Chapter 69: Remedy
"Unnie! Please stop!" Dahyun was trying to grab the plate that Nayeon was about to smash.
This was the first thing I saw the moment I entered the restaurant. It was just Dahyun, Nayeon and a couple of staff from the restaurant. I noticed that the open sign was still up so I flipped up to put it on close. Nayeon was on the ground breaking down as Dahyun was trying her best to calm her down. I scanned the place to see a lot of stuff that was either broken or torn apart.
What the hell happened to her?
Seeing Nayeon this way broke my heart. I thought that I was already prepared to see her like this the moment I came here, but seeing her like this was just devastating on my part. Dahyun was already sweating a lot from the constant struggle in trying to calm Nayeon down. I needed to be the cool headed person in the room right now.
I approached the person who looked like the owner based on the uniform that she was wearing. "Excuse me. I have a favor to ask."
She turn to me with a look of fear and worry. "Y-Yes… wait… aren't you?"
"Please delete all the CCTV footage of what happened here. I'm begging you. Also, I'm willing to pay for all the damage that she caused." I told her discreetly.
She sighed. "I'm not blaming her. She had every right to get mad. Especially with what happened. But someone has to pay for the damages."
I turn to her as I was curious with what she just said. "Uhh. If you don't mind, what actually happened here?"
The owner shook her head. "It's not my secret to tell. Why don't you ask her yourself? I'm assuming you're her friend?"
I turned to Nayeon before sighing. "Yes. Sadly, I am. And oh… can we keep this between us? I don't want this leaking out of the press."
"Yes, of course. We'd be sued anyway if word gets out." She replied as she took my black card.
That was true. Even if someone did manage to capture a photo or a video of their idol and put it up online on any other day than today, they would still be sued and imprisoned. Anything that happened to idols before and during New Year should not be uploaded online without the idol's permission. Thankfully, it happened tonight of all nights. Even if the people anonymously posted it on another day. There are various ways to track them down. Especially with the technology in this world. That was why cyber-bullying was taken seriously in this world. No matter how young or old any person was. As long as they were tied to any cyber-bullying crime, they would be severely dealt with.
Dealing with this issue aside, I thought that tonight would have been one of the best nights of my life. It turns out that I had to deal with her today. I guess I have to drive them home. After all, I just can't leave them here. I also can't trust anyone to drive them home especially since Nayeon is at a defenseless state right now.
"Here you go, JayB-ssi." The owner handed me my card back.
I took my card, took some cash from my wallet and handed it to the owner. "Here. Please take it. My friend has caused so much trouble tonight. Why don't you treat yourselves to something good?"
She hastily waved it off as she tried to argue back. "No! No! No! It's okay! Really! You've already paid for the damages."
I smiled at how kind the woman was. "Please. I insist. Take it as a New Year's gift."
She smiled as she timidly took the money. "Thank you. I know that it's been an… intense night for you, but I still want to greet you a Happy New Year."
Her words made me chuckle as I bowed towards her. "Happy New Year to you too, Ma'am. I'll come again if I have time. I hope that you'll take care of me then."
She patted my shoulder. "Aigoo! Please do! We'll give you the best food the restaurant can offer."
"I look forward to it, Ma'am." I said as I bowed again before turning to face Dahyun and Nayeon.
Dahyun was looking away from me. She must have been too embarrassed to look at me after calling this late. Even though I am their sunbae and producer, I am also their friend. So calling me at times like these was totally okay on my part. I sighed as I slowly lifted Nayeon in a bridal style. "Let's go, Dahyun-ie."
She nodded as she took the car keys from me and opened the back seat door. After buckling Nayeon up with her seatbelt, she took the front seat since she didn't want to make it look like I was their driver.
We drove towards their dorm quietly. It was only when we were almost there that she started talking. "Thank you… for picking us up."
"Hmm? Oh. No problem. Don't hesitate to call me anytime." I replied.
She sighed. "I hope that there won't be a next time."
"Do you hate me that much?" I asked frankly.
