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smileyerim · 10 months

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episode one: champagne problems

summer of love: an interactive nct series

Welcome to Villa Rosa, the home for this summer’s hottest singles to come together to compete to find their true love. Through a series of compatibility competitions and tempting newcomers joining the mix, our couples will be put to the test to evaluate if they really belong together. Join us in the summer of love, where anything could happen. (reality show concept based off of perfect match)

chapter content:

(bold indicates a major pairing with the reader in this chapter)

the boys: mark lee, jung jaehyun, na jaemin, lee haechan, kim jungwoo, kim doyoung (the host)

the girls: model!reader, huh yunjin, karina, shin ryujin

genre: fluff, sorta angsty

word count: 9.9k

warnings: love triangle, adults drinking, dialogue about sex, dialogue about heartbreak, SHIT MOVES FAAAAST (comes with the territory tbh), visual and personality comparisons between all the boys (this is a major theme, so if it offends you please don’t read further)

net tags: @kflixnet @k-labels

for information on the full series, check out the series masterlist linked below the title!

“On my cue.” The producer dressed in black says next to you. You give him a nod and a smile before quickly readjusting your bikini top for the millionth time today.

Your nerves are starting to build in an exciting way, you swipe your sweaty palms on your sheer wrap that’s covering truly nothing on your body.

My reality television debut, you ponder the event as you stand silently. You can hear the roar of laughter and the telltale squeal of a girl that just got cheekily flirted with from down the hallway. You will join the bunch next.

“Go.” The producer says and you let out a final sigh before strutting with as much confidence and power that you can muster down the hallway. The only noise is your heels clicking the marble, the group outside clearly having been told to anticipate your arrival.

The moment you spot the group, they all erupt in enthusiastic hellos, even earning you a wolf whistle from a tall man in tropical print shorts. You’re the second girl here, with only two more to follow after you. There’s three boys already waiting. The one girl, Karina, runs up to you first, complimenting your outfit and makeup. You’re too smart to fall for it, knowing that she’s only doing so to scope you out quickly. Hell, you’ll be doing the same thing once more girls join in.

This is a competition, after all.

“Wow, it’s lovely to meet you.” A shorter guy with a sexy undercut approaches you with a shy side hug. He’s handsome and youthful, you note.

Your eyes meet once you exchange names. Mark, he had said. His name doesn’t match how sexy he is, but you bite your tongue on telling him that. He’s staring pretty intensely into your eyes and you feel locked in, but you remind yourself of the circumstance you’re in and hesitantly break away to meet the other guys.

They all greet you with hugs, but none of them leave an impression quite like Mark does. You learn that the man who gave you a wolf whistle is a tall man named Jungwoo. He interests you right off the bat, but the moment you’re done saying hello he’s back to talking to Karina.

He seems to be hitching his wagon early, so you do the same and travel back over to Mark’s side.

“Can I get you a drink?” He says, hand already reaching for the champagne bottle in the ice bucket. You laugh at his initiative, finding him quite endearing and nod your head yes.

“Where are you from?” He says as he fills the flute with with the bubbles.

“Take a guess,” you tease him with a smile on your face, leaning your elbows onto the high top table between you two. Your cleavage is certainly on display, an intentional move on your part.

“Aw, dude, don’t do that to me!” He whines cutely with animated eyes. You laugh again and answer him.

“Fine, fine. I’m from New York. Well, not originally but that’s where I live now.” You answer him as he hands you your flute. You want to tease him again for his heavy pour, but you bite your tongue.

“Oh, cool! I’m from Toronto originally but I’ve been living in Seoul for a few years to work on music.” You nod, eye being caught by the producers shushing you all in anticipation of a new person.

It’s a girl dressed in a neon green bikini, and Jungwoo graces her with the same wolf whistle he did for you. You mentally note his affinity for pulling the same moves on different women and join Karina in greeting her with over the top enthusiasm.

She introduces herself as Ryujin. You observe Mark give her the same awkward side hug that he did you, but just as quickly as he’s greeting her he’s back at your side. You smile, noting his apparent loyalty to you already.

“So, what do you do?” Mark asks you. You typically hate small talk, but appreciate that he’s keeping the conversation PG unlike the group adjacent to you two.

(“What’s your body count?” A loud, young guy asks Ryujin, and she gasps, slapping his shoulder in an obvious flirt.)

“I’m a stylist. I do freelance work for magazines and things like that.” You explain, and it’s cute how he pretends to find it interesting.

“Rate my outfit then.” He asks with a smirk. You take the opportunity to scan his body down to the shorts he’s wearing, but letting your eyes linger on his toned skin. He’s not muscular by any means, potentially skinny even, but the muscle definition that he does have suits him well.

You smile, about to answer them when Ryujin approaches the table again, “Care to pour me a drink, Mark?” She says and you smile politely at her as he sends you a quick glance before reaching for the bottle.

Ouch, but you get it. There’s a lot of people to get to know here, and Mark is currently only one of three guys. There’s still two more to arrive, and if Mark is the only one that’s interesting to her from the selection then so be it.

Thankfully, Mark doesn’t allow you to third wheel for long as he includes you in the conversation quickly.

“Y/N is from New York, too!” Mark exclaims and you smile in her direction to nod in confirmation. You have to remind yourself to stay calm as you speak to them. Two more boys are coming, and loyalties are as strong as tissue paper in the wind on shows like these.

You have to remember to stay focused and open minded. Thankfully, Mark and Ryujin are both exciting conversationalists so you’re able to stay engaged in the conversation until the producers quiet you all down again.

Ryujin leans over to whisper in your ear, “Do you think it’s a girl or a guy?” She asks excitedly. You giggle at her and shrug, squinting your eyes to attempt to spot the next figure through the palm tree leaves blocking a clear view of the door.

It’s a girl this time wearing a cut out one piece. It’s in a deep fuchsia to compliment her skin tone and light brown hair and you nearly gasp at her beauty once she smiles excitedly as she approaches.

