Jungshin's POV: 

  "How's your free day going, Jungshin?" Minhyuk asks me through the phone. 

   My mind flashes back to images of Jonghyun and I: getting lost outside of town, running out of gas, trespassing into a random person's house and Jonghyun ruffling through her things like a crazy person. 

  "Um," I say, "It's been pretty good." 

  "Chincha? Nothing weird happen?" 

  Jeez, does this guy have special mind reading powers or something? 

  "Aniyo!" I say back, scratching the back of my head. "How's your photoshoot going?" 

  "Ah, it's doing fine. This noona's doing my hair right now, and it feels so soft I wish you could be here to feel - " 

  "Yeah, okay, that's really great, hey, I have to go now, bye." I hang up.  

  Sometimes Minhyuk calls me when there's nothing for him to do, but frankly, I don't feel like sitting down and having a nice chat or something boring like that. 

  I'd only been a tiny bit guilty when Yonghwa and Jonghyun left so they could go retrieve the van - I mean, hey, it is partly Jonghyun's fault for letting me go that far, and partly Yonghwa's fault for leaving the keys to the van all lonely on the table - but now my mind's getting really restless. I mean, who knew that they would be gone for so long? 

  Tapping my fingers on my knee, I check the time. They've been gone around two hours now, and Yonghwa had left me to go help finish up the soundcheck in the amphitheatre all by myself. They were a few other ahjusshis as well, but other than that - all by myself. 

  I punch in Yonghwa's number and hold my cell to my ear when I hear the operator lady's voice monotonously relay to me that his phone is turned off. Jonghyun's cell does the same. 

  Frowning, I sink down into the cushions of our dorm's couch. Here I am, on one of my rare free days, sitting down in the dorm and growing bored out of my mind, I think. 

  As I'm thinking of a bunch of other possible things that I can do, my phone starts ringing. I look down at the Caller ID. It's Minhyuk again. 

   At least, since I'm alone, I can sigh openly. 

   Sliding my thumb across the answer button, I hold the phone to my ear. "Yeoboseyooo ..." I say, making sure my boredom reaches my band member loud and clear. 

  "Jungshin," Minhyuk says, "There's been a malfunction with the cameras and it looks pretty serious so I think that this photoshoot's over. They said I could go. Want to go somewhere? I haven't had a free day in forever!"

  I sit up in the couch, my face brightening immediately. 

  "Chincha?" I ask happily. "Thank goodness! You wouldn't ever believe how bored I was!" 

   He laughs. "Okay, so what do you want to do?" 

   I furrow my brow in thought. "Hm." Then I snap my fingers. "Yah, Minhyuk, you and Jonghyun have a shared phone plan, right?" 

  "Ah, yeh," he answers uncertainly. "Waeyo?" 

   I pump my fist silently in the air, then answer, "Jonghyun and Yonghwa hyung have left me all alone for so long after they told me they would be right back! Use that tracking thing on your phone that's connected to Jonghyun's so we can go find them~" 

   I swear I can almost fully hear Minhyuk's eyes roll. 

  "Deh, Jungshin-ah. We can do that when I get home. I'm almost there." 

Jonghyun's POV: 

   I can't believe how nervous I feel right now. Who ever knew that a human being would be capable of being this anxious? I already even have with me the complete set of embarrassing symptoms: clammy hands, sweat, trembling body...

  The least I can hope to think is that Ji Young is too caught up in the restaurant to notice one bit of how I feel. 

  She, of course, seems to be just fine with everything that has happened so far. It could very well also be that she`s as enchanted by the place as I'd been when I'd come to Seoul from Busan, so enchanted that she can't seem to register that I'm standing a meter away from her, closer than I'd ever been for more than six years. 

  "Do you like the restaurant?" Yonghwa asks, smiling as he looks at her. 

  She nods her head vigorously at him. "Deh! Kamsahamnida, Yonghwa-sshi! I've never seen anything like this place!" 

   It's nothing much, really. Just the usual marble, rounded tables, red velvet tabe cloths, patterned rug floors and seat cushions with articulate designs embroidered onto them. We'd been seated for only a small amount of time, but Ji Young looks more excited than ever. She picks up the chopsticks from the table, wrapped in a bright red napkin and fawns over it with wide eyes. Then she looks over to the windows, the blue of the sky tinted with the darkness of the oncoming evening, and seems to admire the curtains, which are beige and swoop down to the floor like a waterfall. 

  I only realize that I'm smiling at her when she looks over at me, and then seeing that I'm looking back, whips her face away. A blush blooms across my cheeks, along with a tiny stab of confused pain at my chest. 

  Thankfully, Yonghwa looks up from his menu and breaks the silence. 

  "I have no idea what I'm going to order," he says, looking stumped. "Jonghyun, what do you think?" 

   I look over at the page he's on and point at an option. "You ordered that last time," I say. "I remember you really liked it." 

