Beki was rushing through all of her duties at Arirang. She had already spoken with her boss and Isak. She was supposed to do her first lone show today, but she wanted to surprise the Infinite boys. A friend of her’s who worked for KBS, specifically Music Bank, had told her that Infinite has finally broken into the Top 10. She was so excited that she wanted to tell them herself at the Music Bank recording, but if she didn’t get out of work soon, it would all be for naught.

Beki was so involved in her last task and her thoughts that she didn’t realize she was done. She felt someone tap her shoulder and she jumped, turning to see who tapped her shoulder she saw Isak laughing.

“You like scaring me unnie?”

“Yes and you’re done Beki.”

Beki looked and then smiled brightly when she realized that she was, in fact, done. She swiftly walked past Isak and went to gather her things so she could leave. After clocking out, she turned to Isak and smiled quickly.

“Do you really need to go dongsaeng?”

“Unnie~” Beki whined, “I told you I’d be going to show my support!”

Isak nodded and smiled to Beki, motioning her to go before she left any later. Beki ran out and a solemn expression crossed Isak’s face as she watched Beki disappear out the doors.

‘I hope that rumor I hear isn’t true… It’d kill Beki.’

Beki was walking quickly down the streets toward the KBS building. She was supposed to meet her friend so she could go backstage to give Infinite her gifts. When she saw her friend waiting, she walked up to him and bowed, thanking him for helping her out. He looked at the three bags filled to the brim that she was carrying and she just giggled. He led her inside towards the studio and turned to her as they walked through the doors slowly. She saw Infinite on the stage and her heart almost dropped to her feet. Infinite bowed as they finished and got off stage and that’s when Beki realized they weren’t in their outfits and there were no Inspirit fans.

Beki let out a sigh of relief and heard her friend chuckle as he walked past her to get her backstage. She didn’t realize Woohyun saw her with her friend so she never saw the jealous look that crossed his face. He turned away as he watched Beki happily follow the guy. He noticed the rest of Infinite give him strange looks as he walked past.

As he got closer to their dressing room, he saw someone he would never expect. He stopped walking and watched her as she stood there in front of their dressing room door. The Infinite members exchanged glances as they watched Woohyun look at Seungyeon. They walked past him and patted him on the back. He watched them as they bowed to her and then walked into the dressing room. He stood there not knowing what to do. Then she spotted him and smiled before walking towards him. He smiled automatically and felt his fanboy side get excited.

Beki was talking with her friend as he finally led her backstage. He had been introducing her to everyone and basically promoting her so that if she ever wanted to work there, people would know about her. She just wanted to congratulate Infinite on breaking the Top 10 on the K-Chart. The two turned a corner and reached the door to Infinite’s dressing room when Beki saw Woohyun and saw him smile. She smiled and went to walk towards him when she saw a girl, Seungyeon, latch onto his arm and pull him away. Beki felt her heart drop and she almost dropped her bags. She held them tightly in her clenched hands and looked at the floor bitterly. She knew nothing good would come from anything with Woohyun and she went with it anyway, and look what happened. She thanked her friend and kicked at the door to Infinite’s dressing room, not expecting a shirtless Hoya to open the door. Hoya smiled brightly and turned to the rest of Infinite.

“Beki-noona’s here guys!”

He turned back to her and noticed her wide-eyes and flushed face and smirked.  He bent down so they were face-to-face, his smirk still on his face.

“Never knew I was ier than Woohyun-hyung, did you?” he asked as he winked at her.

She giggled and swatted him with her hand before she stopped at the mention of Woohyun. Hoya noticed the immediate change and his smirk fell as he looked at the rest of Infinite. He grabbed her one wrist in his hand and pulled Beki into the room. Hoya closed the door and noticed the bags that were in her hands.

“What’s in the bags noona?”

She jumped when she heard his voice from behind her. She turned to look at him and noticed he put a shirt on… though it was ed. She smiled at him innocently before turning away again.

“You have to wait for-“

The door opened and Woohyun walked in. He didn’t notice Beki in the room and went to sit, sighing heavily. The boys had noticed Beki stiffen when she saw Woohyun walk into the room and she had turned away from him, as if she didn’t want to see him. They looked at Woohyun and didn’t expect the next sentence to leave his mouth.

“She, Seungyeon-noona,” he sighed again, “she asked me out.”

None of Infinite reacted verbally but their eyes widened in shock. Beki tried not to react but she felt tears gathering in her eyes. Sungjong was facing Beki when Woohyun said this and stood up immediately to try to comfort her. He pulled her into a hug and tried to get her to sit but she stayed where she was when Woohyun continued.

“I… I felt obligated to accept,” he said, “so I said yes.”

