Ice Cream Cake

A Forgotten Dream

               Jaeho instantly recognized the owner of the voice but didn’t dare to verify it. Now that he thought about it, his plan only went so far as getting into the bar: what was he going to do if he actually met Irene again? What was he going to say? Would he mention any of Drunk Irene’s antics from two weeks ago to her? Surely, he would be fine without the help of alcohol, right?

               He hesitantly turned around and was met with the sight of a certain female celebrity’s smiling visage from the other side of the propped open door.

               “Oh, it is you! I see you got my message,” she said, stepping out of the club and into the screening room.

               “Miss, if you wish to speak to him, please take this path to the back entrance,” the bouncer said, stepping to the side, revealing a hidden door behind the burly man that Jaeho hadn’t even noticed before. “We need to move onto the next customer as quickly as possible.”

               “Of course, I’m sorry. Let’s go,” she said, entering the passageway behind the door. Jaeho followed her, still wondering what the hell was going on. Was this a dream? The amount his heart was still pounding, having received such an enthusiastic greeting from a celebrity he’s admired for so long told him no. He could help but just stare at the backside of the smaller woman in front of him in utter disbelief; shortly after the door closed behind him, Irene spoke up again. “Wow, that was good timing, huh? I was just sitting at the counter before realizing that you might not be allowed in this time, and right as I approached the door, I saw you through the tainted glass.”

               It felt simply … unreal. There was no other word that suited the situation. The fact that Irene was walking in front of him, the way her face lit up upon meeting his gaze, how candidly she was speaking with him …he didn’t want to get his hopes up by reading too much into things, but, well, it was Bae Joohyun after all: Jaeho knew that if he had even the smallest chance with such a woman, he should pounce on it.

               “Ah, so you must’ve seen my desperate act right then, huh? That was awkward,” he commented.

               Irene laughed, but Jaeho could tell there was a hint of unfamiliarity hidden within, not that he particularly blamed her. The only interaction they had were those few hours two weeks ago, after all. “No, unfortunately I couldn’t hear anything, although you did seem pretty sad when you turned away.”

               “Yeah, I think anyone would be if they felt like they missed their only chance to meet a superstar like you, right?” he said, taking his jacket off. “It’s pretty cold in here, huh? Are you ok?”

               “Yeah, I’ll be—oh, thank you,” Irene cut herself off as Jaeho placed his jacket over her bare shoulders. She was wearing a sleeveless black dress that sharply juxtaposed her pale skin, which just so happened to match the black jacket Jaeho was wearing. “Why didn’t you respond to any of my posts?”

               “I didn’t at first, but—” Jaeho stopped when Irene turned around, giving him a pointedly disappointed look. “I did comment on one of your posts, but I almost didn’t because, well, to think you’d see my comment amongst the thousands that you usually get wasn’t reasonable to me. I am just a normal guy, after all.”

               “Don’t discredit yourself like that, you were memorable to me,” Irene interjected.

               He was memorable to her? Was that a good thing or a bad thing? She probably meant it as a good thing, right? Or maybe a mix of both?

               Right now wasn’t the time to think about such useless things. The past is the past, but the present is now. “But even still, wouldn’t it usually be crazy of someone to think something like ‘an idol is trying to secretly to contact me via her public Instagram account’?” Irene nodded, conceding the point. “It was only after the last post that I finally gained the confidence to come back here.”

               “Are you sure you commented?” she asked, meeting his eyes. Jaeho nodded, trying his best to match her gaze in a stoic manner and found himself barely capable of doing so: even her eyes, just her eyes, were stunning. “I was careful to read all the comments though. At least, all the comments within the first hour or so of posting.”

               “Ah, well I made my comment a few hours after you posted,” Jaeho admitted.

               Irene playfully huffed indignantly and turned back around. “Are you really my fan if you don’t see my post within an hour of me posting it?”

               Jaeho chuckled, still feeling a bit too uncomfortable to openly laugh. The ballooning sensation deep inside his chest … Jaeho had almost forgotten what it felt like to feel this anxious around another human being. Luckily, all the time he spent talking to others, both for his job and otherwise, allowed him to push through. “Well I was at work, what do you want me to do?”

               She shrugged. “A simple glance at your phone every now and then wouldn’t hurt, would it?”

               “Well, according to you, I would have to glance at it every hour.” A momentary silence followed as Irene thought about that, Jaeho shortly afterwards breaking it with, “Plus, I make it a thing to not get sidetracked and distracted at work.”

               “Even for your girlfriend?” came the quiet inquiry that followed from the smaller woman.

               Jaeho could tell Irene slowed down after posing the potentially loaded question: an honest answer might breed jealousy while a lie, which Jaeho didn’t put past Irene to be able to distinguish for whatever reason, might create dissonance between the two. So, Jaeho decided to compromise and answered, “Well, of course it would be a different story for my girlfriend, if I had one.”

               Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Irene returned to her normal walking pace. The ensuing silence granted Jaeho the opportunity to inquire about something that pestered him throughout the last two weeks and even more now that Irene was in front of him. “I feel like you’re more comfortable around me than you usually are around people you aren’t familiar with, or at least that’s my impression from seeing you on TV. Why is that?”

