You and Lucas kept to yourselves in the morning as you got washed up and dressed for the work day. You held his hand as you two walked out of the dorm to head to a nearby coffee shop. As Lucas ordered your drinks, you stood off to the side and waited.
"She really has no shame showing her face in public. Aish," whispered a girl who stood a few feet away.
"Why would Lucas date a nobody. He deserves so much better". You bit your inner cheek as you looked down at your feet, choking back your tears.
"Here's your drink," Lucas said, approaching you. You looked up with your glassy eyes and shyly smiled. He wrapped his arm around your waist as you two headed out of the shop.
"Lucas! Can I get a picture with you, please?" asked the girl who was talking about you. You looked away so your hair would cover your face. You felt Lucas pull you closer to him as he shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but anybody who disrespects y/n doesn't deserve my time. Thank you". He led you out of the coffee shop and you two headed off to the company building.
***
You kissed Lucas before stepping off the elevator cart and heading to your office. Soeun met you halfway, handing you the iPad.
"Mr. Choi is out of office today but Mr. Park has requested a meeting with you". You looked down at the schedule, emotionless, as you sipped your tea.
"Then you'll be... hey, are you okay?" You looked at Soeun and rolled your eyes.
"Yeah. Just fans saying stuff. The 'normal'," you said with air quotes.
"I saw the live. Mr. Park had me monitoring it. It honestly could've been worse though," she said, squeezing your arm. You two entered Mr. Park's office and he immediately gestured for you two to sit. He began talking but you were too distracted about yesterday's events and today's encounter that you fazed out.
"What do you think about that, y/n?" Mr. Park said, interrupting your thoughts. You looked at Mr. Park and Soeun and laughed softly to yourself.
"I'm sorry. What did you say?"
"The Elle editorial. You and Lucas, you in?" You gulped and pursed your lips.
"Sure, sounds like fun."
***
The days leading up to the editorial shoot pass by, all the same. Wake up, encounter fans who don't like you, Lucas, Sana and Soeun trying to reassure you that everything will be okay, busy work days with meetings on meetings, go home, read hateful comments, sleep, repeat.
The morning of the shoot, Lucas and Wayv had a stage prerecording as they were now promoting their comeback, so you decided to surprise Sana at the coffee shop. You tidied up the kitchen and living room before leaving, packed your bag with essentials for the shoot, put on your face mask and hat and headed out the door. As you exited the building, sasaeng fans spotted you walking and started to yell and holler at you.
"Break up with Lucas, you nobody!"
"He's so much better off without you!"
"You're such a gold digger. Wait til Lucas sees your true colors!" You kept your head hung low as you waved down a taxi and quickly got into it. You requested the coffee shop Sana worked at and the taxi driver drove off.
You stared blankly at the tabletop as Sana set down your cup of tea.
"Careful, it's hot," she said, sitting down. She smoothed her apron over her lap and then grabbed your hand. You eyes followed her hand to her face and she gave you a sympathetic smile.
"Y/n, don't beat yourself about it. You know Lucas loves you and you know you aren't a gold digger. There are crazy and jealous people, you just have to brush them off". You sipped your tea, hoping it would ease your nerves.
"It's just got progressively worse. I even get sent hateful voicemails, how do they even have my number?" you complained. Sana pursed her lips and she rubbed the back of your hand with her thumbs.
"You're strong, one of the strongest people I know. You will get through this and soon you won't even notice them." You looked back down at your hands in hers and shrugged.
"I don't know, maybe I'm just not built for a public relationship with a celebrity. Things were so much better when nobody knew about us." You finished your drink and Sana grabbed it to return to the sink.
"Have fun today. It's about you and Lucas, nobody else," she said, before heading off to return to work.
•••
You arrived at the shooting site and were greeted by one of Lucas's manager.
"Lucas is running a bit late. Head on in for instruction from the editorial director and Lucas will be here soon," he instructed. You headed in and we're greeted by an middle-aged man wearing a suit and spectacles.
"Ahh, you must be y/n. You look even more gorgeous in person," he said, embracing you in a hug. "I'm Jihoon Kim, the editorial director."
"Thank you. I'm so honored to be here."
"You and Lucas are the hottest couple around, it is our honor to have you. I hear you, too, work for SM?"
"Yes, I'm a marketing manager. I'm still, I guess you could say, 'in training' but I will head the marketing team for SM's next group when they debut."
"That is awesome, congratulations. You should stop by to check out our marketing department sometime. Mr. Choi practically helped us build it to where it is now."
"Oh really? I didn't know Mr. Choi worked for Elle."
"Mhm," Mr. Kim said, nodding his head. "Mr. Choi and I go way back to university. His sister was my first girlfriend". You two giggled as he lead you towards the set.
"So today, we will do three sections. One with both you and Lucas, one with just Lucas and one with just you. Following the first section, you and Lucas will do an interview and after your section, you will do an interview."
"Me? By myself? Why?"
"We have selected you to be the face of our cover for next month's issue". You stood there with your mouth agape.
"I-I can't believe this, thank you."
"Now, this is your dressing room. You will have a make up artist, hair stylist and two wardrobe stylists. Refreshments are also in your room, so make yourself at home."
"Thank you," you said, before entering the dressing room. The girls worked on you for about 30 minutes before you were ready for your first section. You slowly opened the dressing room door and saw Lucas standing against the wall waiting for you. He held his hand out for you as he took in the sight before him.
"You look like a princess," he said. You rolled your eyes and placed your hand in his.
"Stop flirting," you joked, walking to the set hand in hand with him.
After the first set and interview, you headed back to the dressing room to get changed. You slowly opened the door, when you heard the workers talking.
"Seriously, why are they doing an interview on her. She's just an ordinary girl."
"No really. That's like me having a whole magazine shoot for sticking my tongue down a celebrity's throat."
"Lucas should date a girl who's more like him. Like Kim Doyeon from Weki Meki. She's gorgeous."
"She would bring up Lucas's popularity so much. This girl is just bringing him down." You swung the door open and stormed in, walking past the group of girls. You closed the changing room curtain, took off the dress and changed into your outfit. You grabbed your belongings and headed out of the room. Lucas, who was already changed and ready for his individual set, saw you angrily walking away and tried to stop you.
"Y/n. Baby. Stop," he said, chasing after you.
"I can't do this anymore, Lucas. I'm sorry."
"The shoot? We'll reschedule your section, it's fine." You suddenly stopped walking and turned to face him. You looked around and saw everybody working the set looking at you guys.
"I can't do us anymore," you said in a low tone. Lucas stepped closer and gently grabbed your hands.
"W-what do you mean you can't do us anymore? Did I do something wrong?"
"No, it's not you. I just cannot handle all of this pressure anymore. Everything was easier when nobody knew about us. Your fans loved you but now they saw bad things about you and us. I can't even go to the store or coffee shop without somebody staring at me and recognizing me as 'Lucas's girlfriend'. I can't do it anymore."
"C'mon, y/n. Please," Lucas whined. He kissed your forehead softly as a tear rolled down your face.
"I need a break. I'll move my stuff out tonight." You hurried off towards the road and flagged down a taxi to head home.