Something in Between

Yongseo fic by codenameclumsy

The rain was pouring heavily outside the building, Seohyun stoke her palm to each other to keep warm, her eyes wandering to the garden from a big glass window. The staff was running back and forth to prepare the filming inside because there’s no way they could do the filming outside today.

Tuk. Tuk. Tuk.

A sound of the glass window being knocked was heard. Seohyun looked up and found her on-screen-husband was outside the window, smiling brightly while carrying an umbrella. He waved his hands to Seohyun. The young woman smiled to the older man’s childishness, it’s nothing new to Seohyun that her co-worker loved rain very much.

“You will catch cold, Yonghwa-ssi.” Seohyun said rather loudly, hoping the man on the other side could hear her. Yonghwa tilted his head to the side with a frown in his forehead, totally couldn’t heard her voice. Then Yonghwa took something in his pocket (apparently it’s his phone) and waved it to Seohyun. Seohyun took her own phone and sent a text to older man.

‘Nope, I’ve got an umbrella. Too busy to be sick, right? Wanna join me?’

Seohyun chuckled and then shook her head to Yonghwa.

‘Come inside, Yonghwa-ssi, the filming are going to start soon.’

‘I’m afraid you have to pick me outside here first~’

Seohyun shook her head again after reading the text. Yonghwa only laughed and gestured her to come outside.

‘Don’t be such a child, Yonghwa-sshi.’ After sending the text had Seohyun realized that the text might sound too harsh. Seohyun looked at the older man nervously, waiting for his reaction. But his reaction was nothing to be nervous about, Yonghwa was smiling brightly as always and then typed the answer.

‘I am the choding one, remember? ^^ Come on, your hubby is freezing~’

His playfulness and stubbornness were something Seohyun had known all along, but then again, he always surprised her by that. At first, she wanted to tell him to go inside if he had been freezing. She then realized she would never win over the stubbornness that the older man possessed. Her neck would always be the victim on every filming of this variety shows, she shook her head too much already.

Seohyun walked to the door and went outside to the garden where Yonghwa already waiting with his umbrella. “Yonghw-“

“The feeling of the rain is good, isn’t it, Joohyun?” He said, cutting Seohyun’s sentences. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the rain. Ah, that peaceful smile.. If only Seohyun didn’t know better, she would have thought this man was a quiet person, a shy-prince-type just like his character in drama, far from the choding image.

“Why do you like rain so much, Yonghwa-sshi?” She genuinely curious about that, because she couldn’t understand what was so good about rain. It was just water, and troublesome too, looked what happened to the filming because of the rain.

“It feels lively. The smell of wet soil… Can you hear the joy of the plant? I feel their happiness.” answered him. He opened his eyes and looked at Seohyun with his typical warm smile. The liveliness was another thing that Seohyun was surprised of. He was so lively even in his busiest schedule right now. She knew how was it when the first time a group debuted, and her group was a large one, a lot of member to share the burden, unlike him, all alone to promote his band. It surprised her that he always managed to be this lively. “It was a weird answer, wasn’t it?” he added while rubbing his neck.

Seohyun chuckled and nodded, “A bit.”

The call from his manager was a cue for both of them to back at inside. Just after both of them were inside the building that Seohyun noticed the side of Yonghwa’s shirt was drenched. Always being a gentleman child, huh? Seohyun smiled to herself.

Her sisters always told her the same thing over and over again (even if they a lot too) that she had to maintain her relationship with Yonghwa as platonic as a professional would be. When they told her the first time, she didn’t understand why they did it. What kind of relationship that he and she would have beside professional one? Seohyun never imagined she would have any romantic things about the older man. Not because he was bad or something.. But both of them were way too different. He never took anything seriously to begin with, and he didn’t even like books (the only thing in the world she treasured, beside sing, of course). But she didn’t hate him. He was afterall… a goguma burger for her, right?

Even after the time had passed, she was sure that she didn’t like him. He was not the perfect man with outstanding personalities in the book she read. But slowly, she was beginning to doubt her knowledge about ‘like’. What was ‘like’ actually? That kind of thing was not something she could find in her books. Was that the same with love? She knew love.. She loved her parents, her family, and her 8 sisters. How could you love someone if you didn’t understand what was it, right? She knew love… Or.. Did she? What was this! Now she doubted herself!

