After Dusk || Im Changkyun

3. Humble Beginnings

Chapter Three

"Choi Y/N, right? It's so nice to meet you!" The girl with a bright smile bowed at you. Her short black hair bobbing up and down cutely. You bowed back and returned her smile. Her gorgeous floral romper flowed every time she moved, making her look even more stunning than she already was. You were just wearing a light pink blouse and a gray pencil skirt. She made you feel drastically boring. Drastically.
"I'm Lee Suhyun. I can't wait to work with you. I hope we can become good friends."
The young girl was so lively and so happy. You liked her. You really liked her.
"I hope we can become good friends too."
She grabbed your hand and walked you into the waiting room right in front of the room where the reading would be held. It was nothing like you'd ever could've imagined. A simple waiting room looked better than like an airport terminal. It was a very pretty room, but the entirety of the NVT building was beautiful and you couldn't lie about that.
"Can I call you unnie? Is that okay?" She asked and you nodded. She was so cute even though she was only a year younger than you. It made you want to take care of her and keep her from harms way.
She reminded you of someone.
On screen she was quite mature though, the characters she'd played had been a variety of personalities and she'd nailed every single one of them. Suhyun was the definition of young talent.
"I've watched everything you've been in. I'm such a big fan." She laughed happily while you seated yourselves at a small square table.
"Thanks Suhyun! I've watched everything you've been in too."
The two of you exchanged numbers and social media's and spoke for a while. You got along great. Suhyun was so sweet and she was so funny. She was also incredibly insightful and didn't hesitate to answer any questions you had, and she always did so with a smile.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" A soft voice asked from beside you. The person walked to the middle of the table and gave the two of you a sweet smile.
"I'm Kim Jungwoo, but you can call me whatever you'd like."
You marveled at how handsome he was in person. He was breathtaking on screen, but he was ten times more breathtaking in person. Your lungs probably weren't functioning right. His light pink collared shirt matched yours and complimented his dyed copper blonde hair.
"Of course not. Take a seat." You said to him, gesturing towards the seat next to Suhyun. He sat down happily.
"It's nice to meet you all." His voice was so gentle. It almost sounded as if he was singing the first time you heard it. He should honestly take up ASMR. It would be the only kind you'd enjoy. His voice was perfect mix of soothing and lovely.
Like wow.
"It's really nice to meet you too, Jungwoo." Suhyun giggled.
"It really is." You added,
"I'm so happy to get to work with such amazing stars like you guys."
Jungwoo shook his head,
"I should be happy to get to work with an amazing actress like you, Y/N. You should've been cast onto a show like this years ago." He told you, not breaking his cute smile even once,
"Everyone has a humble beginning. Think of this as a new chapter in your career."
You nodded at him with a bright grin. You were so grateful to have such kind cast mates.
"Oh." Suhyun said quietly as she looked behind you,
"Kyun oppa!" She waved. You turned back to see Changkyun on his phone.
So much for kind cast mates.
He saw the three of you and scoffed. He put his phone in his back pocket and reluctantly walked over, taking the empty seat next to you. You didn't bother looking him in the eye.
After your meeting the other day, he took it upon himself to send you snarky text messages. You ignored them for the first couple of days but he eventually got to you. You couldn't restrain yourself from his insults and teasing. His reasoning was that, "If I have to pretend to be nice to you, I'm going to take it upon myself to be overly annoying when I can."
He'd even lovingly gifted you with the nickname Eggo. It seemed like an innocent nickname and if you didn't know any better, it would've been a cute nickname. But according to him, Eggos were dense and hard on the outside, just like you apparently were, but when you heat it up for too long, they turn soft and helpless.
Just like you.
So his annoyance, would be the heat to your Eggo self.
How creative.
It was hard for someone to make them hate you, but he was almost there. On the verge of tipping the scale.
"How many times have I told you not to call me that? You're so annoying sometimes." Changkyun muttered. Jungwoo pouted,
"Come on, hyung. Don't be like this."
Changkyun pointed at Jungwoo,
"You too. It applies to you too."
Jungwoo shook his head playfully at him and turned to you,
"He's nicer than this I swear." He laughed loudly, making Suhyun giggle alongside him.
"And you." He faced you,
"I don't like you either."
You bitterly smiled at him,
"You made it clear the past couple days, and I'm afraid I don't like you either, Mr. Im."
Suhyun looked at the two of you weirdly while exchanging glances with Jungwoo,
"That makes your job harder though, doesn't it?" She laughed nervously, nudging Jungwoo, hoping he'd do something.
"Our job was never supposed to be easy in the first place." He spat out with his teeth clenched. Your faces were unusually close to each other. The two of you couldn't tell though.
"I hate to agree with him."
You bit your tongue to prevent yourself from saying something you'd regret later. His jet black hair was blocking most of your view of his face, but you weren't complaining. You'd barely known each other and he made you want to put him in a chokehold. A very long chokehold. A chokehold you didn't want to let go of until the breaking po-
"Stop it you two." A new voice demanded, distracting your from your thoughts. The two of you snapped out of your staring contest to see Jooheon in front of you both.
"Hyung?" Changkyun peeped,
"What are you doing here?"
Jooheon crossed his arms and shook his head at the both of you.
"I make a couple cameos, so they just wanted to me to tag along for the reading."
Jooheon flicked Changkyun on the forehead and he cupped his wound. You snickered at him and he shot you a glare.
"And you, Y/N." He let out a deep breath of frustration,
"I didn't think you'd encourage his antics. He's already salty enough. We don't need you to shake some more on."
Changkyun returned back to his normal state and he looked up to Jooheon who was standing above his seated self.
"Leave us be, Jooheon hyung. We already made a deal that we'd be nice in front of cameras."
He side eyed you, you narrowed your eyes at him.
"You have to be nice to each other off camera so you can get the hang of being nice to each other on camera." He directed his gaze back towards Changkyun,
"It's time you get over this Ky-"
"Now is not the time to talk about this, hyung." He cut Jooheon off, his words hissing at the end, holding them all out slowly.
Jooheon rolled his eyes and grabbed Changkyun by his shirt collar.
"Come on, the reading should be starting soon."