"Hey, isn't that Eun Mi in the picture, holding hands with Zelo?"

"Eun Mi? As in Park Eun Mi, the former nerd?"

"Wait, I thought she was dating L.Joe?"

"That two-timing wrench!"

"How can she cheat on L.Joe like this?!"

"Andwae! Zelo, you can't date her!!"

"As your pedo-noona fangirls, we don't give you permission to do so!"

A huge crowd of people ran up to us and started firing questions at us about the article. Screw the internet, I thought. Making everything so complicated... making people think I was cheating on L.Joe with his very own cousin. No. 

Just no.

"Hey, how about we leave this place and get out of here before we're murdered?" Changjo nudged my shoulder.

The sea of people lunged forward and I got shoved into Sooyoung, who was right behind me. "Sounds like a good plan. Let's go!"

We all ran away from the crowd behind us and towards our apartment. Wait, that would be a bad idea; people would know where we live... Oh well, not that we cared unless we survive tonight.

Ignoring the shouts of "Go after them!" and "Stop them, we need answers!", the Teen Top and B.A.P. crew joined me in running pass cars, turning corners, and dodging innocent passerbys. The fangirls (and fanboys) seemed to gain more speed as we continued to run along the sidewalk.

We got to an intersection and crossed the road when a bus came at us, veering to the right. I felt someone grab my arm and steer me to safety and off to the side. Turning around, I expected it to be L.Joe but instead it was Zelo.

He tugged on my arm again. "Noona, be careful! Keep running!"

I nodded and didn't have to be told twice. The angry mob was still at our heels as we turned a corner near our apartment. Everyone scrambled over each other and flattened themselves on the side of the wall in an attempt to hide ourselves.

It worked; the crowd that wanted answers to their questions ran past us and didn't spot our hiding place. A cloud of dust flew in our faces and I slumped against the brick wall in relief, panting for the second time today.

"Wait, where's L.Joe?" I scanned the group and realized that we had been separated on our way here; the only people that were with me was Zelo, Changjo, Himchan, Ricky, Daehyun, and Sooyoung.

"They were on the other side of the bus and then went in a different direction." Sooyoung said. "That's L.Joe, Yongguk, Youngjae, Niel, Chunji, C.A.P., and Jongup."

Himchan smacked his forehead with his palm. "We got split up? Wow."

"But noona, are you really cheating on L.Joe hyung with-" Ricky made a disgusted face in Zelo's direction, "-him?"

"Ani!" I shook my head and waved my hands in front of my face for emphasis. "No, it's all a misunderstanding!"

"All we did was play video games and steal- er I mean eat cherry tomatoes, I swear!" Zelo said. "We didn't know we were going to be part of the newest gossip!"

Daehyun nodded slowly. He looked like the really quiet type that didn't say much. But in reality, he was actually the powerful vocal of B.A.P. He's a bit mysterious, somehow. "I believe you."

Himchan huffed and crossed his arms. "Well, I don't."

Sooyoung sighed. "All those who believe Zelo, raise your hands." Everyone raised their hand except Himchan and Ricky.

"All those who don't believe Zelo, raise your hands." Himchan and Ricky were the only ones with their hands in the air.

"Well then, that settles it, five to two. Eun Mi is not cheating on L.Joe and Zelo was just playing around." Sooyoung concluded.

"We object!" Himchan and Ricky said. "He-"

"Shut up with all the political talk already." Daehyun said. "Let's just hear their explanation."

The two disagree-ers sighed and everyone looked expectantly at Zelo and I. "What?"

"Explain!" Changjo said.

"Oh, okay." He said. "All we did was go to the arcade and play some games. Then we went out and ate some yummy cherry tomatoes and then this old lady witch began to chase after us so we ran away and then the person stalking us must have thought we were holding hands but really we were just running away for dear life."

Changjo turned to me his time. "Explain."

"No, seriously! That's what happened!" Zelo protested, highly offended.

"He's right, it really did happen. Only it wasn't an old lady witch, just an angry ahjumma." I said, defending the poor maknae. "It's my fault, please don't blame him."

"Of course." Changjo nodded knowingly. "Eun Mi would ne'er do such a thing to L.Joe. She loves him too much."

I blushed. "That's right."

"Aw, so romantic and cheesy...." Himchan said and turned abruptly over to Ricky. "Are the fangirls gone yet?"

The fake maknae peeked around the corner. "Yep, all gone."

"Alright, let's go back to your apartment." Sooyoung said. 

Swiftly, like ninjas, we ran to the apartment closest to us, which belonged to Himchan, Youngjae, and Daehyun. Sooyoung and I ran in first, the guys second, and then the pretty guy Himchan last, who shut the door and locked it.

The others were already here; Yongguk and Jongup were watching a war movie on TV, Niel and C.A.P. were reading a  sports magazine, and Chunji and Youngjae were staring at the ceiling. L.Joe was sitting next to Chunji but instead of staring at the ceiling, he was staring at the floor with a solemn expression on his face.

"Guys, you're back!" Niel stood up. "Where were you?"

