For a few seconds, that felt like an eternity, I was just looking speechless at my phone. The messages contained two words saying “Be prepared” and a picture which was showing Minah and Taekwoon having dinner. They were sitting at a table and Leo was looking at Minah’s hand which he was holding. He smiled and looked happy. I couldn’t describe the feeling inside me. It kinda felt like somebody hit me really hard in my stomach..I felt like I wanna throw up immediately. What was happening here?

“Are you alright?” Lin who was sitting next to me pulled her arm around my shoulder and looked worried. I looked up from my phone and noticed that also Ravi and Ken were watching me so I put my phone away and forced a smile.

“Yeah, everything’s ok. I just got a strange e-mail from our university. The usual spam.” I tried to laugh but it didn’t sound really confident. The two boys nodded but I noticed that Lin looked skeptical.

We were all tired of playing this game and Ken and Ravi wanted to search for their leader so Lin and I left the practice room together with them. I still felt like throwing up immediately so I went straight to the restrooms without saying a word to the others. I just wanted to be alone now.

I splashed cool water into my face and tried to calm down. The bad feeling didn’t go away no matter how much water I splashed into my face..over and over again..I felt tears coming up in my eyes. I turned off the water and looked in the mirror. I let out a short scream when I noticed that Lin was standing behind me.

“Woah..don’t do this again!” I scolded her and turned around with one hand on my heart. She looked impatient and I raised my eyebrow. “What?” She sighed.

“Tell me about the message.”

“I already told you..it was spam.” I tried to avoid this conversation.

“Don’t lie. We don’t get spam from our university. So?” I sighed and took out my phone. I opened the message and showed it to her. She grabbed my phone and widened her eyes.

“Prepared for what?!” She asked confused and I just shrugged.

“I don’t know. Why is he holding her hand? Why..I don’t understand.” My voice broke and Lin hugged me.

“Don’t worry too much. Leo loves you, trust him. But I’m pretty sure that this is Minah’s number. She wants to hurt you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. How could she manage to take the picture..she’s right there.”

“She could have hired a person to take this picture.” Lin suggested but I shook my head.

“I don’t think she would do this.” I sighed. “Anyways, I think I’ll talk with Leo about this later.”

“That’s a good idea, Sun. And then he can also explain why he’s holding her hand.” I nodded.

I felt a lot better after the talk with Lin. We left the restrooms and met the boys who were waiting outside. Ken and Ravi wanted to get some food and Lin was totally excited and joined them. I wasn’t hungry and decided to search for Hakyeon instead. His cute and hyper behavior would help me to forget about the message and the picture. I started to search for him but I couldn’t find him. I looked around and then I heard voices coming out of a room. I went closer and could overhear the conversation between my cousin and another man.

“N..this is very important. You need to give 100%. No mistakes, ok?”

“Don’t worry..I’ll keep an eye on the members. They will put everything into it.” My cousin answered.

“I’m serious about it. If there’s one single mistake I’ll hunt you all down. The boys need to concentrate on their career. I’m still not comfortable with those two girls around you..”

“My cousin and her friend won’t get us in trouble, don’t worry. They just support us.” My cousin interrupted the man. What the hell were they talking about?

“Good. Don’t disappoint me then. See you.” The conversation ended and I heard my cousin sigh. I decided to go to him and knocked on the door. My cousin looked up from his phone and I was confused because he was completely alone here.

“Oh, I thought you were here with somebody because I heard voices.” I smiled at him.

“I skyped with our manager. You didn’t spy on me, did you.” He laughed and winked.

“No..don’t worry..I didn’t hear anything.” Ok, that was a lie but obviously he didn’t want me to know about this conversation. Well, my courage went straight to zero now because the boys needed to concentrate for something. It was better not to tell Leo about this picture, I thought and bit my lip. I should just keep it as a secret even if it hurt me really hard.

I was right about the thought that Hakyeon would cheer me up. He taught me the dance to their song “Rock your body” and I really had much fun learning this dance. We drove home later in the evening and I was really disappointed when Leo wasn’t in the dorm. He was still out with Minah and I wondered what they were doing right now. Hakyeon and the other boys were really tired and went to bed pretty early. I decided to study in the kitchen while waiting for Leo. I wouldn’t tell him about the picture but at least I wanted to see him one more time this day.

The time ran away and it got later and later. Still no sign of Leo. I decided to write Lin:

“He’s still out. I’m going crazy >.<”

She replied immediately:

“Trust him! You should go to sleep. I’m going to bed now. See you tomorrow at university and don’t worry too much! I love you <3”

If it was that easy I would have gone to sleep hours ago. I rolled my eyes and put my phone away after looking at the time. 1:30am and he was still out. I really wanted to stay awake but at some point I couldn’t hold my eyes anymore and fell asleep right at the kitchen table.

Something touched my hair really soft and I slowly opened my eyes. The whole world looked blurry and I yawned which made someone next to me giggle. I looked on the left and noticed Leo standing there.

“Finally you’re awake.” He smiled and put a kiss on my head.

“Finally you’re home.” I winked at him and stretched my arms. My phone said that it was 2:30 am and I looked at him.

“Yeah, Minah and I had so many things to talk about. She drove me home then. You didn’t wait here for me, did you?” he asked with a worried voice. No, of course not, I was waiting for Santa I thought ironically but then scolded myself while thinking of my cousin’s word. No trouble for Leo.

“No, don’t worry. I just wanted to study a little bit more before going to sleep but somehow I forgot the time.” I smiled at him and started to put all my notes together. “Good night.” I tried to leave the kitchen but he held me back. I looked confused when he suddenly came closer and gave me a kiss right on my mouth.

