The plan to get back before anyone realized failed badly, seeing how the two of them are standing in their manager’s office with their hands behind their back as he stares at them with his lips drawn into a tight line, face looking like he’s going to burst a vein anytime soon.

“Congratulations, you guys are on the real time Top 10 search results on Naver.” He says sarcastically as he shoves an iPad into their faces.

Breaking: TM’s Dahyun dating Japanese actress, Minatozaki Sana

Dahyun is revealed to be dating Japanese actress Minatozaki Sana, with reports stating that the two knew each other and got closer during the filming of TM’s music video, Spring Love. The two were spotted on a date in Shibuya yesterday, and the agencies of the two artistes have confirmed the rumours. Congratulations to the new couple!

Dahyun looks smug as she scrolls down the article. “Yah Son Chaeyoung, the photos came out great!”

“What are you talking about?”  Chaeyoung peeks at the iPad and her eyes immediately widen, grabbing the iPad over from Dahyun. She hasn’t sent the photos she took to any news site yet, which means there was someone else there with them in the car park. Her blood runs cold. If Dahyun and Sana got caught, it means…

She scrolls to the end of the page where the related links are and as she expected, her name is there. She clicks on it, and the article blares right in her face.

Breaking: TM’s Chaeyoung is dating

TM’s Chaeyoung was seen being chummy with a date in Japan yesterday. JYP Entertainment, TM’s company has confirmed that Chaeyoung is dating the girl. A representative stated, “After the break-up with Yerim, Chaeyoung met her through mutual friends and they started to develop good feelings towards each other.” Congratulations to the new couple!

Chaeyoung looks through the photos of her and Mina; holding hands, touching each other’s faces and the final, decisive blow: them kissing. She understands that the company has to release a statement because the photo evidence is irrefutable, but she knows the comments are going to be relentless.

-Woah, what a , the break-up reports were just released and she’s dating someone else already?

-Last time I thought she was cool, writing songs inspired by her own story but now… she’s just another Taylor Swift

-I bet she cheated on Yerim. What a

Dahyun reaches over to lock the iPad before Chaeyoung can read more and places it back on the table in front of them gently. They both realize how severe the situation is now (for Chaeyoung), and they can only stand with their hands folded behind their backs in guilt. Dahyun, the mastermind of this plan steps up to ask, “What do we do now?”

“Chaeyoung will not attend further schedules until the situation elevates. And the both of you are not allowed to go anywhere from now onwards without a staff.” The manager informs.

“What- That’s unfair! How can you pull her from group schedules too!” Dahyun retorts for Chaeyoung, who’s still eerily quiet.

“She has to lie low for the public to forget about this issue. The more she shows up in public, the more they are going to hate on her.” The manager says, and they both know it’s true.

“But this wouldn't have happened if you guys didn't confirm the untrue rumors of me and Yerim dating, isn't it?” Chaeyoung says her first word ever since she read the article.

Their manager is shot into silence and Chaeyoung just laughs emptily before standing up, knowing that this decision is final and there is no point in arguing. She hates how they are like puppets, their every move being controlled by the company, and their every move scrutinized by the public. It’s as if being a celebrity gives people the right to poke their noses into her affairs, and she just doesn’t fathom why they think that is okay. It’s her private life, her privacy. But none of that seems to matter because they are in the entertainment industry, because they are the source of entertainment for all these faceless people.

“I got it. Call me when my schedule ban ceases, yeah?” She snorts before leaving the room.

She hears Dahyun following behind her, but the girl doesn’t say anything until they reach the van. She deflates into the chair, too tired from the turn of events. She just wants to write songs, is that too much to ask for?

“Chaeyoungie… I’m so sorry…” Dahyun apologizes. It’s not really Dahyun’s fault though, the company is to blame for forcing her into a fake relationship with Yerim.

“It’s okay unnie. It’s not your fault.” Chaeyoung says lethargically. She doesn’t blame Dahyun, but she can really do with some alone time now.

