‘I know that look..’

BoA glanced and saw Yunho’s towering physique before her.

‘You’re late!’ BoA pouted, furrowing her eyebrows together.

‘Sorry! It was Changmin’s fault!’ He explained looking really apologetic. BoA sighed and diverted her gaze some other place again. ‘What’s bothering you?’

‘You’re bothering me..!’

‘You’re cute when you’re mad,’ he smiled.

BoA grunted and shook her head absentmindedly. Yunho couldn’t explain the look she’s having right now. She’s not upset but something’s really preoccupying her thoughts. He’s got an inkling but he’s not bold enough to lay out his idea on the table. He merely waited for her to speak up first.

‘Can I ask you something?’ She began after a long period of silence.

‘Sure.’

‘Suppose.. A person is friends with someone for a very long time…’

A smile slowly crept on Yunho’s face. He’s not going to say anything, but he knew the direction of this conversation already.

‘And then both of them started to hang out more… See each other often and stuff,’ BoA cleared before continuing. At the back of her mind, she really doesn’t know how else to explain this without being too obvious. ‘And.. That person started having feelings for the other person…’

‘Then..?’

‘Well, hypothetically, that person isn’t certain if the other one feels the same but at least the other person doesn’t dislike the other.. Maybe.. I don’t know. But I was wondering what you think they should do?’ She finished in a rush as if she would lose the will to do so if she stopped.

‘Huh?’ Yunho commented genuinely at loss with the conversation.

BoA purposely left off mentioning ‘his‘ or ‘her‘ in the context to protect her identity. Confusing. That’s why she wasn’t surprised when she had to repeat the whole story in the hopes of being understood this time.

‘I do not wish to upset you anymore than you are but I still don’t get what you’re saying..’

BoA shut her eyes. Why was this so difficult?! Saying it outright would be better but somehow, she wanted to preserve her dignity.

BoA in her breath. ‘Okay, suppose ‘I‘ have secret feelings for ‘you‘ then what will you do?’

‘Hmm.. I think the correct question to ask me is, what is it that ‘you‘ shouldn’t do.’

‘Me? Why m-me?’ She stammered a little too loudly than necessary.

‘Not ‘you-you‘.  I’m talking hypothetically here.’

‘Right…’

‘So hypothetically, if ‘I‘ were in that situation, I hope that ‘you‘, hypothetically, won’t confess first.’

The shock on her face was priceless. One thing about BoA is that, she’s so predictable. And Yunho, as a person who knows her best, wouldn’t miss that.

‘I’m not confessing.. At least not until I know that you reciprocate my feelings.’

‘Oh, you wanna know about what I feel?’

BoA blushed, ‘Not you! Hypothetically!’  It’s getting harder and harder for her to get out of this situation and she’s worried. She’s already a mess.

Yunho was sensitive enough to stop pushing her buttons. He knew that BoA’s still uncertain about her feelings, explaining the beating around the bush, which isn’t even her style.

‘Anyway, you called me today because you want to discuss something about the upcoming Gayo Daejun?’

BoA nodded, glad about the change in the conversation. ‘I’m supposed to perform with Taemin but why did they switch it to you all of a sudden?’

‘Does that mean you dislike having me as your partner?’

She didn’t even answer the question. She just stared at him incredulously unable to process where this cockiness has been coming from. If there’s someone who’s known for being straightforward, that should be her, not Yunho.

When BoA called him earlier that week, he was almost sure they’re going to talk about this. This is crucial because he’s got a big stage to prepare in secret. Something that  will either ruin them or start something even greater for the both of them.

Actually, Yunho planned this a while back. He talked to the higher ups before going through with it. He was prepared for the worst but the meeting went smoothly contrary to what he expected. They just told him he’s free to do as he pleases and the agency won’t restrict his plans. They were even very supportive.

Surprised but grateful, that’s when  he thought about the grand stage. He talked about it with a few of his juniors and promised they’ll help out. Taemin was one of them. And the young kid just told him, ‘About time. It’s long overdue. I’m on it!’

Curious about Taemin’s reaction, he tried to talk to Changmin about it.

‘Everybody knew about your feelings for each other. It’s only the two of you who are pretty much oblivious about it til now.’ Changmin said dismissively.

Was that really the case? When he asked some more in regards to that, he learned that his ‘secret’ was not so secret at all since a few years back. During their SM TOWN in LA, his WinWin guesting, his slip ups just made it too obvious.

‘And when you talked about BoA on Strong Heart, that was just you openly proclaiming your feelings for her no doubt. I know you didn’t mean to but we’re not dumb to not understand. It was funny though that Eunhyuk and Taemin went along with it if only to irritate you!’ Changmin followed.

‘But they were really irritating,’ he sighed scratching his head.

‘But hyung, I want you to know that I support you 100%. Don’t worry about the bad stuff. All the good things that will follow would outweigh that.’

Yunho smiled remembering the past events in setting up this moment. ‘But let’s work hard on it!’ He finally said giving BoA a tap on the shoulders. She was really tiny.

‘You don’t have to tell me that. This is like the biggest stage for me. Who wouldn’t want the greatest show at the year end event?!’ BoA explained looking so dreamy. ‘I don’t know why but I feel that it’ll be the most memorable stage ever. And I want to have great memories come next year.’

‘We’ll make sure that happens..’

Author's Note: 

And oh, images are from “Only One” music video drama version. Just to give a little drama to it… I hope I at least gave a Yunho illusion to this fic. I’m so sorry Yoo Ah In, this is not meant to be you 3