“I’m here, I’m here,” RaeIn said, panting at the doorway. JulSu and KaHee were already in their waiting room, waiting for their leader to arrive. They glanced over to her and smiled.

“Finally, we were getting worried you wouldn’t make it on time,” JulSu said. The three were preparing to film a special segment with MNet for new idol groups. Among the new groups included their friends in the new SM group, Bakery, a group with both boys and girls. All the new idol groups were assigned covers to perform for the segment. MAKIKO was to perform a cover of 2PM’s “Heartbeat” from their 1:59PM album.

KaHee was sitting down, getting her make-up done. She was also fiddling with her phone, probably texting with KiKwang. She looked in the mirror so she could look at RaeIn’s reflection as she spoke to her. “Was filming for the CF okay?”

“Yeah, I actually finished early,” RaeIn said, setting her stuff down and taking a seat next to KaHee to get her own hair and make-up fixed. JulSu hurried next to her, tapping her shoulder and handing her some clothes. “Don’t forget to change into your outfit.”

“Oh, right, right.” RaeIn said, face-palming. She ran to the back to change.

“You finished early? Then why were you late?” maknae KaHee yelled from her chair. JulSu took her place on the other side of the maknae so the hairdresser could do the final touches on her hairstyle.

“I celebrated by getting ice-cream,” RaeIn laughed. “I would have forgotten that this was on our schedule if SaRang didn’t text me to remind me. After I got manager’s text, I rushed right over.”

“You got ice-cream? Who did you go with, JunHyung?” JulSu asked, surprised. She knew about the awkward relationship between the two idols, despite having to film together. RaeIn had her fair share of venting back the dorm after the first filming.

“No, I didn’t,” RaeIn said, reappearing after changing. She sat back in the chair from earlier, and commenced getting her hair and make-up fixed for their performance.

“Oh, so did you go with DooJoon instead?” KaHee said slyly. Her phone suddenly vibrated, which drew her attention away so she could reply.

“No,” RaeIn said, laughing again. “He has a radio thing today. That’s why JunHyung said he couldn’t come with me. But oppa told me that the radio thing wasn’t until 5PM. We finished filming at 3:30PM!” RaeIn was obviously a bit exasperated. “Are you texting KiKwang right now?”

“Yeah, I am. Do you want to say hi?” she asked, smiling. Behind her, JulSu was yelling a bit because the stylist accidentally pinched her while she was rolling up the sleeves of JulSu’s blazer. RaeIn could see the stylist bowing a lot and saying sorry.

“Yeah, sure. And could you see if he’s at the radio station with DooJoon already? DooJoon hasn’t answered my text yet.”

“Okay, yeah I will.” KaHee accepted the mission and resumed her texting.

After hearing a knock, the girls shifted their attention towards the door.

“Hi-yeom!” KiKwang said, smiling happily. DooJoon and DongWoon were behind him. All three of them were holding onto flowers. KiKwang rushed over to Kahee’s side and handed her the flower.

“Aw, thank you!” KaHee happily accepted her present. KaHee and KiKwang had recently started talking a lot, seemingly on the verge of dating, however they did not officially consider themselves a couple.

“I also brought you this for after the show!” KiKwang said, pulling out a bag of dried mangoes.

“Here, JulSu!” DongWoon said handing her a flower, happily.

“Thank you,” JulSu said, accepting her flower. However, she looked past him at the doorway and asked, “Is HyunSeung here?” DongWoon had always had his attention focused on JulSu; however she had always been a HyunSeung fan since before debut.

“Good luck on your performance today,” DooJoon said, coming to RaeIn’s side and handing her his flower.

“Thank you!” RaeIn said, enthusiastically grabbing a hold of the flower. She glanced at the time and back at DooJoon. “But oppa, don’t you have a schedule today? It’s almost 4:30PM!”

“Yeah, but we decided to visit you three first before we headed to the radio station.”

“That’s so sweet of you guys,” RaeIn said, smiling. However, in her mind she couldn’t help but feel a bit of anger as JunHyung had easily turned her away. She didn’t want to bring it up with DooJoon again because she didn’t want him to talk to JunHyung to be nicer to her; she wanted to become friends herself. Also, she didn’t want to feel angry during the performance (though since they were performing “Heartbeat” it wouldn’t be too much of a problem), so she shooed away the negative thoughts and focused on the flower in her hands.

“All right, well we have to get going now or we’ll be late to the radio show. Bye-yeom!” KiKwang called out.

“Let me know when you guys get back to your dorm! I’ll come over again after my schedule,” DooJoon said, as the three BEAST boys exited the room. DongWoon was smiling as he waved goodbye to JulSu, trying to make use of his maknae aegyo despite being older than her.

