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SIGNAL143?! … kang taehyun

SYNOPSIS. Headstrong CEO, kang taehyun leads his business venture into the world of dating with his dandy service, 'signal143', and in need of a skilled and driven secretary comes the bright-eyed secretary, passionate to support those finding new love. while the two clash in various ways, bound to each other in pursuit of new beginnings. what were taehyun to do if this metal tough ceo were to match with his new secretary by his dear, handcrafted application?

PAIRING. ceo!taehyun x secretary!fem!reader ft. txt, yunjin from lesserafim and sunwoo from theboyz

GENRE. crack, fluff, pinch of nonexistent angst

WARNINGS. profanity, !!not proofread!!

WORD COUNT. 5.2k

NOTE. no i didn't spend more than a month on this shhhhhh😦 my txtblr debut has arrived i'm pretty proud of the beginning and the attempts at humour🤥 i'm so sawry,, the end was a bit rushed bc i realised my absence from here was far too long so i scurried😤

"what if you matched with someone in the company using the application," yunjin jokes, hitting your arm in the same spot for the nth time, a scowl crossing your face as you turned to her, running down an earful of curses before she sighed and pouted, getting you to suspend your fit.

"why would you even say that," you drop, averting your focus away from the girl and to your watch striking midnight. You usher yunjin to stay the night under one condition that she clean up after herself as you left early for work at signal143.

Signal143 worked to assist others in search of their passionate lover, one true pair, and lifelong soulmate. A company whose product aligned with your best interests as you grew with a single mother who tirelessly slogged to make ends meet.

You'd made her proud, earning a corporate job as none other than the secretary of the booming service. The application checked off all and more of what you could think of, seeing it as a reliable piece and something trustworthy.

You prep your materials for the following day, slide into bed and shut your eyes with a huff. Dreamland didn't seem all too far when yunjins protruding query probed your mind to run a hundred kilometers per hour with varying scenarios that fueled your active thoughts.

Shaking your head, you set to not think about and take things that came your way with no worry as such. Let's be real, the possibility of you matching with someone from your company was less than 5%.

It's not like your luck would cash with that, would it?

Maybe, you should've recalculated the percentage because the probability dinged at first sight of your boss. "signal match 143!" echoed through the hallways of cool toned glass finished walls, goosebumps arising on your skin.

You visibly panic as your boss, taehyun, watches you with curious eyes. "good to know you use the application," mumbled the tall man, clad in a suit, a musing smile tugging on his pink, soft lips.

Observing your orbs dart from him to your phone, you contemplated checking who within the company you had unanimously paired with, "please, have a look," your boss encouraged while your sweat-ridden palms fished your phone from your pocket.

"i'd say you take them on a date and give it a try, and if possible give your personal feedback on your usage of the app,"i don't think dating in a workplace setting is appropriate though," you comment, swiping up and onto the app, the customary ring filling the rather opinionated hallway.

"why not? are you, perhaps, doubting the service?" kang taehyun raised, expected from his nickname, strongheaded-sajjangnim. The lines on his forehead proved his dedication but you felt wronged with the misinterpretation.

You'd be in trouble if you harbored opposing thoughts and didn't get along with this co-worker in specific, being your boss and the ceo, afterall.

"quite bold of you to assume, sir" you pause, fending hurt and continue reading the username you paired with mentally and then verbally, however, it came out sounding like a question, "user terry kang?"

A fellow worker gasped and panned their head towards kang taehyun, whose expression looked lost and if he were in a pickle, per se. "why?" you ask, perturbed by the shocked faces.

"summon that demon child beomgyu to my office right now. and you, follow me," spoke the tall, doe-eyed man, profusely furrowing those eyebrows deeper and deeper downward. What pissed you off was his rude choice of words, respect should be given to those who expect respect.

Maybe it comes with power? You shove the train of thought and sprint to catch up to the ceo, who was almost stomping his way there. Cute of him, you note.

With whoever beomgyu was, sat present in the well maintained office while the tense atmosphere picked at your nerves, making your exterior decay from the anxiety. You remained unaware of what happened nor what was going down.

Whipping out his phone, taehyun beckons beomgyu over, "what is this?" he retorted, calmly, unlike his brows meeting the depths of hell fire with the amount he scowled. Beomgyu jumped on sight and squealed, applauding the ceo, "isn't that great?!"

"no, you dumbass- i mean, you idiot, what have you programmed it to do," he halts, giving you a look and whispers in a hush manner, causing the man next to him to slowly pan his head towards you like those haunted emotional support dolls from horror movies the possessed hauled around.

"HER?"

A whack to the back of his head sent beomgyu wailing, "THIS IS VIOLENCE—" he exclaimed, getting cut off by what seemed like his close friend that boss, taehyun, "do you want to risk your pay," he stooped octaves lower with the question, a menacing look shining in his eyes, gazing up and into your orbs, almost daringly.

You weren't slow (for once), you put the pieces together and informed yourself in manner, tactfully planning your next move. Mirroring the menacing look, mockingly, one could say. You stride forward, your hardened footwear clacking against the marbled touched floor, "are still up for the date, ceo terry kang?"

Taehyun straightens his back, amused with your words, beomgyu giggling, "you still think its a malfunction, sir" he states, mockingly, gapping for air and continuing, "she seems like your match if you ask me." — The frown that settled on his face as he pondered over the simple incident left you in a fit of your little laughter, evident of your chuckling. "well, let's get to it, shall we?" taehyun set, turning to you with a charming grin that exuded other intentions than sweet. 

"hm?" you replied, asking what out of the number of things he could be implying. "work. today's your first day, isn't it, miss secretary,"

Oh this man is vile, cutting to the boring part already but without much of a fight, you had points to prove and marks to make even though one might say take it easy the first day. Not only was your hopeful relationship with your boss kindling but your chances of recognition in the hierarchy.

"i want these papers briefed by noon," you opened your mouth to quiz if he required anything else but he dove straight in, "oh and a cup of coffee will do, thank you very much." You inadvertently complied, handing the warm cup over to him with an unfazed expression, work was work and there's no denying it. 

"not your ideal picture of a first date, hm" taehyun commented, cautious watching the way your front turned from calm to exasperation, "first date, sir?" you grumble, enunciating the sir a bit pressed off your tongue. A dry laugh leaves his parted mouth, "you seem like the type to never been on a date,"

You clench the papers assigned to you in hand and muster a marvelling smile, firming your stance. Taehyuns eyes flicker from the tight grip on the papers to your menacing eyes, then to your coral stained lips parting with calculated breaths, "glad to see we agree in something, sir."

The satisfaction you felt as his face morphed to offence had you seeing stars of your own. He clicked in his tongue in distaste, "it's going to be a long while working with each other, i see,"

"i agree. i'll take my leave, i've paperwork to get behind," You conclude, giving his deep brown orbs one lasting gaze. 

A complementary grin accompanied your impactful greet to your boss. He was just as hard headed as the rumours state, the beauty the gods themselves sculpted but it was too bad you'd have a sour taste at his retorts in opinion and opposition. 

Though, the only things you both could settle on were being lonely asses and vision for the venture that inevitably matched and brought your two lonesome vessels together. — Weeks passed and your differences only became apparent to those around. DUring a small party taehyun decided to host for app ranking 4th on charts, the ice cream stand had many flavours to offer on such short notice, including your favourite, mint choco. 

This, however, seemed to bother him, as he stood beside you, picking up his custom cherry flavoured ice cream. The gasp that left him as you chose mint choco let a lasting impression on you, “it tastes like toothpaste. how could you possibly—”

“sir, you have a cup of cherry flavoured ice cream in hand, is that not a tad too plain?” “i like to keep things simple,”

And the other he spotted you at your desk munching away at the original style pocky, he inhaled that very irking gasp that made your head turn faster than lighting, “don’t even—”

“HOW COULD YOU CHOSE THE ORIGINAL,THE MOST BASIC, THE INFAMOUS POCKY!?” “that’s quite rich coming from someone who likes to keep it simple,”

you sneer, your bold statement followed by gasps from the myriad of employees seated at their desk out your office as taehyun bit at his tongue, retreating to his den.

This left you with your current situation, “sir, i finished reviewing and marking these documents but are you sure the conversion will follow through smoothly?”

“why the doubt, miss,” “yn would be fine, though this is a workplace setting, we have other premises to imply”

A nod prompted you to continue, “conversion from a service-based business to a hybrid business is quite the challenge given our potential partner expertising in green tea that supposedly promotes weight loss, tying us with non body positive image,”

“as much as you have a point, we’re running short on funds with the hefty loan process being dragged out and our service update has been pending for a month now. Either way, other companies are flocking to strike a deal,”

“but sir, can't we start with another product first? I feel like beginning with green tea will attract negative views,” you paused, thinking of seizing the opportunity to plug in a personal situation here, “if you want to promote the service we'll have to start fanservice."

"what." "don't act like you don't know about all the teenage girls you've bagged for being their prince,"

"and you're suggesting that I hold a fansign?! do i look like an idol to you?” "yeah, you do so make use of that handsome face, terry"

He flashed you an insane glance, sighing, “too late, they're here for the meeting,” taehyun announced, foot to heel and strode down his office, off to the door where he greeted them with a warm smile, “shall we?”

However, one of the men who stood much closer to taehyuns office than the rest frowned, sending a glare your way that had your stomach turning, “i don’t think it’ll work out though,” — The scowl present on taehyun’s face as he exited the conference room had you shitting yourself as he shot knives down towards you, glaring at you and motioning to his office merely with his recent fuelled orbs.

QUivering inside out, you step shortly after him, gulping down the massive lump in your throat, the carpeted monotonous grey flooring garnering your interest than the man that rubbed his temple hastily.

“guess one of them overheard our little banter, miss,”

Your void of a reply sent him approaching you with heavy footsteps, harshly tugging down the knot of tie, the furrow deepening beyond observed capability. All till the curve of your back hit the hard wood table, your hands scraping to the table.

“w-what do you mean,” you muster despite the frantic panic you were waging inside, his arms once limp by his side came to front you as he cracked his knuckles, his neck craning to the side to do the same. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t intimidated by his demeanour.

“oh, i don’t know, from where the conversion took a head down non body positivity image and how starting with a different product first would be better?”

The chills that ran down your spine as he repeated your previous words had you spinning a hurl of your own. Though you still stood by your words, you could’ve just blown the deal off with it as well. 

That depends, however, since you weren’t informed whether the deal was called off in the first place. You held no blame as of yet. You straightened your back and lifted your gaze to his, taking a step forward, a formidable gap present.

“well, did we strike a deal?” you attempted to sound as aloof as possible, hoping for an affirmation from taehyun. He smiled, a stark contrast between his furrow and grin.

He bent down to match your height, his hand cupping your cheek with a caress which you would have fend off but couldn’t given your arising crisis, “how cute,” he uttered and paused, the smile dripping off along his lips pressing to a line, “but, no,”

And just with that you had turned into granite staring down the eyes of a striking sculpture known as kang taehyun. “Leave,” and you did, taking to the door with such haste you hadn’t seen yeonjun, the assistant secretary ahead, crashing into the man with a thump. 

“are you okay?” quizzed yeonjun, watching you with curious orbs as to your hastened exit and your shaken exterior, “you look like you’ve seen a ghost, you should take a break,” he commented further, chuckling.

Taehyun observed the ordeal, opting to sit in his seat and front his desktop instead, having twice the amount of work to get another company onboard. It would be an understatement to say he resented you right now.

You bid a rushed goodbye and fled the scene out the building, restocking on fresh air and a clear mind on how to apologize, though an apology wouldn’t do much. — Silence was scarier on the man than you could imagine though he wasn't one for many words, the stiffness present in the air as you'd discretely set your work by his table while he bore his eyes into the desktop screen, his hand gripping the edge of any paper within reach.

After the fall through, he lacked words for you particularly, conveying messages through the assistant manager, yeonjun who said he despised the ordeal and further urged you to make amends. But that didn't sound as easy as said. 

That left you in this picture, panning open his office door a few hours past work hours as you had a report on user engagement to finish and the reasons for it's margin of customers dropping. The dimmed lights and the glare of the desktops display blaring through the jet atmosphere led your orbs to the slumped figure, his fingers resting in his hair as he laid on his crossed arms.

Your boss had fallen asleep.

You set your print on his table and moved a few others to the side, stacking them up as well. Should you wake him up or let him be? Either way his posture would surely cause spinal ache, so it'd be better to wake him.

Right? His secretary that totally blew the company a huge deal and an inclined decrease in expected funds would unsuspectingly awake him up when he retreated to slumber from exhaustion over the same deal with no clear advance?

Oh well, you weren't fired yet.

"sir," you uttered, your palm reaching for his shoulder, giving it a light shake. Taehyun lifted his head, hair messily parted, cocking his head to the side as he took in your stance in front of him.

"what's the time?" he stated, sitting up straight and off his arms, glancing at you lazily.

"11pm, sir," you replied albeit the chill that sprang down your spine as he spoke octaves lower and for the first time in around two weeks.

"why are you still at work, go home yn,"

"i thought i'd finish the report on user engagement—"

A sigh parted from his chapped lips, "i know you said you had no experience but c'mon you should really go out and meet new people," he mumbled, his hand rubbing the back of his neck, reaching for his lower drawer and pulling out his car keys.

"but sir, why would I go out and meet other people when you're my match," you responded, watching his face controt from surprise to guilt and back to his blank expression.

"i'll give you a ride home," he dismissed, loosening his tie and to his feet, waiting for you by his door to lock it up. — You took him up on the request and found yourself in the passenger's seat, sitting next to an oddly silent taehyun. "address?"

"why,"

"how do I drop you home, huh," he deadpanned and you promptly recited your address and he took to the wheel.

The blanket of stillness was anything but pleasant as his lack of response earlier ate you alive bone by bone. Feeling the tense air and the rather long way home, taehyun quipped a quick glance toward you, "whats your view in soulmates,"

"not exactly, life's not a fairytale like they narrate, per se," "why the negative tone?" he questioned further.

"my parents split not long ago, stating they 'fell out of love,' and i was heading back and forth between france and germany to meet them simultaneously, to not let either be unhappy. then i decided i was through and packed to south korea and applied for the job."

"that's one situation," "you?"

"i'd be oversharing," "it's fine, sir"

"call me taehyun, please," "right, taehyun, continue."

"realistically, no. like you said, life is no fairytale," "how is that oversharing,"

"it's sensitive info considering i run a head service to find your true love, yn, don't be conventionally controversial in this car," "mhm" you dragged, barely managing Ato mask your scoff.

The thick atmosphere was cut through the line of his ringtone, receiving the call at the red light and pulling over, "yes," he calmly spoke followed by the very violent,"WHAT?! NO!" 

You missed a smile despite the information you gathered ere, watching as he bickered with someone in the other line, the exasperated expression a fit for his adorable face. He hung up and pursed his lips turning to you with his jaw open slightly.

"will you go out with me," he paused— "WHAT?!" "no let me finish—"

"WHY WOULD YOU ASK ME OUT AFTER SAYING I WAS BEING CONVENTIONALLY CONTROVERSIAL AND TREATING ME LIKE SHI—" you halted, reading his amused mask and remembering he's the reason you get paid on a monthly basis, "you were saying, sir– taehyun,"

He liked the way his name rolled off your tongue and he'd convince himself in denial that it ended there but he'd bury for as long as possible. "I never said anything about denying soulmates, nope not a peep," he clarified, continuing to matter at hand, "there's an event this Friday night, would you be interested in joining me?"

Okay this reaction of yours bypassed the intense masking and your jaw hung open as you measly meagred, "why me," sounding shaky and your voice cracking at the lather and your parched throat. 

He searched for something by his door and handed you a bottle of water, looking at you straight in the eyes, giving you the most gorgeous,rich smile you'd ever seen, "because, you're my match, yn,"

To say you choked on your spit was an understatement. The chuckle that left him and he told you to look up and let your throat settle before drinking the water he handed you. — Friday came with you waking up queasy and all jittery, still pondering over what to wear, mentally noting to ask taehyun what he was going to wear. That Tuesday he gave you a ride home and unintentionally made you a walking mess of emotions in front of him, causing little to no changes at work.

To your disappoint— for the better, you grit and smile at your coworkers, holding small conversations and exchanging words of notice. Then came your summary to Taehyun and casually strolled in and recited the following with which meeting at what time, handing him the clipboard you gripper to briefly.

"wait, is the timing marked wrong for this meeting,"

"let me see," you mumbled and made your way by his chair, placing a hand on his table to lean over. "yeah, no it's," you paused, gripping your lower lip into the chambers of your once parted mouth.

Taehyun took that with the nod of his head, his orbs drifting to yours trained in the clipboard, a face strands of hair unintendedly covering your face and your lip held captive. The scent of your lavender perfume invading his nostrils, the trance cut short with your response, "actually, taehyun, hold on a second," you complete, your eyebrows furrowing deeper as your lip frees itself.

"taehyun?" he quired, picking at his raised brow, questioning you. You scoff and roll your eyes, "pick one, sir" you reply sarcastically, emphasising the sir at the end though you began to wonder how his name just rolled off. "and keep the date tentative, i'll check in again, either way it's not till next friday, sir,"

"taehyun," he corrected with small grin, his hand hovering to your cheek and giving it a light tap watching the way you managed to push his fingertips off and stare somewhat discreetly at his now focused face, albeit the close proximity of you two as you'd yet to stand straight l.

Beomgyu, uninvitedly barged through shouting for taehyun in a whiny tone, catching you in your little stare. Beomgyu advanced with a sprint and landed beside taehyun, who looked unbothered as the two and three others were friends from middle school.

He gave taehyun a bombastic side eye and sent a very obvious thumbs up to you, motioning to your boss who watched with a quirky smile, almost teasing you without words. You huff and retreat from his den, leaving the best friends turned coworkers to their fun. — "time to clock," uttered a voice from behind as you stilled slumped on your desk, lazily working on yet another report on the total gross margin and remaining fund. "hm?" you whiz not paying mind to them till a hand lands on your shoulder that sent you panning toward taehyun.

Your mouth parted with an 'O' springing to your soles, a few minutes left to actually clock out, "we'll have to stop by nearby to pick up clothes," he conveyed, watching casually pack up and shut off the system, some shooting your nasty looks for stealing their fantasy husband away.

Ignoring the onlookers you follow behind him, waving beomgyu bye as he excitedly cheered you on from his quarters with taehyun sighing at his antics.

