e l e v e n

"With the way we keep up with them, its no wonder everyone thinks we secretly like them." Jongdae commented with distaste as he crossed his arms over his chest. He was sat on one of the couches in the lounge room, along with his eleven other group members, some of them sat on the carpet ground at his feet. 

After the articles started emerging like wildfire about Yixing and the Baby Lips maknae, SM started planning for damage control. It was publicity for their boy group, but it wasn't the kind they wanted. But Pledis had beat them to it and had their girl group idol to speak at a press conference where she denied being linked to Lay of EXO. Though SM disliked that the other agency had gotten the word out first, they were glad that her words served to calm the seas, if even to a minimal extent. 

When they found out the press conference would air that same afternoon, they were the first ones sat in front of their television sets to watch it. The members of EXO had been gathered in the lounge room of their floor in the dorm building to watch it as well.

None of them were too interested in what would be said except the managers and Yixing. 

For him, it was seen as more of an opportunity to watch his girlfriend on television without it seeming suspicious to anyone. He watched with close attention as Sun was sat at the middle of the table. Her manager introduced her first, and then the maknae was allowed to speak. 

She denied the rumors--as was expected. Then she talked about the fact that she did have a boyfriend, but that she didn't want to say who it was yet. Yixing felt his heart beating against his chest with excitement. Perhaps she was talking about him and was already making plans to make their relationship public. He thought about it as well. He had already thought about it several times.

He knew the risks and consequences of disobeying the agency. But he was willing to stand up to them, for her. He would accept any suffering in life, and obstacles or struggles, as long as it was with her.

As she spoke about the person she was dating--mentioning how both of them were not yet ready to be seen together in public because of what it could bring--Yixing couldn't help but smile to himself. Of course she's talking about our relationship, he told himself. That initial denial of their love at the start of the conference had been because her agency forced her to say those things. 

The conference only lasted about fifteen minutes before everyone was dismissed.

Walking back to their dorm together, Jongdae threw his head back and groaned in annoyance. "I am so done with hearing about Baby Lips' every move, aren't you, hyung? Its like we live for them." He said, which was true. Everything that Baby Lips did, EXO had to hear about, and then do something the same, but better. And everything that EXO did, Baby Lips had to criticize and try to do better as well. Both groups loved more to compete with each other nowadays than to make music and do what they loved. 

The media had done that to them--pitted them against each other.

Yixing sighed. "It really has gotten kind of repetitive."

"Its not fun anymore." Jongdae continued. "I mean, back then it was kind of nice to see them try to take us down and failing. Lu Han hyung is right. We should just ignore them and move on with our lives. This EXO-Baby Lips rivalry got old really quick." It had gotten quick for him, Lu Han, Tao, and a few of the other members. But not for the press. It always gave them something to talk about. It always gave them ways to stay relevant.

Jongdae still disliked them, but he was tired of fighting against them all the time.

It won't have to be much longer, Yixing thought to himself. Soon Mae and I will reveal ourselves as a couple and then maybe all of this fighting will stop. 

-

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zyxzjs: dont pay mind to every rumor you hear guys ;) #liesarefree

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Sun saw Yixing's post about rumors, and she heaved a sigh. He seemed so happy, unsuspecting even, in his post. Like it hadn't sunk in for him that Sun was now going to be rumored to be dating someone else--someone that wasn't him. He would soon realize it as soon as the pictures would come out or her and Aron together.

It was times like those that she dreaded the life she had chosen--the life of an idol.

Sure there was the glamour, the adoring fans, and doing something she loved. But it had its negative side. She had to give up her family--moving into a dorm building where she was only allowed to see them after she finished all her schedules, she wasn't paid nearly as much as she knew she was supposed to--but she also kept in mind all the money the agency had invested in her, and most importantly she had given up her liberty.

Even who she dated was up to her managers and Pledis Entertainment to decide. If they wanted her to pretend to date Aron Kwak, then she had to do it--and she had to do it without complaints.

Thought what she was dreading more in that moment was returning to Korea. When they were told they would be promoting in China for about a week, she didn't want to leave her country because she didn't want to leave Yixing behind. Now returning was what she least wanted because she would be faced with more media exposure, and she would probably have to spend time with Aron upon her arrival. She couldn't even think about it without wanting to cry.

It was frustrating, to say the least.

Sun and Minnie were in their suite, packing their belongings because they would be travelling the next morning, when Lina entered the room. "Mae," She called to the younger of the two girls in the room. Sun involuntarily flinched at the sound of her name. The blouse she was holding in her hands and folding to place into her luggage was startled out of her hold. She looked up at her manager, already expecting to be ordered to do yet another thing she didn't want to do. She was rather relieved when all Lina said was, "When we land at the airport in Seoul, do not talk to the press." 

Sun figured that the only reason why they weren't talking about the fake relationship with Aron was because Minnie was in the room and she didn't know it was all an act. Once they were alone, she would probably get a rundown of what she had to do upon arriving in Korea.

The maknae only gave a nod of her head. 

At that point, she wasn't interested in talking to the press. Her spirit was broken.

Lina happily left the room to go check on the other girls. As soon as she was gone, Minnie commented with a frown, "Why are you so mopey all of a sudden?"

Sun shook her head. "I'm not mopey."

Minnie shot her a look that said you can't fool me. "I thought you would be back to your usual ray of sunshine self now that the agency is letting you date Aron." Her friend said, genuinely confused to see the youngest of the group so disheartened. She was like a shell of her former happy self.

It just didn't make sense.

Sun was ready to once again deny the fact that she wasn't happy when her phone buzzed with an incoming text message. It was from her boyfriend--her real boyfriend--and that managed to pull even the slightest hint of a smile onto her face. Sun unlocked her phone and opened up the text message from him. The two of them hadn't talked that day since she had been at that meeting with her managers, then at the press conference.

baobei<3: jagiya i miss u :*

sun: miss u more baobei <3

baobei<3: when r u coming back?

sun: tomorrow morning :)

baobei<3: we should meet up then.

baobei<3: i really wanna see u, and i really
wanna talk to you about something.

Sun felt her stomach drop when she read his most recent text to her. He wanted to talk to her. Her thoughts drifted to the worst.

Maybe he had found out about her supposedly seeing someone else. Maybe he had decided he didn't want to be her secret anymore. Maybe Pledis had ruined her relationship. Sun couldn't bear the thought.

After several minutes of not responding, she finally replied that they would meet at the same place that they always did when they wanted to see each other in secret. Under the bridge that went over the Han River. She would explain everything to him and hoped that he would understand. 

-

That night, the girls had gotten together once again to play some games together, since Sun was still punished and wasn't allowed to go out. According to Lina, the punishment would be lifted upon returning to Korea, but she had also warned that they would be keeping a closer eye on her from here on out. 

Baby Lips M were in Sun and Min's room playing a colorful Mexican version of the game Bingo which was called Loteria, that Isaac had sent Minnie in the mail. Sun liked it because it was colorful, fun, and it helped her practice her Spanish. The other girls really enjoyed playing it as well because it was different than any other games they had played before. Instead of little balls with numbers on them, Loteria came with a deck of cards. Each card had a picture on it, along with a riddle. The players had to guess which picture was being called out without looking at the card, based on the riddle.

Minnie was in the middle of calling out a card from the deck when Sun's phone lit up with a notification.

She thought it was Yixing for a moment, before she remembered he would be playing video games all night with the other EXO boys and would leave his cellphone charging in his room.

Instead, she saw an incoming message from an unknown number. 

unknown: hey

sun: hi...who is this?

unknown: oh, sorry.

unknown: forgot to tell you. its aron.

sun: aron

aron: yeah

sun: aron kwak from nu'est

aron: & ur sun from blm

sun: did u need something, or...?

aron: pledis asked (forced) me to add 
ur number to my contacts & message u

aron: they want us to "talk"

sun: cool i guess

Sun added his number to her list of contacts, though she was reluctant to continue talking to him. She didn't want to talk to him, he didn't want to talk to her. But they both decided to just get it over with.

Getting up from her place on the carpet floor, Sun excused herself from the game. "Sorry, girls. I have to answer these texts." She told them with a nervous smile.

Kia grinned. "Good. With you out of the picture maybe I can win for a change."

Sun walked over to her bed and plopped herself down on it. 

Clicking on the reply box, she typed back a message for Aron's text.

sun: im sry they want us to pretend to date

sun: its all my fault

sun: i rly didnt mean to drag u into this mess

aron: dont trip

aron: im not mad or anything, just surprised
at how quick they set this up.

sun: true

aron: just fyi, they want us to go out on a date
soon as u get back from china.

sun: ...

-

things are getting even more intense here.

no long author's note because im kind of sleepy so im gonna go to bed. just a little announcement though: if you like bts or super junior, i posted two new stories now that i had to put sasaeng on hold until i reach a certain chapter on here. it will only be on hold after i post the next chapter. i put it on hold bc things need to happen in this story that i wanted to mention in sasaeng.

and i cant do that until they happen here first. so anyway, thank you all loads for reading and supporting me. it means alot.

the stories are "thin" about taehyung from bts, and "malaguena" about yesung from super junior.

have a wonderful week!

-clary xx