After Happy Ever After

003: The Plan

The Plan
Yoojung X Yihwan / It's Yoojung's first public appearance as an AmEnt artist, and Yihwan is about to throw a tantrum because he can't be too stage boyfriend-y.

Written for #RCReadathon2020 Prompt & Pairing Please Challenge. Yoojung and Yihwan are characters from a book called Play It By Ear.

. . . . .

"Yihwan, could you like...chill a little?"

The band leader glared at East Genesis Project's drummer, Steven Bae, who was on his phone, practicing what he called "wrist exercises."

"What?" Steven asked when Yihwan remained silent. "I'm just saying Yoojung's got this. You don't have to go all stage boyfriend on her. Especially not when the rehearsals today are open to VIP ticket holders."

"Yeah, hyung. You don't want people to spread rumors again," Minchan chimed in.

Yihwan groaned in frustration. "It's Yoojung's first public appearance after All-Kill Champion, okay? I just wanna make sure she has a great time out there..."

"She will. Without the burden of possibly getting mobbed on social media again if you don't show your face out there during rehearsal."

Hearing the words "rumors" and "social media" was enough to give Yihwan hives these days. He had been too naive to assume the sasaeng fans had stopped their gossip mongering after their Think Golden Thoughts campaign became a thing. Sadly, they were still around, quieter this time, and possibly congregating in new online spaces. Their tinfoil hattery leaked into more public places like Instagram and Twitter these past couple of months, as some of them have noticed the similar clothing and accessories he and Yoojung had been wearing.

Nothing was substantiated, of course. Both Yihwan and Yoojung always held their guards up in public, and have even begun speaking and texting in code when someone attempted to hack into their phones just a few weeks ago.

All this was so exhausting, Yihwan was thisclose to throwing a fit. Why can't people just leave them the fuck alone? Was it such a crime to fall in love and be with someone?

His thoughts were disrupted by a knock on the dressing room door. The unfamiliar rhythm of the knocking had him asking, "Who is it?"

"Guys? It's Gabe. Are you decent?" Gabriel's voice sounded muffled on the other side of the door. "Fi needs to lie down."

Yihwan opened the door just in time to see Fi's frown as she said, "No, I don't!"

"What happened?" Yihwan asked, pulling the door open wider so the couple could step inside. Gabriel immediately led Fi to the nearby couch, where she plopped herself down without a word. "Fi...you look pale. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You really should stop saying that when you're not," Gabriel said and walked over to the small craft services table to pour his girlfriend a cup of water. "We passed through a huge crowd on the way in, and some people recognized her. There was yelling and all that. I think she just got overwhelmed."

Minchan sat beside Fi and took her hand. "Omo, noona! Your hand is so cold..."

As Yihwan watched Gabriel and Minchan fuss over Fi (while Fi resisted the public show of affection), his irrational desire to see Yoojung before the concert began intensified. He stepped away from the couple and grabbed his coat on the way to the door.

"Ya, Yihwan-ah! I'm telling you, that's a bad idea!" Steven yelled before he could step out.

"What's going on?" asked Gabriel.