On Air                    ★ 

Episode II; Part 2/3
Hongdae

By now, they were already walking aimlessly around Hongdae. Behind the cameras, there had already been a small crowd forming, following the two idols with their camera phones up high to try and tape the two new couple themselves. Though a few feet away from each other, it didn’t really seem as if Sunggyu or Hyunyoung was as uncomfortable with each other as they were before.

“It’s almost lunch time.” Sunggyu mused, not exactly looking Hyunyoung in the eye as he talked. Not as if Hyunyoung was looking at him either, too busy trying to smile at the fans that were at the sides, trying to take a picture of the two together. “Are you hungry?”

“I am.” Hyunyoung said, with a nod. The awkward atmosphere between them was back; maybe it would have been better if Sunggyu didn’t say anything at all. The PD certainly didn’t approve of the silence, though. “I’m not familiar with Hongdae area, though. Are you?”

“A little bit. The boys and I ran away to Hongdae once, trying to outsmart our managers.” Sunggyu cracked a grin at the memory and Hyunyoung commented on how it sounded like fun, and how she wanted to try that as well. “What are you in the mood for?”

<< Caption: Sensible husband; asking the wife~ >>

“I haven’t had ramyun in a while…” she mused out loud. Sunggyu suddenly clapped his hands and nodded, making Hyunyoung look at him out of instinct.

“I know this amazing Japanese restaurant. Woohyun and I went there once, and it was just heavenly. I’m not kidding, why are you laughing?” Sunggyu smiled in spite of himself, insisting he was being serious.

“It’s cute.” Hyunyoung remarked vaguely before switching the topic back towards food. She started rambling about all kinds of ramyun, leaving Sunggyu staring at her in surprise at the sudden complement. She had already gone ahead a few steps before turning quickly.

“Husband Gyu, what are you standing there for?” she placed both hands on her hips and tilted her head. Snapping out of his thoughts, he quickly caught up with her and led her to said ramyun place.

.oOo.

Q: Were you that startled at her suddenly calling you?

Sunggyu: he laughs and hides his reddening face. “Ah, really… first, it was calling me her husband during the dance, then actually doing the dance, when it seemed as if she didn’t want to. Then there was calling me cute so suddenly when I don’t think I really did anything remotely adorable – that’s Woohyun’s job. And lastly… calling me ‘Husband Gyu’ was a little… embarrassing, but it felt nice. Calling me her husband confidently when it seemed at first she was uncomfortable by the decision…” He smiles softly. “Park Hyunwol is really a girl you can’t predict easily.”

.oOo.

“Annyeonghaseyo…” they both greeted and Sunggyu casually waved towards the person behind the counter, who looked in awe at having two idols in his ramyun shop. Sitting by the corner where people would likely see them less, Sunggyu gave her the menu and started shifting through the list of ramyun. It was surprising how many different flavors a single dish could have.

Bachelorette’s “Someone is You” suddenly played through the speakers of the restaurant, making Hyunyoung bury her head in the menu out of embarrassment. Sunggyu smiled at the gesture, somewhat surprised that someone as successful as Hyunyoung could still be embarrassed about one of her group’s songs playing randomly in the streets. Though he had to admit, it was pretty cool to have a song you didn’t promote still be played in stores. It usually meant that the album was a success.

“I like this ballad a lot.” Sunggyu complemented, and hummed along to the song. “You sang a lot in this song, didn’t you? I really like your voice.”

Hyunyoung laughed and sat up straight again. She tried avoiding eye contact with him, obviously flustered by his comment, and kept her gaze trained on the menu in front of her, acting as if she was too immersed in the list of ramyun the store provided.

“You knew? How?” Hyunyoung asked, genuinely impressed. She glanced up to see that Sunggyu was reading the menu, mimicking her. With a smirk; she looked back down on her menu. “I don’t have a lot of lines during songs – it’s impressive you can distinguish my voice.”

“Sungyeol had this song on repeat when the album came out for at least a month, and he always sings a lot during a certain part.”

“Somehow, we always go back to Sungyeol and his connections to me.” she snapped back readily, though the smirk on her face indicated she was only joking. Hyunyoung laughed a bit, hiding behind her hand. “If it keeps up like this, we might get kicked out of the show.”

<< Caption: Sunggyu-ssi, are you trying to kick yourself out of We Got Married? >>

.oOo.

Q: Sunggyu kept going back to Sungyeol… thoughts?

Hyunyoung: she puffs out her cheeks and sighs. “I think we were just very awkward at that time, but to me, it felt really uncomfortable to talk about someone else when I was with my ‘husband’. It made it seem like he didn’t want to be with me, instead, wanted to push Sungyeol to do the stint with me instead. At least, that’s the feeling I got from him at that time.” She nods indifferently, but is obviously a bit upset at the thought. “It kind of made me think at the time… did I do something wrong? Did I do anything that would make him dislike me? Thoughts like that kept coming.”

