You were waiting outside the SM building, where EXO was expected to be back any minute.
They came from the airport with a shuffle, but you knew how crazy the traffic was around this time, so you patiently sat down on a bench in front of the building. You watched how a huge crowd of fans formed and waited impatiently, tipping from one foot on the other. Many girls had made posters and had lightsticks in their hands while agitatedly chatting with their friends. You saw that most posters were made for Jongin, as they had his stage name and pictures scattered all over the board. You felt the eery feeling of jealousy creeping up again and had difficulties suppressing it.

Of course you had known that fans would be here today, so you put on huge sunglasses and wore a scarf to hide your face.
The last week, you had to watch how pictures of you exploded online as they were passed along until every fangirl on the planet knew about you. There were posts saying that you're just a random friend from high school, while others had betitled you as his secret affair. The term girlfriend had disappeared two days after the incident. Obviously, the fans wouldn't accept their idol to be committed to someone. But as soon as the boys hugged each other on stage, they were all about love and skinship. You didn't understand these twisted worlds of full-time sasaengs.

Half an hour later, two black vans parked in front of the building, making the fans run over to the doors. Every single person had their phone handy, ready to take 100 pictures the second.
EXO's manager was the first to leave the van, followed by the EXO-M members. They were all wearing sunglasses except for Chen, who seemed to be in a good mood since he waved and smiled at the fans, almost making them faint.
The second van's door opened, as the EXO-K members left the vehicle. You peered over but couldn't properly see the boys, as the pack of fans was in the way. You got up and sneaked over to the spectacle and inpolitely pushed the sasaengs in order to get to the first row.
You didn't get through to the very first row, but you could see the members and knew that they could see you too. Baekhyun was the first in line, as he also started waving and grinning. He was followed by Sehun and Kyungsoo, then Suho and finally Jongin, who was shuffling his feet annoyed. He wore sunglasses and didn't even look up, as the fans darted in his direction. Everyone wanted to know if the rumours were true and told him that they loved him, making you seethe with rage. You felt the urge to slap everyone around you, but instead you drew a deep breath and closed your eyes for a few seconds. When you opened them again, Jongin was walking past you. You didn't know if he'd seen you but he hadn't shown any reaction.

An hour after the members went in, the street cleared up and only a few fans were still sticking around. You had gotten yourself a coffee in the meantime, as you constantly checked your phone.
After Jongin had sent you the short, cold text, you hadn't reached him anymore. His phone had been turned off the whole week and he wouldn't reply to your messages either. You were concerned that he was still mad at you, but had missed him so much that you just wanted to see his face again.

After another 15 minutes, you figured that it didn't make sense to wait in front of SM and you also noticed that Jongin apparently wouldn't come out in the next hour.
Disappointed, you got on a bus and listened to Heaven by Ailee, almost making you tear up. You didn't even know why you were so emotional, usually you didn't mind Jongin coming home late or not texting you during the day. But you had felt alone this week at the apartment, and his pissed message hadn't made things much better for you.

You ambled back to your apartment, went in and tossed your shoes away from you, followed by your coat and purse, sunglasses and that ridiculously long scarf.
Frustrated, you ran to the kitchen cabinets and grabbed a bag of chips.
You plopped on the couch, teared the bag open and started stuffing enormous amounts of them into your mouth. You were glad that you didn't see EXO on TV, as some drama was currently airing. You found out that it was already the 19th episode but watched it anyways, only to lazily drift off to sleep a while later.

You woke up and straightened your back, as you noticed that you had chips crumbs all over your body and on the couch as well. You cursed at yourself, got up and wanted to get the vacuum cleaner, as you saw that it was already dark outside. You peered at the clock in the kitchen and saw that it was shortly after midnight. You paused in the middle of the room and wondered if Jongin had come home while you had slept.

Filled with hope, you sneaked into the bedroom, only to find it as you had left it this morning; your side messy, Jongin's side made. You hissed in frustration and suddenly missed him so much that you put on one of his shirts, like you always did when you missed him.
You loved wearing his clothes, as they smelled like him and made you think of him being around you.

You had just vacuumed the sofa and put away the cleaner, as you heard the door falling in the lock.
Excited, you straightened and waited eagerly to finally see Jongin's beautiful face again.
Even more confused were you when you saw that he was still wearing these absurd sunglasses and you couldn't help but laugh.

Jongin didn't react, in fact, he didn't even look up to you. He threw his shoes away from him, yanked his scarf off and finally took off the sunglasses while he walked past you to the bedroom. Bewildered, you watched his behavior and as he passed you, you cringed in shock.
His right cheekbone was slightly swollen and unnaturally yellow, and you saw a deep scratch at his temple.
You heard how he undressed in the bedroom and didn't dare going in, so you decided to wait for him on the couch.

When he was done changing into his sweatpants, he came out of the bedroom, only to walk straight to the fridge, completely ignoring your presence. You were paralyzed.
"What's the matter?", you asked shyly. Jongin didn't bother responding as he sipped from a bottle of water.
"I'm talking to you", you went on as you were now approaching him slowly. He finished the bottle and threw the empty plastic into the sink carelessly. You furrowed your brow.
"What's the matter with you?", you raised your voice, now sounding impatient. Upon that, Jongin turned to you, his eyes sparkling dark and dangerously.
"Oh, nothing. I'm fine. I'm just about to lose my ing job!", he cursed, hitting the counter with his hands. You flinched at the sudden noise and didn't understand the situation properly, as he seemed to be mad at you. You felt treated unfair.
"Wait, is that my fault?", you retorted pissed.
Before you could say anything else, he came up to you, grabbed your shoulders tightly and slowly pushed you against the wall. He bent down so your faces were on the same level and you thought he was gonna kiss you, as his lips were almost touching yours. Instead, he made you look into his eyes that were filled with despair and anger.
"Why would you go to an EXO merchandise store when you know that this is the place were the fans come together? You knew that they've taken pictures of us, so why would you go there and provoke these girls?", he spit out. You felt uneasy but couldn't move your head an inch due to Jongin's hand now holding your jaw.
"Are you defending these brats that follow you around everywhere and tell you they love you?! Is it my fault now?", you yelled enraged. You couldn't believe his absurd argumentation.
"They are not brats, they are my fans, the people I need in order to live my dream. And I like them. I like every single one of them. In fact, I like and need them more than you right now", he whispered deprecatingly.
His sentece hit you like a landslide. Unable to move, you just stared at him as your eyes filled with tears. You clenched your teeth in order to stay calm but failed miserably. As soon as he let you go, you sank down the wall and started crying pathetically hard.
Jongin and you had fought before, but you had always treated each other with respect.
While you cowered on the floor, Jongin turned away and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving you behind in a picture of misery.

The worst part about this was that you weren't even at fault. He made you responsible for something you had no influence on.
Still cowering on the floor, you couldn't help but crying your eyes out when you heard Jongin coming out of the bathroom.
You instantly turned your head away from him, feeling painfully ashamed of yourself, especially since he remained totally cold. Usually, you were the one that could handle arguments better than him.

You soon felt Jongin's strong arms hurling around you as he picked you up. Unable to defend yourself more, you only looked down and hid your disastrous face in your hands.
Jongin carried you to the bedroom, put you down on your side and somehow caring, covered you with the blanket.
He then grabbed his pillow and blanket and slowly walked out, leaving you alone in the dark.

Furiously, you yanked his stupid shirt off your body, tossed it across the room and wrapped your body, now only in underwear, deeper into the blanket.
"Stupid bastard", you whined, turned around and started crying heartbreakingly again.