Chapter 7 – Then again…

Yongbae couldn’t help but feel he made a horrible mistake. But then, it was too late to admit it now. Megan was happy, and, by the looks of it, so was Jiyong.

But with every laughter that Megan and Jiyong shared, with every touch, and the looks that they gave one another, Yongbae couldn’t help but think. Was this really what he and Megan looked liked a year ago to others? He noted that sense of familiarity whenever he was in the same room as Megan and Jiyong. And they weren’t flirting either, they were talking, just talking to one another. In fact, if you didn’t know them, you wouldn’t even suspect that they were going out in the first place.

It was true, Yongbae had left the past behind him. He did his best to forget everything that had happened between Megan and him over the year. Heck, he even resorted to secret therapy sessions with Dr. Phyllis to forget about her. And he did. One day, he woke up to find that Megan was no longer the center of attention in his mind.

That all changed, of course, when Megan mysteriously reappeared right in front of his eyes. From that moment on, it had been like the way it had always been when he was around Megan. Always flirting, always joking around, but in the end it all seemed like a cruel joke to him, because he knew that she would never feel the same way.

“Hey…” he approached her when Jiyong was out of the way, “Lets go out tonight.”

“Erm…okay…” answered a clearly startled Megan, “What’s the occasion?”

“I don’t know…it just feels,” he said with much hesitation, “like we haven’t talked a whole lot lately.”

And it was true. Megan had spent most of her week with Jiyong (day and night). They would always show up for practice together, and always leave together. Whatever they did when they weren’t in the studio was pretty much a mystery to the rest of the guys.

“Oh…sure,” she suddenly exclaimed, “I’ll just, erm, cancel my plans with Jiyong then.”

”Erm, wait, if it’s that much trouble,” he said hesitantly, “Then don’t bother. I don’t want to ruin your evening.”

“It’s fine, he’ll understand,” she said, a much-needed smile now appearing on her face, “Feels like I haven’t seen a whole lot of you lately either.”
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Yongbae took Megan out to dinner that night, and it seemed like old times again. Their half-flirting half-joking manner continued on and on, but Yongbae couldn’t help but notice the stares the both of them got from the people at the restaurant.

It was a good thing that camera’s weren’t allowed in the restaurant, and as soon as one of the waiters saw you so much as taking out your handphone, they would immediately rush to your side, as if to ‘monitor’ you. Besides, Yongbae thought to himself, YG would flip if he found out he was dating, or in this case, having dinner with a girl that everyone automatically thought he was dating.

Well, that didn’t stop the people from the restaurant from talking of course. Every now and then a “Hey, isn’t that Yongbae from BB?” would interrupt their ongoing conversation. Honestly, Yongbae felt annoyed. Was it SUCH a headline that he was at a restaurant eating out with a friend? Everytime he heard someone giving off some comment about Megan, he felt like marching right up to them and telling them to shut up. But that would’ve ruined the entire mood of the evening now, wouldn’t it?

Fortunately for Megan, she was used to being the ‘Jane Doe’ whom went out with all the A-listers, mainly because of the many dinner sessions she and her big-fancy-record-label-owner brother shared before she debuted. She learned eventually to block out any unnecessary conversations that she did not want to hear.

Megan spent the entire night talking about Jiyong. How she felt about him, how he greeted her in the mornings, how he would escort her back to her apartment after dinner etc.. She just wanted to talk about him, and nothing else, because he was all that mattered to her.
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“So,” Yongbae said, starting off one of their familiar conversations, “Do you love him?”

“Well….” she answered hesitantly, as if choosing her words, “He’s a nice guy…and is the perfect gentleman everytime we go out.”

“That doesn’t answer the question,” he retorted.

“Whats with the 21 questions?” she answered back, obvious hints of annoyance in her tone, “It’s not like I’m running off with him to Vegas first thing in the morning or something.”

“It’s a simple yes or no question.”

“And you of all people should know that it’s not that easy to answer that question,” she quickly answered back, irritated.

“I just…” he started off again, “don’t want you to be with some guy just to get back at me.”

“Since when did me dating Jiyong become about getting back at you?”

“Since you’re dating a guy that you don’t know whether you love or not,” he said.

Megan was crushed. She didn’t think that of all people, Yongbae would be the one to tell it straight to her face. It was as if he thought Jiyong was just another guy like the ones she used to pick up a year back.

“I just….” he tried to reason, “Don’t want it to end up like it did with you and Jungmin.”

Megan was crushed. She couldn’t believe that Yongbae would bring up Jungmin right here, right now.

“Jiyong is nothing like Jungmin,” she retorted, her eyes now wet with tears as the memories of Jungmin proceeded to fill her mind, “You of all people should know that.”

“Well, then maybe I just don’t trust Jiyong like I should,” he said, “Maybe, I just don’t trust you like I should. Maybe, I think that either way you’re going to end up destroying the relationship.”

Megan was hurt by Yongbae’s words. And it hurt not because of the ‘mean’ things he was saying to her, but mainly because she knew that those words were true. Her eyes were now wet with tears, and before she knew it, tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“Megan….I..”

But before he could finish his sentence, Megan has already gotten up and made her way to the door. She couldn’t bear it any longer, and she might as well save Yongbae some credibility.