Chapter 16

Min's room was a complete mess. Clothes were scattered everywhere and makeup items spread across her vanity table surface. Should I straighten my hair? Should I put it up? Trivial thoughts like this ran through her head as she got ready for her surprise guest appearance on the show Win-Win. Kikwang had responded to her text with a simple “That is fine”. This curt sentence to Min was better than nothing. If he ignored her message altogether, it would feel cruel to Min.

Min decided to keep her hair down and straighten it. She applied some makeup on her face and put on a long red and white patterned sweater dress over some black leggings. She put on a pair of brown suede boots over her legs. She pressed her hands over her stomach and grimaced as she stared at her reflection in the table mirror. Maybe, I should not have had those pizza slices earlier. Min has been called pretty a few times before. She's been called cute countless of times but she's not sure if she's really been called beautiful before aside from her grandmother every now and then. Well, Kikwang did say I was beautiful that night before we fought...hmm. Does he really think I'm beautiful?

Min is a very confident girl but her self-confidence is mostly invested in her dancing ability and her outgoing nature. To Min, Im Yoona or Hyori Unnie are beautiful. Yoona had a delicate image while Hyori was glamorous. From her own group Miss A, Suzy was the natural classic beauty and has recently started receiving attention from some fanboys. Min usually doesn't really care about her appearance and is herself regardless. However, today she had knots in her stomach and was not satisfied with her image in front of her for some reason. She took her straightening iron and flattened the layers of her dark hair again. Then, she kept applying more eyeshadow to her already bronzed eyelids when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

“Min, Jia is here to see you”, Min's grandmother informed her on the opposite side of the door.

“Alright, Halmoni. Let her in,” Min responded as she smudged colored powder with a brush on her eyes.

“ Hi Min...Woahh..,” Jia remarked as she walked in and closed the door, “ Why do you have so much makeup on your face?”

“It's really too much?,” Min asked as she applied lip gloss to her already shiny lips.

“Min, put down the gloss, girl. Are you nervous about something?,” Jia questioned sincerely.

“ What?...I'm not...,” Min lied as she held on to her shaking hands.

Jia took a tissue paper out of the box on Min's vanity table and wiped some of the powder and blush away from Min's cheeks and forehead. Jia wiped off some of Min's eyeshadow and lipgloss with some cotton pads also. She reapplied the makeup in a light, yet complimenting fashion.

“That's better,” She said after she was finished, “ You look like...you”.

“ What does me look like?”

“ Majorly hot.,” Jia responded with a wide smile, “ You're the guest for Hyoyeon today on Kikwang 's show Win-Win, right? It'll be fine. Don't get jittery and anxious.”

Min nodded. She took a deep breath. She inhaled and exhaled. It will be okay. Hyoyeon is there. I haven't seen her in so long. It'll be nice to talk to her... What do I say to Kikwang?... I'll just be polite and say “Hello. Nice to see you. Have a good day. Good-bye.” Min nods again. She declares she's worrying for nothing.

She arrived at the studio and went to the area where the special guests were suppose to remain until they were revealed on the program. On the table in the waiting room, there was food for the staff and guests. There was a tray of cheeses and bread, a fruit and vegetable platter, and a platter of shrimp dumplings and steamed chicken bao that was delivered from a nearby Chinese restaurant. Min ate one of the dumplings and saw some fortune cookies at the side of the table.

She decided to find what fortune she would receive by opening one of them. She took one that was at the end of table touching the peach-colored wall. As she cracked the tannish cookie, a piece of paper popped out and Min pulled the strip out of the baked treat.

“Only when you have courage, it is then that there are possibilities where there were once impossibilities.” In translation, that was the message that came from the tiny cookie in Min's hands. On the other side of the cookie, there was the chinese word for “fan” and the set of lucky numbers: 12, 45, 76, 59, 84, 22.”

Min agreed that what the cookie said is true. She had been rather cowardly and thinking negative lately.

