Chapter 12: Thorn Between Two Worlds

"Jiyong...do you want to publicize our relationship?" She asked.

The last thing Jiyong wanted was public celebrity relationships. That was probably his nightmare and he had his own reason for being so negative. Because he's scared. He's scared that everything might actually come to an end once they become public. He had seen way too many ended relationships after going public. And getting involved in a scandal is the worst thing that can happen to him. He just wanted to be an artist in front of his fans.

"Kiko, why...what's wrong?" He asked softly and her side bangs with his fingers. He studied her expression and learned how troubled she was. Her eyes were sad and demanding and her lips were turning downwards.

"The president of my company told me I'm not popular enough... He told me to make us public..." She finally confessed and felt a huge pang of relief. But she couldn't help but feel sorry for her boyfriend because she knew that he never wanted them to become public. In the past, she wanted them to remain a secret but now, it's different. She didn't even know if he truly loves her anymore. Or if he's afraid to be judged for dating her. If they truly love each other, going on public won't change anything between them, will they?

"Oh, Kiko..." He felt sorry for her. He truly did. So he pulled her by her arm. Her head leaned onto his chest and his arms around her perfect body.

"I'm sorry Jiyong..." She muttered under her breath but he heard it. And now he had to make a decision between two choices; to stay undercover or to go public and both of them have the same risk. They have the tendency to break up in both cases.

~~~

It's almost 4 in the afternoon and Yeojung felt that they hadn't done anything productive the whole day. They had been tuning the instruments and fixing a few recording machines. That's it. Her boss hadn't been himself that day. His mind was somewhere else and he kept sighing.

Yeojung stood in front of Jiyong who was slouching on his rotating seat with his eyes closed and a cap covering them. She handed him his favorite caramel macchiato.

"Here, GD-nim..." She said. He took off his cap and looked up to his stress-relieving drink. Immediately, he took it from her hands.

"Thanks..." He said and went back slouching while his coffee through the straw.

Yeojung sat at the empty seat next to him and dragged it to lessen the huge gap between them. She placed her elbows on her knees and she lowered her head to the same level as his.

"Is there something wrong?" She finally asked and he sat straight, wanting to spit it all out as if he had been waiting for it the whole day.

"Kiko wants us to publicize our relationship." He said and took off his cap revealing his light brown messy hair.

"Ah..." She sighed. She knew that was the last thing he wanted. He might be an artist and celebrity but he refused to let his personal life get known to the public. He wanted to keep a line between the two lives he led so far. Unlike Youngbae who revealed his relationship with Min Hyorin months ago, Jiyong is indifferent about such issue. He is someone who wanted to keep things as private as possible.

"Do you think I should agree?" He asked her the most difficult question in the world. She couldn't decide for him. She didn't even fully understand the lives of celebrities and the consequences of having revealing something to the world.

She opened as if to say something but she closed it again and bit her lips.

"Look, I can't decide for you, but you should do what makes both of you happy." She said and immediately felt sorry for being unable to solve his problem.

He sighed and threw his head to the head rest of his rotating chair. "I don't know what makes us happy..." He confessed.

"I'm scared. I'm scared that if we finally publicize it, it'll make things worse. And if we don't, she won't be happy..." He said and drank his macchiato.

"Why don't you try it?" She asked. And immediately regretted it.

"Should I?" He asked for her opinion again.

"I-I mean...you wouldn't know unless you try it... But please don't take my ideas seriously!" She said and refused any responsibilities that she might have later on.

"Hmm..."

"Oh right, Dongwon-sunbae called me earlier. He wanted to have dinner with us." Jiyong said and Yeo Jung's eyes widened, surprised.

"Us? You mean you and me?" She asked and pointed a finger at herself.

"Yup. Are you guys...?" He asked smirking. At last, his playful self is back.

"We're not!" She denied it and her face turned red.

"I saw you guys last night..." He said, sitting comfortably on his rotating chair. He was making the don't-lie-to-me-I-know-everything face. And Yeojung was seriously speechless.

"The dinner is tonight." He announced and got up from his seat.

"How are you so sure that I can make it tonight?" She asked and folded her arms just below her chest.

"Because you are available every day..." He replied and walked out of the room. She was left dumbfounded. She must've been so predictable...

