Talking Eyes by Mia Lafreve Pedretti (sci fi books to read .TXT) 📕

nothing between you guys?" He asked to the both of us.

"Nothing." I answered first. I couldn't hide better the sadness in my voice very well though.

"Ji Yong?" The pres. asked him when he didn't answered.

"...Nothing." He paused before answering. I didn't pay too much attention to it. I just thought that the problem was solved and I could go to the show. That's what I believed.

"So now I can go to the Talk Show with the others right? Everything is solved now right?" I asked, hoping in a response that would lighten me up.

The pres. sighed and crossed his thumbs. "I'm sorry, but no." He said with a grave voice. "The situation is much more complicated than you think."

"How it's complicated?" I was irritated now.

"First of all, no one will believe that you two aren't together." He replied. "These pictures aren't the only problem. Paps sent me some videos too. I wanted to buy them, but they published the pictures and videos on web sites and magazines right away. As soon as they saw it,  the more malicious people said that you, Yumi, are using Ji Yong to promote yourself And when Ji Yong's fans saw it too, sasaeng fans included, they went nuts and they are planning on blowing Sweet Stones's performance, the next week at Hongdae Mall." He revealed, sounding more sad than angry.

"WHAT?" I shouted in sync with Ji Yong. I looked at him as he finally showed a reaction.

"And it's not all." He said and I thought What? There's more? "All your web profiles, even if you don't check them daily, received tons of insults and wishes of death." He said, looking at me.

I sighed, relieved. "I already knew that." I said back. "I saw them. They're not so bad."

"They really did that to you?" Ji Yong asked me, worried.

"De." I nodded. "But they don't bother me so much." I tried to act cool, but I avoided his eyes.

"They're not bottering you so much, because I purposely hired a PC expert to delete the other 16.000 insults you received. All this without you knowing of it. Well, until now." The president revealed.

"Borago? 16.000? But that's insane..Why..I-I don't understand.." I was shocked and wordless.

"You're not exaggerating just to scare her right?" Ji Yong asked him.

"No, I'm sorry." The president replied straight forward.

"All this because we're friend.. It's ridiculous. It's totally absurd..absurd and insane.." I was disbelief. How people can be so cruel to me, just for a matter that didn't even exist? 

The president came out with the only solution he had. "I'm sorry to say this, but you guys have to stay away from each other from now on. For a long of time. Or at least untill the dust settles." He said, looking at both of us. "You, Ji Yong, will go in Europe or to some other place; While you, Yumi, will stay with us here and do that silly reality Show, We Got Married, with some other artist. People will be distracted and will eventually forget about this whole issue with Ji Yong. And none of you will contact each other. Too many hackers can track your devices these days."

"This is ridiculous!" Ji Yong complained for the first time. "I'm not going anywhere." He refused, crossing his arms and legs.

"Ji Yong don't be stubborn." The president scolded him. "I'm doing this just for your own good. And Yumi's good too." He tried to reason with him

Ji Yong sighed and took some deep breaths to calm himself down. "Even if I leave, things will stay the same. Nothing will change. People will continue to compare what I do with what she do. Or vice versa, I don't know. All I know is that nothing will change if I leave." Well, he was right. Some people could be really persistent on their theories and such.

"Maybe. Or maybe they'll calm down." The president said back. "And maybe they'll even understand that there's nothing between you two. And that you're just simple friends." He added.

"I don't believe things will go so smoothly." Ji Yong replied. "I'm not being pessimist, it's just the reality. And your plan sounds too easy to me." He added, unconvinced. I wasn't convinced either.

I was still caught up by the evilness of the fans and malicious ones. "I really can't understand. I mean, I would never use Ji Yong to promote myself." My forehead crinkled at every word I said. "Why do people..think so badly of me?" I asked mostly to myself than to the others.

The president answered though. "Not all people think badly of you Yumi-ha." He tried to comfort me with fatherly voice. "Just a part of it thinks like that and they're composed mostly by Ji Yong's fans. Don't let them put you down. They're all overly jealous of any woman that get close to Ji Yong. So don't mind them too much."

"But why her?" Ji Yong asked him. "I'm closer to Chaerin than her." He was more annoyed by the matter. At the beginning he always stayed silent..quiet. Now it was unrecognizable.

"Because One: She's beautiful an-" The pres. started to say, but I interrupted him right away.

"I'm not that damn beautiful!" I shouted for real in his face. Even though I felt instantly guilty, that was the truth. Because if I was so damn beautiful, Ji Yong would have already fell for me Or at least showed some interest. But he never did. He never said anything. Niente di niente(Nothing at all.)

After he had thrown me a deadly glance, the president said: "Let me finish first ok?" I obediently nodded, but the anger didn't left me. "Like I was saying..One:she's beautiful and Two: You spend too much time with her. Much more than you spend with the other girls. And all this in front of the camera. You have to admit that It's suspicious, kid." He ended and looked at Ji Yong.

"You're exaggerating now." Ji Yong said back.

"No. Not at all."

