“Hey!” Seo Jun called out to her best friend sitting close to the window in the little coffee shop minutes away from their apartment building.

“Im so glad you came! I have fantastic news and you’re never going to believe it!”

“Tell me, tell me!” She quickly sat down not even bothering to give him a bow hello.

“Our album is a huge hit in Korea!!” Jae Jin squealed like a five year old boy on Christmas. She smiled as she reclined into her seat, satisfied with what she was hearing. She had only been back to South Korea for two months and things were already going wonderfully.

“Seo Jun... Are you ok? What’s wrong?” he leaned forward as if his proximity could fix whatever was wrong with her worried as she sat there expressionless. She looked him in the eyes for the first time in a very long time. He had dark circles under his eyes from the makeup of the photo-shoot of the previous day, his hair was getting white little flakes from all the hairspray the stylists had used to make his hair do what they desired. Which was strange, he would have never gone out in public, especially now that his album was getting popularity, looking the way that he was. He was wearing black jeans; his favorite color pants; a white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket.

“I told you… I knew you guys would be a great hit. All the little previews you sent me while I was in the US… My god, Jae Jin, I’m so happy for you. Seriously, I’m in so much shock right now because of how happy I am… I don’t even know what to tell you!” She covered , trying not to cry for her best friend’s happiness.

This is all he had texted her about for months. In nine years of their friendship, she had never had to reassure him about anything until FTIsland decided to do a heavy rock album. Being in the US had separated her a lot from Jae Jin, but thank god they never lost touch. She just couldn’t keep up with all of their music endeavors like she wished she could and she never even got to meet the band members due to her parents sending her to study in the US months before FTIsland debuted.

“You don’t have to say anything, Seo Jun, just celebrate with us tonight,” Jae Jin said as he stood up and offered his hand to help her up.

“Of course! By us, you mean FTIsland?” She was beginning to feel a little bit nervous. Meeting new people was not her forte. Especially when it was a famous rock band in Korea.

“Duh… you’ve never met them. They’re all dying to meet you.” He stood by the counter and told the cashier what he wanted adding what she always had.

“First of all, why and secondly I can’t believe you still remember what I drink.” She tried to take out her wallet and he swatted her hand, a little harder than necessary. He realized this and soothed the itching by grabbing her hand and shoving it into his jacket pocket.

“First question: because I have talked about you for eight years nonstop. They’re all convinced that we are dating. Second question: I took a guess. You’re not that big on change. I figured you would still drink the same coffee you did when we were freshmen.” He seemed smug with both of his responses.

“What?!” she said a little too loudly for the tiny coffee shop.

“What to the boys convinced we’re dating or what to you not being big on change?”He pouted his lips the way he did in every single picture he sent her.

“What to us dating! We’re not dating. You’re a brother to me. Why do they think were dating?! WHY?”  She could feel her eyes widening with each question.

“Ouch… you seems so opposed to dating me… Am I really that bad a guy?” He lowered his head, thanking the cashier and guiding her outside, both of his hands filled with their coffees. She still had her hand in his pocket.

“No! It’s not that! I mean, I like you and all, but I wouldn’t date you… You’re Jae Jin.” She removed her hand just in time so they both fit through the doorway.

“Yes... And you’re Seo Jun.” he said as he handed her the coffee.

“I don’t know... Just make it clear to them were not dating, okay?” She shoved her hands into her own pockets. It was colder than she remembered it being this morning. They walked in silence for a little while.

“You want to come over and play World of Warcraft with me?” he chipped in as they got closer to their apartment building.

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” she replied as he opened the door to the lobby for her. Eight years apart but they had never lost that chemistry that sparked their friendship on their first day of high school.

Luckily, when she moved back to Korea to teach English, she was able to find an empty apartment in the same building as Jae Jin. She didn’t have to go too far to see him. It was a blessing as well as a curse. At the most unexpected moments in the two months she had been back, he had shown up at her door claiming to be bored out of his mind and demanding her attention. She laughed at the thought of Jae Jin dating someone. That poor woman, all the things she was going to have to live with.

.

.

.

 

“You ready to go slow poke?” Seo Jun knocked on Jae Jin’s bathroom door lightly. They had played all afternoon, she had gone home, taken a shower, shaved her legs, done her makeup, AND her hair, plus deciding to take her time, walked back to his apartment, fought with his lock for almost half an hour and he still wasn’t done getting ready.

“Almost Seo Jun, I just have to get this hair in the right place.” She could hear him placing down a heavy bottle of gel on the counter.

“Can I come in?” she asked as she headed towards the bed knowing he would say yes and she would have to walk back to the door.

“Yep.  Come on in.” She opened the door slowly and he was standing in his underwear in front of the mirror trying to get one tiny strand of hair in perfect place.

“Jae Jin!” she yelled covering her eyes as she slammed the door shut. She could hear him laughing from the other side of the door.

“Sorry! I just wanted to see how you would react.” He laughed a bit more before turning on the faucet to brush his teeth. Seo Jun headed to the living room to watch some TV while he finished getting dressed. That whole process took about another 45 min. When he finally came out of his room Seo Jun took in his new style. He was wearing black jeans again, a black turtle neck, a white jacket that seemed designer brand, thin circular glasses that made him seem a lot older than he really was and a black large hat.

“You look like a witch with that hat.” She giggled a little and grabbed her little white purse off the table.

“Shut up, you told me you liked it when I bought it. You convinced me to buy it,” he said as he grabbed his wallet from a little cabinet he had next to the front door.

“Yeah, because the idea of having a best friend that looks like a witch was an opportunity too great to let go to waste.” She giggled again as she looked at him exiting his apartment. They headed towards the lobby of the building. She was expecting to take the bus as she always did, forgetting she was hanging out with a famous band member. He quickly hailed a taxi and it reminded her of that short time she flew to New York to see an FTIsland concert.

She never told Jae Jin she had shown up. She didn't want him to feel obliged to take time out of his busy schedule to hang out with her. She had flown in the day of the concert and flown back the morning after.

“Remember the concert you had in New York?” she mentioned after debating with herself during the long taxi ride to the restaurant where they were suppose to be meeting the guys.

“Yeah, the one I invited you to?” he said, flicking her hair off of her shoulder. She huffed her breath at his action and looked out his side of the taxi.

“I was there. All the way to the back.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

“What?! You should have told me! We could have hung out for a whole day and you could have been backstage!”  He crossed his arms and frowned at her. He seemed unchanged from eight years ago.

“I know. I just didn't want you to have to take time out of your schedule to hang out with me. I just flew to New York the day of the concert and flew back the morning after. You guys looked great up there. The vocalist, Hong Gi I think his name is, was great!” she said, remembering how captivated she had been by his voice and how many times she thanked herself for taking the time off to come to their concert.

“Wow… Seo Jun… I’m so upset you didn't tell me and yet so happy you were able to come,” he said as he paid the taxi driver and began to open the door. She was so preoccupied with remembering her trip, she hadn't realized they had arrived at the restaurant. She quickly collected her stuff making sure she wasn't leaving anything behind and walked alongside Jae Jin as he guided her towards the entrance of the restaurant.

She could hear the thundering laughs of the guys from around the corner as Seo Jun and Jae Jin removed their jackets. They rounded the corner and the first one to see them is who she guessed to be Jong Hoon. Once he saw Seo Jun, he looked at Jae Jin and began to laugh.

“I never thought I would see the day,” he said as he stood up to shake Jae Jin’s hand in greeting.

“Don’t start, hyung,” Jae Jin said as he began to greet the rest of the members. Seo Jun stayed near the entrance of the little room that contained a booth and about seven feet of walking area for the guests and host. Hong Gi’s back was towards her. He was the last one to find out she was there.

“I never thought I would see the day that Jae Jin would bring his girlfriend to meet his band members,” Jung Hoon said teasingly as he reached over to tousle Jae Jin’s newly styled hair. Jae Jin jerked out of the way just in time to keep his hair intact. At the sound of “girlfriend,” Hong Gi and the other boys jumped out of their seats and bowed their heads in greeting to Seo Jun. She did the same.

“Hello, I’m Choi Seo Jun. Jae Jin’s BEST friend. It’s very nice to meet all of you.” She put emphasis on the “best” while looking at Jong Hoon. The rest of the guys were just as good looking as Jae Jin. They each remained standing as they introduced themselves.

“Hello, my name is Jong Hoon. I am the leader of FTIsland. It’s nice to finally meet you,” he said with a bow of his head. He was wearing a white turtle neck, blue jeans, and a red jacket was laying right next to where he had been sitting. He had a very charming smile but the short time they had spent in the same room he had only smiled once and for no more than 30 seconds. His eyes were slender and yet quite large with dark lashes making him seem to be wearing eyeliner. His nose was long enough so that when you looked at him straight on you couldn’t see his nostrils.

“Hello, my name is Seung Hyun. I am the guitarist of FTIsland. It’s nice to meet you.” He was clearly the tallest of the group. He was wearing a white button down shirt and the top part of a suit with black jeans. He had let his hair fall over his forehead and they were partly covering his eyebrows. He had quite a large face but his features fit perfectly throughout.

“Hi, my name is Min Hwan. I am the drummer and the maknae of FTIsland. I am very glad you’ve been making our hyung happy all this time,” he said with a smile as Jae Jin tried to swing at him from the other side of the table. Min Hwan was wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans. He seemed like the simplest of the group, not doing anything special to his hair or wearing anything too extravagant. He had the face of a 15 year old. A nose short enough you could see his nostril, his eyes far enough out of his head they bulged a little on his bottom eyelid and had perfectly shaped lips. Lastly was Hong Gi.

“Hi! My name is Hong Gi. I’m the lead vocalist and clearly the best looking one in the group.” He said this with a very confident smile. Without even realizing she agreed in her head. He was extremely good looking. Even with his half purple, half black hair style for their new album. He was wearing a black wool sweater with blue jeans and Jordans, glasses, and an assortment of earrings that surprisingly looked great on him. He was a little shorter than the rest of the guys, but taller than Seo Jun by a couple of inches. He had very clear skin and a little bit of stubble had began to grow around his chin and upper lip. He had small eyes that became even smaller when he smiled and cheekbones that made up most of his face when he smiled as well. He had a small round nose; nostrils very apparent when you looked at him. His lips curved upward when he was serious.

“It’s very nice to meet you all,” Seo Jun said as she processed all of their introductions. Jae Jin grabbed two chairs from outside of the little room. The group fell into comfortable conversation, mostly about their album and what their next scheduling was.

“You should come to our next photoshoot, Seo Jun; Jae Jin would really like that,” Min Hwan said with a very sly smile looking at at Jae Jin through knowing blinks.

“Yah! If I knew you guys would be this annoying, I wouldn’t have brought Seo Jun tonight,” Jae Jin said as he put down his third beer of the night.

“But you guys are a couple… Why do you get so upset?” Jong Hoon pitched in. Seo Jun kept forgetting he was even there with how little he contributed to the conversation.

“We’re not dating. He’s like a brother to me. We have never dated, I do not have feelings for him nor have I seen that he has feelings for me apart from sibling love. Am I right, Jae Jin-ah?” she said speaking up for the first time all night. She saw everyone turn to face her. The very thing she hated most in life. Being the center of attention.

“Exactly. You are a sister to me and nothing more. I really enjoy your company, but I never felt any kind of feeling for you apart from that of family. Thank you for clearing that up,” Jae Jin said as he nodded at the waitress when she offered another beer.

.

.

.

Jae Jin finally convinced Seo Jun to go to the photoshoot Min Hwan mentioned by guilting her with that fact that they hadn’t spent time together since that night she met all of FTIsland. This was the last thing she wanted to do. Everyone would probably be looking at her and she was dreading having to be introduced to everyone once she got there. She would rather be the first one there and have everyone introduce themselves to her. She debated one last time to go or not as she applied the last touch of makeup.

"I should probably go. It's not a big deal. Jae Jin will be there and that's all I need. I'll be fine. Don't be a poop face, Seo Jun, and just go. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," she said to herself when she heard a knock on the door. She jumped at least a full foot off her chair in the bathroom.

"Seo Jun-ssi! Are you almost done?” Jae Jin’s sleepy voice rattled through the door. He was cranky even though it was almost 10 in the morning.