MC 2: clicks tongue above the roof of their mouth. “Ahh… really; coming from her, Sunggyu suddenly sounds so insensitive!”
Seulong: chuckles. “Nappeun namja!”

Q: Why did you keep mentioning Sungyeol?

Sunggyu: he frowns and looks troubled, crossing his arms over his chest as he tries to think. “To be honest, I’m not sure why I kept going back to him. I guess I was just too nervous, and I remembered that she seemed to like Sungyeol the best out of the three of us [Hoya, Sungyeol, and I]. I wanted to try to ease the tension between us by mentioning a member that would have made her… I don’t know – more comfortable?” he scratches the back of his head.

MC 1: “In the end then, even if Sunggyu had good intentions, it was still misunderstood by the wife.”

.oOo.

Their orders had come, finally. After both had said their thanks to the manager for the meal, they ate in a calming quiet. INFINITE’s “Before the Dawn” was blaring through the speakers, a great contrast to the ballads played earlier. The silence seemed to be overbearing for the staff that had to film them though, and the PD finally put up a cue card saying “pet names”.

Hyunyoung, who had been the one to spot the placard, placed her chopsticks down, catching Sunggyu’s attention.

“Since we’ll be husband and wife starting from today, don’t you think we should be able to comfortably talk to each other?” she asked him, toying with her glass water. Since both were pretty much done already, and the food was to be paid by the staff, they were really only loitering about, not that it seemed to be much of a burden to the ramyun shop’s manager. Sunggyu nodded, showing he agreed. Hyunyoung was not one to drop formalities so quickly, and decided to tread on waters carefully, as Myungsoo had told her Sunggyu valued honorifics a lot. “So… will it be alright if I stopped using formalities?”

Sunggyu seemed a bit taken aback by the sudden question, obviously not used to Hyunyoung’s frankness. He thought one way or another; she would have to stop the honorifics eventually. Though it was not finalized yet if they’d be a part of the permanent cast of the show, Sunggyu had a feeling they’d be sticking to the show for a long, long time.

“Fine then, on one condition.” Sunggyu placed propped both of his elbows on the table, smiling deviously at her. L had told him earlier on about Hyunyoung’s particular quirk that both annoyed and amused males who were older than her. “You have to call me oppa.”

The look on Hyunyoung’s face sent him laughing. She punched his arm, not that it hurt. It felt like having a pillow hit you, in all honesty. Hyunyoung was alternating between pouting and frowning, as she looked away from him.

“Myungsoo told you, didn’t he? Ah, that kid! Really, it’s not funny!” she tried making him stop, but only found herself laughing alongside him.

“It’s cute. Honest.” Sunggyu grinned at her. “But seriously, call me oppa if you want to drop the formalities.”

“Ah, why?” she groaned. Both her hands cupped her reddening cheeks, it amazed Sunggyu how one word managed to fluster the very charismatic Hyunyoung of Bachelorette. “Oppa is… it’s too embarrassing!”

.oOo.

Q: Why did you keep trying to make her call you oppa?

Sunggyu: he grins sheepishly, as if hiding a secret. “Truthfully, it wasn’t that I wanted her to call me oppa. I, personally, did not really care for that. Rather… how she was so in denial of having to call me that one word – how do I put this… ahh, it was just really too cute. Hyunyoung can be a cute person too, without trying too hard. There are just things that make her so flustered, it’s really adorable.” He hides his smile behind the back of his hand. “I really want to see that cute side of her a lot.”

<< Caption: There is a side like this to the cool husband!  >>

Seulong: “Ah! That was really greasy~!”
MC 2: squeals. “No, it was cute; really, really, really sweet!”

.oOo.

“Sunggyu-ssi, why can’t it be your name only? That’ll make me comfortable.”

Sunggyu was still grinning, unbelieving of how stubborn Hyunyoung could really be.

“Or nampyeon Gyu! Husband Gyu, doesn’t that sound cuter?”

“Why won’t you say it? Just try it once. Just once, really,” Sunggyu insisted. He did actually like the name “husband Gyu” a lot, though wasn’t too sure on calling her “Wife Hyun”.

“Ah, this is really… driving me crazy. I’ll stick with Husband Gyu, thank you very much!” Hyunyoung stuck her tongue out and grinned smugly at Sunggyu, momentarily forgetting that they had just met each other earlier that day, and that all of this was for entertainment purposes.

“What are you saying this is driving you crazy, huh? I’m the one here going insane. Seriously, it’s just a word!” Sunggyu complained, though it was evident he was enjoying himself. The lopsided grin on his face said as much. “Repeat after me; “O-ppa,” it’s not that hard.”

“At this rate, it might seem that you’ll be the one to call me oppa instead.”

