Undercover Escape - YongShin

My Unpredictable Best Friend

"Talking to your best friend is sometimes all the therapy you need."

"Yong?" Shinhye asked softly while caressing his hand. "Wake up, Yongie."

Yonghwa opened his eyes slowly. He must have fallen asleep from the jetlag. It had never happened before in a cap, because being the team leader required him to always make sure his younger brothers were fine and everything was organised. But with Shinhye it had always been different.

She was a few months younger than him. However, when he first got to know her, he thought that she was much more mature than him, being an experienced actress since her teenager years. She had helped him a lot back in the You-are-beautiful-days and they became close very quickly. In the end, he just found it more appropriate to have a friend-like relationship with her rather than have her call him Oppa. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why he always felt that they were on the same level, both being equally strong.

Yonghwa really liked being together with his band mates. However, being the leader could be exhausting at times, even though his brothers were great and tried to help him out a lot.

When Yonghwa was with Shinhye, he felt like he could completely let his guard down. He had realised a long time ago that she was very well able to take the lead whenever it was required and he trusted her decisions. She was a very logical person, despite her often bubbly appearance. Feeling at ease whenever she was around, she had turned out to be his most successful sleeping pill over the past couple of years.

"We should get out. The driver said you paid him beforehand." She told him, still holding his hand. "He's taking a break to smoke, because it took me ages to wake you up, sleepyhead."

Yonghwa tried to hide a yawning.

"Yeah, I made a deal with him so he wouldn't drive around in unnecessary circles, hoping to get more money." he explained.

"You can be quite smart. Must be the glasses", she speculated playfully.

"You must feel pretty smart too, since you are also wearing a pair" he retorted, slightly nudging her forehead.

"YAH!" Shinhye pretended to be sulking. She wanted to open the side door of the cap but Yonghwa easily pulled her back into his arms.

"Wait a sec!" he told her to be patient.

He carefully put the golden coloured scarf with the black hearts around her neck and helped her cover her mouth and nose with it, before zipping up the parka again.

"We cannot let ourselves be caught... yet." he told her, giving her a mischievous wink.

"YAH, Yonghwa-ya!" Shinhye yelled flustered. "What do you mean by yet?"

"Shin" he started, gently putting his hands around her face. He needed her to completely believe in him this time. "We don't have to rush things. But before you walk out of this cap, before our adventure really starts, I need you to know that I am right by your side. If anything unexpected happens, you must trust that I will always protect you. We are not who we used to be anymore. Things are different now. If we need to swim, we can do it. We won't drown."

Their eyes melted together and for a moment time stopped for the both of them. Shinhye could sense his sincerity.

Yonghwa usually was a playful, laid back kind of guy who only snapped into the real essence of leadership whenever he had to. Shinhye had always trusted Yonghwa. She knew, he would never intentionally hurt her. But the past had shown her the boundaries a relationship like theirs could face. The memory of their break up more than a year ago was still a painful reminder of what could happen, if they were not able to face the typical difficulties celebrity couples were surrounded by.