A few months later...

 

"Are you ready?" Chanyeol turns back after checking the path for them. He asked her as she grabs her hands to hold it. Byul looks at him nervously and nodding her head. "I'm here with you." Chanyeol sounds so sure. Chanyeol caresses her cheeks and makes sure her eyes stare at him. Byul tries to breathe in and out to calm herself. This is her first time revealing in her career that she is in a relationship and this reveal plan had been their talk for months since she is sure to move on from Jeonghan. 

Byul grabs her luggage and holds it tightly before looking up at Chanyeol. She shows her smiles at him to ensure him that she is ready. Chanyeol fixes her hair and wipes away the dust from her shirt even though there isn't any. She knew that Chanyeol is also feeling nervous as her. She holds Chanyeol's hands tightly and to assure that they'll be fine with this announcement. Chanyeol realizes the touch and gives her a sweet look. 

"I love you," Chanyeol said and Byul reacts by tightening more of their hold. Chanyeol kisses her forehead and her cheeks before they start to walk to the door. The reporters already waiting for them at the departure entrance. Once Byul and Chanyeol appeared at the door, the camera flashlight starts to blind their eyes. Chanyeol and Byul just showing their smiles without being apart from each other. They didn't cover their face as they are intended to announce their relationship. Byul can hear a lot of questions coming from the reporter such as when, where, how long, and how they meet but they didn't answer anything and keep walking to where her manager is awaiting. 

They keep walking until Byul notices her manager is waiting with two bodyguards. Three of them rush to Byul and the bodyguards try to block the reporters from getting too near with Byul and Chanyeol. Byul's manager is a woman and she is temporary as Byul insists to choose her own manager by herself. 

"This way, Byul-ssi, Chanyeol-ssi." she leads the way and after getting out of the airport building to the parking lot, the reporters stops in the middle as they were stops by the bodyguards but the camera still taking their picture. She opens the door for both of them and after the couple gets inside the car, she closes it and rushes to the driver's seat. Byul closes her eyes and massages her temple. Chanyeol notices that and holds her arms. 

"Are you okay?" Chanyeol asks. The manager looks back at the rearview mirror to check on Byul. She opens her eyes and looks at him with a smile. She rubs her finger near his lips. The manager realizes it's a personal conversation then she ignored it and starts the engine. 

"I'm okay." The manager drives away from the airport area. Byul then frowned when she remembers something. "How about your car?" she asked Chanyeol that and the manager suddenly drives slowly as she might need to turn back. 

"It's okay. I already ask my friend to pick up the car to send it to your house." Chanyeol runs his thumb on her finger and she feels relief hearing that. "Please rest. I'll wake you up when we arrive." Byul nods and closed her eyes back. The manager starts to drive properly. Chanyeol plays with his phone, to check his messages but then a minute later, he fell asleep. Byul opens her eyes to check on him but the view makes her smile sweetly. She sighs as she caresses his cheek and straightens her posture. She checks outside as she kinds missed Seoul after leaving the country for 5 months. 

"Do you need anything, Byul-ssi?" the manager asked her and tries to make eye contact with her through the rearview mirror. Byul notices her and shakes her head with a smile. 

"It's okay. I just missed Korea," she answered and the manager nods with her head. 

5 months have passed. During that time, she stays in Italy to accompany Chanyeol. At first, he just needs to be there for at least a month but after Byul is coming there and she wants a rest, Chanyeol extends his time there. They both had a good time learning and sharing their passion. Dance. Both of them going to the dance class and regular people there are surprised to know that Byul is an idol that famous in Korea. All those times, she did update Mr.Lee about her day, every day, to not make him worried. Mr.Lee also updates her about Jeonghan but stops after a month. She's the one that wants to stop to know about it. She wants to fully move on from her past relationship. The last thing that she knew is they still together and celebrating their 2 years anniversary. 

Byul looks to her left and watches Chanyeol sleep like a baby. She remembers one night after few weeks she's been there, she confessed about Jeonghan. Chanyeol is hurt and didn't talk with her for one day but the next night, Chanyeol surprises her with a candlelight dinner. She is shocked as she thinks Chanyeol will break up with her but when he said that he wants to start over and ask her to be his girlfriend properly, she's crying. She can't be more grateful than this. She said yes and they are official. Since then, Byul is trying to build her new relationship and Chanyeol is helping her. 

