paper hearts | rosékook

chapter sixteen

He was right in front, wearing a mask and waiting for her to step out. She could spot him because of his excessive black dressing and viciously grey eyes peeking out.

She stopped on her tracks and stared at him in fear. But her bodyguard gave her a little push to keep walking.

He knew who she was looking at, and he knew what he can do. After all, the whole security was warned about the  "bloody rose sasaeng".

She kept walking as her bodyguard guided her through the media and fans. They got past him, but she noticed him starting to follow them, increasing his pace with every step. Rosé's heart was racing faster than ever, and she just wanted to go to her apartment, where she was safe and out of public's eye. Especially, away from him.

But he kept coming nearer and faster. He was close to them and she felt like breaking down there and then. She was terrified.

Luckily, her bodyguard was quick on his feet. He held Rosé by her shoulder and made her jog the way to her van.

He quickly put her in the vehicle and told the driver to drive to the company. After that, he turned towards the sasaeng, giving him the death glare. "Stay away!" He yelled at him.

"You can't keep her away from me much longer." He warned and took off. He ran away so fast that the security lost sight of him. He probably hid somewhere nearby, who knows.

After that, the media was crazy about this issue. All the headlines talked about Rosé's sasaeng and it was all over the news and internet. All well known platforms, including Billboard, Entertainment Tonight, BBC, etc. wrote articles about it. So this wasn't only highlighted in Korea, but worldwide.

Something Rosé feared that would happen.

She did not want this issue to blow up, but now it did. And she couldn't be more ashamed. She blamed herself, for not being strong enough to deal with this. She sat in her studio, going through all the articles talking about her sasaeng.

She also did not want this to blow up because she did not want him to get the attention. She knows he thrives off that and she was being very careful about not noticing him.

But after the news media got on it, everyone started paying attention to him, feeding his ego and motive more. Who knows what he is going to pull now. He showed up at the airport, next thing she knows, he's standing in front of her apartment.

Her fans were outraged of course and she was a little relived seeing that they had her back. But a lot of people were also doubting her and blaming her.

"He must be her boyfriend. Why would he show up like that and try to get near her?"

"She didn't even seem that concerned. I'm sure she knows him personally."

"Wow. Way to ignore your close friend Rosé. He must be so hurt."

These are exactly the type of comments she didn't want to get. But here she is, going through article after article and comment after comment, talking and discussing her private life.

Sometimes she really wished she could run off somewhere without anyone knowing. She wanted to be out of the public's eye for once, who don't judge her every step. She wanted to rejuvenate.

She buried her face into her palms and let out soft sobs. She does not want this. She wants a break from this. She wants it to be over already.

Dark thoughts started consuming her mind. What if he finds her alone someday, somewhere? Is she even safe enough to go to her own apartment now? She is scared to stay alone. How is she going to go back from the company?