She took a sip of water, sighing with relief. They were finally done for the day and she was happy with the shots that they managed to get today. Feeling satisfied and accomplished from her work today, Ha Na started packing up her stuff. She glanced up when she heard footsteps walking towards her.
It was all five of them.
Her head immediately started playing the BGM from the F4 drama.
"We're heading off now and wanted to come say bye before we leave. Thank you for choosing us to be the ambassadors and I hope we get the chance to work together again," Hao Jie bowed slightly.
"Not a problem, you guys did great today. I'm confident the ad will turn out great, we'll reach out to your manager once we have a confirmed release date", Ha Na replied. She gestured for Jia Jia to come closer, "Before you go, do you think you could spare a minute to take some photos with my junior? She's a big fan."
"Of course, of course," Jia Wei strutted up to Jia Jia, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to guide her across the room. Jia Jia's face flushed like a tomato instantly.
Amused, Ha Na took out her phone to snap photos of the group. She showed the photos to them to make sure they were satisfied with the way it turned out. Jia Jia grabbed her phone and pushed her to the centre, "You should take one too, Ha Na."
The five of them started moving into their positions around her, making her feel like a midget. She felt Hao Jie rest his hand ever so lightly on her shoulder while they posed for the photo. Flustered, she did her best to smile naturally before scurrying quickly to grab her phone back from Jia Jia.
'What the hell is wrong with you, it's not like you to swoon at celebrities no matter how hot they are,' she scolded herself mentally.
Nothing escaped Xiao Bao's sharp eyes and busybody personality. He walked towards her and asked, "We're going to a hotpot place down the road before we go to our next shoot. Would you both like to join us?"
Everyone turned to look at him in surprise. They never really invited anyone to have a meal together other than their own staff. The only other exception was if they were familiar with the directors or producing team from being on the same show for a while. It was unusual to invite the company representative for a one-time commercial shoot. Even if it was for prospective business, those were usually done between the executives.
It was unusual for Ha Na too. When she had been assisting Ting-jie, they had always gone their separate ways from the celebrities after the end of the shoot. She felt Jia Jia tugging on her blouse and saw those puppy dog eyes aimed at her. Rubbing her temples lightly, she wondered, 'Would it be more unprofessional to reject the offer or to accept it...'
Sensing her hesitation, Xiao Bao swooped in immediately. "Don't worry, we go to this place a lot whenever we have any work in this area. They always let us in from the back straight to a private room. Everyone here needs to eat and you both look about our age, just take it as a casual meal with new friends. I can guarantee that the food is amazing and it would be rude for us not to share good things with our loyal fan," he persuaded, flashing a quick wink to Jia Jia.
Sighing in defeat, Ha Na reluctantly agreed. It would be rude to reject his invitation now after all that. "We'll finish packing up and meet you there. Please feel free to order without us, neither of us have any particular dietary requirements or food preferences," she said.
He flashed her his signature grin and started walking out with the rest of the group.
Once they were safely in the privacy of their van, Su Yang raised his eyebrow at Xiao Bao. "What are you up to now? Don't tell me you have a crush on the company representative."
Shaking his head vehemently, he denied it straight out. "No, no, no. It's just that she looked like she hadn't eaten all day so I was just being a gentleman. Plus Jia Jia was so helpful today and she kept bringing us stuff to eat. It's not like they're stuffy old men, what's wrong with eating with them?"
"Please, do you think he'd be this smooth if he really did have a crush on her?" Jia Wei butted in.
"Oi, I'm a walking Prince Charming. Who wouldn't fall for me?"
Wen Yi smirked, "I was there when you tried to introduce yourself to Apple Girl's Li Li. You introduced yourself using your mom's name."
"Don't forget the time he gave her someone else's CD instead of ours," Hao Jie butted in.
Xiao Bao clutched his heart dramatically with exaggerated hurt and anguish, "You too, Hao-ge?! I was just trying to help you." Murmuring as he stepped down from the van, "I mean, you're the one that took your shirt off in front of her."
Shoving him in revenge, Hao Jie muttered, "I didn't do that on purpose." Jia Wei snickered behind him, noticing that the tips of Hao Jie's ears were turning red again.
Their manager gave a quick call to the restaurant owners who let them in through the back door and up the stairs concealed by the kitchen.
"Auntie, there will be two more people joining us later. Just send them straight up," Su Yangi quickly added after they ordered all of their favourites.
Fifteen minutes later, Ha Na and Jia Jia arrived at the restaurant. They walked straight to the counter and hesitantly said that they were with the group in the room upstairs. The restaurant auntie eyed them cautiously, wondering if they really were their guests or if they were fangirls who had discovered their presence. She rushed up the stairs to their room to check if it was indeed two young ladies they were waiting for.
Once she got confirmation, she led Ha Na and Jia Jia to the room.
