Raw Honesty
This is just a little, unedited update of mine..
their duet performance got me giggling and smiling no-stop..
and i was about to cry each time I watch it...
People have mixed opinions about their duet,,
For me, the answers are there...
You just have to look closer and more clearly..
It's there, it's so obvious too :)
I may fail this time, but anyway, enjoy!
======================================
Yonghwa keeps pacing back and forth in his waiting room. His hands cannot stop moving. Be it fidgeting his fingers, touching everything he sees, strumming on his guitar, or hitting the innocent Jungshin, his hands just cannot stop. Standing up for one second, then sitting down for next, he keeps doing that pattern for the past 15 minutes. His members look at him in sympathy. It’s obvious, how nervous their leader is and to be honest, they are too. After all, it’s going to be their first performance after a while, and also, going to be first performance for their hyung and their ex sister in law since they ended their stunt in WGM. It’s gonna be awkward, gonna be terrifying and gonna be crazy up there. On the stage, anything can happen and they know how scared their leader is of messing the supposedly sweet duet. They understand him completely. Just, whatever he is doing now is making them dizzy.
“Hyung, will you stop it please? If you want to sit down then sit for at least 5 minutes before standing up. Or if you want to stand then keeps standing for 5 minutes instead of doing both for 30 seconds each” Jungshin massages his temple, shaking his head.
“Oh? What? Oh, yeah” their leader is losing his mind, that’s for sure.
Minhyuk scratches his head, walking towards Yonghwa and pats his back. “Everything is gonna be okay, Hyung”
“Did you hear the rehearsal? I messed up a lot. We weren’t in sync, Minhyuk-ah” he sighs, burying his face inside his hands.
“It’s going to be alright, Hyung. Just promise us there will be no stupid smiles on stage”
“What stupid smiles?!”
“That smile you have once you look at your wife. That cheekbones popping out thingy. You cannot do that anymore now”
Yonghwa huffs, knowing exactly the reason why he has to restrain himself. They’re not in WGM any longer, things aren’t the same as they were one year ago when they had their first duet stage. They have changed, at least on screen, they have to.
Knock, knock.
They all stand up abruptly at the sound of it, all know who it is exactly. They look at each other, asking in silence of who is going to open the door. Minhyuk takes a step forward, doing the deed because he is the closest to the door.
“Annyeong!” he greets Seohyun happily as soon as he opens the door. “Oh My God, you look really pretty”
“WOW~” Jungshin exclaims as soon as he sees Seohyun in her dress. His mouth hangs open shamelessly.
“The goddess is here” Jonghyun murmurs under his breath because he knows better than the two. Ogling over his sister in law openly will bring danger to him.
“YAH! YAH! YOU, GET OUT!” Yonghwa pushes out the two youngest from the room, his hand wrapped possessively on her waist.
“Oppa!” Seohyun giggles, playfully hitting his arms. “Annyeonghaseyo” she bows to Jonghyun who is eyeing her from head to toe, inaudibly saying how lucky his hyung is.
“That dress is dangerous” Yonghwa whispers to her, holding her closer and tighter. His heart is racing like crazy, seeing how breathtakingly beautiful she is in her dress. How her features are complimented perfectly. Beautiful is such an understatement.
“Aigo, there’s nothing wrong with this dress. It’s beautiful”
“I didn’t say it isn’t. You are gorgeous as always, but that dress is…. Well, I guess I just need to be by your side all the time. I won’t let you out of my sight”
Seohyun rolls her eyes on him. “Let’s go, Oppa. We need to go soon”. Yonghwa nods, looking back at his dongsaengs. After letting Seohyun out of the room first, he says “Yah, make sure everything is ready, okay?” and with a wave, he dashes out.
====
Yonghwa is serious when he says he’s not going to leave her side. He keeps sticking to her, not letting go of her hand even for a second and not minding the eyes that look at them with envy and confusions. His head is nodding along with the beat of music while Seohyun is blushing hard. She keeps bowing and smiles awkwardly to people who look at them. For several times, she tries to break their hand holding but Yonghwa’s strength is greater than hers. She sighs, this isn’t good. She realizes that not all people here can be trusted. Anyone could tell tale and that would be the end of their peaceful relationship. They always want to hide it until it’s the right time but what he’s doing is totally the opposite of what they have agreed on.
