I could swear that my heart stopped momentarily when the blinding light flashed in our direction. Jongin and I snapped our heads towards the source of the light, pushing each other away immediately and standing up. There stood Krystal, tapping her high heeled shoes while swinging her phone in between her fingers.

“,” Jongin muttered, “Krystal, what are you doing here?” He strides over to her, eyeing the phone in her hands. At that moment, I could hear my heart beat getting louder and louder as Krystal glared at me with hatred.

“Isn’t that what I should be asking you? I left you for one second and now I see you on the roof top with her?” Krystal fumes, “I knew there was something going on between the two of you. How could anyone miss it? But what can you do? The girl you’re engaged to is me, not her.”

“The only reason I agreed to the marriage was to protect my parents! You have no right to control who I love and who I don’t Krystal,” Jongin shouted angrily, “There’s no way in hell I’d allow myself to get married to you when I have Jaein beside me.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks, did he just say he loves me?

Krystal snorted, “You want her? Are you blind? How can you say you want her when I’m right here?” Her heels clicked against the floorboards as she made my way over to me, piercing me with her eyes, “You’re just a commoner. To make it worse, you’re one of the reporters, paparazzi, a person who leeches off of people like us just to make a living.” My throat burned with anger, but she continued to speak, “What do you want from Jongin? Money? Fame? Whatever it is, I’ll give you it but you have to promise to leave us alone when I do.”

“That’s enough Krystal,” Jongin growled and pulled her arm roughly, making her stagger backwards and nearly fall into his arms.

After she regained her balance she whipped around to Jongin with a smirk on her face, “I have your entire career in hand, didn’t you know?” She holds up her phone to his face, showing him the photo of Jongin and I close enough to look like we’re kissing.

“Delete it,” Jongin grits his teeth, “Delete it now Krystal, or the wedding’s off.”

Krystal snickers and pulls the phone back, out of Jongin’s reach. “Really? Do you really want to call off the wedding and allow the entire world to know about your parents’ job? Life for them wouldn’t be the same, being surrounded by paparazzi, being asked question after question regarding you. Think about all the hard work they put into keeping themselves away from the public eye. Are you that selfish to let someone like her ruin all of that?” Krystal nods her head towards me, “It’ll be her that reports to the rest of the world your parents’ identities. Either way she’s going to betray you in the end, she’s no good.”

“Shut up Krystal, you don’t know anything about my parents,” Jongin glares at her, “You don’t know anything about Jay and I’s relationship either.”

“But I’m right aren’t I?” Krystal replies snidely. She begins to walk back to the door that leads to the ball room, waving her cell phone in her hand, “Don’t do anything rash now Jongin.”

The entire car ride home, Jongin stayed silent. I was afraid to ask him if he was okay or not, because I knew he definitely wasn’t in the mood for talking. The memories of our first Christmas together was quickly drowned by the situation Krystal had caused. The limo had finally reached the complex to my apartment, and several minutes passed as the both of us stayed in silence. Andy had given me a couple questioning looks, but didn’t ask us what happened, allowing us to stay inside the car while he stood outside until I was ready to go.

“Jongin?” I said quietly, trying not to irritate him, “Thanks for taking me home…I’ll see you soon.” I shifted my weight towards the left of the car, ready to exit when I felt his hand grasp onto my wrist.

Jongin didn’t raise his head but continued to speak, “I’m really sorry that tonight didn’t turn out like you planned.” Come to think of it, I realized that Krystal’s outburst wasn’t the only thing that brought down my mood tonight. The fact that Jongin and I couldn’t even spend a solid thirty minutes together before being interrupted by everyone made me feel more down.

“It’s not your fault,” I spoke softly, “I had a really good time tonight anyways,” I partially lied, but I knew that if I said those words, Jongin would feel more at ease.

He nodded and released my hand, “I’ll see you soon then.” I nodded back and opened the car door to find Andy standing there awkwardly.

“Are you guys…good?” he coughed and pointed towards Jongin inside the car. I offered him a small smile and nodded, “Alright then, I’ll see you soon Miss Jay,” he gave me a hug goodbye and climbed back into the car.

He couldn’t even lift his head up to look at me. Why did Krystal have to ruin our night?

“You look dead Jay,” Ailee commented, tilting her head to the side and observing me at a closer angle.

I put my hands in front of my face to cover her from staring at me any longer, “I couldn’t sleep last night, but I’ll be fine for the broadcast.” She frowned at me but didn’t ask me to explain any further, allowing me to rest while the camera crew set up their equipment. Anot