I've been MIA for a month and more, haven't I? OMG! I am so sorry! If you forgot about the story so far, please do re-read the previous chapters if you don't mind. But if you don't, then please continue! Hope you enjoy!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!

- Jiyongchy

I wake up to the most beautiful sound. Birds are chirping lovingly just outside my windows with sunrays peeking from between my curtains. I wake up with a big smile carved onto my face. This does not happen everyday. I do not wake up at 8 in the morning with a smile on my face. I simply don’t. But today, today is different. Today is the first day of me as the Idol's girlfriend.

I wash up, put on some casual outfit (by casual I mean some Balmain skirt, an Oscar de la Renta top, and a pair of Charlotte Olympia heels. I’m a Koo, what do you expect?), and head down stairs where I begin to smell some freshly cooked croissants and toasts as I am getting nearer to the dining room.

I slide the door to the dining room open and found my parents sits inside having their breakfast on the extravagant Fendi dining table. My mother is spreading the jam onto a toast, which I assume is intended for my father while my father is focused onto an article that he reads on his iPad.

“Dear! What a surprise having you this early” My mother greets me as she places a toast on my father’s plate.

My father lifts up his head from his iPad to greet me too, “Your credit card got declined?”

I scoffs as I pull out a chair to sit, “What kind of question is that? I have a black AmEx”

“Oh you do?” My father raises an eyebrow.

“I do, father. Since I was in high school” I pick up a bowl of fresh fruits.

“Then why are you already fresh this early morning?” He puts down his iPad and takes a bite of his toast.

“Really?” I look at him, annoyed. “Do I have to have a financial reason to wake up this early?”

“Well, that’s what usually wakes you up” My father shrugs while my mother softly chuckles.

“Pfft” I sneer, ignoring my father’s teasing and continue eating my bowl of fruits.

We eat together happily since I haven’t spent much time with my parents since I arrived in Seoul. We chat and laugh together that we forgot the time until my father’s assistant walks into the room and remind him of his 10.45 meeting that he is forced to leave the table. My mother and I, however, continue our chatting joyfully.

“They’re launching the new Vertu next week, are you going?” My mother asks after my father left.

“I saw the invitation. Maybe, it depends whether I have plan or not that day”

My mother smiles teasingly, “My daughter is so busy all the time”

“It’s not like that… it’s just… I had to alter my schedule to fit someone’s” I answer, feeling hot on my cheeks.

“Oh?” She’s intrigued.

“Yeah… So I have to see whether I can go that day or not…” I chug down an orange juice.

She smiles but somehow I notice it being forced. Her eyes shows concern and worries and I notice it straight away. Her mood changes 180 degree.

“Anything wrong?” I ask.

She smiles gloomily and sips her tea slowly, as if she’s battling herself before she finally speaks, “The guard told me who drove you home last night… I thought Junsu was the one who picked you up?”

“Yeah… something happened” I answer sourly. I don’t really want to recall what happened with Junsu last night.

She her head, making her diamond earrings falls sideways onto her neck.

“Junsu… He… Let’s just say that I made a wrong assumption about him. And so do you” I explain.

“Please do elaborate” She says.

“He is not the good man that I thought he has become. He is the same mean and spoiled boy that I know since a long time ago”

“Darling, you can’t--” She’s about to lecture me about judging a person negatively.

“No mother. You don’t know” I cut her midsentence. I am sick of her praising him. “He shouted at me last night. He yelled at me and he belittled me. He treated me like trash and he controlled me as if I’m a doll that can be played. He hurt me last night!” My voice rises as the memories flood me.

My mother looks at me, stunned and speechless. For once, she does not know how to respond. She sits rigidly in front of me with slightly agape.

I continue softer, “But then… the idol came. He saved me. He was the one who took me home because I needed him to. He saved me from the monster that is Junsu. So please mother, spare me your lecture about how good Junsu is because I’ve witnessed it first hand how untrue that is”

“So that Kwon Ji Yong… he…” My mother seems lost.

“He saved me and took care of me that night” I concluded.

