Just "Acting" || HWITAE ✔

-4-

When Taeyang woke up in the morning, he was covered in cake and Dawon's foot was in his face. He took his phone out of his pocket, thankful it wasn't also smothered in cake, and checked the time. He had two hours before the kdrama meeting. 

He slowly untangled himself from the bodies and stood up, groaning when he touched his hair. It was all sticky. That would be fun to wash out.

Quiet enough not to wake up the pile of his best friends, Taeyang made his way to the bedroom. He grabbed a pair of clothes then went to get into the shower. 

As the hot water hit his back and he made an effort to get the cupcake remnants out of his hair, Taeyang thought about who the other lead could possibly be. He didn't know any BL actors, so whoever it was, he wouldn't know a thing about them. Would they have whatever chemistry Seokwoo thought he had with Hwiyoung? He shook his head. He's been worrying too much. 

Taeyang would admit that he was kind of excited to be trying something new. He'd spent so long doing the same things over and over again. It was always dancing this, singing that. Maybe he needed this change.  

While drying his hair, Taeyang walked back into the living room. He reached behind the flower vase sitting on a mini table in the corner of the room and pulled out a blow horn. The band had gotten together one night and decided that each dorm would have one to wake up the other members. He blew it now. 

He watched with amusement as his bandmates woke up startled and attempted to untangle themselves from one another. It was a jackass move waking up a bunch of people with hangovers using a blow horn, but it was funny while it lasted. 

Taeyang noticed that Hwiyoung was MIA. He seemed to disappear often recently.  

Everyone but Taeyang had hangovers, so he took it upon himself to get them Tylenol and water. Then he kicked out those who didn't share the dorm. 

As Seokwoo, Youngbin and Chani were leaving, Chani put a hand on Taeyang's shoulder. "I know you're worried about the other lead. Don't be," he said like he knew something the elder didn't. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Taeyang answered. It sounded more like a question than a statement. 

Chani nodded once then stepped out of the door. Taeyang turned back to his roommates. Juho was in the bathroom, probably washing the cupcake off. Inseong and Jaeyoon were snuggling on the couch in all their frosted glory. Jaeyoon had his head on Inseong's chest and was hugging the older male's waist. 

The single male grabbed a throw pillow off the floor that was crusty with dried frosting and threw it at the couple. "Can you two go be cute somewhere else?" he asked. 

Inseong opened an eye and smiled lazily. "We're just showing you the BL life. You should try it sometime."

Taeyang rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen to check the time. He still had 45 minutes until his ride came to pick him up. Apparently, one of the staff was hired to pick him up

To kill time, Taeyang blow-dried his hair then went into the kitchen to help Juho make breakfast. While he was scrambling eggs, he caught Juho staring at him. 

"You seem in a better mood," Juho pointed out. The other shrugged and said, "I don't know. I've decided not to worry so much about it and just go with the flow."

"That's good. Stressing leads to heart disease," Juho said, as he dumped a handful of cheese into the eggs. 

"There you go with your old man knowledge again," Taeyang quipped. 

The older laughed it off. "You have no taste, obviously."

"More taste than you, and by the way, you still have some frosting in your ear," Taeyang answered. Juho gave him a look and grabbed a paper towel to wipe it off. 

"Is that better?" 

Taeyang pretended to inspect his ear even though there wasn't any frosting in Juho's ear to begin with. "Yep, you're all good."

By the time the eggs were done, it was time for Taeyang to leave. All three of his roommates gave a chorus of "Good luck" before he walked out the door. 

He met the staff member outside standing by his car. He introduced himself as the kdrama manager's personal chauffeur, the opened the car door for Taeyang. 

There wasn't much conversation, but the chauffeur--his name was Jaejin and he looked to be around Taeyang's age--informed him of what was to be expected. They'd ask him if he was okay with doing so and so, and they'd have him sign a contract. Jaejin was actually going to play a role in the kdrama alongside Taeyang. 

When they arrived to their destination, Jaejin led Taeyang through the halls. They were in a school--the school they planned to do the filming in. There were still classes in session, so they were careful not to disturb the teaching. 

Finally, they stopped at a room in the back of the school office. It was a meeting room. There was a long table in the middle of the room and multiple chairs circled around it. People were standing around rather than sitting in their chairs. 

There was no one Taeyang recognized, except there was one person with blonde hair that he thought he knew. But he couldn't place who it was. He knew a lot of people with blonde hair.  

The blonde's back was to him, so he couldn't see his face. Jaejin let him into the room and Taeyang occupied an empty chair. The blonde was still unrecognizable. 

A few more people came into the room before a man, who looked to be in his mid-thirties and had graying hair, stood up and cleared his throat. Taeyang assumed it was either the producer or the director. Everyone stopped talking and took their seats. 

Taeyang was puzzled when the blonde turned and sat down across from him. The blonde was Hwiyoung. Why the hell was he at the meeting?