In his spare time, Ok Taecyeon liked to read. He always brought some form of reading material with him. He didn't have a lot of spare time, but whenever he could, you would find him reading. Whether it was a short novel, a doorstopper, manga, or even a newspaper, you would find Taec reading. Which doesn't really make it a big deal as I walked over to him, and him not really noticing me as I stood there directly in front of him. They had just finished another round of practices for their I'll Be Back comeback stage, and Coordi-unnie had asked me to call him over for some touchups for his new concept. I tilted my head a little, trying to read the title of the book he was reading, it was your regular paperback novel, something Taec was likely to read. He had the spine faced towards me, the dork that he was refused to bend the spine lest he damage the book. I would have found it normal, if not for the light pink and gray cover, and the utterly “Romance Novel” title Unglamorous. Seriously, where did Taec get his reading material? I waited for him to notice me, but he just sat there, utterly engrossed in this book he was reading.

I sighed, nothing could take him away from his reading, except maybe Jay and June, but former was unreachable for the moment, and the latter was a little preoccupied with Nichkhun- or rather, Nichkhun was making sure she was kept well occupied. She came to visit again today. Seems like she's finally got some free time on her hands, of course Nichkhun being the kind of man he was- an idol, I mean, took advantage of this time to take her out. Well, out to the rooftop where they could be alone and not be stalked. This is why I am never dating an idol. Mind you, not that I thought it possible.

Since Taecyeon was being unresponsive, and Nichkhun would be near impossible to disturb, I walked over to the other members that needed to see Coordi. I turned around the dance studio, almost bumping into Wooyoung. I opened my mouth to speak, but I noticed he had his earphones stuck to his ears again, his hand holding his mp3 player. Even when they were on break, Wooyoung still liked to dance. It was like he never tired of it, or was it because he wanted to prove something more? I wasn't sure. June might know, and I would ask her, but June was not here. Which explained why I am the one doing all this now.

Another turn. Junho was busy with arguing with Minji about something. Those two always seemed to be at each others necks that one day it wouldn't surprise me if they suddenly were just on each other. Junsu was nowhere to be found, so was Chansung, although those two were predictable and easy to find. In fact, all of 2PM were. Where June is, Nichkhun would be, Junho used to be so as well, until one day it was Minji he was bothering. Where the music is, you'd find Junsu and Wooyoung, the older one in the recording studio arranging his tracks, while the younger in the dance studio doing what he loves most. Chansung would be where the food was, and Taecyeon...Okay, maybe Taecyeon would be the exception to that generalization. He seemed to pop out randomly, especially in his reading moods.

Another sigh.

“Did you need anything?”

Taecyeon's voice was deep and husky as it always was, and I turned to him. His attention was still on the pages of his book, his dark eyes following the words as they spread across the page. Was his book really that interesting?

“Coordi wanted to see you, final touchups for the new look, and fitting and whatnot.” I said.

He nodded at me, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. Why he even wears those to practice I could never figure out. He stood up, leaving his book faced down on the last page he was reading. I watched him leave the studio; I picked up his book as soon as he left. I read over the synopsis on the back cover, it was about some unsuspecting girl, a regular university student who becomes a house-keeper for some famous band. It was painfully obvious from the cover that she would end up falling in love with one of the members of the group, and he would too in return. It was so predictable, and I wondered to myself why Taecyeon would even bother with such material. Did he want to fall in love with a regular girl? That was silly. It was downright crazy. Then again, maybe not.

I looked to the other side of the room where Junho and Minji were suddenly awkward around each other as Junsu, who seemed to pop out of nowhere, teased them to no end. The rooftop comes to mind as well. I shook my head to knock the thoughts out of my head. It would never last. If two regular people can't even keep up a relationship, how much more an idol and a regular girl? I didn't understand June. If she was leaving, why would she even...Ugh.

I was getting too frustrated with all this. Minji was no different. Pining away after Junho who never saw her as anything more than a classmate, Chansung was no different. Junsu and his so-called affections for Fei- or was it Min? I don't even know anymore, just that all these people have gone mad to think that any of these so-called relationships would even work. I for one, refuse to fall in love with an idol. There are just too many valid and justifiable reasons not to.

Take Junsu and Fei, was it Fei? Let's just decide for now that it was Fei. Exhibit A. Idol x Idol. Too busy, no time at all for each other. Period, no further questions asked. And once a photo is leaked, their careers would be ruined forever. It's just not worth the risk.

