사랑해 사랑해
       (I love you, I love you)

       I've been asking myself, more times than I want to admit, if you can tell how hard I've fallen for you. I want to reach my hand towards you and touch your face. I want to caress it and call it mine. I want to see that special light sparkling in your eyes while your lips draw the goofy and lovely smile that I adore immensely.

       다시 돌아와 날 안아 줄래
       (Come back to me and hold me)

       The words flow off smoothly while I sing my last part of our new song. Playground. It's an anxious time for us all since the outcome is always unpredictable. Even if we do know that our chances to win something are almost null, we still gather hopes. We pray for a different result, give our best, and dream to hear our group's name being called as the week's winner. Until then, all we can do is to put everything we have into the songs and the music video.

       However...

       Sad love songs can turn the hole on your heart even bigger than before.

       I...

       사랑해 사랑해
       (I love you, I love you)

__________________________________________________________________________

       "Nice job, guys!" the director said while the rest of the staff was busy wrapping everything up. Everyone was tired. A new music video always meant no rest, zero hours of sleeping. "Do you want to check the footage one last time before going home?"

       All six members agreed, even if half of them were almost collapsing from tiredness. They only watched the dance part and the group part once more, just then realizing special nuances of expressions and body movements they hadn't noticed before. One of them, by the way, made Hoon take a step back. On his last part, as if it was an unconscious reaction, he kept staring at Soohyun while singing the word 'saranghae'. An indirect confession of love. The words 'I love you' recorded forever at U-KISS' newest comeback music video.

       Great, Hoon. You're a genius. So discreet, he cursed himself while face palming. If he could, he would hit his head on the nearest wall, but he didn't want to attract more attention. Hopefully, nobody would have noticed his lovey-dovey gaze in the music video and...

       "Hoon?"

       His heart failed a beat. He looked up and saw Soohyun looking at him. As if the leader's eyes were an instantaneous trigger, Hoon's ears turned vibrant red. He excused himself and rushed to the dressing room. He just needed to change the black suit with that weird chalk explosion pattern to his own clothes.

       Had Soohyun noticed anything? Oh... How he wanted that joke about ostriches to be true now, so he could hide his head at a hole out there. Any hole. Even if he acted as the tough guy during interviews, saying he would approach the girl he fell in love with and fight for her, the real story was so, so different. Especially when it wasn't a girl. It was their gorgeous leader and... Damn, why were his ears still burning?

       The dressing room's door suddenly opened and a cheerful Soohyun entered while hugging Kevin by the waist. They were laughing a lot, and Hoon could swear that the former was tickling and teasing the latter. This was one of the special U-KISS' skills; it didn't matter how tired they were, they would always cheer each other up and make things easier. However, they seemed too happy, and Hoon asked himself if a happiness like that would be his someday.

__________________________________________________________________________

       "YA! You'll make us lose if you do it like that!" Eli complained while a bit annoyed, though he didn't seem really angry. Kiseop just showed his tongue to the rapper and went back to rehearse the paper game with Jun. Once again, they would have to play that game which you have to pass a paper through mouth to mouth. Just to make sure they would do it correctly, they were practicing with their respective teams, except that the leader's team was at a disadvantage: Soohyun was missing.

       "What a time for him to go to the bathroom..." Kevin sighed putting both hands on his own waist as a disapproval.

       "Give him a break. He drank a lot of water after the dance practice. You know... Some of us sweat a lot" Hoon stated while pressing the paper on his lips. It kept falling all the time, and he was getting frustrated over it. "Aish... Why is it more difficult than the last time?"

       "Perhaps because your lips have lost all the skills from disuse" Eli teased, receiving back a glare from Hoon.

       "Haha, very funny, Kyoungjae" he turned his back to the others and continued to practice by himself.

       Slowly all the noise faded away, but Hoon only noticed that when a voice called him from the door asking where the others were.

       "Oh..." he looked around, confused, just then seeing the person who called him. "They were here a minute ago..."

       Soohyun approached him and took the paper from his hands. "Are you still practicing this? Isn't it better to just do it when the time comes?"

       "I guess..." Hoon nodded absently, already turning towards the exit, when Soohyun stopped him.

       "Wait, let's try it once" and without any further notice, with the paper already glued on his lips, he pressed it against Hoon's ones, passing it to him.

       More confused than before, almost dazed, Hoon blinked twice until snapping from it and realizing what he had to do. Then, tilting his head to pass the paper back to Soohyun, the outcome was the most unpredictable ever.

       Because one second later, the paper wasn't there.

       What he felt... were Soohyun's lips. For real. His moist and tempting lips.

       Hoon wasn't sure of what was happening. He didn't know if the paper lost its pressure and fell naturally to the floor, or if... Well, he wasn't certain, but he could swear he felt for a moment Soohyun's fingers brushing his chin while taking away the paper. But, afraid of his leader's reaction, he stepped back to separate their lips.

       Or, at least, he tried.

       Soohyun held him in place, not letting him go. More than that, he deepened the kiss and made it longer and sweeter.

       (I cry) oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh

       After some time, Hoon was able to finally close his eyes and let all the feelings wash over him. He didn't know what was happening or if he was dreaming. Why was Soohyun doing that?

       점점 삐걱삐걱 흔들려 (We keep getting creaky, we keep shaking)
       I don’t wanna let u go
       다신 돌아갈 수 없는 고장 난 시계처럼 (Like a broken clock that can never work again)

       It hurt. His heart was crying. After all this time watching his beloved one in silence and keeping in his heart all the love he felt for Soohyun, why was this happening? If Soohyun felt the same, then... Then...

       It was okay, right?

       점점 삐걱삐걱 녹슬어 (We keep getting creaky, we keep rusting)
       답답한 가슴이 날 울려 (My frustrated heart makes me cry)
       슬픈 이별은 왜 멈출 수 없어 (Why can’t this sad goodbye be stopped?)

       At last, the kiss ended. Hoon opened his eyes in slow motion, afraid of what could happen if he was too fast and everything collapsed before his eyes. He wanted to believe in that moment. He wanted to make sure it was real, that it wouldn't escape through his fingers.

       "Soohyun, do you...?"

       (I cry) oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh

       The leader brushed his fingers against Hoon's cheeks, wiping away his tears. With his lovely, but also goofy smile, he stared Hoon directly in the eyes.

       "Yes. So don't cry anymore, Hoonie."

       My Hoonie.