In truth, I wasn’t exactly nervous. There was nothing to be nervous about, really. Ashton told me that my prearranged boyfriend was a hoobae, which meant that he was one of my juniors. There was also the possibility that he was younger than me, which also shouldn’t have been factors as to making me nervous at all. And I really wasn’t. Besides, he was a fake boyfriend. Emphasis on the “fake”. We were probably going to barely see each other anyways.

          Dispatch was also called to snap a few pictures of me and my mysterious boyfriend on our “date”, when it’d just been a dinner prepared by both of our companies. Dispatch will also write a fake news story on us, and BINGO! Relationship exposed.

          Ashton was with me at the dinner table, waiting for my fake bf to show up. He was 5 minutes late. Candles were lit up and there was a rose bouquet on the table. The bouquet was so big that I was wondering how our dinner plates would fit on the table.

          “Do you want me to tell you some stuff about him?” Ashton asked me.

          I was texting G.Na on my phone, not exactly interested. “Mm. Whatever.”

          “Weeeell. He seems to have a very cold exterior. Sort of like you,” Ashton said.

          I absentmindedly nodded along to his words, eyes still on my phone. “Mmm.”

          “He’s tall! Don’t you like tall guys?”

          “Ehh.”

          “He’s also very handsome! Some say he’s a mix of Kim Bum and Yoo Seung Ho, two of Korea’s best actors!” Ashton exclaimed.

          I nodded again, not really paying attention.

          “And guess what else? He has a stage name! It’s L,” Ashton revealed.

          Now this, I took notice of.

          “L?” I asked. “You’re setting me up with a freaking anime character?”

          “N-No!”

          “L, as in from Death Note, right?”

          Ashton shook his head and laughed. “No! God ______ who do you think I am? Do you think I’m an idiot? His name just coincidentally corresponds to that anime. He’s a real person, no duh.”

          I sighed. “Whatever.” He sounded familiar though.

          “______, can you at least pretend to be a little more excited? You’re going to scare the guy off,” Ashton said.

          “It’s a fake relationship, Ashton. There’s no need to impress him if it’s just going to end in 6 months anyways,” I replied.

          Ashton shook his head in frustration. “______, do you think I’m just doing this for your popularity boost?”

          “Well, yeah. Aren’t you?”

          “Yes, but there’s also another reason why I’m putting you up for this,” Ashton said.

          “Which is?”

          “True love,” Ashton whispered.

          I blinked, confused. “What do you mean?”

          But Ashton was no longer answering any questions on that subject as his attention was suddenly directed towards someone else.

          “Oh! Myungsoo-ah! Over here!” Ashton said.

          “Myungsoo?” I asked myself. “Who’s that?”

          I turned over to look at who Ashton was waving to and saw a guy standing by the entrance.

          Must be my fake boyfriend.

          Ashton got up, all happy and giggly and stuff, and gestured over to the seat across from me. “Take a seat, Myungsoo-ah! We’ve got some important things to discuss before I leave you two alone.”

          “You’re leaving?” I asked.

          “Well yeah. It wouldn’t be considered a date if I was hanging around with you two,” Ashton replied. “Anyways, Myungsoo, this is Lee ______, as I’m sure you know. _______, this is Kim Myungsoo, from the hot rising boy group, INFINITE.”

          “Yeah, we’ve met before,” Myungsoo said.

          “Wait, we have?” I asked.

          Myungsoo nodded. “Yeah. My members and I handed our album out to you, remember?”

          I blinked. “O-Oh yeah. Hehe I remember.” I wonder where I put it…

          “Great! So you guys did meet before! Now, here’s the story that we’ve laid out for you guys on how you guys met.” Oh great. Now Ashton had this dreamy look on his face. “Myungsoo, the moment that you first saw _______ perform, you fell in love with her instantly. It was love at first sight! But _______, being the stubborn person she is, rejects you because she didn’t have confidence in relationships.” I rolled my eyes at this part. Ashton continued, “But despite hardships, Myungsoo worked hard and proved to ______ that she was a girl worth fighting for. _______, in turn, was touched by your efforts and realized that she’s been secretly in love with you all along. Then you guys get together and have been a couple for over 3 months. Okay?”

          “Why do you make me sound so desperate?” Myungsoo asked.

          “And why do you make me sound so wimpy?” I questioned.

          “People are attracted to guys who fight hard for their woman!” Ashton exclaimed. “And girls are naturally portrayed as damsels in distress so it’s nothing new. We’re agreeing on this story, right?”

          Myungsoo and I both didn’t say anything and Ashton took it as a yes.

          “Excellent! So now I’ll just leave you two alone. Act lovey dovey, alright? Like you guys just got married or something. Like newlyweds!” Ashton commanded.

          “Whatever,” Myungsoo and I mumbled.

          “Okay. Bye guys~” Ashton walked off and my fake boyfriend and I were left alone.

          It was silent for a while, with me just playing on my phone and with that Myungsoo guy looking off at random places around the restaurant.

          “So your name’s Myungsoo?” I asked. “Ashton told me that some person named L was coming.”

          “L’s my stage name,” Myungsoo replied.

          “Why’d you choose the name from that guy in Death Note?” I asked.

          L shrugged. “I don’t know.”

          “You don’t know why you chose your own stage name?” I asked, already not getting a good vibe from this guy.

          “Well who does?”

          I sighed, putting my phone down. Time to lecture my hoobae.

          “A great stage name has a hidden reason behind it. You know Hero Jaejoong from DBSK, right? ‘Hero’ is meant to correspond as the ‘hero’ of the music industry, which basically suggested that he yearned to make his mark in the kpop scene,” I explained.

          L narrowed his eyes on me. “Are you saying that my stage name isn’t great?”

          “Well I’m not saying that it’s creative.”

          L scoffed, “Are you insulting me?”

          “No, I’m just stating the facts.”

          “More like bull.”

          My eyes widened at his language. “Y-Yah, don’t speak like that to your sunbae.”

          “You’re not my sunbae anymore. You’re my girlfriend now, remember?” L smirked.

          “Our relationship isn’t even real! Therefore, you must still speak to me formally and respect me!” I said.

          “How can I ‘respect’ you if you act like such a ?” L asked.

          “YAH! Take that back!”

          “What if I don’t want to?”

          I felt steam blow out from my ears. That was how I angry I was at this guy. No way am I going to tolerate a relationship – even a fake one – with a guy like him.

        “That’s it,” I said, getting up from my chair. “I’m going to Ashton right now to go call this off.”

          “Go ahead, see if I care,” L replied, equally angry. “In fact, I’ll go with you. Who’d want to be in a relationship with you? With your hot temper and .”

          “SHUT UP!” I yelled.

          People in the restaurant were staring but I could care less. I stormed up and stomped over to the entrance of the restaurant, hoping that Ashton was snooping around somewhere. I felt L’s footsteps behind me.

          When I opened the door to exit the restaurant all I could see were flashes from cameras and a bunch of microphones being pushed towards my face. The paparazzi had arrived. .

          “IT’S LEE ______!”

          “Who’s the person behind her?”

          “OH MY GOD IT’S INFINITE’S L!”

          “THE RUMORS WERE TRUE!”

          “THEY’RE DATING!”

          “W-Wait, no,” I said, trying to calm the reporters down. But it was too late. I could see the headlines now.

          L and I looked at each other and I could already sense the tension between us as the both of us came to the same realization.

We’re going to be stuck with each other for a while.