Chapter 6: Please Stay.

“Do you think Jaebum hyung is aware of how terrifyingly similar the two are?” Jackson asked, as the five shocked members were still in the living room, discussing how alike Jaebum’s new girlfriend – Max and Youngjae were.

"I don't know, but I don’t think we would be dating her, if he didn’t know,” Mark alleged, already getting uninterested in the whole conversation. Frankly, it didn’t very bother him, that Max or Mark, or whatever her name was, looked like Youngjae. All he cared about was that it was almost two in the morning and that they were supposed to be on their cozy beds and reenergizing their bodies.

"I don’t think he actually does, I mean Jaebum hyung isn’t stupid or anything, but he does seem pretty dense at times,” Bambam noted.

"So like should we tell him, or something?” Yugyeom voiced. Yugyeom being the youngest and the most innocent didn’t exactly understand the whole thing.

“What would we say? “Oh Jaebum hyung, have you noticed, your girlfriend looks exactly like one of our team mates”?” Jackson was clearly ridiculed by the whole thing: Jaebum getting a girlfriend resembled Youngjae; Jaebum allegedly not being aware of the fact; and how his friends wanted to let Jaebum know it.

"Not like that, of course. But we should at least, like give him a hint about it or something,” Jinyoung concluded, siding with the maknae.

“But it’s impossible not to notice. I agree that Jaebum hyung can be very dense and stupid at times, but like it’s too visible. She has the same straight but slightly convex nose and everything” Jackson argued. He was right, after all. Jaebum wasn’t stupid or visually impaired. Perhaps he did know that Max was identical with Youngjae, and perhaps that was the main reason Jaebum was dating Max.

"No matter if he does know it or not, I think Jinyoung hyung should go talk to him,” Yugyeom suggested, sitting down on the couch next to Mark, who was on the verge of falling into a deep and heavy sleep.

"Why is it always me? Go ahead and you talk to him if you want to, but I’m not doing it” Jinyoung refused right away. It was true that Jinyoung had known Jaebum for almost seven years, and knew him the best in the team, but that didn’t mean Jinyoung wasn’t frightened of him nonetheless. Jaebum could most definitely kill a person with his devilish glare and chilling looks. So Jinyoung wasn’t going to try his chances and ‘talk’ to Jaebum about the likelihood of him being insane and having some type of strange hidden desire to date Youngjae.

“Wait, has Youngjae hyung seen Jaebum hyung’s girlfriend? Wasn’t he surprised to see a female version of himself?” Bambam raised a new question that everyone has ignored prior.

"I was also wondering about that. Youngjae even said that he once saw her in person. But he didn't say that she looked like him. He just said she was very pretty,” Mark suddenly decided to join on ‘in the fun’, changing his position on the couch, and instead sitting on the warm floor.

"What the hell? Are Youngjae and Jaebum hyung are that dense and oblivious?” Yugyeom groaned.

“Okay, let’s settle this. Whether Jaebum knows it or not, Jinyoung should go talk to him nevertheless. Now let’s go sleep, it’s already three AM,” Mark proposed and ended the discussion, making everyone go to their rooms and getting some sleep for their day ahead.

Meanwhile, Jaebum and Youngjae's room

Jaebum was on the phone with his girlfriend – Max, talking about their days. Well, Max was mainly talking, but Jaebum wasn’t much of a talker and loved to listen to her day anyway, so it kind of was a win-win situation. Kind of. Jaebum had to admit, he was getting a little bit annoyed by how constantly and how much Max talked on an average. If there was some type of talking without a stop competition, Jaebum was 99.99 percent sure Max was at least going to be a finalist, if not the winner.

“So like I’m here with Jisoo, standing in the cafeteria, right?” Max started another ‘comical’ story about how “this one time she and one of her also irritating friends did something completely unordinary and idiotic”.

"Max, babe, hang on a second, I have to tell you something" Jaebum interrupted Max, a little afraid of what Max was going to reply, since the last time Jaebum tried to stop Max’s absurd and very unfunny stories, he got literally scolded for it. Mind you, that the very last time Jaebum was scolded by someone like that was as a high school freshman by his mom for skipping classes; that was the very last time anyone, expect maybe for some producers who were unhappy with Got7’s performances, had yelled at him.

