After the Unnies were gone, Seohyun was sitting alone in her living room. The TV was still on but she couldn’t care less about what was shown. She sat silently while a lot of thoughts were racing through her mind. Her heart kept pounding as she anxiously waiting for Yong Hwa to come. Was he really coming?

She still could not believe her eyes and ears, even though she saw and heard herself that Yong Hwa just shouted on national TV that he loved her. It felt surreal.

After all the times that they spent together, on and off screen, she never imagined that Yong Hwa actually felt something special towards her. Sure, he was always considerate, even on their first meeting. He was always kind. He tried his best to make her feel comfortable around him. He made her laugh, even if it made him look silly. He did all of those things, and to be honest, Seohyun kind of fell for that.

She remembered the first time she felt the tingling feeling. It was on their last day in WGM, when he put the effort to decorate the trunk of his car with colorful balloons and present her with a bouquet of flowers and a pink guitar. She had to admit that as a member of SNSD, she received a lot of affections from her fellow idol friends. But none of them had ever done something like Yong Hwa did. He successfully touched her heart to a degree that she felt flustered, tingled, and nervous at the same time.

That was it. That was the time when she actually fell for him. And she had never come back to her usual state ever since.

A few more minutes went by while Seohyun was reminiscing her time together with Yong Hwa. Then suddenly, the door bell rang. When she looked at the intercom monitor, her heart started to pound harder and faster. She saw Yong Hwa out there.

“Aish, eottohke?” She stood from her seat and pressed the talk button on the intercom.

“Duguseyo?” She asked, pretending like she didn’t know who was coming.

“Hyun-ah. It’s Yong.” He looked right at the camera, which caused Seohyun’s heart to skip a beat because it seemed and felt like he was looking right at her.

“Ah.. Oppa. Wait a second. I’ll open the door for you.”

It only took seconds for him to come inside the girls’ dorm. As he stepped in, he found the place beyond his imagination. He thought it will be neat and clean, but it seemed like the girls had not find the time to tidy up today.

“Annyeong, Hyunnie.” He greeted with an awkward grin on his face. Seohyun didn’t know that at that time, his heart was pounding too.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Oppa. It’s late. What makes you come all the way here?” Again, she acted clueless. She didn’t want him to know that she knew why he came to her dorm. If he found out, and he knew that it was Jungshin who leaked the news, Jungshin chingoo might be dead.

Yong Hwa took a peek at the TV screen on which SBS was still shown. He remembered clearly that that day was the day when his episode on Strong Heart was broadcasted. He panicked. Did she see it? Is that why she looked slightly anxious since his arrival?

“Just something..” He looked at the TV screen again, making sure. The channel really was SBS. Most probably, she watched the show.

Isn’t that good, stupid? That means you don’t have to explain yourself all over again. Yong Hwa said to himself.

“Oppa.. gwenchana? You looked weird.”

“Aniya..” Yong Hwa shook his head. “By the way, where are your unnies? It’s really quiet in here.”

“They went out a while ago. Wae?”

“Ani..” He hesitated for a second, “Ah, Hyunni-ah, do you want to go somewhere?”

“Right now? Okay, let’s go.” She looked anxious and it’s getting obvious. “I’ll get my purse and jacket first.”

Yong Hwa sensed something weird with Seohyun that day. Normally, Seohyun would ask a lot of questions before they went somewhere. She would want to know what kind of place that they go to, why are they going there, is there any special occasion. But not that day. That day, she just agreed to everything he said, without asking further questions. Has she found out?

They rode the elevator in silence. Each was busy with their own thought. Seohyun was actually curious on the reason why Yong Oppa came and where he wanted to take her. But it would feel like an interview if she started asking questions so she decided to keep quiet.

Being a Busan gentleman, Yong Hwa opened the passenger door for Seohyun as they reached their car in the parking lot. Both of them were thankful that it passed midnight already so not a lot of people were around. The fans would have gone crazy if they saw CNBLUE’s Yong Hwa and SNSD’s Seohyun went out together in the middle of the night.

He drove quietly to downtown Seoul for 20 minutes. She did not know where they headed to. But the neighborhood seemed familiar. She felt like she had come here a while ago. But where? She is so used to only sit in the back of a car and being drove to wherever she was going. So she didn’t really know the way around town.

Where is he taking me, actually? Aish.. Yong Choding..

A few minutes later, Yong Hwa parked his car in a parking lot near subway station. She caught the name of the station before getting off the car. It was Shindang Station.

Shindang? Are we going to… Seohyun turned her head to an intersection near the station and saw the big bright sign above the road, “Shindadong Tteopokki Town”. Out of all the places in Seoul, Yong Hwa decided to brought her here, to the place which held a lot of history of them being together.

“Ya, Oppa! Why are you taking me here, so suddenly?” Seohyun hit Yong Hwa on his arm. She looked surprise but excited at the same time. The tension on her face was slightly gone.

“Wae? You don’t like it?” Yong Hwa was being defensive, “I’m hungry.”

Suddenly, everything came back. The rain. The awkwardness. The resolution letter. The moment when they decided to be engaged instead of abruptly being married. They remembered it like it was always at the back of their mind. It was like, they never really got over it.

They went to the same tteopokki shop and sat on the same table as their two previous visits, as if the owner already knew that Yong Hwa and Seohyun were coming. They ordered a set of tteopokki with ramyeon and wait patiently until the dish is cooked properly.

They changed stories while they were waiting. He told her how his recent activities almost killed him. He barely had time to sleep. Band practice, TV shows filming, radio broadcast, and other bunch of activities took over his life as a person. He’s exhausted.