“Lee Jae Jin! Yah! You scared the crap out of me!” Seo Jun yelled.

“Aish! Hurry up! We’re going to be late.” Seo Jun could hear him plopping onto her bed.

“How did you get in here?!” She was still gripping her lip-gloss tightly in her hand. She quickly applied what was left and rushed to put on the remaining pieces of clothing she was missing and headed out the bathroom door to her bedroom where Jae Jin had curled up on her bed and was fast asleep again.

“Jae Jin. Get up. I’m ready.” Seo Jun nudged his foot with her knee and he flipped over onto his back. She took this as her chance for revenge and despite her very easily wrinkled white pants, she managed to sit on his stomach. She heard him let out a breath.

“Jae Jin… It’s time to go…” She tried to sound as sweet as she could.

“I would get going if you would get your fat off my stomach,” he barely whispered, out of breath. She laughed and hopped off of him. They headed for the door and hailed a cab. When they reached the site of the photoshoot, Seo Jun was a fit of nerves. She walked right behind Jae Jin, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as everyone turned to greet him and noticed Seo Jun right behind him. When they had walked further into the photoshoot site, he turned around and introduced her without even blinking once. He continued at normal pace towards the dressing room.

“You can stay here with us while the stylists do the make up and we’ll change in the bathroom. Make yourself at home,” he said as he ruffled her newly ironed hair. She sat on the tiny couch towards the back of the small room and watched as the rest of the boys shuffled in half sleepy, half cranky. Hong Gi was the funniest to watch. His hair was still sticking out in different places and his eyes were really puffy. He looked like he had slept in the back room and had just woken up 30 seconds ago. She held back a giggled as he stumbled in. He stopped and looked at her.

“Wow. You look really pretty in the morning,” he said as he squinted his eyes at her and sat down on a chair directly in front of her. He kept looking at her as the rest of the boys did their boy things around the tiny room.

“What…” Seo Jun finally managed to say as she realized that every time she felt eyes on her they were his.

“Nothing, I just like looking at beautiful things early in the morning,” He said with a quick smile and went back to being serious. She found herself looking more at his smile than his eyes. She liked how there were two deep lines around his mouth when he smiled and how bright his smile was.

“Hong GI-hyung! Please, you’re going to make me throw up,” Jae Jin said from his corner chair. He was resting his head on the arm on the edge of the counter, checking his phone. Seo Jun guessed he was on Instagram posting about how tired he was or something, but quickly returned back to what Hong Gi said and smirked a way she did before she was about to say something really witty.

“That’s the best you can do?” She sat back in her chair as if waiting for his jaw to drop.

“She’s feisty… Let’s keep her!” he said looking in Jae Jin’s direction. Jae Jin didn’t even lift his head to defend her. He just laughed.  Seo Jun rolled her eyes, good thing she was the only one that could hear her heart beating so fast. The boys started to wake up when one of the assistants brought in things for them to munch on. The morning came to a close as the boys were beautified and were quickly shuffled out of the tiny dressing room. Jae Jin managed to grab Seo Jun’s arm before practically being pushed out of the room by the assistant manager.

Seo Jun was placed on a chair behind expensive looking cameras and a ton of cables all around the floor. She lifted her feet while imagining being the one they blame for unplugging the life line that kept those cameras alive. Once the director said action, the boys got to work and became photo focused.

After a long while she realized that was gaping open watching how photogenic they were. How did they even manage to be so photogenic? Had they taken classes? There was no way they were born that way. Seo Jun eventually caught herself staring at Hong Gi the most. She quickly stopped herself and focused on the rest of the boys. Feeling a little bit guilty about not distributing her attention properly. Finally after what seemed like an eternity the boys got a break. The first one to reach her was Seung Hyun.

“Seo Jun-noona! I can call you that, right? You being Jae Jin- hyung’s best friend and all,” he said as he made quotation marks with his hands when he said best.

“Yah! This idiot kid. She already said she didn’t like Jae Jin. Why do you keep pushing it?” Hong Gi said as kneed Seung Hyun on the .  

“Hyung, you were the first to start teasing Jae Jin,” Seung Hyun said as he massaged his from the hard blow.

“She’s our guest, don’t make her uncomfortable.” With that he turned at his heels and headed toward the dressing room. Min Hwan came around from behind Seo Jun and placed a heavy hand on her thin shoulder.

“He likes you,” he said with a knowing smile, “He doesn’t defend people he doesn’t like.”

“Come on, Seo Jun-unnie! Let’s have some yummy lunch!” Seung Hyun almost sang as he grabbed Seo Jun by the wrist and guided her in the opposite direction of the dressing room. The rest of the guys following right behind.

.

.

.

For lunch the boys chose a little restaurant which served mainly fried chicken. Clearly Min Hwan and Seung Hyun’s favorite. They were practically salivating while they ordered their food. Jae Jin had called Hong Gi to join them but he was, like most times, nowhere to be found. Seo Jun tried to collected all her courage and started asking the boys questions to try and get to know them better.

“Okay, so I want to get to know you guys, since we’re going to be hanging out a lot now that I’m back in Korea. We’ll go around the table and everyone will mention one fact about themselves,” she said as she folded her arms in front of her with a smile.

“I’m learning to play the guitar thanks to Jong Hoon,” Min Hwan started and looked over at Seung Hyun.

“I enjoy scaring people,” Seung Hyun said as a devilish smile spread across his mouth. Seo Jun laughed nervously at this and prayed with all her might that Jae Jin wouldn’t mention how very easy it was to frighten her.

“Oh! Seo Jun! Dont give him keys to your house. He’ll end up scaring you everyday. He will take the time out of his schedule to come to your house every day and scare you.” Seo Jun gave Jae Jin a death of murder.

“You just had to bring that up didn’t you?” She flicked him on the ear when he was too busy laughing with Jong Hoon.

“Well, it’s not much of a surprise now, but yes, I am easy frightened by the tiniest things,” she said twirling her fingers ashamed, remembering how many times Jae Jin had scared her unintentionally in the last two months she had been back.

“Seung Hyun, once hide in a bathroom stall for an hour to try and scare his best friend. He squatted over a toilet for an hour just so that he could scare that one guy,” Min Hwan laughed as he retold the story and the rest of the guys shook their heads, almost embarrassed of their band-mates weird hobby.  

“I enjoy hiking,” Jong Hoon pitched in after the boys had quieted down.

“I am the coolest one here,” Jae Jin said as he picked up his glass of water.

“You don’t count Jae Jin-ah! Everyone here already knows a lot about you,” Seo Jun said and motioned for Min Hwan to go again. The afternoon progressed in the same manner, the guys getting friendlier with Seo Jun and in return she felt comfortable around them.

 

.

.

.

It had been three weeks since Seo Jun had seen FTIsland together. In those short three weeks she had managed to collect enough information to dislike Hong Gi entirely. She had, as she now regretfully admits, followed Hong Gi on Instagram. He was everything she was not. She had watched six different, recent interviews that proved everything she needed to know to stay far away from him.

He was rude; flicking middle fingers on stage, going out to drink with his middle school friends instead of practicing with his band, and even talking about stuff on TV. Seo Jun vowed to keep minimal contact with him. She couldn’t believe how the rest of the guys managed to have a relationship with him. She heard her phone buzz on the table.

“Mom! I was just about to call you, how is everything?” she listened intently to everything from the dog’s health to how the restaurant was doing back in North Carolina, where her parents had moved to have her study.

“Yeah, Jae Jin is doing very well. His new album is a great hit in Korea, he’s really happy.” She could hear her mom sighing.

“When are you going to start dating him?” she asked suddenly making Seo Jun speech less. Dating? Why was everyone mentioning something about Jae Jin and her dating?

“Mom, Jae Jin is like a brother to me. There is no way that I can date him.” she said after a long pause.

“Ok, should I call him then?” Seo Jun could already imagine the face her mother was putting as she occupied her free hand with something.

“No, Mom! There’s no need for that. I’ll find someone, don’t worry about me.” Seo Jun said thinking about how ridiculous her mother's comment had sounded. They began to say their goodbyes and promised to talk the same time the following week.

“Dating Jae Jin,” she said to herself. It didn’t sound extremely terrible but it didn’t give her the chills she hoped she would feel when thinking about dating a guy. She had to admit though, Jae Jin would be a great catch, putting aside all the quirky and annoying things she knew about him. He was a much better catch than Hong Gi, thats for sure! But she just couldn’t get herself around the idea of dating Jae Jin. Besides, he probably didn’t even feel the same way about her, she had invested too much time into their friendship to ruin it all now with a stupid suggestion that could lead him into having false ideas about her feelings. How could she ask him if he had feelings for her without him thinking she had feeling for him? She rubbed her temples and her phone vibrated in her hand. A text from Jae Jin that read: Meet me at the lobby in an hour, dress nice.

It was now 6:30 in the afternoon, she had wasted her whole day lounging around her apartment. She got up quickly and began to get ready just like he had instructed.

.

.

.

Jae Jin patiently waited as he sat on a couch in the lobby. He had told Seo Jun to meet him an hour and fifteen minutes ago. A couple of more minutes passed by and he heard heels clicking against the marble floor near the elevator. He didnt even looking, not expecting Seo Jun to be wearing heels. Suddenly a woman stood in front of him. He had been looking at his phone, leaning his elbows on his knees. He slowly looked up, staring at her shoes. She was wearing red highheels, the ones that showed all the toes and only had a little strap keeping the shoe under your toes. They were at least four inches tall. She had caramel legs, long a slender, they looked so smooth it seemed she had smeared them with cream for weeks. She was wearing a white dress shaping her body perfectly and coming right above her knees. The dress was not revealing, but showed enough to have you wanting to see more. Jae Jin took his time taking in all of the beauty standing before him.

When he finally reached to look at her face, it took him a few  minutes to realize who he was looking at. Her thin shoulders, exposed. Her arms carrying a black coat for the cold air that awaited them outside. Her hair fell around her shoulders in half waves half curls, and her lips curled up, stained in red lipstick. She was wearing just the perfect amount of makeup she needed to show off her natural beauty that he apparently had never noticed before.

“What are you staring at? Lets go,” Seo Jun said as she turned and started to put on her coat. Jae Jin shook his head as if that would make all his thoughts about what he had just ad could go away. How had he not noticed how beautiful she was before? The more important question: why did he feel the urge to kiss her.

“I dont even know where we are going. What did I get dressed up for?” Seo Jun asked as she held her hand out over the curb of the busy street to hail a cab.

“A friend of mine is throwing a party. He said we could bring people. I know that if I hadn’t told you to come, you would have stayed home and done nothing all day,” he said as he tried to fill up his lungs with as much cold air as possible before sitting in an enclosed spaced with Seo Jun. Where were all these feelings coming from? Had they been there all along without him even noticing?

“Are you feeling ok? You look sick to your stomach,” Seo Jun said as she placed a hand on his arm and interrupted an internal war that had just begun inside his head. He shyly moved his arm so her hand just touched the hem of his shirt.

“Yeah I’m fine. I just haven’t eaten in a while,” he lied quickly as he opened the door of the taxi for Seo Jun. The car ride was short, much more excruciating that it needed to be.

.

.

.

Hong Gi sat back in the little booth off to the side of the small club. He had been there for 20 minutes and he already wanted to go home. As he debated with himself for what felt like the hundredth time he saw a girl in a neon pink dress reaching the middle of her thighs, black stilettos and a black fur looking scarf draped around each arm and around her back heading towards him. Exactly what he needed to keep him in the club for a little while longer. He smiled the way he always did when he was around a girl he wanted to flirt with. It was his signature smile for his fans when he was on stage.

"Hey, you seem a bit too cute to be sitting here by yourself," she said as she shifted from one foot the other.

"You seem a bit too cute to not be sitting next to me," he said scooting over to make some room for her. The girl smiled brightly but didn't realize how empty his words were. Hong Gi draped an arm around the top of the booth right behind her shoulders and began his typical flirting style. He would ask for her name, she obviously knew exactly who he was; he would ask if she wanted a drink and would order another one for both of them; then they would make some more small talk and put in some y suggestions that he would never actually act upon, then the party would begin to come to a close and by this time the girl was probably a bit too drunk to realize he was sending her home with friends and not to his apartment like she had suggested.