From the corner of his eyes, he knows that the guys who pass them will always look at her before bitterly smile at him. It’s clear that they, for a split second, want to at least greet her. Well, who wouldn’t? With this super short strapless dress she has on, and her hair tied up like that, she looks exactly like a princess. He hears the whispers, the compliments of how beautiful she is, how great looking she is. He is aware of the fact that she is shining so brightly lately. The comments of her being cute have shifted to her being sexy. People now say how gorgeous she is, how she dances flawlessly, how her facial expression are just so great and how her S-line stands out. People are now talking about seolady, she gets more screen time and her list of fanboys is growing very rapidly. In short, she is now on the spotlight. As a boyfriend, he is happy and worried at the same time. Sure, he is happy that now she gets more recognition. But then, there’ll always be certain guys who will keep trying to get close to her no matter how she has rejected them. So he is doing this now, being possessive of her while he can. He just doesn’t give a damn about the others and just wants to show them how they are actually together.
“Yonghwa-ssi, you have to standby on the other side. And Seohyun-ssi has to standby here” the staff announces to them, waking up Yonghwa from his own train of thoughts. Seohyun squeezes his hands, “Fighting” she whispers before taking her leave. Her sweet smile lingers for a while more, then he goes to the other side. The show begins.
====
Yonghwa can hear the loud thump coming from his heart. He doesn’t know how fast, but he knows it is not normal for his heart to beat like this. Realization comes over him. Finally, after 1 year, he gets to recognize his wish to have a duet stage with her, in front of so many people, in Japan, where all their magic begun. He’s becoming a little nostalgic the moment he remembers about a year ago; their first duet stage, their 200th day anniversary. And thinking about it again, it’s their 555th day today. He smiles at the coincidence, how these things seem to align with one another.
The music begins, and he stiffens up immediately. It’s back, the giddiness and nervousness he was feeling earlier. All memories rushing in his head and he doesn’t know why, he’s afraid. He feels so scared of messing up their duet. He’s afraid of him doing his old habit, which is, giving them away. He is terrified of the possibilities; how he cannot contain himself like usual, how he cannot keep his promise to not look like a love fool, how his eyes will again betray him in hiding his emotion, and how he will sing this song emotionally, thinking that after all, the girl he wrote the song for is standing in front of him and singing along. Get your act together, do not smile too wide, keep your voice on track, and do not look at her! Do not look at her or you will forget everything! He chants to himself.
Seohyun on the other hand, is nervous as hell. She keeps looking at the ground, suddenly feels shy and scared at the same time. How will this duet go? How can we fix what we lack at rehearsal before? How will our performance turn out to be? Sweet? Plain? Boring? Touching? She doesn’t know what to think about anymore. Then she hears it, his voice comes out sweetly and his eyes looking at hers like saying “It’s okay, we can do this” then she smiles a little. She can hear how loud the crowd is cheering for them and she glances at the pictures of their WGM days. Suddenly, she feels like crying. All the good memories are playing one by one, on the screen as well as in her mind. She takes a deep breath, it’s her time to sing.
When the chorus part comes, they lock eyes on each other. Both giving strength to one another, both know what exactly is going on in their heads. How both miss this, how they miss being seen together freely like this, how they miss their moments in WGM. Their eyes have the same longing looks, their small smiles can tell how thankful they are to the opportunity that is given to them, and yet, the nervousness is still clear, written all over their faces.
Seohyun looks at Yonghwa, encourages him to sing bravely when he’s about to go off-key. She gives him a little smile because, as she was told earlier by her managers, she cannot be too obvious. Then it finally comes, the part that successfully will make her giddy each time she hears it. Usually, when Yonghwa sings this part to her, she will hug him or if on the phone, she will reply to him immediately. However, they are now not in their own little world. They are now singing in front of so many people and every little gesture will be captured on the camera. Preparing her heart, she locks her eyes on him while Yonghwa looks away for a split second, trying to collect his sanity.
