Female Host: Shin Chae

*Present day*

It’s been a week since you moved in (temporarily) with the boys and it has been non-stop for a while. You don’t start your studies here for another month but Yongguk has been busy with the band and has been spending long hours rehearsing at the studio. You sleep in the same bed as Yongguk but you still have to share a room with the other boys.
Today the guys were rehearsing some choreography in their practice room; as usual you were sitting in and studying at the same time. Headphones in your ears, music filling your head, ipad in your lap and biology textbooks scattered all around you. You were trying to memorise the different bones of the body, you had just finished memorising the organs, veins, muscles and tendons but not all of the bones. Staring at the textbook to your right your eyes started to blur from reading the words over and over again. Resting your head against the wall you sighed. Closing your eyes you needed to focus, your head was starting to throb and your eyes needed a break. You remove your glasses to rub them. This has been a long day filled with studies; the boys are still at it as well. They must be tired surely, you think as your own exhaustion weighed upon you. Fixing your glasses you observe the boys, they are all in gym clothes, sweating their butts off and dammit Yongguk was so focused and so gorgeous you weren’t able to concentrate with that beautiful piece of man moving like that out the corner of your eye. You sigh you were NOT going to get anything done if your eyes were continually drawn to him.
You reluctantly looked back to your book. WAIT! You can use your distraction as inspiration. You let out a soft chuckle; you were studying bones and guess who has bones? Yongguk. As he danced your eyes made their way from his feet to his head, naming the bones as you went.
Whispering to yourself you named all of the bones. “Toes and fingers, phalanges, ankle, Tarsals, shin, tibia, knee cap…” Damn, what’s the word for knee cap? It sounds Italian or something. Ah. Watching Yongguk dance you noticed he was sweating quite a bit, the more perspiration that occurs shows his increase in body temperature. P! papa. PATELLA! “Knee cap, patella, thigh bone, femur.” Your eyes linger on Yongguk’s firm rear, “mmm, pelvis.” You reluctantly drag your eyes away and continue your ‘study’.
“Spine, vertebrae, shoulder blades, scapula, collarbone, clavicle, bone, sternum, upper arm, humerus, forearm bones, radius and the ulna and ulna is underneath, wrists, carpals, jawbone, mandible, skull, cranium.”
You let out a breath and you smile at yourself, Well thaaank you Yongguk. Now you have memorised all the bones of the body and if you ever have trouble you can always think of your boyfriend’s body, you definitely liked the sound of that.

After the boys finished their session Yongguk collapsed in front of you covered in sweat, Junhong was soon to follow, moving your textbooks out of the way he leaned against you. He was moist everywhere you touched like he had just gotten out of the shower. “How is your studying going?” Yongguk asked with huffed breaths after taking a long drink from his water bottle. You giggle a little bit, “Yeah, good, I have memorised all the names for the skeletal system, major muscles and the systematic venous system all thanks to you.” Yongguk looks at you in a weird way; he thinks you have gone loopy from studying too much. “How had the dance been coming?” You ask as you highlight the last bit of information on your worksheet and place it aside to give your full attention to Yongguk. “Well some bits are still a little tricky and we have to learn it by Saturday because we have an interview/ performance on, Jongup and Zelo already know the whole thing it’s just me and the rest of the boys that are having difficulty getting it down.” Yongguk sighs and closes his eyes. It must be very taxing to be an idol; you really do empathise with them. Although you aren’t doing anything as physically demanding as them you still understand their exhaustion. Junhong is fast asleep on top of you and his sleeping face makes you smile. He kind of reminds you of your brother, although they look nothing a like they were the same age and you suddenly missed him. Yongguk rested his hand on your foot, caressing it slightly. With his eyes still closed he talks to you, “Mia, I’m thinking of telling everyone that I’m dating you on Saturday.”

“No. We have been over this Yongguk. You lose popularity and I don’t want to be in the limelight.” You defensively shut down his idea, the last thing you need is to be accessible. You do not want to be famous and it would hinder your work if people found out. You would be treated differently, your name would be known in every household as Yongguk’s girlfriend and you DID not want that. You have never wanted to be famous and you never plan to be unless it is through finding a miracle cure for dementia or something. There was one person in the industry that you did NOT want to run into. You support Yongguk and his dreams but you will not be part of his world, having a song written about you is sweet and I know it is hard on him but we both love each other, so why should the whole world need to know? Sure it stings a little every time Yongguk has to lie on television but this is what you wanted, no, needed. “Babe, please. I want to let the whole world know that I love you. I am so proud of you, love, and I want to let the whole world know how lucky I am to have you.”
“I’m sorry but I’m not ready for the whole world to know who I am.” You gently move Junhong to the floor and kiss Yongguk, “I love you, I thought you said you would protect me?” He averted his eyes and looked at the floor, grumbling Yongguk replied. “Yeah, I know.” He captures your lips again. Getting up he went to take a shower.
Leaning again the wall again you sigh. If only you weren’t scared of the consequences of being known. The rehearsal room was almost empty now with only Jongup and Youngjae sprawled out on the floor.
“Hey, Jongup?” You say trying to get his attention.
“Yeah?” His head jumps up.
“Could possibly help me carry Junhong to his bed with me?”
“Sure, but I’ll just carry him, you take care of your books and the like.”
“Cool, thanks Jongup, don’t strain yourself he is too heavy let me know and I’ll help, ok?”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s like you think I don’t always do this.” Jongup chuckled as he picked Junhong up and carried him like a princess from the room. Gathering all your books, Youngjae accompanies you back to the dorm. “How is your hand doing?” You ask, you have been changing the bandages lately and it looks better because it is healing rather cleanly but you were worried if it was hindering him too much or if it pained him in any way. “It’s doing well the doctor said that the stitching job was well done so it will clean as cleanly as if a fully qualified person had done the procedure, it don’t hurt all that much anymore and it is nearly completely healed so there isn’t much pain.” He smiles at you sweetly. You are relieved that it wasn’t hindering him too much.

