Quarantine

Truth Be Told: Part 2

The atmosphere was tense and uncomfortable. I cringed in the spot that I stood near Jackson, my coworkers telepathically asking why a male specie was kissing me, while the customers were shuffling around to make their way out the exit.

I didn't expect this to happen. My first day back was suppose to be drama free, no awkwardness, and most importantly, no questions asked. But looking at the situation that I was in now, there was no way I could possibly dodge the questions that were about to be thrown at me. The sound of a camera going off makes me jump back in alarm. Someone, a girl around the age of sixteen, was standing by the exit, her phone pointed right at Jackson and I. After that, followed more flashes of camera lights coming from the windows of the store. A large crowd of girls, who I presumed were Jackson's fans, were standing outside.

"What the hell is going on?!" Sundai screeched bewildered. "Kyle!" She called for our manager, running to the back of the bakery.

From across the room, I could feel Sumi's cold eyes staring me down. I let out a sigh of defeat and sag in Jackson's arms.

"Hey. What's wrong?" Was he really that oblivious? Did he not see the crowd outside taking pictures of us? Did he not realize how wrong this whole situation was?

He stares at me in confusion when I pull away. "What's wrong? That's what's wrong." I pointed to the crowd. "This was suppose to be my first day back. I wanted everything to be normal and drama free, and then you just show up out of nowhere." I hadn't realized it until it was too late, but tears began streaming down my face. The reminder of what happened that morning with Anthony combined with my situation now, just made me want to cry out. I wanted nothing more than peace and quiet. A time to myself where everything felt like it was back to normal. Back to when we weren't in the middle of a pandemic, when I hadn't met Jackson, when I didn't have fans sending me dead threats, when Anthony didn't show up in my life...when my dad didn't have the virus.

"Princess, I'm sorry." He tried reaching for me again, but stopped short when he saw everyone still watching us. "Is there somewhere private we can talk?"

"Break space is outside." Ezra gestured, still with an awed look on his face. "Are you by any chance Jackson Wang?"

I groaned in frustration. Wiping my tears roughly, I shove past everyone to the back of the store, just as Kyle reaches the front. "What the hell is this?!" I heard him cry out, but I continued walking, not even checking to see if Jackson was following.

Once I had stepped out, I let out a whimper. I swallowed down the lump in my throat, forcing myself not to cry again. I whirl around to face Jackson who was staring at me with worry. "How did you even know where I was?"

"Eve." He stated simply.

"Of course." I mumbled. Even when we aren't talking, she manages to still give out my information to everyone. "How did they even find us here? How did they know you would be here?" I threw my hands in the air in frustration. I never thought or expected Jackson to have so many fans in California. Other than China and Korea, it seemed like Jackson had a lot of fans in America, making him more popular than I anticipated and hoped for. It felt like they were everywhere, watching every one of our moves. There were probably a bunch of pictures taken of us on the Internet, that we didn't know about.

"I don't know." He said helplessly.

Second time today, I heard those words. I don't know. Apparently men don't know anything. They don't know why they do the things they do, the things they say, why they even exist. A bunch of brainless idiots.

I let myself sit on the edge of one of the tables. Jackson makes his way over to me, pushing aside my thighs to stand in between them. I wanted to push him away, but as much I hated to admit it, I cared about this brainless idiot. He was everything to me. "I want you to know that I'm sorry. I know that's not enough, but I didn't mean for any of this to happen. You weren't answering any of my calls or texts. I had to make sure you were okay." He whispered against my cheek.