THE GARDEN, 7:45 AM

"Jiyong volunteered to exchange places with Taeyeon. As such, he is excluded from the weekly house ration, and is not allowed to enter the house, until further notice. He agreed that his punishment in Taeyeon's place will be longer than the original one-day sanction."

Elder Yoo's announcement boomed all over the place, successfully releasing me from Jiyong's tight hug. He didn't want to let go, but the game-changing turn of events surprised me. I pushed him away, confused and astounded at the same time.

"Why would you do this for me?!" I managed to shout amidst the tears and comfort his sudden presence brought me.

Unexpectedly, the events of the past crawled back in ugly ways. This was the opposite of the happy memories I was reminiscing while singing I Have Nothing. To appear while I was hungry and cold was one happy reminiscent act. To actually save me, rescue me, it wasn't pulling any positive thought in my head. Instead, it angered me. Really angered me.

"You are an idiot, thinking of yourself last again!" I shouted, pushing him hard and slapping his chest with both hands. I couldn't stop myself.

Clearly, this startled him, because he answered with a raised tone too. "If I let a woman suffer because of something I could have prevented, what does that make me?"

"So you would not eat and stay out in the cold just for me? What does THAT make me?" I was still screaming. Why? I turned my back and held on my head, afraid that looking at his kind face only worsened the anger. "I don't want to be your damsel in distress! Why do you always have to act like MY super hero Kwon Jiyong?!"

This is just like 2008 all over again, the year that started it all. It was the year when I realized that there was that one friend always coming to my aid, always saving me, always sacrificing for me. Those were precisely the things that made me fall in love with this friend...

"If something happened to you under my watch, I wouldn't have any face to show Kim umma and Kim appa again."

Now that calmed down my emotions. The mention of my parents seeing me like this, it caused me worry. Then I remembered how much they loved him, how much they rooted for him, how much they wanted me so much to forgive him. I totally forgot that the cameras were on us, or that millions of people witnessed us fighting like this. I thought we were just talking. The memories of 2008, they pushed me into letting out the compartmentalized emotions I've held onto for nearly five years.

"Oppa," I called out, slowly looking back at him. I couldn't let him believe my parents held any ill feelings for him when they only loved him as much as I did. "...you know my parents have already forgiven you."

"With the promise that I'll never let you suffer again. Not if I can help it."

That's when I heard laughters from behind closed doors. Then, I remembered. An entire production crew was filming us behind those two-way mirrors. There were at least fifteen camera capturing this moment in various angles. It all dawned back, and I panicked a little. Surely, the editors were already writing the controversial episode for tonight's broadcast. How could I keep forgetting that in this world, there wasn't just the two of us?!

"The world is watching. Do you realize what you just did?!" I confronted him, finding blame for all our slips up. "After I confessed to Elder Yoo, I had to beg them to cut that scene from the broadcast. But now you're making all the events about us!"

"Then let the world watch. I can face their criticism if that means you won't almost die on me again!" he angrily shouted back.

I looked at the camera, and endlessly begged the producers to prevent the last minutes from airing. I begged to see my managers, or anyone from SM, to ask them to do some damage control. I knocked and knocked on the mirrors, desperately asking them to talk to me. I needed confirmation that nothing from our emotional confrontation would be revealed to the world. Clearly, Kwon Jiyong didn't care. He only watched me beg for our careers to stick. He wasn't helping. Did he really want this for us? Surely, the media chaos about SNSD and Big Bang was unbelievable outside.

"Why can't you just appreciate the fact that I want to save you?" he asked, still standing there, only watching me pathetically knock on the mirrors.

Because I don't want to fall in love with you again. Not if I can help it.

"You always have to fight me, or find reasons to turn things for the negative. You gotta let go and let things be just the way they are!"

I stopped myself from speaking. I wouldn't say another word until I talked to any of the producers, or any of the SM managers. I wanted to say so many things, but I was protecting us. The way things are? The way they are is that the world does not know we dated for two freaking years, and life is already chaotic without them knowing! Now what would my world look like if the world knew?!

"I'm not trying to be a hero. I don't even care about what the outside world would say. I just want you to eat and sleep and not be in any pain whatsoever!"

Shut up! Stop it! Don't you care about what this would do to us, you selfish brat?!

"TALK TO ME KIM TAEYEON--"

"Jiyong, Taeyeon, stop shouting at each other. You are both in violation of House Rule # 2 - Respect your housemates, Elders and production staff."

Thank God! I watched him flush red at being reprimanded. I called out for the producers again, hoping and wishing they would acknowledge my request to stop this from broadcasting.

"Taeyeon, it's time to go inside the house. Jiyong, you have to stay outside, as agreed upon."

I remembered that he volunteered to be punished instead of me. If there was one thing I could confirm from the show's production, it's that they took the house rules seriously. Jiyong wouldn't eat or sleep comfortably for sure. Now another kind of emotion came rushing back. Concern. After the initial anger for his volunteerism, now it actually dawned on me that he will suffer in my place for days. Even if they cut the revealing confrontation from airing, the punishment would surely stick.

"Go. Just go. I'll be fine," he then egged me, calmer now. I didn't budge and instead just stood there, frozen, looking back at him.

