Group name: V.I.M.

Fandom name: StarJewel Babies (SJB)

Subgroups: VIM19, VIM20, VIM21, ... , VIM99

Members:

 

Stage name: Em

Position: leader, main rapper, lead dancer, lyricist

Birthday: April 28, 1997 (age 22)

Height: 165cm

Weight: 47kg

 

Stage name: Vi

Position: maknae, main dancer, lead vocal, choreographer

Birthday: February 15, 1998 (age 21)

Height: 168cm

Weight: 50kg

 

Stage name: Ai

Position: visual, main vocal, lead rapper, songwriter

Birthday: January 4, 1998 (age 21)

Height: 169cm

Weight: 50kg

 

He scrolls down the page, looking at all the information but only seeing a particular part of it. A loud sound behind him makes him jump and he instinctively fumbles to try and hide the screen, even if there is nothing to hide.

"Hey, Leo, what are you doing?"

A blond haired man pokes his head over his shoulder, and smirks when he recognizes faces on the screen that the man fails to cover. Very pretty girls’ faces.

"Are you looking at porn again."

"What do you mean by again?” His eyebrows twitch in irritation. “I never looked at that before. And no, Ravi, only someone as perverted as you would look at porn in the company rooms."

The standing man feigns an offended look on his face, which is quickly replaced by genuine curiosity. This looks like a chance for him to get a hold on his cold-looking colleague

"Then what is it? Come on, show me."

Leo reluctantly uncovers the screen since he knows the younger will not leave him alone otherwise. His mind works on the highest gear as he searches for a reason to explain his behavior before. 

"It's nothing, just a new group that debuted."

"Just a new GIRL group! Since when were you into girl groups? And why are there tabs open of this girl... Vi? What kind of name is that? Oooh… she’s quite pretty."

"It's pronounced ‘vee’, not ‘vai’. And don't make fun of her name. It's a nice name."

"Whoa, chill! Why are you so protective of this girl you haven't even met before?"

For the first time, the dark haired man is at a loss for words, and in seriousness considers the question. Why is he so protective?

 

*

 

"Girls, we have a new program in our schedule for one of us to do, who wants to do it?"

Before you get a chance to speak, Ai pipes up beside you, excited. “What is this? A program? What sort of program? Do you get to sing in it?”

“Calm down,” Em lets out a well-practised breath, “you don’t get to sing, because this show is called We Got Married. You marry people in it.”

Your eyes widen as the realization hits you. This show is placed in the top five best reality shows in Korea. “But why would they invite us? We only just debuted!”

“It was a little unexpected, but considering our success in topping all music charts only an hour after our debut, I think we deserve it, right?” the confident leader smirks, proud of their achievements. “So, who wants to go?”

You tug at the corners of your shirt, nervous at the possibility of you doing it. Although, you’re not actually getting married, so you figure it won't be too bad?

“I’m not going, I’d rather practice singing for my musicals.” Ai sticks her tongue out almost apologetically, and the leader turns towards you.

“Paper scissors rock?”

“I’ll do it.” You state bravely. She looks a little surprised but accepts it rapidly nonetheless.“Ok, I’ll tell the managers. Apparently filming starts tomorrow. I know, it’s quite fast, but our SJBs are really impatient to see what our real personalities are like.”

Tomorrow? Your body tenses. You aren’t prepared to (pretend to) fall in love yet!

 

*

 

"Welcome back to a new episode of... We Got Married!"

You glance nervously at the camera and fake an excited smile. You still haven't recovered from the shock of who your partner is yet. He stands only centimeters away from you, and you can't read his expression because there is literally none on his stone-like face.

"As we revealed in the last episode, there will be a new couple joining us for this season, due to the high requests of fans both Korean and international."

"Wow, even international fans want them to be on WGM. They must be really popular!"

"That's right, the new couple we have are from one of the most popular groups in Korea right now; one newly debuted and one experienced. Without further ado, let's welcome Vi from V.I.M. and Leo from VIXX!"

After a short introduction and polite conversations, you find yourself left in the room alone with your tall partner. On the desk is an envelope containing the first mission, but you are determined to make the atmosphere more relaxed first.

"Um... I don't think I've properly introduced myself before, so... I'm Vi from V.I.M."

"I know."

You blink. What kind of response was that? You decide to ignore it, and continue,

"It's nice to meet you and I hope we'll become a good couple." You blush a little at the last words, but luckily your makeup covers any embarrassment you might have shown.

His lips stretch out and hint ever so slightly at a smile. It gives the watchers goose bumps but makes you blush even harder. You reach for the envelope to hide your emotions

"Welcome, Vi and Leo! Your first mission is to decorate your new house. You can go to the shops first to buy what you need."

You relax a little. This mission doesn't seem so difficult.

