I immediately regretted it the moment the phone hung up. His voice was still ringing in my head, the worry that leaked through his words as he asked where I was, it wrung my heart in a way that I cannot contain. Lee Chaerin, what did you just do?

Today was another exhausting day at the company, I went through a 6 hour meeting with the board of directors, discussing concepts, themes, production costs, styles, and countless of other things regarding the new album. Though I love my job and I love having a say in deciding with what we put out there for the audience, but a total of 6 hours of meetings nonstop takes a toll on anyone, even myself. Hoping to immediately head home and have some relaxed me time, I walked out of the meeting room with Yanggeng trailing behind, but like a death toll, my phone began ringing, and judging by the ringtone, it's a call that I cannot ignore. I groaned as I fished my phone out of my pocket and answered it.

"Yes, Bommie unnie?" I sighed as I pushed the elevator button.

"PUDONG AH!! OMO OMO, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!" Bommie unnie's voice pierced through my ears, and I caught a grin on Yanggeng's face on the reflections of the elevator door when he saw me scrunching my face together while holding the phone a foot away from my face.

"Aigoo, unnie, I just had a 6 hour meeting, can you not trample over my already dead brain?" Putting the phone back towards my ears, I shoved my sunglasses on as I walked into the elevator. "So what just happened? Be gentle please."

"Oh, okay okay!" She immediately lowered her voice to just above a whisper, I smiled, my forever cute Bommie unnie. "So I was just finishing with a photoshoot, and craving some roasted corn, right? Then just as I walked out to the van, someone appeared, guess who?!"

"Tabi oppa?" I smiled, and I knew because he had asked me just this morning for her schedule for the whole week.

"CHAERIN-AH!! ARE YOU PSYCHIC?! Omo, sorry sorry!" She screamed again, but then immediately realizing her mistake, she lowered her voice again. "Anyway, but guess what Seunghyun brought with him for me?!"

"Um... Roasted corn?" I took a guess on that one, but it was an easy question. I walked out of the elevator and was greeted by many fans, Yanggeng took most of their packages and mails for me as I simply waved and walked on to his car.

"YES!! I mean yes!!" She did her cute screaming to whispering thing again, but her excitement was just too adorable for me to care about her volume. "But he simply said he was passing by the area and heard that I was here, so he thought he'd drop them off for me. Then he just left! What an alien, right?!"

"Well, that's Tabi oppa for you. But you can take it from me that he did not just 'pass by' today." I shuffled into Yanggeng's car and nodded when he mouthed "home?" to me as he put the fan packages in the back. "Oppa asked me for your schedule for this week this morning."

"GASP! That sneaky alien!! Then do you think he'll show up at all my appointments? With roasted corn everyday?! " I can hear her smile over the phone. "Omo, listen to me getting carried away, are you on your way home, dear?" She laughed and asked genuinely.

"Yes, Yanggeng oppa's taking me home." I reclined in my seat.

"Okay okay! Text me if you want to go out for dinner, okay? Oh and one more thing," She paused, I waited patiently. "Do you think Jiyong will tell me if I asked him for Seunghyun's schedule?"

"I don't think he would know!" I laughed, this alien couple are just too sneaky and cute. "Tabi oppa's too mysterious."

"Hmm, I'll ask him anyway," She did not give up easily. "Alright, go home safely! Tell Yanggeng I'll skin him alive if anything happens to you!"

"Okay, unnie, bye!!" I laughed again as I hung up.

"What did she say?" Yanggeng asked.

"Oh you know, stuff about TOP oppa as always. Oh and she said she'll skin you alive if you don't drive me to the convenient store to pick up some icecream." I took off my sunglasses and put the phone away. Yanggeng simply chuckled as he made a turn onto the street with the convenient store.

As I reached home, I immediately changed into comfy clothes and flopped onto my sofa and started digging into the icecream, though I know I probably shouldn't have this since I'm on a diet, but after that grueling meeting, I felt like I deserved it, and it's also to celebrate Bommie unnie and Tabi oppa's rendevous right? So I simply laid there for a while, just enjoying my icecream while listening to some music. Then I suddenly remembered the stacks of fanmail and gifts laying by my door, so I sauntered over with a happy heart, ready to revel in my awesome blackjacks' letters

"CL unnie you're the best!" "I look up to you, you're such a role model for me!" "Please enjoy these chocolates I bought from Hawaii!" "Baddest female in the world!! Please continue being awesome!" I smiled as I read through all the messages and organized the gifts.

There was one last bigger package laying at the bottom, with an intrigued heart, I went over it and examined it. It was a big cardboard box that was tightly sealed in masking tape, there was nothing but a big heart drawn on it, with the letters "CL" written inside the heart. I attempted to open the box, but it was so carefully taped that it was too hard to open with just my bare hands. So I reached for a scissor and sliced open the box. Inside there were layers and layers of gold tissue paper, and it finally revealed the back of a picture frame, I smiled and picked it up out of the box, and as I turned it around, I screamed and it dropped to the floor.

Someone had photoshopped my head onto a body tied in ropes, hanging from a ceiling, there were wounds all over the body, and my face had blood and bruises on it. On the bottom of the picture, written in red English letters saying "STUPID COCKY , I HOPE YOU DIE."

I took a deep breath, it wasn't the first time that I've recieved threat letters, but to see my own face on such a grotesque picture was a bit too much to take. I slowly stepped away from the dropped picture frame on the ground, taking along with me the other innocent, kind letters from fans, as if to protect them from this animosity. I gently set down the letters and gifts, and sat back on my sofa, then I realized I was shaking with fear. I balled up, and stared at the mess by the door, I began to breathe deeply.

"It's okay, you're okay. You're safe in your house, that is just some photoshopped picture, it's not you." I said out loud, calming myself, but my voice was still trembling. "There bounds to be people that don't like you, it's just that this one... has more time on their hands." I then chuckled at my own joke, despite my still shaking voice. "It's okay, Lee Chaerin, you're okay."

I inhaled deeply again, exhaled, and I suddenly feel a sharp pain on my cheek. I touched where the pain was coming from, and I saw blood on my fingers. It must've been from the shards of glass that flew out when the picture frame was dropped. I calmly went over to the restroom and checked my face, there was a thin gash on the high points of my cheek just below my right eye. I checked for any remaning glass shards, and I applied alcohol and ointment, but couldn't find a band-aid anywhere, so I just let it be. So I walked back out, thinking of cleaning the mess up, and ending all the madness.

Then I looked at the picture again, in the picture, my face had a gash the same exact place as I did now. It was sickly funny, somehow, this person did inflict some type of physical damage on me, simply with this sick picture. And the scare finally settled in. Then one person's name came to my mind.

Jiyong oppa.

Without thinking, I LINEed him, and when he didn't reply, I felt a tear drop down my face, and as it ran by my gash on my cheek, it hurt. Then without thinking again, I called him. I could tell he was drinking, for his voice was so murky as he called my name. But just the sound of his voice stabled my twitching heart, it was as if all is right in the world again. Then he asked me if I'd drink with him, I knew he was joking, but I honestly felt like a drink would make this night more forgettable. And finally when he asked me where I was, with all that worry, even though I've only said "Should I?" I just broke down. And now knowing he's on his way here, in hindsight, I regretted it. I feel so stupid for relying on him like this! Back then when he got so much for his Heartbreaker era and his scandals, he handled them all by himself, and marched on to show off to the world just how talented he was. But here I am, freaking out over a stupid picture. I am the leader, I am supposed to be the strong one, I am not supposed to be scared by stuff like this! I---

"Chaerin-ah!! Open the door!" Jiyong oppa's voice sounded at the door. Following with a few violent knocks.

"It's open." After a few stunned moments, I called from the sofa, not trusting my legs to carry me over there without failing, since my body seems to be shaking uncontrollably. And I pulled up a blanket to hide my shaking self, and I saw him swinging the door open and stepping in, I felt almost mortified.

"What's wrong, why didn't you come to the door--" He stopped mid-sentence as his eyes fell to the ground, where the shattered picture frames were. He then froze. And it looked as if a storm passed by on his face, for momentarily he looked so unfamiliar, the smiling and bright Jiyong oppa was gone, and something almost fearful glimmered in his eyes, his lips twisted into a thin line, his eyebrows furrowed, for a second, he greatly resemebled an angry dragon, just like his stage name suggested. But his gloomy angry face suddenly disappeared, as he looked up to see me cloaked in my blanket, and in its place, a look of absolute worry took over. His eyes glimmered and he rushed over to where I was, he stood silently in front of me, saying nothing and just gazed at me.

"Chaerin." He simply whispered my name before kneeling down and pulling me into his arms. "Chaerin." He whispered again.

"Oppa..." I meant to say 'Oppa, it's okay, I'm okay.' in a calm tone, but his gentleness struck me so hard, my heart couldn't handle being strong anymore, and I just broke down and started sobbing into his chest. And all the while he just held on to me even tighter, gently hushing me as he my back.

After a while, I finally broke away from his embrace to rearrange my face. He let me go and reached for a tissue with one hand while still putting an arm around my shoulders, and handed me the tissue, but still not letting his eyes leave my face. I sniffled and tried to clean up my face the best I could, I thought I would be embarassed, but his face of concern just broke away all my fears and worries, in this moment, I just want to be Chaerin, and lean on my Jiyong oppa.

"What happened? Did they hurt you?" His voice was suddenly dangerous. I was startled, then I realized he was staring at the gash on my face.

"Oh no, oppa. I dropped it and the glass flew out at me. I didn't even notice it." I immediately replied, hoping he wasn't thinking dangerous thoughts.

"So they did hurt you." The dangerous tone wasn't gone, but his eyes did seem more relieved. "Don't be afraid, it's just some stupid psycho. I'm going to let YG know, and we'll check the cameras for who gave this package. Then we'll take some very, VERY serous actions. We won't let them hurt you anymore, Chaerin, I won't let anyone hurt you, you understand?" He put his hands on very firmly on my shoulders and stared hard into my eyes as he said these things.

"Okay." I nodded. Then somewhere in my heart, a pain came through that was even more harsh than the fear from the threat package. I couldn't recognize what the pain was, but then I looked back at this man kneeling in front of me, his eyes so fueled with anger and worry, I realized, he was more than a friend to me. His words and his presence alone can calm me, and his gentleness can strip away all my fear and defense. And I realized this burning desire within me that wanted more of him, and I wasn't sure what it was, but it was definitely choking me up.

"You still wanna go out?" A smile finally cracked on his face, as the worst of this storm passed.

"Yeah, take me somewhere nice." I smiled as well, I needed to enjoy his company. "Oh and sorry for making a mess out of your shirt." I gestured towards his now very wrinkled and wet Dolce&Gabana white t-shirt.

"It's alright, you can buy me another one." He winked and stood up. My heart cringed a little at the leaving of his arm around my shoulders. "Now go change, and I'll clean up this stupid mess." He walked over and kicked the picture frame back in the box.

"The broom's in the kitchen, be careful of the glass, oppa!" I called out as I went upstairs to get ready. I took one last look at him, his hair in a mess, sulken eyebags that gave away his lack of sleep lately, his slouchy skinny sweatpants hung loosely around his slim legs, even the white t-shirt seemed oversized. I watched him grimace once more at the mess before finally walking into the kitchen. Judging from his apparel, he seems to have ran straight out of his house, bringing nothing but his coat and keys. Looks like I'll be paying for whatever it is we'll be eating later. I chuckled at his angry sweeping at the broken shards, and some unaudible murmmering. At least he cares for me, and would come rushing towards me at 2AM in the morning with a mere phone call. And for now, regardless of how I feel, that... is enough for me.

===Jiyong's POV===

Chaerin walked up the stairs, she seemed to be okay now. I began sweeping this up, I wanted to spit at it. I was going to find whoever did this and give them a piece of my mind. Sick bastard. How dare they do this to my Chae? Wait. "MY" Chae? I paused, and suddenly all the thoughts I had about her before when I was at home came rushing back to me. I still don't know how I feel about her, but what I do know was I hated seeing Chaerin cry, and when she was shaking on her couch all bundled up in her blanket, I wanted to hide her in my arms forever... I never want to see her tremble like that again. I sighed, for now, I don't care about what she is to me, I only know I want her to be happy, to be safe, to be smiling... And I will make sure that she is, regardless of how I feel.

"I will protect you."

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Hello!! So here ends another chapter!! Hopefully this one wasn't too long for you guys, I really wanted to introduce Chaerin's daily life, and how she's cool with Yanggeng and how her life as a leader is so busy. Oh, and did you like my sneaky little TOPBOM moment? XDD
Also why I didn't make her immediately call Jiyong after opening the box, was because I feel like CL really is that type of girl, those type that will hold it in and be strong, but once Jiyong showed up with all those worries, she just breaks down in front of him. <3 Also, imagine if this really happened to CL in real life, because life as a celebrity isn't easy!! >__< So we as blackjacks should alway protect our queen, yeah?
Also, I know I sort of promised to reveal how Jiyong felt about her in the previous chapter, but I've decided instead to make this confusion and mixed feelings last a little longer, so that our third main character can make his grand appearance ;D
I still haven't got a full idea of how this story will go, so as always, please comment and tell me about your feelings and ideas!! So I can get more inspiration and encouragement!! (Also because I LOVE reading them ^__^)

Also thanks so much to all of you who has subscribed and commented, you've really made my day!! God bless you!!