Nayeon and her manager were out of breath when they finally arrived at the building. The manager’s threats really worked on her. She ran up the stairs, forgetting that there was an elevator, not even minding the eyes on her.

She barged in the reunion room, attracting many eyes towards her. She was a little late. A place next to one of the managers was reserved for her, so she sat down there. A sigh escaped her lips. It’s been since a long time that she hasn’t been in this room. They usually tell her to come here when she gets in trouble, so being here didn’t mean anything good.

“No way. We can’t just confirm the relationship. There is already enough backlash.”

The manager’s loud voice snapped Nayeon out of her thoughts. Well, he was right. Confirming everything would be like adding gasoline to a bonfire. Nayeon sighed. Momo would probably disagree. She loved showing off Nayeon as her girlfriend. Not that the older girl wasn’t, but she was much more private.

Yeah, Momo would confirm it now that it all blew up. What would it change anyways? Nayeon couldn’t make her mind up.

“I don’t think people would believe it if we said that it was fake though. There is even a video.” One of the managers said, with a sigh at the end. That was true. There were enough rumors about them and even if they denied them some people will consider it as the truth.

“Fanmade edits are getting better and better these days. We could make it seem like this as an edit and pretend to sue whoever made it. We never even considered the possibility of it being an edit before. It does look very real though…” Another employee interjected.

Nayeon groaned.

“Please. Technology isn’t advanced enough to perfectly emulate our faces. The video and the pictures are too clear to be fake. Nobody would believe it and we’ll receive more backlash for lying.” She knew she was right. People aren’t dumb.

“Miss Im, you don’t really have a say in this.” One of the employees responded, clearing their throat. Nayeon’s anger slowly went up.

“What do you mean I have no say in this? This whole scandal concerns me.” Her voice rose slightly.

“And it’s because of you being careless that this whole scandal happened. We don’t want things to get worse.”

Nayeon didn’t know what to answer. She opened , but no words were coming out. . He was right. Her head suddenly hung low. Now most of her confidence about handling the situation got replaced with shame.

She could hear the manager sigh quietly. “I’m sorry Nayeon. But we need to handle this situation quickly and effectively.”

“No, I understand.” Nayeon reluctantly got quieter. She instead just listened to the managers’ following banter, as they decided of the truth about her own private life.

Soon enough, the conversation became less and less clear to her as she got lost in her thoughts. Her thoughts about Momo, the girls, her parents, her own career and her future. All of this was too much for her. She didn’t know how to handle the situation and herself. It’s in moments like these that she wishes that she would be able to just disappear.

-

But she didn’t disappear, like at all.

She stayed at the meeting for about five hours. It was already dark outside when she got to left. The only thing they really let her do was occasionally throwing in ideas and nodding along to the managers’ words. She kind of felt like her mind had been absent at some moments, since she couldn’t exactly remember all details about the meeting.

The final decision taken by the team was very clear to her though. They decided to tell the public that “it wasn’t anything serious, that they were drunk and just messing around and that it was an overall mistake”. Momo wasn’t going to be happy with that.

Nayeon disagreed with it too. But she had no choice but to go with the story and not reveal anything else.

She also remembered JYP’s last words to her before she left the meeting:

“Whatever there is between you and Momo, it needs to stop now.”

A sigh escaped her lips as she massaged her temples. That was going to be really hard. She had to do it, though. Apparently it was for her own good. She didn’t believe that. But she had to respect the orders regardless of her opinions. She wasn’t in a position where she could allow herself to break the rules.

That thought slowly disappeared when she took out her phone and saw a message saying that Momo will go home. By home they probably meant the dorm. She rose her brows at that. Wasn’t she supposed to be back in like two days?

Nayeon decided not to question it more than that. Instead, she was happy that she can finally be home with her. The hospital bed was really uncomfortable. And she could tell that Momo didn’t like the hospital environment either. And their own couch was better for hugging anyways.

But then again, JYP’s words blared in her head like an alarm. She needed to stay away from Momo as much as she could.

-

That idea was thrown out of the window as soon as Nayeon entered the apartment and saw Momo lying peacefully on the couch, watching tv. The room was mostly dark, except for the light of the said tv. Her wounded foot was now in a heavy looking cast. She was now in shorts and one of her large sweaters. She looked quite tired, her eyes only half open.

Nayeon couldn’t help but run up to the couch and almost throw herself on Momo, making the younger girl yelp quietly but that yelp quickly dissolved into a soft laugh.

Everything Momo did was soft. Nayeon loved her so much.

She kept on landing hundreds of small pecks on her face until Momo pulled away, still giggling.

“Hi.” The Japanese girl whispered as their foreheads touched. Nayeon answered with a small ‘Hey’. At this point she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. Being around Momo always did that to her. Momo sounded tired though.

“Are you okay?” She rolled over on the couch, now laying besides Momo, instead of being on her. She didn’t want to cause her any pain. Her hand moved to Momo’s cheek, beginning to gently her pale skin.

“Now that you’re here, I’m more than okay.” Her lips curled up into a smirk while Nayeon answered with an annoyed groan.

“If you don’t stop being cheesy I’ll go away.” Nayeon pouted. Momo answered with a small giggle, before pecking the older girl on the lips. “Please don’t go?” Momo gave her the infamous puppy eyes. Nayeon couldn’t resist that. And it’s not like she actually planned on going away.

“Mmmmmhm. I’ll think about it.” She now acted smug, making Momo scrunch her face up.

They stayed silent for a while, just looking at eachother. It wasn’t awkward. Not with them. They both loved admiring how beautiful they were.

“Where are the others?” Nayeon spoke up suddenly.

“They went to sleep. They wanted to wait for you but I told them that you were coming home late and that I wanted some private time with you.” Momo bit her lower lip, while running her hand through her hair. The atmosphere had shifted.

“Some private time, huh?” Nayeon hummed before pecking Momo on the lips again. “Let me eat first.” With that said she got up from the couch, making Momo groan quietly.

“There is some jjajangmyeon in the fridge. Or we can order something if you want.” Momo replied lazily, pointing in the kitchen’s direction.

“The jjajangmyeon will be fine. Thanks.” Nayeon walked out of the room, and into the kitchen. She could still hear the faint noise of the tv in the background as she took the dish out of the fridge. She put it in the microwave. An idea popped into her head.

She poured some milk into two large mugs. She then added some cocoa powder and sugar (more in one cup than the other) before mixing it all up. In a different pot, she whipped up some cream. As she did that, the microwave beeped, signaling that the jjajangmyeon was warm. So she took it out of the microwave and put the two mugs in it instead.

Right after that, she resumed working on the whipped cream. She wasn’t an exceptional cook, but she was sure she could make at least some warm chocolate for her and Momo.

Speak of the devil (well, in this case of an angel), a pair of arms circled around Nayeon’s waist and a familiar body pressed against her back. The older girl squealed in surprise.

“What are you doing?” Momo’s breath was warm against her cheek. The younger girl’s head was restin