Sana was tired but she knew she couldn’t complain. Feeling tired in her line of work was not something she wasn’t already accustomed to. Sana had just finished filming and once she had returned to her dressing room, Hyejin read out her schedule for the rest of the week as usual. Sana listened attentively as she sipped on her bottle of water. As Hyejin read out her schedule, Sana decided to rest her eyes for a while and let it flutter close. It was all pretty much the same for Sana.

‘CF voice over, script reading, publicity meeting, shoot, rehearsals, date...’ Sana repeated all the events in her head after Hyejin had said it out loud.

However, she had caught something that made her eyes shoot wide open again, ‘Wait, what?!’

“What?!” Sana exclaimed, causing Hyejin to stop reciting her schedule and looked at her, “What do you mean Tzuyu’s picking me up?”

“Simple. Tzuyu is picking you up.” Hyejin said as she attempted to put it all in the simplest of terms she was capable of.

“Like, from my apartment?” Sana asked again. Upon seeing her manager’s head nod, the actress’ eyes widened even more. “Why?!”

By now, Hyejin had set her phone down and cocked her head to one side, “Why not?”

“’Why yes?’ is the real question!” The actress exclaimed again before burying her face in her hands.

Hyejin let out a silent sigh before putting her phone away into her handbag on the couch and getting up to approach Sana. Once she was close enough, she bent down to be levelled with the actress and listened to Sana’s breathing which to her sounded… un-calm. Hyejin rolled her eyes good heartedly before sitting down on the coffee table in front of where Sana sat.

“Okay, you are losing it again.” Hyejin said before grabbing Sana’s shoulders and dramatically shaking the actress, “Breathe girl, breathe!”

“Unnie~!” Sana whined – trying her best to conceal the giggle that was induced by Hyejin’s silliness.

Hyejin stopped shaking Sana when the actress lifted her head back up. She then took a peek at the actress’ expression and saw that the younger girl was pouting.

“Okay. You are being too dramatic right now. Tell Hyejin unnie what’s wrong.” Hyejin said as she patted Sana’s lap.

“Nothing. It’s just that… why can’t I meet him there instead?” Sana asked and Hyejin had a feeling that the younger girl was hiding something from her. “Wouldn’t that be safer?”

Sana immediately realised her mistake when Hyejin’s posture straightened and the manager’s eyes widened in horror.

“Why?! Do you feel unsafe with him?” Hyejin asked, getting incredibly worried for the actress… and possibly her job security too.

“No, no, no! It’s not that. He’s the perfect gentleman.” Sana denied strongly, regretting her choice of words.

Hyejin didn’t look convinced even though her horrified expression had softened. Sana could tell that her manager was worried and doubtful.

“Really!” Sana said, trying to sound as honest and as genuine as she possibly could.

“Okay…” Hyejin trailed off, not really knowing if she should completely shake it off or not. She was still sceptical when she looked over to the actress and raised one of her eyebrows, “So, what’s the problem?”

Sana groaned before running her fingers through her hair in mild frustration.

“Unnie, I don’t know. It feels awkward for me.” Sana confessed.

“Why?” Hyejin persistently asked again.

Sana thought about it for a while before shrugging, “I don’t know myself.”

The two went silent for a while as Hyejin observed the young actress opposite her. She decided to give Sana a moment to recollect herself. She knew Sana well enough to know how to deal with her worries and concerns.

“Is it really necessary for him to pick me up and drop me home?” The actress voiced out again, looking up to Hyejin.

Hyejin took a look at Sana’s defeated eyes and nodded. She then begun to recite whatever it was she had recalled from the meeting with the publicity team.

“Because you both have gone public, there are eyes following you 24/7. And it’d be a bit questionable if you guys didn’t have any interactions together outside of restaurants.” Hyejin explained.

Truthfully, the publicity team had provided several other reasoning but Hyejin being Hyejin did not bother to list them all unless the actress had continued to ask.

However, instead of further questioning the justification of the whole situation, Sana had nodded before growing silent. A few other questions then begun to flood her mind as she turned back to her manager.

“How different is this date going to be?” Sana had asked, genuinely curious.

“I don’t know, really.” Hyejin answered honestly.

“You don’t know?” Sana’s reply had come as a mix between shock, amusement, disbelief and mockery which caused Hyejin to narrow her eyes playfully at the actress.

“Hey! I forgot okay! Well, if you had attended the last meeting or even read through the minutes I took down for you –” Hyejin said as she referred to the e-mail she sent Sana which she was sure Sana had yet to open, “You would know.”

“Mianhae~” Sana apologised, adding some cuteness into her tone so Hyejin wouldn’t be able to get too mad at her.

The older girl then narrowed her eyes again before sticking her tongue out to the actress. The two then laughed it off before Hyejin begun to explain the situation.

“Tzuyu’s planning the whole thing. He just needs to inform us where you’ll be just for us to know. We won’t be lurking around or anything. It’s just so we know where you’ll be.” Hyejin explained before she tensed up all over again.