She snapped her head towards me as her brows creased. "I don't HATE you. Okay? I'm shy around you and I don't know what to do."
"Why?" I said as I parked the car in front of their dorm.
She slowly unbuckled her seatbelt. "Just because."
I sighed. "That's not a reason, Dahyun-ie."
"Because I was taught to treat my sunbae's and producer with the highest respect. But somehow you want to be treated more like a friend!" She yelled out before she opened the car and wait straight to the back of the car before opening the door.
"Hey! Wait up!" I yelled out as I hurriedly unfastened my seatbelt and went out of the car to stop her.
I then stopped her from opening the car door. "What's wrong with you? What's wrong with being friends with sunbaes? You're friends with my members and THEY are your sunbaes too. Why can't you be the same with ME?"
She scoffed as she took as step forward and drew her face near mine with an angry expression. "Do you REALLY want to know why?"
Not backing down, I stepped forward which made my forehead touch hers. "Enlighten me."
"It's because guys like YOU who easily win the hearts of women around you will NEVER understand!" She said as she angrily poked my shoulder while driving her point.
I didn't say anything as I stared at her in disbelief. She then continued. "You have no idea, do you? Sunbae's use their power to hit on their hoobaes thinking that it'll be alright. And THAT scares me."
"I'm not like THEM, Dahyun-ah." I told her almost sounding like a whisper.
She scoffed as she combed her hair with her hand. "You make me sick. You know that? How many of my members were 'enchanted' by you. How many? It almost tore them apart. And let's not just talk about your 'charms'. You USED your influence to help us become Twice. Do you know how degrading that is?"
My mouth fell opened. I could not believe that she was saying these things to me. "Then what was I supposed to do? Let you be eliminated and make you go back to training?!"
"Yes! Because AT LEAST I wouldn't feel like I wasn't even good enough to be part of Twice in the first place!" She shouted at me.
"You were one the best out there! You don't deserve to go back to training just because our boss says so!" I fired back.
She pushed me back as hard as she could. "Who are you to care about that, huh?! Stop treating me like I'm not good enough to make it on my own!"
We both were catching our breaths when an old woman from the house across their dorm scolded us. "Ya! You youngins should go to bed! Stop bothering your neighbors!"
We turned to her and apologized. At least after that scolding we both calmed down a little. We couldn't even meet eye to eye because of what happened. I decided to break the wall in front of us and spoke first. "I should… help you get Nayeon inside."
"Y-Yeah. I'll open the door for you." She said as she shuffled through her stuff to look for her keys.
After unbuckling Nayeon's seatbelt, I carefully lifted her up and waited for Dahyun to find her keys. She had already flipped hers and Nayeon's bag inside out but couldn't find the keys to their dorm which made me sigh. "Try ringing the doorbell or knocking on the door."
"There's no one home tonight." She replied softly.
"What? What do you mean there's no one home tonight?" I asked her.
She sighed. "Your members asked their girlfriends to have a sleep over at their place tonight. Jihyo-unnie went home and Momo-unnie went with her."
"Leaving you and Nayeon-ah all by yourselves. Wonderful." I sarcastically said.
She slowly put hers and Nayeon's stuff back before standing up. "Can you drop us in a hotel instead?"
I snapped my head at her. "No. That's too risky. We can't bring Nayeon-ah there like this."
"Then what do you suggest?" She asked.
I sighed as there was one idea that came into mind. "Let's go to the Tree House. You guys can stay there for the night."
"Tree House? You mean the 95 line's clubhouse?" She asked as I slowly put Nayeon back and buckled her seatbelt.
I opened the door for Dahyun and replied, "Yes. Now get in. You're already suffering from the cold. I don't want you to get sick."
She hesitantly obeyed and went inside the car. We made our way to the Tree House as fast but as carefully as we could since it was becoming colder by the minute and the roads were becoming more slippery. It was the most awkward and silent drive I ever had in my life.
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"So this is the 95 line's clubhouse. Wow! Mina-unnie said it was really big, but this is just crazy." She said as she slowly paced around the place.