The car ride to the venue was nothing noteworthy after you dazzled in an outfit that fit with your personal preference a bit too much, not revealing much and topped snow white charm with the flowy frill checks on your mental list. 

His silence left you to look out the window of the passenger seat as taehyun handled the wheel, focusing on the road ahead. 

“why’d you join signal143,” taehyun abruptly spoke amidst the stillness, gaining your lost focus, “cupid was my favourite childhood story,” you replied nonchalantly, eyes drifting to the seemingly fast paced surroundings, avoiding his curious orbs that lasted a second.

“maybe it's because i craved for something or someone to be my stability in my then feeble life and cupid would happen help me achieve that when my parents were out and about with their love life in shambles,”

“so from personal experience,” “yes, i guess you could say that. what inspired you to upbring the venture?”

“the 5 of us, high school friends, happened to think of the idea as a joke to make our pitiful lonely asses feel better, and the rest is history. it sounds insignificant, i know,” “everyone has their callings,”

With that the conversation fell flat and you remained in your thoughts of the past, “we’re almost there,”

“hm,” you responded, lacking any real reply to him, your thoughts having shifted from the past to the recent past, when you matched with your boss at work to which he simply ignored much to your distaste.

“sir,” “don’t,”

“we have to talk, i can’t play dumb anymore it's agitating,” “about what, exactly,” he asked, pulling into a stop at the venue, hand reaching to unbuckle his belt and panning to front you, perceiving the irked expression written all over.

“we matched with your application and literally refuse to address it,” you rush, in an exclamatory tone, breathing heavily with furrowed brows. His poker face remained while his gaze dropped to his wristwatch, “is that all, we’re getting late.”

Tears clouded your vision as he stepped and walked over to the passengers seat and clicked the door open, and extended his arm to you. You grimaced at his palm,"is that really you had to say," you let out slowly, attempting to blink back your threatening tears.

He initiative held your hand and pulled you up, your footing unstable as you fell forward and onto him, beside you for support. The fabric of his dress shirt scrunched up in your clenched fists. A hand travelled to your cheek and tilted towards the adoring eyes of the man that'd somewhat broke your alluding vision of true love.

"don't ruin the makeup by crying over nothing," he paused, mustering the courage to utter his next few words carefully, the knot in his throat tightening to release the word out his grip, "love," he added shakely, the latter coming out jna whisper but to be heard in the reverbs of your ear.

The gaso that overwhelmed had shock written all over you and with expectancy you listened as he remained agape. "why do you think I went as far as to bring you here as my date, yn,"

So he wasn't playing you, nor was he breaking your perception of true love but giving it a shot.

Now the thought slapped a small but hopeful grin on your front and you gazed into his beautiful sparkling eyes while he rushed to address even further, "doesn't mean I'm not angry at you for blowing the deal off," he muttered, trying to sneer at you and scoffing with little to no real meaning.

You burst into hearty laughter at his shy acts, striding into the venue, clutching his much larger hand in yours, "we have a party to attend, taehyun," you pressed, jolly filling you full as you skipped and partially hopped your way to the entrance hand in hand with the last person you expected to.

Life was fickle yet fun and full of surprises.

Taehyun spoke words of boredom to others attending as you put on a pretty smile and joined in occasionally and eventually zoned out, taking that as a chance to slip away from him and to the refreshments served.

You unsuspectingly stood among the masses, sipping on the non alcoholic drink, your eyes naturally drewp towards taehyun, resting them in him as he charmed many with his words, some infatuated with his looks and that darn cute smile he flashed.

"yn?"

You turned to your right, perceiving the man you'd swore to never see after years, "sunwoo?"

The old feelings of youth overjoyed your sober mind and the thundering clouds brought with your foresought tears and sentiments to do with him.

"you? here?"

"..." you dwelled in your daze, knocked out of it with no response to him after a long delay, he waved a hand in front of you, successful garnering your attention as an unfamiliar yet comforting hand rested on your waist and clung you to them.

"oh sunwoo! great crowd, great people, great host, of course,"

"...taehyun!" he greeted, examining his hand attached to your waist, the close proximity of the two and plastered a grin.

"how's the brand launch going?"

"the usual rookie stuff, you'd know better,"

Small talk continued and you watched motionless, your nerve ridden self picking at your nails, only glancing at either of the two rarely. As their tiresome chatter drew to a close you mustered the will to smile faintly st sunwoo and turn towards your date, Kang taehyun and flash a genuine beaming grin at him, ushering about something that crossed your mind.

Sunwoo noted the look and how you didn't turn back to see if he was looking at you for longer like you once had, the day it rained from the skies and from your very own eyes.

Dragging him out the venue you huffed and puffed in relaxation, opting to lean to the wall behind as relief filled you, "you know him?" taehyun queried, the slight amount of irritation sending massive signals your way as he raised a brow.

"i gave the same expression to any of the other guests you chatted with," you replied, to milk a further reaction from him.

"the way you stared at him looked different, like that of a sour grape.

"so you've been observing the way I gaze at people when you were supposed to pay your mind to the conversation?"

"well—"

Another dramatic gasp parted from your mouth, "so you have, and yes, he's my ex." "and not that i mind," you interjected, falling into him as you chuckled while he wrapped his own arms around you voluntarily. "you're not so annoying, i guess" he commented, faking a daddy eye roll your way.

"you're still annoying," "HEY—" "love live laugh beomgyu and his programming skills," you completed sending him furious as he whined to you about his sole position in the mess.

Love exists in many forms and this one was all thanks to signal143(and the honourable, almighty intellect beomgyu along your fortune telling star stellar friend huh yunjin).

---

skittles; hueningkai

✎𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1K+

✎𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: fluff, best friend’s brother au

✎𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: best friend!lea huening

✎𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: none (i think? lmk if i missed something)

taglist: @soobin-chois

you were scrolling through some texts on your phone when the door finally opened and your eyes locked with kai’s dark brown ones.

you smiled at him but just as you were about to greet him, he got roughly pushed away by your best friend who was also his older sister.

“move, loser.”

kai groaned, rubbing his elbow as lea engulfed you in a big hug.

“i missed you!” she exclaimed.

you made short eye contact with kai over your best friend’s shoulder before he turned around and left to go upstairs, probably to his room.

Keep reading

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[ᴄ.ʏᴊ] | 𝗳𝗹𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗶𝗿

sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: being the newest mbank mc comes with its perks - that's in choi yeonjun's case though as he gets to flirt with you on air!

ᴀ/ɴ: gn reader. this is so old it’s from the gbgb era 😭

“My darlings are here today.” Yeonjun announces with his usual bright smile stretched across his features. You watch fondly as he speaks about his team members, even if he looks quite stupid as he does so with the fake airline hat that’s a bit too big for his head.

“Right. Isn’t it your first time promoting while being an MC, Yeonjun?” You ask, recalling the scripted conversation that was printed onto your cue cards. You mentally pat yourself on the back after saying the sentence correctly and not fumbling over it.

“Yes!” He replies cheerily “Tell me something, [y/n]” Yeonjun adds.

You blink. You don’t quite remember this in the script.

“Yeah?” You reply as your free hand cards through your hair nervously. The pressure to remember your reply has your heart racing nervously. Maybe it’s a little extra embarrassing to forget your line when past MC Soobin (who was extremely good at his job) is politely stood behind you and Yeonjun with the rest of TXT.

“Do you prefer good boys or bad boys?” He asks daringly. You hear a couple of the TXT boys stifle their laughter behind cupped hands and pursed lips at the question.

Definitely not in the script.

“Bad boys, of course” You reply swiftly. Whether it was a set up to introduce TXT, you’re not sure, but you take the lead to part from Yeonjun to introduce the group.

There’s a couple whoops from behind you, accompanied by an eyebrow wiggle from Beomgyu which you caught after the broadcast (a stern message was sent to him after).

With a swift pre-introduction of the group, you slide away to reveal the five members. They cheerily introduce themselves with Yeonjun switching seamlessly between MC Yeonjun and TXT Yeonjun. It’s amazing how he’s able to switch between personas without fumbling over his words.

You’re almost so amazed that you just about miss your cue.

“Y-Yeonjun,” You stutter, jumping onto your cue “Hopefully it’s not too much to ask, but would you and your members like to sing a couple of your killing parts from Good Boy gone Bad?” You smile, hiding how flustered you are behind your mic. A couple of the members giggle lightly, catching that you almost missed your line.

With flushed faces, each member sings their little killing parts. You can’t help but smile brightly, watching as they become a little flustered when the crew cheers them on.

“집어치워 love 개나 줘 forever

피 대신 흘러 monochrome diamonds

Killed it, I killed it myself

곤두박질 부러진 날개로

추락해도 아프지 않아 anymore

I like being bad.” Yeonjun refuted his rap, exuding a confidence that you don’t think you’ll ever have. Any time an MC has asked you to sing or rap when you’re standing in the idol’s position has felt like the world has caved in on you.

“[Y/N].” Yeonjun starts once you’ve all stopped clapping. You nod, looking eagerly at Yeonjun. The devious expression on his face causes your stomach to drop.

“Since you said you like bad boys, did you hear when I said I like being bad?” He smugly asks, ignoring the bird like screeches emanating from his group (namely Kai and Beomgyu) as well as the flustered yelling of staff.

You look absolutely bewildered and the camera man takes the opportunity to zoom in on you. You stare at Yeonjun who continues to smugly smirk, but you can see a lightly red dusting begin to appear on his cheeks.

“Um…” You stutter, wrecking your head to find anything else in the script. Beomgyu is shouting and to say the least, complete chaos is erupting behind you. Not only have the group made it obvious that this definitely isn’t in the script but your reaction solidifies it.

“Anyway,” You segway, desperately trying to find a way out of the situation “Up next, The Boyz and Astro.”

The crew are still laughing as the camera cuts, even the camera shakes as the camera man tries to keep his laugh in. You let out a flustered laugh, beelining for the general waiting room.

You weave past staff, idols and all sorts of people, dodging their laughs and remarks as they had been watching the whole ordeal on the small monitoring screens places throughout the building.

It’s not hard to hear the pounding footsteps that follow behind you. Kai’s loud laugh and the general noise that follows Beomgyu ensures the thought that they’re practically running after you.

You’re swift, though. You reach the MC room and close the door over, ignoring how the staff fawn over you to fix your hair and makeup. You have probable another hour of recording and you’ve practically sweat all of your makeup off from pure nerves.

“[y/n]!” Yeonjun shouts over the sound of the door thwacking off of its hinges. You jump, not expecting the sound or Yeonjun so quickly.

“Did you have to slam the door?” You query, passing a look over your shoulder. Your hair and makeup team were silently pampering you and therefore not giving you room to move. Yeonjun takes the chance to walk in front of you so he can speak to you properly.

“You got so embarrassed, it was funny.” He smiles, laughing at the annoyed look scrawled across your brows. Your makeup artist taps your forehead, silently telling you to stop creasing. You sigh.

“I am never doing a broadcast with you again. You are so lucky that the other MC isn’t here today.” You scoff.

Yeonjun laughs “What do you mean?”

“Cause I’m going to beat your ass and no one is going to be here to stop me.”

---

pocket full of sunshine ; choi soobin

oh shit, we’re soulmates?! part one / five

pairing: soobin x afab!reader word count: 12.6k

synopsis: the last thing soobin expected was a stranger to sit beside him on the bus full of empty seats and clinging to his arm. due to a toxic ex, you beg soobin to come on vacation with you as your step in boyfriend for the week.

genre: fake relationship trope, soulmate!au, strangers to lovers, fluff, smut.

warnings: swearing, soobin and reader share a bed, alcohol, making out in public, dry humping, fingering, unprotected sex, MINORS DNI!

𖤓 soobin(1) | yeonjun(2) | beomgyu(3) | taehyun(4) | huening kai(5) 𖤓

Fake relationship trope? Are the fates fucking with him or could he simply just not read correctly?

Eighteen-year-old Soobin stared up at the acolyte standing before him, a massive smile on their face as they outstretched their arms, “The fates have spoken, my child!” 

Utter bullshit. 

Soobin has always been skeptical about this special moment all the adults growing up would talk about and be excited. 

“It’s one of the best moments of your life!” “There is something so great knowing how you’d meet your soulmate!” “It’s one of the gods greatest gifts!” 

And what god, exactly, decided to drop these “gifts” to everyone? 

But he still couldn’t help but feel even the tiniest bit of excitement to see what this fated trope of his would be. And obviously, to his disappointment, it was utter bullshit. Fake relationship? Yeah right. What a fucking joke. 

Or so he thought. 

Now at the age of twenty-three, fate really has a way of continuing to fuck everything over. Because here you were, plopped next to him on this shady ass bus going Northbound into the city and hugging up on his arm. 

Soobin tried to release from your tight grip, pulling the strings of his earphones to release the music blasting in his eardrums, and glared down at you, “Excuse me?” 

“Please, just play along.” You quickly said, pleading with him with your eyes. And that’s when Soobin noticed how badly you were shaking. 

Your eyes quickly whipped to the front of the bus, Soobin’s eyes following yours, a scoff released from his mouth following up with, “Ahh, I see.” 

You squeeze his arm tighter, “Please,” you beg again, “I’ll explain later.” 

Now what kind of guy would he be if he turned down someone so desperate?

So he forced his arm free and locked his hand with yours, rubbing his thumb over the top of your hand as he squeezed his fingers against yours, eyeing the man who now stood in front of the two of you. 

“Guess you weren’t lying,” the dark hair male said, “That your new boyfriend was waiting on the bus for you.”’

And thank the gods it worked out. 

In all honesty, you were afraid this little lie of yours wasn’t going to play out well. With your luck, you’d have a bus filled with old creepy guys and would have to make up another excuse. But thankfully your stars aligned and saw the perfect dark brown-haired male slumped in the seat and staring off into complete space. And thank whatever god was listening that he decided to play along. 

“Of course, I’d be here waiting for her,” Soobin said with a sly grin, “Can’t let her take the bus into the city alone, what kind of gentleman does that?” Soobin then reaches across the seat with his free hand and cups your cheeks between his thumb and index finger, “Can’t let my sweet bunny go off all alone.” 

Now you were the one glaring up at him as his stupid ass smug smirk grew ever wider. Did you make the right choice with this one? There were plenty of other cute guys with empty seats beside them you could have chosen. 

You dug your grave and guess you gotta lay in it. 

He finally released your face and stared back up at your ex, his eyes now narrowing, “And who are you? Sorry for my lack of manners, I just don’t recall who you are, exactly.” 

The male let out a scoff, eyes darting to the floor, “Must really be over me, YN, if you aren’t even speaking about me.” 

Ahhh, so this is what the situation is. 

You roll your eyes and lean a bit forward, clenching the brown-haired male's hand tighter, “I’ve been telling you that since you started stalking me about the bus stations, Sungchan!” 

Oh, so this guy is an asshole.

“You’re stalking my girlfriend?!” Soobin snapped, standing up quickly in the seat, you tried hard to pull him back down. You had to admit, he was playing this part perfectly. 

Sungchan held his hands up in defense, “I wasn’t stalking her! I just happened to be walking past and noticed her. If I knew she had a boyfriend I wouldn’t have even made the stop.” 

It took everything in Soobin to not roll his eyes and throw a punch. He actually hated this guy already. Like who the fuck give that as an excuse when it’s so clear he was stalking YN?

“Can the young man standing in the aisle please sit down for your safety.” the bus driver announced over the speakers. 

You glanced out the window, seeing the bus was in full motion. You didn’t even realize it started moving. 

Sungchan tucked his tongue into his cheek and nodded, “I don’t want to cause any trouble,” his eyes then whipped over to Soobin, “I am assuming you’re coming to the beach with us next week, ya?” 

At this he fell silent, not knowing how to answer his question. How could he just say—

“Of course he is,” You shrugged, “There’s still that open spot from Chaewon backing out.” 

Before Sungchan could open his mouth to speak, the bus driver once again was snapping at him to take a seat. So without another word, he moved to the back of the bus. 

You relaxed into the seat, quickly pulling your hand out of the stranger’s, “Thank you for that,” you whispered, watching as he sat back down into the seat, his eyes studying you hard. 

“I don’t know what kind of load of bullshit this is, but you’re awfully brave. I could have been a serial killer. Like Ghost Face type shit.” 

You couldn’t help but giggle at the man, turning away to face forward, “I’ll explain everything to you at whatever stop you’re getting off at,” Soobin went to protest, but you stopped him, “I need to make my lie look believable. Sungchan is a very smart man, he probably already assumes what it was I was doing. So just let me get off at the next stop with you,” you looked down at the dusty and gross floor of the bus, “He isn’t going to get off this bus until we do, I can promise you that.”

Soobin wanted to snap at how this wasn’t his problem and a massive case of baggage that you need to clean out yourself. But when he looks at you…all he can see and feel is how badly your body was shaking earlier. So he sat back in the seat and stared out the window. 

Thirty minutes of silence passed before Soobin flagged the driver to stop at the next upcoming bus stop. You quickly stood from the seat and let him move in front of you, leading the way. As he walked passed, he hooked his pinky finger with yours, pulling you along behind him. 

You both could feel Sunchan’s glare as you stepped off the bus, not once turning around as the doors of the bus closed, and the sounds of it drifted off down the street. 

Once the bus was no longer in view, Soobin dropped your pinky and shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, “Want to explain yourself now, YN?” 

Something about the way your name rolled off his tongue sent shivers down your spine, and you couldn’t decide if it was good or bad. You settled with a maybe both. 

You sighed and looked up at him, seeing his cocoa eyes staring back, “That guy,” you started, breaking your gaze from him, “Is my toxic ex-boyfriend.”

“Well, yeah,” Soobin shrugged, “It was kind of obvious, wasn’t it?” 

You nodded, “He and I broke up months ago, caught him cheating on me with one of our friends.” 

Soobin hung his head low, closing his eyes, “I’m assuming that friend was…Chaewon? Wasn’t it?” 

You hated how this male was able to piece together everything so quickly. You nod again, “As you can probably tell, my group of friends planned a vacation with each other to the beach last year. But found out he was cheating on me and welp, Chae dipped out after I  discovered she was the other woman,” you cross your arms, letting a shrug form, “I wanted to back out too, but my best friend is still going and he begged me to go still.” 

Soobin felt bad for you. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how terrible this all was affecting you. How terrible you must feel. 

“I’m a hundred percent sure he was looking for me,” you twisted a piece of string hanging out of your tee shirt, “There’s no way he didn’t know I just got off work and was heading back home. I live near my place of work, I didn’t even need to get on the bus. But he was begging for me back and I panicked.” 