My mother shuts and her mind seems to be juggling about something. She seems to be thinking hard before finally she takes her cup of tea and finish the drink in one go before she put the empty cup back on the table rather louder than usual.

“The schedule that you want to match with yourself is Kwon Ji Yong’s?” She asks.

“Err… yeah” I answer, lowering my face as I know blush is now covering it.

“Are you two… an item?” She says with much struggle that her voice cracks a little.

“I guess you can say that” I answer, twiddling my skirt nervously as butterflies start to dance in my tummy.

“Koo Hyu Ri! Didn’t I tell you to be careful?” her voice is suddenly harsh and angry.

I raise my head, surprise. “Mother?”

“I told you to be careful with whom you are friends with, didn’t I? I told you, didn’t I? Why don’t you listen??” She almost shouts, losing her composure.

“I know he’s not a chaebol! I know he’s not the same level as us! I know that! But these feelings that I’m feeling when I’m with him, I’ve never felt with anyone before! I want to be with him, mother! He makes me feel safe, warm and happy! You need to accept that! He won’t embarrass our name! You said so yourself how his group had put South Korea on high pedestal! You praised him! You praised his group! I’m sure other chaebols would do the same! Please mother! Please understand!” I said everything under one breath. I had prepared for this to happen. I had prepared for a battle. I had prepared for some war.

“Do you even listen to yourself?! This is not about money, power and name, Hyuri! This is more than that! This is about you! This is about you!!” My mother shouts. Her eyes are bulging out and her veins on her neck are popping. She’s angry. I’ve never seen her angry. “Why don’t you listen?!”

“Mother…” my voice shook, scared. I can feel tears slowing b in my eyes as I watch my mother erupt.

She notices me lowering myself on my seat and she calms herself immediately. She takes a big breath and rests her back on the seat again while breathing heavily. I can tell that she didn’t prepare for this. I can tell how shattered she is.

“Mother, I…”

She raises a hand, telling me to stop talking and so I did.

“Go to your room” She instructs.

“I have plans today” I reason.

“Not today. Not today” She shakes her head tiredly.

“But mother…” I want to argue.

“Not today, Koo Hyu Ri” She says with finality.

***

[3rd Person POV]

It's 3 in the morning and the boy is still inside his studio, playing with the mixer in front of him while humming sweet melodies with a smile etched on his lips. His friends are around him, watching the love-stricken boy with much humor. The boy gives no care to the attention he’s gathering. He is too happy to be annoyed by five toddlers.

“I bet 500,000 won that they did it” The youngest whisper to the oldest.

“I bet 1,000,000 they didn’t” The best friend joins in.

Seungri groans. “You don’t have to ruin in the fun, hyung! Now we know that they didn’t do it”

Daesung laughs, “You can’t make a bet about Jiyong hyung when Youngbae hyung is around, maknae-ah. You should learn that by now. Youngbae hyung knows every single thing about Ji hyung”

“I didn’t make the bet with him. I made it with Seunghyun hyung!” Seungri complains.

“But I’m ignoring you” Seunghyun replies monotonically before he sips down his coffee.

“Pfft” Seungri sneers, “You know what Ji hyung told me the moment we met earlier, hyung?”

“What?” Daesung is the only one that cares enough to respond to the maknae.

“He said the sky is bright today. It was snowing hard and it’s freaking dark outside!” Seungri complains.

“He’s happy. Just let him be” Daesung calms the maknae. Daesung knows that Seungri is just jealous because lately Jiyong has been putting all of his love on Hyuri, not on him.

“He said she’s just a sister” Seungri continues to be bitter while Jiyong is still ignoring him.

“So are we going to finish the editing by tonight?” Youngbae sits himself on the table, just behind Jiyong.

“Depends on your buddy here” Teddy points at the grinning man next to him who is now looking at nothing in particular while smiling stupidly.

“Hmmm…” Jiyong finally makes a sound with a stupid smile on his face, garnering attention of the five boys. “She kissed me first” He murmurs lovingly.

The boys groan disgustedly in unison.

***

It’s almost noon and Jiyong is still unresponsive on his bed. He spent the whole dawn editing the music for MAMA with s and Teddy. It was hard