Suzy walked ahead alone, ignoring her members who were chattering noisily behind her. It’d been like this for weeks, her walking ahead like a lone ranger, them following behind, chatting to each other but leaving her out, as if they didn’t even know each other. It’d been like that ever since the…fiasco occurred. Even her labelmates acted the same way; Joo would lower her head and pretend not to have seen her, and both the 2PM and 2AM members were constantly ignoring her. Jinwoon had even yelled at her last week.

Suzy folded her arms, her face twisting into a scowl at the thought. All of a sudden, she stopped, abruptly, and Min, who nearly crashed into her, snapped, “Hey, watch where you’re going!”

Suzy ignored her; her eyes were fixed on the figure up ahead, a figure so familiar yet so distant. Kim Myungsoo. He was leaning casually against the wall, chatting with Woohyun and Hoya as he waited for his turn to perform. She stared at him, her breathing growing short; even after so long, even after she’d been with him, he still had that effect on her, the ability to take her breath away completely.

Min muttered, “Bloody nuisance, standing in the middle of the hallway and blocking others…” She shoved past Suzy to get to their dressing room, Fei and Jia hurrying after her.

Myungsoo’s hand gestured, his face wearing a comfortable grin as he said something jokingly; his head half-turned, and his eyes fell upon Suzy, the smile on his face freezing.

Woohyun followed Myungsoo’s gaze; he eyed Suzy coldly for a moment, then took Myungsoo by the hand, pulling him away to join the other Infinite members. Hoya glanced back at Suzy, almost pityingly, before following after Woohyun and Myungsoo.

Suzy swallowed, forcing back the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

A voice called her from behind, surprisingly friendly – perhaps the only friendly voice she had heard in the past week, “Hey, Suzy, what’re you doing just standing there?”

Suzy turned, recognition sparking in her eyes. “JB! What are you doing here?”

“Visiting the 2AM sunbaes. What else? It’s not like I’m here to perform, JJProject wasn’t invited to Gayo Daejun, remember?” JB replied, a bright smile on his face. Next to him, Jr snorted and ignored both of them, striding off to find 2AM’s dressing room.

Suzy did not allow Jr’s actions to affect her; she’d long been used to it, after all. Instead, she focused on JB . “So, how’ve you been? It’s been a while since we met, hasn’t it?”

“Yep, about a week and a half since you went to our apartment. Are you all right? Why were you standing there? Dozing off?” JB joked.

Suzy rolled her eyes. “Haha. Don’t be lame, JB.”

Just at that moment, the T-ara members rounded the corner behind JB, on their way to the dressing room. Suzy’s expression changed at the sight of them, and she scowled at Jiyeon.

JB turned; his bright expression faded as he caught sight of Jiyeon. Jiyeon picked up her pace, but before she could reach him, he was already gone, speed-walking towards 2AM’s dressing room. She bit back a sigh. Eunjung frowned. “Did he just try to avoid you?”

The exchange had not escape Suzy’s eyes; she sneered at Jiyeon, “Guess everything’s not rainbow and sunshine for you, huh?”

“Get lost, Suzy, or you’re going to get a bruise the size of my hand on your cheek again.” Hyomin lifted her hand threateningly; Suzy flinched. With an ugly expression on her face, she turned and practically ran for her dressing room.

Hyomin snorted, “Coward.”

Boram pushed Hyomin slightly. “That’s physical violence.”

“I didn’t touch her!” Hyomin protested. Boram just shot her a look.

Jiyeon tuned out their words; she was still dismayed by JB’s reaction. He was clearly still angry with her. Thoughts of their arguments occupied her brain; she paid no attention to where she was going, caught up in her own thoughts instead.

A hand tapped her on the shoulder, and Jiyeon looked up, startled. Myungsoo was standing in front of her, a friendly smile on his face. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“You’ll need to give me five dollars if you want me to tell you.” Jiyeon responded.

The other T-ara members filed into their dressing room, but they kept the door open, Eunjung hovering near it, watching Myungsoo and Jiyeon. Myungsoo had been a perfect gentleman to all of them for the past week and a half, much like he’d been when he and Jiyeon first started dating, but Eunjung still kept a hairy eyeball on them just in case.

“No, seriously, why do you look so down?” Myungsoo asked.

Jiyeon hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether or not to share her troubles with him. After a moment, she spoke up, “Did you…did you see JB and Suzy talking to each other just now?”

Understanding sparked in Myungsoo’s eyes, and he had to fight to keep the disappointment off his face. “So you’re worried about JB? I think you needn’t be; that boy’s a smart one, he knows better than to get involved with Suzy.”

