“I had a hell of a night last night,” he half-bragged to Jisun, and it didn't even sound like she was at the phone anymore. “Noona, are you even listening?”

 

“Yeah, yeah. I'm listening. What'd you do, break a nail?” she teased, causing him to pout regardless of the fact that Jisun wouldn't even see the puffed out cheeks.

 

“No, no. I didn't do anything stupid like that. I did what I usually do.”

 

“What's that, sleep around? So what kind of girls did you do horrible things to last night? Make a bunch of promises that you never intended to keep?”

 

He paused, and rolled his eyes. She knew him too well.

 

“I take your silence as a yes... but I know hanging up on you will only cause you to call back, so I suppose I can listen to this ridiculous tale of debauchery. Get on with it...”

 

“Oh, nobody special I guess. I only got to one of them, the rest all seemed content with the other guys. This one was wrapped around my finger, anything I wanted her to believe, she did. It was ideal, actually, I almost wish I could get her in bed again. I made her all sorts of ridiculous empty promises. I'd live with her in Tokyo, buy her a car, all this dumb stuff. It didn't help that she was long gone, got herself drunk off of two wimpy cocktails because she didn't eat... what a child. I feel like I did something wrong almost!” Jungmin bragged, leaning back into his pillow. He could hear the others awake earlier, but they'd stopped all their shuffling around-- they must be at his door listening again.

 

“That's nice. How can you sit there and brag about things like this?” Jisun sounded genuinely angry. “I've put up with you for too long, I think. Do the others know all of the you do?”

 

“They must know by now, I bet you anything that they're at my door, listening to me go on about this to you. So humor me on that, please.”

 

Jisun could be heard sighing. This was getting ridiculous. It wasn't only that this was the umpteenth time in a month's time that he'd called and bragged about shattering the dreams of desperate fans, but she was quite sick of hearing that proud voice of his as he decided that yet another person was unworthy of him. She planned on changing that, and simply because she knew she had the time and the money to do it... and the leverage.

 

“You're an , Jungmin. I'm going to make sure you regret this the rest of your life,” she vowed.

 

“What? With all due respect, noona, what could you possibly do to me that would make me feel regret?”

 

The line went dead, though, right as he finished his sentence. Jisun didn't want to ruin things as she had begun to plan them out. He'd regret it, all right, and she'd make sure his career was on the line if he didn't.

 

Jungmin heard scrambling in front of his door. It was only one pair of feet, and they were clumsy-- Hyungjun, probably, he was the only one with enough balls to eavesdrop anymore, despite the many times he'd been caught, had his hair pulled, been punched, etc.

 

Jungmin came out of his room finally and sat down at the table. “Where's breakfast? I heard you guys making food, so... share it, please?”

 

Hyunjoong was surprised that he even uttered the word “please”, but he was entirely unsatisfied with Jungmin at the moment.

 

“I know what you did last night,” He muttered, “And I'm not going to be giving you anything until you get your in line,”

 

“Excuse me? I did nothing last night.”

 

“I heard you bragging on the phone,” Hyungjun added. “Before this morning, we were just suspicious that you did something. Jungmin glared at the maknae, causing him to slink off with his plate of food, away from the counter and to the other room to eat in front of the television.

 

“Whatever. And you guys didn't want to do anything? You can't treat me like this just because you don't like what I do with my life.”

 

“I can, and I will,” Hyunjoong replied, not even looking over his shoulder at Jungmin, who sat there at the table positively arrogantly.

 

“Fine, do what you want. It's only going to harm the band itself, not me. Remember that.”

 

“It's not all about you, Jungmin. You did something despicable last night and I'm not going to tolerate this anymore. I hope karma bites you in the for this. Don't you realize how old she was?” Hyunjoong had known their ages, and didn't have any hope that Jungmin had even asked that girl how old she was.

 

“Of course. Do you think that matters? She'll have tons of boyfriends in the future probably, she seems like the type.”

 

“That doesn't matter. You... damnit, I can't even with you right now. I can't look at you the same. We've all been losing respect for you as the days go on that you do this. What happened to you? You used to be so caring... so different. Now we don't even know you anymore?” Hyunjoong turned around finally, and Jungmin cringed-- he wasn't acting. He was legitimately angry. He shrugged, trying not to seem intimidated by the leader.

 

“Just stay out of it, okay?”

 

 

Months later, Jisun had paid a surprise visit to the dorm, waiting for Jungmin specifically to get back from schedules. Hyunjoong looked somewhat uncomfortable as he waited with her for Jungmin to get back. Surprised to see her, Jungmin waved and smiled widely.

 

“It's been a while, Jisun-noona. Did you miss my phone calls?” He sat down in a chair adjacent to the couch. She looked unamused, and glanced at Hyunjoong.

 

“I bought you plane tickets to Japan. It might be nice of you to know that you're going to be a father.” Jisun couldn't help but feel satisfied when all color seemed to drain from Jungmin's face. He stared at her and Hyunjoong with wide-eyes.

 

“H-how do you even know that? How could you have even gotten in contact with her? You must be making this up...” he felt sick to his stomach, wondering if there was a possibility that they weren't making it up.

