Blessing in Disguise

Chapter 25

Siwoo tapped his phone screen to rewind the video and brought it closer to his face.

"What are you watching?" Hyunah asked through the rearview mirror. She couldn't help but notice Siwoo's restrained smile.

"Is it a meme?" Fang leaned over his seat and attempted to get a glance before Siwoo tilted the screen away from him.

"It's just a footage of my practice. I'm monitoring myself."

"Oh." Fang sighed as he sat back down. "I thought it was something fun."

Siwoo glanced back at the screen and saw himself sitting in front of Haejun. The sunset flooding through the small window tinted the scene a warm orange. Through his earphones, he could hear their voices murmuring lines to one another. He closed his eyes and listened to Haejun's voice.

Your highness, I...

"Speaking of practice... everyone at our agency's been talking about how Haejun Park was at our practice rooms a few days ago."

Siwoo almost choked on his own spit at Hyunah's sudden input.

"Y-yeah, we've been using the practice rooms to practice." He cleared his throat, feeling a bit nervous.

"OH! I heard about that too! Did he really go over to your house for dinner?" Fang turned back around again.

Siwoo nodded, remembering the pile of ashes he had ended up feeding the poor actor. Haejun had eaten it like it was some Michelin star dish, but he was pretty sure the actor had just been starving to the point where he was willing to swallow even a pile of coal. Haejun had been his first real guest, and Siwoo wasn't satisfied with how dinner had turned out.

I'll definitely make him something actually edible next time!

But then another thought crossed Siwoo's mind. Was there going to be a next time? Filming began today, and there was really no reason left for them to practice in private again. Siwoo looked out the window and sighed. The sun was still hidden behind the horizon as they drove through the city towards the drama set.

Hyunah noticed Siwoo's shift of expression and tilted her head curiously. A few days ago, Siwoo had walked back into the office looking like nothing had happened. She and the rest of the members had been appalled at Siwoo's fast recovery. Of course, none of them spoke or asked about what had happened, but found it hard to believe considering they all had expected this to be one of the hardest depressive episodes Siwoo was going to have to get through.

"By the way, I heard that Haejun Park made you cry! DID HE ACTUALLY?!" Fang rolled up his fists and waved it around in the air. "JUST GIVE ME THE WORD, AND I'LL KNOCK HIM OUT!"

"It was for a part we were practicing!" Siwoo frantically explained and pushed Fang back into his seat. Fang was the feistiest out of everyone he knew, and although he was personally used to his memeber's temper, he didn't know how Haejun would react. The last thing he wanted was for there to be unnecessary conflict. Fang squinted his eyes doubtfully before crossing his arms and sitting back down.

Hyunah watched this from the front seat, not buying a single bit of it. Unlike the hot-tempered member, Hyunah had actually read all of the novel. The scripts that had been handed out to the actors only covered the first half of the story. She knew that there was no scene that required Siwoo to cry as much as those trainees had witnessed that day.

This meant that the only reason Siwoo could have been crying was because of a possible depressive break down. And if the trainees hadn't been lying and Siwoo had really been crying in the arms of the notorious actor that day... She had no other choice but to come to the conclusion that Haejun Park had been involved in Siwoo's miraculous recovery.