“Class, I’m sorry to tell you all that one of our own will be leaving us this week. Goo Jaehee will be transferring out of the school at the end of the week. His time with us was short, but memorable. Please address all questions to him after class…”

Jaehee sighed. Now she was going to be harassed by the others until she transferred. And she couldn’t tell anyone the truth until the day she left so she could minimize any of the possible complications that could arise once her friends and other classmates realized that they had been living with a girl all this time. Glancing over at Taejoon, she was surprised to see him looking at her in concern. Quickly flashing him a quick smile to reassure him that she was fine, she sank back into her thoughts, just barely paying attention to her teacher’s lesson…

:::

After his confession of knowing that she was a girl, their relationship had changed yet again, with an awkward yet tense air between the two. That is, until Jaehee decided to confront him about it.

“So you knew all this time…”

“Well, you were yelling in our dorm room. Although, I have to admit, hearing your brother shout that you were a girl was quite a way to find out. I just thought you were weird before, learning you were a girl made so much more sense,” Taejoon teased gently, attempting to lighten up the atmosphere.

“Y-you… you’re so mean,” she pouted, shocked out of her angry confusion by the sudden understanding of what he was doing.

“I have the right to be, after all the messes I dragged you out of, and that’s including before I knew you were a girl,” he said, suddenly switching to semi-serious mode.

“I never thanked you for all of that, did I?” she mused, almost as if speaking to herself. Rising, she shocked Taejoon by sinking into a low bow. “I am sincerely grateful for all that you have done for me. I know that learning the truth must have been quite a shock and could have been seen as a betrayal, but you still went on protecting me. I owe you so much for what you have done for me before I met you and afterwards, and my thanks is the least of what I owe you.”

“You idiot,” he said, pulling her upright. “I wouldn’t have helped you if I didn’t want to. I never thought of it as a betrayal, instead it was more of an eye-opener of the lengths that you went to help me. And you owe me nothing. I might have unknowingly saved you when you were younger with my words, but if it wasn’t for you, I would still be stuck being unable to jump properly. And about half of the situations you got into were because you were trying to help me out.” He smiled wryly at that. “I think at this point we can call it even.”

“If you say so,” she said, blushing slightly. She might have become slightly immune to his unconscious charm, but he was still the person she was in love with. The close proximity and his transparent sincerity was getting to her!

“That reminds me, have you decided yet? Whether or not to stay?” Taejoon asked suddenly.

“I’m staying. I hope you don’t mind?” she asked, insecure about his feelings towards her decision.

“I’m glad,” he said, secretly relieved. “Just make sure to stay in contact. It’s a good thing you’ll be living at my house. I can check up on you more easily. Knowing you, you’ll probably get into some sort of trouble at least once a week and need me to bail you out.”

“You’re evil,” she complained half-heartedly. “Why am I only now just learning this?”

“Because we have no more secrets,” he said simply, a wealth of meaning in those few words.

:::

Jaehee found herself almost tearing up again at the memory, and the realization of how close she gotten to her hero. Because despite knowing just how human and flawed he was, he remained her hero. Learning who he really was as a person just reinforced her admiration and strengthened it. She just also had the benefit of being his friend.

Startled out of her reminiscence and musings, Jaehee was surprised to find both herself and Taejoon being called to the office once again. What is it this time? It can’t be anything too bad, she thought optimistically, not noticing the slight smirk playing about Taejoon’s face.

Taejoon, in contrast to Jaehee’s confusion, knew exactly what was going to happen next, and was really looking forward to it. Looks like those pictures he left behind are coming in handy.

Walking into the office, Jaehee was surprised to find Taejoon’s manager waiting for them. Seeing the two of them, she spoke quickly. “Excellent, you’re both here. I need to talk with both of you, but first, Taejoon, take us somewhere private.”

Once again, he led the way to his private gazebo, this time anticipating the upcoming meeting rather than dreading it. Upon arrival, Director Jang wasted no time on appreciation for the scenery and went straight to the point. Turning directly towards Jaehee, she then proceeded to speak and shock the girl out of her mind while Taejoon sat back and watched in glee.

“You’re a girl that’s been masquerading as boy for the past few months. I can see it, now that I’m paying attention. You’re actually rather pretty once you grow out your hair, that’s good.”

“I’m sorry, Director Jang, but what do you have to do with me? I have no business with you,” Jaehee spoke, at this point even more confused than she was before.

“You are a girl that is rather close to my client. Of course I have business with you, especially since I should have been able to recognize you as a girl. That was a failing on my part. Luckily for the both of us, your track records will help me to solve this problem you’ve caused.”

“Excuse me,” Jaehee said, somewhat offended at the woman’s words.

The manager sighed and proceeded to break down her explanation even more for the clueless girl. “You as a girl managed to invade the privacy of an international celebrity in an area where he should not have been able to meet a girl unless it was under supervised circumstances. You will be living in his childhood home in a few days. Now I have to explain his connection to a girl that was previously unknown to the public and explain it away before the sasaengs get the both of you. I also need to tighten security around him. Luckily for the both of you, you Gu Jaehee have an impressive track record.”

“I do?” she asked somewhat doubtfully. She still felt shame for not realizing what she had inadvertently done, and she was most definitely scared of the sasaengs. Despite that, she was still confused as to how her running would be helpful. “I’ve never won once since arriving at Genie High.”

“I would be surprised if you did, after all, you are competing against boys. However, each time, you placed relatively high amongst your male peers, and the times that have been recorded are actually pretty good. Your times are comparable to females on the national team in your age bracket. You would have to train a lot, but you technically already qualify for the national team as it is.”