Jiyeon nodded, but she did not look reassured. Myungsoo watched her silently – he’d never seen her look so down, not even when he’d done things like break off their dates or shout at her for various reasons when they had been dating.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well done, T-ara! Hyomin, you were really good!” Woohyun called over the cheers and screams of the fans as T-ara descended from the stage. Myungsoo tried to forge a path to Jiyeon, waving a hand so that she would spot him, but her eyes just travelled over him, searching the mass of people at backstage. There were other idols and managers and all that, but her eyes were looking for one person, and one person only. But he wasn’t here. She nearly deflated, her expression automatically becoming downcast.

Even without being told, Myungsoo knew why she looked so upset. He forced a smile onto his face and made his way to her side. “Hey! Come on, let’s go back to your dressing room!”

Jiyeon fought to keep the disappointment off her face; with a smile, she nodded and followed after Myungsoo.

As they were reaching T-ara’s dressing room, the duo were surprised to see the 2AM members hovering outside their own dressing room (which was next to T-ara’s), having a quiet but heated discussion.

“Jinwoon-sshi, what are you doing out here?” Jiyeon asked, surprised.

The 2AM boys looked up, startled. Changmin and Seulong exchanged a look. Jinwoon shifted awkwardly.

Before any of the boys could answer, a hoarse shout rang out, “I told you to leave me the alone!”

As one, all their heads swiveled to stare at the locked door. Myungsoo glanced at Jiyeon, his expression hesitant. “That…was that…”

Jiyeon looked at the 2AM boys. “Is his mother in there?”

The 2AM members looked at her, surprised. “How do you…”

“It is, isn’t it?” Jiyeon pressed. Jo Kwon spoke up, his expression unusually serious. “He told you? Why would he? He didn’t even tell us about-”

Jiyeon’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? What happened?”

Changmin looked at her. “So he didn’t tell you? Then how do you know?”

“I’ve met her. At JJProject’s dorm.” Jiyeon explained. Before she could elaborate, the door was flung open and JB stormed out. His expression was furious, his brows so tightly knit they looked like a single line. He cast one glance at Jiyeon and Myungsoo, then spun around and stormed down the hallway.

Myungsoo looked into the dressing room; an elderly lady was sitting in a chair, her face in her hands, tears streaking down her face. Jr was standing beside her, wringing his hands in worry.

“Jiyeon-” Myungsoo turned, but before he could go any further, Jiyeon was already running down the hallway after JB.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JB threw the front doors open; he took a sharp right to avoid the rabid fans. He pulled his hoodie on to cover his face; keeping his head down, he walked quickly along the road.

“JB! Im Jaebum!” The familiar voice called him from some distance away. JB’s footsteps slowed for the briefest of moments; then his face hardened, and he strode at an even faster pace.

“Im Jaebum, didn’t you hear me?” Jiyeon grabbed him by the hand, trying to yank him around, but JB was stronger that her; he pulled back, and she was thrown off-balance, falling forward with a surprised yelp.

JB’s eyes widened; he leaned back and caught her gently by the shoulders. There was a long silence as they gazed at each other. Then Jiyeon moved back, coughing awkwardly. “Thanks.”

JB schooled his features into one of polite disinterest. “What is it?”

“…Are you still mad at me?” Jiyeon ventured timidly.

JB started, not expecting that question. After a moment, he responded, “And if I am?”

“Umm…don’t be mad, maybe?” Jiyeon pouted, “It’s not nice having you mad at me, I don’t have anyone to talk to at night anymore… Please?” She leaned forward, giving JB puppy-dog eyes.

There was hardly a pause before JB sighed, “I don’t like arguing with you either, Jiyeon, but I want my privacy and if I’m not going to get it then-”

“So you’re not forgiving me?” Jiyeon asked, her eyes downcast. She hesitated for a moment, before asking tentatively, “Or…do you not like me anymore? Does your heart…does it belong to someone else?” JB just answered, “You don’t know how you feel either, do you? Maybe if we just spent some time apart to figure out our feelings-”

“But I already know my own feelings!” Jiyeon interrupted. JB blinked; before he could say a single word, Jiyeon leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. 

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Pretty self-explanatory, this chapter. 

Jiyeon finally confesses her feelings, and poor Myungsoo has to swallow his pride and resentment as a way of making up...who will Jiyeon choose now? Will she stick with JB, or will she be moved by Myungsoo's devotion to her? Wait for the next chapter to find out!

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