Chapter Text
August 7, 2027 / Saturday
Dear diary, it's me again. Leeseo!
I'm writing this day on August 8, Sunday 1AM. I have a lot to talk about yesterday.
Yesterday was another night of balancing school, work, and whatever is left of my energy. The Puma x North Face party was grand, filled with the usual faces and some new ones. I smiled, I posed, I exchanged greetings, and I kept up the perfect balance. It was fun, I guess. In the way these events are always fun. But at the end of the day, my feet hurt, my brain feels fried, and I just want to sleep for three days straight. But I guess I was a bit suprised of the sight of Yujin. A rare sight at any event. We spent most of the night ignoring eachother. It was the usual. And then like of course, he dropped me off at Stardo. Again. Like always. I don’t know when it became a habit. He never asks, he just does it. It’s always the same, him making sure I get back safely, telling me to get some rest, reminding me to eat. Yujin treats me like a queen. He’ll hold the door open, offer me his jacket if I look cold, remind me to take care of myself when I forget to. But the worst part—the part that makes my chest feel too tight—is how he never does the same for himself. And every time we fight, it’s about this. Why does he take care of everyone else but never himself? Why does he act like his own well-being is an afterthought? He’s too kind to others but never spares that kindness for himself. Maybe I just don’t like sharing the way he treats me. But I know that’s impossible. Why does it always feel like I’m wrong? Why is he always like this to *me*? I don't even know what we are now. Actually, we are friends but. Why are we like this? Instead, I should be asking why is he like this. It's like, it just comes natural to him to treat me like a queen. Does he do this to everyone? I'm way too fixated on this guy ever since we became MCs for Inkigayo together. It's bad. I mean, considering we're idols and we're both very popular. I love Dive but it gets too tiring. I just want one day of being a normal person. One day.
"Welcome, Mr. Han! Please step right out to welcome yourself!" A man in a black suit talks to the young 20 year old ambassador in the car. "The red carpet is waiting for you, sir Han."
"Alright, Ji-hyun." He steps out the car with a firm but calm look on his face. He sighs, "Why did I have to come so early...". He fixes his clothes, cameras flash, reporters crowd, the door behind him closes and he looks up.
People's eyes dart to his clothes, the long and sleek, high-rise black pants come right above where his belly button is and the white blouse, which is tucked in, wraps his chest perfectly. "You look handsome, Yujin-ah!" A reporter shouts out.
He adjusts his tie in place while the man beside him hands him a sleek black blazer with golden lining to wear on top. "Thank you.", he gently takes the blazer and wears it on top of the blouse, just fitted perfectly to not squeeze its long sleeves.
He wears PUMA's golden brooch with his initials carved in and completes the look with his signature lense-less glasses. "Please walk now, Mr. Han...", the man gives the signal and the boy walks the carpet with confidence as cameras flash around him.
Cameras everywhere, mics everywhere, bodyguards everywhere, people everywhere. All this but the eighteen year old boy still remains unfazed. He walks the red carpet with people talking to him from all directions. He remains unfazed.
Every step... I could make a mistake.
Eventually, he reaches the main doors to the event and turns around to the cameras. He waves, turning his head from left to right to look at every camera there is. Flashes grow larger in amount but he then turns back around and heads inside the hall.
Immediately, a man in his thirties approaches the boy. "Yujin-kun! You've arrived!", the man speaking in Japanese gives him a big hug and a beautiful woman holding some wine approaches the two and she giggles at the sight.
"You know, Jin-ka... Mi-san has been waiting to see you again!", she talks in Japanese. The woman swirls the wine in her glass while smiling fondly at the boy and the man let goes of him. "Give me a hug, prominent ambassador..." The woman opens her arms for him and the boy leans in.
They lean into the hug and the man watches them fondly. "I missed you guys too." He says and pulls back from the hug once he sees a familiar woman with a bodyguard walking towards the three. "There's noona...", he whispers to himself in korean.
The boy waits for her to get closer and he takes a step forward once she's just a reach away. "Yujin-shi! I see our prestigious Puma kid is here! You never attend these events!" She jokes around with the boy and they share a small hug.
"Well... I'm so busy nowadays and... I got forced to, because I need to give out a speech and other reasons I need to fulfill...", He rubs his neck awkwardly infront her. "Plus also the short performance...", he chuckles while trying not to make eye contact.
"Ohh? It must be so tiring for you to work hard for your world tour concerts while doing these things... Are your members in London already?" She asks the pitiful boy while carresing his shoulder.
He stops his thoughts for a second, going blank but then starts up again after quietness arrives between the woman and the boy. "Ah... I think so, Rosé noona.", He scratches the side of his face.
