Would Hyejoo ever be able to tell Chaewon the truth? The truth of how her company is an absolute garbage facility that didn't give a rat's about her? That the whole Taehwan scandal was a carefully constructed ruse meant to fool the public and it came out of nowhere. The older girl had been so nice and understanding. She never pushed Hyejoo or pressured her to talk. Chaewon never questioned her life, no matter how sudden the changes in them turned to be. Instead, she was there with her every step of the way. 

Hyejoo never had someone that cared this much for her out of genuine feelings for her. And when she said never, she literally meant it. The idol didn't know how to deal with the conflicting feelings she found herself kept growing towards Chaewon. She didn't know if she was starting to... develop something more than friendly feelings for her or she was just enamored by how much she cared for her.

But lately, whatever she's been doing, every nad situation she's been finding herself into, she's been conjuring Chaewon in her head to help her get through it. It's a really simple process that surprisingly proves to be very effective in distracting her from a small amount of time and allowed her to feel better. For example, if she found herself out at a "business" meeting with some sponsors, she simply though of Chaewon being the one at the other side of the table and the nausea in her stomach transformed into fragile butterflies.

Whenever she read nasty comments online about her (because she did and she had seen some of the things people were saying about her), behind every heartless insult and ruthless word, she imagined it was Chaewon texting her something positive instead. Sometimes it felt so real, she could perfectly envision Chaewon's encouraging words that they complete took over and it was like she was actually seeing them in front of her eyes.

Whenever she found herself out in an uncomfortable date with the sleazebag that was Baek Taehwan, Hyejoo closed her eyes and thought of the possibility of Chaewon being the one in his place. Chaewon would never throw her condescending comments about her way of life or status. Chaewon would never lay her hands on her without permission. Chaewon would never hang around her just as a means of boredom because she wanted a new toy to play with. Chaewon would never make her want to vomit every time they meet.

However, for some reason Hyejoo's mind wasn't working as well today. It might be the fact that she is out in public and everyone's eyes are on her. The pressure of being watched the whole time is not letting her focus enough to successfully perform her trick, which meant she had to suffer through this forced date on her own– well, with her own mind and the hundreds of people snapping away with cameras and phones.

Hyejoo felt like an animal at a zoo. Sometimes she even felt like that when she was on stage. She was sad to say that she was beginning to dislike singing the more time passed. She can't remember the last time she was on stage and she was happy to be performing in front of an audience. Now everything she does that has to do with singing, it's always tied to some type of business deal that was done without her consent. 

She catches the eye of a person in particular that holds her gaze before turning to the side and gossiping to her friend something in their ear. Something about her that wasn't good most likely. The stranger looked like she was judging her from head to toe, as if with just a glance she could determine the type of person she was. She could recognize the unimpressed look in her eyes, one that screamed "she doesn't deserve him."

And Hyejoo would like to disagree. As she looked to her left to see a very delighted Baek Taehwan smiling and waving at everyone with a camera (giving them a show because the reveled in the attention), she concluded he didn't live up to even reach her heels. If there was something Hyejoo would never allow people to take away from her, is her self-confidence, let alone disgusting pigs like Baek Taehwan.

But even if she was strong-minded, she couldn't refuse his advances for her in public. She couldn't tell him to back off and keep his hands to himself. She couldn't make a scene because they were dating and she was supposed to act like she was enjoying his presence. The bastard also had the nerve to bring her to a basketball game in the stadium his daddy owned (this being told from his own lips as if she cared or asked in the first place).

They both were situated in the high V.I.P. area where they could have a great view of the match, but also everyone else could have a perfect view of what they were doing. Taehwan took a break from waving and instead turned to look at her with a glint of mischief in his eyes. He got that spark when he was planning something at her expense and Hyejoo began to grow wary of every encounter they were going to have because he always thought of something to screw her over.

"I want you to sit on my lap," he suddenly said out of nowhere.

Hyejoo wanted to let out a grimace that represented nothing but her complete disgust but the paparazzi were still snapping away. She had mastered the art of the poker-face instead for situations like these.

"And I want you to drop dead but we can't always get what we want." She said instead.

At least he let her throw insults at him and he didn't as much bat an eye. The first time she cursed him she was expecting for him to get angry and return an insult or two, but instead his face only brightened. He was sick in the head because he viewed women's distaste for him as a game. The more they disliked him and resisted him the more he saw it as a challenge. Did no one ever teach this guy that no means no?

"Is it because you're shy? We can go back to my place if you want. Away from prying eyes."

It took every ounce of will-power in her to not erupt in rage from that comment. The guy was a few years older than her and mind you Hyejoo was still a minor. He was disgusting and what was worse was that he didn't care. How come she was the one getting all the bullets and no one told this scumbag a thing?

She leaned in real close and looked him in the eyes. "I would rather stab my eye balls with pencils," Hyejoo said in the sweetest tone to mask appearances.

To others it would look like they're sharing a sweet chat with each other, having no idea that they're saying things that are the complete opposite. He saw this as a challenge but she knew he wouldn't try anything so soon as he actually hadn't had time to conjure a plan in his mind. The least he could settle with was holding her hand and propping it up so people could see.

Motherer, Hyejoo cursed in her head.

He knew how much she disliked the attention at them whenever they did a "loving" gesture to each other. He did this on purpose to get a reaction out of her and he