DooJoon walked the corriders of the CUBE building, navigating his way to somewhere where he could get peace of mind. He decided that maybe he should lock himself up in one of the practice rooms for a bit.

“It’s too late,” RaeIn said pausing. She turned her head in acknowledgement, though not enough to actually look at him. “I don’t know what happened, but I feel like you stopped believing in me. So why should I believe in this?”

“Argh,” DooJoon let out a groan as he shook his head. Staff members standing in the hallway stared at him weirdly, but DooJoon paid no attention. He only had one goal now: to decide what to do next. Yes, he was incredibly sad at the end of his most treasured relationship, but now he was kind of angry that RaeIn was willing to end things over such frivolous reasons.

…Okay, maybe they weren’t so frivolous. DooJoon knew he overreacted a bit, but “love blinds you!” he reasoned with himself. He knew he could change if RaeIn wanted him to, if he set his mind to it.

DooJoon didn’t even realize that as he walked, he hung his head low, avoiding eye contact at all costs. He was not exactly in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment. He made the mistake of looking up when he heard familiar chatter; walking toward him in the opposite direction were JiHyun, HyunAh and YoSeob, who were laughing amongst themselves. He immediately braced himself for the inevitable interaction and conversation with his friends.

“Hey,” he said, lifting a corner of his lip once his friends neared.

“Hey!” the three called in unison. Their uplifted moods contrasted Doojoon’s drastically.

“Where are you headed to?” JiHyun asked brightly.

“Just going to practice for a bit,” DooJoon replied, trying his hardest to maintain his composure.

“Oh, I see.” After a beat, JiHyun raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t watched MAKIKO’s interview on ‘Picnic with Bakery’ yet, have you?”

“No, I haven’t. Why?”

JiHyun and HyunAh looked at each other from the corner of their eyes, smiling. After a while they burst out in giggles.

“Wasn’t it just the sweetest thing when RaeIn-unni held up the necklace?” HyunAh gushed, and JiHyun nodded in enthusiastic agreement.

“Yeah,” YoSeob pitched in with a knowing smile. “DooJoon-hyung was the one that got that for her.”

“Oh, those necklaces?” HyunAh asked coyly.

“How sweet,” YoSeob teased, while JiHyun and HyunAh continued to gush in the background.

“What are you talking about?” DooJoon interrupted, getting annoyed, but he couldn’t blame his friends for what they didn’t know.

“Do you want to watch?” JiHyun jumped closer to DooJoon and looked up at him excitedly, her fists at her cheeks.

“Wait, I don’t get it. What happened? What was she doing with the necklace?”

“Oh!” JiHyun exclaimed. “Right… The Bakery members were doing interviews with their different idol group friends, including MAKIKO.”

 “Ah, look at the time, Unni! We have to go now.” HyunAh exclaimed as she glimpsed at her watch.

“You’re right, we better get going,” JiHyun agreed. She grabbed onto YoSeob to follow them. “I guess you’ll just have to watch the episode, DooJoon!”

——-

“Annyeong~ Welcome back to ‘Picnic with Bakery!’” said the girl on the computer screen. DooJoon immediately recognized her as Shelly. After practicing for about half an hour, DooJoon decided to go home to look up the videos for this week’s episode of ‘Picnic with Bakery’ online.

“We just finished up our mini-interview with our SNSD sunbaenims, but we’ve got another treat for you guys,” said Andro.

“Let’s welcome our good friends MAKIKO to the studio!” Derrick concluded, sticking an arm out in the direction where the MAKIKO girls appeared.

“Hello, everyone!” RaeIn grabbed the microphone from Derrick as everyone greeted each other. The setting was simply Bakery’s boy dorm. Since the group was co-ed, they did not share the same living space and were instead divided into a boys and girls dorm. All the interviews conducted were in a mock-style, so there was no audience; just the camera crew and the idols.

“Okay,” Rafi said clapping her hands together. “Let’s get going with the interview. Shelly, do you want to start?”

