Dear readers, I'm sorry if I couldn't give a double update. I promise you won't be disappointed in how long this update, though (Hopefully).

Yuri POV

*March-3-2017*

After the three hours of special moment in the bedroom of the plane, Stephanie has fallen asleep immediately while still bare-. She might have gotten too exhausted. I then helped her out on taking her clothes on while she's asleep, though. Afterwards, I kissed her on the lips one last time.

I went out of the bedroom. I then noticed the stewardess looking liked panicking as she pretends to clean the main cabin with a duster. I took two more steps then she finally noticed me. "S-sir." she uttered and immediately bowed. Then, she looked away awkwardly.

I went near and handed her the key card. "Don't tell anyone about this, okay? Most especially Sooyoung."

"Y-yes, sir."

I pulled out my wallet and drew out a sum of cash. I handed it to her and she was startled. She asked, "Wh-what's this for, sir?"

"A gift for you."

"Thank you." She quickly bowed again. "Your secret's safe with me, sir."

I smiled at her lastly and went back to my seat. I then felt sleepy and tired. I soon drifted off to sleep.

---

Even after we arrived at Incheon Airport at 7 PM of the same day and went to its baggage reclaim area, Stephanie and I didn't engage even a single conversation. Now, we're just here waiting for her baggage to show up on the conveyor belt.

My luggage already showed and I immediately took it. With that, Stephanie finally talked to me, "You can go ahead." I didn't respond and she just sighed in defeat.

Soon, all her luggage and package boxes showed up. As soon as those reached our position, I immediately helped out on stacking such on her push cart. "You don't have to help me. I can handle this." she snapped again as she tried to grab the package I was currently stacking. I ignored her again and just continued with what I was doing.

"You are really stubborn. Aisshh..." she mumbled then groaned.

I continued on not responding to her. In the end, she even got more pissed off. After we're done claiming her baggage, she hurriedly left the area. Yeah, of course, I still caught up to her pace and walked by her side.

"Can't you just leave me alone, huh?"

"..."

She then interrogated me as we walked, "What do you freaking want with me? Didn't I already give it to you earlier, huh? Why are you still bothering me?"

"..."

"So, what now?! You're just going to continue ignoring me?!"

I stopped from walking. With that, she stopped too and faced me. "Now, what?!"

I looked at her, "Didn't you just say I should leave you alone? So, there. Go walk alone."

She got infuriated, "Why are you freaking acting like this?!"

"Why are freaking acting like that? Why are you suddenly mad at me?"

"Cus you're damn frustrating!"

"I just helped you out with your baggage and walked together with you. Tell me what's frustrating with that."

She groaned loudly then rolled her eyes. Then, she turned to walk away while pushing her cart. I just followed behind.

At the arrival area, Yoong was there sitting in one of the benches looking sick. Apparently, he's wearing a face mask, gloves, and large sweater. When he finally noticed us, he stood up and went near. "Hey." he greeted her. We then both nodded at each other as a form of greeting.

"What happened to you?" Stephanie asked. "You were already okay when I left days ago."

He answered, "Err-- it went back again. I think I haven't really fully recovered during that time."

"Aiishh-- didn't you take your vitamins, huh?"

"Let me guess..." I butted as I went near. "Did you get exposed to flu again because you met up with a former colleague of yours?"

He looked startled with what I said. Then, he faked a chuckle and responded, "No, hyung. Wh-where did you get that idea?"

I chuckled, "Oh. I was just trying out a guess. Jessica told me the same reason why she got the flu a day before I left."

"Oh. She was sick too?" he asked innocently. "There must be an epidemic nowadays, huh?"

I played along and grinned, "Yeah, that must be it." I then glanced at Stephanie and she's been staring at me with full confusion in her eyes.

Yoong then snapped at her, "So, uh, let's go?" She nodded in response. Then, he asked me, "Hyung, uhhmm, do you wanna join the ride?"

"Sure."

