She scratched her eyes hardly—she was on her way to her newest apartment she bought two days ago. She was still brand-new to all of these, more like, she was the new-girl-on-the-block—the car rumbled quiet loud, even though it was just a black and sophisticated minivan, but still it was loud. She yawned for the seventh times; at least that’s how she counted it since 30 minutes ago. She slumped against the black seat while stretching her arms and her legs. She was very tired—she just finished her recording, her last recording at the studio, and now all she had to do is go home. She glanced at her phone next to her, and sighed deeply. She was waiting, and now she had to do it again. She hated to wait, to wait on something she could never rely on. And that’s what she hated the most. “Unnie, are we there yet?” she asked her hair stylist, “No, but we’re on our way there. Just relax and enjoy your time. Did he text you yet?” her hair stylist asked Tiffany. “No, not yet,” and that’s the best answer for this time.

She stared at the window, thought about how dark the night is and how lonely she is now. She didn’t say a thing, and now she still couldn’t say a thing. For how many times exactly? She thought. It was not always that good being like this, when she felt something off and lost. She couldn’t say a word about it. Tiffany gazed at her reflection on the window—how her brown wavy hair was still stiff and wild from her last recording which was two hours ago, how her black long blazer delicately covered her upper body, how her legs crossed perfectly and how her face glowed under the make-up—she looked at her reflection deeply, she knew she didn’t have to do this. But things were going forward, so was Sehun.

 

“Hey,” a voice called softly. “Ommo, what are you doing here?” she turned to that voice and flinched. “I was waiting for you,” there he was. He came to her and kissed her lips. “You can’t just sneak out and kiss my lips, okay?” she mumbled against his lips—he was standing behind the streetlight when she found him, at the long alley that leaded to her apartment. He was hiding from whatever shiny things that could bare his face and figure to the world. And there he was, again. He was wearing his favorite dark blue hoodie she gave him two years ago, and smiled at her from afar. “Sehun-ah, you need to go home,” she said, pushing him away, looking unhappy. “I don’t. I’m already at home,” he smiled and came closer to her. She was smiling happily when he did that but not brave enough to look at him; she was shy. He stared at her while smiling—he stared at her beautiful figure also stared at her face. “You know I’m happy right? Let’s go inside,”—his hands were tucked inside the hoodie’s pockets and shifted his weight shyly—“You can’t,” Tiffany said and she was finally able to look at him in the eye. “I love you, you know.” He whispered.

 

“Hwang Mi Young. Where’s the ramyeon I bought two days ago? It was still here I guess,”—he opened one of the drawers in her kitchen while bending down and looked around, tried to find a pack of ramyeon—“I didn’t see anything around here the last time you were here. I don’t know,” she called out from the other side of the room. Sehun closed the drawer and stood up. Tiffany approached him with a blanket in her hands, with her serious face, “Last time you were here, I didn’t see any ramyeon on the table. I don’t know where to find it,” she looked confused while staring at the drawers. “I don’t know where to find it either. But I know where to find it, when I’m with you,” he joked.

Sehun moved closer to Tiffany and opened his arms for a hug, but she refused. “You know we can’t get caught, right?” she mumbled while folding the purple blanket, “You know there are so many fans whose jealousies are worse than mine.” How very irresistible her voice was it made Sehun moved even closer to her, even though she was trying to avoid him. “You’re all I have right now. I know I have them, but still you’re the one I love, noona.” He stared at her deeply, full of love. Moreover, his eyes couldn’t stand to look at her. Tiffany knew this isn’t the right time to talk about it, but she also couldn’t look at him in the eyes. She was hurt; and so was he. “Sehun-sshi, let’s just go back to your ramyeon. I’m too hungry to talk about our life.” And it made Sehun smiled.

They both were in the living room, sitting across each other tightly on the wood table. Her apartment was so big it looked like a modern house on the inside, it exactly looked like Uhm Tae Woong’s house. “I know what I’ve been doing. The last time Kai was so y was when Krystal accidentally stole his dog. I mean, she was very sleepy at the moment and she couldn’t tell which is which!” they both laughed at his story—while they both were holding a bowl of ramyeon, he happily continued his story—“Last time I checked, Kai was seriously mad at me. I was having an affair with myself. It was a hard time, noona,” it made Tiffany giggled. “It was hard, wasn’t it? How’s the toilet papers?” she chuckled excitedly. “Don’t tell your mother,” he answered in English. “So, he’s still mad at you about the poop, or about his dog?” she putted down her bowl and wiped her nose. “They both are the same,” and they both laughed while talking about other stuffs and enjoyed their ramyeon

“Noona, seeing you like this it actually makes me happy. You’re getting better at jokes now. And I swear, you’re happier than last time,” Sehun looked at Tiffany sincerely. The way he talked about herself, it was very irresistible and very weird. But the way Tiffany answered his call, wasn’t that irresistible. She looked down at her feet and grinned, “Thanks,”

 

Meanwhile, at a headquarter…..

“Captain, I just got a call from Tiffany’s. She said she wanted to talk to you, about something,” one of his staffs said, “Yes, give it to me. I’ll handle it,” he glanced at the clock and smiled warily.

He leaned against a wall and sometimes peeked at his black watch on his hand, “You know, you couldn’t get a detention last time because you told him that you were sick. They’ll know it eventually, about your bad jokes.” He was on the landline with Tiffany—he couldn’t stop smiling since 5 minutes ago—he was at his ease when it came to Tiffany. “He’s here with you, isn’t he? Gosh, why am I so—,” he cut her off, “Pretty? Haha. What are you doing right now?” he asked jokingly. “I’m getting my nails done; they’re all so pretty now,” she answered happily. “You know, I can give you a ride if you want to. We can go there together,”—his voice was joyful—“I can’t. You know I’m busy right? Joo’s Toenails are not available on Monday. Oh, wait. Dahye-nim just called me. I think I gotta go now. Bye, see you later.” She hanged up first, and left nothing but a wonderful smile once again on his face. The time had definitely stopped.