Exhibit B. Nichkhun and June. Idol x Not-so-regular (Career-Oriented?) Girl. June is a scientist, and she's leaving in a few months as well. Again, it's not going to work. Again, no time for each other.

Exhibit C. Junho and Minji. Idol x Regular Girl. If you consider Minji a regular girl considering she went to High School with Junho and Chansung, lives in the same building as 2PM, is apprenticed under Ian Choe and the 2PM manager's niece. Now while Minji could be spending a significantly larger amount of time with Junho, a lasting relationship would still be unfeasible considering, again, Junho becoming busier with 2PM's schedules, and Minji getting busier as she is in college- and under pressure to do well because of JYP's expectations of her. That, and the two of them need to actually confess to each other first.

It was just not possible.

I stared again at the book in my hands, July was a university student who was up for an exchange program in another country while Nick was a member of an extremely popular group. My head was swimming. Whoever wrote this must have been delirious. I flip to the cover page and only the initials SD were written, I suppose, whoever this person was knew her book was utter crud that sells well.

Although I had to admit, it seemed rather interesting though, Unglamorous.

…

Suffice to say it was not one of my finer moments in life. You'd understand though, it wasn't easy being in that situation. It brought out the utter worst in me, I keep saying, my emotional state is not something to be bothered with. You do not make a sick game of my now fragile mental faculties. Though the situation could be considered simple enough: girl meets boy, girl falls in love, boy kisses girl, then boy suddenly leaves without prior notice, leaving behind a national scandal that rocked the entire entertainment industry- oh, I lost you there, have I? Should I start from the very beginning, then?

It was, I supposed, an interesting opening thesis. It was...almost a guilty pleasure to read. I guess I could understand why Taecyeon was engrossed in it as much as he was. I continued reading, as if I couldn't even put it down. There was something about the storyline that had grabbed my attention. It wasn't unique, break it down to it's basic elements and you would have the basic formula for all romance stories out there, but there was that special spark in it. Something...that made it almost real.

…

“Have you seen my book?”

I stared straight at the designs I've been re-sketching for the alternate stage clothes 2PM was going to wear as soon as they started promotions again. Not that my re-sketching would matter, all of their clothes were already made and ready to wear. I just needed a time out from reading Taecyeon's book. A break, because I didn't think it would be too becoming if he knew I accidentally took the book with me.

“What are you drawing?”

“Nothing.”

“Doesn't look like nothing. Did you get promoted? I thought you were still in school.”

I was still in school. My drawings were merely a past time so I don't get tempted to take out that awful book and continue from where I left off last night.

“You sure you didn't see my book?”

I nodded at Taec, uncertain of what to say, or even feel.

“Oh well, I've already read that story a couple of times. Too bad it was a promotional copy, won't be seeing that book around.”

A promotional copy? As in a yet unpublished author? Well...as of yet unknown author. Did that explain the SD? Whatever that was supposed to mean...

“It was...an interesting book.” He said. Taecyeon's eyes took on an almost fascinated gaze. I wasn't sure why, though. The writing was simple enough, nothing too complicated, done in a stream of consciousness/ dramatic monologue first person point of view. I haven't made it halfway to the story yet, but I had a feeling it was the similarity between the story line and Taec's own reality that had him so hooked to it.

While I saw why Taec would be interested in it, I didn't seem to understand fully why. In my head my explanations made sense, but there was something else that seemed to hamper my fully accepting this whole scenario. Did Taec...fantasize about falling for a regular girl himself? Was that it? Was that why Taec was so enthralled by that book?

It made no sense at all.

…

You see, I can't even remember anything about that first day. Just that there was something happening, and I said something in English to which he replied, thus starting our first-ever conversation, the first of many to follow. And as the First Law of Motion states, an object will remain in rest until an external force acts on it. He was that force, he was all the sorts of force you could think of. He was push, he was pull, but most of all, he was gravity. He just kept pulling everybody towards him, and like the aforementioned proverbial apple, I fell. Hard.

That paragraph made absolutely no sense to me, but I could totally imagine Taecyeon enjoying that very line being the nerd that he was. Sometimes I think, if Taecyeon hadn't randomly auditioned that one day, would I ever even know him? Not that I would want to, mind you. It was really just a random thought. Why would I think of Taecyeon?

Hypothetically speaking, if I were to consider any one of the 2PM boys to choose to fall in love with, it would be- Fine, so there really isn't anything to consider because the fact that they are idols completely overrules everything out. But since we're speaking in the hypothetical sense, let us consider each member one by one.

