What If.. (Kyungsoo x Nam Jihyun fic)

22: Love, Again

-errors ahead-

He wanted to be truly excited for this but with the sudden revelation that his ex-girlfriend was to be his partner for the collab, he was now in a place of discomfort that he couldn't dare to escape from.

Kyungsoo looked down at his phone and waited for a message notification to pop up and when he saw that there was none, he turned to the woman in front of him whose eyes wandered off towards the window.

"Do you want to sit?" Kyungsoo said, and though he didn't want to stay in the room, he figures the managers will talk amongst themselves in the next room for quite a long time about their schedules for the station song.

"I might as well." Wendy followed with a straight face and sat down on the chair as he lowered himself on the other seat.

Kyungsoo scratched the back of his neck, and when he felt her eyes travelling towards his, he jerked his head down at his phone quickly, and began typing:

Jihyun-~ah, Can we meet later?

It was out of nervousness but of course he also wanted Jihyun to be the first person to know about this. He acknowledges that she was never the type to be jealous but he presumed that telling her about this situation personally would mean a lot in the basis of that withheld trust in their relationship. Before, Jihyun would get curious and she'd ask about his previous relationship with Wendy and he'd answer honestly that it was nothing but an unfortunate time of his life: wrong timing with a good person with a good heart.

Wendy leaned back on the sofa and scoffed at the sight of Kyungsoo who busied himself on his phone.

"I guess you like being on your phone now while you're at work." he darted his eyes up as he heard her remarks, "It must be someone or something pretty important huh?"

Kyungsoo licked his dry lips. Clearly, she was trying to ease up the tension in the room with a form of a joke, only the joke to him sounded like it was a bit serious in her part too. He wanted to run and head for the exit but this was now all about work and being professional, and plus, he signed the paperwork already so there was no point on turning back now.

He flickered his eyes and formed a smile, "Oh Mianhaeyo, I was just checking the news."

Wendy laughed. "Relax, oppa, I was kidding. I just want us to feel comfortable again with each other... " She pursed her lips and grinned, "...after all we have to work together for the next two weeks."

"Ne~ I agree. Let's just work hard." His voice, more assertive this time to show her that he wasn't phased by her personal jokes.

In the back of his mind, however, everytime he laid his eyes on her-- he could feel the air that filled the silent room telling him that he still owed her an explanation. An explanation as to why they never had a real closure in their relationship then, if that was even what it was called.

He remembered those days when he mostly found herself arguing with her, and overtime, he understood and realized that she spent most of her time waiting for him and his promised calls and texts that became inconsistent within each passing day. Initially, she decided to end it because he was so focused in his work at the time that he never bothered to make an effort. He remembers whenever he felt tired after a long day of working, the night would end with him arguing with her through the phone about why he couldn't contact her sooner.  He specially felt the end of their relationship as soon as she asked, "Do you still want to fix this?" during a supposed dinner date that was quickly ruined with him saying, "I'm filming for a drama soon." and then she walked out of the restaurant without him. Since then, everytime they saw each other in award shows or stage performances, they'd bow at each other awkwardly and that was that-- as if nothing happened between them.