“But hyung,” Seungri hesitated, his voice changed from high tone to regular tone. “What are you going to do about this?”

“Huh? Do what?” Jiyong hadn’t apprehended what Seungri meant.

“Your relationship.”

Seungri was really glad that Jiyong finally opened his heart, but he had a bad feeling toward these things. In fact, Seungri always felt a poor intuition toward any relationships that Jiyong involved in because of his devotion and commitment in love. Seungri could not believe that the person who wrote the line ‘They say love is blind Oh baby you’re so blind’ was actually the blind one. Well, he could talk about himself and nobody even guessed. Though, when Seungri heard of Jieun’s name, he felt like his presentiment had lowered down, because he at least knew about Jieun much enough to know how she would be. Seungri believed her, after all.

“Do? What do you mean do? We’re just in a relationship. We’re enjoying it.” Jiyong hated how Seungri always made some random-nonsense questions.

“No hyung.” Seungri found words to explain. “I mean, if you guys ever are exposed, what are you going to do?”

Jiyong was dumbfound. He had really never thought about this.

“Deny it? Ignore it like other times? Or… confirm it?” Seungri continued in a serious voice.

“Well… I haven’t really thought about that actually.”

“That’s what I’m talking about, hyung.” Seungri raised his voice, but not with excitement. He was worried. “I think you should start thinking about it soon enough. Those reporters are good these days.”

“Aish…” Jiyong felt like cursing. “Why can we people just date like regular people why?”

“You know hyung, we people have been dedicating our lives for more than twenty years just to answer that question, but I don’t think we can even know the answer.” Seungri suddenly lowered his voice. “The answer is too risky to even think about it. It’s unsaid.”

“I…” Jiyong leaned on his sofa. “I don’t want to hurt her.”

“I know.” Seungri sighed.

Those people were somehow… just those lonely souls. They were all successful people, but were they really successful? What were their true definition of ‘success’? Were all of these successes considered in their dictionary? Jiyong still felt deep down inside him a fear of losing Jieun at any time. He wondered each day when he woke up, what would be happening to their relationship. At the end of the day, he always felt so relieved that nothing happened but at the same time, he was worried for the next day. Somehow, he could not just feel secured in a relationship like this.

In some days, he would think he could just throw everything away just to protect her; other days, he would just think it was the most stupid thing in his entire life to throw away his career, all of his beloved fans who had supported him for ten years, his passion for music and his opportunity. He was in between of his minds, she was important but his dedication was important as well. He was stuck in between, could not chose which direction to walk to at all.

But he knew, he could not lose her at all. After all, he was the type to throw everything away to protect his loved one, right?

Jiyong: Jiji baby

Jiyong: (insert a photo)

Jiyong: Good morning from Miami

Jiyong: Mohae? (What are you up to?)

Jiyong: The sea is really pretty

Jiyong: I wish you were here

Jiyong: Do you like the sea?

Jiyong: You would love here, Jieun ah.

Jiyong: I miss you

Jiyong: A lot

Jieun smiled when those texts came up. These days, everything seemed to be procrastinated for Jieun. She basically stayed at home most of the time. Her schedule was empty somehow. So it was the time for Jieun to do things that she had been missing out. Shopping was one of the thing she did, and buying more slime was always her priority. Jieun actually were practicing yoga, which were influenced by Hyori. Yoga was hard for Jieun, but since she got nothing to do, she would just practice it every morning with her teacher.

Sometimes these days, Jieun flew to Jejudo for relaxing. She’d been always loved by those people over there, because she used to hang around her granny. She loved how Jejudo always brought good feelings and peace to her, not like the busy-crowded-dramatic Seoul. Somehow, she felt it not like home since he’d gone for too long. Jieun missed breathing the air within him. She missed the feelings of having him around. Jieun was not a clingy one, but she still wanted to be with him more than enough, since this was never enough for them. Dating was hard enough, but dating in secret like these two seemed to be impossible. Noone would ever be positive about this kind of relationship. But she knew he had promised her that one thing, so she still believed in him.

Jieun: (insert a selfie of herself)

Jieun: Good evening from Seoul

Jieun: I don’t have good pictures besides this one

Jieun: It’s pretty

Jieun: I wish I were there

Jieun: With you

Jieun: I miss you too, Kwon Jiyong.