Kim Junsu. He would seem a logical choice if not for his utterly embarrassing attempts at acting cool and gangster-like, although even I have to admit how...attractive he has suddenly become these past few months. He is definitely playing that sharp mysterious look very well. Especially with the release of his solo song a few weeks back. Gentle, soft-spoken, will sing for you at any given moment of the day and most of all one for skin-ship, candidate number one, Kim Junsu.

Next on our list is candidate number two! Hwang Chansung! Tall, dark, and handsome he's all that! The best way to his heart is through his stomach! He makes a gorgeous accessory on your arm as well. And if you're a noona, all the better. It's like having a kid of your own...

Jang Wooyoung is the guy you're looking for if you don't know what you're looking for! He can be everything you ask for, or everything you don't ask for...And seriously...Wooyoung would probably drop you for dancing any day.

Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul. Period. No more words need to be said. Just...Nichkhun, your very own Prince Charming. If only he hadn't found hi Cinderella yet.

Lee Junho. What can you not say about this boy? Junho, while not exactly the nicest boy in 2PM (he tended to keep to himself and turn a little cold) was the most polite, most perceptive, most caring from all six of them- to June at least. The boy was nice, yes that was a given, but Junho was extra nice to people he was attached to (and that was rare) and not so much to whoever he didn't have an initial connection with. He was rather complicated.

And Ok Taecyeon. No. Just. No.

I shook the 2PM pageant stage off of my head and continued with my reading. This story was giving me ideas I never would have had I not read it. If only it were any easier putting it down.

…

Taecyeon was in the fitting room when I came in. He was already done with make up and Coordi signaled me to help with his stage clothes. The I'll Be Back concept could be likened to Again And Again, so much so that you could even consider it Again And Again 2.0. If only Jaebeom-sshi were still around. Taecyeon had that look in his eyes again. A serious look. Not his 2PM performance look, not his determined practice look, it was a look you would see quite often when he thinks he is alone and no one is watching. Although now, I was unsure as to why he was blatantly expressing this vulnerable state in from of me. I was part of the 2PM staff, as with June and Minji, staff that 2PM brought along with them wherever they went. That was the extent of our relationship if you could call it such, so Taecyeon in the current state he was at the moment perturbed me, to say the very least.

“He's happy, right? Doing his own thing.”

The character in the story? Jon? Jon had left their group Swing Shift (Who had their counterpart-band Graveyard Shift) due to personal reasons. The group took it badly and went on hiatus for a while, suspending all activities until the scandal was- Oh all that was holy. Taec was referring to Jaebeom-sshi?

This revelation brought Taecyeon into a whole new light in my eyes. As I fixed the straps on his stage clothes and checked all the seams, there was something palpable in that moment he asked me that question, though I wasn't quite sure what it was.

“I'm sure he is.” I replied, not really knowing what the proper response was. Did I want to comfort him? And if so, how? And if I did, why?

I looked up at his tall form one last time to check. I spotted a loose thread on the collar of his jacket. “Taecyeon-sshi, there's a loose thread on your collar...”

His eyes widened for a moment before turning to his side. I pulled out the shears on my pocket as he leaned down next to me, his face closer than I had found appropriate, his breath mere centimeters from my cheek. My hands were shaking as I snipped off the out-of-place thread. I took a step back immediately, only for my head to rebound against Taecyeon's in an audible sound of skulls bouncing against each other.

I rubbed the sore spot on my head, crouching over myself as the pain came in waves. Taecyeon had a hard skull, knowledge I would have rather found out in another way. One less painful, for sure.

“Are you alright?” He asked, a warm hand coming to rest on my shoulder. I looked up at him, dumbfounded and confused. His hand on my shoulder was sending jolts of electricity down my body- or was it his concerned gaze that did that? I blinked a couple of times before realizing nothing was registering in my brain but his hand and his eyes, and the sound of my name on his lips.

…

“So...” I started, unsure of what exactly to say. I had kept Taecyeon's book for a while now, I still haven't managed to read it in it's entirety, just up to the part where Nick asserts his feelings for July saying he knows she's in love with him as well and that she should just admit to it. Personally, I found it...I wasn't really sure how I found it. In a manner of speaking, I could understand both Nick and July's feelings and both their actions were justified enough, what bothered me was that was it even really worth the risk? Was falling into that kind of situation worth all the trouble you could get yourself into?

“What is it?” Taecyeon asked, not looking away from his laptop screen. He was home alone without a schedule today, and Minji and I were taking over the boys' dorm in June's absence. He was busy typing away at his keyboard, and again I was uncertain as to how to start conversation.