“Sure. We’ll go with something easy,” Shelly said, though contrary to her statement she narrowed her eyes diabolically. “Who is your ideal type?”

Shelly called on RaeIn, who jumped up in her seat. “I go first?” she asked, pointing to herself. After a pause, she grinned. “Okay, that’s easy. The members of our fellow CUBE group, BEAST are our ideal types.”

“You know that answer is not going to work,” Rafi pointed out.

“Okay, okay, fine. Then I choose someone who I have admired a lot for years as an actor: Lee Jun Ki.”

“That’s better! Okay next is JulSu!” said the Bakery MCs.

“I can go next,” KaHee said when JulSu made a pensive facial expression, showing her difficulty in choosing. “Jang Geun Suk~”

“Oh, that’s a good one!” Shelly commented.

“Okay, I have my answer now, too,” JulSu spoke up. “Kim Hyun Joong.”

“That’s a good one, too!”

“I have the next question,” Andro announced. “What is your favorite song from your album, ‘ONE TIME’ and why? KaHee can go first this time.”

“My favorite song from our album is ‘Telephone’ because I wrote my rap verses to that myself. I am very proud of this song because of that.”

“You wrote that raps yourself? That’s awesome,” Shelly complimented. “Okay, RaeIn is next!”

“I have a soft spot for ‘Gotta Be Kidding Me,’ our debut song. At first we were very worried about the feedback we would receive from it; however from the beginning we knew that with success or failure, that song would always be special to us.”

“Very nice answer; and we totally understand,” Rafi nodded, referring to Bakery’s own debut song.

“I guess I’m next. My favorite song is our ballad, ‘I Really Like,’ because I have the most lines in that song… Kidding!” lead vocalist JulSu responded, inviting laughter from both MAKIKO and Bakery members.

“All right, next question: what is your most valued and most cherished item that you own? JulSu can go first this time,” Rafi prompted.

“I must say my mp3 player is the most important thing to me. I love to sing, and I love to dance—“ Andro, Bakery’s leader and lead dancer, interrupted for a quick high-five before JulSu continued “—and I feel that my mp3 player allows me to do both. I can listen to music and sing along or dance along with it.”

“All right, KaHee’s next.”

“My pillow,” KaHee laughed. “I think I should have gone first; I don’t think I can follow up JulSu’s answer.” She laughed again. “But I love my pillow very much. I have to bring it with me everywhere or else I’ll never fall asleep.”

The Bakery members laughed at KaHee’s simple yet sincere answer then prompted RaeIn to go next. She paused a bit before answering.

“My necklace,” RaeIn said, holding out the pendant hanging from her neck. She had a shy smile on her face. “The person who gave this to me believes in me and gives me encouragement. When I’m lacking confidence, I’ll remember that I have this around my neck; seeing this reminds me why I should stop being insecure. That’s why this is my most cherished item.”

“Ooh,” Rafi nudged with a wink. “Who is it from?”

RaeIn’s cheeks deepend in color. “Th-that, I can’t say.”

“Okay,” Derrick interrupted, holding out his MC cards. He stared intently at the interviewees and his voice grew serious. “Our next question is the most important one: who is your Bakery bias?”

“Eh?” JulSu reacted, unsure about the question.

“Who is your favorite member out of Bakery?” Derrick rephrased.

“Well…”

DooJoon rewound the video to the part where RaeIn held out her necklace.

“The person who gave this to me believes in me.” He paused after the virtual RaeIn spoke, and compared it to what she spoke from his memory.

“I don’t know what happened, but I feel like you stopped believing in me.”

“But I never stopped believing in you.”

——-

RaeIn was slumped over on the couch, a leg and an arm falling off the side.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay here by yourself, Unni?” KaHee bit her lip uncertainly.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” RaeIn said emotionlessly without even lifting her head up from her bed to look at her dongsaengs.

“Well, okay… Call us if you need anything,” JulSu added before the two maknaes left to attend their separate schedules.

