saccharine • wong hendery ✔️

forty four

It was the next day, the day I dreaded the most. It was difficult to sleep last night, so I mostly just wrote down everything I was feeling in my journal. It helped a lot, actually.

I got dressed up and met up with Ten and Kunhang at the company.
As I was walking along the pavements I decided to stop thinking about what the company's statement would be and just take a moment to observe my surroundings. It was definitely prettier than I remembered it, now that I see.

There are much more trees, most of them formed this sort of lush shade for the sidewalk, and when you look up you can see the sunlight beaming through the holes of the branches. There was also this lovely patch of pink flowers, I could see little bugs hopping around the grass as I passed by. I could hear the faint laughing of people, families visiting the park and setting up their picnics.

It would be a lie if I said it wasn't therapeutic, it definitely calmed me down a lot more. I looked forward and I could see the building. My phone starting ringing and I saw that Ten was calling me;
"Hello?"
"Hey! I can see you from here!", he exclaimed.
"What? Where are you guys?", I replied puzzled, trying to find them.
"A little bit to your right, blockhead. I'm waving at you!", I turned to my right and yep, there they were, the two had their hands up and waving at me.

"I see you.", I hung up and started walking faster.
"There you are.", Ten greeted with a big grin on his face.
"Hey guys. You look pretty happy today."
"It's better to be positive about today don't you think?"
"You're right. I'm less scared now actually."
"Me too. My hyungs really supported me last night.", Kunhang spoke.

"Couldn't sleep?"
"Yeah. You too?", he chuckled.
"Of course! But, no matter what they're going to say, we'll find a way.", I answered quite confidently.
He nodded, fondly looking back at me.
Not gonna lie, my heart skipped a beat just now.

"You know, we can go talk whenever you're ready.", Ten added.
"Don't you think we should just get it over with, Ames?", Kunhang asked as he turned back at me.
"I think we should, too.", I faintly smiled, I could feel a bit of nervousness flow through me.
"If you say so. Let's get going."

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We were in the second floor waiting for one of the officials to talk to us. It was just me and Kunhang in the room.
I didn't even notice I was fidgeting a lot.
"Are you still nervous?", Kunhang noticed and put his hand on mine.

"Maybe just a little?"
"I'm right here with you.", he replied with a warm tone and squeezed my hand.
"Yeah."

The door suddenly opened and a middle aged woman, a little shorter than me, came in. She had long black hair and was wearing a nice floral blouse. We stood up and greeted her.
"Hi, nice to meet you.", we both bowed and sat back down.

"Hello, nice to see you both. I'm Kim Jihye, I'll be addressing to you about the situation.", she introduced with a kind smile on her face. She was very polite and gentle, not intimidating at all.
"Luckily this isn't something new that's happened, a lot of idols have experienced these dating rumors and fansite pictures.", she started.

She had nothing in her hands, no papers or anything like that. It felt like a genuine talk, and I felt reassured.
"And since Hendery is just starting out as one, there won't be anything too serious. You know fansites these days, assuming things a lot. Our management is definitely taking action in regards to the negative comments."

"We wouldn't stop you hanging out with your friends, Hendery, but consider this just as a warning.", she informed.
I glanced over to Kunhang and saw a faint smirk crawl up his face.
He looked over to me and held my hand from under the table.

"It could be damaging for us to constantly receive dating rumors so be very careful from now on. We will not permanently prohibit you, but we'll have to strictly limit the amount of time you will spend. Way V will have another busy month later on."

"Yes, I'm aware. But I'm relieved.", Kunhang replied, sighing.
"You must've seen the comments on that fansite post?", she asked.
"Yeah, I did. I was really scared about my job then."
"Ahh don't worry. With those threats, I can see why you felt anxious. Some people just don't have anything else better to do."

"That's true but, we can still see each other?", I asked, reassuring.

"Of course you can. I know how it is."

I felt a wave of joy and relief and thanked Ms. Kim as we left the room.

"We're alright..", he laughed as he put his arms around mine in a tight hug.
"Yeah, we are!"
"We gotta be careful from now on, she doesn't know we actually like each other.", he whispered.

"Kunhang.. You have a warning."
"I know but, what about that day I planned? We need to do it!", he sounded so excited about it.
"We shouldn't be too laid back though.."
I really wasn't sure about this anymore.

"We have another wave of promotions next month and we'll be flying to different countries this time. Just once, because we won't be seeing each other for a month anyway.", his cheerful tone depleted.
"I know we have to cover up but, can we do this? Please?"

God, why is he looking at me like that?

"How can I say no to you?", I chuckled, bumping his shoulder.
"Owww.."

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