Two hours later, you regret any thoughts you previously had. Leo was a scorpio, but he acted like a pisces. He spent a total of 20 minutes trying to decide if the plain black vase or the plain white vase looked better.

You were getting tired from all the walking around. Couldn’t they have just given you two the things to decorate with to save all this effort?

“Why don’t we just use what we’ve got so far? We don’t need to buy that much anyways, and it’s better to save the money for other things like food.” You suggest

“Ok.” He replies, just when you think he’s going to disagree. You don’t know if it’s just you, but he too looks a little relieved that the shopping’s going to end.

 

(The next morning)

“Welcome back to We Got Married! We’re currently at Vi and Leo’s house, for a look at how they’ve decorated it. They don’t know we’re here, so be quiet!”

The whole production team becomes immediately silent as if a switch was turned off, but it isn’t because the MC told them to. Behind the door was a very clean, simple, bare wall. With matching bare furniture and almost no decorations to be seen. There is only one colour- and that’s white.

“Is this the right house?” someone whispers.

“I think so…”

A cheery voice interrupts them as you poke your head through the front door. “Are you all here already? Sorry we’re late, we had to go buy some…” your voice fades as you recognize the expressions on their faces to be one of shock.

“Did you do your mission?”

“Um.. yeah, we did! We just… kinda got tired of shopping, so we made do with what we had.”

You walk over to the table beside the sofa. “We bought a vase! And some flowers too…”

The director shakes his head slowly. Your heart sinks with guilt as you realize you did not complete the mission well.

“It’s her first time, we won’t blame her too much. The personalities you two showed in the shops yesterday were quite good, but you should have spent more effort on the actual decorating. Let’s start with the second mission, it’s getting quite late.”

“Sorry, PD-nim. It was my fault. I spent too long choosing what to buy.” Leo bows deeply to the PD.

Your eyes widen. This is the first time he spoke towards someone out of his own will, not just to answer a question. And… he did it for you.

The MC quickly attracts everyone’s attention as he begins the episode a second time

“After a tiring day of shopping, our couple will now receive their second mission: start the day with exercise!”

Your smile almost drops as you predict what is going to come. Out of all the things you two can do, why does it have to be exercise?!

 

*

 

You are not sure if Leo is laughing at you or just genuinely having fun from running, but you are pissed which ever reason it is. Why is he so fit and sporty? It isn’t fair.

This is not really true, since you two have only run a few km; even the cameramen holding heavy equipment are not panting as heavily as you.

“Do you want to change an exercise? It seems like running’s not really your thing.”

Well duh. You are too busy trying to breathe to retaliate, so you nod and turn back to walk towards the company.

Something falls beside you, so you reach out on instinct, only to be dragged down to the hard ground by Leo as he falls.

“Did you just trip over flat ground?” you break into uncontrollable laughter as he attempts to deny, but fails, as it was all caught on camera.

“Who’s the non-sporty one now?” you tease him. He then responds with the most stunning half-smile you’d ever seen in your life.

 

*

 

“Well done! You two did great! Our ratings increased to the top amongst all the other shows, and the social media reports and responses are all very positive!” The PD pats you two on the shoulder as he seems extremely satisfied with yesterday’s recording.

“You guys have an official couple name now: Veo!”

 

*

 

The third mission is taped to the door of the house. Find out each other’s weaknesses, it says.

“Well, I already know your weakness. It’s running.” Leo states.

You blush and immediately deny. “No it’s not! I just… suck at sports generally.” You poke your tongue out

“Except for dancing. You’re the main dancer.”

You are, but… how did he know that?

“So if that’s not your weakness, then what is it?”

“We’re supposed to find it out, so I can’t tell you.”

He sinks into what seems to be deep, concentrated thinking, and finally concludes, “Aren’t all girls scared of bugs?”

You tense a little, and try to relax. He is really close. “You basically guessed it… it’s spiders.”

He stares at you with dark eyes, and you can almost feel the danger coming towards you. Suddenly, his hand is uncomfortably close to your face and there is a huge black spider on it.

You scream. He screams too.

After a whole ten minutes, the production team has you both calmed down, and seats you two down to talk about what just happened.

“I already knew what she was scared of since the director told me earlier, so I could go buy this fake toy spider to scare her.” He holds the poor thing up and lets it dangle. “I had no idea she would scream like that. I thought she would be more calm, but… I was wrong.”

“He really surprised me with that spider.” You shudder at the memory. “I don’t remember what I thought but normally, when I see spiders, I don’t scream like that. This time it was because he held it really close to me; this has never happened before. Also, why did you scream when I screamed?”

The corner of Leo’s eyes twitch as he can’t manage to reply that question. Something clicks in your head and you smirk victoriously.

“Did you get scared by me suddenly screaming? Ha! I found your weakness too!”

His lips are pressed into a thin line but you can see that he is not angry at all. In fact, he looks almost amused.

 

*

 

Mission 4: make a special memory.

