Almost Is Never Enough - Ariana Grande

Credits to NEON™ Graphics for the poster

Jay didn’t know why but Emily seemed to be avoiding him. She would never answer his texts but when she did, she would always come up with some kind of excuse. The last time Jay saw Emily was her first day of filming, and that was two days ago.

Tired of being ignored and only wanting to see his girl, Jay made sure her day was entirely cleared. Jay sent her a quick text asking if she was free. Emily didn’t replay until a few minutes later. Jay frowned when he noticed her one-worded reply, “no.” Something’s wrong, he thought.

He hurriedly went over to Emily’s dorm. He knocked without stopping. To his dismay, it was Emily’s roommate who opened the door.

“Hi!” Su Bin chirped.

Jay pushed her aside and frowned when he saw Emily on her bed doing nothing in particular. “Emily,” he called out.

Emily jumped and she, too, frowned when she saw him. She looked over to Su Bin who blinked at her. “I’ll be right back.” Emily said.

Once the two of them got outside, Jay asked, “Why are you avoiding me?”

Emily hushed him. After that, Jay couldn’t take it anymore and dragged her to a secluded area. However, he didn’t say anything and just pushed her against the wall. Jay closed in on her and ducked his head, passionately joining their lips together. Emily’s body tensed but she began to relax. She kissed him back with just as much love and passion. Jay wrapped on arm around her waist and his other arm cupped her face. He drew her closer but the both of them soon pulled back to catch their breath. The way that he stared at her made her heart melt. He gazed at her softly and still kept his arms around her. His thumb brushed her cheek and he whispered softly, “Please don’t avoid me anymore. It hurts me when you do that.”

Emily’s heart broke. She thought, how could I be so selfish?

She pulled him into a hug and squeezed him tightly. “”I’m sorry... I was just worried that someone would find out about us because of how you acted.”

Jay pecked her head, “I know, I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful in the future, hm?”

Emily beamed at him and she felt warm and fuzzy inside when he held her hand. “I know you were just jealous~”

Jay’s face turned red. Mortified, he buried his face into the crook of her neck, his breath tickling her. “Stop~~” he whined.

When they stepped outside, they let go. “Your debut’s soon.” Jay reminded.

“Yup!” Emily squealed. She grew excited. Suddenly, her parents were reminded. Her excitement instantly deflated.

Jay noticed and nudged her, “What’s wrong?”

Emily faked a smile, “Nothing.” But Jay knew her all too well. He was a bit saddened at the fact that she didn’t completely open up to him but he knew better than to push it. Instead of prying, Jay said, “Well if anything’s bothering you, I’m always here for you.”

Emily smiled again, her sign of thanks.

“Oppa,” Emily started. Jay looked down at her curiously. “I think... I should visit my parents.”

Jay was surprised. He knew that they weren’t on good terms. It was pretty obvious because Emily’s face would grow sour whenever her parents were brought up. “So sudden?” Jay questioned.

Emily nodded distractedly, “I should let them know how I’m doing. It’s not something I can just call them about, I have to show them how successful I am.”

It was evident how distracted and uncomfortable she was. ‘Nervous’ wouldn’t even be able to describe what Emily was feeling. But maybe mom and dad would be proud, she thought. Although, a small part of her knew that was impossible.

“How about,” Jay started. “I go back to California with you?”

“What?” Emily’s eyes widened. She started to freak out, “We... We can’t do that! People will recognize you and then-“

Jay cut her off, “Trust me.”

“There you go again.” Emily grumbled.

Jay blinked, “With what?”

“You’re always smiling like that and I just can’t say no because it’s so freaking cute.” Emily said quickly and turned away after realizing what she had just told him.

Jay grinned so widely and Emily wanted to smack it right off. Her right hand twitched but it took all of her will power to hold back. “Then I guess I’m going with you!” He announced. “And what did you say about me before? Oh, yeah! You think I’m cute?”

“Shh!!”

“No! You have to answer me first-!”

And it went on.

