XLV. KPOP BUSTERS

"'Ahn Gyeoul, holy fuck, you look like you're going to eat me alive.' Yes, I concur. Like!"

A small part of her regretted giving Songyi her copy of Mythos Magazine's May Issue because all he's done after seeing her pictures was go through Twitter's trending page, clicked on her name, and recited every tweet that he found entertaining. But she was glad to have a friend like Songyi. Sure, he annoyed her most of the time, but Gyeoul loved him anyway.

They were in Gyeoul's car, on their way to a dance studio where Songyi was going to teach a class. She was the one driving, as usual.

"Here's another one I like, 'Gia looks like a rich heiress who's looking for a sugar baby.' Oh, hey, what do you know? I'm the one that tweeted it."

She laughed slightly, shaking her head, "It's still a 'no' for me. Sorry, man."

Her friend only pouted at her and continued to scroll through Twitter. She ran her tongue on the inside of her cheek in thought, her eyes flickering to her passenger seat in thought. Gripping the steering wheel a little tighter, she drew in a sharp breath.

"I have a boyfriend now, so the chance of me being your sugar mommy is highly unlikely."

Songyi's phone clattered to the floor of her car.

He furrowed his eyebrows, "But you told me you and Yongsik were over." He picked up his phone and adjusted his position so he was facing her.

"It's not him."

"Then who else?"

Gyeoul gulped, "Kim Taehyung."

Telling one of her closest friends felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. An eased smile made its way onto her face, glad to get that out of the way.

She looked briefly to her side, wondering why Songyi hasn't made any reactions yet. His face was blank and frozen as if he was a computer and an error occurred. Tapping her fingers lightly on the steering wheel, she focused on the road and patiently waited for his reaction. At first, she thought he'd be happy because she had a boyfriend, but now she wasn't sure of that since the boyfriend was Taehyung.

Uncontrollable laughter suddenly sliced the silent atmosphere, occasional snorts and maniacal cackles escaping him every once in a while. He clapped, actual tears starting to stream down his face. Gyeoul only looked at him like he grew two heads. Songyi looked at her reaction and started laughing again, this time a little harder.

"Holy shit, that's the most I've laughed this year," Songyi wheezed, wiping away his tears with his knuckles. He tried to calm himself down, placing a hand on his chest to guide his deep breaths. "Damn, I don't know if I should feel hurt or something. If you didn't want to be my sugar mommy that badly, then you could have told me straight. No need to lie about being with him."

Gyeoul's lips parted slightly, her eyebrows knitting together. Were we too much of an unlikely pair? "But I'm being serious. He's my boyfriend. You're the only other person besides our families, his members, Hiromi, and maybe Yongsik, that knows. I'm planning on telling Yunseo after class."

Songyi waited until they reached a red light. "Captain, look at me straight in the eyes and say that again."

She complied, "Kim Taehyung is my boyfriend."

"Deadass?"

"Deadass."

He gaped at her, "Holy fuck, Gia Ahn. You're together with Kim Taehyung." He breathed out with wide eyes. "Eunho and I have no chance of having you as our third anymore—"

"You never had a chance to begin with."

"—and now you're together with someone I thought you would never end up with." He turned back to her with wide eyes, "Gyeoul, holy shit, you're the luckiest person in the world! Fuck being my sugar mommy, adopt me instead!"

Gyeoul smiled, rolling her eyes at her friend before driving again once the light turned green. "One day, maybe in a year or two, I'll take you and Eunho on a shopping spree just so you'd shut up about that sugar-sugar throuple thing."

Eyes widening, Songyi scrambled to open something on his phone. He opened the voice recording app and held his phone right to her face. "Say that again."

"Yah," Gyeoul snipped, leaning her head away from the phone that was blocking her view of the road. "You're a hazard. Do you want us to die?"

Minutes later, the two dancers made it to the studio. They were earlier than most since it was Songyi teaching the class. There were three to five dancers already lined up outside the studio, one of them being Hiromi.

Hiromi didn't turn her head when Songyi and Gyeoul passed through the door, too busy smiling at something on her phone. Gyeoul turned to her friend and placed a finger over her lips before creeping toward the younger dancer.