Just as he's about to order a drink for the neon dress girl his eyes land on the couple entering the club. It took him a few seconds to realize it was Jae Jin and Seo Jun. He felt his stomach do a little flip at the sight of Seo Jun, she looked absolutely stunning. More beautiful than the last time he had seen her, a little over three weeks ago. He forgot who he was sitting next to or that he had a waiter waiting for an order. he got up and headed over toward the couple to greet them.

“You guys came!” Hong Gi sounded more excited than he intended. Seo Jun looked him over and only bowed her head in greeting. Jae jin shook Hong Gi’s hand and got right to ordering drinks.

.

.

.

    The night progressed much better than Seo Jun had expected. Jae Jin kept her occupied and Hong Gi’s presence didn’t annoy her as much as she had thought it would. She had gotten tipsy enough to accept Jae Jin’s request to dance. He knew her too well. They headed towards the dance floor and began swaying to the music. The new Shinee song “View” was playing loud on the speakers and she took advantage of being a bit tipsy to show off what she had learned from the music video.

“I love this song!” Seo Jun said to Jae Jin as she curled one arm around his shoulders to bring him in closer so he could hear what she was saying. She released him to see his expression and he just smiled. He tapped her on the waist to motion her to come in closer. The touch sending electric pulses all the way to her toes.

“Hong Gi is close friends with Min Ho. You should ask him to introduce you.” Jae Jin said as a wide smile plastered on Seo Jun’s face. They kept dancing until they were covered in a light blanket of sweat and went back to their seats to order another drink. Seo Jun took this chance to look Jae Jin over and have a silent debate about her thought earlier that day. She took him all in, his thin face, his black hair that looked blue in certain lighting, his thin top lip that stuck out a little over his bottom lip, and the way he laughed. The more she thought about him the more she felt like her mother’s comment was ridiculous. How could she date Jae Jin?

She let Hong Gi buy her another drink even though she felt like she was getting to her limit. She finished up the little she had left and started off on the new one that was placed in front of her.

“Wow, you can really take your liquor,” Hong Gi said as he watched her her lips. She was very past tipsy now and not afraid to be looked at. There were very few times she had ever drank past her tipsy point. She didn’t see the point of losing control over her own body just for the taste of liquor. She looked him over and smiled. Content to be making a mark on him.

“Yes, I can hold my liquor, quite well actually.” She placed down her already half empty glass and steadily got up to go to the bathroom. As she headed towards the obvious and yet blurry bathroom signs, she felt a hand land on the small of her back. She turned to find Hong Gi standing behind her. She gave him a confused look.

“I just wanted to make sure you didn’t get lost or something,” he said as he gave her back a little push towards the bathroom. Seo Jun watched him carefully as he took a stand directly in front of the bathroom door. She went inside and took her time, waiting for him to get bored and leave so she wouldn’t have to walk back to their seats together. As she was opening the door of the bathroom Hong Gi pushed himself off the wall and right then is when Seo Jun’s foot managed to get stuck right on the ledge, right at the doorway of the bathroom. She saw everything happen in slow motion. She saw herself propelling forward arms flailing out in front of her to land on the person she knew very well was the last person she wanted to land on. What she didn't expect was how fast she was falling and how little distance there was between her face and his. She closed her eyes as if she could open them and be standing in her room alone and safe, but unfortunately her soul desire to be somewhere else was clearly not dear enough because a thump made her open her eyes, and she realized that the thump she had felt was their lips crashing into each other hard enough to make them both wince in pain.

His lips, to her surprise, felt a lot smoother than she had ever thought possible. She closed her eyes completely in shock at how completely amazing his lips felt. They were soft and full, especially the bottom lip. She managed to stand straight, her eyes still closed and their lips still touching. She knew she had to back away as soon as possible but she decided to deliberate the pros and cons. She could leave his lips right now and pretend nothing happened, or she could kiss him and enjoy the moment, blaming it solely on the alcohol later on.

She decided the second option was the best, given the fact that she did have quite a lot to drink. She let him kiss her, slowly at first, moving his head to the other side a few minutes later and deepening the kiss by placing his hand on her waist pulling her closer to him. They were inches away from each other, close enough she could smell his quite expensive cologne and a little bit of sweat from being in such a crowded place.

She thanked herself for taking the precaution of putting on extra deodorant as she dropped her clutched near their feet and tangled her hands in his hair. She started slowly tracing her fingers in and out of his soft locks. He bit down on her bottom lip lightly, letting his teeth linger, barely even touching her lips. She took this as an incentive to grab a chunk of his gorgeous purple hair and pull, enough to make his head tilt back and get a moan from the back of his throat. She opened her eyes looking down at his lips.

“Shall we continue?” she said looking up at him through her long lashes.

“You just read my mind,” he said as he flipped them around so she was against the wall now. He pushed himself against her leaving her with very little space to maneuver much of anything. He shifted his head slowly to the side and began by kissing everything except . He pecked each corner of her lip quickly before she could kiss his lips again. As he began to come around her jaw she lost it. His hot, quickened breath from all the kissing, tickling her neck. Right before he reached down to kiss her neck, she grabbed his, now wrinkled, shirt around the collar, forcing him to look at her.

“Before you kiss my neck and make me ing undress you right here, I want to make something clear, I’ve read enough about you to be convinced that this happens often for you, I am completely convinced I do not like your personality. We could stop right and pretend nothing happened, if this does happen, no one… will ever… know," she said loud enough so he could hear but it came as just a whisper.

"Well, it looks like you've been reading the wrong articles, I haven't gotten laid in over 5 months," he said tracing the tip of his nose from the tip of her earlobe all the way down to her clavicle, taking advantage that she had closed her eyes to give her a quick right over the skin of clavicle.

"You're ing lucky I drank more than usual." Seo Jun gripped him by the shirt and pulled him behind her as she headed for the exit sign at the end of the hall.

.

.

.

Hong Gi’s head made a thump against the wall when Seo Jun crashed into him as they came in through the apartment door. She was ing his shirt as soon as the front door closed.

    “Do you live with anyone?” she breathed into his neck as she took his shirt off his shoulders.

    “No, I live alone," he said as he shifted them so she was against the wall, once again. She took advantage and put one leg around his hip. She could feel him into her inner thigh, ready to go. They went like this, bodies bumping into one another, drunkenly against walls until they reached his room. That's when pieces of clothing began to fly. He quickly managed to get her dress over her head and heels out of the way, only parting their lips as fabric got between their faces. He stopped, she opened her eyes immediately, upset by the lack of kissing from his part.

"I have to say, fantastic underwear choice today," he said with a smile on his lips as he took a step back and took in her matching cheetah underwear with pink lace around the edges and straps, "As much as I like them, they have to come off."

She tried to hold back a laugh unsuccessfully; giving in to his, now notable, charm. She let him lay her back on his bed, bodies touching in every way possible, lips never losing contact. She listened to every breath he took, memorized every touch he made over her skin as it sent tingles all the way to her toes. She was content he was taking everything nice and slow but he seemed to be losing his patience and took matters into his own hands. It was mere minutes until she began to see stars and his breath came in ragged and short.

.

.

.

Hong Gi plopped down next to her on the bed, panting from all the exercise they had just performed. Seo Jun looked up at the white smooth ceiling trying to process why she had enjoyed having with Hong Gi so much. Maybe it was the fact that she knew she shouldn’t have kept kissing him at the party, or the fact that she hadn’t gotten laid in over 7 months, after she had broken up with her boyfriend when she mentioned she wanted to return to Korea to teach. Either reason she had enjoyed their time together too much for her liking and began sitting up in the bed, using his sheets to cover up her very body.

    “What are you doing?” Hong Gi asked as he sat up and rested himself on his elbow, not bothering to cover anything up like Seo Jun.

    “I’m trying to get my clothes back on so I can get going, what else does it look like I’m doing?” she asked a bit too harshly, in one hand, a fist full of bedsheets in the other. Hong Gi winced as he let her words sink in.

    “You don’t have to go, Seo Jun. This apartment is always empty. Besides, it’s 3AM, it’s not safe for you to go home.”

    “Okay, but it’s weird if I sleep here. Especially after I told you I don’t like you right to your face.”

    “I’ll pretend you didn’t say anything. You’re actually a lot sweeter when you’re getting ed,” Hong Gi said as he very shamelessly laid on his side and opened his arms invitingly for Seo Jun to go back to bed. She stood there wrapped in his bed sheets for a few more seconds, convincing herself that the worst was already over. They had seen each other , they had ed shamelessly, there was nothing else more embarrassing that could happen. He was right though, it would be dangerous for her to go back home, still a little bit tipsy and dressed the way she was. She, very cautiously, laid back in his bed on her side not facing him, leaving almost a whole foot of distance between them.

    “You have all the covers, Seo Jun. I’m getting cold, and if you don’t share you’ll freeze. Come here,” He said as he quickly closed the gap between them. She was sleepy before but now she was wide awake with him cuddled up behind her. He draped one hand around her waist and found his way under the covers. He snuggled his left arm under her head and bended it back so his forearm was placed lightly on her forehead and his hand was dangling over the side of her head. His chest was pressed right up to her back, his legs getting tangled with hers.

    “Are you comfortable?” Seo Jun had not moved one single inch, surprised at how inviting he had been to actually sleeping with her, despite the mean things she had said to him that night.

    “Oh yeah, I’ve been wanting to do this since I first laid eyes on you.”

    “ert.” She said as she shoved her shoulder back to hit his.

    “That’s one of my favorite words in Mandarin.” He said giggling sleepily into her hair. With that Seo Jun began to fall asleep as Hong Gi her hair.

.

.

.

    Hong Gi had the tendency to always sleep in, unless he had a schedule or he had gotten laid the night before. It being one of these mornings, he was awake by 8:30am. He woke up with Seo Jun still wrapped in his arms sound asleep.

    “Hong Gi- Hyun!” He heard coming from the kitchen. Seo Jun shifted next to him. He softly pulled his arm from under her head and quietly got out of bed to look for pants. He opened the bedroom door, looking back to make sure Seo Jun was still asleep.

    “Hong Gi! Where have you-” Hong Gi quickly cupped a hand over his Seung Hyun’s mouth.

    “What the are you doing here so early in the morning?” He hissed at Seung Hyun, still covering his mouth and not bothering to move it to get an answer. “I have a girl in there and she’s still asleep, I would appreciate it if you would keep your voice down so the first thing she wakes up to isn’t your idiot face!” Seung Hyun nodded in agreement and raised his hands in surrender. Hong Gi headed toward the front door, getting as far away from his bedroom as he possibly could.

    “Jae Jin called this morning asking if any of us had seen Seo Jun leaving last night from the party. He found her purse with wallet and phone inside. When he went to go return it this morning, she wasn’t in her apartment. Have you seen her?” Seung Hyun asked Hong Gi, worry plastered all over his face. Hong Gi gulped, he had never been a great liar.

    “Um, no. I haven’t seen her… Why would you come here anyway?! You couldn’t have just text me about it?” Hong Gi asked barely making eye contact. Seung Hyun squinted his eyes at Hong Gi and looked back towards his room.

“Hyung… did you sleep… hold on… is that Seo Jun in your room?!” Seung Hyun said much too loud for the very quiet apartment.

“Hong Gi?” Seo Jun called from his room. Hong Gi grabbed Seung Hyun by the shirt and pushed him out the door.

“Hyung, hyung! It’s her isn’t it?” Seung Hyun said excitedly in the hallway of the apartment building.

“You tell anyone, I swear to god, Jesus himself won’t be able to find you.” Hong Gi threatened as he closed the door. He quickly walked towards his room and popped his head through a small crack of the door.

“Hong- Gi, who was that?” Seo Jun said as she rubbed her eyes.

“Uh… it was just the guy from the main desk downstairs. Remember how I couldn’t find my keys last night? He was bringing them back to me. He found them in the elevator.” He quickly lied, glad Seo Jun wasn’t accustomed to the fact that he couldn’t lie. He did have to talk to the guy at the main desk though, he had no idea where his keys were.

“Oh, um ok. Let me get dressed and I’ll be out of your hair.” She said as she wrapped herself in his covers once more and began to collect various items of clothing off the floor. Hong Gi watched her, amused as she stumbled around the room still a bit asleep. The only thing she was missing was the bra he had complimented last night. He knew exactly where it was but decided to let things play out.

