The Rockstar Who Loves Me

Song 23 ♫ Truly Madly Besotted

My pictures were everywhere.

News ones, like Tae Yang—or Link—and I getting cozy at the beach, or me being hounded by paparazzi outside of work. Also old ones, like me walking up and down the stage of the Miss Venezuela in an itty bitty bikini.

There were articles about me in every tabloid and in a good number of reputable sources. The comments under every article alluded to how I must have weaseled my way into The Lincoln Choi's life through my body. Except, they painted me as a washed up model wannabe, who was too old and unimportant to date a celebrity like him.

And shit, they were right.

As soon as the scandal exploded, Tae Yang tried to find me. I didn't let him.

I took a leave from work and ensconced myself in my room. I didn't want to talk with him. Not because I didn't know what to say, but because I didn't know how to say what I felt without breaking my own heart even more. I missed him just as much as I wanted to curse at him. I wanted to hold him just as much as I wanted to punch him in his annoyingly pretty face.

But I needed to be by myself first. I needed to hurt on my own.

For days, I just lay in bed, seeing him in my dreams and crying when I was awake because he wasn't there. I shut my phone off to deprive myself of the chance of forgiving him when I wasn't ready.

Mom only talked with me when she dropped by to order me to eat something, but every line of her face was etched by clear displeasure. Just once she told me to face the music. The word triggered a fresh round of tears from me.

One evening, I heard voices outside my door. For a second my heart jolted. If it was Tae Yang, I wasn't ready to face him yet. But Quinta's unmistakable rasp was followed by Dawn's dry tones. I buried my head in my pillow, angry for wishing it were someone else.

"Enough is enough." Though muffled, the words came from Quinta. Hushed conversation sounded for a while, the voices moving away from my door until they faded altogether.

She was probably right, but I didn't think the day I got out of my pajamas, hopped in the shower and returned to society would be any time soon. Even my asshole boss, who should be invested in my prompt return, had told me to take as much time as I needed.

Even in my heartbreak, I'd noted the glee in his voice at seeing my newly found happiness crumble. He was another problem I refused to face.

I pulled my bedsheets up to cover my head and sent a little prayer up. All I wanted was to be alone for a bit. To be forgotten for a few days, for as long as it took me to gather the strength to face the world.

Right then, there was a knock on my door.

My heart thudded in my chest. It wasn't Mom's usual rhythm.

I shook my head, rubbing my nose against the pillow. It didn't matter. Even if Dawn or Quinta wanted to talk, I wasn't in the mood. And if it were someone else...

No. Not possible.

The sound came again. Still no response from me, other than an increased blood pressure.

Then they knocked again. And again.

I sat up, letting the bedsheets fall around me. My hair was in my face and I blew it away, glancing around to see what I could throw at the door. And then it opened. But I had locked it and it didn't have a key—

Tae Yang appeared in the threshold, holding a hairpin. It felt as though our eyes found each other across as stadium full of people as he stepped into my bedroom.