Chapter 19 - Aftermath
 

“Why do you have a new phone?” The group was currently sitting at the café that was not far from the apartment buildings. Keya, Daehyun, and Suyun sat together at a small table, talking. The others sat at one of the big tables, playing a card game. Suyun looks up at Daehyun, who was sitting across from her, Keya sitting next to him. Daehyun looks from Suyun to Keya.

“Huh? Oh, mine broke yesterday.” Daehyun explains. “So this morning, we went to get a replacement before meeting up with you two.” he says. Keya nods. “How’d you break your phone?” she asks. “You were keeping such good care of it.” she adds. Daehyun shrugs. “Well… It wasn’t me who broke it.”

Before Keya could ask who, Daehyun shakes his head. “It’s fine.” he says. “Now back to the previous conversation… When will I be able to visit when you get back to the states?” he asks. Keya shrugs. “Whenever you would like. The show is over at the end of November.” she states. Suyun looks at her. “Though plane tickets will be a bit high since that’s holiday season.”

Daehyun nods. “That’s true. I could always visit during one of my military leaves.” he states. Keya looks at him. “Ugh, don’t talk about that, it’s disheartening hearing you guys talk about your enlistments.” she says. “Plus, those breaks should be spent with your family.” she adds. Daehyun looks at her. “Keya, you are family.” he says. “Plus I’m sure my parents and brother would love to go to America and visit.”

“What about you Suyun?” Keya asks. Suyun smiles. “Of course I’m coming to visit.” she says. “Though it’ll possibly be during the summer. I really don’t like traveling during the winter.” she adds.  Keya nods. “When you come is all up to you.” she says. “As long as I’m notified ahead of time.” she states.

“So that means no surprise visits.” Daehyun says as he begins to put his earphones in. Suyun sighs. “But those are the best.” she says. She then looks at Keya. “But I’m for sure visiting in like March. I can’t wait to meet the girls face to face. They’re so charming.”

As Daehyun plays with his new phone, the two girls continue their own conversation. After a few minutes the conversation is cut short when someone stops in front of the table making the two girls look up. “Oh, hey Yongguk.” Suyun greets. Yongguk greets her back before looking at Keya. “Can I talk to you?” he asks.

Keya nods and Yongguk takes the empty seat across from her and next to Suyun. Suyun looks at the two and stands up. “Do you want us to leave?” she asks. Yongguk shakes his head. “It doesn’t really matter.” he states. Suyun gives a small nod before sitting back down in her seat. Yongguk then turns his attention back to Keya.

“I need to talk to you about yesterday.” Yongguk states. Keya immediately looks away, not saying anything. Yongguk sighs. “Keya, please.” he states. After another moment of silence, Keya lets out a sigh of her own. “Okay” she whispers. Straightening herself up in her seat, Keya clears . “Okay then… What do need to discuss from yesterday?” she asks.

“I need to apologize to you.” Yongguk states. Blinking, Keya looks up at him. “What?” she asks. “What do you mean?” she asks. Yongguk lets out a sigh. “Yesterday, I was the one being rude and unreasonable toward you.” he states. Keya slowly nods as she stares at him.

“I don’t want to make excuses for how I acted, but I want you to know where I’m coming from.” Yongguk states. “I didn’t mean to make you mad when I told you to apologize. I said one for the public because as Idols, that’s what we do when we’re involved in an incident like this one.”

“But I’m not an idol.” Keya replies.

“I know.” Yongguk says. “But because of the fact that you and Suyun are with us every day and even participating in our schedules with us, there are times where I can’t help but group you two in with us. But while you two are not idols, both of you along with the other cast members and VJs are considered at least celebrities. With you constantly around, I can’t really stop myself from thinking of you as someone who’s part of the industry. But as I said, this isn’t an excuse. I just wanted you to know what was going on in my mind.”

Keya lets out a sigh as she nods. “I understand what you’re saying.” she says. “It’s like some type of unspoken rule. I’ve seen plenty of times where idols would apologize over something just because their name was mentioned or they make a small mistake.” she says. “Thank you for apologizing.” she adds giving him a small smile.

