“Unicorn’s leader, Minjae Jung.”
“Unicorn?”
Wasn’t Unicorn that rookie boy group that debuted around six months ago? Then again, for a rookie group, they were doing really well. That’s all due to the fact that their management was top-notch. Kuku Entertainment was heavily promoting and pushing the group out to the masses.
“Yeah. I went to a market a few days ago and ran into him. We’re getting dinner tonight.”
“Tonight?!”
They’re having dinner? Together? Absolutely not! Sure, some people wouldn’t see the harm. They’d think that it’s just an innocent dinner between two people. Unfortunately, I wasn’t born yesterday. I’m a thirty three year old with plenty of experience in these things. A man and a woman meeting alone at night is just unacceptable. Especially if that woman is Jia!
“Yeah, tonight.”
“Can I go with you?”
“What? No way. We only agreed to have it be the two of us.”
“Hmph.”
I turned my head away, willing the dumpling to distract me as I dipped it into the sweet and sour sauce as I stuffed it into my mouth. I was jealous, and jealousy makes people crazy. Especially me. I had no intention of holding it back.
“Sian, are you mad? Hmm? Are you mad at me?”
Jia pouted, clinging onto my arm. I turned to look at her. That’s when I decided – I’ll have to follow myself. Was it selfish? Maybe, but I had no choice. There was no way I was handing Jia over to some guy who didn’t deserve her.
“You’re meeting for dinner? Fine. Go ahead.”
“Okay! Next time, we’ll go together!”
“What? You plan to meet this guy again?”
“Of course,” Jia said, looking as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then, all of a sudden, she stood up to excuse herself, heading outside for a brief moment.
‘Deities above, why are you doing this to me?’
My mind and soul were absolutely shattered.
“Sian, are you okay? You’re not eating that much,” Jinwoo said, staring at me in confusion.
“I don’t have much of an appetite right now.”
Jinwoo chuckled at that.
“Not much of an appetite?” he repeated. “You expect me to believe that?”
“My stomach hurts.”
It was true. My stomach did hurt. It was because of Jia. She was outside, talking to that guy. Just the thought of it was making me sick.
“Don’t lie. You can’t put on a facade in front of me. Quit acting and just eat.”
“….”
Wow, this guy was annoying the shit out of me. I know you shouldn’t say that about an elder, but still.
“Are you like this because you feel apologetic towards me?”
“Of course not.”
Seriously, why would I?
“If so, then eat. You really went through a lot filming that show so just this once, I won’t mind.”
To prove his point, Jinwoo took out his wallet and placed it in the middle of the table. He sure was in a good mood, but I had no intention of taking advantage of it. And so, I put down my chopsticks. Everyone stared in shock.
***
We returned to the dorms. I turned to stare at Jia. Her attention was completely on her phone. Did she like him that much?
“Hey, guys. I have plans, so I have to go out for a bit.”
“Okay,” everyone replied…except me.
Jia looked at me with a smile.
“Sian, I’ll be back. Okay?”
“Fine,” I said briefly. A brief look of concern passed through Jia’s face before she left. Once she was gone, I stood up as well.
“Sian, where are you going?” Hainan asked.
“Getting some fresh air.”
I gave Hainan a wave before stepping out of the dorms.
I followed Jia from a far distance away. I was using all of my powers to do so. I wanted to see this guy who dared to steal Jia’s heart. I wasn’t going to forgive him. Was she going to the market? All of a sudden, Jia stopped. Then, she looked down at her phone.
“Did they agree to meet at the market? That must mean Minjae’s dorms are nearby.”
The idea of this guy living so close incredibly pissed me off.
“Alright, let’s see what sort of rat this guy is.”
I remained far away, watching and waiting. After a few minutes, he showed up. He was tall with a feminine looking face. His eyes were especially big and wide.
“He looks like a girl.”
I mean, he was handsome, but looked way too girly for my taste.
“Hi, Minjae,” Jia said sweetly. Minjae gave her a wave back.
“Hi, Jia.”
“Fuck this,” I spat out. I couldn’t watch. They only said hi to each other and in an instant, my jealousy was flaring up…if they were to hold hands…ugh, just the thought of it was enough to make me puke. What if they kissed? Deep breaths…I turned my attention back to their conversation.
“Should we go eat something, Minjae?”
“Sure. What do you want to eat?”
“Hmm…pizza?”
“Sounds good. Let’s go.”
“Do you like pizza, Minjae?”
“I like everything my Jia likes,” Minjae flirted in a greasy-ass tone.
“‘My Jia?’ Over my dead body,” I found myself muttering. This is why you shouldn’t touch a jealous person’s possessions. Anyways, the two headed over to a pizza restaurant nearby. I followed behind them.
At the pizza restaurant.
The two sat across from each other near a window. I sat on a table on the other side.
“What would you like to order?” a part-timer asked me.
“Oh.”
I went through my pockets and pulled out two wrinkled 10,000 won bill.
“What’s the cheapest…”
“This one,” the part-timer said, pointing to one of the pizzas on the menu. It was 17,000 won.
‘Sheesh, it’s pricey.’
Then again, what could I do? Who knows how long they were going to sit there? I would have to order something as well…
“Then give me that please.”
“Okay.”
The part-timer left and I returned my attention to Jia and Minjae. Ugh, this was nauseating. Jia kept smiling while Minjae kept laughing his weird laugh. Sometimes, he’d reach over and brush Jia’s hair behind her ear. Every time he did that, I was tempted to throw the fork I was holding.
