A/N: Just wanted to thank lrvip052012 and xxxGDbabyTOP88. This (http://www.asianfanfics.com/blog/view/333111) blog post by xxxGDbabyTOP88 was part of the inspiration for this story. Irvip052012 posted a comment about a picture taken when Director Lee made a surprise visit to TOP during filming that made my day since I hadn't seen anything about it when I wrote that chapter. Also, thanks to all the readers for your patience. This took waaaay too long to write, and I'm sorry about that.

“Who pissed in your fruit loops?” Mizuhara whispered into his ear.

Instead of replying, Jiyong forced his smile bigger and ignored her. She sighed through her own fake smile and squeezed his hand, letting her nails dig into his palm in punishment.

“!” Jiyong hissed, knocking over the soda resting on the table in his haste to rip his hand out of her grasp. The girls at the table to his right looked over and giggled as he wiped ineffectually at the wet spot on his jeans.

 A camera flash went off somewhere behind him.

Bowing in apology to the patrons around him, he made sure to keep his real feelings firmly under wraps.

“Let me help you with that,” his ‘girlfriend’ smiled at him in a sickly sweet manner before dabbing at his thighs with a napkin. It took all of his self-control to not push her away. Instead, he caught her hand and pulled it away from himself carefully. Pretending to be shy, he looked down coyly in false embarrassment.

“Mizuhara-ah, doing things like that in public is embarrassing…”

“Call me Kiko, baby.”

Jiyong gritted his teeth behind his smile. “As you wish… Kiko.”

“Aw! They’re so cute!” He heard the girls whispering to each other in excitement. He smirked in triumph. It seemed the plan was working. “Isn’t it odd though? I didn’t even know that they were acquainted with each other…”

Jiyong scowled on the inside. What had he done in his past lives to deserve such a cruel punishment? Unhappily, he plastered on a smile and called up every bit of acting talent in his body. Maybe some of Seunghyun’s talent had rubbed off on him since they spent so much time together. He hoped so.

He stood determinedly and held out his hand to help the she devil from her seat. From his peripheral vision, he could see a few people with their phones pointed in his direction. At least the pictures would circulate quickly, fanning the rumors that Mizuhara’s stylist had ‘accidentally’ leaked.  Making sure everyone’s attention was on them in order to witness what he was doing, Jiyong wrapped his arm around her waist and leaned forward as if he was kissing her cheek. He didn’t really kiss her, but her hair was in the way so to any onlookers it would have appeared that he did.

All of the women in the room cooed at the ‘adorable couple.’ Mission accomplished, Jiyong placed some money on the table to cover their order and dragged Mizuhara from the restaurant. As soon as they were safely away, he let go and took a deep breath of the cool night air.

“Thank that is over.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” she scoffed.

Jiyong snorted in disbelief. “Not that bad? Do you have any idea how annoying you are?”

Mizuhara frowned. For the first time since Jiyong had met her, she looked less confident, even almost sad. He felt a pang of guilt. It was possible that he was taking his frustrations out on her which was unfair.

“Sorry…I have a lot on my mind right now.”

She nodded, her dark hair dancing around her face in the breeze. She shivered and pulled her sleek coat tighter around herself. “Do you want to talk about it? Despite what you might think, I’m actually a pretty good listener.”

“It’s stupid.” He watched her shiver again and contemplated whether or not he should lend her his own jacket.

“Is it about your girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Oh.” She gazed down at her feet as she walked, appearing like a lonely kid instead of an irritating . It was strange. Jiyong sighed, removing his jacket and handing it to her with a roll of his eyes. He was raised to be a gentleman regardless of the situation.

Mizuhara stared at it in confusion before blushing and pulling the jacket on. “Thank you.”

Jiyong nodded, lost in his thoughts as he tried to find the stars through the smog hovering over the city. After a few minutes of quiet walking, he decided it wouldn’t be bad to tell her. She was already sworn to secrecy by the contract between them, and besides, he sort of owed it to her.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“What?” She asked with shock written all over her face. It was sort of cute in an abstract kind of way. Jiyong shoved his hands in his pockets and lifted his head back to the sky. He wondered if Seunghyun was also searching for light in the darkness surrounding them.

“I have a boyfriend,” he took a deep breath, “I-I love him very much. More than anything. When President Yang found out, I was terrified that I would lose him. Thankfully, he said we could stay together if I agreed to create a decoy relationship to deter the media.”

Mizuhara was silent for a few minutes, processing what he’d told her. When they reached the street corner and waited for the light to turn so they could cross, she turned toward him with sincere eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how difficult that must be for you considering Korean culture… No wonder you’re so grouchy.”

Jiyong laughed at the unexpected remark even though it wasn’t really funny. “It’s not just that, although, it certainly isn’t easy.” He looked away before speaking quietly. “I trust him completely, but sometimes… I just… He hasn’t called me back!”

Mizuhara glanced around quickly, making sure that nobody was paying attention to his sudden outburst. While he was distracted, she led him in the direction of one of the quieter bars in town. They could both use a drink.

“I haven’t talked to him since the night that I got here three days ago. Yesterday, I called him five times and he didn’t answer any of them. WHY? I know he’s busy, but it would only take five goddamn minutes and—what’s this?” He was cut off from his rant by the neon green drink placed in front of him. Kiko smiled knowingly.

“It’s exactly what you need to help you relax. Just forget about everything for tonight, and I’m sure you’ll be able to talk to him tomorrow. You’ll see.” She tapped her drink against his and downed it in one go.

Jiyong smile genuinely for the first time all day and did the same. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.