“Where the hell…” Seo Jun stood up in frustration and let out a sigh leaning her head back. “Bingo.” Hong Gi thought to himself. Her bra had some how managed to end up hanging from the fan right above his bed. She looked back at him, he could tell she was trying to hold back a smile.

“How-”

“Don’t worry about it, just focus on what happened as that bra disappeared.” He headed towards the bed to try and unlatch the bra from the fan. He had to give a couple of jumps to finally get it down for Seo Jun.

“I would really like it if we could have breakfast together,” Hong Gi said as he handed her the bra.

“Hong Gi, I don’t think that’s such a great idea.”

“Give me one good reason why you can’t have breakfast with me.” he said as he shoved his hands in his pockets, waiting for her reply.

“First of all, I would have to go to breakfast in a night dress and high heels. That’s not exactly appropriate. Secondly, I have to get back to that club to find my purse.” She said trying not to notice at how great he looked in just pants.

“I can go to Forever21 right down the street and get you some clothes. I won’t be more than 20 minutes, promise, and Jae Jin has your purse.” He said as she began to scramble for some shoes and shirt.  

“Jae Jin has my purse? How do you know?” She asked trying to put on her underwear while trying to keep the sheets wrapped around her. Hong Gi didn’t answer her question and headed towards the door.

“I’ll be gone for 20 minutes, make yourself at home. The pups are in the other room.”

“Puppies?! You have puppies?” She had dropped the bed sheets thinking he was on the other side of the door. She turned to see him looking at her.

“You know you’re beautiful right? Inside and out, all I hear from the guys is how much they like you,” Hong Gi said said as he placed his hand on the edge of the door, “Don’t even think about running away, unless you’re planning on walking all the way home in 60 degree weather.”

“You’re being so mushy, It’s scaring me.” Hong Gi smiled at her feisty remark and disappeared . Seo Jun stood alone in his room, listening to herself breath. What in the world was she doing? This was crazy. He was the worst. She had decided she would stay far away from him. Why had she slept with him. Why was she not home yet. Why did he get his way to have breakfast with her. She was in his house. Still in his room. She quickly put on her bra and . A quick memory came back about Hong Gi complimenting her matching underwear as he kissed her neck.

.

.

.

   

    Hong Gi came home at exactly 20 minutes with a whole outfit ready for Seo Jun. He took advantage and asked the main desk about his keys. Luckily they had them in the lost and found.

    “Seo Jun?” he called out as he placed his keys on the kitchen counter.

    “I’m with the pups!” He headed towards the pups room, and found himself with a beautiful Seo Jun sitting criss cross on the floor in her underwear playing with his three pups. He smiled to himself and enjoyed what was happening.

    “I brought you the clothes.” He said sheepishly

    “So you don’t want me to walk around half ?” She said as she uncrossed her legs and leaned back on her hands.

    “Trust me, that is definitely not why I’m mentioning clothes.” He said as he gave her one look over. It was getting harder and harder not to try and reenact everything from last night.

“So, why are you mentioning clothes?” she pried again, this time letting one of her bra straps fall. He looked away this time. If he had to look at her one more time he was going for it.

“I really need you to get some clothes back on, unless you want me to do everything I did last night.” He heard Seo Jun laugh nervously behind him. She got up and took the bag with her. Hong Gi took a few minutes to calm down what was now having a mind of his own in his pants.

“Drinking cold water will help your little friend. I'll pay you back for the clothes by the way." Seo Jun said from the doorway.

“You have two minutes to get dressed before you end up again.” He kept his eyes closed and counted to 60 twice before he headed for the kitchen.

.

.

.

    Seo Jun held on to her head as she headed towards Hong Gi’s room. "What am I doing?!" She screamed at herself. First, she stayed to sleep. Next she let him see her and call her beautiful. After that she let him buy her clothes. Now, she was asking why she had to wear clothing. Why was she doing this. Just because he was sweet once and he had ed her so incredibly last night did not mean that she liked him. There was no way her mom would approve. Why was she thinking of her mom. She shook her head trying to get ahold of herself. She quickly got dressed. Not even bothering to inspect the items except when she looked in the mirror in the bathroom. Hong Gi had bought white skinny jeans with red high top converse and a red long sleeve shirt that came right down to the edge of the jeans. He actually had really good fashion sense.

"Hey, did everything fit fine?" He asked from the entrance of his bedroom door.

"Uh, yeah, everything fit perfect. How did you know my size?"

"Well I had my hands on you half of the night... Let's just say I got lucky." He laughed as she headed towards the front door.

.

.

.

    “Here we are,” Seo Jun said as she turned to face Hong GI.

    “Yeah, here we are,” he tried to hide his sadness by smiling at her. He had such a great time at breakfast, even as she looked over her shoulder a thousand times.

    “Remember what we talked about. No one knows about what happened last night, no one knows I ate breakfast with you. No one. Ever. Pretend it never happened. Better yet, once I’m out of sight don’t even think about it,” she said as she made emphasis with her hands.

    “Memories are what lasts the longest in this world, Seo Jun.”

    “Do me the favor and erase those memories, I don’t want the boys to think I like you or something.”

    “Would that be a bad thing?” he said, trying to keep her out of her apartment for as long as he could. He had no idea when he would see her again.

    “I don’t want to talk about this. You already walked me to my door, like you wished, you should leave before Jae Jin sees you and starts asking questions.” She began to open her door using the passcode.

    “Let him, I’ll tell him myself,” he teased, knowing she would turn around and give him a stare that promised murder.

    “Don’t. You. Dare,” she said through her teeth. She finally got her door opened and stepped in to the other side, looked back at Hong Gi, gave a short wave and closed the door.

.

.

.

Jae Jin looked at the purse on the kitchen and back at the door. He had been sitting here for over 30 minutes trying to figure out where Seo Jun could have gone. He had called everywhere he thought she might be and no one had seen her. He was beginning to get worried. He heard shuffling in the kitchen.

“Oppa, where is your ramen pot?” Ha Rim said from the kitchen.

“Cabinet over the sink,” he said without hesitation. He leaned his head on his hand. Ha Rim had come home with him from the party last night, right after he had found Seo Jun’s purse lying by the bathroom he decided, since he was going to be alone for a little while longer, he might as well enjoy himself and flirt a little. That flirt had gotten him a girl from the company to come home with him and was now cooking ramen for lunch. Last night had been pretty spectacular, mostly given the fact that he hadn’t gotten laid in quite a while, which much to his surprise had made his “wanting to kiss Seo Jun fiasco” make complete sense now. He had just needed to get laid. Just as he was about to call Hong Gi himself to ask about Seo Jun, there was a knock on the door. Jae Jin scrambled to answer it, praying it was Seo Jun. He almost cried as he saw his best friend standing all in one piece at his door.

“Thank God you’re okay! Where the hell have you been?! Do you know how crazy I’ve been looking for you?! I had all the boys running around trying to find you! I called everyone I could possible think about and no one had seen you!” He was actually screaming now, realizing how tedious it had been to call at least 20 people in 2 hours.

“I kind of passed out and Hong Gi was there but he was pretty drunk too so he just got a cab and took me to his apartment and I crashed on his couch and then I had some errands to run so thats why I took so long,” she lied quickly, making a mental note to text Hong Gi about the lie.  Now she was in trouble, she didn’t even have his number to text him that she had said she was in his house. Now, she had to ask for his number and it was going to seem even more suspicious.  

“Do you mind giving me Hong gi’s number? I have to thank him for last night. Nothing happened to me.” She said, still standing in the hallway.

“Oh, um, sure. I kind of have a girl over… so, here’s your purse, I think your phone still has battery.” He handed her purse. She took out her phone and waiting for the phone number to be said. He said the number and they exchanged goodbyes.

.

.

.

    It had been a week since Hong Gi had taken Seo Jun home and 6 days since she had texted him about telling Jae Jin she had been at his apartment that night. He had been counting. He took this to his advantage and kept texting her, much to his surprise she replied every time. He tried to make all the conversations cheerful and funny, sending her a variety of videos and pictures he knew would make her laugh. She always replied, a little short for his liking but she was replying, which is all that counted for him.

Jong Hoon had sent a message to the chat requesting all the guys to get together and practice for once. He decided to go since he had been absent for the last 5 practices. All the boys were already in the band room when Hong Gi got there, they were all practicing on their own.

“Hey guys!” Hong Gi said once he was through the doors. He was in an exceptional mood today.

“Someone got laid, didn’t they?” Jong Hoon said not even looking up from his guitar.

“I wonder who it is this time,” Seung Hyun said giving Hong Gi a wicked smile.

“Shut up, she would kill me if I told you.” Hong Gi said as he looked around their practice room at the new pictures the managers had chosen to display from their new album.

“You mean Seo Jun would kill you?” Min Hwan said from behind the drums. Hong Gi immediately turned and glared at Seung Hyun.

“I told you not to tell!” He yelled and headed towards his band member. Seung Hyun laughed and jumped away from Hong Gi’s flying fists.

“You entrusted the wrong person,” Jae Jin said between laughter and dodging the two boys fighting.  

"You think I would tell him something like that, willingly?! He showed up at my house when you couldn't find Seo Jun," Hong Gi said as he leaned against the wall trying to catch his breath.

"I can't believe she didn't tell me," Jae Jin looked down at his guitar, silently offended Seo Jun hadn't told him about her little run about with Hong Gi.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, she hates my guts. She just went home with me because she was and a little drunk." Hong Gi said, barely even blinking.

"Any girl would hate your guts," Min Hwan whispered from the back.

"Why don't you go wax your sunflowers again, Minari." Min Hwan touched his pecks over his shirt, he still held a grudge towards Seung Hyun for telling the guys he had hair around his s.

"So she hates your guts, you clearly like her, and she's Jae Jin's best friend, you never ceases to amaze me, Hong Gi. You're always getting in the strangest kind of trouble," Jong Hoon said adjusting his guitar strap around his shoulder one last time. Hong Gu slumped into his seat at the sound of this.

"I've been texting her this whole week, she still sounds like she hates me. Jae Jin-ah, what do I do? You know her the best, tell me stuff I should do.” Hong Gi sat up and faced Jae Jin as if knowledge would come pouring out of Jae Jin.

“Do you want her to hate us both after she finds out that I’ve been giving you secret information about her? Just let her be, I will tell you this, if she slept you she likes a little part of you, even if it’s just your face, she likes something about you." Hong Gi gave him a smile and thanked him, excited that he had something to hold on to.

"You guys have to promise me she won't find out. She'll think I told you. She tends to believe things the way she sees them."

.

.

.

    Jae Jin headed for the usual coffee shop across from his apartment building to an apparent emergency best friend meeting Seo Jun had called. She had sounded a bit worried and conflicted on the phone and that worried him but he tried not to pay too much mind to it so he wouldn’t freak himself out. Maybe he was overreacting and she just wanted to tell him about the other night with Hong Gi.

    “Hey Seo Jun,” he said as he came behind her and made her a jump a little in her seat. She gave a huff and made her hands into fists of anger. He laughed, amused by her reaction towards his very casual and normal hello.

    “Hey, I’m sorry if you were doing something important but this has been going around my head forever and I had to talk to you about it,” she said as she cupped her coffee in both hands.

    “No problem, you know I’m always here for you.”

    “Okay, well recently, this is so dumb and I’m sorry if I’m wrong and I’m even more sorry if I’m right, but recently multiple people had been suggesting that we date and for a little while I thought about it and I thought I had feelings for you and then after the party I realized how dumb it was and now I don’t have feelings for you, you’re just my best friend whom I love so very much and I’m sorry I couldn’t keep that inside anymore.” She covered her eyes and breathed. He smiled amused at how quickly she had managed to spill everything.

    “Don’t worry, I thought the same thing when I saw you all dressed up for the party and turns out I was just and needed to get laid.” He confessed, hoping it could help ease her discomfort to know that she was not the only one that had felt weird.

    “Ew Jae Jin! When did you get so erted?”

    “Well, let me think… Maybe when my balls dropped and I realized ‘Hey, women are attractive, I like them.’ or maybe it was that time-”

    “Okay, okay. I get it. Youre a man, I’m glad we were able to get that off our chests and we’re fine now, right?”

