t e n

Sun had no other choice but to sit there quietly and listen as her managers from Pledis Entertainment planned out a supposed love life for her. They had determined that they would start a rumor of their own, in which she would pretend to secretly date labelmate Aron from Ne'est. As they continued with their plans, BLM's manager Lina unnie got her cellphone out and dialed a number. It was the contact she had in her phone for the manager in charge of Nu'est. She wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same page for their plan.

When Lina got off the phone with the other group'a manager, she looked to Sun, acknowledging her for the first time even though she had been there the entire time. "Mae," She began in a hurried tone, "Stand up and go to the other side of the room. Then cover your face with one hand. We need a picture for Aron to post on his instagram account."

Heaving a sigh, Sun didn't protest and did as she was told. But a small part of her mind feared what Yixing's reaction to all of this would be.

The other executives left their seats to make more space for her and Lina quickly snapped a picture of Sun in the pose she had instructed, quickly typing away on her phone and sending it to a waiting boy group manager back in Korea. 

Sun returned to her seat at the table and the executives did the same. Curious, she got her phone out and opened up her instagram app. She already followed Aron on social media, since all Pledis idols were encouraged to follow and support each other. She found his account on her news feed to find that just seconds earlier, he had posted that picture of her, with a romantic caption.

♥12K likes

nuestaron: miss you baby. cant wait to see you again. ♥ #mybabe #solucky #pmak

comments...

nuestfans: wait wtf??!! since when?

nuestfans: this boy just prings it on us without an explanation

aron_pledis_ent: im so confused.

nuesthearts: who is she?!

la_kwak: aron has been hiding this from us for how long?? D: 

nuesthearts: she vaguely looks familiar... like another pledis idol i've seen before...

load more comments...

Sun let out a sigh. The news was already out there, even though no one knew it was her yet. She was amazed at how quickly Pledis worked. They had managed to pull of the first part of their plan in a matter of mere seconds. Later would come the more elaborate parts which required more preparation and more planning. But for now it was out there. 

"When you get back to your suite, change into something else for the press conference." Lina gave her yet another set of instructions. "We don't want people to know its you just yet. Let the fans speculate on their own for a while."

The Baby Lips maknae only nodded her head in agreement.

-

It was another thirty minutes in the conference room before Sun was allowed to return to her hotel suite. All the while that she was in there, other executives were running around trying to get everything ready for a press conference in the very same room, but three hours later. Lina was now calling up hair and make-up artists to be on call because they would be needed later.

Sun walked back to her suite with Lina and was dropped off after being give more instructions. "Get changed. I'll have hair and make-up come to you. When they're done, just return to the conference room. Everything will be set up for you to speak. And don't tell the other girls about this. They have to believe this is real."

Lina walked away, leaving Sun in the hallway in front of her door. Sun opened it and entered the room. Minnie was laying on her stomach on one of the beds, her laptop in front of her and she was smiling like a fool. No doubt she was talking to her boyfriend Isaac. Sun soon confirmed this when she heard the footballer's voice, speaking to his girlfriend in Spanish. Sun could understand some of it, since she was required to learn her four languages, but she paid no attention to them. Instead, she went to her closet to pick out something to wear for the press conference.

Since it wasn't a very important event, she was required to dress in her own clothes. Wardrobe wasn't called in to pick something for her to wear. 

When Minnie saw Sun enter the room, she said something to her boyfriend in Spanish before pushing herself off the bed and running to her group mate's side with her cellphone in hand. It was something along the lines of, wait a moment while I go talk to my friend. With a look full of surprise, yet confusion, she said to her group member. "Sun, oh my god. Did you see what Aron from Nu'est just posted on his social media?" 

Sun said nothing, her mood disheartened as she grabbed her luggage from next to her best and plopped it atop the mattress. She opened it up and started sifting through her clothes for something to wear. Next to her, Minnie opened up her instagram app and found the picture she was looking for. 

"Its you, Sun." Minnie said, placing the phone in front of her face. "You're going out with Aron Kwak?" It was definitely a picture of Park Mae, wearing the same outfit she was currently wearing. But it was a picture posted on Aron Kwak from Nu'est's instagram page. Even if the girl in the picture had covered her face, Minnie was able to recognize her immediately. She knew all the members of Baby Lips like the palm of her hand since she had spent various years at Pledis Entertainment, training with them.

Sun replied with a nod, confirming Minnie's suspicions. The other girls have to believe this is real, she remembered Lina unnie's words. "Yeah," Sun told her friend with a sigh. "It was Aron from Nu'est. He's the boy I'm secretly going out with." She was once again alone with another secret. With each one she could feel herself putting more distance between herself and the other girls, and that wasn't something she wanted. Sun knew they would be upset when they found out, but its not like she could tell them. The Pledis managers wanted her to keep the secret. She had to.

