“So,….Robin.”
“Yes?”
Grinning cheekily as he and Robin walk down the path the director sent them down, Himchan glances at her and teases, “You really think I’m that good looking?”
Robin laughs, reaching out to playfully shove his shoulder. “What do you think?”
“I think-” His eyes lighting up as they pass a gift shop, he stops, plucks a plastic tiara from a rack, and kneels in front of her. “I believe my own humble appearance is nothing but a dim lamp compared to the shining star of your beauty. Please accept this precious crown as a symbol of my admiration.”
Her widened eyes crinkle at the corner as she bursts into laughter again, hugging her stomach.
Himchan’s own mouth quirks at the corners as he tries to maintain his serious expression. “Is my request so deserving of your ridicule?”
“Of course not, oh prince,” Robin replies with a chuckle, pursing her lips as she regains her composure. With a delicate curtesy, she lays a gently hand on his. “I accept your gift with the utmost gratitude. Will you in turn do me the honor of placing it upon my head?”
“But of course, my lady.” Quickly giving her hand a light kiss, Himchan rises and places the tiara amongst her rowdy curls. “Perfect.”
“Grease-ball.” Chuckling, she shakes her head. “We need to find one for you too.”
“Hmm…what about these?”
Laughter bubbles from Robin’s lips again as Himchan plops the bright pink, floppy bunny ears on his head and begins bouncing around, almost bumping into the camera in the process.
Obviously pleased at her reaction, Himchan gleefully preens. “Really brings out my eyes, doesn’t it?”
“You look fabulous, darling!”
“Don’t I always?” he winks.
Pretending to fix the ears, Robin nods and pulls out her phone. “Picture time!”
As the two present countless poses to the camera, Himchan whispers, “Guess we look cute together, huh?”
Glancing in the direction of the chuckling staff, she shrugs with a smile. “I definitely think so.”
After buying the ears and tiara and setting off once again, Himchan asks, “Is there anything in particular you want to ride?”
“Not really. I’m up for anything.”
“Me too….So, how’re promotions going?”
“Good. We’ve gotten good responses so far, but we’re still trying to get more activities. Spread the word, you know.”
“Maybe you all can do something else with us too. Like a joint project since both groups need more promotion.”
Robin raises an eyebrow. “You’re kidding, right? B.A.P has to be one of the biggest groups out there. I mean, you’ve already had a world tour and I’ve lost count of how many albums. You guys are amazing at everything….Are you blushing?”
He hurriedly turns his head. “No.”
“You totally are!” Giggling, she pats one of his cheeks. “You’re so adorable, Himmie!”
His retort dies on his lips as he looks past her.
“Himchan? You okay?”
“What the heck is this?” Himchan starts laughing in disbelief, swinging around to point an accusing finger at the following production staff. “Yah! I knew we wouldn’t get off that easy! You sneaks!”
“What’re you talking about?”
Lightly gripping her shoulders, he turns her around. “That.”
Directly in front of their path is a harmless looking wooden booth not unlike those at any carnival that deserves the name. The sign above it and the surrounding cameras aren’t quite as innocent.
“Oh.”
“Yah! You didn’t tell us we’d have to do tasks!” Himchan scolds playfully. “A kissing booth? Seriously? Are you a nineteen plus show now? We still want Zelo to be able to watch this!”
“You don’t actually have to kiss,” one of the assistants explains, barely suppressing his laughter. “You just have to roll the die and bite a pepero stick below that number.”
“And I’m guessing we can’t move forward till we do?”
“It’s all for variety, right?” Robin chuckles lightly, nudging Himchan’s shoulder when he gives an exaggerated huff at the assistant’s nod.
“Yes.” As they walk towards the booth, he covers his mic and shyly adds, “I wouldn’t actually have been upset if we had to- …you know,…kiss.”
“Me neither,” she whispers back.
The lip biting smile he gives her sends a flock of butterflies soaring through her stomach and she’s glad her face is temporarily out of camera range.
Himchan lifts the oversized die with one hand, offering it to her. “Lady's luck?”
Chuckling, she obligingly blows on it before he tosses it into the air and leans over the booth’s counter to see their fate. “One? Is that one centimeter?”
“I guess?”
“Yes,” comes the reply from the assistant.
