Race To Your Heart |Lee Heeseung|

36

Heeseung stood in the hospital elevator, looking at the numbers change as he softly held Rea's hand in his.

"There's a lot of reporters outside. I gave them permission to take pictures." Heeseung's manager informed, making Rea look at him in slight panic, but Heeseung only nodded his head.

"You should head out first and I'll catch up to you later." Rea said to Heeseung, making him look at her with slightly furrowed eyebrows.

"Why?" He wondered in genuine confusion, and she looked at him as if he was stupid.

"There's reporters outside, Heeseung."

"So?"

The manager stood there awkwardly again, as he waited for their conversation to reach a conclusion.

"They're going to be taking pictures."

"And?" He raised his eyebrows, and she rolled her eyes.

"They're going to take pictures of us, together."

"You're my girlfriend, aren't you?" Heeseung said with a smile. "I don't mind unless you do. And since I don't mind... Mr. Kim shouldn't mind either, right?"

Mr. Kim awkwardly stood there for a few seconds at the mention of his name before rolling his eyes a bit and clearing his throat.

"Mhm."

For some reason, she felt her cheeks burn and she couldn't help but look away.

He smiled even more to himself as the doors opened.

Immediately, they could see the crowd of reporters across the street from the hospital, and Rea couldn't help but look away nervously.

"There's so many of them." She whispered and Heeseung looked at her in concern.

"If you want, you can stay here." He said softly and Rea shook her head.

"It's okay."

"Are you sure?"

She hummed and he placed a soft kiss on her temple.

"Don't worry, French press are very polite sometimes." Heeseung looked at her in amusement.

"Sometimes?"

RJ calmly headed his way towards them and Rea gave him a small smile as a greeting before he gave Heeseung a quick hug.

"I'll take this." He spoke politely to Rea, as he grabbed her bag from her hand.

"Thank you."

"It's a pretty tame crowd. The car's in the front." RJ smiled at Heeseung who gave him a grateful smile.

Heeseung intertwined his fingers with hers as he confidently walked forward.

As soon as they made their way outside, every photographer went chaotic at the sight of Heeseung.

Heeseung had a huge smile as he waved at them, walking quickly to the car.

"Qu'est-ce que ça fait de sortir de l'hôpital?!"

"Qui est cette fille?"

"Allez-vous à des championnats?!"

"Rendez-vous tous là-bas." Heeseung responded loudly, making the sound of the cameras increase as he let Rea get in the car first before he got in.

"What did you say?" She wondered after the door closed as she looked at the happiness on his face.

"They asked about championships, and I said I'll see them all there." He smiled even more, looking out of the window as RJ started driving.

Rea stared at him in endearment, looking at his smile in almost awe.

He looked at her, meeting her eyes, and the look in his eyes softened even more.

"You're looking at me like that again." He whispered and Rea smiled softly.

"You just... look really beautiful." She genuinely said and he couldn't help but look away from her in almost embarrassment as he licked his lips.

She laid her head on his shoulder as he leaned his head against the window, staring at the city as if he hadn't been there in years, caressing her hand in his.

******///******

Angel sat across from Dal again, like they had almost every night since that shopping day.

But this time his thoughts about her were a little different.

He ate his food as he stared down at his plate.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked softly, and he looked at her in thought.

"Just thinking about Heeseung and his training. I wonder how it's going to go."

"He's out of the hospital?"

"I'm surprised you didn't know. Him and my sister are all over the news." Angel watched her reaction to him being discharged and furrowed his eyebrows a bit.

"Oh. I haven't been online that much today." She almost whispered as she continued eating.

Angel expected a little more excitement on her part, but he only looked back down at his plate as he cut his steak.

"He's going to championships, isn't he?" She wondered as she raised her eyebrows, looking at him.

"I don't think he should." Angel avoided her gaze, by taking a sip of his drink and looking at his phone to check the time.

"Really? Why not?"

"I don't think he should even try. I think he should just not do it. I don't think he'd be skilled enough to do it. Especially with so little time to train." Angel lied as he shook his head, looking up at Dal as she smiled a little.

"I get what you mean."

"You do?"

She went quiet for a few seconds as she ran a hand through her hair.

"That's why I told our manager I should've been the one to participate in the races this year. Heeseung has been around for too long, I feel like he wouldn't win anyway."

Angel masked his shock, his heart running wild as he took a bite of his food and hummed.

"I think you're better."

Dal smiled at him for a few seconds before taking a sip of her wine.

"Thank you."

"He was doing pretty good this whole time. Why do you think he wouldn't win?"

"He wouldn't have won either way." She giggled again and Angel felt like running out of the restaurant in terror.

He hummed again as he tilted his head, now things were clicking into place, although there were still a couple of outliers.

Dal could've told her sister to change the provider for Heeseung's tires and told her to pretend it was Angel. She would have a great motive.

Wanting his spot.

"What do you think we should have for dessert?"

"You're already thinking about dessert?" She laughed and Angel tried to chuckle with her, but now his judgement was clouded.