Chapter Seven 

Hyejin was waiting in the waiting room, her eyes traveling around the busy place. She was the only one not moving when the other staffs seem to be really busy. They were running around and they looked like they had more important things to do and places they needed to be at. 

Hyejin has never been on a talk show before, so she was nervous. She placed her hands on her lap and tried to ease the uneasiness and nervousness that was slowly creeping into her mind. Her legs started to shake but she did her best to keep them calm. 

She inhaled deep breaths, trying to calm down but the fact that she was going up alone to talk with a host alone and answer a few questions here and there was, indeed, scary for Hyejin. Too much for her to handle, in a few ways as well. 

Her manager—and editor—was sitting next to her in the waiting room. She noticed how stiff Hyejin was and immediately had an idea on how to calm her down. She took her phone out and showed a video to Hyejin. 

Hyejin looked up to search for her manager's face, wondering what video it could be this time. The last time she was shown a video, it didn't end so well. 

Her idol, bias of SEVENTEEN, Lee Chan a.k.a Dino, is a fan of hers and secretly attended her fan signing to get her signature on his copy of Highlight. That was something that could only happen in a fanfiction and Hyejin knew that by heart. However, something like that was being pulled out of the fanfiction world and was given to Hyejin to experience. 

Didn't that sound crazy? 

It did to Hyejin. She still couldn't believe it but it did happen, whether she believed it or not. Hyejin seemed to be experiencing a lot of unbelievable encounters these days ever since she's made it big with a fanfiction story that has been published. She couldn't believe herself. 

Hyejin concentrated on the video and it was then she realized it was a video of SEVENTEEN during their most recent talk show. "Manager Jang, why are you showing me this?"

Her manager only smiled. "Listen to it carefully."

Hyejin had already watched this video. She knew which part her manager wanted to show Hyejin. She had probably repeated that one part over and over just to know whether or not it was real or not. 

The question was asked. The host held his gaze at Dino and he answered. Hyejin didn't hear what Dino was saying in the video, though. She was concentrating on his eyes. Those eyes that seem to sparkle when he was talking about her.

Or did I only imagine that? Hyejin thought, letting a rusty smile. 

"Dino, if Hwan Hyejin was watching this, is there anything you'd like to say?" the host asked. 

This was the part she had on repeat. She had probably even memorized his words. That was how much she had replayed it. 

"Hi?" Dino awkwardly said to the camera before he let out an embarrassed laugh. 

Hyejin felt her lips curl into a smile. She wanted to say hi back, but she knew he wouldn't be able to hear it. He was still so cute, though. She often wondered how he was still two years older than her. 

She watched as the members did their best to console their fellow maknae with repeated, 'It's okay.' She took note of their closeness and thought of another story idea and placed it into her mental box of thoughts. 

Dino finally continued and looked at the camera. "Hi, Hwan Hyejin."

Hyejin felt chills traveling down her spine. She couldn't believe her bias of SEVENTEEN just said her name. On camera. To her. As a video message. 

Hyejin lightly shook her head as she concentrated on the video again. 

"Thank you for writing an amazing story and thank you for making me the main character. I really enjoyed the story and don't give up on writing, okay? You have a great talent there. Fighting! I'm your oppa fan, I guess?"

The video ended and Hyejin realized her manager only saved the important part in the video. Her manager pulled away her phone and smiled at Hyejin. "Do you feel less nervous now?"

Was that why her manager showed Hyejin the video in the first place? If that was the case, she shouldn't have showed her in the video. It made Hyejin even more jumpy knowing that Dino's voice and words will keep repeating in the back of her head. She lied, "Yeah, I feel better now."

Her manager leaned back with her hands crossed. "You know, this is the talk show where SEVENTEEN filmed. The video I just showed you? Yeah, you'll be meeting the same host."

Hyejin's eyes slowly widened as she looked around the waiting room. This waiting room she was currently sitting down in must have been the same living room they sat in, too. She traced circles on the couch, wondering which SEVENTEEN member have sat on this. Could it have been Dino?

"Excited or nervous?" her manager asked. She probably noticed the face Hyejin was wearing. 

"Mostly nervous," Hyejin answered, clasping her hands together. She wanted to bite the lower lip of her lips but she didn't want to taste the lipstick the stylists applied. They insisted to give her a little touch-up so she would look prettier. Hyejin honestly didn't want to wear makeup; she hated it. 

