feel me | yeonbin

006

Present day

"Thank you so much for coming to meet with us today, Yeonjun."

"Thank you for inviting me and considering me," Yeonjun says with a bow of his head, seated around a large meeting table in the KHK E&M building in Gangnam.

"We asked your agency because we thought you would be a perfect fit for a role in the romantic drama that we're developing," one of the show developers states, wringing his hands together; Yeonjun can feel the nerves radiating off of him. Strange, he thinks. People get starstruck far too easily. "And we wanted to have a quick meeting with you here to hopefully convince you to get on board."

"Oh? I'm honored," Yeonjun says with a laugh, covering his mouth as he bows his head again and a few people around the table chuckle and two of them applaud for no reason whatsoever. "I think I really want to audition. They told me that it's a second lead kind of role, and I love a good underdog."

"Our show is called Ink Twice," another woman says; Yeonjun thinks she's one of the producers, but he's not quite sure. "It's about a tattoo artist whose permanent ink creates unintentional soulmates. And in the role we see you playing, your character has the pleasure of being tattooed and matching with several different people in an unfortunate mishap."

"I love a good unfortunate mishap," Yeonjun jokes, perking up when he hears "tattoo." But then his heart instantly sinks, because it feels like the hits have been coming one after another recently. Yeonjun isn't sure he can take one more of Daeul's cold shoulder moments. At this rate, one more misstep could be Yeonjun's last, and he wishes he was being dramatic about it.

"We're currently working hard to find young tattoo artists all across Seoul who can help us with our research for the show, since we know that tattoos can sometimes be taboo," the developer says with a slow nod like he's confirming his own words. "More than anything, we want to break stigmas with this show and keep our audience engaged."

"And we think that having you onboard as Min Junkyu would be a dream for us," the producer adds, and Yeonjun lifts a hand to his mouth to hide his grin.

"Min Junkyu? That's a cute name," he blurts out, and the producer laughs.

"Yes, it was purposely. The lead character calls him JunJun," she replies, and Yeonjun cringes in delight, nose scrunched.

"Well, I would love to audition," he confirms, and then something inside of him compels him to steamroll on. He isn't sure what forces the words out of his mouth other than an act of divine intervention in the worst possible way, but then he says, "I know a great tattoo artist."

"Do you?" the developer says as he leans forward, and Yeonjun can see the immediate shift in the room among the KHK staff. They're bewildered. That's fine. Yeonjun joined KHK after his life fell apart. They don't know Yeonjun's past. Yeonjun never told them a damn thing about the two years he spent hopelessly in love with Choi Soobin, the best two years of his life. Two years that were mercilessly cut short for the sake of his career. Two years that gave Yeonjun three different tattoos, two of which he covers up to this day in a form of dangerous secret keeping.

"Uh, yes. I have a tattoo on my ribs," Yeonjun says, which is not a secret at all. He's well-known for it, as a matter of fact. "I got it done five years ago, and I made a lot of great friends at the tattoo shop. It's called Alloy & Ink. It's in Hongdae. Kim Ahyeon is the owner, but the artist who did my ink is Choi Soobin. He might be a good resource. You could consult with him to make sure everything is correct. He, uh... he's very talented."

"You said Choi... Soobin?" the producer says as she quickly types it into her phone.

"Yes. Alloy & Ink is the name of the shop," Yeonjun repeats. "I'd recommend them, especially if I'm going to be onboard the project."

"Fantastic. Auditions will be in August, and shooting will begin in November," the developer says, settling back into his chair. "If you would come audition for us and do a few chemistry reads, we would appreciate it greatly and we would be in your debt. We know how busy you are."

"But you have mass appeal, Yeonjun, and you're such a juggernaut of talent," the producer adds for flattery. Yeonjun bows his head in gratitude.

"You considered me over Choi Beomgyu?" he asks with a playful lilt in his voice. Everyone around the table laughs. "I must be successful if you thought about me first."

"We heard Choi Beomgyu has accepted a new starring role in an upcoming movie," the producer says, "so we didn't consider him this time around. Plus, we felt that you, Yeonjun, have more mass appeal, like we said. International audiences love you."

"Thank you. I'd be happy to audition. I really appreciate that you came out all this way just to meet," Yeonjun says with another bow.

And then the meeting wraps up. Yeonjun is never trapped in meetings for long. He checks his phone on his way out of the conference room to see two missed calls from Daeul and five text messages- Yeonjun doesn't even bother to respond and leaves them on read for now. He sees that Daeul's first text is about throwing out the flowers because they're dead and he gives up. The flowers weren't dead at all this morning. But it's not worth the battle. Yeonjun just leaves a little heart in response to the text wishing him good luck in his meeting.

"Yeonjun!"

"Oh! Boss," Yeonjun says with a deep bow when he sees Kang Hyunwook in the hallway. "Great to see you."

"How did your meeting go?" Hyunwook asks, slipping his hands into his pockets. He's the same age as Yeonjun's father, but he's a former actor, so he has twice. the charm and good looks. A few wrinkles here and there and a bit of grey hair can't dull his shine. The world fawns over Kang Hyunwook and KHK Entertainment & Media. The company has fans.

If they knew that Hyunwook didn't give a damn about his clients' well-being, Yeonjun is sure they wouldn't think much differently of any of it.

"It went well. I'll definitely audition for the role in August," Yeonjun confirms with a nod.

"They seemed eager," Hyunwook says with a light chuckle. "The premise of the show is a bit... daring. But the general consensus was that you were the right man for the job."

"Thank you for your trust," Yeonjun says politely with another bow. "I'll work hard. I have my Zoom meeting. in about..." Yeonjun checks his watch. "Fifteen minutes. Is the interpreter here?"

"She's already in the meeting room waiting for you," Hyunwook replies. "Keep it up, Yeonjun. Let me know if you need anything."

"Of course. Thank you, boss," Yeonjun says with a final bow, and then he lets Hyunwook pass and heads directly to his meeting room.

Yeonjun is used to press tours before and after a show or movie debut. He's used to faking a laugh and dodging sketchy questions. He's used to cameras being trained on him and shoved into his face, and he's used to interviewers poking around his relationship. The latter is the most common. People are fascinated that he's in a relationship with another man still to this day.

They never assume, though, that he's trapped.

But Yeonjun doesn't think about that. He doesn't think about it during the Zoom interview. He doesn't think about it as he scrolls through social media on his way home from the company. He doesn't think about it when Daeul comes home from the office closer to eight o'clock and asks where dinner is because he's starving. And he doesn't think about it when Daeul wraps an arm around him that night in bed, his hands wandering Yeonjun's body until he falls asleep.