CHAPTER 3

True enough, Victoria had a major scolding from her manager. She already memorized by heart how he would try to lecture her; she knew the words he was going to use so it didn’t really scare her that much. He bought the Zhou Mi alibi, but she still got into trouble. And for that, she was going to train by herself all night in the practice room. She hated these punishments. They were almost torture, but she knew that it was worth it. She was able to spend an amazing day (and night) with her boyfriend. Boyfriend. Boyfriend. The word lingered in her head and she can’t believe she has one. Boyfriend. She involuntarily smiled, in front of her raging manager.

She was sent to the practice room alone, while her members were going out for this activity-free day. Facing the wall of mirrors, she turned up the music and broke out in sweat.

Khun had a less severe sermon from his manager. Minjae was already a close friend to him, so it wasn’t bad at all. He found out he had to go for a radio show with Chansung.

He was planning to tell everything to s but it could wait. However, in the elevator, as they were ready to go out of their dorm building, Chansung pointed something out.

“Hyung. I may be the youngest one but I know that that’s a hickey on your neck. Was Victoria as flexible in bed as she is on TV?” the youngest member said in one breath as he chewed on a banana.

Khun panicked for a while, it was a good thing Minjae wasn’t there. He quickly adjusted his scarf to hide the said mark and looked at Chansung in bewilderment.

“Why are you interested about her flexibility?” he asked, almost seething.

“Nothing. She just seems interesting, the way she could do stuff like that to her body, you know. So how was she?” Chansung smirked.

Normally, when guys ask about a girl you just slept with, Khun would boast about it and tell every single detail. But this was different. He didn’t know why but at that moment, he decided not to tell everything to s. What he and Victoria has, it’s something valuable and private; not for anyone’s amusement. He felt as if he would be violating her if he told anyone about what happened between them.

“That’s between me and her.” Khun sneered impishly and Chansung chuckled while shaking his head. The elevator doors opened.

A tall figure caught Victoria’s attention from the door to the room. She turned to see her first time friend, Zhou Mi. She smiled as he entered with a swagger.

They spoke in Chinese, as usual and it always felt like home talking to her sunbae. She turned the music down.

“You’re not supposed to be here.” She greeted.

“I know. I bumped into your manager. He was very pissed.” He said nonchalantly as if it happened all the time.

She lowered her head, forcing a laugh. She knew he was going to ask questions.

“I’m sorry you had to be a scapegoat.” She said.

“It’s all good. Anything for the common good, you know. So what’s the real story?” he asked.

She was expecting that. He was like a big brother to her and a confidante given the fact that he spoke the same language. Amber was still away and she isn’t as close to Henry as she was with Zhou Mi. She could tell him anything. She used to cry to him when she was homesick or when she would miss her mom. She used to rant to him whenever her manager gave her a hard time, but this time it was different. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him the real deal.

“You seeing someone?” he asked. His expression was serious now, concerned even.

All she could do to not lie to her friend was nod.

Zhou Mi gave a fatherly shake of the head, the way dads do when their daughters do something disapproving.

“Let’s sit down for a while.” He suggested, and they sat on the floor side by side like they used to.

“Now I’m not your father or your brother to tell you what to do.” He began.

“You’re like my big brother though.” She said, trying to ease the impact of what’s coming.

He nodded and smiled.

“Well then, I still won’t expect you to heed my words. I won’t tell you to stop what you’re doing. In fact, do as you wish. But, the minute this goes out of hand, you will regret everything. And it will be ugly. I’m not scaring you, you know the consequences because you’re old enough, but keep in mind that not only is your name on the line but also you’re group’s name.” he continued. He sounded like a real counselor.

She knew all of these. But it didn’t occur to her that her group was involved in this too. The moment this all turns ugly, she will bring her group down with her. It was bad enough that people are starting to hate them since Amber went missing.

“If you’re careful until the very end because you’re sure he’s the one you’ll marry, I’m happy for you and I’ll be here for you. But if this is just one of those flings that only last for a few nights, end it. Before it’s too late.” He went on.

Something about his tone made him superior in these kinds of things. She appreciated how concerned he was about her career. He was always going in and out of Korea, she missed talking like this to him.

She gave out a heavy sigh. “As always, you’re giving me advice that is very hard to do.” She grumbled. He laughed.