   He rolled his eyes over at me. "No, you and Minhyuk and Jungshin liked it. Remember when I went to the bathroom and you guys ate all of my food?" 

  "Uh - I - " 

   He laughs and waves my frustration away. "Nevermind, I'll just order it again, since I never got to taste it anyway." 

   Out of the corner of my eye, I can see that Ji Young is taking our exchange quite amusedly - at least, that's what I suspect. She might be scowling, for all I saw. 

   Mustering up whatever courage in me I have I turn to her and, trying to sound as casual and polite as I can, I ask her what she wants to order. 

   She doesn't look up, but instead, turns her attention to Yonghwa. "Is number nine good? I've never tried Western food, so I don't know." 

   In return, he looks a bit awkward, but he responds rather casually anyways. "Ah, that's the one that Minhyuk had before. I didn't taste it. Did you, Jonghyun?" He gives me an encouraging look. 

  "Ah!" I say, looking down at my menu and flipping through the pages with ardour. "Um - " 

  "Nevermind," Ji Young says before I can respond, "I'll just order number five." 

  My heart drops down to my stomach. Trying to hold back my disappointment, I look over at the one she chose and glumly read the description. Suddenly, I perk up and look at her, surprised. 

  "Why would you want that?" I ask her. "You're allergic to clams!" 

  parts in shock as she looks over number five. "Oh - um - I think I just made a mistake," she says, her cheeks tinging pink. She brings her fist up and bites on it; something she does when she's embarrassed. How nostalgic. 

  "Get number nine, I tried it before, I think you would really love it, since it has tomatoes," I tell her, and smile. "Thank goodness I looked over it. Remember you would always accidentally pick out an order with clams in it and I would stop you - " 

  She silences me with a glare and looks back at the menu. "I'll just take number nine then," she says, and the folds up the menu and pushes it in front of her, looking away from me.

   I give Yonghwa a desperate look and he and gives me a shrug that says Hey, what can you do, man. Then his face lights up and he takes out his phone, types something, and shows it to me. 

                    ------          Call my phone.

  I look at him with questioning eyes. He sighs inaudibly and then mouths, "Just do it." 

  Still unaware of what he's planning, I take out my phone and push on his number, letting it dial from underneath the table. As I knew it would, his phone starts to ring, and he brings it to his ear. 

  "Yoboseyo?" he says, as if there's someone actually there. He pauses for a moment and then puts the phone to his shoulder. "Ah, sorry, guys, it's our manager, I have to take this." 

  I notice how Ji Young's eyes widen in a panic, and I don't blame her, because I feel the same way. I shoot him an unnerved look as he gets up, but he just takes it with a smile, as if I'd just happily waved him goodbye.

  Yonghwa, I think, distressed, as he walks away. What the hell are you doing?!

Yonghwa's POV:

   I turn round the corner, out of their line of vision, and lean against the wall there, feeling helpless. Who knew that it would be so hard to be a wingman?

   Jonghyun had helped me out with things like that for quite a while already, with many different girls, but he had never once asked me to help him out with someone he liked, ever. It was a constant thing that all three of us worried about, Minhyuk, Jungshin and I. He was never interested. We all knew that there was a reason. We all knew that he couldn't forget the girl he loved from before. But still we worried. 

  I sneak a look back to the two of them. I can't see their faces properly from this angle, but Jonghyun's shoulders seem tense and rigid, which is never a good sign. 

  I sigh. Why did it have to be Ji Young? Why did it have to be Jonghyun who felt that way towards her? If I didn't develop something for her, then I could support Jonghyun to the fullest, without feeling so bad each time I try. But this is Jonghyun, and I'm aware of the circumstances in which he stressed over through the course of six years, plus, I care about the guy. A lot. 

  I feel my gaze soften as I watch Jonghyun's agitated shoulders rise and fall as they speak. 

   Man, I think to myself, For a guy who has hundreds of fans, you can be a real dork sometimes. 

   Just as I'm about to turn away and step into the bathroom or some other thing to keep me busy as they talk through things that they obviously need to talk through, two girls step in front of me, about to pass through. They're talking pretty loudly. 

  "I swear, I'm not lying to you,  I did see CNBlue's Minhyuk and Jungshin outside, coming out from an FNC van!" the shorter girl of the two says, short curls bouncing with indignance. 

  "Yeah, right," the second is indifferent; she flings her long black hair behind her shoulder, disbelieving. 

  "It's true! I took a picture, look!" 

  My eyes widen as I look over the short girl's shoulder and see an image of Jungshin and Minhyuk in front of the van, Jungshin pulling on Minhyuk's arm arduously while Minhyuk pulled back, an exasperated scowl on his face. 

   "Waaah~" says the second girl, "so do you think that the two guys we saw in there was really Yonghwa and Jonghyun?" 

  "Could be..." 

  I turn away immediately before they turn around and confirm their suspicions and go searching for my other two idiot band mates. 

