I'm back!! ^_^

First of all, I'm really grateful to all my readers and for their support. I'm thankful that you guys respected my schedule and I hope you don't give up on me yet ^W^

 Also, I'm sorry that this chapter is a bit shorter than the others but you know, I had to put an end to this troublesome arc which I had no fun in writing tbh. But all's well that ends well, right? I'm looking forward to writing the next chapters because the fun starts now (spoiler alert) teehee >.~

Anyways, thank you all for the support and chingudeul, neomu neomu saranghae <3

Kamsahamnida!

~Author~

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        'How were you supposed to react?' was what you were thinking, your eyes glued on the television's polychrome screen. Were you even supposed to do anything? This was perhaps one of the most clueless moments of your life. The crowd roared outside, shouting, screaming, crying, all at once. Calling Chen wouldn't be a good idea, at least you knew that much. He might be facing even more trouble on the other side. You felt like crying, as if everything would go back to normal if you cried. Taking your face in your hands, you racked your brain for a solution. Nothing came to mind, the situation will be worse if you tried to do something instead. Your heart sank to your stomach as your phone buzzed. An unknown number.

"Annyeonghaseyo?" you squeaked, unsure of what to expect.

"Ah, annyeong! (y/n)-ah, ne?" a friendly female voice chirped from the other side, or so it seemed.

"Y-yeah..."

"(Y/n)-ah~ It's me, Song Jinsoo!"

You remembered her. She was a senior in your university, majoring in Science. You had only met her once though, at the orientation ceremony. She was the one in charge of introducing the university to the freshmen students. From what you recalled, your first impression of her was friendly, tall and smart. After that, you only ever saw her occasionally and the only conversations you exchanged were just some polite greetings. It surprised you that she actually had your number.

"Sunbae? How are you?" you attempted to speak politely but the confusion was obvious in your voice.

Hearing the crowd getting ever so loud, you covered the phone with your hands and moved to the bathroom.

"Yah! Are you really dating Chen!? Jinjja?!!" she practically screamed as she talked.

Gulping, you tried to hide the fear in your voice, speaking as subtly as possible, "A-ahneeyo, sunbae... it's impossible, you know."

"Don't lie, (y/n)-ah, it's all over the news! And no one knows your face better than me, right?" Yeah, yeah, of course.

"R-right... but sunbae, it's a misunderstanding! I just met him...uh... in the fanmeet the other day. Even Yeonji was there!" It was the truth. But the nervousness and panic seemed to make you forget all the Korean words you knew, making you appear even more nervous than you already were.

"Jinjja? But it's weird," she grunted disappointedly, "Which Yeonji, by the way? Jung Yeonji?"

"Kang Yeonji, sunbae."

"Ah, the one with the handsome ulzzang brother?" Surprisingly, even she knew Yeonji had a brother, whereas you didn't. This is a small world, after all.

"Ne ne..."

She mumbled something under her breathe and then returned to you, "Well, then I guess I'll hang up. And if you are really dating Chen, you know Unnie is the first person you'll talk to about it, right?"

She hung up before you could even reply. Just a mere acquaintance and yet pretending she cared. You sighed. It was hopeless how human beings constantly faked. The room felt suffocating and disturbing with all the noise outside. For the first time in your life, you hated Korea. Back in your home country, celebrities dated all the time. But no fans ever felt betrayed, no fans ever blockade the person they loved. But then again, maybe you had done the same thing. You lingered beside the window in your bedroom and peeked through the curtains. The crowd seemed to have dispersed into smaller groups but still continued to revolt relentlessly.

                 You felt sick, not in your physical body, but psychologically. You felt depressed and lonely. And then, there was another call. It was from an unknown number as well.

"Yes, hello?" at this point, you didn't even feel like bothering about languages any more.

"Unnie, it's me~" this was also a female voice, but much gentler and softer then Song Jinsoo's. You couldn't recognize it.

"Umm, I'm afraid I don't kno who you are..." you spoke carefully translating your sentences in your mind.

"Mieun-ie, the hairdresser's assistant!"

Yes, you remembered now. She was the pale, petite girl at the hairdresser's shop. She was a er for kpop and that was how you engaged yourself in a conversation one day. But you didn't remember ever giving her your number. Was your number floating in the sky now?

"Yeah, Mieun-ie, I remember you. Mianhaeyo, I was a bit distracted..."

"It's okay, I know. It's hard to get famous so suddenly and deal with it. Is this true, by the way!? How could you not tell me!? Moreover, you're not even pretty..." she mumbled the last sentence almost to herself but loud enough for you to hear it. Your heart twisted and you tried not to care.

"Ahneeyo, I'm not dating Chen."

You explained the situation to her and just like the previous caller, she got disappointed and hung up. Sighing, you sat down on the cold tiled floor. Right, you were ugly. Everyone around the world said you are ugly. You knew, you were not pretty. I'm ugly, I'm ugly, I'm ugly, ugly , ugly.... Hiding your face with your arms, you held your breath. Chen does not deserve this ugly girl. But why? Why did he say he loved this bad looking girl? This was not the time to think about that. This situation was not unexpected; in fact, you had predicted it all last night. But maybe it was not as big in your mind. Somewhere in your mind, you thought nobody would notice. It must be even harder for Chen and EXO. Why wasn't SM denying the rumors yet? You surfed through the internet for some news. Nope, no confirmation yet.

