Tylie’s Pov

My head felt like it got hit by a mat truck about 100 times by the time I woke up. I completely missed Music Bank and missed how cute Ilhoon was probably looking. When I looked over at the clock, it was about midnight and still no sign of Ilhoon. I got up from my bed to check the other room just in case he thought I was upset with him. When I approached the other room, it was still cold; he didn’t come home. I started thinking crazy thoughts like, what if he got hit by a truck? He could have been kidnapped and put into the truck. I really need to let go of this truck thing… I shook my head to get rid of anymore crazy thoughts that could pop up into my head.

My phone was blinking, telling me I had a missed call and a voicemail; Ilhoon. When I dialed my voicemail and the machine said, “You have one new message. Message One.” I hung up. For some reason, I was really nervous. I didn’t know what he was going to say… what if he tells me he wants to break up with me? Or maybe he did get kidnapped… anyway, somehow I got enough courage to redial and check my messages. Whilst I listened to his voice, it sounded like he wanted to cry; he was heartbroken because of my sour attitude. I hate blaming things on others, but that’s what Minhyuk does; he changes my mood. Without wasting any more time, I called him back. The dial tone kept going on and on, which felt like forever. His voicemail came up and I hung up then waited a couple of minutes before calling back. ‘Where could he possibly be at this hour?’ I thought to myself whilst petting Kurama on my lap as he purred heavily in his sleep.

I had to call him at least 5 times and he didn’t pick up. This wasn’t like him at all. He would barely let the phone ring whenever I called him and it didn’t matter what time it was either. After about another half hour of sitting around waiting, I got a text message from Ilhoon and it was a lengthy one.

“Hey, I’m hanging out around at Hyunsik Hyung’s house. Since you didn’t answer back, I’ll assume that you don’t want to see me or be with me right now. I won’t bother you until you reach out for me. I hate saying this but after some thinking, we should think about calling it quits. I’m sorry…”

I felt the color in my face completely drop and I didn’t know what to think. Could he really be thinking about breaking up with me? We love each other too much to give up right now… Without even thinking about the time, I called Hyunsik. Surprised, he answered quickly.

“Tylie? Is everything okay? It’s kind of late to be calling…” he said a little groggy.

“Ilhoon’s with you right?” my tone switched to a high tone.

“Yeah, he’s here. Did you want to talk with him? I believe he’s still awake downstairs.”

“Yes, please!” I sat up straight as I heard Hyunsik’s footsteps and say, “Ilhoon! Tylie needs to talk with you. Are you awake?” my eyes grew bigger and bigger as I heard his slightly deep voice say, “Give me the phone!!” there was small muffled sounds coming through from the other end when I heard him clear his throat.

“Tylie, Tylie hey baby…” he said calmly yet panting.

“Uhm… yeah. I… I uh, called you at least 5 times. Is your phone off?” I stumbled over each word as I looked down and watched Kurama’s body move up and down to his small breathes he took whilst he slept.

“You called me? I didn’t get any calls from you.” He said with slight confusion.

“…why are you surprised? You just sent me a text saying you think we should call this quits…”

“I haven’t touched my phone all night but wait for you to call me.”

“What? Ch-Ch-Check your phone.” I let him with complete confusion. He tells me to hang on whilst he gets his phone. As I was waiting, I started to pet Kurama again.

“I didn’t get any calls or send you any texts.” Ilhoon says through the phone. I could tell he was telling me the truth then I sighed deeply.

“So… if you didn’t send me any texts or get my calls, then how is it possible that it’s not popping up on your phone when you have it with you?” I question him with anger.

“I don’t know! I’m telling you the truth; I was sitting by the phone most of the night.”

“Is Minhyuk there by any chance?” I already know the answer but I thought why not ask him anyway just in case of that freak chance.

“No. You know I don’t hang around him unless we’re in the waiting…” he stops talking and becomes deadly silent.

“What? Waiting… what?” I said with curiosity.

“Minhyuk hyung must have… switched my phone with his but he put my cover on his phone.” He groans angrily.

