Yoobin had expected that the reporters would be swarming outside the agency's building, but she didn’t expect them to be this quick. The news broke out this afternoon and it was already like that. She guessed comments people made on the internet were already as bad, if not worse.

 Minjae had to assist Yoobin to enter the building. The reporters crushed them in the middle of a human ball and bombarded her with various questions. She didn’t answer any of them. It wasn’t time yet. First of all, Yoobin had to tell the company the truth, to let them know that she was unfairly wronged by her ex-boyfriend. He was an ex-colleague, but when they dated, he was no longer part of JYP Entertainment and not many people knew about their relationship. The company understood her but they had no choice but to resort to the most common and effective solution; to keep Yoobin under the radar. They said they would try to contact the guy and keep the matter personal and out of reach from the media but while they try to keep things under control, Yoobin had to stay low of all times.

The meeting was finally over at six in the evening. Haeri didn’t even join the meeting but as soon as Yoobin left the meeting room, she saw Haeri walking down the hallway with the white ‘puppy’, Jin, tailing after her with a  bright smile on his face, waving his hand at Yoobin.

“Yoobin!” Haeri quickened her steps. When they were close enough, the older woman reached for Yoobin’s arms and rubbed them up and down in comforting attempt.

“Unnie, the meeting is already over,” Yoobin told her.

“I know. I’m sorry it took me so long, but things at the hospital are settled too. Ah, one more thing.” Haeri pointed to Jin with her thumb before she asked, “Is this kid with you? I had a hard time believing it but Junghyun said he was.”

“Ah, him.” Yoobin faked a smile as her eyes met Jin’s bright ones. “Yeah, he is my younger cousin. I’m taking him home with me.”

“Everything’s good then. Let me drive you home. You must be very tired already,” Haeri offered.

“What happened to that guy, though? Is he okay?”

“He had to be admitted to the ward for a few days. It wasn’t anything bad, though. He just needs plenty of rest for recovery.”

“Let’s go to the hospital. I should pay him a visit.”

“Um, Yoobin…” Haeri rubbed the bottom of her chin with her finger, “I’m sorry to say this… But I’m supposed to send you straight home. It’s a direct order from the head manager. You’re not allowed to leave home, not even to visit your parents for the time being. They want me to keep an eye on you at all times.”

Yoobin sighed and threw her head back. The management had already explained to her all the precautionary measures they were taking, but she didn’t expect Haeri to follow them word by word.

“Can you just let me visit him for a while? Just a short, ten minutes session at least?”

“Yoobin, we’re still at a very delicate phase before a possible catastrophe happen. I know this sound exaggerated, but with a guy like your ex, he might blow things out of proportion on purpose. We don’t know if things will get worse than right now. If you were seen with another guy, or if people knew that you were involved in an accident…” Haeri didn’t finish her sentence upon seeing that look of defeat on Yoobin’s face. Haeri knew that Yoobin understood too. “I already explained to him your situation. Don’t think too much, okay?”

-

Yoobin's Condominium

10.00 p.m.

“Why are you following me?!” Yoobin made a sharp turn, causing Jin to flinch, startled at the abruptness and her high pitch.

“I’m going to sleep.”

“You sleep outside. On the sofa!”

 “But I want to sleep with you,” Jin whined, his lips pouted.

“What?!” Yoobin’s eyes widened. This boy is crazy, she thought. He totally sounded like a stalker. She shouldn’t have brought him in in the first place.

Jin sighed. “Not as in ‘sleep’ with you. I just want to be together with you. I’ll sleep on the floor, you sleep on the bed. Is that a problem?”

She already had a hard time explaining-more like making up things-to Haeri to let Jin stay with her for a few days. How is she going to explain about Jin sleeping in the same room with her? It was fine now that Haeri was out, but she would return here in a couple of hours.

“Rather than sleeping on the floor, it’s better to sleep on sofa, don’t you think?” Yoobin suggested, hoping he would change his mind.

“But I want to sleep with you,” Jin pouted and swung his shoulders from side to side. He was trying to be cute again. Yoobin looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“Fine. But be quiet. I don’t like it when people make noises as I’m about to sleep.”

