WGM Again?! (Taeun Fan-Fic)

Chapter 46: Busy and busier

Naeun's P.O.V

"Lately someone's been bothering me," I explained my tired state.
"What do you mean?" oppa asked and I felt like I shouldn't have told him. He was preparing for his next album. He didn't need any distractions from that.

"It's just..." I looked for words to describe Minji-shi's sudden change in behavior. "She was always cheerful and welcoming but lately she's been throwing negative remarks at me about everything I do or say and I have no idea why. It doesn't bother me that much but when it's someone I meet I can't just turn my phone off."

I thought about all the times Minji-shi had insulted me lately. I seriously had no idea why she did that.

"Want me to do something?" oppa offered.
"No, I can handle this. Besides, what would you do?" I laughed. "No, you just focus on your album."

He laughed as well.
"I miss you," I blurted out.
"I miss you too," he replied. "Don't overwork yourself."
I nodded even though he couldn't see me but I was sure he knew I took his every word seriously.
.
.
.
"I hate this!" I complained to Yina-ya. "He's so busy and I'm so busy and when I'm not busy, then he's even busier!"

"What do you expect when you're dating a celebrity?" Minji-shi remarked dryly but it didn't feel like a friendly joke.

"I don't expect anything. I'm just complaining," I defended myself.
"If you don't expect anything, there shouldn't be anything to complain about," she gave back and arched one of her perfectly trimmed eyebrows.
She was very pretty.

I didn't care a lot about looks but it might still have reassured me if the girl who had been insulting me wasn't this pretty.

"Well, if he's too busy to come back, why don't you visit him?" Yina-ya suggested. "Or did you use all your money for that vacation in Spain?"

She wriggled her eyebrows in a suggesting way. I waved her silly gesture off and ignored Minji-shi's coughed out "Spoiled much?"

"I would but he's busy. I ended my album promotions but he's going to release his album next week so he won't have any time even if I visit," I sighed.

"Then I guess you have no choice but to wait."
I nodded defeated.
"Come on, don't be sad. I have your favorite snacks here, unnie. Let's open them to cheer you up!" Yina-ya sang and went to the kitchen to get them.

"So what? It's not like he's in the military or anything. He's just gone to Japan for a month. Don't be so greedy," Minji-shi remarked sharply.

"I'm just stating my longing for my boyfriend's presence," I defended myself while I tried to keep calm. I had no idea why but I was sure she wanted me to get upset, blow up and slip up.

But this was not the same as hateful online comments. This was someone I knew. My best friend's roommate and someone I thought of as something similar to a friend at least for a while. I wondered whether this was worse or whether hateful online comments were.
At least she had the courage to say it to my face but that didn't lessen the insult in any way.

It still hurt. It might hurt even more than anonymous netizens I could ignore. But I chose not to let her get to me. I chose to ignore her and the frustration building up in my chest. I chose to ignore that frustration for a month and some more time. And after I had managed to bear the feeling for a while, I was finally rewarded with the arrival of my life's greatest support, the return of Lee Taemin back to Korea.

But although he was there and tried to spend every minute he could with me, he was busier than ever.
He had an album release coming up and was completely occupied with choosing songs, recording songs, making choreographies, learning choreographies, changing songs and changing choreographies.

And when his album came out he was even busier than before filling stages and appearances with his new hit song 'Move' which I admittedly couldn't stop listening to myself.

So there was nothing for me to do other than practicing and hanging out with friends. I did my very best to avoid Minji-shi but she was my best friend's roommate and every time I dreaded my meet-ups with Yina-ya more and more hoping that her roommate had better things to do than tormenting me.

"Naeun-ah," oppa's voice softly pulled me out of my thoughts of the last few months I had spent as if I was avoiding a stalker but then again she wasn't.
She was simply someone who despised me and didn't feel like hiding it from me but from everyone else.

I looked up startled into his face, eyes filled with worry.
"What is it, oppa?" I asked unknowingly as if I hadn't just been pondering everything Minji-shi and I ever did together in my head.

He sighed, "Naeun-ah, I know that I've been too busy and haven't been able to pay a lot of attention to you but I noticed that something's bothering you. Please tell me what's wrong before I have to spend the next few weeks of promotions tormenting myself with the issue of your well-being."

I nodded. Of course someone noticed and I was glad that he was the one who had.
I pondered about what I should tell him about and what not but then it just came flooding out. With a long stream of tears I told him about all my insecurities of the last few months. I told him about Minji-shi, her remarks which weren't different from online comments but for some reason bothered me more than anything. With the way she acted it felt like her hatred was reasonable even though I could not recall ever having done her any injustice. I told him about my inability to remain uneffected by these concerns and my inability to ask someone for help.

After I had finished he held me in a tight embrace. He made me feel safe, like he had promised to never ler go silently.

"Naeun-ah, it seems you don't hate this person even though she has anything to justify any hatred."
I thought about his words. He was right. I didn't hate her. I didn't actually want her to repent or anything. I just wanted her to stop. That was everything I needed.

"Talk to her," oppa said. He smiled at me encouragingly and I knew I should have done that months ago.
He was suddenly serious as he continued, "I can come with you if that makes you feel better. But talk to her. Talk to her or I will. This needs to stop."

I nodded. That was the right thing to do and neccessary for me to put an end to this and move on.

Story time just because.
A few days ago my brother and I were going through my cousin's pictures on Facebook, who admittedly has the looks and style of a K-pop star (but I can't really take him seriously because he's my cousin).
And then there was a group photo of my cousin and guys I assumed to be in his dance crew and I pointed at the guy in the center whose face was only partly visible and said, "I seriously like this guy's looks and style. He seriously looks so cool! Like seriously handsome and good fashion sense!"
And my brother brought the cursor to the guy's face so it would show his name and goes, "That's Dean."
And I just, "Oh. Oh. Well, no wonder he looked cool??😅😅"
And then my brother was rolling on the floor laughing for maybe two or three or more minutes.