It's after midnight the following evening, when Yuna finds herself pressed against the cold metal of a ramen shop's vending machine, hissing under her breath.
"J-Min, you look ridiculous."
J-Min tugs the brim of a baseball cap lower over his forehead. He's wearing an oversized hoodie, surgical mask and sunglasses the size of satellite dishes.
"Disguise," he mutters. "For stealth."
"Stealth? You look like a discount alien trying to avoid Area 51."
He lifts his mask just enough to grin. "So...mission accomplished."
Yuna rolls her eyes. Mina, standing nearby in a puffer jacket, lets out a strangled snort. "Bro. I love you, but this is tragic."
Behind them, Raejin peeks his head out of the ramen shop door. "Are we getting noodles or not?! I'm emotionally unstable and I need carbs!"
Taewon emerges too, arms folded. "He's unstable because he tried to kiss a mannequin in a department store today."
"It had eyelashes," Raejin protests. "It blinked at me!"
"Enough," Sori snaps, storming out and looking dangerously glamorous even in sweatpants. "If we get recognized, I am not explaining why J-Min looks like he's about to rob a bank."
J-Min sighs. "I'm hungry."
"So take off the sunglasses," Yuna says, exasperated. "Nobody cares if you're here eating noodles at 1 a.m."
"I care," J-Min says seriously. "ONARI™ will explode if they see me with you again."
At the mention of ONARI™, Raejin claps his hands. "YUMIN™ supremacy, baby!"
Yuna clamps a hand over Raejin's mouth. "Will you not yell our ship name in public?"
He licks her palm.
"EW!" Yuna screams, flailing backward.
Taewon sips tea out of a thermos like a long-suffering ancient deity. "I told you. He's rabid."
Seo appears out of nowhere, nearly giving Yuna a heart attack. "WHY ARE YOU ALL STILL OUTSIDE?!" he roars.
J-Min waves weakly. "Hi, Seo."
Seo rounds on him, eyes blazing. "Stop looking at her like she's a ballad you want to sing!"
J-Min presses a hand to his chest, dramatically. "But I do want to sing for her."
"Oh my god," Seo groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I cannot afford the therapy bills if this goes nuclear."
Mina, gleeful, leans into Yuna's ear. "Is it bad that I kinda want it to go nuclear?"
Yuna gives her a look. "Yes. Yes, it is."
Seo's voice slices through the chilly night. "You have a schedule tomorrow. An interview. Then dance practice. Then a fitting. And now you want spicy noodles?!"
J-Min nods solemnly. "Yes."
Seo throws his hands skyward. "WHY DO I EVEN TRY?!"
But he's no match for Sori, who grabs his arm and steers him toward the door. "Let them eat ramen. You look like you're about to rupture a blood vessel."
Inside the Ramen Shop, it's gloriously warm. Steam curls around neon lights and the spicy scent of broth hits Yuna square in the face. J-Min's disguise is gone...sunglasses off, hoodie down and he's instantly recognizable.
The entire table is chaos.
Raejin's slurping ramen like a vacuum cleaner. Ari's delicately removing chili flakes from her noodles. Sori and Mina are arguing over how many eggs are too many eggs. Taewon is just staring into space, looking haunted.
"Are you okay?" Yuna asks Taewon.
Taewon blinks. "Raejin tried to hug me. I will never recover."
Meanwhile, J-Min's leaning closer. "Want a bite?" He offers his chopsticks, loaded with noodles.
"Nope," Yuna says. "I've seen the way you eat. You basically tongue the chopsticks."
Ari chokes on her tea. Mina collapses in laughter. Raejin yells, "OH MY GOD, SPICY."
J-Min pouts. "That's not romantic at all."
"Neither is salmonella," Yuna retorts.
Seo is practically hyperventilating. "We're surrounded by cameras. Phones. Fans. YOU TWO CANNOT BE THIS OBVIOUS."
J-Min's fingers brush Yuna's knee under the table. Sparks race through her bloodstream. "Too late," he murmurs.
Mina's eyes widen. "Oh my god. Are we witnessing foreplay?"
"MINA!" Yuna hisses.
It's close to 2 a.m. when they finally spill back onto the street, full of noodles and scandal.
Mina shuffles closer to Yuna. "He was staring at you the entire time."
"He was not..."
"Girl. He looked at you like you were the last encore of the world tour."
Yuna's face goes hot. She's about to protest when J-Min sidles up, pulling his hood back up.
"Walk with me?" he says quietly.
Yuna hesitates. Then sighs. "Fine."
Mina fist-pumps. "Go get your man, Han!"
They wander down dark, sleepy streets lit by neon signs and street lamps. J-Min's breath puffs into the night air. Yuna tries not to shiver.
"You're cold," he says, and shrugs out of his hoodie, draping it over her shoulders.
"It's your disguise," she protests.
He smiles. "I don't mind getting caught."
"That's a lie."
He stops walking, looking serious. "No. I mean it. If people know I'm with you...that's fine with me."
Her stomach flips. "That's a terrible idea."
"Maybe." His fingers lift her chin. "But I've been in this business too long to pretend I don't want things."