Perhaps, it was time for Min to gain courage. Hwaiting!, She told herself. One of the staff members came in the room a few minutes later and told Min that the program had begun and that she would be called to stand by the door she would enter the stage momentarily. Min nodded and sat down on a greenish couch. There was a television set where she was able to watch “Win-Win” as it was being recorded.

As Hyoyeon was walking to the middle of the stage where the hosts including actor Kim Seung Woo, Tak Jae Hoon, Lee Soo Geun, and Kikwang were standing, Girl's Generation' s song “Genie” was playing in the background. One of the lines in the song that is sung goes, “I'm the Lady Luck who wants to make your wish come true. Tell me your wish...” which reminded Min of the night by the Han River where she proposed to Kikwang for her and him to date in exchange for a wish.

Like in the song, Min would grant Kikwang a wish that he requested if he consented to dating her. She wondered if the situation that happened at the party after the concert with Nana didn't occur, would Kikwang and her still be dating and if Kikwang would really use his wish to sleep with her. Min was certain that most guys or probably every guy would use the opportunity for a wish with a girl to sleep with her. That, or money if there was a greed for it.

Min continued to watch the program on the television set and Hyoyeon was performing Girl's Generation new promotion song “Oh!” on the show with the hosts who were enjoying the cute dance. The main host Kim Seung Woo told Hyoyeon that he remembered having a discussion with Taeyeon and wanted to ask Hyoyeon what she thought made SNSD a successful and memorable group.

Hyoyeon,first, humorously said it was the colored pants they wear in their music videos and the more than average number of members in a girl group. Then, she revealed that she assumed it was because they portrayed a sweet, cute image and had a nearly perfect synchronization in all their dances. Host TakJae Hoon asked if they would ever change their image or this formula for success and Hyoyeon responded that there is a chance in a couple of years that they would experiment with different styles or

images but for now, Girl's Generation will remain at a representation that works for them.

Kikwang asked Hyoyeon about her training days and if she had a difficult time when she was a trainee.

Hyoyeon answered that it was a struggle and it consumed a lot of hard work to get to the position she is now along with her other eight members. She admitted she did like how she was surprisingly the most popular member when she was a trainee. She had a great deal of fans before she debuted with SNSD. She still has plenty of fans but not as many as other members currently. She's more popular in European countries, though.

Kim Seung Woo inquired if her popularity was due to her dancing and how she become phenomenal in dancing in styles like hip-hop with popping and locking. Hyoyeon said she had admirers because of it and that she attended a school called “Little Winners” where she practiced hip-hop dancing everyday.

“ That's amazing...You are honestly very talented. Was there anyone you were close to when you were in that school?” , Kim Seung Woo requested to know.

“ I was actually very close to Miss A's Min who attended the school with me...I asked her if she was going to be in the show...wait, is she here?” , Hyoyeon asked. Just then, the music that plays when a special guest was about to make an entrance was heard on the studio and Min stepped out of a door that was on the side.

“Minyoungie, you liar!”, Hyoyeon exclaimed and hit Min on her arm as she sat on the couch next to her.

“I'm sorry! I was sworn to secrecy,” Min justified to her best friend about why she told her she was not the guest. Hyoyeon pretended to be mad while turning away and crossing her arms. Min turned to the audience and shrugged her shoulders which gathered laughter from them. She put her arm around Hyoyeon and they hugged. They told each other that they missed each other. Kim Seung Woo stated that he could see they had a touching friendship and asked about their time together as trainees.

Min said they would practice a lot together and they usually ended up walking home together from the dance school building. She recited that there was one time where it was really late and the girls were walking to their apartment complexes. They heard noises coming from the swings on a nearby park as if someone was on one of them. They turned to see who could be playing on them at that late hour but no one was there. Then they saw a girl walk across the park and then all of a sudden she disappeared into thin air. Hyoyeon verified and said everything was all true about Min's story. She ,seriously, believes they saw a ghost.

