The next day, Elli woke up to her phone ringing. She read Yoongi's name on the screen, and answered, even though she was still half asleep.

"Elli, this is a catastrophe," the boy immediately said with a panicked voice.

"What are you talking—"

"Go. On. Everykpop."

The girl sat up and did as she was told. What she saw shocked her.

"You saw?!" Yoongi yelled. "What are we gonna do, Elli?!"

"I…"

There was an article about her again. But this time it wasn't very positive. Apparently, someone had spotted her with Taehyung on their café date and had taken a picture without their permission. The girl didn't know what to do, and she couldn't even click on the article. She could hear Yoongi's distant voice but she didn't know what he was saying. No, she was too busy thinking about what happened to girls who are caught in dating scandals. They're always blamed and hated, and Elli wasn't even an idol yet, so she didn't have much fans to defend her—what was she going to do? All she wanted to do was to cry. Finally, she put the phone in front of her ear again.

"Alright, I—I will find a plan," Yoongi said nervously. "No need to panic. Are you panicking? Because you shouldn't!"

"Yoongi, you are panicking," Elli noticed. 

"What, no! I—I'm not panicking, you are! I am calm!"

"Yoongi if you panic I will panic too!" Elli let out.

"Elli don't panic, I'm not panicking! No one is panic—"

He shut up suddenly, making Elli worry a bit. 

"What is it?" she asked.

"Elli, click on the article," he told her.

So she did. And she read it thoroughly, and she read the comments too. 

"Oh my God," she said softly.

And indeed, all that panic had been for nothing, because the article didn't precise the man she was with was Taehyung—no, the boy knew an idol couldn't go out unless they were properly dressed, so he was unrecognizable! Elli, on the other hand, didn't think about that, so only her was identified on the picture. And the article wasn't harsh with her, instead it was saying things like "who is that mysterious man with the rising star Elli? We can't wait to find out…" and that wasn't a problem for Elli. Well, of course she didn't want to be the centre of a dating scandal but if they didn't know the man was an idol, no one could hate her for having a date, right? Even the comments were kind. "I hope he's good to her", "Elli must be drowning in men, she's so cute", "Omg! What's that boy doing with my wife?!". 

"Yoongi, we're saved!" she exclaimed to her best friend.

"See, I told you not to panic!" Yoongi commented. "Jesus… I almost had a heart attack…"

So Elli didn't think much about it afterwards, as it wasn't a problem anymore to her. Of course, Taehyung heard about it too, and when he did, he was relieved no one knew it was him—but… he was still kind of disappointed… Because he didn't want anyone to think Elli was dating another man. And he knew netizens would soon start making guesses about the man's identity. What if nobody thought of him? What if people stated shipping Elli with random guys? Or worse—what if they shipped her with Namjoon? Apparently that ship was popular, so…

"Taehyung, what are you doing?" Jin's voice asked. "Get up, we have work to do."

"Sorry, um…"

The boy was sitting on the dance room's floor, thinking about the story. He got up and followed his co-member around, because he had no idea what their schedule was at the moment. They were walking in the dark halls of the building.

"I hear Elli has some wild stories already," Jin commented. "You wouldn't know about that, would you?"

Seokjin stopped in the middle of the way and faced Taehyung with his arms crossed.

"I… Well, I…" the poor boy stuttered. 

"Listen here, boy," the other man said firmly. "Do not play around. Work and feeling should never be mixed. I know we're all friends but… It's better to stay that way. Elli is going to be an idol too. I don't want her career to be ruined because of a teenage love."

Taehyung didn't know what to say, so he shut up and looked at Jin with a scared look on his face.

"I don't mean to scare you, but… I just want the best for both of you. And… relationships like that are too complicated," the man added.

Then, he continued to walk, but turned around suddenly again.

"I know what I'm talking about," he added dramatically.

Meanwhile, Elli was on her way to her new friend Takuya's house. After the recent events, they had been keeping in touch. She knocked on the door and the bright boy opened it with a smile. But when she entered, he immediately took a serious expression.

"Elli, this is a catastrophe," he declared.

The girl was confused. Takuya leaded her to the living room and they sat down on the couch.

"I'm talking about the article… You know about it, right?" he asked her.

"Of course, but don't worry, they don't know who it was!" she tried to reassure him.

"Elli, you will be harassed by the media, because now they want to know," Takuya said dramatically. "I have a plan for you."

To be fair, Takuya was really different when no one was around, Elli thought. She trusted him, because he probably knew better than her, after all he had hidden a relationship for a really long time. So he started explaining what they needed to do, and Elli agreed, because she didn't see a better option. What bugged her though, was to receive advice to hide her date from someone who told her not to live a lie. He told her it was too soon, that she needed to wait a little bit more, when she has fans. Still, Elli couldn't help but to wonder if, maybe, Takuya had changed his mind about being out to the world.

"Takuya," she suddenly said. "Is it… hard?"

The boy looked at her a bit concerned.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, playing dumb probably. "No it's not that hard… You just need to get used to it…"

"Do you perhaps… regret?" she dared to ask.

There was a heavy silence. The boy looked down, like he was lost, and looked back at Elli, looking distressed. And then he slowly nodded. Elli then knew why he wanted her to hide her relationship. Maybe it was too complicated after all. For now, all she could do was to be there for a friend. so she rubbed his back to show support. 

"I'm not so strong, you know," he said softly. "Although there are a lot of people who support me, I get a lot of hate too. And I don't want you to feel that way, you understand?"

"Yes, I do," Elli said. 

She didn't want to point it out, but Taehyung and her were not both boys, so she thought maybe it would be easier for them. After all, a few idols were in relationships openly. But still, seeing Takuya so sad was not very encouraging. 

Later that day, Elli came back to the agency and she thought, maybe she needed to speak with Taehyung about the article. But it was kind of awkward, because it was a dating scandal and they weren't dating, but she had a crush on him. So… yeah.

Yoongi saw her arrive and rushed to her in the hall.

"Elli, where were you today?" he asked her.

"I was with a friend," the girl answered calmly.

"You have other friends than us?" asked Taehyung, joining them. "Hey."

"Hey Taehyung," the girl greeted shyly.

Yoongi sighed and left them alone. He was aware that the lovers needed some time alone.

"Taehyung, we need to talk…" Elli said dramatically.