Marisa’s POV

After a while, everyone just disregarded the press conference, except for Myungsoo who kept watching it, but somehow it was still on my mind. “Do you want to go for a walk?” Sungyeol suggests after seeing my down mood.

“Sure,” I say as he hands me my crutches and I start getting up.

We silently walk through the hallways not saying anything, it’s comforting, though. We sit down on our normal bench and I instinctively put my head on Sungyeol’s shoulder and he instinctively wraps his arm around my shoulder. He also starts to play with my hair a little.

“Don’t worry about him,” Sungyeol whispers. He sees me crying and slowly wipes away my tears.

“I just don’t get why he would date her of all people,” I say through my tears. “It’s not the fact that he’s dating that annoys me; it’s the fact that it’s Seohyun of all people.”

“I understand,” Sungyeol says wrapping both of his hands around me tightly. I hug him tightly and close my eyes against his chest, taking in his scent. “You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

“You know,” I say, “you’re a really great person, Lee Sungyeol. I don’t deserve you.”

“Yes you do,” Sungyeol says. “You deserve every part of me. It’s me that doesn’t deserve you because actually, I already knew about their relationship, but I just told you in there that I didn’t because I knew you’d be in shock. I didn’t want you to get hurt. I really like you, Marisa.”

Sungyeol puts his hands on my face and turns my head to look at him. He looks into my eyes before our lips touch sending sparks up my body. I’ve never felt this way before. Lee Sungyeol can make the whole world disappear around me by doing just one simple thing.

“Sungyeol-oppa,” I say pulling away and looking at him. “I have to confess something.”

“What is it?” he asks with a puzzled look.

“Jinyoung and my relationship was fake. All along we weren’t really going out. Just one accident, just one mistake made everyone think that we’re actually a couple. His agency made us become a couple and we were forced together. We never were a couple, ever since the beginning, ever since six months ago we’ve been faking. I’m sorry for lying to you all this time.”

“It’s alright,” Sungyeol says pushing some of the hair away from my face. I like it when he touches my face softly like that. “That’s in the past. It doesn’t matter to me. I just want to let you know that I’m here for you, Marisa. Right now when you’re having a hard time, I’m here for you. I’ll help share the burden of your difficulties. That’s what boyfriends are for, right?” he asks with a smile. I can’t help but smile back at him. “Now that’s the Marisa that I’m used to.”

“Thank you, Sungyeol-oppa,” I tell him. “I don’t think I’m able to thank you enough.”

“You don’t need to thank me at all,” he says kissing me once again.

Jinyoung’s POV

The dreaded press conference is over, but I think I made things worse in the end. Now reporters are always going to ask about the fake relationship and they’re going to bother Marisa about the fake relationship. Why did I ever decide to announce it? What part of me ever decided the decision to announce it?

I lean my head back on the seat as we drive back to the dorms. I just don’t want to talk to anyone right now, especially Seohyun, she’s the whole reason I’m in this mess right now. My mind is too confused to do anything right now. I want to pretend to be a good boyfriend to Seohyun, something that I should’ve done with Marisa, in order for Seohyun to stop targeting Marisa and Sungyeol. By doing that, I’ve made my life even more miserable than it was before.

Maybe the others were right, maybe I shouldn’t have started this whole thing with Seohyun, but where would we be now? What plan would Seohyun have done next if I didn’t agree to date her, or rather act like I wanted to date her?

I bury my head in my hands, there’s not much that I can do now, I’ve already said it. I could attempt to take back the words by saying that it was a lie and that I didn’t know what I was thinking, but the damage has already been done. I hear my phone ring and just ignore it, it’s probably Seohyun anyway. She didn’t want to go to the venue of the press conference because she knew that I would say that we were dating and she didn’t want the press to bombard her with questions, too.

However, my phone keeps incessantly ringing, so I pull it out to turn it on silent when I see that it’s not Seohyun who’s calling me, it’s Myungsoo. I pick it up and answer it silently.

“Ya, Jung Jinyoung,” I hear Myungsoo freak out on the other line.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at a party right now?” I ask him.

“Why did you do that?” he asks. I have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about and he didn’t answer my question about the party.

“Why did I do what?” I ask confused.

“Don’t act like you don’t know,” he says back, “that press conference. Who told you to hold one and say all of those things?”

The press conference, right. Wait, he saw the press conference? “Myungsoo-ah, are you at the party?” I ask for the second time.