“Yay!” Jin jumped next to the bed and spread his blanket on the floor. He fluffed up his pillow a few times, but stopped when Yoobin glared at him. Jin gave her a sheepish grin before he finally settled on his ‘bed’ setup. She guessed she would just tell Haeri that Jin couldn’t sleep alone.

Yoobin had long closed her eyes but sleep couldn’t seem to take over her. She was sick with all the negative thoughts and wanted to chase them away with happy thoughts. She mostly thought about the Wonder Girls and the members but that just made her felt depressed since they were all quite busy on their own at the moment. She felt a little fragile at the time so the negative thoughts conquered her mind quite easily. What if that guy whom she hit with her car thought she was a douchebag for leaving everything for her manager to manage? What if things blew out of proportion? What if her scandal affected the Wonder Girls more than she thought it would? What if people would start hating the group because of her?

She might not seem like it, but she was actually quite sensitive and minded a lot about what people think of her. Sometimes, she just hated herself for being that way; to be pessimistic and even paranoid so easily.

“Noona, are you asleep?”

“Yeah.” Yoobin kept her eyes tightly closed. She wasn’t in the mood to entertain some possible lunatic who claimed himself as a fallen angel with amnesia.

“You’re lying.” Jin chuckled.

“I sleep talk.”

“Then, are you possibly having nightmares right now? That many people are hating you because of that rumor?”

Yoobin sighed. “Yeah.”

“But you already have a lot of haters already. From when you first joined the Wonder Girls, or when you guys have that collaboration stage with Big Bang back then. Why are you so scared of those haters? Most of them hate baselessly anyways.”

“Just… My self esteem is killed. I feel insecure and worthless. When I go out and saw people, I don’t know if I should smile at them or hide my gaze. For all I knew, they might be secretly making fun of me.”

“But they don’t know you. There are lots of people who actually know you, and they all love you. I love you.”

Yoobin opened her eyes and sat up. Jin had been resting his chin at the edge of her bed as he conversed with her previously. Yoobin chuckled. He is adorable.

“How can you say such things so easily?” Yoobin let out light laugh.

“I say what I mean. I love you.” Jin grinned.

Yoobin let out a short hum as her mind sweat over her worries. “But rumors like these… They don’t just affect me. People might act nasty towards my band members and my family too.”

“But they will still love you. They won’t let you go through all these alone. Because we love you, I know that much.” Jin insisted with his wide smile.

“Thanks. That’s really sweet of you.” Yoobin reached out for him and ruffled his hair, much like one did when they pet a dog. Jin’s grin widened, showing the whole set of his pearly whites.

“Go to sleep,” Yoobin told him as she lied down on her bed.

“Okay! Good night, noona.” He obediently complied to her order.

It felt less bad actually, to not sleep alone on a night like this.

-

A day later.

Yoobin spread her thumb and her index fingers between the blinds, creating little space to have a better view outside the building. She gasped to see reporters camping outside her condo building and retreated a couple of steps back from the window.

"Amazing!" Jin exclaimed, gluing his forehead into the window pane. “How can they still be there after two days? Is that rumor that amazing? Maybe they have too much free time in their hands?”

"Don’t stay at the window!" Yoobin warned and quicky pulled him away from the window. "Damn… Damn!" Yoobin paced back and forth in her room, grabbing her hair in her fist.

"When are they leaving?" Jin asked.

"I don’t know. Tomorrow maybe. Or three days later." Yoobin sighed and sat on her working chair. She buried her face in her hands. She thought the company is taking care of them. It seemed like they would not be happy until they could interview her face to face so they could prolonged the scandal.

"We can't wait that long. He might get discharged by that time." Jin rested his thumb under his chin, thinking deeply. "Let's just sneak out. Somehow."

Yoobin revealed her face again. "But Haeri is outside," Yoobin whispered.

"We can just do it quietly," Jin whispered back. He quickly ran to the door and pulled it slightly ajar to peek outside. "She's sleeping outside."

"Really?"

Jin nodded furiously. "Noona, you go outside first. Let me get the car keys from Haeri noona’s hands."