After putting Nayeon inside her room, I made my way downstairs and saw her marveling at the place. It was really cute to look at this side of her.
I snapped out of my thoughts and approached her to hand over the spare keys to my room and the place. "I already tuck her in on her bed. Nayeon-ah's room is the third door to your left. You can sleep inside my room which is right across hers. Don't forget to lock the place up once you leave tomorrow."
After handing her the keys and giving her instructions on what to do. I headed towards the door to leave. She snapped her head towards me. "Wait! Where are you going?"
I slowly turned around and gave a look of confusion. "I'm going home. Why?"
"Why aren't you staying here? Is it because I'm taking your room? I can sleep together with Nayeon-unnie then." She asked.
Her words made me chuckle as I shook my head. "It's not that. After what you said tonight, it really got me thinking hard on our way here. You're right about a couple of things. So I think it's best if you don't see me in the next few days. Besides, Nayeon-ah can't sleep with someone beside her. You know that."
"But it's dangerous to travel now. The roads are really slippery. Plus, it's starting to get really cold. Why don't you stay for the night?" She persisted.
I sighed. "Dahyun-ah…"
"I saw a couple of ramyeon packs inside the cabinets. Let me cook a meal for us before you leave." She continued.
My eyes widened in surprise as my ears became hot and my cheeks burned red. "Dahyun-ah… do you know what you just said? You DO understand what you're asking for, right?"
This was a signal for couples in Korea or even those who just started dating. It was usually the girl who invites the guy to come inside her place for some 'ramyeon' and afterwards do… adult-related stuff.
Her face had a confused look, but slowly her eyes widened and her cheeks turned red out of her embarrassment. "Ah! N-No! That's not what I meant! W-We're not going to do anything like that! I just wanted to-"
"Alright. I'll have ramyeon with you." I said with a smile as I chuckled.
She calmed herself down as she gave me a warm smile. "Wait for a while. I'll start cooking."
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"Wow! This is really delicious! I didn't know you could cook?" I told her.
She gave me a playful glare which looked kind of cute. "What's that supposed to mean? You thought I couldn't cook?"
I was taken aback by her which made me stutter. "Ah. W-Well… It's not. That wasn't-"
She giggled before she lightly bumped her shoulder to mine. "Relax! I'm just messing with you!"
"I can see now why you're the most charismatic member of the group." I muttered.
She snapped her head towards me. "What did you just say?"
"Hmm? Oh nothing. I just said that I really like this." I lied.
She shrugged it off as she happily ate her share. I smiled while watching her having her fill. Without me knowing, I subconsciously held her hair up to prevent it from going into the food. "So what happened tonight with Nayeon-ah?"
She was looking at me with a surprised expression while still having some noodles hanging outside her mouth. Since she was really white, I saw her slowly becoming red. I finally noticed what I was doing and I let go of her hair. "Ah! I'm sorry! Force of habit!"
After putting her bowl and utensils down, she quickly chewed her food and swallowed it to answer me back. "No! It's okay. I was just surprised. So Nayeon-unnie, right?"
I followed along as she quickly changed the topic. I listened to her as she begun to explain what had happened earlier tonight. So Momo, Jihyo, Dahyun and Nayeon weren't the only people who went there tonight. Jimin and V from BTS was there along with Eunbi and Hyewon from IZ*ONE. Joshua, Jeonghan and S. Coups were there as well. While they were trying to convince V to join the 95 line meetings since he was born under 1995, the topic changed to crushes since most of them were either tipsy or drunk.
Here's what really happened. Joshua confessed to Hyewon that he had a crush on her. Surprisingly, Hyewon reciprocated the feeling. The others teased them to date. Nayeon on the other hand who misunderstood Joshua's good and gentleman nature, thought that he was hitting on her before. But it dawned on her that since she was friendly, she quickly became friends with the members of IZ*ONE. Especially Hyewon, and Joshua was using her to get to Hyewon. After everyone left, Nayeon started drinking a lot by herself as she cried there. Soon, she started losing herself and started thrashing the place.
