“So it is true…”

I looked at my feet and tried to surpass the tears that were already in my eyes. He was watching me, probably waiting for me to say something and I wanted to… but couldn’t.

He threw his tablet at me and I almost dropped it to the ground. On the screen, there was picture of me and Hakyeon laughing together.

“Scroll down,” he ordered angrily and I did what he wanted. Another picture. This time Hakyeon’s lips were firmly pressed to mine and I was smiling into the kiss. “Look at you two. Such a pretty couple, right? You’re perfect together. Traitor and cheating .”

“Stop it,” I pleaded with small voice and put the tablet away. He quickly returned it to my hands.

“Oh no, it’s not everything. Scroll down.” In next picture we walked hand in hand on street. Then he was kissing my temple. We were hugging each other. Another kiss.

I stood up. “So what?!” I screamed in his face and he looked taken aback by my actions. “So I’m dating Hakyeon. Do you want to make me feel guilty because I don’t date you? Stop acting like a little child.”

“I want you to feel guilty because six months ago you told me you can’t be with me because my company won’t allow that. But you were already with him.” I totally forgot about the fact that they said we’re together over a year. 

Now it was time for me to take a step back. I had to think quickly because even though I was furious with how he was treating me now I needed him in my life more than anything else. But not like this - this was toxic.

“That’s what I thought.”

“Jackson, please, understand that-“

“That what?!” he spitted. “That I was just some puppet or toy? Yeah…” Jackson ran hand through his hair and sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me? Instead you just lied right into my face that you like me.”

“I didn’t pretend I like you! I really did like you!”

I realized what I said and my hands flew to cover my dirty mouth. Yeah, why not make things even more complicated.

“Wait… I don’t get it. You were with him but you liked me? And you don’t like me anymore?”

“I… I don’t know…” I pushed past him, not really sure how to explain myself. I was hyperventilating and needed to get away from Jackson as soon as possible.

“Where are you going?” He tried to stop me and pulled me to him by my wrist. But this was no drama and I didn’t came flying to his embrace. I just shook his grip off and ran away.

I heard him yelling my name but I didn’t turn around.

***

“Are you okay?” Hakyeon asked when I came to the dressing room absolutely pale. Standing next to his tanned figure I felt like a ghost. And I was also empty like one.

“I just… had really nasty argument this morning,” I explained.

“Aw, I’m sorry to hear that.” He caressed my head a few times. I leaned in to his touch and closed my eyes, relaxing.

It was just week since the announcement but somehow we grew closer together and learned how to talk to each other. He was great boyfriend even though he was a fake one.

“Do you want to talk about it maybe?”

“Not really. At least not right now.”

“Okay,” he chirped, happy that I looked slightly better. “Now… We have to go prepare for the interview.”

I nodded and suddenly the anger was replaced by anxious feeling.

We sat next to each other behind small table. He held my hand and rubbed my skin with his thumb. I tried to focus on the touch more than on the people that were sitting in front of us.

I knew this interview was a big one and it was being broadcasted but I’d never guess that there would be almost one hundred people. And at the far back, behind fence, there stood big group of Hakyeon’s fans. I could tell by the looks they were giving me and how they were smiling when Hakyeon waved at them.

“I’m scared,” I said very quietly to Hakyeon. He didn’t answer, he just moved his chair closer to mine so that our knees were rubbing against each other.

One member of staff gave us microphone and I thanked god that we only had one. That meant that Hakyeon could do most of the talking.

“Are you both ready? Can we start?”

“Only if I look good,” Hakyeon said and already made half of the people laugh very loudly. One of the fans screamed that he always looks amazing but was immediately shooshed by the journalists.

“Good day, Yeom Mi Yeon, Cha Hakyeon,” greeted us the MC standing next to us. “How are you feeling today?”

“A little bit tired but very happy,” Hakyeon answered immediately. “I’m glad I can sit here with you all and of course, with Mi Yeon.” I nodded in his direction with small smile.

“Glad to hear that… So we will start with some question I have here,” said the MC, taking some papers in his mic-free hand. “The first question.” Hakyeon sensed that I tensed suddenly and squeezed my hand harder. “Why did you decide to come out with your relationship? Normally couples announce their relationship before wedding or because they’re forced by paparazzi or media. But nobody knew about your two… So does it mean that you’re getting married soon?”