“It doesn’t matter where I’m at right now, give me an answer,” he says. “If you don’t give me an answer, I’m going over to your dorms right now.” I stay silent on my phone; it feels like the world around me is breaking down. “That’s it; I’m going to your dorms. You better be heading back there.” With that, Myungsoo hangs up angrily at me. He has every right to be angry at me.

Then I think about it. If he’s at the party and he saw the press conference, then doesn’t that mean that Marisa saw the press conference? What am I going to do? She must surely hate me now. What have I done?

Myungsoo’s POV

I angrily make my way towards the dorms where Jinyoung should be waiting, or heading to after the press conference. I can’t believe that he played stupid with me, acting as though he didn’t know what I was talking about and he stayed silent when I questioned him. We have to have a serious talk regarding this whole thing because it’s just going to get worse from here on out.

I see their van arrive at the same time that I arrive, but I hide in the bushes because I see Seohyun standing outside of the dorm. Thankfully, I don’t see reporters, they probably went to the company first to get information before actually going to Jinyoung and Seohyun or they just decided to be nice since it’s the Christmas holiday. I kind of doubt the second option.

“Jinyoungie-oppa,” I hear Seohyun say. Her voice just makes my fingers and toes curl up. “I saw the press conference.”

“Yeah,” I hear Jinyoung respond. It doesn’t seem like he’s too interested in Seohyun, which I know he’s not, so why keep the façade going?

“I think that it’s very brave of you saying all of those things,” she says.

“I don’t have time for you right now,” Jinyoung says as he attempts to make his way inside of the apartment, but Seohyun blocks his way. I have a feeling that this isn’t going to be heading in a good direction.

“Jinyoungie-oppa, are you ready for the next thing?”

“What next thing?” he asks her. I can hear the anger in his voice, he really doesn’t want to put up with her and what does she mean by the next thing? Did she put Jinyoung up to holding the press conference? Is she still trying to play this game?

“I’m not going to tell you today,” she starts out, “I’ll tell you another time.”

“Whatever, now just let me inside of my house.” I watch and Jinyoung attempts to get away from her, but she still doesn’t move.

“Why don’t you hang out with me?” she suggests.

“No,” Jinyoung says.

“Why not?” she asks pulling on his arm to try to get him to move, but he doesn’t budge.

“Hey,” I say acting as though I just got here. I think I have to save Jinyoung, even though everything in my body tells me not to, I can’t just let him stand there and take abuse from Seohyun.

“L-oppa,” she says greeting me. I completely ignore her.

“Jinyoung-hyung, you look like you’re sick,” I say going up to him, “are you okay? Here, I’ll take you inside,” I say grabbing his arm and moving past Seohyun. Good, she’s learned by now not to mess with me. I take Jinyoung to the door of the apartment and let him go in for himself. “You go in, I’ll take care of Seohyun out here for a minute.”

“Thank you,” he whispers to me.

“So, Seohyun,” I say going back outside to where she’s standing. She hasn’t moved one bit. “How’s your relationship with Jinyoung-hyung going? Everything that you ever hoped?”

She thinks about it for a moment. “I guess, although he doesn’t put much effort forth in attempting to make this relationship work,” she complains. Good, a flaw, maybe I can make that flaw into a crack that will drive the two apart since I know Jinyoung won’t know how to.

“Ah, he’s like that to all of his girlfriends,” I tell her. “He doesn’t show them any affection.”

“Then how come he at least paid attention and talked to Marisa?” she inquires.

“You see, that’s the difference between their relationship and yours. He actually likes her, he doesn’t like you.”

“He said that he likes me.”

“Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret about Jinyoung-hyung, okay?” I ask in a failed attempt at a sweet voice. Seohyun’s face immediately lights up and she nods her head up and down. “You see, Jinyoung and I are best friends,” I tell her taking a step closer to her with every word I say until I’m inches away from her face. “So as my best friend, I tell him everything and he tells me everything.” She still hasn’t registered the concept yet. “Let’s say that we share secrets with each other, secrets about how you’re the one that caused the accident and about how much he really likes Marisa.” I see her eyes widen as she finally realizes what’s going on. I’m finding amusement out of this. “Seohyun, the game is still on.”

