Dating an Idol

Twenty-Four: PUSH AND PULL

[Flashback]

POV: 14-year-old Yuri and 16-year-old Skye

The door to our house sprung open and Haneul came in. He was panting like he ran his way all the way here.

They no longer live with us. They moved out of our house last year. Her mom and my mom had a little misunderstanding so they have decided to move out of our house. Plus her mom found a better job.

Their decision broke my heart; I begged them not to leave the house. I even begged them to let me come with them.

But of course Haneul's mom wouldn't let me do that. But she was really sad when they left. I saw her trying to keep her tears at bay while I was crying hard, begging them to stay.

Haneul didn't cry but his eyes were telling me that he was sad to leave me, too. Although we still see each other a lot in school, it would still feel different.

He knew that now I am going to be alone in the house most of the time.

Anyway, I saw Haneul panting when he entered our house. I cried some more the moment I saw him come in.

I had been crying since this morning. I had been calling his number but he just wouldn't pick up my calls so I sent him a bunch of messages instead. He must've ran all the way here when he read them.

He looked at me first before his eyes traveled to where Bingsu was lying.

Still. Lifeless.

"Haneul, Bingsu's gone!" I wailed.

He looked at me then ran to where I was seated. I was basically squatting on the floor right beside Bingsu.

He sat beside me on the floor with his eyes on Bingsu. He looked shocked. Then he turned towards me and hugged me tight.

"Don't cry, don't cry. I'm here," he said as he hugged me tight and rubbed my back.

Haneul hated skinship, he didn't like it when I hugged him. He would basically push me away if I randomly embraced him. But for the very first time, he hugged me himself.

I cried some more in his arms. We stayed that way for as long as I remember.

[end of flashback]

"What happened?" Skye asked. We were seated across his two-seater dining table.

I just finished taking a bath. I found him preparing some ramen when I finished getting myself dressed.

"Didn't I tell you to stay in Busan until I said so?" he continued when I didn't say anything.

I was poking my ramen with my chopsticks but I am not eating yet. I don't actually feel like eating. It seemed like all the crying I did earlier had drained all the energy in me.

"How was Eun?" I asked.

"Did you actually think that you're in the position to worry about someone else right now?" He was sarcastic.

I didn't say anything. I fixed my eyes on the ramen in front of me instead.

"Eat now," he said as he moved the bowl closer to me.

"I am not really hungry."

"Eomma said you didn't even have breakfast before you left," he said. "But seriously, Yuri, what were you thinking? Didn't I tell you to stay in Busan for at least a couple of days?"

"But I need to go back to my part-time job tomorrow."

"You should have called them to take some days off. I'm sure they'll understand after what happened."

I sighed. I didn't want to argue with him anymore.

"Stay here until the agency releases an official statement about the scandal," he continued.

Still, I didn't say anything. I know there was no point in arguing with him.

"We're having a comeback in about a week," he said. "I will be so busy by then. We will be busy promoting the comeback. I won't be able to check on you. I won't even be able to get hold of my phone."

"Don't worry about me, I will be okay," I said. "I will be extra careful this time, swear. Plus I know that those crazy fangirls won't bother me anymore once your agency released an official statement about the scandal so I'm good. No need to worry about me."

"I hope so, too," he said.

I checked my phone for any message from Mael. There was not.

"Seriously, why do you keep on checking your phone? Are you waiting for someone?" He looked annoyed with his furrowed brows.

"Nothing," I lied.

"This is getting cold now. Eat it now." He basically pushed the bowl of ramen in front of me.

He looked so annoyed now that I had no choice but to start eating.

That's when his phone started ringing.

"Hello?" He answered his phone.

Pause.

"I know, I know," he said.

Pause.

"Yeah, I know. I'll be there in thirty minutes."

Pause.

"Okay. Twenty. Bye."

He put back his phone in his pocket.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Eun."

"Is he okay?"

"Of course he's okay. Stop worrying about him!" he snarled at me.

Seriously, what's wrong with him? Why is he getting mad? I was just worried about the person.

"Are they looking for you now?" I asked.

"Nobody knows that I sneak out of the dorm. Well, except for Eun. So he wants me to go back now."

"You can actually leave me now. Don't worry, I'm good."

He glared at me. "Are you throwing me out? Are you expecting someone else to come here?"

I chuckled. "How can I possibly do that? This is your house. And why would I invite someone to your house?"

"I want to see you finish that ramen first before I leave."

Okay then, I thought. I started devouring the ramen in my bowl when my phone started ringing.

I immediately reached for it thinking that it's Mael. But it wasn't him. It was Gianna.

"Hello?" I said.

"Have you talked with Mael already?" she asked.

"Yup, I did. But it was just a quick call. He just asked if I was okay. I wasn't even able to explain things to him."

I noticed that Skye was intently looking at me while I talked on my phone.

"He was really worried about you," Gianna said.

"But I can sense that he's really disappointed in me. I think I really hurt him. He just doesn't want to confront me yet because of what happened but I know that he was hurt. I can sense it," I said. "It really bothers me that I made him feel that way."

"Don't worry too much about Mael. Just give him some time to process everything. He'll come to you when he's ready."

I just heaved a deep sigh.

"I need to go. I just wanted to check on you."

"I'm good, don't worry."

"I'm glad to hear that. Will call you back if I get the chance, alright? Bye."

"Bye."

I put my phone down on the table when the call ended. I noticed that Skye was basically glowering at me the whole time.

"Stop looking at me like that," I said before I went back to my ramen.

He didn't say anything. He just kept staring at me.

"What?" I asked him again.

I saw his jaw move. "So you were actually worried about that guy the whole time?" he asked back, brows furrowed.

"Who? Mael?"

"First you were worried about Eun then now you're worried about that friend of yours. Seriously, Yuri, when will you start worrying about yourself instead?"

"You just don't understand," I replied. "Mael is a close friend. What would you feel if you discovered that your friend has been hiding something from you all this time? Worse, you even find out about it together with the rest of the world? Not to mention, through a 'scandal'?"

He didn't say anything.

"Plus he also finds out that Gianna already knows about it. Like I told Gianna but not him. So naturally he would feel betrayed or something," I continued.

"You're annoying," Skye said, to my surprise.

He was slightly shaking his head while staring at me intently.

"What? Why?"

Instead of answering me, he grabbed his mask on the table and put it on.

"Are you leaving now?" I asked.

He grabbed his cap and put it on, too.

"Hey, you mad at me?" I asked.

But instead of replying to me, he turned around and headed to the door.

"Seriously? You're mad at me? But why? Why did I do wrong this time?" I call out to him.

"Nothing. You're just simply annoying," he said without looking back at me before he went out of the door, leaving me confused.

What the hell did I do this time?