t w e l v e

Knowing she would have to go on a date with Aron upon returning to Korea made Sun dread returning. She almost hoped something would happen that would prevent them from returning. The Baby Lips maknae wasn't prepared for what was to come. The date with Aron, the talk with Yixing that she had a bad feeling about, and all the lying she needed to continue doing. 

She knew it would eventually become too much for her.

The six members of Baby Lips M got up early for breakfast and then took their luggage down to the van that would get them to the airport. 

The entire time, Sun was nervous and full of uncertainty. Yoona noticed this and wrapped an arm around the youngest member's shoulders to provide her with comfort. "If you're still worried about the scooter incident, or about that whole dating an EXO member thing, just forget about it. We'll get through all of this together." She told her with a cheerful smile.

Sun almost envied her sub group's leader.

She didn't have to worry about the rumors because the rumors were always about Sun. She was the preferred target for rumors because she was the youngest, and as the youngest, she was also the most reckless of the group. She was the one always causing mischief. Of the late, her managers had warned her against it and she had managed to tone her behavior down. But the rumors persisted. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Everyone was always keeping an eye on Park Mae.

When they got to the airport, it was swarming with reporters who wanted to know about Sun's secret relationship. All of them shoved microphones in her face, bombarded her with questions, and snapped countless amounts of photos while the maknae tried to cover her face.

Yoona and Minnie shielded her as best as they could until they got onto the plane. 

Once on the plane, Lina heaved a satisfied sigh. "You didn't respond to the reporters' prying questions. Good job, Mae." She said to the girl who was sat in the same row as her.

Sun only nodded and stuck her ear buds in to tune out the outside world.

She listened to the playlist Minnie had created for her on Spotify with traditional songs of Mexico, which her friend promised would help her perfect her Spanish. They were songs the idol from Lagos de Moreno was considering for her first solo album side project. Passion & Pride: The Sounds of My Country was the name she had chosen for it, and Minnie was already working on the production of the album with the managers of Pledis and Baby Lips.

As the music filled her ears--at full volume--Sun closed her eyes and tried to forget about all the lies she was having to tell if she wanted to keep her relationship with Yixing a secret.

-

In Korea, there was an equal amount of reporters waiting for them. All of them were more interested in Sun's love life than in the new album or the new perfume that would be out in the Chinese market within a few days. Sun rolled her eyes as she passed them with Yoona and Minnie shielding her like body guards.

The media always focused on the most irrelevant things.

Baby Lips M made it to their waiting car successfully, without talking to the media. That was a first for Sun, who always had something to say to them--but that was when it came to EXO. The media had ways to push her buttons and getting her to talk by commenting on how they were musically better than them. EXO was slightly more popular, won more awards, and had found more success than the Pledis girl group, and that always bothered Sun.

This time she had no room to worry about the other EXO boys where her love life was in jeopardy. Pledis was playing chess with her life, in a game of strategy where they were the only ones to result winners.

The entire drive to the dorm building she kept her eyes focused out the window. She watched the people in envy who's everyday lives now appealed more to her. They were so genuinely happy, and so genuinely free. Sun wanted that kind of life for herself. But with a ten year contract, she was bound to Pledis Entertainment for nine more years. The same as Yixing, the same as the other EXO boys, and the same as her group mates from Baby Lips. 

She spotted a couple for a brief instant, about her age, at an icecream parlour. Both with smiling faces as the girl shared her icecream cone with her boyfriend. Sun heaved a sigh.

She would have given anything to be that carefree girl at the parlour--with Yixing by her side.

As they neared the Pledis building, she sunk back into reality.

She would be doing all those things soon enough, very likely.

But with Aron.

-

Sun was in her room now, which she shared with Saris. 

She felt as though she hadn't seen the BLK--and overall group leader of Baby Lips in a long time. But it had only been about a week, give or take a few days. Saris was a mixture of emotions upon seeing the group's maknae.

For one, she was in scolding mode after the scooter incident, but she was also joyful to see her again, as she had also felt like it had been a thousand years since they last saw each other. Then there was the fact that she had seen Aron Kwak's instagram post where many of the other Pledis idols were speculating that the girl in the picture was none other than Baby Lips' maknae, Park Mae. 

By keeping up with their instagram posts, Sun knew that the girls of the Korean subgroup had been busy as well. They had appeared at KBS Music Bank, and had done some promos for the album, anf there was even word that they were already working on the comeback. Normally, groups waited to be complete before they started working on things like that, but Baby Lips didn't. Sun couldn't help but feel left out--not by the BLK girls--but by Pledis who didn't wait for their return and started plans without them.

Saris was in the middle of hugging Sun into suffocation when there was a knock on their dorm room's door. At the same time, Sun's phone beeped in her pocket with a notification.

aron: come outside, yeah?

aron: im picking u up for dinner

Sun heaved a sigh, her moment of peace was over and she stuffed her phone into her pocket.

She went to the door and opened it, revealing a freshly showered Aron Kwak with dampened hair. He was dressed simply. Just a t-shirt and some jeans, which meant that wherever he was taking her, it wouldn't be anything fancy. Sun guessed that, since Pledis wanted to make their fake relationship as genuine as possible and most people didn't go anywhere too fancy on the first date.