-

"No way…" Yoobin took off her shades and pulled down the hood on her head as soon as she entered the ward that Song Junghyun was supposed to be in. There was his empty bed left. Yoobin turned to Jin.

"Are you sure he was admitted to this room?"

Jin nodded. "Of course. I was here with Haeri noona last time. You can ask her if you don’t believe me."

Yoobin scoffed. Of course that was not an option. She guessed she had to trust him.

"Are you looking for that young lad who was there a couple of days ago?" A middle aged man asked from the bed opposite of the empty bed.

"Oh!" Yoobin turned around and gave a proper bow to show respect to the elder. She put her hand on top of Jin's head, forcing him to bow along with her.

"He was already discharged. He left about ten minutes ago."

Yoobin lit up. He must still be nearby. There was still hope.

"Thanks for telling, ahjusshi!"

Yoobin held Jin by the wrist and dragged him along with her as she left the room and rushed along the hallway. Suddenly, a man stopped them in their path, causing Jin to bump onto Yoobin from behind. The man put a camera to Yoobin's face and suddenly a flash burned into Yoobin's corneas, causing her to be blind for a split second.

"You must be Miss Kim Yoobin, right? Can we have a little interview for a moment?" The man smiled. He dressed nicely and had a kind smile, but Yoobin could see the crooked intention behind his white teeth.

"I-I'm sorry." Yoobin put on her shades again. "You need to contact my agency first." Yoobin lowered her gaze and continued to walk forward. Jin followed closely behind, their hands still intact together. Jin frowned worriedly.

The previous reporter kept spewing questions, earning them glares from nurses passing by. He paid no attention of the nurses nor their warning to keep his voice down and continued to follow Yoobin and Jin until another reporter appeared right before they reached the main entrance. Yoobin and Jin had two reporters going after them now, but there were more reporters waiting outside. She braved ahead, thinking she couldn’t make a u-turn and drew those reporters inside, causing a ruckus in a hospital. Yoobin was swarmed with the reporters within seconds, her eyes blinded from the many camera flashes. Jin was already separated from her so he tried to get back to the center to pull her away from the mess. A reporter turned around, realizing Jin’s futile attempt and pushed him hard, treating him like a parasitic nuisance. The thin kid easily fell to the floor, landing on his bum.

Yoobin couldn’t even take another step. She looked up, as if hoping for miracle, a random help would come her way. To her relief, she saw Minjae and Haeri running towards them. With Minjae's help, Haeri managed to get to Yoobin and drove the reporters away.

"No interviews are allowed at this moment!" Haeri shouted, backed by Minjae. The both of them took Yoobin by the arms and stuck close to her sides as they led her to their car, followed by Jin.

"Is that all? You don’t have anything else left, right?" A young guy asked the passenger at his side, Junghyun. Junghyun briefly looked back and counted his bags.

"Yeah, that's all. I don’t have much stuff anyway."

Their conversation was interrupted with a noise from a commotion happening outside the hospital. Junghyun slightly stretched his neck to see what it was but he only managed to catch a group of people pointing their cameras to a certain someone within them and shouting mix of questions.

"Holy !"

Junghyun raised an eyebrow, subtly curious at his friend's cussing.

"Did you see that? That's Wonder girls' Kim Yoobin! I can't believe I'm seeing her right in front of my eyes!"

"Really?" Junghyun wasn’t fazed in any way at all by the appearance of the said celebrity, save for a little curiosity. He saw her when she was dragged by a man and a woman who were busy shouting defensively towards the group of people tailing and swarming around them. Those people must be reporters. Yoobin was seen hanging her head low, avoiding the reporters' cameras as she was dragged to her car by the two people. The reporters kept pushing them, causing Yoobin to trip and fell to her knees. The two adults by her side quickly helped her up and helped her into a car. That kid, Jin, still dressed in all white, was there with them, following closely from behind before he got into the car as well.

"I wonder what she was doing in the hospital… Is she sick? What's with the reporters though? Is she probably having a terminal illness or something?" Junghyun's friend babbled, obviously oblivious of the latest news about her. Junghyun wasn’t paying attention to him because his mind was wondering about something else.

Could it be that she is here to visit me?