The three of us headed for the parking lot and rode his car. Stephanie sat beside Yoong who is in the driver seat while me at the back. He didn't bring a driver. Nonetheless, our whole trip was almost in total silence, though. Yoong asked her some questions on how the conference went and what she did during her free time. Of course, Stephanie masked most of the things that happened. Then, after that inquiry, Stephanie asked in return on how was everything when she was gone. He didn't share much, though, and just told her the typical daily tasks he did.

After few minutes, we finally arrived in front of the condominium building where Jessica and I currently resided. "Well, here you go, hyung." he uttered.

"Thanks for the ride. Though, I am quite surprised that you know mine and Jessica's address. I don't remember telling you about it, though." I responded. Stephanie looked at me through the rear-view mirror in a slight startle.

"Oh." He chuckled sounding nervous. "Taeyeon-hyung told me once before."

"Ahh. I see."

Taeyeon hasn't been on our new place, though. It's part of Jessica and mine's agreement to have our place in secret from our friends.

I then bid, "Well, I gotta go. Thanks again for the ride." I lastly glanced at her through the mirror then, got out of the car.

I arrived at our condominium unit. I found Jessica already sleeping soundly on our bed. It seems that she's still sick with flu judging from her pale face and red nose as well as the crumpled tissues on top of the bedside table.

I changed to my comfortable clothes and lied beside her. I scooted near her and made her rested on my arms. A few moments later, her eyes opened. "Yuri-yah?" she mumbled.

"Hey, there." I whispered back. "Still sick?"

"Yeah... I think it worsened..."

"Don't tell me that former colleague of yours got you infected again?"

She chuckled, "Silly. No."

"You might have not relaxed and stressed yourself out for the past days, huh?"

"Y-yeah... I think so..."

"..."

She then smiled slightly then closed her eyes again. "How was your SG trip?"

"Boring, I guess."

"Hmm. Really...?"

"Yup. It was a very, very boring conference, Jess."

"Uhuh. How about your free time? What did you do?"

"Nothing much. I accompanied Stephanie from shopping useless things, etcetera... etcetera. Then, I just all the time."

"Hmmm... sounds like you enjoyed your trip, huh?"

"I did not..."

"..."

"How about you, huh? Did you enjoy your lone time?"

"It was boring..."

I smiled faintly, "Sounds like you enjoyed it too."

"..."

I stared at her face. I ran my fingers on her cheek. I kissed her nose. "Goodnight." I uttered.

"Goodnight."

I guess, play time's over for us, Jessica...

---

*March-3-2017-Office-of-the-CEO-SKY-Incorporation*

"I didn't expect I'm gonna see you here." Taeyeon snapped as he came inside my office. He sat on the chair in front of my desk. "So, what's up, George?"

"Same, same." I answered while still focusing on my laptop.

"How did your trip go?"

"..."

"Anyway..." He sighed loudly. "You got a problem."

I finally looked at him, "What? What happened?"

He placed the iPad he was holding on my desk directly in front of me. The screen depicted a news article about the conference that happened in Singapore. "So, what about this?"

"You can scroll it down, dude. Stare at the pictures."

I sighed loudly as I complied. I scrolled over and found the pictures. Stephanie and I were shown in the background as one of the businessmen on our side spoken in the microphone. We were looking at each other in a somewhat affectionate way while exchanging warm smiles. Not to mention, our little fingers happened to be interlocked slightly too on top of the table. I scrolled down again and found another picture of us, this time, I was standing up and speaking through the mic, probably it was the time when I asked something from the speaker of the conference. I then noticed how Stephanie gazed at me affectionately as I did so.

I placed his iPad flat on the desk and focused back to my work. "So, what about it?" I asked.

"Well... That isn't only the article that came out."

"Of course, it's a very important conference. It's natural that it will be covered by the media all over the world."

"Well, I'm pertaining to a different kind of media..."

I looked at him. "What is it?"

"Tiffany has always been a subject of news here in Korea, man. I guess you are so much aware of that. She actually became the most eligible bachelorette as reported by a certain local magazine here in the country for three straight years now and has been very popular ever since. Her fame even heightened up because of her sharpshooter viral video months ago."

