All According to Plan

“I won’t be able to attend your pageant, I’m sorry.”

Guilt washes over you as soon as those words come out of your mouth, unable to look your girlfriend in the eye.

“What do you mean you won’t be able to attend my pageant? You know how important this event is for me right? You know how important it is for you to be there for me but all of a sudden you can’t go??” Minju has every right to be angry at you, but she tries to keep calm while trying to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes.

“Look I…” You finally manage to look up at her, and your heart shatters in pieces at the sight of her, tears streaming down her face. “I know how important this is to you, and I tried to reason things out with my manager, but he won’t let me skip this “important event” that I’m supposed to perform in.”

“So that’s how it is? You’re choosing them over me?” Minju rarely gets angry, especially at you, unless it’s over something really serious or over the line. “All I ask for is for you to be there for ONE SINGLE NIGHT and you CAN’T do that?” Her emotions just explode, and quite frankly, you can’t take the sight of her crying anymore, so you slowly walk over to pull her into a tight hug, consoling her.

“Okay I’ll find a way, I’ll be there, I promise. Even if I have to breach my contract or get fired, I’ll be there okay?” You say softly to her, trying to diffuse the situation, before you give her a kiss on the forehead.

“Pinky promise?” She looks up at you with an expectant look in her eyes, putting her pinky up, and you just can’t say no to her, can you?

“Yes, I pinky promise.” You say as you wipe away the tears on her face, and intertwine your pinky with her. “So let’s rest up now okay? You need to wake up early tomorrow for your dance practice.”

“Okay.. but you need to make it up to me, oppa.” Her voice is soft but playful.

“What is it?”

“I want cuddles.”

“Okay then, unlimited cuddles for the princess.” You giggle as you lead her to the bedroom.

To say you’ve absolutely fucked yourself is a massive understatement.

You barely slept that night while cuddling with her in bed, trying to think of a way to get out of this situation with both Minju and your company happy. Minju has been training hard for this pageant for quite a while now, but choosing her over your company duties will definitely hit your career hard. Maybe you could just start making it up to her right now? Maybe that will lessen her pain?

So you ultimately get up and decide to make her kimchi fried rice for breakfast. She’s always loved it when you cooked this for her, so much so that she always asks for seconds. You heat up the pan, trying not to think about your situation for now and just focus on treating her like the princess she is.

You bring over the food you cooked into the bedroom of your shared apartment and set it down on the desk beside the bed, and wake her up with a kiss on the forehead. “Hey princess, wake up, you have dance rehearsals in about an hour and a half.”

“5 more mins pleasee” she whines, her eyes still closed.

“Ireona Minju-ya~ Look, I made your favorite!” you say, and Minju excitedly opens her eyes and sits up in the blink of an eye.

“REALLY? AHHHH IT’S KIMCHI FRIED RICE” she squeals before wrapping her arms around you in a very tight hug.

“Come on, eat up now, save the huggies for later.” you say as you hand her the tray. “Want me to spoon feed you?”

“Oppa! I’m not a baby anymore you know? Also, you’re being awfully nice today.. You’re not doing this because you’re bailing out on your promise right?” she asks, suspicious of your sudden gestures.

“What do you mean? I just want to treat you the way you deserve to be treated.” you say, trying to lower her suspicions. “Finish up, then I’ll drop you off at the dance studio. Sounds good?”

“Okay then!” she says as she starts to munch at the food you prepared.

The ride to the dance studio went… surprisingly well (or so you think). You opened the car door for her, played her favorite music on the road, let her sleep a bit before you arrived, she even gave you a kiss before happily going to practice.

So why do you feel such unease while driving to your company? Your grip on the steering wheel grows tighter by the second, tapping constantly on it and as sweat drips down your forehead while you head over there. It’s the type of unease where everything just feels like it can go wrong at any given moment… Maybe you’re just overthinking it? You’ve probably just been stressing yourself out recently.

You arrive at your entertainment company. It's not as well known or extravagant as JYP or HYBE, but it’s definitely starting to make a name for itself in the industry. You’re greeted by your manager once you enter the company lobby, and you try your best to not immediately bombard him with questions regarding this sudden schedule that just so happened to coincide with Minju’s pageant. You don’t want to cause a scene in a public area now, don’t you?