“Neol Sarangahae” the intensity in his eyes sends her to heaven. The expression he has on his face, such raw honesty there and sincerity he shows is unbelievable. She feels shivers running all over her body. God knows how much she wants to cry and hugs the guy right now. She looks away after seeing his shy smile. If she keeps her eyes on him, she knows that she might really shed tears and that is not a good thing. So she shifts her gaze to the camera, put a smile on her face, and sing her part.
From the corner of her eyes, she assures Yonghwa that it’s time to descend the stairs. He looks at her, nodding a little then come down. He is still suppressing his smile for the sake of not being apparent. He checks for so many times, in his head, that he cannot burst out smiling like he used to. He has to have control over himself. But the moment their eyes meet, he smiles so wide. His cheekbones are popping for few seconds before he shifts his gaze. That’s the only way he will stop smiling like a fool as Jonghyun said. He needs to look elsewhere but at her. His eyes moving left and right, trying to distract himself.
“Ijen nae dununeul bara bomyeo (Now look at my two eyes)” he finds a little courage and look at her. But then, for the rest of his part, he looks down again, trying to hide his smile. He shouts out “Neol Saranghae” before finally find her. His eyes asking her if she heard it or not. She nods a little, and so he diverts his attention to the audiences. You guys heard it, right? My confession to my goddess? He smiles and waves his hands.
Out of her mind, when they have to sing their part, she walks to him in such fast pace. She’s practically running to him. But she doesn’t give a damn, she just wants to reach out to him and hold his hand. She misses this, how they can hold hands in public without being afraid of getting caught or scolded. Her steps are in hurry while their eyes are locked on each other. Emotions come rushing. Giddiness, happiness, anxiety, all comes to them at the same time. There is certain urgency inside of her that telling her to reach out her hand first. She knows, Yonghwa is a little taken aback. But nonetheless, he grabs it. He rocks their hands lightly, like telling her she has done well and there is no need to worry. She squeezes his hand in response, telling him how happy she is. They both look to the audiences, both showing the same warm smile, their hands hold each other tight.
I’ll shout it one last time, Yonghwa thinks before they have to look at each other again. “Neoreul boneun naye du nun bitchi (Looking into your eyes, my two eyes)”. With all power they have inside of them without going off key, they sing as if announcing to the world “Malhago isseo, neol saranghae (They’re talking to you, I love you)” and both end the song with a smile; a proud smile that is, an overwhelmed smile. Yonghwa, as usual, finally gives in and shows his wide smile; the one he had tried so hard to hide during the performance by biting his lips. They bow to the audiences before exiting the stage. Not without the clumsy Seo Joohyun strikes, though. She bumps into Yonghwa and let out a loud grunt. If not for his self-control, the audience will hear him laughing so hard at her. Instead, he laughs a little and wraps his hand on her waist, guiding her off the stage. He just prays the dark will cover the little gesture. Or else, he’ll be doomed.
====
“Tsk, what did I say about smiling too wide?” Jonghyun hisses as soon as he sees the leader and his girlfriend comes off from stage. Minhyuk and Jungshin can only shake their heads.
“Sorry, can’t help it” Yonghwa grins, still holding onto Seohyun.
“OMONAAA! THAT WAS SO SWEET!”
“It’s hard, right Yong-seobang? AIgo,I saw it all!”
“You guys will be surprised once you see the video! Your eyes, your eyes!!”
“AAAAH! I AM SO JEALOUS!”
“Seriously, you have to practice on cold expression like mine”
“Lalalala~ I am so happy for you guys!”
“That was great, maknae-ah. Yong seobang did great too! You guys look good together”
“Reaching out your hand first, now, maknae? You sure have change”
Tiffany, Yuri, Yoona, Sooyoung, Jessica, Hyoyeon, Taeyeon and Sunny, all take turns to shout out what they need to say. 8 of them are jumping around and are so loud, surprising some people there.
“YAH! That was great, yea?” Jokwon comes from behind, clapping his hands and jump a little bit.
“You guys were great! Congrats! And geez, eyes seriously don’t lie” Seulong adds, clapping along with his band mate.
“Yongseo couple forever. Now, when will Adam couple have their duet again?” Jokwon pouts, gaining laughs from everyone.
“Thank you” Seohyun bows at them all, wiping the tears that fall from her eyes.
