Hello everyone~ I'm so sorry, it's been a while. ; - ; I apologise for such a long wait! >< Life got busier and I had to focus on my studies, but I am back~ I hope to get this story on a roll and put all of the initial ideas I had for this story into words. Thank you for bearing with me all this while, it's your support that keeps me writing! Expect another chapter from me soon- if not, please poke me! - Tuesday.

Episode 8  –  8화  –  Spark

Before I even had time to rebalance my thoughts, Minhyuk had turned and caught my gaze.

It was CNBLUE.

I could think of nothing else as we both beamed in recognition and he waved at me and I waved back, the others turned to look in my direction too when they noticed Minhyuk’s attention had been distracted.

So there I was, temporarily blinded by the faces of the three of them. It was like I had seen a celebrity for the first time (which was technically true!), but I managed to nod in greeting, before it could reach borderline-awkward. I watched as Jonghyun’s lips curved and poor JungShin –bless him!- looked completely confused. As they made their way over to me, I naturally got up from my seat to greet them.

Jun Oppa looked up at me, and then at the boys coming towards us before realising the situation.

“Hello, noona!” Minhyuk grinned, bowing slightly, his eyes adorably shying away in size.

I returned the gesture as Oppa got up from his seat to do the same, “Annyeong, Minhyuk-ah!” Then, turning to the other two, I tilted my head politely, to which they mirrored back humbly, each competing to go lower than me which made me laugh. “Hey, Jonghyun-ah~”

“How have you been, noona?”

“Just call me Shin Hye!” I smiled as I turned to meet the gaze of JungShin, “You must be JungShin, the bassist! It’s really nice to finally meet you!” I grinned, bowing slightly.

He bowed back, lowering his tall frame anxiously in an adorable way, “Aniyo, aniyo! It is my pleasure to meet you! CNBLUE Bassist Lee JungShin-imnida!” He says, bowing a second time.

I stifled a laugh, the way they were acting reminding me of a certain someone, before introducing the man next to me, “This is my manager, JunHwan Oppa. JunHwan Oppa, these… handsome people are CNBLUE!”

The boys bowed in respect to their elder and visibly broke a sweat when my manager replied, “Shin’s brother-in-laws, huh? It’s nice to meet you, I’m Shin Hye’s manager.”

I sent Jun Oppa a look of accusation whilst JungShin seemed to have a light bulb moment, JongHyun barely containing his laughter over the shoulder of a smiley Minhyuk.

Looking back at them with flustered cheeks, I searched my mind hurriedly for something to say, something to fill up this hole Jun Oppa seemed to have (purposefully) dug for me, “Uhhh…. Umm… I’m a fan!”

The look on their faces showed genuine surprise and maybe even honour as they bowed in gratitude, which touched me. But really… we are bowing too much… hehe…

It was times like this where I really wished I had popped by to see CNBlue more often during the visits I paid to FTISLAND. If I had, it wouldn’t be as awkward as it is right now in this situation… or would it? They were only a few corridors apart… Not being able to stop my gaze from lingering, I noticed ‘E’ was missing.

Is he in the restroom, perhaps?

“Your hyung…” I began, unsure of how to word myself without becoming a subject of amusement.

“Ah! Yong Hwa Hyung?” Minhyuk asked.

To which JungShin offered in a nonchalant tone, “Oh! Hyung didn’t have-”

“Spare time!!” Minhyuk finished, with the help of Jonghyun who stealthily jabbed JungShin in the ribs, “Hyung has his schedules right now.” He nods affirmatively, before coughing to cover JungShin’s complaints as the victim rubbed his side.

“Oh jinjja?” I nodded slowly in an attempt to dismiss the sudden spark of curiosity aroused by the exchange, “I see…”

“So did you guys just finish?” Oppa asked beside me.

“Ne! We’ve just split the bill,” Minhyuk answered, turning slightly to look back at their table, “what about noona and Jun Hyung?”

“Oh… We’ve just sat down and placed our order.”

“It’s a shame; we could’ve sat and ate together!” I sighed, pursing my lips.

“No, we couldn’t have.”

I looked up at Oppa, “Wae?”

“’Please refrain from encountering any/all specifically important milestones, whether big or small, in your relationship with your virtual partner outside the parameter of filming.’” He recited, “Rule 12.”

“You had a copy of that??”

“One at the office and one in here,” he replied, pointing coolly to his head.

The BLU boys were clearly impressed. I, on the other hand, snarled at him Hwang Taekyung-style.

“There is always next time, noo-‘Shin Hye-ssi’.” Jonghyun grinned, quickly correcting himself.

