Present
"I kissed you. I did. I knew I did." Young Bae finally spoke and smiled sadly. "It's not a secret that I liked you when we were younger. You were always beautiful in my eyes. Every time I see you — and this is cliché — but you shined Bae Choon-he. You were my sun."
She felt every nerve in her body pulsate faster. Hearing those words from him made her heart so elated that she felt like she would faint any moment. The actress wanted to confess right then but her mouth couldn't even utter a single word. She just grinned from ear to ear and looked at the man with fondness.
Young Bae stood in front of her but looked away with what seemed to be tears forming in his eyes. "You were my sun .." He repeated. "I've always wondered for years what it would be like to press my lips to yours .. And it finally happened. I felt like I was floating. I couldn't even think straight. " He chuckled shyly then changed to a serious tone. "And I knew I did wrong. I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."
"No!" Ash blurted out. "I mean, I was the one who initiated it. If you're worried about Ji Yong or the others —"
"It's worse than that, Choon-he. I —" He sighed then contemplated for a second. He suddenly walked past her and grabbed the bucket with eels. "Let's eat first and talk later. Come on."
She blinked a couple of times before following Young Bae. She was kind of disappointed that their 'talk' ended like that again but she was sure that she'll get the truth out of him by the end of their trip.
They went back to the restaurant and gave the eels to the old man. Surprisingly, the place was empty when they got there.
"You caught big ones, that's impressive." The owner said and took the bucket to the kitchen.
The two sat on a table across each other quietly. It was so awkward that Ash Lee's hands started to sweat like an open tap. As she was about to open her mouth, the old man came back with rice wine and kimbap rolls.
"I prepared this beforehand. Congratulations to you two. I hope you give birth to lovely children." He smiled genuinely.
The actress choked on her own saliva and turned pink. "Give birth?" She gasped.
"You should!" The old man exclaimed. "We need more beautiful faces like yours." He chuckled and walked away from their table.
"Children ..." She shuddered.
Young Bae raised an eyebrow at her. "Of course we'll have babies. I'll make sure that they'll love each other. I can just imagine it." He grinned happily.
The woman's eyes glowed again from the idea. She couldn't believe that she's finally having this conversation with him. "O-of course. They'll have that special bond, too."
The topic of having children seemed to peak his interest. The two talked about it for a long time and Young Bae mused on how many children he wanted to have, emphasizing on how he would like to have a baby girl.
"You seem to have already put a lot of thought in starting a family." Ash noticed.
Young Bae put a hand on the back of his neck and looked away shyly. "Well yeah, it has been running on my mind, especially these days."
She glanced at him, surprised. "Are you ready to start a family?"
"I'd like to think so." He smiled.
"Wow." The actress breathed. "I haven't really given it much thought .. Now that I think about it, we're almost 30 already."
"You'll be prepared soon." Young Bae assured her. "Us artists need to cope up in this fast-paced world and industry."
Ash Lee's heart faltered again from his words. 'He's not suggesting something now, is he?' She thought.
As if on cue, the singer opened up about a serious topic. "Marriage always seemed to be an impossible concept for us. Our life revolved around the goal of pleasing our fans and other people. Giving ourselves to a person deemed like a foolish decision but I have a differing opinion, I think marriage is beauitful and sacred. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with the woman I love." He chuckled softly. "So, are you planning to marry —"
"Here are your eels!"
Ash's breath hitched to the unfinished question.
Young Bae's attention immediately went to their food. "Ooh! I can't wait to grill these up. Thank you so much, haraboji."
"Pleasure's mine. Eat up, young lady. Make sure that the next time you come back here, you have a kid in tow." The old man teased.
"Yes, haraboji." She smiled while looking at Young Bae. "I'll keep that in mind."
The YG artists ate silently as they cooked the eels in the grill. There was a subtle praise on how good it was here and there but the two didn't talk much about other things. When they finished, Young Bae claimed for the bill.
"I'll pay since I was the one who brought you here. Thank you for escaping with me."
"I would've dragged you either way." Ash admitted with a chuckle.
"Don't worry the kimbap is on the house." The old man told them. "Ah! By the way, I just remembered there's a man that came looking for you two. I told him that you were catching some eels in my pond."
The two looked at each other. "A man? Did he say his name?" The singer asked.
