“So I hear you haven’t been talking to anyone for three days,” was the first thing Loona said when Hyejoo opened the door.

The last thing the rookie idol wanted to do right now was entertain more people she didn’t like. It was late at night and all Hyejoo wanted to do was sleep and never wake up. Why couldn’t anyone just leave her alone? Apparently so since “The Nation’s Icon” was standing in front of her dorm blocking the door with her foot.

“You’re not even saying anything back to me? No insults, no sarcasm, no sass. Wow. It’s serious,” the blonde artist pushed through and made her way inside.

Honestly Hyejoo could care less, as long as Loona just let her sleep. The high school student closed the door went back to bed.

“Aren’t you curious about how I know?” Loona sat on the floor in front of the low dining table and placed a white plastic bag in the middle.

Hyejoo wasn’t curious because she was scared of knowing the answer. If she pretended like the famous idol wasn’t here, then she would eventually leave. If you ignore it eventually it would be gone, Hyejoo hypnotized herself. Just as she was sure of her decision something called for her attention.

Something flowed in the air and it invaded her senses. The aroma filled the whole place and just thinking about it was making her hungry. She hadn’t been eating much lately and having food so close was proving to be dangerous. It was a trap, the older girl was doing this so they could talk, but Hyejoo didn’t want to talk. She had to resist and be strong.

She was so close to getting into bed. Just a few more steps and she would be in the clear. Hyejoo could put the covers over her head and be invisible to her surroundings. Luck was not on her side though when her stomach growled loudly, loud enough for Loona to hear. Hyejoo froze with her cheeks reddening gradually. She knew it was game over.

The blonde emitted a low chuckle. "Come and eat. Don’t be starving yourself. Don’t let what other people do affect your life."

Go Won unpacked the food and set it neatly on display to gain Hyejoo’s interest.

She then held a pair of chopsticks up to Hyejoo silently. The blonde just waited patiently without saying a single word. Hyejoo in the end gave up and took the utensils from her. She sat down in a rush and began eating. The older girl smiled in victory as she then took out another pair of chopsticks to eat as well.

“Thank you,” Hyejoo muttered after she swallowed the bite she was chewing.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Go Won apologized.

Hyejoo flinched and closed her eyes full of regret. She was more sorry it was something she didn’t have any control over. She had to do everything her company told her to do for the sake of getting her name out there, because she had blindly signed her name on a shady contract. It was like she was a puppet with no mind of her own. It was degrading and humiliating at the same time.

“If you’re worried about me saying anything or this leaking out, I’m not–“

“It doesn’t matter,” Hyejoo interrupted. “Someone else already knows.”

She continued eating. She wished they could just stop talking about this.

Go Won knew this already. She knew who it was and she also knew how it happened. But Hyejoo wouldn’t have to worry about that for much longer. She had taken care of everything.

“Can I ask, is the reason why you don’t like me because your company is pushing you to get close to me?” 

Go Won seemed to have hit the bullseye because Hyejoo stoped chewing and finally looked at her. Almost instantly tears were glossing her eyes and they were so close to spilling. The blonde felt her heart clenching seeing how much Hyejoo was struggling emotionally.

“Do you think that if we become close, our relationship wouldn’t be genuine? You think you would be doing something your company ordered you to do by being my friend?”

Hyejoo released a shaky breath and looked away just so the blonde wouldn’t see her crying. But it was too late, Go Won had gotten up and reached her side. She wrapped her arms around Hyejoo while the younger girl cried in her shoulder. The older idol rubbed lazy circles on her back as Hyejoo finally let out what she had been holding inside for so long. She really was pathetic, Hyejoo mentally said to herself. Go Won however, didn’t think so.

—☆★°•°•°★☆—☆★°•°•°★☆—

Hyejoo was several shots deep by now. Everything around her was spinning and she wasn’t even sure if the person talking right now was herself or someone else. She could tell the voice sounded feminine but there were no other people here that were female, it was just her and a few producers. Her eyelids all of a sudden felt too heavy to keep them open, so she gave in to the sleepiness that took over her.

“Producer Kim! What a coincidence meeting you here!” Loona exclaimed as she entered the private room.

The older man clearly looked taken aback by her sudden appearance. The rest of the group also paled when they saw her. Bastards. Go Won forced herself not to say something that would make things worse. The blonde artist looked to the side and saw Hyejoo had passed out. Her chest all of a sudden feeling heavy at the sight. She didn’t deserve this.

“Oh my, is that Olivia Hye? Poor girl, what is she doing out so late? A girl her age should be at home sleeping so she can go to school the next day,” Go Won’s innocent tone darkened the longer she kept talking. “Not out here being served drinks by older men that clearly know she’s underage.” She glared.

The sleazy producer tried to get out of being caught. “This is a business matter,” he tried to sound convincing.

Loona scoffed. “And yet I don’t see any business papers or her company managers at this meeting.” She looked around to emphasize her point.

“Tell you what Producer Kim,” the blonde walked past him and headed towards the rookie. “I’ll take Olivia with me and we can pretend this never happened.”

It wasn’t up for discussion. The statement was final. The girl may be small but she could be threatening with a snap of her fingers. She had so many connections in the industry and countless amounts of money. The producer had his arms in a bind if he tried anything, and Go Won would make sure their careers went down the drain if they remotely tried to come back at her.

Go Won knew she had won when no one chimed in to protest. The older men kept their lips tightly sealed but sat nervous and stiff. She gave them a curt nod and took Hyejoo with her with the help of Sooyoung— who was just around the corner waiting to be called. Just for extra precautions, if the producers tried to retaliate, Sooyoung had recorded their conversation on her phone. They truly had the upper hand on this matter if it ever got out by accident.

—☆★°•°•°★☆—☆★°•°•°★☆—

“Do you remember anything at all?” Go Won asked her softly.

Hyejoo had stopped crying, but she was still tucked in her embrace. Her head was in the crook of her neck while the blonde gently rubbed the side of her arms and her back in a soothing manner. The touch was so comforting she didn’t want to pull away, and the shorter girl didn’t mind giving her all the time in the world until she calmed down. 

Go Won felt Hyejoo shake her head. Everything was a blur for the rookie. She could recall bits and pieces, but overall she couldn’t tell what was real and what had been a dream. All she was sure of was that the blonde had appeared that night and brought her home. Whatever she did, whatever she said to the producers, was all white noise in her brain. A jumbled up mess of incoherent sentences. 

“I promise you everything will be okay. I won’t let anything like that happen to you again, alright?”

So many people had told her that and so many people had disappointed her every time. Hyejoo still believed her though. Something in her heart told her to. Loona had done nothing to make her doubt anything she told her. Whenever she proposed herself to do something, she got it done. Just for a bit she could feel like she could trust her. Little by little she was winning Hyejoo over.

—☆★°•°•°★☆—☆★°•°•°★☆—

“Jesus Christ, Go Won. Why did you have to go through all this trouble?” Sooyoung was tending to her wounds late into the night in her apartment now that they were back from Hyejoo’s dorm.

The artist had given her a call from school to pick her up ASAP, completely not caring about the rule she imposed about not getting close to campus. Everyone was back in class and she was skipping the rest of the day, so no one would see her leave anyway.

When Sooyoung pulled over by the entrance, she was expecting Go Won to look a little tired and just wanted a break from school. She wasn’t counting on seeing the girl with a busted