Soobin believed you. Your shaking body still feeling fresh against his body, “I’m sorry this is happening to you, YN.” 

You glanced back into his eyes, seeing the true apologetic gaze in them. You shrug again, “Thank you for playing along, I don’t know what I am going to do abou—“ 

An idea hit you just then. Soobin could see the gears turning in that brain of yours. 

“No,” he laughed, waving you off before you could even speak, “Absolutely not!” 

You walked up to him, being inches away from his face, standing right up on your tiptoes, “Please! It’s just for a week and you’ll never have to see me again!” 

Soobin took a step back, needing to create that distance. His heart was racing, hands were shaking. You were literally asking him to be your fake boyfriend for a week. His trope rang in the back of his head, there’s no fucking way. 

“You’re awfully brave asking a complete stranger you just met to be your fake boyfriend,” Soobin scrunched his nose, trying to play this off, “I’m not doing it.” 

You were desperate, and you didn’t care how badly you looked it. This was the only way you could think to get Sungchan off your ass and finally get the hint that you DON’T want him anymore. So you pleaded with the man in front of you, “I know we just met, but I’ll repay you for this,” you stretched your hand out, him raising a brow at it, “Give me your phone. I’ll put my number in and if you decide to go, give me a call. We don’t leave for another four days.” 

Soobin looked away into the distance at the setting sun. He couldn’t believe he was actually considering it. 

Before he could stop himself, his hand was reaching into the pocket of his jeans, pulling his phone out, and placing it into your hands, “I’m not going to make any promises that you’d even hear from me.” 

And that was enough for you, quickly creating your contact in his phone, “All I could ask for is you consider it.” He took his phone back from you, and you waved him goodbye, “Thanks again… uhhh??” 

“Soobin,” he said, studying you as you walked backward away from him, “I’m Soobin.” 

You smiled at him. A smile that shot right to his heart. He didn’t move from his spot until you disappeared from his sight.

“You what?!” your best friend snapped, brows creasing inward as he looked at you with pure disbelief. 

All you could do was look at him, blankly blinking, “Hoon—“

“Let me get this straight,” Sunghoon said, leaning against the countertop in your shared kitchen, his face being dropped into his palms as his elbows turned red from being leaned on, “You ran into Sungchan, jumped onto a random bus and sat next to a complete stranger and begged him to be your fake boyfriend until you followed him to his stop and then begged him to continue the web of lies you dragged him into and then invited him to the vacation? YN that’s fucking stupid!” 

Stupid was one word for it. You sat back in the chair, staring down at the marble of the countertop, “I was desperate. I didn’t even know what I was doing until the words were leaving my mouth.” 

Sunghoon looked up at you and let out a sigh, “Did he even agree to go?” 

You glanced over at your phone, still waiting for a call or shit—even a text from Soobin on whether he was going, or not. Sunghoon followed your gaze down to your cellular device and let out another sigh in response to his question. 

It’s been two days since you’ve met Soobin. You couldn’t help the anxious feeling settling in your gut at the possibility of having to expose your lies once it’s time to meet at the beach house within the following days. 

“YN, you need to be careful with your—“ 

“Please don’t bring up my given bullshit trope.” 

You had to be honest, you didn’t believe in fate or tropes or whatever type of bullshit the gods “graced” the world with. Your trope, you’ve tried experimenting with multiple times and it’s gotten you nowhere. It doesn’t exist. 

Sunghoon tilted his head, “I was just saying,” he leaned back in his chair, keeping his eyes locked on you, “You’ll believe in it once it happens for you.” 

Your best friend had found his soulmate. She’s a cute girl, very witchy and into the occult things. Sunghoon calls her a hex girl and she calls him a bloodsucker. You never understood their dynamic, but they are cute, nevertheless. Their red string of fate tied them perfectly together. She also adores you and never once had a problem that her boyfriend’s roommate was a female and his best friend. Even with him having a soulmate, you still weren’t convinced. Mostly just for yourself. 

“Speaking of,” you said, crossing your arms over your chest, “Why can’t __ come along?” 

Sunghoon shrugged, “She has work. And since she took off when she and I went out to that cabin, she wasn’t able to take more time off.” 

It made sense. You were lucky your boss even let you have the entire week off for the beach. It took a lot of convincing. 

You stared at your phone again. 

“Well,” Sunghoon said, standing from his seat, “I’m going to finish watching this Sci-Fi movie about this guy in space who gets his memory wiped.” 

You raised a brow at him, “That’s an interesting-sounding movie.” 

He nodded, “I’ve seen it multiple times before, can’t get enough of it!” he slapped his hand to the counter with excitement, “The movie is in a whole time loop! I won’t spoil too much.” He smiled wide, his natural fangs on display. 

You looked at him with endearment. You truly loved Sunghoon and his geeky ways. 

He gave you a knowing look, “Want to join me? We can restart it from the beginning,” You looked back at your phone, debating if you needed the distraction, “I’ll brush your hair.” 

You jumped up from the seat and tossed your phone into your pocket, “Say less!” 

Sunghoon followed behind you into the living room.

“Fucker!! I said COVER ME!” Beomgyu screamed through the headset, nearly making Soobin fling them off his head. 

Kai’s laugh filled the headset right after, “Bro, I was covering you, I can’t help you decided to rush in and half the team was in there.” 

Yeonjun sighed then, “Unlike you idiots, I’m playing it safe and staying on the high ground.” 

“Sure,” Soobin rolled his eyes as he rushed into a building and unloaded his shotgun into the “half of team” that took out Beomgyu and Kai, taking down all of them, “If you want to call camping on a rooftop with a sniper playing safe, go ahead.” 

Yeonjun scoffs, “I haven’t died—FUCK!” 

Soobin smirked and the others laughed at the kill feed, seeing Yeonjun’s gamertag displayed at the top of it. 

“Haven’t died yet? Right. Safe? Right.” Taehyun teased him, making more giggles fill the earpieces. 

“Fuck you guys,” Yeonjun snapped, the sounds of his fingers smashing his keys in the hope of a faster respawn, “Gyu has no room to talk, homie is in a gaming unit and still has died more than the four of us combined.” 

“I’m not playing for real,” Beomgyu countered, “This is all just fun and games, baby.” 

“Then why bitch about Huening not covering you?” Taehyun countered back, “Sweats don’t yell like that when they are just having fun and games, baby.” 

Beomgyu scoffed over the mic at his friends teasing, “Old habits die hard—KAI WHAT THE FUCK!” 

“They sure die hard alright,” Yeonjun laughed. 

“Anyway!” Beomgyu cleared his throat, “Shouldn’t we actually be discussing Soobin’s situation?” 

“Oh, yeah!” Kai exclaimed, “Have you figured out what you’re going to do?” 

Soobin shrugged as if his best friends could see, “I really haven’t decided.” The truth was, he hadn’t even really given it a lot of thought. Work has been killing him lately and even when he has thought about it, it was only for a short couple minutes then he shoved it back to the back of his brain. This wasn’t his problem to fix, you got yourself into that situation.

“I totally think you should go for it,” Kai said, rushing into another building and getting shot down immediately, “Damnit! But, who knows? Maybe this will be your soullllmmmaaaattteeee.” Kai teased. 

Soobin couldn’t help but scoff, “My trope? It’s bullshit. Always has been.” 

Soobin had plenty of fair share of fake relationships to help make exes jealous on both his and the other female’s side. Random hookups for the night to play along after a drunken night out partying. Never came out to anything. This was no different. 

“Plus we don’t even know her trope,” Yeonjun added, “This very much could just be a normal “I got myself in a sticky situation, please help dig myself out” situation.” 

None of Soobin’s friends believed in soulmates or their tropes. Every single one of them thought it was bullshit. Like the acolytes picked a trope out of a hat and called it a day. 

“Well, all the soulmate bullshit aside,” Taehyun sighed, “It is a free trip. You wouldn’t have to pay for anything. Just literally show up and enjoy a free vacation.” 

Soobin raised his brows and cocked his head to the side, “That is true. Unless YN slaps me with the bill at the end of the week.” 

“Nah, I don’t think so,” Beomgyu said, using an emote as the round ended, “She told you she would repay you. I doubt she’d make Soobin pay up his half for a trip that wasn’t even his doing in the first place.” 

Soobin sighed, rubbing his eyes with the pads of his middle and index fingers. This was a hard situation to deal with. Not only would he be missing out on a whole week's worth of work—which means less money in his bank account, he would be having to call out at the last minute AND be dealing with people he doesn’t even know all because you had to lie. 

But then again—it would be a free vacation. Nothing would be coming out of Soobin’s pocket. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the loading screen as the game went into another round, his trope rushing through his mind. He couldn’t help but feel this was way too convenient. He bit at the corner of his lip, really putting thought into this. 

“Don’t think too hard over there buddy,” Kai teased, “Just say YOLO and go. It won’t kill you to go hit up the beach for a week. Plus, she said you wouldn’t have to see her or her friends after that, it would be a win.” 

Soobin nodded. He did truly feel sorry for you. Having to deal with Sungchan and even being put in that situation to begin with. Just thinking of Sungchan and what he did to you made Soobin’s blood boil. A smirk curled at his lips. 

“You know what, Kai is right,” Soobin sat up straight, reaching for his phone, “You only live once.” 

His friends had a mixture of words and cheers. Soobin pulled his headset down around his neck, found your number, and pressed the call button. He leaned back in his chair, biting at the skin on his cheek, waiting for you to answer.

After four rings, you picked up, “Hello?” 

Hearing your voice put a smile on his face, and he couldn’t explain why, “YN, It’s Soobin.” 

You weren’t sure what you were expecting when he offered to be the one to drive the two of you to the beach. But it sure the hell wasn’t what was currently in front of you. 

Soobin parked as close as he could to your apartment. He stood outside, leaning up against the front end of his pretty fancy black SUV. His hands are in the pocket of his jean shorts and his head facing off into the distance with sunglasses resting against his nose. 

Your heart skipped a beat. Why was this person you barely know making your heart flutter like this? He’s just standing here. 

He finally turned his head, looking up at you and the corners of his lips curling upward, “You going to come down or do I have to drive to the beach without you?” 

You returned his smile, “Chill out, I’m coming down!” You rushed down the stairs to see he now moved from his car to the foot of the stairs, hands reaching for your duffle bag. Normally you would have snapped your hand back to keep your stuff with you, but you let him take the bag. He took off to the side, another arm stretched out as you stepped down to the ground, his hand placed gently to your lower back as he gently moved you in front of him to walk towards his car. 

“We have a three-hour drive, so there is still time to back out of this,” Soobin said, now removing his hand from your back and placing it on the passenger side door, “If you don’t want to do this, I am giving you that last chance to take your bag from me and go back into your apartment.” 

You understood what he was doing. He was giving you a way out of having to deal with Sungchan altogether. The weight of that option was tempting, but you shook your head in a no, “Everything will be fine,” you didn’t know if you said that more for him or yourself, “Plus, Sunghoon already left for the beach. I’d be here alone and honestly, I need a vacation.” 

Soobin nodded, opening the door for you, “Well, let’s hit the road then, princess.” 

“Such a gentleman!” you teased as you climbed into the seat. 

Soobin gave you a smirk and leaned into the car, “My mother raised me right, what can I say?” 

After tossing your bag into the backseat alongside his, you both hit the road. You did have to admit, you were nervous. What if something goes wrong? Or everyone finds out about this lie you’ve conjured up? Sunghoon was the only one who knew the truth. But you were almost positive that Sungchan knew–or suspected–the truth. 

Soobin could tell you were nervous. He could see it in your body language and the hint of your voice that was slower than what it was when you and him sat on the phone to discuss plans for this entire trip. He’s only known you for a short few days, but he felt he already knew parts of you that no one else did. And he couldn’t place why that was. So he reached across to the radio, turning up the music in the hope it would ease your nerves. And oh boy did it. You were able to sink back into the seat and focus on the music. 

The three-hour drive wasn’t actually terrible. You and Soobin made only two stops, one for a bathroom break and snacks and the other for a quick lunch. Soobin also drove the entire time and wouldn’t give up the driver's seat no matter how many times you offered to drive. “I’m going on this trip for free. It’s the least I could do to make up for that part.” But did he forget you’re the one who owes him for even agreeing to this trip? 

It wasn’t too much longer before the beach came into view. You couldn’t help but roll the window down and lean your head out, taking in the sights and smells of the ocean and the sand. The sounds of the waves crashing against the sand and birds chirping as they flew by. You don’t get to come out to the beach often, so when you do, you take in everything. 

Soobin took his eyes off the road for a few short seconds to look at you then out to the ocean, “Beautiful, isn’t it?” 

You nodded, “I can’t remember the last time I got to see this view.” 

Soobin rolled down his window, letting the full sounds and smells fill the entire car. He leaned his elbow onto the edge of the window and propped his head into his palm, “The last time I was here probably had to be about two years ago? My friends and I all came for a day trip.” 

You sat back in the seat and glanced over at him, loving the small smile he had on his face, “You’re a group of five right?” You thought back to the conversation you and Soobin had a few days ago about the trip, him fully admitting his friends helped push him into even coming along, “Pretty close?” 

Soobin’s smile lifted more, “Close isn’t even the right word to describe what we all are. Brothers would be a more fitting term.” 

Hearing Soobin talk about his friends reminded you of how you felt about Sunghoon. Close wasn’t even close to being the right word. Soobin was right about that. 

Thinking about friends made the nervousness settle back into the pit of your stomach, “How are we going to pull this off?” 

Soobin’s smile faded, “You’re still worried about that?” You nodded. How could you not be? “It’s just for the week, YN. Then you can make up some story on how you got rid of me and everything will go back to normal.” 

All you could do was nod again, leaning your head back onto the headrest and staring off into the distance of the open sea. The truth was, you felt comfortable with Soobin so far, what if you want to keep him around as a friend by the end of this trip? Would he even be okay with that?

You could only hope. 

Soon enough the beach house came into view and the cars of your friends piled up around the parking station around the house. You pointed out Sunghoon’s car and Soobin parked beside it. 

Well, here goes nothing. 

You and Soobin climbed out of the car at the same time, him already reaching for both your and his bags, carrying them over his shoulder. 

Sunghoon was the first to pile out of the beach house, his arms stretched out wide as he ran towards you, “You guys finally made it!” 

Your best friend's hug gripped you tight as if he hadn't hugged you in years, “Hoon, I saw you this morning!” 

He finally pulled away, resting his hands on your shoulders, “I miss you all the time! Even when you’re right beside me!” You rolled your eyes at his separation anxiety he has towards you but still smiled anyway. You took notice his eyes were no longer on you, but locked onto Soobin who stood behind you, “That’s Soobin?” You nodded, a new fear prickling up your shine that maybe Sunghoon doesn’t approve of this even more, “He wasn’t what I was expecting.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, because what exactly was he expecting?

Sunghoon finally moved around you, reaching his hand out to Soobin, “Good to put a face to the name I’ve been hearing about lately.” 

Soobin took his hand, assuming this guy was your roommate and best friend. Soobin smiled, “Same to you, Sunghoon.” 

Sunghoon smirked and leaned closer to Soobin, becoming only a few inches away from his face, “I know about this whole situation,” Sunghoon’s voice dropped deeper and his eyes became serious. Soobin just stared back at him, locking his jaw tight, “While I didn’t agree with her even doing this, I am glad you decided to play along. But if you hurt her..” 

Soobin forced a smirk of his own, “I don’t think you have to worry about that. I’m just here to piss off Sungchan.” 

Sunghoon widens his eyes, “Ah! So you also hate the dirtbag?” Sunghoon took steps away from him and placed his hands on his shoulders, “Glad we are on the same page.” 

You sighed, fanning yourself with your hands, “Can we go inside now? This summer heat is killing me!” 

Sunghoon turned around and smiled at you, “Of course! But umm…I need to let you know something.” 

You stared at your best friend, “Wha—“ 

The beach house door busted open and the voices of your friends had you turning around and smiling wide. Jake, Jay, Yunjin, Sakura, and Shotaro all shuffled out the door, immediately rushing to you. 

“Where is this new boyfriend you never told us about?!?” they all asked in unison and then their eyes caught Soobin as he stood behind you, resting his hand on your lower back and introducing himself. 

Your friends surrounded the two of you, complimenting how cute he was and how cute the two of you looked together. Even though this was all a lie and an act, you couldn’t stop the slight pink filling your cheeks. 

“Oh!” Yunjin said, pulling her red locks behind her ears, “Sungchan…he…” 

Before she could finish speaking, you saw what she was going to tell you, and saw what Sunghoon was going to tell you. 

Sungchan stepped out of the house with Chaewon at his side. 

You weren’t sure if pissed off would even be the correct emotion to describe how you were feeling right now staring at your ex-boyfriend and your ex-best friend. 

“They showed up together,” Yunjin whispered, “We didn’t even know she was still coming. Apparently, he paid for her at the last minute.” 

The last you heard, Chae wasn’t even speaking to any of us anymore, that included Sungchan, after the truth got out. 

You didn’t speak to either of them as everyone pushed back into the beach house. It was a massive house, super cute and very beachy. Enough rooms to hold at least two people per room. And that’s how you got stuck sharing a bed with Soobin. 

Chaewon piled in with Yunjin and Sakura, while Jake and Sunghoon shared a room, and Sungchan with Shotaro. 

Plus Soobin and you were a “couple”, it really only made sense you’d have to share a room with him. 

The first day was spent heading into town for food for the house and any beach toys or items that any of you all might need. The males took to the kitchen to cook the food that night, while you females sat outside on the sand watching as the sun set until dinner was ready. So far, everyone was getting along, even you and Chae to an extent, even if you two weren’t speaking. 

Once night fell, you stood at the edge of the bed while Soobin climbed in and made himself comfortable, “I can always sleep on the couch,” he said with such calm, “If it would make you feel more comfortable.” 

You quickly shook your head, “No! They would suspect something if you did, it’s just…” You haven’t shared a bed with another male since Sungchan. 

Soobin didn’t need to hear you say it to understand what you were getting at. The scars Sungchan left from his betrayal ran deep within you. 

Soobin smirked, deciding to try and make light, “I don’t bite, YN.” 

You scoffed at him with a roll of your eyes, “Why did I invite you again?” 

Soobin patted your side of the bed with his hand and scooted closer to the edge of his, giving you more space and without hesitation, you climbed in, “I’m here because you need me.” 

You tried hard to not scoff again but failed. You wanted to fight him, but settled on, “Goodnight, fake boyfriend.” 