As soon as you enter the studio room, you let the flood gates open on your manager. “Why the fuck does it HAVE to be that date? You haven’t even told me what I’m gonna be there for and yet you expect me to just drop everything else? Can’t I just skip this one?” You angrily ask him.

“Look, I’m sorry if it’s such a short notice but according to the higher-ups, they’ve already paid a hefty amount for you to be there. Now, I’ll inform you once I get more details about it since they’ve mostly kept me in the dark as well, but the admin won’t be happy if you skip this one.” He responds, trying to calm you down.

“You know more than anyone else how important Minju’s pageant is for me, right? Did you even try to get me out of this one?” You’re still baffled by the things your manager said, and even he doesn’t know what this supposed event is.

“I know, and trust me I tried, but like I said, they’ve already paid for you to be there and perform, and they even requested a specific song for you to sing. I think Minju will understand if you skip her pageant, I mean how long have you been courting her now? A year? And she still hasn’t agreed to be your girlfriend? She can understand if you miss this one okay?” His words hit harder than you expected, because it’s the truth. To say that you and Minju have a complicated relationship is an understatement, but you don’t falter, and you’ll eventually figure a way out of this mess.

“You don’t understand because you don’t know the whole situation.” He seems taken aback by your words, but you eventually sigh in surrender. “Okay, if I can’t get out of this, at least promise to drive me to her pageant after whatever this event is, so I can hopefully catch up and be there for her.” It’s not the ideal solution to your problem, but it’s the most you can do right now. Thankfully, your manager agrees, and he motions to start your practice session.

“Oh by the way, what’s the song that they want me to perform?”

“They said they want you to cover I Do (Cherish You) by 98°, I bet it’s probably for a wedding since they specifically requested a love song.” He says dismissively, but the new information takes a while for you to fully process.

Oh.

It’s Minju’s favorite song.

“Now we have seven days to practice and perfect this song.” He continues to ramble on in the background until he notices you staring blankly into the mic. “Hey, you there? Come on, let's start, we don’t have much time.”

D - 7

The vocal practice went much smoother than you expected, and you finished a few hours before Minju’s dance practice ended.

Perfect. You thought.

That gives you just enough time to make a small detour to the florist’s shop. The shop looked absolutely beautiful from the outside, and you can smell the aroma emanating from the flowers that are sold there, but you had your sights set on her favorite. Pink roses.

The florist, an old woman who has been running the shop for decades now, approaches you and asks if you’re getting a bouquet of pink roses again. You nod, and pay a bit more than the actual amount.

As you leave the shop, you receive a text from Minju.

Oppa <3, we’ll be going through the dance performance one last time before we end the session

How was your day?

Hi! Practice went well and ended early today :> Hbu?

I’ll be there in a few btw

I’ll tell you about it in the car hihi

Drive safe! <3

Minju runs over to you as soon as she sees you leaning on your car while waiting for her outside the dance studio, and immediately greets you with a hug. “Hi Oppa!” Seeing her all giddy like this just makes the thought of missing her important event eat at you from the inside even more.

You pull away and take out the bouquet hidden behind your back and hand it to her, and her eyes widen in shock at your impromptu gift.

“Yah! What’s with the bouquet all of a sudden?” She can’t hide the blush creeping up her face as she takes it. “No specific reason, I just felt like buying flowers for you today.” You reply, trying to play it cool.

“You’re soooo sweet! Because of that, I’ll cook dinner tonight! What do you want?” She looks at you, the happiness evident in her eyes.

“You know I’ll eat whatever you cook right? But I think I’ll want your specialty tonight.” You answer while smiling at her.

“Alright then! Minju’s specialty it is!” She says before you open the car door for her. “Oh and by the way, any updates on that event you’re performing in? You're still gonna come to the pageant next week, right?” She adds as she hops in the car.

There it is again. 

The question that even you don’t know the answer to.

“Yes, of course I’ll be there.” You say, lying through your teeth as you lean over her and put on her seatbelt. “But I’m still in the dark about most of the details of the event, but I’ll make sure I’ll be there in time for your pageant okay?”

