“What the heck?!”

Junmyeon pulled away and had an extremely shocked look on his face. His hands were balled up into fists and I just tipped my head to the side.

“You didn't understand, right? Never mind, I'll just say it in Korean!”

“No, no, wait,” he looked like he was going to faint. “What do you mean 'our daughter's death'?!”

“It means what it means, duh,” I deadpanned, the feeling of confusion outweighing the sadness. “Our daughter should've been about four years old by now. But she's not.”

He stared at me silently, as if deciphering my words. His gaze was intense and I couldn't help but feel small under it. We stayed in complete quietness for a few minutes, with him watching me and me watching him.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. “Aren't you going to drive?”

“I'm not going to drive until I'm sure that I'm not drunk too.”

“You didn't drink anything though,” I looked at him stupidly. “Are you dumb?”

I tried to lay a hand on his shoulder, but he inched away. He looked like he was afraid of me. “We have a daughter?”

“Had,” I corrected. My eyes glistened as I thought about what I had done years ago. “We had a daughter and now we don't.”

“I don't understand,” he buried his head into his hands. “Is this why you left for China five years ago?”

I nodded, but I was beginning to feel sleepy. “Can we talk about this tomorrow? I'm tired.”

“Are you serious?! How can I possibly wait till tomorrow?!” he burst. He looked as if he was on the verge of a breakdown.

“Don't be angry at me,” I mumbled, feeling awfully small. “You're shouting.”

He nodded slowly, exhaling deeply. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. C'mon, I'll take you home.”

I muttered out a small thank you as he drove off. Even in my state of sleepiness, I noticed that his hands were gripping the steering wheel as tight as ever and his face was wound up in a tense expression.

Suddenly, his phone rang jolting me out of my almost-slumber. He clicked on the bluetooth speaker on his car somewhat aggressively.

“Junmyeon,” a voice I recognised as Chanyeol's spoke loudly. “You'd better get to your destination quickly. There are cars tailing you.”

“Wha-?” I asked dumbly, eliciting a look from Junmyeon that screamed for me to shut up!

“Is that a girl with you?” Chanyeol groaned. “Don't spoil your spotless record! The company knows that you've never been caught in a scandal and I don't want this to be the first.”

“I'm fine, Chanyeol.” Junmyeon spoke sharply.

“I mean it! You've never been caught up in a scandal so you don't know what it's like! There's a lot of work, and a lot of hate too. It's a hell of a job to clean up and I'm sure you don't want that either.”

“Trust me, I'll get this under control.”

“You'd better. Stay safe.”

There was a beep, signalling the end of the call.

Junmyeon let out a deep sigh. “This seems like a lot to ask from you but... can I stay the night?”

“Huh?”

“I don't need any controversies right now and there are paparazzi following me. If they see me drop you off, something we don't want might happen. You don't deserve that kind of burden.”

My heart warmed. “Hmm, on one condition.”

“What is it?” he took a sharp turn, and I was sure that he was trying to figure me out.

“I'll let you stay if you sleep with me!”

“What?!” he choked on his own spit, though successfully maneuvering the car smoothly. “Sleep with you?!”

“Yeah, what's wrong with that?” I crossed my arms. “We did that plenty of times before.”

“Yeah, but that was in the past! We can't do it now!”

“Why not? It's just sleeping! It's not like we're going to commit a crime or anything.”

After a while, he responded in a small voice. “Oh, you meant sleeping.”

“What did you think, dumb dumb?” I asked, poking a finger at his cheek. It was obvious that the alcohol still hadn't worn off yet. “I didn’t know you had such a dirty mind, hehe.”

“Don't call me Jun-” he started, before stopping abruptly. Perhaps it was because he knew better than to upset the owner of the place he was going to spend the night at. Nevertheless, the hurt was still there and being the emotional drunk that I was, I couldn't stop the onslaught of tears.

“S-sorry,” I sniffed, turning away to look out the window. “I forgot.”

“It's okay.” he sighed, sounding as tired as ever.

The rest of the trip was in silence. We arrived at my apartment a few minutes later but I was stopped before I could get out of the car. Junmyeon quickly me a pair of sunglasses and a mask, asking me to put them on. I immediately refused.

“Won't we look even more suspicious if we go out in sunglasses at night?” I asked. Seriously, I didn't understand how celebrities did things. “And the mask? We're practically begging to be photographed.”

“Hyejin, just do as I say.”

“No!” I frowned. “This is so stupid.”

“At least put the mask on. I think I have some spectacles somewhere.”

Reluctantly, I put the mask and spectacles on. Junmyeon, in turn, decided to cover his hair with a beanie and wore a mask too. It seemed that a lot of people wouldn’t recognize celebrities without any makeup on. We stepped out of the car into the cool breeze. I shivered involuntarily.

“C'mon,” he pulled me closer to his side. “They'll suspect us less if we look like we're together. I don't even know how they tailed us. This isn't even my car, it's my mom's.”

I melted to his side naturally and I was struck with a huge sense of déjà vu. “Okay.”

Of course, there were flashes of cameras but most of the paparazzi had thought we weren't Suho and his secret lover. I put on my best annoyed face and even more of the cameras stopped clicking.

There was a lady hovering at the entrance to the apartment building. I was quite sure they weren't allowed in due to privacy laws and whatnot.

“Excuse me,” I put a hand on my hip. “Could you move out of the way? Why are there so many photographers around? I don't recall being a celebrity.”

There was some muffled laughter from Junmyeon, but then again, everything sounded muffled under the mask. He gripped my waist tighter as the lady scrutinised me.

“Now, please move. I need to go home.”

She reluctantly stepped to the side and I marched towards the lift. None of them followed us, so I considered my acting as a success. The ride up was silent, and he quietly extracted his arm from me. I adjusted the strap of my bag, feeling awkward.

It was only when I punched in the code to my apartment when he spoke up. “Thanks,” he said softly, taking off his shoes. “I think you managed to convince them.”

I shrugged, setting my bag onto the table and turned to face him. “I'll go bathe first, so go make yourself comfortable. It's not like you haven't been here before anyway.”

My emotional high was beginning to fade, and sleepiness was soon taking over. I didn't even bother sparing him a glance as I scurried off into the bathroom to clean myself up. He didn't say anything else either.

I heaved a big sigh as I stared at myself in the mirror. I looked like a big, pathetic mess. Gently peeling the fake eyelashes off, I wondered what Junmyeon thought of me. Suddenly, there was a dull pain in my head. Perhaps thinking would have to be left to the next day.

I took quite a while in the bathroom, with most of the time spent on scrubbing at my eye makeup. That, and the fact that I was quite afraid of the prospect of facing him outside. I had to face it sooner or later, and I was freshly donned in my usual night attire. A long shirt. I lived alone for quite some time, and the tiredness made me unable to process that I was showing more skin than I should've.

I exited my room only to be greeted by the pleasant scent of chrysanthemum tea. I followed the smell all the way into the kitchen.

Junmyeon was there pouring some tea into a cup and stopped abruptly when he realised I was there. He held out the cup towards me. “Want some tea? It'll help you feel better.”

I felt heat rush to my cheeks. This felt strangely intimate. “Uh, okay.”

“Sorry, I used your kitchen like this. I thought you had a headache just now, so... yeah. Plus, there were some teabags and I sort of know the way in the kitchen, and yeah. I'm talking too much. I'll go