The doorbell ringing came as a shock for the MAKIKO leader. She groaned, not wanting to get up. “JulSu and KaHee can’t be back yet,” she said to herself. She forced herself up when the doorbell rang again. “And it wouldn’t be DooJoon,” she muttered bitterly as she felt a sudden pang of regret. “Why would he? We just broke up.”

JunHyung stood on the other side of the door.

“Oppa,” RaeIn said surprised and a bit embarrassed. She wasn’t exactly dressed to have guests. As soon as she got home from music drama filming, she changed into her pajamas and jumped into bed to mope. She stayed that way for the rest of that day and into the morning of the next. It wasn’t until her group mates left that she dared venture out into the living room.

“Uh, yes,” JunHyung said sheepishly. “H-hi.”

“Oh, I’m sorry! Come in,” RaeIn said a bit rushed. She felt a blush creep to her cheeks.

“Oh, okay then…” JunHyung said as he stepped inside.

“How embarrassing; I didn’t know you would stop by. I should change.”

“It’s fine!” JunHyung said quickly. “I just, uh, wanted to bring you this.” He held out the shirt that RaeIn had gotten wet during their lunch the day before. She left it in the changing room to dry and forgot to bring it back with her.

“Thank you! I forgot all about that,” RaeIn said as she grabbed onto her shirt, accidentally brushing hands with JunHyung as she did so. JunHyung’s hand reflexively jumped away due to the sudden contact. Flustered, he examined his surroundings to search for a change of subject. However, before he could think of something to talk about, Raein spoke first.

“Sit down, Oppa; I’ll be back…” And within the next few minutes, RaeIn reemerged from her bedroom in guest-appropriate clothes.

“So,” RaeIn said as she took her seat next to JunHyung.

“So,” JunHyung echoed. RaeIn laughed at their awkwardness.

“I’m sorry if I’m being weird,” RaeIn apologized. “I haven’t been feeling myself since yesterday.”

“Oh you mean after DooJoon left?” JunHyung quickly caught himself and mentally kicked himself as he apologized as well. “I’m sorry, that was rude of me.”

“No, don’t worry about it. You’re right, though.”

“Ah, I see. Sorry to bring it up again. Did you guys get into a fight?”

“Mm,” RaeIn said with a hesitant half-nod. “You could say that.”

“No wonder DooJoon’s been acting like that,” JunHyung mused.

“He’s acting like what?” RaeIn asked curiously.

“I don’t know, just different,” JunHyung shrugged.

“We broke up, actually.”

JunHyung almost fell over in surprise at her words. “What? Why?” he exclaimed. He coughed when he realized how excited he sounded and in a calmer tone he added, “I mean, if you don’t mind telling me.”

“I don’t mind,” RaeIn replied shaking her head. “It was just a bunch of things actually; everything added up and it was just too much.”

“I’m sorry.” Hesitantly, he added, “Are you okay?”

“I’m as okay as I can be,” RaeIn replied forcing a smile, though failing to convey the emotions she was trying fake. Another awkward silence followed.

“I guess I should head out now. I er, just wanted to bring you back your…”

“Yeah, okay,” RaeIn replied slightly upset. Despite wanting to mope by herself, at the same time she welcomed the company.

“You should rest up anyway. Our last day of filming together is tomorrow.” JunHyung noticed too late that he had let slip the disappointment in his voice.

“You’re right, I’ll probably take a nap then,” RaeIn agreed as she walked JunHyung to the door, oblivious to his slip.

Once they reached the door, JunHyung took a moment and just stared at RaeIn, his expression unreadable, before suddenly wrapping his arms around her. After a moment, he brought his face so it was a few inches away from hers. However, he never looked her in the eye. Instead he shyly looked down as he said, “I just figured you needed that. I’ll uh, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

It was only when JunHyung left that RaeIn was aware of her heart pounding involuntarily loud. They had always had close, if not closer, contact during filming, sure; but there was something quite different about their proximity this time.

