Author's | PARK JIHOON

ii.

"Am I still even capable of going outside?," I said as a matter-of-fact. Lily held both my shoulders and muttered, "For now, you can't. Let's make this issue die first."

I rolled my eyes, "Does it look like this issue would die anytime soon? Oh my god, now Jihoon's even confirmed the rumor to be true. I just don't get it! How come I'm dragged into this publicity stunt thing?"

I grabbed my phone from where I left it earlier and then opened it. Lily looked at me in desperation, "Madi, don't. Please!" As soon as my phone opened, texts and missed calls popped up. I held my breath as soon as I opened my Wattpad account. Notifications about new comments were blaring. There were so many that it was hard for me to read every comment. If I do, I'd probably finish the next days or so.

I was in deep trance as I still can't accept the fact that those articles didn't even bother censoring my username.

g-rapmonster: oh is this the author koreaboo was talking about? gosh she's so thick faced  she shouldve just left jihoon oppa in peace aw poor baby tho im sure jihoon deserves better

SAMU3L0PPA: is she trying to fix their relationship still? gosh and she's been crumpling pieces of paper? daaaaamn SAVE MOTHER EARTH! you cant even save the trees and yet you want to save your relationship with jihoon? wow this is why the world's slowly dying

Some were even written in Korean. Seriously? It's a bad thing because I can read Hangul and I can't just ignore those comments. Some of them translated to curse words. I read some more and was so amazed by how Koreans were so good in bashing other people especially now that it's not categorized as a rumor-only. I mean, I get it that they are the national producers of Produce 101 and maybe it's also their obligation to protect the trainees at all costs.

But why hate on me? ESPECIALLY that I'm NOT even sending some secret message to Jihoon through my story! God, this is so dumb. I went to my messages and saw one that particularly caught my eye. It looked like it's from a number outside the country.

Good day, Ms. Madison Miller! This is the representative of MAROO Entertainment, the company Park Jihoon is on. I'm sure you are aware of the reason why I'm contacting you. Because of the trouble, we've prepared a flight ticket for you on May 15 arriving here on South Korea. Your former 'lover' (as our trainee calls it) wishes to see you as soon as possible. Thank you for cooperating and have a good day!

What? I couldn't process anything clearly right now. What again? Lily took my phone from my hands and saw the message lingering on the screen. She looked at me immediately, "You must!"

"What? No! This might be a trick or something. Duh? Are you overlooking the possibility that this might be a scam? Or some crazy fan from South Korea trying to kill me?," I waved my hands in front of her.

"Oh you have a point there. But--," I cut her off once again. "No means no, Lily," I looked at her seriously, "Going to South Korea is like dropping myself off a cliff and the result? Landing on the pits of hell."

Lily completely dropped the topic as soon as she got my point. My phone started ringing, this time a call from the same number who texted me as the "representative" of MAROO. I pressed the decline button as I soon as I saw the caller. The number tried to call me a few more times until Lily grabbed my phone and answered it.

"Hello yes? No, this is her friend. My friend gladly rejects your offer, I'm sorry. What? No! Either way, she won't go. Thank you and goodbye!," she handed me my phone back with a smile.

A day passed and everything got worse. I already turned off my phone since they might track my location (if that's possible, better safe than sorry). Whenever my doorbell rings, I would panic and think that it might be the crazy fans of Jihoon attempting to abduct me. To my great relief, it would just be a delivery man who Lily had summoned for black bean noodles. Thankfully, my best friend offered that she'd stay with me for the time being and at the same time would be my 'personal bodyguard' to protect me from danger (since she knows Jiujitsu and Taekwondo very well).

I was trying to get some sleep when Lily barged into my room, once again with a shocking news.

She jumped up and down, panicking, "Seriously! Get your ass over to South Korea. Now!" I rolled my eyes, "Didn't I explain things to you already? You know, I'm grateful to be your friend but you're just so stubborn, Lily!"

"No, I mean— it's because—," she stumbled over her sentence, her tongue not cooperating with her.

"What? Maroo threatened me? Said that they'd ruin my life if I didn't go there?," I jokingly said.

She showed me her phone. It was set to a Youtube video that was paused. I clicked the play button and I saw a man speaking directly to the screen I was looking at. He spoke in Korean and the video was subbed in English.

"I'm very sorry for having to post this video. This might hurt my fans, the national producers that keeps on supporting me until now, the company, and the other people who now knows the truth. I've been trying to contact achichude for some time now, but to my disappointment, she hasn't answered to anything. So now my last option is to post this video. I hope somewhere she sees this... Please, Madison, answer back."