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Kai was having a nice moment with his two best friends, Taemin and Ravi, and he didn't have a clue about what was happening at the moment.

Ravi: Your leg doesn't look too good, Jongin-ah.

Jongin: I know. I've been having more troubles walking, lately.

He said, looking down at his injured foot. He has been obliged to walk around with crutches for the past week now, but his ankle still hurt him every now and then.

Taemin: What did your doctor tell you?

Jongin: That I needed to stop pushing myself so much. Apparently, I'm the one who's making it worse.

Ravi: I agree. You push yourself way too much. There's no rush, take your time to recover.

Jongin: I need to get back on my feet and dance again. This situation is the worst I've ever lived in my life. I can't do anything!

He exclaimed, out of frustration.

Taemin: Jongin, lower your voice. There are people around.

Taemin said, making Kai look around at the people in the room. There were two girls sitting in a corner, looking at them and he figured that they were fans, so he smiled at them before looking away.

Ravi: Do you want to play, Jongin?

Jongin: No, I'm fine sitting here.

Taemin: Texting Sooj'?

Jongin: Eo... She is not replying. I really wanted to see her tonight.

He said as he sighed.

Ravi: Maybe she is already sleeping. You can always see her tomorrow night.

Jongin: She's leaving tomorrow morning, for three weeks.

Ravi: Ah.

Kai heaved another deep sigh before looking at his phone again. He unlocked it and looked at the wallpaper. It was a picture of Krystal from the Red Light era. She wasn't even looking at the camera, but Kai was in love with this picture of her, for some reason.

Just when he was about to lock his phone, Suho called him. He quickly picked up, wondering why his Hyung was calling him this late at night.

Jongin: Eo, Hyung.

Suho: Jongin, eodiya?

Jongin: I am playing pools with Taemin and Wonshik, in Hongdae. Wae, Hyung?

Suho: I need you to come back to the house now. Something came up.

Jongin: Hyung, what? You're scaring me right now.

Suho: Your relationship has been discovered. Go online and look it up.

Jongin: BWO!?

He shouted, forgetting that he was at a public place. Taemin and Ravi were startled by his sudden outburst and tried to ask him what was happening, but Jongin wasn't listening. He couldn't even hear them.

Jongin: Hyung, what do I do?

Suho: Calm down and just come home first. We'll talk about it as soon as you get here.

Jongin: Okay.

He hung up and stood up on his feet before taking his crutches.

Taemin: Jongin, wae irae?

Jongin: Please, take me home. I need to go back right now.

Ravi: What's wrong?

Jongin: I'll tell you in the car. Let's just go.

The boys gathered their stuff and quickly went back to Taemin's car. As soon they got in, Kai told them what was happening.

Jongin: Dispatch discovered my relationship.

Taemin: What!?

Jongin showed him the article with the pictures attached to it.

Taemin: When were these photos taken?

Jongin: In February, I think. I can't believe they followed us to Soojung's apartment building. They even got into the garage. Why do they do that?

Taemin: That's disgusting.

Ravi: It's all over SNS. Are they for real?

Taemin quickly drove to EXO's house and dropped Kai there before heading back home. He was worried for his two friends and wanted to help, but all he could do at the moment was wait.

As soon as Kai walked into the house, Suho helped him down to their living room and asked the other members to gather around for a quick meeting.

Baekhyun: What's wrong?

Baekhyun asked as he sat down on the sofa, next to Kai.

Suho: Have you been checking social media sites in the past forty five minutes?

Sehun: No, why?

Sehun asked, immediately taking his phone out.

Suho: Kai and Krystal's dating scandal came out an hour ago. Our manager called me and asked me to keep Jongin home for tonight.

Kyungsoo: What!? How did they find out?

Suho: I don't know. It's dispatch, after all.

Baekhyun: They are everywhere you wouldn't expect them to be.

Baekhyun said, turning to look at Jongin.

Chanyeol: Pictures of you on a date are everywhere. This site is the worst.

Chanyeol said, showing the article to the rest of the  members.

Chen: That's so intrusive. They went to her home, I mean come on now.

Sehun: How are you taking it so far, Jongin? Have you spoken to Soojung yet?

Jongin: Not. She hasn't been replying to my texts.

Suho: Just go to bed for now. We'll figure this all out tomorrow.

Jongin: Okay.

He said, in a defeated way.

Xiumin: Don't worry, Jongin-ah. There's nothing wrong with your relationship. Don't worry, Arrasseo?

Kyungsoo: Don't worry too much. Just go to bed, and I'm sure everyone will cool off by tomorrow. Just don't look on the internet.

Kai listened to s and went to bed, hoping that all of this would just be a bad dream, waking up tomorrow. He had a really hard time going to sleep.

The next day, Krystal and Kai were asked to come to the company to meet with the CEO and some of the board members.

Jessica dropped Krystal, because she didn't get enough sleep the night before, and she still wasn't calm enough to be driving a car.

She also wanted to be able to reassure her sister before she talked to anyone from the company.

Krystal was stressed out, and she didn't want to look at what people were saying on the internet. Jessica forbade her to check any of her SNS accounts, because she knew too well what kind of nasty comments her sister would be seeing on them.

Jessica: Soojung, it's going to be fine. Stop panicking, okay? You two aren't doing anything wrong by being together.

Soojung: I know... but is this how I will feel if people start hurting him?

Jessica: I'm going to make sure of that, don't worry. Just promise me one thing.

Krystal turned to look at her sister and waited for her to speak up.

Jessica: Promise me that you won't let anyone at the company make you feel like your love is something you have to hide. Don't let them dictate what you should do with your life. Okay?

Krystal didn't say anything and just nodded her head. She wanted to say 'yes' to her sister's request, but what if giving up on her relationship became the only way to protect Kai at some point? Would she still be able to respect that promise?

Kai, on the other hand, was already waiting in the meeting room with his manager. He stood up from his seat as soon as he heard the door open. It was their CEO, Krystal and her manager.

They quickly greeted each other and the CEO told Krystal to go sit by Kai.

When she sat down next to him, he immediately took her hand in his and squeezed it underneath the table. Krystal automatically intertwined her fingers with his and held his hand firmly.

Mr Kim: The board members told me what they wanted me to tell you, so they won't attend this meeting. I didn't think it was even necessary, in the first place.

The CEO said as he looked at the couple.

Mr Kim: You know that I always try my best not to meddle in our artists' private lives, but since this situation concerns the two of you, I had to come in person.

He kept looking at them, and they looked back at him straight in the eyes.

Mr Kim: Both of you know how popular you are in the Korean and international market and how much you mean to the company. With this news being out now, we had no other choice but to confirm it immediately.

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Jongin

Soojung: I don't get it. Couldn't you come up with an arrangement with the website, or simply deny it? We could have said that we were just eating out as longtime friends.

Mr Kim: It was impossible for us to cover it up, this time. Dispatch had already contacted us before posting the article. In fact, we had to pay for them not to post any of the older and more obvious photos of your dates. We managed to get to an agreement with them, that's why they posted the most recent ones they had.

Soojung: Oh my God.

Mr Kim: We confirmed the news the way we agreed on, a few months ago when you told us about your relationship. We just needed to know if the statement was well written, and if there was something more you wanted us to tell the public.

I looked over at Soojung, waiting for her to tell me if she had something more to say. She shook her head no.

Jongin: No, we're fine with what we chose to write, in the first place.

Mr Kim: Okay, good. Your managers and I will talk about the rest of the details and get ready to defend you two if anyone tries to ruin your reputation. Don't you worry about a thing.

Soojung sighed and leaned her back against her seat.

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