Gui Gui walked down one of the Korean company’s more barren hallways as she looked for the conference room for a new acting offer. She opened a bigger double door with a “Meeting in Progress: Do Not Disturb” sign. She has slept later than usual the night before and overslept by a few short minutes. But those few short minutes seem to have some big changes on traffic.

She entered slowly and shyly. She hated being late to something—especially a first meeting for an acting offer. Not to add the fact that she was in a country that was not her own and she was not as respected or known as she was in her home country. “Annyeonghaseyo,” she greeted shyly as eyes turned towards her. “I’m sorry for being late. Traffic has gotten worse in such little time.”

The room chuckled and excused her, telling her to seat down on a chair as they assure her she was fine. She took her seat just as someone across from her handed her a copy of the script. “Thank you,” she bowed and looked up to see Taec smiling at her warmly.

“You’re welcome,” he replied softly and kept his eyes on her.

Gui Gui kept her attention of the script writer and the director as they explained the plot and the characters. She made eye contacts and she was an active listener, but her mind was elsewhere during most of the meeting. She was thinking of Taec—whose presence, after the interview, made her nervous that she would lose to him—and what he could possibly be interested in as he kept his eyes on her.

After hearing the interview, Gui Gui had kept herself busy with her schedule so she could avoid meeting Taec at the hotel. Apparently, Taec had moved back into 2PM’s old dorm in order to make things less awkward for Gui Gui. But he has not given up calling her and texting her at every waking moment. Gui Gui pretended not to know about the interview and kept things short and quick in order not to give anything away. She kept her pride and her dignity the last couple of weeks after the interview and Taec had gotten rid of his pride and dignity.

Taec had gotten in trouble with his company and Jessica’s company. In the end, Jessica confessed about her affair at a press conference where she intended to clear any misunderstandings. Not long after the press conference, Jessica’s unknown boyfriend broke off the relationship because they were discovered by his wife and kid cuddling up on the bed when the wife and kid were supposed to be at the grandparents’. Jessica had, however, gotten herself another boyfriend in a short time. She began to date another idol whom she had been shipped with, Super Junior’s Kim Heechul. The two made their relationship public and there was no hard feelings from fans—not as many as there used to, anyways.

The only thing that was unclear was what became of Taec and Gui Gui. Gui Gui avoided talking about Taec whenever she goes out in public and Taec continued to follow her around and helping her out when he could. He acted like nothing happened—though he had become more cautious—in front of camera. Because of Gui Gui’s busy schedule, he didn’t get to hang out with her as he proposed on the radio. But then again, Gui Gui has been pretending not to know anything through this all. Of course, everyone knew she was just putting on a façade. The news of Taec’s confession traveled like a wild fire all over Asia in a matter of hours and to the rest of the world in a matter of days. Gui Gui’s blog, website, twitter, and facebook were filled with questions regarding what she thought of Taec now that he confessed. She was not ready to come to a conclusion yet and so she avoiding going on the internet.

“Gui Gui-yang?” the director’s voice pulled her out of her daydream.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked politely as Taec gave her a heart-melting assurance smile.

“I asked if you were okay with scene 24?” the director responded to her emotionlessly. “It’s a scene you will have to do with Taecyeon.” He looked at the rest of the staff nervously before he looked back at Taecyeon. “I figured after the incident a couple of weeks ago, we should ask you guys’ thoughts on that particular scene. Taecyeon said he doesn’t mind.”

Gui Gui quickly analyzed the scene the director talked about and looked nervously at the staffs.

“We could do it as colleagues,” Taec said aloud. “We’re professionals in this field, so we shouldn’t let our personal feelings stop us from producing a work of art that our audience would appreciate. We’re here to give them something that could take away their fatigues and take them away from their stresses. I don’t think we should not do it just because of our personal feelings.

“Uhm, I’m going to try very hard and put my feelings aside for the sake of the movie and its audience,” Taec said looking at Gui Gui in her eyes. “I hope you would consider that as you make your decision.”

Gui Gui kept her eyes on Taec as she eyed the script suspiciously.

“We’re professionals,” she restated as she straightened herself in her seat—her business posture on. “That is true,” she admitted, “and we shouldn’t let our personal feelings be in the way of producing the best work of art for our audience. After all, it is because of the audience and the fans that we get this far. We should give them something back in what we can.

“So, I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t mind the scene at all as long as everything is kept professionals. I’m an actress, it’s my job to put away my own feeling and project the characters’ feelings. I don’t see any problem with the scene whatsoever.”

The director and the rest of the staffs cheered as she finished her reasoning. Taec gave her a proud smile—gums and all. She smiled softly to herself when she was sure no one was paying any attention to her.