 

“Hyunjoong was nice enough to give me her contact information. And we were both nice enough to do this for you. You need to own up to what you did. I told you, I would find a way to make you regret it. Now get packed up. Hyunjoong was busy calling everyone today and telling them that you're having personal, family issues and won't be available for some time. If you don't do this, things could get out to the media, and you don't want that, right?”

 

“You're threatening me?” Jungmin accused, “Blackmailing me? Hyung... you too? How could you do this to me, you know my career is the most important thing!”

 

“Yes, and it's for the better. Do you think she'd keep quiet?”

 

“Of course I do! Nobody would believe her.”

 

“Except for the fact that she's got witnesses. The press would come to us, don't you get it? We're not going to lie for you. Not now, not ever again. Go to Japan and clean up the mess you made, Jungmin. We're going on hiatus until you do.”

 

Jungmin looked horrified. So this was the truth. This is where he had gotten himself. Hyunjoong was right-- it was a mess, and he was mentally kicking himself as he packed a suitcase. Jisun popped her head in and tore him from his thoughts.

 

“You might need a bit more than that. You're staying indefinitely too.”

 

Groaning, Jungmin was mere moments away from throwing his suitcase across the room and going empty handed; but he paused, and thought the better of it, not wanting to have to re-pack everything.

 

Hours later, he was in Jisun's car on the way to Incheon. And just to make sure he went through with everything, Jisun was “nice enough” to accompany him to Narita, rent a car, and drive him all the way down to a small beach city at the near-bottom of Chiba prefecture.

 

“I can't believe you're doing this to me,” he muttered when they parked in front of a home that had two other cars in its narrow driveway.

 

“I hope you remember her name at least. Because you are answering the door yourself, mister 'I'm-fluent-in-Japanese', and you're going to go through with it or I will up and abandon you here.”

 

Jungmin groaned, and looked at the parked car in front of him.

 

“It's Mercedes. And I guess I can see why...” he grudgingly got out, glowering at the parked cars as if to take it out on them for sharing the same name. “Unbelievable...” he muttered, approaching the door. Nervously, he knocked on it, and the door was answered some minutes later by a shorter girl with long, black hair. Did he have the wrong house? Her eyes widened when she realized who it was, and timidly, she ran off, mumbling something he couldn't quite understand, it was much too muffled. It was moments later, after he stood there and dumbly stared into their front hallway, that Mercedes came to the door.

 

It took all of five seconds to have the door slammed in his face, and if looks could kill he would have been dead ten times over. Inside, there was some arguing, and the door was soon opened again, and it was clear she was reluctant to do so.

 

“What could you possibly want? I've had enough of you and your bull promises, so if you're going to try and get me in bed again, take it somewhere else.”

 

“We need to talk... about this...” Jungmin couldn't seem to find the right words, and it was evident in his lack of confidence as he spoke that he didn't even know where to start picking up the pieces.

 

“I believe you as far as I can throw you, maybe. If that. You're a liar. You ruined my life just for one single night of pleasure, one damn night that you could have had someone else to stick it in while you lied through your teeth,” the blonde snapped at him, leaning forward. As he was about to speak again, Jungmin had carelessly looked away, and did not see as Mercedes drew her hand back and slapped him hard across the cheek. Stunned, he brought his hand up to his face and held it there. It hurt, and in more ways than one. Nobody had ever done this to him, put him in his place like this-- and it had actually slightly upset him.

 

“Please, we need to... I need to apologize. I want to fix this, really!” Jungmin practically begged, looking stupid as he rubbed his cheek a bit.

 

“No. I don't believe you, isn't that obvious, or do I have to explain it again? I hate you. Get out of here.” And with that, the door was slammed in his face once again, and he heard it lock. There was more arguing, but Jungmin walked back to Jisun's car and got inside.

 

“I guess that went well, hm?” Jisun's voice dripped with sarcasm and she shook her head. “I suppose we're going to a hotel for the night.”

 

“She just... didn't want to hear a word of it. She doesn't believe me at all. And only half of me wants to bother anyway, but...” Jungmin recalled the slap to the face, and brought his hand up instinctively to feel his cheek. “She hit me. I've never had a girl hit me before.”

 

“Well, let's see, you... probably did ruin her life by getting her pregnant. Not every sixteen year old girl wants children, you know, especially not from a deadbeat popstar.”

 

The words hit home just as badly as the slap to the face. Jungmin didn't want to be that kind of man. He could not imagine living with himself for becoming such a scumbag. Looking down, slightly, he could feel his eyes begin to sting, and he gave a shaky sigh.

 

“Let's go to the hotel. I will try again tomorrow, and the next day, and every day after that it takes for her to believe me. I just don't want to be the type of man to bring a child into the world and not give a damn about it.”

 

Jisun was surprised-- yet at the same time, this was harsh reality setting in. It wasn't all that surprising that Jungmin would accept it, since he really had no other choice. Living with a guilty conscience about sleeping around was one thing, but when a child was involved, it was completely different. The woman felt bad for him, and in silence, she drove him to the hotel she'd booked while she had sat in the car.