In fact, Hyejin couldn't wear makeup. Mostly because she liked to touch her face a lot. This time, she wanted to scratch her nose but she knew she might ruin the touch-up on her face if she did. She still had an urge to touch her nose, though. Or her eye. Or cheek. Or forehead. She was itching to touch her face. 

"Don't worry, you'll do well," her manager encouraged with a sweet smile.

"Hwan Hyejin?" a staff nearby called. 

Hyejin held her breath for a second, slowly looking over to her manager. 

Her manager gave her an assuring smile before she patted her shoulder. "Go on. You'll do great, I know it. Just be yourself and everything will be fine. Okay?"

Hyejin chose to believe in her manager's words and finally stood up, approaching the staff. "Ready."

The staff was a man with an earpiece around his head. He was bulky and wore a tight, black shirt over him. He nodded and finally opened the door to the set. 

Even if Hyejin hadn't stepped into the set, she could already see the live audience sitting down, anticipating for her appearance. That made Hyejin even more nervous. Sucking in a deep breath, she forced herself to walk and finally, she was on the stage, bowing at the host and the audience. 

"Today, we have the girl everyone's talking about—Hwan Hyejin!" the host briefly introduced as he ushered Hyejin to the seat nearby. 

"Hi," Hyejin greeted, waving at the camera. She was shaking but she did her best to appear calm in everyone's eyes. 

"Welcome on the show, Hwan Hyejin!" the host said, smiling at her. 

Hyejin smiled back. "Thank you for having me here."

"So, how are you feeling today?" the host continued asking. 

"Mostly nervous," answered Hyejin, slightly rubbing her hands onto her thighs. She gave a nervous smile and looked around. "It's my first time on a talk show. I don't really know what to do."

"That's okay," the host encouraged, giving her a light pat on the shoulder. "Not everyone can get used to the camera at first."

"Thank you for understanding," Hyejin said, smiling. 

"SEVENTEEN was here yesterday. Have you watched their episode?" the host started asking. Those were just one of the many questions he would ask, for sure. 

Hyejin steadied a smile on her face as she nodded in response. "Yes, I have watched it."

"Of course." The host smiled in return. "From a fan, you must have watched it. Moving on, you have heard Dino's message for you, right? Is there anything you'd like to say to him in return?" 

Hyejin was caught off-guard. Was this part of the script? If it was, she didn't see it anywhere. "M-me? Reply to his video message?"

She started to get nervous again. Her hands started shaking more but she hid them very well and kept a steady smile on her face. 

The host looked expectant. "Yes, reply to his message. He left such a nice video message for you, after all."

Hyejin faced the camera and tried to look calm. "Hi? Thank you so much for enjoying my story. It's so weird, you know? I'm your fan. You're my fan. It's really weird but cool at the same time. I hope for SEVENTEEN's success. Thank you."

The live audience reacted by saying, "Aww."

Aww? Why would they aww? They made Hyejin felt like she was in a drama. Suddenly, there was a romantic, sappy scene. Would it rain in here, all of a sudden? Would the lights in the set go out and Dino would appear out of the only light source available, holding out a transparent umbrella and approach her?

That made Hyejin's cheeks go warm. She made a mental note about that story idea, too. 

"Let's talk more about yourself, Hwan Hyejin," the host said, finally shifting the topics to something other than her love for SEVENTEEN. 

"Okay," Hyejin responded with a smile. 

"Are you thinking of publishing another fanfiction of a different member in SEVENTEEN?" asked the host, looking at his cue cards. 

Hyejin nodded in response. "Yes, but not a published book that will be sold in bookstores. It's going to be on Wattpad."

"Do you have no plans of publishing another book? Under your publishing company, Waenji?" the host asked the follow-up question. 

Hyejin let out a fleeting shrug. "I guess it's because I like to update each chapter while hearing reviews and comments from people. I'm going to stay on Wattpad for quite some time, I know it. Although, I don't know if I'll ever have enough time to update since I'm just everywhere these days."

The host let out a laugh as he agreed, "That's very true. It's expected from the nation's rising star, yes? Moving on to the next question. Which member are you going to write about?"

"I already have a story I'm publishing on Wattpad soon. It's titled Lean On Me and it's mostly focusing around Hoshi," she answered, giving a beam to the camera. 

"I see," the host answered, fixing his cue cards once again. "You're very beautiful. Brains and beauties?"

Hyejin laughed at the sudden comment. She was not expecting to hear that one. "Thank you. As for brains and beauties, I don't really think I live up to that. I'm not very bright. My average grades stay around B's and C's with only a few A's."