She’s the last in and for good reason, she’s gorgeous. You’re the first to move in to introduce yourself.

“Hello, beautiful!” You announce and pull her into a hug. It’s a little difficult as she’s significantly taller than you, but you manage. She smiles genuinely as she returns your compliment, nearly forcing a blush on your cheeks. Her name is Yunjin, she shares with the girls.

Just like before, Mark gives her a side hug. It’s much more awkward and surely embarrassing on his part as she’s slightly taller than him with the help of her stilettos.

In fact, the only person tall enough for Yunjin is Jungwoo, so they quickly begin chatting, leaving you to Mark and Ryujin.

“Where’s the rest of the eye candy, huh?” Ryujin jokes and knocks your shoulder softly.

Ah, you think, she’s not into Mark. You smile at the realization and stare him right in the eye when you jokingly respond.

“Shit, I don’t know. It’s getting a little boring.” You challenge him silently and he raises one eyebrow while maintaining eye contact with you. You say nothing, only breaking the eye contact to bring your champagne flute back to your lips.

You had planned to play the field a bit more, but the pickings are slim with 4 girls and 3 boys so far, and Mark is far more interesting than Jungwoo and Haechan.

That is, until the producers quiet you once more to introduce the last 2 attendees. Ryujin perks up, standing on her tippy toes and leaning her body to try and sneak a glance. You’re hopeful for her sake, these are the last two guys who will be joining you for quite some time. For you, though, you feel as if you could hold your own with Mark, but the inkling curiosity still strikes as you wait for the last two boys.

Your jaw drops once you spot them. You have to blink your eyes once to clear your vision to absorb every detail.

Two men with bodies to die for and faces that seem painted by God himself emerge from the entrance.

One of them is a certified pretty boy, you can say that much, with his big eyes and charming smile. His blonde hair is styled perfectly and if he couldn’t get any hotter, he goofily greets the group with a squeal and wide arms. He seems young, but in all fairness most of the guys here are, too. He begins by greeting the table adjacent to yours, naturally so as they reacted just as enthusiastically as he had.

The other boy, though, is making a beeline for your table.

Wait, not just your table. He’s making his way towards you.

His lipped smile grows as he approaches slowly, dimples peeking out in his cheeks. You’re enraptured by his visuals immediately, meeting his eyes as he walks up to wrap both arms around you in a hug.

It takes you by surprise, but just as quickly as it’s begun it’s ended.

“My name is Jaehyun.” He introduces himself after he lets go, sticking his hand out for you to shake. You giggle and tilt your head at his hand, finding it odd that he’s choosing to give you a handshake after he’s already hugged you, but he’s so hot that you barely can think.

You shake his hand back, noting how big his is compared to yours as you give him your name.

“Mm,” he hums in satisfaction, “pretty name for a pretty girl.” he winks down at you and you genuinely giggle at that, turning your head bashfully to look at the ice bucket in the center of your table.

It’s nothing spectacular to look at, unlike Jaehyun, but it’s the ending the moment needed so he could go and make his rounds.

You watch him as he approaches the other table of people. He doesn’t give any other girls the same encapsulating hug that he gave you, it’s intentional and you know it. He makes it all the more obvious as he catches your eye after side hugging the two girls, clearly watching for your reaction.

Unsure of how you feel about the silent message, you turn back to Mark and Ryujin who have now begun talking about the villa.

“I’m really excited to see what the bedroom situation will be like.” You chime in, and Mark enthusiastically agrees and steps closer to you. He isn’t showing any signs that the greeting with Jaehyun irked him, which you find unbelievably sexy of him.

“I bet the bathroom is plush.” A voice from behind you says and you jump, turning to see Jaehyun cheekily smile down at you.

“You did that on purpose!” You hit his shoulder and he just laughs and stands in the empty spot opposite to Mark at the high top.

He shrugs, smirking, “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. You’ll just have to get to know me better to see.” He flirts and you smile back.

“I guess so.” You trail off, returning your attention to Mark and Ryujin. Now Mark is showing his true feelings, but only slightly with his attentive eyes already on you when you look at him.

He was watching you and Jaehyun. Interesting.

“Alright, lovers! How’re we feeling?” A voice over a megaphone startles you once more to steal your attention.

Your brain short circuits as you’re slightly star struck by the host in view. Doyoung, a jazz singer known for meeting his wife on the Bachelor, stands proudly on a small stage before you as the group whoops and hollers. You were warned that he’d be here, but seeing him in person makes it all the more real.

“Let me be the first to say welcome to the Summer of Love villa!” He lowers the megaphone this time, much to your gratitude, and you applaud with the rest.

“You’re all here because you have one thing in common— you’re too hot to be single!” The group erupts in laughter at that and Jaehyun sneakily leans in to your side to whisper,

“Especially you.”

You blush and turn your gaze back to Doyoung, doing your best to keep your cool. It’s already hot outside, but you feel yourself warming up a few extra degrees at his forwardness.

“Hey, you’ll have enough time to flirt later.” Doyoung teases Jaehyun and points his finger, and Jaehyun brings his arms up in surrender much to the amusement of the others. You blush even harder, staring straight ahead at Doyoung. Looking at either Jaehyun or Mark could be dangerous for you right now.

“You also all share another attribute, you all want something real.” Doyoung says and the crowd nods in agreement. Admittedly, you had no idea that was a part of the criteria to join the show, but you nod along with them anyways. It’s true, you suppose.

“To create an environment for real connections, at the end of each week you will pair up with another person here to dedicate your attention towards.”

“As you know, though, not all that glitters is gold. To put your relationships to the test, each week a new man or woman will join you here to search for their own perfect pair.” The group oohs and feigns shock. That, at least, you know is an act as you were told about the scope of the show before you even signed on.

“At the end of each coupling, anyone without a match will leave here alone. As you’ve already noticed, there’s four girls and five guys. So gentlemen, be aware that one of you will be the first to go home.” You glance around the group, looking for any obvious pairings forming already. There are none, which excites you. It’s open season, and there’s five cute guys here all needing to find a girl for tonight.

