Hi Everyone, 

It's been such a long time. 

I've been quite busy due to work and the last holidays I was in Korea. So... didn't get a chance to really finish off any chapters for any of my stories. 

I had so many moments that I'd think of the two and have an urge to write, but never got to it. Finally I got to finish off this chapter for this story, so here we are. 

Hopefully you enjoy it. 

Until next time :) happy reading 

THanks to all my subscribers and readers for sticking with me. 

*******************

Chapter Three 

8th April 2018 - Day after SMTOWN in Dubai

Yoona looks down at the peaceful cityscape of Dubai from the tower of Burj Khalifa.  She has a pensive expression. The past day or so – actually the whole trip had been quite memorable especially in one aspect. There were ups and downs but she was reminded that he was there for her. And as a bonus it was revealed that Changmin can actually be jealous. She never thought that he was capable of feeling so.

Perhaps that was the reason why it was so easy for her to drift off to sleep last night. She does not remember the dream clearly but she had met him in it. And she remembers waking up with a sweet feeling, remembering faintly the touch of his hand, and an embrace that only happened within the subconscious.

Her manager had also delivered news to her this morning. It was a surprise and part of it gave her a warm feeling that she would keep a secret for now.

He joins her by her side. She lets him disturb her thoughts, since they were mostly about him nevertheless. She looks up at Changmin who is facing the scenery and waits for him to talk.

“Feeling better?” he asks, without looking at her. So she too tries to pin point a building in the distance to focus on..

“Glad it’s over.” She sighs in relief. “thank you for helping me through it.”

“it’s the least I could do.” He shrugs. “after all, you helped me through my toughest times.”

They stay silent for a moment more. The staff and other artists passing by, without disturbing them.

Yoona then turns to changmin, and her arm on a railing and leans her cheek to study him curiously. She raises her eyebrows and makes an amused expression.

He turns to her and furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

“What?” Changmin asks. But Yoona’s amused expression turns into a smirk. And changmin repeats his question with a tad more impatience. “what?”

“you…”

“I wasn’t jealous ok? I was just trying to make a point”

Yoona freezes for a bit in confusion then bursts out in a chuckle.

“That’s not I was going to say but if you say so…” Yoona says in a teasing tone.

There is now a hint of redness on Changmin’s cheeks. At first, Yoona was going to keep testing him, but she decides to spare him this time round.

“What I was meant to say was. You have no idea that we became 2^nd hottest search in China Weibo after those two photos right?”

“What?” Changmin says in shock.

“It’s true.” Yoona hands her phone with the screenshots her manager sent her. Changmin takes it and studies it closely with such concentration that he was narrowing his eyes. After a moment, he looks up with a blank face    

“It’d help if I can read it.”

“Well basically…” she says with a half amused half nervous laugh “most commented on the visuals. Some of them thought we were going to collab in the concert, others requested you to collaborate stone walk of Deoksugong. Many others wanted us in a drama together.”

At this point Changmin chuckles.

“Wow, they have taken this so far.”

“I know right?”

“Did they say we look alike? And we look like deer”

“Well that’s what you captioned it as so … what do you think?” Yoona says, making a sarcastic look.

Changmin makes a funny face and rolls his eyes, and continues looking. He finds ones with scream or shocked emojis and others with lots of hearts.

“what about these ones?”

“Oh…” there is now a thrumming in Yoona’s chest that is growing stronger. “Well according to manager unnie, later, as it became searched more and more, people started getting worried that we …” Yoona swallows and Changmin looks up at her eyes. She finds it hard to continue, and her face flushes red. “Well usually in china, being a hot search usually means…”

“Means what?”

“they thought we were revealing that we are dating.”

There is a flicker of shock in changmin’s eyes. And Yoona catches it while she is staring at him. Then it disappears as soon as it came. He turns away and clears his throat blinks and so does she.

Yoona forces a laugh, but no matter how hard she tries to act like it isn’t affecting her, her cheeks start to become a rosy shade.  It seems like they ventured a little too far.

“Quite ridiculous right? You and me?” Yoona turns to gauge his reaction. But upon some impulse, Changmin musters up a certain amount of courage. He turns to directly look at her rather abruptly

“You think ‘we’ would be impossible?”

And Yoona looks back at him in shock and astonishment at what he just said aloud. She does not know how to react. It is hard to tell whether it is one of his playful jokes or whether… It’s impossible. She brushes it off. 

“Don’t make a joke about something like…”

“It's-“

“Yoona!” Hyoyeon calls from around the corner. And Yoona and Changmin turn away from each other, looking directly at the scenery. Hyoyeon turns up and exclaims in relief “I finally found you!”

But Hyoyeon is oblivious to the fact of what she had just interrupted.

“Oh Unnie?”

“They wanted to take photos on the other side. Let’s go.”