    “Yes, we’re fine. Is there anything else you would like to talk about?” He said as her phone rang. He was able to read who was calling her: The idiot, was the name of the contact and Jae Jin knew exactly who she was referring to. She let out a sigh and locked her phone.

    “I’ve been wanting to ask you for a favor. Do you have any really attractive, single friends?” Jae Jin said as he took a sip of his tea.

    “I’m not going to set you up with any of my friends. I refuse to be the middle person. If anything goes wrong I’m the one that has to deal with both of you and I really don’t feel like it.” She said not even bothering to look up at him from her phone, replying back to The idiot.

    “It’s not for me, dummy. It’s for Min Hwan and Seung Hyun. They haven’t gone out in a very long time and I’m worried they’re going to get traumatized or anti-social in a few more weeks.” He laughed at his own joke and sat back in his chair.

    “Oh, okay. I’ll see who would be willing to meet with them.”

    “Could you not say they’re FTIsland though? Just so they don’t come for the fame or whatever, you know how people are, no offense.” Jae Jin said realizing what he had said when it was already too late.

    “Of course, because I hang out with crazy people and all they want is fame, but I was going to do a blind date kind of thing.”

    “Oh! When you guys go on the blind date take Hong Gi with you, he’ll love to see what goes down with the guys.” Jae Jin said subliminally getting a date to happen for Hong Gi, he had felt a pang of guilt after he told him he wouldn’t give him any kind of information. He felt guilty towards Hong Gi for leaving him out in the dark and felt guilty towards Seo Jun, so many years of friendship, he really wasn’t planning on throwing it all away for giving Hong Gi some information he could figure out on his own if he pried deep enough. Jae Jin decided to investigate some more.

    “So Hong Gi slept with this girl the other night, and she isn’t giving in to his supposed charm,” he rolled his eyes when he said charm.

    “So?” Seo Jun asked still looking down at her phone.

    “So, the boys sort of made fun of him but he really seems to like the girl.”

    “Okay..” she slowly looked up at Jae Jin.

    “I’m just saying. I thought it was interesting, he’s never pursued a girl as much as her,”

    “He probably wants her because he knows she doesn’t like him.” Jae Jin sighed at her response. Definitely not the direction he was hoping the conversation would go in.

    “Well, what if he’s being sincere and he really likes her but she’s so hard headed that she never gives him a chance and she gives up something really, really, really, good for herself?” he questioned, hoping she wouldn’t catch on to anything.

    “Well… maybe you should sit down and talk to her,” she said slowly, putting her phone down and finally taking a sip of her coffee.

    “Nah. She probably won’t listen, I’ll just be wasting my time.”

    “You never know. She might be willing to give your thought some consideration,” she said folding her hands and leaned forward. Jae Jin decided this should be a good time to drop the subject before she actually found something out and it turned against Hong Gi.

    “Just promise me that you’ll take Hong Gi with you, he’ll really enjoy watching Min Hwan and Seung Hyun be awkward around girls. , now I want to go,” he said taking another sip from his tea and trying to change the subject smoothly.

    “I can’t make any promises but I’ll try, I don’t think I’ll be able to stand him for too long.”

    “He’s not that bad. He might seem like it on TV and on interviews but he’s a really chill guy, you should get to know him, you might actually like him in the end,” Jae Jin smiled to himself in triumph, he felt a little smug at how well that had turned out, apart from the almost catastrophe he was in two minutes ago.

.

.

.

    Seo Jun applied the last dot of lipstick she needed before heading out the door to that triple date she had arranged for Min Hwan and Seung Hyun. Her little talk with Jae Jin a few weeks before at the coffee shop had helped her see Hong Gi in a different way. She still regretted sleeping with him because now he wouldn’t leave her alone but it was slightly more tolerable given the fact that Jae Jin had said he actually liked her. Deep down she knew she liked Hong Gi but she refused to let herself admit it, even in the privacy of her mind. Jae Jin was right, he really wasn’t that bad once you got to know him but she still didn’t want anything to do with him because at the end of the day he was Hong Gi and he would probably move on to the next girl once he got bored with her. She didn’t want to give in to the chance of getting herself hurt and ruin a friendship with the rest of the guys if things went south. Even though she replied to his texts and was a little bit friendlier she tried to keep a barrier to protect herself and her friendship with the rest of the guys.

Seo Hun finally made her way to the lobby and was surprised to see Hong Gi waiting for her by the main desk. He hadn’t seen her yet so she took this chance to give herself a break and took him all in. He looked fantastic, today out of all days, just her luck. He had gotten his hair dyed, purple again but he had left his roots black. He was wearing round sunglasses, with a black button down shirt and blue jeans with so many rips and tears they looked they would disintegrate at the slightest touch.  He turned at the sound of her heels on the floor and gave her a wide, toothy grin. This was the first time they were seeing each other since they had breakfast together.

“Hello, beautiful as always,” he said with a little bow of his head. He looked at her from head to toe and smiled at himself.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to come pick me up.”

“I know, but I wanted to. This is our first date, I wanted to be as much of a gentleman as I possibly could,” he cooed extending his arm to her. She scoffed at his remark and ignored his arm.

“This is not a date. Jae Jin asked me to bring you along because he knew you would enjoy watching Min Hwan and Seung Hyun be awkward around girls,” she started walking to the front door.

“Admit it, it’s a date,” he said sounding a little sad.

“It really isn’t. We’re just going to dinner with some friends who happen to be going out on dates, I’m there to make my friends feel comfortable, you’re there to probably torment your friends.” Seo Jun felt a little pang of guilt but couldn’t exactly pinpoint why.

“Well, I’ll try my very best to make this feel like a date and when I drop you off at your doorstep, you let me know if it was a date or not. Deal?” he stopped in front of her, making her look at him and extended his hand to shake on it. She smiled and took his hand in hers.

.

.

.

Min Hwan and Seung Hyun were a complete mess of nerves. Min Hwan hadn't spoken more than a hello and Seung Hyun wouldn’t stop talking about his dog. Both of Seo Jun’s friends were trying to make the best out of the night with the little resources they were given. They both behaved exactly as Seo Jun had asked, especially when they first saw the boys, being big fans of FTIsland. They both kept it in their pants and pretended like being part of FTIsland was just a job. Seo Jun was very pleased with her friends. They hadn’t given her anything to worry about all night. She only had to focus on saving the conversations for the boys.

“I have an idea, why don’t all the couples split up so they can get to know each other better?” Hong Gi said as they finished up their dinner. Seo Jun turned to look at him for the first time since they had left her apartment building. He looked back and gave her a wink.

“That sounds like a great plan!” Ri Min said, she was sitting next to Seung Hyun, already anxious to get up and start her own private conversation with him. He paid their part of the check and went off. “Couple one down!” Seo Jun thought as she watched the couple walk off, so close their arms brushed each time they took a step.

“They look so cute!” Seo Jun said, forgetting she was with Hong Gi and her internal conflict to not give him any kind of acknowledgment all night.

“I think we’re going to head off as well, Seo Jun,” Hye Soo said as she winked at her. Min Hwan paid their bill and sheepishly stood up right behind Hye Soo. He gave Hong Gi a thumbs up as they left the restaurant, walking just as close as Ri Min and Seung Hyun.

“I didn’t think things would go so well for them,” Hong Gi said taking one last bite of the sushi he had ordered.

“Okay, here is my share for dinner. I can take a taxi back home,” she said as she began to take out her wallet. He dropped his chopsticks and put a hand over hers. She looked up at him for the first time all night.

“I told you this was a date, you could either make things easy for me or I could fight it out with you. Either way, this is a date,” Hong Gi said sternly, his hand still over hers. She kept looking at him as she put away her wallet.

“Why?” was all she could manage to say. His voice had been so deep and firm, it had caught her off guard.

“Because I like you. I’ve been trying to let you know since that fantastic night together but you’re so focused on what you read about me that you won’t let me show you who I am,” his eyes showed exactly how sincere he was being and Seo Jun was feeling even more guilty about judging him before actually getting to know him, “Just get to know me, if you still don’t like me after that, I’ll understand and there won’t be any hard feelings. I just need you to get to know the real Hong Gi, not the Hong Gi from the articles or TV,” he looked at her and took his wallet out, like if everything he had just said wasn’t a big deal or meaningful in any way. He paid their bill and headed for the door, she fought to keep up.

“Are you mad at me?” she finally asked as they began to walk.

“I’m not mad as much as I’m hurt,” he said hands in his pocket.

“Okay, if I admit this is half of a date, will you stop being all emotional?”

“Full date or no deal.”

“Take me to see a movie and it’s a date.” She said, not believing what she had just suggested.

“Deal!” he said smiling, forgetting whatever was troubling him and grabbing her hand to make sure she didn’t get left behind.  

.

.

.

    Hong Gi sat back in his chair, cheerful and grateful So Jun was being a little bit nicer. He knew there was a heart in there somewhere. He had half dragged her half pushed her to the movie theater in the same small they had eaten dinner at. Luckily it was a Tuesday night and there were very little people at the mall. He bought two tickets for ‘Cinderella’ and quickly got popcorn and a soda, fighting with Seo Jun the whole time about not buying her anything. After a lot of arguing in line and in front of poor cashiers, they made their way into the movies and took their seats toward the back.

    “You’re impossibly annoying,” she said as she sat back into her chair and crossed her arms.

    “Those poor people must think we’re a six year old couple that doesn’t know when to stop arguing. If it makes you feel any better, I’m sorry for going against everything you told me from the restaurant all the way to our seats,” he said handing her popcorn and the soda.

    “They do not think we are a couple. They think we hate each other, which is true!” she said accepting the popcorn and soda instinctively. He smiled and said nothing. He watched as her eyes widened at the fact she was still arguing with him and accepting stuff he had bought. “Things are working just fine,” Hong Gi thought to himself. The rest of the previews they sat in silence. Hong Gi sat still in his seat, occasionally reaching over to grab some popcorn.

    “You can have it on your lap. I’m not going to eat,” Seo Jun said as the movie started. He shook his head and kept his eyes on the screen, reaching over to get popcorn from her side. That was all the contact he tried to have with her. Their arm brushing when he reached over to get more popcorn. He had to fight with himself constantly to not pull a move on her. He really wanted to hold her hand or be all cool and wrap an arm over her shoulders, but he knew she would freak out and never want to see him again. Instead, he tried to keep his head together, even if he felt all his blood rushing when he thought at how close they had been a few weeks ago in his room. How she had let him do things to her, that now she wouldn’t even admit. He silently hoped she thought about that night as much as he did.  

    After the movie he turned to her and smiled. He waited for her to say something but nothing came. The credits ended and she continued to sit there in silence. He joined her, waiting for her to decide when to get up.

    “Why are you acting like this?” she suddenly asking, making Hong Gi look over at her.

    “Because... this is who I always am..” He said slowly, making it sound like an obvious answer.

    “You didn’t even try to pull a movie, and you had so many chances.”

    “I told you, I wanted to you to meet the real Hong Gi, not the one you think you know from the interviews and TV.”

    “Okay… Take me home please.”

.

.

.

    Hong Gi waited until Seo Jun had her keys in the door to ask her if she would admit tonight had been a real date.

    “So, remember how I was going to try and make tonight feel like a real date and you had to tell me if it was or not? What did you think?” Hong Gi shoved his hands in his pocket and shrugged his shoulders a little. he was more nervous than he could have ever imagined he could be in front of a girl.

    “Well, if I say no you’ll pout, if i say yes you’ll take it out of proportion, so I’ll go with half and half.” She opened her door and stepped inside.

    “If I kiss you it’ll be a no, right?” Hong Gi said, trying to see how far he could go before she cut him off.

    “Definite no. Goodnight!” Seo Jun said as she began to close her door.

.

.

.

    Seo Jun leaned on her door and closed her eyes. Their triple date had gone a lot better than she had expected for all three of them. Ri Min and Hye Soo had both texted her about how great their dates had gone after they parted. They were each planning another date for this weekend. Seo Jun smiled at herself, thinking about how the boys had been so extremely awkward and yet they were still able to get second dates. Seo Jun felt her phone ring in her purse.

