Page 32 of Wish Upon a K-Star

L ater in the week, I get a message from Hongjoo that she’s found me a new apartment. It might be a temporary situation, but I don’t mind. There are two new girls in the trainee dorm now, and I feel like a squatter at this point.

So, I’m currently lugging my giant roller bag to the new building. Hongjoo wasn’t able to come get me today, but I told her I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow. I figured I could just take a taxi. This building is actually closer to the company. I count it as a win, even if it’s just temporary.

I’m still listening to my music on full volume in my earbuds. It’s a technique I use in taxis so the driver doesn’t try to make small talk with me. I’m horrible at it. I drag my luggage to the apartment door and I can’t remember the code. So I fumble with my phone to find Hongjoo’s text, trying not to drop any of my bags, when someone grabs me from behind.

I immediately have an image of an anti-fan following me inside to make good on their threats. “Let go!” I shout, swinging wide. But my wrist is captured in a strong hand before it makes contact.

“Hyeri, it’s just me,” Minseok says, giving me an annoyed glare.

I quickly pull my earbuds free, the music becoming a small, tinny sound before I click it off. “What are you doing just grabbing a person with no warning?”

“I called out to you,” he claims, and I realize I didn’t hear him over my music.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Are you following me?”

“What? No. I live here.”

“Why?”

He frowns and I realize it’s a silly question.

“What are you doing here?” He’s eyeing my luggage.

“This is my apartment.” I gesture at the gray door.

His brows go up. “I thought you lived in the trainee dorms.”

“I wanted my own place.” I didn’t realize the WDB dorm was in this building. Probably because I make a great effort not to know anything about Minseok if I can help it.

“Guess we’re going to be neighbors,” he says, leaning against my luggage. I resist the urge to wheel it away.

“Temporarily,” I say. I’m already wondering if I can ask Hongjoo to find me another place.

Minseok’s face falls at my curt answer. “Well, welcome to the building,” he says, turning to the door across the hall.

“Wait, that’s your apartment?” I gape. Not just the same building but literally across the hall from each other. This has to be a joke. Or maybe Minseok is just messing with me—I wouldn’t put it past him.

“Yup, let me know if you need to borrow a cup of sugar.”

“Not likely,” I mutter under my breath.

He starts punching his code into the keypad, but stops midway and turns back to me. “Are you mad at me?”

This is unexpected. Minseok almost never brings up a past fight. His strategy is always to ignore and move on. “Why would I be mad?” I say.

He lifts a brow. “You really want me to answer that?” When I refuse to reply, he makes good on the bluff. “Maybe it was you shouting at me in front of your mother at the last shoot.”

Disbelief at his gall makes me lose my cool. “Are you seriously saying I was wrong? You had no right to butt into my family business.”

Minseok lifts his hand as if in immediate surrender. “I don’t know why you take everyone’s bullshit all the time. You should push back sometimes.”

I want to roll my eyes. “Yeah, ’cause that would go over so well. I definitely wouldn’t get dragged by the netizens for acting out like that.”

Minseok cuts me off with a derisive laugh. “You know, maybe the fans would like it if you’d let go of trying to keep a perfect image.”

“No, you’re not allowed to criticize that when you’re the one who first taught me that lesson.”

“What are you talking about?” Minseok looks confused now.

“You’re the one who told me I had to be careful,” I remind him. “You said we had reputations to protect now.”

When he just stares at me blankly, I’m annoyed. Does he really not remember? It’s such a core memory for me. The first time I ever got my heart broken. And he doesn’t even remember?

Then his eyes widen with realization and he lets out a heavy sigh. “Shit. That was so long ago, Hyeri.”

So he does remember. “Yeah, well, it’s kind of hard to forget your first big crush telling you that you’re acting like a child.”

“Hyeri, I was just a kid myself too. I was an idiot.”

“It’s fine, whatever.”

“So, you’re still making me pay for something stupid I said four years ago?”

“That’s not what I’m doing,” I insist. He’s making me sound so petty. But he’s the one who goes out of his way to mess with me all the time. Not the other way around.

“I’m sorry, okay? I’d just debuted and I was so focused on that. I didn’t want anything to screw it up. You just happened to be a convenient target to take my stress out on because you were always popping up like my shadow.”

His shadow? I don’t even have words to express the offense I feel in this moment. I want to tell him he’s not forgiven. To tell him where he can shove his late, half-assed apology. But whatever response I was going to give is lost as the elevator dings and Jaehyung and Jun step out.

“Hey, Hyeong,” Jaehyung calls out. “Do you want to order ssambap for lunch?” Then he notices me. “Oh, hey, Noona.”

“Do you two have a shoot today?” Jun asks.

“I think she’s moving in, Hyeong,” Jaehyung says, taking in my luggage. “The company just bought the apartment across from ours.”

I nod. Jaehyung has always been very perceptive. “Just here temporarily.”

Minseok looks annoyed at the disruption to our conversation. But I’m grateful; I don’t want to talk about the past anymore.

“Do you need help?” Jun asks.

“I’m good, just have one bag.” I quickly type in my code before they can ask more questions. “See you around,” I chirp, avoiding Minseok’s eyes as I escape into the safety of my new apartment.