Disclaimer: Still own nothing. This is just a work of my delusional mind.

***

It’s been almost a month.

Well, to be exact, it’s been 3 weeks, 2 days, 18 hours, 42 minutes, and 28 seconds since she last saw him.

It’s not like she was counting down the days anyway, but life’s had been absolutely cruel to her.

Her boyfriend was a thousand miles away from her, separated by oceans and continents, in a place where ironically was her birth country. He’d been there for 2 weeks already, not to mention that he was busy with his Blue Moon concert a week before that, and she was here, in her room, with nothing to do.

It’s amazing how fast they got closer to each other in just 1 scene, and only after a few hours of actually meeting him in person. Fortunately, their phone conversations didn’t end up there, but it had been less frequent since they didn’t have any scene together until he came back to Seoul.

She should have went there with him. Initially there should be a few scenes of Yoon Chanyoung and Lee Bona in LA, but the production team—and her management—suddenly  had change of plans and decided to left her here alone in Seoul. She would be lying if she said she didn’t feel devastated. She had been anticipating to be back to her birth country since they said they would be filming there. She even had planned to take the whole crew and cast for a tour around the city. Minhyuk oppa had also made her promised to accompany him to watch some baseball games there.

And all of those dreams crushed cruelly just like that.

She rememberred how she was literally crying and whining to Minhyuk oppa until past midnight through the phone as soon as she heard the news. He was just done with his concert in Guangzhou and she knew that he must be so tired he didn’t have the energy to listen to her, but he did anyways. She was asking if she should catch a ticket on her own—and he almost encouraged her to do so—but after contemplating how her management and her family would absolutely worried sick about her, he successfully persuaded her to cancel her intention. She knew he just didn’t want to get the blame on him. But in exchange, she managed to make him promised to bring her some souvenirs.

She was acting as if he was her real boyfriend, but she thought that’s how it was supposed to be. That’s what they called what, method acting, right?

God, did she just make excuses to call him as her boyfriend??

After their first scene together and before the whole crew went to LA, Soojung had done filming a few scenes with Hyungsik oppa, Woobin oppa, and Ha Neul oppa. Woobin oppa surprisingly loved to joke around, complaining why he was stuck with Hyungsik oppa while there were so many pretty girls around. But Soojung felt more comfortable with Hyungsik oppa, not only because he was so funny, but more because Woobin oppa had this intimidating look that she was kinda scared of.

They were all really nice to her, and had the tendency to all day long, just like everybody elses. She was so used to it, having a lot of oppas in her management did her that. She couldn’t even thought about being romantically involved with any of them because it would be awkward, either during the relationship and if it didn’t last. No matter what, they would still be in the same company, and the break up must be affecting their respective groups, right? She shuddered at the possibility of losing any of them as a family. Usually she was so good at drawing the lines between her and these oppas, it was almost like she had this kind of alarm in her mind everytime someone crossed that lines.

But it was not working that well with Minhyuk oppa.

She admitted that she was kinda missing him. There’s something about him that’s somehow addicting. His smile was intoxicating. His encouraging words made her feel confident. Even his teases frustrated her to no end. And his touch—God—made her whole body burned. And they haven’t did anything other than linking on each other arms. She couldn’t even stop herself from blushing just by imagining if they would have a hugging scene or worse, kissing scene.

The sound of her phone ringing woke her up from her delusional mind. She jumped to reach her phone, expecting his name appeared on her screen. They were already making a habit of calling each other this late, both because he was usually so busy and now because the time difference between Seoul and LA.

With a cheerful voice, she greeted him, “Oppa~~~”

“Eyy... looks like someone’s had been missing me so much,” his laugh then turned into concern as he rememberred what time it was in Seoul, “Haven’t you been sleeping? How come you’re still sounded so energetic?”

“Aiish~” Soojung curled her lips in annoyance, “Would you rather I didn’t pick up your phone? Didn’t you miss me at all? Or... ah, I know... you’re too busy playing dates with Shin Hye unnie that you’re forgetting me already, aren’t you?”

Minhyuk chuckled at her rant, “Is this Soojungie or Lee Bona whom I talking to? You sounded exactly like a jealous girlfriend...”

“Yah. Lee Bona won’t last a day without hearing Chanyoung’s voice. How come you let me hanged up without any traces for almost a week?? If I were your girlfriend, you’ll be dead by now!”

“Woahh uri Soojungie was really mad, mianhae...oh?” he apologized immediately. She didn’t know if he catch her double meaning—she didn’t deny that she was jealous, but she’s using Lee Bona to cover up—but since he played along, she decided to continue with this girlfriend ‘act’.

“I won’t forgive you unless... you brought me some gifts.”

“Ara... And here I thought that you’re really missing me, guess that I was lost by a couple of gifts. You make my heart break, Soojungie...”