After almost an hour, they finally arrived at Byul's house. The manager didn't say anything but turn around to check on Byul and Chanyeol. Byul giving her a sign to give them a moment and she understands it. The manager steps out of the car and stands near the car while looking around. She must be careful if there are any reporters that doing stalking on the property. 

"Babe. Wake up. We're here." Byul wakes him up with a whisper voice. Chanyeol is unbothered so Byul is thinking of another way to wake him up. She gives him a peck on the cheek. She kisses him a lot until she heard a groan from him. Then she stops. Byul giggled.

"Babe. Wake up. We're here." she repeats. Chanyeol opens his eyes and when he notices the car is no longer moving, he turns to another side. Byul is looking at him with a bright smile. Chanyeol wrapped his arms around her waist and didn't take long to get her near him and buried his face on her neck. 

"Babe." Byul hit his arms slowly. "If you want to sleep, just crash at my place," Byul said. Chanyeol kisses her neck and it makes Byul's body get goosebumps. 

"Babe." she sounds seductive and that makes Chanyeol looks at her. Their eyes connect to each other. 

"I need to see my brother first. But can I sleep at your place tonight?" he asked for her permission. Byul slid her fingers through his thick hair. Byul nods with the sweetest smile that she can give to him. Chanyeol then cupped her face and pull the heads down. Their lips locked from peck to intimate kiss. Byul bites his lips and it makes their kiss stops. Byul chuckled. 

"If you want more, make sure you sleep at my house tonight. I'll be waiting." Byul winks. Chanyeol grunts and buried his face on her neck. He takes a deep breath of her smells before straightening the posture. He is ready. 

"Okay. But to be honest, I can't promise. You know my brother." Byul knows the brother that he meant is his friends. He didn't have any siblings so it's obvious his squad. Byul cupped his face and give him a peck. 

"Have fun with your bros. It's been 5 months anyway. I don't mind. I maybe want to visit the company in the evening. Let's see first." Byul told her plan to him. Chanyeol nods his head and in a few minutes, both of them get out of the car. The manager follows them to the lift lobby. When the elevator is almost arriving, Byul turns to her side. She hugs Chanyeol's arm. 

"Are you sure you don't want to rest first at my house?" she asked. Chanyeol rubs her hair softly.

"It's okay. I drop you here. Is it okay?" Chanyeol asked nicely. Byul pouts. 

"Can you drop me off at my home?" she shows her pouting and Chanyeol pinch her lips. Byul hits his stomach softly. Chanyeol chuckled. 

"Sure can babe." Chanyeol hugs her tightly without care about the manager or anyone who might taking picture of them. Fortunately, there isn't anyone in the basement lot. When the elevator has arrived, three of them get inside the space. The manager pushes the close door button and presses the level. Luckily, there isn't anyone so the elevator goes straight to the level and she let the couple get out from the elevator first. They walk to her house with their hand clasped tight. When Byul is done opens the door, Chanyeol gives her a back hug. 

"I love you. Take a rest. You can go visit the company tomorrow. I'll pick you up?" Chanyeol said in her ear. The manager is standing a few feet from them and didn't try to approach or anything. They look so in love with each other. 

"Okay. You too. Don't drink too much. Have a rest as well." Byul turns around in the hug and wrapped her arms around his neck. "And... are you sure that you don't want to get inside?" Byul winks at him. Chanyeol smiles and shakes his head. 

"I love you, babe." 

"I love you too, my babe." they kissed and Byul let him go with so much heavy heart. She enters the house but stops when suddenly she can smell Jeonghan's smell. She starts to feel panic. The manager closes the door but worried to see Byul standing still. 

"Byul-ssi?" Byul jumps out. She feels like she finally can breathe. There is no more Jeonghan's smell. Is she imagining stuff? Byul shakes her head and walks inside. The manager follows her. 

"Mr.Lee gives me all the needed card and keys. Tomorrow, the interview for your manager position will be held. Let me know what time do you want me to pick you up?" the manager asking her politely while Byul is looking around the house. The memory with Jeonghan is still in the house. She sighs but when she lifts her head up, she notices the manager is staring at her. 

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you say anything?" Byul is feeling guilty for not listening to her and focusing on something that already missing. The manager smiles and repeats her words. Byul nods. 

