Disclaimer: Not owning a thing.

***

‘Soon’ couldn’t get faster enough both for Soojung and Minhyuk.

The first week after they’re agreed on dating were filled with a whole lot of practicing and composing new songs for Minhyuk, while Soojung was scheduled to attend a couple of fansign and doing some commercials as well as preparing the Christmas’s concert along with her band members and EXO. It was impossible to meet each other; it already took a lot of effort for them to stay in touch, settling themselves only with a few messages and late night calls. Both of them fully aware that this what was expected from their relationship, that this isn’t gonna be easy, especially for Soojung since this is her first try at being in a relationship with anyone.

Every night she waited patiently by her phone, jumped with a little too much glee everytime the phone ringed, wondering if it was him. It’s a good thing that now Minhyuk oppa had arranged to keep his phone on during practice—he had insisted that there’s no point of turning it on if he couldn’t receive any message/call anyway—but she had successfully ‘convinced’ him otherwise.

 

“—didn’t you have some break time during practice?” She yelled through the phone, completely annoyed after she couldn’t reach him for 12 hours straight. “You could’ve been thirsty. You could’ve texted me while drinking. Even a simple ‘hey’ would do. Is it so hard to do that?!”

 

She didn’t know how much damage she had on his concentration, how he would miss a note everytime his phone vibrated. He wondered if she would feel guilty if she knew how often he get scolded by Yong hyung or received deathly glares from Jonghyun hyung and questioning stares from Jungshin ever since then, but he decided not to tell her about it. He was too afraid that she would cut him off completely and they would break up soon due to the lack of communication.

That was their first quarrel as a real couple. He knew that she was only missing him; he missed her, too. He missed her so bad, and the fact that she missed him that much that she couldn’t accept the fact if she didn’t hear any news from him for a few hours, greatly warmed his heart.

As for now, he kept his phone on a silent mode, unvibrated and away from anyone’s sight so no one would get bothered if the phone ever blinked, only checking on it if he was on a break and replying her texts once in a while.

He knew that it wouldn’t be enough. Someday they would fight over who should’ve call first, who should take the initiative on checking out on the other, who is busier between the two of them. That, or one of them would get tired of trying then eventually, they would estranged themselves and had their own separated ways. At least, that was what he had learnt from his past experience with his long time ex-girlfriend.

He was so young back then. She was his classmate on the first year of high school and he had a huge crush on her ever since, but he only got the courage to ask her out when they became a senior 2 years later. They were so happy; she made him so happy that he thought it would last forever. How could he not? She loved everything about him, from baseball to become a drummer, she had supported him to pursue his dream. Even after high school, when she decided to go to college, she was the one who encouraged him to go to Japan along with his band members while his own family insisted that he should stay and went to law school (which was his other dream) or helping his father run their family restaurant.

Thinking back to that time, he realized now that he was so stupid.

Just because she’s giving him her full support to go a million miles away from her, didn’t mean that she would wait for him forever. His first years with CNBLUE in Japan was tough; all work and no money at all that sometimes they need to starve themselves. He couldn’t think of ways to contact her; he was too busy to stay alive. Besides, he had too much pride to let her know how hard his life had been and he didn’t want her to worry about him. He was so naive, so secure that their love was so strong that it would last passed the time and spaces and even throughout the oceans. He worked hard everyday with the thoughts of her, determined that he didn’t want to let her down, that he would be back to Korea as a successful band. He could already imagined her bright smile welcoming him as he came home, along with his family who finally admitted that he had made them proud.

So imagine how heartbroken he was when he did return, only to find out that she was breaking up with him. She said that it was all his fault, he had never call her, or left her a message on how she could contact him, if she could get his address so she could go to visit him and see how he was doing there. Not even once. She had boldly taking a risk to ask his family, who were all putting the blame on her at his own decision, saying that that was the consequences of sending their son away. That she should’ve convinced him to stay. That she need to suffer along with them. Apparently, Minhyuk had also abandoned his family; he was too proud of himself that he didn’t want to hear them saying ‘I told you so’, determined that he would prove them wrong. His agency could do nothing about it though, Minhyuk wasn’t the only one who had these kind of issue, all of the band members did actually, so they were pretty concerned about it. But they thought that it was probably for the best. Being away from their loved ones meant less distractions and extra motivation for them to work harder and harder.