“To really bring up the heat in the summer of love, our first coupling will be tonight.” You gasp at that announcement, looking over to Mark and Jaehyun who are both already looking at you. Your palms begin sweating again.

“Now, are you ready to begin the Summer Of Love?” Doyoung says, speaking into the megaphone again. The group erupts in cheers, although you’re sure the rest of the group is feeling the same anxiety that you are.

After Doyoung released the group to go inside and explore the villa, the producers instruct you to gather by gender to discuss the others. The girls have gathered, much to your gratitude, at the infinity pool at the edge of the property. The heat is oppressive, so you stand near the edge of the pool where Yunjin has her feet dipped.

“He’s pretty cute and was flirting with me really hard,” Yunjin shares, “but Jaemin is really cute too and much more my type.”

You nod adding, “Jungwoo is from the same city as you, though.”

She pouts in consideration before nodding herself.

“Good point. I don’t know who I’m most interested in, then. Karina you go.” Yunjin passes the torch with a fake frustrated sigh. You laugh at her antics, scrunching your nose and directing your attention to the blonde lounging out on the tanning chair.

She looks as if she’s posing with the way her arms and legs are positioned, but you can’t blame her. The producers constantly meddling and the right black band around your waist make it impossible to forget that you’re on camera.

“I don’t know, honestly. Jaemin is cute, but we look too similar.” You and Yunjin share a look of confusion before she giggles in realization.

“Wait, because you’re both tall, hot blondes?” Yunjin giggles and Karina swipes the sunglasses off of her face.

“Well, yeah!” She says like it’s obvious and the three of you erupt in laughter at her statement.

“I’m not too sure that any of that matters.” Ryujin reassures her, to which you vocalize your agreement.

“Whatever. What I’m most interested in is Y/N’s thoughts.” Karina eyes you with a smirk and you look down at your intertwined hands leaning on the pool’s edge as the girls excitedly agree with her and urge you to speak up.

When you take too long to answer, Yunjin kicks your side and Ryujin tacks on to your other, smiling at you in anticipation.

“Okay, fine!” You cave in and the girls lean in, Karina moving to lay on her stomach backwards on the chair to be closer to you all.

“I honestly don’t know what to think.” You say with honesty. You truly do not know who you are more interested in.

“Oh, come on, Jaehyun had you blushing like a little schoolgirl!” Yunjin teases to attempt to get a confession out of you. Before you can say anything else, though, Ryujin pipes up.

“Yes, but did you see her and Mark? She was obviously feeling him, too.” You groan, head falling into your hands in embarrassment.

“Haechan wouldn’t stop checking her out either…” Karina adds.

“Oh, Jaemin too!” Yunjin piles on and you cringe at yourself. You had known about Mark and Jaehyun, but Haechan and Jaemin too?

You’ll admit, you’ve always known that you’re beautiful, but this is a whole new level of attention.

“There’s no way.” You say with your head still hidden.

“Damn, girl, you’re popular.” Ryujin says next to you and you roll your eyes.

“Helpful.” You snark at her and she wraps a sympathetic arm around you to pull you in to a fake hug.

“Champagne problems.” She coos and pets your hair teasingly, to which you playfully wiggle her off of you. The girls laugh and you sigh, settling down a bit to give them a true answer.

“It’s still early days, so I don’t know yet. I like that Mark is boyish, but Jaehyun is really charming.”

“Really charming.” Ryujin adds and you nod at her.

“Yeah, sure, he had me blushing, but cockiness can be disguised by confidence and I don’t know if that’s a risk I want to take.” The girls nod in understanding, and before Ryujin can share her answer, a voice booms out from the house.

“Round up!” An unfamiliar voice calls, most likely another producer, and you roll your eyes at the intrusion. It’s going to be hard to get used to.

The boys are the last to arrive to the patio where you’re sat with the girls. The cameras are blocking a clear view, but you can see Jaehyun and Mark chatting away as they approach. You smile, thankful that the competition over you didn’t place any walls between them.

“This seat taken?” Mark says and you smile, shaking your head no to allow him to sit on the loveseat with you. There’s barely enough room for you both, not that you’re complaining. To make more room, Mark leans his arm on the back of the loveseat and pulls you back to lean into his chest a bit.

Under other circumstances you’d push him off, but time moves quickly in the villa, especially for the boys who risk going home after tonight. Plus, you really really want to be here against him right now, so you’ll take the justifications.

Jaehyun, on the other hand, is sitting next to Jungwoo on the sofa. You know that the only girl that he spoke to earlier was you, but you’re still surprised to see him single.

“Are you ready for your first challenge?” Doyoung says once he’s found his spot standing before you all. You all cheer in response, and once Mark’s done clapping, his free hand finds your knee. You blush even deeper, the butterflies in your belly erupting at the contact.

“In your first challenge, we will put your discernment abilities to the test in a game of first impressions.” The crowd oohs, Mark included, but you wait and listen.

“Each of you will be faced with real secrets about other people in this villa. You will then have to match the secret with the person that you think it belongs to.” You gulp, adjusting nervously. You didn’t know that this would come up so early in the show.

“You ok?” Mark whispers in your ear which startles you, but you quickly nod with a curt smile. He’s going to find out soon anyways.

“The person who guesses the most secrets correctly will be rewarded with a date with any other person of their choosing.” You’d have it in you to be excited along with the rest of the group if you weren’t so nervous.

You seriously weren’t expecting it to come up, not so soon at least. Not without you sharing it first. You feel as if the rug has been ripped out from underneath you, as if your story is no longer your own.

“Ladies first, Yunjin.” Doyoung calls her up dismiss her to the selection room. She gasps and shoots up quickly, blowing you all kisses goodbye as she retreats. The producers have instructed you all to stay silent to avoid cheating, so all you can do is sit with your thoughts as Mark’s thumb slowly rubs circles into your knee. It’s a comforting move, one that you’re needing quite a bit right now.

