‘God bless you, Yifan. What a brilliant suggestion. Me and Jinah alone in the same house at night? Excellent.’ No, Luhan wasn’t thinking of any funny, stupid, indecent thoughts. Like his buddy Yifan said, it would be romantic. Luhan wondered what their romantic night would turn out to be.

Seeing the grumpy young lass in front of him, he couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement. He knew how awkward it must have been for her at the suggestion. He couldn’t help but chuckle silently at her reaction.

‘Just imagine eleven pairs of eyes looking at you in a teasing manner.’

Her face was beet red and she didn’t know where to put her eyes on. Not wanting to see her suffer more, he spoke up, “Food is getting cold. Eat up.”

“Someone’s rushing. Come on, boys, Luhan had been waiting for this for-“ Luhan cut Baekhyun who was spatting nonsensical words and covered his mouth.

He saw Jinah rub her temple with her finger he felt his cheeks get hot. Luhan knew exactly what Baekhyun was trying to say.

‘No, Baekhyun. Jinah and I wouldn’t do that, you ert.’

“You guys pay for our bills. We’re going first.” Luhan took Jinah’s hands and he saw her bow her head quickly at them, bidding them goodbye.

When they were near the restaurant’s door, his eyebrow twitched. Was it because of annoyance? Anger? Fright? One thing for sure, it wasn’t because of gratitude. He knew their fans loved them and they wanted to see them all the time if possible, but this was just insane. There were at least a hundred girls in front of the restaurant. Luhan wasn’t scared about his safety since he pretty much got used to it. He was scared for Jinah.

His jaw tensed and she released her hand, earning him a look of confusion from her. Instead, he put his arms around her arms, covering her injured wrist and pulled her closer. He was extra careful on not to put too much pressure on it as she might get hurt more.

Before they exited the restaurant, he already called and booked for a cab, so they wouldn’t have to wait and stay longer with the crowd. When he saw the plate number of the taxi that he booked, they quickly exited the restaurant and the fans started getting closer to them. They were practically pushing, squeezing, shouting and taking pictures of them. The walk to the taxi seemed to be longer than it was supposed to be. Reaching the door of the taxi, he opened it and let her go in first. They sighed in unison once they got inside the taxi. It took their energy just to walk a few meters with the fans surrounding them.

How he wished she didn’t hear what the fans were screaming, but he knew for sure that she did. Why were they so shallow? Why couldn’t they accept the fact that they – artists – needed their privacy, too? Their lives were already exposed to the public, but there were things they wanted to keep private. Why couldn’t they accept that they were meant to fall in love and have a relationship at one point, too?

“You’re just dragging oppa down!”

“You’re no good for oppa!”

“Oppa, date better girls!”

“Oppa, she’s just using you for exposure and money!”

“Go die, !”

Jinah did them nothing wrong. In fact, he felt that it was all his fault. Hadn’t he gotten drugged that night, no scandal would have happened. She wouldn’t have to go through so much for him. Then again, the question that had been bugging him a lot lately popped into his