It took months for him to finally accepting the ugly truth that his girlfriend, his reason to survive, his first love, had truly broken things off with him. He tried to reason with her endlessly, explaining to her a million times how hard it was for him to be away from her. Of how much he missed her everyday of every single second of his life. Begging for her forgiveness. He thought she would understand. He was a hundred percent sure that if he kept on trying, eventually she would give him a second chance. She never did.

It was the darkest days of his life. Even though it was a relief that he had his family back, but it wasn’t enough to cheer him up out of his very first painful broken heart. No one had ever saw him so broken; the ever smiling boy had long gone. He often locked himself in his room, shutting everyone out. Sometimes he would come to the studio to practice for their showcase, making everyone thought that he would come to his senses eventually, only then he would poured his heart out to his drums that it was painful for anyone to hear. He still wouldn’t talk, though. One day he spent the night in the studio, beating his drums mercilessly all night long. The next morning his hyungs found him laid motionless on the floor, his eyes staring up at the ceiling blankly, and his drums scattered around in a mess, broken and beaten up so badly, just like its owner.

He finally lost it.

It was Jung Yonghwa who had come to his rescue and finally able to talk him out of it. That was the first time he saw the ever smiling maknae crying so hard over his problems. Minhyuk had not only lose a lover, but he also had lose a reason to believe to the point that he was about to given up on his dream, willing to throw away his hard work after all this years. Jonghyun hyung, who was the band leader at the time, was so angry at Minhyuk. They had just lost their bassist that year, their band would have fallen apart if they lose a drummer, too.

Minhyuk’s noona then came to take him back to their parent’s home. She insisted despite his agency protests that her brother need some time alone to clear his mind out. Minhyuk agreed with her, thinking that his sister probably would pull out all the guns to persuade him to join the family business. He didn’t mind it then, but once again, he was wrong.

 

“Yah, Kang Minhyuk! Are you really completely lost your mind, right now?”

He thought that she would sweet talk him once they arrived home, locking him in the room like some kind of prisoner and feed him with her delicious homemade food that he missed so much, comforting him with so much affection that he would throw up on normal days. They used to be so close back then, bickering with each other all the time. But he always knew that his sister loves him so much. And it wasn’t a normal day for him, and he wanted her to treat him like a spoilt boy that he was, and he missed her so much that he was on the verge of tears to hear her yelling at him.

His sister let out a heavy sigh, he knew that she never last long whenever he pulled out that puppy-eyes look. Thank God some things just never change. He was crying once again on her shoulder when she hugged her long lost little brother tight.

He clutched on her sister shirt, chanting ‘I’m so sorry, noona...’ from the bottom of his heart. He apologized for cutting her out of his life, for making her worry about him, for not listening to her, for hurting her and their parents, for being an ungrateful bastard. He knew now that unlike his girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, his sister would understand and forgive him no matter what.

He wiped his tears with his own hands, kind of embarrassed that he was crying like a baby boy in front of his sister, but damn that just felt so good. His sister complained when she noticed that he had make her shirt wet with his tears and snot, even the simple act could make him bursting out in tears and laugh for the first time ever, relieved that her sister could act like he had never left at all. She cupped his face in the palm of her hands, only then she saw how much he had changed.

“Aigoo... look at my lovely little brother. You’ve grown up so much! Look how tall you are,” Another smile came out from his lips, as she told him to take a sit on his own bed. “So... how was Japan? I’ve heard they give you hell back there. Did you eat well? You looked even more thin than the last time I saw you.”

He pressed his lips together from smiling too much, his sister always acted like a second mom to him, only cooler. She scolded him like their parents did, but then she would come to his room later to have a heart-to-heart conversation and make sure that he understood why did they do that. He told her everything he went through in Japan. Everything. He knew he could trust her more than anything in the world, and he needed her honest opinion on what he should do next.

“Are you sure you wanted to give up on your dream just because of her?” She emphasized ‘her’ with so much hate that he cringed; she never liked his ex-girlfriend before. He knew she only tolerated her because he seemed so happy with her. “You’ve been dreaming of it since you were a baby.”

Minhyuk pursed his lips, contemplating what she had said. It was true, his dream of being a drummer had started long before he met her. But she was the reason he truly believe that he could do it. Now that she was gone, what was the point of chasing it anymore?