Ji Young's POV: 

  Yonghwa has abandoned me here at a table in an unknown restaurant with unknown food. And did I mention he abandoned me here with Jonghyun?

  He's looking nervous, like he wants me to speak up and talk to him. All I do is look away from him, knowing that if I turn and look into his eyes, I'll melt and give in to him, as I always did when we were kids. 

  He finally speaks up. "So..." He clears his throat and starts again. "So how did you come to Seoul? You should have tried contacting me; I would have shown you around and made you feel welcome - "

   "Don't act as if we are on good terms," I say to him, making every word as sharp as I can make them, still facing away from him. 

   His breaths sound agitated, and, despite myself, I can't help but feel the tiniest bit guilty.

   "Ji Young, I don't understand. If you want me to apologize again, I will. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, even though I've not the slightest idea what I'm sorry about. Just know that I am, I truly am."

   And then I can't take it anymore. I whirl on him.

   "Are you being serious with me right now, Jonghyun? Truly, are you? Because I'm not sure. I'm not sure if you know how much I've been waiting for you to contact me, to visit me, or at least send someone to come and tell me that you were thinking about me. Do you know how lonely I was? Having to hear about you through people that I've never even spoken to in my life, realizing that they know more about your well-being than I did. I couldn't even congratulate you on debuting. And you know what? It hurt. It hurt like hell." I can feel my eyes tearing up, but I don't want to cry in front of him. He can't be my anchor, my comforter, the one who grounded me when I feel like falling apart; he can't be that person, not anymore.

   I risk a look at his face. He looks stricken, and shocked, like he had never once expected me to say the words that I just said. But he must have. He must have. 

   Then why did he look so hurt right now?

   He's opening his mouth to say something when suddenly, a hand grabs my shoulder from the back. Startled, I jump and turn my head around to see Lee Jungshin, the bassist of CNBlue, grinning down at me. My eyes widen. 

  "Well, well, well, who's this, Jonghyun hyung?" he scoffs and sticks his tongue out at Jonghyun. "'We'll be right back' my . You went out on a date!"

   "Ani, ani, ani, it's not a date!" I say, waving out my hands at him.

  Jungshin's eyes dance down at me, like he's just found a particularly interesting animal. "What's this? You even talk like Jonghyun! That's great!" He gives an enthusiastic thumbs-up to Jonghyun. "Wonderful choice, I approve!" 

   Before Jonghyun or I can protest, two different hands clamp down on each of Jungshin-sshi's shoulders and pull him back from me. 

  I'm surprised to see not just Yonghwa angrily staring him down but also Kang Minhyuk, the drummer of CNBlue, scowling at him too. 

   I realize something. All four of them in one place-!

  I look around me. People are beginning to stare now, some even have their phones raised to them, while they argue. Eventually, even Jonghyun gets up and goes over to them, probably trying to break things up when instead, he just joins in with the arguing. 

  "Are you an idiot? Wait, what kind of question is that, of course you are!" Minhyuk yells. 

  "Yonghwa hyung! Did you see that? He just called me an idiot!" Jungshin whines. 

  "I can't say I disagree with him!" Yonghwa shoots back. 

  "How the hell did you guys even know that we were here anyways?" Jonghyun demands. 

  Now there are cameras flashing everywhere. 

  Piqued, I get up and poke hard at all four of their sides. 

  "Ow!" they all protest at once. "What was that for?"

  I give them the dirtiest look I can ever manage. "I don't know if you've noticed, but you're kind of in the middle of a restaurant filled with fans who are taking videos and pictures of you at the moment, so if I were you, I would really want to get the hell out of here!"  

  They finally get the picture and look around at their surroundings, shock on their faces. 

  "We have to get out of here," Minhyuk-sshi mutters. 

   "Ugh, Manager-nim is going to be so angry..." Yonghwa-sshi says. 

   "Nevermind that, let's just get out!" Jonghyun tells them. And suddenly, he's grabbed hold of my arm, and then he's leading me away, pushing past curious onlookers as the others follow close behind.

   We have to break into a run, because the fans are beginning to follow us, yelling and screaming and flashing more and more and more pictures.  

  "Get in the van!" Yonghwa yells, and after Jungshin clicks on a button attached to the keys, we all plummet inside, limbs splaying everywhere, as Jungshin pounces hard on the pedal and the van lurches forward with a jolt. 

   The fans are running after the van now, pounding hard on the glass. 

   "Why are you driving, Jungshin?!" Yonghwa asks. 

   Jungshin just laughs and sticks his tongue out, and then pushes his foot down harder onto the pedal, and before I even know it, we're out of the parking lot of the restaurant and zooming down the streets of Seoul. 

Thanks so much for reading the ninth chapter!! I haven't updated in QUITE a while, soo I made it a bit longer than I usually would have (>_<)
   Well, tell me what you think of it! Please leave any comments at the bottom, because I love those things more than anything in the world <3  Sunscribe if you can~!
                                                    ~xoLeeJonghyunxo