runaway love / cha eunwoo astro ✔

+eight

enjoy dear loves.

+

the next few days went in a blur as eunbi became busier than before, with practicing and recording catching up to her. as she was already introduced to the public, the project team wanted to release more videos of her, showing more sides of the i-star to the world.

she was in the middle of discussing with her vocal trainer, sohyeon in the recording studio when min barged into the room, shocking the two of them.

"i'm sorry to interrupt but eunbi needs to come with me to the meeting room right now."

bewildered, eunbi excused herself to follow min and sohyeon just nodded, allowing the girl to leave.

on the way to the meeting room, min didn't say anything but eunbi could feel that min was angry about something and she wondered if it had something to do with her.

"i can't believe you do that, eunbi." min spoke up once they turned to hallway where the meeting room is located.

"w-what do you mean, unnie?" eunbi was getting scared. did she do something wrong?

her question was ignored and soon enough, they arrived in front of the room. min gestured eunbi to go inside, "someone is waiting for you inside." she told her before walking away.

what? eunbi was so confused at the moment and she could feel her heartbeat increasing. slowly, she knocked the door twice, a faint "come in." was heard from inside.

entering the room, eunbi saw a man in suit. she recognised him as one of the board directors she remembered seeing at the main office when she came to finalize the contract.

"lee eunbi-ssi." he acknowledged her, gesturing her to sit at the chair opposite him. eunbi gulped as she slowly took her seat and politely greeting the man.

what is happening? she thought nervously, getting chills from the dark, gloomy surrounding in the room. the cold temperature of the air wasn't helping her to calm down either.

"d-did i do something wrong?" she stammered, feeling her hands shivered in nervousness.

the man sneered. "so you didn't know that you have done something wrong."

still unable to comprehend the situation, eunbi was startled when the door was pushed opened, a woman entered the room with a file in her hands.

"kim pd-nim, this is the document you asked for." she passed a file to the man and left. kim pd opened the file, looking through the papers in silence.

with every seconds passing in suffocating silence, eunbi felt her heart beating rapidly as if she had just completed a marathon.

"would you like to take a look at these?" kim pd offered, laying out the papers one by one at the table for eunbi. eunbi narrowed her eyes for a better look at the papers containing pictures.

they were pictures from what seemed to be cctv footage in which you could see a girl and a boy hugging each other at the parking lot. the pictures reminded her of that day happened few days ago, when eunwoo came to apologise.

"you should know your fault by now." kim pd said, his voice sounded cold and distant.

"i-i—" eunbi was at a lost of words, breaking into cold sweats.

"you what— you want to tell me that you're dating eunwoo?" kim pd laughed cynically, "is that why you entered this company?"

eunbi shook her head. despite it was definitely the truth, she wasn't going to admit it. it would do more damage to her.

kim pd sighed. he certainly didn't buy her lie. "i'm so disappointed in you, lee eunbi. and knowing how the ceo himself recommended you for the project."

"i'm sorry." eunbi hung her head in regret. there was no used to deny everything. she was done, probably for good.

"i don't need your sorry, lee eunbi." he snapped coldly, "i need you to leave this company. that way, this problem can be fixed right away."

what? eunbi looked up, eyes glistening with tears. why did this have to happen when she had began to love her new life?

"but the contract..." she reminded, her voice was barely audible to hear. she vaguely remembered the contract's agreement in which she couldn't leave the company in 6 months or else, she had to pay the fine for breaking the agreement.

"about your contract; just say that you have family problems or something and you can't stay to continue the project. anything as long as the ceo doesn't know about this thing." kim pd said, his voice wasn't as stern as before. "i'm doing this for your own good, lee eunbi." he sounded so genuine that eunbi doubted her ears for a second.

she didn't understand what the director meant by 'for her own good' when it was crystal clear that she was forced to leave to avoid scandal.

at her confused and doubtful look, kim pd clarified, "what do you think the ceo will do if he finds out about this? let you and eunwoo off the hook? no; the least he can do is sue you for breaking the contract and for eunwoo, he might have to leave astro."

eunbi was quiet as every words the director said sunk in her mind.

"and you have to end your relationship with eunwoo." it felt as if she was slapped across her face. "you need to break up with him." kim pd added, stressing his point.

"i'm telling you, eunbi; eunwoo would always love his career more than you. you will always be the second. plus, he is always surrounded by beautiful girls. do you think he can resist the temptation if a female idol make a move on him?" eunbi wanted to argue but she couldn't find any strong point to defend eunwoo. deep inside her heart, she admitted the director did have a point.

"soon you will be forgotten, eunbi."

"e-eunwoo wouldn't do that." she blurted out, assuring herself. after all happened between them, eunwoo wouldn't do that to her right?

kim pd let out a sinister laugh as if mocking her, "you don't believe me? alright, i'll show you the proves."

eunbi watched the director turned the slide on and seconds later, an image appeared on the white screen.

there, on the screen, was a video of her first love, cha eunwoo and the boy proved the director's words true; she was his the second choice, and would always be.