               Irene stopped right in front of the door at the end of the hallway. “I don’t know,” she admitted, turning around, something which caused Jaeho to subconsciously start holding his breath again. “Well, first of all, right off the bat you were really friendly and made the atmosphere really comfortable, so it felt easy to continue talking to you. Also, I only started being more open to relationships recently, but not many guys have talked to me.” Jaeho figured he had an understanding regarding this: Irene gave off this mystical, intimidating, ‘out-of-your-league’ aura that apparently even affected celebrities. He imagined a lot of other guys felt the same way he had: ‘what chance do I have with her?’ In fact, if he wasn’t slightly buzzed that one night, he might have never approached her. “There have been some who have come up to me and started conversations, but none of them left as big of an impression as you did.”

               Deciding the test the waters, Jaeho jokingly added, “Oh, so in other words, I made enough of a fool out of myself that you remembered me?”

               Irene giggled. “No, that wasn’t it. It was—actually, let’s finish talking at my apartment,” she said, turning around.

               “You have your own apartment?” Jaeho asked, helping Irene open the heavy-looking door that she was having trouble with the rest of the way. A rush of cool air blew into the warm, stuffy hallway, Irene quickly pinning the jacket on her shoulders with her hands. The door swinging open revealed a sparsely filled, secluded parking lot.

               “I got it shortly after deciding to look for a relationship because I didn’t want to disturb my members or pressure any guy I brought home with their presence,” she explained, reaching into her purse and pressing a button. A small, white car beeped to life in response.

               Even though Jaeho didn’t know about that—and he considered himself pretty well read on the news regarding his favorite K-pop groups—he didn’t put it past more obsessed fans to know it. And therein lay the first problem: what about media and paparazzi? What if they caught the two together?

               “Are you sure? Shouldn’t we just talk inside your car?” Jaeho nervously asked.

               Irene flashed a reassuring smile to Jaeho from the other side of the car. “Don’t worry. My apartment is a really private one that many other celebrities use, so you won’t have to worry about the press or anything,” she said, crouching down and subsequently disappearing into the shiny car.

               Jaeho was still hesitant though. Sure, the windows of the car were tainted and Irene’s word probably meant that the security was exceptional, but there was always the chance that somehow, someway, something happened. Jaeho didn’t want to be the cause behind a controversy that threw Irene or Red Velvet under the bus.

               “What’s wrong?” Irene asked, rolling the passenger side window down before leaning over the armrest in between the front seats.

               “Are you sure about this?” Jaeho asked again.

               “Of course! Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” she said with a cheeky grin on her face, barely able to reach the handle of the passenger-side door to prop it open, Jaeho pulling the door the rest of the way. As embarrassed as he was to hear such words from her when that should be his duty, he accepted the invitation, sliding into the passenger seat. Irene made sure to pass Jaeho’s jacket back to him as he settled in.

               “I didn’t know you had your own car either,” Jaeho noted as he put on his seatbelt.

               “It’s really convenient, especially for situations like these,” she noted, the engine of the car roaring to life shortly after. “And for whenever I want to go get some midnight snacks without my manager’s knowing.”

               “Wait … how did you get both yourself and your car back home two weeks ago?” Jaeho wondered out loud.

               Irene paused as she searched for her answer. “We had to leave my car here overnight and I retrieved it the next day.” As silence befell them, Jaeho noticed the serene, concentrated look on Irene’s face as she drove. While it was outwardly similar to the poker face he was wearing, inside, his heart was racing laps around his ribcage. Irene, the leader of Red Velvet, one of the biggest K-pop groups in all of South Korea, the woman Jaeho considered to be the most beautiful woman on the planet, was sitting next to him so casually, talking to him like he was her childhood friend … how could Jaeho not feel anxious? This time he didn’t have the benefit of alcohol granting him courage, and Jaeho truly felt it: he was so close to Irene that he couldn’t help but steal glances at her every so often. He wanted to stop, knowing the more he did so the more likely Irene was to catch him, but even still, his head swiveled against his will, his eyes drinking in the flawless side-profile of the idol before he managed to force his eyes off, only to return half a minute later. The tension hung in the air like the edge of a freshly sharpened knife, the eerie quiet that quite literally filling the car. Irene’s subtle yet still somehow intoxicating perfume that was invading Jaeho’s olfactory receptors… it still felt surreal. It was the only way Jaeho knew how to describe it: surreal, fantastical, spectacular—even these words couldn’t do the mystical feeling justice. Was this really Bae Joohyun that was sitting next to him? What if this was a prank by his friends or something, and they just got someone to do a ton of makeup to get herself to look like Irene? No, that wasn’t probable; Jaeho hadn’t told anyone about his encounter with Irene two weeks ago, largely because he felt that no one would believe him. Even as he sat next to the idol, Jaeho himself wasn’t sure he believed everything that was happening right now. If this was a dream, Jaeho hoped to never wake up.

               “What’s wrong?” Irene asked as they pulled up to a red light. “Why are you so quiet?”

               “Ah, sorry,” Jaeho replied, “I just was—ah, never mind.”

               “What?” she insisted, looking over at him, a warm, inviting smile on her face.

               “I was too enamored by your beauty.” A shocked expression appeared shortly on Irene’s face before she turned back to face the road. Seeing the reaction made him smile and gave him further confidence; it seemed like Irene was much calmer and more collected than he was, but seeing the reaction made him realize that Irene was a bit nervous too, which helped in breaking down that mystical, divine aura that had lingered about her. “I was also thinking that, even with your explanation, it didn’t make sense that you’d suddenly feel so comfortable with me that you’d invite me to your apartment.”