Dahyun obviously doesn’t believe her, judging from the short silence and careful looks directed to Chaeyoung. But nevertheless, she doesn’t push it, just nodding to her words. The van pulls out of the carpark, and a smash is heard as the two of them instinctively flinch from it. Chaeyoung looks at the window to see a splattered egg on it, and then spots the many people surrounding the van ready with other forms of projectile like more eggs and rocks. The angry mob just keeps throwing stuff at their van while screaming at them, specifically Chaeyoung.

“You lying cheater!”

“What a piece of !”

“Don’t you have any morals at all?!”

It takes a few minutes for the security guards to come and clear a path wide enough for their van to pass, but by then Chaeyoung has seen enough. This wasn’t your typical news that people were going to forget after tomorrow, this was going to stay with her for life when people search her names on search engines, when people talk about her. And she has to pay when it’s not even her mistake, when it’s just a misunderstanding.

The moment she steps into the dorms, Nayeon and Jihyo gives her a bone crushing hug, which she appreciates and melts into. Jeongyeon also gives her an encouraging smile and a pat on her head. It makes the day slightly better, and Nayeon even going as far as tucking her in bed (even though it’s only early noon, but she needs to sleep this off, hoping that when she wakes up, she realizes this is all just a dream).

--

Sleep doesn’t come, even when the rest of her members have already left for their schedules and she is on her 1004^th sheep. Picking up her phone, she decides against her better judgment and searches her name on Naver, the damn article being the first search item. She clicks on it and scrolls to the comments section, reading every single one of those nasty comment even when she knows she shouldn’t.

With shaky hands, she locks her phone and gets out of bed, deciding that she needs a walk to clear her mind. Everything is going well until she sees a neighbor in the lift, who immediately gives her the stink-eye as they make eye contact and Chaeyoung pulls up her hoodie, already regretting the decision to leave the dorm. The lift door opens at the ground level and she freezes once she sees the crowd outside the building. They are holding signs, asking her to leave the group, or just scolding her for her shameful behavior. She waits for the neighbor to exit the lift (who doesn’t forget to glare at her one more time before leaving) before closing the door, heading down to the basement instead to leave from the carpark.

She keeps her head down as she walks to the nearest convenience store, regretting the decision to come out of the dorms with every single step she took. It feels as if everyone is staring at her, pointing fingers and talking about her as she walks, and she feels anxiety bubbling up inside her, every fiber of her being screaming for her to head back to the dorms. She fastens her steps as she sees the convenience store around the corner, hoping to get this done and over with as quickly as possible.

Entering the convenience store, she quickly grabs a few snacks and drinks before putting them at the counter hurriedly. She wants to thank the heavens that the cashier is a middle-aged man and not the usual university students working part-time who would recognize her in an instance. She successfully pays for her stuff and leaves the convenience store, reflexively pulling the hoodie closer to her face as she passes by two students in uniforms.

She’s just a junction away from her apartment block when she sees that the crowd has shifted to the entrance of the carpark. She instantly turns on her heels to walk in the opposite direction. Why are they there now? She considers walking a bigger round to enter from the lift lobby instead, but it’s near the main road and she can’t be sure that all the fans there have shifted here. She doesn’t even have her phone, so she can’t call for help from anyone. She ponders about waiting it out at some café, but that’s too dangerous because she might get spotted. Waving a cab down, she hops on and contemplates on going back to her parent’s house, but she thinks about how her parents are going to nag her for it, and the thought immediately vanishes. There’s only one option left now.  

“Namil Villa please.”

--

The TM members pile into the dorm, and Nayeon screams, “We are home!”

They put the packed food on the table, and Jihyo frowns upon the lack of response. “Is she still sleeping?”

Dahyun gets up, volunteering to get her and opens up the door of their shared bedroom. “Chae-“

“Unnies,” she turns to look at them slowly, “Chaeyoung is gone.”

Jeongyeon pushes past her to check for herself, and indeed, there is only an empty unmade bed greeting her and no Chaeyoung. She sees the phone left on the bed, and unlocks it to see it on the comments section of Chaeyoung’s article. “Guys, look!”