Jinyoung’s POV

I make it to my bed and lie down. Why did Myungsoo step in to help me when we’re not on the very best of terms right now? It makes no sense, really. I wonder what he’s talking about with Seohyun, though. Whenever I come home, I make it a point to check to see if the DVD is with all of my stuff because I don’t want anyone to steal it, especially any of the members, or anyone really. I don’t want them to see what’s on the video because it explains everything to Marisa. Now whether or not Marisa is actually going to see that video, I haven’t decided yet, but I did buy her a Christmas gift. I put it together with the DVD in a bag, in my backpack.

As I sort through the backpack, I hear the front door open. “Where are you?” I hear Myungsoo ask throughout the apartment.

“In here,” I yell as I’m searching through my backpack for the familiar black bag, but it’s not there. I dump out all of the contents of my backpack onto the floor and the black bag isn’t there. Where could it have gone? “It’s gone, it’s gone,” I mutter to myself as Myungsoo opens the door and comes in.

“What’s gone?” he asks.

“The bag, the bag is gone, where’s the bag?” I begin searching all over the room for it; I don’t know where it could’ve gone. I put it away last night, I’m sure of it. I made sure that it was safely tucked away. There’s no way that it could’ve just got up and disappeared on its own.

“What bag are you talking about?” Myungsoo asks.

“It’s a black bag, a black bag,” I keep saying. After destroying my room, I can’t help but just collapse on the bed. The bag isn’t in my room, where is it? The only person I share this room with is Sandeul, could Sandeul have taken the bag accidentally? Could he have thought that it was a Christmas present? Does Marisa have it now?”

“Jung Jinyoung!” Myungsoo yells grabbing my attention. I look at him as he sits down on the floor. “Why did you have the press conference?” I stay silent and look at him. “Answer me already,” he says. “That’s the reason I came here, for answers.”

“You want answers, I’ll give them to you,” I say finally admitting defeat. There’s no way that I can hide anything from Myungsoo now.

“Okay, then we’ll start with why did you have the press conference? Did Seohyun make you have the press conference?”

I nod my head. “She said that she wanted me to show her how much I like her, so I went and did the press conference, I admitted that Marisa and I broke up and that Seohyun and I are now dating. I even admitted that Marisa and my relationship was fake.”

“She put you up to it, right?"

“Can we just not talk about any of this?” I ask. “I don’t feel like it right now.”

“Okay, we won’t talk about the press conference then,” Myungsoo says, “but I think you should know that Dongwoo-hyung turned it on accidentally in his attempt to find some Christmas music.”

Dongwoo turned it on by accident, Christmas music. “You don’t mean…” I begin.

“Marisa saw it, everyone saw it,” Myungsoo says confirming my worst fear. “Everyone saw you admit that Marisa and you broke up and that you’re going out with Seohyun. After that, Marisa and Sungyeol left the room, she looked hurt.”

“S-s-she was hurt?” I stammer out. “I didn’t mean to hurt her. I didn’t want her to know anything about it.”

“Too late, she already does. It makes no sense, hyung. What you’re doing to Marisa and what you’re doing to Seohyun. I get it that you like Marisa, okay? You care about her a lot, but by doing this, it’s just going to hurt more people.”

I roll over on my bed and face the wall. “What else am I supposed to do?” I ask. “Seohyun would just go back to her evil ways and make our lives miserable. And what about Sungyeol? He really likes Marisa, I can’t just step in between their relationship and try to redeem myself from being a horrible boyfriend.”

“Hyung,” Myungsoo says stopping me. “You’re naming off all of these things that you’re doing for other people, but have you ever thought about doing something for yourself? Have you ever thought about being selfish once in a while and doing something because you want to do it?”

I think about his words. I’ve always put other people before me, never putting myself first. Maybe that’s why I’ve always missed out on so many opportunities that came my way. I guess I never have put myself first; I’ve always put myself at the last of the list and did whatever anyone else wanted me to do to see them happy. Most of the time, those things made me miserable and unhappy. I always thought that the world would be better if people just did what other people wanted them to, but maybe the world would be happier of people are selfish.

Marisa’s POV

Sungyeol and I go back to the room and Gongchan and Sungjong announce that we should give out gifts now. It seems like everyone’s just trying to change the topic and get their minds off of the press conference and off of Jinyoung. I’m grateful to them for attempting to do that.

Everyone starts giving me gifts and I smile. “You don’t have to get me all of this,” I tell them.

“Hey, there’s going to be even more tomorrow,” Woohyun says as he adds his gift to the pile. “Tomorrow’s actually Christmas, today is just a preview for what’s going to come.”

