Dohyon said the words as a joke, but they still served to make Eunbyeol flustered. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, trying to act natural.
Hangyul laughed at his joke and everyone followed.
"I don't think the fans would like that," Wooseok teased, taking a seat beside Hangyul.
Eunbyeol shrugged, trying to play it cool and pretend her heart wasn't pounding. "Who cares what the fans think?" she teased back, making everyone laugh.
"Okay, so what am I actually agreeing to?" Wooseok asked, looking around at all of them.
"We were thinking of doing a drama," Hangyul said. "And having different units..."
Eunbyeol stopped listening, this being the second time she was hearing the explanation. Instead, her eyes traveled over the members, all sitting together. It was obvious that they were really comfortable around each other, like a family. Her eyes lingered on Wooseok and Hangyul, watching in amusement as Wooseok guessed as to where Hangyul's explanation was going and started getting excited about it.
"I think that's an amazing idea," Wooseok gushed, turning towards her. "So yes, I'd love to date you," he joked, winking at her.
Eunbyeol laughed, fanning herself with one hand. "You're going to make me blush," she complained teasingly. "We have to make sure the other members like the idea before we start anything though," she pointed out.
"I already texted in the group chat," Seungyoun said, holding up his phone to show her. "Everyone has said yes so far. Why don't you three head to Mr.Cho's office to run the idea by him?" he suggested, gesturing to her, Hangyul, and Yohan. "You guys were the ones who came up with the ideas, after all. It'll be best if you explain it."
Eunbyeol nodded, standing up with Yohan and Hangyul. "Okay... lead the way," she said, smiling at them.
She walked in-between Hangyul and Yohan through the hallways as they made their way to the CEO's office.
"So... Eunbyeol," Yohan said after a moment. "Tell us about yourself," he said, awkwardly trying to start a conversation. "Like... how'd you decide you wanted to be an actress? How'd you end up auditioning for our music video? I'm curious about stuff like that."
"Well..." she murmured, wondering exactly when it all started. "I don't even really know when it started, to be honest. I like the idea of pretending to be a totally different person. It helps me, to pretend I'm more confident and cooler and funnier than I actually am, you know? After a while I guess pretending led me to my acting career," she said honestly. "And at the time that I auditioned for your music video, I was auditioning for literally everything and anything. I would have multiple auditions in a day, in all different places. My mom took days off of work to drive me around... she was really supportive," she said, a smile gracing her lips as she thought of her mother. "She still is. My number one fan," she said, playfully bumping her shoulder into Hangyul's since they had that joke between them. He smiled at her, his eyes sparkling with silent laughter. "Anyway, somehow I got the part for your video, and now here we are!"
"Here we are," Yohan repeated. "Isn't it crazy where life takes you?" he thought aloud. "A few years ago I couldn't even imagine myself here today. And yet... as you said, here we are," he said, grinning at her. "It's pretty cool."
"It is," she agreed. Yohan and Hangyul came to a stop in front of one of the doors in the hallway, and Hangyul knocked. They waited until they heard a faint voice telling them to come in, and then they entered and were met with a woman she assumed to be the secretary. As soon as she saw Yohan and Hangyul they were sent to Mr.Cho's office.
"Oh, you're here," he said as they came in, standing up to greet them. "Sit," he gestured to the small seating area in his office. "What brings you here? Have you come to a decision?"
Hangyul and Yohan both looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to do the talking. She suppressed a small sigh and turned to meet Mr.Cho's gaze.
"We want to do a drama," she said firmly. "It's never been done before, and we think it'll be really cool. We want to continue with the idea from the music video, with Wooseok being the male lead and then Hangyul being the second lead. The drama could be set years later, with our characters being adults now who somehow meet again, and the love triangle starts once more. We were thinking it would be cool to have the members in different units too. The unit for members who want to act, one for members who want to participate in writing and composing OSTs, and one for those who want to do the filming and directing and other stuff like that."
Mr.Cho was silent for a moment before he nodded, a giant smile coming to his face. "I like it," he said. "I like it a lot. I would like to suggest something though, if I may."
"Of course."
"Well, first of all, we need to hire a screenwriter. I really do want this to be a project that you all work very closely in, so you can work with the screenwriter to come up with this drama, okay? Second, I think we should also hire actual film crews and directors, and the members in those units can assist and learn from the professionals. It'll be really hard to do completely on your own, and we want to make sure the drama has good ratings too."
"That sounds perfect," she agreed, sharing impressed looks with Hangyul and Yohan. They both looked happy with that proposal. "I do have a small... request?" she said after a moment, drawing everyone's attention back to her.
"Go ahead," Mr.Cho said, curious surprise written all over his place.
"Well, I'm really grateful towards you, Swing's staff, and X1, for helping me get my big break in the industry," she said, nervously playing with the ring on her index finger. "And I think it would be really cool if we could help other people get their big breaks too. If we could find talented writers and actors and stuff who like... aren't well known yet... that would be really cool. You know what I mean?" she said, anxiously looking at Yohan and Hangyul.
Yohan's face was thoughtful and impressed, and he nodded in agreement. When she looked at Hangyul, he gave her the biggest smile.
"I love that idea," Hangyul said. "I second that."
"Me too," Yohan agreed.
Mr.Cho laughed. "I also think it's a great idea," he said. "It may take longer, but I love the idea, and I think fans will love it even more now. Yes, let's try to do that."
"Thank you!" she exclaimed, a smile playing on her lips. "Thank you so much."
He nodded. "You guys organize yourselves and start coming up with ideas for the show. Divide yourselves into units too. I'll first work on finding you a screenwriter, and then after the screenplay has made significant progress, we'll announce the plans to the press. Sounds good?"
"Sounds good!" Eunbyeol, Yohan, and Hangyul chorused back in return.
As she looked at the smiling faces of Yohan and Hangyul, something blossomed in her heart. A feeling she couldn't even explain. A feeling of immense happiness, and hope for their futures.