    “Thank you for tonight. I had a great time. I really hope you let me ask you out on another date later on," Hong Gi had sent. She locked her phone and leaned her head against the wall again. What was she going to do. Things were getting out of hand and the more she saw him or got to know him the more she started to like him, even if he ended up being a player. There was something about him that she liked and found extremely intriguing. She couldn’t pin point if what she liked about him was the fact that she had never been with anyone like him before and the thought of being with someone as crazy as him and as wild as him turned her on or something, all she knew was that she was digging him. She made her way to the her bedroom and started getting ready for bed, thinking of something appropriate to reply.

    “I had a nice time too. About a second date… It would all depend on the time you ask but don’t get too happy about it yet.” She hit send and put her phone on silent so she couldn’t hear him replying with something adorably gross.

.

.

.

    Seo Jun headed for the doors of the the studio, the same ones she was forced to walk through for the band's last photoshoot.

    “Seo Jun-ssi, good morning,” FTIsland’s manager greeted. Seo Jun tried to hide her surprised face by taking a little bow in the direction of the manager. How did he know who she was. She had never introduced herself directly, let alone talked to him. She kept walking, remembering her way to the dressing room. She knocked lightly at the door and watched how some staff stopped their work and took quick glances at her. She knocked once more before getting a little impatient and opening the door herself.

    She sung the door open, a little harder than intended and inside was Hong Gi, with a pair of boxers in his hands. She could feel her eyes widen and her cheeks flush with embarrassment. He smiled and leaned on his right leg.

    “We meet again,” he said as he stood there, unmoving and still very .

    “Sorry!” Seo Jun quickly closed the door again, “What the !” she screamed. She could feel her heart beating at . The door suddenly opened behind her and she felt an arm drag her into the room. She didn’t have enough time to react and was dragged into the dressing room.

    “You didn’t have to stay outside you know.” Hong Gi said from behind her.

    “Please tell me you’re dressed.”

    “You’ve already seen me , there’s nothing for me to hide.” She could head a smile in his tone.

    “I would rather you didn’t bring that up,” she said in almost a whisper.

    “Ah! So you do think about it! I would have thought you would completely deny that you slept with me.” Seo Jun kept facing the door and she let out a sigh. It had happened, there was no way he would let it go now.

    “Yes, it happened. Yes, I occasionally think about it, but not for the reasons you think. I still can’t believe I actually slept with you,” she said a little too coldly.

    “Ouch.. Well, now that we’re sharing experiences, I really liked sleeping with you and if you don’t mind me adding-”

    “Yes, I do mind. I mind very much.” Seo Jun cut him off, fearing what he would say next.

    “Well, I was going to say we should go have lunch. Why are you still facing the door? I’m dressed already,” he said as he grabbed her shoulders and spun her around. When Seo Jun turned to face him all she could think of doing was closing her eyes.

    “Why! You’re still !” Seo Jun screamed and turned around again, covering her eyes.

    “Oh my god, you’re so cute!” Hong Gi said as he laughed. He laughed so differently than the way he had giggled before. This new laugh made her heart flutter. He sounded like he was genuinely laughing and enjoying himself. She smiled without wanting to, she couldn’t believe she was proud of making him laugh the way he was.

    “Okay, Okay, I’ll change. I’ll let you know when to turn around,” She could hear him ruffling around the sofa.

    “Liar. You're probably going to fake it again, ert,” she said remembering she had called him a ert the night they slept together. She smiled at herself at the thought of them in his room.  She had lied to him before. She thought about that night a lot. A lot more than she liked to admit to herself and every time she ended up smiling like an idiot. She heard a bit more of ruffling before Hong Gi spoke again.

    “Okay, you can turn around now.” She did as she was told and turned to face him. He had a silly smile plastered from ear to ear. She looked at him with squinted eyes.

    “What…”

    “Where do you want to go for lunch?” He said sitting on the couch and putting his shoes on.

    “I never said I would go to lunch with you.”

    “Well, if you don’t want me to say that you walked in on me to the guys, I would suggest you go with me to lunch.” he said as he got up and faced her. Stepped a little closer than Seo Jun would have liked.

    “You wouldn’t-” she began to say.

    “You know very well I would,” he said with an evil smile. There was a little twinkle in his eye. He seemed to be enjoying this too much.

    “You wouldn’t, you would have said something about the other night already, and as far as I’m concerned the guys don’t know, right?” Seo Jun crossed her arms and tried to keep back a nervous audible gulp as Hong Gi stepped closer.

    “If it was up to me, I would have boasted about having slept with you. The only thing stopping me is you. You would never forgive me,” he said as reached up to Seo Jun’s face and pulled back a strand of hair behind her ear. She felt shivers go down her spine and the room spun for a few seconds. She tried to keep her cool and looked at him in the eyes.

    “Well…” she couldn’t find anything else to say. he took a step closer and she could smell his cologne. It was a different one from the night they had spent together. She felt his eyes bury into her face, she felt like the only person at that moment.

    “Well… Where do you want to go to lunch?” he said cooly, not moving.

    “Could you move back a little bit?” She tried to make it seem like she was uncomfortable. She took a step back but bumped into the door. He took a step forward and smiled. Why did she feel like it would be a great time to kiss him. She felt the same way she had back at the party when they kissed in front of the bathroom. He lifted his hand and placed it on her cheek. She felt her breathe get caught in .

    “Why are you getting so nervous?” he whispered tilting his head down. Seo Jun cleared trying to muffle her heart beat, she could feel it ringing in her ears. Hong Gi moved forward slightly, looking down at her lips and keeping his hand on her cheek. No matter how much Seo Jun could deny it to herself, all she wanted him to do was kiss her. She wanted to feel his lips again, she wanted to feel his breath in the same places and she wanted to watch him grow hungry for her. He was merely centimeters from her face when he suddenly moved back and smiled.

    “I know where we can eat, you’re going to like it.” He grabbed her by the wrist and opened the door to drag her on behind him.

.

.

.

    Hong Gi drove, ignoring Seo Jun the short car ride to the restaurant. His master plan was taking flight and he was not backing down now. His first trial step was complete: test the veracity of all the times she said she didn’t like him. So far she has been lying. If she really was uncomfortable she would have moved him herself. She wouldn’t have stood for his stupid games. He could already hear her giving him a whole speech about how he had to keep his personal space. He giggled to himself, causing Seo Jun to look over at him. She had not said one single word the whole car ride. Hong Gi parked and got out the car, going around to her side to open her door. He didn’t usually act so much like a gentleman but he didn’t want her to try and escape her lunch with him by sitting in the car.

    “You’re really going to like this place. It has some American foods, I don’t know if you’ve eaten anything American since you got to Korea. I’m sure you must miss it,” he said as he lead their way into the restaurant. Once they stepped through the doors a host was ready to greet them. The host giggled once she had a good look at Hong Gi, clearly one of his fans. She tried to get his autograph and he very kindly gave it to her, right after asking her to treat him like any other guest but to please sit them in a private section of the restaurant. She shyly agreed to his request.

    “So, what do you miss the most about the U.S?” Hong Gi said once they were at their seats.

    “Well… I do miss the food. Even though my mom cooked a lot of Korean food at home. At school I had the school lunch.” Seo Jun answered. She seemed to be fidgeting and fighting to find the right words.

    “I was thinking, every Thursday my middle school friends and I get together and play some pool, you might be a bit busy, but if you want to come you’re welcome to come.” He picked up his menu and began to scan each section.

“Let me ask you something, before we extend today any further, what was that back at the studio?” Seo Jun looked down at his hands, keeping eye contact from a minimal to none.

“What are you talking about?”

“The whole you coming into my personal bubble and then backing up like if nothing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Seo Jun,” Hong Gi said successfully suppressing a smile. He was purposely making her talk about it and it was driving her nuts. The waitress came then and asked what they would be ordering. They both said their selections and when the waitress was gone a long pause caused Seo Jun to speak up first.

“So what did Min Hwan and Seung Hyun think of the girls I set up for them?”

“They won’t stop talking about how great a dating life is, I’m beginning to get jealous.”

“Is that why you tried your luck back at the studio?” Seo Jun pried, still not giving him full eye contact.  

“If you really want to find out you’re going to have to wait,” Hong Gi finally whispered just as the waitress was returning with their drinks.

.

.

.

    Seo Jun decided, after much thought and deliberation, that Hong Gi was equally as annoying as he was breath taking. She could not stand to be near him and deal with his stupid boyish charms, and it annoyed her how at the same time she wanted to kiss him, despite his revolting child attitude. Only the mentality of a teenage boy would have pulled a stunt like the one he pulled in the studio. How could he get her all flustered and then not deliver. If he was going to kiss her, he might as well go in for what he had promise. What was she thinking, he hadn’t promised anything. She was glad he didn’t kiss her, that would have made the situation a lot more uncomfortable for the both of them and the she was going to have to deal with the feelings afterwards and no, things were better off the way that they were even though he shouldn’t have gotten so close. She gripped the side of her head, completely overwhelmed with the thoughts of that morning and the way they made her heart jump.

No one would approve of them being together anyway. They were polar opposite, they would never get along. It was better if she kept her distance from him, even if his lips were the best thing she had ever felt. Even if deep down she wanted to laugh at most of the jokes he made. She did think he was funny. She thought he was hilarious just didn’t want to deal with him getting more cocky in the relationship they had. Seo Jun felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, she cleared and answered.

    “Seo Jun-ah! Where have you been?! I’ve been texting you all day!” Jae Jin half yelled and half laughed into the phone.

    “I was running errands. Why, whats up?” She said trying to speak loud enough for him to hear her.

    “The boys are at my house, if you want to join us just come up.” He hung up the phone just as she heard Seung Hyun scream something about a goal. Seo Jun looked at her watch and realized she had been leaning against her front door for 20 minutes thinking about how much she hated Hong Gi and how much she still wanted to kiss him. This guy was going to make her go completely insane, she just didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She quickly went to her room, picked something different to wear, changed, and headed out the door to the fifth floor of her building. She could hear the boys from down the hall, when she walked up to the door she knocked and after no one heard her she tried her luck opening the door. Of course, it was locked. She put in the passcode Jae Jin had forced her to memorize and again no luck. She tried calling Jae Jin and no answer. She laughed at herself, leaning against the wall of the hallway and closed her eyes.

“He changes the passcode every three months.” a voice said from her right. She kept her eyes closed. She had forgotten that Hong Gi would probably be coming over to Jae Jin’s house as well. She stayed just as she was, deciding his voice didn’t sound as sweet if it wasn’t paired with his beautiful face.

“I know the passcode if you want,” he said. She could feel him a little bit closer than necessary again. She brushed it off and sighed.

“What’s the catch?”

“There wasn’t any, but since you want one, you have to come with my friends and I on Thursday.” Seo Jun bit her lip, hating herself for not thinking before speaking.

“I’ll figure it out.” She swiftly turned toward the door before opening her eyes and ended up crashing into him, managing to tangle her feet in the process. Hong Gi extended his arms, catching her, not before she managed to grab his shirt and bring him down with her. Thankfully Hong Gi didn’t lose his footing. Seo Jun ended up cradled in his arms, handful of shirt in her hands and Hong Gi’s face centimeters away from hers, second time that day. This time, Hong Gi didn’t have a playful hint in his eyes. If he were to move just a tiny bit he could kiss her.

Apart from everything she thought about today and how much she told herself he was not what she wanted, she didn’t back away. She didn't even lose her grip on his shirt. He looked down at her lips and without hesitating he leaned in the rest of the way, placing his lips on hers softly. Seo Jun felt her eyes widen, she thought about pushing him away and exploding in his face but the softness of his lips kept her still. After a few seconds Hong Gi shifted his head, kissing her this time. Seo Jun froze, searching for something to tell her to push him away, but instead the only thing her body told her to do was kiss him back. Right when she had decided to roll with whatever would happen next she heard a door open.

“Seriously guys. Get a room.” a more than familiar voice said. Seo Jun opened her eyes to see Hong Gi smiling like an idiot. She pushed him off and straightened herself to face the opened door. Jae Jin, Min Hwan, Seung Hyun, and Jung Hoon were standing, watching them with teasing smiles. Seo Jun felt her cheeks get red. She wasn't sure if it was rage or pure embarrassment.