Beki had expected this. She just didn’t expect it to hurt so much. She didn’t expect her legs to give out on her either. She didn’t expect that a choked gasp would escape between her lips. Sungjong lowered himself with her as she fell to the floor so she wouldn’t get herself hurt. The rest of Infinite shot up from where they were sitting or standing and rushed over.

“Are you alright?”

“Noona, are you alright?”

“Beki-noona, answer us! Are you alright?!”

When Woohyun heard Beki’s name he shot up and saw her. His eyes widened and he gasped lowly at the sight of her. He walked towards her and Hoya and Myungsoo stood up, blocking him. He looked at them shocked and tried to push past them but they wouldn’t move.

“What are you doing?” Woohyun asked aggravated. “Let me through.”

“No,” Hoya said, “don’t you think you’ve done enough already?”

“What are you talking about?! I didn’t know she was here!”

“Shows how much you care,” Myungsoo said coldly.

“What did you just say?” Woohyun asked angrily, barely above a whisper.

“Shows how much you care,” he repeated. “If you were to care as much about Beki-noona as you say you do, you would’ve realized she was here.”

“You would’ve turned down Seungyeon-noona too.”

Beki watched them silently as Sungjong hugged her. She told him to let her go, that she would be leaving.

“I’ll call you later, alright Sungjongie-ah?” she whispered.

He nodded and watched her walk towards Hoya, Myungsoo, and Woohyun. Woohyun saw her walking towards them and felt hope well up in his chest.

“Beki…”

She looked up at him shocked and then looked away from him. Hoya and Myungsoo turned to Beki with their backs turned to Woohyun and told her she could stay, that she didn’t have to leave.

“I can’t,” she said sadly, softly, “I really can’t.”

She shook her head and looked at her feet before looking at the two in front of her. When Beki looked at the two guys they realized just why Beki couldn’t, or rather, wouldn’t stay. Hoya just sighed and nodded at her, earning a smile. He noticed her smile wasn’t even half as bright as it normally was. He shook his head and walked closer to Beki, going behind her so he could turn her and lead her to the door. That was also the opportunity Woohyun had been looking for. He took a few steps and found himself in front of Beki, taking her small hands into his. She looked up at him in shock but she didn’t try to pull away as she slowly looked down at the floor.

“Beki,” Woohyun said softly, “you know I couldn’t turn Seungyeon-noona down, right?”

Her head shot up to look at him with an expression of shock. Her eyes widened and a sad despair crept into them. She turned away, barely able to even nod her head. Myungsoo saw the look and motioned for Hoya to move her, but Hoya knew the two needed to get through this small thing. Beki tried to get her act together and looked Woohyun straight on, a sad look in her eyes that mirrored the small, sad, tired smile that was on her lips.

“Of course I know that Woohyun,” Beki said while nodding. She sighed and turned her head partially away from his. “It’s not like I could challenge your ideal woman, especially is she asks you out,” Beki said softly, trying to keep Woohyun from hearing.

Woohyun looked at Beki in surprise when she said that. His grip on her hands loosened and Beki took that as her chance to escape. She started walking towards the door but stopped.

“Beki…”

She turned to see Woohyun looking at her with a broken look on his face. It hurt her to see him like this, but she reminded herself that he brought it upon himself. She walked back to him and placed her small hand on his cheek and smiled softly as he leaned into her touch. Her smile turned sad, almost bitter.

“I’m not disappearing out of your life Woohyun-sshi,” Beki said. “I just won’t be a part of your life in the way that I would like to be.”

She leaned forward and gave him a small kiss on the lips, a tear slipping from her eye and landing on his face as she pulled away fast so he wouldn’t try to make her stay longer. She didn’t want to regret this, but she knew she would. She walked away to the door and opened it, ready to step out when she turned to Infinite and bowed.

“Congratulations,” she said happily, “Infinite JJANG!”

She smiled at them, smiling through her tears. And as she blinked, the tears coursed down her cheeks. She turned and walked out quickly, closing the door behind her so they would understand that she didn’t want them coming after her. She walked away numb and almost bumped into someone. Her friend finally found her and when he did he was not happy.

Woohyun heard the door shut and the sound echoed in his ears as he looked at the door. He knew he screwed up. He royally screwed up and he felt it in his heart and knew it in his mind. He’d never be able to forgive himself.

“Guys,” Sungyeol said, “what did she bring us?”

“And why did she say congratulations?” Sungjong asked after.

Sunggyu went to the table where Beki had set down her bags and he pulled them open. In the first two bags were their favorite foods from a really well known restaurant in Seoul. Sunggyu looked at the food in shock and then at the Infinite members.

“How did she know what we liked?”

Sungjong raised his hand and then came over. He looked at the last bag and picked it up to pull the box out that was inside. When he did get it out and opened the bag, he gasped.