"Who're you talking to?"

The girl jumped, almost dropping her phone if not for Gyeoul who caught it at the last second before it'd clatter to the floor. Gyeoul made sure to tilt the phone's screen away from her view so she wouldn't disrupt her privacy. Hiromi held a hand over her heart, breathing heavily as she playfully glared at the performance director.

"Oh my god, I think I dropped my heart somewhere," Hiromi breathed out. Gyeoul handed her phone back to her. "And I was talking about you with Taeri. Your pictures were phenomenal. I'm sorry if I'm crossing a line by saying this, but you were incredibly hot."

Songyi nodded at the younger dancer in greeting, "Amen to that." He patted Gyeoul's shoulder, "I'll see you guys inside."

Gyeoul nodded back at him and turned back to Hiromi with a small smirk. "So, you've been talking to Taeri, huh?"

A light shade of red grew on Hiromi's ears. She coughed, laughing awkwardly, "That's beside the point. We're talking about your pictures from your photoshoot! You gave off a ton of hot villain vibes here. Do you need a dog? I can bark! Do you need a footstool? I can—"

Mortified, Gyeoul placed her hands on Hiromi's shoulders and led her inside the studio before she could babble on.

After helping Songyi prepare everything regarding the sound system, Gyeoul opened the door for the increasing number of dancers to come inside the studio. Among those dancers was Yongsik with Yunseo trailing behind him with her film camera. Gyeoul and Yongsik met eyes and smiled at each other, finding very little awkwardness between them, weirdly enough. Yunseo eyed the two of them before running off to Songyi's side without greeting Gyeoul first.

"Hey, how are you?" Yongsik asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "It's been a while since we last saw each other."

She hummed, walking to the back of all the other dancers, her usual spot when she was learning choreography from others. Yongsik followed her. "Well, I'm happier than ever."

"I'm glad you are. Diana showed me your photos from Mythos, she said you gave off strong classy Serena Van der Woodsen meets James Bond type of vibes," he commented.

The sudden mention of Diana made Gyeoul raise her eyebrows, "How're things between you two?"

"We're trying again, not totally together though. We're scratching the surface and trying to see if being friends with a mutual understanding would be a healthy decision for us."

"It's good that you're working it out."

He smiled, "I'm sure you worked it out with you know who, right?" She nodded, grinning appreciatively at him for using anything but Taehyung's name since they were around a lot of people. "I'm glad you did. I know he really cares about you."

"I know that too."

Songyi started to play the music he was teaching, cutting off Gyeoul and Yongsik's small talk and signaling the start of the class. Hiromi weaved through the many dancers to make her way to Gyeoul whose smile brightened significantly as she appeared before her. The younger dancer situated herself between the two and leaned over to Gyeoul.

"I've heard people talking about your photoshoot, they think you're cool," she whispered. She turned to Yongsik, raising her eyebrows and pointing at Gyeoul. "She's the coolest person I know. I want to be just like her when I grow older."

Gyeoul slung an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in for a headlock, "You should be dreaming of becoming better than me."

'I'm happier than ever.' Not a single drop of dishonesty laced those four words from earlier. She didn't want to jinx it, but it felt like it only goes up from here.

❆

There were mountains of work in his schedule for that day, so he didn't expect he'd be standing behind a member of HYBE's legal team.

Not twenty minutes ago, he was happily spending his short break from work with his members. He and Jungkook were showing off Gyeoul's photos from his physical copy of the May Issue. Taehyung was laughing the entire time as his younger member passionately did so. He felt immensely proud of his girlfriend. They saw each other earlier that day and they were meeting in his apartment for a casual dinner date tonight. But even so, he was already impatient to adore her.

He was about to send her a voice message when Namjoon stood up abruptly with an unmistakable worried expression on his face. "Fuck. People just can't let someone be successful in peace." Namjoon handed Taehyung his phone with an exasperated sigh. "Some blogger wrote some shit about Gyeoul."

Taehyung quickly snatched the phone and read the blog post. Each of the other members pulled out their phones to check what it was.

