A Scandalous Pair | Kim Mingyu FF | Svt

Do-hee

When I heard the beep of the key card, I immediately wiped my face with my hands. It didn't quite do the trick; I'd been crying for a solid twenty minutes, and even an entire roll of paper towels wouldn't have been enough to hide what I'd been up to. Really, though, it wasn't my fault. I'd been sure Mingyu would not be coming back so early. He should have been elsewhere—socializing, networking, committeeing. But here he was. I heard his steps as he walked inside, then him stopping at the entrance of the bedroom, and... I couldn't convince my eyes to meet his. I was a mess after all, a miserable, disastrous mess. But I should at least attempt to divert his attention. Maybe by saying something. Anything.

"Hey." I tried a smile but continued to stare down at my own hands. "How did the party go?"

"What happened?" His voice was calm, pitched low.

"Did you only just finish?" My smile was holding. Good. Good, that was good. "How was the—"

"What happened?"

"Nothing. I..." I didn't manage to finish the sentence. And the smile—which, if I was honest with myself, hadn't been much of a smile to begin with—was crumbling. I heard him come closer but didn't look at him. My closed eyelids were all that was keeping the floodgates shut, and they weren't doing a good job of it, either. I startled when I found him kneeling in front of me. Right by my chair, his head level with mine, studying me with a worried frown. I made to hide my face in my palms, but his hand came up to my chin and lifted it until I had no choice but to meet his eyes. Then his fingers slid up to my cheek, cupping it as he asked, yet again, "Do-hee. What happened?"

"Nothing." My voice shook. It kept disappearing somewhere, melting into the tears.

"Do-hee."

"Really. Nothing." He stared at me, questioning, and didn't let go.

"Don't give me that," he said softly. "You expect me to believe you've been crying over nothing?" He looked at me and suddenly asked, "How many potatoes does it take to kill an Irishman?"

I was taken aback by the unexpected question, and despite myself, a small laugh escaped from my lips. "What?" I managed to say. Mingyu just shrugged, continuing in a serious tone.

"Just answer the question."

"I don't know." I replied, giving a wobbly laugh.

He tried to maintain a straight face as he delivered the punchline. "None." He paused, letting the dark humor sink in for a moment before continuing. "None potatoes. Just a famine."

"Oh gosh, that's such a horrible joke."

He shrugged, a small grin tugging at the corners of his lips while he watched my reaction. "You're not wrong there," he admitted. "But it got you to laugh, didn't it? So it's worth it." He reached out and wiped away a stray tear on my cheek.

"You monster." I must have been leaning into his hand because his thumb was stroking my cheeks again. Ever so gently.

"Is that how you talk to your fake boyfriend?" He looked so worried. His eyes, the line of his mouth. And yet—so patient. "What happened, Do-hee?" I shook my head.

"I just..." I couldn't tell him.

'You're pathetic and never cared about Mingyu, always inconveniencing him.'

I had to take a deep breath, push Hyerin's voice out of my head, and calm myself before continuing.

'Come up with something to say, something that wouldn't make the sky fall in this hotel room.'

"The exhibition. For which I got an award. I thought maybe because people were genuinely amused by it. But then I heard people talking about it, and they said..." Mingyu really should stop touching me. I must be getting his whole hand wet. The sleeve of his blazer, too.