After Dusk || Im Changkyun

2. Icebreaker

Chapter Two

"After leaving her previous company three months ago, Choi Y/N signed with Oracle Entertainment, home to many stars, including her costar, Im Changkyun. This will be her first big lead role, playing Min Haeun in the drama."

You stared at your old computer in the darkness of your small one room apartment. You wondered if your old company would contact you. You'd signed with a new one so quickly, especially after all the time you spent settling for.
The cast of the drama were some big names. Of course, you had Changkyun, but you also had Kim Jungwoo, who was big in romance dramas and movies. You felt a bit nervous about being costars with an expert, but from what you'd seen of him in interviews, he seemed very nice. The two of you were even the same age, although he was a week older than you according to the google search you had conducted after you came home from the company.
Lee Suhyun was part of the supporting cast but from what you'd been shown so far, she'd have a pretty seen role, kind of like your previous one.
You were ecstatic for this. You couldn't wait to go to the reading tomorrow. You couldn't wait to meet everyone. You couldn't wait to be on set. You were so excited even though you weren't showing it.
The comments were flooding with positive and surprised remarks. Lots of people were happy that you were getting a lead role and that made you happy. Your Instagram and Twitter gained so many followers in the span of a day and it made you feel dizzy at the large numbers. A couple thousand jumped to a couple hundred thousands and you were amazed.
Of course, there were a fair amount of negative comments but you were immune to them. You couldn't feel them. Their opinions didn't matter to you if you were happy. You knew it was a healthy mindset but some of the comments couldn't help but linger in your head.
Your phone lit up beside your computer. You checked it.

Unknown Number: Meet me at the company cafe in 10 minutes. Be quick.

You tilted your head at the screen. Who on earth was this? They were awfully hasty.

You: I'm sorry. Who is this?

The response came almost instantly.

Unknown Number: Im Changkyun.
Unknown Number: The company gave me your number. Now stop asking questions and come over here.

