#2016
A FEW hours had passed from the initial reveal of having to share a bed with Baekhyun, and in those few hours, Mingzhu had a lot of thoughts that she had to process.
[ MINGZHU interview scene ]
"What's your opinion on the bed situation now, Mingzhu?" A crew member asks, reading off the list of questions. The Mingzhu in front of the camera now seemed like a whole different person from the last interview. Previously, she couldn't even get a word out and seemed to look like someone in permanent shock.
"I'm over it now." She replies and gives a thumbs up to the camera. Her straight and expressionless face in comparison to the positive thumbs up gave the impression to the crew that she wasn't actually happy about it, "Are you sure?" They ask, and she nods.
"It's just Baekhyun, he barely even classes as a man."
[ BAEKHYUN, YOU'RE A MAN IN OUR EYES! ]
[ MINGZHU interview scene switches to BAEKHYUN ]
"What's your opinion on the bed situation, Baekhyun?" The same crew member asks, after Mingzhu had left the interview room, and Baekhyun had now taken her seat. He was sat legs crossed, and leaning over with his elbow rested on his knee, which was anxiously bouncing up and down.
"What's Mingzhu's opinion on it?" He replies, as he bites his finger and looks up at the camera.
"Mingzhu said she doesn't care."
"She doesn't care?" Baekhyun repeats, taking his finger out and suddenly looking a lot more interested in the crew member. He was holding eye contact and gripping onto the arm of the chair in disbelief.
"N-no— actually, she said she doesn't mind." The same crew member quickly corrects himself, as Baekhyun leans forward again to get closer to the guy.
"She said she doesn't care or she doesn't mind?" He asks, trying to know everything to the exact detail. He was perched on the edge of his seat now, awaiting a response.
[ LET'S HOPE BAEKHYUN DOESN'T FIND OUT MINGZHU DOESN'T SEE HIM AS A MAN ]
"She said she doesn't class you as a man..." the crew member admits in defeat, leaving Baekhyun in shock.
[ OH... ]
"Ha!" He exhales in amusement and sits back, running his fingers through his hair in disbelief, "She said she doesn't see me as a man?" He repeats, and chuckles again, thinking to himself. "Ha!"
[ BAEKHYUN DOESN'T SEEM TO BE TAKING THE NEWS WELL ]
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"How shall we go about this, then?" Baekhyun asks, walking up to Mingzhu and placing his hands on his hips.
"One of us could sleep on the floor." She suggests, looking up at him. He nods, "Yeah... that could be okay."
"Who's going to sleep on the floor, then?" A crew member asks, as Baekhyun and Mingzhu glance at each other.
"...I will..."
"I will."
They both say at the same time, although Baekhyun was barely even heard since Mingzhu's voice was louder. His voice had clear hesitation. He snaps his head towards her in shock that she said that too, and quickly backtracks, "I mean, sure, if you insist. Go for it." He says quickly, feeling blessed that her voice managed to be louder than his when volunteering.
[ WHAT A GENTLEMAN ]
"Okay, you know what. That's not fair." Baekhyun says all of a sudden. He had a quick minute of reflection and realised that a real man would go through the hardships with the woman too.
"What's not fair?" She asks hesitantly.
"Since I'm a good husband, I'll sleep on the floor too." He says proudly, feeling as if he had accomplished something. She stares at him with a deadpan look. "Are you being serious?" She asks. He nods. She wondered if he knew that he wasn't actually her husband... for the 100th time.
"No." She says shortly, leaving no argument.
"What? Why not! I'm being kind." He replies, bewildered. How could she just reject my kindness like that?
"What's the point in the bed even being there if we both just sleep on the floor?" She says as a matter of fact and he smiles, "It's good to be humble sometimes."
[ SHARING A BED BACKFIRED... THEY ARE NOW SHARING THE FLOOR ]
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"How about we set some rules for tonight." Baekhyun says, as soon as they step foot into the bedroom. They had freshly showered (SEPERATELY) and were in their pyjamas with their respective favourite animals on it. This was obviously not Mingzhu's choice. You can guess who forced her into wearing them. Mingzhu's hair was still quite wet, but it was dry enough to not have to wear a towel. Her and Baekhyun both wore their glasses. Whilst hers was placed on the tip of her nose, Baekhyun's was pushed right up to the top of his.
"How about we don't." She replies, not even bothering to glance at him when responding, and instead focuses on arranging the bedding on the floor. She was careful not to cause too much movement of dust, since she had a sensitive nose and would probably sneeze for the rest of filming.