If you weren’t so preoccupied with your own thoughts, you’d notice Jaehyun staring daggers into Mark’s hand on your leg. You don’t, though, but Mark certainly does.

Mark had picked up on what was going on during the introductions earlier, but his fears were made real when Jaehyun expressed his interest in you to the guys as they all sat in the bedroom earlier that day. Mark felt small in that moment when faced with the reality of his competition, but he did his best to not let it get to him.

The mindset shift worked in his favor, clearly, as you were now here sitting with him, not Jaehyun.

All of the girls had left and returned by the time it was your turn. You sighed once your name was called, using Mark’s leg as a rest to help you up. Unlike the others, you don’t give any dramatic or cute goodbyes and simply walk to the room.

It’s exactly as you expected with the white walls lit up by LED lights displaying a wave of sunset colors. In the center of the room is a large touchscreen table currently displaying five photos and five digital envelopes to open.

You sigh as you approach, expressing your nerves to the camera up above the table. Hesitantly, you tap the first envelope to spark an animation of it opening to reveal the first secret.

Lost his virginity during seven minutes in heaven.

You scoff a laughter, shaking your head and clicking on the next. You want all of your options before you make pairings.

Said “I love you” 4 days in

You cringe at that one, but move on quickly so as to not embarrass the boy this secret belongs to.

Said the wrong name during sex.

You roll your eyes at that one. It’s clear what type of show the producers are trying to make. Too bad your secret doesn’t fit into the mold. You tap the next.

Got left at the altar.

Your heart drops to your stomach when you read that one. You tap on the card a few times to see if it’s real, and it is. You pause for a few seconds, but will yourself to move on. You’re wasting too much time.

Has moved in with 4 out of 5 of his past girlfriends.

With all the secrets revealed, you take a deep breath and laugh to yourself.

“These boys are such a mess.” You say half to yourself, half to the camera.

Your first instinct is to match Haechan with “said the wrong name during sex”, so you do just that.

Your eye is caught on “has moved in with 4 out of 5 past girlfriends” as another easy match. Jaehyun, obviously. Not only does he have the charisma to make 4 girls fall in love with him, he’s also the oldest boy which makes for more time in adulthood than the rest.

“Lost his virginity during seven minutes in heaven” is given to Jungwoo.

Purposefully avoiding the most intense secret, you pair Mark with “Said ‘I love you’ after four days”.

By default, you match Jaemin with “Got left at the altar.” You know your guess is wrong, but you’re not attracted to the idea of winning. If you win you then have to choose, which is the last thing you want to do right now.

Once you return happily to the waiting crew, you swap glances with Yunjin who has to look away quickly before bursting into giggles. Clearly, she found the challenge to be more amusing than you had.

The boys are called up next, and you’d be lying if you said that you didn’t bounce your leg in anxiety when both Mark and Jaehyun left and returned respectively. Neither of them seem affected, so they clearly didn’t match you correctly.

“Results are in.” Doyoung emerges and you all burst in scandalous “ooh”‘s.

“Before we reveal the true answers, we must crown our winner.” Doyoung announces and the group leans in in excited anticipation.

“Jungwoo, you have won our first challenge.” Doyoung can barely finish his sentence over the loud cheers of the group congratulating him. He celebrates himself, but ends his celebration by grabbing Yunjin’s hand and kissing the back. She giggles bashfully and smiles ahead of her.

Well, you think, that’s that. With a proud smile for your new friend.

“Do you all want to know the true matches?” Doyoung eggs you all on, earning exasperated ‘yes’’s from the group.

Uh oh, here we go.

The boys go first, much to the excitement of the girls, you included. First, Doyoung reveals your score as a 1, much to your disappointment. Mark laughs at you and offers you a comforting shoulder pat which you accept happily. Whatever you have to do to get him to keep touching you, you think.

The rest of the girls didn’t do much better, with Karina scoring the highest at a pathetic 2.

Doyoung first reveals that Jungwoo is the one who has moved in with four girlfriends before. The group, although surprised, aren’t too shocked by the news. He even earned a few remarks of how that fits him. All that you care about, though, is that Jaehyun could now be any of the other four secrets.

Next Jaemin is exposed for having said the wrong name during sex, which earns him a chorus of boos that he humbly accepts with his head hung low. It’s all in lighthearted fun, though, as laughter soon follows and excited requests for the story. Jaemin declines to your collective dissatisfaction, and Doyoung moves on.

The only answer you got correct was Mark, expectedly. Oddly enough, though, what you found cringey in the selection room is now endearing when paired with the boy sitting next to you. He buries his head in embarrassment at the teasing coo’s of the group, groaning through his smile.

“I think it’s cute.” You whisper into his hair to attempt to force him out of hiding.

“Really?” His shining eyes meet yours and your heart glows at his hopeful look. You nod with a soft smile on your face before drawing attention back to Doyoung to break the moment. You don’t want to put all your eggs into one basket just yet.

Mark’s secret had distracted you, but now the reality of what’s left has hit you like a ton of bricks.

The only two boys left are Haechan and Jaehyun, two boys who couldn’t be any more different. The only two secrets couldn’t be any more opposite either.

The answer is obvious, right in front of your nose, but you want to make sure before you allow yourself to freak out. You stiffen against Mark’s chest again, and you pray that he doesn’t comment on it.

With sweaty palms, you pretend to be intrigued when Haechan is revealed to have lost his virginity during seven minutes in heaven. You even put on a pretend entertained face when he proudly tells the play by play — entirely unprompted.

The moment Haechan sits down, you allow yourself to stare Jaehyun down. He looks calm, but he can’t possibly be. Not when you know what you know and the entire world is about to, too. He must be feeling exactly as you are.

“That means that our poor Jaehyun here was left at the altar.” Doyoung announces and the crowd falls eerily solemn for a moment to read his response to the announcement.