Your eyes dart side to side as you rummage inside your head for ideas. Leo breaks your thoughts when he grabs your upper arm and strides outside.

“Wh.. where are we going?” You stutter.

He doesn’t reply you, and you wonder why you haven’t gotten used to this already.

You get dragged through the streets of Korea, past flashing images of celebrities, down a narrow alleyway that rouses suspicion. After a sharp corner, a cosy-looking cafe comes into view. Little ornaments hang freely down from the ceiling with snowflakes painted on the windows and walls. Puffs of heat rise in synchrony, revealing the temperature not to be warm like other generic cafes. Leo pushes the door open with one arm and looks at you with a winning expression. You are overwhelmed by the dusty scent of coffee instantly wrapping itself around you, and cannot help but step inside in awe. There is a musician at the centre of the building, completely immersed in the cello she plays. 

You still feel like you're in a dream as you sit down opposite Leo and he orders two cups of coffee. You two spend the whole afternoon chatting about the most useless things in life, which are simultaneously the most important. You talk about pasts, dreams, nothing in particular. He keeps his gaze on you the entire time, and even the production team feels something has changed.

This afternoon will indeed stay as a most special memory within you. 

 

*

 

The PD is beaming at you two like you've just succeeded in being the first humans to step on Mars or something. It is starting to get a little creepy. He makes a gesture that somehow manages to get across his intent- the view ratings were high- and then stretches his hands as wide as possible to envelope the both of you into a hug. The sound of clapping never falters around you, and you feel proud while noticing very obviously that you were pressed tightly against Leo.

 

*

 

Mission 5: take care of babies for a day. 

"No!" You fail to hold in your gasp. Babies were definitely NOT your thing.

Leo opens the door to reveal two mothers holding their children. You almost faint as you see that it isn't just one child per person, but a total of four babies altogether. Why had you come to this program again? 

"I can't do this. I seriously can't do this." You whine.

"It's ok. I'm here."

A few more hours of endless crying later, Leo admits his defeat and calls VIXX for help. Soon, a smiling Ravi appears in the doorway, followed by handsome hongbong. 

"What do you need help with? And who is this lovely girl?"

"This is my wife- Vi."

"Is she now." Hongbong smirks.

You don't know whether to blush or roll your eyes at how childish he is, but you're glad there are more people to help you with these little demons.

One person per baby was a bit too much, but now, seeing them all peacefully asleep in the arms of each person, you think maybe babies aren’t that hard to handle after all. You just won’t have this many after you get married. Wait. You are already married.

“So, Vi, how are you coping with Taekwoon?”

Leo shoots him a dark look, but Ravi’s grin continues to stretch across his face.

“He’s alright, I guess.” You joke.

Hongbin’s eyes widen as he sees Leo’s expression. You are confused until you realize that he took you seriously, and his eyes now look cold and sad.

“I.. I was joking! You’re great!” His facial features finally soften and he is back to his normal expressionless self, producing a deep contrast to the rocking motion of his arms.

The mission of looking after babies turned out to be a session of telling embarrassing stories of Leo, as Ravi and Hongbong fight for the chance to speak and humiliate him. Leo’s face darkens when every story is told, but lightens when he sees you trying so hard to hold in your laughter in order to not wake up the children.

You notice he is in a good mood today, and it affects you way greater than you’d ever expected.

 

*

 

Final mission: Farewell in Namsan Tower.

You feel like you haven’t had enough fun yet, but today is the last episode for the Veo couple. You have too many practices to do with your upcoming comeback, so all activities have to come to a temporary end.

The trip to Namsan tower is quieter than usual as you and Leo sit in the back, both thinking the same thoughts but not sharing them aloud.

At the top of the tower, you are surprised to find there are not many people there. It is as if they knew you two were coming and intentionally cleared the space for you. You see a banner reading Veo forever, and you are grateful for this moment that the fans have given you two as a present.

Leo pulls out a large heart-shaped lock from nowhere, and gives you a pen to write a message. You both sign it, and together place it in between the thousand of other locks on the bars.

Fireworks appear in the distance, and you shout out to the starry night, “thank you” and “I love you”, half directed at your fans. You expect Leo to do the same thing, however he shouts something that makes your blush visible even beneath all the make-up.

“Me too.”

 

*

 

Epilogue

 

After all the managers and crew have gone, you two are left alone on the top of the tower. Leo catches your gaze, and you feel a buzz of electricity shoot through you.

“I’m going to say the truth. Vi, when I first saw you, I knew you were special. Not because of how beautiful you are, but how you made me feel. It was on the night when you won first place. I was so happy and proud, even though I didn’t know you. When I heard of this show opportunity, it felt like a gift from the gods. I am so lucky to be able to get to know you this way. But I’m not that happy with us getting married so quickly. Rather than being my wife, Vi, would you be my girlfriend?”

 

“… yes!”