Stumbling back to my office in disarray I frantically searched my bag and took out my phone. Another twenty missed calls now from both Minzy and Jess; I’m such a fool, I should’ve known that something had happened. As I stared mindlessly at my phone, the screen started to blink once again and Jess’ name appeared.

“Hey…” I answered while collapsing onto the chair before my legs gave away.

“Oh thank god, finally. Where have you been?” Jess’ worried voice came through the speaker, and I immediately felt apologetic. “Forget about that, just listen to me okay, the both of you are everywhere on those English-Korean entertainment sites. It’s headline news.”

“They already came here Jess. Some reporter came to my work and asked for me.”

“What?! Are you serious?”

“How bad is it?”

“There are photos of you in London walking together, holding hands, eating. I mean it’s pretty undeniable stuff. Do you have any idea how much I freaked out when I saw it?” My head hurts. This was Minzy and Young Bae oppa all over again, except this time we didn’t even get a heads up.

“I think I need to go home and just… think.”

“Babe, you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“Look, you’re right. Just go home and call him. Whatever you do don’t read the comments, it’s a freaking fan war out there.”

“Who’s winning?”

“You don’t want to know.” She was right. As soon as she hung up I connected to the front desk using the internal line.

“Hey Sarah, if someone’s asking for me can you just tell them I’m out.”

“Sure thing.”

“Thanks.” Hopefully that was enough for the time being. With an hour left on the clock I was hardly in the mood to pick up on my work once again, so I packed up all my things and decided to call it an early day. Besides, working from home would give me a better peace of mind.

There was a man lurking in front of the apartment building when I got there. He might not have been anyone, but my paranoia made me circle the place and come in through the back. This was my fault, I was in the middle of a secret relationship with the leader of a legendary group in Korean music, and this was the price I had to pay. Though the thing is, I knew G-Dragon was more than that. With that name he was the force behind much of the westernization of this type of music for the past few years, and that turned him into something like an icon; an untouchable. But those things all easily slipped my mind when he was just Ji Yong.

It was a catastrophe. Despite Jess’ warnings I opened up the Korean portal sites as soon as I got home and the scale of it all was beyond my imagination. He’s had scandals, sure, but there was always a huge gaping hole in the evidence department where journalists simply made assumptions based on stray coincidences. This one though was beyond repair. Pictures as recent as the lunch we had on Saturday were also up, where my face remained blurred, along with the captions of ‘Kwon Ji Yong (G-Dragon) with Lee-ssi a non-celebrity in London’. Then the comments, well, let’s just say some people were very good at what they do best; judge. I wasn’t irked by them, it just wasn’t worth my time but there was one huge burden that was now resting on my shoulders; all of this could ruin him.

For the first time in my life I felt absolutely powerless, I was at a loss as to what to do, so like an obsessive reader I just stalked those internet pages the entire night. The conciseness of their articles scared me; it was filled with information about my age, education and career, even going as far as detailing my family background. It’s as if they were trying to compare me to the ideal mold of Korean women and using whatever doesn’t fit as substance to poke at. Netizens eat stuff like that up so easily. Annoyance was the first emotion I felt, but then it turned into nothing but pure pity because they were stuck in the world of black and white with no grey spaces in between. Pretty or ugly? Smart or dumb? Worthy or not? Where was the fun in that?

The second call came from sajangnim a few hours later, which was rather unexpected and thus leading to a rather awkward conversation.

“Erika, I’m so sorry for all the trouble is everything alright?” he asked. If anyone I should be the one apologising.

“I’m fine, thank you for calling. One reporter showed up at my work but I managed to get away from him. I didn’t say anything so don’t worry.”

“I thought that might happen. There will most likely be more of them coming and at this point I don’t know what I can do for you. It would be a good idea if you lie low for a few days, maybe not go out as much? I mean, if you can. You know, if your job lets you but if it’s too difficult just…”

“I can take leave for a few days sajangnim.”

“Be careful Erika, I don’t know how bad this is going to get. I’d feel better if you came over to Korea, but I don’t want to bring you into this even more.”

“Is Ji Yong…”

“We’re doing what we can. Call me whenever you need to okay?”

“I will, thank you.”

Being told to shut up and sit still in the middle of chaos just wasn’t my forte but at this point doing anything would be plain stupid. It was midnight and in the middle of a restless sleep I felt for my phone, only to be met with disappointment. Ji Yong still hadn’t called me.

Jeff was my only life saver; he dropped by midday in the middle of his lunch hour to bring food to the apartment. I had unhooked the home phone ever since it hadn’t stopped ringing at five in the morning and the eager crowd of journalists downstairs did nothing to help my pain. The manager of that café should praise me for bringing him customers on a weekday.

“I should’ve gone shopping,” I scowled.

“Because of course you expected to be hunted down by reporters and paparazzi,” he said. I just sighed and bit into my pie. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“What did he say?”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t called me. I mean, why?” Alright, now I was getting pissed. “He can’t even drop me a single call just to ask me how I’m doing. I mean even a text would be sufficient at this point. You know his boss even called me last night.”

“Was he angry?”

“No. I think he likes me.” I needed a friend to talk to but Jeff had to go back to work.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked once again before he walked out the door. I just smiled and nodded, and I was soon left alone with my thoughts.  The weather was on my side that day; it was pouring with rain by late afternoon and with it came thunder and wind. I gleefully saw the mob disperse from my window.

The evening was relatively quiet and calm, the sound of rumbling clouds actually comforting me until a series of bangs on my door caught me off guard. They couldn’t have come inside, could they? I sat unmoving on my chair, frightened for the first time.

“Lee Ri Ah, open the door.” At the sound of his voice my heart just lurched and I ran and unlocked door to see Ji Yong’s absolutely soaked figure standing in my doorway. I blame it entirely on the stress, but as soon as I saw his face all serious and grave I threw myself at him, pushing him out of the door frame and against the opposing hallway wall.

“Ri Ah, wait…” I didn’t give him even give him to say anything else with my lips hungrily on his, needing to feel him, taste him and just have him. It wasn’t long before he responded; tongue teasing me back and arms around my waist effortlessly lifting me up. I wrapped my legs around him as he carried me back into the apartment and I heard the door shut behind him. He came to me; Ji Yong came back for me.

AN: Sorry for the long wait guys, there was just so much going on. Thanks again as always! You guys always make my day when you drop comments! Just to give you a heads up, I'm going to start posting a chapter around about every 3-4 days.