“I should probably apologize to you too.” Keya states. “I know you weren’t just saying it to be mean. And I will admit that I was probably overemotional.” she says. “Sometimes I get like that but I can’t help It.” she adds. She then sighs. “I would like for us to get pass this and understand that it’s fine for us to disagree about it. In our own way, we’re both right.”

Yongguk nods. Keya looks at the table and lets out another sigh. “It’s good that we can come to an understanding on this. But I want you to know…” she stops before looking up, making eye contact with Yongguk and holding it. “Know that for now, I’m sticking by all that I said yesterday.” she states.

Silence surrounds them as Yongguk stares at her. “So… you’re saying you don’t want me to pursue you anymore.” he asks after a moment. Keya swallows the lump forming in . “For now, I think that would be for the best.” she says. Keya feels her chest tighten when she sees a hurt look flash over his face for a moment.

“I’m sorry, I just…” Keya instantly breaks eye contact as she takes a breath to calm herself down. When it doesn’t work, Keya stands up. “I’ll be right back.” she whispers before immediately walking away.

Yongguk lets out a curse as he props his arms up on the table and buries his face in his hands. “Are you really going to stop chasing after her?” Suyun asks around a few minutes of silence. Yongguk lowers his hands and looks at her. “She just asked me to.” he states. Suyun looks back at him. “But will you?” she asks.

Yongguk sighs. “For right now, yes.” he says. “She just flatly rejected me twice within two days. And I don’t want to make her mad at me again.” he says. Suyun shrugs. “Well, just don’t give up too easily.” she states. “I feel like she’s not herself right now and she’s struggling to try and be.” she adds.

“Just to inform you: She did say ‘for now’.” The two look up and at Daehyun who was still looking down at his phone. “She still likes you. But as Suyun says, she’s not herself right now.” he adds. Yongguk raises his brow. “Now you’re helping and encouraging me to do something?” he asks. This makes Daehyun look up from his phone.

Taking his earpiece out, Daehyun sits them on the table along with his phone. He then looks straight at his leader. “Yongguk, don’t get me wrong…” he starts. “I love you. For all the awkwardness between us, I couldn’t ask for a better leader and friend. Just like I want to see the others happy, I want to see you happy too. And just like the others, I believe that Keya is the one to make you happy. We don’t have the same mindset, so sometimes we don’t always see everything the same way.

I noticed within the first few weeks of Keya being here, that you two clicked. Not just me, the others seen it too. I mean we all noticed it at different times, but we all came to the conclusion that something great could happen between you two and it should happen. As I said, I want to see you happy. The same for Keya. You two just hit a bump in the road. And as a friend to you both, I want to help you two over it. The others want to help too, but unlike them, I’m going to give my two cent and make you listen.

At this moment, I am on Keya’s side. I believe she’s right. We must also remember that not only is she in a foreign country, but she’s also not used to this entertainment industry. It always takes time to get used to.” Daehyun stops his speech and sighs. “Also, I say give her a few days, but you should ask her about that fight. There’s more to this story than just that video.”

Yongguk and Suyun looks at him. “What do you mean?” Yongguk asks. Daehyun sighs again. “I talked with Miyeon and those girls did more than just fight. It probably why she got so emotional.” he states. Yongguk nods. “And what did they do?” he asks. Daehyun opens his mouth before closing it. The two across from him watches as he looks away from them to something behind them. The two turn to see Keya walking over to them.

“Hey, the others want us to play a game with them.” she states. When they nod, she turns and walks over to the others. Daehyun looks back at Yongguk as they stand up. “Ask her. Talk to her about it sometime.” he says before picking up his phone and walking toward the others.

A.N.: And there's Chapter 19. I feel like compared to the rest of the chapters, this one and the next few ones will be short. But it's because that was the only proper way to seprate the chapters without throwing off the time line of the story.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy. Thank you for reading my story, I will update again soon.