Chapter 1
Private MessagesEunji looked over the lyrics of their latest song, humming the melody as she listened to the pre-recording APink did as a group earlier. Her phone vibrated, interrupting her practice. She debated whether to check her phone or not. Looking around the room, she found Bomi and Naeun debating over some silly game with Yookyung asleep and Hayoung on the verge of following her soon after. Namjoo had excused herself to the bathroom earlier and was still not back, while Chorong was discussing something with their manager.
Shrugging her shoulders, she decided she might as well take this time to stop for a while as she opened her phone. It read “Yang Yoseob - sunbaenim”. She cocked her head to the side. APink had done a few things with B2ST lately with Gikwang appearing in their first music video, sharing B2ST’s encore stages and collaborating on “Skinny Baby”. Yoseob, however, although she knew was a very kind and friendly person, was not someone she was particularly close to.
Sure, they had that a couple of conversations before, but not to the point that they could be called friends. Maybe acquaintances at best…although her face still flushed when she remembered him grabbing unto her hand and pulling her to his side during that one Fiction encore stage and him complimenting her on her singing all of a sudden on Twitter.
Confused as to why her sunbae suddenly texted her, she opened the message. ‘Eunji-ya, looks like we’ll be seeing more of each other. Let’s work hard together^^’
“Huh?” She was about to type a message to reply to him when her manager called her. “Eunji! You’ll be working with Yang Yoseob-ssi from B2ST on that “A Cube for Season # Green” project” we discussed before. We expect a lot from both of you.”
Eunji could only blink.
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Admittedly, Yoseob was a very fun oppa to hang around and a very helpful sunbae. Eunji learned a lot from him and truly enjoyed working with him. However…
“Ok, Eunji. Let’s try that part again.” Yoseob said, his pencil tapping against the table to form a rhythm.
“Yoseobie, it’s past 3 AM already.” Yoseob’s manager suddenly shouted from where he sat in a corner at the other side of the room. Yoseob turned to look at him. “Just this part, hyung! I can’t get the tempo right.”
She did like Yoseob’s dedication to his work, she really did, but there was only so much her body could handle. They have been rehearsing for their live performance since dawn and now, they were working on fixing their harmony. Their back-up dancers had long gone home for the night. Yoseob was very hardworking and normally, she wouldn’t have complained, but she could barely keep her eyes open, especially since she had spent the previous evening on APink’s choreography for their new song. She stole a tired glance at Yoseob, who still had his back turned to her.
She took this opportunity to cushion her head on her folded arms and close her eyes. A few minutes of sleep wouldn’t kill anyone, right?
“Hyung, I know we have a schedule soon, but we’ll be finished soon. Right, Eunji?” Yoseob asked, finally turning to her. It took him a few moments to process what he saw: Eunji had fallen asleep. Debating on his options, Yoseob turned again to look behind him and at his manager for advice, but his manager had chosen that time to step out of the room. Not knowing what to do anymore, Yoseob decided to observe her.
He had always known that she was cute, but from this view, Yoseob thought that she looked both adorable and beautiful at the same time. Her face, which normally had a mature look, was relaxed and child-like with her lips parted. A few locks of her hair had fallen to her face, so Yoseob unconsciously reached over to brush them away. When she flinched, Yoseob froze, thinking that she might wake up. She merely scrunched her nose a little before shivering slightly. It was only then that he noted how cold the room was.
He threw his coat over her just as his manager made it back to the room. His manager only had to take one look at the scene before smugly crossing his arms and smirking at him, a knowing look on his face.
“Stop it.”
“I’m not saying anything.”
“Then, hyung, wipe that grin off your face.”
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@Apinkjej: “Everyone! A Pink will be holding a small event!! XD!!! First things first. To whoever makes a good nickname for me, I will give you the smartphone I’ve been using as a prize! hehe There are a lot of selcas in there and I put a lot of cute stickers here and there”
“Neh, Eunji-unnie.”
Eunji jumped and quickly turned to face Hayoung, hiding her phone behind her. “W-what is it, Hayoung?”
The maknae stared off to one side before redirecting her serious gaze at Eunji. “Is there something going on between you and Yoseob-oppa? You seem awfully close.”
“W-what makes you say that, Hayoungie?” Eunji stuttered. She gripped her phone closer to her back.
“Oh I don’t know…” It was only then that Hayoung allowed a Cheshire grin to creep up to her face. “Maybe because his name on your phone went from “Yang Yoseob sunbaenim” to Yoseob-oppa.” Eunji blushed bright red that made Hayoung giggle.
“Yah, unnie. There’s something that you’re not telling!” Hayoung laughed, drawing curious glances from the rest of their members. “Yah! Hayoung-ah!” Eunji shouted. She tried to shush the girl, but the maknae merely laughed once more and started prancing around the room.
“Eunji-unnie has a crush~ Oh, my unnie is so cute~” Hayoung sang in a sing-song voice. The rest of APink laughed as poor Eunji chased her around the room, desperately trying to shut her up.
Nauen, who was checking her phone at that time, started pointing excitedly at her phone’s screen. Everyone else, except Eunji and Hayoung who were still running around the room, only had to take one look at the screen before bursting out giggling again. “Yah, Eunji. You better check your Twitter.” Bomi teased, confusing Eunji who had Hayoung in a headlock.
Eunji whipped out her phone and proceeded to check her replies. She started blushing again when a certain someone had replied to it.
@helloimys: “@Apinkjej “Uhjjeom geuri babo gat eunji” (translates to “How are you such a fool” but is a word play since the sentence contains her name and is also her line in A Pink’s song) How’s that? Give me your phone kekekeke”
“I KNEW IT!” Hayoung shouted.
