“Is this necessary?” You whined as a make-up artist dusted foundation onto your face; smudging here and there, you didn’t think she’d ever finish as she only just progressed onto your eye makeup. 

No one replied to your whinging since everyone around you in the dressing room was busy and buzzing around, some were running around mixing and matching couple outfits, others had hair appliances in hand and the rest were either on the photography team preparing the set or on the phone; speaking so fast that you didn’t understand the Korean even more.

The President had set up a last minute couple photo shoot for you and Minhyuk to publicise on the FNC website, Twitter and Facebook. The styling team hadn’t agreed on a theme yet and you were growing impatient.

“Our debut is in less than a week” You grumbled, as if someone was listening throughout such a busy area, “I’m pretty sure that we should be focusing on that alone. This can wait”

You were sure that no one was going to reply again, till a familiar –in a good way- answered to your mumbles.

“I’ll try to make it happen as quick as possible”

The make-up stylist had spun your chair to face the lit up mirror and rather than looking at your reflection; you focused on Minhyuk who was now standing behind your chair, looking at you through the mirror. He had just finished beingstyled; his hair was slightly spiked in some areas than others, and was in a sharp, black suit pants, and rolled up by the arms white long sleeved dress shirt finished with a bow tie. You thought it was a little too formal till you realised the bow tie was on an angle and his sleeves were ruggedly rolled up and he had his drum sticks tucked in his back pocket of his pants.

“Ya” You addressed him neutrally, “Your clothes are… a little… messed?”

After chuckling for a good second and wiped a fake tear from his eye, he put his hands on your shoulders only covered by the dressing robe and looked into your face via the mirror.

“This is all purposely for the photo shoot” He said, still giddy then fixed up his bangs.

You raised an eyebrow at him and looked into the mirror and realised your makeup and hair was done. You had a nice and formal up do and smoky eyes make up. You fluttered your eyelashes to get used to the feel of the fake eye lashes they put on you till the stylist handed you a nice mini black dress.

“You have five minutes” the stylist said hurriedly before heading the other direction.

You stood up, fixed your robe and examined the dress. It hada medium strap only on one side; black sequins by the sweetheart cut of the dress and cut an inch above the knee. You hadn’t really worn such a dress before, but since you’re a KPOP artist, you couldn’t really say no. A few seconds later, you realised that everyone had left the dressing room besides Minhyuk who had proceeded to playing air drums in his own little world by tapping the back of the chair as if it was a drum kit.

“Oppa” You weren’t sure how to address him, “I need to get changed”

It took a good minute till Minhyuk realised that you were waiting for him to leave,

“Ah. Mianhe” He bowed quickly, blushing a little before instantly leaving the dressing room, leaving his drum sticks on your chair.

You called out his name as he ran out the door to let him know that he left his drum sticks, but he didn’t quite hear you. It was fine though, something inside you was sure that he wouldn’t miss it for that long.

Minutes later, after struggling into the somewhat tight dress and looking at your reflection a couple of times just to make sure you looked right, you stood by the main door of the dressing room, half nervous about how people would react to you. Until then, no one had ever made such a fuss about you, even in your training days; it was nerve racking but you built up the courage and with one last breath, with the drum sticks in hand, you opened the door to the dimly lit corridor to see someone that wasn’t Minhyuk, leaning on the wall, playing on his phone.

Shoving his phone into his pocket after the light from the dressing room beamed onto his face, Yonghwa looked up to see you. You were expecting some smart-a** remark or question to come out of his mouth; but he was rather quiet.

You then took a few steps towards him, the sound of your stilettos echoing down the corridor.

“Sunbae” You said lightly enough not to scare him but loud enough for him to hear, “Where’s Minhyuk?”

Yonghwa continued to stare at you, from head to toe and back up again, finally meeting your eyes. Half a smile, a genuine smile, formed on his face till he came back to reality, with that signature smirk replacing the smile, a face you knew too well.

“You’re late” He said, grabbing the drum sticks from your hand, shocking you with such a force.

You didn’t bother replying. You shut the door of the dressing room before storming confidently towards the photo shoot studio where everyone was waiting.

__

“Our star has arrived!” The President called out loud enough for everyone, even the busiest could hear in the studio.

The studio was almost completely covered in white, and the studio lights brightened it even more. As you walked towards the set whilst bowing to those you saw along the way, you noticed a transparent single drum set in the centre of the set and a transparent electric guitar on a stand. Minhyuk was already set by the drums, playing with his bare hands since he didn’t have his sticks. 

“Sorry I’m late” You apologised to Minhyuk alone. You would’ve handed him his drum sticks then but Yonghwa just had to steal them.

“It’s alright” He smiled his signature smile, his gaze scanning your entire outfit, “Hey, my girlfriend looks amazing”

Minhyuk had caught you out of the blue. All that time you had forgotten that this was all for the arranged pairing, but with those words you realised reality. You were sure your face had gone completely red but hope that the thick amount of makeup covered it up.

“Kamsamnida” You bowed. You were about to bow lower till an interrupting voice directly behind you stopped you,

“Aish” Yonghwa said, straightening your body back up, “Don’t bow so low. Some things should be kept for some eyes only”

The warmth on his hands by your waist gave you a random swarm of butterflies in your stomach, out of all places why’d he have to grab you there; then again, you were glad that wasn’t anywhere else.

“Sorry” You said to him plainly, in straight English. You didn’t bother wasting your time speaking to him in Korean.Yonghwa just glanced at you then handed Minhyuk his drumsticks before walking off the set towards the back of the studio.

“Tsk. That boy” You mumbled, whilst fixing up your dress.

The director of the photo shoot clapped his hands audibly and workers began to take places around the studio. He picked up a digital SLR professional camera then focused on you and Minhyuk.

“Today I want to portray the both of you as a formal couple but still a rock star one just as well” He said, “Just listen to my directions and you’re wonderful relationship will shine through the photographs!”

Wonderful relationship? You thought. How could it be wonderful when it happened out of the blue, without the slightest input what soever?

The director began to call out random poses, even getting onto the set and purposely moving you and Minhyuk into different poses. You expected your ‘boyfriend’ to be a little uncomfortable since he seemed so shy but in front of the camera, you witnessed a new side to him; and you like it.

An hour of cute couple poses and pictures had passed, you even noticed Yonghwa pretending to puke in the far distant back of the studio, but that didn’t faze you.

“Alright, let’s raise this photo shoot up a level!” The Director said almost a little too happily.

Soon you found yourself pretending to rock out on the guitar, full energy into it whilst Minhyuk let loose on the drums. The cameras continued to snap and snap, one photo after the other and it was an exhilarating feeling. You were into the moment. After that scene, was the final one, ‘the cherry on top’ the director said. Inside, you secretly didn’t want it to end, but you remembered that RockCandy’s debut was just a few days away and you needed to return back to that mindset.

The last photo involved you sitting and leaning by the bass drum of the kit with one leg over the other in class manner as Minhyuk sat on the ground by your feet, knees bended up feet flat on the ground. As soon as you thought the last shot was about to be taken, the Director walked up towards the two of you and abruptly messed Minhyuks hair and yours too. He tilted your head a little down to face Minhyuk as you sat andMinhyuk looking up to you from being seated on the ground. Your faces were just inches away, actually the closest you had ever been to any guy. The Director told you not move, as much as you wanted to move away as Minhyuk stared into your eyes with a cheeky smile on his face.