----

Emily looked up at her old house. She felt a wave of nostalgia hit her but there was also nervousness. A hand slipped into hers and gave Emily a gentle squeeze. Jay smiled at her, “Lets go inside?”

With a confident nod, Emily went up and knocked on the door. The door opened and Emily saw her dad. At once, her confidence crumbled weakly.

Her dad was evidently enraged. “You! Why are you back here?!”

Emily bit her bottom lip and tried explaining, “I came back to show-“

“You shouldn’t have come back. You’ve brought shame upon this household.”

Not only did Emily have to deal with her dad’s lack of encouragement but she also had to deal with her boyfriend hearing all this. “Dad-“

“And who’s this?” Emily’s dad finally noticed Jay standing there.

Jay bowed even if he wasn’t too fond of the man. “I’m Park Jaebeom, your daughter’s boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” Her dad scoffed and looked at Emily, “Instead of studying, you’ve been playing around? I thought I raised you better.”

Emily had to dig her nails into her palm so that she wouldn’t cry. “Dad, I’m not playing around! I’m almost debuting in one week-“

Her dad cut her off yet again. “Almost is never enough.”

Jay fumed, “Now hold on-“

“Jay,” Emily pulled his arm, shaking her head. Jay wanted to step up and say something but he couldn’t if she was pleading him with those eyes.

After hearing all the commotion, Emily’s mom came over. She was asking what was happening until she saw her daughter.

“Mom...” Emily whispered.

But without another word, her mom walked away.

With a disappointing look, Emily’s dad said, “Was this all worth fame?”

“I didn’t want to become famous for fame. I wanted to show people what I could do!” Emily cried out.

But he ignored her reasoning and eyed their luggage instead. “What’s with the bags?”

Emily frowned, “Can we talk first? Just please listen to my reasoning.”

Her dad frowned deeply but he could tell that she wouldn’t drop it unless they talked it out. “Fine. Five minutes.”

Unwillingly, he let Jay and Emily in. Emily sat down with her posture a little too perfect. Her dad sat with the same frown he had moments ago, “Well? Explain why you decided to leave your family for something so useless.”

Emily’s body quivered but she had to stay strong. “I-I know you wanted me to be a lawyer, but it’s not for me. I love to dance and it’s what I do best.”

Her dad snarled, “So you decided to let your family down and disappoint us by sneaking off to Korea, huh? To do something without our permission? To do something that you know we wouldn’t like?”

“But dad-“

“But nothing. Do you think you would actually have a chance and survive to music industry?”

Emily’s voice got caught in and for a moment, she had stopped breathing. He continued though, “The world is a very cruel place. One mistake and everything goes downhill. I doubt you’ll ever be able to succeed as a dance, especially when you have so many eyes watching you. You could’ve spent this quality time studying rather than fooling around.” He narrowed his eyes at Jay.

As a boyfriend, Jay couldn’t just sit and watch his girlfriend get humiliated by her own father. “What if I tell you that your daughter has a chance of making it?” Jay dared.

“I’d have to see it in order to believe it.”

“I can make that happen.” Jay smirked. Purposefully, he wrapped his arms around Emily’s waist and bowed mockingly. “We’ll be going now.”

Her dad fumed. “If you thought we were gonna let you stay, you’re wrong. Go find another place to stay.” and then he slammed the door in their faces.

Emily heaved a depressed sigh that was mixed with both pain and embarrassment. I knew it was a bad idea bringing oppa here, she thought.

Jay linked his fingers with hers and gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “You okay?” he asked.

Emily nodded silently and hauled another taxi. They both got in silently and Emily told gave the driver an address. Just to make her feel better, Jay placed a soft kiss on her temple.

Moments later, they arrived at another house. Emily knocked three times, her frown still there. “Who is it- Oh my gosh!”

Cameron suffocated Emily with a tight hug and Emily just pat her best friend on the back. Cameron, too, eyed their luggage. “How come you’re here?”

Emily gave her friend a sad smile and instead, asked if they could stay for a couple of days. Of course, Cameron let. She was surprised to see Jay but he only gave her a polite smile.