Not wanting to think about anything, RaeIn shook her weird thoughts away. She was probably only feeling like this because of her vulnerable state, she figured. “Yeah… a nap is a really good idea,” she muttered as she climbed into her bed.

——-

“RaeIn-ah!” JunHyung ran up to RaeIn as she packed her belongings into her bag.

“JunHyung-oppa,” RaeIn looked at her approaching friend and smiled in greeting, feeling completely healed of her weirdness from the day before. “What’s up?”

“What are you doing after this?”
RaeIn placed a finger pensively on her lip. “I’m probably just going to head back to the dorm.”

“Let’s grab some ice-cream.”

“Now?” RaeIn asked, taken aback.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Today was our final day of filming. Now that the CFs and the music drama are done, we should celebrate.”

“But…”

“Besides, we may not be able to see each other as much; and you’ll miss me, won’t you?” JunHyung said teasingly.

“What are you talking about? We’re in the same company; of course we’re going to see each other,” RaeIn laughed. She placed her final item, a hairbrush, into her bag and zipped it closed when JunHyung suddenly grabbed her arm.

“Let’s go,” he said grinning as RaeIn stumbled after him while stammering out, “Oppa, what are you doing?”

“Oh, you guys are leaving already? Thank you for all your hard work!” Director Jang and the rest of the filming crew exclaimed as JunHyung and RaeIn left the studio.

“All right,” JunHyung said after he dragged RaeIn near one of the changing rooms. “Go wear something to stay incognito. Since we’re getting ice-cream outside you can’t just wear that.” RaeIn looked down to check what she was currently wearing: sweats that she wore to practice earlier. “I’m going to change too, but I change fast so I’ll wait out here.”

“Er, okay…” RaeIn said as she entered the changing room. JunHyung grinned smugly as he pulled on the hoodie he brought along. He was not exactly sure why, but he felt very lighthearted. Despite it being the last day of filming with RaeIn, he was surprisingly happy. And for some reason, he had the most unusual craving for ice-cream.

He stood coolly near the wall, waiting for RaeIn to reemerge from the changing room; however she did not. Since she was taking such a long time to reappear, JunHyung was growing anxious. JunHyung paced the length of the wall to the door and back a couple of times, debating whether or not he should check up on her. Finally, curiosity got the best of him and he knocked on the door, before softly calling out, “RaeIn-ah, are you still in there?” JunHyung wanted to kick himself. Of course RaeIn was still inside; there was no where else to go… except out the door, which he was very certain she did not.

When RaeIn failed to answer, JunHyung knocked on the door again. “RaeIn?”

Again, no answer; now JunHyung raised his voice. “Ya, RaeIn-ah, if you don’t answer, I’m just going to come in!” Since there was still no answer, JunHyung placed his hand on the door knob. He had been bluffing about barging in, hoping that RaeIn would answer by now. However, it seemed like he would actually have to intrude. Nervously, he announced, “O-okay, I’m going to come in now!”

JunHyung turned the door knob only to find that he couldn’t.

“It would be locked,” JunHyung muttered as he let go of the door. “RaeIn, you are a smart girl.”

At that moment, the door opened on its own – according to JunHyung’s perspective, anyway. In reality, RaeIn opened the door, though she failed to emerge.

“RaeIn?” JunHyung directed inside. “Are you ready?” RaeIn remained in the room, silent. “Am I supposed to go inside?” – Silence – “All right, I’ll take that as a yes.”

JunHyung walked inside the room and found RaeIn sitting on a chair, still dressed in her practice attire from earlier. Her bag was on the floor, unopened except for a small pocket. She laid her head on an arm that rested on the table, holding up her cell phone in front of her face with the other. She was facing away from JunHyung, who cautiously approached her.

“What’s wrong?” He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder, and she slowly lifted her head and turned towards him. “Kind of creepy,” he thought to himself. However, his thoughts quickly changed once he saw the expression on her face.

“Guess what, Oppa?” RaeIn smiled sadly, her eyes heavy and zombie-like, obviously tired. “I have my first scandal.”