               “Ah, that,” Irene replied. Despite facing forward, Jaeho could see that Irene’s face had taken a red hue, causing Jaeho’s smile to widen; how could a thirty-one-year-old woman be this cute? “I’ll tell you when we get there,” she said shyly.

               The rest of the short car ride went by in silence, as did the walk to the elevator and the ride up to her apartment’s floor. In the time, Jaeho had plenty of time to reflect: to think about what this meant, about what would happen, about what he would do if they got into a relationship, about what he would do if that didn’t happen, about how he would tell others about this or if he would even tell anyone at all, … all of it. This was quite uncharacteristic of Jaeho; while he wasn’t one to be completely thoughtless, he wasn’t one to dwell too much on such vague thoughts. ‘Live in the present or it’ll fly by before you know it’ was another interpretation of his mother’s words, and it was something he always tried to be cognizant of: if there was something to be done, instead of thinking about it for so long that the opportunity passed, he acted as directed by his instincts and gut feelings. Right now, though, Jaeho felt what was happening right now was too important to just react based on gut feelings. He felt that he should be more aware of his surroundings and make sure to not screw up. After all, when would the next chance to date such a spectacular woman present itself? Jaeho reminisced about the last time he was in a relationship: it was quite some time ago, but hopefully not so long ago that it’s dulled his senses.

               When they stepped into the homely apartment, Irene quickly exchanged her shoes for slippers, reaching into a cabinet near the foyer and pulling out a pair for Jaeho. “Here,” she said, setting them on the floor.

               “Thank you,” Jaeho replied, leaving his shoes by the door and slipping his feet into the slippers, only then discovering that they were a little tight.

               “Oh, are they too small?” Irene inquired, reaching into the cabinet again.

               “It’s fine, it fits,” Jaeho replied.

               “No no, it’s ok, I have bigger ones,” she said, “So not only do you have big hands, but big feet as well?”

               “Well, I guess I need big feet to balance out my big hands,” Jaeho suggested, taking off the slippers so that Irene could put them back into the cabinet.

               Irene laughed. “What are you even saying? That doesn’t make any sense,” she said. Jaeho smiled in kind. “Do you want something to drink?”

               “I’ll just have some water,” he answered, slipping on the larger slippers and following Irene into her apartment.

               “Ok,” she said, heading into the kitchen and retrieving a cup from the cupboard above the sink. “My water isn’t as exquisite as the one at that bar, though.”

               Jaeho chuckled. “That’s a shame, but it’s fine. Thank you,” he said, receiving the cup from her. After pouring herself a cup of soju, Irene joined Jaeho at the table located next to the kitchen. “So, you were going to tell me the other reason why you felt so comfortable around me?”

               Irene nodded shyly, her face starting to turn red again. “Yeah…” she said, clearly hesitant on the prospect now.

               “If you don’t want to say, it’s fine. I was just curious—” Jaeho started, but Irene cut him off.

               “No, I’ll say,” she interjected, taking a brief second to herself before following up, “It’s because you passed my test.”

               It was Jaeho’s turn to flush, the memory of it replaying in his mind. “Ah, really?” Jaeho didn’t know what to think or what to do; while he was glad that he passed Irene’s ‘test’, he wasn’t sure what to make of it, what it was even for or what it was testing. Judging from Irene’s reaction, she was embarrassed by the memory, but judging from how she was acting, passing the test was deeply meaningful to Irene. “I was really surprised, to be honest. I didn’t know you had it in you to be that y—”

               “Stop~” she whined, kicking him under the table lightly. Jaeho laughed, Irene frowning in response. “If you want to have a chance with me, then forget that ever happened.”

               Jaeho’s eyebrows rose. He knew he heard correctly, but even still couldn’t believe his ears; even if it was just something that Irene said in passing, he couldn’t help but feel a swell of confidence and determination. If Irene was looking for a boyfriend and he was looking for a girlfriend, if Irene had given Jaeho a test that he allegedly passed which sparked an interest in him inside her, then could it actually be possible that they get together? For the longest time—for his entire life, that is—he was taught to separate fantasy from reality, that there were just some things he couldn’t expect to happen in the real world. Gaining the ability to fly, developing super-strength, dating an idol: these were all things that he figured were purely in the realm of fantasy and had long accepted was something that would never happen to him. ‘Live in the present, seize the moment, grab every opportunity and never let go’: if he were to follow his mother’s words, he would also do well to remember that in the end, Irene was just a woman and not a goddess. Or at the very least, he was pretty sure that was the case.

               “Are you sure? It would be such a shame to—” Jaeho started, a teasing smile on his face, Irene interrupting him.

               “Yah,” she whined, kicking him again. “I’m older than you, remember? Shouldn’t you be listening to the words of your noona?”

               “You’re right, I’m sorry, I should listen to my elders,” Jaeho said, scooting his chair away from her.

               “What do you mean ‘elders’? I’m not that much older than you!” Irene complained, reaching over the table and smacking him again.

               Jaeho laughed, saying “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

               “Forget it, I’m mad,” Irene replied, pouting and crossing her arms.

