Chapter Seventeen

Shin Woo, who was up early this morning brewing tea, watched as a grief-struck Mi Nyu enter the kitchen.

"Good morning, Shin Woo-hyung." She still said with a smile. Her previous expression was quickly gone. "Is there anything in particular you'd like for breakfast?"

"Whatever you make is fine. I'm honored to even have you cook for me." He said. His tea kettle began to whistle as Mi Nyu took out a big pot went over to the sink to with it with water. "But, what you can do is, have tea with me. I want to know what's been bothering you."

Go Mi Nyu stopped in her tracks. "You can tell?"

"It's obvious to me." He sighed, getting two cups and setting them down on the table. "That something happened between you and Tae Kyung." Shin Woo poured them tea as Mi Nyu sat down. "At first, I thought that you being here for breakfast wasn't a big deal. You can't always be with us." He paused and sat down, while Mi Nyu took a sip of tea. "However, Mi Nam sensed something fishy and told me that you and Tae Kyung had a fight." Honestly, he should have noticed when she and Tae Kyung were in the same room; they only passed glances at each other and didn't talk if they didn't have to. Foolishly, he thought it was because Tae Kyung told her to, and it was their attempt at being 'professional'.

"I said things I shouldn't have."

"It's completely natural for couples to get into disagreements. Actually, I'd be worried more about you if you didn't." Shin Woo tried to console, taking a sip as of tea as well.

"I'm not sure what to do. I think he's still really mad at me."

"What did you disagree over?"

"That? Oh, his father."

"Oh." It made sense now. Tae Kyung was very sour when those things were brought up. "He doesn't like talking about it." But even Shin Woo thought that he would open up to her.

"Could you perhaps…tell me anything?" Mi Nyu's curiosity would not die.

"Hmm." He put his hand to his chin. "His early childhood wasn't very good. But other than that, there's not much I can tell you."

"What did I do? I was insensitive and really hurt his feelings because I thought...I thought he didn't trust me." She wouldn't have kept pestering him if she knew how sensitive it was to him.

"Didn't trust you? He..." Shin Woo stopped, even after all this time, he felt uneasy saying those certain words. "-loves you. You're someone he trusts the most."

Suddenly footsteps came into the kitchen, revealing a quite refreshed looking Mi Nam. "You guys are up early. What're you guys talking about?" He skipped over to them, standing in front of the pair.

"Oh, nothing." Mi Nyu got up. "Sit down and have some tea while I finish making breakfast?"

He didn't question his sister, but just watched her as he took a seat next to his hyung.

Mi Nam quickly whispered to his hyung."So how did you do it?"

"Sometimes all it takes is a good cup of tea." He said simply. "The rest is magic."

"You had to be a tea farmer in a past life, hyung."

"Maybe." He replied, pouring Mi Nam tea. "Ah, but there's something different about you Mi Nam."

"Can you tell?" He gloated touching his face. "I finally got eight hours of sleep. With no waking up or anything! It's a miracle! I feel like I'm glowing."

"No." Shin Woo shook his head. "You have a pimple." He stated with the most serious face.

"What? Impossible!" He began to frantically touch all over his face. "Where?"

"It's right where near where you were originally touching."

"Here?" He moved his hand down.

"No, a little more- to the left. No, Mi Nam to the left."

Mi Nyu, who had put on the pot on the stove, looked over to her brother at the table. "Whoa! Oppa, it's huge!" Of course, it was a joke but why tell Mi Nam that? Seeing him like that was hilarious. Both Mi Nyu and Shin Woo chuckled under their breath as they continued to watch the keyboarder panic. "No! This can't be! Am I breaking out?"

Mi Nyu walked steadily down the hallway of Studio D, where the members of A.N were going to take more promotional photos for the drama they were to star in. Coordinator Wang had called her in for since she was one person short in staff since one of her interns had broken their arm.

"Where is room 20-A?" She questioned. She had been walking around for ten minutes trying to find it. The building rooms were set up in a confusing way.

Suddenly, she felt a presence around her. When she turned to possibly ask the person a question, she didn't see anyone. But when she turned back around to continue of search of room 20-A, she bumped into Tae Kyung, who was straight in front of her.

"I'm sorry." She apologized, not at first noticing who she had knocked into.