“Okay! I was just making sure.” As her face brightens up, you’re left in the dark wondering how long you can continue lying to her about this situation.

D - 6

The sunlight acts as your alarm clock for the following day as you wake up earlier than Minju who is sleeping beside you. You maneuver your way out of bed, careful to not wake her up in the process. Her schedule today is only in the afternoon, so you let her get some more much needed rest.

You groggily make your way into the kitchen, and work your magic there. You cooked her breakfast and lunch as well, and put it in the refrigerator so she can heat it up when she wakes up. Before you leave for the day, you leave sticky notes on the fridge for the various reminders you have for her about the things that she tends to forget. 

You enter the bedroom and stare at her sleeping form for a while, looking as innocent as ever as she sleeps with a smile on her face. How dare you lie to such a sweet and pure soul?  

Before your thoughts swallow you, your phone buzzes from a notification from your manager, effectively pulling you back to reality. You kiss her forehead as she sleeps, careful not to wake her up before you leave for the day. You also leave her a text to say that you’ve already left, as you remember that she gets very worried when she wakes up without you beside her.

Hey princess, I already left, I’ve already cooked you some food and you can just heat it up when you wake up. Don’t forget about the reminders on the fridge okay?

Jwu

Okies

Thnk yu so much

<3

d - 5

Five days left, still no solution in sight for you and this debacle you’re in. You’re starting to feel hopeless, and you’re starting to contemplate that maybe you should just tell her the truth. I mean, today is the perfect day for a date as you both have the day off, maybe find an opportunity during the day?

As the girl beside you hugs you tighter and mumbles in her sleep, you’re brought back down to reality, “Okay, let’s plan this out.” you thought. Where should you go? You haven’t gone out with her for a while since both of you are busy with your own schedules, so you have a variety of options here.

The Zoo? No, you’ve gone there a lot of times already.

The Amusement park? No, Minju hates crowded places.

The Cinema? Is there even a good movie that's in theaters right now?

As you try and figure out a plan for today, the human sized koala next to you opens her eyes and greets you with a smile. "How long have you been awake?" she asks, to which you reply "Not long.". You let the comfortable silence stretch out for a while before you lay on your side facing her and say "Hey, it's been a while since we've gone on a proper date, wanna go out today?" as you brush strands of hair away from her face. "Really? Of course! Where are we going?" You still haven't figured out a place,  but you know a technique that works every single time.

"Guess" you reply.

"Hmm...wait..."

"Go on" letting her think for a while longer, and you swear you can see a lightbulb light up over her head when she finally speaks.

"Oppa, don't tell me" she gasps before making her guess "Is it the dog cafe I've been dying to go to?”

Bingo.

“Yes! How did you know?” acting surprised, trying to hide the fact that you literally had not planned this at all. “Let’s get ready after breakfast and let’s head over there okay?” you say, finally getting up from bed. You’ll just call that dog cafe ahead of time while Minju is getting ready later.

Calling ahead paid off big time as you had the entire cafe to yourselves when you arrived, and although the owner was reluctant at first, you offered to pay more than what they usually make during the hours you were there. The cafe had a cozy atmosphere, containing dogs from different breeds scattered across the cafe. This place was basically paradise for Minju.

You could see the excitement in her eyes as she ran over to the nearest dogs she could find. “Oppa! Look, the doggos are so cuteeeee! Come! Take a picture of me and this dog!” she requests. You turn on the camera you brought and snap a picture of her and the dog.

“Let me see, let me see! Ahhhhh it’s so cuteee” she squeals, looking at the photo through the camera. You look at her and say “Yes, it’s very cute indeed.”. Sensing your gaze on her, her cheeks flare up and suddenly the walls of the cafe look very interesting. You laugh at her reaction and invite her to order. She orders a strawberry matcha and a slice of chocolate cake while you order an americano and a Hawaiian flatbread with extra pineapples.

While waiting for your order to arrive, you join her in playing with the dogs, one of which seems to really like her as it keeps trying to get her attention by nuzzling up to her. “Oppa look! she looks so much like Ddungi!” as she lifts up the small white Boston Terrier. “Oh she does! We should bring Ddungi here next time so they can play together.” You say, smiling at her. (A/N: If you probably couldn’t tell, Ddungi is alive in this universe because I love animals, especially doggos.)

