"Oh, Jiyong ah." Hyori opened the door to see Jiyong standing outside with a worried expression, "Come in."

Jiyong was serious when he said that he was going to fly over, despite the pandemic going on in Korea. He couldn't just leave Yoona alone amidst this situation, even though he knew Hyori and Sang-soon would be there for her. Jiyong wanted to be by her side.

"Noona, are you alright?" Jiyong pulled down his mask and side-hugged Hyori, giving her an encouraging rub on her arms, "Don't take it too hard on yourself. It's really nothing. They just love to make a big fuss out of it."

Jiyong knew it wasn't easy for Hyori either; she was on an ongoing variety show and was about to debut as a coed group. She must have felt really apologetic towards Jaesuk and Rain.

"I'm alright, it felt like a big blow since this was the first time in a while that I'm active after 'Hyori's bed and breakfast'," Hyori eyed at Yoona who was sitting on the couch, scrolling on her phone while hugging her knees, "You should go take a look at her, she kept telling us that she's alright while crying. Even a blind could tell that she's very affected by it but still wanting to act strong in front of us."

"I'll go check on her, thanks noona."

"I should be thanking you for flying over, she really needs someone now." Hyori patted his shoulders, "I'll be in the recording room with oppa, he's currently settling something for me."

Jiyong walked towards Yoona and she was not even flinching. Her eyes were glued to her phone, reading those comments that were left by antis and her fans. The reaction was split into half, half of them were saying that they should be more careful going to such places during the pandemic while the others were just furious about how the media was attacking the both of them. Even some KTV owners found it ridiculous that this had become an issue.

Jiyong took away her phone when he was close enough and that made Yoona looked up, realizing that he was already here. Yoona was looking at Jiyong with her doe eyes, instead of the sparkling ones that he always sees, it was red and teary. At first, Jiyong was mad that she came all the way to Jeju without telling him and wanted to reprimand her for reading the comments because he knew that Yoona was always being hard on herself and she most likely was selective reading and only taking in the awful comments. Once his eyes met hers, he lost the willpower of staying mad at her and all he did was to take a seat beside her and pull her into his embrace.

"It's alright, you did nothing wrong." Jiyong patted on her back and could hear sobs from Yoona, a moment later she burst into a fresh round of tears.

Jiyong held Yoona in his arms the entire time, no words exchanged, just him holding her, patting on her back, while waiting for her to calm down. Soon, cries turned into sobs and Jiyong thought it was time, he pulled away and looked at her face. 

"S-Stop looking, I look like a mess now." Yoona sniffed and tried to wipe the tears off her face but failed miserably, making it looked even messier. 

Jiyong smiled at her actions, he used the sleeve of his hoodie to gently wipe them off. 

"Messy or not, you're still Im Yoona," Jiyong said as he cleaned her tears with Yoona looking at him with her doe eyes. "I thought you told me that you were going to try to stop setting standards for yourself? It's time for you to live for yourself, Yoong." 

"The keyword is try, I tried and failed miserably, look at the state I'm in right now!" Yoona sighed, "I feel so bad that my fans have to stand up for me. It's great but all these could've been avoided! Most importantly, I feel so sorry for Hyori unnie. I am not doing anything right now and it's totally fine to tone down for a while but unnie has an ongoing variety show!"

"And then you have Hyori noona worrying about you, blaming herself that she dragged you along in this mess." Jiyong sighed and cupped her face, "This is really nothing! The media just loves to harp on it, can you for once, stop worrying so much."

"I can't help it, I've been like this for almost my entire life, how can I change just like a flick of a switch? If I make a small mistake, I will constantly blame myself. The scene would replay even in my dreams." Jiyong could tell that Yoona was getting slightly annoyed and her last sentence made him furrowed his brows. "We're so different so you won't understand this."

Yoona's words were slightly harsh and Jiyong didn't expect this turn of an event. Both of them were in silence and after a while, Yoona couldn't take the awkwardness and tension between both of them and decided to do what she was best at, running away. Just like how she ran to Jeju without any notice. 

"I-I'll go check on Hyori unnie." Yoona stood up and before she could even take a step, Jiyong pulled her back onto the couch. 

Jiyong didn't have any expression on his face and that kind of scared Yoona. Yoona knew her words were a little harsh and it came out without giving much thought. Everyone knew Jiyong has been always the more understanding one between them, he always takes his time to make her open up to him, telling him things that he doesn't know. Who is she to tell him that he wouldn't understand? 
 

The more she thought about it, the more she felt like crying. At this point in time, it felt like she's feeling bad for everything that she's doing. 

"Yah y-yah, you're crying again?" Jiyong was so flustered to see her tearing up again and the next moment she buried her face into her hands as she sobbed. 

"Aigoo, are you 30 years old or 3 years old?" Jiyong surrendered and pulled her into his embrace once again, "It seems like the latter." 

"You're not mad at me?" Yoona sniffed and was relieved to hear him speak up.

"Who says I am?" Jiyong gave a peck on her lips, "Seriously, you make me worry about you eve