Fortunately, Eunji was unable to hear anything as she was busy calling Yoseob.
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As if to annoy her further, Yoseob posted another tweet.
@helloimys ”How foolish sometimes Eunji” This is the nickname I made for her. I am so smart. I’m going to call Eunji like this from now on.
“YAH, OPPA!”
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The ending credits were rolling on the screen. A round of applause sounded within the room as B2ST finished the final episode of the drama in their dorm. “Wah, our Eunji was such a great actress.” Doojoon commented, still slowly clapping to her performance.
“I liked that ending.” Hyunseung said, “But, Eunji-ssi was jjang. I think she made a good pair with Inguk-hyung.” Junhyung gave a low whistle of appreciation.
“What did you think, Yoseobie?” Kikwang asked, turning everyone’s attention to the unusually quiet visual maknae. Dongwoon looked at him worriedly, knowing full well why he was quiet.
Yoseob was quiet for a few more minutes before finally saying, “Eunji is the best. I never doubted her acting for a minute.” He gave an unconvincing smile and thankfully, s decided not to question about it further. It, however, resulted in an awkward silence. Doojoon coughed and clapped his hands to break it. “Okay, kids. Bedtime.”
The rest of the members left the room to give him space (and Hyunseung wanted to call Hyuna before bed), leaving Dongwoon and Yoseob in the room. Yoseob was still staring blankly at the closed television.
“Hyung…” Dongwoon said, not sure how to start, but it seemed as if he didn’t need to as Yoseob beat him to it.
“Dongwoon-ah. I have a problem. My head knows that what I see is nothing but acting, but my heart refuses to listen and an unknown but hateful feeling has bubbled inside me. Is it right for me to feel this way?” He buried his head into his hands.
“Hyung, that’s what you call love.” Dongwoon said, patting him on the back and the two merely sat in silence.
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Eunji sneezed.
Her nose was runny and red from her constant rubbing. She had a cold and a headache. Her members had not wanted her to come to rehearsals, but she forced her body to do so. They were in Cube Studio practicing the last few steps for their comeback next week. She wanted nothing more but to go home and rest. She was just thankful that she didn’t have a sore throat though her voice sounded nasally.
“Unnie, practice is over. Let’s head back to the dorm.” Naeun said worriedly, noting that Eunji’s eyes were starting to redden as well from her constant sneezing. Eunji was about to say something when…
“Yeobo! Are you here, yeobo?”
“Oppa?” Eunji sniffed. She would recognize that voice anywhere. She turned to find Yoseob approaching her with a plastic bag in his hand. He had a hand raised in greeting at Naeun, who bowed upon seeing him.
After the Idol Crown Prince Chuseok Special where they were paired as husband and wife and crowned as prince and princess, Yoseob had taken to calling her “yeobo” and “buin” and sometimes, even “kongjunim” albeit teasingly and although she would always berate him afterwards, secretly, she had loved every second of it. She was past denying her growing feelings for him and she relished the moments she could spend with him.
Eunji turned to Naeun. “Naeun-ah, you guys can go back first.” When Naeun looked at Yoseob for confirmation, Yoseob raised his plastic bag in response. “I got it covered.” Satisfied, Naeun left the room.
Eunji sneezed again and she swore this one could shake the whole room. Yoseob tsked, rustling through the plastic bag. “Aigoo, buin. What did you do to yourself?” He held up a pear juice to her. “Here, this would help your throat.”
However, Eunji was less interested in the juice and more on the plastic bag he brought. “Oppa, what else did you bring?” She peered through its contents. “A box of tissues, cold medicine, cooling pads…Oppa, what did you not bring?” she asked jokingly, taking an ice cream from the bag.
“Yah, yeobo. That's mine!” Yoseob made a grab for the ice cream, but Eunji held it above her head. “Oppa, how many time do I have to tell you not to call me that?? Consider this punishment.” Eunji tore open the ice cream.
“Oh no, you don’t.” Yoseob lunged for the ice cream once again. At the last minute, she placed the ice cream behind her. His arms followed this action and unconsciously wrapped his arms around her. As a result, it pressed his entire body against hers However, Eunji was painfully aware of how his lips was just inches away from hers, his chest had pressed against hers and…when did he get so tall?
“Ha! Got it.” Yoseob exclaimed happily, moving away from her to eat his prize. Eunji’s heart was still pounding rapidly and it must have caused her face to redden, because the next she knew, a large hand had pressed against her forehead.
“Is my buin getting a fever? How come you’re so red?”
‘He’s too close! Way too close!’ Eunji panicked as Yoseob looked at her worriedly. “A-Aniyo, oppa!” Eunji said, a little too quickly. She couldn't look him in the eye. How embarrassing! Yoseob was quiet for a few seconds before he sighed. He withdrew his hand from her forehead and picked up the neglected plastic bag.
“I can see that I’m making you uncomfortable. Mian, Eunji.” Yoseob said. “C’mon, I’ll drop you back to your dorm.”
Eunji’s eyes widened. “You got the wrong idea, oppa!” She blurted out. “I want to be with you more.” She exclaimed before covering . Yoseob blinked before a small blush of his own formed on his cheeks. “I-I got it.”
He walked back to her and hesitantly stretched out his hand. Eunji was about to put her hand in his when he suddenly blurted. “Eunji, if you take my hand now, I don’t want to have just a sunbae-hoobae relationship with you anymore. I won’t deny it…I like you, Eunji. I really do. I won’t get mad if you refuse my hand and I can understand…”
Before he could say anything further, Eunji had taken his hand and for good measure, she placed a small peck on his lips.
Yoseob was speechless for a few seconds before, “If I get sick, I’m going to blame you.” But, he proceeded to kiss her anyway.
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Ugh...that confession...
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