“Good night, princess.” He whispered while his lips were still touching mine. My knees got weak and I stood there dumbfounded a few seconds after he left the kitchen and went to bed. My lips were trembling and my heart was beating so fast again. I smiled but then I remembered that picture again and bit my lip. With a confused feeling I went to bed then.

The day at university felt like a never ending story. I was so tired because of the last night and couldn’t really pay attention to the lesson. But I made a decision: I wouldn’t talk to Leo about the picture but I would talk to Minah about it. Maybe she could help me. Lin was totally against my idea.

“Are you insane?! She’s the enemy..you can’t trust her.” We were having lunch right now and I almost choked on my food.

“The enemy?” I gave her smile which made her look grumpy at me.

“She’s his ex girlfriend. I’m sure she’s the one who sent you the picture.” Lin told me her idea and I sighed.

“Look…I know, but she..oh, wait..” My phone vibrated..I got a call from an unknown number. “I don’t know the number.” I showed my phone to Lin who also looked surprised. Who was this?

“Take the call..and don’t worry, I’m right here by your side..” She grabbed my hand over the table and smiled at me. I answered the call.

“Yeah?” I couldn’t hide the fear in my voice but I was surprised when I heard Minah’s phone on the other end.

“Hi, this is Minah. Taekwoon was so nice to give me your number when I asked him. I hope it’s ok for you?”

“Oh, hi Minah. Yeah..sure it’s ok..” I gave Lin a smile but she didn’t look happy.

“That’s good. Listen, I wanted to ask if you like to meet again..just the two of us. I want to get to know you better since you’re Taekwoon’s girlfriend now.” That was my chance.

“Yeah, sure I like to meet you again. How about today? There is something…I need to talk to you anyway..” I began to stutter.

“Yeah sure…do you have time now? I’m getting my nails done right now. You can come here if you want to..” She sounded happy.

“Of course..just tell me the address and I’ll come to the place.”

She gave me the address and I smiled at Lin who made an annoyed face.

“What?” I asked her confused and she shook her head.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. You shouldn’t trust her.” She scolded me and I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t worry so much. I know what I’m doing. And besides..I have her number now and it’s a different number than the one who sent me the message.” I winked at her but still she looked annoyed. I hugged her good bye and also asked her if she could make notes of the next classes because I would skip them to meet with Minah. Of course she agreed but she was still annoyed.

It wasn’t hard to find the nail shop and when I entered it Minah waved her hand.

“Good to see you. Do you want a coffee?” I nodded and she ordered one for me. The shop looked expensive and I didn’t feel comfortable here but I really needed to talk to her.

“I broke my nail yesterday.” She started to tell me after we talked about our day. She smiled at me. “I hit the table in the restaurant with my hand and then my nail just broke. I hate it when this happens.” She showed me her hand on which a new beautiful plastic nail could be seen.

“Taekwoon just laughed when I showed him my hand. He doesn’t really understand women problems.” She giggled and I felt a little bit happy. Was that the reason why he was holding her hand? I pulled out my phone and showed her the message. She raised her eyebrows.

“Oh my god..that’s creepy..” She said. “Don’t pay too much attention to it. Maybe it was just a fan who saw you with him..” She tried to explain.

“But who would do this. And how would they get my number?” I asked her but she had an answer.

“Maybe a fan? Fans find out everything if they want to. Vixx is really popular and Starlights are always excited because of them. Just wait for the upcoming Korea concerts..the fans will freak out..”

Concerts?! KOREA CONCERTS?! I didn’t know anything about this? What was she talking about?

“Concerts..?” I whispered and she looked surprised.

“Didn’t Taekwoon tell you about it? I thought you would be the first person to know since you’re his girlfriend.” She sounded confused and I shook my head and looked on the ground.

“No, he didn’t tell me.” I whispered and I felt her hand on my shoulder then.

“Don’t worry. Maybe he just didn’t know how to tell you that he’ll be gone for a few weeks because they’re travelling through Korea. I’m sure he wanted to tell you..or he didn’t find the right moment or just forgot about it.” She gave me a smile and again I had this bad feeling like somebody hit me really hard in my stomach. He told her about this..her..not me..why..?

After Minah got her nails done we said good bye and I didn’t know where to go then. I wrote Lin a message and she told me that she was out with Ken getting some food for them and the boys. I told her that I would wait for them at the label and headed right away to the building.

The practice room was totally empty and I wondered where everybody was. I shrugged, sat down on the floor and pulled out my notes to study while waiting for the others. I was studying for like 10 minutes when Leo entered the room. He looked surprised at first but then he smiled and sat next to me.

“I heard you met with Minah today. How was it?” He sounded happy and tried to put his arm around my shoulder but I bent away. I didn’t want him to touch me now.

“Nice.” I said and tried to concentrate on the notes in my hand.

“Is everything ok with you. Did something happen with Minah?” He sounded confused but I shook my head. I don’t want to be a troublemaker. He needs to concentrate on the upcoming concerts. I calmed myself down but still I couldn’t act normal.

“No..everything’s ok.”

He tried to put his arm around my shoulder once again but I bent away once more. When he tried to give me a kiss on the cheeks I stood up and mumbled something about “thirsty” and “getting something to drink”. He stood up, too, but his face looked really cold.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with you but I won’t force you to talk.” He said with a cold voice, turned around and was about to leave the room.

“Taekwoon, wait..” Don’t make trouble! Stay calm and act normal in front of him. He stopped and turned around. He looked curious and waited for me to continue talking. I looked away. Don’t say anything…stay calm..I scolded myself over and over again in my head.

“I’m going now.” I heard his cold voice again and saw him walking to the door. My heart felt so heavy..I didn’t want him to go..I just wanted to understand it..don’t make trouble..support him..don’t..make..trouble...

“Why did you tell Minah about the concerts? Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice cracked and I felt tears in my eyes. Leo immediately turned around with his mouth opened.