“Noona, I thought you didn’t want me to become a drummer. Now what is this?”

She hit his head hard with her knuckles, “Yah! That was because I didn’t know how serious you were. I thought it was only a hobby for you, just like baseball. Besides, you have so much better choices back then. Do you really think you can go back just like that, now?! Wake up, Minhyukkie, wake up!”

“So what should I do, now?”

“Think about it carefully. What is it that you really wanted to do. If you wanted to be a drummer, we will support you now. If you wanted to go to law school or go to college, we will support you.” Minhyuk knew that what she implied by ‘we’ were their parents. His sister continued before she left him on his own, “Just make sure that this time, whatever you choose is for your own happiness. Not for someone else’s. Arahsseo?!”

He nodded, “Ne. Noona... gomawo... You really are the best.”

She smiled that sisterly smile she rarely gave to him, “Get some rest, okay? And go downstairs to have dinner with Mom and Dad if you’re ready. I’ll make some of your favourite foods.”

 

It took a couple of weeks for him to finalized his decision, but it took a few years later for him to finally moved on from his first love. Sometimes, he still wondered about her, if she ever regret it that she had broke him up, now that he was becoming one of the best Korean rock band in the country, just like what she had always imagined. But as the time passed by, he realized that he shouldn’t resent her for their failed relationship. If anything, he should’ve thanked her instead. Thanks to her, he truly believed that it was worth it to pursue his dream no matter how hard it was. Thanks to her, he got his family back, he even got a second family who loves him just as much. Thanks to her, he realized that you can’t always get what you want. He had lost her, but now he was having the best time of his life. Thanks to her, he knew now that love and trust didn’t come at their own accord, you need to earn it, to fight for it. And thanks to her, he learnt that maintaining a relationship required a hard work from both parties, and he swore that he won’t make the same mistake twice. So for that, he truly wished that she was happy, whereever she was.

***

He dialed her number as soon as he laid himself on his bed, one of his arm supported the back of his head. It was 1 a.m. in the morning, and he was tired, but he missed her so bad that he didn’t care if she would only yelling at him for calling her at this ungodly hour. It’s the only time they knew that their significant other would be free.

It only took two rings for her to answer his call. See? Annoyed or not, he knew that she missed him just as much.

“Oppa,” she greeted him with her hoarse voice, “What time is it?”

He smiled as he saw her sleepy face, yawning. Clearly she hadn’t realize that it was a video call as she attached her phone to her ear, “Hello, sweetheart. I’m sorry for calling you this late. Did you fallen asleep already?”

Soojung hummed lazily, still caught in between her dreamland and reality.

“Now can I see your pretty face? All I can see is your ear from here...”

That made her woke up in an instant. She gaped as she saw Minhyuk oppa waving his hand on her phone screen. She threw her phone and went to see her reflection in the mirror, there’s just no way she would let him saw her bleary eyes and her hair in a mess. Aisshh...why did he video call her at this rate?

“Yah, what are you doing? I’m calling you to talk to you, not to your bed.”

A few seconds later, he saw her appeared on his phone screen, face washed, hair combed, and a smile plastered on her face. “Annyeong, oppa. Did you just come home from practice?”

He chuckled at her behaviour, “What is this? You look prettier with your bed hair earlier. Go back to sleep, I’ll call you again later.”

She pursed her lips at him, “I won’t pick up your phone if you do that.” But then she laid herself on her bed, facing sideways, tucking her other hand under her cheek on the pillow. He followed her so that they looked like facing each other on the bed, even though in reality, they were separated miles away. “Happy now?”

“Hm. How was your practice for Christmas’ concert? You didn’t cheat on me with those EXO members, aren’t you?”

Soojung scoffed at his accusation, “I probably would if you didn’t show up in a week.”

“Yah, is that a threat? I’m going to your house right now if you keep on saying that.”

She giggled at how easy it was to make him jealous, “Aren’t you tired, oppa? You didn’t have to call me every night if you were so tired, I don’t want you to wake up late the next morning because of me...”

“Woah, aren’t you the one who told me to call you at least once everyday?”

“Ne. But not this late. I need my beauty sleep...”

“But I couldn’t sleep without hearing your voice...”

