Myungsoo and I both immediately decided to deny the rumors to the public and to practically everyone. We’d say something along the lines of, “Naeun/Myungsoo and I are good friends and I guess we share so many similarities together that some people thought we were related somehow? –laughs- but he/she is a great person blah blah blah…”

            I don’t know who believed us. But we hoped that it was everybody.

            Basically, everyone went ballistic. My manager, the APink members, everybody in the idol community, the entire world…yeah the list goes on.

            The tabloid started off as a rumor, of course, like when Gossip Girl receives a tip from someone and decides to reveal it to the rest of the world. But rumors hardly ever go away, so now Myungsoo and I were unavoidably linked. Our companies didn’t want us to see each other at all. Period.

            The thing is, Doyeon had known. She’d known it all along. It all clicked: she was the one who’d sent the blackmail letter, the one who’d told me specifically to stay away from Myungsoo. It hadn’t been Jongin, Taemin, or even Suzy. Just Doyeon.

            The question was, how did she know? Apparently, Myungsoo hadn’t been the only idol she dated. She’d also dated B1A4’s Gongchan. At first I had no idea who he was, until I realized that Gongchan was only his stage name. His real name was Gong Chanshik, the boy who my mother tried to set me up with years ago. When she started dating Myungsoo, she and Chanshik had met up a couple of times. Somewhere along those meet-ups, he’d mentioned to her that he’d gone to Myungsoo’s dad’s wedding. She did some digging and found out about how my mother was the bride. I guess it didn’t take a matter of time before she found that we also had feelings for each other.

            Feelings. They always get in the way of things.

            Myungsoo, towards the end of his falling relationship with Doyeon, also knew that Doyeon knew. She kept blackmailing him too, telling him that he had to reveal their relationship to the company if he wanted to keep the secret a secret. But in the end, he’d gotten too tired of the entire thing to keep up. ‘I’m sorry,’ he’d written to me. I was pretty sorry too.

            He and I didn’t see each other for a while. Like I said, our companies didn’t want to see us together and everything was just too crazy and chaotic to even try. Seems like Doyeon got exactly what she wanted. Myungsoo’s relationship with me was completely totaled. If anything, our relationship was no longer even existent. Infinite and APink ended up moving to separate dorms entirely. We hardly even saw each other anymore.

            I missed him. I missed him a lot. I missed talking to him and I missed having him around. My mother called when she saw the rumor and I assured her that none of it was true and that it was just the press overreacting, but she still seemed skeptical about it.

            On my birthday however, I received a text.

FR: Myungsoo

SENT: 8:35 PM

Happy birthday, Son Napoop.

            My heart skipped a beat at seeing his name on my phone. I smiled to myself and texted him back.

About time, Kim Myungpoop.        

            I waited a bit. He replied quickly.

             I miss you.

            I bit my lip, my heart aching. Then I texted:

            I miss you, too.

            I could practically imagine me and him on completely opposite sides of Korea, texting each other like this. We both seemed to be contemplating the same thing: whether our love was worth hurting so many people. We were still so young. Would it really be worth it?

            We didn’t think about it then. We were both too busy with our careers. But the time would come when I would realize, undeniably, that Kim Myungsoo is the love of my life.

            I was visiting my mother one weekend. She and I were having tea at a nearby coffee shop.

            “So,” she said, stirring her cup, “how are you and Myungsoo?”

            I’d expected her to ask for more details sooner or later. “Um…” Now the real question was, should I lie or not? I chose the former. “We’re good. Fine.”

            My mother raised a brow. “Really, Naeun? I’m your mother. I know you best. Things had gotten out of hand since the rumor flew out, didn’t it?”

            I sighed, rubbing my head. “I have no idea. But if you must know, he and I haven’t exactly been speaking. Our companies don’t allow it.”

            My mother bit her lip, as if contemplating on whether or not she should say what she wanted to say. But in the end, she did it. “Sanghyun and I,” she started, “know about how you and Myungsoo had romantic feelings for each other.”

            My eyes widened. .

            My first instinct was to deny it at all costs. “Nonono,” I suddenly started saying, “w-we’re not like that, it’s—

            “—Naeun,” my mother said. “It’s okay. You don’t have to deny anything. You’re not in trouble for having feelings for him.”

            “But mom,” I said, “isn’t it weird to think of me and him that way?”

            “Well, it was. But then Sanghyun and I gradually got used to the idea of it. I mean, the signs were all there: how similar you two were, the way you two looked at each other, acted around each other, and everything in between. He and I both knew that there was some undeniable connection,” my mother explained. She noticed how panicked I looked and gently put her hand on mine. “I want you to be happy. And if Myungsoo makes you happy, then be with him. I just want to let you know that you have my blessing, and Sanghyun’s as well. There doesn’t need to be any more secrets.”

            At that moment, I felt very grateful to have her as my mother. “Thank you, mom,” I said. “I honestly thought you were going to disown me.”

            My mom laughed. “Of course not! I’m an understanding mom, remember?”

            I smiled, laughing a bit as well. “Yes, you certainly are, mom.” Then my face turned sour, solemn. “Thanks for the blessings and everything but…things between Myungsoo and I kind of blew up in our faces thanks to Doyeon. I don’t think anything is going to happen. So you don’t need to worry about it.”

            “You never know, Naeun,” my mother said, staring out the window optimistically. “Things can turn out a lot differently than expected.”