-Two months later. Yoona's Apartment-

"N-No!" 

Yoona awoke with a fright, out of breath. Summer had now kicked in with full force, bringing a bright morning and birdsong. A searing path of sunlight that pierced directly through the glass and on to her face as though a giant is crouched above her, holding a magnifying glass. She blocked her eyes and tried to fill her parched throat with saliva, wiping away the beads of perspiration on her forehead. The sky was blue, a car alarm sounded nearby, a bird began to echo the car alarm. A wood pigeon responded, a child laughed, a baby cried, a football was pummeled against a garden wall.

It's been a chaotic two months. Perhaps, horrendous would be a better word. 

After that disastrous press conference that happened two months back, she felt that everything was thrown out of normality. Things seemed to appear fine and calm initially, since like what Jiyong had mentioned, her photo was blurred and hence, people who didn't know her would not have recognised that she was the person in the photo. She could easily walk on the streets without being recognised, though occasionally, she would have to brush off her curious students' questions about whether she was the person in question since they had seen Jiyong and Minjun once. 

However, things obviously took a turn for the worse. Around two weeks after the press conference, another article was published on tabloids, this time, a clearer photo of her. Not only that, people started digging out past events, comparing her photo with the mysterious 'The Muse' fashion show model and finding the resemblance between the two. Also, to make matters worse, a dark photo of her and Jiyong at La Yeon was published as well. In the photo, Yoona could remember Jiyong and her sharing a friendly hug that lasted less than a fraction of a minute, but the article managed to infer and decipher in such a way that they were kissing and groping each other. It pained Yoona to know that it wasn't just Jooyeon who was behind all these. Everyone else was enjoying the chaos and started spreading photos or worse, fake news around. It was madness.

A month later, when she thought things couldn't get any worse, it just did. Jooyeon apparently managed to find out who her best friend was and persuaded her to come out to testify against her. However, instead of saying that Yoona was a surrogate mum, Yoojin had twisted the fact completely, telling the paparazzi that she had wanted quick money and hence, hit on Jiyong after knowing that he was a rising designer and an owner of a fashion company. What disgusted Yoona the most was the fact that Yoojin even portrayed herself as a righteous character, claiming that she had shunned away from her because she couldn't believe that her best friend was a vixen that steals people's husband for the sake of money. Since her identity was confirmed, she had to be put on no-pay leave until further notice. She should at least be thankful that at least she wasn't fired (much thanks to Jungsuk and Seunghyun who vouched for her character and her students who created an uproar to voice their dissatisfaction towards the school's decision). 

All in all, she had lost her job temporarily and being labelled as a vixen, third party, materalistic and the list went on and on. On the other hand, Jiyong didn't seem to be any better. His phone was busted with all the calls and his social networking sites flooded with mostly malicious comments, calling him a horrible person, claiming that they had mistrusted him etc. Seungri had advised him to stay away from everything for the time being, until they figured out the way to counter this completely. Jiyong was agreeable to it and Yoona knew he had a plan on hand but he had refused to let her know about it, saying that it would put her in danger and that he needed time. 

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes." 

"Then don't ask. Just believe in me." 

That's all Yoona relied on for the past two months. Indeed, Jiyong breathed no words to the public no matter how ugly or nasty the press wrote about him or Yoona. He did apologise a couple of times but eventually, he became not as contactable and even disappeared to Paris after giving a text, leaving Minjun under Auntie Lee's and Yoona's care. 

Yoona got out of shower, tugging on her matchstick jeans and ballet flats. She wrapped a pastel blue silk scarf around her waist, up over her torso then tied the ends behind her neck to fashion a halter-style blouse. She looked into the mirror and let out a sigh. To be honest, she was a little upset, but she knew she should trust him. However, Minjun was another problem to worry about altogether. Ever since the press conference ended, Jiyong had put Minjun under homeschool, fearing that he would be harrassed by the press. Yoona agreed initially but as the time stretched on, with no sign of the situation improving, she started to think otherwise. Minjun, who wasn't told any reason in the first place, was forced to be homeschooled. He had been a sweetheart, not throwing any tantrums, probably because he knew that trouble was going on around in house. Due to him being vexed, Jiyong had been fierce and harsh towards Minjun and latter was afraid of his daddy. Yoona thought he was doing fine until a week ago, he had asked her timidly, asking her when can he go back to school. He missed Haewon and his friends at school, saying that Ms. Kim, the homeschool teacher was a bore. 

Yoona remembered melting at his pitiful and innocent expression. She was bought in so easily and promised him that she would talk to his daddy about it. After promising, did she realise that she must be out of her mind but she couldn't bear to see that little boy's disappointed expression. Hence, with the help of Yuri, they called Jiyong. Surprisingly, Jiyong agreed without any hesitation. She was too surprised to believe it and double confirmed, but it seemed like Jiyong was really distracted and he agreed, saying that Minjun should go back to his normal life too. Whatever it was, she could never forget the happy smile Minjun wore when she told him he'd be able to go back to school the following week. 

"Bye bye, Yoona imo!" 

Together with Yuri and Haewon, Yoona dropped Minjun off to school. Thankfully, no reporters were around at that time and Minjun went in safely. Yoona heaved a sigh of relief.

"Let's go enjoy some mummy freedom," Yuri linked her arms around her shoulders, winking. 

✢✢✢✢✢

-Café around Namsan International Kindergarten- 

"Oh come on Yoong! Take a chill pill!" Yuri teased as she took a sip of her caramel macchiato. "You look like