Soobin was glad you were facing away from him so you couldn’t have seen the look on his face when hearing you say that. It pulled at him in ways he fought hard to push down. It made his trope push to the front parts of his brain in flashing bright letters. He flipped over to his stomach and squished his face into the pillow, using all his strength to push down the thoughts of his trope. 

Tropes were stupid and didn’t exist. It was all fake. All fake. 

He repeated those words over and over again until sleep finally took him. 

The first couple of days went on like normal. On the second day of this vacation a storm hit, so everyone was forced to stay inside the house. Sunghoon brought his Nintendo Switch, so everyone took turns playing Smash Bros and Mario Kart. Soobin dominated everyone in both games. Come to find out, Soobin is very much a gamer and one of his friends is even in a unit. It was very interesting to you and made you want to learn even more about Soobin. 

On day three, the sun and summer heat were back. You and your friends didn’t hesitate to jump into the water to cool off. 

“Jake mentioned a bonfire tonight!” Sakura said, dipping herself down to your chin into the water, “I say we do it! We can go buy stuff for s’mores!” 

“Alcohol too please!” Yunjin groaned, “I need it after how long my last few weeks have been!” 

You agreed. What was a vacation without it? Plus it would calm your nerves about this whole Sungchan situation anyway. 

You looked up to the sand, seeing how Sunghoon, Jake, and Jay seemed to have adopted Soobin into their little circle, tossing around a baseball, all four of them smiling. Your eyes drifted off closer to the house, Shotaro, Sungchan, and Chae stood around the picnic table and grill as Taro grilled the meat for lunch. Your eyes lingered on how close Sungchan and Chae were sitting together, Sungchan turning his head to look out into the water, making eye contact with you. 

He shifted a bit closer to Chae and on instinct, you whipped your head in the other direction, “Soobin!” Sungchan shifted his gaze to Soobin as well. 

Soobin looked away from the other three, giving you a smile that melted your heart, “What is it, my princess?!” he shouted back. You said nothing, just gave him a big smile and waved for him to join you in the water. 

Soobin wasn’t stupid. He saw how close Sungchan was to Chaewon. Soobin could smell the bullshit from miles away. He knew Sungchan only invited Chaewon—or well, begged her—back on this trip all because of him. Sungchan trusted Shotaro with this information thinking he wasn’t going to slip it up to everyone else, especially Soobin. 

“I tried to talk him out of it,” Taro had said, “He kept saying it was just to make sure the friend group was made whole again, but I know that isn’t the case. He was so hung up on getting YN back, but after meeting you…I think he did it to try and stick it where it hurts. Or make her jealous. He won’t accept she’s over him.” 

Pitiful. 

Soobin tossed the ball over to Jake, “I’m going to jump in the water with YN, you all want to come too?” Soobin had to admit, the one good thing that came out of this trip was gaining these guys' friendship. 

Jay was practically already tearing his tank top off, “Hell yeah! Let's cool off, this sun is brutal!” 

Soobin followed the others down the beach, gripping the ends of his shirt and pulling it up and over his head. 

Your heart nearly stopped. Your eyes drag along down his body. Trailing back up over his abs, chest, shoulders, and arms. Craving the metal image in detail of every curve of his biceps. He was beautiful. So beautiful. 

Soobin was now in the water and standing directly in front of you, a smirk on his face as he leaned close to your face, being inches apart, “Close your mouth, you’re drooling.” he whispered. 

You didn’t realize your mouth was open and immediately closed it shut. Soobin stood up straight and sank down into the water, his hands finding yours as he was chest-deep, gently pulling at your hands to lower yourself too. 

It honestly took a lot for Soobin to keep his eyes locked on your face. Your body was gorgeous, all of you were. He couldn’t and wouldn’t deny that. Mostly with the way the purple bikini complimented your skin and the curves of your body. He did take a few glances down to your breasts and shot his eyes right back up to your face. He wasn’t ashamed of looking, you were just gawking at him a few minutes ago. 

Once you were at eye level with Soobin, his hands left your hands and found their place at your waist, pulling your body to him, “I hope this is okay,” he whispered, “Just trying to play my part.” 

It was natural at how you wrapped your arms around his neck, how you seated yourself on his lap and wrapped your legs around his waist, pressing your chest to his. It felt so natural that it scared you. Even with the cool ocean water warping around your bodies, you still felt way too hot and prayed that if your face was red, everyone would assume it was from the hot summer sun. 

“No, it’s all okay,” you whispered back, pulling him closer to you, leaving your bodies completely flushed against one another, “We both have to play this part.” 

“Hey!” Jake chuckled, “What you lovebirds whispering about over there!” 

Soobin chuckled back, tilting his head back to look at Jake, “I’m telling her all the positions I’m going to put her through tonight!” He teased, earning Jake to scrunch his nose. 

“Man, we don’t want to know that!” Jake held up his index fingers into an X, “Keep that to yourselves!” 

Soobin just smirked, wrapping his arms around your frame, “Hey man, you asked!” 

You couldn’t help but smile at them, at all of them, really. You were truly happy that Soobin was fitting in with your friends and they all seemed to love him. Sunghoon—even with his nasty side eye at the two of you—was warming up to Soobin little by little the last few days. You listened to them all banter back and forth and you couldn’t help but wish that this all could last past this week. 

Soobin then touched his cheek to yours, squishing your faces together, “Dude, you’re just jealous that I have a pretty girlfriend!” 

Your friends collectively all “ooooo” at Jake from Soobin’s diss, causing Jake to smirk and start splashing water at everyone. 

“Sorry to interrupt,” Sungchan said suddenly, standing at the edge of where the water meets the sand. His arms were crossed and eyes locked onto Soobin, “Taro finished lunch, let’s all eat.” 

After lunch, everyone headed back into the house to take turns showering and then headed into town for alcohol and items for s’mores. 

Once the sun started to settle over the horizon, it was time for the bonfire. 

The owners who rented out the house to you and your friends for the week really knew what the people wanted. The firepit was beautiful. A beautiful smooth white stone was built around the pit and perfectly carved benches sat around it. Sunghoon and Yunjin were the ones most excited about the s’mores, being the ones to poke the soft squishy balls of sweetness onto the metal rods and hold them over the fire, and passing them around to everyone once they were burnt perfectly and smooshed between chocolate and graham crackers. 

Jay sat off to Soobin’s right on another bench with his acoustic guitar in his arms, playing a pretty tune that matched the soft crashes of the waves and the breeze of the wind. You swayed back and forth slightly, not wanting to spill any of your beer. 

“Having a good time?” Soobin asked, smiling down at you as he sipped his beer, “You look like you are.” 

You nodded, leaning further a bit to your right to nudge your shoulder against his, “I am,” you lift the can to your lips, taking a sip, “You?” 

Soobin glanced over to the firepit and took another sip, “I am,” his eyes shot up to Sungchan, catching him staring back, “But Sungchan has been eyeing me down since before lunch. It’s making it hard for me to really enjoy myself right now.” 

Soobin honestly was enjoying his time here so far. It was a vacation after all and having to play the part of your fake boyfriend wasn’t difficult either. The only hard thing was the glare Soobin always felt from Sungchan. He understood why, he had something the other wanted. It wasn’t Soobin’s fault the male fucked everything up. Nor was it his fault that you were completely over Sungchan to begin with. Soobin truly believed if you still had feelings for Sungchan, you wouldn’t have even come on this trip. 

You carefully and quickly passed your eyes over Sungchan, catching how hard he stared at Soobin. Even when he lifted the beer can to sip and drank. His eyes never left Soobin. You also noticed how close he was sitting to Chae. Chae just stared off into the distance, hands clasped together. You couldn’t help but feel like she didn’t want to be there. 

You finished off your beer and tossed it into the plastic bag at your feet, “I’m sorry he’s being that way towards you,” and you really truly meant it. Soobin didn’t deserve it, “I wish I could make him stop.” 

Soobin also finished off his beer and tossed the can with yours, keeping his eyes locked on Sungchan. You finally decided to let Sungchan know that you saw him staring. Glaring at him with your jaw locked and eyes narrowed. It didn’t take long for him to notice your stares and for him to scoot closer to Chae, dropping his hand to her thigh. 

You rolled your eyes and faced Soobin, “He really thinks doing that will do anything but piss me off.” 

Soobin chuckled at your words because it’s true, the man truly thought getting closer to Chaewon was going to change your attitude towards him. Sungchan pulled a smirk at Soobin, thinking he won. 

Oh, but isn’t that further from the truth. 

“Want to piss him off back?” Soobin asked, turning to face you. 

You raised a brow, “And how exactly, do you plan to piss him off?” 

Soobin said nothing as he moved in, connecting his lips to yours. Your surprise must have been way too obvious because Soobin was now tracing his lips from yours and down your jaw and to your ear, whispering, “Play along.”

You knew what he was doing. Knew what it would cause with Sungchan. Knew all of it and yet once his lips found yours, you kissed him back something fierce. Both your eyes flutter closed and embrace this moment. 

You expected just a few kisses and then Soobin pulling away, but the longer your lips lingered, the more you prayed he wouldn’t move away. Soobin did, in fact, was only planning to plant a few kisses and then pull away and go back to being normal. But…

He couldn’t stop. 

His brows furrowed as he leaned into you more. His hand reached up and cupped your neck, his thumb rubbing softly against your jawline. 

What was he doing? Why couldn’t he stop kissing you? Why was his free hand now reaching for yours and his fingers intertwined with yours? Squeezing your hand hard. 

He slowly pushed his tongue past his lips, licking your bottom lip, begging for entrance. You parted your lips without question, letting his tongue slide in and explore your cavern. The soft groan that escaped his mouth sent chills down your body. If he didn’t have his hand placed on your neck keeping you pressed to him, you would have long fallen over. 

Kissing you felt…natural. It felt like his lips were always meant to kiss yours. That…he was meant to be here with you. Soobin had come to the realization that you both were making out in front of everyone and he did not give a single fuck. Sungchan no longer mattered. Pissing him off no longer mattered. The only thing that did was your lips against his. Your hand in his. You. Only you. 

His heart pulled to you. It was chanting your name over and over and over. He couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t pull away even if he wanted to. He felt the little red string of fate tie itself to you. His trope rang in the back of his mind. 

“Hey!” Someone finally snapped, “Get a room, love birds!” To both your and Soobin’s surprise, it was Sunghoon who said it. 

Soobin smiled against your lips before slowly pulling away, resting his forehead on yours. His heart was racing and he was fucking terrified to open his eyes and look at you. Scared at what he might find. 

But he opened them anyway as he pulled his head away from yours. First, he stared at your swollen kissed lips, then slowly looked up to your eyes. One look and it was all it took for everything in the world to make sense. One look in your eyes and he knew. 

It was you. It was always going to be you.

You thought going to bed that night would have been awkward. Why wouldn’t it? You and Soobin made out in front of all your friends in a play to piss off Sungchan, it should have been awkward to go to bed that night. Except it wasn’t. You crawled into bed next to Soobin like it was a routine. He rolled onto his side facing away from you and fell asleep quickly as you did the same.

You oddly felt at peace. You barely knew him and only knew a handful of things about him that you’ve learned on this trip so far, but you couldn’t help that pull to him. And as you drifted off to sleep you repeated the thought over and over on how easy all this was with him. How from the moment you first laid eyes on him in that bus you felt that pull. You weren’t sure what to make of this, mostly when everything would be coming to an end once this week was over. 

When you woke up Soobin was already out of bed. After getting up, brushing your teeth, and throwing on your swimsuit and beach clothes, you trailed into the living room, everyone sat around somewhere in the kitchen or living eating breakfast. 

“About time you got up!” Sunghoon teased, shoving a piece of bacon in his mouth, “It’s almost eleven am!” 

You raised a brow at your best friend, “Yet you guys are still eating breakfast? When it’s literally lunchtime?” 

“Hey,” Jake groaned, whipping his head up from his plate and leaning against Sunghoon, “Never too late or early for a breakfast meal!” You couldn’t argue with that, “Besides,” Jake continued, “Soobin mentioned for dinner to head out into town and try one of the restaurants, so we decided on a later breakfast.” 

“Makes sense,” you mumbled, looking around the room, “Speaking of, where is he?” 

“Your boy toy already went down to the water,” Sungchan murmured, poking his fork at his eggs, “Missed him by ten minutes.” 

You narrowed your eyes down at him, “Boy toy?” you scoffed, whipping your head away with a roll of your eyes, “Funny shit to say coming from the likes of you!” 

Not another second was wasted on him as you quickly made your way to the front door and opened it. 

“YN!” he called for you, but you didn’t turn back around as you slammed the door behind you. 

Sungchan stood from the table, just causing both Jay, Jake, and Sunghoon to stand on their feet from the couch. Shotaro was even at Sungchan’s side, placing his hands on his shoulders. 

“Let go, Taro!” Sungchan snapped. 

“Nah, keep him there,” Jake gave him a narrowed look, “You need to cut this shit out, Chan.” 

Sungchan opened his mouth to fight, but Chaewon stopped it, “Chan, that is enough! Seriously!” All eyes went to her, “You need to accept the fact that YN has moved on and she is happy! I’ve never seen her this happy before…” Chaewon looked down at her plate, “I don’t know what you were hoping for with this trip, but you really need to know your place.” Without another word, Chae picked up her plate and rushed into her bedroom. 

You kicked off your sandals at the edge of the steps to the house and stepped down onto the warm sand. Hovering your hand over your eyes to help see down the way better. Damn, the sun is so bright. 

You found Soobin standing in the water facing towards the infinite ocean. His shoes and tee shirt were discarded at the edge of the beach right before where the water touched the sand. The waves crashed against his waist and the breeze blew his brown hair to the side. The sun illuminates his perfect honey skin, outlining the muscles of his back. Even from his back, he was a sight to see. So beautiful. 

Soobin woke up earlier than everyone today and decided to be the one to make breakfast today. He had to admit, he was using it as a distraction. A way to get him out of the same bed with you. You looked so peaceful while you slept and it took everything in Soobin to not pull you toward him and wrap his arms around you. So he forced himself out of bed instead and made everyone breakfast. It wasn’t really early, the night before obviously made everyone sleep in a bit longer, but Soobin pushed the idea of trying out a restaurant later that night, ate his breakfast, and quickly left the house. 

He needed to get out of that house and put more distance away from you. Not because he wanted to be away from you, but because he couldn’t think straight around you. Not after last night. The feeling of your lips lingered on his. The touch of your skin in the palm of his hand as he held you close to him. The way your fingers fit perfectly together with his. 

It all rang in his head. Along with his damned trope. Soulmates didn’t exist. It was just a ploy to keep the population in control. To give the people something to believe in. It wasn’t real. 

Yet Soobin knew he felt that red string of fate tied his heart to yours. He might not know what your trope is, and frankly, he’s terrified to find out. What if your tropes don’t match? Or what if your trope is whatever Soobin isn’t? He’s never once in his life ever thought about these questions. He’s spent those years after receiving his trope not believing in a damn thing about it. But you changed everything. One look in your eyes after that kiss and he was on his knees. 

Soobin guessed the whole reason he needed to be officially alone right now was to sort out his thoughts and decide whether he wanted to accept his fate. Regardless of what he decided to do, you now had him wrapped around your finger and he was stupid if he’d let you go once this trip was over. 

He heard shuffles of sand and already knew it was you standing at the edge of the water behind him. After his heart was tied to you, he swore he could hear your heart beating. He knows the sound of your heart. 

You knew he knew you were there, you couldn’t explain how, but you just knew. You took one more step, letting the ocean take up to your ankles. You kept your eyes locked to his back, your heart racing. 

Soobin chuckled, “It’s just me, YN, no need to be nervous.” 

You opened your mouth to say something, but stopped the moment Soobin turned around slightly to look at you. The way the sun was shining down on him…the look of endearment and the soft smile he was giving you. Your eyes widened, the red string fully tying your heart to his. 

“Sunshine!” the acolyte cheered, her hands clasping together and smiling wide down at you, “Your trope is sunshine! How wonderful!” Wonderful? What the fuck kind of trope is sunshine? What the fuck does that even mean? 

You had hope for your trope. You really did. You spent all that time as a child counting down the days until your eighteenth birthday and marched right to the church to receive yours. But the moment your trope was in your grasp, everything failed you. You stopped believing. Yes, you tried experimenting with your trope, but it failed you every time. 

You tried meeting people with sunshine personalities, tried going to bright sunny places, and each time, it failed. You gave up and believed soulmates didn’t exist. Or even if they did, you didn’t have one. 

You held that statement as true until just now, staring into Soobin’s eyes. 

The world finally all made sense to you. Sunshine. Soobin was sunshine. He’s your sunshine. Your trope wasn’t about the sun or the personality of someone. It was both. It was Soobin. The embodiment of sunshine with the sun shining down brightly on him. 

You could hear his heart beating in your ears, its steady pace mixed with a hint of nervousness. And he told you he had no reason to be nervous? 

He turned fully toward you, walking up and closing the gap between the two of you. He lifted his hands from the cool water and rested them on your biceps, the corners of his lips curling up more. 

“Soobin,” you whispered, “I—“ 

The echoes of your friends' laughter filled the summer air, each of them pushing out of the house and in their swimwear. Jake held fishing poles in his hands, “Soobin!” he yelled, “Come spend time with the bros!” 

Sunghoon held up a tacklebox of fishing items, “Yeah! Jay is bringing his expensive alcohol too!” 

Jay was now holding up his bottles of whiskey, “I’m being forced to bring them, but I’ll share nevertheless.” 

Soobin’s smile grew more and it only made your heart flutter. This was his real smile, not the fake one he’s been acting out with the last couple of days. This was his true show of happiness. 

Soobin glanced away from your friends and saw the look of confusion on your face. Soobin knew that look without even having to ask you what was wrong. He cupped your face and placed his lips to your forehead, “We can talk later, okay?” 

You nodded, quickly wrapping your arms around his body and pulling him close, resting your head on his chest, “Have fun stealing my friends from me.”

Soobin chuckled again, and leaned into your hug, holding you against him, “Too bad, they are my friends now,” You went to protest, but he was pulling away and splashing you with water, “I’ll see you later, okay?” 

You said nothing as you watched him run out of the water, stopping to grab his shirt and shoes and jogging up to Jay, Jake, and Sunghoon. Shotaro and Sungchan slowly followed behind them. 

The rest of the day became busier than you were hoping for. Once the boys were back from fishing and everyone showered off the sand and salt water, it was time to hit up the restaurant. 