"Don't worry. Chanyeol will pick me up tomorrow. I'll let you know if I need you tomorrow. Is that okay?" the manager nods and not long after, she excuses herself. The house is big and she is left alone again. Byul walks towards her bedroom but her eyes lock at the next lock room. She pauses in front of her bedroom and touches the door of the next room. The room that used to be filled with Jeonghan. Byul takes a deep breath before she opens the door for that room. Immediately, Jeonghan's smell greets her nose. Byul closes her eyes and tries to forget everything. She gets out of the room and closes the door. She walks to her room and walks inside. After settling herself, she walks to the kitchen to cook something for her lunch. 

When she is ready to eat her lunch, her phone is ringing. Byul smiles when she read the dialler's name. She picked up the call and press the speaker as she didn't want to hold her phone while eating. 

"Hi, Byul." Mr.Lee greets her. 

"Hi, Mr.Lee. Anything new?" Byul asked him teasing as she already knew that he is preparing the statement for her relationship announcement. Mr.Lee sighs and Byul chuckled. 

"A lot of reporters are calling and the staff is going crazy with the phone calls." Byul didn't say anything but chuckled. "How are you doing? Are you with Chanyeol?" 

"N-No! Chanyeol is out with his friends." Byul opens the television and the first thing that pops out is her picture with Chanyeol at the airport in one of the news. "And... I'm watching the news about me and Chanyeol. You haven't released the statement, aren't you?" Byul asking knowing the truth. 

"We already prepare the statement and releasing in a minute." he sighs. "Next time, please don't make me do the hardest part. All the reporters are asking a lot of questions and..." Mr.Lee stops and it makes Byul curiosity level increasing. "...and they are asking about your past." Byul froze. She frowned. 

"Wh-What do you mean?" Byul is no longer in a good mood. She is nervous. 

"I think they know about you and Jeonghan but they just assume. They didn't know Jeonghan." Byul sighs and rubs her temple. "I'll handle this. I'm letting you know so-" 

"Just deny it. I don't want anything to involve J..." she paused and Mr.Lee cleared his throat. 

"I'll deny the assumptions, Byul. Don't worry. I'm sorry for bringing up about him." Byul sighs and left the couch. She moves to the big glass that faces the river. 

"It's okay. I also need to do some changes to my house interior. It's disturbing me in certain space." Byul shares with her president, the feelings that she currently feels. 

"I got it. We can discuss what to change tomorrow, okay? And, you will be here for your manager job position interview?" Mr.Lee wants to confirm her appearance for tomorrow. Byul lifts up her mood when Mr.Lee changes the subject topic. 

"Sure. Chanyeol will pick me up at home and drop me off. We are going the same way anyway." Byul told him. 

"Okay. If so, see you tomorrow. Check the article. It's out." Byul chuckles. 

"Thanks, Mr.Lee." 

"Anything for you, my superstar." then the call ended. Byul hurriedly checks the article and reads it. She nods at every sentence. It's exactly the words that she wants to be known by people. All the details. She copies the link and shares it with Chanyeol. Not long after, Chanyeol replied with a heart emoji and a picture of him with his friends. Byul is smiling from ear to ear seeing the guy that she think she truly in love with. 

After eating her lunch, she washes her dishes and walks to her mini studio room. She opens it and smiles. This is one of her happiness in the world. The one thing that can make her feel a lot of emotion. She touches her piano, then walks to the corner to take her guitar. She brings her guitar and sits on the chair. She strums the guitar but the sound seems weird so she tunes her guitar before continue strumming the guitar. 

"La...La La La... La La La..." she sings as she strums. "Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh... La... La La La... La La La..." then she stops and turns on her computer. She immediately set up her microphone and plug-in her guitar to connect with the sound engineer. She gets an idea while casually strumming. After everything is in place, she starts her idea and it continues until midnight. She strums to get them right now for the guitar, she writes the lyrics as the plays go by. Sometimes she stops to correct the lyrics or to match with the sound. She puts down her guitar when the song is completed. She smiles and brings the note closer to read. 

She put down the note and opens her email. She writes down the lyrics and attaches the audio in the email then sends it to Mr.Lee with a message, she'll be talking about this tomorrow. Byul can't wait for it to be heard by Mr.Lee but as she waits, she realized that her phone is dead. She rushes to her bedroom and searches for her phone charger. She checks her handbag and luckily it has the charger. She plugs it and charges her phone. While waiting for the phone to have a few percent of battery before she turns it on, she prepares the aromatherapy diffuser for her to get a nice sleep. After she is done and the smell can be sniff by her, she turns on her phone. To her guilt, Chanyeol is calling her 15 times and the messages from her alone are a hundred plus. 

