“A tattoo? A secret rendezvous? Hitting another idol? What else are you going to hide from me Khun? What more do you want to prove?” JYP had been droning and rambling on for more than 30 minutes about Khun’s wrongdoings since his pre-debut days up to the present. JYP’s gross-looking vein on the temple looked like it was about to pop. Khun had never seen his boss so tense and concerned like this. The 2PM members who were not part of the concern just stayed in the back, listening and half-sleeping.

“What are you doing with your life? What if you get the girl pregnant?” JYP went on, raising his arms dramatically now and then.

“I won’t.” Khun grumbled.

“That’s beside the point. You are being very irresponsible lately. You break up with her yet you still continue to sneak out with her doing god knows what. What if you get caught again?”

“Hyung, we were careful. Plus, it only happened once. You once told me that you did this with a lot of girls back in your youth.”

“Back then it was a whole different thing. I’m not you. Celebrities were more free back then. You, on the other hand, are not free. Your fans own you. Don’t you get it? They made you and they own you.”

Yeah, right. Your company made me so you own me, Khun thought.

“Don’t my fans want me to be happy?” Khun asked innocently.

JYP gave out a defeated and impatient sigh, dropping his hands to his sides as if there was no use arguing with this stubborn boy.

“Alright. You want to ruin your career like Jaebum did? Fine with me. I’m tired of trying to convince everyone to do the right thing. Now I’ll just watch every single one of you destroy what you worked hard for. Sleep around? Be my guest. Have tattoos and go clubbing every night? Sure! Go out with lots of girls? Go ahead! I will just watch, not interfere, not give a damn. And when comes the day everything backfires, do not come begging and crying to me because I have done my part. I am not doing this to be evil or unfair, because if I were evil, I would have exposed those photos to the public…and I would’ve kicked you off the team right now. But since I was a father to all of you, I will just let everyone be. Learn your lessons the hard way. “

JYP then took one last look at his prized boys before storming off the gym room. His rather long speech struck everyone deep in the heart, including Khun. The man was his mentor; his creator, he didn’t want him to abandon him just like that. He was angry at him for various reasons but he still owed him everything. Khun buried his face in his hands and let out a frustrated groan.

“Well, I guess he won’t be treating us to dinner anymore.” Junho broke the silence that hung in the air.

Everyone chuckled and lightened up eventually.

“Sorry I brought you guys in this.” Khun apologized to his friends.

“Nah, you barely make trouble. We’ll let you slide this one time.” Taec smiled, and that was enough to give Khun comfort.

Although JYP’s last lecture left a very big impact on everyone, Khun wasn’t going to abandon his love for Victoria. If he was going to wait a long time, he would. Just as long as he knows she’ll be there until the end.

As he lay in bed that night, he talked to her on the phone about life, about the future, about the troubles they had to face, and about them. She was the only girl he could talk to about this—she was, by his definition, his best friend and partner in life. He told her about JYP’s whole abandonment embargo and how he and the other members wanted to do embark on an outing to see if JYP was being serious or not.

“So you’re telling me that instead of apologizing to your boss and behaving, you boys are going for an outing without telling anyone?” Victoria tried to comprehend the situation.

“Basically.” Khun simply replied.

Victoria could hear the chuckles and talking voices of the boys in the background. It seems to her that they were being serious and they were in the middle of planning. Victoria had to shake her head in amusement.

“I can’t believe I dated someone like you.” She sighed in embarrassment.

“Come with us.” He said boldly.

“You are crazy.”

“It’s just an overnight stay in the mountains. We do it every year since we were trainees. It will be very fun.”

“Your idea of fun is sneaking around, and getting into trouble. I’ve had my fair share of punishments already.”

“It’s just an innocent outing with friends.”

Khun’s voice was like melting honey. His tone was mildly persuasive and it really dragged her in. The mere thought of spending a whole day with him far away from the hustle and bustle of the city was very, very tempting to her. She had to do a double take and was hesitant to answer.

