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.