“So the guys sort of found out about us” Jaebum continued as fast as he could, sensing a possible rant coming from Max’s side. He could just feel how she was getting ready to fume for the next two hours.

"How did that happen?” Max sounded calm, almost a bit even happy, which was strange, because being discovered by the whole world meant unending attention from everyone everywhere she went, constant threats to kill and destroy, a very deep background check until anyone found anything ‘bad’ about her past. But maybe that was exactly what she wanted.

"I guess, they noticed I was texting someone constantly and connected the dots,” Jaebum replied, feeling annoyance all of a sudden.

"That's cool. Does that mean you can finally introduce me to them,” Max enthusiastically inquired. And for about three seconds after Jaebum had heard her unexpected, yet expected question, Jaebum really despised her.

“Bum-ah, why aren’t you answering?” Max broke the silence she herself had set with her own question that ticked something off inside Jaebum.

For a really ing strange reason, Jaebum’s hatred towards the girl disappeared as soon as he heard her call his name with her soft girly voice that sent shivers down his spine and made all of his hair stand up.

“Well, the thing is, I can’t exactly do that because if we get caught, we’re all toast. The company doesn’t hold any responsibility for unapproved relationships. Plus I’m still kind of a rookie, since it hadn’t been three years after out debut, which makes things even worse. I can even get kicked out for dating you,” Jaebum tried to explain his complicated contract with simple words in a short time.

“Well, that’s too bad,” Max started to whine, something Jaebum hated from the core of his heart. Max could save his life and he would still have the urge to end Max’s life for whining like an annoying three year old.

Truthfully, Jaebum had thought about breaking up with Max multiple times. Even right after he had asked her out, he regretted it and wanted to end the minute long relationship right there, but couldn’t, and that wasn’t the last time he failed to break up with Max. And even now he was highly contemplating to cuss out Max and put an end to this monstrous relationship that was beneficial for Max only. But just as Jaebum was collecting all the hatred filled words and loading his body to mercilessly throw them at Max through the phone, his brain stopped, just like it did every single time Jaebum decided to break up with Max. There was something about this bewitching and irritating girl that made Jaebum hang on a little longer, to torture his mind and his body a bit more.

"I guess, we could meet at the JYP building. You can even meet our management and JYP PD to get the approval we need,” Jaebum gave in, agreeing to complete her request.

"Ah, I love my Jaebumie so much," Max cheered, laughing at her cheesy and cliché line.

"Okay, then I guess I’ll talk to my manager and let you know when to meet us,” Max squealed out of excitement as soon as Jaebum said that.

"JB oppa, you're the best!” Max exclaimed, making Jaebum actually laugh.

"I know, I am,” Jaebum renounced, smirking. Damn, did he hate that girl, but he couldn’t get enough of her.

It was about two hours after Jaebum and Max’s agreement to finally meet Jaebum’s scary group of managers, and Max was babbling on and on about her annoying roommate, when Jaebum's own roommate came in to their room, looking like messy drunk homeless dude that used to live in front of their dorm, and used to scare off their fans. 

Jaebum gave an empathetic smile when Youngjae entered their room, but Youngjae didn't seem to notice, or he just completely did not give a single . Youngjae just grabbed his pillow and went back to the living room, as if it was some normal set routine, which was another annoying thing about Max; she didn't irritate only Jaebum, she also got on Youngjae's nerves (with was a hard thing to do since Youngjae loved and appreciated everyone) with her late night phone calls that were apparently 'totally cute'. Jaebum just helplessly sat on his bed and watched his poor roommate walk away with a distressed face.

3 days later

"Okay, guys, I really hope you won’t make a fool out of yourself," Jaebum said on their way to his meeting with the management team.

"Why would we? We are civilized gentlemen with good manners,” Jackson joked and laughed, but stopped as soon as he met Jaebum’s intense gaze.

"I'm serious. Especially you, Jackson, I’m warning you," Jaebum gave Jackson the "I will break your neck if you won't" stare.

When Got7 arrived at the JYPE building, Max was already inside the building waiting for them, which already made an impression on the boys as creepy and clingy. As soon as Max saw Jaebum entering the main hall, she ran over to him hugging him tightly, which annoyed the hell out of Youngjae. Honestly, Jaebum wasn’t very ecstatic about the whole display of affection right in front of his own members, managers and the company staff. 

