Kihyun had always believed that singing was the one thing in his life that he couldn’t get enough of. Words flowed through his veins, pumped his heart, and came out his mouth with such passion, he had been certain he would love nothing more.

Until he started kissing you.

He swallowed another of your moans, his lips smiling against yours a moment later. Pulling away, you threw Kihyun a warning. “I didn’t come in here for this.”

“You didn’t?” he questioned with feigned innocence, your hand slapping his shoulder as he looked down at your current position. “I’m not sure I quite believe you.”

“You told me to take the best seat in the house,” you mumbled, cheeks heated. Attempting to remove yourself from his lap, Kihyun gently secured your hips in his hands.

“Nuh-uh. Not so fast,” he stated, leaning in to take your mouth in another searing kiss. “I haven’t seen you in four days. Let me fill up on your taste first.”

“We’re supposed to be singing.”

“I am singing,” he corrected with a sly grin, nuzzling your neck. “Singing your praises in my head. Do you know you have a freckle right here, by the way?”

Now laughing, you disentangled yourself from his lap and took the empty chair beside him. “Who knew what would be released five weeks ago, huh?”

“It’s been that long?” he said, though Kihyun was more than aware of how many days had transpired since you had taken the relationship a step further. Since the night he’d cooked dinner for you, he had been walking on cloud nine. Not only was he honoured to have your complete trust with all you shared with him about the fire, and all the kisses that had tumbled out of him thereafter, Kihyun was counting each day spent together as a blessing.

“I, for one, should have expected you’d be like this when you’re dating someone,” you commented, tilting your head to the side to observe him. Kihyun watched you back, liking the swelling to your mouth and the lazy, sated look in your eyes.

He especially liked that he was the reason for all of it.

“We need to work before we don’t,” he stated as his hands itched to reach back out for you and take your mouth hostage again.

It had been like this every time you joined him in his studio. There was once a time between you where all you did was sing and joke around. Kihyun had always thought listening to you sing – with or without his accompanying vocals – would keep him occupied within these walls. Now, he spent more time listening to the noises you made, the ones he drew out of you, with equal enchantment.

He was meant to be a professional. A seasoned idol.

Right now, he just felt an endless burning hunger for you. And whilst you seemed to expect this, Kihyun hadn’t.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t taken lovers as an idol. Dating was risky business, and he’d seen way too many people get burned when Dispatch caught them. Often, he found himself not seeing the point of risking all that he had built for a bit of love. Sure, he believed that everyone deserved romance and happiness, but he didn’t see himself as much of a romantic.

Though, you had pointed out on numerous occasions that he was.

Now, however, Kihyun saw why his fellow friends and colleagues felt the risk was worth it. Just four days apart from you had driven him insane. As soon as he was back in Seoul, he had sought you out and found a spot where your schedules aligned for alone time. He’d never been this demanding of another person’s time and body before.

“Not true,” you murmured, causing Kihyun to blink out of his thoughts and eye you curiously. Your gaze was heated again, somehow connecting to what he had been thinking of as he mindlessly set up the equipment in front of him. You smiled. “You have always been demanding of my time, even before we confessed our attraction.”

“How did—”

“You’re like an open book these days to me,” you admitted, pleased with your spoken words.

Your smugness made him chuckle and shake his head. “Well, right now I need to close that chapter of the book and find a song for us to work on.”

“Before we don’t, and you lose all of your professionalism around me? Hate to break it to you, but I think that’s well and truly the case when you can’t seem to keep your eyes and lips off my mouth,” you teased, seeming to have forgotten your previous dispute for why you had agreed to meet him here tonight.

Kihyun grumbled and clicked on a list of songs you had sent to him. He eyed the choices with some interest, hovering over one in particular. Your cheeks deepened in colour again.

“Oh, I was hoping you’d sing that one,” you explained, diverting your gaze.

“I didn’t take you for a Zayn Malik fan, Y/N.”

“I’m not usually. I just… well, I know someone who wrote a story about you and—”

“What kind of story?” he interjected, waggling his eyebrows.

You avoided looking at him entirely. “And another reader mentioned how well Pillow Talk fitted the concept of that story. My friend declared that she would die if you ever covered the song.”

“That friend isn’t you, is it?” he wondered, leaning over towards you again. To his surprise, with how meek you had gotten whilst explaining the song reason, you didn’t shrink back.

You shook your head. “Definitely not me.”

“But you read stories about me,” he persisted.

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I should be concerned about the context of the types of things you read.” Scooting closer, you watched him warily. “They’re not—”

“What would you do if they are?” you suddenly challenged, and Kihyun had to swallow down the rise in emotions at your unashamed stare. “I am an adult. I can read all types of stories. And whilst this one isn’t to the level you’re insinuating before I became a… well, a singer for this company, I was simply an adult who enjoyed the music of your group. And made friends with a couple of fanfic writers over the years. Does fanfiction make you cringe, Kihyun?”

“Not at all. But I’ve never met someone who would openly tell me they read them either,” he confessed, his smile showing no signs of teasing. You relaxed. Kihyun reached out for your hand and linked your fingers. “You spent a lot of time inside your home before now. I’m sure you have some wonderful friends that you’ve met through fanfiction.”