"Why not?" He asks, following her as she walks around the room to place the pillows and blankets down.
"Why would we?"
"Because you're an unpredictable person." Baekhyun explains, continuing to follow her around. She paid no attention to him.
[ IS HE A LOST PUPPY? ]
"You're acting as if I'm going to jump on you whilst you're asleep." She scoffs, grabbing a duvet and gently laying it down. All Baekhyun does is shrug, "Like I said, you're an unpredictable woman. I'd rather feel safe whilst I am asleep."
"Whatever." She mumbles and sits down, not even wanting to entertain him. She tucks herself in and lays down on the floor to get ready to sleep. He simply stands above her and stares, "Are you seriously going to sleep right now?" He asks, crossing his arms. She doesn't reply, and turns her back to sleep on her side facing away from the camera.
"Let me at least lay out my rules," He begins, "No touching and no talking." Baekhyun says sternly.
"Okay. Same applies to you."
"Cool."
"Cool."
[ THAT WAS EASIER THAN EXPECTED? ]
At this point, Baekhyun also gets under the bedding, which Mingzhu had arranged separate to hers. It had a big enough gap that Mingzhu could stretch her arm over fully, and yet it still wouldn't get close to Baekhyun.
When he got comfortable and warm under the duvet, he adds, "And no looking over to my side."
[ BAEKHYUN... ]
Mingzhu doesn't respond for a while, so he assumes she had already fell asleep. Then, all of a sudden, she turns to face him which startles him a bit.
"Can I set some rules too, then?" She asks with a raised eyebrow, and he gets closer to her whilst nodding eagerly, waiting to hear what she has to say.
"No dreaming about me, and no confessions of love whilst sleep talking." She says sarcastically, using her finger to push his forehead away from her. Baekhyun was left speechless.
[ SEEMS LIKE ITS GOING TO BE A LONG NIGHT FOR BAEKHYUN ]
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"Mingzhu," Baekhyun whispers, "Are you awake?"
By this time, the crew and cameras had packed up and left. Baekhyun and Mingzhu were left with the house cameras set up, some being normal cameras and others being night vision cameras. Although it had been 2 hours since they agreed to sleep, it was physically not possible for Baekhyun.
"Mingzhu." He whispers again, this time poking her arm to see if she would give a response. When there was no response given, he would move on to repeatedly poke her forehead, "Mingzhu." Every time that she would swat his finger away and mumble a quiet, "Stop.", it would only amuse him more.
[ EASILY IN THE TOP TEN WORST PEOPLE YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO BE STUCK IN A ROOM WITH ]
She smacks his finger away and sits up, "What the hell do you want, freak," she snaps, "The rule was no touching, and you broke your own rule."
"I make exceptions for myself." He declares, simply making her roll her eyes and throw her body back against the floor, grabbing a pillow and placing it on her face to drown his voice out. "Do you want to play a game?" He asks, lying on his stomach and propping himself up on his elbows.
"What are you, Pennywise? Shut up and go to sleep." She groans, holding the pillow even tighter.
"Mingzhu, I can't sleep. Let's do something." He begged, and was only given silence as a response. He was about to give up, before hearing a large sigh.
"Fine. What do you want?" She grumbles, finally taking the pillow off her face and faces him... although it was so dark they could barely make out the figure of one another. He beams when she finally responds and sits up eagerly.
"How about I Spy?" He suggests, only making her regret even talking to him, "Are you joking?" She asks, not knowing if he was being serious or not.
"Why would I be joking?"
"Baekhyun, how would we play I Spy in the dark?"
"..Oh."
"You woke me up just for that?"
"...Yeah.."
[ HE'S NOT A BRIGHT ONE ]
[ SCENE CUTS TO BAEKHYUN SNORING AND MINGZHU BEING KEPT WIDE AWAKE ]
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[ THE MORNING AFTER ]
"So how was your night with Mingzhu?"
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be actually. She laid out the bedding, she put space between us, didn't break any of the rules, and I woke up this morning feeling so refreshed. I'm grateful that she was someone easy to share a room with." Baekhyun says enthusiastically, never looking more awake.
[ BAEKHYUN interview scene switches to MINGZHU interview scene ]
"How was your night with Baekhyun?"
"It was—." She was about to respond before the camera cuts and a crew member raises their hand as in to indicate to stop and cut.
"Sorry, I think the make up artist wanted to do a few touch ups." The cameraman says.
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[ TAKE TWO ]
"So, how was your night with Baekhyun?"
"Great." She replies, now with the extra concealer applied over her dark circles beneath her eyes.