You narrowed your eyes at your phone.
No wonder.
You quickly added his number as a contact and went to grab your hairbrush. You hated the fact that he was so rude, but you couldn't defy him. Well, you could, but that would probably end badly for you.
You looked at yourself in your small mirror and grabbed your purse as you walked out the door.
Luckily, your house wasn't that far from the company building, so you got there in ten minutes, just as Changkyun wanted.
You wandered around for a bit. You'd received a tour of the building a couple of days ago but you had a terrible memory. You hated to ask for help too.
You walked around for a while again, trying to find arrows and signs. Every single one you found didn't say a thing about a cafe. Just a bunch of fancy names for things that one couldn't possibly guess by reading. Why did this company have to be so fancy? It was a whole different world.
Just then, you felt a tap on your shoulder. You jumped and turned around to see an unamused Changkyun.
"Idiot." He muttered, you pretended not to hear him. He grabbed your hand and dragged you across the building, earning confused glances from everyone else. You hid your face behind your purse with your free hand. It was embarrassing.
Before you knew it, you were inside a cafe. He continued to drag you until you got to a small table in front of a giant window wall. He let go of your hand and took a seat opposite to you. You hesitated and then sat down.
"For future references," he rolled his eyes,
"The Rendezvous is the cafe and its on the first floor."
You nodded slowly. You kept seeing that on the signs but you just assumed that it was a lounge. The name made it sound like a lounge.
"You wanted to meet me? Wait- what should I call you? Su-"
You knew the others didn't want you to call them that, but Changkyun had proved himself that he was not like the others. He wasn't as nice.
But he winced as you said the last part,
"God no." He looked honestly disgusted,
"It's so annoying to hear. Changkyun will be just fine."
His expression changed to its serious one,
"But yes, I called you here for a reason." He started,
"NVT wants to make the time we have at set into a show." You noticed his fists ball up,
"They're getting all excited to see you as a lead and me in a romance drama, so they want to make it an experience."
You hid the smile that was threatening to spread on your face. You've always wanted to do a show. You'd been invited to a couple but your former company turned down every single offer.
"You've probably noticed, Y/N, but I'm not exactly fond of you."
Oh, you'd noticed.
"It's not you, it's you."
Yes. That totally made sense.
"So I'm here to make a bit of a deal with you." He took a breath before speaking again, looking visibly annoyed,
"Until all of this is over. I'll try my best to pretend to like you, and you'll try your best to put up with me."
He looked out the window,
"The CEO would beat me up if I was anything but nice to you, but I don't want to be nice. I don't like women, but I don't want to be fired either, so I'm meeting in the middle."
You thought about it for a second,
"Okay. That's fine."
Changkyun took a deep breath and attempted to smile at you. It failed.
"After Dusk." He started, making eye contact with you,
"After dusk of the show premiere, we don't need to put up with each other. Let alone see each other."
You instinctively nodded. You were too used to agreeing to everything people asked of you. It put you in some tough situations over the years. You'd change if you could but it was easier said than done.
"So, it's like you're as nice as you can possibly be whenever there are cameras, and whenever there are no cameras you don't acknowledge my existence."
"Precisely." He snapped his fingers.
Silence fell over the two of you as you sat at the table. You played with the strings on your purse because of the awkwardness.
"So," he started, making you look up,
"An icebreaker like thing might be useful. Every actor needs a basis."
"Okay."
He looked down at his hands and then back up at you, trying his best not to make eye contact.
"What's something you're really scared of? I'm scared of women, which is why I don't like you."
A weird person Changkyun was. A strange fear and a strange first question to ask. He was... unique? To say it nicely.
"I don't like black leather belts." You said nonchalantly. You were almost surprised at how honest you'd decided to be.
"What?" He questioned, his voice expressing the confusion that any normal person would feel if they had heard what you just said.
"You don't like women. I don't like black leather belts. I don't have a good experience with them."
"I hate to say I must agree with you." He perked up again, but it wasn't much,
"What about black belts? I'm wearing one right now and you don't seem that frightened."
You hesitated for a moment.
"Let's change the subject, huh? If you were to go on a trip for a day, where would you go?"
Changkyun's phone started ringing.
"Hold on."
He got up and walked away to answer to call.
You had just agreed to the strangest thing ever. Couldn't he just be nice to you? Why did he have to pretend? What's so bad about women anyways? A woman brought him into this world for gods sake.
Changkyun came back in a couple of minutes, but he didn't sit back down.
"I'm afraid our meeting needs to be cut short. I forgot I had a photoshoot today." He sighed,
"See you in a couple days, I guess."
Changkyun huffed, barely meeting your eyes as he walked away.
"Wow." You muttered to yourself,
"What a stickler."
You picked up your purse and made your way to the exit. The sun was shining bright and it felt great on your skin.
How you loved the summer.
A great day to take a selfie. You had a whole ton of followers now, might as well be more active on social media.
You took the picture right in front of the building, making sure to look as good as you possibly could with almost no makeup on.
You stopped before you posted it. You had to ask your company if you had permission first.
It looked nice though, but you just happened to notice Changkyun walking in the background.
You turned to him and shouted half way across the street.
"Good luck on your photoshoot!"
He noticed you, scoffed, rolled his eyes, and got in his car, his manager in the drivers seat. It drove off.
You just shrugged.
You were in for a wild ride, weren't you?

•—•—•—•—•

To our loving, caring, amazing, beautiful, talented, handsome, showstopping, sweet, cuddly, kind, wonderful, stunning, compassionate, strong, and hardworking leader, Shownu
There aren't enough good words in the dictionary to describe how amazing he is
It's his birthday in my country today and I'm so happy for him
Can't believe he's already 28
He's been so strong for us and for Monsta X and I hope he knows that we love and appreciate him with all of our hearts
I don't want to talk about anything other than Shownu so I'll end myself here
Stay healthy and Love Shownu! ♥️