Angela was browsing the campus bookstore, trying to buy another notebook for class when she noticed the whispers that were coming from behind the shelf. She glanced over to see a group of girls whispering and staring at her. Her eyes widened and she gave a what the look before quickly turning away, not knowing what was going on. Sure, she was foreign, but it wasn’t like she looked super weird. She was Asian too.

She was about to go check out when one of the girls separated from her friends and approached her.

“Hey,” the girl started, squinting at Angela. “Um, are you Angela?”

There was something strange about the girl’s question and Angela had a feeling that she should probably lie. How did this girl know her name anyways? Plus, her and her friends were acting too suspiciously.

“Uh, no,” Angela replied, completely weirded out by the situation.

“Oh, sorry.” The girl looked disappointed for a second before leaving with her friends, who glanced over their shoulders at Angela as they headed out the door.

What the Angela thought to herself. The cashier handed her a receipt and she quickly left, trying to get back to the dorm as soon as possible.

As Angela was walking to the dorm, she couldn’t help but notice that a lot of stares were directed at her for some reason She tilted her head down, letting her hair obscure a bit of her face as she quickened her pace. The dorm felt so far away, and she wished that she could teleport. What the hell was actually going on?

Right when she was about to swing open the door to her door a different girl approached her “You’re Angela, right?” she asked excitedly.

“NO. I’m not!” Angela aggressively opened her door and slammed it shut, locking it immediately.

As soon as Angela entered their shared room, Josy jumped up worriedly. “Where the hell have you been? Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”

“Sorry, it was on silent, and I’ve been seriously creeped out by people.”

“Why?! What happened?”

“People just kept coming up to me and asking me if I was Angela. I mean, I am, but that’s weird that people know my name and that they’re asking me!”

“Oh sh*t.” Josy pushed Angela onto her chair. “You better sit down before you hear this.” She took a deep breath before starting. “Someone from the university figured out who you were because they were at the same drive-in as you and Xiumin.”

Angela’s jaw fell open and she felt dizzy. Vertigo hit her and she laid her head down on her desk, taking a few deep breaths. “Let me see the article,” Angela insisted. Josy handed her phone over. Angela scrolled through one of the articles that claimed that one of her classmates was able to identify her as the girl in the car. While there was no clear picture of her or of the two of them together, the article had pulled up one of her Facebook photos as a reference.

“Are they even allowed to use this photo?” Angela asked.

“I don’t know,” Josy answered truthfully. “But hey, at least they picked a good picture of you. Anyways, don’t worry too much. Nothing is confirmed yet, so it’s all just speculation. But I would call Xiumin as soon as possible.”

Angela followed Josy’s advice, pulling out her phone to call her boyfriend. She was worried about what he would say. The phone went straight to voicemail though and Angela groaned as she slammed her phone onto her desk.

*    *    *

Xiumin sat next to his manager in the office of an SM official, beating himself up about the situation. He should’ve been more careful. It was just pure chance that someone recognized Angela, and never did he think that he would be caught while being with her. Sehun saw Josy all of the time at the university, and yet Sehun hadn’t been caught. The situation was just too coincidental. He was worried that people would start to harass Angela now that they identified her. Nothing was officially confirmed, but that wouldn’t stop fans or anything from approaching her.

“What were you thinking?” the SM official asked Xiumin, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Do you know how much your scandal is going to cost us? We have to spend money on PR and damage control to handle this. And all because you were careless. Not only that, but you hid the fact that you were in a relationship with SM.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll work extra hard to pay it all back,” Xiumin apologized, knowing that he was in a really bad position. “Just . . . just get Angela out of the spotlight as soon as possible, and do your best to protect her personal information.”

The official sighed. “Of course we’re going to get her out of the media. We can’t have people talking about this more! Xiumin, this girl isn’t even anyone. You should break up with her.”

“No!” Xiumin understood that SM was his employer, but they had no right to tell him that he needed to break up with the girl he loved. SM already controlled so many aspects of his life, but his dating life was not one that he would allow them to regulate. He was fine with everything else, but now that he actually had someone he loved, he wouldn’t let them just take it away.

“It would be best for your career and the company if you did.”

“No,” Xiumin said again. “I’m not going to do that.”

“Listen,