"Yah, alright, fine, I was trying to be a savior, like you said I always do. Are you happy now? Will that make you accept my self-serving sacrifice? It's just my hero complex, arasseo?! Now just go inside! My play has been revealed. I confess. There!"

Now he physically dragged me towards the house front door. I was still speechless and unwilling.

"Kim Taeyeon!" he screamed, opening the sliding glass door and pushing me inside. "It's been twelve hours since you last ate. We can't have your stomach bleeding internally. SO GO!!!"

"Thank you," I blurted out. I maybe desperate to stop this from coming out to the world, but I was not a complete . I appreciated what he did, no matter how much it angered and scared me. This startled him.

You know that scene in the movies when the two leading characters were just frozen in the moment, looking at each other? Yeah, that's what we were doing, until...

"Jiyong, Taeyeon, it's time to separate now."

Elder Yoo, you sound just like fate almost five years ago, forcing us to separate...

Then, we became unfrozen. He let go and held on the door to slide it close, saying, "Don't let my selfish sacrifice be in vain. Eat well, be warm, and be healthy inside, okay?"

It took me a while, then I nodded, speechless. It also took him a minute to close the door on me. Maybe too long, because this was like another scene in the movie. I watched him disappear in slow motion as he closed the second wooden door on me. I stayed rooted in the entrance hall for tens of seconds, deep in thoughts as to what just happened. Again, it was Elder Yoo's voice that reminded me of the selfless act that Kwon Jiyong was doing for me.

"As a reminder to everyone, Jiyong is not allowed to use or consume anything that came from inside the house. I expect not just Jiyong, but all of you, to follow the House and game rules from here on."

***

LIVESTREAM CHAT

User 1: What the heck just happened?

User 2: Heol! Daebak!

User 3: Will they cut this in the prime time broadcast? Somebody record the whole garden scene!

User 4: Recorded and uploaded in Naver and Youtube. I'm so glad there's an uncut, unedited, pay-per-view 24/7 live stream.

User 5: I wonder how SM, YG and MBC will try to cover this up...

User 6: GD and Taeyeon just can't help themselves, eh?

User 7: Heol, 20 thousand views in 10 mins! The epic garden scene will go viral, mark my words.

***

LIVING ROOM, 11:26 AM

"How was the doctor's appointment?" Soojoo unnie asked as I came back to the living room after being seen by the doctor.

"They gave me medicine. My stomach was beginning to hurt."

I didn't know how to act inside the house. Should I go to the bedroom? Talk to my housemates? I was a little embarrassed at them because of missing the curfew. I felt relieved that only Soojoo was in the living room. It was a little awkward when I settled on the couch with her. Silence passed.

"You and Jiyong... what's going on?" she finally cut the awkward moment, but the question made things more awkward.

"If I was to talk about it in front of the whole world, I'd rather have the conversation with Jiyong. Please don't take offense unnie."

That was as good as a confirmation of what everyone must be assuming. Gosh, I badly need to talk to someone from SM.

"None taken. I just want you both to be wary of the circumstances outside this house."

I wondered what was happening outside the house. I really dug my own grave so deep by getting involved with G-dragon. Taeyeon, the Sly Fox, you did it again.

"I mean... there are other people involved in this issue. Remember House Rule # - Always act with thought, respect, and sensitivity for the entities outside the house."

You need not remind me. Byun Baekhyun. Mizuhara Kiko. I know that very well.

I then covered my face with a couch pillow, hiding my face from the public. With a muffled voice, I called out for the producers and my managers. I worried so much about the damage the last hours were causing. I worried less about what the public would say, but more about what our loved ones would feel. Our families, our friends, our lovers...

It was unbeknownst to my current boyfriend that Kwon Jiyong was one of the exes... I wouldn't want Baekhyun to know through a reality show.

"That was really sweet of Jiyong oppa," I heard Bae Suzy's voice. Many footsteps were fast approaching, and so the moment I dreaded now came. Slowly, and shyly, I removed the pillow from my face.

"Yeah, I was so moved," Kim Yuna also said. The ladies sat with us on the couch. Yuna continued, "I wonder, when will a guy sacrifice like that for me? Oppa's so dreamy, and kind, and nice, and... I mean... you're so lucky."

"Eh, does our Yuna-sshi have a crush on her Jiyong oppa?" Moon Geunyoung teased.

"What?! No! Of course not! You are causing me trouble unnie!!!" Yuna screamed defensively, flushing.

"Stop blushing. You're making it so obvious!" Suzy added, causing the poor girl to cover her red face with a pillow. She buried herself on the couch, hiding.

"I don't! PD-oppas, PD unnies, please don't broadcast this!" she screamed, her voice muffled. "Taeyeon unnie, I swear I don't have a crush on him. Please don't be angry! He's all yours!"

"Come on kid, he's not mine!" I laughed and lied, also defensive. "He's just a friend to me so don't talk nonsense. Now you're the one setting me up for trouble."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to cause trouble," Yuna answered, still hiding and buried in the pillows. Then, we saw her shoulders shaking.

"Omo, why are you crying?"

"Yuna, hey!"

"What's wrong?"

"She's really crying!"

"Hey kid, what's up?"

Being the closest in proximity to her, I pulled her back from her hiding face, and her wet and red face