Another car stops in front of the event's red carpet and this time, a woman in a black suit approaches the car door and pulls the handle. "Welcome, Ms. Lee. It's the perfect day to walk onto the red carpet, ma'am!" The woman holds her hand out, inviting the person inside to step out.
"Thank you, Jing!", a beautiful and modest young woman reaches out to her hand and holds onto hers as she steps off the car. "As always...", she sighs. "Talking to people... Again...", she holds her smile but her words say otherwise.
The deep purple satin sheets of her dress fall gracefully down her legs as some women in black suits fix the details on her dress. The torso embraces her waist in the most delicate way possible and her sleeves fall just perfectly off the shoulders.
Golden lining is seen on the dress as some random lines, more so abstract lines. A woman pins a golden rose to the lady's hip, as well as a golden belt which hangs on her waist. As a final touch, one of the women hands her the bracelet which has her initials carved in by North Face.
The women finish fixing up the details on her outfit and the lady, who greeted the young girl, gives way for her to pass onto the red carpet. "You may now walk the carpet, Ms. Lee! Take care!", she gives her a humble smile and the young lady returns it twice more.
She turns back to the carpet and walks forward with all the cameras facing her way. She tries her best to not blink at every flash although it is just too much for the young lady. She holds her breath and keeps walking forward, occasionally turning her head to the crowd.
Every step she takes puts on more pressure onto her chest, tightening her waist. She stops walking forward as she realises she is now in front of the main doors of the event. The girl turns around with a bright smile on her face and waves to every camera.
I wish for this to quiet down
The young girl turns back around to the doors and enters the event hall. "Welcome, everyone, to the celebration of PUMA and North Face's collaboration on these amazing sets!" The host's voice echoes through out the hall as he says the sentence in English, then Korean.
The girl steps forward cautiously and a man walks towards her on her left and another with a woman approaches on her right. "Leeseo-shi!", the man on her left reaches her first but then the other two on her right belatedly arrives.
"Leeseo-yah, I didn't know you were coming to the event!", the woman wraps her arm around her man's forearm and brightly smiles at the young girl while swishing the wine around in her glass.
The young lady laughs at the statements the three adults throw around her and takes a step backwards. "You look beautiful today, Leeseo-shi.", the man on her left states and then laughs. "Haha! I'm saying this like you aren't everyday!", the man jokes around.
She just gives a polite smile to the compliment and tries to move on from the topic as she feels strangely uncomfortable since truth is, the young girl has never met the man before and does not even know his name.
Thirty minutes pass after the event started and the host already starts bringing up ambassadors to the stage for some remarks on the event. Besides, this... Thirty minutes pass and the man still won't budge beside the young girl's side but neither can a pair of eyes budge from eyeing him from across the hall, almost at the other side.
The stare from the pair of eyes become more intense and a furious taste in the air arises as the man keeps talking to the young girl who's clearly uncomfortable with the man's presence around her. Other celebrities approach the young girl but the man doesn't budge.
Across the hall, a young boy stares at something far while talking with a handsome man. "Actually, Seonghyun-shi was asking if you are interested in a short acting gig-", the man talks with the boy who's clearly agitated by something he's looking at. "Yujin-shi?"
The man tries to get his attention and ends up waving a hand in front of him. "Ah-", the boy finally gets out of a livid trance he was in and faces the man. "Sorry, sunbaenim. I-I was distracted...", he apologizes for his act.
The man pulls a smile for him. "It is alright... But I do see that you're looking at something. Do you want to excuse yourself?", he asks the boy who's distressed, disturbed by something he was paying attention to.
"That would be great if you'd let me! Please excuse me." The boy gets ready to leave and the man says farewell. "And, I would love to act for a short while. Please tell Seonghyun I'll get back to him." The boy hurries off to the other side of the hall.
The boy nears the other side of the event hall. "I mean, when your group disbands... Can I recruit you into my company? I'll put a good word in with my CEO." The boy sees the man talking with the girl, talking but almost flirting as he shows a unique interest in her.
The girl awkwardly laughs as she turns his offer down. "Well... I believe, sir, we aren't going to disband next contract expiration. So, thank you." She carefully chooses her words, afraid she's going to push one of his buttons.
It is clear that the man became disappointed but he still persists trying to make some sort of connection to her. "Well then... You are popular and pretty so why don't you give a try at my-" The man is cut off by a steady and light airy-boyish voice.
"Hyunseo. I've been looking for you. We should go up front already, they're calling the ambassadors." A young gentleman calls out to the girl beside the man. His voice tearing the man's sentence into thirds, the boy walks up to the girl with his doe eyes and holds her hand.