“Yah, why are you crying?!” Her boyfriend shakes her shoulder before wiping her tears. “Aigo, I guess we have to go to our room first. Thank you so much for the cheer” he bows to them and drags Seohyun along with him.
====
“Baby, what’s wrong? You did great up there!” he asks as soon as they enter his waiting room. Her face is damped with tears.
“I-I-“ she sobs harder. “I am just too happy”
Yonghwa laughs at her confession. He knows exactly what she’s talking about. How amazing was it for them to be on a big stage like that, voicing out their love to the world? It was out of this world, that much he knows. “Me too, babe. Me too” he pulls her into a hug, rubbing her back so that she’ll calm down a little.
“It was unbelievable, Oppa” she cannot hide what she feels. The sensation was so great that she feels her knees weaken.
“I know, Hyun-ah” he smiles at her, wiping her tears again. “You don’t know how much effort I did to control myself from running to you and hug you. I need to act, and I think that makes us appear a little awkward” he chuckles at his own words.
She laughs with him, playfully hitting his chest. “I know, they may now say that we have never seen each other again after WGM or outside the practice we had a few days before”
“Hm, they may say we have moved on”
“That’s how good lee shin’s acting is”
“Yah, yah, yah! You said you don’t want to talk about heartstrings again because you’re hurt!”
“I am not that sensitive, you know. Unlike someone” she sticks out her tongue.
“I am not sensitive!”
“Then, what about the glare you threw at Chansung Oppa earlier? Before we went on stage? If a look could kill, he wouldn’t be safe by now”
“He’s ogling over you! Then how was I supposed to act? Smiling at him and letting him stare at you as long as he wants? Tsk, try to do that and let’s see what’ll happen”
“See, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Chansung oppa only stares and he gets a death glare. What if I happen to be in a drama with him and have a kiss scene? I cannot imagine what you’ll do to him” she giggles, imagining the possibility in her head.
He flicks her forehead. “Don’t joke around about that. And I cannot believe you, really. You were crying a while before and now you are already teasing me. What’s with that?”
“Then do you want me to keep crying? I have a performance to do later, Oppa” she pouts a little, distancing herself from him.
“Ahrasseo, ahrasseo! Come here baby… Aigoo, is our baby mad? Aigoo, come here, come here” he starts talking as if he’s talking with a baby. Strangely, instead of hating it, Seohyun is enjoying that kind of affection he shows. Really, being in love really does change people.
“Oppa, people will talk about us again after the performance” she sits on his lap while his hand hugs her tiny waist. “Some will not be good”
“Hm? Let them talk, then. I have told you millions of times before, people will always talk, Hyun-ah. What can we do then? It’s not like we can stop them or anything” he buries his head in the crook of her neck, breathing in her sweet scent.
“Right… So just let them be”
“Umm-hmm, that sounds like it. As always”
“You know, they may think we are not as happy as before. I didn’t smile that much, and it was really awkward, wasn’t it?”
“Hyun, did you change your shampoo?” he frowns, asking another question instead of answering hers.
“What? Oh…oh. How do you notice that?”
“It smells different, but I like it” he smiles and hugs her again. “We might look weird and uncomfortable. But not because I have to do a duet with you that I do not have confidence in. It’s me, my own emotion, my level of self-control” he cups her face. “And you, young lady, should know it better than anyone else”
She crinkles her nose, laughing at him. “I know”
“I have shouted this 3 times today, but I’ll say it again” he leans closer to her ears. “I love you, Hyun-ah. I love you so much”
Her stomach feels like it is filled with butterflies. She cups his face, moving away a little before finally put her forehead on his. “I have shouted this too, Yonghwa-ah” she gives him a peck. “But I’ll say it again for millions more times” she kisses him again. “I love you too” and this time around, he is the one holding her face still, kissing her in a more urgent way, desperately nibbling on her lower lips, and she opens up to welcome the sensation. Their tongues dance in motion, lost in their passionate kiss.
They smile at each other, trying to take a breath, lost in their own little paradise. They are happy, despite whatever things people will talk about after their performance. Their eyes are locked on each other with such tenderness that only people in love will show; the eyes that always show honesty, the eyes that speaks louder than words, eyes that tell all emotions they bolt up inside, the eyes that shine the way they shone on stage earlier. The eyes that do not lie.
their duet performance got me giggling and smiling no-stop..
and i was about to cry each time I watch it...
