down to see his hand gripped tight with hers. She immediately blushed, but being the actress that she was, she hid it pretty well. Jongsuk smiled.

“Well, I don’t think you’re going to be able to refuse, Shinhye-ssi.”

“Eh? Why?” She asked, slight confusion shown on her face.

“Well, because, I want to work with you.”

Shinhye smiled almost sarcastically, squirming her hand out of his grip. As she was about to reply to Jongsuk’s firm statement, Jongsuk turned away from her and knocked on the conference room door.

“Come in!” One of the writers called from inside.

Jongsuk gave Shinhye a wink before entering.

"Ah, Jongsuk-ssi, you're here? Is there anything you need?" The main writer grinned as she stood up from her chair. Jongsuk ignored her enthusiasm and addressed the whole room.

“After discussion between Park Shinhye-ssi and me, both of us have decided to take part in this drama, Pinocchio. Shinhye definitely wants to do it, and so do I. Please get the contracts and the scripts ready. Thank you and have a nice day!”

With that, he slammed the door shut and walked over to Shinhye, who stood there gaping at his bold actions. Was Jongsuk this kind of person?

“See? I told you that you wouldn’t be able to say no.”

He walked until he was shoulder to shoulder with her, and leaned over until his lips were level with her right ear.

“Don’t try to get out of this, please. I think it’ll be a really fun experience, filming a drama with you...” Jongsuk whispered, “...Noona.”

He blew into her ear, before pulling away and jogging down the hallway.

“Annyeong!!” He exclaimed from the door, before leaving.

His merry laughter echoed through the hallways, and Shinhye stood there dumbfounded as the staff members began to file out of the conference room, meeting discussed and done. When Shinhye’s manager exited the room, he immediately rushed over to her.

“What happened? I thought you weren’t going to accept the drama?”

Before Shinhye could speak, her manager interrupted her again.

“But after thinking about it, it’s a really good opportunity for you to work with Lee Jongsuk! He’s the hot item these days, and it’ll be amazing to be in a drama like this with him. Even the storyline is pretty new! I bet you it’ll be a hit, Shinhye-ah!”

“Mm...Mm....I guess so...” Shinhye murmured, deflated and experiencing aftershock from Jongsuk’s words.

“Let’s go back to the office and print out the rest of the documents for the drama. It’s best for you to get started right away!”

Her manager proceeded to drag her down the hallway and shove her into the car. Shinhye let out a breath she didn’t know she had held, as she leaned back in her car seat and pondered.

Is filming with Lee Jongsuk a good decision?

~*~

“Yah, you’re amazing, Jongsuk!”

“Hyung, I always get to work with the people I want to work with, you know.” Jongsuk laughed as he climbed into the car.

HIs manager settled down in the drivers seat and slammed the door shut.

“But, Jongsuk-ah, as much as you want to work with her, aren’t you the least bit afraid that you’ll end up falling for her? After all, you’ve felt an attraction to her since a while back.”

Jongsuk clicked his seatbelt in place.

“Nah, I don’t think something like that would happen.” He chuckled. “The least we’d be is best friends, no?”

“If you think so,” his manager shrugged, changing gear and backing out of the parking spot.

“Yah, let’s just go to Inkigayo already!” Jongsuk hit his manager jokingly on the shoulder as they left the building premises.

~*~

A/N: We finally know IU's manager's name..*facepalm*. I only figured out recently LOL. I was like, how am I going to use his name from now on? Hmmm...Well anyway, it's finally out there and I'm going to be using it from time to time here on out XD. Also, new potential couple? Or just a random Shinhye + Jongsuk cameo? Hmmm...I wonder. Maybe I'm just excited for their new drama coming out in November, hahahha. Much love to my readers! <3