The three other members rush to her side to look at the phone, and the worst comes to their head.

“She wouldn’t have,” Dahyun makes a motion of slicing her thumb across her neck, “would she?”

Jihyo knocks Dahyun on the head while Nayeon pulls out her phone. “She might have gone back to her parents, let me call them.”

Nayeon collapses onto the bed upon ending the call with Chaeyoung’s parents. Her reaction alone tells the members the answer. Jeongyeon sits down beside her, putting a reassuring arm around her.

“What do we do now? Do we call the police?” Dahyun starts to pace around the room.

“Keep calm guys, I think it’s best if we told the managers first.” Jihyo answers, trying to hold the fort even though she is worried sick herself. She does just that, going out to call their manager, hoping and praying like the other members, that their youngest member is okay.

--

Chaeyoung yawns as she stretches, reaching for the clock beside the bed. It’s around 7PM, she has slept the whole day away. Getting up, she rubs her eyes as she gets out of bed, deciding to make the rest of the day useful by working on some music. She turns on her computer, sipping on some water as she waits for it to boot. Without her phone, she has to make do with the messenger app on her computer to see her messages, and she opens it, the bulk of the messages she has coming from the group chat she has with the members. Clicking on it, she sees the first message from Jihyo.

Jihyo-unnie:

guys, manager-oppa said she’s not at the studio in the office

Nayeon-unnie:

she’s not at the park either

Dahyun-unnie:

the ahjumma who lives upstairs said she saw her leaving our building just now!!!

Jeongyeon-unnie:

around what time?

Dahyun-unnie:

she said around 2?

Nayeon-unnie:

does she know where chaeng went?

Dahyun-unnie:

she said she doesn’t know, but she left via the basement. Probably to avoid all the fans at the main entrance

Jihyo-unnie:

she shouldn’t have gone far, she didn’t take her car

keep searching guys, but be discreet about it

the fans are slightly suspicious with how we are running around like headless chickens now

Nayeon-unnie:

if we can’t find her, or if anything happens to her, I’m going to make sure all of those netizens die in my hands.

Chaeyoung doesn’t know if she should cry or laugh from the streams of messages. Her members are looking for her because they thought she has… committed suicide? Wiping her tears, she texts the group.

Looking for me?

Surprisingly, the first one to see her message is Dahyun, who is typing a reply immediately, and Chaeyoung chuckles while waiting for the reply. Thankfully, it’s Dahyun and not her other unnies who will definitely flip out at her. She didn’t even mean to scare them, she just wanted to get some food, but ended up being stranded and unable to get back to the dorm because of the mob downstairs.

Dahyun-unnie:

OMG ARE YOU OKAY?!??!?!?!?? Or… is there Kakao in the afterlife too????

Jeongyeon-unnie:

DUDE WHERE ARE YOU

Chaeng:

at my private hideout

don’t worry, I’m absolutely fine and just saw this panic (at the disco) after waking up from my nap

Nayeon-unnie:

SON CHAEYOUNG ISTG I’M KILLING YOU MYSELF ONCE I SEE YOU

WHERE DID YOU GO

Chaeng:

I’m at my apartment, don’t worry I didn’t try to kill myself or anything

Jihyo-unnie:

Send us your address NOW chaeng

I will ask manager-oppa to pick you up

Chaeng:

Can I not go back to the dorms? I don’t have schedules anyway…

Jihyo-unnie:

Then at least send us your location so we can go check up on you

We are worried.

Chaeyoung sighs as she sends the address to the group. She is reluctant to let the members come, not because she has anything to hide, but because she thinks of this apartment as a place that contains all her memories with Mina. It is a place she wants to keep private, but it seems like it’s not possible because her members are coming to stomp this place in a while. She owes them as much for causing them unnecessary worry anyway. Sighing, she opens the music mixer, trying to get some work done before they arrive.

--

The doorbell rings and Chaeyoung gets out of the seat begrudgingly. She’s not looking forward to facing the wrath of her unnies and also them intruding into her personal space, but this confrontation is inevitable. She hurries to the door as the doorbell rings incessantly and unceasingly. She huffs as she opens the door, a retort already on her tongue but is immediately silenced by Nayeon, who holds her in a chokehold.

