Highway to your Heart || Haechan ||

thirteen

"You overgrown beansprout, you should have warned me earlier!"

"I did warn you and also said sorry!"

"Yeah, a freaking minute earlier! How long did you know about this?"

"I- since the auditions, but in my defense I thought he'd pull out since he was kind of forced into this by Ten."

Iseul was rubbing her temples that suddenly started aching when the one person that was supposed to never find out about her script was actually one of the performers, on top of it playing himself as well.

She was not ready to face and confront the guy now, not to mention having no idea how to explain the uncanny resemblance with the real events that had occured a few years prior.

"I swear if-" Her sentence was interrupted when a familiar voice spoke up making both freeze for a moment before turning around to face none other than Donghyuck, the man responsible for their argument.

"Excuse me, are you the writer? We didn't get the chance to meet yet but I'm sure you've already realized that I play the male lead, my name is Lee Donghyuck." He extended his hand for a handshake which the girl reciprocated, playing the whole encounter cool.

"Nice to meet you again Donghyuck, my name is Shin Iseul and yes, I'm the one who is unlucky enough to have had their work end up in the hands of Ten." She said with a sigh while Jisung murmured something along it's your own fault though before getting a jab into his side.

"Again? Have we met before?" The tan male looked a little confused but before he could get any answer the end of their short break was announced and everyone returned to the theater to resume the practice.

Iseul was glad that she had dodged this conversation even if just for a few more hours as it left her time to come up with a way to explain herself properly, and prepare her poor heart for seeing the man again.

She couldn't help but be amazed by the tan male and his voice once their rehearsal resumed with his Love song for the female lead, the lyrics fitting the scenario Iseul had added to make everything a bit more romantic.

The more she watched the play proceed the more the boy's enormous stage presence became clear to her and she understood why Ten was so hellbent on getting him on board.

Slowly approaching the climax of the story which the most memories connect her to she felt her eyes tear up slightly watching Donghyuck look effortlessly good while portraying himself, everything feeling too much like back then.

"You okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, looks like I forgot to blink." Iseul wiped the tear off her cheek when Kun nudged her, buying the lame excuse as the performance was outstanding despite Jisung's demanding choreography.

"It must be overwhelming to see your imagination come to life, right?"

"It's scary how on point some scenes are to be honest so I'm glad Ten brought his own ideas into the story to lessen the weirdness of everything."

The guy chuckled lightly while the preparations for the last act were going on around them and Taeyong gave out tips and instructions regarding the last song that would be the ending scene.

Iseul had heard the song and actually felt glad that it wasn't a happy party anthem but something more relatable, heartfelt with some optimism towards the future and no heartbreak.

It turned out even more emotional than anticipated when all actors joined the main cast on the stage and sang along, saying a last goodbye to each other by saying that they're still going to be there for the ones they became close with.

With Never goodbye the songwriting trio outdid themselves and even moved Ten to tears when Donghyuck and the female lead stood hand in hand singing beautifully in harmony, a perfect ending for the short lived love story.

Jisung walked beside Iseul when the lights turned back on and they gave a standing ovation to the successful first practice, complimenting the actors on their hard work and wrapping up the long rehearsal for the day.

Everyone being tired from the day long busy schedule rushed out after cleaning up and getting a good night's rest, glad that it was Friday and they didn't have classes the next day.

The girl said her goodbyes and walked away from the theater building with Jisung towards the parking lot where they called a taxi to, completely forgetting the tan male that still had many questions for her.

Donghyuck only caught them when the girl was getting inside the car, waving his hand for them to catch their attention before lifting his phone and point at it. "At least give me your contact so that I can speak to you!"

"Ji will send it to you." The girl gestured to the younger boy sitting on the back seat before waving at the male and closing the door for the driver to take off, but not before saying something that left the tan male stunned.

"See you around, Peter."