“How did he get a hold of your phone when you were practicing and performing most of the night? That kind of makes no sense.”

“No… it makes sense. After we got off stage, I was talking to one of our label mates when everyone else stormed off to the room. I didn’t get back for at least 10 minutes which probably gave him enough time to switch the phones and passwords to the same thing….” He sighed deeply.

“…who does like this?” I think out loud as I rub my face in frustration. “This is just… out of control.”

“Now I’m stuck with his phone until whenever. Hyung, do you know where Minhyuk hyung went after we left the building?” Ilhoon’s voice was a little distant from the phone as he asked Hyunsik.

“Uh… I think he went to some girl’s house.” Hyunsik said in the background whilst Ilhoon his teeth with frustration.

“I’m never getting my phone back…”

“…the girl he’s with is my best friend…” I sighed at what I was about to say, “We or… I could get your phone back. It will be really annoying but I can get your phone back.”

“I don’t want you anywhere near Minhyuk!” Ilhoon yelled.

“I know that but if you want to see it sometime this weekend, it’ll be better if I go over there and get it. Maybe I can try to talk some kind of sense into him to make him stop?” I wasn’t sure if that would work but it’s the least I could do as 1 o’clock was approaching.

“Can I go with you?” Ilhoon whispered into the phone. “NO! YOU’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE WHERE MINHYUK IS!” Hyunsik yelled from the background whilst I laughed. That actually lightened up the mood a little bit.

“I was going to say no anyway but… it would be best for me to handle it on my own, by myself.” I nodded as I knew Ilhoon’s face wore a small frown. “I’ll be fine.” I reassured him, trying to make him feel a little better before I headed off into the lion’s den.

“Call me… Hyunsik hyung in case you need something okay?” he sounded a little worried.

“I will. I love you lots!” I tried to sound as cute as possible to make him chuckle and it was a slight success but at least it worked.

“I love you too.” He said behind his chuckle. “Bye~” he said cutely.

