Sixty-Seven

"True and Coffee are going crazy over your guest appearance on 04:00 am's Live." Mingyu spoke when the both of us sat down with a bottle of water after our workout at the Agency's gym.

"I've been reading." I nodded, a little exhausted from both the workout and the memory of the comments I had read just that morning. It had been two days since it happened and YouTube had already been flooded with videos of my interaction with 04:00 am. "Jeongwoo- the secret Maknae of 04:00 am."

"They do adore you." Mingyu chuckled and handed me the bottle after drinking his fill.

"That Baekjae Sunbae too…" I shook my head. "Ah, but, Jaemin Sunbae's the one who REALLY set things in motion. I steal 04:00 am's hearts? Everyone's digging too deep into that statement."

"Admit it, Hyung. You enjoy the attention." Mingyu nudged my side.

I shrugged. "I don't have any particular complaints. Just that it suddenly feels like a big deal and I don't know what to do about it."

"You don't have to really do anything about it. All parties are very happy here because of the bond showcased- Coffee, True, 04:00 am, S.T.A.Y and the management. Maybe not our Jaehyeon Hyung because they're all talking about 04:00 am and you, instead of him and you, but that'll go back to normal soon so, we don't need to worry about that. It was nice of Baekjae Sunbae to call though. Plus, now that everyone knows that you're his fan too, it's going to be all the more interesting."

"We're more friends now than just a star and his fanboy." I said sheepishly. "It's a little weird when people point that out."

"It's okay though?" He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the towel around his neck. "Baekjae Sunbae seems to like it."

"He's teasing me at this point." I rolled my eyes.

"It's cute. He has acknowledged your admiration."

"Yeah. So has the whole world now." I sighed.

Jaehyeon, Hanseol and Yeojun had gone home immediately after our morning schedule. When Mingyu had said that he wanted to work out, I decided to stay too. It had been a while since I got such a good workout in other than for dance practice. A focused workout like this was always harder for me though.

"I'm totally spent!" I dropped the water bottle into my lap and leaned back against the wall. "I feel like I can just sleep here right now."

"For someone who isn't too big on dance, you seem to have stamina only for that though." Mingyu pushed me by my shoulder a bit. "Don't settle here if you're feeling that tired. Let's go home."

"Ah. Five minutes." I sat up properly again and ran a hand through my hair. It was all wet and sticky. I needed to bathe. "Will Manager Kim be free?"

Mingyu nodded. "Manager Park told us to go to him anyway. I guess he'll be free enough to drive us home."

"I wish one of us had a car and we didn't have to depend on Manager-nim to take us around." The thought had been stuck in my head ever since Changmin had mentioned it.

"I don't even have a licence." Mingyu stated dryly. "Neither does Yeojun. We should probably think of getting it together once we're back from our break."

"I won't be looking to get a car anytime now though. I'm not sure." I thought aloud.

"We should probably try and coax Hanseol Hyung into it." He grinned. "He'll probably yield and then we can make the most of it."

"I doubt that he'd buy one though."

"No harm in putting the idea in his head." He shrugged.

"Jeongwoo." A familiar voice called from behind us. There were quite a few people coming to and going from the gym so we weren't really paying attention to them. I had told Changmin about my schedule and about where I would be so it was no surprise that he had found me.

"Changmin Sunbae." Mingyu smiled and ducked his head. "Are you here for Jeongwoo Hyung again?"

"I'll be borrowing him for a bit." He returned the smile and held a hand out to me. "Come."

"Okay. Mingyu, you can get ready to leave. I'll come back soon." I wiped my hand off on my towel and dropped the water bottle into my bag before taking Changmin's hand and letting him pull me up.

"Okay, Hyung." Mingyu nodded and began packing up.

I turned to Changmin. Although I hadn't been expecting him and I was happy to see him, I had become accustomed enough to his visits to not become too conscious or shy anymore. "Where to?"

He did not say anything as he led the way out of the gym and into one of the empty practice rooms next to it. He waited for me to shut the door before speaking again. "You're sweating."

"I just finished working out." I replied with a smile on realising what he had meant. I held out my arms and smiled coyly. "Hyung-ah~"

"Don't tempt me." He stuffed his hands into his khaki pants' pockets. "I have to go out after this."

I figured as much by his crisp attire. Blue really was his colour. "Too bad." I lowered my arms. I would have liked a hug though. "What did you want to see me about?"

"We're officially going on our month-long break starting day after tomorrow."

"Oh. That's nice. We still have that party to meet the TV crew day after tomorrow at night. We'll be off work officially after that."