Soojung giggled. He loved to flirt openly with her, totally on purpose. If it was any other guy, she would probably had been running to the other side. But for some reasons, she let him be. She dismissed the possibility that he was doing it to get closer to her personally, but strictly for professional reason.

“Oppa, how’s filming?”

“It went well. Actually, I’d just finished my scenes today, so I would be back tomorrow.”

“Jinjja?” Soojung sat up straight, didn’t even hide her excitement. “I thought you’ll be there for a few more days.”

“Oh. But since I’d have a concert in Shanghai by the end of the month, I need to go back early. So—“

“—aaahhh,” she slumped back in her bed, “So that’s why. Oppa, you really are busy, aren’t you?”

“Don’t sound so disappointed, Soojungie. Do you really miss me that much?”

There he goes again, she rolled her eyes at his confidence, “If you say something like that one more time, I’ll hang up.” Minhyuk laughed at her threat, completely think that it was very adorable of her. But Soojung change the topic before he again. “Oppa, you do know that Heechul oppa will be there on our next filming, right?”

“Oh, I’ve heard about that. Wae?”

Shrugging her shoulders, she quickly replied “Nothing. It’s a relieved that it wasn’t Kyuhyun oppa. Aiishh... He was the biggest prank ever. I would’ve never hear the end of it especially if he saw us hu—”

She shut up abruptly as soon as she realized what she was about to say. But it’s too late.

“Wae?” Minhyuk caught her on the spot. She cursed herself for being so reckless. If there is one thing that she knew about Minhyuk oppa, it’s that he was a very meticulous person. He would notice every little detail that most people would ignore. “What’s with you? Why are you so ashamed just by saying that we’re going to hug each other? If you’re going to be like this, I think we will need a lot of practice before—“

“Oppa~!” She bet her whole face turned bitt red by now, thanked God he wasn’t here to see it. A lot of practice of what? Hugging? She buried her face on the pillow, mumbling, “How can you say things like that so frankly?!”

“What? I can’t hear you—“

“I’ll hang up!”

“Yah! I’m not finish ye—“

But she already pressed the red button and threw her phone away like it was infectious. Now, she absolutely didn’t have the face to meet him again. No. He was going to brought that up and she was too embarrassed to talk about it.

He must be having a fit of laughter right now. Aiishh... jinjja...

***

It was the press conference day and she was trying to avoid him all day. He was watching her with that glint in his eyes, trying to get closer to her every chance he got. But she was quick, using Park Shin Hye and Kim Jiwon as her shield, and everyone elses at her sides to keep her distance away with him. She even managed to get a seat right on the opposite side of him.

It was like they’re playing cat and mouse.

But he was enjoying it.

She caught him throwing some knowing smiles at her, making her squirmed on her seat all the time. Park Hyungsik, who sat on her left side, trying to make some small talks with her, but Minhyuk knew she didn’t pay attention to him. She was busy fixing her miniskirt—and yes, he noticed that she loved wearing those skirts, especially that time when they were taking pictures for the official posters, where she wore that white minidress and it’s length barely reached her midthigh, it was almost driving him crazy—but she looked very uncomfortable with it. Well that, or him. He smirked.

He let her be, for now. He knew it wouldn’t be that long before he finally caught her. And he would have a feast on teasing her.

A few minutes later, his name was called to the stage and he was introduced as Yoon Chanyoung. Not long after that, Shin Hye noona was called to join him on the stage and they were posing very friendly as usual. He considered Shin Hye noona as his own sister, she had that same doting personality that his real sister had. And he knew that Shin Hye noona also thought of him as her little brother. So he didn’t think it was a problem when she was linking her arms to him and joking around with her in front of the media.

It wasn’t, until the host called Krystal’s name to join him and replacing Shin Hye noona. He was smiling thinking that the time had finally come, he had prepared every words that she was going to say to her on his mind, until he saw that she had that pissed off look on her face. She faked a smile as soon as the camera lights hit her face, looking straight at him. Gone was the shy girl just a moment ago.

He wondered what did he done wrong in a such short amount of time.

He also didn’t expect her to grabbed his arm and linking her arms around it possessively and pull her body closer to him.

Too close, he thought. Too close he could feel her body heat creeping from his arm straight to his heart.

He was under her spell. She was literally controlling him to move that way by pressing his side and this way by tugging at his arm.

He tried to ask her what happened, but she hid her face behind her hair, never looking at him even once.

And it was all over so fast. In no time, she let his arm go and scrambled off of the stage.

That day, he was trying to get some explanation from her, but the timing was never right. Not on the next photoshoot where all the cast were on the stage and he got to stand right beside her, neither when they were shooting for TV promo where he sat right beside her again, nor at the interview session. Too many cameras and too many people around them. As the day past by, he knew he probably need to let this one go and asked her later when he would meet her again.