Soon, their pizza arrived, as did mine. But for some reason, Jia only ate a little bit. That’s not like her.
“Wow, this is infuriating.”
I was angry as I stuffed the pizza I bought into my mouth…or my nose. I didn’t care. I didn’t even know what topping I got.
“Fuck this.”
I threw the pizza. Onto my plate, of course.
Anyways, I began to listen to their conversation.
“Wow, so you’re going abroad next month?”
“Yeah. Thailand, then Vietnam, then China, I think.”
“Then it really is an Asia tour.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Minjae said with a shrug. Judging by the way he talks, I can say that he’s not complete trash. Still, no way was I going to allow him to be with Jia.
“What about you? Is your group going abroad anytime soon?”
Look at him with that friendly tone. I really wanted to kill that guy.
“No plans as of yet. I don’t think we’ll get our chance before the winter. Right now, we’re still focusing on Korea. And the members all have their solo schedules as well.”
“Oh, like Sian?”
“Yeah, she has a lot of schedules,” Jia said with a proud smile.
“Yeah, Sian is pretty cool. I thought she was some sort of martial arts master or something.”
Well now, how did he know? Smart guy.
“She impresses all of us.”
“But aren’t you jealous? Even a little bit? I get a little jealous when I see other members are more popular than I am,” Minjae said.
Actually, I was curious as well. Was Jia jealous of me? I prayed that that wasn’t the case.
“I’m not jealous at all. Actually, I’m really proud of her,” Jia said with a big smile.
I was touched. I wanted to run up to her and hug her at that moment.
“Oh, really? That’s amazing. You really are a sweet person, Jia.”
“It’s not just me. The whole group feels that way. Also, thanks to Sian, our group has become really popular. We’re all very grateful to her.”
Ugh, how could a person be so sweet? This is why I couldn’t let Jia go.
“Good for you guys,” Minjae said with a nod. The two sat there for a while, talking and eating their pizza. When they were just about finished, Minjae spoke up again.
“Hey Jia, once I’m done with my Asia tour, do you want to go to Japan with me?”
“Huh? Like on a trip?” Jia said, looking surprised. I was shocked as well.
“The crazy bastard.”
I was seriously on the verge of going over there and giving him a flying knee kick to where the sun did’t shine. Minjae then continued.
“Yeah, like a trip. What do you think?”
“Uh…just the two of us…”
“Yeah. Just the two of us.”
“Oh…I…I think it’s too soon for that…we’re not even a couple…”
Jia was hesitant and for a good reason. For a female idol, her image was everything. One scandal could ruin her entire career. There are only a few men who would willingly support a girl who was in the arms of another man. It was important to not have that love change to hate. In Jia’s case, she had a lot of male fans, so she had to be incredibly careful. Just coming to this pizza restaurant was a great risk.
“Then, let’s be a couple. Starting today,” Minjae said all of a sudden. Wow, have you seen anyone so bold?
“Oh…but…we haven’t even dated for a while…”
“So what? We both like each other, right?”
“Still…the other members told me to be careful…” Jia answered.
That’s right. I told her that, but I’m going have to change that. I would tell her to never meet a guy. Ever.
“Don’t you trust me?”
Who would? I’d trust a dog before I’d trust this guy.
“It’s not that…”
“It’s okay, Jia. I can wait. I’ll wait until you’re ready.”
“I’m sorry, Minjae…”
“It’s fine. I know I made you uncomfortable, but don’t make me wait too long, okay? I really do like you.”
“Okay, Minjae,” Jia said with a big smile. It seems like she really liked the guy. This was crazy. They continued to talk up until around 10 pm. That’s when they got up, so I did as well.
“Now where are they going? It’s 10 PM, so they should be going home, right?”
Please just go home…don’t push me even further…
The two left the pizza restaurant and began to walk off towards a certain direction. Towards the dorms. Was he walking her to the door? Okay, I could allow him that much. But suddenly. Suddenly!
Minjae grabbed Jia’s hand.
“What the…”
My head began to spin. It felt like I had just been clobbered on the back of my head. Clobbered with my brain being pulled out. Oh my god.
“Minjae, could you let go of my hand please?”
Jia tried to take her hand out of his grip, but Minjae gripped it harder. Jia hesitated.
“This…I can’t…it’s too soon…”
“It’s just holding hands. If you keep doing that, I’ll have to kiss you.”
I couldn’t believe those words coming out of his mouth and then all of a sudden, I found myself running towards him. Even I was surprised at how fast I was going. I’ve never run this fast before. I lifted my hand to hit the guy on the back of his head, but all of a sudden, Jia turned to look behind him. I immediately shifted my body and flew behind a car nearby.
“Huh…I think there’s someone behind us…”
“Huh? Who?”
Minjae turned to look behind as well, turning his head this way and that way. But he saw nobody.
“I don’t see anyone.”
“I guess I saw one.”
With that, Jia took her hand out of Minjae’s grip again.
“Fine. Then next time, we’re holding hands. Okay?”
“Um…we’ll see…”
“You sure like to play hard to get.”
“I’m sorry.”
The two separated between their respective dorms. I remained in my hiding spot, waiting for Minjae to pass by. It was the same blind spot where I caught the stalker. Soon, Minjae passed by me and I stepped out in front of him.
“Huh…? Sian…?”
