What If... [EXO Suho and Apink Eunji Fanfiction]

Chapter 7

She'd be lying if she said that he hadn't piqued her interest. 

When she had first debuted, she had been stunned by the amount of gorgeous men in her industry. Her trainee days as well as her early debut days left her feeling like she'd just walked into a cesspool of hot, gorgeous, talented men and beautiful and talented women. However, as time went on, she found herself getting desensitized to it.

To her own surprise, the attractiveness of a man never got to her anymore.

That didn't stop her from acknowledging that the males she worked with were some of the best specimens in her country, possibly the world. But working with them on a daily basis made her end up looking past the attractiveness of her male colleagues.

She had felt that EXO was like any other boy group, but found their music enlightening. It somehow reminded her of the days she spent in front of the TV watching Super Junior as a young girl. It gave her a sense of nostalgia that she enjoyed, and she did acknowledge the fact that the hype around EXO was justified; their music was amazing.

But like all others, she hadn't thought much about it, even when she met Suho. 

He was a very attractive man, yes, as well as incredibly cute. This was something she saw in quite a lot of other idols and actors too. 

She would admit, she hadn't been too sure of this arrangement when she first agreed to it. 

Like, what were the rules? The boundaries? For how long did they need to keep this up? What would her parents say when they would see her dating somebody? Could she tell them that it was all an act?

Her manager offered only vague answers, similar to the ones given by President Park and President Lee. 

"As for the rules and boundaries," she said, "that's between you and Suho-shi."

She looked at the older woman. "Between us? Why?"

Her manager shrugged. "Well, the two of you are the ones in the relationship. We can't govern over how comfortable you two might feel with each other. All we can say is that you two should make time to see each other once in a while. When it comes to physical contact though, that's between you two."

Eunji crossed her arms over her chest and looked back at the road. She knew what her manager meant by physical contact. Since the two of them were in a relationship, it made sense that they'd hold hands and hug each other. But as she thought about it, she wondered whether she was really all that comfortable with him.

After their brief coffee break after his recording, they had decided to exchange their personal numbers in order to keep in touch. This would make it easier to plan out their dates, he said, and also make it easier for them to talk.

She breathed in. Yes, they had agreed to try and be friends back then too. 

Her mind then went back to the first topic, physical contact in front of an audience. 

She took her phone out and scrolled through her contacts, finding Suho's number and quickly sending him a message.

"Hey, are you free to talk?" she asked.

A few minutes later, she got a reply. "I am now, though only for a short while," it said. "What's up?"

"Did we ever talk about how far we're going to go?" She saw no point in skirting around the topic.

"I don't exactly get what you're trying to say..."

"I mean, in our public appearances, how much skinship should we have? We don't know each other that well, but we should show something to the fans, right?"

"Yeah, you have a point."

"So how far should we go? I'm a bit uncomfortable already just with the hand holding, we won't have to kiss in public, right?"

"Well, if it bothers you that much, I won't go beyond holding your hand."

She smiled. He'd just put her mind to rest with one single sentence. She wondered whether that came with being a leader.

"Thanks," she typed back to him. "Really, thanks."

"No problem," he replied. A couple of minutes later another text popped up. "When are you free next?"

She thought about it for a while. "I'm packed for the week," she wrote back. "But I think I'm free on Sunday."

"Good," he replied. "I don't have a schedule in the morning then. We can have breakfast."

"Sounds good," she typed. "See you then."

"Good night," followed by a smiley face.

***

When one has no idea of what to do, they consult their closest friend. For Eunji, she chose someone who had been through a similar experience as she (though hardly anyone would be going through the exact one.)

"Naeun-ah!" she called.

The younger idol looked up from her magazine as her senior rushed into her room. "Unnie? What's wrong?"

Eunji dropped down on Naeun's bed, the latter sprawled on top, her peaceful reading now interrupted. "You were married, right?"

Naeun raised an eyebrow. "Unnie, don't you think I'm too young to be married? Or are you trying to get me out of your hair by marrying me off?"

"You know what I'm talking about," Eunji said, exasperated. "You had a virtual relationship with Taemin-shi."

Naeun's eyes widened. "Oh, so that's what you were talking about!" she exclaimed. She took another look at her sister, understanding what was troubling her.

"How did you do it?" Eunji asked her. "You didn't even like him like that."

Naeun's eyes softened. "Unnie," she said, "it was just a show." She then suddenly averted her eyes. "But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it."

"Enjoy it?" Eunji repeated.

Naeun looked back up. "The thing with virtual relationships is...you don't have to actually be romantically attracted to one another. Taemin-oppa and I were good friends, that was all we needed."

Eunji gave a big sigh. "Or is the problem that you actually like Suho-shi?" Naeun asked.

Eunji shook her head. "No, no, I don't like him. At least not like that." She leaned back on Naeun's bed. "I don't even know him..." 

"I didn't know Taemin=oppa either," Naeun piped up. She sighed. "I don't know why you're so worried, unnie. It's just a distraction, not like you're getting married to him or something."

Eunji took a deep breath. "I guess I am just making a big deal out of nothing, huh?" she softly said. "Alright, I get you. I'll take this slow."

Naeun smiled. "Good girl," she joked.

Eunji got up to her feet and left the room, most likely to head to her own. Naeun stared a little after her, slightly worried. When she had been on We Got Married, she hadn't thought much about it and just went with the flow. 

However, Eunji was the opposite. She always overthought everything. Naeun wondered how they'd manage this, if both of them were going to be like this.

***

A/N: Kinda small chapter, smaller than the others, yes, but I wanted to write one from Eunji's point of view. 

Hope you guys like it.