Jieun: A lot

“Broz.” Youngbae suddenly called.

“Hey wassup bro. You’re in LA already?” Jiyong just remembered.

“Yeah. How’s Miami?” Youngbae breathed heavily through the phone due to the tiring long flight.

“Good enough. The atmostphere is pretty. It’s nice to breathe in this kind of air.” Jiyong inhaled to enjoy it again. “Are you tired from the flight?”

“Yeah kind of. By the way…” Youngbae seemed to hesitate. “How is your relationship? Good?”

Jiyong startled. Why all of a sudden did he ask about his relationship with Jieun? Jiyong felt like something was up.

“Why? It’s good. We keep on pretty well. Calling and texting everyday though it’s hard for the timing.” Jiyong quickly responded, looking for the real reason of these sudden questions. “All of a sudden why are you asking?”

“No… I’m just asking. Glad to hear that bro.” The way Youngbae said would make Jiyong doubt.

“Bro. Don’t do this to me. You know you’re not good at faking stuff. I’ve known you for years.” Jiyong got his heart beating fast with a bad hunch. “Is there something wrong?”

There were a long silence in the phone call before Youngbae spoke up.

“No… Nothing’s wrong. It’s just…” Youngbae tried to find his words, which bothered Jiyong much. “I heard… Hyunsuk hyung already knew about it.”

“Oh…” To Youngbae’ surprises, Jiyong seemed not to be affected by the news that much. “Really?”

“You’re not surprised?” Youngbae was the one who got surprised.

“Oh… I could feel that he already knew. I was just not so sure.” Jiyong leaned over his pillow. “Now I’m sure. So…?”

“I don’t think he’s happy.” Youngbae continued in a serious voice.

This time, Jiyong was in silence. He was wondering if he should be less or more worried about this, since Hyunsuk used to never really care about his dating issues. In the past, whenever there was flood of news about his dating affairs, Hyunsuk did not even look into it. So in the end, Jiyong hadn’t really paid attention to any rumor or truth. In fact, he enjoyed how the audience always expected him to word a confirmation or a denial toward the news and all he did was to leave it hanging there, either admitting nor denying.

“How do you know? Did he tell you in person?” Jiyong, in the end, was half-doubting the comment of Youngbae.

“Actually my manager told me that Taehee had a meeting with Hyunsuk and when I asked him what it was about, he said it was about a girl you were dating in secret.” Youngbae lowered his voice. “So did Taehee know?”

“I told him I was seeing someone, not mentioning her name specifically. I don’t think he knows who.” Jiyong muttered through his breathes.

“I think he knows now. And don’t you wonder how Hyunsuk hyung got the news?” Youngbae toned down his voice seriously and it made Jiyong feel somehow intimidated.

“Wait, so he was the one who called Taehee? I thought Taehee told him in report.” Jiyong’s voice was shaking.

“Yeah.” Youngbae paused. “He knows before Taehee. He was the one who told Taehee who she was. And guess what?”

“Please.” Jiyong closed his eyes, as if he knew something bad eventually would happen. “Please Youngbae ah.”

“The media sent him the pictures. In front of your apartment. It’s her Jiyong.” Youngbae’s voice began to slim away from Jiyong’s ear. “This time, he chose to negotiate with them.”

“Aish.” Jiyong cursed through the air, making it heavier than ever.

Pinky promise. You’ve promised Jiyong.

IT'S KWON JIYONG DAY TODAY GUYS!!!!! #HAPPYKWONJIYONGDAY #HAPPY818GDAY #HAPPY30GDAY #HAPPYWHATEVERGDAY LOL

Actually I finished the draft for this chapter in some days ago, but I'm still thinking if I should leave it hanging there. I don't know why these days I have a lot of pessimistic ideas about these two (I'm sorry guys I feel really bad ㅠ ㅠ). But since it's a fictional story, I will wrap everything up in a good sense soooooooooo NO WORRIES my dear friends ❤︎

Thank you all my friends/supporters for being patient ❤︎

P.S: Shoutout to inten17iu's birthday toooo HAPPY BIRTHDAY ❤︎