“Who. Said. You. Could. Just. Leave. Without. Telling. Us.” Nayeon swings Chaeyoung around with each word she enunciates.

Chaeyoung coughs and chokes for air, tapping on Nayeon’s arm to show her surrender and the latter finally lets her go, leaving her bent over as she heaves for air. “I… just wanted to go to the convenience store down the street.”

Jihyo crosses her arms, frowning as she looks at Chaeyoung. “You could have at least told us. Do you know how worried we were?”

“It was supposed to be a quick trip. But the crowd moved to the carpark entrance and I couldn’t get back to the dorms without getting spotted.” Chaeyoung mutters, head hung in guilt, sorry for making her unnies worry.

Jeongyeon knocks on her head and hands Chaeyoung her phone. “Tell us wherever you are going next time, or at least bring your phone with you!”

Dahyun pushes past the members and loops her arms around Chaeyoung’s shoulders, her approach totally different from the other three. “Now, now, let’s not be so harsh on Chaeng Chaeng now shall we! And instead, we should EAT.”

She directs Chaeyoung to the table, putting down bags of food on it. The maknae heaves a sigh as the unnies are focused on the food, thinking that the inquisition is over, but she's wrong because the next second, Jihyo goes, “You have never told us you have an apartment…”

Chaeyoung feels the sweat starting to form underneath her bangs. “It’s not significant, I don't come here often anyway.”

“It's pretty neat though,” Jeongyeon comments as she scrutinizes the apartment. It's small, but it has everything a person needs to live in.

“The only downside is the location. This place is so rundown and the neighborhood is so unsafe.” Nayeon clicks her tongue as she takes out boxes of food from the bags. “You can do so much better with all the royalties you made writing songs.”

“Ayyyy, Chaeng has always been eccentric like that, leave her alone.” Dahyun says, sharing a knowing look with Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon. (They were the ones who picked her up from the street downstairs that day, and they probably have placed two and two together to figure that Chaeyoung probably bought this apartment because of Mina.)

“Come on, let's eat!” Jeongyeon successfully distracts the other two TM members from asking anymore questions, and Chaeyoung shoots a grateful look to them as she settles down at the dining table. She watches as Jihyo puts a piece of pizza and some fried chicken on a plate before placing it in front of her, and Dahyun pouring her a cup of cola. She suddenly feels choked up at how lucky she is to have her members, who will always have her back.

“Guys… I’m sorry for the trouble I have caused and I promise it won’t happen again.” Chaeyoung mutters with her head down and Jihyo just knocks her on the head.

“Yah, it’s not even your fault, so don’t apologize for it.” Their leader chides her and Jeongyeon nods before teasing. “Stop being such a sap.”

Chaeyoung raises a fist at Jeongyeon, in a mock threat to hit her, but just places her fist back down with a smile.

“So what are you going to do during your break?” Dahyun asks as she bites down on a piece of chicken.

Chaeyoung shrugs. “Work on our next album. I guess it’s a good thing, I can focus solely on producing.”

“Are you really not going to go back to the dorms? At least go back to stay with your parents, I don’t feel safe with you staying here alone.” Nayeon nags and Jeongyeon just rolls her eyes at her overprotective wife. “Nabongs, she’s old enough to take care of herself. Let her be.”

Dahyun nods in agreement at Jeongyeon’s words. “Just send us a message to tell us you are alive every day to soothe Nayeon-unnie’s worried heart.”

Chaeyoung mock salutes Dahyun, thankful that her bros are helping her out with convincing Jihyo and Nayeon.

--

“Remember to text us every day!” Nayeon reminds Chaeyoung for the umpteen time as the latter just nods exasperatedly, waving at them to ask them to go. Jeongyeon and Dahyun pull Nayeon towards the lift, and Jihyo hugs her for the last time before running to catch the lift with the rest of the members.