“Really?? We’ll come back here??” She asks enthusiastically. “Of course! I don’t see why not, and this can also be our little spot to relax when we need to take a break from the other things going on in our lives.” You answer, and you’re left stunned when she launches herself at you and hugs you, “You’re the best.” she murmurs against your chest, and you just smile before the waiter finally arrives with your food.

The food was pretty good, evident in the way Minju finished hers very quickly, not caring in the slightest if she looked like a messy eater to you, cause let’s be honest, you’ve seen every side of Minju that she has to offer at this point. When you saw that she was looking outside the window, you decided to snap a quick photo of her because she just looks so damn pretty from any angle.

Thankfully, she doesn’t catch you in the act, and this picture is definitely going into your keepsakes album. However, you do notice her rubbing her arms, and the slight shiver of her skin, so without thinking you take off your jacket and drape it over her. She is both stunned and flustered by the sudden gesture, but inevitably thanks you for it and wears it as she goes back to playing with the doggos.

Unfortunately for Minju, you can’t stay there forever, so she regrettably says goodbye to the dogs after you’ve paid the bill, and promises that she’ll come back for them soon, vowing that she’ll bring Ddungi with her.

You snap one last picture, this time letting her know in advance as she looks at the camera, wearing your jacket which is about one to two sizes larger than her, combined with that signature smile of hers. She just looks so ethereal under the streetlight, and you can’t help but think

“God, I love her so much.”

You both decided to just have dinner at home, as she opted to just have a movie night in the comfort of your shared apartment. You ended up not finding the right moment to tell her the truth, because how could you when she looked so happy playing with the dogs at the cafe? You just couldn’t bear to see that smile disappear again.

You ended up taking over cooking duties while she set up the living room, fully expecting her to take a while in doing so, which is why it startled you when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around you from behind, embracing you in a tight hug as she rested her head on your back.

“Princess, I’m cooking here.. I might spill it over.” You say, trying to focus on the meal you’re cooking despite how red your face is right now or how stiff you suddenly got. She makes this whining sound in reply and says “Go on.. let me just stay here for a while.” You can’t really say no to that now, can you?

By some miracle, you manage to finish cooking and end up serving and eating your dinner with her. You move to the living room to watch a rom-com with her, and to be honest you used to think movies like these were too cheesy, but watching her laugh and smile at the movie in front of you definitely changed your mind.

What hasn’t left your mind however, is the fact that you still have to say to her that you won’t make it in time for her competition, and quite frankly, you haven’t gotten the best of opportunities yet. So when the second movie finally ends, you start what you have been rehearsing inside your head this entire time.

Okay, this is it.

“Minju, I have something to say to you”

No response.

“Look, I’m sorry but I don’t think I’ll be able to mak-

Her head leaning on your shoulder stops you in your tracks. You turn and find her already asleep, probably dozing off halfway into the second movie. You don’t mind, she probably got tired from playing with the dogs at the cafe all day. You stare at her sleeping form, and think about who would ever have the guts to break the heart of someone like her? Definitely not you. So you would just have to make a decision.

Her or your career.

D - 2

The days leading up to the pageant was a busy period for the both of you, as you focused on practicing your performance and she focused on her preparations for the competition. The differing schedules made it harder for you two to see or interact with each other often, relying on conversations over the phone, updates from friends or the off chance that she’s still awake by the time you get home.

So you’re thoroughly surprised when you get home one night and she’s still awake on the couch, waiting for you. “Hey princess, why are you still awake?” You ask, curious as to why she’s still up when she could be having her beauty sleep by now.

“Hi oppa… we need to talk about something.” She says, any hint of happiness devoid from her face. Your mind immediately races to think of what this could be about. Did you do anything wrong? Did you cook her breakfast the wrong way? Did you accidentally say something she didn’t like?

Then your mind finally pinpoints one thing.

Has she found out that you can’t go to her pageant? 

“Sure princess… What's it about?” You say carefully, still carefully testing out the waters called “serious Minju”.