Before she is ready to read the message, the door of her house gets knocked by someone. She runs to the monitor screen to check who and to her pleasure, it was Chanyeol and a few of her friends. Byul hurriedly opens the door and runs to the front door. Chanyeol opens the door with wide eyes. Byul gives him a smile before running to hug him. His friend is standing still at the door. 

"Byul-ah." his voice sounds deep and Byul immediately looks up and unwrapped her arms around his body. "Why aren't you answering the phone or read my message?" he asked her while gritting his teeth. His friends already tapped his shoulder to calm him down. Byul blinks innocently. 

"Did you know that I'm almost running here just because I can't contact you! I thought you were dead!" Chanyeol told her in a loud voice. Byul flinched but she didn't feel scared with Chanyeol. 

"Yah, Chanyeol. Look, she's fine. Calm down, bro." Baekhyun tries to cool him down. 

"You guys can go. I'll handle him." Byul said and grabs his hands. Baekhyun and others are looking at her with wide eyes, like 'are you sure?' kind of eyes. Byul ensures them with a firm head nod and a smile. "He's mine tonight. I'll return it back to you guys tomorrow night, okay?" she pushes Baekhyun's body and they get the hint. They are out with a relieved smile. After Byul closes the door, she turns around but Chanyeol is walking closer to her. 

"Chanyeol-ah." she pulls his jacket and it makes him almost fall on her. He holds his hands on the door and she is in between. She's trapped. Chanyeol smirks with her seductive move. 

"I thought you were with someone else," Chanyeol said. Byul looking at him and suddenly Jeonghan face appears in her mind. "Luckily, there isn't anyone in the house. Am I right?" Byul locks her lips with Chanyeol and he kisses her back. He picks her up and Byul wrapped her legs around his waist. He brings her to the bedroom and closes the door with another hand. That night is their night as Byul said, he is hers. 

The next morning, Byul is ready to leave the house after packing up her notes at the mini-studio for her to bringing together. Chanyeol is also getting ready to make a sandwich for her. Since they are living together in Italy, Chanyeol checks her mealtime. He taking care of her meal and always making her breakfast. Byul closes the door and walks to the kitchen. She scoffs at the view of him wearing an apron while making the sandwich. 

"Chef-nim, are you sure this is needed?" Byul goes to his back and gives him a back hug. Chanyeol chuckled. 

"This is needed for hygiene. I supposed to wear the face shield and gloves for this but I'm too lazy to find it." Byul chuckling with him and gives him a back kiss. Chanyeol didn't say anything but Byul get the hint that he likes it as he froze in his place. So, she continues to do it until Chanyeol turns around and cupped her jaw. Byul eyes widen to see his panting chest. She narrowed her eyes and smirks. 

"You like it?" Chanyeol leans closer to her face.

"Don't tease me when we are about to leave the house in 10 minutes, babe. And I'm making your breakfast." Chanyeol warns her. Byul smirks again starts to untie the apron and strips it from Chanyeol. 

"I'm looking at my breakfast, anyway." Byul winks at him but when Chanyeol gritted his teeth. Byul backs off and steals one of the ready sandwiches on the countertop. "See, I'm eating it." Byul leaves the kitchen and goes to the living room. Chanyeol sighs and shakes his head. He finishes making the sandwich and walks to Byul. 

"Here, finish it. Let me grab my things." Byul nods her head with a big smile. Chanyeol knows that she is smiling because of what happened in the kitchen. "I will leave a hickey on your neck tonight." Byul pouts and Chanyeol is leaving with a giggle as he knows he can't do that. Byul is a public figure so she needs to be careful of her appearance. He left the room meanwhile Byul to finish the sandwich.

"Babe! You don't want to eat?" Byul asked him. 

"I ate already." Chanyeol appeared from the room with his bag. "But I do want to eat another thing." he turns to tease Byul but she throws the cushion at him to stop his naughty eyes. They laughed and in 5 minutes, they left the building with Chanyeol's car. After a nice driving with good traffic, they arrived at the company building. Chanyeol parks in the basement. They walk to the lift lobby with their hands intertwined and happily having a conversation.

But they realized that they are in the company, so their hands are intertwined but they didn't talk much as before when the elevator is stopping at the main lobby. Meaning, a lot of company staff will be using the elevator to get to their level. Their guess is right when the door is opening, a lot of staff is looking at them with a giggling sound or shy smile on their face. Byul bows to each person that she makes eye contact with as usual. Chanyeol didn't say anything but he is shy too but when one of the staff that he is with, wink at him, he sighs in shy. 

