ROSIE’s POV

Cold aura filled the small-packed meeting room. Even though busy, loud chatter happened everywhere amongst VIXX and CALIGULA members, and each of the group’s manager, I could sense there were so many things hidden and contained in the buzzing noise. I could tell that their level of curiosity had arose sky high since a few moments ago when they came to the meeting room.

I couldn’t concentrate. I stayed hidden outside the meeting room, only being able to peek into the room through the blurred glass-door. Taekwoon stood right next to me, waiting for the CEO to come, as we were supposed to enter the room together to avoid uncomfortable and awkward questiions.

“Relax. They will understand,” Taekwoon said, holding my hand.

I quickly shook my head.

“You might think you know them well, but actually, you don’t,” I said, leaning back to the wall next to him.

“Rosie.”

“What?” I answer abruptly.

“I’m here with you,” he said. Even through his mask of blank expression, I could sense some strength flowing out through his words. “You are not Atlas. You don’t have to bear everything alone. I’m with you,” he said, pulling me into his embrace softly.

I sighed, breathed his sweet scent in.

He always know how to tame me.

A few moments later, CEO Hwang finally showed up, carrying a brown paper-file thick with documents on his hand.

“You guys ready?” he asked, patted Taekwoon’s shoulder.

We both nodded.

CEO Hwang walked first, opening the door. He walked first into the meeting room, followed by Taekwoon and me. Taekwoon never let go of my hand, even as the three of us bowed lightly towards the crowd of ten people. Three CALIGULA members, five VIXX members, Shinwoo oppa and Pilseung oppa. Finally CEO Hwang ushered us to sat down around the long table.

My heart raced, even more when I saw Jihae’s cold, focused expression. But I avert my gaze towards Wonshik’s face, who had been shooting smiles towards Taekwoon and me, as a form of support.

“Breathe,” Taekwoon whispered.

I nodded lightly.

“Thank you, for making time to come here. See, I’m not going to waste too much of your resting time, you have crumped up schedules tomorrow, I believe. I’m just going to keep it very simple, and very quick. But... I’m asking for your cooperation, your honest responses. Do I make myself clear?” CEO Hwang started.

Then there were ten different ‘yes’.

CEO Hwang nodded, and, after stealing a glance towards both of us, he continued.

“So... as you noticed, this meeting is about the fate of the members of both your groups, Rosie Song and Jung Taekwoon. Now, I’m going to ask you, is there anyone here who doesn’t know yet about anything happening between them? Because if not, they would have to tell you briefly.”

And I was quite comforted at the fact that nobody raised their hands or looking confused. They focused their attention towards us, and their expressions were unreadable.

“Well, that’s better, it saves time. So now, I will have Taekwoon and Rosie to tell you of their story themselves, briefly,” CEO Hwang patted Taekwoon’s shoulder.

Taekwoon sternly nodded in silence, and he held my hand, signalled me to stand up from our seats. We stood up, and bowed deeply towards them.

In my mind, I absolutely had nothing, it went blank. I was scared of their rejection, their cold response.

And thankfully, Taekwoon seemed to understand.

“I’ll do the talking,” Taekwoon whispered, still not letting go of my hand.

“Thank you,” I mouthed. No voice came out as I was too scared.

Taekwoon nodded, and looked straight at the crowd.

This is a different man, different from whom I used to know. The Leo who was shy and never talked much in front of people, now had changed into Jung Taekwoon who has more power, maturity, courage, confidence and pride in his voice, even though it still sound as soft and ethereal as it has always been.

“First, me and Rosie would like to thank you to make time and listen to us here. And thank you for acknowledging our relationship. But before we start, please let us apologize for every trouble, every problem, every burden that we both had caused in the past due to our selfishness of wanting to be together.”

We bowed deeply, because we were blocked by the tables that we couldn’t bow on the floor.

“We had seen that you have already know about our relationship. But.. we still think that, as our colleague, and our closest friends, you guys deserve to know the facts first before anything else. You see,” Taekwoon paused, looking at me. “I met Rosie one and a half year ago when she was still a newly-debuted idol of this agency, even though I had seen her since she was a trainee, thanks to Wonshik.”

Wonshik smiled and nodded.

Taekwoon continued.

“I had heard the rumours about her took a liking in me first. That she did lots of cover dancing in my position in the past. That I was her ideal type. I knew, but I decided to stay put, until something happened that made my own feelings clear. I grew to realize, I couldn’t be far away from her. So I decided to make my move. And she accepted me.”

At this point, I was too overwhelmed and I could feel tears forming at the edges of my eyes.

But even through my blurring sight, I could see that Sanghyuk, Hongbin-oppa, Jaehwan-oppa still looked surprised and excited towards Taekwoon’s story. My own groupmates seemed to not be surprised, it’s just that Gain smiled supportively towards me.

“She had become my muse in all of my compositions, a huge part of my story, and our relationship has been going for a little over a year. Until the scandal broke out and caught our couple things, even though they had never caught us on our dates. We felt terribly sorry for every damage that we had caused, so we tried to end everything, just as CEO Hwang wanted us.”

I could sense CEO Hwang tensed up in his seat.

“But we went back together, even through so many accidents, scandals and threats, we couldn’t be too far away from each other. I need her,” Taekwoon brought me closer to his embrace, “and she needs me. And after all we’ve been through, I don’t think what we have here is just a child’s play. So.. as much as we felt sorry, we would like to ask for your opinion on whether or not it’s safe to go out with our relationship in public. The rest of the details would be explained by CEO Hwang,” Taekwoon finished.

We bowed again, and we sat down.