By the end of it, Taehyung was gritting his teeth. Someone wrote a long post about Gyeoul's history of partying in the States. The blogger stated that he gathered the information from 'reliable' sources and said that Gyeoul always attended house parties and clubs, and would drink until she was blackout drunk. Pictures of her at parties were placed after every paragraph and it pissed him off more since they looked like they were taken without permission.

They were painting his kindred spirit as some wild party animal.

What pissed him off more was the fact that the post has garnered a little less than half a million reads already and was trending on social media, outshining her photoshoot from Mythos.

"Damn it," he cursed, kissing his teeth. He stood up and marched out of the room.

His schedules can wait.

So, there he was, waiting behind a member of HYBE's legal team as they contacted the writer of the blog. He crossed his arms, sharp eyes monitoring every character the employee typed.

The employee must have been sweating under his furious gaze, Taehyung didn't mean to have that effect on him, he was just too worked up with the thought of people messing with Gyeoul's image. Her photoshoot from Mythos was just released and she was damn beautiful in it, now people were turning their focus on something that could tarnish her reputation. He could remain unbothered if it had something to do with him alone, but when it came to her, he can't keep quiet.

"Can't we sue them?" he asked.

"All we can do now is make the blogger take the post down," the employee sighed, trying his best to meet the idol's eyes. "We can sue them, but we need to take Ms. Ahn's opinion first."

"She's a BigHit artist too. Can't we take immediate legal action against the blogger for including pictures that were taken without her permission?"

"We can, but we need Ms. Ahn for that."

Taehyung knew Gyeoul. He knew that she was going to brush this off and call it a day. She wouldn't want to do anything to that person.

He sighed, massaging his temples, "I understand. We'll get back to you later." Nodding at him, he spoke, "Thank you for your time." And he walked out of the office.

Guilt attacked his senses. A part of him blamed himself for letting something like this happen. It was possible that she was put in the limelight because of his foolish choice to publicly interact with Gyeoul in Hoseok's Hope on the Street last year. Perhaps everything would have been fine if he had just stayed put. But a bigger part of him was even more furious at the audacity of people to do shit like this on this day exactly.

Walking out into the hallway, he held his chin high and put his hands in his pockets, using one to pull his phone out. Jimin was waiting for him outside and they shared a look. His soulmate read his expression instantly and shook his head in disappointment at their company, walking with him on their way to the parking lot to continue their schedule.

If the company's legal management team can't do anything, then Taehyung will resort to people he knows will take action. He pulled out his phone and opened Weverse.

Gyeoul should still be in class by that time, so there's a possibility this will all blow over by the time she finishes.

❆

The dancer rolled her shoulders, closing her eyes and stretching her neck. Beads of sweat trickled down from her hairline, trailing down to her neck. She placed her hands on her hips, sighing as she waited for Songyi to continue.

"Okay, guys, let's take a quick break before we call on some groups," he announced.

Gyeoul's ears picked up something odd with the tone of his voice. It was shaky and somewhat panicked. Sensing that something was troubling him, she picked her head up. He was talking to Yunseo, both of them huddled to see what was on Yunseo's phone. Figuring that she must have thought wrong, she turned away and recalled the steps with Hiromi and Yongsik.

"Captain!"

It was Songyi and there was only one person he called that way.

She turned her head to her former co-captain with inquisitive eyebrows. He appeared distressed as he beckoned her over. Gyeoul excused herself from the two before jogging to the front corner of the studio where her friends were.

"Is everything alright?" she whispered, concernedly placing a hand on Songyi's shoulder.

Yunseo and Songyi shared a look that did nothing for Gyeoul's confusion. The former cleared her throat, grimacing at her, "Some blogger wrote some bad things about you."

She would be lying if that didn't catch her off guard. It was one of those moments where she found herself reflecting on all the things she has done in her life. As far as she was concerned, she wasn't involved in any scandals or did anything that would be considered a scandal unless they paired her up with one of her former or present coworkers and called it a 'dating scandal.'

Admittedly so, she was clean. So what on earth did that blogger have on her that made her friends so pressed?