“You’ve been acting weird lately throughout the past couple of days. I know it’s probably because you’re also preparing for an event and such, but you haven’t acted this way before. You’ve spent less time with me while fully knowing we only see each other at home. Did I do something wrong? Did I say something you didn’t like?” She says, pausing for a second before asking:

“Are we… okay? Is everything okay between us? I know there’s not an us yet but I just want to know why you’ve been acting this way.” Tears start to well up in her eyes as those words leave her mouth.

Oh shit.

You’re making her cry again.

Your actions to protect her from getting hurt inevitably led to her getting hurt because of you.

You rush over to her and pull her into a tight hug.  “Hey… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to think that way. I’ve probably just been stressed with practice lately. And I know that’s not a valid reason to make you overthink about the things between us but I assure you everything’s fine. We’re okay. And I’ll make it up to you once my schedule frees up okay?” You say softly, trying to console her in any way you can.

She pulls away, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Okay… I believe you, but please tell me if there’s something wrong, okay? I don’t wanna be left guessing in the dark if I did anything wrong again.” 

“I will, I promise.” You say, kissing her on the forehead.

D - day

You’re on your way to the event, still out of your element as you’ve basically accepted at this point that you won’t be able to attend her pageant. You’ll just accept whatever steps she decides to take after this between the two of you.

Your manager beside you sees your noticeable discomfort in the way you look like an angry hamster right now, ready to lash out at every little thing that irks you. “Hey, what’s gotten into you? Why do you look like you want to destroy everything in sight? You can’t do that later okay?”

“You can’t really stop me if I choose to perform like this, you know? You know damn well I have no reason being here instead of Minju’s competition” You say, not even wanting to look him in the eyes.

“I’ll show you something real quick, I’m sure it will cheer you up.”

You arrive at the event location, smiling from ear to ear like someone who just won the lottery. You enter the lobby and you’re immediately mesmerized by the stage design. Huge LED Walls, decked out lights and sound systems, and an absolutely heavenly backdrop and ceiling design. You’ve performed on events like these countless times before, but seeing this one in particular makes you more nervous than you thought.

Your manager and some event staff led you to your own dressing room separate from the crowd, walking past a few ladies in gowns in the hallway. While getting your hair styled, your mind ends up drifting away, thinking about Minju and how she’s doing right now. “Hey there, there’s still about 30 minutes till the event starts, do you want anything?” Your manager asks, trying to snap you out of your trance, and when it doesn’t work, he tries the one thing that he knows will get your attention.

“Hey? Minju? Oh yeah he’s right here.” He asks, and you immediately fall for his trap. “Huh? Is that Minju? Can I talk to her?” You try to reach for his phone, but you quickly realize it was all just a prank.

“Come on, can you just please focus on the performance ahead for now? I’m begging you.” He pleads, trying to get you to focus on what’s ahead.

“Alright” you eventually surrender, pulling out your phone to see if you’ve gotten any messages from her. To your delight, she has sent you some updates about her event.

Heyyy

Just finished putting on my make-up

My stylist took this photo of me earlier while you weren’t replying lol

They said I looked like I was having withdrawals

Are you on your way here? Drive safe okay?

I have something to tell you later ;>

Okay I’ll be off my phone now, bye bye!

Hi princess! slr

I’m on my way! See you! <3

It took every fiber of your being to not just rush to her at this moment, because if she looks so damn pretty in the picture she sent, what more with her dolled up in her gown and all? But unfortunately, you can’t. You just end up requesting to turn the TV in the dressing room on so you could hopefully watch her pageant there, anxiously waiting for the event to start.

Time flies by quickly inside the dressing room while you’re getting your make-up done, and the pageant starts with the introductions of the candidates. She comes out in this floral white dress and your jaw just drops at how beautiful she is. You’ve seen her compete in various other pageants before leading up to this, but something about this look just screams perfection.

She does her introduction flawlessly, but you notice that her eyes wander around while she’s on stage, seemingly looking for something, or someone. That’s when it hits you, she’s looking for you. But even if you wanted to do something about it, you couldn’t. All you could really do is motivate her through texts.

The rest of the pageant went on while you were waiting in your dressing room, cheering her on from there. She absolutely nailed the casual wear and swimwear portions, ultimately earning her a bunch of awards and a spot in the top 10. She ends up nailing the talent portion as well, captivating the audience with a phenomenal performance comparable to those done by idols.

