VIRAL LOVE Chapter 5 : DENIAL “I think we should just let it be.” Mo-yeon says quietly, having spent the last few hours scrolling down her tablet and thinking about her next move. Now she finally understands the meaning of shipping and the entire ecosystem on the internet that comes with it. She guesses she can in some ways relate, you see two cute people (not that she's saying that she's cute), and you want them to be happy together. Everyone loves a good love story, right? “Mo-yeon Ah, are you sure?” Her Eonnie asks, her face frowning like she wants to disagree. Ji-soo watches them both silently. She can see both sides of the arguments – Manager Ha just wants to protect Mo-yeon, and by that she wants to cease any rumors about her immediately. But Mo-yeon on the other hand refuses to play the celebrity PR game because she doesn’t consider herself to be one. Mo-yeon smiles and nods her head firmly. She may seem reserved and perhaps a bit meek on the outside, but her core is made of steel due to her childhood experiences. Once she makes a decision it’s easier for everyone else to ask the mountain to move than to ask her to change her mind. “Eonnie, you know I just want to write music and nothing else. This thing…this fame... it’s just temporary. Once they find something new to become viral then everyone will forget about me. We were quiet about that Idol," she smiles while shaking her head, remembering the silly confession the famous Idol had made on a TV interview about falling in love with her. “And we should stay quiet about this too.” “Besides,” she shrugs, “He’s the famous one. He probably has thousands of fangirls – just look at those tweets cursing me.” She laughs at that, and Ji-soo wonders if she really is unbothered about it as she looks.“It would make more sense for him to deny this, right? Since he wouldn’t want to lose his adoring legions of fangirls.” Ji-soo and Manager Ha discreetly looks at one another in a silent communication. Did nothing really happen during their accidental meeting, as Mo-yeon had claimed? Mo-yeon stands up then and rubs her hands together as she grins. Her mind is made up and she’s at peace with her decision. “We’ll wait for a few days and things will settle down soon, trust me.” She grabs the plastic bag containing her soggy clothes near the wall and then happily links her hands with her two favorite ladies. “I need to go back home and do my laundry. And there’s a cute bookstore I need to visit tomorrow morning.” Her voice turns a little whiny as she tries to push them to move along, “Now come on, let’s go have some real food to eat. I want barbeque!” The other two just silently look at each other before they shrug in surrender. So it’s decided then, they’ll be doing nothing about this and just wait for it to blow over. --- “We are issuing a denial.” Si-jin mutters under his breath, his voice low but firm. “Well, speaking from a PR point of view, it’s actually the best thing that could happen to you right now,” Manager Seo has to offer his professional opinion, despite agreeing with Si-jin’s decision. “We have no idea where Lee is, and your name was being dragged through the mud by his management, and suddenly this came out of nowhere and people completely forgot about the scandal.” Myeong-joo just watches them as she stands there munching on a pear. “Seriously though, Si-jin Ah. I saw how you looked at her.” He doesn’t look up from the screen where he’s reading the article on Naver, his eyes staring at their candid picture on the side walk. Apparently he’s pretending he doesn’t hear her. She decides to push her luck. “Maybe you can try asking for her number? You know, going for a date just to get to know each other?” Dae-young stays quiet. Now this he has to see. Si-jin’s eyes stay focus on the screen for another few seconds before he abruptly looks up at his manager. “I’ve met Kang Mo-yeon Ssi pe