But he shrugs. He just… shrugs? It lightens the mood enough to let the crowd offer half sincere condolences to him as he pretends as if it’s not a big deal. You’re flabbergasted, choosing to look onward at him blankly until he looks at you. He doesn’t.

The girls are due to be announced next, and you choose acceptance. It’s all coming out anyways.

Firstly, Karina is exposed to have split custody over a dog with her ex. You giggle at her reveal, seeing it as absolutely fitting.

Next, it’s revealed that Ryujin once went on three dates with a guy without knowing his name. That one surprises you, but you can’t say you don’t sympathize.

“Y/N,” Doyoung pauses and the group begins slapping their knees and cushions in a drumroll. All participate except Jaehyun, who just looks on with an odd warmness behind his eyes. You maintain your stare with him for a second or so before Doyoung speaks again.

“was left stranded on her honeymoon.” You sigh, the nerves settling now that your secret has been revealed. You don’t move a muscle until the girls begin to shout out confused exclaims.

“Wait, girl, seriously?” Yunjin asks and you meet her eyes with a sad look that confirms it all.

The girls then shout in unison again, but this time with dumbfounded half-compliments. The only one you catch is Ryujin’s, “He left a girl like you?”

You scoff, laughing a bit and looking at her, “Well, yeah.” with gentle eyes.

You refuse to turn to look at Mark, but you can feel his hand grip your leg tighter from beside you. Still, your head remains forward when Doyoung moves on.

Through the laughter at Yunjin’s secret revealed, you spot another blank face. Jaehyun, and he’s staring right at you.

Once the director calls cut on the cameras brought in specifically for the challenge, Jaehyun is up and making a beeline towards where you’re sitting with Mark.

“Let’s talk.” He says, hand extending out to you to grab.

“Hold on a sec,” Mark says, not letting go of your leg. You meet his eyes for the first time since before your secret was revealed and find nothing but concern on his face.

Great, you think, exactly what I didn’t want.

You look up at Jaehyun and see no panic, confusion, or concern. He looks… neutral.

“I’ll talk to you before the party, okay?” You say to Mark and he sighs, letting go of your leg to allow you to stand. You don’t take Jaehyun’s hand out of respect for Mark.

That is, until you’re out of Mark’s sight.

“Let’s go to the daybed.” Jaehyun says, moving your grasped hands to intertwine your fingers. You smile down at your feet at the gesture.

Once you’re settled, you sitting criss crossed and Jaehyun laying on his side in a relaxed lounge, he breaks the silence.

“Welcome to pathetic losers anonymous, my name is Jaehyun.” He says and urges you with his hand to continue the act. His attempt to lighten the situation makes you smile, a charmed look on your face when you reply, “Hi Jaehyun.” in a drawn out bored voice.

He cracks a genuine smile at that before he continues, “Two years ago my fiancée—ex fiancée— ran away with her ex boyfriend the night before our wedding.”

The gasp you let out at his confession makes you embarrassed, so you quickly apologize for your reaction. He smiles, shaking his head in a graceful dismissal of your apology as he continues, “They got married on April 6th and on April 8th, I accepted the offer to be on this show.” You nod in understanding. He doesn’t break eye contact with you as you look between his two eyes. Is this what you look like? Do you also look this unamused when talking about what happened to you?

“Unfortunately due to shrinking populations during the apocalypse,” you laugh at his joke, lightening the mood just a bit.

“there are only two members of Pathetic Losers Anonymous so participation is mandatory if you want to enjoy the amenities.” You choose to play along to his game once more, but with some snark.

“What amenities?” You ask with sass and he just smirks.

“Well, we have the lounge area,” he says while rubbing his hand on the daybed cushion between you. You nod and let out a false interested tone, urging him on with a smile.

“State of the art soundproofing,” he says while cheekily drawing the sheer curtain closed behind him. You cock your head with a suspicious smile on your face and he continues.

“Last but not least,” he grabs blindly behind the back board of the bed, “the pool!” He throws a chilled water bottle in your direction. You squeal, barely catching the flying object before it hits your face.

He breaks character for a moment to apologize, clearly not indenting to throw the bottle that hard. You can’t stop laughing, even when you meet his half concerned, half amused look.

“You dick.” You tease between giggles and he rolls his eyes playfully, laying back down and grabbing your arm to pull you down with him.

You don’t give in, still feeling the pressure.

“I’m scared for everyone to know.” You admit quietly, drawing meaningless patterns in the condensation that’s collected on the bottle in your hands.

“Duh, that’s why we have the state of the art soundproofing!” He jokes, although he knows exactly what you meant.

You meet his eyes before lying down on your back with your hands folded over your stomach.

“We got into a fight on our wedding night because he—“ you stop, reminding yourself that this is on camera.

“It doesn’t matter what we fought about, but we did.” You finally say and Jaehyun nods from where he’s sitting up on his elbow looking down at you. There’s a considerable ten inches between your bodies, but he feels uncomfortably close still.

“When we landed in Cancun I thought we were fine, but he had booked himself a different hotel.” Jaehyun sits patiently for you to reveal the last part of your story.

“I thought he just wanted some time to cool off, so I let him have it. I thought he would check in on me, or call me, or something but he didn’t for that entire week. I spent my honeymoon alone.” You sigh and close your eyes, refusing to let your emotions bubble.

“When I got to the airport at the end of the trip I found out he had gone home the same day that we got there. He left me all alone in Cancun by myself for a week waiting for him.” You pause once again.

“He put his wedding band and annulment papers into an envelope and slid it under my office door for me to find a week later.” You finish your story, looking over at Jaehyun.

He’s unreadable, which is frustrating, but almost welcomed with how overwhelming your own feelings are.

“When did this happen?” He asks.

“A year ago.”

He sighs, not too sure what to say to you. You can’t blame him, you didn’t know what to say to him either.

After a few more uncomfortable moments, you lift your hand up in a fist leaned slightly towards him.

“We’re even now.” You say, inviting him to fist bump you. He chuckles through his nose and fist bumps you.