Songyi didn't waste any time pulling out his phone and opening Twitter, basically shoving the device to her face. Gyeoul pursed her lips and accepted the phone from him, scanning trends, her confusion doubling as she read on the very top 'Wild Gyeoul.' She clicked on it and read the top tweet.

kpopbusters: Ahn Gyeoul or 'Gia' is a wild party girl? Read our new post to find out more! [insert article link]
      |
      kpopbusters: We're putting up a petition to throw Gia out of BigHit. She's too much of a bad influence on our idols, especially the 4th Gen groups. We're all in this together. Fighting!

Just one look at the horrible attempt at a headline, Gyeoul wanted to roll her eyes. "I'll read it after the class." She gave her friends assuring smiles as she returned the phone to Yunseo. "It's just a petty blog post. There's nothing to worry about."

"But almost five hundred thousand people read it," Yunseo tried to reason. "You should do something, deny the claims before it's too late. They said you drink until you're blackout drunk. Babe, I was wilder than you back in college!"

Songyi nodded in agreement, "You were always the designated driver!"

Gyeoul eyed the other dancers at their exclamations. She bit the inside of her cheeks, "We still have a class to finish. I'll see what I can do after."

Patting Songyi's cheek, she smiled at him to assure him that it wasn't that deep before going back to her spot at the back of the studio. As she went, dancers from the sides where the bags were stared at her oddly. Judging from the phones they held in their hands, they must have already seen that post.

She stared back at them straight in the eyes and they looked away immediately.

When she made it to her spot, she noticed Yongsik showing Hiromi something on his phone. By the looks on their faces, it didn't take her long to figure out that they were also reading that post. She sighed, silently standing still on her spot and leaning on one leg as she waited for Songyi to continue the class.

Hiromi shared a look with Yongsik before tapping Gyeoul's shoulder, "Eonnie, have you seen this?"

Gyeoul nodded, "I haven't read the post yet, but I got the message."

"It's unfair."

The younger dancer gave her a sympathetic look, giving her a side hug to comfort her even the slightest bit. Gyeoul smiled at the gesture and returned the hug in full, playfully ruffling her hair to assure her that she was alright.

The moment the class ended, Gyeoul went straight for her bag and joined her friends who gathered in the corner of the studio. The next class for that studio wasn't scheduled for another two hours so Yunseo managed to sweet talk the receptionist to let them use their studio for another thirty minutes.

It felt like an emergency meeting and it would have amused Gyeoul if her friends didn't look so concerned about the situation. So, she sat down with them and tried to make sense of what they were saying.

"I don't see the need for all this," Gyeoul chuckled, fishing out her phone from her bag. "That post is nothing but a weak attempt to put me down. I'm a woman enjoying my twenties and if people have a problem with that then that's beyond my business."

She opened her phone as her friends started to discuss what to do. Upon opening her phone, she saw that she had unopened messages from Taehyung. She clicked her tongue, hoping that he didn't text her about the blog. The last thing she wanted him to do was worry about her when he had tons of work to do.

TAEHYUNG
i know you're still in class right now but i just wanted to let you know that there's this blogger that posted some shit about you but don't worry the company's trying to fix it

TAEHYUNG
but you kinda do have to worry since they need you to take legal action

TAEHYUNG
please come to the building before you go home tonight i'll be there with you

TAEHYUNG
but don't let this post bring you down

TAEHYUNG
i've told you this already but you looked really heavenly in those photos

Below the last message was a four-second voice note. Gyeoul furrowed her eyebrows, bringing her volume down and bringing her phone's speaker to her ear before playing the voice note.

"Stay strong, darling. I love you!"

Instantly, a smile appeared on her face as she heard his voice. She pulled her phone away and looked at the message wall, biting her bottom lip to contain her smile.

A hand suddenly waved over her face.

"Hello? Earth to Gyeoul?"

"She's probably texting her boyfriend."

"She probably is."

"Wait, no shit? I was kidding about that." Yunseo crawled in front of Gyeoul and widened her eyes at her, "Was that true? Who is it? Do I know him? Is he good-looking?"

Checking the door of the dance studio in case someone was listening in on them, she raised two fingers to form a V-sign.

Yunseo stared at her dumbfoundedly, "How the fuck do I figure out who it is from that? Two? You have two boyfriends?"

Rolling his eyes at his cousin, Yongsik pulled her back beside him with the back of her shirt. He was about to say something when Songyi suddenly gasped.