I laugh at his statement as I begin opening the presents one by one. I make sure to thank each of them as I open their present. There is a wide assortment of things that I get, some are clothes and others are jewelry. I’ll make sure to wear everything in the future. “I’ll be sure to get you guys things once I get released,” I tell them. “Don’t worry.”

“You don’t have to get us anything,” Gongchan says.

“But I will because you guys are all so nice to me.”

Time quickly passes by and everyone has to leave since it’s getting late and because they all have their end of the year schedules to attend to and Christmas specials and performances to prerecord.

Sungyeol is the last one to leave. “I’ll text you as soon as I’m done,” he says as he leans down and quickly kisses me on the lips. It’s like the third time he’s done that today, but it still makes my face flushed. “Still embarrassed I see,” he says poking fun at the red in my cheeks.

“Hey,” I say as I lightly hit him in the arm.

“It suits you for the Christmas season,” he explains. “I have to go now, but I’ll text you later.”

“Okay,” I say as I wave to him as he goes out the door.

Feeling lonely again, I decide to go through the gifts again so I can admire them more now that they’re all gone. I rummage through the bags again and see something that I didn’t see before, it’s a black bag.

I open it and inside I see a DVD and a smaller box. I dump both things on the table in front of me and see that the DVD has Jinyoung and Marisa written on it with a heart. Does that mean that this black bag is Jinyoung’s? I open up the smaller box and see that there’s a ring inside. I take it out and hold it up so I can get a better look at it and see that it has inside engraving. Jinyoung and Marisa with a heart in the middle of our names and a date are written on the inside. It takes me a while, but I recognize the date being the date that Jinyoung and I first met. Now I’m pretty sure that this is his bag. Was he planning on giving me these things for Christmas?

I find a DVD player connected to the television and I put the DVD in to play it. I see Jinyoung appear on the screen and it kind of scares me at first. I watch him as he awkwardly introduces himself and I watch as he apologizes for everything. “And,” I hear him say, “I’m sorry for liking you. Do you hear me, Marisa? I like you. I like you so much that my heart hurts, but you’re with Sungyeol. You’re with him and I can’t interfere with your relationship, that would just make me a bad person. I’m keeping these feelings bottled up inside so much that I’m about to explode. I tried giving up on you, I tried moving on, but I found that I’m unable to. I can’t ever forget you, Marisa, not even if you never take me back.”

I stare at the screen as I hear those words come out of Jinyoung’s mouth. He likes me? If he likes me so much then why is he ignoring me? Why is he dating Seohyun? By Jinyoung saying those words, it opens a door of a thousand more questions. Is he dating Seohyun in his attempts to try to move on from me? Why couldn’t he just say them to my face? And he says that it’s the second time that he’s saying them to me, has he said it to me before? I don’t remember.

“Marisa, Merry Christmas,” he says as he takes out his guitar and starts playing. “Remember, listen to these lyrics. I may not have written the songs personally, but I think that they describe the situation right now.”

He starts to play a soft melody as he starts to sing.

Oh

You gave me a reason

You told me that I’ll always be yours

Oh

You are my desire

My heart is so on fire for you

I can’t stop loving you, loving you, oh no

Cause I don’t wanna end up in your rear view

Wanna be someone you can turn to

Baby I never wanna lose you

No, there’s nothing I don’t do

So I’ll watch you like a movie

I’ll sing you like a song

Read you like a story if it takes me all night long

Keep you like a secret

I’ll tell you like a joke

It’s true, it’s true

That I’ll love you like I always do

You are so amazing

You stepped in and saved my life

Oh

Every time we are together

My time is yours forever

My world is all yours

I don’t wanna end up in your rearview

Wanna be someone you can turn to

Baby, I never wanna lose you

No, there’s nothing I won’t do

I will watch you like a movie

I’ll sing you like a song

Read you like a story if it takes me all night long

Keep you like a secret

I’ll tell you like a joke

It’s true, it’s true

That I’ll love you like I always do

So I’m gonna love you, yeah

Oh girl, I’m gonna love you

I’m gonna love you

Oh yeah, I’ma love you like I always do

I listen to him as he completes the song. I never noticed how talented he was, even if the song isn’t his. I can somehow feel that he’s trying to convey his feelings to me through the songs that he’s singing. “Just so you know,” he says on the tape after singing, “I’m going to be playing three songs for you, that was one. All of them relate, or will relate by the time that you see this. Since I’m recording this at this current moment, they won’t relate now, but it makes sense in your mind. Just listen closely.”

