‘Oh.’ I couldn’t say anything else.

‘It’s a bigger problem than just “oh”,’ my manager snapped. I brushed my hand through my hair and looked at Young-Bae.

‘What do you want me to say,’ I shrugged.

‘Well I want you to ensure me that this is all there is to it. That this is the only picture the fans will be upset about.’

‘Fine, yes. This is all.’

‘You sure?’ I gave my manager an angry look.

‘Yes,’ I snapped.

‘Okay, fine. Do you know it’s all over the Internet? There are many, many negative comments already.’

‘There are always negative comments,’ Young-Bae said and I was quite surprised to see him take my side. He had been so angry yesterday. 

She had seemed so small when I watched her leave. Her hunched shoulders had clearly shown her sadness, but she had told me not to follow her. “Please”, her voice still echoed in my mind. And it had taken me a while before I had realised my phone was ringing. Young-Bae was angry and I suppose it was only fair, I had messed up.

‘You better start denying things,’ my manager warned.

‘I will deny that we’re in a relationship.’

‘You will say you’re just friends,’ my manager added, his tone a warning.

‘That… I won’t.’

‘Jiyoung…’ Young-Bae sighed, but I unlocked my phone and looked at our picture together. Her delicate features, her sweet smile. No I didn’t want to call us “friends” at all.

My feet hurt, it had been a while since I had worn my heels for a full day, but I had wanted to feel pretty this morning in a weak attempt to cheer myself up. It was hard being back in work after a holiday after all. I checked my phone, just to see the time of course. 17.59, were we seven or eight hours ahead? It didn’t matter.
I opened my bag to look for my keys when I heard someone call my name.

‘Yes?’ I turned around.

‘Hi,’ he was wearing a hood and sunglasses, but I immediately recognised him.

‘What are you doing here?’ More importantly, how did he know. I never texted him my address in the end.

‘I was worried about you. You never called me back. When Sarah said she hadn’t heard from you either, I wasn’t sure what to think. I almost called the police you know.’

‘I’m glad you didn’t.’ He smiled.

‘Are you going to invite me in?’

‘No.’ I crossed my arms in front of me, taking a deep breath. I could do this.

‘I just want to talk.’

‘We can do that here, I don’t want you to come into my home.’

‘Come on, don’t be that way.’ I raised my eyebrow. ‘Fine, I wanted to say I’m sorry.’

‘Sorry for what?’

‘You know what I’m sorry for. I never intended for it to play out the way it did. I never thought for a moment that going for the audition would actually end up in me getting the role. It was just meant to be fun.’

‘Was it fun?’ He grinned and it made me sad to see how carefree he was. All this time I had been suffering, he had been having fun, had he.

‘It really was.’

‘Great, I got to go now.’ I turned around to go home, but he didn’t listen.

‘Wait. Seriously wait.’

‘I don’t want to talk.’

‘But I’ve got my next film planned, and I spoke to the director and he said that if you come with me on Saturday, he will let you audition for one of the parts.’ I looked up at the sky in frustration. My legs trembling now.

My phone rang. It was you.

‘Hey, how are you? Good morning.’

‘Good morning,’ I could hear your smile and I grinned too. ‘I’m fine, I’m on my way to do an interview and just thought now might be a good time to catch up. Is it a good time?’

‘Yes, great. I’ve just finished work and am on my way home.’ He called my name again and I turned around to wave him goodbye.

‘Who’s that?’ I ignored him.

‘An interview, that sounds exciting.’

‘Oh you think?’

‘Don’t you?’ I laughed. ‘You sure sound excited.’

‘I suppose. I do love talking to my fans.’

‘Seriously,’ he grabbed my arm. ‘Don’t you want to do the audition?’

‘Is this a bad time?’ you sounded worried and I gave him an evil look.

‘Sorry, no. I mean, it shouldn’t be. I told you to leave,’ I said to him. ‘I’m not interested no. Do you really think that’s what I wanted? Do you really think it will change anything? You don’t understand and I don’t want to talk to you, leave.’

‘But this is a chance for your dream to come true.’

‘This is not my dream.’

‘I don’t understand you,’ he said and let go of my arm.

‘I know you don’t understand, but since we’re no longer together I feel no obligation to explain it to you.’

‘We never officially broke up,’ he said, and I couldn’t believe him. I felt how my mouth actually opened in surprise. Not only was I overwhelmed by surprise to see him be so stubborn, I also couldn’t believe that he actually said those words.

‘Wait, you don’t actually believe that do you?’

‘Well, we never signed any papers.’

‘Because you left!’ I felt angry now. The feelings of betrayal overwhelmed me and I could feel the tears burn. ‘You left. You didn’t say a word, I had no way of contacting you. But don’t worry, I’ve got my half of the papers signed and ready to go.’

‘Hey,’ your soft voice broke through my whirlwind of feelings.

‘Oh , I’m so sorry, listen I’ll call you back okay.’

‘Okay, I got to go as well. Speak to you later?’

‘Speak to you later,’ I whispered.

She had been crying. She was married, or had been. And he was there, her ex-husband.

‘So the net is going crazy over a particular photo.’ Seungri poked his elbow in my ribs.

‘This one is about you, bro.’ He laughed.

‘So you’ve seen the picture?’ The woman smiled encouragingly.

‘Of course I’ve seen the picture. Like you said, it’s all over the Internet.’ Was she still with him now? Someone called a few minutes ago, but I hadn’t had the chance to check yet. Had it been her?

‘So the big question is who’s the girl.’ I smiled at the woman interviewing us.

‘Listen, she doesn’t know about the picture. We haven’t had a chance to talk yet, so I’m not going to tell you who she is as she might wish to remain anonymous.’

‘Of course, of course. We hardly expect a name at this point, but who is she to you. Is she a friend?’

‘Yes, she’s a friend,’ I agreed smoothly, looking over at Young-Bae for help, but he shook his head. I suppose I had to give some sort of explanation for this to stop escalating.

‘More than a friend?’ She was married. I still couldn’t quite believe it, but she was the one who had mentioned divorce papers, not him. It couldn’t have been a misunderstanding.

‘No, just a friend.’