seungwan wins the best female solo artist of the year.

she's in the bathroom after the acceptance speech on an excuse of touching up her make-up. she doesn't need to be here but she can't stand the eyes of people that are wishing their favorite singer won instead of her. she can already imagine the comments.

she shouldn't care - that's what her team tells her - the awards that she gets speaks for themselves.

but there is always a but.

she can't be self-assured after everything. do they only care because her personal life is out on the papers? It's all over the internet, the social media, and forums. seungwan can search for her name and the first thing that pops out is a list of women she dated.

some people are ridiculous, they say the one she dates next will hit the jackpot. for some reason, it happens. she doesn't like dating overly famous people but the way her name links up to them shoots them up to stardom. fans of indie artists wish she would meet their singer and they cheer whenever someone is spotted with her.

it's an old tale, old as time itself, but people used to say artists are only good when they are suffering.

she is someone who thrives when she's in love.

the bathroom door opens and seungwan keeps her head down. she doesn't want any attention. washing her hands she should be quick to make her getaway.

but there's a yelp behind her.

"can you help me?" a voice asks in a small voice.

it almost sounds heartbreaking how small it is. what kind of person speaks like that? seungwan turns around and-

what kind of person speaks like that?

bae joohyun apparently.

bae joohyun is probably the most private and the most famous actor in south korea right now. she has mastered the skill of talking, being charming, and still leaving the conversation with the other person knowing nothing about her.

seungwan has seen interviews of her when her team gave her pr training. she's a role model for many. she maneuvers the questions like a racer rides a sports car - smoothly. no one notices that she only talks about her work.

her fans don't even know her birthday.

and yet they still love her.

seungwan remembers watching her movie on her friend's couch blackout drunk and sobbing as joohyun's character's heart was being broken into thousands of pieces.

the size of her fanbase is a testament to her talent.

"my dress is stuck to my shoe." joohyun points at the cruel crime of the highest heels that seungwan saw.

"oh, right." seungwan clears and moves to help her.

like a true gentleman, she kneels down on one knee, fixes the issue. before she can come up again the doors open

"-and this is the bathroom-" drunken awards show guest gapes at them with a phone pulled up.

"is that a livestream?" joohyun asks, alarmed.

"uh, sorry." the person says, "sorry?" lowers the phone then backs away, "sorry." they echo, disappearing into the crowd.

seungwan quickly gets up. she blinks a few times to clear her head. needing a second to gather her thoughts she doesn't look in joohyun's direction. why did she kneel down like that? she could've just bent down. she wore a suit for a reason - to move comfortably.

it's fine, she'll explain and it shouldn't be much of an issue.

she opens to talk.

"do you make a habit of proposing in the bathrooms?" joohyun jokes.

"excuse me?"

"i think i heard a story about you like this before."

"and you always believe in stories?" seungwan asks, a bit annoyed.

"i mean no disrespect." joohyun senses the mood shift. "i'm sorry for the dress."

"you didn't do it on purpose."

"you wouldn't know if i did." joohyun shrugs.

is this the charm that seungwan hears so much about? the urge to put her hand over her heart is a surprising twist. the thumps in her chest quicken.

"why are you wearing heels like that anyway? that's a safety hazard."

"i want to be tall." joohyun looks over the top of seungwan's head. seungwan isn't sure if she's joking.

it's strange, the feeling in the room. neither of them moves to leave the little bubble they created. it's magnetic. does only seungwan feel it?

she tries to catch joohyun's eyes and does so easily. joohyun doesn't shy away at all. she's not used to that. the gaze is piercing, it goes right through her.

her fingertips tingle with wanting to reach out but that would be weird. too weird, even the thought of that is weird. why is she having a creep identity awakening in the middle of this bathroom, accompanied by the best actor she's ever met?

"i'm joohyun."

joohyun reaches out first, put that on record.

"seungwan."

they clasp their hands between them. seungwan counts - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, she pulls back. joohyun is probably being nice, why is she holding her hand like a creep?

"congratulations, seungwan."

"huh?"

joohyun nods at the award by the sink. seungwan left it there without a second thought to help joohyun out. does that make her ungrateful?

"oh, thank you."

"okay," joohyun laughs a little, she sounds so shy, "i'm going to need to go." she points at the stalls.

"oh! of course." seungwan nods, steps back, clears .

watching joohyun is creepy so she decides this is it and taking her award leaves the bathroom.

five months after a breakup - engagement?! son seungwan & bae joohyun

seungwan stares at the headline in her pyjamas. she's eating cereal the day after the awards show. one would think she had a whole night of partying to sleep off but actually, she went to sleep by eleven pm. no after-party for her.

it's not that she doesn't have any friends, she's just so bored with the constant need to show up.

cereal crunches loudly in as she stares at the blurry photo of her and joohyun. the dress was beautiful, there are several articles about joohyun's look for the evening. the necklace she wore made headlines for being the most expensive one to hit the carpet. seungwan isn't jealous of that - on the contrary, she would be eaten by the anxiety, of being responsible for something that expensive.

she doesn't have an excuse for why she's staring at the photo for that long. they are sharing a frame, it's kind of unreal how they shared space and had a conversation.

seungwan isn't a fan, not a hater either. she's just someone who recognizes what everyone else is thinking about joohyun when they see her - she's ing beautiful.

the team had already called her and made a statement about what really happened. there will be no fake dating like in those fanfictions that some of her fans write. she doesn't know if she can fake a date and not fall in love. it seems impossible.

wishing she had some sort of way to connect with joohyun and apologize for the fuss, she gets a notification on instagram.

a notification and a great idea.

i'm sorry about the media. she writes. i'm sure you don't want any of the attention that has to do with me.

the answer is immediate. seungwan wonders when did joohyun go to sleep last night; did she sleep at all?

and why is that?

you don't want you business out there.

you're not my