While they were saying their story, most of the hosts had their mouths open in awe and gasped at the young girls' tale of the supernatural they witnessed that night. All of the hosts reacted to the story except for Kikwang who was sitting there silently and blankly staring down at his cue cards. Min was so busy telling her stories and enjoying being reunited with Hyoyeon that it took her awhile to notice Kikwang's quiet state. She stopped laughing for a minute and looked at him with some concerned sadness.

Kim Seung Woo finally spoke up and said, “Kikwang, you've been pretty taciturn. Say, you must have known Min when you were a trainee too, right? You're in Cube Entertainment now but you did train in JYP for a time period. Have you met in the JYP building during those days?

Kikwang, finally, looked up and managed a forced smile. “ Yes...That's right. We knew each other as trainees.” He didn't say anything else and looked down at his cards.

“ Yea, we met each other in the company building's gym on the top floor. I thought Kikwang was a conceited jerk, haha.” This caused everyone's eyes to widen a little except for Kikwang again. He let out a surprising chuckle.

“ What makes you say that? How was Kikwang as a trainee?”, Tak Jae Hoon asked.

“Well, when I met him he was exercising without his shirt on and he kept flexing his arms. He was really flirty and asked if I wanted to touch his muscles. He was really slimy and pompous, haha.”

“ Wow, Miss A's Lee Minyoung is very honest. Kikwang , can you tell us your side of the story?,” Lee Soo Geun requested.

Kikwang sighed and said there is no side of his story and that everything Min said was true.

“ I was a conceited jerk. I was a playboy...I still am a playboy. And ,sometimes, me being a playboy and the way that I am, in general, causes me to deeply hurt those I care about,” Kikwang said sincerely. He looked into Min's eyes and Min's eyes were staring into Kikwang's eyes as well.

Kim Seung Woo started coughing uncomfortably and interrupted their gazes.

“Do you want to elaborate on what you mean, Kikwang?,” he asked. Kikwang shook his head and said he would rather keep that part of his life personal. Kim Seung Woo told him that he understood and changed the subject.

“ Hey, we saw Hyoyeon and Kikwang dance earlier. Min is the dancer in her group as well. Why don't we have a dance from Kikwang and Min to Miss A's recent song “Breathe”?”, He asked which made the audience applause and roar with agreement.

“ It's fine by me if it is okay with Kikwang,” Min said and looked at Kikwang again. Kikwang nodded and the two of them stood up from their seats and went to middle of the stage. Just then, the song “Breathe” by Miss A started to play on the background. They both started to create the movements from the choreography of Miss A's song including the part where they pretend to hold their necks as if they are suffocating and they need air. They were perfectly in sync with each other's gestures. Min and Kikwang's dancing complimented each other and it was also helpful that the pair were both of similar short height.

Everyone in the audience applauded and cheered for the two as they danced. Min blushed after they were finished and she went back to sitting on the couch that was on the set. Kikwang took his seat again as well. The show continued for another twenty-five minutes until the recording was over.

Min went to use the bathroom in the waiting room after the program finished. She was going to have lunch with Hyoyeon before they carry on to the other activities on their separate schedules. She reapplied her lipstick in front of the bathroom mirror and walked outside into the waiting room. In the room, Min was surprised to find Kikwang standing there in the middle.

“Just let me cry for you tonight, for you who does not know...,” Kikwang sang these lyrics that were from a classic song by Wheesung called “A Story I Can't Tell.” It was one of his favorites.

“Hi..,” Kikwang said finally, “ Can we... talk?”

Min stared at him and nodded. “Sure...”         

Author's note: Yes, I finally updated. Sorry, it took so long. Had huge bouts of writer's block. Enjoy! And please check out Minkwang (Min & Kikwang)'s channel on youtube. It's called Saranghaeminkwang and you can find Minkwang related/ fan videos there. Also check out my personal channel: Lady87red1. There are beast and miss a videos there as well.