“Eh, well. Why do you like this...book so much?” I asked, finally.

The tacking sounds on his keyboard suddenly stopped and he looked at me from his bed. I was standing on his doorframe, laundry basket in hand. I must have looked, I dunno...Like June to him. Seriously who was this June? How was it that she had all of 2PM under her spell like that? Granted she spent every single day with them for the last eighteen months and counting.

“Which book?”

“The one you were asking me about. The one you lost in the dance studio,”

“Oh that, I dunno...It was good, I liked it. Do I need to elaborate why I like it?”

“I guess not. It's just that, what was it about it anyway?”

Taecyeon laughed, “I liked it because it was about being an idol.”

“And falling in love with a regular girl?”

Another chuckle erupted from Taecyeon's chest, “Is that so wrong?”

I shook my head, “Is it really worth the risk?”

He thought about this for a moment, his eyes flickering to the wall next to me then meeting my own, “It is. When you find the right girl.”

…

Taecyeon's deep and husky voice wouldn't let itself out of my ears as I made my way back to the dressing room. It had been wild outside because of certain rumors from certain entertainment companies I'm not really willing to name. I saw Taecyeon leaning against the doorframe to their waiting room.

“It's not true, you know.” He said.

I looked at him, once again, confused. “What isn't true?”

“I'm not dating her.”

I shrugged at him, implicating I didn't care, I walked straight into the room and busied myself with work, making sure I kept the smile from forming on my face a secret.

…

It was insane proposition of course. I don't think I've ever thought of anything as crazy as this before. Then again, when have I ever sought out Ok Taecyeon for a personal need before? It had always been a rule, no calling out idols, 2PM especially, for any reason other than work. Yet here I was in Minji's dorm room waiting for Ok Taecyeon.

“Unnie-ah, I'm gonna go meet with Chansung and Junho downstairs, okay? Just lock the door when you leave.”

I watched Minji leave me alone in her dorm room. Taecyeon should be here in a few more minutes. I started looking around for something to busy my hands with, but Minji had a touch of obsessive-compulsive behavior which left her room practically spotless and clutter-free. It was a little disconcerting though, her room was almost empty save for the bed, a desk, her bookshelf, and Junsu's old synthesizers. The only things that looked out of place was a purple crown-shaped plushie on her bed- something I doubt she bought on her own. In fact, I had a pretty good feeling that the stuffed emblem was more of a territory marker more than anything else.

I turned my head to the door as soon as I heard it creak open, did Minji forget something? I walked towards the common area only to step back as Taecyeon flooded my vision.

“You needed to see me?” he said, brow arched.

I nodded at him, gathering my confidence for this one bold move. I pulled the book out of my bag and handed it to him. It had been glossy and almost new when I first found it, now the book cover was wrinkly and the pages dog-eared. “Here, I had it all along.”

Taecyeon smiled at me, that was not what I was expecting, “I had a feeling you had it. You kept asking me questions about it.”

I forced myself to look him in the eye, “I'm sorry I lied, it was an interesting book, not something I would read on my own so I didn't dare ask you for it.”

“You didn't ask me because it was me.”

There was truth to that statement as well.

“Interesting book isn't it,” he said, taking said book from my outstretched hand. “Almost seemed real.”

“Almost. There were a lot of things a little hard to believe, how could July pass up and opportunity as big as that? And why wasn't Nick the one who had to compromise?”

“He jeopardized his career too, you know. It's not like his actions didn't have any repercussions.”

“Which is exactly why idols cannot date regular girls.”

“That depends on how you define regular girls.”

I stared at him unsure of the meaning behind his words, “non-idol girls.”

“I think it would be better if idols dated non-idol girls. If they be really careful, the stalkers would only assume her as someone walking at the same pace, or even staff.”

“So what's your point?”

“You can't generalize idol-non-idol relationships as bad. That's a faulty argument.”

“So you're saying there should be an exception?”

Taecyeon seemed to think thoroughly about the matter, his lips curving downward, hand on chin, face tilted a little the left, “Of course there's an exception. I'm sure Khun and June will be okay, Junho and Minji too, once they stop being in denial, but three's a charm, so maybe you should date me so we can find out.”

“Find out what?” I looked at him straight in the eye. It was hard to ignore the playful glint in his eyes, much harder to try and tame the rush of excitement that swelled within me.

“Find out if we're the exception.”

Ok Taecyeon, you were always my exception.