You sit there for a few more moments just staring at each other basking in the intimacy.

Then you remember the last time you felt this way and turn your logical brain back on.

“I don’t even know where you live.” You say flatly and he laughs at that.

“I guess you don’t, huh?” He says through a smile and you shake your head with a neutral expression.

“I guess you should since you know everything else.” He says before telling you about how he was born in South Korea but moved to London as a kid. More questions down the line and you discover that he’s a doctor, an optometrist to be exact, and ‘That’s how I know you have pretty eyes, I see them all day long.’

Once you share your own lot of fun facts, you decide it’s finally time to join the group again, much to Jaehyun’s disappointment.

“Can you just promise me that you’ll consider me to couple with tonight?” He asks before you round the corner back to the main living space and back to the group.

You smile and with the assistance of your intertwined hands, elevate to your tippy toes to plant a gentle kiss on his cheek.

It’s all the answers he needed.

Mark finds you while you’re washing your hands in the plush bathroom.

“Hey, can we talk?” He says with the same concerned eyes as before. You look at him through the mirror and sigh, taking your time turning off the faucet and drying your hands. You turn on your heel to rest your ass against the counter and extend your arms out to Mark, he quickly obliges and steps into your space where you wrap your arms around his shoulders. His hands find your hips easily.

“Can I be honest?” You ask and he nods quickly.

“Of course.”

You pout and shake your head, “I don’t really want to talk about it anymore, if that’s alright.”

Mark’s face falls a bit but he nods in understanding, repeating the same sentiment from before.

“It just worried me and—“ He begins to ramble but you cut him off.

“Mark, I’ve only know you for a day. I want to know your favorite color first before you know all the skeletons in my closet.” You attempt to reason, but he replies quickly,

“Blue.”

“Mark,” you drag out his name in a whine and his brain seems to catch up to his mouth as he giggles at himself and apologizes, a faint tint of pink rising on his cheeks.

“Can we go swimming or something?” You ask after a moment of laughter.

He nods with a smile, stepping away from you to allow you to stand.

The pool is even nicer now that the sun has nearly set, falling behind the house to give you some much needed shade. The sky is a beautiful orange, and in the moments that both you and Mark are still enough, you can hear the rolling waves from the beach.

Mark is an even nicer view from where you are with your head half dipped in the water as you float on your back. He’s looking down at you with those boyish eyes with a soft smile.

“What?” You ask after a long moment of his stare.

He chuckles and shakes his head, “nothing,”

You groan, breaking your float to stand and look up from Mark’s seated position on the thin infinity edge of the pool.

“Mark,” you say bluntly.

“Nothing!” He giggles out a whine, the same pink blush from before sitting on his cheeks.

You don’t let up though, and he just sighs and laughs before admitting, “I was just thinking how I’m really enjoying getting to know you.”

You almost aww at him, your heart melting at the comment. He’s special, you think. Gentle spirited, sweet, and genuine.

“I’m having fun getting to know you, too.”

You hadn’t realized what you said before he asked you, “Does that mean we’re coupling up tonight?”

You can feel your heart wrench at the hope in his voice. You hadn’t decided yet, you couldn’t tell him yes.

“Mark, I just meant… I don’t know what I meant.” You admit and he dejects a little.

“I want to get to know you, but I also want to get to know someone else. I need time to figure out what I’ll decide.” You say finally and he nods in understanding.

“Can I enjoy getting to know you right now, then?” He asks with the same boyish smile from before and you giggle at him, grabbing his arms and tugging as hard as you can to hopefully send him barreling towards the water.

“Amateur.” He playfully scoffs before jumping in himself, grabbing your legs from underwater and quickly flipping you around to pull you in by your waist to his back and hoist you up. Before you knew it, you were midair about to splash into the water below you.

Once you emerge from the warm water, the first sound you hear is Mark’s bellowing cackle in your direction. You find it just as hilarious, but choose to take the game further instead.

“You dick!” You squeal when you jump in his direction, barely grabbing onto his shoulders as you push down with all your weight to attempt to force him underwater.

When he doesn’t budge you exclaim, “Oh, come on!” which makes him laugh out again. In a moment of boldness, he turns around to face you from where you stand unbelievably close.

“I’ll go under if, and only if,” he pauses and you roll your eyes, poking his shoulder to push him back to swivel a bit.

“Dumbass,” you mutter under your breath and his eyes widen as well as his smile.

“Hey, be nice!” He giggles out and you playfully roll your eyes once more, waving him to continue his sentence.

“I’ll go under if you kiss me.”

Your eyes widen in surprise at his boldness, searching for anything but sincerity between his two eyes. You see nothing of the sort, in fact, you see only desire.

Glancing down at his lips once, you find his proposition all the more tempting. When you place your hands back on his shoulders, no push to send him down this time, he takes it as all the sign he needs to grab you by the hips and place his lips on yours.

He’s gentle for a moment, but picks up the pace a bit once he feels you respond. You smile into the kiss, pulling him closer by the neck as he kisses you harder, his hands gripping the skin at your waist roughly. You grab the back of his head when you switch positions and he hums gratefully into the softness of your lips together. It’s passionate, that’s for damn sure, and you’re loving every moment.

When you feel his tongue prod at your lips, you detach from him and stare up at him with a bashful smile. He looks down at you wonderstruck, but his face morphs quickly after into a devious smirk.

The moment that connect the dots between his face and his hands current position on your body, he’s jumping into the air as you squeal, flopping you both down into the water to make do on his side of the deal.

Thank God for separate dressing rooms. There’s a lot of pressure on you tonight, and both Jaehyun and Mark are distracting as hell. You had read about the crazy time warp you go into when you’re filming a reality show, but you hadn’t believed it until now. Today has felt like a lifetime and it’s not even over yet. On top of that, you still have to break someone’s heart tonight.

You groan at the thought, head thumping down on the table in front of you in frustration. You’ve been doing that a lot recently.

