“IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK, JAGIYAH!”

Eunji had to hold the phone a good foot away from her ear as soon as she answered the call from Yoseob. She had been rehearsing for her first solo concert all day and had just sat down to check her phone when she received the call. Before she could even ask what, Yoseob went on a full out monologue. From the rapid words coming out of his mouth, she could only understand a few words, but the words, “dating”, Shin Go Eun Noona and tabloids were very prominent.

Since she couldn’t interrupt him whenever he went on these rants of his, she decided to just open Naver and search it up herself. The first result that popped up was an article that read, “Yang Yoseob rumored to be dating musical co-star Shin Go Eun”. She opened the article and it went into detail about how they were very loving with each other and seemed to be openly affectionate on set.  

She sighed, “Oppa, is that it?” This caused a pause in Yoseob’s ranting. She could almost hear the wheels turning in his head before he tentatively answered. “You’re….not…mad?”

Eunji leaned back in her chair, fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist. It had been a gift from Yoseob on her birthday. She had told someone in passing, most likely Bomi or Chorong who were usually Yoseob’s “spies”, that she thought the bracelet was cute. It truly shocked her a few months later when Yoseob presented her with the gift.

She knew how important she was to Yoseob, but it didn’t stop her from teasing him. She put on her best shocked voice and gasped, “Unless, of course, the reason you are denying this so loudly…”

“NO.” Yoseob’s shout interrupted her. He coughed and said in a softer voice, “No, jagiyah. I swear on my pride as a singer, on my honor as a filial son, on my-“

“I was teasing, oppa.” She said, finally letting the grin creep into her voice. “Besides, I would never doubt you for a second. I don’t understand why you got so riled up about it. It says on the same article that you’ve already gotten your agency to deny all the rumors.” She cheekily added, holding the phone closer to her ear. “Oppa, I know you’re smart enough not to cheat on me. We have too many eyes and ears for that, what with how affectionate you are backstage. The first person to beat you up will be me.”

He let out a low chuckle, “Never mess with a Busan girl, huh?”

Eunji grinned, “I’ve trained you well.”

The afternoon passed with little to no incidents and when she arrived home, she was greeted with a bouquet of red roses and a plastic bag of supplements for . She accepted the gift with a small smile. 

“Oppa, what are you doing?”

Eunji just had finished rehearsing when she had walked into a very curious scene. Yoseob in a corner of their dressing room wasn’t too weird, but the fact that he had a small stack of cards in one hand and a sharpie on the other hand is weird. The couch he had been sitting on was littered with bouquets of different arrangements of flowers. (She could immediately tell which one was hers as all her favorite colors were on it.) He smiled upon seeing her and he immediately came closer. She expected the kiss on the cheek, but getting handed the stack and sharpie was confusing. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the cards were from their concert and were already filled with all the other APink members’ signatures.

“I got Chorongie to hand them out and they were all pretty fast about it.” He said as if to answer her question. He then gave a thumbs up to Chorong, who was walking around the dressing room checking up on the girls. She saw the thumbs up and gave one back to him before getting pulled away to talk to someone. Yoseob gestured for Eunji to sit in his spot, while he plucked a bouquet, the one with red and yellow flowers that she was eyeing earlier, and gave it to her. She took a big sniff at the flowers before setting them down on the table in front of them to take the sharpie instead. She shot Yoseob a sly look, “Are these flowers bribes to make your hoobaes do your bidding?”

“The cards are going to be bribes to my fellow soldiers, so please sign it prettily.” Yoseob said with a waggle of his eyebrows. “The flowers are for congratulating you on a job well done and for being pretty ladies,” he joked, while pinching her cheek. This earned him a series of boos across the room. That made Eunji laugh and Yoseob mock pout. “That’s it. I’m gonna take all of these back with me.” That just earned him another series of jeers.

Eunji rolled her eyes and continued to sign the cards as Yoseob got up to mockingly scold the rest of the room. She could hear more laughter at the end of the room and something she liked to call Yoseob’s unnie voice. She eyed the tiny refrigerator in the corner of the room and took another look at Yoseob, who seemed keen on entertaining the others. She sneaked over to the refrigerator and peeked at the tiny cake inside and then quickly closed the door again.

It was sweet of Yoseob to spend his birthday watching their concert. Given that he was going to enlist in less than 20 days, she knew that his days of freedom were limited and in between the end of his radio show and saying goodbye to his family and friends, it was amazing that he could come in the first place. She was really going to miss him for the next two years. While they couldn’t see each other every day, they settled with numerous video calls and texts. Given that social media was limited in the military, she knew that he would want to use those precious minutes calling his parents, so talking with him would be far and in between. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

A hand laying over hers startled her and looking down, she realized that she had been scribbling on the same card for a while now effectively ruining that card. “Ah, mian, oppa.” She didn’t look at Yoseob, not wanting the tears to fall, and remained stubbornly looking at the card in her hand. It wasn’t until she felt his thumb caressing her hand with the one still holding hers that she burst into tears. He sighed lovingly, took her into his arms and started rocking her. He comfortingly whispered unto her hair and continued rocking her until she completely calmed down.

“Noonim, please make her look the prettiest.” She would later hear him say after several kisses and more tears from both of them. She had effectively ruined her makeup to the point that they had to meekly endure a scolding from both of their managers and a pleading to the stylist to fix her makeup. She was able to surprise Yoseob with his cake eventually and they had shared it with the rest of the girls.

He left the dressing room half an hour before they were meant to be on stage. He gave her one last kiss, on the forehead this time, and told her, “Eunji-yah, please don’t be sad. This isn’t a goodbye. It just means we get to see each other less. We’ve lasted this long…what is two more years?” He took both of her hands and pressed a kiss to each of her palms. “Now, I will be deprived of your voice for a few months, so give me the best show you’ve got.”