"Yeah, we are dating," Chanyeol said and Byul hits his arms. Another staff is making a sound. "They know babe," Chanyeol replied to her hit. Byul palms her face. 

"Congratulations to both of you." they clapped their hands. Luckily, the elevator arrives at the level where the major of them is at. They get out but managed to tease them. When there are a few left, Byul gives him a death stare. Chanyeol smirks. 

"Punishment for you on this morning's accident." Byul face is getting the heat but she immediately stealing glances at staffs that left. Byul sighs. Chanyeol rubs her shoulder and pulls her closer to him. "I'll be seeing you this evening. Let's go home together, okay?" Byul nudged his stomach and he grunts. 

"My level." the door is opened and Byul gets out of the space. Chanyeol gives her a flying kiss and Byul is looking away with shyness. But when the door is closing, she sends a message saying 'I love you too. ' to Chanyeol. She smiles and lefts the room that Mr.Lee texting her this morning. A staff that prepares the room is bowing politely to her. She did the same thing. When she spotted Mr.Lee, she walks to him and tapped his shoulder. Mr.Lee turns around and smiles widely. He widely opens his arms to hug Byul. She accepts the kinship. 

"How are you doing, superstar?" 

"I'm fine. How are you doing, oldie?" she teases him back. Mr.Lee shakes his head. 

"I'm not an oldie." they laughed. "So, what do you think? Is this place okay for the interview?" Byul tapped her chin before nodding her head. She turns to Mr.Lee. 

"I thought we are just going to do in your room." Mr.Lee wants to say something but gets cut by someone calling his name. He leaves to that person and Byul is walking around near the interviewer's table. 

"That is a long list for a manager job position." someone is talking. Byul looked up at the person. 

"This is not just for Byul-ssi. It's for a new group and GFriend." Byul pauses when she heard the group name. "And I heard that Jeonghan-ssi is applying too." Byul faces look up again at the person. 

"Jeonghan-ssi? Byul-ssi ex-manager? I thought he get fired because he is dating Sowon." Byul frowned as they all seem to know about the couple. The persons that talking walk towards the table and they get surprised by Byul presence. 

"Jeonghan is on the list?" she asked softly while looking confused. They nodded their head. She sighs. 

"If you want, we can cross him out. But this is Mr. Lee's approval list." Byul turns to Mr.Lee and stares at him. She clenched her fist. 

"Can I see the list and his profile? Might be another Jeonghan." they nodded and passed the list to her. She checks the list and the profile. There, his picture is on the profile. Byul immediately rushes to Mr.Lee and calling his name. Ignoring whoever that he is having the conversation with. Mr.Lee looking at her. 

"You approve Jeonghan in the list?" Byul asked him. Mr.Lee sighs and ended the conversation with another person. 

"Let's t-" before Mr.Lee finishes the sentence, Byul walking out of the room and left to the lobby room at that level. She crosses her arms at the chest. Mr.Lee follows her from behind. 

"Why? Why did you approve him to be on the list? You know our history and you make it happen again? I thought we have a rule that once we fired a person, he can't enter our company again." Byul is mad at him. Mr.Lee rubs his cold hands. 

"Mr.Lee!" she yelled to get his attention. 

"I didn't fire him out of the company. I just fired him from being your manager." Byul gasped. Mr.Lee finally tells her the truth. "So, he is available to get an interview for being another group manager. He can't be your manager. That's the rule." Mr.Lee said. 

"Mr.Lee!" Byul groans. "Everyone knows that he is Sowon's boyfriend. He can't be anyone's manager." 

"He still works here, Byul. He works in the office. He-" Byul walks away but Mr.Lee stops her. "Listen to me." Byul shakes her head. "He won't get to do anything to you. He won't even meet you. He is just one of the staff. That's it." 

"But-" 

"Byul, if he ever did anything with you, tell me right away. I can give him a warning." Byul rolled her eyes. 

"Can you help every time? I shouldn't expect much from you, Mr.Lee. You know how hard I'm trying to end stuff with him. I'm trying so hard to focus on my present and not on my past. But here you are! Not telling me that he is in the same building and I might bump with him anytime, anywhere." Byul left after tears make her eyes blurry. Mr.Lee is feeling sorry for hiding this fact from Byul. He didn't think it thoroughly. 

 

Original - 14/8/2020

Re-write - 25/2/2021 | 12:07PM

Re-check - 29/3/2021 | 4:24PM

 

*What do you guys think?