t w e n t y e i g h t

The managers of both groups had agreed to meet up with the managers of Weekly Idol in order to determine which clips would be used in the final cut of the recording. The girls piled back into their cars which would get them back to the Pledis dorm building. Walking side by side with her, Sarang placed a hand on her shoulder for reassurance. "At least you tried, Mae. There'll be another opportunity to confess before you know it."

Sun heaved a sigh. "I bet Yixing won't think so. I bet he's done waiting for me."

"I should have gouged his eyes out when I had the chance." Rin lamented to herself in regards to Jongin. He had done a pretty good job of pushing both Rin and Suk to their limits. It was precisely Suk who nodded in agreement to her group mate's words.

Pulling away from the maknae, Sarang then moved to walk alongside the two other group members. "You two went way too far in your war with Jongin."

"He started it." Suk argued.

"I honestly was almost hoping one of them would come at me so that I could finally put those vovinam moves to use." Rin said with an unapologetic shrug of her shoulders. Rin--along with Sun--had learned martial arts when they were younger. Rin learned a special form of Vietnamese martial arts called vovinam, which could either incapacitate a person or kill them if she wanted to. She had never used them because one of the main principles of martial arts was that one was to never use those skills unless they were in danger and needed to defend themselves.

"No one is going to see those martial arts moves, Rin. Ever." Sarang warned, eyeing her with an authoritative look of a leader.

While the girls continued talking about martial arts moves, and potentially using them on one of the EXO members, Sun got her phone out of her pocket to check for any replies from Yixing. There were none and she chewed on her lower lip to prevent it from quivering in response to the heartbreak she was feeling.

Even after she had been determined to confess the truth, he was still ignoring her.

Perhaps--she thought--she had already lost him.

-

The members of Baby Lips were back in their dorms that afternoon. Sarang had been texting with Junmyeon when he made a comment to her that sent her running to tell Sun about it. She searched the internet for proof, since she didn't want to hurt Sun's feelings without knowing that it was the truth.

"Oh, Mae," Sarang began in a voice full of pity for her. "I don't want to be the one to show you this, but you were probably going to see it anyway."

"What is it?" Sun looked up from her phone.

She had probably sent a hundred texts to Yixing by now, and he ignored every single one of them. He hadn't even read them.

Biting down on her lip with hesitance, Sarang took the few steps towards Sun's bed and sat down on it. There was a debate going on in her mind on whether or not she should show her what Junmyeon had casually commented to her about. He didn't know about the secret relationship between Sun and Yixing. Sarang didn't want to tell him about it because she thought it wasn't her business to tell it.

When Sarang hesitated too long, Sun carefully grabbed the phone from her hands and read off the screen.

EXO's Lay denies rumors of relationship with Baby Lips' Sun and admits to dating Girls Generation's Tiffany.

Sun felt her heart break into a million pieces.

Just like she had previously, he was denying their relationship. But there was a hint of hope in her heart. The article had been posted almost an hour before they started filming for Weekly Idol. Perhaps now he would go back on his statement after knowing that she was ready to reveal their relationship. Maybe--she thought--it hadn't been him, but SM Entertainment had forced him to say those things, just like Pledis was controlling her.

She needed to talk to him.

She needed to know that everything would be okay.

-

"Yixing," She said into the phone, her words full of anxiety and desperation to get his attention. In reality she was talking to his voicemail, since he was still avoiding her calls. But she needed to see him. She needed him to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be fine, that he forgave her for taking so long, and that he understood that she only wanted to save him the negative consequences of dating someone who was considered the enemy. "Meet me at our usual place at the same time as always. I really need to talk to you." She finished, hitting the end button and stuffing her phone into her pocket.

Sun was confident that he would hear it, and that he would be there. 

That night, she went to the park near the bridge at the Han River. She had spent hours waiting for a reply. A confirmation that he would meet her there. But she didn't get one, and decided to go there anyway. It had been so long since she had last gotten a text from Yixing that it was a foreign feeling to her now. 

The one thing that scared her more than Pledis finding out about her secret relationship with Yixing was him realizing that keeping their love a secret was no longer worth it. She was afraid that he had gotten tired of waiting for her already.

She arrived at the usual time to find the park completely empty at that time of night. Yixing normally arrived before her, but that time there was no one waiting for Park Mae. She waited for him, the minutes quickly turning into an hour. Three in the morning then turned to four, and four to four thirty. She was cold, tired, and her eyes burned with hot tears that threatened to escape. "Well, this fucking sucks." She said to no one in particular. 

Yixing stood her up.

Grabbing her cellphone out again, she opened up a text conversation with Aron. 

Pledis had finally done it. Ruined her relationship with Yixing. If they wanted news, she would give them something to talk about.

sun: aron

aron: what?

sun: take me out to a night club

aron: but we dnt have a schedules forced date tonight...

aron: plus, its four in the morning

sun: i dont care

sun: i need a distraction

aron: where are u??

aron: i'll pick u up

sun: han river

aron: of course...

