During the whole month of March, Krystal shot her upcoming movie called 'Unexpected Love', with EXO's Lay. Many articles about their obvious chemistry came out, garnering a lot of attention from netizens. People were excited to finally see her act alongside someone from her company, plus someone she has been friends with, for years.

Last time it happened it was in 2012, while she was shooting 'High kick 3' with SHINee's Taemin. The press knew that any photo of Krystal and Lay together would sell.

While everyone was so focused on them, she and Minhyuk took that chance to go on numerous dates. After the shootings, the press would usually flee the scene, thinking that no one was left there, only to come back the next day. Minhyuk would pick her up every night, and they would go on dinner dates, or they would just simply drive around, with nowhere precise to go to.

They thought they were being very discrete until Lay asked her about it one day.

"Soojung-ah, are you dating Minhyuk-ssi?"

She was taken aback and didn't know what to say. Lay chuckled and shook his head.

"I was hardly in Korea for the past few months, so I wasn't really sure when I saw you two at the New Year's party, and I didn't want to ask Kai because... Well, I just wasn't sure." He said.

She could tell that he knew about Kai's crush on her, but she was glad that he didn't bring it up.

"Are we being too reckless?" She asked him.

"No, no! It's just that I am very observant. You two are doing fine hiding it, don't worry too much." He replied.

She stayed silent and just nodded her head.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He reassured her.

She let out a short sigh before giggling a bit.

She was just worried about it for a short while, but as soon as she saw Minhyuk that night, she completely forgot all about her negative thoughts.

They had never spent so much time together in the past, and they both liked feeling like they were able to date freely. It was not something they could do all the time, so they really wanted to cherish the moments they shared.

It only lasted for a month, but it was all they needed.

Some time together.

 

April 1st 2016

Krystal

 

As I woke up from my long night of sleep, I checked my phone to see if my manager had called, only to find myself swiped in a wave of missed calls. Three were from my manager, two from my sister, and the rest from my members.

I called my sister back first.

"Eonnie? Is there something wrong?" I asked immediately.

"Soojung! What were you doing?" She asked.

"I was sleeping. What's wrong?"

"Haven't you seen the press reports?"

"What reports? I literally just woke up, Eonnie!" I told her.

"Dispatch exposed your relationship with Minhyuk. They took some photos of you on a date, earlier this month." She replied.

"What?! How?"

I sat up on my bed, put her on speaker phone, and went online.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed.

"I know it looks bad, but it's fine. You're not doing anything wrong. The best way to deal with it is to confirm it quick."

"When did it come out?" I asked her.

"Thirty minutes ago, or something. You can still deal with it quickly. Ask Minhyuk if he is fine with confirming it, first." She suggested.

"He is on a plane right now, on his way to Japan." I told her.

"Then follow your feelings. But ultimately, you have to do something about it."

"Eonnie, I'll call you back. Thank you!"

"Alright. Don't stress, baby girl. It's fine." She told me.

I thanked her again and hung up the phone, before calling my manager back.

"Oppa! I just saw the articles!" I told him as soon as he picked up.

"Okay, good. I'm at SM right now." He replied.

"What's the situation over there?" I asked.

"Dispatch sent us more explicit photos of you two, so we can't really deny it. We're preparing the confirmation message. Don't worry, I'm going to check it before it goes out."

"What do you mean by explicit?" I asked, scared.

"They have photos of you holding hands and... kissing. There is no denying it. They agreed to only reveal the two from your dinner dates if we agree to confirm." He told me.

"Oh my God... They're horrible, Oppa."

"I know... I'm sorry, Soojung-ah. Don't worry, I'll take care of it." He reassured me.

Wongyun always knew what to say to calm me down, and I trusted him wholeheartedly. I knew he was always going to do the things that had my best interest.

"Alright, Oppa... Let me know." I told him.

"I will. Your members are on their way to your apartment, by the way. They called you, but you were not answering, so they were worried."

"I was sleeping."

"I told them, but you know them when it comes to you. Anyway, I'll get back to it. I will call you later."

"Thank you, Oppa." I told him before hanging up.

I stayed in the same position for the longest time, trying to imagine what was going to happen next.

I knew better than to check people's comments online, good or bad, because at this point I was only going to focus on the bad ones.

I was used to netizens giving their unrequited opinions about my life, or my sister's life, so there was nothing that could really go past the surface, but I did not even want to try myself.

Still, I didn't want Minhyuk to be criticized because of me.

As I daydreamed, time passed by without me realizing. When my members got to my place, I came out of the trance I was in and welcomed them in.

"How are you holding up?" Amber asked me.

"Don't forget that we're here for you. You can lean on us when it's too hard. You know that, right?" Luna continued.

"You know that you're doing nothing wrong by being together, right?" Victoria finished.

They kept asking me questions of the sort all morning long, and no matter how much I reassured them, they were still a bit worried.

"We're just a phone call away." Victoria said when they were on their way out.

"I know, Eonnie. Thank you for dropping by, Eonnies." I told the three of them.

While I waited for Minhyuk to finally call so that we could talk about the situation, my family sent me a bunch of messages telling me that they love me and that they were there for me.

I couldn't understand why people were being so formal when it was literally just a normal thing. Minhyuk and I are in a relationship, and yes some will like it, some won't.

It's fine.

I paced around the apartment all day long, waiting for his call, and when it finally came I jumped on my phone and picked it up.

"Baby!" I exclaimed.

"Soojung, are you okay?" He asked me.

I let out a faint sigh. Even though he found such surprising news as soon as he landed, he was still worried about me first. Like always.

"I'm fine... I'm fine, don't worry. Did you see the articles?

"Yes, I did... It's fine, it was bound to come out someday, anyway." He said.

"You're not mad?" I asked.

"Mad? What about?"

"About me confirming it before consulting with you."

There was a really short silence that I don't even think was really intended, but because I was nervous I felt like it was.

"Soojung, not even! You did good confirming it, baby. I would have done the same, at this point." He told me.

I breathed out, finally feeling my nerves going down. His reaction was really the only thing I was anxiously waiting for.

"I'm glad." He said after a while.

"Huh?"

"I'm really happy it finally came out. Now I will be able to love you in front of the entire world!" He said.

"Did you read the comments?" I asked him.

"I read some of them!" He replied.

"You did?!" I exclaimed.

"Mm! Didn't you?" He asked me.

"No, I didn't want to bother myself with them." I replied.

"Well, you're missing! Everyone is being so cute about it! They're commenting Chanyoung and Bona things!" He said as he chuckled.

"Really?"

"Eo! What d