The young boy turns his head to the man and his face completely changes into an expressionless yet cold stare with a look of pure digust. "Please excuse her. Ms. Lee is a very busy *twenty year old*." He pulls the girl towards him and the boy gently holds her hand and lifts her dress as they walk towards the stage.
They walk in silence, no words come out of their mouths other than the boy saying "Be careful". Which gives off two meanings. Until, the voice of the girl delivers as a soft and airy tone.
"Thank you, Yujin-ah. I owe so much to you..." Her voice sounds a bit nasally. Her eyes remain looking forward although her attention moves to the boy assisting her while she walks.
Silence fills their bubble one more time until her voice appears again.
"But..." Her head starts to drop. "You shouldn't be too rude to someone older. You'll earn a bad profile and your reputation will deteriorate if people find out..." She warns the boy one month younger than her. "Controver-" The young gentleman's voice slices through the air.
"It won't be controversial if the reason to be that way is of a pervert." He gets straight to his point. Not wasting time on anything. The girl opens her mouth again. "You're still young and a perfect prey for those hungry men feeding on girls. He's clearly hitting on you." He states.
"People will understand." He says to the girl with an unyielding look to leave no room for arguements. They make eye contact and the young girl's worried face slowly turns into a softened expression, maybe symbolising she's reassured. "Don't worry about me."
They break free of their eye contact. "Of course." The girl coldly says with a hint of frustration on her tongue. The boy glances at the side of her face and the girl grips the boy's hand tightly as the pace of their movement become slower when they near the front of the hall.
"You're Han Yujin. You can handle things on your own." The boy becomes puzzled as the girl's grip on his own hand becomes tighter and tighter. "You'd rather ignore yourself to help others." Her head drops down and her gaze sticks onto the floor.
The girl holds onto the boy's hand with all of her strength. Why? The boy doesn't know. Maybe of a question... Worry? Frustration? Or what if it's a warning? The boy tries to find the reason.
Silence fills the gap in between them and noise of people talking surrounds them. The boy rubs his thumb on her hand as they walk nearer to the area in front of the stage. Sorries buzz the head of the young boy.
The voice of the host finally catches their eyes and ears. "And may I please ask for the presence of IVE Leeseo on the stage! The a..." They only hear the request of the girl's presence and eventually turns their attention away from the host.
The young boy and girl reach the front of the stage and he lets the girl's purple and gold train hit the floor. He bends down to fix the assortment at her feet while the girl still holds on tightly to his hand.
Once the boy stands back up, she lets go of his hand. The cooling sensation leaving the the boy's hand makes his whole body feel flushed from the heat inside of his clothes. The girl doesn't bat an eye to the boy before leaving and only leaves him with a few words. "I wish you were more selfish..."
It feels to the young gentleman, she always leaves him with that collection of words when she gets irritated by him protecting the girl on just the base of 'Don't worry about me.'.
The boy ignores the meaning of those words and walks away as she starts her speech on the stage. Everyone looks at the ethereal beauty on stage except a boy who walks away with lifeless eyes.
The night becomes darker. It's almost midnight and the closing speech wraps up as it the clock hands point to eleven and six. "Thank you, everyone! Not only for attending but also supporting this project. This was truly an one of a kind night for the two brands." The man finishes his speech and everyone applauses.
"Wow you were seriously a main character here, Yujinnie! As well as Leeseo sunbaenim." A man jokes while talking to the boy. They laugh it off with the boy rejecting the compliment. "Oh... My manager's looking for me. Bye, aegi!" The man says his farewell to the boy.
The boy sends his farewell to the man as well. "Bye, Dohoon hyung..." The man gives his final smile to the boy with a bright smile as well. When the man leaves, the event hall soon drains of population.
The boy looks around looking for something. "Yujin-shi." The man who opened the car door for him comes out from a back door and calls out to him. The man signals for the boy to come inside backstage and he follows.
Backstage, he folows the man until the black door. "I'll be right outside this door, boss. Please press this button and repeat the following words with your own voice." The man says and steps aside for the boy to do what he's instructed.
"Ok thank you, Han Yujin. It was a pleasure to communicate with you about this. I will follow you up on this topic. Please get a good night's rest and I send the best of luck for your following concerts." A man dismisses the boy from the black door room.
The boy comes out of the room and is greeted by the sound of heavy rain outside of the hall and an eerie sound of emptiness. He walks back inside the main event hall and sees no one in sight.
He takes his time to walk out and by the time he's holding onto the main door handles, he hears a car pull up on the driveway. The boy walks out and immediately feels the cold air as the rain pours in front of him. He sees the car on the driveway roundabout.
