Why Must My Heart Ache?

Chapter 15: Confused

    Flora peeked out of the little hole in her door. Kyuhyun still hadn't moved. Pulling out her phone, she texted and hit send as she looked back out. He jolted at the sudden vibration in his pocket and looked down at the screen.

Ya! I can see you! Don't read too much into that. I just can't stand the idea of a first kiss being filmed. I'm sorry if I shocked you. Let's not be awkward after this, my friend. ^^

   She regretted the message after she saw the look on his face. Thinking that he had been upset with her, she was trying to avoid awkwardness. She didn't want him to know that she liked him if his heart didn't hold the same affection. He had never shown her anything more than friendship, and now he was acting strangely. What have I done?

    Kyuhyun was having similar thoughts as he shuffled to the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor. Why couldn't she have just told him that she didn't want to kiss him in front of the cameras for the first time? That would have spared him from that brief moment of hope he had held before he read her message. He was certain now that he loved Flora, though whether or not he was in love was another story. He had been determined not to get caught by her, and now he was more at risk than ever. He had just been placed in the friend zone and he couldn't deny his feelings for her anymore.

    "I have to get over her," he whispered to himself right before the elevator opened and he headed back to the dorm. Halfway there, he changed his mind. He needed to be away from the members for awhile while he sorted through his thoughts. He went to a nearby PC bang that was relatively abandoned and began to play Starcraft.

    Flora, on the other hand, turned immediately to her friend. "Beth, you know who that was right?"

    "Of course, you were the one who introduced me to him, remember?" she teased. "Yes, I know that he is your bias. I also know that you are currently fake-dating him on two separate shows."

    "I just kissed him," Flora told her, a little in shock now that Kyuhyun was no longer in her vicinity.

    Beth was silent for a moment. "You. Kissed him? Isn't that against some sort of Korean dating code?"

    "This isn't funny, Beth! I went inside right after and he was still standing in the hall, so I thought that he was upset. I sent him this, hoping to undo whatever damage I had done, and I think I might have made it worse because he seemed sad after reading it." She handed Beth her phone as she said this.

    "I can't read Korean, remember?" she said softly, realizing how distraught her friend must have been.

    "Oh. Right."

                                                                  .    .    .

    Valentine's Day was right around the corner. Beth had decided that she would stay until Easter. Heechul had found an excuse not to go to church every week since the first WGM episode. Everything seemed fine except for one thing. The fans had started to notice that KyuTi seemed awkward.

    "I don't know what's been going on between you two, but the way you've been acting is beginning to affect the show's ratings, and there's only one episode left," Shinhye-unni said, confronting Flora.

    "I know. I'm sorry, it's just that... Well, I think I made Kyuhyun-sunbae upset with me."

    "Sunbae? But you've been calling him 'oppa' since WGM started. I don't understand what's happening."

    "I like him, but I thought that he didn't return my feelings, so I did something to cause uneasiness. I didn't mean to, and I thought that we could at least stay friends, but..."

    Shinhye wanted to tell Flora that she had already talked to Kyuhyun, and that he had pretty much indirectly told her that he liked his co-star, but he hadn't said it technically, and it wasn't for her to tell. But she had a plan.

    She told Flora to meet her at a coffee shop near the set in a few minutes, and then she texted Kyuhyun to meet her there as well. Intentionally, Shinhye did not attend either of these meetings.

    When Kyuhyun walked into the shop and saw Flora, with Shinhye nowhere in sight, he wanted to walk right back out. He didn't want to have to pretend like everything was alright when his heart was breaking. Not anymore than the shows forced him to. But then he saw that she was overlooking the script for the last episode. In broad daylight.

    "Ya!" he reprimanded quietly, so as not to draw attention. "What do you think you're doing with that in public?"

    She looked up as he sat across from her. "What? The director told me that it was alright since this is the alternate ending. This is one where you end up with Shinhye-unni and I end up engaged to the heir of a chaebol company. Of course, the family doesn't approve at first because I'm not Korean, but my accomplishments, knowledge of the culture, foreign ties, and perfect accent, which you helped me attain, change their mind."

    "Oh. I see. That ending's alright, I suppose. Do you wish it had gone that way?"

    "Why would I? I would have to kiss an actor I don't really know at all. I don't know that I could do that. I'm not good at showing affection with anyone, let alone someone I don't already have feelings for."

    "Really? I wouldn't have guessed. The fans seem to think that we're actually in love."

    They stopped talking after that, both with red cheeks. Eventually they gave up on Shinhye and left the coffee shop together. Which was a bad idea. Immediately, a high school student noticed them and the crowd began to form. Kyu pulled out his phone and calmly texted a driver to come pick them up. Flora, still unused to fans swarming around her, instinctively held onto his arm as he did so.

    He smiled at her reassuringly as he began to sign the pieces of paper shoved in his face, making excuses for "Tina" by saying that she wasn't feeling well and asked them to give her some space. Just as he could see the van coming towards them, the situation went awry. A group of Tina's anti-fans showed up with eggs. Unsuspecting, Flora screamed when the first one hit her on her shoulder, just inches from her face.

    Kyuhyun quickly pulled off his jacket and covered her with it as he pushed through the crowd towards the van. A few eggs missed Flora and hit him as he opened the door and nudged her inside. He waved to his fans with a smile in spite of the anti-fans among the crowd and then closed the door in time to avoid being hit in the face with another egg. He pulled out some tissues and began to clean up Flora as they headed back to the studio.

    "Why do they hate me?" Flora asked, shivering.

    "They were probably sasaeng ELFs that don't approve of our relationship. I'm sorry."

    Flora just nodded and continued to stare ahead, still in shock. When they arrived, Kyuhyun sent the driver to go get Flora a change of clothes from the dressing room as well as some wet wipes while he stayed behind to continue to clean her up with the tissues. He didn't want her to have to walk through the studio like that.

    As soon as the driver was out of sight, Kyu's heart began to pound again like it always did when he was alone with Flora. He noticed that she had started to cry, and he wiped away the tears. She finally snapped out of her daze and looked at him to say thanks. She never got to say it. Kyuhyun leaned in and kissed her on the mouth. It was a sweet and gentle peck that made her heart skip a beat. When he pulled away, she had to ask him why he did that.

    "I like you," he said softly. "In fact, I think that I love you."