“Guys…” he said, “why’d we let our Beki go?” He looked down then back at the members as he showed them the cake she had left them. “She was congratulating us for making it into the K-Chart Top 10. She knew how important that was for us.”

He smiled and then laughed bitterly. The Infinite members looked at Sungjong in surprise, not expecting him to act like he was. He brightened after that though, and all the members tried to figure out what had cause Sungjong to act like that. They all ate well, knowing that this performance needed to be the best.

Beki stood in the audience with fellow Inspirits. Her friend had talked her into staying. So here she was waiting for Infinite to get on stage. When they did get on stage she felt electrified. Then her eyes connected with Woohyun’s as he started singing and she forgot everything else except Infinite and the stage. Soon Beki was whisked out of the Music Bank studio and then her friend was putting her in a cab so she could get home.

When the cab stopped at Beki’s apartment complex she got out quickly only to realize she forgot her bag. That’s when she noticed the cab was driving away slowly with another passenger in it. She watched the cab stop and the other passenger get out with her bag in his hand. She saw the guy walking towards her and then he was right in front of her. She had to look high above her to see the guy’s face and was struck by not only how cute he was but also by how familiar he looked.

“You alright?”

She shook her head and then nodded at him, not sure if her voice would work. She gulped because his deep voice made her shiver. So Beki motioned for her bag.

“You want your bag back?” he teased. “Say something nice to me.”

She looked at him in shock and just shook her head.

“Please just give me my bag. My day has been hard enough already. I don’t need it to turn out any worse.”

That’s when the guy really took notice of how she looked, so tired and sad. He handed her the bag and then walked her into the lobby. As he led her to the elevator she took notice of his clothing and the feel of his arm resting on her shoulders to lead her. She normally only did that when it was Woohyun.

“No. I’ve got to stop that.”

She shook her head and then heard a chuckle from the guy next to her. She glared at him and he just stuck his tongue out at her. She giggled at his silliness when the elevator reached the lobby. Beki got into the elevator after the hot, young guy and her eyes widened when he pushed her floor number. She looked at him and he looked back to see her questioning gaze aimed at him.

“I live here too.”

“Oh really?” she asked curiously. “Even on the same floor as me?”

He nodded his head and the elevator stopped. She got out first and started heading down the hall. She realized he was either following her or making sure she reached her apartment but she didn’t care. She stopped and turned around only to have the guy bump into her, causing them both to fall over. She felt him wrap one of his arms around her waist and she waited for the hard impact. Instead she felt as if she were laid down on the floor… And then he landed on top of her.

His one arm was still wrapped around her waist while his other hand was only a few inches away from her face. That’s when she noticed where his face was. Their noses were touching they were so close. She blinked twice and noticed he was slowly opening his eyes. Then she tried to speak… and failed. Her eyes widened when she felt his smirk.

They were kissing.

She saw his eyes widen and he got off of her in a hurry. But when he helped her stand up, she didn’t miss the appreciative glance, or rather, look that he sent her way. She walked to her door and noticed he was right behind her. That’s when she noticed where he lived.

“You live across the hall away from me?”

He nodded and turned away ready to go in when she bowed, thanking him for all his help that night. He turned to see her back turned to him and he watched her walk into her apartment. The glimpse he got into her little world, before she closed the door, was one he wouldn’t forget. He was still leaning against the door frame when Inati came up behind him.

“Finally met Beki?”

He jumped and looked at his hyung before shrugging.

“I didn’t catch her name… anyway I need sleep.”

As he walked past Inati further into the apartment, he heard him say something.

“What did you say?”

Inati walked up to next to him and stayed facing the opposite direction. Then Inati was looking right at him when he saw the smirk playing on Inati’s lips.

“Nice job… Casanova.”

Inati laughed as he walked to his room and he watched as his back got further and further away when he finally felt his face flushing. He went into the bathroom and splashed his face with cold water hoping to make the blush go away. Rather… he was now tired, cold, and still blushing.

Beki on the other hand, had a large cup of chocolate milk and was sitting on her couch in front of her TV. She had the kpop music video channel as Infinite’s “Before the Dawn” music video ended. Then Beki subconsciously smiled as Dalmatian’s “Round 1” played. She gasped when she saw the hot guy neighbor on her screen and suddenly realized why she found him so familiar.

‘Daniel from Dalmatian lives across the hall from me… no wonder I recognized him! I see the rest of Dalmatian all the time!’

That’s when Beki realized she should be sleeping instead of jamming to Dalmatian. She had already changed into her pajamas, so she went to try to sleep. Too bad that she was all set and snuggled into her bed, waiting for sleep to come claim her, but never got any.

The tears just wouldn’t stop.