“Bye-bye~” I sang right back then hung up. Kurama looked up at me and stared whilst I stared right back then said, “I’m about to deal with some major bull Kurama. Will you give me a hug when I get back?” he continues his clueless stare then yawns. “Well, I’ll take that as a no…” I picked him up then sat him down on my bed whilst I looked around my room, determining what I was going to wear and about to get myself in to.

~~~

When I pulled up and parked out front of Sunny’s apartment, I put my forehead on the steering wheel then let out a sigh. If memory serves me correct, Minhyuk always loved to have at night and those two were probably going at it like bunnies in there. After about ten minutes, I got out of the car and walked up to the door. My fist hovered over the door as I hesitated to knock on the door. Even though I don’t care about Minhyuk and Sunny doing whatever it is they’re doing, I consider it somewhat wrong since she’s always hated Minhyuk. It made me wonder if she really did mess around with him when Minhyuk was man it around all of Asia.

While I was trying to mentally prepare myself for whatever I was going to see behind this door, I knocked three times. I backed away from the door and shoved my hands in my hoodie pocket as I heard, “Who could it be at this hour?” behind the door and the click of the locks whilst they unlocked. Opening the door, it was a shirtless Minhyuk. He smiled at me while rubbing his abs.

“Hello pretty girl. Do you want to join in on the fun inside?” he says seductively and I storm through the door, rolling my eyes whilst looking around the apartment.

“Ty-Tylie?! Why are you here?!” she yells from her bedroom door while covering herself with a huge comforter. I hold my hand to her, telling her to stop talking. When I found Ilhoon’s phone, I took it out of Minhyuk’s case. He rushes over to me and I turn my back to him as I shoved the phone in my pocket.

“Give me that back!” he yells in my ear then I throw his cell phone case in his face and he stops trying to pursue me as he backs away and smirks.

“Why did you take Ilhoon’s phone?” I turn around to see him putting his hands on his hips.

“Playing around with you both is entertaining. It’s funny to see Ilhoon get angry over how good we had it; so I remind him sometimes.”

“Are you telling it to him to piss him off or you’re doing it to remind yourself how good you could have had it?” we both stared into each other’s eyes for what it felt like forever. He smirked then took his eyes off of me.

“You never used to be this feisty. Did I make you like this? Did me leaving you make you all… y like that?” he smiles at me as I laughed to myself.

“Are you crazy?”

“What?”

“Are you crazy? Why do you keep doing this? It’s not working. All it’s doing is pissing me and Ilhoon off; it’s not breaking us up.” I let out a breath. “You already got a black eye from it. All it’s doing is causing drama; not for just us but everybody around us.”

Minhyuk laughed as he walked past me and whispered something to Sunny to make her go back into the room. “Look…” he said as he closed the door behind him. “You already know I don’t want him with you.”

I scoffed then held out my arms, “WHY?!” I blurted out with frustration.

“You’re too complex; too mature; too… too much for him to handle. He’s only 18 and you’ll be 23 in August. You need someone who’s older than you and that has a good head on his shoulders.” I put my arms down whilst I gave Minhyuk the most disgusted face you could ever make; that face you make when you smell something so wretched, it scrunches up.

“Are you my dad now?! What do you care about who I’m dating anyway? You’re ing my best friend! You have some nerve trying to tell me what to do.” I scoffed at him.

“Why are you dating somebody younger than you anyway? You barely liked the fact we were the same age.”

“At the end of the day, it’s about the person on the inside. There are a lot of people that are immature, whether it be old or young. When you take the time to know the person, that’s how I determine who’s my friend, boyfriend; whatever.”

“I still don’t want you going out with him” Minhyuk shrugs with a blank stare at me.

“But why? Because you’re in the same group… you know what? I don’t care why anymore. You’ll just keep running around in circles when I ask that question. Can you seriously stop with your games?” I look up at him and he reaches out to touch my cheek. Without even breaking contact, I smack his hand away. He smirks.

“You are so difficult now. I remember when you were easy.” He says with a chuckle and a smirk. I roll my eyes and put my hands up.

“I can’t stand being in the same room as you anymore. I really can’t stand you Minhyuk. You are letting this get out of control. I read articles about the speculations of how you got ring around your eye and netizens getting on Ilhoon about not living in the dorm because of you. Stop it. If you love me as much as you do, stop.” I say whilst walking toward the door and slam it behind as I walk out. My head was hurting even more after seeing Minhyuk’s idiotic face. I know my words don’t mean anything but at least I tried, right?

~~~

Everything seemed to be alright since I gave Ilhoon’s phone back and he gave Minhyuk’s phone back. Even though I still worked in the mall, I did the group’s makeup whenever they had a show. What was surprising about it was Minhyuk never said anything bad. Not even once. I thought he could have been planning something from all the silence toward me and Ilhoon. It was really weird to be backstage watching all the groups perform when I’m always watching them from my TV. I continued to watch backstage on the TV with the group when Eunkwang tapped my shoulder. I turned around then looked up at him from where I sat.

“Do you have any idea what happened between Minhyuk and Ilhoon this morning?” he whispered in my ear. I shook my head and thought back to this morning at how early he left. He pulled up a chair next to me and sat close to me.

“They got into a really big fight. Not a fist fight but an argument.”

“About what?” I interrupted him.

“Minhyuk told some sources that Ilhoon was repeatedly with some other girl. There’s a picture and everything.” My face went from happy to pissed off instantly whilst he explained. “It wasn’t you because your hair is red and hers was black.”

“May I see this article?” I ask him as I look up at Ilhoon sitting in the chair talking to Changsub, not even making eye contact with me once since I did his makeup. Eunkwang hands me his phone and points to the picture. It was Ilhoon holding hands with someone. Naturally, I thought it was probably his sister but it wasn’t her at all. This was a completely different woman. “Jung Ilhoon spotted holding hangs with his possible girlfriend huh….” I said lowly into my hand as I continued to read the article.

“I don’t know who she is or when he met her.” Eunkwang said with a little sympathy.

“So, why did Minhyuk and Ilhoon have an argument?”