"And that's why I decided to call you since I knew you were working out on the songs in your studio." She ended the story there.
"I see." was all I could reply as I placed the now empty bowl in the sink.
We both stayed silent. I was still leaning on the sink with my back against her. She was sitting there at the dining table and based on what I could hear, she was just playing around with her utensils.
"About earlier…" we both said at the same time.
To think that it wasn't already awkward enough, we just HAD to say it at the same time. I turned around to look at her. "You go first…"
"No, you…" she replied.
The atmosphere became more awkward as we both stayed silent. I then gestured for her to go first. "Please… you go first."
She turned to look at me and I could see that she was being swallowed up in guilt. After a heavy sigh, she starts talking. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I don't know what came over me. It's just… It was something that really took me by surprise when I first heard the truth. You have been nothing but nice to us. You were also the remedy for most of our problems."
"No, don't be. I'm the one who should be apologizing. After everything that you went through, you deserved the truth and I hid it from you." I interjected.
She stood up as she approached me. "Still, I want to apologize. I went too far."
"I deserve it anyway. Besides, you're right about one thing though. I might have taken advantage of my power." I rebutted.
"How about this? We won't talk about whose fault it is and move on. It's a new year after all." She said with a smile as she reached out her pinky towards me.
I gladly took it. "Okay. Call."
We both laughed at how childish we were earlier. I then stared at her eyes. They seem familiar to me. I gave her a smirk. "So are we friends now?"
She took a step back and placed a finger on her chin to ponder. "Hmm? I prefer the term 'great acquaintances'."
I rolled my eyes at her. "Is it really that hard to become friends with you?"
"You bet it is. Unless you can buy me an island and build me a house of chocolates there, then I think we can be friends." She smirked.
I raised an eyebrow at her. "Was that sarcasm? Because it felt like you were being sarcastic?"
She rolled her eyes as she tried to push me out of the kitchen. "Yes, oppa. I was being sarcastic. Now get out of the kitchen while I wash the dishes."
"No! Let me do the dishes! You already cooked for both of us." I told her as I tried to turn around.
She giggled as she stopped pushing me and went over to the sink. "You've already done enough for tonight. Now go wash up or something and get ready for bed. Dominic-oppa is going to kill me for keeping you up late."
"You know I can buy it, right?" I told her as I smirked while leaning on the kitchen counter.
She turn to look at me with a raised eyebrow. "Buy what?"
"An island with a house of chocolates. In fact, make it HOUSES made out of chocolates." I grinned.
She rolled her eyes before splashing some water on me. My mouth gaped as I turn to her. "You. Did. Not. Just-"
Before I could finish, she splashed more water on me as she stuck her tongue out at me. "I. Just. Did."
"Oh you are so dead!" I chuckled as I chased her around the Tree House.
The night became even rowdy as we both chased each other trying to get each other wet. I thought that my amazing night wouldn't be redeemed but thanks to an amazing friend, it became a memorable one.
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I woke up from the smell of good food and a sound of a camera taking pictures. The sun was shining brightly from the window which blinded me slightly as I tried to open my eyes. A cheerful voice then sounded through my ears as my vision slowly adjusted. "Good morning sleepy heads. Time to wake up."
"Nayeon-ah? What time is it?" I asked as I slowly stretched my arms out.
"It's still almost 7AM in the morning. But I woke up early to prepare you breakfast as an apology and thanks for last night." She said timidly.
I waved it off as I tried to stand. "Don't you have a hangover? You drank a lot last night. And why are you taking pictures of me sleeping?"
As I tried to stand, I realized that I couldn't do so because someone was sleeping on my lap. Nayeon's grin was from ear to ear. "Oh don't worry about that. I already took the hangover serum from the fridge. As for the pictures…" She snapped one more picture as Dahyun slowly stirred and was starting to wake up. "I just couldn't resist myself."
"Ya! Im Nayeon!" I yelled.
"Oppa… quiet down… Let me sleep a while longer." Dahyun said in her sleep.
