t w e n t y f o u r

Sun's confession took Sarang by surprise. So much that the Baby Lips leader ceased in her crying, only to look at Sun. She was searching for any hints that what she was saying was a joke, that she wasn't serious about it. But Sun was entirely serious. All those nights of sneaking out were to see Yixing. All those harmful comments she made about him in interviews were all show. None of it was real. For Sarang, it was difficult for her to wrap her mind around it.

Her lips spread into a smile and immediately a laugh followed suit, accompanied by sniffling because she had been crying only a minute prior. "That's a really good one, maknae. You and Zhang Yixing dating would never happen."

"I'm not joking." Sun insisted, her serious expression never faltering.

"You hate him." Sarang pointed out as her laugh died out and she noticed how Sun never once laughed about it. Now she was having her doubts.

Sun heaved a sigh. "That was all an act."

"Oh my God, Mae." Sarang gasped, bringing her hands to her face in surprise. Each time she was called Mae, her real name, she knew that she was in trouble. "I'm over here stressing out about liking Junmyeon when there's nothing serious between us yet. And you've been dating his group mate for who knows how long. When were you planning to tell anyone?" Before Sun could answer the question, Sarang continued, "After your secret wedding and your three secret kids?" It amazed Sun how her unnie had been able to go from utterly hopeless and distraught to scolding leader in a matter of minutes.

"Actually," Sun corrected with a nervous smile, hoping to make light of the situation. "We plan to have eleven kids." When she saw Sarang shoot her a narrowed eyes look, Sun quickly added, "But we're going to tell everyone eventually. We just don't know how to go through with it because we'll both get in trouble. I don't want that for Yixing when he's worked so hard to get where he is." 

Sun saw Sarang roll her eyes slightly at the mention of Yixing. Even though she had been spending time with Junmyeon, she still wasn't fond of his group mates. The same was the case for Sun. With the exception of maybe Lu Han--who from the start refused to be dragged into that war between the groups--and of course her boyfriend Yixing, she absolutely detested the other EXO boys. For Sun and her group mates of Baby Lips, EXO was everything that was wrong with the world. Everything bad happened because of them. Or as Rin had most accurately once put it, "Each time EXO wins some kind of award or recognition, Satan smiles in his palace in Hell because he knows that evil has once again triumphed in the world." The quote had by now been immortalized by various fan videos and memes all over the internet.

It went without saying that EXO thought the very same thing about Baby Lips.

"This is wrong." Sarang shook her head. "I should end things with Junmyeon before it gets too far, and you should end things with him before anyone finds out and you get in trouble."

She reached for her phone on the nightstand between the two beds, and unlocked it. Before she could do anything else, Sun took the phone from her hands and held it out of her reach. "Don't do something you'll regret later." She urged the older group member.

"That is exactly what I'm doing." Sarang said, trying to reach for the phone again.

Sun placed a hand on Sarang's shoulder and pushed her back lightly. "Unnie, trust me. This is not the right thing to do. If you and Junmyeon oppa like each other, I don't see why you have to stop a relationship from happening."

"Its forbidden." Sarang tried to reason with her.

"So you're just going to let Pledis tell you who to love?" Sun raised an eyebrow at her in question.

Sarang shot back. "Isn't that what you're doing?"

She had been talking about Aron. The way Sun was letting them control her life and tell her what to do. They didn't know about Yixing, but a rumor of them dating had been enough for them to start taking over what she did in her personal life, as Park Mae. It was like they were taking her stage personality, and forcing her to become it off the stage. Sun the idol was in a relationship with Aron. But Mae and Aaron, the real people behind the personalities, were not in love and both had someone else that was in their heart.

It was difficult to think that on the stage she was one person, and off the stage she was someone else. For Pledis, she had to be whatever they wanted her to be, whenever they wanted her to be it. The line was blurred to their convenience. 

The same went for Sarang. 

As the idol and Baby Lips leader Saris, she hated Suho from EXO, and he hated her too. But as Sarang and Junmyeon, they could really be themselves. They could love each other.

"My issue is not the same." Sun argued. "My thing with Aron is only a publicity stunt."

"How?" Sarang urged for an explanation, for an answer. "How is it different?"

Maybe what made it different was the fact that even though Sarang and Junmyeon were seeing each other in secret, it was just the two of them. There wasn't another person added to the equation like there was with Sun and Yixing. Between them was Aron, and even though Sun wasn't in love with him, their fake relationship presented itself as a problem between her and her real boyfriend..

-

Another fake date. 

Their managers at Pledis had arranged for them to have dinner at an Italian restaurant called The Place, which was located at the Seoul Tower. It was a tower at the top of a mountain, once used for military purposes, but was now used for recreation. 

As the sun was setting over the horizon, the view of the city was alluring. But Sun couldn't enjoy it because she was forced to go there with Aron. She then wondered if she would ever get to go to places like that with Yixing. All the places they got to visit together were private spots in the middle of the night, to avoid being seen by anyone.

Both had dressed in casual clothes since the outing and the restaurant were nothing overly fancy. She wore a simple dress, he wore black pants and a navy blue polo with grey on the collar. They walked towards the restaurant hand in hand. People passed them, most of them leaving since it was nearing night time and the most popular hours at the tower were in the early afternoon. Most were tourists, but the ones who weren't were able to recognize them and whispered about them through excited giggles.

