The Relationship Protocol

Chapter 6

The Relationship Protocol

After taking a taxi, Jay and Melanie were walking along a crowded sidewalk down a street in Hongdae, dressed in casual clothes with the only BB cream and pressed powder for makeup on their faces after removing the heavy performance makeup. Melanie had always loved this particular quality about Jay. He never went out in some ridiculous disguise, mask, or sunglasses to hide his face when he walked amongst the public. If a fan came up to him he would treat them nicely and take pictures or give an autograph because he was always grateful to his fans. Where would he be today if he didn’t have his Jaywalkers? There was no glamorous façade of being an idol that let his fame go to his head or being held back from the company from really connecting with his fans.

“Where are we going?” Melanie asked.

“To a café,” Jay replied. He stole a glance in her direction and noticed the distance she had created between them. “Why are you walking so far away?”

Melanie cocked her head to the side; she hadn’t even noticed the distance. It seemed that she had subconsciously moved away from him as she was preoccupied with her thoughts. She had known Jay for a very long time; this was a situation they had been through before. Now that they’re stepping toward being in an exclusive relationship again, she was unsure of how they should proceed from here. They were both in the limelight and she knew that once this information got out, their lives would be watched like a hawk by the media and by fans.

Since Melanie took too long to answer his question, Jay took the initiative, exaggerating a yawn and reached his arm out to Melanie and hooked it over her shoulders.

Melanie tried to hold back her smile and laughed at his gesture. “You...are so damn corny.”

“What? All I did was yawn,” Jay said innocently. “Let’s go in this one.”

Looking at the white lighted sign with the words “Café Homeo” in a deep brown color, Jay steered Melanie away from the side of the street and toward the entrance of the shop. In the wee hours of the morning, Melanie only see a few customers as they walked into the dimly lit café. As she glanced around, Melanie couldn’t decide where to feast her eyes upon due to the uniquely furnished shop. She caught sight of little tags on some items in the shop and guessed that they didn’t solely sell coffee but furniture as well.

When they made it to the front of the shop, Melanie and Jay looked at the hand-written menu board before ordering and paying for their drinks as well as a slice of cake. There was no use in Melanie insisting on paying for herself, Jay had always protested on letting her pay for anything when it was just the two of them ever since they were teenagers. He was always the chivalrous type, wanting to be the perfect and romantic type. Taking their seats opposite each other at a large wooden table under the dimmest lighting in the café as they waited for their order, Melanie brought up the subject weighing on her mind.

“Are we going public with this?” she asked.

Jay shrugged, “Depends on whether or not you want to, I’d be fine with whatever you want.”

“I want to know what you want. You’re the one that going to be harassed by the general public the most if it gets out that we’re in a relationship.”

“So we’ll go public. At least then everyone will know you’re all mine,” he teased.

Melanie pouted, “I’m being serious, Jay. It may not seem like that big of a concern to you but it is to me. We’re not just a couple of unknown teenagers this time. You’re an idol and your life is watched by a lot people all over the world.”

“I don’t give a damn what anyone outside of my family or friends thinks about our relationship,” Jay began; his face lost all traces of that playful smirk from before.

“Even if my fans didn’t like you and wanted us apart, I wouldn’t listen to them. I know I care about my fans and they care about me too but you will always be one of the most important people in my life. You’re the one who’s been there for me when I was at my worst and going through the hardest times of my life. No matter what the media or anyone else thinks about us, my feels for you aren’t going to change. We’re human beings, Mel. Dating each other isn’t some forbidden crime.”

Through his declaration, Melanie’s mouth constantly twitched and quivered as she refused to let herself smile brightly due to the sincerity of Jay’s words. She pulled her bottom lip into before breaking into a smile, glancing at Jay’s dark eyes across the table. Her heart was still fluttering and unbeknownst to her, Jay’s was thumping rapidly in his chest.

He may act nonchalant about things but he knew that the only way to get Melanie to understand him was speak bluntly and honestly. He was touched that she felt so concerned about how his career could be affected and if he had done this long ago when he was under a different company, he doubted that he’d do this so freely. Idols weren’t known to deal public relationships and the ones that were publicly dating were few in numbers. It was a risky business that could significantly damage to idols careers such as a loss in their fanbase, an increase in anti-fans, and saesang fans antics could make their significant other feel that their safety is at risk.

Jay leaned on the table and pointed at Melanie, “I know you’re a dancer and all but keep the couple dances to a minimum.”

“Me?” Melanie said with wide eyes. “Shouldn’t I be saying that to you? The only people I do couple dances with are you and Youngbae oppa.”

Jay’s face scrunched up. “Yeah, don’t call any other guys oppa either.”

“Jay! He’s a friend that’s older than me, what the hell am I supposed to call him?”

“Call him Taeyang-shi,” Jay stated nonchalantly.

“I’m not gonna do that. I’ll call my older guy friends ‘oppa’ just like you call your older girl friends ‘noona’ and neither of us is going to be jealous about it,” Melanie said.

“Let’s do this: couple dances with others are okay as long as they’re not too provocative or have too much skinship,” Jay suggested. After Melanie agreed, his last sentence sparked a question.

“Sooo…how much skinship are we going to be doing here?” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Melanie’s eyes narrowed. “Is that really a big concern?”

“Of course it is! We were both raised in the US and you know that skinship isn’t that big of a concern. I don’t know about you but I’ve only been conservative about it because that’s how the culture is here. So are we taking the American approach or the Korean approach to it?”

Melanie bit her lip. She could see how that would be a concern since they’ll probably be asked about it sometime and Jay loved skinship almost, if not more, than Jonghyun from SHINee.

“I don’t think the approach matters. I think we should just do whatever feels right for us. Although, we should probably keep it as a happy medium in public or on TV,” she reasoned.

“So I can kiss you on TV?” he grinned micheiveously.

“On the cheek.”

“Wae~?” Jay whined.

“Because if I let you kiss me on lips you’ll go completely overboard and scar a lot of people for life. Then everyone will know how much you at kissing,” she teased.

“But what if we have to do it? Like if it’s a penalty or a mission that specifically says ‘on the lips?’”

“Hmm.” Melanie thought. “Then it can only be a peck. If it exceeds 2 seconds, you’ll be on punishment.”

“And I do not at kissing, maybe I did in the beginning but not now,” he proclaimed.

“Yeah, right and that’s why all of your kiss scene’s look like someone made two mannequins touch lips,” she said sarcastically.

“If you think I’m so terrible,” he said, standing up and leaning across the table toward Melanie. “then why don’t you put it to the test?”

Jay’s pink tongue slipped between his parted lips, his thick lower lip before he suggestively bit his lips, looking at Melanie with hooded eyes. But before Melanie could answer, a waitress had come with their order, placing their drinks down on the table and sliding a single slice of marbled chocolate and vanilla cake between them along with two forks. Jay slid back to sitting down at the table as Melanie thanked the waitress for bringing them their order and allowed the question to go unanswered for now, but only because of his new mission to have Melanie feed him.

Merry Christmas!

I was planning on double updating but I don't have any ideas for the next chapter.

It's Taeyang centric (because he hasn't appeared in awhile)

so if anyone has ideas throw some this way! c:

Have a lovely winter break and enjoy the holidays safely!

— SynFic