peace

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- felix -

"do you still want to continue dating?" mrs. yeom asks.

'OF COURSE' i want to scream. of course i want to stay with hyunjin. i would stay with him even if the whole world fought to break us apart. the events of the last ten hours would barely bother me if i knew that hyunjin wanted me regardless. all i want is to continue dating hyunjin.

the room is silent. mrs. yeom's face is growing tighter by the second. i want to look at hyunjin but i can't make myself do it. he isn't saying anything. why isn't he saying anything? the tension in the air is so thick that i feel as if i'm suffocating in it.

"you are wasting my time. i can not move forward with saving your careers if you do not give me an answer. i am going to count down from three, and you will either give me a resounding 'yes' or a resounding 'no'. if you remain silent, i will assume you don't care about your relationship and move forward as if you said "no". this is your last chance." mrs. yeom emphasizes her words sharply.

"so, let me ask you again, do you want to continue dating?

three,

two,

one."

"yes," the word comes crashing out of both of our mouths, the sound of hyunjin's voice layering with mine. my eyes widen in shock, not fully believing it. i whip my head towards hyunjin and our eyes meet. hope crackles in the air between us. i can't look away from him, my eyes searching every crevice of his face for answers.

     "...listening?"

     mrs. yeom claps her hands to get our attention and we both snap our heads towards her, breaking the spell. "this is serious and i need your complete attention. take notes on your phone if think you will forget anything." hyunjin pulls out his device and opens a page to write on. i just stare at mrs. yeom, trying to process everything that just happened. then she begins speaking again and i try my best to listen, knowing that this information will determine my future.

"here is the plan of action. first, we need to cast mr. lee in a positive light and build approval from stays." she turns to me then. "in case you haven't heard, you are no longer anonymous. while the original article never mentioned your name or career, your identity is now completely open to the public. this morning, a large news site was given your information from someone who recognized you from your bassike tiktoks. now, everyone knows you are a social media manager named lee felix. they still insist on calling you the 'mystery man' though. i couldn't tell you why." she sighs shortly at this before continuing.

"to improve your image, jyp entertainment is going to hire you as stray kids' official tiktok manager and release a statement announcing it. by informing stays that you are the mastermind behind the videos they love, we expect them to grow an attachment to you. knowing that you are the tiktok manager will also ease their consciences as they automatically assume this is the reason you two are so close.

     "no one will question if this is a cover-up because a.) they know this is your profession and b.) stray kids have been posting your tiktok content since before the incident. but, for this to work, you will need to make tiktok videos for stray kids regularly," she explains, watching me carefully. i nod in understanding, happy to make stray kids tiktoks and grateful that jype is hiring me for another job instead of firing me.

"the second part of the plan is to distract stays from the scandal by giving them a glimpse into our future plans. in our statement, we will mention that you helped write multiple songs for the upcoming comeback. by dropping the word 'comeback', we will not only be giving stays something else to talk about, but also shifting the public's attention back to what we want it on." i feel my jaw drop slightly at how masterfully calculated this plan is. how did mrs. yeom even have the time to come up with this?

"but people will question why you have only been spotted with hyunjin. to prevent this, we will comment on how you have grown close with all of the members in your short time with us. to back up the claim, you will have to be seen on public outings with each of the stray kids members within the next few weeks. these outings will be carefully planned for you. understood?" she asks, with a lift of her brow.

"yes, ma'am. thank you," i respond. then a thought strikes me. i'm supposed to leave korea today. i live in australia. how am i supposed to be in korea all of the time if i don't live here? i turn to hyunjin.

"hyunjin, did you book my flight home? because i don't think i can leave anymore." hyunjin looks up from his notes and gazes at me with a shy look on his face.

"i didn't book your flight. i- well, i hoped you would want to stay anyway." his fingers nervously pick at his phone case.

"i do want to stay. i never wanted to leave," i explain quietly. "i thought you were breaking up with me." hyunjin's jaw drops at this.

"what? i have never wanted to break up with you! what made you think that?" he splutters in surprise, blinking rapidly.

"as cute as this is..." mrs. yeom interrupts flatly, "...i'm going to need you to save this conversation for another time. we are in the middle of an emergency meeting."

"right, okay. but felix," hyunjin catches my eye again, "you can stay at my art apartment with me for as long as you like. you can move in with me. it can be our apartment." i feel my heart flutter in my chest and i open my mouth to respond but mrs. yeom beats me to it.

"i do not think that is a good idea. people will figure it out. mr. lee should live separately like the rest of the staff."

"no one knows about my art apartment," hyunjin explains. "not a single person was outside of it today." mrs. yeom looks surprised at this. she directs her next question to yun who is still sitting quietly by the door.

"mr. yun? is that true?"

"yes, ma'am." he answers. "there was no one outside of the apartment today when security and i picked them up."

mrs. yeom sits back in her chair and looks thoughtful, probably weighing the pros and cons of me staying with hyunjin. after a long moment, she leans forward again and addresses hyunjin and me.

"fine. mr. lee can stay at the art apartment for now. but if you get caught even once, it will have to change."

"thank you, ma'am," hyunjin and i both respond, giving her a slight bow of our heads.

     "the last thing we need to cover before i set everything into motion is how you will respond to any questions about the situation." hyunjin and i both look at her.

     "don't."




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i would stay with you even if a crazy article exposes our secret relationship 💞💋

(author rizz)




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