It was within walking distance from the house, so Taro was really big on saving up everyone’s gas and suggested just walking. No one was against it. 

But that meant moving in a pack. Everyone surrounded you and Soobin and it left no chances to talk. Even after dinner, Yunjin and Sakura wanted to stop for ice cream, and again, no one rejected it. 

Soobin was kind enough to buy your ice cream for you and even shared some of his. It only made the need for you to talk to him run so much deeper. This couldn’t just be the behavior of acting like your fake boyfriend…was it?

Little did you know Soobin was also dying to talk to you as well. He tried to find any opportunity to pull you to the side and talk but the odds just weren’t in his favor. 

But he was nervous and the closer the beach house came back into view the more his heart pounded. It only got worse once he was alone with you in the shared bedroom. 

You looked exhausted. Soobin definitely was. It was a busy and exhausting day. Not just because of your friends, but the endless thoughts that circulated both your minds. It was hard to tell if talking about whatever this was, was a good idea at the moment. 

But you also knew it couldn’t wait. 

Soobin sat down on the bed, facing himself toward you. You tried to fight back a yawn as you climbed into the bed. He tilted his head, “Do you want to talk? We could always talk in the morning, YN.” 

Hearing those words honestly made you feel better. It meant not having to address everything right here and now but also gave proof that Soobin still wanted to have that conversation. You stopped fighting the yawn and nodded, pulling the covers back and laying down on your side, facing away from him. 

The bed shifted as Soobin turned the lamp off, the room now being lit by the moonlight that peeked through the curtains of the windows. The bed shifted more and you could hear Soobin’s heart, “Can…” he sighs, “Can I hold you?” 

“Yes,” you replied quickly. Already scooting yourself to the middle of the bed, your back meeting Soobin’s chest. He pushed his arm underneath the pillow and wrapped it around your chest and hand linking to your shoulder while the other hung over your waist, his hand resting on your tummy. 

Holding you was everything he could have hoped it would be. Your body is the perfect fit against his. You shifted a little in hopes of getting closer, only to rub your ass against his crotch. His fingers at your shoulder gripped your shirt while the other squeezed your tummy, “YN,” he said in a soft warning tone, “Please don’t move.” 

You didn’t mean to grind against him, you just wanted to be more comfortable and closer to him. But now with the growing hardness against your ass and the sound of his heart racing in your ears, your own pool of desire is raised. 

Soobin was now squeezing your frame tightly, using all his strength to not start grinding his cock against you. To keep himself under control. But it was so damn hard when he could hear how your heart was fluttering. Could feel how your body was now shaking. He squeezed you tighter, his arm squeezing your breasts and a soft gasp let your lips. It was enough to send a chill down his spine and for his hips to buck without his permission. 

You softly giggle, “And you told me not to move.” Your teasing just then flipped a switch with him. 

Soobin was smirking and tucking his face into your neck, pressing his now hard cock against your ass, “Maybe if you’d stop wiggling, I wouldn’t either,” he whispered to your skin. The brush of his lips as he talked had goosebumps raised on your skin. 

You rocked your hips, grinding on his clothed cock, “Stop rubbing against me, and I’ll stop rubbing against you.” 

A chuckle left his mouth but he didn’t stop moving and neither did you. The two of you kept moving, rocking your hips back and forth against each other. Soobin’s hand on your belly moved lower and lower as time progressed. You’ve done things like this before with other guys, same with Soobin and females. But with the way you both were breathing, how in sync your hearts were beating, the feeling of being this close…It made everything ten times better. 

Was it because…it had to be. 

Soobin pushed his fingers down to the band of your shorts, slipping his fingers underneath it, “Can I touch you?” he whispered in your ear, placing a kiss on the shell of it, “Please, can I touch you?” 

You nodded, placing your hand on top of his and pushing it down, guiding him slowly to where you need him the most right now. And once his fingers cupped your heat, you flung your head back onto his shoulder. 

“Shit YN,” he breathed, “So wet, and I haven’t even fully touched you yet.” 

You lifted your leg up and over his legs, giving him more access to you. His index and ring fingers spread your lips apart, the middle slowly rubbing at your clit. 

You softly moan, arching your back. But Soobin’s hold on you with his other arm around your chest kept you from moving too much, holding you tightly to his chest. 

You started once again rocking your hips, doing it in hopes he would move faster, and slid his fingers into you. Soobin wasn’t stupid, he could tell you wanted more, “What do you want?” he whispered, biting at the shell of your ear, “Tell me what you want, baby.” 

“L-lower,” you whimper, “Faster, please.” 

Soobin hummed, sliding his middle finger to your entrance, “Is this what you want, baby?” 

You nodded, bucking your hips. Soobin smirked and slowly pushed his index and middle fingers in. You both let out a breathy groan as his fingers slid in all the way to his knuckles, your cunt squeezing around them. 

Soobin pushed them in and out, in and out, starting at a slow pace and slowly picking up speed. Your body was shaking against his, his cock growing more needier by the second. 

He wanted you. Oh, good gods he wanted you. 

“Baby,” he shifted a bit, his body slightly towering over yours, “Can I have you?” 

You nodded frantically, your hands reaching for him and pulling him into a kiss, “Please,” you whispered against his lips. 

Soobin completely shifted himself over you, hovering just the right amount to keep his fingers filling you while his other hand reached for the ends of your shirt, “I want this off.” 

You smirked, “Take it off me yourself.” 

Soobin chuckled on your lips, removing his fingers from your cunt and sliding his hands up your body, taking your shirt with them. 

It didn’t take long for all of your and Soobin’s clothing to be thrown in all different directions of the room, leaving you skin to skin. 

There was something so beautiful about being connected to you like this. The way your skin felt on his. How your bare legs wrapped around his waist and lips kissed down his neck. It was something Soobin wanted to be painted into his memory forever. It wasn’t even just about the sex you were about to have. It was all about you. 

Soobin couldn’t stop the gasp that let his mouth as his cock slid deep inside you, the tip kissing beautifully at your cervix. He held you tightly to him as he started moving, keeping one hand gripping your thigh, “Fuck, YN. YN. YN. YN.” Your name chanted from his lips. It flowed out so easily. Like your name belonged in his mouth. 

“Soobin,” you whispered, pulling your face from his neck and laying down on the pillow, cupping his face between your hands, his pretty brown eyes staring back at you, “I think…no, I know it. You’re my soulmate.” 

Hearing those words had Soobin melting. His face fell to your neck, hand squeezing your thigh tighter, “And you’re mine,” he whispered back, “Oh gods you’re mine.” 

With all your strength, you rolled him over onto his back, straddling him. You took his hands in yours and you rode him, squeezing his hands with each roll of your hips. You don’t know what came over you, but hearing how you were his, it did something, “Say it again, please.” 

Soobin squeezed your hands tighter, “You’re mine.” 

“Again.” 

He smiled, “You’re mine. You’re my soulmate. Mine. Mine. Mine.” 

The words came out so easily for someone who didn’t believe in them at first. But looking at you like this, all on top of him, riding his cock, how could he not believe in it? Your hearts were now tied together. He belonged to you. You belonged to him. And he had no problem chanting out those words until he was cumming deep inside you. Continued chanting them as he flipped you onto your back and his fingers once again found their home inside you, chanting them as you came around them. 

Soobin used to curse his trope, but now all he could do was thank it. It gave him you. 

“We’ve been out here for an hour,” Sunghoon groaned, throwing his head back over the chair, hands gripping the fishing pole, “Jake, why did we have to come fishing again?” 

Jake glared over at him, “Because we had massive luck yesterday. Figured we would today as well,” Jake shrugged and glanced back out into the water, “Not my fault you’re being crabby today.” 

Sunghoon groaned again as he lifted back up his head, tilting it to the side to look at Soobin, “Try sharing a room next door to them at night and tell me if you wouldn’t be crabby.” 

Sunghoon’s words went in one ear and out the other, he was too busy staring down at a text message from you. But Sunghoon’s clearing his voice brought him back to the guys around him, “What?” 

Jake scoffed with a smirk, “You know what. The whole house heard the two of you last night.” 

Soobin grinned as he shifted his gaze off to the water, “And that’s my problem how?” he said in a teasing voice. 

You and Soobin continued your sexual activities after the first round. Neither of you could get enough of the other and eventually, you both stopped caring to keep quiet. It was just unfortunate for those in the house. 

Jay nudged Soobin’s shoulder, “Am I going to have to buy some earplugs tonight?” he joked. 

Soobin shrugged and smirked at Jay, “Possibly, we do still have one more full day left to cause some chaos.” 

“Please don’t,” Shotaro chuckled, “I enjoy my sleep.” 

The males all laughed and continued their teasing, except Soobin noticed Sungchan being awfully quiet and staring down at the docks they all sat on. 

Sunghoon nudged Soobin, leaning closer to him and whispering, “I’m actually really glad you and her have something. She seems so happy being with you.” 

Soobin knew that Sunghoon was aware that at first, this was all an act. So honestly hearing those words made him happy. You and Sunghoon had talked with each other during breakfast this morning, so Soobin more than likely knew you confessed what was actually happening now. Soobin opened his mouth to reply back to Sunghoon, but a loud scoff following a chuckle had everyone turning their heads towards the direction it came from. 

“Happy? She’s happy to be with you?” Sungchan laughed, turning to face Soobin directly, “You think I buy that? That you aren’t just some random guy she met on the bus that day? This is all an act. I know YN! Better than—“ 

“She’s my soulmate,” was all Soobin said. He had no desire or even the need to confirm nor deny Sungchan’s suspicions, “She’s my soulmate and I think you need to accept that and learn your place.” 

Everyone fell silent, the only sound was the waves crashing against the wooden columns of the dock and the wind blowing past. 

“Look man,” Soobin sighed, “I don’t know what you were hoping for with this vacation, but I would really appreciate it if you backed off my girl,” Soobin looked back out to the water, gripping at the handle of his fishing pole, “You’ve hurt her enough, let it go.” 

Soobin was fueled with anger, so distracted he had no clue the line of his pole was being tugged, “SOOBIN!!” Jake yelled standing up to his feet and pointing at the ripples of the water, “YOU CAUGHT ONE! REEL THE LINE BACK!!!” 

With the excitement of possibly catching a fish, Soobin threw his anger out the window, deciding it wasn’t worth worrying over Sungchan. Everyone was now aware that you were tied to him, and that’s all Soobin cared about at this moment. 

Besides, of course, pulling his first fish of the day on the docks and cheering along with his new friends, “I have to show YN!” Sunghoon said, pointing at Soobin to lift up the fish and smile wide for a photo, sending it directly to you. 

You sat on the couch with Yunjin between your legs on the floor in the middle of braiding her hair when Sunghoon sent you the cutest photo you’ve ever seen of your soulmate holding up his first catch of the day. It was adorable. You couldn't help but laugh and save the photo to your gallery, “Want to see the fish Soobin just caught?” you asked her and the other girls, turning your phone around to show them. 

“He really is a cutie!” Sakura clapped her hands, “Fate was really on your side when picking out your soulmate!” 

You didn’t even have to tell the girls that information, they just kind of guessed at it. Your smile wasn’t doing much justice for you. You’ve been smitten ever since your first kiss with Soobin, “Fate really was on my side, wasn’t it?” 

You felt Chaewon’s eyes on you, a small sad smile on her face. The two of you have barely spoken to each other this entire trip and you could tell since the night of the bonfire, she’s had words she kept locked in her throat. 

“Hey!” Yunjin sat up, her long red hair falling between your fingers, “The boys are still busy fishing, why don’t we go shopping? There’s a cute surf shop down the beach towards the pier I want to check out!” 

Everyone agreed. As the girls stood up and rushed out the door, Chaewon gripped your wrist, “YN, can we talk first?” 

You nodded, slowly turning to face her, “What is it?” 

She let go of your wrist, “I am truly sorry! For everything!” You blinked at her, not expecting this conversation right off the bat, “Chan and I were drunk, we weren’t thinking straight. It only happened that one time and I promise you that. Chan got confused about his feelings, and that’s how it blew up as badly as it did. I wanted to tell you from the beginning, but Chan said he would take care of it and I was stupid to believe him on that,” she reached for your hands then and you let her, “I removed myself from our group because I thought you’d hate me. Sunghoon said you needed time and I wanted to respect that. But I miss our friendship, I miss you. I came on this trip wanting to fix our friendship, not because Sungchan told me to.” 

You had to admit, you also missed her and your friendship with her. This trip hasn’t been completely the same because of the distance it put between the two of you. You already knew Sungchan was just trying to pull some fast moves, but Chaewon was being true from the beginning. 

So you hugged her tightly, “I forgive you. I’ve missed you too so please don’t run away from me anymore, okay?” Chae nodded, hugging you tighter, “Now, let’s go get caught up with Sakura and Yunjin.” 

With a giggle, you and Chae rushed out the door. 

Before you knew it, Soobin was packing up your backs into the backseat of his car as you hugged your girlfriends tightly, “We need a girl's day soon!” You said, “I’ll kick Sunghoon out of the apartment for a day.” 

Sunghoon sighed, crossing his arms, “You act like I don’t have a soulmate, other friends, or even Soobin I could hang out with for the day.” 

Soobin wrapped his arm around Sunghoon’s shoulders, “Yeah, babe,” he said sticking his tongue out at you, “I’ll just steal your best friend.” 

You glared at your now boyfriend, “You’d steal my best friend from me?” 

Soobin shrugged, “If you’re going to kick him out, ya.” 

You rolled your eyes and continued hugging your friends, deciding to fight your mate and best friend later at the apartment. 

After all goodbye had been said, everyone piled into their own cars and drove off, leaving the beach house in the distance. 

Soobin reached over and placed his hand on your thigh, squeezing the plush, “Did you enjoy yourself?” 

You nodded, leaning back in the seat, “I really did,” you shifted your eyes to him, “Wasn’t expecting to gain my soulmate out of it though.” 

Soobin chuckled, rubbing his thumb against your skin, “You and I both. By the way,” he glanced at you quickly, then back at the road, “What was your trope?” 

“Sunshine,” You whispered, “It was sunshine.” 

He smiled, biting at the corners of his lip, “Sunshine, huh.” 

You sat up and leaned over the center console, poking your finger in his dimple, “And what was yours, my sunshine?” 

Soobin took your hand in his, “Fake relationship,” your eyes widened at his trope, “Yeah,” he chuckled, “It wasn’t exactly the best.” 

“You must have been freaking out when I asked you to be my fake boyfriend for the week, I’m so sorry!” 

Soobin shook his head, “I…I didn’t believe in tropes or even soulmates. I thought it was weird and a coincidence. I’ve had many fake relationships before, so I thought this was no different,” he lifted your hand to his lips, playing a few soft kisses to the palm of your hand, “But you changed everything, obviously.” 

You smiled, “It’s funny you say that, because I didn’t believe in tropes of soulmates either.” 

Soobin quickly looked at you again, then back at the road, “Sunghoon literally has a soulmate!?” 

You sat back in the seat and stared out the window, “Trust me, I know. Right in front of me and I still didn’t believe a lick of it.” 

Soobin smirks, “Do you believe in it now?” 

You giggled, squeezing his hand, “I do. How could I not when I have my own pocket full of sunshine?”

—p.tlist: @alvojake @ikeuverse @woniebae @shawnyle @jwnghyuns

@in-somnias-world @zyvlxqht @aaa-sia @wonniethepoo @addictedtohobi

@eneiyri @skzenhalove @fakeuwus @cherry-park @vousty

@ladyartemesia @criminalyun @enhaverse713586 @wondipity @lhsvibez

@jaeyunq @rikizm @kaykay11sworld @pockettwinzz @vixialuvs

@seunghancore @enha-cafe @ppanghoon @sunpov @zeeloveshee

@hxxsxxng @moonrisearies @brownsugarbaybee @nshmrarki @vveebee

@teddybeartaetae @kookify @abysofsteel @aileeeeeeeeeeeee

@hee-lvrr @1309zip @moon0fthenight @jakeflvrz @021894s

---

Heartbreak On The Dancefloor; Yeonjun

Genre: angst, fluff, best friends to lovers, model!Yeonjun, photographer!Yn,

Word count: 12.8K

Warnings: slight love triangle with Minho (sorry lino), alcohol, mentions of body insecurities, misunderstanding trope, a lot of pining, just hopeless losers being in love to be honest

Authors Note at the end of the fic!

Playlist: psychic-chris brown // jealous-nick jonas // save room for us-tinashe // you-regard // heartbreak on the dancefloor-sg lewis // up to me-lany // lmly-jackson wang // would you-the vamps // stockholm syndrome-one direction

"Ready?" The director asked and you quickly gave him a nod, holding up the camera in your hands as a way to confirm to him just how ready you were for this job.

He looked slightly unsure but nodded nonetheless, a sigh falling from his lips before he turned around.

"Okay, get back, everyone. We are starting again," he exclaimed and watched everyone return to set as the ten-minute break had reached its end.

Your eyes fell on supermodel Yeonjun Choi and his co-worker, a beautiful blond model, walking in with coffees in their hands, talking about something you couldn't hear. Yeonjun had a smirk adorning his lips as he told the woman a story and you had to refrain from rolling your eyes. He was such a flirt.

Just as you averted your focus back to your camera, the director turned to you once again with a stern expression on his face. "This is a big job, Yn Yln. You better prove to me that what I've heard about you is correct."

You felt someone stare at you from across the room and after glancing to the side, you received confirmation that your senses were correct. Yeonjun had his eyes on you.

You swallowed before quickly nodding. "Of course, sir," you stated politely, attempting to mask your nervousness.

He nodded before veering around to the models and staff members. "Third and last round! This time with a new photographer."

All eyes turned to you and you offered a clumsy wave. You caught the way Yeonjun looked down to hide his smile, causing your nerves to worsen. Was he laughing at your awkwardness?

After a minute and some makeup touch-ups on Yeonjun and his co-model Lana, everyone was back in position.

The director gave the two instructions on how to pose and it amazed you just how quickly they caught up on every instruction. They were undoubtedly talented.

You took a deep breath and were just about to bring your camera to your eyes when they found Yeonjun's dark ones, and you caught the wink he sent your way, which was presumably supposed to be a reassuring gesture but made your heart almost stop beating.

You let out an unsteady breath, not daring to react to him in any way. This shoot was too important for you to screw up, so in a second, your focus was back on your job.

Yeonjun noticed your professional side taking over and he couldn't help but swallow at how attractive the sight was.

The first flash illuminated the room and that was the start of the photoshoot.