Yuna tries to look away, but J-Min leans closer. His nose brushes hers.
Her pulse skitters wildly. "J-Min..."
"Shh," he murmurs.
His lips are inches away. She feels his breath on her mouth.
Then...
Raejin barrels around the corner like a caffeinated ferret. "NOONA, DO YOU THINK I'D LOOK HOT WITH BANGS?!"
Yuna shrieks. J-Min leaps backward. Raejin freezes, looking between them. "Oh. Were you about to kiss?"
"RAEJIN!" they scream in unison.
Seo and the others appear seconds later, all wearing identical expressions of exasperation.
Taewon throws up his hands. "He ruins everything."
An hour later, they're all sprawled in HWAON™'s lounge. Sori's flipping through a fashion magazine. Ari's meditating. Mina's perched on a beanbag, legs swinging.
Seo's pacing like a tiger. "I swear, you two are going to kill me."
Yuna slumps deeper into the couch. "I'm going home."
"You can't," Mina argues. "This is where the fanfic lives now."
"I don't want to live in fanfic!"
J-Min plops down beside her. "Too bad."
Yuna glares. "Stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?" His voice drops. "Like I want to write a ballad about you?"
"Yes. Exactly like that."
He grins. "Too late."
Seo throws his clipboard in the air. "I'm retiring."
An hour later, after everyone's calmed down and Raejin's finally stopped singing Mariah Carey at the top of his lungs, Yuna finds herself sitting alone with J-Min on a low sofa. She's still wearing his hoodie.
He glances over, curious. "What's that?"
Yuna hesitates, then opens the battered sketchbook in her lap. "My art. I...I draw things sometimes."
J-Min's eyes soften as he flips through pages: delicate pencil sketches of cityscapes, coffee cups, stray cats, and people caught laughing mid-motion. And...oh god...a few drawings of him. One is of him mid-dance, hair flying. Another shows him laughing, head thrown back.
His thumb pauses on a page.
"It's...me."
Yuna flushes so hard she might combust. "I...um...that's just practice. Ignore it..."
"Yuna." J-Min's voice is a husky whisper. "These are beautiful."
"It's nothing."
He gently tilts her chin up. "No. It's you. The way you see the world. The way you see me."
For a second, the room seems to shrink until it's just them. He leans forward again.
"J-Min..."
"Shh."
He closes the distance. His lips brush hers...soft, tentative, like he's testing the waters. Yuna freezes. Then melts.
A door bangs open.
Raejin's voice echoes like a cosmic curse: "HEY, I FOUND A FILTER THAT MAKES US LOOK LIKE SHINY POKÉMON...OH. EW."
Yuna screams, slamming the sketchbook shut. J-Min curses. Raejin clutches his face. "MY EYES."
Taewon groans. "I'm moving out."
Seo collapses in a chair. "I'm applying for a job at a bakery."
Later, Yuna's phone is in a nuclear warzone.
#Yumin™ is trending worldwide.
Half of ONARI™ is posting cute edits and writing ballad lyrics in J-Min's honour. The other half is threatening to throw Yuna into a volcano.
Sori scrolls through fan comments, snorting. "These are my favourites...'SHE'S RUINING HWAON™' and 'NO, SHE'S OUR QUEEN.'"
Mina reads over her shoulder. "I ship Yumin™ so hard my mom's worried for my mental health."
J-Min glances up from his phone. "Same."
Seo's voice booms across the room. "STOP ENCOURAGING THIS."
That evening, Yuna's parents FaceTime her.
Her mom's waving a spatula. "Your father wants to know if J-Min's coming over for dinner."
Her dad calls from the background. "Does he like kimchi stew? And can he fix my sink?"
"I AM NOT BRINGING A POP STAR TO OUR HOUSE!" Yuna shrieks.
Her mom beams. "You're glowing, sweetheart. You're in love."
"STOP SAYING THAT."
Mina yells from off-camera, "SHE TOTALLY IS!"
Yuna hurls a pillow at her phone.
It's still the early hours of the morning when Yuna's phone buzzes softly on her coffee table, she's curled up under a blanket in her lounge, J-Min's hoodie still draped over her shoulders, the taste of laughter and almost-kisses lingering in the air.
The screen lights up with a message from J-Min.
[J-Min]
Can I see you later today? For real this time. No disguises. No Raejin. Just...us.
Yuna stares at it, heart thudding like a drum solo. Her thumb hovers. She bites her lip, then types:
[Yuna]
Maybe. As long as Raejin isn't hiding in the bushes again.
She sends it. Seconds later, the typing bubble appears, disappears, then reappears...like he's trying to say more. But he doesn't. And maybe he doesn't need to.
Outside, the sky is just beginning to pale, the first blush of dawn soft against the city skyline. Inside, Yuna wraps the hoodie tighter around herself, breathing in faint traces of cologne and ramen.
There's no pretending anymore.
Because the next time J-Min kisses her...she's pretty sure she'll kiss him back.
And maybe...just maybe...she's okay with the world watching.
Even if it's a little chaotic.
Even if it's love.
Because some ballads are worth singing...especially the spicy, messy, laugh-out-loud ones.