Seeing Evan enter and close the door, Siwoo defiantly took off the jeans he’d worn in. Hadn’t they just made up at the shop? He couldn’t understand why Evan kept getting sharp with him at every turn.
What exactly was he supposed to be more careful about here? Yechan wasn’t a stranger, and he wasn’t an omega either.
No, even if he were an omega, Evan had no justification to act like this toward him. Bluntly speaking, what were they to each other anyway? People who filmed a program together for about ten days—that was exactly the extent of their relationship.
Honestly, there had been something ticklish and strange in the atmosphere between them, but he pushed aside those feelings and thoughts.
Whether anyone was watching or not, he took off his jeans and threaded his legs into the prepared pants. Living as a celebrity, as a singer—being shy about changing clothes was ridiculous. Of course, if there had been women present, Siwoo would have gone behind the hanger rack and changed carefully, but right now there was no one to be modest around.
“Yechan-ah. Let’s get food after this?”
Siwoo called out to Yechan, who was looking at Evan.
“Ah, yes. Hyung.”
The moment he saw Yechan’s expression—which had been all smiles until just now—stiffen strangely, what came to Siwoo’s mind was pheromones. He couldn’t sense them himself, but that subtle something might be passing between Evan and Yechan.
Having properly adjusted and put on his pants, Siwoo let out a short sigh and looked at Evan, who was still standing by the door.
“Yechan, if you have time, how about we eat and then drinks for a second round?”
He didn’t avoid those green eyes glaring at him as if ready to devour him. When his words ended, Evan’s expression had frozen cold and hard.
“But hyung.”
He pulled the hesitating Yechan’s hand to stand him up. Then he picked up the jacket with his name on it.
“I’m done changing. Let’s move aside so Evan can change. He seems to hate changing in front of others, so we should give him privacy.”
Without letting go of Yechan’s hand, Siwoo took the lead. And acting as nonchalant as possible, he passed by Evan and left the waiting room.
Having come outside and closed the waiting room door, Siwoo finally let go of Yechan’s hand that he’d been gripping tightly.
“Hyung, are you okay?”
Siwoo didn’t know why Yechan was asking that question.
“What about me?”
Walking toward the filming set, he clasped his two trembling hands together. His fingertips felt cold. He wasn’t someone with much body heat to begin with. But it was early autumn now, and the air conditioning was running inside the set that had heated up from the lights and the warmth of many people.
It’s cold. He couldn’t believe it, but the most basic sensation Siwoo felt first was coldness. It was piercingly cold. He felt like he was standing alone without a coat on a barren field in the dead of winter. When he wrapped his arms around his upper body in confusion and rubbed his forearms, the strange sensation disappeared as if it had never been there.
That day had been the same. At the amusement park when there was trouble with Evan. It was clearly an emotion he was feeling, yet it felt like it wasn’t his own emotion.
Was this cold he just felt really a cold he himself felt?
Before he could get lost in the confusing sensation, filming began.
The chroma key filming didn’t require much time. They gathered all seven people and took various photos, but since they were all active group idols, no one found it difficult.
“Siwoo hyung. If someone saw this, they’d think you were in an active group.”
The PD and director of photography didn’t request any particular poses. But the poses for group photos in front of a chroma key were inherently limited. And Siwoo blended smoothly with them without any sense of discord.
At Louis’s words—Louis who had his back against Siwoo right next to him—Siwoo gave a capitalistic smile. I probably did group activities longer than you. With three groups plus my trainee days, it’s at least 20 years.
Whether it was fortunate in misfortune or unfortunate in fortune, the people stuck around Siwoo were Louis and Ian because of height and build differences.
“Didn’t you know? Siwoo hyung. He’s on his second life right now.”
“Ah! I agree, I agree. Really Siwoo. At minimum second life.”
Why the talk about Siwoo’s second life suddenly came up—as soon as Yechan mentioned second life, Hyunsu agreed. Caught in between, Siwoo made a brighter expression than ever. Second life what, I’ve given up counting at this point, you know?
After the group photo came small group shooting. Having changed into different clothes in the waiting room, Siwoo went in front of the chroma key.
“Yechan, can you lift Siwoo up high?”
“Lifting Siwoo hyung is nothing. I carry all our group members around.”
“Wouldn’t a piggyback be better?”
Looking up at Yechan, Siwoo suggested a piggyback.
“Then let’s try the piggyback first. Yechan, put Siwoo down if it’s hard.”
Siwoo placed his hands on Yechan’s shoulders as he showed his back, and lightly climbed onto his back. Thanks to Yechan firmly holding his thighs, he could ride comfortably on his back.
“Oh! Yechan’s strong. Piggyback me next time.”
Everyone had finished filming but remained to watch the shoot or chat with reporters who came to cover this filming. Hyunsu, who had been standing next to the PD eating ice cream, whistled.
“No way!”