People have mixed opinions about their duet,,
For me, the answers are there...
You just have to look closer and more clearly..
It's there, it's so obvious too :)
I may fail this time, but anyway, enjoy!
======================================
Yonghwa keeps pacing back and forth in his waiting room. His hands cannot stop moving. Be it fidgeting his fingers, touching everything he sees, strumming on his guitar, or hitting the innocent Jungshin, his hands just cannot stop. Standing up for one second, then sitting down for next, he keeps doing that pattern for the past 15 minutes. His members look at him in sympathy. It’s obvious, how nervous their leader is and to be honest, they are too. After all, it’s going to be their first performance after a while, and also, going to be first performance for their hyung and their ex sister in law since they ended their stunt in WGM. It’s gonna be awkward, gonna be terrifying and gonna be crazy up there. On the stage, anything can happen and they know how scared their leader is of messing the supposedly sweet duet. They understand him completely. Just, whatever he is doing now is making them dizzy.
“Hyung, will you stop it please? If you want to sit down then sit for at least 5 minutes before standing up. Or if you want to stand then keeps standing for 5 minutes instead of doing both for 30 seconds each” Jungshin massages his temple, shaking his head.
“Oh? What? Oh, yeah” their leader is losing his mind, that’s for sure.
Minhyuk scratches his head, walking towards Yonghwa and pats his back. “Everything is gonna be okay, Hyung”
“Did you hear the rehearsal? I messed up a lot. We weren’t in sync, Minhyuk-ah” he sighs, burying his face inside his hands.
“It’s going to be alright, Hyung. Just promise us there will be no stupid smiles on stage”
“What stupid smiles?!”
“That smile you have once you look at your wife. That cheekbones popping out thingy. You cannot do that anymore now”
Yonghwa huffs, knowing exactly the reason why he has to restrain himself. They’re not in WGM any longer, things aren’t the same as they were one year ago when they had their first duet stage. They have changed, at least on screen, they have to.
Knock, knock.
They all stand up abruptly at the sound of it, all know who it is exactly. They look at each other, asking in silence of who is going to open the door. Minhyuk takes a step forward, doing the deed because he is the closest to the door.
“Annyeong!” he greets Seohyun happily as soon as he opens the door. “Oh My God, you look really pretty”
“WOW~” Jungshin exclaims as soon as he sees Seohyun in her dress. His mouth hangs open shamelessly.
“The goddess is here” Jonghyun murmurs under his breath because he knows better than the two. Ogling over his sister in law openly will bring danger to him.
“YAH! YAH! YOU, GET OUT!” Yonghwa pushes out the two youngest from the room, his hand wrapped possessively on her waist.
“Oppa!” Seohyun giggles, playfully hitting his arms. “Annyeonghaseyo” she bows to Jonghyun who is eyeing her from head to toe, inaudibly saying how lucky his hyung is.
“That dress is dangerous” Yonghwa whispers to her, holding her closer and tighter. His heart is racing like crazy, seeing how breathtakingly beautiful she is in her dress. How her features are complimented perfectly. Beautiful is such an understatement.
“Aigo, there’s nothing wrong with this dress. It’s beautiful”
“I didn’t say it isn’t. You are gorgeous as always, but that dress is…. Well, I guess I just need to be by your side all the time. I won’t let you out of my sight”
Seohyun rolls her eyes on him. “Let’s go, Oppa. We need to go soon”. Yonghwa nods, looking back at his dongsaengs. After letting Seohyun out of the room first, he says “Yah, make sure everything is ready, okay?” and with a wave, he dashes out.
====
Yonghwa is serious when he says he’s not going to leave her side. He keeps sticking to her, not letting go of her hand even for a second and not minding the eyes that look at them with envy and confusions. His head is nodding along with the beat of music while Seohyun is blushing hard. She keeps bowing and smiles awkwardly to people who look at them. For several times, she tries to break their hand holding but Yonghwa’s strength is greater than hers. She sighs, this isn’t good. She realizes that not all people here can be trusted. Anyone could tell tale and that would be the end of their peaceful relationship. They always want to hide it until it’s the right time but what he’s doing is totally the opposite of what they have agreed on.