“And how does that help us?” she asked, unsure of where Director Jang was taking the conversation, but pleasantly surprised about the revelation about her track ability.

“We can pass off your connection to Taejoon as meeting him while training for joining the national team. And your living in his home while attending St. Blossoms starting next week solidifies your friendship with Taejoon and his family without too much suspicion. It’ll just be a byproduct of track abilities making you friends. You will of course become one of my new clients. That pretty face, your track abilities, and your academic intelligence are an excellent package, and I already know that you’re photogenic.”

“Wait, what?” Jaehee spluttered.

“I am taking you as a new client to make sure you are brought to your full potential. Your parents already signed a contract, with the stipulation that you don’t do as many CFs as Taejoon does and your education is disturbed as little as possible. You will of course be expected to maintain your current standard grade-wise. I do believe that is all. If you have any further questions, this is my number, and you have Taejoon on hand to answer any pressing ones. I’ll see the two of you soon, I believe that I have a suitable project in mind that will be perfect for the both of you… hair extensions will be needed of course…” Musing about how many future projects that they could do together, Director Jang walked off, Leaving Jaehee stunned speechless and Taejoon amused at his current roomate’s state.

“W-what was that?” She finally made out.

“That, my dear, was the force of nature that is now your manager.” He informed her, chuckling at her expression. “You ought to get used to it; that is pretty much her standard mode of operation when it comes to her clients. She actually went a little easy on you, considering that this was your first official meeting. She’s actually a bit grateful to you for showing her such big gaps in her security.”

“How? I doubt anyone else would be as reckless as I was, and I lucked out since I was coming from another country.”

“It’s still a pretty big hole in my security, and it’ll be tightened up immediately. You really shouldn’t have been able to get through my security, and Director Jang will be taking it as a personal offense until it gets fixed.” Seeing the sudden expression of trepidation on her face, he instantly sought to reassure her. “Don’t worry, she’s not mad at you, she’s actually a little admiring of your guts in doing this. And she’ll be able to yell to heart’s delight at the security that failed to notice you were a girl and didn’t take action. Now let’s go, I heard that dinner today will actually be good, and the bell’s just rung. Let’s go beat the horde before they eat everything.”

Grabbing her by the hand, the two began running in the direction towards the dining hall. I’ll miss being this close to her, Taejoon thought to himself. But now, we can have a fresh start and be normal. Or as normal as two celebrities can be in high school, since I have no doubt that she will become just as famous as I am now.

:::

“Are you all packed?” Taejoon asked quietly.

“Yes, I just need to take it all down to the car. Will you help me?”

“Of course,” he told her. “Besides, I’m going with you since you’re moving into my house. I need to help my father finish moving things around. So we have another weekend together before things change. I just hope you can cook; Director Jang is the one who made sure we weren’t living on take-out these past few years.”

Jaehee gaped at this new bit of information before sighing and adopting a look of determination. “Good thing for the both of you that I can cook, isn’t it? And my mom made sure I knew how to cook Korean food too, so there won’t be any problems there. I just hope you don’t expect anything too much this weekend. Director Jang is hijacking me for the majority of it; she said something along the lines of feminizing me properly.” She shuddered in mock fear.

“What’s she planning to do, shopping? There’s not much else she can do,” Taejoon wondered, honestly curious about the manager’s plans. He was also a bit annoyed, having wanted to spend as much time as possible with her before they separated at the end of the weekend.

“It’s called extensions Taejoon; I’ll have them until my hair grows to a decent length. That’ll take a while at the hair salon, and my clothes were shipped from America by my brother. They should be arriving at your house this weekend. But that’s pretty much the extent of our plans, so you don’t have to worry about being dragged along to be the bag carrier,” she teased gently.

Taejoon blanched at that, remembering horrific instances where Hanna had done exactly that. He hastily began to search for something else to talk about, wanting to prevent any future shopping trips that would include him. Jaehee might be different from most girls he knew, but she definitely had a weakness for shopping. He had seen the tragic state of Eungyul a while ago after going out with Jaehee, and he wanted to prevent that from happening to him for as long as possible. So yes, a rapid subject change was in order. Remembering Eungyul brought an idea to mind. “So, did you tell our friends yet?”

“They know that I’m leaving Genie High because my parents requested it, but they still don’t know I’m a girl.” She began to frown. “I’m planning on telling them right before I go, so they have time to process it and decide whether or not they still want to be friends with me. I made sure they all have my phone number and they still have you here if they have any questions or want to contact me. It might be a bit selfish, but I wanted them to be normal around me during this last week, and knowing the truth would have changed that.”

“It is, just a bit, but I think you’re entitled to bit of selfishness in this case. Thanks for letting me know ahead of time so I can prepare for the horde. Or we can always play a bit of a prank on them,” he suggested, feeling the glimmerings of mischief within him.

“Oh?” she asked him, intrigued by what she could now recognize as his rare prankster side. “What do you have in mind?”

And so the two spent their last evening together at Genie High with their heads bent together, crafting a prank that would leave their friends utterly speechless…

A/N: The he that Taejoon is talking about when mentioning the pictures if John Kim, Jaehee’s photographer friend, if you didn’t get it.

Also, a quick explanation of sasaengs for those who don’t know. Sasaengs are basically stalker-fans. In South Korea, they follow their favorite idols around, try to break into their houses, get as close to them as possible, and are basically very scary. They may also attack people they don’t like getting close to their favorite celebrity, so Jaehee is right to be afraid. One of the clearest examples of sasaengs would be the ones that follow DBSK/TVXQ/JYJ around.

Please comment and let me know what you think!