“We’ll start shooting as early as next Monday, which is about three days away from today,” the director explained. “Enjoy your days before work start. And I expect you to get to the shooting locations on time starting next week, Gui Gui-ssi.”

“Ne,” Gui Gui smiled.

“That’s all for today’s conference and I will see you guys Monday morning bright and early.”

The actors got up and bowed to the staffs as they make their way out of the room. Gui Gui was one of the first to get out to hallways. She found a vending machine nearby and bought a can of soda to down her sudden thirst. She sighed in relief loudly and leaned against the vending machine as she thought about the scene.

She was so out of it, she didn’t hear as someone approached her. “Gui Gui,” Taec called her from nearby.

She straightened her posture up and faced him. “Hey,” she replied shortly as she moved out of his way so he could get a soda for himself.

“That was some meeting, huh?” he joked. “You seemed to be so out of it, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” she responded. “I just got back to the hotel late yesterday, so I didn’t get enough sleep. But . . . you seem to be in a good mood today.”

“Does it show that much?” he chuckled as he leaned against the wall across from her. “I actually came in a bad mood because they scheduled the meeting for so early in the morning. But when I heard you were going to be the leading female apposite of me, I got excited.”

“Ah, really?” she pondered, taking her eyes off of him.

“You really shouldn’t work so much, Gui Gui,” he stated. “You’ve been so busy with schedules that go from 6 in the morning to 11/12 at night, it’s not good for you trust me. You need to rest and relax sometimes too, you know. You can’t just work all the time. You’ll wear yourself out if you do that.”

“Don’t worry about me,” she replied honestly. “I can take care of myself and I am taking a couple months break after this movie.”

“Oh really?” his eyes glistened with excitement and relief. “What are you planning during those couple of months?”

“I haven’t decided yet, but I know for sure that I want to go somewhere no one knows me so I can get absolute peace and quiet.”

“That’s a good idea,” he smiled. “I’m glad you’re doing that. You deserve it.”

The two fell in silence. It wasn’t a bad kind of silence—it was a comfortable silence. They sipped their soda and checked their phones while stealing glances at each other when the other wasn’t watching and smiled warmly.

Just because she was being nice to him didn’t mean that Gui Gui would accept Taec as more than a friend in her life. It was because of the movie deal. This was work and she wasn’t going to let her personal feeling involve. She would have to work with him, so she might as well get along with him. If you don’t agree with something that’s happening, just enjoy the ride. And she planned to do just that. She wasn’t going to stay miserable and emotional while working with Taec—that would show him and the rest of the world that her walls had crumpled down. And it hasn’t. At least, that’s what she tells herself as she think about giving in to Taec. He still needed to treat her like a queen—not a mere princess—to get her back 100%. And it was going to require some work and effort in his part.

“Hey,” Taec started.

“Yes?” Gui Gui questioned, looking across the hallway at Taec’s brown eyes.

“I was wondering,” he hesitated. “Uhm,” he stopped and glanced at her, “have you seen You’re Next?”

“No,” she replied. “But I’ve heard of it. It’s a scary movie, right?”

“Yeah, it is,” he paused some more. “It’s really good.”

“Is it really?” she said half-heartedly.

“Yeah,” he looked at her through his lashes. “Do you want to go see it with me tonight?”

She looked straight at him without emotion.

“I can invite some friends if you want,” he offered. “I could get Nichkhun to go with us. Would you like that better?”

“Sure,” she replied, not hearing what he just said, “I’ll go watch it with you tonight. But I have some shoots later on in the afternoon and rehearsals. I probably won’t get done till 9.”

“Really,” he sat up straighter. “You’ll watch a movie with me? Just me?”

“Yes,” she relied. “We’re friends, right? It’s not like there’s anything between us.”

His face fell at her word. “Right,” he smiled sadly. “Can I pick you up after rehearsal then? I don’t have any schedule today.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

Taec looked down at his watch. “What time do you have to be at the shoot?”

“2:30,” she replied, looking down at her watch.

“You still have a few hours,” he stated. “Have you had breakfast?”

“No, I haven’t,” she admitted.

“Do you want to grab some brunch with me?” he asked full of hope.

“Would that be alright?” she asked. “It’s broad daylight. We wouldn’t want anyone to see us and think something was going on, do we?”

“Right,” he agreed, “we don’t.”

“How bout you drop me off at the hotel?” she offered after seeing his expression turn muddy. “I could eat something there and take a nap before the shoot. I’m really tired.”

“Okay!” He jumped up excitedly, suddenly with car keys in his hands.

Gui Gui let him lead her to his car so she would have the time to his her smile from him.

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There you guys go with the update . . .

Sorry it took me almost two weeks! I’ve been exhausted

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And I will update more tomorrow, since I’ll have MOST of the day off~