From the corner of his eyes, he knows that the guys who pass them will always look at her before bitterly smile at him. It’s clear that they, for a split second, want to at least greet her. Well, who wouldn’t? With this super short strapless dress she has on, and her hair tied up like that, she looks exactly like a princess. He hears the whispers, the compliments of how beautiful she is, how great looking she is. He is aware of the fact that she is shining so brightly lately. The comments of her being cute have shifted to her being sexy. People now say how gorgeous she is, how she dances flawlessly, how her facial expression are just so great and how her S-line stands out. People are now talking about seolady, she gets more screen time and her list of fanboys is growing very rapidly. In short, she is now on the spotlight. As a boyfriend, he is happy and worried at the same time. Sure, he is happy that now she gets more recognition. But then, there’ll always be certain guys who will keep trying to get close to her no matter how she has rejected them. So he is doing this now, being possessive of her while he can. He just doesn’t give a damn about the others and just wants to show them how they are actually together.
“Yonghwa-ssi, you have to standby on the other side. And Seohyun-ssi has to standby here” the staff announces to them, waking up Yonghwa from his own train of thoughts. Seohyun squeezes his hands, “Fighting” she whispers before taking her leave. Her sweet smile lingers for a while more, then he goes to the other side. The show begins.
====
Yonghwa can hear the loud thump coming from his heart. He doesn’t know how fast, but he knows it is not normal for his heart to beat like this. Realization comes over him. Finally, after 1 year, he gets to recognize his wish to have a duet stage with her, in front of so many people, in Japan, where all their magic begun. He’s becoming a little nostalgic the moment he remembers about a year ago; their first duet stage, their 200th day anniversary. And thinking about it again, it’s their 555th day today. He smiles at the coincidence, how these things seem to align with one another.
The music begins, and he stiffens up immediately. It’s back, the giddiness and nervousness he was feeling earlier. All memories rushing in his head and he doesn’t know why, he’s afraid. He feels so scared of messing up their duet. He’s afraid of him doing his old habit, which is, giving them away. He is terrified of the possibilities; how he cannot contain himself like usual, how he cannot keep his promise to not look like a love fool, how his eyes will again betray him in hiding his emotion, and how he will sing this song emotionally, thinking that after all, the girl he wrote the song for is standing in front of him and singing along. Get your act together, do not smile too wide, keep your voice on track, and do not look at her! Do not look at her or you will forget everything! He chants to himself.
Seohyun on the other hand, is nervous as hell. She keeps looking at the ground, suddenly feels shy and scared at the same time. How will this duet go? How can we fix what we lack at rehearsal before? How will our performance turn out to be? Sweet? Plain? Boring? Touching? She doesn’t know what to think about anymore. Then she hears it, his voice comes out sweetly and his eyes looking at hers like saying “It’s okay, we can do this” then she smiles a little. She can hear how loud the crowd is cheering for them and she glances at the pictures of their WGM days. Suddenly, she feels like crying. All the good memories are playing one by one, on the screen as well as in her mind. She takes a deep breath, it’s her time to sing.
When the chorus part comes, they lock eyes on each other. Both giving strength to one another, both know what exactly is going on in their heads. How both miss this, how they miss being seen together freely like this, how they miss their moments in WGM. Their eyes have the same longing looks, their small smiles can tell how thankful they are to the opportunity that is given to them, and yet, the nervousness is still clear, written all over their faces.
Seohyun looks at Yonghwa, encourages him to sing bravely when he’s about to go off-key. She gives him a little smile because, as she was told earlier by her managers, she cannot be too obvious. Then it finally comes, the part that successfully will make her giddy each time she hears it. Usually, when Yonghwa sings this part to her, she will hug him or if on the phone, she will reply to him immediately. However, they are now not in their own little world. They are now singing in front of so many people and every little gesture will be captured on the camera. Preparing her heart, she locks her eyes on him while Yonghwa looks away for a split second, trying to collect his sanity.