“I don’t know Khun, I mean it sounds inviting but…” she began but he cut her off.

“It’s just once a year. After this, I promise, I will get you back home on time.”

Victoria bit her lip in unease and gradually gave in.

“Alright. I’ll make amends with my manager. When do we leave?”

Khun silently exulted and raised his fist in the air as a victory pose.

“We leave the day after tomorrow.” He said, sounding like he was smiling from ear to ear.

“Alright I’ll try and ask my managers.”

“See you then!”

The 2PM members were chatting away like school kids, excited for a fieldtrip. They did this annually, with other company artists like 2AM and the Wonder Girls. However, this time of the year it was different. 2AM had become terribly busy and the Wonder Girls have gone abroad. Normally they would bring along the girls they were dating but ever since they debuted no one had had a chance to date. That is, except Khun. This was a tradition they’ve been doing and their company knew about it. This time, they didn’t announce it and figured since they had a schedule-free day the following days, they might as well run wild. They originally agreed to just go with the six of them, without girls but since they knew Khun would want to bring along the love of his life, they let him invite Victoria.

“Oppa, do I have a schedule the day after tomorrow?” Victoria approached her manager. She made sure she brought him Starbucks coffee to make sure that he would be in a good mood when she breaks it to him.

“What are you planning to do this time?” he groaned.

Victoria put on her usual cute act once again.

“My friends and I are having an outing just for one day. I’ll be back the morning after. I promise I’ll be back on time. I’ll have my phone open at all times so you can keep track of me.”

“I don’t know, our boss is very strict about things like this.”

“Please, please? It’s just 24 hours. It’ll be like I filmed for Invincible Youth.”

Her manager had a very skeptical look on his face and didn’t look too pleased. She has been going out a lot , but it was coincidental that the day after tomorrow, f(x) did not have an allotted schedule. He rubbed his temples and took the Starbucks cup from her.

“If you get into any kind of trouble at all I will lock you up in your room.” He grumbled. Victoria jumped in joy and hugged her manager full force.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she chirped.

The next day, after f(x) had an intensely busy day of filming and traveling from salon to studio, Victoria decided to crash Super Junior’s dorm. The boys were having a mini house party with the Shinee members.

“Oh Vic!” Minho greeted, along with everyone.

She wanted to see Kyuhyun too, even though she knew she was not supposed to. To her surprise, Zhou Mi was there as well.

“Oppa!” she exclaimed and hugged him.

“Good to know you’re still talking to one of your best friends.” He said.

She frowned and looked around the dorm for a sign of Kyuhyun.

“He’s not here. He’s been going out a lot these days.” Zhou Mi saved her the trouble.

“Where does he go?” she asked.

The two managed to separate from the rowdy boys and took a seat on the couch at the end of the living room.

“Sometimes he would visit me. We would talk for long hours.” He replied.

“What does he say about me?”

“Oh he doesn’t mention you at all. Not even once.”

Victoria felt taken aback. Maybe Kyuhyun had totally forgotten about her completely. She thought he would feel a bit of remorse for the loss of their friendship but apparently he wasn’t. Zhou Mi noticed the expression on her face and smiled.

“But that doesn’t mean he’s not thinking about you. It just means he wants to forget you.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“He can’t be your boyfriend, and he can’t be your friend too. What do you think is his only choice?”

He had a point. Victoria did not want to hurt him any further but she did not want to lose him as a friend at the same time. She knew she was being selfish but she couldn’t help it; he is still a big part of her.

“You’re right. I just…I want things back to the way they were.” She sighed, looking far away, imagining the past and how distant it seems now.

“Well things change. Sometimes permanently.”

She knew that one day she would be able to talk to Kyuhyun again but as of now, she wanted to escape from reality. As soon as she went home she packed her stuff for the outing. As she was humming merrily while fixing her luggage, her phone rang.

