Prepared To Hate You

The Space

After she left Namjoon's studio, she headed toward hers for some privacy. Between her and Wang Yibo's schedules, it had been hard for them to find time to call each other. Broken conversations through messages were normal. The calls they did have were brief. It was as they had predicted, but that didn't make it any easier.

When their video call connected this time, Yibo looked tired. The Chinese Idol was known for overworking, filling his schedule to the max and leaving no room to relax. Since getting back from his visit to Korea, he had tried to scale back his workload where he could, but it would take a while before it truly lightened up due to previous commitments.

However, when he saw her bright smiling face it made him smile as well.

"Yibo!"

"Hey, Baby."

His voice came out slightly rough from overuse and he inwardly wince when he saw her frown in response.

"You should take better care of yourself."

"I'm fine."

Her lips pursed unhappily, but she decided to change the subject.

"How was your day?"

"Busy. Boring. The usual. Although I did learn a new move on my skateboard. Why are you laughing?"

"I'm not! It's just, you're so cute!"

"Skateboarding isn't cute! It's cool!"

"That's what I meant."

"Sure, you did. Tell me about your day."

"Busy. Namjoon showed me some of the tracks he's working on for his mixtape."

"You spend a lot of time with him."

"What's wrong?"

"I just got an impression when I was over there."

"An impression? Of what?"

"He acted possessive. I think he likes you."

"Well, I would hope he likes me!"

"I mean, as more than a friend."

"No way. He's the leader, it's his job to look out for us, that's all."

"Hmm."

"You're not convinced? You're my boyfriend, not him."

"Boyfriend?"

"Oh, are we... are we not - forget I said anything."

"No, no! I would be honoured to call you, my girlfriend."

She blushed.

"You're too much sometimes."

He grinned cheekily.

"But you like it?"

She sighed, resting her chin on her hand as she admired him on the screen.

"I miss you."

"I miss you too, Baby."

"I never considered myself as someone who craved physical contact, but now I would do anything to be close to you."

She looked so innocent as she said it, but Yibo gulped at the image her words produced.

"Well, it might not be as hard as we thought to find time to visit."

"Are things really that bad there?"

"Well, they're not good."

"It's ridiculous! You race motorbikes. What's more manly than that?"

"Yeah. On the plus side, I don't wear as much makeup, but I will miss the clothes."

"I understand that the fan culture is a bit... crazy, but restricting Idols' careers because they look too 'girly'..."

"I know, I know."

"And they banned all the shows like I participated in for 3 years! I loved watching those."

"You're so cute when you pout."

"I'm always cute."

"True."

"You're so..."

"Handsome, talented, ... sexy?"

"Bluntly honest, but, yeah, I suppose all those other things too."

"Suppose? Do I need to prove it to you?"

"Depends, how would you do that?"

"I'd show you -"

Yibo looked off to the side with a frown and she knew what that meant.

"You've got to go?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"You forget that I'm an Idol too now. I understand."

"I can't even get an hour to call my girlfriend who's thousands of miles away. I don't like it."

"It's the life we signed up to."

"Yeah, well... keep your phone close, I'll send you something special later."

Seeing the expression on her face, he quickly backtracked.

"Not like that! Get your mind out of the gutter, girl!"

"I'll look forward to it. Whatever it is."

"Bye, Babe. Speak to you soon, okay?"

"Okay. Bye."

At that moment with Yibo so very far away, it only made her studio feel that much emptier.