"Good timing, the soup just started to boil," Xiao Bao welcomed them in and gestured for them to take a seat. He had specially arranged for Jia Jia to sit next to Su Yang as fan service and for Ha Na to sit next to Hao Jie for his own entertainment.
Ha Na's eyes brightened when she saw the spicy soup bubbling. She loved hotpot and she loved spicy food, especially after a long tiring day. She tied her hair up into a ponytail and carefully tucked a paper napkin into her white top in an attempt to protect it from getting stained.
"What do you guys have to do after this?" she asked, trying to make conversation.
"We're shooting for our reality show, the one where we have to run around doing whatever ridiculous missions the producers come up with. Have you seen it?" Jia Wei asked, dipping his mushroom into his sauce concoction.
Jia Jia nodded fervently, her eyes sparkling. "Yes, I've seen it! It's such a fun show, I usually watch it after I get home from work to destress. My favourite episode was the one where you guys did a parody of one of the romance dramas. You were really pretty when you were dressed as a girl hehe."
"Did you see the scene where he had to kiss Hao-ge on the cheek? I nearly busted my gut laughing when we were filming it. Hao-ge made so many NGs they had to repeat the scene almost 10 times," Wen Yi chuckled.
"Shut up and eat your food," Hao Jie glared at him before shovelling more rice into his mouth.
Ha Na smiled in amusement and made a mental note to check that episode out when she got home. She could definitely picture Jia Wei with those sparkling eyes as the beautiful innocent female lead and manly Hao Jie as the alpha male lead. 'Life as an idol is hard huh, you've got to do all sorts to stay in the game,' she thought.
From the corner of his eye, Hao Jie could see her trying to eat extra carefully so that the soup wouldn't splash on her top. He grabbed the black hoodie he had tossed over the back of his chair and handed it to her. "This is black, it won't matter if soup gets on it. Just eat comfortably," he told her.
She took the hoodie from him gratefully, surprised at his quiet thoughtfulness. Before she could say anything to him though, Xiao Bao had started asking her questions.
"Where are you from, Ha Na? Your accent sounds a bit different, like you're not local. Your name too."
"Ah, I moved quite a lot when I was a kid because of my dad's job. I mostly went to international schools so my accent and vocabulary is a little off. And yeah, people usually think I'm either Japanese or Korean because of my name."
"Oh what other languages do you speak then?"
"English is actually what I'm most comfortable with. I can speak some Japanese and a bit of Cantonese because my mom is from Hong Kong."
Jia Jia interrupted, "She can speak French too."
"No no, I've only just started learning," Ha Na quickly denied.
Whistling softly, Xiao Bao praised, "Wow you must be a genius to be able to speak so many languages."
"It's just a hobby, I'm not really good at anything else. What about you guys? Did you have to learn many different languages to be able to communicate with your fans?" she changed the subject quickly.
"We can do basic Japanese and we're learning English right now. Hao-ge and Xiao Bao can both speak basic Korean," Wen Yi explained.
"Hey, do you guys want more food? We're out of meat" Su Yang interrupted.
Hao Jie nodded, "Get more tofu, corn, mushrooms and fishballs. I want some noodles too."
"How many of you want noodles?"
It was unanimous, everyone wanted noodles. Jia Wei even raised both of his arms.
Ha Na's eyes widened when she saw the next batch of food arrive, these guys weren't kidding when they said they could eat. She was petite in stature but she didn't inherit the slender frame that was typically associated with Asian girls. For starters, her chest was a little more... abundant than standard. Thankfully she had a proportionately smaller waist but she had to work hard to manage her figure. If only she could direct any wanted body fat towards her butt.
"How do you guys not gain weight if you eat like this all the time?" she wondered out loud.
"We dance pretty much non-stop for hours when we're practicing. I run to destress, Xiao Bao goes to Crossfit, Jia Wei never gains any weight no matter what and those two monsters over there go to the gym everyday, no exceptions," Wen Yi told her, pointing at Su Yang and Hao Jie.
Hao Jie shrugged, "Maintaining our appearance is part of our job." Su Yang nodded in agreement before slurping his bowl of noodles in one mouthful.
After dinner, they insisted on paying for dinner especially since the amount of food Ha Na and Jia Jia ate was minuscule in comparison. She walked them to their van, reassuring them that both herself and Jia Jia could make their way home on their own. She thanked them once again for dinner and for their work today at the studio before their van drove away.
Turning to Jia Jia, she asked, "Satisfied?"
"So so satisfied! They're even better looking in person and they were soo friendly and nice to us. I'm going to stan them harder than ever before."
Ha Na laughed at her enthusiasm but she conceded, 'At least she chose a decent group to be loyal to. They seemed like pretty normal guys who just happened to have really high profile jobs.'
And she definitely couldn't deny how attractive they were after seeing them in person, especially Hao Jie.