               Whereas normally, Jaeho would be able to easily understand that Irene was being playful, the abnormal caution Jaeho was harboring caused him, for a brief second, to consider the repercussions of Irene being sincere in her anger. What alleviated that fear was her facial expression: the slight smile on her lips and cheekbones that hinted at her playfulness. “Even when you’re mad, you’re cute.”

               “Wh-What do you mean? You think calling me cute will help?” Irene stammered ever so slightly, another action that bombarded Jaeho’s heart with a warm, tingly feeling. He always admired these idols, both for their talents and beauty, and would sometimes feel his heart flutter from looking at candid pictures of them or watching stunning performances by them, but he never considered them feelings of romantic love. The emotions he was feeling at that moment were completely different: this feeling, an unstoppable force that invaded his entire body, the bubbling feeling of elation deep within his chest—these emotions, undoubtedly, were the burgeoning signs of love.

               But it was pointless to act on them now. Not when Irene still barely knew him. “Well, it worked so well last time, didn’t it?”

               “Yah!” Irene smacked him the third time that night, “I told you to forget that night!”

               “It’s so memorable though,” Jaeho replied, a smile lingering on his lips. He found it was hard not to smile in her presence, which was weird because he was often criticized by his friends for the stern look that often occupied his face.

               “It—It’s embarrassing,” Irene admitted, her face starting to turn pink, Jaeho following suit upon remembering what occurred at that club two Fridays ago.

               “I don’t know, it’s just—it would be such a shame to just forget that, though,” Jaeho commented after a moment of silence.

               Irene whined, hiding her face in her hands. “Why do you like teasing me so much? Aren’t you supposed to be nice to your idols?”

               Jaeho laughed again. “Sorry, it’s just so fun to see you flustered.”

               “It wasn’t that fun for me,” Irene admitted.

               “Oh, aw, why not?”

               Irene sighed, and just from that, Jaeho could feel the weight in the week that elapsed between his first and second visit to Irene’s apartment. “I had a lot of meetings to attend; don’t tell anyone this, but we just got started on working out the concept of our next album, including which songs to put in and choreography and everything. In addition, I had a meeting with a company I do CFs for regarding the concept of the next CF they want to shoot for me; I mean, the meetings don’t take that long, but they’re mentally exhausting sometimes, especially since we don’t get much sleep. Also, one of my members was undergoing hardships with online comments because she was acting ‘too friendly’ with someone else on a variety show we appeared in recently, and that on top of us starting to diet in preparation for our comeback made it that much harder for her. On top of all that, we still attended fan-meetings with the knowledge of our comeback but not being able to tell them about it despite them all eagerly waiting for it. There’s also—” Irene abruptly stopped when she made eye contact with Jaeho, an apologetic look befalling her face. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to rant.”

               Again, Jaeho inconspicuously found a smile on his face. There was just something about Irene’s passion despite all the laborious work, about her love of her fans despite all the stress that came with her work that made him admire her that much more. “You don’t have to apologize, it’s a fan’s job to make their idols happy, right? You said it yourself last week.”

               Irene nodded cautiously. Jaeho could tell that she was deliberately skirting around the topic of Irene’s embarrassing front she displayed three weeks ago: her ‘test’ for Jaeho, so to speak, but Jaeho decided to obey Irene’s directive from the previous week and not mention it again, as fun as it was to see Irene flounder about. “Why were you smiling though?”

               “Oh, it’s just—” Jaeho started, Irene interrupting him shortly after.

               “What, does my pain make you happy?” Irene demanded. Those words alone would be incriminating were it not for the playful tone in Irene’s voice and the laughter in her eyes, although Jaeho would be lying if he said hearing those words from the idol didn’t cause discourse inside his brain. However, it lasted for but a fleeting moment, Jaeho laughing as well, catching Irene’s infectious smile.

               “It was just that I found your passion for your work and love for your fans despite all the exhaustion accumulated from all your hard work admirable,” Jaeho explained.

               “Ooh,” Irene replied in an impressed tone, “that sounded convincing.”

               “What? I’m being sincere!” Jaeho defended himself.

               “Well last week you told me that you found my flustering cute, so you can’t blame me for not trusting you,” Irene countered.

               “What’s wrong with being cute?” Jaeho asked, sneaking a glance into Irene’s cup as sneakily as he could, discovering that she still had a bit of her drink left. He wanted a refill but felt it was impolite to bring it up, so he figured he would just get it when Irene finished her drink.

               Irene huffed, taking another quick sip of her drink. “Well first off, I’m thirty-one years old.”

               “I thought you said it was improper to mention a woman’s age,” Jaeho said.

               The smile that appeared on her lips hinted at the next bit of teasing Irene countered with.“Well I figured it’s ok since you’re into older women.”

               Jaeho laughed. “What, did you have that reply prepared in advance?”

               Jaeho meant it as a joke, but upon observing Irene’s immediate reaction, he realized that there might have been more truth in what he said than what Irene would’ve liked to let on. This came as a startling realization to him: while Jaeho figured it was now disingenuous to not call the two ‘friends’ or at least ‘acquaintances’ now that Irene has invited him over to her apartment twice in two weeks, he always reminded himself to stay grounded in that reality. They were nothing more and nothing less.