Aron waved a greeting at her as a small smile tugged at his lips.

"Hey." He soon said. "Ready to go?"

Sun nodded her head. "Sure."

She was dressed in a simple white dress with black patterns on it, from her own closet. Her hair was tamed an acceptable. She didn't have much energy to do anything else with it than to leave it in a pony tail she had styled that morning.

Saris looked from Sun to Aron with confusion.

"What is happening here?" The Baby Lips leader asked in a daze.

Sun sucked in a breath and replied rather unenthusiastically. Though she tried her best to hide it. "Aron and I are just going to get some food together."

Still not entirely convinced, Saris asked, "Since when do you two talk though?"

"A while." Sun shrugged her shoulders.

Sun joined Aron in the hallway outside and both bowed to Saris out of respect, since she was older than the two of them. Aron added, "Nice seeing you, noona. I promise I'll have her back here by eight--if not sooner." It was only five in the afternoon.

"Okay." was all Saris replied.

-

♥49K likes

nuestaron: dinner with this beauty. cant tell you guys who she is yet. ;) #secretly #mylove #jagiya #pmak

load comments...

babylips_mk liked nuestaron's photo.

lagosdmoreno liked nuestaron's photo.

You liked nuestaron's photo.

pledis_ent liked nuestaron's photo.

bornthisren liked nuestaron's photo.

Aron sighed at the table, placing his phone back in his pocket. His level of enthusiasm for their date was the same as Sun's, and who could blame him? He was also being forced to pretend someone he never even talked to before that day. They knew each other. They had done a few interviews, variety shows and concerts together. But to say they were even remotely close was a lie.

They were essentially strangers to each other.

"Posted the picture already." He informed her, looking down at the food on his plate. One slice of pizza.

Sun nodded her head. "I hit like."

But she only did after she made sure the group account and some of the other girls in Baby Lips liked his photo. No doubt Lina unnie had talked to them about Sun and Aron, since most of them had liked the post almost as soon as he published it onto his account. Saris. Yoona. Kia. Jai. Minnie. Rin. Miran. Hani. Over half of the group had liked the photo before Sun did.

Rather than going to a restaurant, the managers of Pledis had ordered a catering meal for them to eat together--in the Pledis Entertainment building lunch room. It was everything short of what she expected from a first date, not that it actually mattered to her since it was all staged.

Aron sighed once again. "I don't know why they arranged this if no one will know we went out on a date. This is more for them to prove they can control us into doing whatever they want--I think."

"I think they want us to talk so we can get to know each other." She reasoned.

"Fair enough." He agreed, and taking a bite off his pizza, he asked her a question, "So are you really dating that EXO guy, or is that actually a rumor?"

Sun was taken by surprise at his question.

Before she could respond, he said, "I honestly thought it was all a bullshit rumor since you guys are always at each other's throats. But then, I thought, why would Pledis start a rumor of their own so quickly if its not true? They must be trying to hide something." He took another bite of his pizza in a very nonchalant manner.

The girl who was sat across from him gulped nervously. "They just don't want one of their idols associated with them."

"Of course. Pledis and SM are arch enemies." He replied, and continued eating his pizza.

Sun served some spaghetti on her plate and didn't end up eating any of it, merely spent the entire time pushing it around with her fork. Her eyes were focused on her plate of food the entire time as she was lost in her own worried thoughts. Aron had nothing to worry about--nothing to hide--therefore he was able to eat peacefully. 

-

Their dinner lasted about an hour and was spent with them eating in silence for most of it. They had spaghetti, pizza, and dessert, which was all a combination of their favorite foods. Sun's favorite was pasta, Aron's was pizza, and they both liked the chocolate creme pie which they weren't allowed to have otherwise due to their strict idol diets.

They tried to have a conversation between them, but it was difficult because it was forced, and they eventually gave up.

Aron dropped Sun off at her dorm later and returned to his own floor in the same building where he lived with the other boys in his group. Even though they all lived in the same building, the groups rarely saw each other due to their busy schedules.

Sun stayed confined to her dorm room the rest of the afternoon.

She waited until night time, after her group mates fell asleep, before she showed signs of life. She dressed in a black Adidas track suit, pulling the hood over her head. Using the service exit for the building--since the cleaning staff worked mostly at night, so as not to disturb the idols in the day time--she made her way out into the night.

Getting her cellphone out of her pocket, she opened the text conversation with Yixing.

sun: baobei can u still meet up tonight?

yixing: yes  

yixing: meet me at the han river

sun: okay

sun: so r u gonna tell me what u wanted

to talk about?

yixing: i dont want to talk about this 
over text.

With a sigh, she stuffed her phone into her pocket and walked down the semi-empty streets of Seoul toward her destination.

-

a chapter for no you girls, and you may have noticed i haven't updated the other stories like 'sasaeng' or 'replacement'. i will continue updating replacement regularly. but after the next chapter i will post tomorrow for sasaeng, i will have to put it on hold.

as i have explained many times, i have to wait for certain things to happen in this story before i finish updating sasaeng. i just dont want to give vital details away.

thank you all loads for reading, and please check out my new bts taehyung fic which i posted the other day. its very short, so it won't take you long to read. only if you like bts though, i dont want to force anyone to read anything ^.^ thank you for the support!

-clary xx