The car lowers its window and reveals a man. "Yujin-ah! Come on!" That man calls out to him. The boy can barely hear the man over the rain. The boy waves his hand to him and takes off his blazer to use it as a small umbrella.
While he puts the blazer over his head, he notices something at the corner of his eye. "Hm?" He looks over to the left side and under the bonnet roof, he sees a person in a dress but he doesn't care to look at it any longer so he drapes the blazer over his head and runs to the car.
He runs carefully not to trip. The deep water puddles made by the rain splash beneath his feet, dampening the expensive dress shoes made by PUMA specifically for the young boy. "Fuck." He curses beneath his breath while he takes off his shoes and runs barefoot on the wet pavement.
His socks dampen but he keeps going until he reaches the car. The man opens the passenger door for him and the boy sets his shoes down on the car mat. He takes the blazer off his head as well and sets it on the passenger seat.
He sets a foot inside of the car but suddenly notices a glimmer from the corner of his eye. And he stops. "Yujen-ah? Faster." The boy turns his head to the glimmer. "What are you looking at? Faster! You're getting wet!" The boy's eyes narrow.
"Your hair is wet already! You're barefoot too!" The boy takes his foot out of the car and turns his whole body towards the source of the glimmer. "Han Yujin, are you going to bathe in the rain?" The man's voice has a hint of worry and frustration.
The boy doesn't care about the man's words and his own body state. He grabs his blazer and closes the passenger door and sprints to the source of the glimmer. "Lee Hyunseo!" He calls out to the source.
The source of the glimmer, a young lady in a purple bodice with her head down, eyes closed, body shivering, but completely dry. "Yujinnie?" The young lady raises her head to look at the boy calling out to him. The girl flinches at the sight of a person during this late time.
The boy goes under the bonnet roof, beside her. "Why-" She opens her mouth and then closes it again when the boy drapes his blazer over the girl's head. "Han Yujin?"
...
She looks at the boy with her warm brown eyes, the boy's heart skips a beat.
The girl tries to take his blazer away from her head. "Ar-are you... Um come with us." He says in a soft voice. Instead of the words sounding like an order, it sounds more like a hesitant request from the boy to the girl politely.
His body continuously gets hit by the rain, drenching him in the cloud's tears. "H-huh? I-... Um, Yujin-ah..." The girl's ears turn red but her tone fluctuates down to an apologetic kind.
She sighs. "Oh I'm so sorry Ujen... I'm just waiting for Yujin unnie to pick me up..." She apologises with the kindest tone she has. "Sorry to reject your offer..." She sighs once more and bows her head to the kind boy.
"But where is she now?" He asks and the girl's eyes redirect somewhere else. Before she can answer, the boy holds her wrist in his hand. "Come with me. We'll drop you off where you need to be at." He looks at her in the eye with his doe eyes.
"Yujin-ah..." She stares into his eyes. Instead of rejecting again, she gives him a more considerate look and opens her purse to reach in for her phone. "I'll ask unnie where she's at..." She stutters and holds the phone in her purse but something unexpected happens.
The boy carries her in his arms. "No need. It's getting late. I'll tell her on the way myself." The boy whispers in her flushed ear and adjusts the blazer over her head to protect her upper body from the rain. "Hold your arms in your lap." She does as he tells her.
The girl sits still in his arms as he runs to the car. His whole back gets soaked from the rain while he uses his body to protect the young lady's lower body from getting wet. "Yujin-ah." She looks up to him but the blazer blocks her view.
Her hand reaches for the piece of the blazer which blocks her view and a water droplet falls onto her palm. She adjusts the piece of fabric and sees the boy, hair dripping, face dewy, her eyes soften. "You're drenched."
The boy's eyes fall onto hers but only for a second. He brings up his pace and starts running faster. He does his best to keep the girl still in his arms and the girl stares at him. "Yujin-ah, why are you always like this to me?"
His breaths become quieter in an instant. The car door opens. "Ah! Leeseo-shi!" The man inside looks back at them and stutters while he speaks. Infront of the girl, he whisper shouts to the boy putting her down on the car seat "Han Yujin!".
"H-hello, Hanbin oppa!" Both the girl and the boy's faces turn red but only the boy keeps an expressionless expression on his face. The man smiles at the girl but glares at the boy while he closes the door.
The man exhales a big sigh. "I'm sorry on his behalf again, Leeseo-shi. He really needs to stop doing this... Whatever it is. Whatever's going on..." He looks back at her again with a frustrated face.
"N-no! It's ok, oppa. It's truly a blessing for me..." She gives the man a soft smile with her cheeks still flushed pink. The car door at the girl's left opens and the boy hurriedly sits down. The man sighs and drives off the premises.