~~~

So there they were sitting inside one of the private rooms in a traditional Korean restaurant called Philkyungjae in Gangnam. They were sitting at this long table with plates of food in front of them. Probably Yeojung was the hungriest person amongst the three of them. It's pretty awkward because Dongwon and Jiyong weren't that close either. But both the men are used to it. Within 5 minutes they were chatting with each other, talking about Jiyong's favorite films which starred Dongwon.

"Oh, I love The Reunion," Jiyong said and took a sip of his soju.

"I love all your albums! This Hyung here is your biggest fan, trust me." Dongwon said and laughed.

"Nope, you're not... Kang Yeojung-sshi is my biggest fan." Jiyong said and smirked. "You are, aren't you?" He asked, teasing her.

"It's all in the past, I've grown out of it, G-dragon-sshi." She replied back to him, sarcastically and drank her soju. Dongwon laughed because the two people in front of him seemed like good friends even though they were supposed to have an employer-employee relationship.

"Oh... Is that it? You've finally moved on?" He asked and smiled, still teasing her.

"Yup. Now I'm a big fan of iKon's Hanbin." She said and picked up a piece of seasoned kimchi pancake from the whole selection of food.

"People say he's the junior version of me..." Jiyong said. Suddenly his phone rang and he read the caller ID. Kiko Mizuhara.

Immediately, he excused himself and went out of the room. Yeojung was left alone with Dongwon.

"You seem like a loud person that night, but it turns out that you're not..." Dongwon said while grabbing a few pieces of food into his plate.

"I wasn't sober that night... Way too many drinks." She confessed and he giggled. The way she emphasizes words sounded amusing to him and he didn't know why.

"Did you have anything beforehand?" She asked.

"Yup, I did some photo shoots and meetings." He replied and continued, "Right! The first time I met you, you dropped orange juice at me!"

"I did?" She asked him back with her eyes wide open.

"Yup, you certainly did." He replied and smiled at her amusingly.

"Oh, right! I did! Did I even apologize?" She mouth gaped and her palm was on her forehead, surprised on how she could have forgotten such an embarrassing moment. Then she rose up and gave a 90 degrees bow to him. But he laughed. She turned her head to look up to him and her brows narrowed. She did apologize after all.

"Ah..really... so embarrassing..." She returned to her original position and kept her head down to prevent him catching her red face.

"You're so funny." He said, still giggling.

And then they continued eating for a minute before Dongwon asked her, "Do you have SNS? or any social media?" She nodded. Is it normal for a celebrity to add a common fan girl like her?

"Add me..." He said and took out his phone from his pocket. He punched his password and showed her his SNS account. It seemed to be his private account, there wasn't even a single photo of himself. She typed her username and showed him. While he got a thousand followers, hers only got a few hundred most likely because she didn't upload much.

"I followed you. Please follow me back?" He asked with a begging tone and his smiley eyes. She couldn't help but smile back. Quickly, she took out her phone and followed him back. She scrolled down his timeline and it seemed like he took a lot of travel photos.

Just then, Jiyong came back inside the room looking relieved. He looked fresh and hungry as his eyes wandered along the dishes on the table. He grabbed japchae onto his plate and ate it before realizing that he was totally ignored. Both Yeojung and Dongwon were looking at their phones, smiling.

Jiyong was about to ask them what they were doing when Dongwon opened his mouth to say, "Where did you eat this?"

"That's in Busan about 8 months ago." She replied and smiled. "Woah, you've got talent in photography..." She said while still browsing his photos.

"What are you guys talking about?" Jiyong asked and looked at Yeojung and Dongwon back and forth.

"We just followed each other on social media." Dongwon answered and smiled.

"Really? You have a social media account?" He asked Yeojung and she nodded. Of course, she has one, it's the 21st century.

"Why haven't you followed me yet?" He asked and ate his food.

"Because..." She was about to reply but she paused mainly because she didn't know what to answer. "I don't know why..."