"He didn't but he came in a black van and he seems to know you two very well. I even helped him get a wheel out of the mud 'cause it got stuck — would be a trouble to clean that after." The old man shook his head. "I really thought he came to pick you guys up. He just followed you then left after five minutes or so. You didn't talk to him?"
"No ..." Ash Lee paused and looked at her phone. "I have no signal. Young Bae, I think we need to go back." She looked at the other with worry.
"We should."
The childhood friends rushed back to Seoul. No one muttered a word until they were at the confines of the YG dormitories. The outside of the building was fortunately clear and it seemed that the two overreacted.
The actress sighed in relief. "If a rumor came out, it's all too soon for us."
"I agree. I don't want you to be involved with crazy fans. I won't let that happen again."
"I'm not afraid." She huffed and glanced to her side. "And you should know that .. I'm ready." She said meaningfully.
Young Bae pat her hair. "Ready to kick their asses again?" He teased. "We should go inside now so you can get some rest."
They walked together to her door. Before she entered, Ash turned back to the man. "Thank you .. for always making me happy."
"That's my job." Young Bae reached for a hug and Ash breathed him in.
"But ... didn't you have anything else to tell me?"
He broke the embrace and grinned. "About that, let's take a walk at the park around eight. I'm so excited to tell you everything."
She nodded lightly and headed inside with a wide, giddy smile on her face.
"What time is it?" The woman exclaimed as she jumped from her bed. She glanced at the clock and it read forty-five minutes after eight in the evening. "Oh no no no, I fell asleep." She immediately rushed to her bathroom with her phone in hand.
Because of the abrupt movements, she acidentally dropped her cellular phone in the toilet. "Ah! Not now!" She scooped it up immediately and left it drenched on the floor.
The actress didn't waste any more time and just donned a jacket. She was literally running until she got to the nearby park where she's supposed to meet with Young Bae. Hiding her face with her hoodie, she looked around for the singer.
"Why are there more people than usual?" She noticed, covering herself instinctively. "I should've brought a mask or something."
She carefully walked past the others and continued to murmur quietly. "Should I just go back?" Ash patted down her pockets and realized she dunked her phone in the toilet earlier. "What if he's also hiding out here?"
As she continued to search for Young Bae, she accidentally bumped to a young woman. The actress' hood fell down which revealed her face but she immediately put it on again.
"Y-y-you're ...." The woman stuttered.
Ash smiled. "Hi, I'm sorry I bumped into you. I was just looking for someone."
The woman grabbed Ash's jacket and suddenly dragged her to an isolated part of the park.
The actress looked around her with panicked eyes. "Miss, what are you doing?"
The other smirked lightly. "I can't believe that you had the guts to go out after what you've done. You disgust me."
"Excuse me?"
"I was just pushing my luck out here ... I never thought that you'll be just walking around the park like you didn't do anything, you plastic surgery trash." The woman scoffed. "I guess the odds were really in my favor. Too bad, you weren't smart to sue me the first time."
Ash finally got a clearer view of the woman's face. It was the same one who threw raw eggs at her during her mother's death anniversary.
"The eggs were just a warning .. you're lucky I didn't come for you when you dragged my Ji Yong-oppa in your mess. Your brainless fans were always surrounding you then .. And now, not just a month after, you're making another dirty rumor with another member. Don't you just love to slut yourself up? Are you trying to sleep with all of them?" The woman slapped the actress hard on her cheek.
Ash clenched her teeth together. "I don't know what you're talking about."
The woman slapped her other cheek in disgust. "Now you're trying to play innocent?" She exclaimed. "If you're a slut, own it up! I might have some respect for you then!" She tried to hit the actress again but the other grasped her hand tightly.
"Don't do it."
The woman laughed aloud and shoved Ash's hand away. "Go ahead! Hit me! Fight back! Don't you have a black belt on whatever martial arts crap you love to brag about?"
"Please, don't."
"If you're going to be such a coward, then don't involve yourself in our oppas lives! I'd be happy if anyone but you ends up with them."
"You're making a terrible assumption. I am not seeing nor sleeping with any of them."
"So you're going to continue being like this?" The woman exclaimed angrily then shoved her phone to Ash's face. "Look! You even took him out of Seoul so that what? No one can know how you seduced him into bed?"
