'There are times when I wish a hand would be extended to me, and take me away from those frightening moments, but that hand never came, and so I endured and luckily survived another and another distress....but until when?'

Eunhyuk took a deep breath and was about to step to the front stage in the press conference hall where probably more than a hundred cameras had been waiting to capture his handsome face...and her lovely face as well, of course. And outside the building, he could feel the huge presence of people, mostly would be his hurt and upset fans waiting for him to comfort them with a lie saying everything wasn't true. He loved them, the girls,ladies,women who had been the reason he manage to climb to the top of the entertainment world ladder, that and the fact that he was lucky to be recruited by the biggest talent agency in Korea. He never lied when he told them he loved them, but he never loved them as much as he love her. If they had love him just as much, they would understand.

He wasn't exactly nervous about the press, he was just nervous about making a wrong move. If everything went smoothly, losing a small number of fans would not be a major concern for him.

"Calm down, there's nothing to be afraid of." Subconsciously he reminded himself.

Before he could leave the small dim lighted space, he felt a hand pulling the sleeve of his brown checkered coat, and saw her. She looked tired, and for the first time he noticed, she's not as beautiful and glowing as she used to be. Her cheeks were slightly sunken, her face wasn't as round, and her eyes had lost their sparks. But she smiled at him. He knew how much effort and courage it took her to give him that smile. He smiled back at her.

"Can you like...give me a minute before we step to the front?"

"Sure." He tried to sound casual.

"First of all, I'm very sorry that they found out the picture." She spoke rather cautiously and a little too formal, she had build back the distance that was once there, in their earlier days of getting to know each other when she became a weekly guest at his radio show. He should have noticed the changes when they became co-DJs for their new radio show, but he didn't.

He shrugged. "Why are you apologizing? It's not like you spread the pictures, did you?"

"Of course I didn't!" Gyuri's irritated expression and her eye-rolling felt more like the Gyuri he's comfortable with. "I just.....feel responsible. We've ended, but they're going to get the wrong idea now."

'We've ended....' He hated that phrase, but he didn't have much time to argue. Soon, their managers would urge them to quickly appear in front of the press.

"There's... another thing..." Gyuri continued, her voice started to shake slightly but she immediately regained her composure. "Something bad might happen at the press conference, and when it does, I hope you can just let me do the talking."

'Something bad? What is she thinking?'

"Like what?" His curiousity got the better of him.

"Like....scandal within a scandal....maybe? Just....I'll handle that part. Just...try to talk as little as possible and let the management handle most of the talking, as usual."

He wanted to ask her to clarify. This wasn't part of the plan. What if it'd ruin everything? And he wanted to scold her for treating him like he's one of her little group members whom she's supposed to babysit, he's her senior for crying out loud! Not just her senior, but her boyfriend! But in that instance, just as he had feared earlier, her manager had arrive to put an end to their precious moment.

"Gyuri, quick go to the front." He gave a curt bow to Eunhyuk before proceeded talking to his artiste. "I have talked to Eunhyuk's manager. We will go first. You two aren't supposed to make appearance together."

Gyuri nodded thoughtfully. "Okay oppa, let's go."

She disappeared to the front and he could hear the atmosphere suddenly grew noisier and intense with all the voices from the impatient reporters and maybe faint yelling from stalker fans outside. He silently prayed the security guards would be able to do their jobs well, and protect Gyuri from any harm.

He lifted his wrist to check on his watch. "Another five minutes...."

-----------------

"Come on......pick up the phone...."

"Siwannie.....come on. You're missing the practice~!"

Siwan ignored Kwanghee, one of his group members who was assigned to be his onscreen couple but not exactly the closest to him in reality, who kept calling for him every few seconds. He knew every second of their practice sessions is too precious. They have debuted for almost two years yet, they're still considered as the second rate idol group, or worse, maybe third rate even, due to their lacking of popularity and low album sales What they lack, they vowed together to make up by always practicing hard and being top notch in singing and performing, with the hopes that one day, people would finally notice them.

But recently, he had not been living up to his group's vow. He had let his mind and his time be occupied by a woman. He could imagine how his group members and management would be in rage if they knew the reason of his growing detachment. Okay, maybe his group members would be more excited than angry.

'They're clueless naive s.'

He suddenly smiled at the reminiscence of his group members filling the dorm with high pitched squeals and teasings like little kids when one of them scored a girlfriend. Despite the explosive reaction, they had sworn to not spill the secret to other people,