I hear someone clearing their throat and Sung Joon pulls away from me. We both look to see where the noise came from and see Soo Hyuk standing in the hall way watching us with a smile on his face. 

“So, if you guys are done making up and don’t need me anymore, can I go?” he says. 

“Yeah. Get lost hyung.” says Sung Joon, turning to hug me again. I push him away and stand up. I walk over to Soo Hyuk and give him a hug. 

“Thank you, Oppa.” I say. 

“No worries, Jae.” he says hugging me back. “Now let go before Sung Joon kills me.” 

I step back laughing at him. I turn to look at Sung Joon and he has one eyebrow raised at me. I poke my tongue out at him and turn back to Soo Hyuk. 

“Bye hyung!” he yells into the kitchen before turning around to wink at me. He pinches my cheek and I softly slap away his hand. “Bye, Jae. Call me if you need to okay?”

“I dare you to try.” says Sung Joon from behind me. We both laugh at him and Soo Hyuk gives him a hug. 

“If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t even be here.” he says before letting go. “See you.” He waves at us both and leaves. 

My manager comes out form the kitchen and looks at us both. “Are you staying much longer Sung Joon or can I go to sleep now?” he says. 

“Go to sleep Oppa.” I tell him. “I’ll see him out.”

He looks at me and then at Sung Joon and then back to me. “If you say so. Goodnight kids.” he says and then disappears into his room. 

I turn back to Sung Joon but can’t meet his eyes. 

He steps towards me and puts his arms around my waist. “So, does this mean I’m forgiven?” he says. 

“Not completely.” I say, wrapping my arms around his waist too. 

He puts his hand under my chin and tilts my head up to face him. He slowly leans in and places a soft kiss on my lips and pulls away. 

“What about now?” he says, a smile on his face. 

“Still no.” I say. He kisses me again, stronger this time, with a bit more urgency. I grip onto his shirt as he pulls away. 

“Now?” 

“It’s getting late,” I say, “You should go.”

“Do I have to?” he says pouting. I laugh. 

“Then? Do you want to spend the night here?” I ask, jokingly.

“Oh, can I? Thanks baby girl!” he kisses my forehead as he lets go of me and walks past me to my bedroom door. 

“Is this room yours?” he asks before opening the door. 

“Yah!” I say chasing after him. I enter my room and see him looking at my wall where the photos we took in London and Paris are hanging.

“Yah?” he says, stepping towards me. I keep stepping back as he approaches until I bump into the edge of the door. Sung Joon leans closer, reaching behind me to grab the door handle. He steps closer to me again as he pushes the door shut and I’m now stuck between him and the door. 

“O-Oppa,” I manage to say, suffocating at how close he was to me. “You need to go home.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” he whispers as he leans down to kiss me. Softly, first. Then slowly his kisses get longer and deeper. He grips my waist as I wrap my arms around his neck. He pulls me away from the door and hugs me close to him, lifting slightly so that my feet are off the floor. He makes his way over to the bed and lays me down. He steps back, taking off his shirt before climbing onto the bed. He continues to kiss me, running his hands up my side. He moves down to kiss my neck. 

I’m reminded of the night in Paris and how everything turned out after that night. Sung Joon moves up to kiss me again but I place my hands on his chest, gently stopping him. He stops and looks at me. “What’s wrong, baby girl?” he says, almost out of breath.

“I’m sorry, Oppa. I can’t.” I say. He moves next to me and places his arm under my head and pulls me close. 

“It’s fine.” he says, patting my shoulders in a slow, soothing pace. 

“Are you going to sleep topless again?” I ask him. He chuckles. 

“I always sleep topless.” I can tell he’s smiling, even in the dark. 

There’s silence except for our breathing. 

“Oppa?” I say, lifting my head slightly to try and look at him. He pulls back and looks down at me.

“Mm?” 

“Maybe you should go home tonight?” I say. 

