Body slumped against the backrest, legs propped on the coffee table, and head leant back with eyes close. She hit her temple a few times, hoping to soothe the increasing headache. It was chaos in her brain, everything was a tangled mess and no matter how hard she tried, She could make no sense of the situation.

Till then, she could not believe that she had initiated the break up with her girlfriend of over a year. Various questions floated into her mind, but she seemed to have an answer to none. Was she right in doing this? Was she really protecting her? But most importantly, will she continue to stand by my side when everything has ended? A lone tear escaped from her eyes.

"Jessica?" A new voice entered, the owner taking a seat opposite the lone lady with a cup of coffee on hand.

"We broke up."

"I know."

"You don't seem surprised."

"I expected it." Jessica cast a puzzled glance. "The Jessica I know will rather suffer by herself than to even talk about her troubles." Jessica hummed. "But do you think its worth it?"

"What?"

"Sacrifice Tiffany."

"I'm not sacrificing her." Jessica frowned and hesitated. "I'm just- just protecting her."

"Listen to yourself, Jessica. Is this really what you want?"

"I don't know, Tae." The voice grew soft, tinge of sadness and hesitance in it. "I really don't know. I don't want her to get hurt, I don't want to crush her perfect image of the Ice Princess. Kim Jishul is going to pull her down and I can't allow that."

"And you think he's going to let her go now that you broke up with him?"

"At least she won't be hurt by me. Besides, she probably hate me now."

---

Hugging her knees closer to her body, she stared blankly into space. Her eyes were swollen and puffy. Tears that once cascaded down her cheeks had long dried up, leaving behind evidence of her vulnerable self.

She hated it. She hated how pale and sickly she probably looked, hated how she had opened her heart so vulnerably, hated how she had cried over someone who probably was not crying like she was. She hated her too, hated how melodiously sweet the lady's voice had become her source of attraction at first, hated how the lady had managed to get her to fall right deep in love, hated how carelessly and heartlessly she had dumped her right after. She hated all of it. What had started from a pure admiration and attraction had blossomed into friendship and then into love. She had told herself repeatedly that it should have remained at friendship, that she should wait a little longer to see how everything played out, that she should guard her heart tighter, but she had ignored all those warnings and now she was paying the price.

Was it her fault? A question that had been in her mind since the break up. What had she done wrong? The DJ had not given her a valid reason, but just left her stunned and stranded outside her house. It had taken a while before the event sunk in and there she was, looking haggard and shagged.

"Tiffany?" A knock was heard before the door creaked open a small gap. A head poked in, eyes full of concern and worry. "I've made dinner. Come down and eat."

The room was silent. Tiffany made no attempted to answer the new voice, whether or not she had heard it. Feet stepped lightly into the room, afraid that any sudden movement would open up the Pandora box of tears. A hand reached down, gently shaking the lady. It had hurt to see her cry, to see her this weak, to see her this broken.

"Tiffany." The voice cooed softly by her ear, lightly waking the sleeping beauty to life. "Come down and have dinner." A light shook of her head was the answer as Tiffany buried her head into her arms. “Please.”

Without waiting for an answer, the small figure pulled her up forcefully and dragged her out of the room. Pushing her down into her seat, she placed a plate on the table.

“Eat.” She watched with hawk eyes as Tiffany picked up the utensils slowly, prodding at the food. “And don’t play with the food.”

“I can’t eat.” Pushing the plate away, she sighed.

“Tiff, I know you are sad, but you can’t go on like this. It’s not the end of the world.”

“Sunny-“

“For all you know, she might have her reasons that she can’t tell you now. Maybe she’s trying to resolve it? Maybe she needs some space. Maybe there are other problems that we don’t know about.”

“But she didn’t give me an explanation.”

“I don’t know why either. But we all know that she likes you, and she may not show it. So let’s wait for a while, until she’s willing to tell you the reason. So till then, take care of yourself.”

—

Elbows rested on the armrests and fingers tapped against each other and legs propped up against a cabinet. Facing out of the window, overseeing the whole central business district area, his lips twitched into a smirk. His chess pieces were moving according to his plan and if he played it right, he would bring her down. He would revenge against her for ‘chasing’ him out of the country. He would ensure that she was humiliated and torn down to ashes. He smiled.

A knock on the door alerted him of a visitor and his smile grew. If she was smart, she would make her right decision, but even if she did not submit to him, it did not matter anyway.

“Sir.” The visitor entered, giving him a ninety degrees bow. “Jessica Jung seemed to have broken up with her girlfriend and is in hiding. Nobody has seen her and she did not even appear for daily radio schedule. She is not at her house either. Her manager seemed to be ignoring all calls and visitors even though she is at the office and she seemed to be in a really foul mood.”

