runaway love / cha eunwoo astro ✔

+twenty three

standing in front of astro's waiting room, eunbi could feel her body trembling in fear. all she needed to do left was to give the boys her single album and let them figure out who she is on their own but she just couldn't find the courage to even knock on their door. she was not prepared for this, she was not ready to see him again.

just then, a male staff wearing cap walked past her. in this desperate situation, she didn't hesitate to stop him and asked for his cap. the male stuff was taken aback with her request but gave it to her nonetheless. so with a cap over her head, she finally knocked the door.

she didn't dare to lift her head when the door finally opened, revealing rocky.

"who are you looking for?" he asked.

"hello, i'm a rookie singer who just debuted today. i'm here to give astro sunbaenim this." she bowed and held out the last piece of album towards rocky. she was hoping that rocky would receive it and close the door but the boy had different plan for her.

"oh really?" rocky opened the door wider. "hyung, we have a guest!" his voice echoed in the room, grabbing attention of the other boys. then, he turned to eunbi, "come in."

"huh? no thanks— i mean, i'm late and i need to go—"

"eiii, it's only fair if you let us introduce our group too. don't worry, it will only take less than a minute."

the next thing she knew, she was already inside the room with astro members standing before her, doing their signature group introduction. after they finished, she quickly handed them her album and was about to leave when moonbin called out to her.

"wait— why do you look so familiar? i feel like i have met you before—"

eunbi gulped down nervously. she unconsciously pulled the cap further down her face, hoping they wouldn't recognise her.

"now that you say it, raine-ssi definitely looks familiar." mj added, "i'm sorry if i'm being rude but can you take off your cap?"

eunbi felt her heart stopped beating for a second at mj's request. she froze there, not knowing what to do.

"you look like eun—" sanha began with suspicion lacing his words but eunwoo cut him off rather quickly. "stop saying nonsense. let her leave. can't you see that she is in a rush?"

eunbi took the chance to leave as fast as she could. hearing his voice after a long time gave her weird feelings and suddenly, she felt her eyes stung with tears. she didn't realise that she was running until she reached the car-park and her knees gave out.

her thoughts were all over the place and it all because of him. she took a few moments to calm herself before informing her manager that she would return to the dorm on her own.

she needed time, alone, to clear her mind again. thankfully, the manager was kind enough to let her go alone.

eunbi walked out of the building, she was lost in thoughts. the encounter with astro had affected her so great that she didn't notice a presence approaching her slowly.

"eunbi-ya."

eunbi sharply snapped her head towards the voice and sighed in relief upon seeing hyunjae. a smile made its way towards her lips when hyunjae opened his arms wide and she didn't waste any time to come into his arm.

"you come." eunbi smiled, breaking their hug. hyunjae playfully ruffled her hair, "of course, i'm your boyfriend. i've been rooting for this moment since forever, you know?"

eunbi nodded with a smile and for a minute, they just stared at each other.

the carpark was empty, with only cars filling most of the spaces.

"you look so pretty today. and your performance was really great!" hyunjae said, a smile gracing his lips as he fixed a strain of hair off eunbi's face. "i'm so glad to have you, eunbi."

"thank you, hyunjae. for everything." eunbi beamed. she meant each and every words she said. in fact, she was the one who should be glad to have hyunjae as her boyfriend. he had put up with her behaviour and listens to her complains and story everyday until her debut and eunbi knew how patient hyunjae had been with her.

they stared contently into each other's eyes and hyunjae started leaning in slowly. realising what was about to happen, eunbi forced herself to accept it. they have been dating for almost a year and yet, she had never let hyunjae kiss her on the lips. and now, the least she could do for him was to accept it.

hyunjae deserved it, for everything he had done for her.

it was a second before hyunjae's lips touched hers that she realised she couldn't do it, and she managed to turn her head just in time so hyunjae only kissed the corner of her lips.

"i'm sorry." eunbi whispered in guilt.

hurt was visible in his eyes but hyunjae quickly mask it with a laugh. "i guess i need to wait more, yeah?"

"i'm so sorry, hyunjae." she looked down to her feet, unable to look into his eyes.

"it's okay, eunbi." hyunjae smiled bitterly, "let's go. i'll send you back to your dorm."