Seongho's debut happened faster than expected.

The agency was small, so the preparation period wasn't long. He still needed more vocal and dance training, but the company decided to push his looks and overall image first.

The day his profile photos and short introduction video were released, Jiyeon sat in a corner of the waiting room looking at her phone.

The views were climbing much faster than expected.

Comments kept appearing.

[Who is this?] [He's a rookie?] [That face is insane] [Where was he hiding until now?]

Jiyeon read a few more comments, then looked at Seongho.

He was looking at a stock app instead of his own video.

(Jiyeon) : “You're not reading the comments?”

(Seongho) : “No.”

(Jiyeon) : “People are going crazy.”

(Seongho) : “Hold on. Stocks come first right now.”

Jiyeon let out a disbelieving laugh.

(Jiyeon) : “An idol cares more about stocks than fan reactions?”

(Seongho) : “Timing doesn't wait for you.”

His mind really was forty.

A few days later, his first music-show performance was scheduled.

They started early in the morning with hair and makeup, stage clothes, and rehearsal. Jiyeon was busy checking routes with staff and making sure everything was ready.

Just before the live broadcast, the waiting-room door opened.

(Seongho) : “Jiyeon.”

Jiyeon looked up.

And for a moment, she couldn't say anything.

Seongho stood in the doorway in his stage outfit.

His black hair was styled to reveal part of his forehead. Beneath straight, dark brows, his long-set eyes looked unusually clear. His nose was straight, his jaw smooth and sharply defined.

When he wasn't smiling, there was something slightly cool about his face.

Then his eyes met Jiyeon's, and one corner of his mouth lifted.

All at once, he looked younger.

Twenty.

A genuinely handsome twenty-year-old man.

Without realizing it, Jiyeon stared at his face for too long.

Seongho walked toward her.

One step.

Then another.

(Seongho) : “What?”

Only then did Jiyeon come back to herself.

His face was much closer than she'd expected.

If she raised her eyes just a little, they met his. He was close enough that she could feel his presence every time she breathed.

Jiyeon's heart suddenly thudded.

Hard.

The sensation was so clear that it startled her.

(Jiyeon) : “What do you mean?”

(Seongho) : “You're staring.”

(Jiyeon) : “I'm not.”

(Seongho) : “You are.”

Seongho leaned a little closer.

(Seongho) : “Do I look okay today?”

Jiyeon immediately took a step back.

(Jiyeon) : “Go. You're about to perform.”

(Seongho) : “That's not an answer.”

(Jiyeon) : “You don't.”

(Seongho) : “Liar.”

Seongho laughed and turned away.

Jiyeon fanned her face with the schedule sheet in her hand.

It wasn't hot.

Her face was.

A little later, the performance began.

The camera found Seongho.

He didn't look nervous at all.

His gaze, his expressions, even the timing of his smile looked natural.

Watching the monitor, Jiyeon felt something strange.

She had known that man for eleven years.

She had seen him leave socks everywhere. She had watched him snore on the sofa. She had seen him open the refrigerator in the morning before his eyes were even fully open.

But the man on the monitor looked like someone else entirely.

Young.

Unfamiliar.

Handsome.

The performance ended.

When Seongho came offstage, the staff applauded him.

(Staff) : “Seongho, that was really your first stage? You did way better than I expected.”

Still wearing the bright expression he'd shown onstage, Seongho smiled.

(Seongho) : “Thank you.”

Jiyeon watched him and felt ridiculous all over again.

He was really good at it.

Pretending to be a twenty-year-old rookie idol.

Once the cameras were off and the staff had scattered, Seongho walked straight over to her.

(Seongho) : “Honey.”

Jiyeon quickly looked around.

(Jiyeon) : “I told you not to call me that here.”

Seongho laughed.

(Seongho) : “No one's around.”

(Jiyeon) : “Still.”

(Seongho) : “So? How was the stage?”

Jiyeon started to answer, then stopped.

Up close, her heart did it again.

The face that had just been on the monitor was now right in front of her.

(Jiyeon) : “It was... fine.”

(Seongho) : “Fine how?”

(Jiyeon) : “You did better than I expected.”

Seongho smiled.

(Seongho) : “That's it?”

Jiyeon pushed his shoulder.

(Jiyeon) : “Go change.”

Seongho obediently turned away.

Then after a few steps, he looked back.

Their eyes met.

Seongho smiled.

Jiyeon looked away again.

He didn't miss it.

It was strange.

Jiyeon used to make that face years ago too.

When they had first started dating.

The face she made when he held her hand and she got shy enough to look anywhere but at him. The face she made when she'd just admitted she liked him and immediately changed the subject.

The memory came back after a long time, and Seongho smiled to himself.

Cute.

Jiyeon, completely unaware of that, was having a crisis of her own.

He was her husband.

Definitely her husband.

So why did it feel like she had just fallen for another man?