“One centimeter. Okay,” Himchan shouts enthusiastically, turning to Robin with his usual cheeky grin. “Okay?”
“Okay,” she laughs, already taking a pepero stick from the tray on the counter and putting it between her lips.
Holding up his fingers, the assistant counts off. “Three, two, one, go!”
Himchan begins nibbling, trying to concentrate but almost laughing at the determined look on Robin’s face as she delicately nips at her end. He shakes his head, shifting his eyes from her eyes to the pepero. Unfortunately for him, he quickly discovers that was a mistake as he becomes mesmerized by her rosy lips only centimeters away from his.
“Himchan!”
Glancing up at his muffled name, he realizes he’d stopped moving. “Sorry, Romi.” Quickly recovering, he starts again, trying to concentrate on anything but Robin’s lips. The possibility of an embarrassing penalty spurs him on. Only a few more bites.
Suddenly, Himchan feels a hard shove against his back, causing him to fall forward. The snap of pepero stick is inaudible, but Himchan can almost hear the steam whistling out of his ears as his cheeks redden. Robin’s rounded eyes stare back at him as their lips press together, smooth and warm.
Youngjae’s laughter breaks the spell as Himchan whips around, his eyes quickly finding their target already at a safe distance. “Yoo Youngjae, you little brat!”
Youngjae’s only response is to stick out his tongue and take off running, his laugh trailing behind him.
Knowing it’s useless to chase after him, Himchan turns back to Robin with a sheepish chuckle. “Umm….sorry about that. He- he pushed me.”
“It’s okay,” she replies, trying to laugh it off as well. Shaking her head, she picks the piece of pepero off the ground and holds it out to the camera. “Did we pass?”
Accepting the ruler from one of the staff, Himchan holds it against the pepero. “We did! Half a centimeter! Guess that Youngjae’s good for something.”
Robin chuckles with him. “I guess.”
“We’re good, right?” He whoops when the assistant shakes his head. Moving closer to Robin, he asks, “We’re good too, right?”
She nods.
“Between you and me, I kinda liked it,” Himchan adds with a wink.
“Enough to try it again?” Robin invites with a small smirk.
The resulting grin on Himchan’s face gives her all the answer she needs.
“Hyung?”
The two turn to see Jongup standing beside the camera crew with a hopeful smile.
“Hi, Jongup,” Robin smiles, waving.
“Hi, noona,” he cheerily answers. “Can I hang out with you guys?”
“Why not?” Giggling at the somewhat exasperated look on Himchan’s face, she squeezes his hand underneath the counter. “Right, Himchan?”
The teasing glitter in her eyes providing enough promise to make up for the lost alone time with her, Himchan gives Jongup an easy smile. “Right. The more the merrier.”
“Awesome,” Jongup smiles, happily dancing over to them as they walk away from the booth. “I was with Youngjae hyung, but he ran away after he pushed you.”
“You saw him about to do that? Why didn’t you shout or something?”
Jongup shrugs. “You didn’t look like you wanted to be interrupted.
Himchan sighs, the corners of his mouth quirking up at Robin’s stifled giggle. “Thanks.”
“Your welcome,” the dancer replies, the sarcasm completely lost on him. “Oh, can we go on the cable cars over there? It looks so fun!”
“Sure. Lead the way, Jongup,” Robin replies, falling into step beside Himchan as they follow the skipping boy. “Himchan.”
Distracted by the enticing smell of her perfume that he’s suddenly noticing, his response is a little slow. “Hmm?”
“What did you call me earlier?”
“When?”
“When you were apologizing for kissing me.”
With a sheepish chuckle, he answers, “Romi.”
“Romi?”
“A spur of the moment nickname, I guess?” Himchan shrugs, carefully watching her face.
“Romi,” Robin repeats slowly before a smile brightens her face. “I like it. It’s cute.”
He smiles back. “So, can I call you ‘Romi’?”
“You’ll be the only one,” she says, offering up her pinky finger. “Promise.”
“My Romi, then,” Himchan chuckles, joining their pinkies and pressing their thumbs together.
“Hyung, noona, why’d you stop?” Jongup looks back at them with a puzzled look. “The cable car entrance is over there.”
“Sorry, Jonguppie,” Himchan apologizes, sharing one last smile with Robin. “We’re coming.”
