Work Text:
“Let’s take 5!” the photographer’s voice could be heard yelling as the staff members put down their equipment.
“Yusung- ah , go and change into the next outfit,” Hoyoung tells him as he walks toward her.
“Yes, noona ,”
He makes his way to the dressing room with his stylist as Hoyoung looks at all the pictures taken so far.
“Park Hoyoung!” a voice was heard right by her ear and she quickly turned around, ready to throw whoever that was over her shoulder. Her eyes catch sight of the person who’s currently making her job a bit better.
Kang Yusung.
“Sunbae, what are you doing here?”
“Of course, I should be here. He has my name after all,”
Hoyoung smiles at him while remembering why he has the name ‘Kang Yusung’ and not anyone else’s.
She likes him.
Park Hoyoung likes Kang Yusung.
How could she not? He was perfect in every single way.
“I heard you haven’t eaten anything all day. You should take care of yourself too. Not just your artist,” he says, handing her a packed sandwich and water.
“Thank you, sunbae,” she flashes him a smile, her nose scrunching up.
Yusung’s hand comes up without realizing, ready to pat her head. His hand was just a cm away from being placed on that spot that seemed to be made for him.
It never made contact with that spot. She walked away.
Yusung looks at his hand in the air, not knowing what to do anymore.
Hoyoung comes back with Sideok in his next outfit and makes him greet Yusung.
“Make sure you do well, Sideok- I mean Yusung,” he says while patting him on the back.
Shooting began soon after that and all Yusung could do was stare at Hoyoung. ‘She grew up well,’ he thought to himself as his eyes followed every step Hoyoung took.
She’s now making her way toward him. “He’s doing amazing, right?” she asks, placing herself right by his side where she could watch Sideok from afar.
“He’s doing great. It must be because he has such a great manager,” Yusung compliments her, giving her his usual smile.
Hoyoung tries to keep calm. She tries so hard to make it look like she's breathing and that she’s not nervous around him.
Minutes go by, and they’re still watching Sideok take his photos.
Hoyoung decides to break the silence once and for all.
“ Sunbae,”
‘Yeah?” He turns toward her and is ready to hear whatever she has to say.
“ I like you,”
And his world stopped . ‘She likes me?’ he asks himself, not being able to understand what she meant.
“I like you ,” she repeats. Her eyes are closed, and she’s fidgeting with her fingers. She’s nervous. She’s scared of being rejected.
“I’m sorry, Hoyoung- ah. I think we should just stay as friends. As colleagues,”
And her world collapsed. ‘He rejected me,’ she tells herself, accepting his feelings towards her.
“Let’s get him in the next outfit!” the photographer shouts as the makeup artist and stylist move toward the dressing room.
Hoyoung, using this as a chance to get away from him, walks to the dressing room to help Sideok get ready.
She spent the rest of the shoot by Sideok’s side, not daring to get a meter close to Yusung. And it’s what she planned to do for the rest of her life. How could she just continue working as if nothing happened?
And that’s exactly what she did. She increased her workload and worked overtime more often. She made sure that her schedule did not overlap with his. And even if it did, she made sure to stay as far away as possible from him.
Her behavior definitely did not go unnoticed. Yusung noticed everything she did. He always did. He noticed the sudden increase in her workload. He noticed how she started working overtime and he noticed how they never crossed paths again.
Was it because of the confession? Was it because he rejected her?
He was praying to God that he let them cross paths even for one second.
As if God answered his prayers, they crossed paths. At the company. Late at night.
She greets him and tries walking away but his grip on her arm stops her from doing so.
“Hoyoung- ah,” he calls out her name so softly that she wants to stay there and hear him call out to her for eternity.
“I heard you haven’t eaten at all today. Take this and eat it,” he hands her a packed meal.
“Thank you, sunbae,”
And once again, his hand makes its way onto her head, wanting to pat it but something stops him. She stops him.
Her grip on him is soft as if she doesn’t want him to stop. Her eyes are closed and she’s dreading having to say this.
“ Sunbae,” her voice shakes as the words come out of her mouth.
