Disclaimer: I own nothing. Umm...what else?

***

Heaven.

Soojung knew she loved being hugged, but she never expected that it would feel incredibly nice. She could feel the hard planes of his chest with her cheek, taking a whiff of his unsurprising soothing scent which she already knew by the few times he had his arms wrapped around her, and the way his tall figure engulfed her whole body just the right way that she could barely lean her head on his shoulder, and she could feel his warm breath tickling her ear. Their bodies just fit together perfectly.

She felt somehow abashed at how bold her action was, but she was too giddy to actually care. This was practically the best feeling she ever had for a very long time, so she tightened her hold on him around his waist half-unconsciously. God, she missed him.

Trying to avoid him by any means while she barely held the urge to answer his calls had been proven to be a very difficult task. She’s still couldn’t get over about their last conversation, all the while trying to suppress the growing feeling that she knew was eating her inside out. She reminded herself over and over again that they were just acting, that she had to get into a comfortable zone with him but not close enough to crash her down when this bubble of happiness popped out. She wanted that kind of relationship like him and Park Shin Hye had: easy.

But these sparks that came out of nowhere insisted to ignite in every single moments they’ve shared, had complicated things.

It’s confusing, these whirlwind of emotions make her head spinning round and round she didn’t know what to do anymore.

Is it okay to let her feelings out for everyone to see? Is it okay if she just let it flow as it is and see where it’s leading her to? Or should she take a step back, taking control of everything like she usually did?

She had read his messages and endless attempt of calls from him these past weeks, asking her what’s wrong, if they would rehearse their script together like always, if she’s alright, if she’s mad at him. To be honest, she didn’t know the answer herself. This is the first time she ever felt like this: the constant happiness, the embarrassment, the jealousy, the uncertainty, and the fear of the probability that she might like him.

To put it simply: she was scared less.

Being an idol and being in a relationship with another idol wasn’t something that should be put together in one sentence. People these days considering it equally as a disaster or suicidal. The companies had strictly prohibited any kind of improper interaction between opposite gender, the business industry would deemed them as unprofessional, the endless media interfering, and the worst part would be: the angry fans.

She was still kinda traumatic with the scandal she’d been caught up in between her and G-Dragon not so long ago. She had an incredulous various attempt of threats and harsh words from those fans over a single Instagram account. The most ridiculous part was she didn’t even know him—yes, he’s a big idol from another company, and yes she loved his songs and they’ve met a couple of times in music shows just like how she met with everybody else’s (duh!)—but the blatant threats had never ceased. She was crying herself night after night knowing that there’s nothing that neither she nor her company could do, trying to explain things would be like throwing oil into the fire. Not to mention that it was totally unfair that his fans were taking it out all on her while the one who did any action was him. It was understandable that he kept his silence to save his own —he’d never even sent her an apology in any kind of means—but still, she hated him for it.

And she could put a guarantee that it was exactly what would happen if she ever dated anyone in her life.

And she knew she wasn’t strong enough to face that kind of hell all over again.

So she took a deep breath, inhaling as much of his smell as she could get to be engraved in her brain, finally loosening her death grip on his waist, staring up at his face with her chin tucked at his chest. She didn’t calculate at how close their faces were, especially with him gently gazing down at her, making their lips almost touched that she startled herself.

The silence was deafening and she knew her heart skipped a beat right then and there.

And suddenly he laughed.

She blinked a few times to assess what the hell was going on as everyone around them laugh along with him.

He bent his head over her shoulders, his arms wrapped around her and enveloping her whole body like a blanket. She could feel the rambling of his chest against her body and the combination of it with his gasping for air on her neck, sent shivers down on every nerve on her end. Her head started to feel dizzy at the overwhelming of sensory overload.

Her knees gone weak and she thought she would collapse if it wasn’t for him who holding her body so tight. She wished she could stop the time at that moment or died happy in his embrace. She really wouldn’t mind.

Sooner than later, his laughter died down as he moved his hands to her shoulders, putting some distance between them. She couldn’t decide if she should feel relieved or disappointed for that, but he was looking down at her with that smile of his, so it was okay.

“Wae~~~?” she sulked like a spoilt princess, “Why everyone’s laughing at me?”

