Bets

Remember Go Mi Nyu? The innocent novice who chopped her hair off for her twin brother? I love that girl. That's why I have always been on Team Mi Nyu more than on Team Mi Nam. :)

Bets

"No answering personal questions about us...no looking at each other while singing Still,  no hand-holding..." Keun Suk throws her a look, his brow arching up. "No smiling giddily like a crazy fanboy," he chokes on his laugh. "You've got to be kidding me," he hisses to Shin Hye sitting smugly, legs crossed Indian-style, beside him on the floor. It is rehearsal night for their Japan Fan Meet and they have just finished doing their dance routine. Huddled on the floor, they are doing one of the activities they both enjoy and never tire to do -- bickering with one another.

Shin Hye looks at her oppa with a poker face. "You asked for a bet, I'm giving you one, Keun Suk-oppa."

"I asked to do something fun, not the impossible!" He reaches out a hand to wipe the sweat forming on Shin Hye's temples.

"What good is a bet, oppa, if you do things that are easy for you to do?" She argues, keeping her head still to let him finish wiping off her forehead with his towel.

"What is on stake here?"

"If you lose, you will piggy back me everytime we go out for a date, from your place to mine, for maybe a month," Shin Hye's eyes dilate excitedly, giddily savoring her impending victory. She has never disclosed this to Keun Suk but it has always been her secret fantasy to let him carry her on his back the Korean drama style. He never did the favor yet. Or at least, the opportunity never presented a chance for them yet. So maybe now is the perfect chance, she tells herself silently, congratulating herself with the brilliant idea.

"Ya, you're so heavy my back will probably collapse with the first few steps!" He mocks, feigning opposition to the idea.

She pouts."Stop being annoying, oppa. It's only a five-minute walk. Besides I have lost a few pounds these past few weeks, I won't weigh that much."

Keun Suk narrows his gaze at her. "And you talk like you're so sure I will lose the bet for real, huh?"

Shin Hye purses her lips then look at him squarely. "But I am sure, oppa. For real.Judging from your track record in the fan meetings you held so far, my piggy back ride is in the bag."

"And what's that suppose to mean?"

She smiles sweetly at him. "That come fan meeting, you will definitely hold my hand with yours onstage, in front of the fans. And oh, you will not worry at all that it will spark a scandal between us because you will conveniently refer to it as just a fan service to the fans. I'm quite sure that you will ask me to sing a song again with you acapella, and you better not start singing Promise, coz I still can't memorize the lyrics to that song until now. Don't even think about it."

"How about an English song, then?" he interjects and she pokes his ribs a little forcefully.

"You will have a field day making fun of me, I know and the shy girl that I am, I will probably just bow my head in embarrassment to your crazy antics," she continues.

"Aha. So this whole bet on whether I can restrain myself on revealing too much to the fans is really just a ploy to stop me from embarrassing you onstage, am I correct?"

"Of course not!"

He laughs out loud. "Liar! That guilty look on your face is saying it all."

"Are you afraid to lose?"

He shakes his head. "I am scared for your sake, Shin Hye. Ah, I can almost picture your face now and the fans' reactions when I will hold your hand as we sing the duet to Still," he pauses to look at her reaction. Her cheeks colored at the thought. "And I will never let go of that hand until the song ends," he continues, mightily proud of the effect of his words on her.

"Aissh! Why don't we just channel Hwang Tae Kyung and Go Mi Nam on that day, oppa? So you can just be prickly and aloof with me and leave me in peace."

"Then you will lose the bet," he warns. "And you will look like the fool to the fans."

She crinkles her nose. "Why so?"

"Because as Go Mi Nam, you will just be caught up in hiccups staring at me all day," he breaks out in a laugh at his own joke.

"Ya, oppa!" She protests. "I will be Go Mi Nyu that day," she says, her gaze looking far ahead. "Go Mi Nam was the foolish girl impersonating as a boy who fell in love with the bad guy, remember? But Go Mi Nyu...Go Mi Nyu was the real girl Tae Kyung fell in love with. His eyes were fooled but not his heart, see? She helped him put things into proper perspective.  She was strong enough to leave him and give their love time and space to grow and for old wounds to mend. She was too confident of their love for each other that she was willing to leave him again to give herself a chance to explore the world around her and be her own person. Knowing fully well that he will be waiting for her to come back."

She shifts her eyes to him, her voice in a soft whisper. "Go Mi Nyu is the girl I want to be for Keun Suk-oppa. Not naive, foolish or immature. Just a little sensible, a little stronger, a little more grown up to keep these feelings real."

Keun Suk shakes his head slowly in disbelief. "I can't really win over you, can I? No matter how foolishly I try."

"Ahrasso, ahrasso. You can have your piggy back ride starting tonight!" he says, his face beaming as he gladly concedes to the girl who wants to be his real Go Mi Nyu.