“But I enjoyed it. This is what I want. So I can’t complain.” Yong Hwa smiled. She could tell that his smile was sincere. But she also could see the worn-out feeling from his expression. Somehow, she felt like she wanted to be there to take care of him. They were ‘together’ for about one year so she knew for sure that Yong Oppa needed to be reminded whenever it’s meal time.

“Geundae, Oppa.. you still have to take care of your health. You’re really thin right now. You said it before, your stomach hurts every time you don’t have enough sleep. Is it still hurting, Oppa? You need to cut your coffee consumption, too. You’re still drinking coffee everyday, aren’t you? You remembered what the doctor….”

“Ya, Seo Joo Hyun,” He cut her in the middle of her lines, “I’m fine. Totally fine. I don’t feel pain anywhere. I’m not sick. I’m healthy.”

“I know. I’m just…” She blushed right away, “Worried.” She finished her sentence in whisper. But Yong Hwa still heard it clearly.

“Aish, jyasshik.” The ‘jyasshik’ that came out whenever he’s happy has reappeared, “We are not in WGM anymore so why do you have to worry about me? You like me, don’t you?”

Yong Hwa laughed playfully while slurping his ramyeon and tteopokki. His signature laugh complete with his bright gaze.

“NE?!” Seohyun was shocked to hear the question. How could he asked her something like that? “Oppa, wae? NEEE..?!” Her cheeks were flustered and red as tomato.

Seohyun’s surprised expression only made Yong Hwa laughed even harder. She looked so cute that he wanted to pinch her cheek.

“Ya, Seo Joo Hyun, you really do like me, don’t you?” Yong Hwa laughed again, “I know, you have wanted to nag on whether or not I live my life healthily. You wanted to make sure that I eat my breakfast. You want to know if I drink my vitamins. Am I right or am I right?”

“No, you’re wrong.” Seohyun looked away. But she could not hide her blushing cheeks.

How could it happen like this? The last time she remembered, it was him who confessed that he loves her on national TV. Now he accused her of liking him. Andwe. She had to find a way to turn the tides.

“Well, Oppa, even if it was true, I wasn’t the one who went on and confessed in a national TV show, letting the entire country, even the world, know that Jung Yong Hwa loves Seo Joo Hyun.”

Strike!

“Ya! You watched that?!”

“I did.” Seohyun laughed back at him, “Mehrong!”

Yong Hwa panicked for a while. So did Seohyun. As expected, the playful ambience did not last long. Awkwardness came creeping back in once they realized that it was time for them to talk about the elephant in the room.

“Oppa..”

“Hmm..” He looked at her right in the eyes.

“Why did you say that?”

“Say what? The confession on Strong Heart?”

“Ne.. Why did you do that?”

“Because I wanted to.”

“Aish, Oppa. I’m serious.” Seohyun looked at him, “We’re not ‘married’ anymore. Our contract in WGM ended. So you don’t have to protect our image by telling the world that you like me. It’s okay. I understand.”

She stayed still for a little while before whispering, “Somehow it felt like you say that out of obligation.”

As she said that, she felt her blood drained from her face. Because as much as she want the confession to be true, there was a big possibility that it was just for the show. Living in the entertainment world taught her not to believe anything that people say on TV, radio, or even the internet. This, too, was no exception.

“Who told you that I was protecting our ‘married’ image?” Yong Hwa asked directly.

“Nobody.” Seohyun answered.

“Do you not like it?” Yong asked her again. This time, the trace of Yong Choding has disappeared from his face. All she saw was the serious side of Yong Hwa that she had never seen before. The kind of expression that took her into the depth of his gaze. Yong Oppa was right. She just found out how handsome a guy can be when he’s being serious.

Not being responded by Seohyun, Yong Hwa continued, “Hyunnie, you know me, right? I’m not the kind of guy that will get someone’s hopes up just to throw it back down. While we were ‘married’, have I done something like that to you?”

“No…” She shook her head. In fact, what Yong Hwa has always done was fulfilling her expectation.

“I know that we’re not ‘married’ anymore. I know that both of us no longer have the obligation to protect each other’s image.” Yong Hwa sighed. The time has finally come, “That’s why I did that. It was the right moment, because if I did it while we were still in WGM, people would think that it was only for the show. I don’t want people, or worse – you, to think that way.”

Seohyun blinked a few times. She was still digesting the words that he said. She tried to conclude everything, but failed to do so because her pounding heart kept distracting her.

“So what are you saying, Oppa?”

She didn’t realize that her question would lead to a tsunami in her heart. Yong Hwa took a deep breath. He grabbed Seohyun by the hand and looked at her in the eyes. His longing gaze was mesmerizing and somehow, she didn’t want to let go.

“I want to be the person you called at the end of the day when you tell stories on how your day went. I want to be there for you whenever you’re happy or sad. I want to be the reason you smile every morning. I want to be the person whom you send text messages to in the middle of a hectic day. I want to be the person whom you nag about living healthily. I want to walk with you, wherever life might take us. Because, Seo Joo Hyun, to me, you are all that.”

He squeezed her hands into his. Without losing his gaze on her clear bright eyes, he said the words that have been lingering in her mind, “I love you.”

They sat still for a few seconds. They were just looking at each other in silence. Both of their hearts were pounding heart. Yong Hwa was anxiously waiting for an answer, while Seohyun was quietly deciding on what to do.

Don’t question anything, Seo Joo Hyun. It’s now or never.

Then, suddenly, she made her way across the table. She stood up from her chair and leaned her face to his. As she got closer, she closed her eyes, then planted a light kiss on his lips. Her first kiss.

*