For the first few shots, Lana had to stand behind a sitting Yeonjun with her arms draped over his shoulders and her hands slightly disappearing in his satin shirt.

Yeonjun looked into the camera with a seducing smirk on his lips and you could already imagine how amazing the pictures would come out, making your nerves slowly start calming down the more pictures you shot. If you hadn't been so focused on taking the pictures, you probably would've melted at how sexy Yeonjun looked.

You took multiple pictures from different angles as Yeonjun and Lana switched positions, and your mood was going up with every picture you shot.

The last position was Yeonjun standing behind Lana and him having to lower his face slightly into her neck.

But just as you were about to click on the button of your camera, Yeonjun looked up through his thick lashes and his eyes met yours once again, making your insides do a back flip.

"Eyes on Lana, Choi," the director ordered, and Yeonjun snickered at your flustered reaction before averting his eyes back to his co-worker.

You rolled your eyes frustratedly. What was he thinking?

After you shot the final picture, you heard the director's announcement that the shoot was over, which was followed by applause.

You lowered your camera and let out a breathy laugh, not being able to wrap your head around the fact that you just shot for Vogue.

People around you started congratulating each other for yet another successful photoshoot and after having discussed with the director when you were going to have the pictures ready, you went to get yourself a glass of water, your face practically glowing. This entire opportunity was perfect for your growing career as a photographer and to your relief, everything went smoothly and practically flawlessly. You had even caught the director proudly smiling once after peeking at your camera over your shoulder.

"So how's my little photographer feeling?"

The low voice in your ear made you almost let out a yelp as you put down the glass of water.

"Can you not sneak up on me like that?" You asked before turning around to face your best friend, who also happened to be the worldwide-known supermodel, Choi Yeonjun. To you, he was just Jun, though.

When you saw the excited expression on Yeonjun's face, you couldn't help but grin.

"She's feeling amazing," you responded earnestly, making Yeonjun's eyes turn into crescents.

"Well, she did amazing too."

You looked down. "Thank you, Jun. But I got lucky with a good model."

Yeonjun bit his lower lip, his cheeks immediately heating up. "Thank you-"

"Lana is perfect. You did well too, by the way," you interrupted him, a teasing smile tugging at the corners of your lips.

Yeonjun's smile dropped and got replaced with a scowl, making you let out a laugh.

"I'm just kidding, Jun. You are-," you looked away, not being able to look him in the eyes as the compliment was about to leave your lips, "-genuinely born to do this. Thank you so much for getting me this opportunity. I'm forever grateful. I don't even know how to repay you."

Yeonjun's heart sped up and his face softened at your genuine words.

"You deserved this opportunity more than anyone. I'm just glad I had the chance to show people your talents," he shrugged.

You blinked a few times as you looked at your best friend. "Thank you."

Yeonjun stared into your eyes and slowly started to feel himself zoning out from reality. Like it was only you and him standing in the room.

This happened a little too often lately.

"Jun?"

Your voice made Yeonjun snap out of the trance, and he quickly cleared his throat before forcing the infamous smirk to return to his face. "I know a way you can repay me, though," he winked.

You narrowed your eyes. It only ever meant bad news when he gave you this look.

"You're going to The Winter Event with me tomorrow."

You sighed. "Yeonjun, we both know I don't belong there-"

"Shush, you belong there more than anyone else."

You arched an eyebrow. "Why? I'm not a model. Hell, no one except you even knows me. I'll just embarrass myself with my looks next to all the supermodels, dude. What about; I wait for you at my place with wine and all the Friends episodes so you can come over and relax after the event, hm?"

"First of all, you're hotter than all of the models attending. Actually, you're just the hottest girl I know, period, and my opinion is always correct since I'm a guy with exquisite taste. But that's beside the point."

This made your cheeks heat up and your jaw almost drop. Almost, because you were certain he didn't actually mean his words. "I-"

"Second of all, binging Friends with you with a bottle of wine sounds amazing, so that's definitely still happening after the event. After we both get back from it. Because we are both going."

You rolled your eyes and nudged his shoulder with your fist. "You're so annoying, Choi, did you know that?"

Yeonjun grabbed your hand before you could retrieve it, making you look up surprised.

"I have heard so before, yes. I'm going to change now so we can go home," he stated before pulling you along with him to the dressing room.

"And I have to come with you?" You asked as you allowed your best friend to drag you through the halls.

"Yes, so we can discuss what time I'm picking you up tomorrow night," he responded without looking at you.

"Jun, I'm not going-"

"Oh, you so are," he interrupted before sending you a wink over his shoulder.

When you finally got into the dressing rooms, Yeonjun closed the door behind you and walked to the heap of clothes laying in the corner of the room.

You leaned against the door and watched Yeonjun as he searched for his hoodie in the pile of clothing.

"You're not going to ask me to turn around?" You teased, crossing your arms over your chest the moment he was about to start unbuttoning his satin shirt.

"Why would I? You're acting as if you have never seen me shirtless before," Yeonjun replied casually as he unbuttoned the first few buttons before looking at you through his lashes. Your eyes widened for a split second and Yeonjun mentally praised himself for flustering you, knowing you were the one trying to fluster him in the first place with your comment.

You huffed. "Dude, that sounds weird."

This made Yeonjun let out a heartfelt laugh as he dropped the satin shirt on the chair and you quickly averted your eyes to avoid accidentally staring at his toned upper body.

"It isn't illegal to look, you know?"

You rolled your eyes. "Yeonjun, if you don't shut up right now."

He laughed again and walked up to you. "Then what?"

"I'm done," you stated, turning around to leave the room. But just before you could even try to open the door, Yeonjun's hand had already sneaked past your body to lock it.

You felt your heart skip a beat and turned around to face him but for some reason, you had not expected his face to be this close to yours, causing you to almost jump.

"Have you never heard of personal space, Choi?"

"I have. But I don't mind sharing my personal space with you," he cheekily smiled.

Your heart was now hammering against your chest and you hated the way he was capable of flustering you this much. He was your best friend, for God's sake.

"That's cute. But I do mind sharing my personal space with you, so-" You shoved him away by pressing the palm of your hand to his forehead, and he let out a small huff.

"Boring."

You rolled your eyes and walked toward the chair to grab Yeonjun's hoodie before throwing it at him.

"Get changed, Casanova."

Halting in your tracks, you turned around. "Speaking of being a Casanova; your chemistry with Lana was through the roof today."

Your comment earned a surprised look from Yeonjun after he pulled the hoodie over his head, an action that tousled his gelled hair.

"It was?"

You hummed. "The way you looked at her? Damn."

He felt his insides turn hot at your statement. "Y-yeah?"

You grinned. "Why are you so shy all of a sudden?"

Yeonjun avoided your gaze and went to look for his sweatpants.

If only you knew the reason he was able to look at Lana like that was because he imagined you standing in front of him instead of her, maybe then you had reacted differently.

"I'm not getting shy. I'm just trying t-to find my stupid sweatpants- where are they!?" He groaned, making you chuckle.

You looked at him with a smug expression on your face and leaned against the door, making Yeonjun freeze when his eyes fell on you.

Why was it getting so hot in this room? He wondered as his eyes scanned you from head to toe, and let out a small breath before mentally slapping himself back to reality.

"Can you leave? I need to change my pants," Yeonjun ordered as he walked toward you.

"Oh, so now I have to leave?" You grinned and Yeonjun rolled his eyes as he pushed you out of the room.

"Pick something we can order for dinner," he murmured before successfully closing the door in your face.

He heard your laugh from the other side of the door, and couldn't help but let out a breathy chuckle as he rested his forehead against the door. Oh, what were you doing to him?

"I'm not going to the event tomorrow, by the way." Your voice sounded playful now but Yeonjun shook his head nonetheless as he went to grab his pants.

"I'll be at your door at eight. Either you're going to wear the dress I ordered and sent to your place or you're going to be dressed in sweatpants, I don't care. You're accompanying me either way."

You were glad he couldn't see your face when you heard he had ordered you a dress because your jaw was practically on the ground.

"O-oh my God, Yeonjun, I-"

"Please just wear the dress," he breathed.

For once, Yeonjun was grateful that he, even though he owned a lot of confidence, had just enough doubts and insecurities left in him to stop himself just in time from saying the second part of his thoughts out loud.

I need to see you in it.

You let out a shaky breath as you looked at yourself in the body-sized mirror in your bedroom. The satin material felt soft under your fingers as you smoothened it down. You shook your head and let out a small sigh. Even after having spammed Yeonjun with messages and a call freaking out about it and him responding with you deserve this, stop thanking me, you still just couldn't wrap your mind around the fact Yeonjun actually bought you the dress you wished for so badly.

TWO WEEKS EARLIER

"Yn, can you hurry up? I want ice cream-"

Yeonjun halted mid-sentence when he noticed why you had stopped walking. He walked back to stand next to you and followed your gaze.

Your eyes were glued to the black satin dress hugging the body of a mannequin behind the window of the boutique. It was long and had a split mid-thigh. There was no doubt about it, the dress was gorgeous, magical almost.

Yeonjun eyed the way you looked at the dress with admiration in your doe eyes.

"Do you like it?"

"Yeonjun, it's literally the most beautiful dress I've ever laid my eyes on."

Your best friend smiled surprised at your lovesick expression. He had never seen you this mesmerized by a piece of clothing. You must have really liked it.

"You should try it on! Let's go inside."

You tore your eyes from the dress to look at Yeonjun with an unsure expression on your face. "You think so? I'm not sure it would look good on my body. I mean the mannequin is so much thin-"

"Hush," Yeonjun interrupted you with furrowed eyebrows. "No one would rock this dress better than you. Let's go try it on."

A warm feeling bubbled up in your heart and you scrunched your nose as you looked at Yeonjun with a smile on your face. Your best friend could be sweet sometimes.

Yeonjun felt his eyes soften at the sight before grabbing your hand. "Come on."

"Wait." You pulled him back, keeping your hand in his, and looked for the price tag.

"I don't know what the dress costs yet-" your sentence got interrupted by the laugh escaping your mouth when you saw the small price tag.

Yeonjun let out a confused noise at your sudden outburst.

"Yeah, no, forget this ever happened. Let's get ice cream, Jun," you chuckled and pulled him with you, away from the boutique.

"What, why?" He stopped you and looked at the price tag before wincing, realizing how much money this was for you.

But you liked the dress so much...

"Aw, come on, Y/n. I've never seen you this stunned by a dress. Just try it on, maybe it's worth the money-"

You smiled but Yeonjun knew it wasn't genuine.

"No, it's okay, Jun. I can live without that dress. Plus, I'm still saving money for that car for my mom, remember? I shouldn't be buying new clothes at all right now."

Yeonjun looked at you with an unsatisfied furrow in his eyebrows but you instead raised yours at him in a reassuring way, a smile on your lips.

"I promise, it's not a big deal, dude. Let's get ice cream." You tugged softly at Yeonjun's hand, making him let out a disappointed sigh.

"Alright."

The two of you started walking to the ice cream shop and you quickly began conversing about another subject, trying to mask your disappointment. But your voice faded to the background of Yeonjun's mind because the only thing he could concentrate on was the dress. You worked so hard and barely ever treated yourself the way you deserved to be treated. He hated it.

Yeonjun looked back over his shoulder to the boutique and shook his head.

You had to have that dress.

PRESENT

A smile colored your red pained lips as you thought about your best friend. Even with all the teasing and mocking, in your eyes, he would always be the kindest person in the universe. There was no one who believed in you the way he did, who appreciated you and made you feel loved the way he could.

Even your ex-boyfriend had never made you feel as beautiful as Yeonjun made you feel every single day.

You felt tears start brimming in your eyes at the overwhelming love for Yeonjun that rushed through your veins and heart. But you could not ruin your makeup after having spent thirty whole minutes on it and quickly blinked the tears away. Yeonjun would probably have laughed at you if he knew you were about to start crying over him and the thought of this immediately made the tears dry up.

You went downstairs to put on your heels and just when you were done tying the straps around your legs, the doorbell rang.

Letting out a breath, you glanced at yourself in the mirror one more time before unlocking the door.

Yeonjun looked up from his phone to greet you, but the moment his eyes fell on you, the words died in his throat and the bouquet of flowers almost fell from his hand.

He looked at you with his mouth ajar and even if he tried to, he couldn't stop himself from scanning you from head to toe, his eyes lingering on the parts of the dress that hugged your body beautifully.

You suddenly felt self-conscious and looked down at your dress. You knew it looked better on the mannequin. Of course, it wouldn't look on you the way Yeonjun imagined-

Your thoughts got interrupted when Yeonjun spoke up.

"You," he breathed, "are going to give me a heart attack one day." His voice sounded so calm and serious, it made you let out a giggle. And just like that, your nerves and insecurities left your system. Yeonjun was the only one who could do that to you; make your heart both accelerate and calm down in a span of ten seconds.

"Good evening to you, too," you grinned before taking the flowers Yeonjun handed you without taking his eyes off you. "And, thank you."

You couldn't hide the smile tugging at the corners of your lips with every word leaving your mouth.

"You will definitely give a lot of people a heart attack as well tonight, don't worry," you then stated, eyeing him as you smelled the flowers—your favorite ones.

Yeonjun looked down with a close-mouthed smile on his lips and a heart that was beating twice as fast. For some reason, he didn't care about other people. He cared about you. Your reaction. Your opinion. That was the only thing on his mind when his stylist was dolling him up. That was the only reason he asked his hairdresser to not cut his hair and keep it long instead. The way you liked it.

"You didn't cut your hair." You pointed at his hair as if having read his thoughts.

This made Yeonjun instantly look up with a hopeful glow in his eyes.

"I love it," you mumbled.

“Yeah?” He replied a tad too quickly.

Your eyes flickered from his hair to his own and you chuckled at the eagerness in his voice.

“Yeah.”

He let out a sheepish laugh, realizing he sounded a little too desperate, and quickly looked down at the Rolex on his wrist. "W-We're going to be late. Let's go."

Your eyes followed his eyes but instead of looking at the watch, you couldn't help but let your gaze linger on his veiny hand for a second or two before nodding your head. "Yeah, let's go."

The atmosphere was relaxed and warm in Yeonjun's matte, black Lexus LFA as he drove to the event. But the fiddling with your rings and constant glances in the mirror to check your makeup gave away to your best friend that you were nervous.

When you were about to adjust your lipstick once more, Yeonjun spoke up.

"Yn, you literally look perfect, stop stressing out."

You immediately sat back in the red, leather seat and let out a breath. "I'm just so not used to-" you gestured at how dolled up you looked, referring to the expensive dress in particular, "-all of this. I'm scared I'll embarrass you, dude."

Yeonjun frowned as he glanced at you.

"With the way you look right now, I promise, there's nothing in this world you could do tonight to embarrass me, love."

Your cheeks instantly heated up and you rolled your eyes at the pet name before quickly looking out of the window. "Oh, stop it."

"And you know what's funny?" He then asked, making you turn back to face Yeonjun with a raised, questioning eyebrow.

"Even if you had done nothing about your appearance and just rolled straight out of bed, I'd still show you off. You're just perfect like that," he shrugged, not taking his eyes off the road.

Staring at your best friend with an unbelieving smile on your lips, you shook your head slightly, feeling your heart pick up its pace.

"You sound like you're so down bad for me, Jun."

Yeonjun let out a small laugh that didn't reach his eyes. "If only you knew, Yn."

You blinked, and the expression on your face now turned into a skeptical frown. Why did he sound so sincere?

"Yeonjun, what do you mean-"

"We're here," Yeonjun interrupted you with a smile, acting completely oblivious to the tension he had created with his words. You shook your head, not wanting him to change the subject just yet, but before you could respond, your eyes caught a glimpse of the marvelous mansion on top of the hill, and your jaw dropped.

"No way," you breathed.

Yeonjun grinned, leaning back against the leather headrest and turning his head to face you as you stared at the building for a few seconds in complete silence.

"What are you thinking about, hm?"

"Just wondering many times my apartment would fit in this castle." It wasn't the only thing floating through your mind but the more seconds passed, the less confident you were to ask him what he meant to say just a few seconds before. He probably didn't mean anything serious, right?

Yeonjun let out a chuckle, slightly alleviated you had seemed to forget about the words he blurted out only a few seconds ago. Only slightly, because sometimes he wished he could just drop the bomb and watch your reaction, waiting for something that could turn out in either one, a disaster or two, the kiss he had been dreaming about for ages now.

Yeonjun immediately felt his insides grow hot at the latter idea that he knew shouldn't appear in his head, and quickly took the keys out of his car. "Let's go. Inside you'll be able to decide better how many times your apartment fits in this place."

You grinned, turning to face your best friend whose wink you were able to catch just before he exited the vehicle.

With mesmerization written all over your face, you scrutinized your surroundings as you walked beside Yeonjun through the enormous front yard.

Yeonjun felt conflicted as he glanced at you. Part of him was feeling proud, being able to impress you with all of this luxury. But another part of him, the bigger part, felt spoiled. Because while your jaw was almost touching the ground at the sight of all the luxury, he was starting to get so used to these kinds of parties that this huge house that barely could be called a house but rather a castle like you named it, did not affect him much anymore. He was starting to find luxury normal, boring almost.

Was he spoiled for preferring to be taken to an unknown downtown cafe by you than going to a five-star Michelin restaurant with his team? For preferring to be at your apartment rather than this mansion that was about two hundred times as big? For preferring all the simplicity and bliss that came with being with you instead of the riches and luxury that came with his job? Had he turned into the people he used to detest? The ungrateful kind?

In a second Yeonjun was brought back to earth when he felt a warm feeling engulf his hand. He looked down at your intertwined hands and smiled softly. A sigh of relief fell from his lips, a relief only you could give him.

It was at that moment Yeonjun realized he wasn't ungrateful. He still appreciated all the things his job got him, but the reason nothing beat the simplicity of being with you, was because of you. Nothing beat being with you.

He looked up at your face, but you weren't looking at him. You were trying to get a glimpse of the inside of the building as you reached the foyer.

"Name?" The broad, black-clothed man asked, his voice firm and cold before looking up from his notepad. When his eyes fell on Yeonjun, a smile immediately appeared on his face. "Oh! Good evening, Yeonjun."

You felt pride grow in your chest at how well-known and respected your best friend was.

"Evening," Yeonjun smiled, his voice deep.

"Brought a plus-one?" The man eyed you, and you awkwardly shifted in your spot, fearing you already looked out of place.