A couple minutes later, SaRang replaced the boys at the doorway. She called out, “Five more minutes!”

“Nae,” the girls responded.

“Are you guys ready? We’ve been practicing this…”

“I think so,” KaHee said, positively. She was still beaming over the flower KiKwang had given her.

“Yes, we can do it!” JulSu and RaeIn followed up.

“All right then. Let’s go!” SaRang said happily, and she walked out the door, followed by the MAKIKO girls.

Darkness filled the stage as the girls took their places. Finally they could hear heartbeats after the music started playing, along with a recording of RaeIn’s voice. “Can you feel my heartbeat?”

——-

The filming for the second version of the chicken CF was supposed to start. However, the day before filming started, RaeIn received a call saying that they had to push it back to the day after.

“Hm,” RaeIn thought. “I’m going to be really busy on Thursday, then.” She felt tired already. “But that was my only schedule for tomorrow.”

RaeIn walked out into the living room, where KaHee was seated on the couch. KiKwang was seated next to her and they were watching TV.

“Oh! Hello, KiKwang!” RaeIn greeted, he greeted back. “KaHee, what are you doing tomorrow?”

“I was going to visit oppa during his High Kick filming, why?” KaHee replied. RaeIn shook her head, “Nevermind then. My filming tomorrow got cancelled, so I was looking for something to do.”

“You can come with me if you want,” KaHee suggested.

“Maybe, I’ll let you know later,” RaeIn said. She walked into the kitchen, looking for JulSu since she wasn’t in the living room with KaHee, but JulSu wasn’t there. She grabbed a water bottle to bring with her when she knocked on JulSu’s door.

“Mmm,” she heard from inside, and she opened the door.

“Do you have a schedule tomorrow?” RaeIn asked. JulSu was lying down in bed. “Oh,” RaeIn said surprised. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m kind of sick,” JulSu replied. “I’m trying to rest up now because I have a radio show to do tomorrow.”

“Ah, I see,” RaeIn said. “Okay then, never mind… you rest.”

“Why, what’s going on?” JulSu asked.

“Nothing, my schedule for tomorrow got cancelled.”

“Does DooJoon have a schedule?”

“Most likely, but I’m not sure.”

“You should still ask him.”

“Mm, yeah, you’re right. I will. Feel better!” RaeIn left the room and closed the door behind her. She walked back to her room to find her phone. She tried dialing DooJoon’s number, but he wasn’t answering. Instead she texted him saying:

Oppa! Call me when you’re free ^^~~ ♥

She plopped onto her bed, her phone resting next to her on her pillow. Sighing, she closed her eyes. It was rare that she got a day off, so she was hoping to spend it in the best way possible. Not that she wouldn’t mind just sleeping the whole day away…

We’re just ordinary people~ RaeIn’s eyes shot open and she reached for her phone. “Hello?”

“RaeIn! I’m done with my schedule for now, what’s up?” Doojoon said.

“Oh, I was just wondering if you were busy tomorrow. I just found out I have the day off.”

“Oh, yeah, I don’t really have a packed schedule tomorrow. I’ll probably finish up by 2PM. Do you have anything in mind?”

“No, anything is fine. I just wanted to spend time with you,” RaeIn replied, failing to mention that she had asked her group-members if they were doing anything first. She giggled to herself.

“All right, I’ll come over around 2PM then! I’ll call you.”

“Okay, bye oppa!”

“Bye, talk to you later.”

——-

“Let’s get ice-cream!” RaeIn suggested. 

“Okay,” DooJoon complied, knowing that anything else would disappoint her. RaeIn was clinging onto DooJoon’s arm as they left her dorm. They were both wearing disguises, hoping that it would be enough to conceal themselves from the public. As soon as they were out in public though, RaeIn let go just in case they were found out. As they entered the ice-cream parlor, RaeIn immediately checked out the flavors.

“I want strawberry, oppa.” RaeIn said, pointing at the glass. DooJoon paid for her ice-cream, and bought himself a scoop of chocolate as well. They sat down at an empty table.

“So how is filming going? You and JunHyung don’t talk to me about that at all,” DooJoon stated, scooping up a bunch of ice-cream and stuffing it into his mouth.

“It’s better than the first day,” RaeIn answered, scooping a bunch of strawberry ice-cream into as well. “Less awkward than the first day.”

“Didn’t you guys record the CF song together? Why is it so awkward?”

“Oh, no we recorded separately actually,” RaeIn replied sheepishly. “So technically I hadn’t spent time with JunHyung-oppa until the first filming.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I still feel like JunHyung-oppa doesn’t like me though,” RaeIn continued. “But I’ll try my best to get him to like me. I want to be able to come over to the BEAST dorms too, without feeling awkward.”

