Taeyeon slipped back into her own van and sighed. She was too shocked to feel anything.

“Oppa, do you have something to tell me?” She turned towards the driver’s seat. “Please don’t keep things from me. I thought I could trust you, and I want to keep being able to trust you.”

She looked him in the eye and caught a glimpse of the tears welling up in his eyes before he blinked them away.

“Please don’t be mad.” He quietly said. “It was an order.”

“An order?” Taeyeon asked. “Who?”

She didn’t need to ask who, but she already knew who was behind this whole set up. It was obviously Kim Young Min. There were two possibilities – the first one being him using the photos that were already taken and threaten her to break up with Jessica. The second one would be much more worse but Taeyeon wouldn’t be surprised if Kim Young Min did that- it would be directly releasing the photos to the public.

Never in her life did she think that he would do something this despicable. She thought that he was despicable enough, and she never expected him to hurt someone in the company just for his personal gain. He was the CEO, and he was supposed to protect the idols, not hurt them.

“I’m sorry, Taeyeon.” Her manager said sadly. “I got threatened. I need to keep this job. You know how important my job is to me.”

Taeyeon knew. Their manager had recently got a divorce from his wife and was left alone with two kids. He not only was the sole breadwinner of his family, but his mother recently moved in with him not long after the divorce. He had three mouths to feed, and it wasn’t easy.

“Just drive me back.” She said tiredly. “And don’t tell the members what just happened.”

Taeyeon opened her eyes as the bright morning light shined into her eyes, and groaned. A soft giggle came from the side of the bed. She turned over and faced a wide awake Jessica Jung, staring at her.

“Why are u giggling,” Taeyeon mumbled. She was only half awake and felt so lethargic.

“Good morning, sleepy head. You are the latest to wake up today.” Jessica winked. “You looked so cute when the sun was shining right into your eyes.”

“The sun was shining right into my eyes and you didn’t do anything about it?” Taeyeon huffed. “Come here, you .”

Jessica slipped into the bed beside Taeyeon and hugged her. “Where did you go last night? You came back so late.”

Memories of whatever happened last night immediately flashbacked into Taeyeon’s mind. She wondered what was happening now. Did Kim Young Min release the photos yet? Or did he keep it to threaten her?

“Last night-” Taeyeon was about to confide in Jessica for what happened when the door slammed open. “Taeyeon! Are you awake?”

, Taeyeon thought. Please don’t tell me…

Tiffany came running in, holding a glass of celery juice. “Here. Miss Jung here woke up at 6 to do this so you better drink it all.”

Taeyeon sighed a breath of relief and took the glass. “6AM? Wow.”

“I woke up at such an ungodly hour just to make the juice for everyone.” Jessica grinned. “It’s Christmas! Of course I have to do something, right?”

It’s Christmas. Taeyeon had completely forgotten about Christmas. She felt a little better when she thought of the gift that she had prepared for Jessica. She’s going to love it.

“All of us drank 3 cups of it.” Tiffany complained. “You better drink more.”

Jessica shot Tiffany a glare. “Celery juice is good for your body! You can look more radiant in your dates with Khun-”

“We broke up.”

“What?!” Jessica cried. “Why?”

“I dunno. Let’s just say that Khuntoria fans were bashing me so much that I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Jessica got up and gave Tiffany a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Fany-ah, I ship Khunfany.”

“Shut up!” Tiffany laughed, and gave her a poke in her ribs.

Taeyeon’s phone rang and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the caller id. SM HEADQUATERS.

“Hello?” She answered, voice trembling.

“Kim Taeyeon?” Kim Young Min’s voice snarled from the other end. “Come down to my office as soon as possible if you want to know what was going on last night.”

Taeyeon ran up the stairs all the way up to the 13^th floor where Kim Young Min’s office was located at. The lift was taking too long and she didn’t want to waste any time.

She fled down the corridors and her hand was almost at the knob when the door opened. It was Baekhyun, with a very grave expression all over his face.

“Baekhyun?” Taeyeon gasped. “Don’t tell me he….”

Baekhyun sighed. “I’m sorry, Noona. I didn’t want to do this either. But he kind of threatened me-” he paused. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Taeyeon managed to force out a smile and gently pat him on his shoulder. “I should be the one saying sorry.”

“Kim Taeyeon, is that you?”

Taeyeon gave Baekhyun a last reassuring smile before slipping into the office. She took one look at Kim Young Min and clenched her teeth, wanting to give him a punch in his revolting face.

“Hi, Taeyeon-ah.” Kim Young Min smiled. “You must have been shocked, right?”

“What do you want from me?” Taeyeon said, standing in front of his desk. “I don’t think I deserve the treatment you’re giving me. If you’re going to keep treating me like that, you should at the very least tell me why-“

“Because you get on my nerves, Kim Taeyeon.” He smirked. “That’s why.”

“Wha-what?” Taeyeon stuttered, feeling the anger boiling up inside her.

“From the start, I hated your feisty attitude.” Kim Young Min said. “I hated the fact that you dared to talk back to me. Who are you to talk back when all the other artists bow their heads in front of me? I will eliminate anyone that does not fear me. So just watch what I’ll do to you and your lovely little bonded group if you’re going to keep up that nice attitude of yours.”

Taeyeon went silent for a moment. I have to, she thought. I have to give in to his demands, I can’t let him break the bond of our group. I can’t.

“So…What must I do?” Taeyeon muttered. “What must I do for you to stop causing havoc- “

“For now,” Kim Young Min interrupted, “Go along with my plan. Admit to dating Baekhyun.”

“What in the actual- for what?”

“If you don’t want to break off your relationship with Jessica, then I’ll just have to create a fake relationship for you so that reporters will never find out about your relationship with her. I will never allow the relationship of two girls in my company to go public.”

Taeyeon opened her eyes to the sound of her phone ringing, and glanced at the clock. 5am.

"Who even calls at such an ungodly hour?" she muttered, and reached over to grab her phone. It was her mother.

"Omma." Taeyeon asnswered groggily. "It's so early, why-"

"My daughter! How could you let such a thing happen! You should've been more careful if you were going to go on a date! And since when were you even interested in younger guys-"

Taeyeon's eyes widened. "Hold up, omma." She was definitely awake now. "What's going on? I'm not dating anyone younger-"

Oh.

It's happening.

"What do you mean you're not?! Dispatch just released new pictures of you and EXO's Baekhyun on a date!"