Ji Yong sighed not knowing what to say. "I spend some time with Choi Seunghyun Oppa too. And we do much more skinship than I do with Ji Yong. Why they don't notice that?" I objected as well.

"I don't know." The president answered sincerely this time. He briefly glanced at Ji Yong then got back at me. "But they see something more between you two than between you and Seunghyun-ha." He added and glanced at Ji Yong again.

"And what is that?" I was tired now.

"Love." He answered straightly.

"..Love?" I repeated like I was confused, but I was shaking with fear inside actually.  What betrayed me? What? I took a deep breath before speaking again. "Where?" I asked anyway.

The president's gaze lingered on me for a long time, then he moved onto Ji Yong, but the guy sitting next to me broke eye contact right away. The president sighed, he looked at me and said the most incredible thing my ears ever heard. "Right there." He said, motioning for me to look at Ji Yong, who was still not making eye contact with any of us. "In his eyes. And now, unfortunately, I see it too."

I stared at the old man in front of me, totally and completely in disbelief. I would even have laughed if I wasn't so shocked. My head spun. "W-what?" My voice was hysteric and amused. "It's absolutely impossible that Ji Yong is in love with me, sunbaenim. He never showed any interest for me, figures.."

The old man looked at me like I was naive and..stupid. "Maybe you didn't tried to know him better. After all the time you guys spent together too.." He said, sounding as if he was disappointed. What the..? Then he looked at Ji Yong again. "I have to admit that he deceived me too with his act."

"I'm not acting." Ji Yong said back, making eye contact with the old man.

"Oh give me a break! Stop it already." The president replied, annoyed. "At beginning I believed that you were just trying to be friendly with her, but now I see it too. It was all an act. It's all an act. You might had studied acting, but I know you better than anyone else here."

"I'm not acting." Ji Yong replied more firmly. "And plus, I never said or did nothing more than be gentle to her. Nothing else." He added, angry. And I knew better than anyone else that he was right.

"I know that." The president nodded. "But.. your eyes..speaks for you. They never stopped speaking since you first saw her. Unfortunately I wasn't there when it happened, but I see it now. And you can't hide it anymore, kid."

What..?

 

JI YONG

"That's not..true..I." I tried to deny. But I was trapped anyway. Damn it! Acting indifferent to her all these months and treating her like a common girl. It hasn't been easy. At all. I never showed the feelings I felt for her in front of the cameras. People at home would have certainly understood everything, Hide the fact that I liked the way she sang, Or the way my heart skipped beats everytime we touched, Or even that she was always on my mind, even during my schedule's routine. You have no idea how difficult it was for me. I didn't even realize to like her, till three month ago. Before Sweet Stones's debut. When she was still a trainee.

~~~~~

FLASHBACK*

It was past midnight, but everyone was still awake. I was playing cards with Youngbae and Choi Seunghyun in the living room. Seungri was listening to the music with the headphones on. While Dae Sung was eating some fruit in the kitchen. Everything was ok, except for the fact that Yongbae had won three times in a row. And I was getting tired of this.

So I quit the game like a polite person would have done. I stood up and I harshly threw the cards on the mini table. "Ok. I'm done. I quit." I said. "I'm tired of playing against you." I said looking at the damn winner.

He smirked. "Oh, Come on! We've just started." He complained with the smirk still placed on his face.

"And this is the third time you're winning." I said back.

Choi Seunghyun, who had lost as well. Stood up "Ji Yong's right. I quit too." Then he stood up and headed to the kitchen.

"You can't quit like this! Come on!" He winned still sat on the carpet, and with the smirk still on his face.

"Sure we can, watch me!" I said and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going now?" He asked.

"To Yumi-ha." I said. Her name was Lee Yun Mi, but all of us, her included, prefered to be called Yumi. "Do you want to come with me hyun?" I asked to Choi Seunghyun.

"Sure, why not!" He exclaimed, smiling.

Dae Sung must have heard us, because he said: "But hyun, it's past midnight. She's probably already sleeping!"

"Ah Right." I tapped my forehead. To tell the truth I didn't even considered the idea that she was sleeping. I supposed that if I was awake, she was awake too. Damn it. I  hoped that she wasn't already sleeping. It was just midnight after all. I got an idea. "I'll text her." I said, still standing in front of the door.

"Since when you have her phone number?" Youngbae asked me. Now laying on the couch.

"I asked her after that I went to her dorm several times." I replied. "Just to announce myself, you know."

"How come you go there so much time anyway?" Choi Seunghyun wanted to know. I didn't know why, but his question annoyed me more that I thought.

"Because it's the closest place to the recording room. I like to go there to relax when I finished to record." I said to him. "Done with the questions?" I asked annoyed.

"Calm down Ji Yong. I was just asking." He looked taken aback by my reaction, but I didn't pay anymore attention to him and wrote my text.

 *Are U sleeping?"ME

YUMI *No Y?* 

 *I'm coming.*ME

YUMI*Ok.*

 *With Tabi.*ME

YUMI*Ok. I'll wait for you.*

"See!" I shouted showing off the