When the host started announcing the top five candidates, you swear you could hear your heart beating out of your chest.

“The first candidate to enter the top five is… Candidate No. 2, Seol Yoona! Congratulations!”

Four more chances.

“The second candidate to enter the top five is none other than… Candidate No. 5, Zhou Xinyu! Congratulations!”

Three more chances.

“The third candidate to enter the top five is… Candidate No. 8, Lee Gawon! Congratulations!”

Two more chances.

“The fourth candidate to enter the top five is… Candidate No. 13, Huh Yunjin! Congratulations!”

One more chance.

“And for our final candidate to make it to our top five, we have… Candidate No. 11, Park Minju! Congratulations!”

She made it.

You always knew she would.

Before you could continue your celebration however, you were asked by the staff at your event to go on stage for your performance.

“Sir, we need to head backstage now.”

Walking through backstage was quite a nightmare due to the number of people there. Event staff, make-up artists and managers alike crowd backstage like a flock. You end up walking on stage for your performance, as 5 lovely women come out one by one behind you before you start singing. 

Of course, one woman in particular stands out the most to you.

Minju.

She came out last, and if you thought she looked absolutely stunning in the white dress earlier, this green evening gown that she's wearing absolutely blows it out of the park. She graced the stage with such elegance and poise, effectively captivating the audience and capturing their attention. It was like she was the only person on stage. You tried your best to restrain yourself and keep yourself composed, even if you wanted to just cheer and shout for her until your throat gets damaged.

As the five candidates settled into place, the host started to introduce you as the special guest performer for the night. The moment Minju realizes the person standing in front of her is you, smiling at her while giving her a wink, it was like the world just froze over for her. The song starts in the background and she instantly realizes what song you’re gonna perform. It’s her favorite song.

She mouthed “What is this?” to you while trying to remain composed and hide her absolute shock at your sudden appearance on stage. You simply just smiled back and sang your heart out, offering your hand to the first candidate to serenade her and let her captivate the crowd once more.

You continue singing, doing the same and trying to be a gentleman for the other candidates. Of course you still respected your boundaries, much to the delight of the jealous girl waiting for her turn. Minju tries her best to hide her jealousy, opting to just think that this is just you being professional, but she also can’t help but wonder how or why you hid this from her, and what’s taking you so damn long to get to her?

All of those thoughts seem to go away when you finally walk up to her and lock eyes with her. “Hi” you mouth out, taking her hand in yours then pressing a soft kiss at the back of it. You gently guide her to the center stage, keeping your eyes on her while you continue to sing the remaining choruses of the song.

“I do cherish you, for the rest of my life you don’t have to think twice.” You put your everything into singing the last chorus of the song, letting the lyrics of the song act as your profession of affection for her, as you let her shine brightly for the world to see.

“I will love you still, from the depths of my soul it’s beyond my control.” Looking at her from behind like this, seeing her confident self in front of the people watching, it just makes you even more proud of the woman that she’d become.

As you sing the last lines of the song, you hold her hands gently, looking at her eyes as you say “I’ve waited so long to say this to you… and if you’re asking do I love you this much? Baby I do.”

The crowd erupts in cheers as you finish the song, guiding her back to her spot. However, before you get off the stage, she whispers “You have a lot of explaining to do later, oppa, but thank you.” And you just want to hug her right then and there, but you keep it professional and just smile at her as you get off and join the crowd.

The Q&A portion proceeds right after, with the other remaining candidates giving rather subpar answers to their questions. 

Then it was Minju’s turn. 

Before she was asked her actual question, the host asked her if she wanted to thank anyone from the crowd.

“I’d like to thank my mom for always supporting me, my friends, my glam team and of course, to the person who has been there for everything, you know who you are.”

The host then proceeded to ask her a question regarding her advocacies and what courses of action would she take if she were to win, to which she answers flawlessly, earning another round of applause from the audience and the smiles of the judges.

After a short period of deliberation, the results were in, and they were to be announced from 4th runner up to the Grand Winner.