"But he's a Pledis idol, like us." Minnie reasoned, trying to find the logic behind Sun wanting to keep that to herself. "Why did you hide it from us?" The older group member wondered.

Sun gave a shrug of her shoulders. "Honestly I was just afraid we would get punished for it. We...we started talking without getting permission from the agency first. You know they don't like that. They want to know about everything--they want to control everyone." She explained, and she truthfully felt that way. Her agency, Yixing's agency, every agency wanted total control over their idols, as though they were objects that could be owned.

Minnie grinned and wrapped an arm around Sun's shoulders. "Well you should be happy now, since I'm assuming you have permission to date. Even if they punished you, the worst is over, and now you can freely be with your true love." Minnie figured based off the fact that Aron had posted a picture of his supposed girlfriend that Pledis was allowing them to go out in public now. 

"I am." Sun said, forcing a smile onto her face.

It must have been even remotely convincing because Minnie gave her one last loving squeeze and returned to her video chat with Isaac. 

-

She got changed into a simple white blouse, a pair of jeans, and she was back on her way to the hotel's conference room. By the time she returned, the long table had been moved to the back of the room, and chairs were set up for the press. Sun sat at the front table, in the middle. There was a name tag for her, and the other chairs were for her group's manager, as well as the Pledis Entertainment executive for the Chinese branch, since they were still in Hunan, China.

One by one, journalists from different media outlets and agencies piled into the room. None of them were allowed to talk to her, or ask any questions. The press conference had only been set up for her to speak about the rumors that were surrounding her.

When everyone arrived and was in their seats, Lina started out the press conference by going over the rules again. Then she introduced the young woman who was seated to her left, but who didn't need an introduction, since everyone in the room already knew her. "Without further ado, I'll let our star do the talking from here on out." She smiled and the photographers got their cameras ready to film and take pictures of Sun.

Sun took a deep breath to calm her nerves and began to speak. "I know there have been many things being said about me these last couple of days." She paused for a moment, fidgeting with her hands nervously before she continued. "The other night I saw a new rumor going around about me, and SM Entertainment's boy group member from EXO." She made sure to add as much venom to her tone as she could, which wasn't difficult if she only thought about EXO and SM, leaving Yixing out of it. "The rumors claim I'm in a secret relationship with one of them, and that's simply not true. I do have a boyfriend--" 

She stopped when there were a few interested gasps in the room. Suddenly, the flashing camera lights blinded her for a brief moment. 

Looking to her manager, who nodded in encouragement, she continued, "My agency--Pledis Entertainment, who has gotten me where I am today--is well aware of this relationship and have given their permission for me to do this while still focusing on my idol career."

"But who is your significant other?" One of the reporters asked.

Sun gave a shake of her head. "The two of us are not ready to be in a public relationship together yet. He wants to protect me from his fans who might take this news negatively, and I want to do the same for him. But we've been seeing each other for a while now, and he's a wonderful person who makes me happier than I've ever been."

"Will you make a big announcement when you make the relationship public?" Another reporter shouted a question.

"That's all I have to say." Sun replied. That's all I'm allowed to say, was more accurate.

"The press conference is over." Lina said into her microphone, standing up from her chair. Sun did the same and her manager stood in front of her protectively. "Thank you so much for coming."

The conference had only lasted a few minutes and the reporters were escorted out of the conference room while Sun was led out through a back door that led into one of the back hallways. She returned to her suite to rest. There was nothing more planned for that afternoon except wait and keep special attention on the kpop gossip news to determine whether or not her press conference had done enough to cut the ties that were being made between her and Yixing in public.

Sun knew she wouldn't be surprised if she saw SM doing the same thing, tying Yixing down to one of their own female idols in order to steer away suspicion. 

She couldn't imagine having to see Yixing side by side with another--pretending to love someone else. That was exactly the way she knew he would feel once he saw the press conference, but even more so once she would start to spend time with Aron.

Last, she felt for Aron who had nothing to do with anything. He was the one innocent party in all of it. Now he was forced to love someone--pretend to love someone, even when he hadn't really talked to them before, only to benefit Sun and Yixing. 

Things were beginning to get out of control for the Baby Lips maknae.

-

i am suddenly very inspired with this story. i've always been inspired, but now its a special kind of inspiration that is driving me to post more updates, so i might upload another chapter in one to two days. especially since i have to put sasaeng on hold for a little while because there's one chapter i wrote which i might post tomorrow, but the one i wrote after that would give away information that hasn't happened in no you girls yet.

and that would kill this story because how can i let you guys know of important details before hand? that wouldnt make any sense. so im going to focus more on this one and replacement again. 

and once we reach that point where i can post the next sasaeng chapter, i will resume posting in there regularly again.

thank you so much for reading! have an awesome weekend!

-clary xx