Sungjong

Sitting on the familiar plush couch, it gave me the same uncomfortable that I had from the last time I was in this place. Sungyeol gave me a comforting pat on the back, but it still didn't help ease the bad feeling I had for being here. We were re-invited back to "Battle of the Lovers" for the winner's special episode, in attempts to win a perhaps bigger prize for the two of us. But in reality, there was no prize that I really wanted. Unless the show could stop a whole company from moving to China, then I wouldn't consider trying to win the mystery prize.

I remember how excited I felt days ago, when Sungyeol had called to inform me that we would be back on the show. A huge smile had formed across my face, happy to be back in front of the cameras. I could have fun with Sungyeol on the show again, and I envisioned us winning sweet victory for the second time. Yet here I was, about to hide my frowns and pouts, obviously itching to leave the set as soon as possible. I was supposed to spend the day with Woohyun and Sunggyu before they left, not be here with a bunch of fakes around me.

We were still waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive before the filming started, so I had an excuse to just rest my head on Sungyeol's shoulder. It's not like anyone was going to stop us anyway. What were they going to do, take pictures of us and send them to the media? I still couldn't believe the nerve of the person who decided to photograph a very special moment of mine. Sure, it was over and I shouldn't care about the person that indirectly helped my fame, but still, he or she deserves a special smack down from me. Initially I believed that Myungsoo had something to do with it, but obviously Doyeon seemed like a probable suspect. She didn't even seem to have any limits on her, sabotaging a company and such.

Sighing, I closed my eyes for a while, until Sungyeol started shaking me to get up. "What?" I lazily said.

"They're here," he responded with worry, pointing his eyes diagonally from us. My eyes followed his path to land on the vicious monster that I saw across the set. Doyeon had somehow showed up to the filming with Myungsoo, and it was obvious that she wanted to gun me down today, judging by the cold glares that she gave.

"When did they ever win on this show?" I curiously asked Sungyeol.

"I think they came back a couple of episodes or something and they won on one of them. Figures, the seems stubborn enough to always have the need to win," he snarled.

"Sungyeol, do you really need to call her bad names?" I scolded him.

"She deserves it for all the she's doing," he scoffed.

"Yeah, well I guess so...it's just that I want to look on the bright side of things, you know?"

"There is no bright side. She's making you work for a different company and shoving Woohyun and Sunggyu into a different country, all because she doesn't like you for some unknown reason. And don't you remember the scandal that she was responsible for?" Sungyeol was about to start yelling out his words, and I had to calm him down before he reached his temper.

"Wait, she's the one who took the pictures?" I asked, picking up that little fact that Sungyeol had spilt out during his mini rant.

"Yeah, that's what Myungsoo told me."

"Honestly, that really doesn't surprise me now."

"Well what do you expect?"

~~~

Once all of the guests and audience members filed into the filming set, we were all ready to commence the special episode that was planned for us. Sungyeol kept a warm hand over my knee during almost the whole thing, obviously trying to make me feel better from all of the drama circling around me. But every time I brought myself to look up from the ground, I would be greeted by Myungsoo's kind face, then Doyeon's fiery face. The odd, combined image certainly made me feel awkward on the inside, and by instinct, I turned away.

Seyong's voice rang out, introducing the audience to the "Battle of the Lovers Winner's Special." I found myself happily clapping along with everyone else, forcing myself to put a smile on myself. Despite my bitter feelings for this day, I reminded myself that I was in fact on TV, and cameras could watch my every move. And netizens could be quite vicious over the littlest details, so putting a sour expression on my face could easily turn off some people.

This time around, the show felt sort of...dry. Maybe it was because of the mood I was in, or because I wanted to leave, but it just felt empty and boring. The games seemed to be ones that were simply recycled from past episodes, and they had no twists or anything that made them special. My drive to win was absent, in comparison to everyone else's cutthroat motivation. After a quick half an hour of filming, Sungyeol and I were already eliminated, and we were shoved to the sidelines to watch the remaining competitors.

"Hey, don't look so down," Sungyeol called out as I put my head down for a moment. "We didn't have to win anyways," he continued.

"I wasn't sad about that."

"Oh." The moment suddenly turned awkward and uncomfortable, and we shifted to check on the final games that were going on. It seemed to be some sort of wrestling match, with everyone clumped on to the platform, trying to shove each other off the sides. Sungyeol tried to brighten the atmosphere back up for me, making silly comments on how hilarious the people looked while struggling. "Look at Doyeon, she looks like she'll bite off that girl's arm at any moment!" he said, entertained at the sight.

"Isn't that woman like a famous chef or something?" I asked.

"Well if she is, then maybe Doyeon wants to see if her flesh tastes as good as her cooking," he joked. Immediately I was hunched over in laughter, and Sungyeol soon joined me aft