In the days leading up to Christmas, Hongbin did all he could to keep Jaemi from becoming distant with him again, but it was considerably difficult with VIXX’s comeback promotions in full swing. On top of that, Jaemi was only interested in spending time with Hyuk, which should’ve been discouraging to Hongbin, but wasn’t really.

                He did everything he could to stay by her side while they filmed together because it was the only time he saw her. Jaemi was appreciative of his efforts to stay friends and she was extra careful to not give him any more wrong ideas.

                Hongbin even went as far as inviting Jaemi to watch VIXX perform their new song at one of the very high profile broadcasting stations. Yeona highly disapproved of it, but Hongbin wouldn’t listen to her anymore. She had come quite close to spilling information about everything to her close friends more than once, but she never actually did. She wasn’t petty like Jaemi.

                Jaemi didn’t want to go at first, but after a lot of pestering and convincing from Hyuk, she decided that it would be a fun thing to do…with Hyuk. Hyuk was really excited to see his old friends again and to possibly see other celebrities. He always asked Jaemi to take him to parties or to her photoshoots, but she almost never did, claiming that she was never invited to parties or that she wouldn’t be able to concentrate with him around.

                Hongbin didn’t tell any of the other members that he had invited Jaemi to come to the performance, knowing fully well that they would be upset that he did it. However, they were all surprised to see Jaemi arrive hand-in-hand with Hyuk.

                “Han Sanghyukkie!” Hakyeon shouted happily. He ran over to hug Hyuk and Ravi, Leo, and Ken immediately followed after while Hongbin sadly stood in the back. Jaemi looked basically the exact same as she did in high school with her long, dark brown hair, but Hyuk looked much more mature and attractive now. Hongbin couldn’t help but think that he and Jaemi looked better together than she did with Hyuk, not that it really mattered now. He never expected that she would come with Hyuk. Yeona resisted the temptation of going over to him and telling him, “I told you so.”

                “Jaemi and I brought gifts for you guys,” Hyuk announced, eliciting cheers from the 3 hyper boys. Hyuk took the bag from Jaemi and started acting like Santa and handing out gifts while Jaemi laughed and shook her head at Hyuk. Hongbin caught her eye and she smiled at him. She looked genuinely happy, and as much as he enjoyed seeing her happy, he couldn’t help but be upset that she couldn’t be happy like that with him.

                “Hongbin hyung! This one is for you. Jaemi picked it out, but I approved of it,” Hyuk said cheerfully to Hongbin. He smiled back and took the gift from him. Hongbin wondered if Hyuk didn’t care that Jaemi kissed him less than a month ago, but he realized that Jaemi most likely didn’t tell Hyuk about it.

                He sighed and tugged on the ribbon on the box. He saw s admire their gifts, which were all similar clothes and accessories, and he was suddenly afraid that his wasn’t all that special compared to theirs, even if she did supposedly pick it out herself. He decided to open it later in privacy, so that way he wouldn’t have any other gifts to compare it to. He glanced over to the nicely wrapped box hidden under his jacket and looked back over to Hyuk and Jaemi holding hands and happily conversing with the other members. He sighed and reluctantly walked over to join them.

                “Thanks for the present, it’s very nice,” Hakyeon said to Jaemi. He turned to Hyuk and joked, “But don’t think that this excuses you for never emailing us. Did you forget about us just because you have a girlfriend?”

                Hyuk joked back, “No, no, that’s not it. I just don’t like you.” He laughed some more and added quickly, “I’m kidding, hyung. I’ve just been really busy.”

                “Busy with Jaemi?” Ravi suggested light-heartedly.

                Everybody laughed at Ravi’s joke, but Hongbin noticed the slight grimace on Jaemi’s face. It was there for only a split second, but he saw it and he didn’t know what to make of it.

                The VIXX boys were called to rehearsal, leaving Jaemi and Hyuk alone in the waiting room, along with the other staff members. The two of them sat on the couch together and played games while they waited for the guys to come back.

                Hyuk noticed Jaemi being a bit absent-minded. He cutely poked her cheek to get her attention and asked her what she was thinking about so seriously.

                She smiled at him and replied, “I just remembered that you have to leave in two weeks.” She rested her head onto his shoulder and he smiled to himself. He grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

                “But that means we still have two weeks,” he said optimistically. She nodded, but couldn’t really see it as a good thing. She wanted her lifetime with Hyuk already.

                They were about to fall into a comfortable silence when Hyuk said, “Hey, do you want me to read your palm? My friend taught me how to do it.”

                “Isn’t it a bit late for you to learn how to read?” she joked with him.