Nayeon laughed. "Did she just call you 'oppa'? She hardly calls you that. And what happened to you last night? She looks exhausted. Don't tell me… did you guys just…"
"Ya! Nothing happened!" I frantically replied as I tried to wake Dahyun up.
Nayeon gave me a smirk. "Right. Both of your clothes are still intact so nothing really happened. That's unfortunate."
My mouth fell wide open. "Ya! What do you mean 'unfortunate'?!"
"OPPA! Let me sleep!" Dahyun stirred again as she slowly opened her eyes before closing them again..
She suddenly opened them wide again. When she saw me staring at her from above, she quickly sat up and separated herself from me. It startled both me and Nayeon. She covered herself with her blanket before checking if she still had her clothes on and sighed in relief the moment she realized that she still had them on.
"Relax. Nothing happened, Dahyun-ie. Which is why it's REALLY unfortunate." Nayeon said. "I still wonder about one thing though. When did you two become so close?"
"YA!" We both yelled at the same time.
We continued to stop Nayeon from taking more pictures and embarrassing the both of us. Our morning was really lively as soon as we woke up. We all freshened up while Nayeon continued preparing our breakfast. Soon breakfast was ready and we made our way towards the table to eat. After blessing the food, we all ate in silence.
Nayeon then decided to break the silence by clearing her throat. "I'm sorry for what happened last night. I actually remember everything." She then turned to me. She couldn't look me in the eye as she said, "I'll pay you slowly. You know that as an idol, we don't earn much in the first year of our careers."
I waved it off. "You are not paying me ANYTHING. Just don't do it again. Dahyun-ah really had a hard time because of you."
She then turned to Dahyun who was just eating her food with a serious expression. "Dahyun-i~" She did one of her famous aegyo's which made me drop my utensils. Dahyun also cringed at what she heard. "Dahyun-ie!~ Will you forgive unnie?~"
Dahyun sighed heavily. "Alright! Just stop it already and finish your food. I have a schedule for my hair later on."
"I'll drop you guys off on my way to the company." I told them.
Dahyun glared at me. "No, it's okay. We'll take a cab."
I shook my head. "I'll drive you guys. It's still pretty much cold outside so I can't have you wait for a cab here. There're hardly any taxis passing by here anyway."
She slowly nodded. "Alright. Thanks then."
"Why are you guys so awkward?" Nayeon asked.
Both of our faces reddened with the thought of what happened earlier this morning. Plus the events that transpired last night didn't help either. I slowly turn to look at her and accidentally met her gaze which made me more embarrassed. I turn to look away from her. Suddenly, my phone starts ringing. "Oh! I have a call! I should probably take this one. Excuse me for a second."
I quickly stood up without waiting for their response. But before I could close the door properly I heard the last conversation between Nayeon and Dahyun.
Nayeon snapped her head towards Dahyun and narrowed her eyes. "He's gone. Spill! What happened between you two?"
Dahyun sighed. "Well…"
I shut the door and answered the call. "Good morning, Wosik-hyung (the main manager for Alpha)."
"JayB-ya. I have somewhat of a good news for you." He excitedly said.
I raised an eyebrow since I was also curious as to why my manager was calling me this early and was really excited as well. "Okay. Shoot."
"Your Ming Do-hyung (Secondary Manager) was approved to be on a TV show." He announced.
My eyes widened. "Really? We're talking about the same person, right? Jung Ming Do?"
"That's right! So when you comeback from your break, make sure you're careful with what you do since they'll be secretly filming you for that show. Also, You and Zee-ya will be joining the other MC for the show once it's out." He explained.
I was still pretty much baffled with the news. "Okaaay… I understand why Zee and I would be invited. But what does Ming Do-hyung have to do with any of this? What kind of show would invite our manager?"
His laughter boomed over the other end of the call. "I know, right? It's a new show actually. We're going to be the first of the many more episodes."
"No wonder why I haven't heard of any show like that." I replied with a chuckle. "So what's the show's name?"
He chuckled as he said, "Good Manager."
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Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone