❝ chapter twenty

e r i c ’ s
[blue text = spoken in english]

Yongsun is fast asleep, it could be because she’s exhausted or because it’s really late. My phone lights up from my side and I silently get up from the bed and grabs my phone to go outside. Her members are staying in the other rooms so I walk over to the living room and sits on the sofa. Mom’s calling, I guess she sees the news. 

    “Hi, mom.” 

For two whole minutes, she couldn’t stop blabbering happily. She said she didn't tell dad yet because she was afraid we would break up, knowing that many celebrities did that because of their schedules and she was afraid dad would be upset but now she could finally tell him and he's definitely over the moon because they both wanted us to date so bad after our wgm ended.

    “Did you see the news or did Eddie tell you?” 

    “I saw the news, woke your dad up and now he’s going to work in a very happy mood.” She sniffs a little. “Where are you? Are you at home? Are you okay?” 

    “Yongsun’s home.” I said, hoping my mom wouldn’t mind this at all. “I’m okay, don’t worry.” 

Thankfully, she was just as cool about this. After a while, she told me to visit her with Yongsun soon then ended the call. I walked back into the bedroom and silently climbed into bed. She stirred a little in her sleep then moves closer to me. I wrapped my arms around her gently and planted a a soft peck on her forehead. This felt like home. 

The morning came quite fast today and I wake up to Yongsun staring at me with a smile. I usually woke up before she did but I guess, something about going to bed really late last night had a part in this. Ailee texted me right before I fell asleep and bombarded me with questions then she created another group chat and named it Eric is actually dating someone and I ended up getting roasted for the rest of the night until 4am when they decided they had enough for today and they needed their beds.  

    “You snored.” She giggles. 

    I groan. “God, I’m sorry. Was it too loud?” 

She shakes her head softly with a smile, still. None of us want to get out of bed and Yongsun cuddled even closer into me so we end up staying like that for a few more minutes. There’s a few noises from the kitchen and Yongsun says it’s probably her members trying to cook themselves breakfast but seeing how Hyejin is more of a better cook than she is, she lets them be. At least, she’s sure they’re not gonna burn her kitchen down. 

I grab my phone to check on the situation and Yongsun looks at it with me even though every part of it is entirely in English. The post from last night is still getting retweets, likes and replies. Most of it are bad, a minority of it are blessings. I go to my News Feed instead and every international news sites I followed on Twitter are translating articles about our sudden announcements. Lots of them are enraged, my fans mostly. But, what makes me feel bad the most are them cursing Yongsun out, saying that I'm too good for her when it’s actually the opposite. Yongsun is the one who is too good for me, I feel like I might have somehow ruin her only source of happiness left and yet she accepts me and my shortcomings. 

I tell her that I have a recording for Happy Together today and they will definitely ask me about this. I make sure Yongsun is completely fine with this because talking about it on broadcast is almost equivalent to adding fuel to the fire and I have to know to which extent she is comfortable with. 

    “When is your manager coming?” She asked. 

    “In 30 minutes.” 

    “Then, go and wash up. What are you still doing in bed?” 

I tell her that it’s fine to stay for another 5 minutes, mainly because I’m lazy too. When I’m alone, it’s really easy to get out of my bed immediately after I wake up but something about laying down next to Yongsun and hugging her makes me want to stay in bed for the rest of the day. 

    “You should eat before you leave.”

    “I’ll stop by and grab some sandwich and coffee on the way.” 

    “Eat a proper meal.” She frowns.

She gets out of bed and walks inside her bathroom. I sigh and sits up then checks the group chat from last night and reply a message to Amber who insists I officially introduce Yongsun to them sometimes this week. Definitely not this week, she’s going to have her comeback stage tomorrow.

    “Are you not coming?” 

I look up to see Yongsun poking her head out from the bathroom door and I raise my eyebrow confusedly at her. She avoids my eyes for a second then looks back at me. What is she doing again?

    “What?” 

    “Now that I think about it, 30 minutes are quite long.” She mumbles. “For just showering and washing up.” 

    “God, Yongsun. You’re going to make me late for my schedule.” 

But, I walked toward her bathroom anyway.