The grin that was plastered forever on his mouth getting even wider, and she knew he was about to laugh again, “I’m sorry. You caught me off guard I couldn’t remember a single word to say.”

She pouted. She thought that they could pull this hugging scene in one take just to spare her heart, but it wasn’t meant to be. The director told them to start over right from the hugging scene. The second time over, he said that he couldn’t hear her lines if she buried her face in his chest. Third time, forth time, fifth time, it still didn’t work out well and he told them to exchange their lines first before Minhyuk oppa pulled her into his arms.

“And cut! Good job everyone!” Everyone’s clapped their hands as the director finally satisfied with the result. He told them to get ready to move their location to the studio for their next scene.

Both Soojung and Minhyuk bowed politely to the director and the crew, then at each other. They forgot that Heechul was still there with them, when he approached them up at the stairs and reminded them of his existence.

Heechul folded his arms on his chest, shaking his head as he saw Soojung’s arm still wrapped around Minhyuk’s waist despite that the filming was over. “Tsk, tsk, tsk... yah Soojungie! I heard you weren’t talking to him at the moment, but why did you act like a real couple just now?”

Soojung stared at Heechul oppa with confusion written all over her face. Heechul then pointing out at her arms with a glare in his eyes, and Soojung abruptly released her arms from Minhyuk as she followed Heechul’s line of sight.

Minhyuk chuckled at the unfolding scene in front of him; it was expected to see Heechul looking out for Soojung like a protective older brother. Everyone always regarded him with that kind of respect.

“And here I thought that Minhyukkie here was taking advantage of you, while the truth is it was the other way around. I’ve never saw it in you, Soojungie...” he scolded her some more, making her bowed her head down in embarrassment.

“Hyung,” Minhyuk spoke out in amusement, “Don’t be so hard on her. She was doing a great job at being my girlfriend, you should support her more.”

That made him received a death glare from Heechul as Soojung cowered more and hid her face behind her hand. Minhyuk burst out in laughter with their reactions.

“And you’re enjoying it too much, Minhyukkie...” Heechul added a slight annoyance in his tone, but Minhyuk ignored it.

“Don’t worry, hyung,” Minhyuk said confidently, “Uri Soojungie is safe with me. You should give me more credit than that,” he continued, feigning a slight disappointment.

“Ara,” Heechul quipped back, then mumbled in a low tone that no one could hear, “It’s not you whom I was worried about. It’s her.”

“Ne?” Minhyuk looking at him and Soojung back and forth, trying to catch what he had said but failed.

“Nothing.” Heechul’s eyes soften for a moment, assessing the cute couple in front of him. He knew that Minhyuk is a decent guy, and if there’s any guy that he would trust her with, it was him. But Minhyuk didn’t know her, he didn’t know what she’s been going through, and Heechul knew that she’s just wasn’t ready for any kind of relationship at the moment. Being the youngest member in their company, Soojung automatically being everyone’s favorite maknae. Every single one of them was very protective of her, and her cute-princess-like behavior didn’t help her either. But if this is continued, he’s afraid that it would break her already fragile heart. He could only hope that both of them were smart enough to put a stop on this before everything’s gotten out of hand.

Heechul sighed, shifting his sight to Soojung, “It’s time for me to go. I’ll call your manager to send you off to the next location, okay?”

“I can take her, hyung,” Minhyuk offered, shrugging nonchalantly. “I’ve borrowed Yong’s hyung car today. I can even send her home just in case if it’s getting really late.”

Heechul hesitated, considering the good and the bad possibility of Minhyuk’s suggestion. He needed to be careful of giving some sort of approval for Soojung’s sake, only to be reminded that it wasn’t his decision at all. He then looked at Soojung, “Are you okay with that, Soojung-ah?”

“Hm,” Soojung nodded, eyes looking back at Heechul to convince him that she’s really alright.

“Geude,” Heechul then shifted his sight to Minhyuk, “Take care of her, Minhyukkie, hmm?” he slapped the younger guy’s shoulder and gripped him so hard that Minhyuk flinched. He needed to be sure that his message were clear: don’t mess up with her. Minhyuk relieved a sigh of pained breath as Heechul finally released his grip on his shoulder and bid his goodbye to Soojung. “Call me if he harassed you in any kind of—“

“I can take care of myself, oppa,” she cut him off. Heechul smiled softly at her, giving her a brief hug before finally walked out to the exit door, “Be careful, Heechul oppa! Gomawo-yo!” she waved her hand as Heechul had walked further away.