Mi Nyu looked up before quickly looking away again; her gaze avoided his while she could practically feel his burning into hers. "Excuse me."

There was silence as she tried to move pass him, but he caught onto her arm.

She was apprehensive as her eyes rolled and met his. She barely choked out 'hyung-nim' before he dragged them to the nearest room- which just so happened to be an storage room.

Shutting the door, he pushed her up against it- his hands gently holding on to her shoulders.

Her eyes were still to the side; too afraid to look at his face.

"Mi Nyu." He said, calmly. "Look at me."

Her eyes moved the slightest bit in his direction.

"How long are you going to keep this up?"

"What do you mean?" Their eyes finally met. She was surprised as to the expression on his face. It almost looked like..

"Not forgiving me!"

"Not forgiving you?" She reiterated.

"Yes!"

"When did you-"

"I'm sorry." He exhaled. "I'm sorry that I yelled at you, okay? I shouldn't have done it because you were only thinking of my well being and whatnot. Now, forgive me."

"I'm the one that said all those things without knowing how you felt. I shouldn't be accepting apologies. You had every reason to get mad at me."

"You…I know you only had good intentions." Tae Kyung spoke, "And I…you… I can't stand it when I see you like this. It might have only been two days but…it felt like eternity. So, I'm sorry …this type of thing isn't easy for me… So, let's put this behind us." He didn't want his words to run on too long and start to sound incoherent.

"But…could you promise me something?"

She held out her pinky finger. "If something is hurting you, tell me right away. I don't want you to suffer alone."

Tae Kyung hesitantly connected his pinky with hers. This is so childish yet with her, it has the same seriousness of a blood oath.

"I promise." He smiled, one of his happy, genuine smiles. "And you- you have to do the same. Don't be sad."

"Yes sir!" She saluted enthusiastically.

"Silly." He rolled his eyes. "Let's go now. The longer I'm in here the more I notice how dirty it is."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." She bopped along happily beside Tae Kyung as they headed for the door. Mi Nyu turned the knob. It wouldn't budge. "Uh, hyung-nim. I can't seem to open the door."

"It's probably just stuck-" He went in front of his girlfriend, attempting to open the door. It seemed to be locked. He tried turning it both ways, but it still wouldn't move.

"It's locked." He cursed his own stupidity. This...can't be...one of those self locking doors can it?

"You don't think…" Mi Nyu started. "Someone locked us in here?"

"That's absurd." Tae Kyung reasoned, crossing his arms. Yeah, that's it. It's a self locking door. There's even no keyhole.

"I got an idea!" Mi Nyu suddenly proposed, taking out a bobby pin from her hair. "Oppa that told me that you can open locked doors with bobby pins. This'll get us out for sure!"

"Why am I not surprised by that?" He laughed to himself. "But, Mi Nyu, I think there's a flaw in your plan. How are you going to open a locked door with NO keyhole?"

Her mouth formed an 'o', noticing that the door, in fact had no keyhole. "What are we going to do now?"

"It's not like the doorknob is made of steel. I'm sure it'll open if I-" He yanked on the door, attempting to pull it open. It was futile, he knew. But he still tried, not wanting to accept he was stuck. All of a sudden, he lost his balance and fell back.

"Hyung-nim!" She screamed, tending to her fallen boyfriend. "Are you okay?"

Tae Kyung immediately sat up, gritting his teeth. He held up the door knob in his hand. "We're...we're really stuck in here aren't we?"

"You did throw us into the closest room."

He narrowed his eyes, pushing her out the way to sit on a box.

"Well," She sat to next him. "Just imagine you're in a field of flowers. The wind is blowing through your hair-"

"You apparently don't remember what happened last time I went into a field."

"Oh. Right." She shut her mouth.

He dropped the knob to the floor, searching for his phone. "The first thing we should have done is call. Coordinator can kick this door down in one breath." He patted his pocket where his phone usually was. "What? What's this?" His phone was not there. "My phone seems to be…temporarily misplaced. Mi Nyu, why don't you call?" Annoyance seeped through his voice. Today was just not his day.

"Yes!" She quickly took out her phone, but just as quickly frowned.

"What is it?"

She showed her phone to him. On the screen was his doom. "No bars?" He tried to swallow it down. "So, you're telling me that we're really stuck in this room?"

