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“Is that her?”

“I can’t tell. Her hair is in the way.”

“It has to be her. This is the same department store the photos were taken in and she’s the only one who resembles the girl in the pictures.”

Arang’s eyebrows knitted at the center of her forehead as she continued folding and arranging the shirts customers had carelessly left behind. She didn’t know why but she felt like she was being watched and thus halted her current activities. Truthfully, she had been feeling this way all day. When she scanned the vicinity, she spotted two girls ten or so yards away from where she was located. As soon as she made eye-contact with them, they bolted out of there.

“What the hell was that?” she muttered, baffled. Why did they act like they had seen a ghost?

“There’s no way it can be her. Taehyung’s standards are not that low,” the first girl snickered as she rolled her eyes.  

“But I think she’s pretty,” the second commented in disagreement.

“Oh please,” her friend scoffed as they left the store. “She’s probably had a lot of plastic surgery or is exceptionally good with makeup.”

As Arang resumed working, someone suddenly grasped the back of her dress and started to drag her away. “You have some explaining to do, So Arang.”

The two of them were near the fitting rooms when the girl was finally released. She spun around and glared at the boy before slapping the back of his head. “If you wanted to talk to me, you could have just said so nicely. You didn’t have to drag me around like I’m some lifeless doll,” she chastised.

Byunghyun was comforting his head before he stopped and continued to frown at his friend. “When did you start dating?” he interrogated.

Arang’s jaw dropped to the floor hearing his rather absurd question. “What?” she replied, stupefied.

“Don’t play dumb, Arang. I saw the pictures online and immediately recognized you. Since when did you start dating that guy? Do you know what kind of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into getting involved with an idol? His fans are going to shred you to pieces when they find out who you are.”

“I am not dating that thing!” Arang blurted angrily.

“Are you really going to keep lying to me?” Byunghyun shook his head and took out his phone. He showed her all of the photographic evidence and sighed. “Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. And the words in these pictures are screaming that you guys are in a relationship.”

“It’s a misunderstanding,” she said as she began to massage her temples in annoyance “Do I know that ? Sure. Do I wish that I didn’t? Hell yeah I do.”

Noticing his friend’s irked behavior, Byunghyun realized that Arang was indeed telling him the truth. His urge to condemn her for not keeping him in the loop quickly disappeared. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“What gave it away?” she sarcastically answered.

“Then why don’t you explain to me what’s going on so I can have a better understanding of the situation,” the boy pointed out.

After Arang had narrated the entire story to Byunghyun, with the omission of her identity as the famous blogger, he nodded his head and snorted. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It sounded like something out of the television.  “Wow, so that Taehyung guy is after you because you refused to help him clear his name as a peeping tom? That’s rather petty of him.” It wasn’t a total lie.

“Tell me about it. Those photos were taken when he came to confront me about the ordeal. It’s not my fault he was caught. Why should I help someone as two-faced and conniving as him?” Arang then walked over to a rack of clothes, her friend following her from behind. “His agency even tried to bribe me into pretending that I was dating him so that they could save face.”

“And you don’t think that’s a good idea?” Byunghyun pondered.

Arang gagged and rolled her eyes. “Of course not. It’s a horrible idea. When that didn’t work, they tried to scare me, saying that my life would become hell if my identity gets out.”

Hearing the last part of her statement, Byunghyun stalked up in front of the girl and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. “But you have to think about this from a rational standpoint, Arang. This is serious. If I was able to recognize you in a blink of an eye, don’t you think that everyone else who knows you will be able to do the same? What will happen if they start talking and your identity does get revealed to the public? If that happens, those crazy fans really won’t leave you alone. I don’t think his agency was trying to scare you. I think they’re sincerely trying to protect you as well.”

Arang’s face contorted into one full of disgust and she shrugged the boy’s hands off of her body. “Don’t tell me you’re agreeing with them,” she sneered, appalled.

“I’m thinking about what’s best for you. Maybe you should go back home, think about this again and reconsider their offer. If you pretend to date that guy and go public with the relationship, his fans can’t get rid of you even if they wanted to. They’d have to accept the fact and you’d be safe,” he reasoned.

“You can’t guarantee that,” she argued. “If his fans are as crazy as you say they are, they will do whatever they want regardless of whether or not the relationship goes public or not. Since no one else has confronted me about i