As he was out of their hearing range, Minhyuk commented, “No wonder you’ve never had a boyfriend, Soojungie. You’ve had too many overprotective brothers around you. Akh!”

She shut him up with a slap squarely on his chest.

“You guys really like to get physical, don’t you?” he complained playfully. Fortunately, he could avoid another slap that was coming from her. She tried again with her other hand, so he caught her wrist and hold her there. He crooked his neck and suddenly his tone turned sad, “You’re still mad at me.”

She freed her hand from his grip with no difficulty, “I’m not mad at you.”

“Then why are you avoiding me?”

“I’m not avoiding you,” she could see him looking at her sternly, not buying her lies at all. “It was just... I...” she racked her brain to find some kind of explanation to cover up her behavior these past weeks but find none. She sighed and finally faced him, “Oppa, I know you were mad at me. You should be mad at me. But can we talk about this later? I’m just not ready to talk about it yet.”

“I’m not mad at you, Soojungie...” he then wrapped his arm around her shoulder, calming her down, walking her out to the parking zone, “I was just wondering why are you giving me the cold shoulder. If it’s something that I’ve done wrong, then I’m sorr—“

“—it’s not about you, oppa. You’ve done nothing wrong,” she assured him.

He nodded several times, relieved, “Geude. Just... warned me first if you’re going to shut me out like that again. Okay?”

“Oh,” she agreed. She took a deep breath as he squeezed her shoulder and sling his arm around her neck. One of her hand wrapped him around his waist while the other clutching his yellow sweater tight.

She decided that she would savor these moments while they’re last.

***

She was positively chirped today. There’s a slight jump in every single step she made, her face was glowing as she greeted everyone on the set. Despite the chilly weather, she’s still came early to the location that would be Jeguk High School. She liked it here. The buildings were so extensive, laid out immaculately on a vast expanse of land with fantastic scenery. She was truly wondering how much it cost to rent such a place as a filming location.

It’s been a couple of weeks after she’d on a good terms with Minhyuk oppa. Their relationship back to normal—if you could call that normal—he still endlessly, and she was warming up to him again. It was great.

She led her own way to the entrance where the glasses doors opened automatically as soon as she stepped her feet in front of it. The crew, the extras, and some of the other actors were already loitering around preparing for their own scenes. She saw Park Shin Hye unnie were chatting idly with some other actors inside one of the room, so she decided to approach them.

“Annyeonghaseyo unnie, oppa, sunbaenim!” She greeted them cheerfully.

Everyone’s attention was now on her, welcoming her with warm greetings.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Soojung-ssi,” Woobin oppa staring down at her with a genuine smile that somehow still managed to scared her off a bit, “Someone’s been awfully energetic this early in the morning. You must’ve been having a very good night sleep, aren’t you?”

Soojung’s bit her lip from smiling too much. She’s actually feeling sorry for them such as Minho oppa, Woobin oppa, and Shin Hye unnie who didn’t get much sleep because they had too many scenes. She had heard that they’re only sleep 2-3 hours a day, most of the time they even have to stay the night on the set. While her filming mostly didn’t take a whole day, but being on the set for more than 12 hours a day was already exhausting, she couldn’t imagine how tiring it would feel like to be the leading actors.

“Kim Woobin!” despite the big bag under her eyes, Shin Hye unnie surprisingly still had the energy to yell like that, “Of course she was so happy. Today is her birthday!”

Some of them were surprise with Shin Hye’s revelation, while some of them clapped their hands for her. Shin Hye herself walked around the tables to hug her and congratulated her properly, “Happy Birthday, Soojungie! I hope you had the best birthday of your life, and I wished you the best out of everything. I’m sorry I couldn’t get you any gift today, but I promise I’ll buy you one as soon as I had some time off, okay?”

“It’s alright, unnie, you don’t have to give me anything! I can’t believe you even know my birthday! Thank you so much!” Soojung felt absolutely giddy just to know that someone’s here remembered her special day.

“That won’t do!” Shin Hye exclaimed, “Of course I have to give a birthday gift to one of my favorite dongsaeng of all~~”

“Unnie, I thought Minhyuk oppa is your favorite dongsaeng...”