“Neol Sarangahae” the intensity in his eyes sends her to heaven. The expression he has on his face, such raw honesty there and sincerity he shows is unbelievable. She feels shivers running all over her body. God knows how much she wants to cry and hugs the guy right now. She looks away after seeing his shy smile. If she keeps her eyes on him, she knows that she might really shed tears and that is not a good thing. So she shifts her gaze to the camera, put a smile on her face, and sing her part.
From the corner of her eyes, she assures Yonghwa that it’s time to descend the stairs. He looks at her, nodding a little then come down. He is still suppressing his smile for the sake of not being apparent. He checks for so many times, in his head, that he cannot burst out smiling like he used to. He has to have control over himself. But the moment their eyes meet, he smiles so wide. His cheekbones are popping for few seconds before he shifts his gaze. That’s the only way he will stop smiling like a fool as Jonghyun said. He needs to look elsewhere but at her. His eyes moving left and right, trying to distract himself.
“Ijen nae dununeul bara bomyeo (Now look at my two eyes)” he finds a little courage and look at her. But then, for the rest of his part, he looks down again, trying to hide his smile. He shouts out “Neol Saranghae” before finally find her. His eyes asking her if she heard it or not. She nods a little, and so he diverts his attention to the audiences. You guys heard it, right? My confession to my goddess? He smiles and waves his hands.
Out of her mind, when they have to sing their part, she walks to him in such fast pace. She’s practically running to him. But she doesn’t give a damn, she just wants to reach out to him and hold his hand. She misses this, how they can hold hands in public without being afraid of getting caught or scolded. Her steps are in hurry while their eyes are locked on each other. Emotions come rushing. Giddiness, happiness, anxiety, all comes to them at the same time. There is certain urgency inside of her that telling her to reach out her hand first. She knows, Yonghwa is a little taken aback. But nonetheless, he grabs it. He rocks their hands lightly, like telling her she has done well and there is no need to worry. She squeezes his hand in response, telling him how happy she is. They both look to the audiences, both showing the same warm smile, their hands hold each other tight.
I’ll shout it one last time, Yonghwa thinks before they have to look at each other again. “Neoreul boneun naye du nun bitchi (Looking into your eyes, my two eyes)”. With all power they have inside of them without going off key, they sing as if announcing to the world “Malhago isseo, neol saranghae (They’re talking to you, I love you)” and both end the song with a smile; a proud smile that is, an overwhelmed smile. Yonghwa, as usual, finally gives in and shows his wide smile; the one he had tried so hard to hide during the performance by biting his lips. They bow to the audiences before exiting the stage. Not without the clumsy Seo Joohyun strikes, though. She bumps into Yonghwa and let out a loud grunt. If not for his self-control, the audience will hear him laughing so hard at her. Instead, he laughs a little and wraps his hand on her waist, guiding her off the stage. He just prays the dark will cover the little gesture. Or else, he’ll be doomed.
====
“Tsk, what did I say about smiling too wide?” Jonghyun hisses as soon as he sees the leader and his girlfriend comes off from stage. Minhyuk and Jungshin can only shake their heads.
“Sorry, can’t help it” Yonghwa grins, still holding onto Seohyun.
“OMONAAA! THAT WAS SO SWEET!”
“It’s hard, right Yong-seobang? AIgo,I saw it all!”
“You guys will be surprised once you see the video! Your eyes, your eyes!!”
“AAAAH! I AM SO JEALOUS!”
“Seriously, you have to practice on cold expression like mine”
“Lalalala~ I am so happy for you guys!”
“That was great, maknae-ah. Yong seobang did great too! You guys look good together”
“Reaching out your hand first, now, maknae? You sure have change”
Tiffany, Yuri, Yoona, Sooyoung, Jessica, Hyoyeon, Taeyeon and Sunny, all take turns to shout out what they need to say. 8 of them are jumping around and are so loud, surprising some people there.
“YAH! That was great, yea?” Jokwon comes from behind, clapping his hands and jump a little bit.
“You guys were great! Congrats! And geez, eyes seriously don’t lie” Seulong adds, clapping along with his band mate.
“Yongseo couple forever. Now, when will Adam couple have their duet again?” Jokwon pouts, gaining laughs from everyone.
“Thank you” Seohyun bows at them all, wiping the tears that fall from her eyes.