Hyejin’s head snapped over to Sana and grabbed her shoulders again, shaking the girl again, “Unless you feel unsafe? Sana, you need to tell me these things!”

“I’m fine, unnie, really! I’m sorry for making you worry.” Sana frantically tried to fix what she had caused.

Hyejin leant back and looked Sana dead in the eyes – searching for any sign that the younger girl could be lying to her. When she found none, her shoulders visibly relaxed.

“You promise everything’s fine?” Hyejin asked to make sure.

“Yes.” Sana insisted not missing a beat.

“Hm.” Hyejin let out a sound as she lifted her pinkie finger up between her and Sana.

Sana’s eyebrows furrowed as she stared at Hyejin’s hand before looking over to her manager, “Wha-”

“You need to pinkie promise me!” Hyejin half whined, half instructed the actress who just chuckled in response.

Seeing that Hyejin wasn’t going to drop her hand anytime soon, Sana giggled harder before lifting her own pinkie and intertwining it with Hyejin’s.

“Fine, I pinkie promise.” Sana said in a mocking tone which Hyejin chose to ignore.

After they detached themselves from each other’s pinkies, Sana bit her lip and looked up to Hyejin again. Hyejin’s expression now was more relaxed compared to when Sana had worried her by mentioning her safety. She looked back at the actress with a kind and curious smile – encouraging the actress to say whatever it was she was holding back.

“So, Tzuyu’s taking me out on the closest thing we’ve done to a real, actual date…” Sana trailed off, stating her view point of the whole arrangement for the evening.

Hyejin pursed her lips together as she took a moment to process the hypothesis before nodding in agreement. “It seems that way.”

Sana sighed lightly, looking back down to her palms which rested on her lap. Hyejin continued to observe the girl before her. She had been with Sana from the start. So, it wasn’t a surprise that she could easily read Sana’s emotions. At the current moment, Hyejin could tell that something was bothering Sana and in all honesty, she had seen this coming for a while now ever since the whole stunt was put into play. After contemplating if she should pry, Hyejin decided that it was better she reached out and be there for the actress rather than leave Sana be.

“Hey,” Hyejin called out softly, causing Sana to look at her again. “What do you think of him, Sana? Be honest.”

Sana wasn’t too surprised about the question coming from her manager. Hyejin was known to be attentive and aware of her emotions and worries that it would be shocking for Sana if Hyejin hadn’t asked.

“I don’t really know. It’s been so long since I even thought about dating and now that this is happening and Tzuyu’s showing all the best sides of him.” Sana sighed.

The actress’ eyes glanced all over the dressing room, trying to put her feelings into words for her manager. She then shrugged again.

“It just makes half of me wanting it to be true. That instead of having a really great guy take me out to nice places and treating me right because of work – It’d be nice if he were to do it because he really likes me.” Sana confessed before waving her hand in the air, “It’s silly really.”

Hyejin caught Sana’s hand gently and held it delicately, “Hey. No, it’s not.”

“The possibility is really there, huh?” Hyejin asked softly again as she let go of Sana’s hand.

Sana hesitated a while but it was Hyejin, she didn’t have to hide from her, “Yeah.”

“So, why don’t you just go out there with an open mind? Don’t look at it as a publicity stunt for one night and don’t overthink that he might be doing what he does solely because of the agreement.”

“Go out and forget everything else. You’re just Sana. He’s just Tzuyu.” Hyejin re-worded her suggestion.

“And then what?” Sana wondered.

“Then, see if you like him as a person.” Hyejin answered before continuing, “Stop talking about work and get to know him. Treat this like a normal first date. See if there’s something there.”

“What if there’s nothing there?” Sana asked in a small voice.

Hyejin decided that she might be overthinking the whole thing – the way Sana had sounded a little bit disappointed as if she had really wanted something to be there and the way her shoulders had slumped forward, ever so slightly.

“Then, you have nothing to worry about.” Hyejin said as she looked at Sana thoughtfully.

“And what if there is something?” Sana asked again only in a smaller voice.

‘Then, you’d have nothing to worry about either.’ Hyejin said in her mind.

“Then, there’s a whole other journey waiting for you.” Hyejin smiled encouragingly before rubbing Sana’s arm. “Just give it a chance.”

Sana relaxed at Hyejin’s touch and nodded before sitting up straight again, “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am. Don’t worry about it. You’ll be fine.” Hyejin assured her.

Hyejin looked at Sana with a kind smile and tucked in a few loose strands of her hair behind her ear and just admired the younger girl for a while. Sana was like a little sister to her so she really wishes only the best for the Japanese actress.

“Here.” Hyejin said as she stuck out her first in front of Sana who looked back at her questioningly. The manager simply said, “Blow it up.”

Sana’s eyebrows furrowed slightly before she too brought her fist up and pushed it towards Hyejin’s awaiting fist. Then, as soon as their fists came into con tact, Hyeji