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Hongjoong was out early in the morning to act as a representative of their group for the press conference organized by their agency after another news broke out;

 

Ateez' member Jung Wooyoung's news was a hoax.

 

The CEO refused the idea of presenting the subject of the issue to the public saying that Wooyoung might get traumatized or stressed out so he opted to do the interview with a representative, and being the leader, Kim Hongjoong immediately agreed, determined to protect s (brothers) at all cost. 

 

Whoever was the one who started the latest news, he doesn't know whether to thank them or not. 

 

Nevertheless, he was glad that he was given the chance to clear the misunderstanding finally. 

 

So here he is, sitting down inside the company car as manager-nim drives towards the agency while he studied the road they pass by. 

 

Soon, He found himself frowning when he saw a crowd of girls going wild in front of someone's house. They passed by the place swiftly but it was enough to get a glimpse of what was happening —

 

They were throwing eggs at someone!

 

Looking at their manager in alarm, the driver looked at Hongjoong's reflection through the rearview mirror. 

 

"Why?" He queried. 

 

Hongjoong looked back at the scene again before whipping his head back at the confused manager. "Hyung, stop the car!" 

 

"What?" 

 

"Stop the car, by the side!" He spoke, patting the driver seta's back rest and his manager quickly pressed on the brakes, stopping by the side of the road. He looked behind at the younger, "but were getting late—"

 

He was cut off by the sound of the backdoor door sliding open followed by the leader dashing out of the car, onto the ruckus. 

 

"Yah!" He shouted knowing fully well how stubborn this kid could be and knowing fully well that he was up for some serious scolding again. 

 

✳✳✳

 

"Are you alright?" He asked when the girl looked up at him, her eyes widening in surprise. The ruckus has long stopped, everyone in the place frozen except for the guy who was smiling kindly at the poor girl. 

 

Soon, whispers started erupting, fussing over the fact that someone ruined Ateez' leader's clothes. 

 

"God, it's embarrassing!"

 

"Who did that?!" 

 

"Not me! I'm sure it's not me!"

 

Seo Jinahn could only gawk at the guy who saved her by blocking the attacks of the crazy girls, not being able to utter a word. She knows him, surely he was another member of the group ateez. 

 

And that's when she came to her senses.

 

She gathered strength in her arms, planning to push him away but before she could do that, he had already grasped one of her hand gently, tugging on it to pull her out of the place, the crowd of girls immediately making way for the two. 

 

The pair reached the company car where manager-nim was outside, impatiently tapping his foot on the ground, an annoyed expression on his face which immediately got replaced by shock and worry upon seeing the girl Hongjoong brought with him. 

 

"What happened?!" The driver asked the leader and the other guy just regarded the female who was looking down on the ground with a curious look.

 

"She didn't answer me earlier when I asked her if she's alright so I doubt that she'll answer you," he chuckled as he looked at their manager who frowned at him. 

 

"Are we okay now?" He challenged. "You dashed out without telling me enough reason so don't talk to me!" He crossed his arms for emphasis. 

 

Really, being their manager is too much work for him. 

 

Hongjoong let out another chuckle yet again, but this time a little awkwardly. "But I'm bringing enough reason. Is that okay now?" He grasped Jinahn's one hand gently, raising it up as if telling their manager that she was the reason.

 

She came back to her senses when she realized she shouldn't be acting all familiar with them. 

 

They were related to Jung Wooyoung for goodness' sake!

 

Tugging her hand back and feeling very much out of place, Jinahn surprised the two causing them to look at her questioningly. 

 

"We shouldn't be doing this," she gritted her teeth, still looking on the ground. "I need to go to work."

 

The group's manager and the leader shared a look before Hongjoong turned to the poor girl. "With that look?" 

 

She looked up at him innocently and he felt his cheeks flaming instantly. "What I mean i-i-is, your c-clothes are a-all ruined." He mused, looking away and the manager could only scoff at him.

 

Why the heck was he getting tongue tied?

 

Manager was the one to speak this time, catching Jinahn's attention. "He's right, miss." He smiled, "your clothes are all ruined. Maybe we could stop by the mall and grab you some nice clothes before going to your workplace." He offered kindly. 

 

Jinahn's brows furrowed slightly. "But, I can just go back inside my house and change," she suggested, shifting her body a little so she could point backwards and Hongjoong took note of how cute she looked innocently suggesting things. Unbeknownst to him, a smile graced his lips. 

 

"Oh no. You might get attacked yet again if you went back inside. Please, we insist, we're not bad guys, we're also on our way to our work."

 

She subtly checked on her wristwatch and saw that she was running late already so maybe, it wouldn't hurt accepting the kind offer. 

 

✳✳✳

 

You like her, don't you?" Manager nim teased noticing how the leader could not stop smiling even after they had dropped the girl on her workplace. 

 

"What?" He furrowed his brows to cover up for his nervousness. Heck, it would be very embarrassing if the older discovered he has a crush at the cute girl earlier. 

 

"Eh, I know you know what I mean," their manager wiggled his brows as he looked at the guy's reflection from the  rearview mirror, unfortunately, Kim Hongjoong was looking down on his phone, with his brows furrowed.

 

The second oldest member of ateez raised his head to look at the manager's reflection in boredom but he dropped all sorts of cover up when he saw his teasing look. 

 

"I like her, so what?" He grumbled, pink tinting his cheeks. He looked out the window when the older giggled at him teasingly, a small smile blooming on his face. 

 

Of course he does like her. She's pretty and she seems nice. 

 

He smiled dreamily as he imagine the two of them walking down the road hand in hand, eating ice cream and—

 

"Hey, Hongjoong-ah," his smiled instantly dropped when manager nim brought him back to earth, ruining his daydreaming. 

 

"What?" He dragged his question boredly, still looking o