After cooking and eating dinner with the boys the lot of you went straight to bed. The boys were virtually dead and Daehyun almost fell asleep in his bowl. The boys were working waaay too hard and it was hindering their health. You being a pre-med student you knew that if they kept going on like this for much longer they would collapse after Saturday you were going to make sure they took care of themselves. If you weren’t here right now making them their meals, honestly, you doubt they would be eating. You sigh. There isn’t much you could do but you just hope they were alright.

*Saturday*
It was ten minutes before the boys would go in to record the live show and you were snuggled on the couch ready to watch them. Whenever you were free you would watch all of their performances and the like. Yongguk always insisted that you should come to their shows but you always refused. Not because you didn’t want to go, more like you didn’t want to be seen and then have to explain to everyone that you aren’t a fan or a staff member or anyone of any real purpose and thus had no right to be there. The only reason you would be there is because you were Yongguk’s girlfriend but you couldn’t tell them that so you just stayed and watched them on TV a bit sad that you couldn’t be there but still happy that they were doing so well.
The Show came on and the boys were doing brilliantly, the host was a little bit too friendly with Yongguk but then again maybe she was just trying to make them feel comfortable. As the show went on her flirting started to become really obvious and irritating. She would compliment Yongguk every chance she got and barely took her eyes off him. By the time the show got to its half-way point you weren’t even laughing at the jokes they made because you were burning with jealously. Then the female host did something that made you go into a full on rage.

“So Yongguk-ssi, have you got a girlfriend?”
Looking sort of sad Yongguk replied, “No.” He so badly wanted to say yes, and tell her everything about his love but he couldn’t because Mia wasn’t ready, he respected her wishes but he could keep his love caged for much longer to be honest.
“Then would you like to get to know each other more over a coffee after this?” The audience ‘ooo-ed’ and cheered; the boys were a bit uncomfortable and Yongguk was the worst. He REALLY didn’t like these situations if he could just tell them that he had a girlfriend then he would be able to back out of this very smoothly with no hurt feelings. But no. “I’m not a lover of coffee.” Yongguk counters charismatically with a giggle and a smile. No, no, she didn’t take the hint, she was persistent. “Then over a milkshake, or dinner.” Low blow. Yongguk could have said he didn’t like sweet things too but then she threw in dinner, there was no escaping it without making it look like Yongguk was the bad guy. “Sure.” He replied, the crowd awed but Yongguk knew he was in deep ; it was as if he could feel Mia’s rage from home. He was DEFINITELY going to have to by roses for her on his way home.

You were FUMING, this was mainly because you wouldn’t let him so public with your relationship but you were about to beat the out of the woman who would corner someone like that on live television. That was just low. Goddammit you hated people so much. You sat back down on the couch hugging the pillow tightly as the rage inside you simmered until Yongguk got his home.

Walking through the door, Yongguk had a big bouquet of roses in his arms. You just stood there with your arms crossed. Yongguk looked panicked. Hell yeah you should feel panicked, you think. Spreading his arms open Yongguk, tried to find the words to apologise but before he had a chance to say anything you wrapped him in an embrace. “It’s all my fault, I’m so sorry.” Yongguk was taken aback; he thought you would be furious. Little did he know you WERE furious until the boys came home and calmed you down, so Yongguk should really be thanking them for you not ripping his throat out. It WAS entirely your fault though for putting him in that situation. “I fold.” You say.
“What?” Yongguk was completely confused.
“You can tell the world that we are dating and I’ll even make an appearance on a program for you. But you had better deal with the hardship and consequences that come with announcing my existence.”
Yongguk was overjoyed and held you even tighter. “Oh Mia, of course; I will deal with everything. Oh lord, I love you.” He kissed you hard, dropping the roses and by the same time next week you would appear on television and announce your relationship to the world. You just hope that two people in particular weren’t watching.