"But you're still beautiful," the host said with a kind smile. 

"Is that so? Thank you," Hyejin replied, flattered. 

"Do you have a boyfriend?" the host asked with a smile. 

Wow, they're really trying to dig into my private life, aren't they?

Hyejin shook her head. "No."

"With a face like that, it would be a shocker to anyone to know you're still single," the host commented with a light tease. 

"That's what my friend once said. She thought I would at least have been in a relationship before but I told her no. I guess I still haven't found the one," Hyejin answered with a light tease as well. 

The host laughed along. "Who knows? Maybe you and Dino might end up together."

It sounded pleasing to Hyejin's ears, but she knew he didn't belong to only her. He belonged to other people too, such as the company, his parents, his family, the other fans. He belonged to the center of the spotlight and she and him were like a human and star. 

But ever since her life made a drastic change, she felt like anything else was possible now. She wasn't some fan in the crowd anymore. She was more than that now. She was also part of the center of attention and she couldn't deny that. 

Hyejin could go with an honest answer, but to save her face, she decided to go with a scripted answer from inside her mind. She shook her head and laughed. "No, no. Dino's fan girls would cry if he and I ever end up together."

"But you are his fan, and he is yours. Doesn't that make a nice story?" the host persisted. 

"It could be a nice story to write," she agreed. Although, everything that was happening now only reminded her of the plot in her story, Highlight. She could go along with everything, just the way her main character in the story did and wish for the same happy ending but she knew that there would be a different ending in reality. 

"Time went by so quickly," the host said, noticing the cue the crew members were giving. He smiled and turned his attention to Hyejin. "Thank you for coming onto the show, Hwan Hyejin. We hope you'll come back on the show another time. We have to say our goodbyes now."

Hyejin nodded and waved goodbye to the viewers by looking at the camera. "Thank you for watching! Goodbye!"

The cameras stopped rolling and everyone started moving around. 

Hyejin stood up from her seat and bowed at the host. "Good work today, sir!"

"A job well done to you, too, Miss Hwan Hyejin," the host said in response, shaking her hand. Just as Hyejin was about to leave, the host held out an envelope in front of her. "This is for you."

Hyejin stared at the envelope in front of him, wondering what it was. "Who's it from?"

"You'll know once you read it. Take it. It's yours," he said, pushing it closer towards her.

Hyejin reluctantly took it from his hands and bowed before she scurried off the stage to find her manager. The envelope was now tucked somewhere safe inside the caramel coloured coat and Hyejin was only dying to know who wrote the letter—or what the letter was all about. 

In the car, Hyejin sat alone in the back. Her manager sat in the passenger seat, right next to their driver, Mr. Bong. 

Hyejin saw a good opportunity to read the letter in secret when her manager started to get busy with something on her phone and the driver getting annoyed with the traffic ahead of them. 

Hyejin slipped the letter out and finally, she was reading the letter in front of her. She had to know what it was about and who it was coming from. 

Hello!

If you're reading this letter right now, it means the talk show MC-nim gave it to you! \(^-^)/

Hi, Hwan Hyejin! :) I don't really know why I'm writing you a letter. Is it because I want to talk to you but I can't because we both have our own schedules? Maybe it's that. I don't really know myself, hehe. Oh, and if you ever worry about MC-nim telling about this to the media, don't be. MC-nim is a very loyal person. He's just as secretive about his life and he respects people's privacy, so don't worry. Anything outside a script will be kept away from the camera and other ears, hehe~

Anyway, I don't know how else to talk to you. I probably repeated this so many times but...

I'm your fan, Hwan Hyejin. 

I know you're mine, too.

Let's talk to each other soon, okay? Hopefully we'll meet again in the future :)

From,

Lee Chan.

~Author's Notes~ 

Here's an update for you lovely Kimichies! Sorry you had to wait for a while. I was busy with homeworks and schoolwork. Like I told you guys before (as it was mention in my profile; I don't know if anyone saw it), school has started, which means I'll have less time to update so I hope you guys will be understanding enough to wait for further updates. 

I know, maybe you guys also have school and sometimes you just want a distraction from all that studying and things you had to get done, but do understand that I'm also just the same. So please be patient, okay? :) 

I love you guys very much and thank you so much for letting this book hit more than 100 votes already! I'm glad to hear that you guys really love this book! <3 Stay lovely, everyone! Until the next update!