"Mm. I talked to Moon Jisung-ssi."

"Our actor Moon-ssi?" I asked in surprise. "About what?"

"Yes. I had known that he had some investments in property a little north of Seoul so I asked him about it. He said that he's got a decent villa a little ways up, in a wooded area."

You mean… "We can use that?"

He nodded, finally smiling genuinely. "The whole of next week, actually."

"Really?" I couldn't hide my smile. One entire week in a villa in a forest with Changmin. The excitement that I couldn't hide made me a little embarrassed though. "That's awesome." I looked down.

"Hm?" He lowered his head to get a look at my face.

"No…" I looked at him and smiled, knitting my eyebrows together, suddenly feeling a little complicated. "To think that we will finally be able to get away from all this… I'm looking forward to it." That was accompanied by a throb in my chest. "But I'm still a little scared and… this feels wrong but…" He looked absolutely confused by my reaction- even a little worried. "Sorry. This is just-" I tossed away my inhibitions and walked up to him. He watched me quietly as I placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled myself onto my toes to meet his lips without touching him more than needed. "I'm saying… I love you." I smiled through that one emotion that I could pick out clearly from among the torrent in my chest.

We could really get some time to ourselves without needing to worry about anything else. That was so long overdue that even faced with the reality of it actually happening, it was simply overwhelming. It felt wrong because of how real it was. Given who we were and our occupations, even though the contractual dating ban was over for the both of us, we should not be doing this. This was not going to be just a harmless get-away for us. As risky and scary as this was, I wanted it. As forbidden as this relationship itself was, we needed this.

It was as though I realised all that when the trip itself got confirmed.

"Why do you do this to me?" He looked away, then caught my face by my cheeks and kissed me again. "I love you too."

"Too bad I can't hug you." I let out a small laugh and slipped away from him. "But I really am looking forward to next week."

He returned a defeated smile. "We'll plan it properly. We can go directly home from there."

"I won't be going home immediately. The members have all decided to gather at Jaehyeon Hyung's house on Monday. He's been inviting us for a while to meet his niece. I'll go home after that, probably on Tuesday. I need to give my folks at least a few days."

"YoonJae's place, huh?" He nodded. "Okay. Where?"

I raised an eyebrow, questioning his intent by the look on his face. "Daegu."

"I'll drop you."

Just as I had thought… "Why? You don't need to go home?"

"I'll go after that." He shrugged. "I'm planning on renting a car. It'll be a good drive."

"But you have to-"

"You don't get to say 'no' to me here. We won't be seeing each other for at least three weeks after that." He cut me off. "You can say 'no' only if you REALLY don't want me to come with you."

"Why would I say 'no' then?"

"It's settled then." He smirked. "I will proceed home from there."

"Alright." That just extended our trip a little more.

"Oh, and I know that you might be aware of this but Coffee and True are talking about us again."

"That's because you got so obviously jealous during the Live that Baekjae Sunbae did." I chuckled. "Of course, True and Coffee would talk about it." Some of them were worryingly accurate with their theories but they were talking about us like they would usually talk about any ship and, without any proof, that was all those stories would be- theories. They should be harmless as long as we don't give them a reason to validate it.

"Also, because you called me 'Hyung'. Everyone was there and you referred to even your role model Baekjae as 'Sunbae' but you called me and only me 'Hyung'."

"That's how I usually call you though."

"That's how it should be but…" He scratched the back of his head in contemplation of whether to complete his sentence or not.

"What?" I urged.

"I'm not just your Hyung anymore. YoonJae is your Hyung. I'm not just your Hyung anymore."

You did not have to say that twice… "So, what should I call you?"

"Try my name."

Changmin.

"I can't do that. You're two years elder to me. You may be my boyfriend but you're also still my Hyung." I couldn't just disregard the seniority like that. "I'll get called out and butchered for lack of respect. Besides, I'm used to calling you Hyung. And… it's different when I call you Hyung from when I call Jaehyeon Hyung that."

"Different how?" He caught onto that.

"I won't say." It is different. It brings up different emotions. It brings up different memories of how I may have called you that given… certain contexts. "Now, if you have nothing else to say, we should both get going."

"We… shall continue this conversation later then." His facial expression told me that he had pretty much understood what was on my mind. "I'll pick you up on Sunday morning."

"Okay. I'll see you then." I agreed.

"See you." He gave me a quick peck on my lips before leaving.

A week with Changmin, with no one to disturb us and with little to worry about.

I couldn't wait for Sunday.