"So, what are you trying to point out?"

"That she's always been a subject of entertainment media for years." He pressed to show up the other browser tab that was already opened. "An article about her and you having a date in Singapore came out."

"..."

"And there were pictures, bro."

I browsed over the article. One picture was from the conference again. This time, the camera was directly focusing on us. Stephanie was pouring a non-alcoholic champagne in my wine glass. I happened to just stare at her lovingly as she did so. Another picture was also taken, it was us eating inside a Chinese restaurant in Singapore's China Town. We were both laughing over something. Her lovely eye smiles were showing up too. And lastly, was another picture of us waiting in line for a ride at the Universal Studios. The both of us were looking so bored from waiting. Yet, our arms were wrapped around each other as her head was rested on my chest.

He snapped, "Now, you're getting what I'm pertaining to?"

"That was just... a hug, Taeng." I looked back to my laptop. "It was nothing more."

"Yeah. Just like in the paintball game. It was all nothing but platonic hug, right?"

I sighed again, "Think what you want."

"Well, you're lucky. These bunch of articles only came out this morning. And immediately, somebody ordered to take them all down. Probably, it was Tiffany's father. He might have thought of the same thing as your mother."

"My mother?" I repeated in question.

"And that's why you got a problem." He stood up and took the iPad. "Miss Shin found the entertainment news fast and asked me and Rap to communicate with the press to remove everything. So far, we got it all cleared but mostly, Tiffany's father might have done the rest." He pointed at the screen. "And this article you're seeing is just an offline copy. One problem you have is the coverages of credible media. We can no longer do anything about the pictures of you and Tiff in the background that they coincidentally took."

"..."

"And now, your mother will be here any minute now."

And, he was right. All of a sudden, my office door opened widely. The door was opened by my mom looking so infuriated. Taeyeon then mumbled at me silently, "Told you so."

Mom rushed towards me. Taeyeon immediately made way for her and just stood at the side. She slammed her hands on my desk and shouted, "What the was that, Yuri, huh?!"

"Umma, since when did you fly back here?"

"Don't you dare disregard my question, Yuri!"

"It was nothing, umma."

"Nothing?!" She rashly grabbed Taeyeon's iPad and slammed it forcefully on the desk still with the article shown on the screen, me and Stephanie hugging specifically. "You call this nothing?!"

"You're just adding colors into it! It was just a normal gesture!"

"And do you even think you can fool me, huh?!"

I looked away. "Let's just stop this nonsense, umma."

She ignored me and continued to rant, "I know you so well, Yuri! I know you so ing well!" She scoffed. "Do you think I didn't hire someone to spy on you? Do you think I already stopped looking out on you, huh? I know everything, Yuri. I see everything!"

"..."

"Don't tell me your wedding's going to get called off now, huh?"

"No. There's nothing to worry about. Jessica and I will still get married."

"Yeah but, with each other?"

"Yes..."

"I want you to ing fix this engagement of yours. Don't you dare to do something to ruin this even more."

"..."

"Stop messing around. You don't have to worry on Jessica because I assure you, she already stopped on hers." She sighed loudly. "This is really, really soooooo stressing..." Then, she shouted again, "Don't you dare let the money I already spent on this ing wedding go to waste!"

"..."

"Now, I'm supposed to have yours and Jessica's wedding suit and dress fitting for tomorrow but she's still sick. Next week. Get it done."

"We can't fly back to Vegas on Friday next week, umma. I ha--"

She cut me out, "You don't have to worry about it too. I hired a Korean designer. I'll just hand your secretary the location of her shop." She slammed her hand on the desk again. "I am warning you, Yuri. Stop." Then, she hissed under her breath, "I can't believe you'll end up like your father..." Afterwards, she rushed out of my office and even slammed the door as she got out.

Taeyeon was looking so much dumbfounded. Then, he glanced at me slowly then asked, "Jessica stopped on hers? What's that supposed to mean?"

I sighed and pretended, "I don't know..."

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter