“What?” Jae’s eyes widened in shock as she heard the words come out of Ae Cha’s mouth. “Couple?”

“I thought he was going to let them harass you then tell the police.” Nini said as she looked at the picture.

“So did I.” Jae felt tears coming as she heard a furious knock at the door. She opened it and there he stood; her boyfriend who was now publicly dating someone else. He took a step forward to hug her, but she took a step back.

“What the hell, Byunghun?” Jae said as she fought her tears.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t stand to see them harass you.” L. Joe looked like he was fighting tears as well.

“I’d rather receive those things than see my boyfriend date someone who hates me.” Jae put her face in her hands.

“That doesn’t even sound right.” L. Joe looked at Jae’s face that was about to be covered in tears. “I didn’t want you to receive the things that they had planned. They could’ve poisoned you or physically hurt you severely. Sasaengs would do that. Then I’d possibly lose you forever.”

Jae couldn’t fight her tears anymore. “I’d rather take that risk than have you date someone else, Byunghun!” Jae burst into tears and Muzik Scale ran up to her to comfort her. She waved her hands dismissively to tell them that she wanted to deal with this alone for a moment. “What do we do now? What if we’re seen together? Then you’ll be cheating on Suzy with your girlfriend.”

L. Joe started to cry after seeing Jae cry. “I-I don’t know.”

“You didn’t think about that, did you? Now, we’re going to have to be even more secret than we were.” Jae started to walk away. “It’s gonna be like we’re not even dating.” Jae disappeared into her room and left a heartbroken L. Joe in the room.

Everyone stood in silence after Jae left. No one knew what to think or say. The room was filled with shock, disappointment, and regret. L. Joe silently left and went back to his dorm. Muzik Scale went to check on Jae after an hour.

“Jae, let us in.” Ae Cha knocked. Jae didn’t answer.

“Jae.” Ae Cha knocked again but there was no answer. “Fine, you asked for it.”

The girls barged in just to see Jae under her blanket.

“Unnie, we need to talk.” Nini sat on Jae’s bed.

“I don’t feel like talking right now.” Jae murmured.

“I’m sorry, Jae, but it’s our job as group mates and sisters to help you through this.” Sun sat next to Nini.

“Fine,” Jae came from under her blanket and the members saw her entire face covered and stained because of the relentless tears. “Only for a little while.”

Nini took a deep breath before she spoke. “You guys aren’t broken up, right?”

Jae felt more tears coming. “No, but I feel like we need to at this point.”

“That’s nonsense.” Ae Cha closed the door behind her. “You guys are in love with each other. No matter how mad you are at each other, you still love each other.”

“But, Suzy-”

“But Suzy nothing. This is simply for the public to see so that your images can be protected and for your safety against sasaengs. It’s fake but what you and L. Joe have is real. You can’t possibly let this one publicity stunt destroy your relationship.” Ae Cha was confident that her words would help Jae feel better but Jae instead just disappeared under her blanket again.

“Come back later.”

The girls sighed and left Jae’s room.

“At least think about everything I just said.” Ae Cha said before she finally left the room. Muzik Scale plopped down on the couch.

“How are we supposed to help her? I wouldn’t know what to do in this situation.” Nini said.

“None of us really know what to do but we have to figure it out for our omma.” Ae Cha turned the television on and surfed through the channels, seeing the Suzy and L. Joe news everywhere.

“Great. Just what we need to see, right?” Ae Cha turned the television and closed her eyes to think about the situation.

Meanwhile, Jae was lying down in her room, under her blanket, crying. She wanted everything to go back to a month ago, when she and L. Joe were happily dating and not worrying about the sasaengs. She wanted to speak to her members about it, but she’d just break down and she wasn’t ready for that. She was tempted to text L. Joe but she couldn’t get herself to do so yet. She just wanted it to be over. After another hour, she finally got up from bed and joined the members in the living room.

“So, how exactly are we supposed fix this mess?” Jae said after sitting down on the couch.

Ae Cha smiled at Jae. “Welcome to our circle, omma Jae.”

Sun hugged Jae. “We’ll figure this out, Jae.”

Suddenly, Nini thought of an idea. “I feel like I know who can help us.” The girls looked confused.

“Manager oppa? I mean, we still have to tell him.” Sun said.

“Nope. Better than manager oppa.” Nini smiled and showed Jae who’s number she had on her phone.

“Hyun Jae?” Jae looked even more confused. “Why him?”

“If there’s anyone who’s not involved but would be willing to get involved it would be Hyun Jae. He’s as smart as he is charming.” Nini smiled as she gave Jae her phone to call Hyun Jae.

“We’ll try it.” Jae dialed the number.