“We’re still pretty young for wedding,” I said quickly, trying to avoid this topic.

“Exactly, we’re not getting married. Yet.” Hakyeon winked at me and laughed. “Well, we are both pretty long in this business and we are both adults. We didn’t want to have dates in cars, cinemas or places nobody goes too. We wanted to be open and share our love with our fans. So we asked our companies if they’re okay with it and surprisingly they said yes.”

He was lying with such ease. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

When he’s so good at lying to hundred people, how easy it is to lie to one person? Maybe he’s lying to me and he’s just acting to be so sweet.

But then again, every time his eyes found mine they were completely honest. Silently asking, if I was doing okay and caring for my - now racing - heart.

After some more question about the usual stuff, the MC turned to me. “Mi Yeon, I have one question especially for you.” I gulped, nodding in agreement. “We saw your twitter and instagram account flooded with many opinions about this issue.”

Oh right. I haven’t checked those sites in days, maybe weeks.

“There are many haters, how are you feeling? Isn’t it too much weight on your shoulders?”

I shook my head. “Before the announcement,” I began, “I thought about deleting all my social sites because I was really scared of haters. I’m very easily influenced.”

“Why didn’t you delete them?”

“Well I kind of forgot about it.”

“So, are you still planning on deleting it? Maybe they will think you’re coward.”

Hakyeon raised his eyebrows and asked me silently if I wanted his help. I replied with simple ‘no’. This was my war and I had to fight on my own.

“Maybe, but I don’t want anything ruining it for me, you know? I know how jealous can fans get when something like this is announced - they can get really rude. There are countless couples that broke up just because the fans were too much.” I straightened my back, breathing in and out slowly. “But they should know that even thought their ‘oppa' really appreciates their support, he will never truly love them as a partner.”

It wasn’t even two second after I stopped talking - one of the fans threw her drink at me. The lid opened mid-air, spraying some of the sweet drink on the people close to us. Before I could do anything else, I was wet from head to toe, my make-up ruined and hair completely dump. And I’m not talking about how extremely sticky it all felt.

Hakyeon had a little of the drink on his blazer and shirt but it was nothing compared to me. He stood up, still holding my hand and he looked pretty pissed.

“Well, I think this is enough. This was the first and last interview we did together,” he told me but it was more for all the people gathered around.

I was dragged backstage where they wrapped me in towels, trying to get the awful drink off of me. Hakyeon himself helped me wash my hair and then he sit beside me with hairdryer in his hand. He didn’t say a word since we ended the interview.

The MC tried to come in few times, pleading that we need to finished the interview but my manager told him to off. And he did.

“Sorry,” said Hakyeon and then he the hairdryer, carefully taking strand of my hair in his hand and blowing warm air onto it.

“It’s okay,” I replied with small smile. But I was feeling dead inside. I was sure the media would be full of me in few hours and I didn’t know if I was ready for that. “It’s not your fault, you should not apologize.”

“They were my fans. And I didn’t protect you.”

“I said it’s okay.”

“No more talking on your own,” he stated with provocative smirk and started drying different part of my head. “You’re saying reckless things.”

“We didn’t even talked about our album.”

He turned off the hairdryer. “Don’t worry, I’m gonna talk about it on a radio a little bit. You don’t have to do anything.”

“I’m not completely lost person, you know that?”

“Well, I’m not sure about that.” He pinched my cheek and then he leaned in a kissed my forehead.

“Oh, that’s so sweet that I almost tasted my breakfast for second time,” said someone and it didn’t take long for me to realize whose voice it was. Jackson had his hand in pockets and he stared at us.

Hakyeon, oblivious to the tension between me and Jackson, stood up to shake his hand. They greeted each other and then Jackson looked at me, again.

“We all should talk, don’t you think?” 

_______________________________________________________________________________

I finally graduated and now I have time for writing!!! 

This is the longest chapter so far and I didn't do any second reading so there will probably be a lot of mistaked, so sorry for that!

I hope you like my story! 

What do you think will happen next?