“Our Miss Cosmopolitan Korea fourth runner-up is… Candidate No. 5, Zhou Xinyu! Congratulations!”

One down.

“Our Miss Cosmopolitan Korea third runner-up is… Candidate No. 13, Huh Yunjin! Congratulations!”

Two down.

“Our Miss Cosmopolitan Korea second runner-up is… Candidate No. 8, Lee Gawon! Congratulations!”

Three down. She is just one step away from the crown. She and the other candidate remaining (you forgot her name, you when not Minju) start to hold hands as the spotlight shines over the both of them.

“Our Miss Cosmopolitan Korea is… Candidate… Before we announce our grand winner we would like to take this opportunity to thank our very generous sponsors for tonight’s pageant…”

Oh for fuck’s sake.

“Okay back to the pageant itself…” You could feel the bass of the speakers beating loudly as the DJ played a drum roll for the reveal. “our Miss Cosmopolitan Korea is…”

“Candidate No. 11, Park Minju! Congratulations!”

She did it. She won.

You jump in joy in the crowd as she has her crowning moment. All of the hard work she put into modelling and joining pageants, and just the general effort of going outside her comfort zone, her introverted self, to be here and win has finally paid off.

It takes a while for her to get down from the stage into backstage, but when she finally does, you meet her there and she just launches herself at you like she always does, hugging you so tightly you swear you could barely breathe. Not a bad way to go if you say so yourself, but you still have a Minju sized koala that you still have to take care of.

“Congratulations, princess.” You say as you pull away from the hug. “I couldn’t have done it without you, oppa.” She replies, tears of joy leaking from her eyes. “Also what was that performance earlier? How long have you known that you were gonna perform here? And why didn’t you tell me? I was so anxious, you know? I didn’t see you in the crowd until you performed!” You swear she just looks so cute pouting at you like this.

“I’ll explain everything later when we get home okay? But for now, we need to enjoy your win first okay?” You say, opting to just let her enjoy her moment for now.

“Sure, but we’ll talk later okay?” She says as she enters her dressing room.

As you arrive at your shared apartment with Minju, you can’t stop thinking about how you’ll explain everything to her without ending up being rejected. If there’s two things she hates the most, it’s keeping secrets and lying. It’s something she’s developed over the years, especially after her father left her mother for another woman. So now that you’ve kept a secret from her and feels like you’ve lied to her all this time, will she be able to forgive you?

You sit next to her on the couch and try to explain everything.

“Look, I’m gonna be completely honest with you with everything that has happened. I went into the company van today fully believing that I won’t make it to your pageant, because I was kept mostly in the dark about everything as the company wanted me to remain professional about things. They feared that if I knew that I was performing your pageant that I would act irrationally. My manager only told me that the event we were going to was your pageant when we were near the event place, saying that he couldn’t take seeing me so upset like that anymore, but he begged me to not go out of my dressing room to see you before my performance. I contemplated and tried telling you that I wouldn’t make it to your pageant a few times, but the right timing just never came because I couldn’t bear seeing you lose your smile again. If you want to reject me  and end things that’s fi-” She shushes you with a finger over your lips.

“Aishhhh, who would’ve thought that my boyfriend would be such a yapper? Look, I understand. I kind of pieced it together while we were on our way home, and honestly? I understand, and I’m sorry if I made things harder for you. I was really shocked by your sudden performance earlier, but I really loved it, and it's a core memory that I will cherish forever.” She says, smiling softly at you.

Honestly, all the words after boyfriend barely registered in your brain.

“Wait what? Boyfriend? Me?”

“Yes. Boyfriend. You.”

“Am I dreaming? Is this real? Oh my god”

She kisses you softly on the lips, before pulling away slightly.

“Still think it’s a dream?”

“I think I need one more for confirmation.”

“Idiot.”

“Your idiot.”

“An idiot that I love so much.”

“Say that again?”

“What? That you’re an idiot?”

“No, the other part.”

“I don’t want to, not unless you promise that you won’t repeat what you did with other candidates earlier ever again.” She sulks, and you swear it just makes her cuter.

“Yes ma’am, never again.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” as you capture her lips in another kiss, before carrying her into the bedroom.

This is a fluff fic, no plap for you.