He starts to play and sing again. I can’t help but me mesmerized.

Can’t blame you

For thinking

That you never really knew me at all

I tried to

Deny you

But nothing ever made me feel so wrong

I thought I was protecting you

From everything that I go through

But I know that we got lost along the way

Here I am with all my heart

I hope you understand

I know I let you down

But I’m never gonna make that mistake again

You brought me closer to who I really am

Come take my hand

I want the world to see what you mean to me

What you mean to me

Just know that

I’m sorry

I never wanted to make you feel so small

Our story is just beginning

But let the truth break down these walls

You make me feel like I’m myself

Instead of being someone else

I wanna live that every day

You say what no one else will say

You know exactly how to get to me

You know it’s what I need

Here I am with all my heart

I hope you understand

I know I let you down

But I’m never gonna make that mistake again

You brought me closer to who I really am

So come and take my hand

I want the world to see what you mean to me

What you mean to me

Slowly, these songs are growing on me, especially with Jinyoung singing them. They seem so truthful and from the heart that I’m starting to believe that he really does like me. He told me to listen to the lyrics, so does that mean that he really does like me? All of the songs are about confessing, so does he want to confess to me? Do I really mean that much to him?

“Now,” Jinyoung says. I look at the television screen, I can feel tears forming in my eyes, but I don’t know why. “The last song. Please listen to it, Marisa.”

A couple of years

And I’m gonna know your name

It’s like I waited for you forever

And I know this might sound insane

But it won’t be long

Till we gonna take this up

What I’m talking about is our future love

You’re so far away

Maybe you’re right next door

Got me picturing your face again

Something worth waiting for

I put all the others behind me

They don’t live up

I know what I want

What I need to the T

Baby if they asked me

I would say I don’t even know your name

And if they asked me does it change

No, it don’t change a thing

Cause there’s something about the way you’ll love me

There’s just something about the way you’ll know me

That I can’t explain enough

There’s just something about our future love

There’s just something about our future love

I'll know the minute you pull up next to me

We standing there like destiny

When it feels like you’re fighting just to breathe that’s when you know

The minute I pull up next to you

Suddenly you don’t know what to do

Everything inside you says that I’m the one

Baby if they asked me

I would say I don’t even know your name

And if they asked me does it change

No, it don’t change a thing

Cause there’s something about the way you’ll love me

There’s just something about the way you’ll know me

That I can’t explain enough

There’s just something about our future love

There’s just something about our future love

I watch Jinyoung as he puts down his guitar. I feel like applauding for him for doing such a good job with the songs. What is this? What spell has Jung Jinyoung been able to put on me through a video?

“Marisa, I hope you listened well,” Jinyoung starts. “In that bag, there’s a box, a box with a ring inside of it and it’s engraved, I bet you already saw it. That’s for you. Some could say that it’s a couple ring since I have one, too. I really like you, Marisa, I really do.”

I watch the video as he says those words once again. This time I can’t stop my tears.

Jinyoung’s POV

Myungsoo’s words earlier can’t escape my brain. Should I act a little bit more selfish and fight for Marisa? But wouldn’t that involve me having to take back everything that I said at the press conference and possibly endangering my friendship with Sungyeol? Am I ready for this type of thing? I suddenly remember about the black bag.

“Lee Sandeul,” I say. He looks at me with his innocent eyes. “Did you take a black bag out of our room?”

“I’m not sure, why?” he asks innocently.

“Just wondering,” I respond. I turn my head to look out the window. If he’s not sure that he took it, then where did that black bag go to? I stare at the ring on my finger; no one’s questioned me about it. They probably think that it’s something with Seohyun, but it’s not. I take it off my finger and stare at it for the rest of the ride. If only Marisa knew the truth.

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Another chapter up :D

Is Jinyoung gonig to act selfish now to get Marisa? Is he going to try to make amends with Sungyeol first? What are Marisa's feelings for Jinyoung now that she saw the DVD? What is she going to do about the couple ring? Will Jinyoung finally visit Marisa on Christmas? What is Seohyun's second wish?

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to listen to the songs, here they are in the same order:

Drew Ryan Scott - Like I Always Do - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvD_mNwpxAk

Drew Ryan Scott/Sterling Knight - What You Mean To Me - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsTwU_NLC9g

Varsity Fanclub - Future Love - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLBHTP1h_nA&ob=av2e