Moon nights - a summer romance in Seoul

Chapter 8: Ayla

The sky is grieving with me as the tears I cannot shed are running down the surface of my window

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Everyone had snacked more and less during the filming of the introduction videos, so none of us was in the mood to cook in the kitchen.

Therefore Tala, Faras, Tatho, and I decided to retreat to our rooms to rest a little as the jetlag was kicking in slowly. We kept yawning in front of the camera, which, hopefully, all the editors would cut out.
Reminding each other to set up an alarm to ensure no one overnapped and missed the lunch time we agreed on; the living room cleared soon enough, free of the ring lights, boxes, and additional cameras from the interviews.

Once I laid down on my bed, the tiredness washed over my body, and it didn't take me too long to drift off to sleep...

When I jerked awake, first confusion, then panic settled inside my chest, growing by the second as I looked around, lost at where I found myself. My room had pastel blue walls; this was all blending white.

Where am-

That's when I spotted Mina sleeping on her bed on the other side of the room when I turned my head in the other direction.

Oh. Right.

I wasn't in Istanbul anymore. I was in Seoul.

Stretching myself a little and one more yawn escaping my lips, I climbed out of bed and, with my phone in my hand, made my way downstairs to the living room. Earlier, when we filmed the individual interviews, the guys had told us that the living room of their house was smaller compared to the living room of our house, so the living room for filming purposes was set on the one in the girls' house. With the better lighting, Mrs Lee had added when she overheard our conversation.

Taehyun was the only one in the living room. On the couch, with his headphones on, I quickly waved not to disturb him and made my way to the garden that offered multiple seating options in the corner. I wanted a bit of fresh air.

That's when I spotted Jonghyun with a small notebook in his hand, sitting in the corner of the garden. He looked up when he heard me walk over to him, his ever-known, mischievous grin plastered on his face:

"They say the sun shines brightly, but I'd beg to differ that the moon's beauty is just as blinding," he exclaimed and pointed at me with the pen in his hand. The other hand, wearing a black leather glove, held the notebook.

This guy-

"Did you drink a Flirt 2000 potion this morning?" I replied sarcastically as I sat beside him, but I still failed to hide my smile. It was a different feeling to be next to him, for the first time, with no one around us. The camera installed outside in the garden was too far away to pick up the conversation as it was just above the door. And we had no microphones installed on us yet.

"Great deduction, Holmes"

"You compliment me, Watson."

"It's very seen- I mean, it's very nice to see you in person, love." he gave me a warm smile that I couldn't help but mirror. Whatever he does, Jonghyun does it genuinely. Or that's what he seems to be doing. It hasn't even been a day that I've spent with him in person. So technically, I can't write a conclusion about him yet.

"It's very nice to see that you exist in real life, too.", I replied.

Wow, fantastic reply, Ayla. -10/10 for the effort.

"Oh, I bet! But AI comes with a different amount of amazing personality that houses inside this body, you know?" we both just blinked at each other and burst out laughing at the same time.