"Guys, this is Max,” Jaebum introduced Max, getting her off himself by some force.

So, slowly one by one Got7 members started to introduce themselves to Max who ‘had no clue who was who’. Everyone offered a friendly handshake, expect for Youngjae, who kind of just mumbled his name and refused to even take a full look at here. Youngjae felt as if he was going to throw up if he looked at her a bit too long.

Everyone, all seven of Got7 members, every manager, and even Got7’s styling team were present inside a conference hall, waiting for JYP and another big name in the company to arrive so that they could start discussing Jaebum’s relationship.

Quite frankly, it didn’t exactly make Jaebum happy that there were about five hundred people present to ‘approve’ or ‘disapprove’ of Jaebum’s relationship and discuss his personal life, which, for the information, Jaebum almost had none of. None of Got7 members had a personal life, really. Everyone was either too busy, or too stressed to have anything like that. It was by luck that Jaebum had a girlfriend. But nonetheless, Max was Jaebum’s girlfriend, not JYP’s or the company’s. Max was his and it was none of the company’s business to ‘allow’ him to date Max.

But what can you do, Jaebum was an idol and he had to obey the rules.

“I’m sorry, I’m late, but I’m here,” JYP entered the room and the meeting started.

Thankfully, Max wasn’t her obnoxious and bratty self in front of the company staff, and thankfully the staff didn’t say anything that went over the line, so all in all, everything was more or less okay. Plus Jaebum was officially approved to go out with Max, not that it meant Jaebum could freely roam the streets with her, he was to still keep everything in secret and not get caught. But, no matter that, Jaebum was still allowed to date Max.

“Jaebum, please visit my office after this,” JYP ordered and exited the room, ending the whole meeting.

“Hyung, since you’re going to meet PD, we’re going to home, okay?” Jinyoung came after Jaebum and informed him. Jaebum smiled and nodded. He really wanted to tell Jinyoung to take Max with them as well and drop her off at some desert, but couldn’t, because he would probably go looking for her and end up dying himself.

"So, you got a girlfriend, huh?" JYP said, as he sat down on his big leather chair that looked awfully comfortable.

"Yes,” Jaebum answered automatically, looking at the brown wooden desk JYP was sitting behind. If you had a well developed sense of smell, you could actually smell the real wood the desk was made of. ‘Must’ve cost a fortune,’ Jaebum thought, as he stared at light brown furniture that was filled with endless paperwork.

“To be honest, of course it’s kind of insane of the company to control every portion of your life, including your relationships like this, but you’re an idol with teen fans that are overflowing with crazy hormones, and are capable of anything if upset, so I hope you understand this ridiculous yet necessary policy,” JYP explained, smiling warmly.

"But I have to ask one thing about your girlfriend,” JYP prompted, looking down at his messy desk, that Jaebum was tempted to clean up.

"Are Youngjae and Max twins?" JYP suddenly asked.

"No, I hope not,” Jaebum answered. Why the hell was JYP asking him that? The last time Jaebum checked, Youngjae had no idea who Max was and didn’t care to get to know her at all; Max’s and Youngjae’s surnames were completely different; Max was from the States and Youngjae was born and raised in South Korea. So what exactly irked JYP to ask Jaebum such a question?

​"Then why do they look identical?” another question that Jaebum never imagined JYP would ask.

"But they don’t," Jaebum laughed. JYP was most definitely messing with him asking silly questions.

"Kid, get your eyes checked, I think you might be overworking,” JYP mumbled to himself, worried that he might losing his beloved another Jaebum.

“Anyway, what do your members think of your girlfriend?” JYP changed the subject.

"I haven't exactly asked for their opinions,” Jaebum confessed. Actually, he hadn’t been paying any attention to them at all. He’d been too busy crazing over how loathsome Max was and how stupid all the problems that she was creating for herself were.

“Well, you should. I don’t want to say this, but I have to. Significant others, or however you want to call them, are one of the most popular reasons behind break ups of huge groups. Be careful and look after your members, okay?” JYP advised and let Jaebum go.

Jaebum came out of JYP’s office all confused and with a million unanswered questions. Why did exactly JYP say that Youngjae and Max looked alike? Was he getting too old? Or was there anything else that Jaebum didn’t exactly notice? Maybe Youngjae and Max did look alike, and Jaebum was finally going crazy. Or maybe everyone in this world is insane and out of their minds. Whatever it was, it hurt Jaebum’s head and all he wanted to do now was lie down on his bed and sleep in undisturbed and utter silence.