“And Mr Kang?” He frowned. Though he had expected things to not go as smoothly as he hoped, it was too troublesome to go the extra miles.

“Mr Kang has been in one meeting after another today. Our representative is unable to find a slot to talk with him and he is not taking any calls today either.”

“Is that what they want?” His eyes hardened, plans ticking in his head. “Then that’s what they will get.” He looked up, staring straight at his employee and throwing him a picture and a brown envelope. “I want to know everything about the girl and send this to the girl.”

—

Wiping down the table, she stared at the door unconsciously. The clock had ticked down to five-thirty and if it was a usual day, it would be a blonde with large sunglasses and wrapped in thick scarf sitting opposite her. Yet, there was nobody opposite her, nobody listening to her random chatters, nobody saying cheesy lines to her. There was a sense of emptiness and her heart sank at the thought.

Tiffany instinctively looked up when the door chimed but was instantly disappointed when the customer who entered was not who she expected. Her face fell for a moment before a polite smile plastered across it as she greeted the customer.

“Tiffany sshi.” The customer lowered her sunglasses slightly before darting her eyes around fugitively before putting the sunglasses back into place.

“Minyoung unnie?”

“Have you seen Jessica?” The lady sat down at the counter, ordering a drink as she whispered.

“I haven’t.”

“I thought so.” Minyoung sighed. “How are you doing?” Tiffany looked up frowning. “I heard that you both broke up.”

Tiffany gave a weak smile and carried on with her duties. Though she was still silent, it was obvious that she was still affected by the break up. Sighing, Minyoung stared at Tiffany, contemplating.

“Tiffany sshi.” Tiffany silently acknowledged the lady with a glance. “I know it might be too much to ask. But no matter what happen, I hope that you continue to believe in Jessica. Even if she has done wrong, please do not hold against her.”

“Unnie?”

“It’s not my story to tell. All I can say is that in entertainment business, sometimes there are some sacrifices that artistes have to make in order to survive in the business. Some did it to advance their careers, but some are being forced to or because of their inexperience.”

“Unnie. Please tell me what happened. Please.”

“There are some problems and things will get uglier from now. It might blow up big and reporters might haunt you. I’m sorry for dragging you into this, but please trust Jessica.”

—

Switching on the radio, she slowed the classical music to float through her house, in hopes that it would calm her anxious and frustrated feelings. Ever since the arrival of Park Minyoung and her warning about Jessica, she had been worried and concerned. It was frustrating her to no end at how little she actually knew about Jessica and the industry she was in.

What was going to happen? She had no idea what to expect apart from reporters hounding her and that things may be bigger than what she may have anticipated. That was all she knew and it was not enough to soothe her tingling nerves.

Raps on the door diverted her attention and Tiffany walked towards the door. Remembering the warning, she opened the door cautiously, poking her head out.

“Miss Tiffany Hwang?”

“I am.” The door opened slightly wider.

“There’s a package for you.”

Signing the package, Tiffany entered the door, staring at it curiously. Tearing the package open, she took the contents out. Stunned, she stared at the contents, unable to believe her eyes.

—

Breaking news

It seemed that some pictures have been leaked to the media about an alleged tryst at a hotel some five years ago. While no names were specified and faces were blurred, netizens have speculated the man in the picture to be former KBC’s radio producer, Kim Jishul while the female remained unnamed.

The source mentioned that the female in the alleged photo is a famous celebrity who has gained popularity for her sweet voice and pointed out that it was due to this ‘entertainment’ she provided, she had managed to rise through the ranks. However, after using Kim Jishul, the female celebrity had dumped him carelessly and heartlessly, which resulted in him fleeing from the country to avoid having his heart broken.

Netizens have since dug out past female artistes who were of similar builds and were acquainted with Kim Jishul to be ‘suspects’ of the tryst and this includes, former radio host Lee Yeonah, current famous actress Bae Suki, current movie actress turned director Park Shinyeon.

Among them, Park Shinyeon’s reps had denied the reports, stating that Park Shinyeon and Kim Jishul were merely acquaintance who had met only once and threatening to sue those who post malicious comments about her. The other artistes who have been named have not responded to the reporter as of the time the article was published. With the photos being the start of investigation for all netizens and fans, some celebrities have been attacked with ridiculous and malicious comments while fans threatened to kill those who spread those unverified remarks. Others had stated their stand on not supporting their idols who were part of the ‘suspect’ list anymore.

With the recent news of Lee Byunhun’s tryst, netizens have been reacting badly and keeping an close eye on other ‘affairs’ happening. While we wait for investigations to conclude, everythingkpop has decided to compile names of various suspected celebrities.

Stay tune as everythingkpop updates you on the latest news.

-TBC-

A/N: Because I was having fun reading to your comments. If only AFF has a mobile app. Till next week