He will be the first one to hang up on the call, first one to go offline while chatting, first one to say goodbye and definitely not the first one to say hello … But he’ll make sure that he responds to my hello and goodbye, he’ll see to that even my slightest nuances are attended… He never managed to show up when I needed him, but always appears before me when I’m at the verge of giving up on him… he does raise lots of questions and doubts inside me, but the moment he stands in front of me, his quiet language which communicates with my eyes silences all my questions and doubts. Devoid of all words, he leaves me with just mouth full of teeth.

“The entire media is wondering about my whereabouts, … And, I’m here in hyung’s house, on the couch, painting on your toenails… while you are comfortably resting your legs on my lap and reading your scripts…”, Taehyung whined. But there was no response from her. Seeing Sohyun too engrossed in the scripts, he began to mess up to get her attention.

Sohyun twitched when she felt the nail colour on her skin. As she looked at him with doubtful eyes, his innocent smile never gave any clue about his intentional act. But she realized he was up to something. And upon checking, she found her tip of her fingers painted instead of just nails. While Sohyun fumed, Taehyung gleefully smiled upon earning her attention. Fed up with his tricks, she playfully kicked him on the chest, barely giving any force. He fell back as if he was hit by a cannon ball, “You just stepped on my heart!”, he exclaimed. “That’s great!”, Sohyun’s response triggered him. He grabbed her ankle, pulled her in and pinned her down on the couch.  Being locked completely, “You claim yourself painter, and you can’t even paint nails?”, Sohyun complained while struggling to get out of his grip.

He secured her legs and hands on the couch, and got over her saying, “Not a painter! But an artist!” He closed in with just an inch of space between their faces, and added, “If I draw flowers, you can smell its fragrance! My sweetie, when I draw the fire, the heat spreads…”

“If the picture gets life from your touch, what would happen to me, a living being?”, she asked fixing her gaze on him. And steadily leaning in, he never budged from his posture over her and gently brushed his nose against hers. With the eskimo kiss, “You are a painting… a breath-taking beauty… consuming lives!”

“Really?”, she raised her brow though flattered by his words.

He nodded with a smirk.

“Then where lies the soul of the painting?”

“It lies in the eyes of the beholder!”, he said with an intimate stare fixated on her.

“Then where does the love reside in the painting?”

“Where no guy can reach…”

Saturated by his flirty talks, she averted her gaze saying, “You are a poet, who knows to paint… And a poor artist who knows to mesmerise girls…”

“Now that you know…”, he paused, “Why should I delay any further?” he said closing in with a smirk and planted a peck on her lips.

Before he could go for a kiss, Sohyun released her hand from his hold and covered his lips. “I have script reading tomorrow… We set our own rules, remember?” Locking her eyes, he slowly took her hands that covered his lips and softly whispered in her ears, “You talk about the rules, why do we need these rules? For people who are impatient (passionate), my dear, how can the rules apply? Those social gathering and readings can wait… how can I wait anymore?”

With his composed demeanour, he swept her away, “I know you sneaked out and gave so many excuses to spend today with me-”

He gently kissed her lips interrupting her words and drew back.

But just the caress of his lips relayed how much he wanted her. She fumbled with the replies, tried to give excuses but messed it up. She made such a fuss, but he effortlessly took her in. Yielding to him, she fought back her tiredness, “Shall we go to bed?”

His eyes widened in surprise. His heart was on frenzy of desire but seeing her confused into ruins by his antics made him content. “Let’s go to sleep”, he said giving her a warm smile.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, she cried hugging him, “Thank you!”, and rested her head on his shoulder. Putting her arms around his neck, “Carry me!”, she ordered in whispers.

In a medieval tone, Taehyung uttered with a smirk, “Milady… I would love to embrace you in my arms and carry you to the bed. But my back seems to hurt from the performances…”

After giving him a displeased look, she took her hands away from him and walked to bed in deliberate heavy steps. As he watched her, she lied down on the bed adjusting her pillow and wrapped herself in quilt.

He watched her and waited silently.

The moment she closed her eyes, he sneaked beside her and carefully cuddled her beneath the sheets. Though she was awake to shove his hands off, tangled up in his heat she pretended to sleep in his arms wearing a smile.

In the faint light of the Sun, Taehyung’s drowsy eyes saw a silhouette running around the room in haste. With his brows drawn together, pushing himself, he his side and saw Sohyun gathering her things in her handbag while getting ready in a formal dress.

“What time is it?”, his coarse sleepy voice sounded.

“Nine-thirty!”, she said while rummaging the vanity table.

“Isn’t the script reading in the evening?”

“Mmm…”, she said with a grim face not meeting his eyes. “Where’s the blush…”, she murmured to herself in annoyance.

Seeing her in a hurry, Taehyung dragged himself out of bed and looked for the blush. Handing it over to the Sohyun, with unsettled feeling he asked, “What the matter? Why are you packing?”

“I’m only packing what’s mine…”, she said curtly not meeting his eyes.

“What happened?”, he asked worriedly.

“I’m leaving…”, she said firmly and walked towards the wooden coat stand.

Following her, he asked, “Why?”

She never uttered anything. Without words, she threw a glance at him and resumed her packing…

“What’s the problem?”, is quivering voice sounded.

She stopped packing and stared into his eyes.

As the tension built up in the atmosphere, his anxious eyes looked into her. On seeing his worry-stricken face, her lips curved into a smile.

Realizing that she has been playing tricks on him, he bit his lips in anger.

“I’m going early to the station for script reading…”, she said and pinched his cheek fondly.

Breathing out his relief, he said, “I imagined the worst!”

“The worst?”, she asked while arranging the scripts.

He plopped on the bed grabbing a pillow and said, “Maybe you are disappointed with yesterday night’s-”

“Rubbish!”, she remarked interrupting him.

“I meant carrying you… What are you imagining?”, he . Sohyun tried her best to not react to it. “So, what’s the hurry?”, he asked hugging the pillow.

“One of the senior actors in the movie suggested to go to the reading together…”

“I don’t like that man at all!”, he uttered casually.

“You don’t even know who we are talking about…”

“Who is it?”

“Heo Joon- ho sunbae… he is 55 years old!”

“Then, he should find a 54 years old senior actress to accompany him!”, he spoke his mind and grabbed her hand pulling her towards him. “Why is he taking my sweet darling!”, he fell back on the bed cuddling her.

Resting her head on his shoulder, spoiled by the comfort, she said, “I don’t want to leave”, and snuggled close to him.

“Don’t leave, then!”, he whispered and tightened his hug.

“Should I skip?”

“Can you?”, he asked excitedly. But the moment those words left his lips, Sohyun’s phone rang interrupting.

“That must be the cab!”, Sohyun exclaimed and rushed towards her phone leaving his arms. “I’ll be down in a minute!”, she answered the phone and grabbed her coat and mask in a hurry.

“You booked a cab? You’re leaving me here alone? What about your ‘Should I skip?’?”, he threw in questions while she put on her coat in a hurry.

“I need to leave now!”, she said and gave a soft peck on his cheek before she rushed outside.

Seeing her off from the room, he lied back on the bed and muttered, “That devil…”, and buried his face in the pillow. Lifting his head for air, he whined, “Why do even the printed flowers on the pillow, remind me of the smell of your hair…”. And that reminiscence struck a chord in him which dragged him out of the bed. As he stepped out of the house, he saw a bouquet of yellow flowers left on the floor in the patio. At the sight of the bouquet, his eyes immediately looked at the locked gates. Feeling uneasy, he took the bouquet in his hands and noticed a note which read, ‘To my dear Kim Sohyun’. The note shook his entire being since no one except their managers knew of their whereabouts. Regaining his composure, he scanned for CCTV cameras around the house. He made a call to his bodyguard Mr. Lee explaining the situation and retrieved the playback of the surveillance camera. With an unsettling feeling, he took his leave. As soon as he arrived at the agency, he went straight to his manager and the situation he briefed resulted in an emergency meeting with his manager, CEO and few members of the management department who were clearly not pleased with the news he brought.

“Any pictures attached, or any threats posed?”, one of the staffs asked.

“No… just the note!”, Taehyung replied.

“Is there any possibility… that person may not know of your presence with Sohyun-sshi?”

“I don’t think so… coz that house belong with one of our staffs…”, he confessed to which everyone sighed.

“Do you have any good news?”, the CEO asked.

“I have new theme in my mind… for the single album you mentioned!”

“We already decided on it, right?”

“Yeah… And I want to replace it with the one I just came up with.!”

“That’s not good news!”, The CEO flared.

“Oh!”, Taehyung’s lips blurted. “We have CCTV footage to check on that person… And it seems that a delivery boy sent the bouquet…”.

“We will track the shop and soon… find that person too, right?”, CEO marked with a command to the management team. “Is her agency aware of this?”

Taehyung shook her head in denial saying, “It might scare her-”

Cutting in, CEO instructed, “Inform them, immediately”. He faced Taehyung asking, “Do you have any slightest bit of fear? Aren’t you afraid that we might kick you out of our agency?”

“Very much!”, Taehyung answered promptly, “That’s why I came up with new song… to bribe you!”

“It better be good!”, he paused for a thought before he continued, “Bouquet looks like a warning… it is very risky! What can we do?”, he posed the question to management team.

A management staff spoke up calmly, “No matter what kind of information that person holds, we need to be the first to disclose it!”

“You look new…”, CEO inquired on seeing a new face.

“I’m Kim Jaejin… Joined last month. I previously worked in web content and online marketing and advertisement!”, he introduced himself in composed manner and proceeded, “Fans endorsers never want to hear any gossips through media… They prefer to hear it through celebrity or better, they find it themselves!”

“Means?”

