It had been a week since Yuta and I started working together.

Whenever he had time off from filming, he was in the studio with me helping me to get my Japanese right. Of course I was thankful, but there were times I thought it was better to work without him; not because I couldn't stand him, of course, it was just hard for me to concentrate when he was around. Really hard. And it made me feel bad because I knew I shouldn't be affected by such things.

But at least I had made some progress when it came to talking to him. After a week I finally managed to look into his eyes. It was really embarrassing still, but I guess it would have been weird if I avoided his eyes all the time.

Yuta was full of life, he lifted the entire room's mood immediately when he entered and he took my breath away. He had such a beautiful personality, he was hard working, polite and open minded and he was always happy to be helpful. I was seriously reconsidering what Johnny had said. Maybe my body really knew before me that he was the right one for me - that's fast, you think? He seriously had me thinking that far after only one week of getting to know him. I still didn't think I loved him. But the attraction was there and there was no doubt about it.

And then there was his voice. I loved his voice. I had only heard it once, when we were going over a few possible melodies but I immediately fell in love with it.

I mean, it wasn't the strongest voice, it was untrained after all, but it was clear and soft, almost vulnerable in the way he carried it. It was beautiful.

On one day during the second week I had been invited to the studio, they wanted me to get a better view of the story and of course it was the easiest to do that when I saw actual scenes from the series.

It was a day when Yuta wouldn't have been able to come to the studio, so I was relieved I would still get to meet him, even if we probably wouldn't be able to spend much time together. Not that we spent a lot of our time together when we weren't working.

When I entered the studio I was met with a large hall full of people running and shouting around; they were preparing for the next scene and everything had to be perfect.

I spotted Yuta somewhere in a corner for a moment, then my view was blocked again from the many people.

I was greeted by the director and the head of the production team, Honda-san and Yamanaka-san.

“Taeyong-san, it's nice to finally meet you!”, said Honda-san. The middle aged man was a bit taller than I was, so I had to slightly look up to him.

“Likewise. Yuta-san has told me about you.” I answered and bowed.

“I hope the two of you are getting along? We know the decision was a bit sudden, to have our main actor work on the OST...” Yamanaka-san, the head of the production team said.

“Yes, of course. Yuta-san is very easy to work with.” I said. She seemed to be very relieved by my answer, as if she had been expecting something else.

There was a loud noise and the director looked at me.

“The next scene is ready to be filmed, do you want to watch?” I nodded and he signalled me to follow him. I sat down next to him in one of those typical film set chairs and focused on the set before me. A girl entered the picture, followed by Yuta, who was dressed in casual wear.

“Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!” they said and got into position.

They started with a dialogue; I couldn't understand everything, but I did pick up some parts.

“I feel afraid... It's like some part of my … tells me to … to destroy everything. As if I'm not myself anymore...” Yuta... Yuta had a pained expression on his face, it felt so real, that it pained me to watch. I wanted to go to him and do something against this sadness of his, but I didn't, I knew it wasn't real, I knew it was only an act.

This scene and two others were filmed before there was finally a break. I had been stunned. All the actors and the crew were so amazing, even if he couldn't understand everything.

In the break Yuta joined me and my manager. Yamanaka-san also joined us. She immediately turned to Yuta and started a light hearted conversation with him. I could hear how she complimented him and thanked him for his hard work. Yuta thanked her and then turned to me to ask me “Have you already met?” I felt a light blush creeping up my cheeks as he talked to me.

“Yes, we have.” I was surprised I didn't stutter. Yuta gave me one of his dazzling smiles and turned to speak to Yamanaka-san again. I could actually feel the jealousy starting to build up in my stomach. They seemed so familiar with each other. Don't Taeyong, I warned myself. You have no right to be jealous, Yuta isn't yours!

“Ah, by the way, Taeyong,” Yuta pulled me out of my inner monologue. “Do you want to go grab some dinner tonight with my manager and me? I'm free earlier than usual.”

“Uh...” Before I could answer, my manager interfered. “Of course he'll come. I will, too if that's okay.” Yuta grinned. “Great! And of course you're welcome to join!”

During the week Taeyong and I had worked together the feeling that Taeyong didn't like me didn't leave. Even though he had warmed up to me a little, he was still distant and didn't really let me get to know him. I barely knew anything. But that didn't stop me from liking him, he was polite and not arrogant at all, and even if he was distant, he was still interesting to be around.

When I saw him on set on the first day that I couldn't come to the studio, I was really happy. I felt like I had to do something about that distant relationship of ours. After all, I wouldn't have to be on set until morning this time. It was the perfect opportunity. All I had to do was ask my manager.

I didn't have a chance until late afternoon, when I had my first break since Taeyong arrived. I joined him and his manager, about to speak up about my plans, when Yamanaka-san joined us.

“Nakamoto-san, good work. You did really well,” she said while smiling at me.

“Yes, thank you, you too.” I gave her a smile. I then remembered Taeyong was here and asked him “Have you already met?” I could see how he started to blush a little. Weird.

“Yes, we have.” his voice sounded a little more silent than usual. I turned to Yamanaka-san again. “He's great, isn't he?” I asked her. She smiled at me. “Yes, you did a great job choosing him.” In the corner of my eye I could see how Taeyong's expression became a bit sour. Maybe he isn't feeling well..?