She almost fumbled over it when she saw that it was Kyuhyun.

“Hello?” she said, sort of breathlessly. She did not expect him to call her, not in a million years.

“Hi.”

Just by that tone, she knew in an instant that he was drunk. The background noise seemed like he was in a drinking place.

“Where are you?” she asked in concern.

“Don’t worry about where I am.” He said in a quiet voice.

Victoria’s heart felt like it was being scrunched. She missed hearing his voice. That quiet, mysterious, calm voice of his that always comforted her when she was homesick.

“You’ve been drinking.” She stated the obvious.

“I still don’t want to talk to you, but I found myself dialing your number.”

“Kyuhyun..”

“I actually erased it from my phone, which is senseless because I memorize it by heart.”

At this point he laughed a handsome laugh. She can imagine his face being all red. He sounded really drunk to her, she could not bring herself to like this conversation. She wanted to talk him properly, but not this way; not in his state. She did not respond for a while, and he just let the silence hang in the air.

“I miss you.” He finally said.

Victoria closed her eyes and felt her heart fall to the floor and break into tiny bits. Before she could even respond, he hung up, and the dead dial tone that followed pierced her heart.

Slowly, she resumed packing, wishing that she could also pack up her heart neatly and hide it away. Why did things have to become this complicated.

Early next morning, Victoria waited for the van to arrive in front of their dorm building. When it arrived, she could see Junsu driving, and the other members waving at her like idiots. The door slid open and the boys greeted her.

“Goooood maaawwwwwniiiing!” they all chorused, except Khun, who was helping her get her bags inside. Victoria laughed, which will be what she would be doing for the next 24 hours.

“Where are we staying?” she asked Khun, amidst all the yelling and laughing in the van.

“In the woods.”

“Huh?”

Khun then pointed to the zipped up tents that they brought.

“You didn’t tell me to bring one.” She pointed out.

“You’ll be staying in mine.” He said, smiling slyly.

This is going to be an interesting night, she thought. All throughout the whole ride, the 2PM members did nothing but entertain her. They asked her questions, cracked dirty jokes, to which Khun was not amused of, and gave her juicy details about Khun. She found out that Wooyoung was actually a serious person than she thought, Taecyeon was a talker, Junho knew a lot about life, Chansung was as cute as she imagined him to be and Junsu was actually the most hilarious of them all. She felt very pleased and privileged to have known the members like this. It was too bad that she didn’t get to meet Jay.

They had to hike up a mountain when they arrived at their destination. She loved things like this—it makes her forget that she was a celebrity. She loved being away and just be in touch with the natural things in life. Khun also felt the same way. After all that he has been through, he appreciated something like this.

“Oh god, my legs!”

“Banana…banana…banana…”

“See this is why I suggested the beach.”

“There aren’t any lions here right?”

“I hope there’s wi-fi here.”

It was never quiet with 2PM around. Even as they hiked through the woods, their beastly voices echoed all around, disturbing birds and forest creatures.

“When noona’s around, Khun totally changes.” Taec blurted out.

“Totally.” Everyone else agreed.

Victoria smiled at Khun as his ears turned bright red.

“Really? What’s he like when I’m not around?” she asked curiously. Wanting to further embarrass him.

“He’s got a dirty mouth.”

“He is ten times more noisy than me.”

“He talks about .”

“He’s very violent and he uses verbal abuse!”

“Don’t let that angelic smile fool you noona.”

Victoria laughed as Khun scolded everyone. She didn’t feel tired at all because she was having so much fun with them. As soon as they arrived at the top, they all stood still and looked at the scenery. It was absolutely breathtaking. Words could not even begin to describe the beauty of the sight. Nothing could shut 2PM up besides food, which means this place was definitely a very good choice.

“I feel like crying.” Wooyoung said, thoroughly amazed.