"Until someone realizes we're gone," She looked down and away. "...and comes to find us."

"Why couldn't I have picked a better room?" He moaned. Nothing good ever came out of him acting this impulsive.

Mi Nyu got closer to him. "It's not all that bad if you think about it."

"Tell me one good reason why this isn't a good situation."

"We're together." She grinned innocently. "We don't get time alone like this often. Why don't we talk-"

"Talking is boring. I don't want to do it anymore." He gazed over to her, pulling her close so that their noses were touching. "I should use this time to my advantage, shouldn't I? You said it yourself. We don't get time alone."

"Ah…um…Tae Kyung…we can't…"

"Oh what?" His lips graced hers. "Have you forgotten you're all mine?"

Go Mi Nam sat down at the table in the back of the Peach Maid Café, waiting for Ye Eun. In no time at all, she came over with a steaming cup of coffee. "Here."

He grabbed the coffee cup, briskly taking a taste of the bitter black liquid. Apprehensively, she sat in front of him.

"Why did you decide to work here?"

"I can practice making desserts here." She answered with a smile. "It's nice being able to do something like that."

"Oh."

"We'll have about an hour or so before people start to flood in for the midday rush. Hopefully, that's enough time to finish what we were discussing."

Mi Nam put his hands on the table. "I am in no way prepared to be a father; neither do I want to be. Things like this aren't supposed to happen to Idols. Something like this isn't supposed to happen to me."

"You're making Min Jee sound like she's a nuisance that you expect to disappear because it's inconveniencing you." Her words hit Mi Nam deep. "She didn't ask to be born into this world, but she's here and I can't magically make her disappear."

"Don't think like that. It's not that way. It's just…" He sighed. Mi Nam couldn't escape the situation no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't disregard it. It would haunt him if he tried. His former flame's words burned in his mind as strong as his sister's.

It's true. Min Jee didn't ask to be born. She just was. What kind of man would you be if you just let Ye Eun keep going like this? She's a single mother that supports herself and your child. Even though most of it was unnecessary, she sacrificed so much. Could you really call yourself a man if you don't take responsibility and claim this child?

But it was scary to him, the thought of being a father. Go Mi Nam was never confident that he would be a good father or father figure. Unlike his sister, he got extremely uneasy around children.

"If we wouldn't even be in this situation if we…we didn't do it as much as we did." He bluntly stated, banging his head against the table. "Why did you have to make me the victim of your out of control hormones?"

She laughed in disbelief. "You! How dare you! You practically wanted it every day! How can you even think of-" She unknowingly got louder in pitch throughout her sentence.

He quickly slapped his hand over her mouth. "Unless you want this whole side of the café to know about our personal lives I suggest your pitch drops about eighteen notches to a whisper!" He took his hand off her mouth. A few people had begun to stare at the couple. "Sometimes I swear you're a walking megaphone."

She fluttered her eyelashes not taking his insult to heart. "Isn't that one of the things that you found attractive about me?"

Her words were something he could not argue with. "You're a loud mouth; you were born that way- and it fits you. It'd be weird if you weren't."

She was quiet before messing with the bouquet of sunflowers on the table. Go Mi Nam felt a little apprehensive because of her sudden change in behavior. "You know, I never stopped trying to convince my parents." They played on the fact that Mi Nam and his sister were orphans, and considering his 'bad boy' rep at the time- he was just the opposite parents wanted their daughter to date. "I was certain my parents would get to see the other side of you; but they purposely turned so they couldn't see you at all. Now they've turned from me."

"You know you're a walking contradiction, right?" Mi Nam stopped. "You've explained to me how you thought at the time, but I'm still in awe. 'Why did Cho Ye Eun have in it her mind that I would have left her to fend on her own? Why did she think even for one second that I would not support her'?"

"I should just sell my body to science shouldn't I?" She continued to pluck until the flower's petals were gone, moving on to the next flower.

"Stop that." Mi Nam held her hands. "I can't let it happen anymore."

"What?"

"Raising a child is hard. Raising it alone and young is even harder. I'm not going to let you do this alone." He couldn't run away from his responsibilities. It was something he had to do. "I can't promise that we'll be together but- I will do my best." He composed his words carefully. Mi Nam was taking a big step today. "I will take responsibility."