               This wasn’t something Jaeho was necessarily content with, though. In the past week, he found himself griping with these feelings often: the reality that his feelings of romantic love towards Irene could be one-sided, that it probably was the case that Jaeho spent more time—much more time—thinking about Irene than her about him. But with the observation of her reaction, he surmised that perhaps that train of thought wasn’t necessarily the case: did Irene think about him in her free time? How often? The answers to these questions, as much as Jaeho wanted to know them, could only remain in his fantasy world—for now, at least. What he could take away was that the answers were not a simple ‘she didn’t’ or ‘never’.

               When this dawned on Jaeho, his heart started palpitating, which was even strengthened by Irene’s reply of, “So what if I did?” Irene’s slightly flushing face provided even more fuel to the ardent blaze alight in his heart. The brief moment of silence was broken when Irene stood up, saying, “I’m going to refill, do you want anything?”

               “I’ll have wa—actually, do you have that soju from last week?”

               “Ah, yes, I do,” Irene said, pulling out the green-transparent bottle from the fridge. “It was good, wasn’t it?”

               “Yeah, I never really get to drink this kind of soju because it’s too expensive for me,” Jaeho replied, closing the fridge for Irene as she struggled to open the bottle. Jaeho moved to offer assistance, but the bottle popped open before he could do so.

               “Ah, so is that what I am to you? A rich friend?” Irene laughed, pouring the alcohol in the two cups—one of which was specifically his, supposedly.

               “I never said that,” Jaeho answered, exaggerating an offended look. “I never stated that one of the things I look forward to every week is the luxury of this apartment.”

               “Yah,” Irene laughed again, turning around with the two cups in hand.

               Jaeho smiled. It was like magic; Irene’s infectious smile never failed to transfer onto him, something Jaeho hoped Irene didn’t notice. “I’m kidding. Well, I was partially kidding; the part about looking forward to coming here every week was true.”

               “Oh really?” Irene giggled, a smile in her eyes as she looked at Jaeho with an unbelieving expression, stopping short upon meeting Jaeho’s serious gaze. “Oh, really?” she repeated, this time with a more serious tone.

               Jaeho nodded. “Yeah. This is only my third time here, but I’m already finding this place to be very comfortable.”

               “Ah, so it’s this place, not me, that you look forward to, huh?” Irene replied in a knowing, ‘ah I get it’ tone.

               “Well, no. I look forward to meeting you also,” Jaeho responded, redirecting his gaze back onto Irene. Over the past three weeks, Jaeho had become more and more competent at doing this, looking Irene in the eyes. It was a small victory, if it could even be considered one, but it was one nonetheless.

               Irene, on the other hand, started turning a little pink in the cheeks. “There you go again, teasing me,” she mumbled, closing the bottle.

               “I’m not teasing you, I mean it,” Jaeho said, taking the bottle from Irene and putting it back into the refrigerator, “You know, to me, a normal person, it’s sort of amazing that I get to talk to such a famous idol like yourself on a weekly basis, one-on-one.”

               Irene laughed. “What are you saying?”

               “What?” Jaeho replied innocently. “I mean, I bet there are hundreds of thousands, millions of fans who are jealous that I get to do this.”

               “Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?” The smile that lingered in her eyes, the laugh that lingered in her voice, all of those were signs of the humility that Jaeho had always heard Irene had but now got to experience.

               “No, I don’t think so.”

               “Really? There was nothing interesting that happened to you all week?” Irene asked, clearly not believing Jaeho’s response.

               “What? I’m allowed to have a boring life, aren’t I?” Jaeho replied.

               “It’s just that … really? Nothing?” Irene repeated.

               “Ok, fine,” Jaeho conceded, a triumphant look appearing on Irene’s face as he did so, “I guess the most interesting thing that happened to me this week was that I saw one of my exes by chance at a restaurant and caught up with her.”

               It was a white lie, a claim that Jaeho wanted to use to gauge Irene’s reaction, successfully drawing out her shocked, slightly anxious expression. Maybe it was just him looking for something that wasn’t there, but he swore he saw jealousy in Irene’s expression. “Oh, how did it go?” was her rather stiff reply.

               “I’m kidding,” Jaeho admitted, causing Irene to pout.

               “You—” Irene reached across the table to smack him, Jaeho dodging by leaning away from her. “Don’t dodge me when I’m trying to hit you,” she demanded, trying again and missing again.

               Jaeho laughed. “What, do you expect me to just sit here and get hit?”

               “Yes! Now come here,” Irene got up off her chair, smacking Jaeho’s shoulder a couple of times for good measure before returning to her spot.

               “Did that make you happy?” Jaeho asked, rubbing the spot Irene hit him.

               “Yes,” she replied very matter-of-factly, sitting back down in her chair. “Ok, now it’s my turn: during a fan meeting—this was really interesting—Seulgi was sitting next to me, right? I was waiting on the next person, who talking to Seulgi, and when I looked over to see what was taking so long, the fan was pulling out this huge bear plushie from a box like, this big,” Irene gestured about the size of a standing human, “I don’t know how that body-sized plushie managed to fit inside that of a small box, but I just found it really fascinating. I think it was designed to automatically inflate or something, but it sort of just popped out of the box like ppyong!” Irene added a popping gesture with her hands in addition to her sound effect. Jaeho hid his smile at the sudden display of cuteness, knowing Irene might take issue with it. “I was so startled by it that I almost knocked over the water bottle that was on the table next to me. I’ve seen interesting gifts before, but I have to say that one surprised me the most in recent memory.”