They set up their mini camp immediately. Tents were put up, twigs and leaves were being gathered for the campfire and various utilities were brought out like the portable grill, guitars, beer coolers, and foldable chairs. That’s why the van was so cramped up, Victoria thought, recalling how she had to be sandwiched so tightly between Khun and Chansung.

“There’s a mini waterfall near here. We can go swimming!” Junsu announced.

“Holy sweet kimchi, we have a lot of beer!” Chansung yelled gleefully as he opened the coolers. Everyone yawped in a beastly way, Victoria’s face hurt from too much smiling and laughing.

“Vic, come here.” Khun called out from inside the tent.

She took one look at it and was flabbergasted. It was small.

“That’s where we’re both staying?” she asked as she got inside with him.

“Is it really that small?” he said worriedly.

“Yes.”

“Well then you can sleep here and I can just sleep outside under the stars.” Khun said, as he rolled his sleeping bag back up.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yeah. I mean, it would be presumptuous of me to want to cramp in here with you, I mean, knowing that we’re not really officially back together.”

“Thank you.”

Khun gave her a reassuring smile and set his sleeping bag outside the tent. Victoria didn’t exactly want to kick him out of the tent but seeing as s were around, she felt uncomfortable sleeping in one small tent with him.

Victoria, like the efficient and strong woman that she is, surprised the members by starting the fire on her own and then cooking lunch with it with so much speed. She prepared a lot of food for everyone because she knew how huge their appetite was. Chansung, who cooks, stayed by her side and helped her now and then with the fire and the ingredients. He also watched in awe at how well she prepared the food and how she cooked it with so much girl scout skills. He looked like a clueless schoolboy admiring someone he liked.

“Wow, noona is daebak.” Chansung praised as she opened the pot of cooked rice.

Victoria didn’t realize she blushed. No one compliments her like that aside from Khun.

“It’s nothing.” She smiled.

“Khun hyung really made a good choice.” He added.

“Really?”

“To be honest at first, we didn’t think that you guys would be serious. But turns out that you really are. Looking at you now, you can be his future wife.”

“That’s nice to hear.”

“But really, in all honesty, I want you to be with Khun hyung. I mean, who else could do this?”

Victoria had to laugh. Chansung was giving her too much credit.

“Someone has to take care of him.” She muttered, trying to hide the embarrassment in her voice. She wasn’t the type to say mushy things like this to his friends.

“Ah this just kills me.” Chansung said jokingly, clearly envy of the benefits of having a girlfriend. Victoria laughed heartily.

Khun arrived and was eager to interrupt the two.

“What’s so fun in here?” he faked a laugh.

“Ya, hyung, get out of here, we’re having a private conversation.” Chansung teased to which Khun replied with a brotherly sort of punch on his arm. It still inflicted a bit of pain though.

“Were you talking about me?” Khun asked both of them, not even trying to hide his jealousy.

“That’s something between noona and me.” Chansung gloated as he and Victoria high-fived across Khun.

“Ya!” Khun said, not amused.

Victoria enjoyed this too much. The course of the day consisted of Khun trying to get in between of Chansung and Victoria even though they weren’t really doing anything remotely close to interacting. They would tease Khun now and then however, just for the fun of it. Everyone was happy with Victoria’s cooking and once again, 2PM members showered her with praise and thanks for her skills. Khun was prouder than ever. They sat in a circle and shared stories of their trainee days. Now and then Victoria would choke on her food from laughing. At one point, Khun had to slap her back because she accidentally choked on a chicken bone while laughing at Wooyoung’s joke.

By afternoon they played Frisbee and badminton. Victoria and Chansung paired up against Taec and Junho. BY that time, she had bonded with the members and even joked with them. She seemed a lot closer to them now and she felt like she just gained another family. It made her forget about reality and what awaits her back in the city, back to her normal hurly-burly of a career.

As soon as the sun had set, they all excitedly opened the coolers to get a can of beer and give their first toast. Unbeknownst to them, they just begun celebrating the most interesting night that they will ever spend.