“Ilhoon was upset because Minhyuk basically followed Ilhoon out when he was meeting that girl. He’s the one that took the pictures and told the source but of course they didn’t say any names of who told them. He was yelling and screaming at him. He even said he wanted to leave the company…” my eyes widened at the last sentence Eunkwang said. I turned to him whilst handing him back his phone.

“Leave? This is his dream, why would he leave…?” I muttered lowly.

Eunkwang shrugged. “Minhyuk is really putting Ilhoon through a lot. He loves all of us and the company but Minhyuk keeps pushing him more and more over the edge. We all try to talk to each of them but it never stops.” He said sadly. “I’m hoping you can talk to him about everything; try to change his mind possibly?” Eunkwang said with a smile and I returned it slightly along with a nod. He gave me a light hug then walked away. My mind was wondering who that girl could have been. I’m not going to make a scene right now. Minhyuk kept making glances at me and Eunkwang as we talked. He wanted me to start something with Ilhoon but I’m not going to do that. I respect the people that work here and run the show. I won’t bring up personal business around work.

~~~

The ride home was really quiet. All you could hear was the music on the radio playing. Ilhoon didn’t reach to hold my hand while I was driving which only meant something was wrong. When we got home, he was the first one out of the car and into the house before I could even take my seat belt off. As I got out of the car and approached the door, I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I went upstairs.

“I’m not cheating you Tylie.” Ilhoon said with a breathy tone whilst I walked up the stairs. I looked up at him as he was standing at the top of them. “I hope you believe me…” he watched me as I walked passed him and sighed as I threw down my keys.

“Then who’s the girl you were with?” I said with a little sass as I crossed my arms.

“She’s a girl I used to go to school with. We’re only friends. I know how it sounds, but we’re just friends. I’m not the type of guy to cheat on my girlfriend.” He walks up to me and cups my cheeks as he looks into my eyes. “You know I won’t ever hurt you.” Even though I wasn’t angry with him, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw his face up close.

“I believe you but don’t go holding hands with other girls. It’s weird.” I said as I made a kissy face then Ilhoon kissed them. “Uhm… I also heard you were going to leave the company…” I said lowly after our kiss.

“Eunkwang hyung told you that…” Ilhoon backed away from me as he walked into the kitchen and I followed.

“So it’s true? Don’t leave the company because of Minhyuk. You love making music. Don’t let his words get to you that badly.”

“It’s not him, I just want to leave on my own and be a solo artist.”

“Then… make your own album after these promotions are done. You don’t have to leave…” I tried convincing him. Ilhoon sighed as he cracked open a can of sprite then drank it.

“I want to leave. Maybe me going to another company will stop all the drama for not only me but both of us.” He grabbed my hand and sat me down on the couch alongside him.

“But… but you can’t just leave because of Minhyuk. That’s why you want to leave. I don’t want you to do that. It’s not right.” I pouted a little.

“No it’s not because of Minhyuk.” Ilhoon shook his head.

“Yeah it is. If he were acting his normal self and not being all crazy, you wouldn’t be talking like this. I’m not going to let you do this.”

“I want to do this, Tylie. It’s the only way we’re going to be able to live happily without any of this drama going on.” Ilhoon stood up and went to the bed whilst he started undressing. I followed him, picking up the trail of clothes he left behind.

“But, you’re leaving 4 people behind and you’ve only been together for 2 years! Maybe longer since you all were trainees together. You love those guys…” I watched him as he undressed himself.

“Can we talk about this later? I didn’t know you were going to talk to me about this…” he pulled me closer to him and put his arms around my waist. I gave him a frown as he kissed on my cheeks. He looked at me and sighed. “I’ll think about it okay…? When things die down more… I’ll give it a second thought… for you.” He kissed me on my forehead and I smiled.

“You better… you make good music and the group wouldn’t be the same without you.” I kissed his lips as he returned my kiss with a little more passion, making me step back a little. “Let’s have some fun.” He said seductively followed by a smile then held my lower back, putting me down onto the bed. Hopefully he just wasn’t going to have with me to get my mind off of what we were discussing. I could tell that Minhyuk was slowly getting to him and it was even making him consider leaving his job to get away from him.