"After we got split up, we ran over there," Ricky pointed to a northeastern direction, "And then shook the crowd off our trail. Then we waited for like forever to come back here."

"We just ran all the way here and locked the doors." Jongup said. "At least we're all safe now."

"Yeah." Chunji said. He pointed at Zelo and I. "I can't believe we had to run because of you two! It's all your fault!"

"No it isn't!" We both shouted in unison.

Sooyoung and Changjo sighed. "Let's just all leave and go back home, alright? We can deal with this later."

"Fine." C.A.P. said and the Teen Top members left for their own homes, one by one. "See you guys tomorrow."

The B.A.P. members also left for their assigned apartments, glad that the crowd had finally disappeared, until only Zelo, L.Joe, and I were left outside.

L.Joe had been really quiet throughout the whole thing. I never got to explain to him what really happened between Zelo and I, which made me worried that he would get the wrong idea as well.

I rested my hand on his shoulder. "L.Joe, all of this was just a misunderstanding. I would never cheat on you with your own cousin, please believe me..."

He looked at me with calm eyes and said in a quiet voice, "I believe you."

I smiled in relief. "Really? Thank goodness, all these dating scandals are just made up, I'm so glad you don't believe them like the rest of the world."

He just nodded in silence. For some reason, he looked distracted and wasn't really paying attention to me. He lowered my hand from his shoulder and let go.

"Oppa, are you alright?" I said.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." L.Joe looked up. "Uh, I'll be going now."

"Arasseo. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

Usually when we departed, L.Joe would hug me or have some sort of skinship with me. But this time he didn't do anything and just left, walking down the familiar road that led him to his house.

Worried, I turned to Zelo. "He seems so distant right now. I wonder if something's wrong..."

The innocent maknae just shrugged. "He's probably still surprised or something. But don't worry, he said he believed you."

"...Okay." Zelo went back into the apartment and I stood there, my gaze lingering on L.Joe's shadow until he walked out of sight.

I hope he's alright.

-- ♥ --

"Is it true? Is it true? Is it true? Is it true? Is it true? Is it-"

Himchan crinkled his forehead in annoyance and turned to the nagging fangirl classmates. "No, it is not true! When have rumors and scandals been true? Never!"

I giggled at his impatience. We were sitting in science class, waiting for the teacher to finish preparing the lab stations for the lab we were going to do today. The fangirls pouted at him and turned away, whispering among themselves.

Everyone (meaning Teen Top, B.A.P., and Sooyoung) had agreed to go around and spread the word that the scandal wasn't true and never will be. Upon every encounter with one of Zelo or L.Joe's fans, they would say, "No, no, no, no, and no!! She's not dating him, she's dating him so shut up and leave me alone!"

For some strange reason though, L.Joe hasn't talk to me this morning. The fact bugged me, and it bugged me a lot.

"Alright, kiddos! Listen up!" The science teacher, Park Jin Young, motioned for the class to pay attention. "I've finished setting up the labs. Now, I'll call out your names and split you up into pairs."

The class groaned. Nobody liked doing assignments in pairs... scratch that, nobody liked doing assignments at all. Only I did, but I don't count since I'm a [former] nerd.

"Kim Himchan and Kim Taeyeon."

The visual of B.A.P. scowled and stood up to sit next to the said person. He muttered under his breath, "And it's a girl too, yippee."

"Choi Minho and Kwon Yuri."

Minho was an athletic jock that liked sports and track. He was quite handsome, but was very competitive. As for Yuri... oh, we all know Yuri. She stood up from her seat next to Queenka Jessica and moved over to his side, batting her eyelashes and going into her 'flirt mode'.

"Victoria Song and Hwang Tiffany."

The teacher went down the list of names and the students paired up until he called my name last. He had paired me up with the last person on earth that I wanted to pair up with.

"Park Eun Mi and Jung Soo Yeon."

Jung Soo Yeon was Jessica's real name. And boy, was I happy to hear that. The blonde Queenka stood up. "Seonsaeng-nim, do I have to work with her?"

"Yes." He replied simply and went back behind his desk, not giving her a second glance. "Now, if you guys will take our your lab textbooks and-"

"But seonsaeng-nim, I don't want to work with her!" Jessica whined, interrupting him. "She's such a nerd!"

Teacher Park Jin Young didn't look up from his desk. "Too bad, you still have to, like everyone else. You should also be aware that you have the lowest grade in class, so maybe working with Eun Mi will raise your grades."

The whole class let out a "Ooooh, burn!", even though it wasn't really a burn, and Jessica turned a light pink. She sputtered, "But... I...She..."

"Just sit down already." I told her. "It's not like I want to be partners with you anyways. Don't make such a big deal out of it."

She adjusted her bangs and sat down, huffing and crossing her arms haughtily. "Fine. But don't expect me to do anything."

I sighed. "I don't."

Yay, I was going to do all the work and then let her take the credit. This was going to be so much fun [please note the sarcasm dripping from my voice as I say this].

~Ljjang창조♪