“It wasn’t anything. I fell and Hong Gi was just helping me up.” Seo Jun said quickly.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to explain yourself to us.” Min Hwan said as he put a hand on Hong Gi’s shoulder.

“I swear, I’m a clutz. I fall all the time. He was just helping me up.” Seo Jun said, trying to clear herself of any future embarrassment this incident would produce. If the boys didn’t believe her now they would hold on to it forever and bring it up at the least expected moment.

“The more you try to find excuses, the more we’re convinced of what we saw.” Jae Jin said as he stood next to her and gave her a hair a little flick off of her shoulder.

“Besides, we all know you guys have ed.” Seung Hyun said giving his shoulders a shrug. Seo Jun snapped her head to look at Hong Gi. She could feel her ears burning with anger and her hands turning into fists. Hong Gi’s eyes widened as he looked at Seung Hyun. Min Hwan’s mouth fell open, Jae Jin and Jong Hoon both turned to look at Seung Hyun.

“They know-” Seo Jun began saying through her teeth and was cut off by Seung Hyun putting his hands on her shoulders, wedging himself between Hong Gi and her. She looked up at him.

“This was all my fault. I came to Hong Gi’s house that morning and I guessed correctly because I know when he’s lying and then I was the one that told all the guys. I know he didn't want us to know because he knew how embarrassed and uncomfortable you would get. Don’t get mad at him. It’s my fault. Hit me or do whatever you were going to do to him.” Seung Hyun said everything so quickly that it took Seo Jun a few seconds to process everything he had said.

“No offense to any of you but this is between Hong Gi and I. I need to talk to him alone.” she said looking down at the floor and placing her hands on her hips as the four boys made their way inside the apartment. Hong Gi looked at the floor and opened his mouth to say something but Seo Jun spoke first.

“I can’t believe you hid that from me. They knew all this time, they were probably cracking jokes about it all this time, and you didn't tell me?” Seo Jun felt more offended than anything else.

“Hold on, you’re getting ahead of yourself. The only time we talked about it was when I found out they all knew because of Seung Hyun. I told him not to tell anyone, plus I didn’t tell him directly. He was talking so loud, you were still sleeping and I know you would have been extremely embarrassed if he saw you at my house.”

“But you didn’t tell me. Don’t you think it would have at least polite to tell me something like that?”

“I was thinking more about how you would feel rather than what was polite or not,” he said taking a step closer to her. She shook her head and smiled sarcastically.

“Were you expecting me to not find out, things to go smoothly for you and you’d have another night with me?” she laughed at her statement, questioning how she could be so stupid.

“No, Seo Jun. Listen to me. That night for me, wasn’t something I take lightly. I really, really enjoyed that night but I’ve enjoyed getting to know you a lot more than sleeping with you. The guys found out by means out of my hands. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you-”

“I was starting to like you. I can’t believe you didn't tell me.” She was up against the wall again, Hong Gi standing right in front of her. He uncrossed his arms and leaned against the wall with both arms extended, hovering over her.

“ I like you. I’ve liked you since you called me a ert that night together. I have liked you since and the more time I spend with you the more I like you. That is not going to change. Doesn’t matter how much you tell me you don't like me, how mean you are to me, or how much you try to ignore me because I know you like me back, it might only be a little bit but I know it's there,” he said as he got closer and closer to her face.

“I don’t want to get hurt,” she blurted out. She bit the inside of , cursing at herself for being a blabber mouth.

“I don’t plan on doing that, I don’t want you to run into anything either or feel pity. But I won’t stop telling you I like you nor will I stop trying to get to know you.” he said coming in a little closer to her. Seo Jun let a little sigh escape her. Her mind screamed to make him move but everything else told her to bring him in closer. She felt her hands twitch toward his shirt.

“ it.” she said and she moved the little distance that was left to reach his lips.

.

.

.

    “This guy… He has a gift I tell you.” Jong Hoon said as he turned away from the peep hole at the door.

    “What’s going on?! Did she hit him?! I want to see, hyung!” Min Hwan whined from behind Seung hyun.

    “No, they’re kissing. I don’t know how he does it. He can take the worst kind of situation and turn it into the best kind.” Jong Hoon said as he peeked through the peephole again.

    “Hyung! Why are you the only one that gets to see?!” the two younger boys complained from behind him and Jong Hoon only lifted a stern finger to quiet them down.

    “Because I’m the leader of this band. Relax, you little s and leave them alone. Go finish your game.” Min hwan and Seung Hyun had no other choice but comply with their leaders orders. Jae Jin stood on the other side, laughing about how immature they could be sometimes. He sighed and looked at the floor.

    “Are you ok?” Jong Hoon said as he came to lean against the wall with him.

    ‘Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just a little worried about all of this,” he replied with a little wave of his hand pointed to the door.

    “Why… You have feelings for Seo Jun?!”

    “No no, nothing like that. I’m just worried that if things don’t go well, how their relationship will turn out to be, how all of our relationships will turn out to be. Hong Gi is my hyung and Seo Jun has been my best friend for almost nine years.”

    “Don’t think about it like that so soon. We dont even know if it’ll turn into anything. Just give it time. If that happens you decide what’s best.” Jong Hoon patted his shoulder and headed for the living room to the yelling boys completely invested in their soccer game.

.

.

.

    Hong Gi didn’t know in what time they had arrived to Seo Jun’s apartment. All he knew was that she was kissing him back and with each kiss she tried to close the gap in between their bodies. She opened the door, without ever losing contact with his lips. He followed her in, still kissing and closed the door behind him. She pushed him against the door and started to lift his shirt running her hands around the rim of his pants. He broke from her, she opened her eyes whining from the lost of contact.

    “Do you really want to do this? We don’t have to. We can wait.” he asked, trying to make his voice as soothing and honest as possible. The last thing he wanted was to make a wrong move and have her hate him forever. Everything he had said back in the hallway, he had meant.

    “You’re right, we should probably wait it out a bit and see where it goes. But today is not one of those days,” she said as she pulled his shirt over his head. He kissed her once his face was free of fabric, turning to push her against the door this time. She draped her arms around his neck, hoisting herself up and wrapping her legs around his waist so he could carry her to the couch. He laid her down on the couch, trying to pull back again to double check she was ok with everything, this time she held on to him both hands on his face, keeping him in place. He shrug his shoulders without protest.

    Their time together this time was different. He was in no rush, no worry about whether she would hate him in the morning, if this was really what she wanted, or if the guys would find out. He took his time, undressing her, running kisses down her freed skin. He focused on her, and only her; never motioning for her to please him. He went slow, taking her in, every inch of her, little by little until she was covered in a light film of sweat, exhausted, her breath coming broken. A smile creeped on her lips as he laid down next to her, brushing a hair behind her ear.

    “Dear god. I don’t think the last time was that great. Wow. Holy cow, wow,” she said as she covered her eyes with her hands.

    “Yeah, last time we were both pretty uncoordinated, and we hadn’t fought, make-up is always sweeter,” he said through a wide smile. He searched her face, wondering what she was thinking. She closed her eyes and turned to lay on her side.

    “Do you want me to leave?” he asked running a hand through her hair.

    “Not if you keep doing that.” He scooted closer to her, providing his arm as a pillow and his chest for warmth. She fell asleep not before wrapping an arm around his waist.

.

.

.

    “Jae Jin-ah! I gave you the code in case of emergencies! Not for you to come in whenever you want. What if I had been ?” Seo Jun yelled as Jae Jin made his way to her closet. She had been sitting in bed on her computer, studying for a class. Jae Jin opened her closet, rummaging through it, pulling all her dresses to the side, looking under her shoe boxes, finally turning around to face her.

    “Where’s your suitcase?” he said.

    “Why do you need my suitcase?”

    “I need you to start packing. Pack summer stuff,” he said beginning his search once more.

    “You want to tell me whats going on? Why do I need to pack anything?” She put her laptop to the side and climbed out of bed, trying to get him to look at her.

    “Ugh. Why do you ask so many questions? FTIsland is going on vacation and all the boys said they wanted you to come, especially Hong Gi. Except I forgot to tell you and now the flight is in..” he checked his watch and let out a sigh, “two hours, so we have to get moving.”

    “What do you mean trip… I haven’t bought any ticket. I haven’t heard about this-”

    “Seo Jun. Look at me, the ticket is bought for. I don’t know where we’re going either. I just know you need summer stuff and it’s a five day trip. Please pack up, I’ll meet you in my room in 40 minutes.” He left before Seo Jun could ask anything else. Seo Jun took a deep breath and cursed at Jae Jin for conveniently forgetting to tell her about a whole vacation. Like if he didn’t see her every day, how could he forget to tell her about a vacation. She took out her suitcase from her guest room and began taking her summer items out. She began digging, packing everything and anything that was summer related. She sat back, debating if she had over packed, finally deciding it was better to be over packed than to have to buy clothes later.

    When she was finally done, she made sure she wasn’t leaving anything behind. She walked out her door, still cursing at Jae Jin for making her go through this. When she got to his apartment, everything was upside down. The whole apartment was a mess. Clothes on every single furniture piece, toiletries scattered all over his suitcase, cups and napkins all over the living room, and her favorite, a basket overflowing with dirty laundry.

    “What the hell happened in here?” She said as she left her suitcase at the door and made her way through what seemed like a frat house, not a 23 year old man’s apartment.

    “Packing. Help,” she heard him say from somewhere in the house. She began picking up items of clothing from around the living room and collecting them on one chair, not knowing what was clean and what was to wash. She picked up the cups and napkins, wondering how he could be okay living in such conditions.

    “Jae Jin, where are you?” she said as she placed the last cup in the sink. They might be best friends but she was not going to pick up after his laziness.

    “In the dressing room!” he said from the far left end of the hallway. She giggled at the memory of him boasting about the fact that he had a whole room in his apartment dedicated to his clothes when he had finally bought his own apartment. He was better than Seo Jun at being a girl.

    “I’ll go help you back once I’m done here,” he said folding pink swim trunks into his suitcase. She sighed and took a seat next to one of the many heaps of clothing on the floor.

    “I’m already done packing, I was hoping we would be leaving by now.”

    “I’m almost done, just have to pack a few more shirts.” He grabbed almost a drawer full of shirts and placed them in his suit case. The stack of shirts towered over the rim of the suitcase and when he tried to close it, the zipper wouldn’t close over the side where he had placed the shirts. She heard him curse under his breath and watched how he quickly became frustrated with such an easy task.

    “Let me do it, Jae Jin-ah,” she said giving him a chuckle and moving in over his suit case. She divided the pile of shirts evenly throughout the suitcase and it finally closed. He looked at her and smiled, pulling his luggage toward the door, and beginning to pack his toiletries in this second suitcase.

    By the time he was done the flight was only an hour away and they still had the cab ride over to the airport. They both quickened their pace down the hall for the main desk and their phones rang, receiving calls from worried band members. They finally made it to the airport, running to the gate number on Jae Jin’s plane ticket as they followed security to avoid fans. Before they got out of the taxi Jae Jin made Seo Jun wear a mask and sunglasses.

    “You always do the same thing Jae Jin!” Hong Gi greeted as he pulled his suitcase from its resting position against a pole and started walking to the gate. Seo Jun rolled her eyes, clearly hurt for his little acknowledgement of her presence. The rest of the guys walked behind him muttering a hello, trying not to offend the eldest of the band by giving Jae Jin too much attention. Jong Hoon didn’t even seem to notice, walking with his phone inches away from his face. As soon as they were in the plane, Hong Gi waited for everyone to be inside and he turned to Seo Jun embracing her in a hug.

    “I’m sorry I ignored you. I knew you would be mad, but I don’t want you to be targeted by fans. You know how they are,” he said giving her a kiss on the cheek and taking her hands in his. Seo Jun sighed in relief, glad she had been overthinking everything. The group sat down in the their seats, getting ready for the vacation. Seo Jun was still completely in the dark about any information concerning where they were going or who had paid.  

.

.

.

Hong Gi looked out of the window over Seo Jun. He always preferred the window seat and he would fight with the boys, flight after flight for it, but he had given SeoJun the preference and complied with her wishes without complaint. The rest of the boys had made audible noises in disbelief of his willingness to give up his favorite seat. He shrugged his shoulders and continued to settle himself down for the short two hours flight. Throughout the whole flight Seo Jun tried to get all the information she could about where they were going, but he had planned ahead; even asking the pilot to mention everything except the location they were going.