“Wow, Hyunnie.. What are you reading? Is that a novel?” The whole dressing room became a mess after what Hyoyoen said. Her eight sisters surrounded her with nonstop chattering.

“It’s a romance novel!” “Since when did you read romance novel, Makdongie!” “Oh my god! Our Seobaby is growing up!” “No wonder yesterday you asked me about the difference between love and like!” “Is that the popular novel, Hyunnie? Can I borrow it after you reading it?” “Are you falling in love, Seohyunnie?” “Is this about your husband?” “Our maknae is in love!”

Taeyeon cleared loudly, made the members silence at once, “We’re going on stage in a minutes, stop fooling around.”

The seven members finally backed to their business, leaving the maknae and Sooyoung who obvious of the leader’s glare but ignored it. Sooyoung sighed and patted the younger woman head, trying her best not to ruin her bandmate hair (she didn’t want to die young by a furious coordi-unnie). “Books give you knowledge, but the things you wanted to know is something you must feel.. not read…” said Sooyoung with a heartwarming smile.

“Good one, Sooyoung, now prepare yourself.” The leader said while pulling Sooyoung away from the maknae, Taeyeon looked back at Seohyun slightly with a nod, then dragging the tall shikshin to the other side of the room.

Seohyun looked at her book. Did it really weird if she read this kind of book? Was she.. in love? She has to feel it, not read it?

“I love you.”

Seohyun could feel her heart stop beating, not because it really stopped, but because it was beating to fast that it almost felt like stopping. Her feeling was a mess that she couldn’t think properly. The man in front of him was smiling like he always did, but there’s an unmistakable sad sign in his smile, like he were hurting inside. “Wha-“

“I’m crossing the line, I know.. I’m sorry…” he said, cutting Seohyun off. Seohyun widen her eyes in shock, she knew that the older man always maintained an appropriate distance between them.. The so-called ‘not-too-close’ distance, because, hey.. She was the one who initiated it. She was the one who pushed him away… Even she didn’t say it, but she definitely gave that impression. But she didn’t know that it build a ‘line’. She didn’t know crossing that ‘line’ was a wrong thing to do which Yonghwa had to be sorry about, because right now, it felt so right…

“Why..?” She managed to say. Yonghwa looked up to her, waiting for her continuation. Seohyun bit her lips nervously, there were so many ‘why’ she wanted to asked.. “Why do you love me?”

“I just did..”

“But we’re so different..” whispered Seohyun.

“To complete a puzzle, we need an exact different pairs to combine..”

“How can you be so sure if I am the correct piece?”

“How can you be so sure if I am not the correct piece?”

“I don’t know..” She said slowly, “I don’t even know love..”

The older man sighed then smiled widely while patting Seohyun’s head. “I know.. I just need to say those words, you don’t have to say anything..”

Seohyun looked at the floor while playing her fingers, extremely nervous that the older man would hear her loud heartbeat.

“Why can’t I say anything?” she asked, without looked at him.

“You want to say something?” a surprised tone was heard in his voice.

She took a deep breathe, “We.. we are professional..” she said, “You’re rookie… If.. Scandal.. You know..”

He laughed audibly, and run his hand through his face, “Yes, I’m sorry.. Like I said… I just want to confess it.. I don’t expect anything from you… I don’t want to cause scandal too. Even there wouldn’t be a scandal, since you didn’t like me in the first place, I’ll try my hardest not to cause any trouble to you..”

“Yonghwa-sshi..”

“Oh, I think the filming is going to start soon.” He said with his typical cheerful smile, “Let’s do our best in the last filming, Seohyun-sshi..”

Was it regret?

“Hyunnie~”

Is this what they called heartbroken?

“Wha–! Hyunnie! What’s happening to you?”

Why is it so hurt?

“Yoona! Why do you shout– Oh God, Seohyun!”

“What is it– Yoona! Sooyoung! What’s happen to Seohyun!”

Her laptop were no longer in her lap, one of her unnies might have moved it. Her body was shaken furiously and a shout of concern was thrown to her. But she couldn’t feel or hear anything. It was like a mute movie which played in slow speed. Her mind was blank.

It’s been a month since the last episode was aired, she had been indifferent all that time, and yet after finally had a courage to watch the last episode… She was broken to the point she never expected.