                   There was a call again. This time it was a junior, Lee Yeunbi. Just like the previous callers, she was also merely an acquaintance and asked the exact same questions. Five more calls followed after that from two other seniors and three classmates. It was tiring having to answer the same questions over and over again. There were still no words from SM. The crowd outside had started to quiet down a bit thankfully. You missed Yeonji. You realized that you actually had no one in this country except Yeonji and Chen. And you also realized how selfish you were, always wanting Yeonji by your side and at your worse times and forgot about her when you were happy. Your eyes stung, and you bit your lips to hold back the tears. And just then, as if by perfect timing, your phone rang out, displaying an oh-so familiar name.

"Yah! Are you shameless or what?! How many times have you called me!? Don't you get that a person needs some personal space when they are angry!? Pabo!" she ranted on, her voice blasting your ears.

"Yeonji... Yeonji-ah!" you wailed as drops of tears ran down your eyes, "I missed you~"

She chuckled, "Don't start crying now, pabo chingu!"

You covered your eyes with your sleeve, the cloth absorbing the tears. You felt a strong relief, like a string of hope to hold onto in the dark.

"(Y/n)-ah?" she spoke with an unusual softness, "Kaenchanha? Are you ok?"

"No, I'm not okay!" you vented, "You know the situation! There are hundreds of people outside my house and I'm stuck here all alone and SM is not confirm—"

"Wait....(y/n)...take a deep breath..."

You sighed and rubbed your eyes, "I feel like I'll go mad if this keeps going on..."

"Did you talk to Chen?" there was caution in her voice.

"Yes, yes I did...but..."

"But what?"

"He was acting like it was not a big deal at all..." you answered hesitantly.

"Ah, I see. Now don't worry, we just have to hang on a bit longer, until SM says anything. I'm sorry I can't even visit you, chingu-yah..."

You nodded. Just a little bit longer.

"Yah, yah, yah! Check the news! SM is on! Shibal!" Yeonji screamed and shouted.

Dropping the phone, you ran over to your TV, frantically searching through the channels. There it was. 'SM Ent. Denies rumors of EXO's Chen dating a fan.' The reporter continued, "SM apologizes to the fans and the foreigner fan in question for the inconvenience. According to them, EXO is currently focusing on doing their best and have no time for dating in the peak of their career. They are thankful for their fans and their support—" You changed the channel. Everything will be fine now. The girls outside started screaming in joy, celebrating the news. Walking back to your phone, you realized how free you felt.

"Yeonji-ah?"

"Ah, (y/n)! Everything is back to normal now! Yay!~" she sang.

You smiled, "Yay~" But somewhere, deep in your heart, you felt a weak unknown feeling. Slopping your shoulder, you gave out a sigh of relief.

"So, what you gonna do now?"

"I don't know... I think I'll call Chen after a while." You were almost talking to yourself.

"Yeah, do that, please, and don't worry anymore. And congratulations on landing your first boyfriend~ And..." she hesitated, 'I'm sorry...I...uh...I wasn't therein your worst time. I'm a selfish b*tch and I didn't bother picking up your phone and talking to you when you needed me the most. I even left you dying in fever last night. But it still came as a surprise to me, you know, and I didn't know how to react, I was just angry that you kept it all a secret but I now I get that you did what you had to... uh...so, still, whatever I did, I'm really sorry about that and—"

"Yeonji-ah!! Stop now... You have nothing to be sorry about. If I was in your place, I would have done the same. Instead, it's me who should be apology—"

"Okay, okay, enough with the blame game now!" she giggled.

You snorted, "I love you, chingu!"

"More than Chen?" she teased and you could imagine her with a huge grin plastered on her face. You were thankful for her presence in your life.

"Uhmm... no," you burst into laughter.

"Okay then, relax now, and get a good sleep. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Ne~" you smiled and hung up.

                Trailing back to your balcony, you found the crowd had already disbanded. You wondered how they would react if Chen himself announced your relationship officially. They would stone you to death perhaps. Somehow you felt uncertain. You shrugged. Was it wrong that your love was reciprocated? Maybe it would have been better for both you and Chen if you had never met. Or if Chen never loved you back. But this heart...you clutched your chest with your hands. This heart hurt if you thought that this was all nothing. Losing Chen scared you. Waking up to this dream scared you. You wanted to be with Chen, but you didn't want him to lose all that he built on his hard work. Love is a complicated feeling, it comes with uncertainties, it comes with passion, it comes with loneliness, it comes with warmth. Love is a complicated feeling, after all.  

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As you can see, this chapter does not have any romance. But I actually wrote this chapter  as a shoutout to all the girl friends out there, because you see how Yeonji provides an emotional support for the MC so, yeah, I want to say value your girl (or boy) friends out there because sometimes, romance is not all you need.

Fun fact : I actually based the character Yeonji on my best friend, Chaeyeon and when I made her read this story and told her, she was like "wtf, you made me into such an annoying character. Am I annoying?" xD