“Nope. He came second. You officially replaced him at the top. Besides, you’re way cuter than Minhyukkie...”

Soojung giggled along with her, “I can’t wait to see his reaction if he ever heard that!”

“Heard what?”

Minhyuk entered the room just in time. He was carrying a big plain white box on his hands and placed it on top of one of the tables. Soojung and Park Shin Hye looking at each other then burst out laughing.

Lee Minho walked to his side and wrapped him in brotherly hug, “Soojung had just replaced you as Shin Hye’s favorite dongsaeng. Be tough, boy,” he patted him on the back teasingly.

“What?” Minhyuk played along, “Noona, wae~?” He then doing aegyo by acting hurt, pouting and giving her his best puppy eyes.

“Unnie!” Soojung put up a fight, tugging at Shin Hye’s arm, “Please be strong! I thought you said that I’m way more cuter than him,” Soojung blinking her eyes and turning her body left and right, her best weapon at suggesting people to grant her wish.

“Omo!” Shin Hye and people around them laughing at the couple’s antics. “Stop it, both of you! You’re killing me with the cuteness overload. Ottoke?!”

“Unnieee~~~”

“Arasseo... Since it is your birthday, I should let you win, Soojungie...”

Soojung jumped excitedly in victory, clapping her hands then linking her arm with Park Shin Hye. She didn’t forget to stick her tongue out to Minhyuk childishly.

Woobin suddenly came to Shin Hye’s other side, looking absolutely ridiculous imitating Soojung’s aegyo and linking his arm on Shin Hye’s, “Unnieee~~~ I should be your favorite dongsaeng...”

That made the whole room burst out in laughter at Woobin’s silliness. Most of them bent over with their hands clutching their stomach, some even shed some tears due to the intensity of their laugh. Shin Hye slapped him hard on his arm, while Woobin kept on.

“Kim Woobin! Stop it!” Shin Hye scolded him even more. “Your face and your feature were not compatible to do these kinds of things. Seriously, stop it!”

Woobin finally relented to her orders, pleased to see that he was successfully entertaining everyone. He then walked to Minhyuk’s side, giving him another brotherly hug from his other side. “Yah, Minhyukkie! Did you know that today is your girlfriend’s birthday?”

“Jinjja?!”

“Yah!!!”

The four other occupants yelled at him in unison upon hearing his answer, while the others gasped disapprovingly. Woobin and Minho even slapped his back so hard his skin throbbed painfully. As if it wasn’t enough, Shin Hye pinched him on his ear making him begging for mercy. All the while Soojung stomped her feet endlessly which looked exactly like an angry version of her earlier aegyo.

But still, Woobin’s aegyo version was much scarier than her angry version.

“Yah! How come you didn’t know your own girlfriend’s birthday?” Minho scolded him out of disappointment. “Aiishh jinjja, you’re embarrassing me!” Even though Minhyuk wondered what it had anything to do with him.

As everyone had satisfied channeling their anger out on him and he was free from any harm, he put some distance between himself and them, just in case. “Yah, what is it with you, guys? Akh, my whole body hurts...” he grimaced.

“Suits you well,” Shin Hye rolled her eyes, “That’s the price for being a bad boyfriend.”

“Who said that I’m being a bad boyfriend?” He complained again. Shin Hye was about to hit him some more to made him come to his senses when he pointed to the white box he had carried earlier. Everyone now looking at the box curiously, “What do you think it was?”

Soojung opened the lid of the white box, only to find another box in it, wrapped in a pretty fancy paper and a big beautiful ribbon on top of it. A card written “Happy Birthday, Soojungie” was slipped in between the ribbon, along with his signature below. She gasped. Apparently, he did know that it was her birthday. He even spared some time to buy her a gift!

Minhyuk now standing right at her side, “Open it.”

Greedily, she opened the second lid. There she found a green owl-like doll, wearing a baseball cap. She took the owl carefully, squealing happily she couldn’t stop herself from bouncing up and down like a little kid, “Omo! It’s so cute! Absolutely cute! This is really cute!” She hugged the stuffed animal with her eyes beaming up at Minhyuk. “Gomawo, Minhyuk oppa! I really love this! Look!” She showed him the owl’s face, “It even looked like you!”