                “Haha, very funny,” he replied sarcastically. He took her hand and examined her palm very carefully. He squinted his eyes and nodded at her hand several times before finally saying, “Good news. Your future looks very good. See this line here?” He pointed to the crease running across her palm and explained, “It’s very long which means that your boyfriend is very good looking and he’s only going to get even hotter.”

                Jaemi let out an airy laugh and lightly smacked his chest. He laughed along with her and tried to convince her that it was true. Yeona watched the two of them and she wished that Hongbin would see the two of them together like that, because maybe, just then, he would finally give up on her.

                The other boys came back to find Hyuk and Jaemi hovering over her cellphone screen, trying to figure out what movie to watch later. Ken and Ravi excitedly jumped onto the couch, surrounding Hyuk. Leo and N calmly pulled up a couple of chairs and sat down while Hongbin nervously sat down next to Jaemi. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, but other than that, she took no notice of him.

                “How long are you going to be in town? We should all go out to eat sometime,” Hakyeon suggested. “There’s a new restaurant that has good gopchang and--”

                “We’re in,” Hyuk interrupted. Jaemi shook her head and laughed at Hyuk.

                The six of them continued to catch up with each other while Hongbin continued to sulk. He never wanted to see Hyuk and Jaemi together. Listening to her talk about him or talk to him on the phone was bad enough, but seeing them smile at each other was devastating. It just reminded him of how she used to look at him.

                Not soon enough for Hongbin, VIXX was called to go on standby for the recording. Hyuk and Jaemi headed towards the audience area while the other five boys headed towards the stage.

                Hyuk and Jaemi stood off to the side to not be noticed by the fans, but Hongbin easily spotted them anyway. He tried to focus on the fans in front of him, but he couldn’t help but look at Hyuk rest his chin on top of Jaemi’s head casually. He could feel the jealousy building up in him, but he forced it all back down.

                During the performance, he made eye contact with her and she smiled encouragingly at him. He couldn’t smile back because of the persona he was trying to keep up, but he wanted to so badly. He remembered how she smiled at him during his audition when he messed up, but then he remembered that he only messed up because he got distracted by her and Hyuk.

                After the performance, Hyuk and Jaemi went backstage again to congratulate the members. Hongbin wondered how sincere Jaemi was when she told him he did a great job and looked really great on stage.

                The seven of them took a picture together, and Hongbin wanted to stand next to Jaemi but Leo and N purposely stood between him and her.

                A-Pink walked by as soon as the picture was taken. Hyuk gaped at them and Jaemi rolled her eyes and pushed his jaw up to close his mouth.

                “Was that really—did they just—they were so beau—ah, but not as beautiful as my girlfriend, of course,” Hyuk said nonsensically, making Jaemi laugh at him and lightly smack his arm. Hongbin diverted his eyes from their coupley-ness.

                Not long after, BTOB passed by and N called them over to introduce to Hyuk and Jaemi.

                “Oh, wait, we know Jaemi. She’s in Hongbin’s drama, right?” Eunkwang asked.

                “Wow, she’s even prettier in person,” Sungjae whispered to Minhyuk, causing Hyuk to narrow his eyes at him.

                “Hongbin, you’re so lucky to get to work with her and Soeun. You two are dating in the drama too right? Wow, I’m so envious,” Hyunsik complimented. Jaemi blushed and Hyuk scoffed at her reaction.

                Hongbin smiled a bit and opened his mouth to answer when Hyuk interjected first.

                “Well, I guess I must be really lucky because I’m dating her in real life, in case you missed that part about me being her boyfriend,” Hyuk said as he put his pulled her in closer to him. Jaemi bit her lip to hide her smile. She looked up at him and her heart started beating rapidly when she saw that he was being serious. It was her first time seeing him act out of jealousy.

                Not wanting to see any more of that, Hongbin quietly excused himself to go back to the waiting room. All of the stylists and staff were packing up. He thought it was weird that Yeona wasn’t in the waiting room, but he didn’t care that much. He grabbed his casual clothes and went to change into them. After he pulled his shirt over his head, he grabbed his jacket and put it on. He was about to go to the car, but he felt like he was forgetting something. He put his hands in his pants pockets but nothing was in there anyway. He searched his jacket pockets, and realized that he was looking for the things he hid underneath his jacket.

                He whipped his head around to spot where he picked up his jacket and he didn’t see his gifts where he left them. He frantically searched around the room, but only found the gifts Jaemi gave to the other guys. The staff members in the room asked him what he was looking for but he felt too embarrassed to tell them. He had to stop looking once the other members entered the room. He couldn’t believe that he lost Jaemi’s gift to him. He felt the anger, frustration, and jealousy building up as tears and forced all of his feelings back down his throat. Everything was so unfair.