If she wasn’t that mad at him anymore.

***

He called her for the nth times. She still wouldn’t asnwer it. He sighed. Girls. How long was she going to be like this? They were about to filming in a minute, and he still hadn’t seen her. How are they going to be a lovey-dovey couple who missed each other like crazy if she wasn’t even talking to him?

Heechul hyung approached him and sat beside him on the audience seat. “Minhyukkie, have you seen Soojungie? I came here with her, but I haven’t seen her since then.”

“Neither do I,” was Minhyuk reply, “In fact, I didn’t know that she was here already.”

That made Heechul stared at him like he was weird, “You’re her boyfriend. How come you didn’t know where your girlfriend is?”

Minhyuk stared at his phone again, feeling kind of defeated. “I don’t know. I think she was kind of mad at me, but it’s been weeks,” he turned his eyes to Heechul, asking, “Is she usually like this? Cheerful and cute at once, and turned that cold the next?”

Heechul blinked a few times before asking him back, “Are we really talking about the same Soojung? Jung Soojung a.k.a f(x)’s Krystal?”

“Hyung...” he pleaded. How many girls with the name Jung Soojung that he knew, really?

“Woahh...” Heechul patted Minhyuk’s shoulder in sympathy, “What have you done, Minhyukkie? Our Soojung wasn’t actually a person who gets mad that easily, I actually never saw her get mad at her oppas. But, she did get shy very quickly, that’s why we loved to as much as we can...“

“But that’s exactly what I’ve done!” Minhyuk exclaimed, “I mercilessly and I think that’s why she won’t even answer my calls...”

Heechul raised his brows, “Just give her some time. She probably just being shy. All of her life she’d only known how to be friends with the guys, not to be romantically involved with them. Unless...” the sudden pause made Minhyuk looked at the older guy who he’d respected so much, and Heechul looked back at him with a stern look, “...unless she has a feeling for you.”

It was like he was struck by lightning on a daylight. It took a few minutes for him to process what Heechul had said, while the other guy trying to see some reaction from him right past through his eyes. The younger guy gulped, and Heechul got his answer.

“I knew it,” Heechul nudged him on the elbow, “You like her.”

“Hyung...”

“Now I need to see how she interacted with you to see if the feeling is mutual.”

“Hyung...” Minhyuk turned his head down in a desperate way to convince him, “It’s not like that—“

“Uh-uh!” Heechul pointed his finger at him, a sign for him to shut his mouth, “Don’t even bother to deny it. It was all over your face. And don’t give me that look!” he said as Minhyuk gave him some puppy eyes, “And just because you’re acting as her boyfriend right now, don’t even think that you can take advantage of her. You understand?”

“I told you, hyung, I’m not—“

Heechul ignored him completely, patted his shoulder with a sympathetic look, “Don’t get into any scandal, okay? She didn’t need more haters than she already had right now...” and he fled away from him.

What’s wrong with these people? Why did everyone think that he likes her?

It wasn’t that he didn’t like her, but he didn’t think that he like her that way. Yes, she made him laugh, she was cute like that, and yes, he liked to hang around with her and he wanted to have a girlfriend just like her, but that didn’t mean that he likes her, right?

Right?

He didn’t have more time to think about it any further as the director told him to get ready for their first take. The director also told him that he had met Soojung and she told him that she didn’t want to meet him first so that her expression would came out more natural.

Tsk. She was good at making excuses.

So the filming began. He sat there, watching her entering the stage with that bright smile of hers. He wondered if it wasn’t for the sake of the filming, would she smile like that as she saw him? He saw her acting all cute with Heechul hyung, thinking that she also used to act like that in front of him. God, he missed her. But she acted the same to all of the oppas, there’s no way that she might like him, right?

He was texting her just as the script told him. He waved his hand as she finally met his eyes. His lips immediately formed a smile as he saw how happy she looked. His happy thoughts turned into a sad one when she yelled “Chanyoung-a~~~” from the top of her lungs.

How he would’ve given anything to hear her calling his real name with that look.

She was running up the stairs to his seat eagerly with that miniskirt—seriously, again?—he was really worried that she might tripped. He rose up from his seat to approach her, “Yah, you’ll get hurt.”

He was just about to stand straight facing her, when she hugged him abruptly.

“I missed you~~~!” she said with her face buried in his chest, tightened her hold around him.

He swore that at that exact moment, his heart had turned into butterflies.

***

A/N: Did anyone know why Soojung suddenly become hot and cold towards our Minhyuk? Hehehe I hope this chapter wasn't too confusing for you. And I know that this story progressing very slowly—believe me, I really wanted to jump up right to the exciting stuff, but I can’t—because I’m trying to keep the timeline’s right. So I hope you can bear with me, and enjoy this ride. Until next time, see ya!