chapter 4

The kiss was slow and soft as she leaned into him. He didn’t kiss her back but he didn’t quite break away either – instead, he remained frozen, as if he was trying to determine his next move. After a few seconds, Eunji pulled away first instead, casually wiping her lips with her fingers as a smirk overtook her features. Their eyes locked and something rushed inside of her, although she wasn’t quite sure what –

The sound of the curtains being opened snapped her out of her half-dreaming state and she winced at the light streaming in through the window. The sun’s rays burned her eyes as she clutched her head and moaned, the hangover setting in.

“Sunggyu-sunbae brought you home last night,” she heard Bomi state, the older girl’s voice sounding muffled from her fetal position under the covers.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Might want to wear a face mask next time though,” her member said pointedly, before exiting the room.

. She hastily made a grab for her phone by her pillow, ignoring the time at the top of the screen and instead scrolling through her messages. Most of them were from Chorong last night, asking where the hell she was – manager-oppa is looking for you, call him NOW – and one was sent early morning from Sunggyu himself – text me when you wake up. The most recent one, however, was from their manager with a link to a Pann post of a picture of them on the bench, and another one of them running through the street, the crowd right on their heels.

God, they were screwed. It was way too soon after the breakout of the scandal for them to be caught like this. She couldn’t even bear to scroll down to the comment section, to sadistically expose herself to all the negative reactions that she was sure were flooding the site. The CEO had already pulled most of her solo activities – and now her chance at her solo album, the one dream that she’d had since she joined the company, was slipping further away from her grasp.

Her fingers began to tremble as she dropped her phone, a wave of dizziness sweeping over her. Oh god – she screamed in her mind for her hand to hold tightly onto the bedframe and squeezed hard, savoring the way the cold, smooth wood felt against her palm. Breathe. Breathe. The feeling was familiar in the worst kind of way; rather than an old friend, it felt like she was reluctantly greeting an unwelcome intruder. The edges of the frame cut into her hand but the pain was more than welcome as she heaved a slow breath, trying to calm her beating heart, forcing herself to think singularly of the way her lips had connected with his – softly, slowly. In, out.

The thought of last night’s late excursion at the bar helped, even if she couldn’t quite conjure any memories of what had happened after she’d pulled away and settled back into her chair. Only after staying in that position on the bed for at least a full sixty seconds did she unclench her fingers and breathe a long, heavy sigh.

Throwing the covers off of her, she padded softly to the kitchen and dug through the cabinets for their handy bottle of aspirin, downing a pill with a glass of water. As her mind slowly cleared and the headache began to fade, she struggled to remember exactly what happened last night. She didn’t remember much after the kiss, other than her leaning heavily on him and Chorong being quietly furious when she stumbled through the front door. Evidently, he’d brought her safely home, true to his word.

He was probably on his flight to Nanjing for his world tour already, or maybe even already there. Concert tours were always the most hectic – constant travel, every spare second spent practicing, a blur of outfit changes and different arenas. His phone was probably switched off, especially if he was in the middle of rehearsing. Still, he’d told her to text him, so she couldn’t have ed up too much while drunk last night. The thought of the sparks when her fingers had grazed against his made her unconsciously smile against the glass at her lips.

e: thanks for everything. I swear I’ll make it up to you.

s: it’s fine.

Sunggyu immediately threw down his bags by the front door as he made his way back into the apartment. Dongwoo and Howon had opted to not return with him, considering that they had the next day completely free. In a few days they’d be leaving for Europe for the next leg of the tour and the company had opted to give them a day of rest before pushing them back into the routine of rehearsing, travelling, and performing continuously. Kicking his shoes off hastily, he stretched his arms out and padded into the bedroom, flicking on the light switch.

“You’re alone?”

“Yah!” He stumbled backwards in surprise after catching a glimpse of the person sitting crisscrossed on his bed. He leaned with one hand on the doorframe and the other covering his racing heart, attempting to recover from the shock. “How the hell did you get in here?”

Eunji beamed at him, eyes sparkling with mirth. He could tell she was trying to hold in her laughter at his display of fear, but his anger disappeared when he saw the slight upturn of her lips. Good moods like this were rare for her. “I was going to clean your room for you, but…” He followed her gaze to the pile of clothes he’d haphazardly tossed while packing for the trip.

“Okay, out,” he gritted out between his teeth. He’d always hated people being