*****

Seunghyun’s Apartment

Cushions were thrown everywhere. Books, papers, clothing, even his shoes were strewn haphazardly around the place. It looked like a disaster zone.

Seunghyun sighed and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He slid down until he was sitting on the floor and then banged his head on the wall in frustration.

His phone was missing. Vanished. Gone with the wind to someplace hidden from his sight.

He’d barely gotten any sleep the night before. John had unexpectedly shown up at the YG building and asked him to discuss the new movie over dinner. Of course, Seunghyun had said yes. Every opportunity to talk to someone of such cinematic expertise was thrilling for him.

He’d turned his phone off so that his manager couldn’t bother him while they were at dinner. He and John had talked for hours, and by the time they'd left, John had suggested that they check out one of the new movies so they could compare their opinions on it. So, of course, he’d left his phone off while they were at the theater. John had dropped him back off at his apartment close to midnight, making sure to inform Seunghyun that he’d gotten the part that he'd auditioned for just before driving off with a smirk.  

It wasn’t until he was inside, freshly bathed and clothed in his silky pink pajamas that reminded him of Jiyong’s hair, that he’d realized his phone was no longer in the pocket of his pants. He’d searched for hours for the damn thing despite having an early morning schedule.

He needed to call Jiyong.

Seunghyun was well aware of the fact that his boyfriend had a hard time falling asleep without hearing his voice. Frustrated and lonely, Seunghyun had passed out from exhaustion around four in the morning in his torn up living room.

When his manager had picked him up that morning, he’d gotten an earful for turning his phone off. Tired, annoyed, and missing his Jiyong, Seunghyun had snapped at the man until he was left alone for the day. Nobody at the company had talked to him because every time they approached him, he’d narrowed his dark eyes at them in annoyance and they’d instantly turned away.

Once he’d returned home, he’d begun the search for his phone again. It was a futile effort. He’d have to give in and ask Youngbae to borrow his.

Except, Seunghyun didn’t have a phone on which to call Youngbae and ask to borrow his. . He knew he should’ve kept the landline in case of emergencies such as this.

He kicked one of the throw pillows by his foot, only a little bit amused when it crashed into the blow-up be@rbrick that Jiyong gave him a couple of months ago. The toy bounced right back up. It sort of reminded him of his boyfriend in that respect. No matter what, he always bounced back.

Seunghyun wondered what Jiyong was doing right at that moment. Thinking about him? The younger man was probably pretty pissed off...

A sharp 'ding' roused him from his thoughts, alerting him to someone trying to be buzzed in. Curious as to who would be dropping by at that time of night, Seunghyun stood and walked over to the intercom. He was surprised to see John on the screen. He pushed the button to allow the man in the building.

He glanced at the clock with a raised eyebrow. It was a little after midnight. Why would John visit so late?

A few minutes later, there was a soft knock at the door. Seunghyun opened it with a smile.

“Hello, hyung.” He bowed and gestured for the man to enter.

“Were you robbed?” John laughed, looking at the mess with wonder.

Seunghyun blushed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Ah, no…I was looking for something, but I didn’t find it.”

“This?” John pulled a cellphone from his pocket and handed it to Seunghyun. Seunghyun nearly shouted in excitement until he remembered the time and figured his neighbors wouldn’t appreciate such a thing.

“Where did you find it?!”

“On the floor of my car. It must have fallen out of your pocket yesterday,” John explained. He smiled nervously at Seunghyun. “I was going to bring it earlier, but the pre-production meeting ran much later than I expected. I could have waited until tomorrow, but I thought you might need it. Now I feel bad.”

“Why?”

“Your nice apartment has suffered because of my delay.”

Seunghyun laughed. “The maid service comes tomorrow anyway. I’ll make sure to pay them extra for the work.”

He turned his phone on and was not surprised to see the number of missed calls. He felt more than a little guilty. He stared at his phone, biting his lip and wondering if he should call Jiyong now or if that would wake him up. He didn’t want to disturb the younger man’s rest since he hardly got enough of it anyway.

Deciding against it, Seunghyun placed his phone on the table beside the door where he was sure he wouldn’t lose it. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Maybe just a bottle of water for the road? I need to get home.”

Seunghyun nodded and walked to the kitchen.

John stayed in the entrance way, once again taking in the destruction around him, chuckling at the evidence of Seunghyun’s determination. He must have been expecting an important call.

Just then, the cellphone began ringing. John stared at it, unsure of what to do. Seunghyun still hadn’t returned. What if this was that important call that he’d been waiting for?

Nervously, John picked up the phone and answered it.

“Yoboseyo?”

“Hyunnnnie!” An excited male voice slurred. He sounded drunk.

John frowned. “No, this is John Lee. Seunghyun is in his kitchen, but he should be back in a moment if you’d wait.”

“D-Director Lee?”

“Yes,” John glanced to the doorway to see if Seunghyun had returned yet. “If you just wait one momen-”

The line clicked dead. He pulled the phone away to see the screen say that the call had ended. Perplexed, he looked at the caller id.

Seunghyun walked back into the room, smiling and carrying two bottles of water and a couple of cookies that his umma had made even though he was supposed to be on a diet. He raised an eyebrow when he saw John holding his phone.

“Uh…” he glanced at the screen again to make sure he got the name right; John wondered who it could be. “Ji- Baby called. I told them that you’d be right back, but--”

Seunghyun dropped his water bottle—thankfully still unopened—and grabbed his phone, heart beating thunderously in his chest. Without a second thought, he pushed redial and waited while the phone rang.

“You’ve reached the infamous GD. I’m busy being wild and young, but leave a message and--”

Seunghyun sighed miserably. “.”