Yeonjun tightened his hold on your hand as he looked down at you, a proud smirk tugging at the left corner of his lips. "My one and only best friend."

You smiled as you looked up at him, and when your eyes locked, you felt your heart jump.

You didn't miss the way Yeonjun's eyes flickered from yours down to your lips for a split second before he turned back to face the guard. Why did that small action make something in your belly do a flip?

"Is it OK if we pass?" Yeonjun grinned.

"Of course." The man immediately stepped aside, the tension between you and Yeonjun almost half having distracted him from doing his job.

The exterior of the mansion had already amazed you, but nothing could've prepared you for the grandiosity that was the inside of the establishment.

The illumination coming from the large chandeliers decorating the high ceiling reflected in the shiny beige, marble floor as you walked over it. Your eyes roamed over the rich-looking people talking and laughing with each other, and your grip on Yeonjun's hand unconsciously tightened, making him give you an encouraging squeeze in return.

"You're beautiful," he whispered in your ear reassuringly and you immediately felt your cheeks heat up.

In a second, you remembered the words he had said just before you arrived, and the warmth in your cheeks spread through your entire body.

"If only you knew, Y/n."

What did he imply with that comment? Was he just being playful or was he suggesting something else, something more? And why did you still hope for the latter? Why were you still not over your feelings for him after forcing yourself to forget about them for months?

You shouldn't be feeling this way. He shouldn't be making you feel this way.

You let go of your best friend's hand.

Yeonjun frowned, feeling a small pang in his chest at the cold, vacant feeling in his hand and the change in atmosphere.

He cleared his throat, recomposing himself. "Let's go." Not waiting for your answer, he started walking to the great hall of the mansion.

You swallowed as you watched him walk away before trailing after him.

"Two Boulevardiers, please," Yeonjun ordered at the bar, not liking the wines the waiters were offering the guests.

"Sounds fancy. Are the wines too cheap?" You joked, trying to lighten the tense air but to your dismay, it sounded clumsier than you hoped it would. He rolled his eyes with a small smile on his lips before handing you the glass of what was a fancier version of Negroni and you let out a small sigh of relief at the sight of his smile.

Perhaps nothing was going on. Perhaps you were just overthinking every single move right now after what he told you in the car.

You smelled the drink and squinted your eyes. "Damn, this stuff is strong, isn't it?"

"It's good," Yeonjun responded before downing the drink at once.

You looked at your friend as he sniffled and ran a hand through his hair. The way he downed the drink made you almost believe he was making an effort to get tipsy quickly (not that it would work with just one drink), and you couldn't help but slightly frown. No, telling yourself nothing was going on would be lying.

You frowned. "Wait, how are you going to drive back home?" You asked, not tasting the beverage yet.

"Calling a taxi," he responded, not looking at you.

"What about your car? You're just going to leave it here?"

"I'll ask one of my managers to get it for me."

"Oh." You slowly nodded, an embarrassed chuckle leaving your lips as you averted your eyes to the floor. You almost forgot just how rich your best friend was.

Finally, you took a sip of the drink and scrunched your face at the feeling of the alcohol burning your throat, making Yeonjun's eyes shift to you. He couldn't help but smile. You had always been bad with alcohol.

"You okay?" He asked and this made you down the entire drink before turning to face him.

"I am okay. Are you, though?"

Yeonjun swallowed, his nose and cheeks slightly red due to the alcohol, and he looked away. "Yeah, I'm fine."

You knew he realized you were hinting at the tense air between you two but he seemed to ignore it.

However, as you examined the somber glint in Yeonjun's eyes, your best friend instinct won from whatever you were feeling at that moment and you slipped your hand in his before slightly squeezing it.

"Are you really okay, Jun? Are we okay?" You asked, forcing him to look you in the eyes as you slightly tugged at his hand.

His eyes locked with yours and they immediately softened. He gave you a smile and nodded. "Yeah. Everything is okay, love."

The answer didn't free you of the unexplainable feeling pressing onto your chest but you just nodded. You didn't know what answer you were looking for, anyways.

"I hope you don't hate the party that much. I know you didn't exactly want to come," Yeonjun quickly joked and you let out a breathy chuckle.

"It's fine, I am actually quite impressed. Never seen this many good-looking people in one place."

Yeonjun let out a laugh and you couldn't help but laugh too. To your relief, the weight on your chest lost a few pounds.

"Come on, let me introduce you to some people," Yeonjun smiled and you quickly nodded before following him toward a group of well-dressed men and women surrounding a tall but small and round table.

A blond-haired woman you quickly recognized as the model Yeonjun did the Vogue shoot with —Lana—came up to Yeonjun and pulled him into an embrace. Your eyes flickered to the way his hands were positioned on her tiny waist before shifting to the smile on her face that was caused by something Yeonjun whispered in her ear.

You forced yourself to look away, swallowing whatever feeling had crept up on you at the sight— at the remembrance of the fact you were no one but a best friend to Yeonjun, one who did not belong in a place like this.

"Guys, this is Yn—my plus one for tonight." Yeonjun's voice and all the attention your way made you look up with wide eyes before you broke into an embarrassed chuckle.

"Hi, I'm Yn," you smiled clumsily, and to your relief, you received kind smiles from Yeonjun's friends.

"Hi, I am Lana!" The tall model chimed in, holding out her hand for you to shake. You smiled and took her hand but your eyes shifted to Yeonjun for a split second with a confused arch in your eyebrow only to find him catching your look with the same expression on his face.

"You already met her during the Vogue shoot, remember?" Yeonjun asked, scratching the back of his neck, something you knew he only did when he was either nervous or ashamed.

You quickly nudged your best friend's arm and painted a wide smile on your lips.

"Give her a break. She must've forgotten, it was such a busy day. Plus, I'm just one of the many people behind the camera, not very striking," you chuckled and the confused expression on Lana's face morphed into a bright one.

"Yeah, it really was such a busy day, right?" She gasped before going into detail to the people around her about just how long her schedule was that day.

Yeonjun knew you reacted to Lana this way to reassure him and that only made everything worse. He believed you were more than striking, and he hated how Lana made you feel like you were invisible to people like her—like him.

As you listened to the conversation between Lana and another woman who you just learned was called Minhee, you felt Yeonjun's hand find yours below the table and give it a small squeeze, making you look up at him.

‘I’m sorry’ was what he mouthed and you quickly shook your head, scrunching your nose and giving him a funny smile.

‘Don't worry about it, nothing deep’ you mouthed back, nudging his shoulder softly before looking straight ahead again.

He lowered his head and your heart leaped when his warm breath hit your skin as he whispered “love you” in your ear, keeping his face so neutral, people around you might as well believed he mentioned something about the weather to you.

You turned your head and your breath almost hitched in your throat at the proximity between your faces. "Love you too," you whispered, your voice almost inaudible, before you turned away from him. But not without noticing the way Yeonjun's eyes flickered to your lips for the second time tonight.

After having talked to most of Yeonjun's friends, you came to the conclusion they weren't as stuck up or out of touch with reality as you secretly expected them to be.

Particularly a guy named Lee Minho, who wasn't exactly a friend of Yeonjun but a friend of a friend.

"So how long have you been doing photography? I've seen some of your work and I do think it is very much striking,” the brown-haired man said as he leaned his elbow on the table and let his chin rest in his hand, a small smirk dancing on his lips.

You couldn't help but beam at the fact he was showing interest in your profession. You were so surprised he had seen your work that you didn't even notice the up-and-down look he gave you. Yeonjun did, though.

Just when you were going to answer him, Yeonjun beat you to it: "She's been photographing everything she finds interesting for as long as I can remember. Back when we were like ten years old, I would constantly lose her because she'd pause somewhere to take a picture of our surroundings with the camera my mom gifted her."

Both you and Minho shifted your attention to Yeonjun who looked at you with a sweet smile before glancing at Minho for a split second with the same smile on his lips but a completely different expression in his eyes.

You cleared your throat before nodding, "Y-yeah, like Yeonjun just said, I've been into photography since I was a kid. It turned from a hobby to a profession when I started majoring in photography in University."

Your eyes lingered on Yeonjun when you spoke the words before you averted your attention back to Minho.

"Thank you, by the way," you timidly smiled. "What about you, how did you get into modeling?" You then asked Minho, not missing the look the brown-haired man gave Yeonjun before he turned to you, a bright smile replacing the expression on his face.

"I was scouted actually! I never thought I had the potential to be a model until a middle-aged woman came up to me and asked me if I was interested in dropping by the modeling agency," he responded and you raised your eyebrows, mouthing a small 'wow'.

"I thought I was being scammed at first, though."

This comment earned a heartfelt laugh from you, making him chuckle too.

You felt Yeonjun's stare burn into the side of your face and when you looked up, your senses were confirmed. Your eyes met his and he instantly looked away, a vague expression of disappointment flashing through his dark eyes.

You frowned before turning back to Minho.

Why didn't Yeonjun seem glad you were getting along with the people here and were actually having a good time? Wasn't that what he wanted? God, the air between you and your best friend was so peculiar the whole evening.

After a few minutes of you chatting with Minho, you felt a nudge against your arm, making you turn to the side.

"Hey, Yn, want to dance?" Yeonjun asked, the corners of his lips twitching into an almost timid smile, and he gestured at the people slow dancing on the dance floor now that a fitting song started playing from the speakers. Your heart made a small jump and you were just about to nod your head when you remembered Minho's proposition of a minute ago.

You offered Yeonjun an apologetic smile before turning to Minho. "Minho actually just offered to give me a tour through the mansion. I'm sorry."

Although the smile stayed on his plump lips, the rest of Yeonjun's face seemed to fall, his eyes losing the excited glint in them.

His Adams Apple bobbed up and down before he nodded. "Oh, yeah, sure. Don't worry about it."

He glanced at Minho before dropping his eyes and excusing himself from you two, leaving you behind with an uneasy feeling in your chest as you watched him walk off.

"Let's go?"

Minho's voice pulled you away from your thoughts that were Yeonjun-shaped, and you cleared your throat before nodding and following Minho.

"Another Boulevardier?"

Yeonjun looked up from his hands to the man behind the bar counter before slowly shaking his head.

"A water is fine."

Drinking his pain away now would be easy, too easy. You deserved more than that. You deserved to be felt. So that was what Yeonjun was doing now.

He was letting himself feel the love he held for you, and the pain it caused him.

His gaze was focused on the glass of crystal clear water in front of him, tapping his index finger against it softly, but every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was you. Your sharp eyes that would turn big and innocent when Yeonjun stepped close to the line that separated friendship from being more. Your soft looking lips that Yeonjun dreamed to not just feel against his cheek once in a while, but against his own lips—and not just once in a while. All he could see was your bright smile and all he could hear was your heartfelt laughter.

A smile crept upon Yeonjun's face, one that did not reach his eyes. He needed you more than he ever thought he did.

A new presence beside Yeonjun made him look up.

"Hey, Soob."

"Where's Yn?" Soobin asked, coming straight to the point.

Yeonjun averted his eyes back to the glass of water. "Somewhere with Minho."

"You've got to tell her, Yeonjun."

The outer ends of Yeonjun's eyebrows drooped and he bit his lower lip. "And do what? Ruin our friendship and lose her? I'd rather die, Soobin."

Soobin sighed and ran a hand down his face. "Bro, listen to me, okay?"

Yeonjun glanced at his friend for a second, letting him know he was paying attention.

"I know I don't know Yn that well personally, but I would have to be blind to not notice the way she looks at you, I can't believe you don't see it."

Yeonjun frowned, fidgeting with the rings on his fingers. "That's how she looks at everyone."

Soobin chuckled. "We both know you're lying. You know you're the only one she looks at that way."

Yeonjun's heart sped up and he hated himself for allowing the balloon of hope to inflate in his chest.

"Do you think it could mean something?" He asked carefully.

"Yeonjun, I don't think it does, I know it does."

Yeonjun looked at Soobin with furrowed eyebrows, his mind going all places. "Should I tell her?"

"If Minho hasn't already, then yes."

Yeonjun's eyes widened and for a second he was frozen in place. Minho. With the way the man was looking at you tonight, it would be no surprise he was going to ask you out, or maybe already had.

Yeonjun could not let that happen. He could not let his last bit of hope disappear in thin air.

"I have to find her," Yeonjun breathed and almost tripped as he jumped off the bar chair. "Thanks, Soob."

Pushing through the crowd of people, Yeonjun made it to the staircase and he skipped multiple steps to save time.

With his heart beating in his throat and his breathing rapid, he ran from room to room only to find every single of them empty, not a sight of you or Minho. God, why was this mansion so unnecessarily huge?

Two girls walked past Yeonjun and he quickly recognized them from a past event.

"Hey, did any of you see Minho perhaps?"

The girls halted their steps. "Yeah, he's in the art room. The one with all the paintings and sculptures," the girl on the left replied and the other added: "It's at the end of the hall, to your right."

"Was he with a girl?"

The girls nodded and the one on the right sighed. "Yep, and I wish I was her. He seemed to be very into her."

Yeonjun's eyes widened in horror. "A-alright. Thanks." And with that, he dashed off.

When he got closer to the room, he started hearing muffled sounds of two people talking and he quickly recognized your voice.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a second or two. It was now or never, he told himself before walking to the entrance of the room.

But just when he was going to enter, his eyes fell on a sight he had often imagined in his head. The only difference was just that in his head it was him standing in front of you. It was him pulling you closer, pushing your hair out of your face, and lifting your chin. In his dreams it was him.

But in real life it was Minho.

Yeonjun's body deflated, his shoulder slumping and his face falling.

He was too late. He was too late and it was his own fault. He had wasted the seas of time he had to let you know what was living in his heart.

But just him understanding he was the one to blame wasn’t making the knife in his chest wound him any less.

Tears filled his eyes as he watched Minho slowly close the gap between you and him. Yeonjun took a few steps back before looking away, not being able to handle seeing him kiss you.

Without looking back once, he walked off, leaving you unaware of his feelings once again.

Minho softly tugged at your waist, pulling you closer to him. Your eyes roamed over everything in the room except for the man in front of you.

The rhythm of your heartbeat was unsteady and when you finally dared to look up in Minho's eyes, the unfamiliarity of them told you your heart wasn't racing in a pleasant or exciting way. You were nervous and stressed—uncomfortable.

Minho was perfect. Kind, attractive, and most importantly, into you.

But he wasn’t the person who made you feel the safest, happiest and most appreciated girl in the world. He wasn’t your best friend whom you had been in love with for over two years. He wasn’t the one for you.

He wasn’t Yeonjun.

"I-I'm sorry," you muttered and pushed yourself away from him just before he could close the space between you two entirely.

Minho instantly took a step back, his eyes averting from you, and his lips curving into an embarrassed smile.

"Sorry, I thought you-" he raked a hand through his brown, silky hair, "never mind, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uneasy-"

You raised your hands and quickly shook your head. "No! No, no, you didn't do anything against my will. It's just that…”" You halted and looked away from Minho, the floor suddenly becoming the most fascinating thing to examine.

"It's just that...?"

You understood that Minho deserved an answer and thus you collected all the courage inside of you and turned your head to face him.

"I think I am already in love with someone else. And although I tried to deny my feelings and refuse any possibility of them existing, it's not fair to him or you or anyone else to pretend like I'm ready to move on when I'm not."

Surprisingly, a small weight lifted itself from your shoulders the moment you admitted out loud that you were in love—in love with your best friend. You were tired of lying to yourself and everyone around you. But most importantly you were tired of lying to Yeonjun.

And just like that, you knew you had to tell Yeonjun what you truly felt for him.

Minho slowly nodded. "It's Choi, isn't it?"

Your widened eyes answered Minho's question and a disappointed chuckle escaped his lips.

"And I hoped I was wrong when I sensed something between you two just half an hour ago," he smiled and you returned the gesture, an apology painting the outlines of your lips.

"I'm sorry," you repeated and he shook his head.

"Don't be sorry, we don't choose whom we fall in love with, do we?" He reassured you and you let out a shaky laugh.

"We don't."

Minho gave you a kind smile before gesturing at the door. "Well, I guess you better go and find him then?"

You blinked a few times before slowly nodding. "Thank you, Minho."

Although part of you felt bad for leaving Minho like this, the larger part of you couldn't wait to finally open your heart for Yeonjun and confess to him all that was inside of it. You were finally ready.

The heels you were wearing were making it difficult for you to rush your way down the stairs, but after almost tripping twice, the ground level was finally back beneath your feet.

Squinting your eyes, you tried to make out your best friend in the crowd of people. Usually, you were able to find him relatively quickly because of his height, but this was an event a lot of models attended, which meant he wasn't the only tall person anymore.

You were about to grab your phone from your purse when a familiar face caught your eyes, making them light up as if they had just witnessed a fallen star. Yeonjun was making his way to the balcony it seemed.

You pushed through the crowd, mumbling clumsy excuse me's and I'm sorry's to get to your best friend. But the moment you were getting closer, you noticed he was holding two drinks in his hands.

You frowned in puzzlement. Was he looking for you or...?

You halted in your steps.

He wasn't alone on the balcony. And the drink was surely not for you.

Lana took the drink from his hand with a seductive smile on her lips and took a sip of it without breaking eye contact with Yeonjun.

With wide eyes, you watched the way Lana took Yeonjun's drink and placed both glasses on the table beside them before positioning her hands on his chest. Yeonjun's eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips, and when he took a step closer to her and she whispered something in his ear, you felt nausea bubble up inside of you. Please, don't.

Unfortunately, he could not hear your silent prayers, and the next second, he had her pressed up against the wall with his lips on hers.

You didn't even notice you were holding your breath until you were running out of oxygen and a staggering exhale escaped your red-painted lips.

Taking a shaky step back, you shook your head in disbelief before forcing yourself to turn around.

You bit your trembling lower lip and desperately tried blinking away the tears pooling in your eyes. You could not be seen crying at this event.

You tried to make your way to the exit but a voice calling out your name caused you to halt in your steps.

After quickly wiping your eyes, you spun on your heels and landed face to face with Soobin, whom you knew was Yeonjun's close friend.

"Soobin, hi!" Your attempt to sound cheerful was pathetic, to say the least.

"Hey, Yeonjun was looking for you- is everything okay?" He frowned worriedly when he noticed your glossy eyes.

A strangled noise escaped your throat at the mention of Yeonjun looking for you before you hastily nodded. "Yeah, no, I'm fine. What do you mean Yeonjun was looking for me?"

"Yeah, he wanted to talk to you about-" Soobin quickly cut himself off, remembering Yeonjun should be the one to tell you.