When the plane finally landed Seo Jun was still asking where they were. Hong Gi had confiscated her phone so she wouldn’t search up their location when she found wifi. The arguing continued up until they got off the plane and she began reading outloud in Japanese. Hong Gi stopped and watched her, as she jumped around excitedly.

“You.. you know Japanese?” he asked as she continued to jump around and excitedly announce how much she had always wanted to go to Japan.

“Of course. I’m majoring in language. I can speak five languages and I’m currently learning Mandarin, why? You didn’t know?” she said coming to stand in front of him, a little out of breath from all the jumping.

“No.. I thought I would be able to surprise you. I wanted to be your tour guide.” He dropped his hands to his side, feeling defeated.

“You still can! I’ve never been here, I’ve always wanted to visit Japan. Be my guide, please,” she came a little closer, making him look down at her. She was so close now their chests were touching. She looked up at him through her lashes and smiled. Hong Gi felt his heart beat in his ears. They had agreed to begin seeing each other 8 weeks ago, and it amazed him how much more he came to like Seo Jun. Every day he saw her, there was something new he liked about her. He couldn’t wait to get to the hotel and watch her react to the fact that they wouldn’t be giving her a room key for her own room. The best part was that all the guys were in on it.

They began walking again to catch up to the rest of the group who had fearlessly left them behind. The trip from the plane gates to their van was a lot more difficult than Hong Gi could have ever imagined possible. He had been to different countries, time after time and yet this arrival had been all the more difficult. He felt a pang of guilt hit him as he walked in front of Seo Jun, leaving her slightly behind to be blocked and merged between the staff FNC had sent with them. All he wanted to do was stand next to her and hold her hand as they made their way out of the airport to their van.

Once they were all in the van he turned to her and hugged her again, the same way he had when they had gotten into the plane. He knew that in a few hours there would be pictures of her online, angry fans asking who she was and why she was with FTIsland on their vacation. He tried not to think about all of that yet and enjoy the moment he did have of tranquility. As they arrived to their hotel he could see fans lined up outside again. He made sure this time Seo Jun was the first one out and taken safely into the hotel. He followed not far behind, making sure the securities complied with his wishes. Never did he imagine having to make someone apart from his band members got escorted safely somewhere. He loved the fact of having to watch out for someone else apart from himself.

When they were inside, away from the fans and peering eyes of the fans he put his arm around Seo Jun, her shoulders snuggling comfortably under his arm. he looked down at her, giving her a smile in return. He tried to push back the thought of her getting attacked by fans on the street or getting hate mail. He really hoped they wouldn’t have to keep their relationship in hiding for too long. He reached the counter before the rest of the guys, clearly more excited about the reaction that was about to come.

“Hello, I’m Lee Hong Gi, I called for the 2 room reservation.” He said smoothly to the concierge. She giggled and look up at him through her eyelashes. He looked over at Seo Jun and winked, trying to avoid eye contact with the concierge.

“The connecting rooms? One with two queen beds and another with a king bed?” she said.

“Yes.”

“Here are your room keys, your rooms are on the 25th floor, here is a pamphlet with more information about what we offer, and a map of the island. Oh,” she said catching glimpse of  Seo Jun from behind Seung hyun who was trying to block her view by spreading his arms in front of her and moving to cover her when ever she found a free spot, “Would you like another room for the Miss?” she asked finally, giving her a once over look and turning her gaze back to Hong Gi with a dazzling smile.

“No thank you, she’ll be staying with me,” he said grabbing the keys and map from the counter. He turned to look at Seo Jun who was frozen, hands on Seung Hyun’s shoulders, a foot behind his knee trying to make him crumble to the floor, her eyes wide and confused. Hong Gi laughed and grabbed his luggage.

“Let’s go! I want to hit the pool,” he said nudging her to the elevator.

“I can’t stay with you… It’s not-” she began to say and he cut her off by putting a hand over .

“Trust me, it’ll be fun,” he said giving her another wink before walking off, following the rest of the guys already shuffling into the elevator.

.

.

.

Seo Jun giggled as she watched Hong Gi walking to the elevator. She lifted her eyes from his right as he was turning around.

“Come on!” he called with another smile and an inviting hand. She stood there, staring at him, realizing she was in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, in the middle of summer, on vacation. She made a pact with herself. She would go along with anything that happened on this trip. She was on vacation with a guy she was getting to know and she really liked, her best friend, and 3 other guys that made her laugh like crazy. She was not going to ruin this fantastic vacation by being sour about a stupid little thing like who she would be bunking with. She smiled back at him and began walking, leaving her worries at the lobby.

When they reached their rooms, Seo Jun put her suitcase to the side and began searching the room for cool things to show Hong Gi. He came up from behind her, heading to pull the curtains apart, letting in all the sunlight. Seo jun straightened herself and opened the door to stand by the balcony in the hot summer air. She felt open in awe as she looked around at the beautiful scenery. She heard Hong Gi walking behind her putting his arms around her waist to hug her. He placed his chin on her shoulder and she leaned her head against his cheek.

“I really hope this trip is fun for you, and it makes us become closer. I’ve spent a few weeks planning it,” he said into her neck, following his sentence with kisses. She giggled and continued to look out at the beautiful city, buzzing with noise and activity.

“You guys are so gross.” a voice said from their right. Seo Jun turned to see Seung Hyun look at them from the other rooms balcony.

“Yah! When you get a girlfriend, I’ll say that too, see how you like it,” Hong Gi said releasing Seo Jun from their hug and pretending to jump over to hit him. Apart from the huge gap between their balconies Seung Hyun flinched. Seo Jun laughed at their stupidity and headed back fro the room, opening the door between the two rooms and watching as Hong Gi zipped right by her, jumping and latching on to Seung hyun’s back like a koala all the while smacking him on the back of the head.

.

.

.   

    “I dont think I can possibly wait any long, guys,” Jae Jin said as he walked in from the balcony, “It’s already 2 in the afternoon. By the time we get there they are going to be closed and we’ll have to come back to the room and entertain ourselves and I’m positive I’ll have to kill myself!”

    “The more you complain and hurry us up, the longer we are going to take and then you’ll really never get there,” Jong Hoon said from his side of the room as he unpacked a camera and a notebook. Min hwan and Seung Hyun had been in the bathroom for the past 10 minutes laughing and giggling like two morons. Jae Jin tried to make out what they were saying with no luck, their words became muffled as they tried to laugh and speak at the same time. Jae Jin heard the water turn on, one of them was brushing their teeth, he guessed. There was a moment of silence and then full blown gagging sounds proceeding with Min Hwan laughing and a thump on the floor. Jae Jin opened the door to find Min hwan on the floor and Seung hyun bending over the sink gagging with a toothbrush in his hand.

    “What the hell is going on in here?!” Jae Jin said annoyance  in his voice, at this rate they would be spending their vacation in a hotel room. Min hwan tried to get up from his fetal position on the floor but his legs buckled under him as he began to laugh once again. He looked up at jae Jin through teary eyes and tried to explain the situation.

    “Seung Hyun- Hyung.. he said… he said he would brush his teeth like I do… he was brushing his tongue too aggressively and almost threw up!” Min Hwan said through spurts of laughter. Jae Jin stared down at the youngest of the group and heard a giggle from behind him. Seo Jun was looking at Seung Hyun wipe his mouth of toothpaste, his face a clear expression of disgust and nausea. She giggled once more before walking back to her room to tell Hong Gi what had happened. Jae Jin heard laughter from the other room, he could imagine Hong Gi laughing while looking at his phone.

    “I’m surrounded by idiots,” Jae Jin said as he picked up his pool bag and headed for the door.

    “Now you know how I feel,” Jong Hoon said as he walked by him and ruffled his hair, “I’ll be there in 5 minutes, just wait for me.”

    “We’re coming, Jae Jin-ah! Wait for us,” Seo Jun called from her room, appearing with Hong Gi, dragging him by the wrist. A bag hung around his shoulder and his eyes were closed, “You can sleep by the pool, Hong Gi,” Seo Jun said pushing him forward now. He tilted back, dropping all his weight on Seo Jun, She held on to him for a few seconds and suddenly moved out from behind him, dropping him on the group. His eyes snapped open as he fell, arms flailing. he landed with a thump on his , cursing as he rolled over in pain. Seung Hyun laughed and lifted his arm giving a high-five to Seo Jun. She was the only one who could mess around with Hong Gi and not have to pay for it later. Jae Jin laughed, opening the door and letting it close behind him as he heard everyone else shuffle around for the last things they needed.

.

.

.

    Jong Hoon sighed as he watched the rest of the band members splash around the pool. He had been giving this band his all for eight years. Not once taking a break. he loved his band members, even if sometimes he seemed harsh on them. he loved how he had seen each member grow and become young men each with a special talent all their own. There were so many things he loved about each member but what he loved the most was when they all got together and made music. Music that their fans loved and enjoyed.

For a while he had felt like a terrible leader, someone who wasn’t giving the guys all they deserved. He looked over at Hong Gi who had managed to swim under Seo Jun and who was now sitting on his shoulders screaming at the top of her lungs, as if that would make him put her down. He watched as Hong Gi smiled to himself, Jong Hoon knew Hong Gi was only getting more determined to keep Seo Jun on his shoulders the more she screamed. She was finally able to lose his grasp on her legs and she fell backwards into the water, splashing Min hwan who was sitting on the edge of the pool, claiming he wouldn’t get in the water. Seo Jun’s splash had soaked him. Jong Hoon smiled as Seung Hyun creeped toward Min Hwan demanding for Min hwan to get in the water now that he was completely drenched.

“Minari, you're already soaked. Why dont you get in the water?” Jae Jin asked from the pool stairs as Seung Hyun crept closer. Jong Hoon smiled once more before getting up silently with a finger over his lips as Seo Jun turned her gaze to him. She kept a blank face and turned back to Min Hwan as if she hadn’t seen him get up. Jong Hoon stood behind Min Hwan as he spoke.

“Because, then I have to shower before we go to dinner and I just wanted to shower before bed,” he whined.

“Don’t be a baby and shower twice,” Jong Hoon said as he put he crouched down and put both hands on Min Hwan's back giving him a strong pushing sending him face first into the water. Hong Gi started laughing his ridiculous seal laugh. Jong Hoon laughed and walked back to his seat, proud of his little prank on the youngest of the group. Their afternoon continued filled with laughter and splashing until Seung hyun had complained for 15 minutes straight that he was so hungry he could eat a live cow. Jong hoon hit him behind the head as every collected their things from around the pool.

“Hyung! What was that for?” Seung hyun complained again.

“For being an annoying baby, you can't even hold your hunger for 30 minutes,” Jong hoon said heading for the doors of the hotel.

.

.

.

    “Thats it Minari, I win once more and you’re last to shower,” Seung Hyun boasted as the elevator dinged at the 25th floor.

    “This is why I didn’t want to get wet,” Min Hwan said through his teeth as he gave Jong Hoon a quick glare before the band leader hit him on the back of the head, yet again. He rubbed the back of his head and got ready for the finlay rock, paper, scissors match. The one that would determine who would shower last. Of course Jong Hoon was first, Min hwan was convinced that Jong Hoon cheated at rock, paper, scissors. There was no way that he always won. Jae Jin was second and now they had to determine who would go third and last. They all chanted together.

    “Yes! I’m third!” Seung Hyun said as he jumped waiting for Jae Jin to open the door to their room. Jong Hoon headed for his suitcase and entered the bathroom in less than 5 minutes. Min Hwan felt Seo Jun pat him on the head.

“Minari, fighting,” she said as she followed Hong Gi to their room and closed the door behind her. He closed his eyes and fell forward on to a bed, exhausted from the flight and their pool games. As much as he seemed to hate being the youngest of the group he really loved the fact that the rest of the guys took care of him and tortured him like a younger brother.

.

.

.

    “The guys are so funny. I’m so glad Jae Jin introduced me to you guys. I have 5 hilarious, fun, and awesome friends that are in an amazing band in Korea.” Seo Jun said as she walked around the room with her hands gripping the sides of her head as if she was completely amazed by her luck. Hong Gi watched her