He smiled as he heard her tingling laugh at his cheesy line, “Yah oppa! Did you throw that line to every girl you like? Tsk... so annoying...”

“No, not at every girl. Just you, Jungie-yah...” Now he was telling the truth. Normally, he would get so red in the face everytime he said those cheesy lines even just for a show. But he liked her reaction, so he couldn’t help but make a habit of it. Only with her.

“By the way, oppa, when are you going to Japan? I thought you’re going to spend your Christmas there?”

“Hm, I’m going the day after tomorrow and won’t be back after Christmas. Wae? Do you want to meet up?”

“I really want to, but I can’t...” Soojung sulked like a little kid, pouting her lips as she said so. Ugh, wrong move, Jungie-yah... Looking at her lips only making him missed her more. “We still have some practice for the concert, and then fitting outfit for the concert and SBS Entertainment Awards, and rehearsal for presenting the awards, and more practice at the studio for SM The Ballad.”

“Heol. My girlfriend is so busy... then how am I going to take you out on a date?”

She made a squeaked sound like she was about to cry at the mention of a ‘date’, “Don’t give me any false hope, oppa, it wasn’t like you’re not as busy as I am...”

Both of them released a heavy sigh as they realized that this is harder than they thought, “Nan ottoke? But I really miss you, Jungie-yah...”

“Na do...”

They talked some more until eventually he could see her fell asleep in the middle of their conversation. He rubbed his phone screen, wishing that he could be on the other side of the screen and rubbed his thumb on her smooth skin, watching her sleep. His thumb moved to her lips, barely resisting the urge to kiss his phone and suddenly feel so pathetic. He did kiss it anyway, before he ended the call and his phone turned back into a blank black screen.

***

It was Christmas eve and Soojung couldn’t stand on this stage any longer. She was in a bad mood because everyone seemed like enjoying themselves with their lovers, while she was here to entertain them and her boyfriend was out there to do the exact same thing. Not to mention that Victoria, Sulli, and Luna had their own date after this concert; even Amber had to attend this private party with the other idols. She had kindly asked her to come with her though, but Soojung didn’t feel like partying tonight.

She tried to stand next to Amber as the concert came to an end, but the boyish girl was too absorbed in the festivity that she didn’t notice how miserable Soojung was she could barely kept a happy face to the fans. She had avoided any interaction with any of the EXO boys, keeping her distance by standing on the very end far far away from them. Suddenly, someone popped out right beside her. It was Sehun.

Soojung immediately flipped her head to him, pointing to his group in annoyance, “What are you doing here? Go back to your hyungs.”

Sehun blinked at her, shocked that she was practically kicking him out of her sight just like that. He bowed to her awkwardly and ran to his group; you don’t want to mess with a bad mood Soojung.

Soojung finally gave up on following Amber around, settled to walk around by herself. When will this finally be over? How many times that they need to bow off, really? Sulli tried to talk to her, she managed to make her smile a few times, but it was short-lived. Her mood was significantly and dangerously getting lower and lower by each second. She really wanted to go home and curled herself in her bed. A call from her boyfriend would probably lifted her mood a bit, but she buried the thought deeply because that was very unlikely.

Soojung was aware that someone was walking behind her, and she shuddered at the thought that she knew it was him even without looking. She pursed her lips in annoyance, his presence was all around her all the time. She knew that he wanted to talk to her, but she didn’t give him any chance. She didn’t even let her eyes glanced his way, she kept him on her radar just so that she could walk away before he could even get anywhere near her. But the boy was relentless, he followed her around that she started to feel suffocated.

Gosh! As if this night couldn’t get any worse. Why didn’t he gave up already? Didn’t he know that she was taken now?

Oh, great, right, no one knew you were dating Kang Minhyuk, Jung Soojung.

Soojung saw that Kai was talking to Vic eomma, and just by the look of it, she knew that he was talking about her. Ugh! Victoria glanced her way, but Soojung was already stormed off to the other way, leaving everyone else’s behind. The EXO boys following her lead, when suddenly Vic eomma linked her arms with a made up sing-song tone that she hated so much.

“Soojungiee~~~” Victoria tilted her head to look at her baby maknae, “Are you alright? The boys said that you’re exceptionally cold towards them tonight. Did someone bothering you again?”