At the director’s playful words, Yechan bent his knees to put Siwoo down while shouting in protest. But Hyunsu, who had already rushed in front of the chroma key, quickly climbed onto his back.
“Argh! Heavy! Save me! Hyunsu hyung is crushing me to death.”
“Muscle Pig. If you show such a wimpy side, the fans will worry. Is your muscle filled with air?”
“Don’t call me Muscle Pig! Even our fans don’t call me that!”
“If I don’t call the Muscle Pig ‘Muscle Pig,’ should I call Siwoo ‘Muscle Pig’?”
“Why are you bringing up Siwoo hyung here?”
“Muscle Pig, run!”
While the camera capturing the filming scene filmed their antics, Siwoo went next to the director to check the footage.
“The camera can’t properly capture Siwoo… Siwoo, let’s do one more couple cut with Evan and go straight to individual cuts. Is that okay?”
Siwoo, who had thought it came out pretty well, gave an awkward smile at the director’s words praising that he looked much better in person. A couple cut with Evan.
For Siwoo, who could pride himself on having met quite a lot of people, this was the first time someone was this difficult. It seemed like they were close and comfortable, but they were uncomfortable and awkward.
It felt like walking on parallel lines separated by a constant distance. The moment he felt they’d gotten close enough to hold hands, when he came to his senses, a wide space had formed between them.
“Now, face each other like ‘we’re the closest in the world.'”
At the director of photography’s playful words meant to lighten the mood, the corners of Siwoo’s mouth—which had been lifted high—trembled. We seem to have the strangest relationship in the world.
“In the evening.”
“I already heard everything earlier.”
As soon as Evan started to speak, Siwoo cut him off with a smiling face.
What came back was Evan’s deep sigh.
“Your expression is weird. Again—we’re close, we’re best friends, we’re soulmates.”
At the director’s words catching the expression change in that brief time, Siwoo whipped around.
If smiling while looking at his face is hard, just don’t look at his face. Even with their backs to each other, they can look pretty close.
Having turned around, Siwoo relaxed his expression slightly then put on his business smile again. Suddenly Siwoo’s body fell backward. Normally when turning around like this, they would turn around together and press their backs together, but what Evan chose was to embrace him from behind.
“Uwaaa…”
Even though he was being supported from behind, when his center of gravity shifted backward, Siwoo made a strange sound unconsciously as his back touched a firm chest.
“He says we’re soulmates.”
At Evan’s voice whispering with a low laugh, Siwoo raised both hands to cover his face. Heat suddenly rushed through his body, and Siwoo’s white, soft ears turned red.
“Who said you could touch my body as you please. Take your hands off right now.”
Because they were close, he could hear clearly what Siwoo muttered in a mosquito-like voice.
“Coco.”
“Siwoo-ya.”
Evan called him Coco, but when there was no answer, he called his name again.
“What.”
A curt answer came. Even in this situation, seeing him firmly covering his face with those small hands and his reddened ears, he couldn’t hide the emotions flowing out.
“Can you not hate me too much?”
“The pose is good, but let’s show Siwoo’s face.”
At the director’s words—not knowing what story the two were sharing while stuck together—Siwoo gritted and tried to straighten his body. Evan playfully hugged Siwoo tightly then let him go.
“Ah! I was trying to do a unique pose but it won’t work. I’ll just go with normal.”
Siwoo exaggeratedly jumped around in place, playing around. His ears that had flushed red also returned to white like freshly steamed soft baekseolgi rice cake.
“No. I’m going to hate you.”
At the fact that the natural pose was an arm around the shoulder, Siwoo ground his molars and spoke with garbled pronunciation.
“Really?”
What natural acting. At Evan’s gaze looking at him with a surprised expression, Siwoo made an equally teasing expression.
“Yeah. I’m going to hate you.”
“Ha—.”
No, why are you making a desperate expression and suddenly crouching down on the floor?
Siwoo looked down at Evan with his arms crossed and standing with his weight on one leg.
He almost laughed unconsciously at that expression looking up at him from below, so he whipped his head to the opposite side. He couldn’t distinguish whether this was real acting or his current emotions.
Individual shooting was so much easier than couple shooting. It was more comfortable because Yechan was in front of him showing off, insisting they absolutely had to go eat beef. Plus, when they heard that Siwoo and Yechan were eating, Hyunsu and Ian remained.
“What about Evan?”
“Evan hyung has another schedule.”
Having finished filming and changed clothes, Siwoo heard the conversation between Hyunsu and Ian and looked at Evan standing in front of the chroma key. At the director’s requests, he created different poses and expressions moment by moment.
“Really? Then let’s go. If we dilly-dally and it overlaps with dinner time, it’ll be noisy and not good at all.”
Pushed on the back by Hyunsu’s hand, Siwoo stopped his steps after greeting the staff, PD, and director so as not to disturb the filming. And he looked back again.
‘Can you not hate me too much?’
It felt like his voice was echoing in his ears, so he quickly raised his hand to shake out his ear. And he left the filming site.
