The company that wanted to recruit him was extremely happy to hear that Jooheon was willing to accept their offer. Jooheon started his life as a trainee as soon as he could. They told him that that were going to debut a male group soon and they wanted him to join them. The company wanted him to start preparing for their debut.

After training for a month, he decided to move in with the other members. Their debut was approaching soon. He said it would be weird if he was the only one not living with the members. He still had the key to our apartment. Some of his belongings were still here. There were times he would come back home to spend some time with me despite how busy he was. Sometimes I would come by their practice room to see him instead and to bring them meals. The other members were all talented and good looking. They were always so nice to me. It was nice to see that Jooheon was surrounded by good people.

As their debut drew closer and closer, communication between the two of us decreased more and more. He didn’t have as much time to respond to messages or to answer my calls, but that was to be expected. He was extremely busy practicing and preparing for his debut. I understood and I was happy that he was chasing his dreams. I felt proud of him.

Two months went by after that when they made their debut. It was the kind of concept I was personally a fan of. Of course, there were some people who recognized Jooheon from the underground scene. He had also gained some attention for debuting despite being a trainee for such a short amount of time. He was a born performer and a lot of people could easily see that. His charisma on stage was the reason why I had fallen for him in the first place. It was weird to see him on national TV, but at the same time it was amazing.

As time went on, they gained more and more fame. They were doing so well and I couldn’t have been happier for them. Before I knew it six months had passed since their debut. It was rare for Jooheon to come home now. It was hard for him to come see me because of his busy schedule. He still tried his hardest to let me know he loved me. I still loved him too of course, but sometimes everything just got to me. I tried to be understanding of his career, but sometimes it was hard for me not to feel lonely. I missed him. I wanted him here with me, but I knew I couldn’t be selfish. They were successful and he was finally getting the recognition he deserved. I didn’t want to stand in the ways of his dreams.

It was 1 AM currently. I couldn’t sleep. I was lying in bed while twirling the silver ring around my finger. ‘This way you’ll always have me with you, even if I can’t be there physically.’ I still remembered the comforting words he had said to me, but sometimes it just wasn’t enough. The apartment felt so empty nowadays. It didn’t feel like home without him here. I still remembered the first day we moved in. We struggled to move the furniture into the right rooms and we would bump into random boxes. We ended up laughing at how big of a mess the apartment was. We laughed at how big of a mess we were. We had so much fun despite how tiring it was. I smiled at the fond memory.

I could hear and feel a buzz from my phone next to me, signaling that I had just received a new text message. I grabbed it and unlocked my screen to check the text message. It was from Jooheon.

‘Are you still up?’ he had asked. I quickly sent a reply saying I was still awake because I couldn’t sleep. A minute passed before he sent me another message.

‘I’m coming over. I need to talk to you about something.’

‘Idiot, you don’t need to tell me when you’re coming over. It’s your home too, you know,’ I replied.

I couldn’t help but wonder what he wanted to talk about. Was it something bad? I shook my head. Maybe he just wanted to show me a new song he had been working on. Maybe he wanted to tell me he was going overseas for a performance or something.

There were no more messages from him. I figured he was on his way already. Part of me was happy to see him again, another part of me was worried about what he was going to tell me.

Fifteen minutes had passed when I heard Jooheon coming through the front door. ‘Y/N?’ he called through the apartment. ‘I’m in here,’ I replied. He probably didn’t know where ‘here’ was, but I knew he would look in the bedroom first. I closed my eyes. I could hear his footsteps approaching me until I felt the mattress dip down on one side. He placed a kiss on my forehead before pulling me towards his chest.

I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was his cute dimpled smile. The corners of my mouth curled upwards at the sight. ‘Hey beautiful,’ he greeted. I laid my head down on his chest. ‘I missed you,’ I whispered. ‘I know, I missed you too,’ he replied.

We just laid there for a while, enjoying the silence and each other’s presence. Jooheon was playing with my hair and I tried not to giggle at the funny feeling. I could hear his heartbeat through his chest. It was comforting to have him this close to me. It was a familiar feeling that I had missed a lot.

‘The members miss you. They keep asking where you’ve been lately,’ he said as he broke the silence. ‘Hmm… I didn’t want to interrupt your practice. I didn’t want to be a distraction or anything like that,’ I tried to explain. ‘We love having you there. There’s too much testosterone in that room to be honest,’ he said as he scrunched his nose. I chuckled. ‘I’ll try to visit if I’ve got time,’ I reassured. Jooheon smiled, satisfied with my answer.

I suddenly remembered why he was here in the first place. ‘What did you want to talk about, Jooheon?’ I wondered.

I regretted asking as soon as I noticed his smile faltering slightly, but curiosity was killing me.

‘Uh… I don’t know how to explain this,’ he said hesitantly. ‘Did something happen?’ I asked cautiously.

‘Today the CEO called me to his office. He said he wanted to talk to me. I was so scared. I thought I had done something wrong and that he was going to scold me. When I knocked on his door, he told me to come in and to take a seat. He started talking about Monsta X’s progress. He said he was happy with the way things were going, but that our group might need a little bit more publicity,’ he stopped for a bit, contemplating on what he was going to say next.

‘Recently we released a song together with a new girl group from the same company for an advertisement. The CEO was hoping it would give both groups a little bit more recognition, but I guess he wasn’t quite satisfied with the results,’ Jooheon continued.

‘So what’s the plan now?’ I asked.

‘Ah… it’s ridiculous. I really don’t want to say it.’ He ruffled his hair in frustration. ‘I know you’re not going to be happy about it. Just know that I tried to convince him to use someone else for this plan. He wouldn’t budge, even though he knows I have a girlfriend already. I’m so annoyed,’ he said agitated.

‘What do you mean? What is this about?’ I was so confused at this point.

‘He wants me to fake a relationship for publicity.’

It took me a couple seconds to process these words. I lifted my head off of his chest to look at him.

‘What?’

Jooheon sighed. ‘He wants me to fake a relationship with a member from the new girl group,’ he elaborated. ‘Who is it?’ I questioned. ‘It’s Exy. Her real name is Sojung. I was supposed to do the advertisement together with her and I.M only at first. I guess the CEO thought me and Exy would make a good couple,’ he explained.

‘But… you’re dating me already,’ I said confused.

‘I know. It’s just a publicity stunt, but the thought of me being with someone else still makes me uncomfortable, even though it’s not real,’ he said with a frown on his face.

‘Are you kidding me? Is there really nothing we can do?’ I asked astonished. I couldn’t believe this was happening. ‘I don’t want the whole world to think you’re someone else’s.’

‘I’m not someone else’s and I never will be. That ring on your finger is proof that I’m yours, okay? Don’t ever doubt that,’ he reassured.

‘I don’t know what to think, Jooheon…’

‘I’m sorry. I told him it would be better to pick someone else, but he disagreed and wouldn’t let me have a say in this matter. I’m so sorry…’ Jooheon apologized with a sad expression on his face.

I shook my head. ‘It’s not your fault. You tried. There’s nothing more you can do,’ I said. My head was spinning at this point. I laid down on his chest again. ‘I just hope everything is going to be okay…’ I muttered. ‘Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I promise,’ he said as he kissed my forehead reassuringly.

I decided to trust his words, even though a small part of me was still scared. How was this going to affect our relationship?