Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
KIJA
“What the fuck?”
I flinch at the first words Sun hurls at me as I walk through the door at Jase and Nikko’s place, even though I know I deserve them. Noel growls at me from where she’s positioned herself next to Sun, clearly on high alert as his emotional support gremlin.
When Jase texted me on my way home to let me know that Sun was staying with them tonight because he was upset, I knew I had to stop by and talk to him.
Even though I haven’t been able to decide what exactly I’m going to tell him about the situation, I have to apologize to him.
The silence has gone on too long, and I don’t want to avoid him or leave him in the dark any longer.
“Sun…” I start, but whatever I was going to say shrivels up on my tongue as I get a better look at him. His eyes are rimmed with red, sadness evident in all his body language. It makes my heart ache. “I’m sorry. That’s not enough, but it’s true. I’m so sorry…”
“Why were you with her? You ignore me all day, and then I see that you’re out with her?” he cries. “What the fuck, Kija?”
“I know I need to explain. And I will. But I also need you to know that I am sorry I went missing today and made you worry.” I move cautiously toward where he is curled up on the couch in a pile of blankets, stopping before I sit near him. Noel snarls at me, like she’s ready to intervene. “May I?”
“Only if you start talking immediately,” he snaps, but it sounds tired, worn out.
“Hey, we’re going to leave and give you two some privacy,” Jase announces, startling me a bit because I was so focused on Sun that I had already forgotten where we are and that they’re here, too.
“No, stay,” Sun insists, giving Nikko a pleading look.
I hate that he feels this way—angry and hurt enough he doesn’t want to be left alone—but, again, I am immensely grateful for both Nikko and Jase and the comfort and support they provide to both of us.
“If you’re sure,” Nikko murmurs, perching on Jase’s lap on a chair across the room.
“That’s fine.” I nod, sitting gingerly on the edge of the couch cushion, giving Sun space and keeping my distance from his guard dog.
“You’d need to hear it all eventually anyway.
” I huff out a long sigh, still unsure where to start.
“I was out with Chaeji because I had something that I needed to take care of,” I say eventually, pulling my phone out of my pocket and flipping to the most damning of the photos, then handing it to Sun.
Sun snatches it and gasps—a sharp, shaky inhale of surprise. “What the fuck?” he asks again, his voice laced with disbelief. “Who did this? How did this happen?”
He practically throws the device back at me, having seen enough, and I pass it to Jase and Nikko, so they can see as well.
“Someone was following you,” Nikko whispers, like he’s exposing a secret we didn’t already know.
“Kwon Chaeji, apparently. Or maybe somebody she hired. But it’s still her.” I can hear the venom in my tone, every muscle in my body clenching in response to the mention of her name.
“What?” Sun yelps, sending a pillow flying as he throws his arms wide, causing Noel to jump off the couch and run to hide behind Jase’s legs. “How does that bitch know there is anything going on between us?”
I shrug, because I really don’t have an answer to that. “I have no idea why anyone would suspect anything. But I guess they did. Or she just happened to get really lucky while she was trying to find something to hang over my head.”
“Oh, shit,” Nikko groans. “She saw us at your office.”
“But nothing happened! We didn’t do anything,” Sun protests, angry in an entirely different way than he was when I arrived.
“It wasn’t anything you did,” I say. “You know this has been… an ongoing situation with her.”
“What happened when you went to meet up?” Jase asks, pulling Nikko back against his chest to get a better view of me while we talk.
Nikko snuggles down, his head on Jase’s shoulder, and asks, “Should we get the rest of the guys here? It feels like they should know about this, too.”
I hadn’t even thought about that, but he’s right. Because Sun is involved, there’s always the chance this could impact RYSING as well. But more importantly, they’re his brothers—his inner circle—and having them be aware is better for everyone. “Yes. Can you get them to come down here?”
As Nikko sends a message to the group chat, Sun kicks off some of the fabric surrounding him and timidly scoots closer to me until our thighs are touching, but doesn’t make any additional contact.
He feels too far away.
“You really scared me,” he says, softly. “I was worried. Afraid of what would keep you from responding to me for so long. Then I saw pictures of you with her, and I didn’t want to think anything bad, but I read all the headlines. Even though I know it’s not true, it still hurts.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you. That’s exactly what I didn’t want to do, but I didn’t know how to handle this.
She sent me those pictures, and I freaked out,” I confess.