“Yah, why did you suddenly drop the honorifics? That’s going against our deal.” Sunggyu narrowed his eyes, a smirk playing on his lips. “It’s just a nickname; it’s just ‘oppa,’ at that.”

“The wife needs to be comfortable with her husband, of course!” Hyunyoung argued. Sunggyu was rather tenacious; she gave him credit for that. However, it flustered her in that sense as well.

.oOo.

Q: It’s only “oppa”; why so flustered?

Hyunyoung: “Ah, that word-!” she buries her face in her hands, laughing in embarrassment. “Seriously, I don’t even call my own manager ‘oppa,’ how could I call him that? Everyone I know can testify that I don’t call anyone ‘oppa’ – even those I’m very close to, like Ryeowook or Eunhyuk. They’re at wits ends trying to get me to call them that – Ryeowook especially, since I’ve known him longer. That word is seriously driving me nuts.”

“Oppa… it’s a term of endearment, right? It means that person is like an older brother to you; you can count on him to protect you and take care of you. I’ve honestly… never had someone like that.” She laughs, though it seems much more cheerful now. “To suddenly make me call that to him… ah really, that Sunggyu…” she smiles a bit.

MC 1: “She doesn’t seem to hate it all that bad…”
MC 3: “Hyunyoung-ssi is using the reverse tactic to capture her guy’s heart, then?”

.oOo.

“Then the husband needs to be comfortable, too!” he laughed and leaned back on his seat. It only occurred to Hyunyoung now that they had been arguing for the past few minutes on what she would be calling him, but not even anything that mentioned that could even remotely make him more comfortable with her. Hyunyoung admittedly felt a little bit guilty, but then again, she had to remind herself that this was merely a TV show.

“Then you can call me what you like, I don’t mind.” She admitted, and leaned on the table before listing out various nicknames she had heard from various idol couples. “Jagiya, Yeobo, Baby, or Honey – whichever one is fine with me.”

“I don’t want to.” He readily retorted. “You call me Husband Gyu, right? I also want a name where only I can call you that – a name that no one can call you so easily.”

“No one calls me those things, though.” She laughed, covering .

“But it’s far too over-used.” He whined.

Sunggyu might have been INFINITE’s militaristic leader, but he was – in his own way – childish as well. It reminded Hyunyoung, for some strange and odd reason, of her own boyfriend. She shook the thought out of her head, though the honesty in his words seemed to take her aback somewhat. She flushed a little, though, admittedly embarrassed by his sincerity. Or perhaps he was just too damn good of an actor. Hyunyoung wasn’t really one who could tell.

MC 1: “Omo! Is she blushing?”
Jinwoon: “Maybe it’s just bad lighting.” laughs.

“Husband Gyu, you’re more stubborn than I am.” She concluded, giggling to herself. “There are lots of names that people don’t call me by, though.”

“What do you want to be called, then?” he asked.

“I’m fine with anything!”

“That’s even worse.” Sunggyu chuckled and shook his head. He propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his palm, a lopsided grin adorned his face. “I can’t call you just anything. Then that won’t be special.”

“I’ve heard from Myungsoo that Woohyun-ssi was the greasiest member, perhaps he was wrong?” she teased, mimicking his actions.

“Yah, I’m not being greasy – I’m being honest here!”

“Fine then, you want to call me a name rarely anyone uses?” she started off. Her grin faded into a gentle smile. Sunggyu did actually remind Hyunyoung a lot about Sungmin – she could even remember a similar quarrel happening between the two of them in the earlier part of her relationship. “Hyunwol; call me Hyunwol, then.”

MC 3: “Hyunwol is her real name, right?”
Seulong: “Jinwoon-ie is closer to her friends. Not once have I heard him mention her real name though – even those that are close to her don’t call her that.”
Jinwoon: “What does me being close to her friends have to do with anything, though?” laughs.

Sunggyu blinked once, or twice, before a bright grin formed on his lips. “That’s your real name, right? Hyunwol,” He called her real name a few more times before laughing. Hyunyoung found it contagious and started smiling herself.

“Husband Gyu and Hyunwol, then,”

.oOo.

Q: You seemed really happy to be able to call her by her real name?

Sunggyu: he grins and laughs, a little bit flustered. His cheeks are dusted with a bit of red, but he tries to play it cool. “Myungsoo is close with her, since he acted in dramas with her. But he always calls her ‘Hyunyoung noona,’ it was never her real name. He told me that he never heard anyone really calling her anything else besides ‘Hyunyoung,’ and he himself told me she doesn’t let just anyone call her that. So that kind of felt… I felt that she trusted me, and was comfortable with me being her virtual husband. It was a nice feeling.”

A/N: this chapter kind of made my feels go haywire.

asdfghjkl.

comments, subscriptions and the like are love! ; 3  ; <3333