-

A night club and various drinks later, Aron was carrying Sun back into the dorm building. All the while, she lamented herself. "He hates me." She slurred, her eyes could barely be kept open. "I waited too long and he hates me for it."

Aron heaved a sigh. 

Instead of taking her back to her room, he took her to the lounge room so as not to disturb Sarang's sleep. He set her down on the couch. She was a drunken mess, crying over Zhang Yixing. He was about to walk away and leave her to herself and her own self pity when she called out to him, "I'm sorry I dragged you into all of this, Aron. You probably hate me too. That's okay. I hate myself too." 

He sighed once again and sat beside her in the limited space that was left on the couch. "If you want me to be honest, I did resent you at first when Pledis forced me into this because of you." He explained to her bluntly. He knew that she probably wouldn't remember that conversation in the morning, which meant he could be as honest as he wanted. "I thought we could all be a bit happier if you would just keep yourself out of trouble. But you're Park Mae, you literally can't. Then I just came to the realization that you're just as much a victim as I am. You don't love me, but you're in this fake relationship with me because they forced you too."

Sun placed her feet on his lap as she got comfortable on the couch.

Aron continued, "I really hope it works out between you and Yixing. You've suffered enough. I can talk to him if you want me to." He offered, since she had been a good person to help him when he hadn't been very good to her.

Sun nodded her head gratefully. "No, Aaron. I think I have to talk to him myself. But thank you. And I really hope you find Allisson."

"Its too late for me." He said to her. "I waited too long. Make sure you don't wait too long."

The Baby Lips maknae sighed. "I think its already too late."

-

Ever since she saw him in the hallway, on the verge of tears, Tiffany had become a person Yixing could trust. She had offered her support to the younger SM idol and the two quickly became friends. Without mentioning a name, Yixing had poured out his emotions to Tiffany about his relationship with Sun and she listened without judging him even though she knew they weren't allowed to date anyone.

When SM caught onto their friendship, they asked Tiffany to pretend they were dating, the very same way that Pledis had asked that of Sun. Yixing declined at first, but as he continued to see pictures of Aron and Sun together, he began to consider that maybe it was time to let go.

The two were sat on the rooftop of the SM dorm building together.

It quickly became their routine to go there and talk. Yixing desperately needed someone to listen to him, and Tiffany did. By now it had been weeks since he had talked to Sun. All he knew about her was from the gossip rags which were often filled with her out partying and drinking with Aron. He didn't know that now she was doing it to forget that he was ignoring her and wanted nothing to do with her.

"That girl doesn't sound like she deserves you, Xing." She commented, her eyebrows furrowing in a displeased manner. If she were to know that it was Park Mae from Baby Lips, she would have immediately liked her even less. "You've been so good to her and she only makes you suffer. That's not right in a relationship. I think you need to talk to her and let her know how her behavior makes you feel."

Yixing sighed. "I just don't have the energy to continue with this."

They were sat side by side with each other. Tiffany linked arms with him and placed her head on his shoulder in a showing of her support. "You just do what you think is best for you." She told him. She didn't want to tell him to break up with his girlfriend, and she didn't want to tell him not to break up with her. She thought that was not her decision to make. That was only for him to decide.

His phone vibrated for the millionth time with an incoming text message. It wasn't from Sun. She had stopped messaging him after she asked him to meet her at their secret place, and he never showed up. He couldn't face her. He knew she had made the effort to confess their love to the world, but his heart was too fa broken to consider her efforts now. It was from Lu Han and Tao. Knowing that he had been in a down mood over the last few weeks, they were more often inviting him every time they went out together. Yixing appreciated that because it helped him keep himself distracted.

Tiffany left him on the rooftop when she had to go meet up with her group members to have dinner together. 

Yixing sat there in his thoughts for what felt like centuries after he declined the offer of his group mates to go out. When he finally pulled himself out of his thoughts, he unlocked his phone and sent her a text message.

yixing: mae...

Jagiya. The contact name with a heart next to it looked back at him in mock. He hit edit, and changed it on his phone, signaling what his decision would be. She was no longer that to him. She was that to someone else.

mae: baobei

mae: why havent u replied to my messages?

yixing: lets meet up

mae: u left me hanging last time

yixing: lets meet up

yixing: same place as always

yixing: we have to talk

mae: yeah, okay...

-

just a little update today. i might update again later today. this is literally about to enter its climax, its peak. i think we all know what's coming. this story is coming to a close. there are only about twelve more chapters to post, plus an epilogue. 

thats very exciting because then i will be able to focus more on replacement and sasaeng.

thank you all loads for reading and supporting this story. it has meant the entire world to me. i hope you're all having a wonderful week!

edit courtesy of bandry boysrepublics <3

-clary xx