"About what?" You questioned, the corners of your lips being pulled downwards as you fought the lump in your throat.

Soobin shook his head. "Y-you should go to him. I think it's important."

This time it was your turn to shake your head. "I don't think whatever he wanted to talk to me about was that important."

The black-haired man in front of you furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What? Why?"

You looked to the side before nodding at the sight of Yeonjun and Lana on the balcony. "Because he's busy."

Soobin followed your stare and when he saw what you were talking about, his jaw fell open and almost reached the floor.

"What the hell," he whispered to himself in disbelief.

"Hey, I am going to call a taxi to go home, okay? I'm not feeling all too well. Can you let Yeonjun know?" You asked Soobin as you took a step back.

"Yn, wait, I think Yeonjun doesn't want you to leave without him. You know he always needs to know you're home safe before he can relax."

It was true. Yeonjun was the most protective person you knew, especially over you. And you hated the way your heart warmed at the recollection of that.

"I don't want to... bother him right now. It's alright, he won't know I'm gone until I'm home, probably. Good night, Soob," you answered with a kind smile that didn't reach your eyes, and Soobin's shoulders slumped in defeat. He couldn't believe what was happening.

Just before you started making your way to the exit, you turned around once again. "Oh, and can you tell Yeonjun I had a good night? And that I hope he does too?"

Just because your heart was shattered in pieces because of him didn't mean he didn't still deserve to have a good night. His happiness would always matter most to you.

Soobin's eyes softened and he let out a sigh. "I will. Good night, Yn."

You tightened the leather coat around your body as the chilly night breeze hit your bare legs. Grabbing your phone from your purse, you checked the time again. Where was that cab?

Just as you were storing the device back in the black handbag, an all too familiar voice made you freeze.

Gradually you turned around and you were met with a breathless Yeonjun making his way to you, his hair slightly tousled and cheeks flushed. Any other day you'd find he looked endearing with messy hair and rosy cheeks. But right now, the state he was in was making you nauseous because you knew the reason behind it.

"Yn, what the hell, why did you suddenly leave without saying anything?" He panted, looking into your eyes with a worried and confused expression in them. "I thought we were going to hang out at your place after the event."

The expression in your eyes, on the other hand, was unreadable to him.

"I am just not really feeling well and I didn't want to bother you because you were having a good time. I told Soobin," you explained without looking at him once.

He huffed. "A good time?" If only you knew how terrible of a time he had after finding you with Minho.

The confused arch in your eyebrows at his remark made him shake his head as if to wipe away the comment before he continued talking. "You should've texted me. I don't want you taking cabs alone at night. Just tell me what's wrong, please."

You sighed. Could he stop being a gentleman for once and not make things harder for you?

"God, there's nothing wrong. Plus, I am a grown woman. I'll survive," you muttered, feeling a ball of frustration start growing inside of you. With him, with yourself—with everything.

"Come on, Yn, at least be brave enough to look me in the eyes when you're lying to me. Why did you leave?"

Sometimes you wished he couldn't read you so effortlessly. But after having been best friends for fifteen years, that was an impossible wish to fulfill. Because after all these years spent together, you were as transparent as glass to him.

Yeonjun knew you better than anyone else. From what your favorite animal was to what events in your childhood led you to become the individual you were today.

Yeonjun knew you through and through.

Except, when it came to your feelings for him. To that, he was completely and utterly blind. Or maybe, just too insecure—not confident enough to consider that maybe, just maybe, you held the exact same feelings he held for you.

You sighed in annoyance and tightened the grip on your purse.

A presumption seemed to flash through Yeonjun's mind because suddenly it was as if something in his eyes shifted and his chest heaved.

"Yn, did Minho do anything to you? Because if he did-"

Your head jerked up, a horrified expression covering your face. "Oh my God, no! No, not at all."

Yeonjun's nostrils flared and his eyes were wild as he raked a hand through his hair. "Yn, I swear-"

You seized his other hand and pulled it to obtain his attention. "Yeonjun, he didn't do anything. I promise. Now calm the hell down."

With stern eyes, you held contact with his dark ones and slowly they seemed to soften. Your best friend finally appeared to believe your words and the veins in his neck relaxed as he released a ragged breath that held a sense of relief.

"Okay, good." He nodded his head a few times as if trying to calm himself down from the thought that had his insides burning with fury. "Good."

You nodded too and a short silence fell over the two of you before it got interrupted by the sound of an engine.

"There's the cab. I'll see you later, okay?" You muttered before turning around to make your way to the vehicle.

"I'm coming with you."

"Oh my God, Yeonjun, I told you, you don't have to-"

"Just get in the car, Yn," he replied and the sternness that engulfed his usual soft voice made you bite back a response and instead enter the car in silence with Yeonjun following you.

The silence in the taxi was thick and the tension was nearly suffocating.

Glancing at Yeonjun, you found him looking out of the window with furrowed eyebrows and a clenched jaw.

You didn't blame him for being angry with you. You were acting irrationally and unfairly—punishing someone for breaking your heart when they weren't even aware of doing so in the first place wasn’t reasonable, you knew that. But still, you couldn't find the strength to pull yourself together and apologize to Yeonjun. And suddenly, telling him the truth seemed like the scariest thing you could do now after seeing him all over Lana.

Nausea bubbled up in your stomach once again at the memory. Your Yeonjun, kissing another woman.

Your Yeonjun who was free to date whoever he wanted. Your Yeonjun who didn't owe you anything because you had never found the courage, to be honest with him.

Your Yeonjun, who wasn't yours.

You turned to look out of the window, trying to scoot as close to the car door as possible. Away from him.

Now it was Yeonjun's turn to peek at you and when he saw your smaller figure in the corner of the car, he suddenly had to fight back the tears burning his eyes.

Touching his lips with his fingers, he felt sick with himself. Sick and guilty at the memory of kissing a woman that wasn't you. A woman he felt nothing for.

Why did it feel like he betrayed you?

He wasn't yours and you weren't his, and still, he felt ashamed. Ashamed because instead of mourning the fact he would never get the opportunity to call you his lover, he let his weakness win and went to find himself a distraction to try and forget about you when you were worth so much more than being forgotten—even for one evening.

His gaze slowly wandered over your frame and he had to bite the inside of his lower lip to stop it from trembling as the tears threatened to fall from his pained eyes.

God, why weren't you his? What was wrong with him for you to not be able to love him as anything more than a friend?

Yeonjun finally tore his eyes off you and quickly wiped away the one tear that managed to escape as subtly as possible.

But you noticed. Of course, you did.

And you suddenly felt extremely sick with yourself. You were putting Yeonjun through something he didn't deserve.

With sad eyes, you looked up at Yeonjun and when you noticed the glossy layer on his eyes, your heart dropped like the flowers from a broken lover's hands.

You had to tell him the truth.

After what felt like an eternity, the cab arrived at your place.

You nervously smoothened your dress. "Won't your management mind you left without any security?" You were aware you were procrastinating telling him the real issue.

Your best friend's shoulders tensed up for a second at the sound of your voice before he shrugged them. "It's not the first time."

You nodded. That was true.

Yeonjun luckily was permitted to go out without bodyguards or any other type of security on regular days, but when it came to events that were known to the general public such as this one, he would usually be accompanied by at least one escort.

But Yeonjun was like a rebellious teenager sometimes—running from his own security so he could flee an event early and make his way to your apartment.

"I'm sorry you..." you cleared your throat, "…had to leave earlier because of me." You were truly sorry. Because although you didn't ask him to do so, you knew Yeonjun would never let you go on your own. So when you decided to leave the event, you were aware of the possibility Yeonjun would find out and leave too. You just hadn't cared. But now as you look at your best friend, the disappointed glint in his eyes and the defeated arch in his eyebrows, you felt guilty. He technically had done nothing wrong, and you ruined his night.

"I'm really sorry," you repeated, your voice barely above a vulnerable whisper.

He nodded and you took a deep breath, collecting every inch of courage in your body. This was it. All the months you dreamt about him, hoped to one day be more than just friends, wished you could call him yours. All the secrets. You were going to confess them to him now.

"Yn?"

Your words died before leaving your mouth.

He looked up at you after calling your name and your heart skipped a beat when his dark, familiar eyes bored into yours.

"Are we... Are we okay?"

You blinked a few times and you had to fight the wave of tears that was about to break the dam behind your eyes. No, I am not okay and I was just going to tell you why, you thought.

With your lips parted and eyes widened, you stared at him.

Uncountable emotions fled through your body in that one moment looking at Yeonjun.

But there was one that stood out the most, one that you had always felt for your best friend, even before you grew to have romantic feelings for him: love.

Unconditional and genuine love.

Pieces of core memories you shared with him flashed in front of your eyes for a split second, and you remembered once again just how much he meant to you. How much his happiness mattered to you.

And if Lana was the one making him happy now, you did not want to come in between that.

Hiding your feelings for Yeonjun for so many months but suddenly dumping them on him the day he kissed someone else was not fair to both Yeonjun or Lana.

Slowly your face softened and a small but sincere smile colored your lips.

"We will always be okay, Jun. Whatever happens."

He was your best friend, and you'd rather die than live a life without him in it.

Yeonjun released a breath he didn't know he was holding until you answered.

A weak smile gradually grew on Yeonjun's face before he nodded his head. You were right. Whatever happened, it would always be you and him. Even if it broke his heart to know it would just be as best friends.

"Yn, wait."

You raised a questioning eyebrow.

"You were going to tell me something just a second ago, weren't you? I feel like I interrupted you," he asked frowning.

You swallowed, almost amazed at how well he could read you, before sighing and shaking your head. "No, I wasn't saying anything. It probably just seemed like it."

He slightly narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. "Are... Are you sure?" He leaned in and took your hand in his, making your breath hitch in your throat.

"You can tell me anything, remember?" He gave you a gentle smile as if to remind you it was your best friend you were talking to. The person you had known since you were only eight years old.

And you were so close. So close to spilling all your secrets to him.

Just not close enough.

Smiling, you squeezed his hand before letting go of it. "I just got a little anxious at the event. I'm sorry I acted off to you because of it. You didn't do anything wrong." 

Yeonjun's shoulders sagged but it seemed to be out of defeat rather than relief, and the sight of it made you wonder how convincing you sounded.

"I think I should go now, the driver must be tired of waiting for us."

The driver isn’t the only one then, Yeonjun thought.

"Let's watch Friends another time okay?"

Yeonjun nodded, his face deprived of emotion.

"I owe you!" You tried to sound cheerful before closing the car door and making your way to the entrance of your apartment complex.

With the sight of Yeonjun's defeated eyes engraved in your mind, you walked away from him. The bigger the distance grew between you and the car, the more you started falling apart, and you wondered if Yeonjun could tell.

Usually, when people bid each other goodnight, they would go to bed, close their eyes and fall asleep.

But it was now two in the morning and you, on the other hand, were wide awake, sitting on the couch in your living room with a cup of tea in your hand, hoping sleep would take over you soon.

After getting home, you had changed into your pajamas which consisted of a fitting long sleeve shirt and sweats, the usual clothes you'd wear whenever you would hang out with Yeonjun. When that thought had appeared in your mind as you were putting the shirt on, you almost wanted to throw it back into your closet and dress into a different top.

But you fought the feeling. You were not going to push away your best friend or the idea of him just because he happened to break your heart with every word or glance he offered you. It wasn't his fault he had the power to do so. It wasn't his fault he was so perfectly what you wanted in a lover that it made you want to scream into a pillow or cry yourself to sleep because he wasn't the one beside you, cuddling you.

It wasn't his fault.

Sighing, you slouched back into the couch and stared at the heels in the corridor you hadn't bothered putting back on the shelf.

Your eyes averted to the door and to your dismay pieces of memories began passing by in your mind.

When Yeonjun had showed up at seven in the morning on a Sunday because a new part of your favorite movie had gotten announced while you were still asleep. When the two of you stumbled in, weak from laughter and the two (or three) glasses of wine you had on a night out at your favorite restaurant. When Yeonjun left his job mid-photoshoot because you had accidentally locked yourself out at ten in the morning after a run and he was the only one who had spare keys to your apartment. When he showed up at three in the morning to hold you tight because you had found out your ex-boyfriend was cheating on you.

You softly smiled. That door held an overflowing amount of memories.

You were so deep in thought, that the loud buzz sounding through your apartment caused you to jump up from the couch and the inner corners of your eyebrows to pull together in suspicion.

"Yn? It's me. I know you're not sleeping yet."

The familiarity of the voice that belonged to none other than Choi Yeonjun made you release a relieved sigh and your shoulders relax for a second until a new balloon of anxiety grew in your chest. What was he doing here?

Taking a deep breath, you braced yourself for whatever feelings would strike you the moment you'd see him again before you finally made your way through the corridor to the door.   

When you opened the door, your heart instantly weakened. Yeonjun stood in the dim hall of the apartment complex with tousled hair, grey sweats, a black hoodie, and his favorite (now beat up) black Converse All-Stars.

His shoulders sagged in relief at the sight of your wide-awake state. Although he had known you weren't sleeping by the fact his texts were being delivered to your phone which wouldn't have been possible if you were sleeping since you never forgot to put your phone on airplane mode the moment you'd close your eyes, he was still relieved you opened the door.

You glanced at the clock on the wall beside the door before shifting your gaze back to Yeonjun.

"A little early for a morning run, isn't it?"

The smile on your lips was deprived of authenticity and it didn't reach your eyes as your words interrupted the quiet night atmosphere.

Yeonjun's stare was intense as he watched you and you physically felt the air between you thicken.

"Yn, I need you to be honest with me."

He decided to come straight to the point.

Your shoulders slumped because you knew you needed to. You knew you needed to be honest with him. You just couldn't.

"I-" he swallowed and raked a hand through his raven hair as he looked around, searching for the right words, "there is something up between us and I know you were going to tell me about it back in the cab. We both know you acting this way and the air between us this entire night was much more than you just feeling a little unwell."

He knew you so terribly well.

Guilt was eating you up but unfortunately for Yeonjun, anxiety was fighting it. And the latter was winning.

"It is nothing, Yeonjun, really. You shouldn't have come all the way here. Why didn't you text me-"

"I did text you! Can you just stop lying to me and tell me what the hell is up with you because I've known you for longer than a day and I know some-"

Yeonjun's raised voice faded to the background as memories of Lana's hands and lips on him reappeared in your mind and suddenly it was like a frustrated balloon of anger popped in your chest, blowing away all the other emotions swimming through your body. Emotions such as guilt, heartbreak, and shame. All of them were silent for just a second. And that second was enough for you to let your guard down. Enough for you to break down and fall apart, right in front of him. So with a raised voice and an open heart you ultimately confessed.

"Yeonjun, don't you see? I'm in love with you!"

The man in front of you froze in place, halting his sentence. With wide eyes he watched you continue your outburst of a confession.

"I've been in love with you for too long now and I am so incredibly embarrassed because I know you are my best friend, and I hate myself for not being able to view you as just that," you sniffed and ran a shaky hand through your hair, "I hate myself for feeling sick and angry and hopeless about you having something with Lana. I hate you for being so lovable, for making me fall in love with you without reciprocating my feelings. But you know what I hate most of all?" You let out a humorless chuckle and shook your head. "What I hate most of all is that I can never hate you at all."

Yeonjun listened to your sentences carefully, and every word that entered his ears made his heartbeat pick up its pace. The shocked frown on his lips was slowly but surely being replaced by a small, emotional smile as the realization started to hit him. You loved him. You loved him the way he loved you.

You were just as much his as he was yours.

Frustratedly, you frowned and a tear made its way out of your eye and down your flushed cheek.

"Come on. Say something, Yeonjun," you muttered, shame lacing your hoarse voice.

And Yeonjun responded. Just not in the way you expected him to. Not with words.

He took a step in your direction and his hands delicately cupped your warm cheeks before he closed his eyes and captured your lips with his plush ones.

Your eyes grew in size for a second but quickly fluttered shut when his thumb softly started tracing circles on your cheek. And in that moment, time seemed to stop. Everything and everyone in the world seemed to stop, leaving just you and him on this earth.

Just you and Yeonjun.

Your hands hovered above his, not daring to touch them or the man in general because of a fear this dream would stop the moment you'd do.

After a handful of seconds, he slowly pulled away but stayed close enough for your breaths to morph into one and his hands to remain on your cheeks. Your eyes gradually moved from his lips to his own dark eyes, and your noticed his dilated pupils as he stared at you with a nervous furrow in his eyebrows. His eyes were so full of intensity and emotion, it made your knees weaken.

Now that he had given you a piece of him, you weren't sure you were ever going to be able to let go of it, of him. You needed him, more than anything.

Cupping his face, you brought it closer to yours once again and this time it was you who locked your lips together.

You quickly realized this kiss was different than the first. The first was careful, fragile. This one was full of passion and fervor as if the both of you were terrified you would wake up any second, and the moment would have been nothing but a dream. A dream the two of you had had many of before.

He kissed you with all the longing and aches he had been feeling for the past two years. Uncountable days he had had to drown himself in distractions so he wouldn't feel the lack of your presence. Even when you were there with him, he had feared that it would never be enough, that he would never get over his romantic love for you and he would never be able to get rid of the empty hole in his heart you weren't filling.

Now, he was kissing you at two in the morning, with every inch of love and passion in his body. And it was better than he had ever imagined.

You stepped back and Yeonjun followed after you into the hallway of your apartment, closing the door with his foot without taking his lips off you even for a second. His lips were so beyond soft and gentle against your own, it made your heart double in size and all the worries in your body and mind evaporate in thin air.

"I am so, so in love with you, Yeonjun," you whispered against his mouth, and Yeonjun wondered if you realized the impact such words had on him. He wondered if you knew it caused tears to pool in his eyes and his knees to weaken.

You had been his best friend for as long as he could remember. And he knew you would always be his best friend. But from now on he was also allowed to call you his lover. And he couldn't believe the universe had given him this irreplaceable gift.

He pulled away and smiled from ear to ear at you as he gently pushed a strand of hair behind your ear before whispering:

"I'm completely and entirely yours, Yn."

A/N: Hi, my loves! Finally, I am posting again :’) From the bottom of my heart I’m so sorry for having been so inactive the past month. I hope now that I’ve finished this fic, I got out of my writing slump and will be able to write more again. I hope you guys enjoyed Heartbreak On The Dance Floor, thank you so much for reading! Please let me know your opinions🤍 ps. big thank you to @sungbeam for having supported me the past months and for getting me through writing this fic, love you <3

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