Minhyuk making weird faces as she regarded him resembling an owl, “And why was that?”

“It won’t open its eyes.”

Minhyuk chuckled at her statement, “Aigoo~~~” he ruffled her hair, a gesture that she was already getting used to. She didn’t even complaining as he was obviously messing up her hair purposefully. “It’s a roumang. And you can use it to warmed up your hands,” he showed her the pockets on each side of the doll. He took her hands and put them there.

“Oh!” Soojung exclaimed in amazement, “It’s really warm!” She hugged the doll to her chest once again, this time too quickly that the baseball cap almost falls out of its head.

“Yah be careful,” Minhyuk caught the cap just in time. He helped her to put her hair in order before he put it on top of her head. “There. Uri Soojungie is really pretty with a baseball cap,” he praised her sincerely.

“Of course,” Soojung said confidently, “I looked good on anything. But then, what about the baseball cap?”

“What about it?” Minhyuk asked her back, “I bought it while we’re filming in LA, but I kept on forgetting to give it to you. You begged me to bought you a gift from LA, remember?”

“Ahhh~~~” Soojung then remembered. She totally forgot about it, especially that because she was too busy to avoid him at the time. “Thanks again, oppa. You really are the best!”

“I know, right?” He then squinted his eyes to their audience, “Now, who said that I was being a horrible boyfriend? I wanted all of you to take back your words.”

“Yahh,” Woobin spoke out first, approaching him slowly, “You really are a good boyfriend. If this is what you would do for you on-screen girlfriend, I wonder what would you do to your real girlfriend. Woahh...” Woobin patted his shoulders, softly now.

“Yah, oppa!” Soojung yelled to her sunbaes. “The two of you harassing him physically just now. You too, unnie,” Shin Hye startled that this girl was brave enough to challenge her seniors like that, “All of you not only need to apologize to my oppa, but you need to be responsible for the pain you caused on him.” She turned her body to check up on Minhyuk, “Let me see your ear, oppa. Omo! It’s so red, it must be so painful... What about your back, oppa? Should I tell them to give you a back rub?”

“Yah Jung Soojung!” Lee Minho and Kim Woobin protested in unison.

Soojung sneered unapologetically to them, “If you left any bruises on his back, I’m going to kill you,” she threw a punch to the older guys, then shifted back to act like a doting girlfriend to Minhyuk, “My poor oppa... it must have been really hurt...”

Minhyuk chuckled loudly, “God, it felt really good to have a girlfriend,” he bragged.

One by one, people now congratulated Soojung for her birthday. She was feeling grateful, she had found another family in this drama. People who knew her personally, people who loved her for the way she was, people who she was feeling comfortable with.

“We should take some pictures together,” Minhyuk suggested, pulling out his phone from the pocket of his jeans. He was about to took a selca of the two of them, when he realized that she was hesitating. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Ani...” she was fiddling with the feet of her roumang doll, “I just wanted you to promise me something...”

“What would it be?”

“Oppa... promise me that you won’t post any of it to social media, okay?”

Minhyuk observed the pleading look she put on. It looked like she was doing aegyo, but the lack of playfulness in her eyes implied that she was serious. In fact, he swore he could see a slight fear that she was trying to hide so hard. If he didn’t so use to her actual cuteness, he wouldn’t notice the difference.

“Okay,” Minhyuk consented to her request, “But would you like to tell me why?”

She was fidgeting with the doll again. She fell silent to the point that he was sure she wouldn’t say anything, when she finally said with a shaky voice, just slightly above a whisper, “It’s just that... I don’t want to start a rumor. I mean, I don’t want to make your fans angry, oppa... I’ve had enough haters, I really don’t need some additions to it.”

Her confessions suddenly made the puzzles in his head clicked in place. He finally could see the complexity of her mind, her true self. He knew there’s something about her that made her looked so fragile, that made her need to build walls of stone between her and everybody else’s to protect herself, even though he still didn’t know the exact reason why, but he felt like he was slowly getting there. Slowly but sure, she trusted him enough to let him in. He just needed to carve his pathway very carefully, with extra patience, or else, she would build a stronger walls made of impenetrable steel.

“Please, don’t be mad,” she continued, “It’s not just with you. I’d probably won’t allow any other man to take a picture with me, but since it’s you, I know I can trust you, right?”