“You doing this does not help me whatsoever. You doing this does not stop my feelings from growing. They’re still growing. I know that you’re asking other staff members to take care of me on set. I know you’re asking Hanbyeol to check up on me from time to time. What you’re doing just makes me like you even more. So, please… Please stop. If you don’t like me, please stop what you're doing,”
Yusung realizes how much pain he’s been letting her go through these past few days. He realizes that taking care of her is something he should not be doing if he doesn’t like her.
But did he really not like her?
From that day on, Yusung tried his very best not to ask anyone to check up on her. He tried his very best not to go up to her and ask if she’s eaten yet.
They went on with their work lives as if nothing ever happened.
Yusung came to Taesung’s house to check up on him after a long day of filming.
“Taesung-ah, are you okay? You filmed for over 10 hours today,”
“I’m fine. I got used to it. I should be asking you that. Hyung, are you okay? You’ve been out of it for a while now. Did something happen?”
“It’s just something with work. It’s not important,” he brushes his question off, making it 10 times more suspicious.
“It doesn’t seem like work. It’s something else. I’m sure of it,”
“Fine. It’s someone. I’m curious about her. I want to know if she’s eaten yet, if she’s home already, and if she’s asleep or awake,”
Taesung smiles at his hyung, realizing he has someone he likes.
“You like her,” he tells him, not bothering to think twice about the situation.
“I like her? No way. I already told you I can never seem to think of my colleagues romantically,”
“So it’s a colleague?” Taesung asks in a teasing tone. “Wait. It better not be Hanbyeol!” he looks at Yusung to be sure.
“Of course, it’s not Hanbyeol. Remember your bodyguard a few years ago. Park Hoyoung. It’s her,”
Taesung’s eyes go wide and his hand comes up to cover his mouth. “You like her?! You chose the right person to like. You know how sad I was when she stopped being my bodyguard. No one was as good as her,”
“She is great at her job,” Yusung says under his breath. Now, all that he had to do was confess.
‘Why is it so hard to confess?’ he asks himself as he sits at his desk, done with work for the day.
He has been trying to confess for the past week but has failed every time. He just can never get any alone time with Hoyoung.
“Time to clock out!” an employee could be heard saying, and everyone was on their feet making their way to the elevator.
Yusung grabs his phone and wallet and leaves his desk. Glad that the workday was over.
He’s already in the underground garage when he realizes he forgot his car keys upstairs. He retreats his steps and goes back to the office.
The lights are off and no one’s there. ‘Wow everyone must be desperate to leave work on time,’ he thinks to himself as he reaches his desk.
He grabs his keys and is about to walk back down before her figure catches his eye. She’s in the pantry making herself some coffee. Was she planning to work overtime again?
“Knock Knock,” he enters the pantry, making his presence known by his most common phrase.
“Sunbae. What are you doing here this late?” she asks, knowing he isn’t the type to work overtime.
“I forgot my car keys. What about you? What are you doing here this late?”
“I just have some things to catch up on,” she lies.
“Haven’t you worked overtime this whole week? How much work is the CEO giving you that’s making you work overtime for the past week?”
“The CEO isn’t giving me any work. I chose to do all this. I want to improve myself. I’m Sideok’s manager. I don’t want to mess up my job,”
“You don’t need to improve yourself. You’re already good enough,” he voices his opinion while his hand goes up to her head to pat it. Her hand stops him once again.
“How many times have I told you that doing this isn’t hel-”
“ I like you,” he professes his love for her in a low whisper as if his voice was only hers to hear.
His free hand grabs hers and pulls her closer.
“I like you, Park Hoyoung,” he whispers one more time.
His hand slowly makes its way down her head to cup her face.
“ I like you, Hoyoung-ah," and he kisses her, and she accepts him.
He kisses her to let her know that what happened a few days ago was not what he meant. He doesn’t want to stay as friends or colleagues. He wants to be more.
Hoyoung may have questioned if he did have any sort of feelings for her and this kiss just proved her right. This kiss. This confession. Everything he did, proved her right. He kissed her with all the love and passion in the world.
And she knows for a fact, that if this was filmed, he’d take Taesung’s title of being the ‘Master of kissing,’.
They pull away and rest their foreheads on each other.
“I’m never letting you go,” Yusung utters as he pulls her in for another kiss.
He eventually came back to her, didn’t he?