Maenboong - A SkyDragon fanfic.

Day 3.5

JIYONG, CHAERIN

He loved watching her work.

Her small no make up face intense, dark eyes that pinned you, demanding you repay her with the same intensity that she gave to the moment.

He loved listening to her talk shop.

Marveling at how much she'd learned, how much she'd grown since debut.

He let her soft contralto brush over his skin and make the small hairs stand there as she discussed themes and production with the PD that had been tapped to handle 2NE1's newest track.

No one asked why he sat in on these meetings anymore though he was sure that some still wondered.

She did turn to him from time to time - a glance now and then to assess his reaction to an idea or the rare outright asking of his opinion. But she mostly handled everything herself, relying on her exact knowledge of what she wanted, confidently relaying her and her team mates' ideas and clearly enjoying what she did.

He let his eyes skate over her face whenever her profile was turned to him, searching for the beauty marks that became faint freckles when they were not enhanced by her make up. He'd realized a while ago that he found a strange satisfaction in knowing where to find them.

He knew he'd been indulging himself more and more with her lately.

Throwing himself into her own activities now that the promotions for his were done. He accompanied her on all her work outings - helped her shop for her group's wardrobe, waited for her after her schedules like he was part of her management team.

Yanggaeng had stopped letting him drag him along after a while and so he'd stopped letting himself appear in the background of her pictures because even he thought it was too much. Years of living in the spotlight had honed his instincts to understand just how visible was enough to start a rumor and he knew he'd passed enough a while back but here was the thing...

For the sake of everything - their careers, their groups, all that they had all worked so hard for - he would've stopped if he could.

But he couldn't, could he.

He lay awake some nights wondering just when the will that had brought him so far in life had developed such serious fault lines... and when the paparazzi sharks would start to taste the blood in the water. When they would begin to hunt him... When they would finally catch him.

And amazingly, despite the panic, despite the fear, he would still seek her out the next day like a default position.

Still turn up like a bad penny at her schedule with coffee and a broken smile.

This was the intoxication part.

Their "friendship".

An access pass that granted him permission to reach out and touch her small hand. Play with her fingers. Wait for her to quickly glance back at him and in one quicksilver smile transform from CL to HunChae.

A pass that allowed him to catch her eyes from a distance at company events, and be Jingyo for her, for fractions of seconds.

A pass that allowed him to stand close enough to her to always be surrounded by the scent of the customized perfume that he himself had gifted her on her last birthday.

That let him monopolize her when they were with friends and demand for her when they were apart.

And she seemed to be the only one fooled by it. She who continued to casually lavish him with trust and affection. Easily reaching for his hand in public, letting her pride and her affection for him shine in her eyes and in her smile.