               Jaeho also found it fascinating how relaxed she had become within these short few weeks; not only was this evident in her speech, but her more open body language. It was comforting to see this happening, especially since Jaeho was starting to feel more comfortable around Irene as well. Although he didn’t know if he would ever grow accustomed to her beauty, he found himself able to speak with more confidence.

               “Speaking of which, how come I never see you at fan meetings?” Irene suddenly asked Jaeho.

               “I, uh, am busy,” Jaeho answered, peering into Irene’s cup to see that it was empty. It was true, but it wasn’t the complete answer: Jaeho certainly could make time to attend the fan meetings that Red Velvet held, but he never went to them because it usually involved taking time off work or his modeling side-job. Now that it was Jaeho’s fourth Friday at Irene’s apartment, he had another excuse: he wasn’t sure how he should act in front of Irene in public. He figured that he shouldn’t act as friendly around her as usual since that would just draw attention from attentive fans who knew that Jaeho wasn’t a childhood friend of Irene’s, but then should he just act like a normal fan? How does he do that? Jaeho never really was one to attend fan meetings due to being content just watching them on variety shows and the occasional drama. Should he just try to observe other fans and try to imitate them, or just go by feel? What if Irene was offended by him acting so distant?

               “You’re busy every single time?” Irene pointedly pouted, handing her empty cup to Jaeho after he motioned to it. He innocently nodded, causing Irene to pout even more. “You know what? We have a public fan meeting tomorrow; I better see you there.”

               “But—” Jaeho stopped in his tracks, his mind coming up blank as he tried to fabricate another excuse to not go, but as the seconds ticked by, in desperation, his mind transferred his inner turmoil and true thoughts into the words that poured out of his mouth. “How am I supposed to act, though?”

               “What do you—…oh, I see,” a look of realization washed over Irene’s face as the problem Jaeho had been considering suddenly occurred to Irene, “Actually, not only that, but if my members ever meet you, they’ll never stop teasing me.”

               “Why would they tease you?” It was a question Jaeho casually threw out, but after Irene had fallen silent, Jaeho realized why it the inquiry, while innocent on the surface, could be so incriminating. They sat in a momentary silence while Irene collected her thoughts, Jaeho washing their cups at the kitchen sink as if he hadn’t come to that realization. After a few moments, Irene responded.

               “Well, since I’ve been taking Friday nights off, I couldn’t just leave the dorm without telling them what I was doing. They know about this apartment and why I have it, so that’s what I told them,” Irene explained. Jaeho suddenly recalled back to their first time meeting: exactly six weeks ago, when Irene admitted that she was looking for a boyfriend and then two weeks later, revealed that she had acquired her own private apartment to that end.

               “So should I just act like a normal fan and pretend not to know you that much?” Jaeho asked.

               Irene thought about it before replying. “Yeah…I guess that would be best … but would people even notice if we talked normally?”

               Jaeho almost smiled at Irene’s display of humility. This aspect of Irene was yet another thing that never failed to amaze him: Irene’s fame never got to her head. In Jaeho’s mind, it would surely become an issue if Irene acted as friendly as she normally did to what most people would perceive as a random fan, and if people started speculating and rumors started spreading, it was game-over for the two. Jaeho wondered what Irene’s thoughts of the issue were, if she thought people wouldn’t think twice about her acting more friendly to a random male fan than to other fans. “I think so. Would you be willing to risk our friendship for just speaking a few sentences?”

               Irene thought for a second before answering. “Well, it wouldn’t be that bad, right? At the very worst, we would still be able to text each other and then just meet at public events, right?”

               “The worst that can happen is probably your company forbidding you from contacting me again,” Jaeho said, putting the cups back in their place, adding on, “Well, at least in my opinion, that’s the worst that can happen. Maybe it would be a relief that you can stop forcing yourself to invite me over every Friday.”

               This was yet another test of Jaeho’s own creation in which he wanted to gauge Irene’s reaction, and the results turned out more fruitful than he would have ever anticipated.

               “What do you mean?! I’m not forcing myself! I—” Irene abruptly paused, her guilt-ridden facial expression quickly changing when she saw the smirk on Jaeho’s face, responding to his reaction by getting up out of her chair, taking a swift two steps, and smacking him on his shoulder.

               “Seriously, why do you like teasing me so much?” Irene whined, turning away from him.

               “I wanted to see your reaction,” Jaeho admitted, smiling. He wasn’t one to be lacking in self-confidence—his modeling side-job was kickstarted by his confidence in his own looks and abilities, after all—but for some reason, when it came to Bae Joohyun, it was a completely different story. Even though they met privately every Friday, Irene still felt like an idol every other day: she still appeared on variety shows and in CFs, she still attended fan meetings and concerts, she still interacted as she always did with celebrities, and it was on these days that Jaeho felt detached from her. He very much was the type to be possessive of his girl—not in the way that he ordered her to not hang out with other men, but in that he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. So, when it came to Bae Joohyun, an idol loved by all, with many responsibilities and fans, it felt … strange, to say the least. Was he really courting her? Didn’t doing so require them to meet more than one a week? Was Irene really as interested in him as he understood? Would they just stay as they were currently—him, a non-celebrity friend that Irene could confide in, and her, a famous friend that granted him an eye into the world of celebrities? He hoped that wouldn’t be the case, but it always felt improper to make a move on Irene: because she was an idol and dating scandals are their worst nightmare, because of the fact that this was only their fourth time privately meeting despite having exchanged contact information three weeks ago, because Irene held this mystique about her that told Jaeho she was out of his league.