“What did I tell you? Champagne problems.” Ryujin sing songs from her spot at the vanity next to yours.

“My brain can’t work if all you’re doing is telling it that it can’t work!” You exclaim and she laughs sympathetically.

“Well, tell me about it then.” She urges and you huff while you pump your foundation onto the back of your hand.

“Jaehyun is mature, goofy, and confident as all hell. He is also hot as fuck with those cute ass dimples. He’s tall, and he’s got a fucking six pack dude,” she laughs in disbelief and you continue.

“And he gets me, you know?” Ryujin listens with an attentive nod.

“He knows what to say because he gets it. He just… he gets me.” You finish off.

“What about Mark?” She asks and you scoff.

“What not about Mark, you mean? He’s just this precious little thing. He’s genuinely sweet and super open hearted. He’s being nice without even realizing that he’s being nice.” You say finally.

“Wow, girl.” Ryujin says after you have a moment in silence.

“What do I do?” You ask her, genuinely seeking an answer.

“I dunno, flip a coin, I guess.” She suggests and you roll your eyes and let out an exasperated laugh.

You sigh as you return to doing your makeup, you’ll just have to figure this out on your own.

The party is, as you find out, an open bar with restaurant volume royalty free hip hop music playing from a speaker behind the bar.

“Impressive set up, huh?” Jaehyun says from over your shoulder. He’s cleaned up nicely in an all black outfit, jeans on bottom and a satin dress shirt up top. He’s refreshed his cologne as well, and the warm and woodsy scent is almost as intoxicating as your drink is.

“Get 3 more of these in me and I’ll turn it into Vegas.” You joke and he laughs genuinely, hand coming into contact with the exposed skin of your lower back as he steps closer to you.

“I love this song.” He says as he bounces to the beat. You laugh at his nerdy attempt to mouth the lyrics he most certainly does not know.

“Oh, do you now?” You call him out with a teasing lilt in his voice and he stops dancing.

“No, of course not, does anyone for that matter?” He jokes and you laugh again with a shrug. After a moment he excuses himself to grab his own drink and you promise to hold his spot on your dance card.

You know Mark’s watching you because before Jaehyun came up to you, you were watching him. All you can do is pray that he doesn’t approach you now as you wait for Jaehyun to come back.

You want to see Mark tonight too, but not now. You need to figure your shit out about Jaehyun first.

Thankfully, Mark stays in his place standing with Jungwoo and Yunjin who had just returned from their date with stories to share. Mark’s not mad to see you with Jaehyun. Jealous, maybe, but he understands the process.

“God, you’re seriously the most beautiful girl.” Jaehyun says after he’s by you again, hand coming back to your lower back.

“There’s only four girls here.” You tease and take another sip. He responds by stepping in closer to you with a soft smile on his face. You can feel his palm press into your back to pull you closer. It’s so gentle that you aren’t sure that he even knows that he’s doing it.

“I wasn’t talking about the other girls here.” He says softly and you can feel his whisper breath on your face.

He’s so close he could kiss you right now, but you’re reminded of your audience out near the crowded bar and decide to take a small step back from him. Just enough to kill the moment, but not enough to draw his hands off of you.

He notices your retreat but doesn’t say anything, which you’re grateful for.

The moment is over as soon as it began when the producers usher you all to the same covered patio as earlier in the day. This time, though, you’re sat next to Jaehyun on the sofa. His hands don’t wander like Mark’s do.

“Okay, lovers!” Doyoung shouts out as he walks up to where you’re waiting for him. You applaud entirely out of obligation.

“How was your first day?” He asks and the group whoops and hollers in response. You don’t share the same excitement after your first day. You feel like you need another drink.

“Now, as you all know, at the end of the night, one of you will be leaving the villa.” You want to roll your eyes, he keeps on rubbing it in. You get it.

“You have four hours to couple up and make your way inside.” He says with a nod before walking off. You heave out a sigh when he disappears. You’re annoyed that he brought you all the way over here for such an unnecessary announcement. You have decisions to make, dammit! You’re already completely over this reality TV thing.

“Try not to look so discouraged, Twitter might actually see you as a person.” Jaehyun jokes from beside you, earning him a giggle and a nudge on the shoulder.

“Twitter already knows my deepest darkest secret.” You reply and he hums with a knowing smile.

“Can we get away from here?” He says gesturing to the overwhelming amount of cameras observing you.

They’re everywhere, you’ve discovered, and typically expertly hidden. Regardless of where you go the cameras will follow, but there’s something intimidating about seeing them so explicitly.

“Sure.” You reply and allow him to help you stand, not letting go of your hand once you’re stable.

Jaehyun leads you to the fire pit on the side of the house. It’s not lit, but the edison bulbs strung above your heads make for a cozy environment regardless. You adjacent to one another in the beach chairs set to surround the circle.

Once settled, you lean your head into the palm of your hand as you watch him closely. He’s manspreading in an attractive way, limbs stretched out and loose. His head resting against the back of the chair with his eyes closed tell you that he’s completely relaxed.

One of us should be, you figure.

“I’m really sorry about what happened to you.” He says quietly, eyes open but not looking at you.

You sigh, slouching your shoulders forward a bit, “I’m sorry about what happened to you, too.”

This time he does look over to you with a gentle smile and a look of fondness in his eyes.

“We didn’t deserve that, did we?” He asks, and you hope it’s rhetorical. You answer anyways.

“Not at all.”

He hums, taking a moment to pause and take you all in. After a long quiet moment, he speaks, “I like you.”

A smile spreads across your lips in tandem with the butterflies in your belly rising up your chest to make your heart beat faster.

You pause for a moment, scanning your brain for any reason why this may be wrong, but you find nothing.

“Thank you.” Is all you say and he scoffs out a disbelieving chuckle.

“You’re welcome, I guess… Weirdo.” He teases you with the insult and his over exaggerated side eye. You laugh at his faux offended attitude, a common pattern for you today.