But of course, that didn’t happen. Instead of his bed, he was greeted by Max, Youngjae and the manager that lived with them.

“Is everything okay?” Max asked, getting up and hugging Jaebum, which Jaebum successfully dodged by fake sniffing.

"Yeah, everything’s fine. Listen, I’ll talk to you later. Youngjae and I actually have somewhere to be,” Jaebum excused himself and grabbed Youngjae to get out of the building so that he could forget the strange conversation he had with JYP and wipe out Max’s annoying face from his mind

"Hyung, we have a schedule?"  Youngjae loudly groaned taking a seat beside the leader.

“Not any that I know of,” Got7’s main manager replied starting the car and driving the two boys to their dorm.

"I lied to get rid off of Max" Jaebum didn’t sugar coat that he was actually irritated by Max.

Even though Youngjae felt a bit bad for feeling happy because of Jaebum's remark, he still felt incredibly happy that for once Jaebum rejected that annoying girl who stole his Jaebum from him. Not that Jaebum was his, or anything, nor will he ever be his. But that didn’t justify how ing irksome she was to everyone around her. Even Mark, who got annoyed or mad on extra rare occasions, had to sit six seats away from her in the meeting room. The girl was louder than Jackson and Bambam, who were incredibly hard to beat.

 After getting to their dorm, Youngjae had the privilege to fall asleep on his bed for the first in two weeks, which was probably one of the best things that has happened to him this week. As for Jaebum, he too was on his bed, but he couldn’t sleep. JYP’s comment wouldn’t leave his mind at all, neither would creepy thoughts to stab Max a number of times and then feed her to the crocodiles.

Just as Jaebum was thinking of a way to find some crocodiles to eat Max’s body, Jinyoung entered his room and quietly, tiptoeing around Youngjae’s bed, sat down on Jaebum’s bed.

"Is something wrong?" Jaebum asked, sitting up and making more room for Jinyoung to sit.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” Jinyoung started and Jaebum already kind of knew what Jinyoung was going to say. In fact, Jaebum and Jinyoung both always miraculously knew what both of them had on their minds. For each other, they were open books to read.

"Max kinda looks like Youngjae,” Jinyoung spoke, looking closely to see Jaebum’s reaction.

"Yeah, I’ve heard so,”

“You knew?”

“No, PD told me and when I denied it, he told me to get my eyes checked,” Jaebum said, eyeing Youngjae, who had his back turned to him and was peacefully sleeping away all of his worries and stress.

“I also think you should get your brain scanned, hyung,” Jinyoung teased Jaebum, getting punched in return.

"But how is that possible? That's not possible. And it’s even more impossible for me not to notice that,” Jaebum claimed, raising his voice, and started to lose his temper. Youngjae groaned quietly, turning around and adjusting his head on his pillow. There was a small poodle of drool on Youngjae’s left cheek that Jaebum desperately wanted to wipe off his face, but restrained himself.

“Hyung, so what are you going to do now?” Jinyoung asked, also looking at Youngjae.

“I don’t know,” was all Jaebum could answer.

"But it's amazing that you were actually able to find someone who looks exactly like Youngjae” Jinyoung joked again, and again getting jabbed in the chest by Jaebum. Jinyoung left Jaebum alone after a few minutes of staring at Youngjae.

After Jinyoung left, Jaebum continued to sit on his bed, questioning everything.

"So that's why she seemed so extraordinary,” Jaebum thought to himself, looking at the guy he adored.

“So that’s why she stood out to me the most,”

“She replaced Youngjae for me,”

“Youngjae, the guy I was so terrified to love,”

“The one guy I was crazy about,”

"That's why I couldn't say no to her, that's why she at all times had a strange power over me. I am madly in love with him,” Jaebum concluded.

Still in deep thought, Jaebum silently walked up to Youngjae's bed and lied down next to him, hugging him tightly.

"Hyung,” Youngjae was surprised to see Jaebum lying next to him with his securely wrapped around him.

"Let's just stay like this for a moment,” Jaebum begged, snuggling into Youngjae. All Jaebum wanted to do now, was to fall asleep with the guy he loved the most in the world.