Ceo's favorite idol (open Ending )

Chapter 43

Zee pov

I was feeling lost , so I decided to visit my dad at his workplace. He was the only one who I trusted , besides nhu and max. I hoped he would give me some advice and support. As soon as I entered the building, the receptionist recognized me. "Mr pruk, welcome. Your dad is waiting for you in the conference room. Please follow me." She smiled and led me to the door. I opened it and saw my dad sitting at a table, surrounded by newspapers and screens showing nhu's and my photos. He looked angry and disappointed. I knew this was not going to be a comforting talk.

I can't believe what the media is saying about me and Nhu. They are making us look like a scandal, a disgrace to our families. "Do you see what the media is saying about you and Nhu?" my dad asks, showing me his phone with the headlines. "Yes, father," I respond, trying to sound calm. "It's bad for business. After you are done with this... whatever you have going on with him, we'll have a press conference and you can tell the media that it was just a fling, a phase if you may," father says, putting his phone away. "I can't do that," I tell him, looking him in the eye. "I see a future with Nhu." I tell my dad. He looks at me with a furrowed eyebrow and shakes his head. "But you gave him and I your blessings," I remind him. "No, I agreed to meet him and spoke to him, that's it," he says, raising his voice. "If that's all, you can leave," he dismisses me, pointing to the door. "No," I say, standing my ground. I feel my throat wanting to close up for standing up against my father. He looks at me shocked at my disobedience. "Fine, if you are going to do whatever you want to, no matter how bad it affects the company, then leave," father says, turning his back on me. "Gladly," I say, leaving quickly.

I feel a surge of guilt as I think of how much nhu is suffering. The media has painted him as a villain who stole me from Anna, but they don't know the truth. Anna and I were never a couple, we just pretended for the sake of our careers. Now that Anna is on a hiatus , the media thinks she is devastated by our betrayal and is in hiding . I wish I could tell them to leave us alone, but I know it's useless. I drive to nhu's apartment and let myself in. He is sitting on a couch, staring out the window. He seems lost in his thoughts, and I wonder if he even notices me. "nhu, I'm back from talking to my dad. He was pretty angry, I think he fired me. But it doesn't matter, we can start over somewhere else, just you and me. We don't need anyone else's approval." I try to sound cheerful, but my voice cracks. He doesn't look at me, he just nods slightly. "yeah" he says, his voice raspy from crying. "nhu, please don't listen to the media." I say, taking his phone away from him. "They don't know anything about us." I pull him close and kiss his forehead. "I love you" I whisper to him. He gives me a weak smile that soon turns into a sob. I hold him tight and try to comfort him.

He sighs. "What now?" he asks. "I don't know." I tell him honestly. We had money. I have royalties to a lot of songs so does Nhu, including ads and so on so money isn't the problem. We could easily start all over again. It's just I know that the person after us won't stop until I find them. I have never been involved in shady business, even if I was why would they be targeting Nhu the most? "I have work tomorrow." Nhu announces cutting my thoughts short. "Are you going to go? I can come with you if you want." I offer. "No I think it's better if you stay." He says cutting me off. "Why? You don't want me to be with you?" I ask, feeling hurt. "No, it's not that. It's just... it's too risky. Imagine how much worse the headlines would be if they saw us in public together again ." He says, looking worried, pleading with his eyes. He was right. Us showing up together would cause more trouble. "OK" I say, giving in. I look at Nhu wondering what he was thinking about. I have never seen him this quiet. "Can I stay here tonight?" I ask him. I know he wanted space but I can't go home yet. I know paparazzi might be waiting for me there. He nods. "You are my boyfriend still... right?" he asks, sounding insecure. I take his hands in mine. "Yes of course." I assure him. "I love you, you know that right?" He says, looking into my eyes. "I love you too." I say, feeling relived for some odd reason . "Hold me then." Nhu says, leaning closer to me. Without wasting a second I hold him tight, feeling his warmth and heartbeat.

My phone rings at that second but I don't let go of Nhu. I knew it was Max calling because of his custom ringtone. "Hi Max" I say as neutral as possible, putting the phone on speaker mode so Nhu can hear too. "Man I saw the news are you guys OK?" Max asks, sounding concerned. I felt like crying because it was the first time someone asked me that since this all happened last night. "Yeah, we're OK." I say, speaking up for both of us. "We're glad to hear that." Max says, sounding relieved. "Where are you guys now?" he asks. "We're at Nhu's place." I say, not giving too much detail. "OK, good. Stay there for now, it's safer." Max says, "Yeah, we will." Nhu says, nodding at me. "OK but I meant are you OK mentally and emotionally?" Max asks, sounding more serious. "We're fine." I say, lying through my teeth. We were far from fine, but we didn't want to worry Max or anyone else more than they already were. "Are you sure? You guys have been through a lot." Max says, sounding doubtful. "We're sure." Nhu says, sounding more convincing than me. "OK, if you say so." Max says, sounding unconvinced but dropping the subject anyway. "Your dad is hiring people to replace you." He says, changing the topic abruptly. "I knew he would" I say not surprised. My dad was a ruthless businessman who cared more about profits than people or relationships. He probably saw this as an opportunity to get rid of me and find someone more obedient and less controversial to work with him in his record company.

"At least you have the clothing brands. It's just a record deal company, you have many other sources of income." Max says, trying to cheer me up.
"Yeah" I simply say feeling bad at how distant I sound."Look man I'm sorry. If I was able to find that person-" Max starts to apologize.
"It's not your fault Max." i interrupt him before he can finish.
Max and i have been friends for years and he has a habit of blaming himself for things he didn't do or saying sorry for small things like breathing.
"I'll talk to you later guys." Max says after a pause.
"OK bye Max." I say to him, nhu had long lost interest in our conversation.
"Take care of yourselves and each other OK?" Max says before hanging up.
"We will." I say as I was feeling dizzy and had a splitting headache . I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday, except for a cup of tea that I made for nhu which I drank myself since he was refusing it. I wondered how he was doing, since he didn't eat either. I decided to order some food online and wait for it to arrive. I didn't really want to eat, but I knew we both needed some nourishment. I chose some congee and meat, hoping it would be easy to digest. When the food came, I had to persuade Nhu to have some congee. He said he wasn't hungry, but he ate a little bit anyway. Then he went back to his work space to practice for his performance tomorrow . I thought about taking a nap, but then my phone rang. It was Anna. I wondered what she wanted.