“Seohyun…” a warm voice from her leader was a cue for her to back to reality. With tears b from her eyes, she looked up and saw Taeyeon. The latter wiped her tears softly and carefully as if she would be more broken than she already was.

“I know what is love… I finally know…” she whispered between her sobs, “but why… why is he still walking away?”

“Seohyun…”

“It’s my fault, isn’t it.. To push him away..” she cried, “It’s too late, isn’t it..”

The tears never stopped, even when all of her unnies hugged and comforted her, because the only warm she longed was a bright smile from a certain man…

Years passed quickly with all the hectic schedule in the hand, Seohyun couldn’t barely remember what had happened since the time flew so quick as if someone push the fast-forward button. She was happy all along since she had a funny yet supportive family on her back, although there was still a time she broke down which she kept it by herself (cause she didn’t want her sisters to worry again, heck, she was really living her popularity of always hide her feeling).

There were a lot of time she met Yonghwa in broadcasted show, they looked like friends, but when the camera went off, they became stranger all over again. She didn’t know how it became like that, but it was like her defense system to ignore him. And Yonghwa… he seemed to keep distance between them, and always talked in a very formal way if he really had to talk to her.

“Joohyun, Are you sure this was enough for all of you?”

“Of course, Mom… At time like this, there would be a lot of food in dorm from all member’s parent.. You know that…” Seohyun took the bag of food her mother had prepared and kissed her cheeks, “I’ll visit you again next week, okay?”

“Stay healthy, Dear..”

Seohyun chuckled, “Don’t worry, mom.. That’s what I’m good at.” After bidding the last farewell to her mother, she walked out of apartment. She sighed and held the strap of the bag tightly, after leaving this house she would be back to the hectic schedule of an idol, her real life.

A ding sound from the elevator and the ruckus that followed after mad Seohyun turned to it, finding three men walking out of the elevator to the hallway… Seohyun might always been a busy-body person who always curious at something, but this time wasn’t a curiosity that took part of her, it just.. those men were way too familiar.

“Oh, Seohyun-hyungsonim!” shout the tallest man out of three, which quickly made him get a painful jab on the rib from the pale man beside him. Seohyun was taken a back from the title she had just received, it was almost forever since the last time someone called her with that title.

“Jungshin-chingu..” she managed to call with her trademark title for the tall man, although her heart was clenched painfully due to the remembrance of the memory. “Jonghyun-sshi, Manager-sshi.. Hello!” she added with a deep formal bow.

The three men, who’re now closer than before, nodded formally to. They exchanged formal greetings, and some chit-chat. And then Seohyun knew that they had moved to this apartment recently, because the apartment was bigger and closer to their agency’s new office. By she meant as ‘they’… it meant the whole band, including the one very person who fortunately wasn’t here at the moment.

They lived in the fourth floor, far from hers in the first floor, and they both were very busy, she didn’t even always stay in this apartment! The probability of them accidently meeting were small, right? Like really small? ... Right?

“So, your parents live here?” concluded Jungshin, “Now we’re neighbor!”

“She doesn’t actually live here. She lives in SNSD’s dorm!” said Jonghyun while slightly smacking the taller man back, “don’t you, Seohyun-sshi?”

“Ah, yes,” answer her with a smile. She never this glad for lives far away from her parents until this day. Was this made her a bad child?

“Hyung! This place is good! There’s a steak restaurant just across the road! Well, actually there was a lot of restaurant across the road!” A painfully familiar cheerful voice was heard. She didn’t know it was her lucky or unlucky day to meet person she accurately calculated to have a slight probability of meeting in this very day, when she had just knew that a person she loved for years was living in the same apartment with her. She knew they would eventually meet, heck, they were on the same industry after all, but Seohyun really needed some time to prepare her heart.

“Let’s try them! Yonghwa-hyung’s paying!”

Seohyun froze at her spot, not knowing what to do. While the other three men in front of her standing uncomfortably and exchanging glance nervously to one another.

“It’s meat! Let’s celebrate our moving! On me!” the voice she longed to hear was heard once again, oh how many time she repeated a broadcast just to hear his voice, when it actually live on the spot, she couldn’t do anything beside looking at the floor. “Odd… You don’t want my treat? On meat? Really?” asked him after seeing the reaction they gave to him.