"Ye Eun!" One of her co-workers suddenly appeared in front of her. She was a short and pump girl, but had an extremely cute way about her.

"Huh?" Both Mi Nam and Ye Eun were caught off guard.

"The boss wants to see you and Su Bak in the employee room! She said something about a surprise."

"Surprises? I love surprises!" Ye Eun jumped up. "I'll be back shortly."

"Alright." He nodded, watching her as she walked away. It was right then that Mi Nam's phone started to ring. Jeremy had a custom La Cucaracha ringtone so he knew it was Jeremy that was calling. He pulled it out in a flash. "Why are you calling? A limited edition flavor of pudding go on sale?"

"So what if it did? Are you saying I can't just call you to call you?"

"Basically, because I know you'll waste my minutes."

"You're just horrible sometimes, Mi Nam. So mean to me-"

"Would you just tell me why you're calling already?"

"Tae Kyung hyung and Mi Nyu were in a storage room together!" He spit out quickly, as if he didn't want Mi Nam to hear it.

"WHAT?" His inside voice turned into a stadium voice quickly. "What do you mean they were in a room together? Why? What were they doing-?"

"They said they got locked in. We couldn't contact hyung because he left his phone in his car and Mi Nyu's phone calls wouldn't go through. I think it they were gone at least an hour..."

"You better be joking around with me Jeremy!" Mi Nam was seriously about to flip out.

"When have I ever lied to you? I saw the janitor open the door with my own two eyes! They were definitely in there! But you know, hyung was rather composed for being stuck in that room. Maybe Mi Nyu healed him with some kisses?" He practically sung the last line.

Mi Nam's mouth dropped as he heard the phone get taken away from Jeremy.

"Awh! Hyung! I was talking to Mi Nam! Why'd you have to-" Mi Nam heard in the background.

"Stop blabbing your mouth about things you know nothing about!" Tae Kyung shouted.

"But it's true. You and Mi Nyu were-"

"Jeremy, hand me the phone." Shin Woo intervened. "Just don't cause trouble and finish that pudding before Coordinator Wang sees."

"You realize what time it is right?" Shin Woo's voice was now on the line.

"Who cares what time it is? Tell me that Jeremy is just sprouting nonsense!"

"I can't tell you it's not true. But you know his imagination. It can get a little out of control sometimes."

"SO THEY WERE?"

"Don't worry. We'll deal with it when you get here." Shin Woo ignored Mi Nam's rant and advised on, "The promo photo shoot starts in thirty minutes. Please get down quickly before Coordinator Wang is inclined to do something violent. Ah, too late. She just hit Jeremy for spilling pudding on his shirt."

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY? NO EATING! YOU JUST CAME BACK FROM LUNCH!" The shrill voice of Coordinator yelled. He heard Coordinator hitting at Jeremy for being so dense.

"Ouch! Coordinator! I'm sorry!" He said. "…are you cranky because you missed lunch? Do you want some of my pudding?"

"No, I don't want any of your pudding!" Another hit was made. "And I'm not cranky! Now hand it over!"

"I don't wanna!"

"Jeremy!"

"You're my favorite noona~! I love you!" He tried to suck up, singing.

"Now you dare to act cute with me? Ms. Mi Nyu, take away the cup!"

"What? Noooooo! It's the limited edition flavor! You can't! I've only had three spoonfuls!" He cried.

"Yes, Coordinator. Sorry Jeremy. We can go eat more pudding later, okay?" Mi Nyu coaxed him.

"Really?"

"Don't sympathize with him! Please go get Jeremy another shirt, darker this time."

"Yes, Coordinator. So, then the pudding cup? It would be wasteful to throw it away…I mean it's barely eaten…"

"Yes, Ms. Mi Nyu you can have the pudding."

He could see his sister smiling and walking away with the pudding cup, and the thought made a small laugh escaped his lips as his listened to the scenario over the phone.

"Imagine the thrill I'm having watching this. You should get here quickly."

"Just make sure Tae Kyung and my sister don't leave the room together again. I'll be there soon."

Go Mi Nam hung up his phone and put it down on the table, and Ye Eun hurried over. "You have to leave don't you?"

