‘Me: I think the shoot is going to extend for more 40 minutes.’

I texted Ryujin as I saw that jinki hyung's shoot still going on. 

We both had our photo-shoot together after it, followed by my solo one. We were having jacket photo shoot for the new album.

I saw the top of my screen saying '7.30pm'. 

Ryujin & I had decided to meet after the shoot for dinner as she had night shift today so we thought of having dinner somewhere near her hospital to steal some time for us.

But even that seemed impossible now.

‘Me: When are you getting free for dinner?’

I messaged again, wondering how her situation at this time was.

‘Ryujin: I will be able to take break in next half hour.’

‘           I’ll message oppa as soon as I am free here.’

I sighed looking at the phone & then jinki hyung posing, he was doing as asked, sincerely & diligently.

The assistant of the camera-man came to me, to tell me, to be on standby for the shoot, hyung & I had together in next 10 mins after his few shots now.

I wanted to see her so desperately & spent some time over dinner with her but I was now unsure of the only chance we had today.

--------------

1 hour later…..

‘Ryujin: I can wait for you for next 20 mins more. I can still have some time.’

I read her message which had dropped on my kakao almost past 30 mins now, as I didn’t notice it being busy in the shoot for past 40 mins.

I called her as soon as I closed the chat box but she didn’t picked up.

I tried again & it was recieved this time.

“Hello” It was not Ryujin though.

“Hello, Can I speak to Ryujin?” I asked, almost guessing now that she must be busy in work.

“She has an emergency patient so she is in the emergency ward right now"

"I think she forgot her phone in the department in the rush”

This must be the nurse Hyejin, Ryujin often mentioned, as she sounded kind from her voice, as told by Ryujin.

This girl forgets everything in work. At least take your phone along, my love!

But I was no different than her so I was in no place to complain now.

I was sulking in middle of the call. 

“Can you tell her to call back as she may not check her phone anytime soon, otherwise?” I requested, knowing she won’t check her phone until she gets the next call now or maybe she won’t even be able to, anytime soon, if not told to her, if she's too busy in work.

“Yes sure. I’ll let her know about your call.” The lady answered politely from the other end.

“Thank you!” I said before ending the call. I can’t even listen to her voice now.

I sat down beside jinki hyung who was removing his makeup already, letting out a deep sigh.

“Is Ryujin busy?” he asked, looking into the mirror wiping his forehead with the wet wipes, guessing the reason of my pissed mood.

“Hmm!” I groaned a long sigh, putting my head in my arms, folded over the dressing table.

“Don’t be so sad" "It’s better that you both at least understand each other’s profession & not fight like other couples” He encouraged, scraping another tissue from the box, trying to comfort me,

“It’s been months I last met her" "It was on the day she visited SM building” I said turning my head to face him as I kept leaning on my arm on table.

He nodded understanding which day I was talking about, pursing his lips, looking in the mirror again to continue his task.

“I miss her so much” I was so near to crying now.

“We don't even get much time to talk to each other after finally confessing our feelings now” I squeezed my eyes in frustration, as he listened to me quietly.

“She will be free for the weekend right?" "And we don’t have any fixed schedules for Sunday & Monday before the promotions starts.” He suggested, turning to me again with a gentle smile & patting my shoulder, as he raised himself up from his chair, taking the cleanser from the table & moving to the bathroom.

It was a good idea but I was missing her now!  

What should I do about it!?

I buried my face in my arms again, grunting inside, “Argh!" "I miss you so much” I hit the table with my fist too hard than I wanted, as my hand was hurting in yet another pain.

I got up to cleanse my face giving up on expectations about having any proper date in such condition.

-----------------

“Hello! Jonghyun?”

“Yes PD-nim” I said as I received the call.

“We need to confirm some minor changes in the recording with you & there’s some parts that needs to be re-checked by you before we do the final editing of the song.” 

“Oh! I see!” I asked sitting straight resting my head backward on the back of couch.

ShinHyun-nim, Shinee’s PD, in-charge of music production, had called regarding recording of songs as I was part of the production team this time.

I was lying on the couch in the hall with the lyrics sheets spread all over the couch as I was writing a prompt for the lyrics of a new single I was planning to release next.

“Can you come to the recording room right now?” he said politely. Right now?

But? I was going to pick Ryujin from work in one hour. We had finally planned our first date tonight.

"I'm sorry to disturb you" "But I just found out that some places need some changes & we need to check them with you" he continued as I listened patiently.

It was important for me to go, but what if Ryujin gets angry now?

I've been continuosly cancelling the plans.

“Okay! I’ll be there in 30 minutes” I said before ending the call.

I was staring at the selfie of me & Ryujin on my phone’s screen now, disappointed with the turn of events happening with us.

My phone started ringing again,

‘Ryujin calling….’

“Oppa you were going to pick me off work today?” she reminded, as I received the call.

Maybe she was already ready to leave, now that she was calling?

“I need to go to the recording room for a while.” I informed, a bit scared of her reaction.

“Oh! Okay then, Come home directly” She replied casually, surprising me, “I’ll go first” her voice calm, as I stayed silent not sure what to say.

“I’m sorry” I was fiddling my finger on the pages in front of me in guilt.

She chuckled in return, “It’s not like I’m a kid who can’t go home if no-one comes to pick me”

She tried to comfort. but I was still sad for making her wait.

“And better you finish all your work & come to me so that no one disturbs us later” She snorted softly, lowering her voice being cute over a phone call.

I chuckled as I kept fiddling with the papers, still with an amount of guilt in my heart

“Okay!” I answered her back like a obedient child.

“I promise, I will be quick” I announced, hitting my palm on the papers making some of them fall below the couch as I sat straight on the couch, as I heard her laughing on the other side.