***

Wandering around the souvenir shop, Yoona tries to find worthy trinkets to bring back home to remember the trip as well as gifts for the family. But she also had a particular someone on her mind. Someone she needed to thank.

She pauses by a 3D puzzle of Burj Khalifa and decides to add it to her shopping basket.

As she proceeds to the checkout, she sees Changmin just paying. She immediately turns around and backtracks, almost bumping into some of the red velvet members. Though she apologises, she is trying to find her way to the back of the store so she can hide her basket. She waits for the clear and proceeds to check out once again.

As she makes her way outside, she realises she is one of the last ones. Hyoyeon and Taeyeon ask what took her so long. But Yoona just gives a sheepish grin and diverts the topic.

“what are we waiting for?” she asks curiously, finding it strange everyone was standing around the fountain.

“the music fountain” Taeyeon replies.

“But I thought it was just at night.” Yoona says

“We’re special though” Hyoyeon reminds. Yoona chuckles. “silly me.”

Most the artists have their cameras out already, some going around to film all the artists. The fountain starts with the first note of music, and they all immerse themselves in the entertainment.

Yoona stares at the dancing water, her mind taking her to a not so far off memory.

6th April 2018 - Day before SMTOWN 

The music fountain in front of Burj Khalifa in Dubai is not famous for nothing. In its ensemble of music, lights and dancing water, the three famous Korean artists are entranced by the magic.

Changmin turns and looks down at Yoona’s mesmerised features. A smile creeps up on his face without thinking. She realises he is staring and turns abruptly, almost startling him. But he keeps his calm, putting on a facade as if nothing happened. So many years of practice pays off as he turns away.

She makes a curious face, trying to break through his pretence. She pretends to turn back towards the fountain and then quickly sneaks a glance across at him. But he was not fooled by her trick. He appears to just watch the fountain. So she gives up and continues to watch the show whilst enjoying his company and Minho’s.

Minho excuses himself to look for the toilet, leaving the two alone. Yoona takes the opportunity once Minho is out of earshot. She props her arm on the railing and rests her chin on her hand. She turns and bravely faces Changmin and blinks coyly, waiting for his attention.

All the while, she is actually admiring his perfectly constructed facial features. She had always been charmed by his looks, his profile, his jawline and most importantly, his eyes.

He breaks the silence, unable to pretend he hasn’t noticed she had been openly staring for so long.

“What?”

Yoona continues admiring for a moment. There is something even more mesmerising about his features tonight, then she remembers she hasn’t had a chance to look at him so closely (and openly ) in a long time. She then covers it all up with a cheeky smile. But she just shakes her head and doesn’t say anything.

“What is it?” He presses.

“I think caught you staring at me.”  She says ever so bluntly.

“Yeah, totally” while rolling his eyes. But inside, his heart began racing.

“Are you sure?” She teases, leaning a tad bit closer to him.

There was a rush of warmth to his cheeks and for a moment he was concerned the colour would show on his cheeks. He felt as if he was losing control over the situation.

For the many years they have known each other, Yoona has never been so upfront with him in such a way. For some reason, perhaps they were in a different country, perhaps they were so far away from home, perhaps they felt safe from the prying eyes. But she had the courage to test the boundaries.

Neither has he ever tried to step over the line. He too was less afraid tonight.

He chooses to turn to face her with such a serious expression, Yoona slowly moves back to her original position.

“What if I was?” he asks bravely. It was not the response Yoona would have ever expected. She is visibly taken aback, as is agape.

“Wh-what?” she shies and tucks her hair behind her ear. It is her turn to flush red. “Don’t joke like that.”

He waits till she is looking at him before he breaks into a chuckle. And she exasperatedly pushes his arm with slight force in protest

“Seriously” she says, narrowing her eyes

“You started it first.”

 “Well-“

“Well, you had something in your hair” he finishes off for her. He touches a random spot and pretends to remove something from her hair.

“Oh. Thanks.“ just before she finishes expressing her gratitude, he reaches to the top of her head and ruffles her hair, messing it up slightly. 

Yoona glares warningly at him from behind her curtain of hair. 

he just smiles smugly and shrugs rather nonchalanttly and turns back to face the fountain. She stares at him accusingly for a moment longer before giving up and following suit.  

Changmin is secretly glad that he had evaded that quite quickly. She tries to calm her racing heart after that mini incident; simultaneously trying to rid herself of the embarrassment.

And he makes it easy for her, not provoking her or disturbing her as they both just watch the fountain’s changing colours in silence. They let the sounds of falling water calm themselves.

Yoona thinks to herself that she is glad that it is him by her side at this moment. No words, just good company. 

Yoona turns around, trying to locate where Changmin was standing. She scans all the label-mates around her but cannot seem to see him. But when she does, she should have realised that it should’ve been obvious that he’d be next to Minho a few rows in front, closer to the lake.  

Staring at him from the back, she wonders whether he has the same recollections of the same night when looking at the fountain or... Could it be that those memories are only important to her?