“Moving out…” Jongin repeated blandly. I lifted my head up slightly to see that his eyes were burning into mine, glaring almost, refusing to move away from mine.

“I have enough now,” I said softly, “I won’t be far from here, probably just in the next town actually.”

“Why are you leaving then?”

“Kim Jongin,” Mr. Kim said, giving his son a stern look to stop talking.

“Whatever,” Jongin muttered, exiting the living room and heading up the stairs to his room, firmly shutting the door behind him.

Mrs. Kim let out another sob, “Do you have to go Jaein? Have we been such bad company to you? I know that Mr. Kim and I haven’t been around the house that much but-“

“No! That’s not it Mrs. Kim, I just…wanted to leave because I think that I’ve been a burden to you for too long-“

“Nonsense Jaein!” Mrs. Kim exclaimed, “We love having you here honey.”

I let out a sigh and stood up to leave the room, “I’ll be out of the house later tonight, but thank you for your hospitality ever since I came back to Korea.” I gave Mr. And Mrs. Kim a bow in gratitude and made my way up the stairs to begin packing my belongings. As I passed by Jongin’s door, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was okay with me moving out or not. I guess I’ll never know…

It only took an hour to get all of my belongings back into my suitcase since I didn’t have that many things to pack in the first place. It was now eleven o’clock and I didn’t realize how late the night had become. I took another glace over my now former room, admiring the dream catcher that was perched above the window sill ever since my arrival. I’m really going to miss the little things in this house, I sighed and pushed my suitcase out the door to go downstairs.

“Tch, he’s really not going to come out and say goodbye?” I whispered to myself as I passed by his doorway once again. My suitcase trailing along behind me, I pulled it down the stairs and prepared myself to say goodbye with Mr. And Mrs. Kim.

“Oh Jaein honey, are you sure you have to go?” Mrs. Kim asked once more, tears filling her eyes again. Mr. Kim gently put his arm around his wife and patted her to help her calm down.

I nodded firmly, “I’ll visit as much as I can though.”

“You’re always welcome at our house Jaein,” Mr. Kim smiled softly to which I smiled back. The farewell was bitter, but I knew that this was for my own good. My eyes flickered towards the top of the stairs, secretly praying that Jongin would at least come out of his room so that I could see his face for the last time, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen.

“Goodbye Mr. And Mrs. Kim,” I bowed, and gave them a small wave before shutting the door to the Kim mansion behind me.

As soon as the door clicked to a shut, I felt my eyelids become heavy and my body become light. Dampness ran down my cheek subconsciously, “It was for my own good. I can’t feel anything more for Jongin than I already do.”

Time had passed by a lot quicker than I had thought it would, and it had now been a couple weeks since I had moved out from the Kim house. Every now and then, thoughts of Jongin popped up in my mind, but everytime they did, I shook it off with some work.

“Jaein can you get me a coff-“

“No.”

“But I never asked for one for the longest time!”

“Boss…” I gave him a stern look, making him shut up instantly. It was only a matter of time before I mastered controlling Sunggyu, and my newfound glare was the secret behind it.

“Fine,” Sunggyu huffed, “Then I’m not going to show you the script for your broadcast next week.” He crossed his arms and swivelled on his chair to face the opposite direction as me.

I groaned, “Don’t be so childish, I need that script in order to do the show!”

Sunggyu refused to turn his chair back at me and even let out a small ‘humph’ to show that he really meant what he said.

“Fine! Here! Take my coffee!” I nearly threw the red cup into his hands before collapsing onto my office chair in annoyance. Sunggyu’s face immediately lit up as he brought the cup up to his lips and took a sip of the drink.

“Here,” Sunggyu threw the script at me, “Don’t forget that the bottom part on page four is cut out so you and L need to skip that.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat at the mention of L’s name. It had been nearly a month since L had last talked to me, and to make matters even worse, his broadcasting skills had been plunging from the monotone voice to spacing out while we were on air.

“What are you looking at Jay?” Sungjong popped up from behind me and poked the side of my cheek cutely.

I gave him a warm smile, “Nothing, how are you?”

Sungjong jumped into the chair next to me with a sigh, “really tired, Sunggyu’s had me running around from INB to SM for the past couple days.”

“SM?” I held my breath, “What for?”

“The interview that you and L are doing tomorrow…duh” Sungjong gave me a look, “you forgot?”

“The interview…” I repeated blankly, “That’s tomorrow?”

“Yeah, did you look over your questions?” L’s voice suddenly emerged, startling me.

“Uh, no to be honest I thought it was going to be later in the month,” I spoke quietly, scared that I would make L go away. Sungjong caught a hint and slowly backed out of the room without another word. L nodded at my words but stayed silent and took the script from the table to read it over. I frowned, in the span of a month, L’s body seemed even more weak and frail than it did before.

“Did you eat?” I spoke instinctively.

L seemed surprised by my question, taking a moment to let it sink in before replying, “No, I haven’t had time.”

“Let’s go out to eat then.”

“We have to fini-“

I snatched the script from his grasp and set it down on the table, “Health is more important than work L.”

His eyes met mine, and I knew that he had been defeated this time. “Where are we going?”

We chose to dine at the restaurant at the outskirts of town, knowing that they had cheap but quality meals. The entire ride there, L stayed silent while I glanced down at my phone every so often to keep myself looking busy. As soon as we arrived, L surprised me by opening my door for me and helping me out of his car.

“Thanks,” I felt my face get slightly warm by his actions as he gave me a quick nod in acknowledgement.

Right when we had taken our seats inside the restaurant, I didn’t hesitate to order as much food on the menu as I possibly could.

L’s eyes widened, “Jay, you can’t eat all that food…”

“I ca