“You shouldn’t have to worry about that,” DooJoon said.

“I know, but it would be nice if all the members liked me,” RaeIn said, pouting.

“I don’t think so,” DooJoon disagreed, puffing out his cheeks. “If all the members liked you, I’d be too jealous. It’s better that it’s just me.” RaeIn giggled contently.

They heard a jiggy-jingling, which meant someone had walked through the door. The couple looked up, surprised at who they saw.

“Oh, JunHyung!” DooJoon called, surprised to find his fellow BEAST there also. RaeIn was trying to quiet him down, since they were still in public after all. JunHyung approached them.

“Hi, JunHyung-oppa,” RaeIn said, quietly, obviously still a bit awkward around him. She exchanged a nervous look with DooJoon, who returned the look with a teasing one instead.

“Hi,” JunHyung replied simply.

“That’s funny that you decided to come here also,” DooJoon said, smiling.

“Oh, YoSeob made me buy him ice-cream,” JunHyung said, frowning a bit. “I lost the game.”

DooJoon laughed at him, but his laugh was cut short as his phone rang. After looking at the caller-ID and sighing, DooJoon answered. A couple “yeah” and “uh-huhs” later, he looked at RaeIn apologetically. “I’m sorry; they’re calling me to go. Do you want me to take you back to your dorm?”

“Oh,” RaeIn answered disappointed. “No, that’s fine, you can go ahead. I’ll go back myself. I don’t want you to be late or anything.”

DooJoon looked at JunHyung, and directed another teasing look back at RaeIn. “Actually, JunHyung since you’re here, do you mind bringing RaeIn back for me?”

“What?” JunHyung looked at his hyung surprised.

“It should be fine right? You guys film together. You guys are friends,” DooJoon smiled with feigned innocence. RaeIn on the other hand was mortified.

“Oh yeah, it’s fine, hyung. I’ll take her back to her dorm.”

“All right, that’s perfect. I have to head out now, HyungDon-hyung called me saying there’s something we have to meet up for about Danbi…” DooJoon scurried off leaving RaeIn and JunHyung at the ice-cream shop.

“I’m going to buy YoSeob’s ice-cream,” JunHyung said, leaving RaeIn at the table by herself. She stared into her empty ice-cream cup and sighed sadly. She played around with her spoon and her empty cup for a while, debating if she should join JunHyung at the cash-register, or if she should just wait at the table. However, it turned out that her decision didn’t matter as JunHyung quickly returned and said, “All right, let’s go back to the BEAST dorms first, then I’ll take you to yours.”

“Okay,” RaeIn nodded, as she quickly threw away her trash and scurried after JunHyung who was already walking out the door. She caught up and they walked briskly in mostly silence. Once they neared BEAST’s dorms, RaeIn spoke.

“Oppa, I don’t mind going back myself… you don’t have to take me…”

“No,” JunHyung said firmly, looking at her with a slight confused look. “I already told hyung I would.” They had reached the dorm already, so he opened the door and gestured for her to follow him. RaeIn nodded and followed.

“Yay, you got me ice-cream! Thanks, hyung,” YoSeob said giddily accepting the cup. “Oh, RaeIn-ah! What are you doing here? I thought you were with DooJoon-hyung.” He looked around confused.

“Oh, no we ran into JunHyung-oppa, so I went here with him,” RaeIn explained.

“I see,” YoSeob said, taking a bite. JunHyung had gotten him chocolate. He stuck out a spoonful towards RaeIn. “Want to try?”

“No, it’s okay,” RaeIn said, shaking her head, laughing and gesturing with her hands. “I just had some earlier with DooJoon-oppa.”

“Okay, then,” YoSeob said, sticking the spoonful into his own mouth instead. He walked away towards his room, passing by HyunSeung who was walking in the opposite direction.

“RaeIn-ah! I haven’t seen you in a long time,” HyunSeung greeted her, giving her a small hug.

“Yes, I’m sorry I haven’t been able to stop by a lot recently,” RaeIn said apologetically.

“I understand,” HyunSeung said. “When we first debuted, I wasn’t used to the new workload either. It’s way more different than being a trainee.” He looked past RaeIn and found JunHyung standing near the door. “Oh, JunHyung!” He looked back at RaeIn. “I thought you were with DooJoon-hyung.”

“Yeah,” RaeIn said sheepishly. “He had to go meet up with the Danbi sunbaes, but we ran into JunHyung-oppa at the ice-cream shop so…”

“RaeIn-ah, I’ll take you back to your dorm now,” JunHyung interrupted. Surprised, RaeIn said her quick goodbyes to HyunSeung and YoSeob before she and JunHyung departed.