“Ah, by the way, Taeyong.” What I had said must have pulled him out of whatever sour thoughts he had been thinking about, because as soon as I spoke he looked up and the sour look left his face. Did I imagine it? Chosing to ignore it I continued “Do you want to go grab some dinner tonight with my manager and me? I'm free earlier than usual.” I could see he wanted to say something, but his manager interfered. “Of course he'll come. I will, too if that's okay.” Yuta grinned. “Great! And of course you're welcome to join!” The feeling of relieve filled my body and the tension I didn't notice left my body. Maybe I could get Taeyong to like me after all.

About two hours later we left the set and drove onto the busy streets of Tokyo. Taeyong's van was following mine closely as we found our way through the labyrinth that were the streets of Tokyo.

I had chosen a small restaurant not too close to the city centre where the chance of being found was a bit lower. Not that it would be a problem to be found; I had grown used to it and Taeyong probably as well, but it was still more comfortable not to be surrounded by fans.

Taeyong and I sat across each other, as did our managers. We placed our orders and started to talk casually. I found out that Taeyong's manager was actually pregnant. “Is it okay to be in Japan so long if you're pregnant?” I asked. “Yes, at this state it's okay,” his manager laughed.

Our food came and the topic quickly changed to our jobs. “Why did you accept the job offer?” I asked Taeyong.

“Well, … I didn't have anything else to do, not right now at least,” he answered and his manager laughed. “That's only half of the truth,” she said. “He's actually learning Japanese right now and had been looking for a job in Japan for a longer time now.” That spiked my interest.

“Really?” I asked excitedly. Taeyong seemed to find that funny, because he started laughing.

He had the most wonderful laugh I had ever heard. Okay, it wasn't exactly beautiful, but to me it was like music. And in that moment it didn't seem weird to me that I thought of it that way. That only hit me later that night. It didn't seem weird that I loved his laugh and little giggles, the faint blush painting his cheeks when he laughed too much or was embarrassed or that he would play with his hair when he was absentmindedly looking out of the window, thinking. It didn't seem weird that I wanted to witness all of that again. Later that night, when I was alone in my bedroom I was all the more embarrassed.

“Yes, really,” he said, a few giggles still leaving his mouth.

“Why didn't you tell me?” I pouted.

He looked a bit uncomfortable and there was a faint blush covering his cheeks and ears. “It's a bit embarrassing to admit to a native speaker...”

“Not at all!” I exclaimed. “The whole past week was a wasted learning opportunity!” He started to smile again, even if a bit reluctant.

“I tell you what. From this moment on I will only speak in Japanese with you, no exception.” And that was exactly what I did. “Tell me when you don't understand something, I'll translate it for you.” He grinned and nodded. “I understand,” he said and I almost had an heart attack at his Japanese. Of course I heard him speaking a bit before, we wrote the song in Japanese after all, but he usually just copied what I said. Hearing him speak on his own was next level. And it was so cute. He still had a light accent (I did as well when speaking Korean, or even standard Japanese, but shh, nobody has to know that) and it was the most endearing thing ever.

“Is that how you learned Korean?” he asked. I nodded. “Yes, I lived in Korea for half a year. When I first arrived my Korean was really ,” I said and we both laughed. I was glad Taeyong was opening up to me a bit.

“Where did you stay?” he asked me.

“Seoul,” I answered shortly. He nodded and smiled. I responded back with a smile of my own and we sat there for a few moments just looking at each other.

“Where are you from?” I asked him after a while.

“From Seoul,” he answered grinning at me.

I switched back to Korean for a moment. I wanted him to understand everything I was about to say. “You know, this past week I couldn't help feeling you didn't like me.” He looked down on his hands. “I'm sorry,” he whispered. I smiled and continued. “But I'm happy you're opening up to me now. I see now that you're probably just shy...”

He looked up. He wasn't blushing, but his eyes didn't quite know where to look. “I'm sorry, if it seemed that way... I'm not very good at opening up to people immediately after meeting them.”

“It's okay, not everybody can be a social butterfly like me. It was stupid of me to assume that, sorry,” I tried to reassure him. It must have worked because he locked eyes with me and gave me a blinding smile. “Thank you,” he said.

Starting from that evening on the mood in the studio became more relaxed. We were able to joke around together and actually get to know each other. I liked this open side of Taeyong much more than his distanced side. He was refreshing and almost unbearably cute, if he wanted to. Of course he could also be immensely graceful and, even if I didn't really want to admit it, quite y. There was an attraction I felt for him that hadn't been quite there before, an attraction I hadn't felt in quite a long time for another person.

After the dinner with Yuta, I became more open. I don't know what it was, but the dinner made something in me switch from defence mode to open mode. Yuta had so many fascinating aspects to him that I hadn't been able to witness before because I had been shutting him off, like that he was probably one of the biggest Otakus on this planet, or that he loved to sing whenever he took a break (something I had found out when I visited the film set again) or that he wasn't shy to start whining to get something he wanted (which had been cup ramen in my case, when he didn't have money on him).

Hadn't I started opening up to him I probably wouldn't have ever seen this side of him. But at the same time this made my attraction to him even more real. I knew him now, as a person, not as celebrity. The fact that his real personality drew me in even more than his public personality meant there was no way out anymore. There was no denying my feelings, no getting over him, which had been hopeless before already. There was no denying that I really was in love with him.