“Yah, why are you crying?!” Her boyfriend shakes her shoulder before wiping her tears. “Aigo, I guess we have to go to our room first. Thank you so much for the cheer” he bows to them and drags Seohyun along with him.
====
“Baby, what’s wrong? You did great up there!” he asks as soon as they enter his waiting room. Her face is damped with tears.
“I-I-“ she sobs harder. “I am just too happy”
Yonghwa laughs at her confession. He knows exactly what she’s talking about. How amazing was it for them to be on a big stage like that, voicing out their love to the world? It was out of this world, that much he knows. “Me too, babe. Me too” he pulls her into a hug, rubbing her back so that she’ll calm down a little.
“It was unbelievable, Oppa” she cannot hide what she feels. The sensation was so great that she feels her knees weaken.
“I know, Hyun-ah” he smiles at her, wiping her tears again. “You don’t know how much effort I did to control myself from running to you and hug you. I need to act, and I think that makes us appear a little awkward” he chuckles at his own words.
She laughs with him, playfully hitting his chest. “I know, they may now say that we have never seen each other again after WGM or outside the practice we had a few days before”
“Hm, they may say we have moved on”
“That’s how good lee shin’s acting is”
“Yah, yah, yah! You said you don’t want to talk about heartstrings again because you’re hurt!”
“I am not that sensitive, you know. Unlike someone” she sticks out her tongue.
“I am not sensitive!”
“Then, what about the glare you threw at Chansung Oppa earlier? Before we went on stage? If a look could kill, he wouldn’t be safe by now”
“He’s ogling over you! Then how was I supposed to act? Smiling at him and letting him stare at you as long as he wants? Tsk, try to do that and let’s see what’ll happen”
“See, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Chansung oppa only stares and he gets a death glare. What if I happen to be in a drama with him and have a kiss scene? I cannot imagine what you’ll do to him” she giggles, imagining the possibility in her head.
He flicks her forehead. “Don’t joke around about that. And I cannot believe you, really. You were crying a while before and now you are already teasing me. What’s with that?”
“Then do you want me to keep crying? I have a performance to do later, Oppa” she pouts a little, distancing herself from him.
“Ahrasseo, ahrasseo! Come here baby… Aigoo, is our baby mad? Aigoo, come here, come here” he starts talking as if he’s talking with a baby. Strangely, instead of hating it, Seohyun is enjoying that kind of affection he shows. Really, being in love really does change people.
“Oppa, people will talk about us again after the performance” she sits on his lap while his hand hugs her tiny waist. “Some will not be good”
“Hm? Let them talk, then. I have told you millions of times before, people will always talk, Hyun-ah. What can we do then? It’s not like we can stop them or anything” he buries his head in the crook of her neck, breathing in her sweet scent.
“Right… So just let them be”
“Umm-hmm, that sounds like it. As always”
“You know, they may think we are not as happy as before. I didn’t smile that much, and it was really awkward, wasn’t it?”
“Hyun, did you change your shampoo?” he frowns, asking another question instead of answering hers.
“What? Oh…oh. How do you notice that?”
“It smells different, but I like it” he smiles and hugs her again. “We might look weird and uncomfortable. But not because I have to do a duet with you that I do not have confidence in. It’s me, my own emotion, my level of self-control” he cups her face. “And you, young lady, should know it better than anyone else”
She crinkles her nose, laughing at him. “I know”
“I have shouted this 3 times today, but I’ll say it again” he leans closer to her ears. “I love you, Hyun-ah. I love you so much”
Her stomach feels like it is filled with butterflies. She cups his face, moving away a little before finally put her forehead on his. “I have shouted this too, Yonghwa-ah” she gives him a peck. “But I’ll say it again for millions more times” she kisses him again. “I love you too” and this time around, he is the one holding her face still, kissing her in a more urgent way, desperately nibbling on her lower lips, and she opens up to welcome the sensation. Their tongues dance in motion, lost in their passionate kiss.
They smile at each other, trying to take a breath, lost in their own little paradise. They are happy, despite whatever things people will talk about after their performance. Their eyes are locked on each other with such tenderness that only people in love will show; the eyes that always show honesty, the eyes that speaks louder than words, eyes that tell all emotions they bolt up inside, the eyes that shine the way they shone on stage earlier. The eyes that do not lie.