Once the hallway cleared up, Aron got his phone out of his pocket and stopped by the entrance of the restaurant. Sun stopped walking, since her hand was linked with his and he tugged on her hand to get her to stop.

"Lets take a picture for social media." He told her with a cold expression.

He was so good at pretending that he was in love with her whenever there were people watching. But once everyone was gone, he was distant and rather cold. He didn't hate--or even disklike--Park Mae, he just knew that he wasn't interested in her. The only reason why he did what the managers asked him to do was because he had to, and because their fake relationship was seen positively by fans of both groups. It had sent his popularity through the roof and there were now talks between him, and the higher ups at Pledis for him to release a mix tape.

It had done wonders for her as well, where her career was concerned, because he knew that she was on the verge of releasing her first solo mini album.

For Aron it was a win-win.

Sun heaved a sigh, her expression dropping once they were alone. She was tired of smiling, both physically and emotionally. She always had to appear happy otherwise there would be rumors of a rocky relationship with Aron. Then she would have problems again. Not long after, there would probably be dating rumors of her with any male she talks to.

Aron had brought his phone camera up to snap a picture of them, but once he saw her facial expression, he commented, "Please try not to look like being with me is the worst thing in the world."

"Sorry." She apologized. "I don't know how you do it. I know for a fact you're not in love with me. But every time someone passes us, you look like I'm your entire life."

He gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I kinda just pretend you're Allisson and it works."

"Wow thanks." Sun shot him a glare.

"Maybe if you pictured him here instead of me, it would help." He suggested.

Sun closed her eyes for an instant and pictured herself at the Seoul Tower with Yixing. A smile formed on her lips as she imagined the way he walks almost in a clueless manner, how he sometimes pauses hesitantly like he doesn't know where to go. The way she could catch the slightest hint of an accent when he calls her jagiya because its not his native language. The dimples that adorned his face when he smiles or laughs.

She could see it all so vividly through her closed eyelids that for a moment she believed that he was there.

Her eyes opened and she saw the empty hallway, and only herself with Aron as the two people standing there. Her smile dropped a fraction when she remembered it was only her imagination.

"Now just think of it with your eyes open." He instructed, leaning in close to her as she posed for the picture. His lips were only millimeters from her face. "And smile for the camera. Everyone's going to see this online."

Everyone including Yixing, she thought to herself.

♥58k likes

nuestaron: at seoul tower with my princess. saranghae jagiya <3 #pmak 

comments...

blm_sunshine: i had the best time <3

blm_sunshine: so happy we got to spend some time together :)

nuestaron: me too baby <3

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-

Yixing didn't get to see the picture until the next morning during his break at group dance practices with the other boys. It was like an addiction for the boys. Each minute of free time from practices was spent on their phones and social media. And most times they were watching what Baby Lips was doing, so that they could criticize them.

That day, Lu Han was posting a short weibo video update with Tao and Sehun. The others were on their social media accounts either uploading selfies or scrolling through a news feed. Yixing was on instagram, after having typed in a specific account username to look at.

sunshine_blm.

The most recent picture uploaded was a repost of another picture posted on nuestaron's account. It was a picture of the two of them together, happy and in love, as they wanted the whole world to think. Aron had his lips almost touching her, and Sun smiled into the camera like she was having a good time. It almost seemed real to him. He could handle the news articles and the talk about them in the media, but to actually see them together was another thing. 

He tried telling himself that it was all an act, but he still couldn't bear it.

He got up from his seat on the wooden floor and left the room, leaning up against the wall in the hallway and sliding down to the ground in defeat. He brought his hands to his face as he felt at the risk of shedding some tears.

He had only been sitting there for a few minutes when someone called to him, "Hey, are you okay?" It was a female voice that he didn't have to look up to know who it belonged to.

It was Tiffany Hwang from SNSD.

Their practice room was only a few doors down from where EXO was practicing, and she held a bottle of orange juice in her hand that she had gotten from a vending machine nearby. Yixing looked up to meet her eyes, his own were reddening, but there were no tears escaping his eyes at that moment.

He nodded to her. "I just needed some fresh air."

Offering her bottle of juice to him, she smiled brightly. "Did you feel dizzy?" She asked another question.

He only nodded again so that he wouldn't have to give the real answer to his predicament.

"Maybe you're just hungry or something." She reasoned. This time pushing the juice bottle into his hand, she added, "Take my juice. I'll just go buy another one. Feel better, okay? Get plenty of rest and all of that good stuff so you can be strong, nam dongsaeng."

Before he could protest, she headed back down the hallway, grabbing money out of her pocket for a new bottle of juice.

Yixing picked himself up off the ground and consoled himself by thinking that it was already November. By December, Sun had promised they would tell everyone that they were in love.

There would be no more tears.

No more suffering.

No more hiding.

-

no long author's note today because i have to go to training bc i became a spanish/history tutor at the university last week. and tbh i only did it bc im a spanish and history major, and its a paid position. so im doing it for the money, no shame. but i need cash.

anyway. i hope you all enjoy the update. 

thank you for reading and supporting. have a wonderful weekend!

-clary xx