“For example, if that person knew about  the relationship between Taehyung and Sohyun, we need to disclose it first”, he said with a straight face.

“Not possible!”, CEO said firmly. “No matter who discloses, this sudden news will shock everyone! We can’t afford to pay for those sudden impact!”

“Exactly… hence, we need to prepare them for the news…”

“Prepare?”, Taehyung seemed interested in the idea. But he backed down on receiving a sharp stare from CEO.

“We need to hint them… we need them to be shipped!”, Jaejin explained, “Endorsers and Sponsors are least bothered about the love life of celebrities. But they depend on the opinion of fans on the celebrities. So, we need a good opinion of fans on their relationship to sustain in the market!”

“Tell me something new…”, he asked with a straight face.

“Most celebrity couples who earn the fans’ support were either starred together in a drama, movie or alteast MV… Since Sohyun-sshi have clean background in relationships, the chances of fans accepting her are hig… Moreover, rather than just clubbing together from the start its better if he expresses his interest in her first! A guy expressing his interest will be a plus among the fandom where there are large proportion of female fans… We need to sneakily hint at his interest on her and let the fans predict that it is ‘Sohyun’ that he is talking about!”

After his formal speech, a silence prevailed for few minutes. Breaking the quiet atmosphere, CEO stood up saying, “This looks like a gamble… but we are left with no option!”, he expressed his approval and continued, “Inform her agency of our plan and convince them to comply with us!”, he said before he left the meeting hall.

“Sure!”, Jaejin said positively.

As soon the staffs and CEO took their leave, “Jaejin hyung!”, Taehyung exclaimed and hugged him saying, “It’s been a long time!”

“Do you know each other?”, manager bewildered.

“He is my senior. In college, I was Kim, the crack brain and he was Kim, the robot. He can extract details, hack but he calls it ethical hacking!”, Taehyung introduced him.

With a smile, Jaejin spoke, “When we first met in college, he actually came to me to get some details about a girl in our college…”

“A girl?”, his manager wondered.

“That was my reaction too… All he knew was her name! I told him that there might be thousands of people under that name… You know what he said?”, he paused for a quick smile and continued, “He said, ‘The possibility of  that person being a girl in South Korea, between the age 18 to 25 and studying in our college would be roughly around 1% in that thousands… that means it filters down to ten people! Is it difficult to find her among the ten?’ I was dumbfounded at his answer!”

“But you called me silly!”, Taehyung interrupted.

“What do you expect from me when a guy says he is in love with a girl whom he just met? It’s not true love which admires only physical beauty…”

“Not just met, I spent few hours with her!”

“Then that’s worst! It means your hormones are working overtime in your body!”

“Hey! Don’t degrade my love!”, Taehyung riled up and put him under arm lock.

“Ok, ok… I’m sorry!!”, Jaejin surrendered.

“By the way…”, manager cut in asking, “Who is that girl?”

“‘Kim Sohyun’ that was the name he said to me!”, Jaejin said smiling.

As manager stood speechless, Taehyung asked, “Don’t you know that I was in a relationship with her in my college days?” As the manager shook his head negative, Taehyung said, “Now that you know, I’m glad!”

“And hyung, I already did something that aligns with your plan!”, he said proudly while walking away with Jaejin leaving his manager behind in shock.

“You mean the behind the stage update on twitter?”

“Yup!”, Taehyung said confidently.

“I saw it too! You did good!”, his words put a wide smile in Taehyung’s lips which soon shrunk up on hearing, “And we need to take it down!”

“What! Why?”

“Stars shine the brightest in the darkest sky…”

“Star? Sky?”, Taehyung puzzled.

“How do I explain it…”, Jaejin gave it a moment and said, “People don’t take notice of the Stars that appear almost daily on the sky, but comets and stars that comes once in several years make it on the news…”

“I knew you were a sly one… never thought you’d have the mind of a clever criminal!”

“Are you praising me as ‘clever’ or cursing me as ‘criminal’?”

“Of course, it’s a compliment!” He smiled with just his teeth.

Not bothered about the truth in his reply, Jaejin with his ever-straight face and serious tone said, “If Sohyun’s agency approves of our plan, our first and main target would be your ‘V-Live’ today!”

“Are you gonna draw script for V-Live?”, Taehyung asked with evidently disappointed look.

“No… we are gonna sculpt it carefully!”

Authors’ note:

Hello dear reader! How are your days going? Health, life, studies, work? Things will get better and better :)

This chapter was short… I’m sorry about it… coz, I’m occupied with lots of things. Had so many inputs for the story in my head but couldn’t organise and produce everything in here. The next chapter will get better :)

Take care :) Have a marvellous day!

P.S: Well… you might’ve noticed that last few updates weren’t on time. I’m in my final semester of masters’, so thesis work got me tied up. And due to some personal reasons, my mind was all scattered. Please forgive all kinds of mistakes.

I’ll try my best to give the update on time!