So for the next hour, they followed each other and talked about their posts and followers as well as privacy. Dongwon and Yeojung began talking so much with each other. It turned out that they had the same hobby; reading. They love reading. They even have common favorites. Meanwhile, Jiyong hated anything that had to do with reading. The only thing common between the three of them was their love for food. Although Jiyong loves his wine and pasta, his favorite food would always be Korean kimchi jjigae. The same scenario for Dongwon. But for Yeojung, she has had enough Korean food. Now, she loves pizza.

~~~

"You guys are totally flirting with each other!" Jiyong exclaimed while driving his everyday car, which is an Audi. Yeojung turned her head towards him and looked at him in disbelieve.

"We're not!" She denied.

"You are! You guys are all smiley with each other." He said, teasing her even more.

She didn't know what to answer because it's true. Dongwon is such an easy person to be with. He is absolutely not awkward and doesn't have that unfriendly vibe that upper-class people usually have. For the past two and a half hours the three of them were together, she felt as if the two men she was with weren't celebrities, but normal, common people, just like her.

"I think he's going to ask you out." He said and his sentence made her heart skip a beat.

"Anyways, tomorrow night, we're going to do it," Jiyong said and Yeojung turned her head towards him, confused on what he was talking about.

"What are you going to do?" She asked.

"Me, Kiko, Seungho, and Jonghyun are going out." He told.

"Like out, out?" She asked, wanting to clarify. He nodded and she reflected his action.

~~~

Jiyong felt uncomfortable. Extremely uncomfortable. He knew there were paparazzi everywhere. And he could even spot one behind the bushes. But he had to continue his act with Kiko and his two friends. So they walked around Cheongdam-dong area and pretend that they were in the middle of a mini informal photo shoot. Once that was over, the four of them went to a club to get some drinks and to hide from the paparazzi. He needed to breathe.

But after the little break was over, he and Kiko went outside to the balcony with their glasses of champagne.

"I hope this works." She said while smiling and he nodded.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him who pressed his palm against her cheek.

"Good." He lied.

"I'm sorry you had to do this." She apologized. But he shook his head, smiling.

"As long as you are happy." He replied and placed his hand on her waist, pulling her closer.

"Thank you..." She said.

"You're most welcome." He replied and let go of her.

~~~

The next day, Jiyong was called by CEO Yang. Although Jiyong is one of the biggest contributors to the YG's high yearly revenue, a CEO is still a CEO. Jiyong was nervous because he knew those paparazzi photos were giving him a lot of attention and possible scandal.

"Are you making you two public?" CEO Yang asked while having his elbows leaning on his table and his fingers intertwined.

"Yes, I am." Jiyong replied.

"Are you going to make an official announcement?"

Jiyong couldn't answer because he didn't want it to happen. He didn't want to share his private life with the public.

Five seconds passed and CEO Yang knew the answer.

"Why are you doing this then?" He asked.

"The president of Kiko's company wants us to become official." Jiyong confessed.

"Listen, if you don't want to do it, then don't." CEO Yang advised and Jiyong nodded.

"I understand." He said and bowed his head before heading outside the office.

~~~

Jiyong had been sighing the whole day. It had been two days since he had been productive. But having this situation doesn't help his brain to work.

"What's wrong?" Youngbae asked while drinking his green smoothie. Although his eyes were fixated on his phone screen, he knew what's going on with his grim-looking buddy.

"I love her, but I can't do what she wants us to do." Jiyong confessed. Youngbae put down his phone and couldn't hide his happiness because of Hyorin's texts.

"Yah, stop smiling." Jiyong said and Youngbae's smile disappeared instantly.

"Okay, so what are you gonna do?" Youngbae asked as he started to get immersed in the problem.

"I have no idea." Jiyong replied and threw his head behind.

"Well, my advice is, don't something that you know you're gonna regret later on." Youngbae said and continued, "I can't tell you what to do and what not, but you have to think of yourself too."

Youngbae's words stayed in Jiyong's mind for the rest of the day. He's got to make a decision.

~~~

Two days later, Jiyong flew to Tokyo.

He made his decision. And that decision isn't going to be pleasant. Because for once, he's going to say no.

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