               Irene’s reaction to Jaeho’s impromptu test held some merit at least, granting him the understanding that Irene still had some level of interest in him that possibly went past platonic feelings.

               “What, really?”

               “Yeah, it’s purple. All your fans know this,” Jaeho stated, almost offended. “It’s because your close friend from high school liked purple the most, so it became your favorite color, right?”

               “Wow, impressive,” Irene said, clapping in awe. Jaeho, on the other hand, couldn’t comprehend Irene’s reaction: this information was widely known and extremely accessible. In fact, had he not known this, Jaeho felt he should lose his right to call himself an Irene fan.

               “You know that almost every single one of your fans not only know your favorite color, but why it’s purple, right?” Jaeho inquired, genuinely curious.

               “Well, I didn’t tell the story that often, so I thought it wouldn’t be as well-known,” Irene admitted.

               “Yet you questioned my status as your fan for not responding to your Instagram posts within the hour,” Jaeho retorted, handing her a pillow which Irene gladly accepted, joining him on the couch in the living room adjacent to the kitchen.

               “Well at least you improved,” Irene replied happily, “I saw your comment on my last post.”

               “Honestly, it was just sheer luck that I saw that post soon after you published it,” Jaeho stated, “I was in the bathroom and just happened to see it.”

               “Yah!” Irene hit him, laughing in disbelief. “You didn’t have to say that much.” Jaeho, having finished his drink, got up, picking up Irene’s cup along the way to the kitchen sink. “How about you? I still don’t know your favorite color.”

               “I haven’t really given much thought to topics like that, honestly. Maybe silver?” he said, scrubbing the cups with the sponge, “It’s a pretty color, isn’t it? Especially for hair, I think people with naturally straight hair would look really good if it was silver.”

               Jaeho didn’t think much of that comment, so the next week, when Jaeho returned to Irene’s residence and saw Irene greet him at the entrance with a shining sheen of sparkling silver hair, he was swarmed with conflicting emotions: he was flattered that Irene seemed to take his suggestion from the previous week but also suddenly extremely self-conscious. As expected, Irene looked absolutely stunning, but … was it really his suggestion that helped Irene decide? Maybe it was coincidence that her hair stylist suggested Irene dye her hair silver for this upcoming comeback? Even if it was another person’s decision, Jaeho still didn’t want to count out his potential contribution to her new hair color.

               “Ooh, I like your hair,” Jaeho commented, placing the bag of ingredients just outside the kitchen, putting on the slippers Irene pushed out for him.

               “Yeah, I thought about what you said and suddenly wanted to try out having silver hair, so I requested to get my hair dyed for our comeback,” she admitted, settling down in the living room. Jaeho joined her on the couch, unable to take his eyes off her.

               “As expected, it really suits you.” While her hair always looked soft and silky, the silvery color of her hair made it seem like her entire face was glowing. Jaeho couldn’t help but think that Irene looked like a goddess of some kind.

               “I’m glad you like it,” she replied, a smile blossoming on her face, a pink hue overtaking her otherwise pale cheeks. Jaeho found himself smiling again, taking a few seconds to admire the lovely sight before him.

               “Are you hungry? I learned how to make a Chinese dish last week and tried making it a few times so I’m pretty confident in it now,” he said after a brief moment of silence, getting up on his feet and heading to the kitchen.

               “I’m on a diet right now though,” Irene commented, following Jaeho as he retrieved the bag and carefully emptied its contents onto the kitchen counter.

               “It’s healthy—it’s not as oily as other Chinese dishes,” Jaeho promised, going into the cabinet under the sink and pulling out the wide, non-stick pot. “It’s good, trust me.”

               “I do, but my company would get mad if they found out,” Irene said, closing the cabinet door.

               “Then all we have to do is make sure they don’t find out, right?” Jaeho said cheekily, pulling out the cutting board to the immediate right of the sink. “I’ll be done in about twenty minutes, so just sit there and look pretty. That should be easy enough for you,” Jaeho added on at the end.

               Irene let out an exasperated chuckle, obeying anyway and sitting down at the table next to the kitchen. “You’re such a smooth talker,” Irene scoffed, Jaeho laughing in response.

               “How about your group members? How did they react to your choice?” Jaeho asked, glancing up at Irene. Once again, he found himself enamored with Irene’s beauty. She was just sitting there—she was just sitting there, in a candid pose with a serene expression, but how could she be so beautiful while doing so?

               “I told everyone that it was an idea I got from a friend at the salon, but when we got back to our apartment, my members instantly jumped on me, asking if it was you,” she said, giggling.

               “Was it for me?” Jaeho asked, momentarily halting his cutting of vegetables.

               “…Yeah,” she admitted shyly, diverting her attention to the table where Jaeho resumed his meal prep. “My members absolutely freaked out when they heard that, you should’ve heard them. I think my eardrums are still recovering from the screaming they were doing last night.”

               Jaeho laughed. “That’s cute.”

