“Hey, Hwejin-ah. Don’t go.” Hyekyeong said right after hearing that Hwejin accepted the invitation from SHINee’s manager to celebrate with them. “You haven’t calmed yourself down from what happened earlier. Do you really think you’ll be okay to see him again?” She asked.

“It was an invitation personally coming from the manager. I don’t think I have enough reason to reject him.” She uttered.

“Why on Earth will someone invite someone else to celebrate during this time of night? It’s already 10 o’clock in the evening, Son Hwejin. Tell them you want to rest now!” Hyekyeong replied.

She didn’t respond but answered her with a sigh instead. She shook her head and stood up from her swivel chair to fix herself upon leaving.

“So you’re really going, huh?” Hyekyeong raised an eyebrow and stood up crossing her arms. “Mind if I go with you?”

“Why do you need to go with me?” She asked. “I can handle myself, hyekyeongie. You should go home and rest now. You still have work tomorrow.” She said.

“And so do you.” Answered Hyekyeong. “I just want to make sure you’ll be okay, and I also want to be there in case you need to cry for the 2^nd time.”

“I won’t cry. That’s what I can promise to you.” Hwejin said with a serious face. “From now on, I’ll prove to him I’m better off without him. I’ll prove to him so he won’t need to worry about me.” He smiled. “Isn’t that what you want? For the both of us to be okay?”

“That’s not gonna happen just like that.” She gasped. “You need time to move on.”

“5 years is too much to move on.” She said and immediately took her bag. “So, are you gonna go with me?”

Hyekyeong nodded and went out with her to go to the celebration event the manager has prepared.

**** **** ****

On a VIP room inside a luxurious bar they celebrated the million views for just 1 hour regarding the music video.

“Annyeonghasaeyo~” Hwejin greeted as soon as she entered the room. Hyekyeong also greeted. “I brought a friend with me. Please meet Jung Hyekyeong. She’s a friend since highschool.” She smiled at the rest.

In the room now were the 5 members, together with their 3 managers and 2 coordi noonas, and Hyekyeong and Hwejin.

Hyekyeong secretly watched and noticed that Onew wasn’t even lifting his head up to join in the conversation. He was by himself playing with his fingers, if not doing something with his phone. She wanted to talk to him and asked how he was doing, but she’s not sure if all of the people inside knew about Hwejin and Onew’s past and talking to him as if they were old friends will seem suspicious of the other two’s relationship. And it seemed though, that Onew had no interest talking to her. That, or he just didn’t recognize her for he was busy trying to be unaffected of someone’s presence.

Hyekyeong looked beside her and saw Hwejin smiling widely and laughing at the manager’s joke. Why are you being fake? She elbowed her and Hwejin looked at her. “Stop smiling. It doesn’t suit you right now.” She whispered but Hwejin pouted and ignored her.

Onew then stood up from his seat. Hyekyeong looked at him and she saw him mouthing “I’ll just go to the washroom.” before leaving.

It might seem like an ordinary excuse to go out. Not much of a big deal, except when Hwejin automatically stopped laughing right when he left. Hyekyeong heard her friend’s obvious sigh.

“You got tired, huh?” She whispered when Hwejin leaned and relaxed her back on her seat.

“Hyekyeong-ah… it was hard.” She whispered back finally admitting that she still cannot get through him. “It’s hard to laugh when nothing’s even funny in the first place.” She said.

“I know. Look at the others staring at you weirdly. They were wondering why you were laughing so hard when nothing’s even funny. Were you aware that he was talking about how he lost his pet dog that he only left outside the convenience store one morning?”

“Oh. Was he talking about that?” She asked in a clueless expression. “That’s not funny.” She said.

“Exactly, that’s why it’s weird to see your expression.” Hyekyeong uttered. “But that manager, seemed to have a lot of interest towards you. He likes the fact that you’re laughing over his not so happy event with his precious pet.”

Few minutes later and Onew came back. As Onew sat back to his seat…

“Oh I think I need to go to the washroom for a while.” She uttered and excused herself in the conversation.

Upon seeing Hwejin leave, Onew started to join in the conversation with the members and the managers. Hyekyeong suddenly saw how comfortable Onew suddenly became within his surrounding as Hwejin left.

When Hwejin came back, Onew stopped. “Oh, I think I missed someone’s call. Please excuse me. I’ll just make a call back to Hyunmoo-hyung.” He said and left again right after Hwejin sat back.

As Onew opened the door to come inside, Hwejin immediately stood up. “Oh wait, I think I forgot something in the washroom.” She said and went out passing right beside Onew who was on his way to his seat.

“Aish… why are you both coming back and forth? You’re so weird.” Jonghyun said when he felt irritated about the two.

Hyekyeong felt irritated when they did another round of leaving and coming back. Right when Hwejin went out for the nth time, Hyekyeong also stood up and looked at Onew, “Onew-ssi, please come out for a while.” She said and left.

Since she made that call aloud, Onew couldn’t do anything but to follow, leaving others inside the room clueless and confused about what’s happening between the three.

“How can the both of you work well together if all you do is avoiding each other?” She said as she made the two faced each other.

“We’re not avoiding each other!” Hwejin and Onew shouted in chorus. That made Hyekyeong scratch her head.

“Let’s get this done. Both of you should forget about what happened 5 years ago.” She said straightly. “Now. You must not bring the past back.” She uttered.

The two looked at her in confused.

“Director Son Hwejin, please meet the leader of SHINee, Onew-ssi.” She told Hwejin and looked at Onew afterwards. “Onew-ssi, please meet director Son Hwejin. She is in charge of SHINee’s next major concert tour. Now please shake each other’s hand as a sign that both of you have finally met each other.”

“Bwoya?” Onew asked with an awkward expression.

Hyekyeong sighed and hold both hands. “After the shakehands, you will only know each other as the director and as the SHINee member. Whoever brings up the past shall leave. If Hwejin does it, you have to terminate your contract and go back to U.S. If Onew-ssi does it, you need to either quit SHINee or go under hiatus.”

“This is funny, Hyekyeongie.” Hwejin said in protest.

“I’m not done yet.” Hyekyeong replied. “Onew-ssi will have to address you as Director Son. Nothing else but Director Son.” She told Hwejin.

“Director Son will address you as Onew-ssi. Not Lee Jinki, Jinki-oppa, oppa, or what… Nothing but Onew-ssi.” She told Onew afterwards.