And then he finally noticed another person beside men in the hallway, “Yonghwa-yah..” The manager finally opened his mouth while giving the leader an (Seohyun didn’t understand why) apologetic look, Seohyun turned to her back, facing Yonghwa and Minhyuk, and bowed politely.

Yonghwa gaped with his eyes wide open after seeing the girl, his head snapped back and forth to his manager and the girl, “Joo- Seohyun?” he stuttered, and after a while he managed to compose himself and greeted her politely.

Jonghyun explained to him that Seohyun live in this apartment and so on, which responded by a nod from the older man.

“Oh, well, Seohyun-sshi, we actually want to celebrate the new dorm in the restaurant across the road. And when you actually here, why don’t you join us?” Yonghwa asked in a polite yet genuine manner. Seohyun looked up and saw a sincere warm smile which only owned by a cheerful man before her.

“I-I don’t think, I can’t..” she answered with the obvious hesitation.

“We insist!” the young yet tall man said cheerfully.

“I have to go back to the dorm..” she said, “beside I’m done eating in my parent’s.”

“It’s too bad, then..”

“I have to go..” said Seohyun, frantically bowed to every person there, and shoved her way out of the building. She had to go now or the dam of tears she had been holding on will be burst out in front of the very person she didn’t want him to see her tears.

Seohyun’s breathe was fast and uncontrollable since the tears had started to fall, she begin sobbing outside the building while her arm waved for taxi.

“Seohyun-sshi..” that voice again. What was he doing there? Seohyun kept waving her hand and ignored the man behind her, while the other man kept calling her with a soft hushed voice.

Heaven was not on her side today. Even the road was to quiet without taxi she really needed at this very moment. Seohyun turned her head to see the man reluctantly, she wiped her tears with the back of her hands.. It’s a good thing she never used make up when visiting her parents. Yeah, she looked ugly in front of the man she dearly loved all this time, and even worse now since she was sobbing like crazy. But that the least she concerned right now… The pain was too much to handle, and seeing him in front of her with a shocked expression was not easing the pain at all.

“W-What happened?” he asked with a coarse voice, “Why are you crying?” he added.. Seohyun noticed the trembling of his voice, but why would he? She was just imagining things in her state right now, right?

Yonghwa walked closer to her, with his hand reluctantly going to her shoulder, “Ca-Can I?” he asked. Ah, after all this time… he would always be that gentleman…

Seohyun nodded and so carefully as if a single touch could break her, a pair of soft hands grabbed her arms gently, so gently that she was crying even more in his touch. “Joohyun, what happened?” he asked oh so softly. “What did I do wrong this time?”

You’re never wrong, Oppa.. I am…

“Tell me please..” He pleaded, “I can’t see you like this.. This is breaking my heart, Joohyun..”

Yonghwa pulled her closer to him, hugged her gently while saying comforting words in her ears. A warm in Yonghwa’s embrace did comfort her, she buried her face in the older man shirt.

“I love you..” Seohyun said in informal way he always wanted to hear from her, “I know it’s too late… Yonghwa-sshi.. I’m so sorry… So sorry.. that I love you… I’m so-”

“Ssssh..” Yonghwa Seohyun’s hair gently, “the flower did bloom, didn’t it?”

Seohyun looked up and saw a warm smile was plastered on the older man.

“The dandelion..” he said while wiping away the tears in Seohyun’s cheeks, “I didn’t know… If you let me know, I would never made you cry like this, Hyun..”

“Yonghwa-sshi.. You..? But... It’s been years.. I-I am too lat-”

“I always love you.. Hell, never did once I stop loving you..” he said affectionately while caressing the girl face, “I’m sorry to make you cry. I don’t know you have been hurting… I’m so sorry, Hyun..”

Seohyun smiled tiredly, but her hearts was so light and blooming.. She never felt this happy before. All she needed was courage, and she became this happy. Seohyun hugged the man in front of her more tightly, and buried her face even more in his chest.

“I don’t think we can have our steaks today…” said a voice with a several fake cough in background.

Ah, her face must had been deep red by now, but the only thing that the CNBLUE boys saw was a glaring leader which of course made them flinched (even the manager) and they quickly flew away from the couple.

“Joohyun, I love you...”

Writer's Note:

Ah.. Yonghwa, how I love him... *slap* This couple isn't my favorite (I'm more into YongShin..) But yet, isn't it beautiful to see two difference person complete each other? *sobs* Sorry too much typo *cried*