"Yeah. Did you know I'm going to be in a drama? You should watch it." He drank up the rest of his coffee, leaving the cup on the table. "Oh, here's the money for this."

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small wallet. He took out a couple of dollars hastily before putting it back. "Here, keep the change. Our stylist is going to have my head if I'm late. But-"

"What?"

"Are you still coming to dinner?"

She hesitated, with his money in her hand. "Ah, well...that?" She almost forgotten. Tonight was the night.

"Just show up at 7!" He jogged out the store quickly. She grabbed his cup off the table, ready to start cleaning for the midday rush. I guess I really am going to dinner now... Then she noticed, he forgot his phone.

"He…he left this?" She sighed, picking the phone up. "He must have really been in a rush. How could he..." She put the cup back down, and rushed out the store to attempt to find him. The traffic was horrible now, full of people getting off for lunch and trying to find a place to eat. If she didn't hurry up, it was going to get docked from her pay.

She heard a motorcycle zoom past her. It was Mi Nam. Ye Eun giggled to herself. Oh, he still looks so cool like that. "What am I thinking? I need to get his attention!"

"Mi Nam!" She began to run after him. "Go Mi Nam!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Of course, he didn't hear or see her. I might as well throw it at his head.

At the stop light of the intersection, Ye Eun leaned onto a pole. There was no way she was going to cut through traffic. True, it's his phone and he might probably REALLY need it...should I try to get his attention again?

The light turned green and zoomed off quickly with the rest of the cars. "I ran all this way! How could he not remember his phone?" I guess, I'm going to have to go to A.N Entertainment or something. Maybe I can call Stylist Wang…

She sighed, gazing down to his phone. Sliding it in her pocket, she turned around and headed back to the café.

Right as she turned, the most horrible sound hit her ears. It started with a long screech of tires and ended with the sound of a crash that made her heart wrench. Ye Eun hated the sound of accidents just a much as looking at them; but there was something that told her to turn around. Some terrible unsettling feeling...that she didn't even want to think about.

When she did, her worst fear had been confirmed. Her eyes widened in horror. A bike was crushed into a light by a car, her cousin's bike. She knew that for sure. But what scared her the most was that she didn't see Mi Nam at all. There were people who had stopped and observed the scene and a couple of were chatting on their phones, possibly calling the police. It took her a moment for her to piece everything together in her brain. In a nearby building there was a whole window of glass that had been shattered.

Without a second thought she began to run, faster than she ever had, to go and find him.

"Where's Go Mi Nam?" Coordinator Wang wailed, aggravated. "He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago! The photo shoots starts in!" She checked her watch. "Ten minutes!" Go Mi Nam had this nasty habit of being tardy, and it ticked the stylist right off. It was not going to leave a good impression of him on the director and producers who were there overlooking the shoot.

Shin Woo replied nonchalantly to the Coordinator's actions. "He said he was going to be here soon. Must be a traffic jam?"

"Does he not have feet?" Coordinator retorted, shoving a sweater vest and tie to Shin Woo, who was already wearing a pair of black pants and a white button down-shirt. He had gotten the part for the teacher, Yoo Jin Sang, like Jeremy had predicted.

"Can someone call him again?" She continued, distressed. "I don't understand. Last time he was on time. He can't do it again today?"

"I'll call him." Mi Nyu offered, quickly pulling out her phone.

"Looks like someone won't be getting their gold star for perfect attendance." Tae Kyung smirked as he left the room to go along with Shin Woo. His contagious smirk caught onto the drummer as well, whose hair was in the final stage. "Mi Nam's so going to get in trouble!"

Go Mi Nyu had a bad feeling boiling inside her, like the feeling she got on her birthday. This time it was much worse.

Before she actually pushed dial on her phone, Mi Nam began to call her. "Oppa! Where are you? Your shoot starts soon and Coordinator Wang isn't very happy." Something was off. "Hello? Oppa?"

There were sniffles from the other line as a distraught voice cried her name.

"Ye Eun, is that you?"

Jeremy's head immediately turned in her direction, ignoring the scolding he got from Coordinator.

"What's going on?"

Mi Nyu listened to the sniffles of her friend before she heard the words, "There's been an accident."

A/N: Rather you hate it or like it, I appreciate you reading it.