“I want to play fair.” You say, feeling quite swayed.

He shrugs, pout coming onto his face when he protests, “Be a little naughty.”

You gasp and he looks over to you with a flirty smirk on his face, the same that he first approached you with. It makes you blush embarrassingly quickly.

“I will do no such thing!” You exclaim and he laughs at you this time, flirting back easily.

“Yawn, but okay.” He sighs before standing, lifting the chair by the armrests behind his back to sit his chair right next to yours, the arm of his chair nearly overlapping yours.

Once he’s sat again, he grabs your hand and, without breaking eye contact, kisses the back of your hand from where it’s intertwined with his.

You feel far too shy to say anything about the contact, so he speaks again.

“I meant it, though.” He says with a serious look behind his eyes. You’ve had enough of the intensity today, so you detour the conversation.

“Which part? The part where you called me a weirdo, or when you called me boring for not wanting to be, quote, naughty?” By the end of your exaggerated recollection of events, Jaehyun is shaking with laughter from the seat next to you, urging on your own fit of giggles.

It takes a while, but you two finally settle down after your laughter fit. He’s still smiling wide when he shares what he truly meant.

“I like you.”

You gulp, nodding in understanding and looking down at your intertwined hands.

“The only way I’m staying here is if I’m here with you.” He says after a moment of silence. You had figured as much, but it feels even more real once he says it out loud. You aren’t quite sure what to say, you don’t have an answer for him. You’re still deeply invested in Mark, too.

“You don’t need to have an answer for me now, I know you have other stuff going on,” you relax a bit once he sympathetically lifts the pressure off of you.

“There’s no other girl for me here, I’m all in to see where this can go.” He admits and your heart jumps up to your throat. His understanding makes him all the more attractive to you.

“I won’t leave you hanging, that’s all I can promise you.” You say, looking up at him meekly. From how close he’s sitting, you can see the tiniest reflection of the lights above in his dark eyes.

He doesn’t respond verbally, having said all that he could, instead choosing to grab your jaw to pull you closer to him.

You gasp and squint your eyes shut, but nothing happens for a moment. Only once you’re noticed this you begin to feel his lips make gentle contact with your forehead.

Your heart lurches. Fuck.

Mark greets you with a bear hug once you’re back in the lounge having left Jaehyun at the fire pit.

(“You coming?”

“I’ll wait for you here.”)

“Don’t scare me like that again!” He let’s out into your hair, squeezing you to emphasize his words.

“What did I do?” You whine, acting very poorly to hide that you love the moment.

“I thought you were going to couple up with him.” He admits and the pieces finally fall into place.

He lets you go then to pull back and look at you, his hands on your biceps to keep you in place.

“Thank you for not doing that to me.” He says and you giggle, nodding politely.

“Let’s talk?” You say after a moment and he nods with enthusiasm. It seems as if one couple has already gone to bed as well as a few members of the camera crew.

He leads you further down the path than you thought he would, stopping to sit on the wooden stairs leading down to the beach. It’s dark out, but you can make out his features well still.

“Gonna murder me, Mark?” You joke with a fake uncomfortable laughter and he chuckles and grabs your thigh.

“I like the sound of the ocean.” He answers truthfully without being asked. You nod, resting your head on his shoulder. There’s something about physical intimacy with this boy that you just can’t get enough.

“Tell me about the girl.” You prompt him without much hesitation. You’re not known for being nosy, but something about imagining Mark telling a girl he loves her irks you slightly. So you dig.

He groans, leaning his head to rest on top of yours, “Nah,” he shuts you down.

“Did you mean it at least?” You ask, still not relenting.

“Oh, absolutely.” He affirms and you hum.

“How long ago?” You ask, treading very lightly.

“About a year ago.” He answers. He’s being extremely cautious, which you understand.

“Do you still love her?” You boldly ask and he shakes his head against yours.

“Would I be here with you if I did?”

You scoff out a laugh, “I would hope not!”

He just chuckles in response and leaves a kiss to your forehead.

“I’m really glad I met you.” He says after a quiet moment. You smile, a warm feeling spreading across your chest.

“Stop,” you whine in embarrassment and sit up, turning your back to him and he giggles.

“It’s true!” He exclaims and pulls your shoulder back to face front once more.

“You just,” you hang your head low to try and conceal your blush, “you keep on saying all these sweet things to me.”

He smiles at that, grabbing your chin to make you face up and look at him. His soft eyes shining in the moonlight stare deep into yours.

He kisses you, just a simple peck, but it affects you all the same.

“There’s nobody else here for me.” He says and you’re immediately reminded of how Jaehyun just shared the same sentiment with you only a few minutes ago.

You nod in response. When you first signed up for this show you hadn’t anticipated so much pressure lying on your shoulders.

“I need some time to think.” You say and he nods in agreement and understanding, but there’s a disappointed look in his eye.

“I know.” He smiles at you, and this time you make the first move.

The stubble on his jaw is rough beneath your fingertips when you gently grab him to pull him in for a kiss. It’s gentle, slow, and beautifully intimate. He kisses you on the forehead once you’ve pulled away.

“Do you want me to go?” He asks and the true answer is no, but you know that you need some alone time to make up your mind.

“Want isn’t the word I would use.” You say and he chuckles and nods in understanding.

“I’ll be inside. Come find me once you’re ready.” He says with one final squeeze to your thigh before standing and retreating back indoors.

Once you can no longer hear the sound of his feet on the rickety boardwalk, you heave out a breath, head falling into your hands.

You haven’t been this conflicted since, well, ever, and it’s tearing you apart inside.

Your desire for both is shocking to you, especially how you’ve managed to become so connected to both of them in such a short period of time. It’s devastating to imagine losing either of them. Your mind is perfectly split down the middle for both.

The crashing waves in the distance do little to calm your wild heart. In 30 minutes you’ll need to make your decision and send one of them home.

Who will you choose?

Ok, your turn!

vote for which boy to couple with!

voting ENDS 7/5

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