"V just posted Ugh! lyrics on Weverse. It looks like he's really pissed," he breathed out in disbelief, making Gyeoul's eyes widen. "Their fans were quick to relate the lyrics to your situation and defended you. Holy shit, your photos from Mythos are flooding my timeline right now."

Gyeoul couldn't believe it. She checked her Twitter and scanned the tweets on the trending page.

username1: gf reveal [insert Gyeoul's picture]

username2: bro some bloggers are trying to cancel gia over something i used to do every weekend hdyshahtvsugkg

username3: kth rlly just threatened haters with ugh lyrics just to defend his bestie and that bestie is so unbothered by this shit. i stan the right people
     |
     username2: they should fear for their lives when tae is like PISSED pissed

username4: stop interacting with that blogger's post!!!
      |
      username4: fantasize about being gia's sugar baby instead!!!
      |
      username3: the only correct alternative!!!

username5: reminder: never date a bts stan cuz youll always come 9th in their life
      |
      username6: whos the 8th??
      |
      username7: their hot choreographer

username7: stop bringing attention to the blogger's shit and start reporting their account!!

Yongsik's voice tore her attention away from the tweets, "Looks like everything's almost solved. BTS and their fans are literal miracle workers. Did your company say anything?"

Nodding, she smiled at them, "They're handling stuff the best they can right now, but I need to drop by the building for actual things to happen."

❆

She did not drop by the building.

Taehyung knew that she wasn't going to show up after five minutes of waiting in the parking lot. If Gyeoul wasn't going to show up in the building, he was sure that she was going to show up for their date, so he went home without a second thought.

Stubbornness was always present in Gyeoul when she wanted to, even when they were kids. It annoyed him back then as much as it annoyed him now. His comment would only put that blog in a bad light, but it won't actually do anything major enough like punishing them with the law. Gyeoul needed to show up earlier to make sure that those people never did it to her again, but she didn't see the weight in that choice and decided to ditch. He was mad at her for that.

But he was also drowning in worry. He hasn't checked on how she was feeling yet. He didn't know if she was okay or if she was thoroughly affected by the post.

He already saw Gyeoul's car in the parking lot of his apartment building. Knowing that she was already upstairs, he quickened his pace and basically ran to the elevator.

Once he stepped into his unit, he was met with silence. Quickly taking off his shoes, he made his way to the living room to check if she was there.

And she was.

She was passed out on the couch, her cheek squished against the armrest and her legs close to her chest. A couch pillow was placed over her feet as an alternative for a blanket. She looked so fluffy wearing one of his brown sweaters and her black sweatpants. It was a direct attack on his heart.

Drawing in a sharp breath, he looked away and cursed to himself. How can he possibly stay mad at her when she's looking like that?

With a heavy sigh, he placed their take-out on the center table and knelt on the floor by the couch, brushing her hair back and pressing a light kiss on her forehead.

"Taehyung," she croaked out, waking up from her nap. Her eyes were still closed as she reached to hold the hand that brushed her hair back on the space on the couch in front of her. "Are you mad at me?"

He smiled slightly, "Yes, I am." Caressing her head, he sat down on the couch. "Are you hungry? I bought some take-out for us. Or do you want to sleep more? I'll put the food in the fridge."

She sat up, her eyes half-closed, "I had my reasons why I didn't show up—"

Leaning forward, he cut her statement off with a kiss on her lips. "I know you do, but let's eat before we talk about that."

With that and a ruffle to her already messy hair, he walked off, picking up their food from the center table and walking to the kitchen. Gyeoul watched as he went off with a warm heart. She wanted to run after him and shower him with love and kisses just to show him how much she appreciated him. Standing up, she fixed the couch's pillows before following Taehyung to the kitchen.

"I didn't come because I didn't need to," she stated as she went to get some plates for them. "I didn't come because retaliating means that I'm affected by it — which I'm not."

He sighed as he set up their food on the table. "I know you don't care, but I do. Gyeoul, if you don't let the company do something, then it might only get worse."

"All they want is attention and I'm not giving it to them. If I respond, then it'll get worse because that's what they want."

