Mr. Ex

21. Clarification

In almost eight months working with the group, you only saw the HR who didn't fully tell you about your job description twice. Once on your first day. Twice on the day a photo of you and Jeonghan--hugging in Paris--goes viral on social media.

There's no denying you felt pretty stupid for not being careful back then. The group had so many people attending their concerts, there's no way there wouldn't be someone who wouldn't recognize Jeonghan at the carnival.

She's been lecturing you about the rules regarding special relationships outside of work with members of any group under their agency. Not only that, like pouring gasoline on a fire, somehow the same person who uploaded the photo also knew about your past relationship.

"This is bad for you, bad for Yoon Jeonghan, bad for the group and bad for the company." She sounded so angry you can only sit tight on your seat, head hanging low.

"I'm sorry." You muttered softly. You've been repeating the same words for more than five times.

"It's also bad for the program we've worked so hard for." She threw a proposal paper with the title Going Seventeen written on the front page.

"Why didn't you tell us from the beginning that you had a past relationship with him?"

Not wanting to be blamed for something you didn't know about in the first place, you looked up and stared back at her with furrowed brows.

"With all due respect, you didn't tell me about working with any idol group until I got here on my first day." When she didn't answer you, you press her again, "Remember?"

"You could've told us after you met the members." She clearly did not want to budge.

You fell silent at her words. She's got a point.

"Look, I'm sorry to have caused this trouble, but cornering me isn't fair to me either. Besides there's nothing going on between us." You tried your best to maintain your calm tone.

"Then how are you going to explain this?" She placed the printed photo on the table, tapping it with her well-groomed fingernail repeatedly.

You bite your tongue when you look at your youth photos--still not sure how this anonymous person managed to find them. Especially the photos when you were still dating Jeonghan. Even you don't even have the photos anymore, they're all already gone when you lost your old digital camera on a Miami vacation years ago. It never occurred to you that you would ever see those photos again under these conditions.

"It was just a friendly hug. We have no special relationship now, I swear to every gods."

"Unfortunately the media will believe their own theory, miss. Gosh, how can you be so stubborn and dumb?"

Feeling helpless from being cornered, you just sighed and then lowered your head again.

"I'm sorry." You said, again.

"Hugging in public is the stupidest thing you could ever think of. So useless--"

"Do you really need to be rude to her?" Said a voice at the same time as the door opened.

Jeonghan didn't even bother to close the door. Judging by his tone and body language, also knowing how long you've known him, it's clear that he's angry. Probably furious.

"It was a mistake and a misunderstanding. I'm sorry, she's sorry." Jeonghan stood next to you, facing the HR directly, "But those dumb, stupidest, useless words, what the fuck was that for?"

Unlike when there were only the two of you, this time she look more submissive with Jeonghan's presence. She still has that smug face although she's more quiet now.