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t think this is right.” he sits up, pulling me up with him. We both cross our legs and face each other. He takes my hands in his and places them between us. 

“I know I broke all of my promises from London. But I swear to you I won’t do that again. I’m not letting you go, Jae, not again.”

“It’s not that. What if the press find out? What are we going to do then? It’s hard enough being a celebrity without a scandal, can you imagine what would happen if there was a scandal?”

“I don’t care. I’m not losing you again. I don’t care if I have to retire.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You’ve been working for years. Realistically you could just wait a few years and then start working again. What about me? I only debuted a year ago. You want me to crash and burn this early in my career?”

“Is your career more important than me?” 

“If I wasn’t casted, I would probably be rotting away in some office job back in Australia, still crying over the fact my actor boyfriend hasn’t called me in years.”

“Jae...”

“Training got me through all of that. It was the ultimate distraction.”

“But you don’t need a distraction anymore.” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. He wants me to give up my career. I’ve only released two mini albums. 

“I’m in the middle of working on my first full album, Oppa. I still have a long way to go-”

“What if I told you to choose?”

“What?” 

“Yeah we can be civil and act on WGM but if it came down to it what would you choose? Me or your singing career?”

“Are you being serious right now?” I say removing my hands form his. 

“Think about it. You never dreamed of being a singer, so why stick to it now like it’s was your life long goal.”

“What about you? If 2 years ago I had asked you to choose between me and your career what would you have chosen?” He looks down. Silence fills the dark room. I can feel tears start to form in my eyes. I can’t believe he has the audacity to ask me to choose. After everything that’s happened. 

“Ah, that’s right,” I say breaking the silence. My voice breaks and he looks up at me. “You did choose.” 

“Jae, that wasn’t for me.” he says as I get up from the bed. “I was protecting you. Can you imagine what the press would have done to you if they found you? Your life wouldn’t be the same.”

I turn on the lamp on my table and look around the floor for Sung Joon’s shirt. I spot it and go to pick it up. “And what? Now that I’m a celebrity it’s going to be different? They’re still gonna be all over me - more so now cos I’m a lot easier to find.” 

I hand him his shirt and he puts it on. 

“You have the means to handle it now.” I stay standing, crossing my arms.

“Oh, so now that I can protect myself it’s okay?” Sung Joon gets up off the bed and moves towards me, reaching out. 

“No, that’s not what I mean.” I step away from him.

“Why are we fighting already?” I say quietly, but loud enough for him to hear me.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. We’ll make this work, alright?” he says. 

“I’ve heard that before.” 

“Forgive me, Jae. I really want this to work this time.” I don’t have the energy to argue with him anymore. So I walk towards the door, opening it.

“Okay. But for today, I think you should leave.” he stands and looks at me for a minute, not moving. 

“Really?” I nod. “Okay.”

He makes his way out of my room and to the front door. I follow, this time holding open the front door. He stops in front of me. I can’t meet his gaze. He puts his hand at the back of my neck and pulls me forward, kissing my forehead. 

“I love you.” he says before leaving. 

I close the door and go back to my bedroom. I close my bedroom door and drop to the floor. I don’t know what’s going on. I forgave him, I really did. But I still can’t pretend like everything is okay. I feel so insecure about our relationship. It didn’t work when I was nobody and now that I’m somebody there are so many things to think about. I remember I was worried about his fans in London - but now I have my own fans to think about. 

To top it off he said he was fine if a scandal broke out. Scandals are fatal for careers. He’s been in the industry long enough that he could go back to modeling for a few years before acting again. But I’m still a rookie - and he wanted me to choose? It would be fine if I could say I would choose him but things just aren’t that simple anymore. 

I feel like staying in this relationship will be one of the most painful experiences of my life. But we have to do WGM together. Maybe I’m just over thinking it. I crawl over to the bed and climb under the blanket. I curl up into a ball and close my eyes willing myself to think about nothing.