“Jay, is there something that’s bothering you?”

I looked up from my meal and saw that Jongin’s body was leaning over the table with a worried look on his face. I shook my head in response, “what makes you say that?”

He tipped back on his chair and shrugged his shoulders, “You seem distraught for some reason…Is everything going okay with your internship? Is your boss still bugging you about deadlines or something?”

“No, Sunggyu’s been going easy on me these past few weeks because L and I are raising the amount of viewers from our end of the year segment,” I explained.

He raised his eyebrow, “That reminds me, is everything okay with you and him? I can tell he still has feelings for you, he looks at you like…like I look at you.”

I suddenly felt uncomfortable with the subject and quickly looked back down at my food, “He’s still a really good friend to me, nothing else. How’s Exo doing with the end of the year music award performance? A lot of people are looking forward to that you know.”

“The guys are really pushing through this time around, the choreographer even complimented Chen on his improvement in the dance,” he grinned, “This is going to be one of the biggest performances we’ve done all year.”

“You better mention my name in the winning speech,” I teased, nudging his foot from underneath the table.

“That’s only if we win! And if we do, that means we’re beating out the rest of the rookie groups from the entire year, it’s highly unlikely,” he blushed and nudged my foot back.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, you still don’t believe the amount of fans that Exo has?” I poked his cheek, making him break out into laughter. 

“It’s just all so surreal still,” he admitted, his lips spread out into a shy smile. “I didn’t know that all the years of practice would lead to this much love from people that live across the world too.”

“Well, believe it! You guys have a crazy amount of international fans, including me.”

“You live in Korea Jay…”

“I used to live in Canada and I still have a Canadian citizenship, therefore I’m an international fan!” I insisted, crossing my arms, “Now give me an autograph oppa!”

He shook his head while chuckling, “you’re different from the other fans, because you belong to me.”

I leaned in closer to him, “When did you become so handsome?”

“Since birth,” he smirked, “You just never realized it. You were too busy fighting with me and making a commotion to stop and take a good look at me.”

I drew back, “Hey! You were always the one to start the fights, not me! I remember you would always tease me about having crooked teeth and being short,” I sulked, remembering the past. It’s not like I was the prettiest nine year old back then, but it didn’t really help that Jongin would constantly point out my flaws in front of his friends at school.

“I liked you with your crooked teeth and your shortness,” he tipped my chin up and offered me a shy smile, “And besides, you got braces so now your teeth are perfect.”

“What about my shortness though?” I pouted, looking down at my high heels that brought me only to the bottom of Jongin’s chin.

“Well, I like your shortness and I’m glad you kept it,” he stood up, offering me a hand and wrapping his arms around my waist. “Because you’re so tiny that I can fit you completely in my embrace,” he whispered into my ear.

I blushed and pushed him away slightly, “Thank you for taking me out to dinner tonight, I really needed it after a long week.” I looked around in the restaurant and realized that there were no other people inside except for us, “But why aren’t there any other people in the restaurant?”

“Chanyeol’s parents own the restaurant, and he let me rent out the entire place only if I let him borrow my clothes for the entire week,” he rubbed the back of his neck.

“What! So you’re sharing a closet with Chanyeol oppa for the entire week?” I widened my eyes, shocked because I knew how much Jongin treasured his clothes.

“It’s nothing compared to how much I was willing to spend the night with you,” he said shyly, his eyes averting to the ground.

“Jongin…”

“A-Anyway, we should probably head over to your apartment now, it’s getting late,” he mumbled, slipping on his sunglasses, snapback and a mask to disguise himself from any sasaeng fans that may recognize him on the streets. He took my hand and lead me outside to his car to drive me home.

“So maybe we should interview this group and then announce the third most popular story of the year,” L suggested. We had been sitting in our office all afternoon trying to this of new ideas and formats for the next broadcast that would be happening the next day.

I nodded, “that sounds like a good idea! I just hope Sunggyu won’t freak out about the change.”

“Nah, he’s been really nice to us these days anyway,” L smirked and nodded over to Sunggyu who was grinning widely for a change. “Jay, are you feeling okay?”

I blinked at him, “I feel fine, why?”

L shrugged his shoulders and began stacking his papers, “I feel like you’re distraught about something…I could be wrong, it’s just a feeling I’ve had ever since you came into the building.”

“Funny, that’s what Jongin said too,” I spoke softly, “I think I’m just getting a little tired because of the overtime work we’ve been doing the past couple of weeks. I just need to rest when I get home, but other than that I’ll be fine.”

L stood up from his chair, “Alright, if you say so,” he walked over to the door and opened it slightly before turning back to me, “but if you’re having troubles, you know you can talk to me.” With that, he gave me a small smile and closed the door behind him.

After a long day at work, Sunggyu finally let me off earlier than the previous days to get home and rest for the broadcast the next day. There were too many things running through my mind, and I knew that thinking about it all at once wasn’t going to do me any good. On top of that, today was the last day that Dahye would be sleeping over at my apartment before she would be sent back to Gwangju in the morning.

“Dahye! I’m home-“

“I refuse to leave tomorrow!”

Even before I had time to take off my shoes, Dahye stood at the entrance, arms crossed over her chest and a determined look on her face.

“What are you talking about? You have to go home Dahye, if you stay here any longer your mom and dad will suspect that something is up,” I patted her on the head and gave her an apologetic smile.

Dahye pouted, “I don’t want to go back to my house…Isn’t home where you’re supposed to feel the most comfortable?” She begin following me to the kitchen and sat herself down on one of the chairs, “I feel the most comfortable in Seoul, not Gwangju. I can’t keep living there when I feel like my life should be here in the city.” Her eyes were pleading and in the past few days, I could definitely tell that she loved being in Seoul by the way her eyes lit up when we drove around in the city.

“Dahye, you know I’d love for you to stay here with me too, but what about school? Your mom and dad placed you there for a reason, and that reason is because you have a bright future ahead of you-“

“No, they placed me there because Jongin oppa is taking over their business and they want me to find my own job by myself,” Dahye sighed, “I knew ever since the beginning that my parents favored my brother over me, I mean who keeps their daughter a secret from everyone? I guess I’m just more stressed out now because I’m getting closer to the end of high school and I have no idea what I’m going to do. Jongin oppa has it all set up for him, he’s going to take over when he turns twenty, and then what am I supposed to do?” Her large eyes were turning red, and I could see that tears were building up within them.

“Oh Dahye,” I pulled her in for a tight hug while her soft sobs could be heard against my chest. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you were going through this much.” I thought about all the times that Dahye had a bright smile on her face, and realized there were rarely any times where she showed her vulnerability. The only time I had seen her so hurt and troubled was when she was dealing with Sehun, but other than that, ever since the beginning she st