Emily explained everything; from coming to Korea to getting kicked out of her house by her own parents. Cameron frowned, her fists clenching. “They shouldn’t have done that even if they’re upset with you,” she growled. “That’s too much.”

Emily shrugged hopelessly, “I didn’t expect anything more.”

Jay, who was all too quiet, leaned over and gave her a quick and surprise kiss. “It’s not your fault that they’re mad at you. They should’ve listened to you and hear you out. They can’t force you to be something you don’t want to be.”

“Wait, hold up.” Cameron said, wide-eyed. “What just happened?”

Emily dug her spoon into the tub of ice cream again as she focused on the Korean drama. You Who Came From The Stars. Suddenly, someone snatched her spoon and the tub away. “Hey!”

Jay popped a scoopful of ice cream in his mouth and grinned cheekily at her. Emily reached out for the ice cream but he held it away. She tried wrestling for it but within a blink of an eye, she was pinned onto the sofa. Emily huffed and looked at her boyfriend. “I want my ice cream back.”

“Fine. Here’s your ice cream.” he said, and swooped down to kiss her fully. His tongue passed her lips and played with hers. Closing her eyes, Emily kissed him back. Jay was just about to deepen the kiss when they heard the clearing of a throat. Cameron narrowed her eyes, “Aye, as much as I want to see you guys exchange spit,” she said with heavy sarcasm and stole the ice cream. “I wanna watch my Soo Hyun.”

With a mortified chuckle, Emily covered her face. It had already been a day since the incident with her parents. At first she felt guilty after her dad’s words but then she started to see hope after Jay spoke out. She was finally starting to become hopeful as she remembered Jay say, ‘I can make that happen.’

But she should’ve known her happiness wouldn’t last long.

It wasn’t JYP calling but it was the vice president of JYP entertainment that called her. Knowing that he only called when there was trouble, she didn’t know what to expect. She didn’t even get a chance to say ‘hello’ before he already started yelling through the phone.

Emily winced and held the phone away from her ear, but even then, you could still hear his voice.

“I need you both back here now.” He growled, “Make sure you guys keep your distance between each other. We don’t need more proof.” And then he hung up suddenly.

What?, Emily thought. She couldn’t understand his words clearly but then it matched like puzzle pieces. Somehow, they had found out she was dating Jay. She stared out to space in horror.

Jay watched her the whole time and he grew worried. He shook her harder when she didn’t react the first time. She snapped out of her own world and her lips trembled fearfully. “J-Jay...”

Jay smoothed out her hair and frowned. “What’s wrong? You’re scaring me.” he said.

“We... we have to go back...”

“I thought we were staying-“

“No!” Emily shouted. “We have to go back now! They found out... they found out about... us.”

Jay’s heart fell to his stomach, at least that’s how it seemed. Cameron noticed how serious the situation was and she silently made her way to purchase two plane tickets for them so that they wouldn’t waste time.

Jay’s hand subconsciously let go of her and she felt all the warmth disappear. “How can he find out? That’s impossible.” He kept shaking his head and all Emily heard was ‘that’s impossible... that’s impossible...’

If she looked closely, Emily noticed that it seemed he was more distraught than her.

------

Emily stepped back and her tears threatened to pool over as the vice-president of the company threw down a few pictures. Emily’s heart pounded against her chest when she saw pictures of her and Jay. They were holding hands, hugging, and even kissing. Jay squeezed his hands into fists. He glanced over at Emily and he wasn’t surprised to see her whole body trembling.

“This was an accident. We’ll be more careful!” Emily tried saying, but it was no use. As much as they wanted to hide it, they couldn’t. The truth was there, practically slapping them in the face.

Emily’s eyed widened. At that time, everything her parents ever said became true.

“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t seem like you’ll be debuting anytime soon.”

It was one week away, why did this all happen...

I'm so siked for the Teen Top concert this weekend! Eep! I'm gonna faint at the fan signing and hi-touch event ~^^

Oh, and I already have another story in mind. I won't tell you guys anything except that this time, it's starring... EXO! I already have the foreword in draft status :)