"you know, this is just amazing. talking and hanging out with you is fun." kihyun said, putting his hand on y/n's knee.

"yeah, too bad we could've been snacking while we're at it."

"next time, next time." he looked at his phone and checked the time. "i think i should be heading back. got any tips on how i should make a peaceful entrance?"

"hmm, maybe buy something for them all at the convenience store. food cures everyone's problems."

"i-i don't have any money on me."

she took apart her phone case from her phone and gave him the twenty-dollar bill that in there. "use this."

"are you sure?"

"yes, don't worry. you don't have to pay me back."

he pulled her into a hug. "thanks y/n."

"no problem." the two of them let go of the hug, not knowing what to do.

"i'll see you on monday?"

"yes."

"okay. goodnight y/n!"

"goodnight, kihyun! stay safe!"

kihyun grinned and jogged away from the porch. y/n watched him until she couldn't see him anymore. she sighed and smiled, then walked back into the house.

"were you talking to anyone outside?" hyungwon asked, as she was about to walk upstairs. she looked back at her dad but found that her mother wasn't by his side anymore.

"yeah. kihyun came by."

"just him?"

"yeah. we just talked, and that was it."

"nothing between you two?"

she was startled by the question. the question that kihyun asked her then popped into her mind. she thought about her answer, although it wasn't necessary.

"no."

"good. you know, i can't let any of my trainees date anyways. if not, i have no choice but to terminate their contract with the company."

"y-yeah i know. why so, dad?"

"dating, if you didn't know, is a big distraction when it comes to work or anything else. you know, that's the reason why when i was an idol, my group disbanded."

she never heard this story before from her dad, and so she sat on the stools by the counter, wanting to hear more. "i never heard this before. what happened?"

hyungwon sighed, turning the tv off. he adjusted his body so that he was facing towards her and leaned his arm on the top of the couch.

"after my group debuted as a seven boy group, we were very focused on everything. our debut skyrocketed, and ever since then, we've been successful rookies."

"when we celebrated our third anniversary as a group, one of my bandmates started to like then date this girl that was from our school. ever since he started dating her, he hasn't been coming to practices anymore, and he wasn't committed to the group."

"we then disbanded after a long meeting about the two dating. it was a sad moment for all of us, but i decided that my music career shouldn't be over just because of that. although i was, lost of where i was and what i was going to do, that's when i started to get into deejaying and modeling."

"the company saw my success and asked if i wanted to debut as a soloist, and i said yes. fans from the past group still supported me, and i felt like i was at the top of the world. selling concerts from all over the world and making more music was my thing. although i still had deejaying and modeling as a side thing, i actually made a lot of money to the point i founded H1 entertainment."

"not wanting any of my trainees to experience the same as me, i decided not to let any of my trainees date. and that's the end of the story, my dear."

she felt sorry for her dad but still had a lot of thoughts from earlier.

"wow, dad. i don't know what to say." she said, looking at the ground.

"i know, it's getting late y/n. you should head to your room and sleep."

"you're right. goodnight, dad, love you."

"love you too, sweetie."

she walked up the stairs and headed straight to her room. she closed her door and jumped on her bed, thinking of what happened with kihyun.

"the questions sounded out of the blue." she started to talk to herself. "they were all about him and someone liking a girl, and me and my friend liking a guy."

and that's when she knew: that kihyun was in love.

wait, oh my god, that's so cute. y/n thought to herself, smiling. her smile broke when she realized that he seemingly wasn't in love with her. she felt a bit jealous and sad imagining that, which made her frustrated about why she felt that way.