“Hala, nag-po siya.” Frankie’s blush was unmistakable even through the phone. “I mean, he’s much hotter now than he was in your closet, Li.”
“Sunblock! Ate was asking me to pasabuy sunblock,” Lia said quickly. “Er. Pasa buy is?—“
“Pass the thing you buy.” Cal nodded. “Although what was that other word you used? Sun…what?”
“Sunblock?”
That clearly confused him, but he understood after a second. “Aah, ahh. Sun cream.” He clapped his hands together and scanned the shelves with a fingertip, stopping at a seemingly random blue box. He held it up for Frankie to see. “This one is a popular choice. Good brand, two for one, plus a travel pack.” Then he turned to Lia again. “Also I like surprising you whenever I show up. People usually see me coming.”
“That’s the one I was looking for!” Frankie looked legitimately delighted, as she always was with fine skincare products. “You think I should get that?”
“She’s asking if the sunblock is Cal Ahn-approved,” Lia said out loud. And she tried to hide the little smile on her face when she saw how focused Cal seemed— a celebrity endorsement wassomething he was literally paid for, and it was so cute how seriously he took it.
“It’s not bad.” Cal nodded, looking at the box and reading what it said. “But my stylist noona recently recommended this one.” He held up a completely different blue box. “You could get both, try them out? I’ll pay for this one, and you can get your one.”
“Hala, he doesn’t have to pay for it!” Frankie exclaimed through the video call.
“Cal!” Lia exclaimed in equal amounts disbelief and the Asian need to have the last word when someone already said it. “You are not paying for the sunblock.”
“I insist.” Cal shook his head, burying the box under his arm as if it closed the issue. “Sun cream is really important.”
“Tell him I agree, but don’t let him buy it!”
“I don’t think I can fit two in my suitcase,” Lia said, quickly coming up with something.
“I’ve seen your suitcase. You’re right. I guess it means we’re getting you a bag.” Cal shrugged, as if he bought bags for women all the time.
“You are not buying me a bag.”
“Okay, I’ll buy you dinner instead.” Cal was absolutely flirting with her, and unfortunately, it was absolutely working on Lia, and god, who turned up the heat in this store? No wonder her cheeks were so hot! Her glasses were practically fogging up! “Come on now, Lianardo!”
“That’s not my name!”
“Oh wow.” Lia could hear her older sister laughing through the video call. “Ang cute. Very domestic. You are so fucked, Leandra.”
“Exactly, Francis Mae!” Lia’s voice was a little shrill, but god help her she was not okay! “I’ll call you later.”
story post by@CoboltCal (verified)
[A photo of Siwan’s photoshoot for a prominent local cosmetics brand. In the photo, set in a sweeping Italian villa, Siwan is holding up a compact mirror. In the mirror, Cal had clearly edited in a photo of himself making a funny face.] Love you, @Siwan (verified)!
story post by@Siwan
[a photo of debut (pre-debut?) era Cal in a forest, looking menacing as he stares at a camera with bright blue eyes, wearing vampire fangs, biting into an apple. Siwan has become the apple] Love you too @CoboltCal !
TWELVE
ALMOST FOREVER - JUNG YONGHWA
“I can’t believehe even posted that! We swore to each other those concept photos were never going to see the light of day!” Cal whined, throwing an arm over his face and collapsing dramatically on her bed—as if they hadn’t broken the last one. “That traitor!”
“But Ineedto see them! Cal, please!” Lia laughed, climbing on the bed after him as Cal thrashed and tossed the phone behind his head, where the shelf behind the headboard held a charger and a lamp.
“Never.” He shook his head, putting one hand on Lia’s waist to keep her still while her shorter arms tried to reach for the phone behind him. She was squirming, and he could feel it on his torso, and Cal really wished he could just distract her with a kiss, a touch, or literally anything. But no. A determined Lia was a Lia that was going to get what she wanted. Cal knew it, but he wanted to remember his last moments on earth before she lost all respect for his idol persona. Really, he held on to it for as long as he could.
“My feed is goingwildabout those mysterious vampire pictures, please, I just want to see?—“
“Over my dead body.”