“Yeah,” I eye-smiled back, “together with Yong too.”

At that moment, with the arrival of our lunch and the waitress holding it, who seemed temporarily bewildered by the sheer amount of people standing as to where to place the food, the boys sensed it was their natural cue to leave. We bowed politely to each other one last time, me and Oppa waving them out the door with the exchange of “goodbye”s and “see you”s before taking our seats again in a lighter mood.

As Oppa the grill and I helped rearrange the dishes on the table, I smiled to myself, “They’re lovely…”

“They seem like decent lads.” Oppa agreed, “Yong Hwa must be doing a good job as a leader.”

He placed a few pieces of rib onto the grill whilst I watched them sizzle hungrily before grabbing the other pair of tongs and doing the same, “Of course! Yong is really serious when it comes to his work.”

Although I was busying myself with organising and greedily smothering the surface of the grill with food (I grill some of my side dishes too), I could still sense that Oppa had raised an eyebrow at me. Not that I understood why. In fact, I was pretty content in not knowing. As they say, “ignorance is bliss” and even more so when there’s food around!

Oppa seemed to agree, “So, prepared for uni?”

Placing the last piece of garlic onto the grill, I put the tongs back to the side and replaced them with my chopsticks which I used to poke at the meat, “Honestly? No,” I laughed, “But I’m looking forward to it!”

Oppa nodded.

“I’m just… a bit worried about the work load. I hope I can manage it whilst filming.”

“You’ll be alright, Shin-ah… When do you start?”

“The fourth.”

“It’s close.”

I took a breath, “Yep!”

“You want me to speak with the producers about your filming slots?”

“For ‘Cyrano’?”

“Ani, ‘We Got Married’.”

“Nnnn… I’m good.” I smiled, “I think I’ll see it as more of a stress reliever than anything else… but we’ll see.”

Oppa took a swig of his water as he eyed the clock. Just like that, with me taking over the grill and Jun Oppa chipping in here and there, both in conversation and the art of flipping food over, we didn’t need to wait too long until the kalbi was ready.

I served the first few pieces to my manager, not only because he was my manager, nor the fact that he was the one who had placed the ribs on there in the first place, but rather because he was after all my elder and he was treating me to this meal.

Besides, I had countless reasons to always be grateful to him.

***

“I’ll pick you up at four.”

“Ne!” I grinned as I shut the door and waved to him from the pavement, “drive safe!”

As Oppa waved nonchalantly over his shoulder, pulling away from the curb, I watched, tilting backwards and forwards on my feet; happily content on a full stomach. A big grin plastered itself to my face as I watched Jun Oppa pull his car away from the pavement to mingle in with the traffic.

I watched until all I could see left was a speck of burgundy disappearing around the bend before realising it was getting cold standing here and decided to head inside for shelter.

I was still early. With my appointed time being 2 o’clock, I still had ¾ of an hour to spare, so after signing in at the main desk and receiving my visitors’ card, I let myself in through the barriers, made sure to step on every other slab of granite, opted for the stairs and spent a good 15 minutes picking out snacks for later and a bottle of water from the cafeteria. I even bumped into a few sunbaes who happened to be here too!

I was taking a big sip of water from my bottle as I made my way to Room 12, my mind buzzing with the potential questions they could ask and my potential answers to them. Taking a seat outside, I cleared my throat and began to rehearse some of my greetings and tone of voice. A familiar jingle cut me off mid-sentence and when I lifted my head to see the monitor framed on the wall, I recognised instantly what it was.

MBC News. Appa used to watch it a lot at home.

I sat and listened patiently as bright colours flashed onto the screen, the usual reporter reading out the news headlines in her usual stern and professional voice, an unusual look of urgency in her eyes and tone of voice. This was enhanced by the usually tense background music that reminded me of the ticking of a bomb and which always managed to ignite in me a mild sense of agitation and a whole load of stress… (Oh, no, nothing to do with the arduous days spent in the living room slaving over notes for my final exams and having to battle against this tune every hour and a half.)

Unravelling the packaging of a chocobar I bought earlier, I watched as scenes of a car accident played out in front of me. The overwhelming glare of scarlet from brake lights dotted everywhere illuminated the screen as the bombardment of subtitles and narration took over. It looked pretty bad.

My eyes widened. A celebrity?   

No. Scratch that.

Celebrities.

And our country’s sweethearts at that!

I shook my head in sympathy over their bad luck. That was… until I found out it wasn’t bad luck at all.

Sasaeng.

A chill ran down my spine.