Chaeyoung waves until the lift door closes, and heaves a sigh as she closes the door. Walking to the window that overlooks the street, she watches as they pile into the van but she finds herself rooted to the spot even when the van had long driven off. Was Mina standing here, watching her as she walked away after their fallout? Was she watching her when she kicked the trash can? The same can was still in the same spot, but so many things have changed since then. She was leaving Mina then, but she has her now, and this fact is revealed to the world. (And she’s so, very thankful for the changes.)

Mina. She should call her. She opts for a video call instead, wanting to see her, even if it’s just through a screen.  

Mina picks up on the second dial, eyebrows furrowed in worry. “Chaengie?”

“Hello to you too.” Chaeyoung chuckles as she lies down on the bed. She takes a few seconds to take in Mina’s look, the slightly damp hair, and the numerous moles dotting her face. Suddenly seeing her through the screen isn’t enough anymore; she wants to lie down and cuddle and kiss her senseless.

“Oh thank god,” Mina heaves a sigh of relief, “I thought something happened to you.”

“What can happen to me?” Chaeyoung chuckles as she just lets her eyes wander again, cursing the screen for not being big enough to capture the entirety that is Myoui Mina.

“I saw the article.” Mina says, voice gentle and careful, eyebrows frowning down and Chaeyoung doesn’t like that sad and guilty look on her face. “I’m sorry… I should have been more careful yesterday.”

"Hey, it's not your fault, alright?" Chaeyoung coaxes gently. "Besides, I was the one stealing kisses from you, so if anyone is at fault, it's me."

Mina sighs, leaving the argument as it is. "I miss you. I just want to hug and cuddle with you." She whines, and Chaeyoung wants to melt seeing the pout Mina is pulling.

"Then should I go to you? I have nothing to do anyway." Chaeyoung asks, and it suddenly hits her, the wave of inspiration. She scrambles out of her bed, dashing to her computer to key down the notes resonating in her head. It’s as if she’s playing the song off somewhere, her fingers moving unconsciously, trying to keep up with her mind.

“Chaeng? Chaeyoungie?” It takes Mina’s soft voice to bring Chaeyoung out of her composing frenzy, the latter finally remembering about her video call. Lifting the phone, Chaeyoung grins sheepishly.

“I’m so sorry, strike of inspiration.”

Mina just chuckles as she shakes her head in disbelief. “I thought there was an earthquake or something. I shouldn’t keep you up then, you should focus on composing.”

Chaeyoung wants to argue with that, wants to tell her that she is more important than any of her compositions, but she sees Mina stifling a yawn and she realizes she shouldn’t keep her up too. “Alright. Do you have to get up early tomorrow?”

Mina leans on her fists, cheeks being unintentionally puffed up and Chaeyoung almost lets out a squeal at the cute sight. “Yeah, Sana has an early schedule tomorrow.”

“Okay, you should get some rest then. Sweet dreams.” Chaeyoung says as she watches Mina nod with droopy eyes, clearly more than ready for bed.

“Don’t stay up too late working on your compositions too.” Mina doesn’t forget to chide as she rubs her eyes.

“I got it.” Chaeyoung is unable to contain the growing smile on her face as she watches Mina. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Mina says with a droopy smile.

Neither side wanted to hang up first, so they wave at each other for five minutes before Chaeyoung relents. “Okay I’m going to hang up first.”

She can’t give her a real goodnight kiss, so this will have to do. She kisses the camera, smiling at the sight of Mina all snuggled up in her blanket. “Goodnight, my silly penguin.”

“Goodnight, my little bean.” Mina greets and Chaeyoung resolutely presses the red button, effectively ending the video call that has been ongoing for one hour. Watching the call disconnect, Chaeyoung feels a sense of emptiness creeping in. She misses her already. Sighing, she puts the phone down, starting to work on her composition.

Someday, we’ll meet again

It will be the happiest day

I will go to you like the first snow

I will go to you

--

a/n: nothing much happening in this chapter, but wrapping this fic up soon! 

just in case you guys are confused, the apartment chaeng bought is where mina used to stay at (mentioned in chap 4)