"BREAKING NEWS: Ash Lee Dating Another BigBang Member — This Time It's TAEYANG"
Ash read the headline in shock. What she and Young Bae feared earlier happened in a blink. Photos of her and the singer in the mudflats filled the article. What made her more nervous was a word she only subtly read — 'kiss'.
The young woman removed her phone from the actress' dazed face. "Don't act so surprised. It was what you wanted in the first place, right? You wanted to disband them!"
"What, no!" The other replied instantly.
The woman got so infuriated that she slapped Ash Lee again and took out a pocket knife from her purse. "Maybe you need to get hurt more for you to come to your senses." She then went charging and screaming towards the artist with the knife in hand.
The noise earned some attention and people rushed in to look, only to be surprised with what they found — a young woman trying to stab the famous actress Ash Lee. Some men tried to interfere but was unsuccessful due to the dangerous flailing of the knife.
Seeing the sharp object was a shock for Ash but she immediately set her mind straight. She learned how to disarm long before and doing so was a simple task, especially with a young, inexperienced woman.
"Calm down." She convinced. "Put the knife down and we'll talk." She carefully moved closer to the young woman.
"Shut up, you little b*tch!"
"It does not have to be this way."
"One more step and I'll seriously slash your face!"
"Stop it!" The actress yelled which surprised everyone, including the young woman. "Stop it all at once! Don't ruin your life over this."
The woman laughed incredulously. "You must think that I'm a joke. I don't need that from a slut like you!" She ran towards Ash Lee with the knife out front.
The people watching them screamed in fear. In a flash, the actress disarmed and ended up holding the young woman's arm behind her back. Ash then shoved her towards the ground and held her like that. The woman squirmed in pain and tried to escape from the tight grip.
"Can anyone please call the police?" The artist asked loudly. "You're still young. You have way more potential. I'm sorry we have to go to this path." She whispered to the woman.
A man volunteered to hold down the young, crying woman for Ash. The actress agreed and she finally tended to the bleeding forearm she didn't notice. "Good thing it's not that deep." She sighed heavily.
The people watching them started to gather around fhe actress, demanding a variety of things — from asking if she's okay, if the rumors were true, and some for an autograph.
"I personally ask everyone to please delete all the pictures and footage you have of what happened today. I'd like to deal with these matters privately and I'd have to sue the ones who post them on any platforms. Thank you." She asked shakily in the middle of the pushing people around her.
It was until a masked man dragged her away from the crowd and helped her escape. After a few meters, Ash pulled her hand away. "One life-threatening person is enough for a day. Can you please try to stab me tomorrow instead?" She panted.
The man looked around for the crowd that was chasing them and when the coast was clear, he removed his mask. "I'm sorry."
"Y-Young Bae."
"I'm sorry I did this to you. This is all my fault."
"No, no. Were you waiting for me around here?" The actress hopefully asked.
"No." He replied. "I didn't even get the chance to go out because I read the articles. I was calling you but you weren't answering. I was about to go to your place but Ji Yong stopped me, said that we needed to be cautious."
"I don't have my phone with me .."
"That's why. I got worried that I sneaked out when Ji Yong went back to his room to get something. Wait — are you hurt? You're bleeding!"
Despite feeling light-headed, Ash Lee had the urge to smile. "I'm fine. Just a scratch."
"What happened? I just saw a crowd with you in the middle. Did they hurt you?"
"No. I did this to myself. It's nothing."
"Nothing?" Young Bae demanded. "Let's go back and treat that before it gets infected."
The two jogged back to the YG dormitories. As they were approaching the lobby, a group of reporters and cameras jumped at them like an ambush. Young Bae wrapped his arms protectively around Ash Lee before the guards escorted them.
"Are you dating?"
"Ash Lee-ssi, who are you really dating?"
"Why are you bleeding?"
"Where did the two of you go?"
"Are you two dating?"
"Did Ash Lee-ssi two-time with you and G-Dragon?"
The last question irked Young Bae's ears. "You have me." He whispered towards Ash before asking a guard to take her away.
He then turned towards the crowd with a serious face. Before elevator doors closed, Ash heard Young Bae talk to the reporters bravely.
"Ash Lee-ssi and I are —"