“Hmm?” she hummed & then chuckled.

And I was waiting for the next sentence to be followed by some sarcasm now, “You & quick-?" "When you are in recording room?” I knew what she was talking about, “I can’t see that picture happening” I smirked at her taunt, as she laughed back.

 I smiled knowing, “I’ll try to”

Sometimes I forget that she knows me more than myself.

“Don’t worry about me” she assured again, making me feel more guilty, knowing how I can't compromise this kind of work, till I get the proper results.

“Really!” she confirmed, as if she could read my mind already.

“Just promise me, you’ll come to me first as soon as you finish.”

I could feel my heart squeezing with love now, as I heard her words.

“You know some damn romantic lines, huh?” I was smirking at her cheesy line.

“Bye! See you soon” she giggled as I smiled back. I could already imagine her blushing there now.

“Bye” I ended the call before I end up deciding not going to work.

-----------------

It was 12.30 am & I was still in the recording studio as the small changes in every part of lines were taking more time than we expected.

Last 2 songs were remaining to be confirmed for the draft of final editing as it had to be done before tomorrow. So my job was eventually extending for today!

I had forgot the track of time as I was completely occupied by the thought of songs & mixing.

“You all should go home now” I said as the door opened sensing it to be PD-nim, looking at the screen of PC, continuing to make some changes in the track, I had heard just now.

I saw PD-nim entering the recording room with two coffees in his hand as I turned around to look when there was no response.

“I’ll finish these two songs & will mail you as the final draft you would use for final editing.” I told him taking one coffee cup from his hand & turning back to the screen.

I wanted to make sure I stay alone during my personal editing.

I was producing almost 5 songs for the new shinee album this time, including the 6th track which was a result of co-production but I was doing the final check for all together. And so it was really important for me to go thoroughly through every detail for the final song to be accurate. That way I can feel relieved & confident. So I needed to be alone now.

And it would take some time for me to do so, that’s why, I thought of sending others home as their part of work was over already & they were just waiting for me to finish & leave.

We had been there for last 5 hours & I was checking & re-checking minor details, so indeed, it took more than an hour for each song.

But I couldn’t compromise or skip anything at this stage of production even though it was going to take more hours, so it was just my way of working that made the process longer.

It may take more 3-4 hours so I wanted to send them off & take rest instead of being here for without any work.

“Okay” “I know what you want” “If you want I can stay outside” he asked, trying to help me.

“No! It’s fine really!" "I don’t want to make hyung wait without reason, just for me”

I had my eyes focused on the bits of edits I had organised till now on the mixing board, as I continued to persuade him to go home now.

“You have to come back tomorrow”

I knew he was needed here for the final editing in the morning, so I was just trying to get him some rest too.

“Anyway I’ll be resting tomorrow so it’s okay” I said looking at him to ensure him.

“Okay” “Message me when you leave then” he said, patting my back before leaving, as I nodded my head in approval.

I noticed my phone after almost 4 hrs engaged with work, which made me think of Ryujin now.

Ah!  Best friend being girlfriend is more dangerous.

She’s going to attack me with all the tantrums & tease me about how workaholic I am, and then we would end up fighting about how I am always busier & then I will attack how ignorant she behaves when she is at work & stuff about her life & my life, being the same at the end.

Even before being a couple, we had such kind of fights a lot, when we used to cancel our appointments with each other for work.

Both of us being highly workoholic was most terrible problem, in our kind of relationship.

It was bothering me now though than before to ignore that we can't spend much time with each other.

I opened the screen just to look at our selfie again and a smile formed on my face looking at her cute face, she winking at the camera for the selfie, hugging me from behind, our faces close to each other.

Ryujin is more comfortable with taking selfies than posing for camera, so we often took selfies, when we were together.

She must be asleep as it was almost 1.30 am & even the studio was empty now, as everyone in the studio had left by now.

I had 2 more songs to fix & the time was running faster than ever, making me more anxious now.

I still had tomorrow, and Monday, maybe?

We had only one schedule on Monday, that being an evening show, I could gain some more time then.

So I still had time to spend with her, but the question of what if we end up arguing & hurting each other, with the change in our relationship, was still distracting me somehow.

There were really less chances to get into a dirty fight as we both were always more about reading between the lines than blurting harsh words first, but I couldn’t ignore that it was making me anxious after realising that we were in a different relation now than before, where it wasn’t selfish to expect more from the other one.

I want to start adding several pretty memories of our changing bond in our life now, but the delay for the beginning was getting longer & longer.

There was a notification from kakao talk which I noticed now, 

‘Don’t skip dinner even if you are satisfied with the music you’re making right now’ - Ryujin, 8pm.

I even missed her message.

I just opened my food delivery app to order jjajjangmyeon. 

The least I could do right now was be obedient to her orders.

I did felt hungry now & found myself smiling over how she was hypnotizing my body too. I wasn’t hungry till now, because, as she mentioned, I was satisfied with the music I was making. That was true & she knew, maybe that's why she made sure to remind.

It was fascinating how she always knew the ways to get through my skin like this.  

-----------------

“Argh!”

“Aishh”

I heard her shout behind me as I was lying on the side of bed, on my stomach, facing to the window, researching over the new content for next song on my phone.

"AH! Oppa!" She almost cursed me in her high-pitch-scream making me startle too as I turned to look at her to find her looking at me glued to the floor, blinking her eyes as if she didn’t believed what she was seeing.

She was standing in front of the bed in her black racer-back-tank-top covered over by a thin grey sweatshirt ped exposing her well shaped torso & tight dark blue track-pant below showing her long legs too, in which she crashed the gym every Saturday-Sunday with me till today.

“And why are you without clothe