Soojung rolled her eyes at her leader, it wasn’t like she wanted to disrespect her, but really? Vic eomma knew who was the boy who was always bothering her. When she was in a good mood, she would put on a fake smile to him, acting like she wasn’t as annoyed. But to be honest, all she wanted was for him to leave her alone. She didn’t like him that way, and she had told him that directly multiple times, but the message won’t get passed his thick skull into his brain. She was tired of it. She was tired of explaining things to him. She was tired of avoiding him just so that he didn’t get the wrong message. She was tired being avoided by Kai, just because he didn’t want to hurt his hyung’s feeling, Suho.

“Just endure it for a little bit longer, would you, Soojungie? After this, you could ignore him all you want for the next few days. So, give me a smile?” Victoria blinked her eyes rapidly to Soojung, and she gave her the best half-hearted smile she could muster up at the time.

Finally, the concert was over. She was the first one to get her clothes change, eager to get out of there as soon as possible. Sica unnie had promised to pick her up after the concert—she had heard that her sister was going out with the CEO’s son recently, but Soojung hadn’t find some way to ask her without her sister asking her back about her relationship with Minhyuk oppa. She was about to call her sister in the hallway, when someone call out her name.

She barely hold herself from banging her head on the wall. God, why did you do this to me?

Soojung braced herself before she turned around to find Suho oppa smiling brightly at her. She tried to reply his smile, really, but she couldn’t. Instead, she bowed politely to him before she folded her arms in front of her chest, her right foot tapped impatiently on the floor.

“Soojung-ah, are you going home already? Don’t you want to go to the after party? It’s Christmas, we should’ve have fun.”

“Ahh... no oppa. I’m really tired now. I have enough fun for today,” she refused him politely.

But of course, he wouldn’t back down that easily, “Geude? Then... do you need a ride home? I happen to brought a car tonight so—“

“Oh, it’s okay, oppa. Sica unnie was already on her way here to pick me up. Thank you for the offer, anyway.”

He was about to say something more when her phone suddenly ringed. It was Sica unnie. She was almost jumped excitedly at how great her sister timing was. Soojung showed her phone screen to Suho oppa, “See? Sica unnie must have arrived. I’m sorry, oppa, but I have to leave now. See you later.”

She bowed once again to the EXO leader before she took her leave. Saved by the bell. She should give her sister a big thank you gift for this. She answered her phone, exclaiming happily so everyone in the vicinity could hear her, “Sica unnie! Where are you now?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Jungie-yah...” Soojung slowed down a bit as she heard her sister tone. Uh-oh, this is not good. She tried to keep the happy act until she was out of his sight, walking a bit faster to get through the door. “I’m really, really sorry. I can’t pick you up right now, my car broke down suddenly and I need to take it to the repair shop immediately.”

“Omo! Are you okay, unnie? Then how are you going to come back home without your car?”

“Don’t worry about me, I have some friends to pick me up. But then, how about you? You could ask your manager to take you home, could you?”

Soojung hesitated. There’s just no way she would go back there and taking a risk of meeting Suho oppa again. He would insisted that he take her home. Even though it was a better option than hailing a taxi alone this late at night, but the thing is, she didn’t trust him at all. The last time she had taken his offer, he ended up driving her around the city for 2 hours, despite her protest. That was probably the most awkward night in her life, and she didn’t need a repeated performance occured tonight.

She decided to call her manager out instead of going back to f(x)’s changing room. She pressed the speed dial button to her manager on her phone, when suddenly someone muffled and nose from behind.

***

A/N: Omo! Who was it?! Krystal is in da-da-da-danger, pinocchio... 

Did anyone cry at the first part of this chapter? Because I did. *I was so lame* Minhyuk's first love story was based on his past interviews, I wonder who his ex was, since he seemed so deeply in love with her. Have you watched one of the interview where Yonghwa said that he didn't want to introduce his sister to Minhyuk, because he was afraid that Minhyuk couldn't get over her if they would break up. 

And the Christmas concert scene was based on this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2HnYPss7_o 

So sorry for any of EXO fans out there, I didn't mean to make them looked bad, really. I have to admit that I wasn't an EXO fans, but I wasn't their haters, either. I just simply didn't want to get obsessed over another boyband, CNBLUE had done enough damage to me already. Peace out ^_^v