“It’s only hard if you don’t know what your goal is. If your goal is to make everyone happy and the situation win-win at the end, then it’s not hard.” He said as-a-matter-of-factly.

“I understand. Oh well. So are you going to be busy?” she asked him.

“Nope. I actually came here to take you out for dinner. My treat.”

“You’re gonna have to wait though.”

“It’s fine.”

She stood up and continued her dancing as Zhou Mi sat on the floor, checking himself out in the mirror.

After Khun and Chansung had just finished the radio show interview, Khun checked his phone. She hasn’t called yet, he thought. He was worried that she might’ve gotten into huge trouble. He decided to call her.

It rang, but it wasn’t her cutesy voice that answered it. It was a male’s voice.

“Hello? Who’s this?” Khun asked, thoroughly surprised.

“Oh, Victoria’s kind of busy right now. She’ll call you back.”

“Oh okay. Thank you.”

Khun stared at his phone for a few seconds. It couldn’t be her manager, since a manager would not talk that suavely. All he could do was wait.

“Nichkhun? You’re dating Nichkhun?” Zhou Mi exclaimed in shock, Victoria had to shush him.

“Are you crazy? I thought you were seeing someone totally anonymous but him? Him? Are you out of your mind? This is suicide! What is wrong with you?” Zhou Mi ranted, half whispering, half yelling.

“Sssshhh I know, I know. Just keep quiet for a while.” She hissed.

“Do you not care about your career? Have you no drop of self-preservation? You know how closely watched that guy is. Once his fans find out about this they will slaughter your career. You could have picked someone from an unknown group like, I don’t know, Dalmatian or F.Cuz but 2PM? Really? Really?” he went on, like a father outraged by his daughter’s pregnancy.

“I didn’t want this to happen okay. It just…I can’t not be with him.” She said, her voice trailing off.

Zhou Mi saw the sincere trace in her voice. She has never been like this before. He can only calm down and sigh helplessly.

“If you like him that much, do as you wish, I just don’t want to see you have a hard time when—“

“Don’t even say it. He’s…he’s different okay.” She cut him off.

He nodded. “He better be.” He smiled.

Khun waited in agony for her call. He spent his time in their dorm bothering Taec and Junho but he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He had already told them about him and Victoria and he was thankful that they didn’t make into a big deal. Probably because they think it wasn’t that serious. Everyone thought that it was just a casual thing, a little and that’s it. They don’t know that it was more than that. So much more. It was around 11pm when his phone rang. He was in his room, facing his laptop.

“Sorry for calling late.” She immediately spoke up.

“What have you been doing? I was worried. Some guy answered your phone.”

“I was punished, training myself for the last seven hours but that’s okay. Zhou Mi oppa came by. He was the one you talked to.”

“Oh. You trained for more than seven hours? You must be tired.”

“A little. I’m used to it.”

“Did you eat?”

“Yeah, Zhou Mi oppa treated me out to dinner so I gained my energy back.”

Khun wasn’t supposed to be jealous at this, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted the privilege of taking her out to dinner in public too, without people taking pictures at them and girls whispering nasty things about her. He didn’t realize he’s been silent for a while, Victoria’s voice snapped him back to reality.

“Khunnie.”

“Sorry what?”

“You should sleep early.”

“Okay. Aren’t you sleeping yet?”

“In awhile. I’m already in bed anyway.”

“Me too.”

Both ends were silent for a few seconds but they were comfortable with that silence. Something filled that silence; it wasn’t awkwardness or nothingness. There was something deeper in it that they both understood.

“I don’t really miss you.” He said.

He couldn’t see it but she smiled.

“Okay. It’s fine.” She prevented herself from laughing. He sounded cute to her.

“No really, I was busy and too much was going on.”

Her smile faded.

“Okay.”

Silence.

“I’m kidding.” He broke the tension that could lead up to her anger. “You’re all I thought about today.”

“Really now? What kind of thoughts are those? Naughty ones?”

“No. Your perfume stayed on my skin. And everywhere I went, I could smell you. It was weird but I liked the feeling. Kind of like I had you around in my pocket or something.”

“I’ll wear less perfume next time then.”

“How about you wear nothing?”

She giggled on the other line.

“No way.”

“Arasso. Time for you to sleep, you’ve been tired.”

“Okay. Sleep too. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

They slept with happy and light hearts but that night Khun dreamt that Victoria left him.