               “Do you want help with that?” Irene asked, standing up from the table.

               “It’s fine, just stay right there and rest. Let me take care of everything,” he said, motioning her to sit back down.

               “What, do you not trust me?” Irene replied, indignantly obeying him.

               “I just want you to take a rest,” he said, peering at the disappointed woman, smiling at the sight. “How often to you and your members make your own meals? Or are you too busy most of the time?”

               “We don’t have much time to cook ourselves,” Irene revealed, which wasn’t something that shocked Jaeho by any means, “Wendy likes to bake in her free time, but as for complete meals, we mostly only cook on special occasions, like filming for a show or birthdays or days off.”

               “Ah ok,” he mused, returning to his task. “Well, think about this: if I become your boyfriend, I can cook for the five of you as frequently as you wish.”

               Irene laughed at the bold statement. “Ah, really? You say that and aren’t even willing to call me by my birth name, even after I said that you could.”

               Jaeho deliberated on it. Calling Irene ‘Joohyun’ felt a bit too intimate for him, and was also a conscious choice: he felt like if he started to call Irene ‘Joohyun’, he might start mixing a fantasy of being her boyfriend with real life, in which he was just a regular guy and Irene was a top idol in South Korea. “Maybe if I become your boyfriend, then I’ll call you that,” he ended up saying.

               “Ah, really? So there are a lot of benefits for that, huh?” Irene said, a playful smirk on her lips accompanied by slightly flushed cheeks. “Would you really cook for us as frequently as I want? Even if we ask you to visit us every day?”

               Jaeho paused. “Well, maybe not every day. People might get suspicious, right?”

               Irene huffed. “You’re just making excuses,” she accused, fidgeting in her chair. Jaeho could tell that she was itching to help but was refraining, rooting herself on the stool.

               “Fine,” Jaeho relented, “Even if you ask every day.” Jaeho finished his preparations shortly after, only then realizing he was missing something: Chinese dishes were almost always eaten with rice. “Ah, actually, do you have any rice here, Irene?”

               She shook her head. “Should I go get some?” she asked, standing up.

               “No, let me,” he insisted, setting down the kitchen utensils in his hands.

               “No its ok, there’s a store downstairs that I can just get some instant rice from,” Irene said, her being the one motioning Jaeho to sit down this time. “You can continue cooking.”

               Jaeho sighed, acquiescing Irene’s request and retaking his place back at the kitchen counter. “Come back quickly,” he said to the departing Irene.

               “Don’t miss me too much~” she said, turning only her upper body around, shooting him a quick wink before walking through the apartment door.

               Jaeho just stood there for the next minute or so, trying to get his heart to calm down. Now that he thought about it, if Irene became his girlfriend, would she do things like this all the time? Not at first, he speculated, but eventually, he imagined that would become the case. If he was right, then Jaeho needed to practice his poker face or otherwise find some other way to develop resistance to her deadly charms.       

               A few minutes later, the door opened back up to reveal Irene carrying a bag. Before Jaeho could welcome her back, Irene asked, “This is a bit random, but do you want to meet my members?”

 

Hey all! Sorry I couldn't upload this chapter yesterday, I had some personal issues to address and was busy all of yesterday and the day before. I'm trying to get a poster for this story but I think the person I'm trying to contact for the poster isn't active, so I'll have to verify a few things first and gets things sorted out. Hopefully that issue will be resolved ASAP and you all can have a nice poster to look at as well :D

Anyway, here's the second chapter! I hope you all enjoyed, and if you liked it, make sure to subscribe and/or upvote! For today's question, how do you think the ladies of Red Velvet will respond to Jaeho? Will they be receptive, apprehensive, accepting, suspicious, what do you all think?

Thanks for reading!

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steamed_hamsters
#1
Chapter 12: Dude this is top tier I'm so happy that everything got resolved so happily at the end
coresplinter #2
Chapter 12: Hm.. now that I finished, overall I really liked it! The time skips were a little tricky for me. Like when they first met there was quite a few time skips and it was a little hard to tell it wasn’t the same event.
coresplinter #3
Chapter 5: I’m... confused how we went from the end of chapter 4 to chapter 5s beginning
coresplinter #4
Chapter 4: What do I think? I think Jaeho was lucky :)
This is for chapter 4
coresplinter #5
Chapter 1: Wonderful work! I was really invested in the character :)
ktvftw #6
Chapter 12: This was really fantastic, I was looking forward to every update and had a smile reading it throughout :) Thanks for writing a great story, and I'm eagerly awaiting for extra chapters ^^
Androsssss #7
I'm gonna miss this story, but an incredible read from start to finish :)
iv7000 #8
Chapter 12: Wow! That was absolutely amazing! I enjoyed reading this story and once I found it, it quickly became something I looked forward to every weekend. I think the pacing worked very well to keep me curious yet not too impatient. It is also rare to find a red velvet x oc story. It’s a welcome feeling to read a good story from another perspective.

Thank you for sharing your awesome story with us!
Crazy_Reader #9
Chapter 12: I really really, honestly, really loved reading this story. In my opinion the pace, length, development were perfect, I honestly loved it all, from start to finish.
Although the fact that we never learned how or why Jaeho actually loses his memories, I would have liked a bit of explanation on that.
But other than that loved the story. Loved your style of writing as well.
Keep up the good work Author-nim.