He smiled reassuringly at her, he put his arm around her shoulders, rubbing his palm up and down to soothe her, “Of course. Your secrets safe with me.”

A few minutes later and after several shots of pictures—seriously, both of them were like the king and queen of selca—someone was looking for her.

“Are you Krystal-ssi?” A man with a uniform, most likely like a delivery man, entering the room, “We had a package of meats and lunch boxes for you, sent from your fans. Please sign here to confirm that you have received them.”

Minhyuk looked at Soojung, confused, “I thought you said you have haters. Not fans.”

She nudged him with her elbow. She asked the delivery man, “How many meats were there?”

“Um... 30 kg of meats. And 100 boxes of lunch.”

“Mwo?!!!”

She jumped, totally shocked. She couldn’t believe it until she saw it with her own eyes. “Let me see,” she ordered the delivery man to show her where the package was. She pulled Minhyuk’s arm and dragged him along with her.

And there it was, 30 kg of meats, along with the banners wishing her a happy birthday from her fans, arranged neatly in front of the entrance door. People were already gathered surrounding it, drooling over the stacked meats. She pushed past through them, her eyes almost bulging out of the sockets.

“Woahh... I wonder how long it would take for you to eat all these meats. A day?” Minhyuk asked her playfully, knowing how much she loved meats. Not to mention her wondrous appetite. He remembered how much she enjoyed to eat his cooking with Choi Won Young-ssi—Yoon Chanyoung’s dad—even though she was just done finishing her lunch box just a couple of hours before. He seriously wondered where the food have went if she ate that much.

“Are you sure they’re not poisoned?” This time earning him a slap squarely on his chest.

“Oppa! Instead of saying stupid things like that, you better helped me to think what am I going to do with these meats?!”

He chuckled seeing her freaking out, “Well, you can eat them all. We could have a meat party on the set to celebrate.”

“Yah!! You’re not helping at all! How are we going to ate 30 kg of meats in a night?!”

“Or you can donate them. Take some to share them out to the crew, eat some, and you can send the rest to people who might needed them.”

He was right. Soojung quickly calling the delivery man not to leave yet, telling him to send them over to some kind of foundation that she had known for a few years now. She asked Minhyuk oppa to take some pictures of her with the meats and the banners, just so she could say thank you to her fans later. After everything finally settling down, she watched the container truck which was taking the package slowly went out of her sight.

“I hope I won’t find you crying over the meats later, Soojungie...”

Soojung rolled her eyes at his mindless comment. She had long given up on telling him to stop teasing her, because he won’t. But at the end of the day, his words—no matter how annoying they were—were the ones that had brighten up her days, the reason why she smiled these days.

She stared at the man beside him, memorizing his kind features. Everyone knew he had no bad bones in him, she highly doubted if bad thoughts even had come across his mind. He was companionable, easy to talk to, he was always thinking before he said anything (even the silly ones), he was understanding, he was mature beyond his age, don’t let his childish looks fooled you. And she knew she would be damned if she ever let him just pass her by.

“Gomawo yo, oppa,” she said sincerely, “Thank you so much for today.”

And all the other days that you’ve been there for me.

She wished, someday she would be brave enough to push past her fears. She wished, someday she would be strong enough to face the whole world. She wished, someday she won’t need those walls to protect her fragile heart. She wished, someday she could trust him enough to let him in.

Someday. Someday, surely would come.

He was smiling at her again. A smile that never failed to make her heart beating faster. She took a few steps closer to him. He was watching her, probably wondering what she was doing. But she didn’t let her mind thinking too much, less she might be chickening out.

She put a quick kiss on his cheek, then ran away.

That’s all that she could give.

For now.

***

A/N: Jjaaannggg! Finally! I've been having a harsh week, and this chapter was suddenly growing longer and longer and full of heavy issues. Some of you had guess right about Soojung's behavior, but I'd like to point out that she had some issues to settle first before she jumped to the real relationship. Remember kids, this unnie telling you, social bullying is NOT a simple matter. It's not cool. It's not okay. It's just some cowardice people who won't take any responsibilities to everything they said. And social media made it so easy for these people to come and go as they please.

Okay, enough rambling. So tell me, did you see it coming? Are you surprised that it was her who realized her feelings first instead of Minhyuk?