I couldn’t react nor showing any kind of expression as CEO Hwang explained the details of the offer made by Dispatch agents, or when he bared all the proof-shots and candid photos of me and Taekwoon with our couple things being worn obviously in public.

“Now... please, if you have any kind of opinion, say it,” CEO Hwang said, leaning back to his chair.

At first, everyone was quiet, as they exchanged gazes and whispered amongst themselves, as if trying to find what to say. My members seem to be less tense, while VIXX members exchange words in an excited manner. Finally, it was Jaehwan-oppa who spoke for the group, after Hongbin and Sanghyuk slightly giggled behind him.

“Uh.. If I may?” Jaehwan raised his hand like a school boy, and this caused everyone to giggle, especially when he shushed them with his usual ‘shut it, shut it’.

“Yes?” CEO Hwang answered.

Jaehwan grinned, hesitated at first with Sanghyuk kept on poking his sides with a giggle, yet he finally spoke.

“Umm... I actually knew only the fact that Leo-hyung and Rosie-ssi were close, never that I knew they would have this kind of serious relationship all along, especially for more than a year keeping it well-sealed from us, which is quite annoying that they only told us now,” he started, looking annoyed, and triggered more laughter.

“And I honestly would never guess that Leo-hyung would fall for someone so cheerful like Rosie-ssi. I really thought he would go for a calmer kind of girl... But... what matters is that, they are serious with what they have, and I think no matter what we do, netizens would always find things to criticize badly anyway, and once they got tired, they would stop eventually. So... I would say, representing Hongbin and Hyukkie’s opinions... You two should just go out and have it comfortably. Maybe just wait for a little bit more to finally clarify when the situation has cool down... but the three of us totally support you both,” he ended, offering two thumbs up. Sanghyuk and Hongbin also gave their thumbs up.

I couldn’t even bring myself to smile, and I could only sighed in relieve, while Taekwoon smiled softly towards his dongsaengs.

I’ve never been close to Jaehwan or Hongbin, even though I hang out with Sanghyuk on a gaming cafe once during my trainee days. And I couldn’t feel even more thankful to them. So even though I lost my voice, I mouthed ‘thank you’ to them.

After that, Wonshik happily supports us both, even though he agreed with Jaehwan on waiting for things to calm down first to clarify things. Right after Wonshik was done, Hakyeon spoke.

“Taekwoon-ah, Rosie-ssi, you two are very important people to me, and to your friends as well. To be honest, I had already knew about their relationship, because Taekwoon’s not a very good liar anyway,” he smirked. “But yes, you two had done a great job not getting caught at all by the paparazzis on those dates. So... what I’m going to say is, you guys have my support. But please, don’t go out in public abruptly. At least go slow, but sure. Just maybe give them breadcrumbs to follow. From the smallest to the biggest.. and then boom. Don’t comment on anything yet... stay silent until you guys deemed it’s the right time to clarify things. Okay?” he ended, making a heart with his thumbs and index fingers.

Taekwoon nodded at him.

Both of our managers were fine with everything, it’s just that they requested for me and Taekwoon to never forget our schedules, leave our phones on, and to always contact them. Taekwoon lightly chuckled when Shinwoo-oppa walked up to hug him.

Lastly, Jihae raised her hands, and started speaking with a smile.

“Actually, I really don’t want you two to be burdened. I’m representing my two dongsaengs opinion. We think, yes, just like what Jaehwan, Wonshik and Hakyeon-oppa said, you guys should just continue be happy, and live your life comfortably together. And yes, it’s better to wait for a perfect time to let paparazzis take a proper shot, if just one, of you two being together... So until then, just stay quiet and calm. Know that we all support you no matter what, and that we all know the truth... even though I still think the fans deserves to know as well. Not from media, but from you guys yourselves. Keep it simple.”

I couldn’t even control myself, as I stood up, walked towards my members, and hugged them all. It really warm my heart that they showed support, whispered motivations and happy, loving words for me despite of so much trouble I had caused them.

Taekwoon had stood up and hugged his fellow members as well. Me and my group mates cheered lightly, as the younger members poked my sides and warned me to never, ever get back to my old, depressive state. I could hear CEO Hwang finally being able to laugh at VIXX members teasing Taekwoon, and I could see that Taekwoon’s face had turned red.

I stood up, walked towards where VIXX members were seated. They were surprised at first, and even more shocked when I did a low bow towards them. The first member to approach me was, of course, Wonshik. He helped me to stand up, and he hugged me, whispering loving words and supportive thoughts, and soon after, everyone gathered around us, sharing hugs and support.

Never that I knew it would be this beautiful.

All because of Jihae, Wonshik and Taekwoon being there for me.

I remembered kissing Wonshik and Hakyeon’s cheeks, promising to buy everyone meat, hugging a startled CEO Hwang. I remembered Jaehwan jokingly asked CEO Hwang if he should date Ahn Hani or Nine Muses’ Kyungri as he really liked both of them, earning him a hit on the head by CEO Hwang. I remembered Wonshik finally bragged that he and Girl’s Day’s Minah were getting secretly closer. I remembered Taekwoon kissed my lips in front of everyone, earning lots and lots of giggle, squeals and jealous screams from everyone in the room. I remembered CEO Hwang finally blessed our relationship, and announced it to nearby staffs, even though he asked them to be especially discreet until a certain time when it will be revealed to our fans first, then to the public.

I remembered being happier than I’ve ever been, amongst all the people I loved.

See? Told you I'm giving out candy. XD

NO, IT'S NOT OVER.

NIGHTLOCKS COMING.