"But it can also mean that you're allowing yourself to become a doormat. You can't let these people walk over you. You need to do something."

Damn it, he's right, she thought. She pursed her lips and frustratedly pulled her hair into a lazy bun.

Taehyung breathed out a small chuckle as if he read her mind. He made his way to the kitchen island where she was. He leaned forward, placing his hands on either side of her on the marble. "Do something to defend yourself please."

She bit the inside of her cheek, looking away from him. "Fine."

His eyes widened by a fraction, not expecting her to yield so quickly, but smiled nonetheless. Gyeoul had this certain glint in her eyes that made his smile falter. She noticed his perplexion and pecked his cheek before nudging him away. She made her way around the island, pulling out her phone and connecting it to the bluetooth speakers.

Beats of the intro of Ne-Yo's Closer echoed quietly throughout the kitchen as she went to pull out a glass and a bottle of whiskey. She leaned her phone on a small potted plant on the island and started recording herself.

Taehyung stared at her as she poured herself an adequate amount as she bopped her head to the music like she was in a chill party. Feeling his eyes at her, Gyeoul picked her head to look back at him with a smirk. His cheeks heated at that, trying not to look away from her gaze.

Her eyes trained on the camera of her phone as she raised the glass to her lips and sipped on the whiskey, swishing it in her mouth for a short second before swallowing. All without flinching. She finished and kissed her teeth, placing her glass down on the counter and leaning her hands against the marble. Tilting her head at the camera, she smirked before looking back to Taehyung with a cocky quirk on her eyebrow.

He pursed his lips to contain his smile. She knew exactly what she was doing and he'd be the biggest liar in the world if he said it wasn't attractive.

Gyeoul stopped recording and looked back at her boyfriend. Her eyes softened as she saw his small smile. She knew that he felt somewhat guilty about the situation even though he shouldn't. It wouldn't be solved by that video alone, but it would show that they shouldn't waste their efforts on her simply because she didn't give a shit. There are still some things to be done.

"I'm posting that, by the way, that's how I'll defend myself," she stated, going back to him on the other side of the counter.

Taehyung nodded, stepping closer to her and wrapping an arm around her waist. "You're enthralling, Gyeoul. I think you're out of my league. That was fucking hot." He hoisted her up on the counter and stood between her legs.

A laugh bubbled out of her throat, "I know." She grinned, fiddling with his collar. He was about to kiss her when she pulled away, eliciting a whine from him. "And if you want me to take real action, I won't agree to sue the blogger right away. Instead, I want them to do community service as an alternative."

He nodded dazedly, his eyes glued to her lips, "As you wish."

Delicately cupping her jaw, he leaned in. Gyeoul grinned playfully as she saw that he closed his eyes and their lips were only a centimeter apart—

"And," she added, pulling away again. Already knowing the game she was playing, Taehyung leaned away fully to let her finish all of her statements. "You didn't have to post something just to defend me. I mean, thank you, I appreciate it a lot since it got a positive response, but you didn't have to do it. I can handle it on my own."

"The legal management team wasn't allowed to do anything without your permission and I knew you wouldn't let them do anything, so I reached out to people who I knew would shut the blog down."

She chuckled, "But I did something, or will do something, rather. I'll post it in a little while."

Taehyung smiled, adjusting his position so both he cupped her jaw and caressed her hair, "I know, I'm proud that you will." Gyeoul smiled back at him. "Are you done? Can I kiss you now?"

Patting his chest, she shook her head, "Later, we still need to eat dinner."

"It's just one little peck."

"By the look in your eyes, it's probably going to go a lot further than that," she teased. He pouted at her, making her laugh. In an attempt to console him, she quickly placed a kiss on his cheek before he could process it and scurried off to the dining table.

Wow, Taehyung thought to himself, biting his bottom lip to suppress his smile. Sometimes he forgets that they're together and she likes — loves him back.

She opened her phone again to post the video on her Instagram story and saw an unopened message from her aunt.

AUNT DAJUNG
Was I right?

Smiling, she turned her head back to her boyfriend who was still standing by the counter, still visibly flustered.

GYEOUL
no, you weren't.

NOTE

we have six chapters left.

song(s) mentioned in this chapter — closer by ne-yo