You nodded. “I have. I’m grateful to them. It’s a community where I don’t have to be the broken one. A lot of my friends couldn’t handle what I was like after the fire. Some tried, but I was good at pushing them away in the end when I stopped trying to show the world that I was… something.”

“You’re more than something,” he murmured, and you smiled softly.

“I don’t have to tell any online friends about the fire. I don’t have to show them what I look like and worry about their judgement. If anything, some of my best friends are those who have no idea who I am in real life.”

“And this writer?”

“Is one of them,” you confirmed.

Kihyun nodded, turning back to the computer and pressed play. He grinned over at you. “Guess I better start learning this song then.”

“This is a joke, right?”

Glancing up at Hyunwoo, who had been staring intensely at his phone, Kihyun watched as his attention went to their manager. Joonhyung sighed heavily. “I wish it were.”

“But you know the truth, hyung.”

“What’s going on?” Jooheon asked curiously, leaning towards the phone their leader held. Hyunwoo angled it so the younger member could read. A gasp fell from the rapper’s mouth, alerting the rest of the members to whatever was going on.

Kihyun felt the dread building within as soon as Hyunwoo’s eyes landed on his again. Slipping his phone out of his pocket, Kihyun checked the new email that had come through about their individual schedules for next week. He was certain time had stopped. Or he wasn’t breathing anymore.

“Hyung,” Changkyun called to Joonhyung, voice strained. “Why is Starlet scheduled to do another radio show? And this time on mine and Kihyun’s segment? It would be rather coincidental if the cameras don’t work again for an episode of Midnight Idol, right?”

“The cameras will be working.”

“Then that means Nina will be appearing, not Y/N,” Minhyuk concluded, eying both hosts of the show. Kihyun finally felt the need for air, dragging in a shaky breath. “Midnight Idol focuses more on chatting than singing. Play her songs instead of anything live.”

Their manager rubbed the back of his neck. “They’ve instructed Y/N to come still. They’re going to have her in a second room.”

“No,” Kihyun heard himself say, and everyone looked at him. “No. I’m not doing it.”

“This is bull,” Changkyun added, getting up from the chair he was on and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.

“The thing that bothers me most about this is the betrayal to fans,” Hyunwoo said a moment later to break the silence, and Kihyun looked at him again. Hyunwoo’s brows were furrowed tightly. “A lot of Starlet fans are Monbebe too. There hasn’t been any reason for them to connect the difference between Nina on variety shows and the one Y/N did. But I wouldn’t be surprised if fans relisten to the first one again and see the changes.”

“They’ll expect Kihyun and Starlet to break into another duet on the spot too,” Hyungwon agreed with a groan, shaking his head.

“I’ve… I need to talk to Y/N,” Kihyun announced, getting up and heading for the exit.

You had given him your schedule for the week in your private chat, and as he swiftly made his way across departments, he thumbed at the screen of his phone to ensure you’d be where he thought. Kihyun almost bypassed the door to Nina’s dance studio, slamming on his brakes when he noticed your familiar figure from behind.

He entered the studio and noticed the way both you and Nina froze. You obviously were discussing the same topic that had him hurtling across from his domain in the company to here.

Smiling weakly, Nina rubbed the back of her neck. “Uh, Kihyun. You’ve heard.”

“Are you okay?” he asked, eyes attached to you. He cleared his throat, realising how one-tracked his mind was. “Both of you?”

“It’s not anything new, now, is it?” you insisted, though your expression was uneasy. He could see the doubt in your eyes too.

The performance he and Nina would put on wouldn’t be nearly as at ease and natural as it had been with you.

“I was just saying that I think maybe we should try and make a list of things,” Nina stated, still awkwardly smiling. Kihyun knew that if he didn’t stop the strained connection between them soon, it would make Hyunwoo’s concerns more obvious.

And whilst Kihyun wished for Terry and all those behind this scheme to rot slowly and painfully for throwing yet another unnecessary stunt like this, he didn’t want either of the women before him to suffer. He knew how hard you had both been working lately.

Not to mention, he didn’t want fans to worry.

“Instead of a list,” he said, Kihyun smiled as warmly as he could at Nina. “How about the three of us do something tonight?”

You frowned. “Something, as in?”

“Come around to our house. We’ll have dinner and get to know each other that way.”

“Isn’t that too risky?” you continued, darting your focus between Nina and Kihyun.

He knew what you were thinking. It was one thing for you, someone who no one would connect as anyone of value to Kihyun, to get caught going back to his place. It would be another entirely for the iconic red hair of Starlet to be spotted going in and out of his shared apartment – no matter how good of friends they were.

Kihyun’s smile turned grim. “It’s just as risky as having two women be the same idol. At the end of the day, we’ve got to work with what they’re throwing out or let the cracks show. And in my opinion, the slim notion of anyone catching Nina coming into our complex versus the entire nation discovering our friendship has morphed into something it wasn’t a few months ago is worth the risk, don’t you?”

After glancing at Nina, you sighed and nodded.

Teaming up like this would be the only way to make it back out of the woods.