“I needed to see what was going on and what she wanted. I was just trying to make sure it didn’t affect you.
But it did, in a different way, and I’m still sorry for that. ”
Sun moves again, folding himself into my lap, and I feel an instant sense of relief. His fingers trail over the back of my neck, giving me goosebumps. “If it happens to you, it affects me. I know I’m in those pictures, but I’m not the only one. I’m with you here, just like I was with you there.”
I wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly. The soft, easy weight of him across my thighs is enough of a reminder why I would do anything for him.
There’s a moment of quiet, everyone still, until the sound of frantic knocking comes from the door. Nikko hops up to open it, Noel barking at his heels, and the rest of RYSING spill into the room, tripping over each other, all arriving together despite the late hour and out-of-nowhere message.
“We’re here,” Tang announces breathlessly. “What’s going on?”
“Did you all… run here?” Sun asks, looking at the four frazzled men in front of him.
“The text said ‘maknae emergency.’ Of course we ran,” Ryo says.
Lalo gives Sun a once-over like he’s checking for damage. “We show up for each other. You know that.”
“Are you okay, Lux-ah?” Chita reaches to ruffle his hair as he makes himself comfortable on the arm of the sofa.
“It’s not me,” Sun tells him and gets a puzzled expression in return. “I mean, it is, but it’s not just me.”
Ryo raises an eyebrow as he glances at me and then back at Sun. “I feel like we’re in a drama, and you’re about to tell us you’re pregnant.”
The instantaneous laughter everyone dissolves into is exactly what we need. The little bit of levity is good and gives everyone a chance to settle in and catch their breath by petting Noel as she makes her rounds before returning to Nikko.
Sun retrieves my phone from where I set it earlier and holds it up to my face, unlocking it so he can show the other members what the problem is, by handing it over to Chita.
Tang and Ryo immediately crowd in to see, the three of them gasping almost simultaneously as they realize what they’re looking at.
Lalo peeks over next, then looks up at me. “Someone’s threatening you? To out the two of you?”
“That seems to be the implication, but it was never explicitly stated,” I answer.
Everyone is looking at me now, so I may as well explain it all.
“Kwon Chaeji sent that and a few other photos to me. It’s just from last night, well, early this morning.
I woke up to a text telling me to meet her tonight, so I went, and she laid out her terms. She wants me to pretend to publicly date her for a while in exchange for her deleting the pictures. ”
“Fake dating?” Sun yells. “What is this, fanfic?”
“What’s in this for her?” Tang questions. “She’s smoking hot. Why does she need someone to act like her boyfriend? Wouldn’t a lot of guys want to date her?”
“She says she likes me, but she also admits she needs someone low-key and respectable for her image. She wants to be taken seriously as an actress, and apparently the way to make that happen is to date a non-celebrity with an office job,” I say, giving Sun’s arm a squeeze as he curses under his breath.
“So this benefits her. And she’s blackmailing you to make it happen,” Lalo summarizes.
I nod. “You’re not wrong. But she claims this is also helping us, because if I’m supposedly dating her, no one will suspect I’m with Sun.”
Chita looks concerned. “Do people think that?”
“I don’t know why they would, but you know Ship*Post has put pieces together out of less,” Jase interjects. “Or someone had some idea to be out following you.”
“So you’re willing to go along with this—to essentially hide your relationship in plain sight—and help her out.” Ryo shakes his head. “I can’t decide if it’s making the best of a shitty situation or just stupid to even consider.”
I appreciate his bluntness. “Don’t get me wrong, I hate everything about this,” I say.
“My only concern here is making sure that this doesn’t do anything to fuck with Sun’s life or career or with RYSING.
Whatever might happen to me is not that big of a deal.
And if that means I have to be seen in public with her a few times, so be it. ”
I’m surprised by the silence that follows what I’ve said until Nikko goes, “Damn, you got a good one, Sun.”
“And this is why we didn’t try harder to talk him out of dating you.” Chita is smiling, too. “I don’t support what she’s doing or how she’s going about it, but I appreciate the way you’re looking out for him and us.”
“Just don’t be a martyr,” Jase adds. “You’re a great guy and we all know it. She’s taking advantage of that. Don’t let her get away with too much. We’ll find some other way to deal with it if we have to.”
“I’m never watching anything she’s in again,” Tang declares. “Why does she have to be hot and crazy?”