 

“PD-nim, do you think we can grab some coffee? I haven’t eaten anything yet. I’m so starving,” she pleaded—she kept looking at her delicate fingernails where fake-diamonds were clipped on her translucent nail polish—Ji Dahye, her stylist answered happily, “Why did you call me PD-nim? I’m your stylist, Hwang Mi Young. By the way, did Sehun call you this morning?” Tiffany shook her head excitedly. “He should be very busy. He’s doing a comeback, don’t you know it? He’s such a jerk right now. I’m just his slave,” she pouted her cheeks teasingly. “Hey, it’s not your fault. He’ll call you. He’s not that serious either when he said goodbye,” Dahye-nim said.

She answered, “I don’t want to know about it. As long as I can remember and as long as I’m happy, we’re not that running out of time. I’m not going to -shaming myself this time,” her voice sounded serious and content at the same time. “Okay then, let’s go to your first photoshoot in this month,” Dahye-nim replied—she glanced at the window, feeling bad for Tiffany rapidly. She looked at the view outside. It must’ve been hard to do it, to stay right next to him, she thought.

 

“Ya! Sehun-ah, come here,” Baekhyun called him over by waving his hand to Sehun kindly. “Yes hyung? What’s wrong?” he asked, while wiping his sweats with his small towel, He looked a bit pale. “Don’t you know it?” Byun Baekhyun, the main visual and vocal of EXO, sounded serious when he whispered on Sehun’s ear. “I haven’t checked it yet hyung,” Sehun answered—his hair was sticking on his forehead. He was completely drenched in sweats—he wiped his hands on his black oversized t-shirt and scooted closer, “Did you see or check on it?” he also added. They were near the stage, where they would be holding their comeback showcase in the next 4 hours. “It’s not about me, it’s about Tiffany,” Baekhyun spoke with his brows furrowed intensely—Baekhyun stared at Sehun very deeply as if he was going to say something wrong, but he was scared if it turned out right—Sehun punched him in the arm and joked, “Hey hyung! You’re too serious. We’re okay now. We’re getting better; we’re growing up,” while Sehun was chuckling, Baekhyun snapped at him right away, “Ya! It’s not like that at all. Don’t you realize it? You can’t date her anymore. You can’t fall in love and you can’t spend the rest of your life with her if you want,”

It made Sehun stopped, “What are you saying? I’m not that nuts to fall in love with her; she’s my girlfriend, why would I want to hurt her?” Baekhyun putted his hand on his hip and blurted cautiously, “There’s a leak. The other members have heard it.” Sehun shifted his weight profoundly and shook his head a little, “What leak? Are you and Taeyeon having any kind of relationship right now? ‘Cause that’s not just the thing; they’re all just excuses for us. Do you think it’ll be just about it? Do you think Taeyeon will feel okay about it? You were there, hyung! You were in her car! You were with her that night!”—he hastily hollered at his hyung who was standing in front of him with distinct feeling and expression that this would happen. Everyone there turned around and stared at both of them. His voice buzzed the entire room—“Sehun-ah, can you relax a little? It’s not like that at all. Yes I was there with her, but I wasn’t in her apartment, I wasn’t following her or stalking around!” he hollered back, “Oh sorry—,” he also added and then continued, “You were the one who was stalling the whole time; you’re going nuts, Sehun-ah! You’re going nuts,” he abruptly blurted out within his last breath, and that’s about it—Baekhyun wiped his face with his towel and took off. He headed to the backstage and left his brother in a daze. All of the members and staffs’ eyes were on his tall and slender figure, how they pathetically rolled their eyes and squinted at him, at the thought of him; their gazes were profoundly saying, “What’s wrong with that jerk?” “Is he insane or something? “Your girlfriend won’t love you anymore.” and last but not least which meant one thing; Sehun was guilty.

 

“What’s happening with my table?” his white skin was glowing under the lights. His lips were pouted and his legs were crossed—he was sitting at the end of the table across all of the guys—he looked at each of them and continued, “What’s wrong with it? Does anyone have the ability to fix it? Can you make a good reasonable reason to fix it—,” suddenly the tallest guy stood up, with his heavy voice he said, “Hyung, we can’t do anything to resolve it. It’s not that difficult to tell, but the leak was already intense. It’s all over the city now,” “I don’t care if it’s all over the city now! If it pops out of nowhere, I’ll kill all of you, do you understand?” he shattered the whole room. “Yes we do!” and they all got up from their seats—some of them were still murmuring, and some of them got back to the stage—the only person who didn’t were, “Sehun-ah, get up!” Sehun gulped and curtsied.

“Yes hyung?” he came to his hyung at the end of the table. “You’re too young to be in love. She’s not your friend; she’s your enemy,” Suho spoke and it stunned Sehun enough, “But—,” “This time is worse. The paparazzi have you; they wanted to throw you off the cliff if they could. You shouldn’t have fallen in love; she’s your noona.” something about the way Suho looked at him, telling Sehun that this was not the time to be the victim, and this was the time, the only time that he ever showed to him, his brother; he was being thrown off the cliff—Suho rolled his eyes at him and snorted—so Sehun left, and never looked back.

 

 

To be continued............