“…The high school student responsible for hiring the taxi that ploughed into popular girl group So Nyeo Shi Dae’s van last month has finally been tracked down.

The 17 year old school girl, who henceforth will be referred to as C, claimed to be an “avid fan” of the group, was found responsible for the car crash that took place on Sunday 3^rd January 2010. Immediately after the accident, C disappeared from the scene leaving the taxi driver and the victims with no means of contact. She had finally resurfaced last Sunday with a public apology to the girl group and their company, repenting for her reckless behaviour. However, an SM representative has stated today that despite encountering no injuries, they intend to take full legal action against C as the complications of the accident has led to many losses such as the cancelling of important scheduled meetings and events.

We will update you with more from this story later, but for now, an interesting report related to this... The recent incline of illegal “sasaeng taxis” in major cities are becoming a big c-…”

I tuned out… and only when I noticed the chocobar warming in my palm did I bring it to my mouth. These kinds of things scare me. I wonder what was going through C’s mind when she hired the taxi... My stomach clenched.

“Shin Hye-ssi? Park Shin Hye-ssi!”

I blinked as I was met with a waving hand, inches from my face, and the concerned face of Writer Dae. I smiled, letting out a small sigh of relief- boy, was it nice to see her!

As though sensing my aura of gratitude yet unable to comprehend the cause of it, Writer Dae tilts her head but returns my smile, “Should we go in now?”

I cleared my throat as I got up from my seat, “Yes, I’m ready!”

[Black Room Interviews]

[Q: What was the highlight of your day?]

Shin Hye: Hm…. Seeing Nemo! (She laughs)

Shin Hye: (Later, in a more serious tone) The most memorable moment has got to be… although, Yong Hwa covering my eyes (she laughs, replicating this with her hands) and leading me there was a highlight too, the most memorable moment (she clears ) has got to be when he sang ‘happy birthday’ to me in the café. (She tilts her head) Although it wasn’t something overly dramatic, Yong Hwa has this talent in making a simple moment special. (She nods and smiles at the camera) I was touched...

[Q: Did you expect him to surprise you?]

Shin Hye: (Eyes widen at the question, shakes head) No! Definitely not. (She laughs) Actually, I had been so busy recently that I had forgotten… that it was my birthday. But Yong Hwa remembered… That makes me feel happy. (She smiles warmly)

[Q: How do you feel about Yong Hwa at the moment?]

Shin Hye: Hmm…. At the moment? I feel as though… we have gotten closer. A lot closer- as a couple. Even though we were introduced as husband and wife previously, I think it has only just dawned on me what that truly means. It means to share new experiences together and to relive old ones together, to make memories together, to celebrate together… Our last… (shyly) date made me realise these things.

[Q: Would you say that your feelings for Yong Hwa are slowly developing from friendship to love?]

Shin Hye: (She hums lowly to herself, rocking backwards and forwards in her chair with her gaze averted shyly.)

Shin Hye: (She tilts forwards, whispers) …Maybe? A little? (She smiles mischievously)

“And… that’s a wrap!”, the voice of Writer Kim resounded within the room, “Thank you, Shin Hye-sii, you worked hard,”

“Sugohaeseoyo!”

Yong Hwa turned away from the door and leaned his head against the wall, his heart beating unevenly.

He smiled.

Coming early had its benefits afterall… He chuckled in a failed attempt to wipe the growing grin off his face.

As Yong Hwa was musing to himself, the door next to him swung opened, the sudden exposure to the noise within startled him along with the added presence of the very reason behind his smile.

“O-Oh… Hey! Are you here for an interview too?” Shin Hye asked, slightly flustered at the sudden appearance of her virtual spouse.

“Oh, yeah, I was scheduled for one today as well. Hi,” he added awkwardly in response.

Shin Hye’s eyes slightly widens, “How long… have you been standing outside?”

“Not long. I just got here.”

“Ah…” With a sigh of relief, Shin Hye smiles familiarly at him. She checks her watch as she lets go of the door, “I should better go, I have to meet Jun Oppa in the car park.” She turns to wave at him as she starts to make her departure, “Take care, Yong! I’ll see you at the next recording!”

“Shin Hye?”

She halted, “Yes?”

“Congratz for getting into Chung-Ang,” He smiled before adding, “- I heard from Jun Hyung. Good luck.”

“Ah…. Thanks! I’ll need it! Annyeong!” Shin Hye beams back at him before making her way down the corridor with every ounce of Yong Hwa’s attention.

Tap, tap…

“Yong Hwa-ssi? Jung Yong Hwa-ssi~ Are you ready for your interview?”