✓Crotchet || MCND Castle J

𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 Chapter 3

Minji's POV

Like the last time, there are very few people who hike at dawn. We're here to watch the sunrise again, but it's only the two of us this time. I glanced at Seongjun as we walk in silence, hand in hand, towards the peak of the mountain. One year. We actually reached one year together.

"What are you looking at?" He glanced sideways.

"You," I said and made him smile.

For the past year, it was rare for us to be together. He was so busy that he took a leave of absence from college. Most of the time, his manager will sneak us out in between his schedules. He can't be carefree in public anymore because a lot of people recognize him now. Even today, he wears a cap, pulling it downwards to hide his face. What bothers me the most is that he lets go of my hand if there are people around. I understand, though. It's just that I can't get used to it because my heart sinks each time he does that.

"I think it's colder today," I said.

"Are you cold?"

"No," I answered, but he put a hot pack in between our entwined hands anyway. "Thanks," I said.

We both aren't fully awake yet, even though we already finished more than half the track. It was a comfortable silence and I'm fine as long as he's beside me. When we reached the steps where the path intersects to the old foot trail, we stopped.

"Do you wanna go to the top first before coming back down here?" He asked. "We didn't get to go there last time."

I nodded and we followed the remaining steps to the peak. No one was there so we had the whole space to ourselves. "The view is not much different from down below."

"It's because it's only a dozen steps away." He said. "I think we got here earlier than last time. It's still so dark."

"That's fine. We have more time to ourselves." I smiled at him and he leaned his face towards mine. He stopped just a centimeter away from my lips, then he smiled, making my whole body tingle. I tried to fill in the gap between us but he pulled back a little, teasing me. He giggled before finally kissing me.

We pulled away when we heard footsteps. He let go of my hand, making the hot pack drop to the floor. There it is again, the squeezing feeling in my heart. I picked up the pack as a group of girls our age joined us on the platform.

"I'm sorry." He whispered and I caught him giving me an apologetic expression under his cap.

I offered him a smile. "It's fine."

"Let's go down now." He said.

But before we could move, there was an odd feeling coming from the girls just a few feet from us. In my peripheral vision, I could tell that they are looking in our direction, whispering among themselves. And then, I heard Seongjun's stage name-Castle J.

"Let's go. Let's go now." Seongjun hurriedly whispered.

We were about to take the first step down when one of them spoke. "Excuse me...Are you...Castle J?" She asked. Seongjun turned around to face them. "MCND Castle J, right?"

"Ah, yes." He said with a smile, then contained screams erupted from all of them.

I sighed and took a step backward. There's no turning back now. When he meets his fans, he becomes an idol. Even if it's his free time. I watched him turn down their request to take a picture. He said it's not allowed by the company so he signed on things for them instead. They were asking him to do a bunch of things, most of which he politely declined. He talked with them for a few minutes before saying that he had to go.

I didn't wait for him to turn to me. I immediately took the steps down and made a beeline for the foot trail. A few seconds later after I reached the platform, he greeted me with a back hug.

"I'm really sorry." He said.

I laughed as he swayed me from left to right. "Why are you sorry? That's inevitable. It already happened a few times."

"Still, I took away a few minutes of our time."

"What can you do? They're also important to you. I have no choice but to share you with them."

He squeezed me against his chest. "How can you even handle it? If we're in reverse and you meet your fans while we're on a date, I don't think I would want to share my time with you. Especially when we barely get to see each other."

"It's nice to hear that," I said. We walked to the railings. The sky is finally lightening. "We could be possessive of each other, but we have to remember that we also have our limitations. Having fans is part of what you do and I can't take that away from you. So I have to deal with it if I want to stay with you."

"I don't deserve you." He said, lacing back his fingers to mine.

"That's not true. We deserve each other." I said.

"I can't wait to tell the world about you."

I gave him a smile. "Someday."

"Someday."

We watched the sun slowly rise up the horizon. It's more beautiful now than last time. There isn't a bitter feeling. There isn't any doubt. We're here because we made it through a year full of ups and downs. And despite all that, we still love each other the same way. Or even more.

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This is the last special chapter
o(╥﹏╥)o Thank you again so much for reading! ♥
I hope you enjoyed my messy story even though I'm still lacking. I really enjoyed writing this whole book.

I will still be writing some MCND fanfics (maybe some other groups too in the future) so I hope you can support me on that too. ♡♡
But I will be more than happy if you will just continue loving and supporting MCND 🤗 Bye~