Page 56 of A World Apart (Between Worlds #1)

And though I almost didn’t want to admit it, I noticed the difference.

I felt… more awake, less stressed. I was able to enjoy spending time by myself again.

I played my guitar more often, and though Becka complained, I could tell she was just relieved I was doing something, other than blank-facing my phone.

Which was why she looked nervous when I told her I was going to watch the interview the group did with Jimmy Fallon the following day. We were sitting in the lounge at work, eating lunch together .

“It’s cool, don’t worry,” I reassured her, “I’m actually going to watch it with Jihoon.

They’re flying to New York today for the taping tomorrow.

He’s going to video call me just before it airs and we’re going to watch it together.

You could watch it with us.” I raised my eyebrows at her until she relented, reluctantly smiling at me.

“Someone clearly needs to chaperon you two.”

“Yay!” I threw my arms around her neck, spilling my tub of grapes over the table.

“Yeah, yeah, get off me before I squeeze you like a pimple.” She pried my arms off her, but couldn’t hide the pleased look on her face.

True to his word, Jihoon called me the next day, just after 11:30pm. The group had just gotten back to the hotel after taping the show, which was due to air any minute.

“Hang on, hang on, I’m coming!” Becka rounded the kitchen counter with a bowl of popcorn, throwing herself dramatically onto the sofa.

“Hi, idol,” she called in the direction of the phone I was setting up in a tripod so it faced the sofa.

“Um, hey, Becka.” Jihoon waved uncertainly. She’d taken to only referring to him as ‘idol’ or ‘the idol,’ or occasionally, ‘the good-looking sonofabish.’

I just rolled my eyes so that he could see, making him laugh good-naturedly.

“Oh, it’s starting!” Becka shushed us, and together, we watched the show start, Jihoon watching the TV in his hotel room.

“I want to take a moment to talk about your newest album, Tracks of Transition, because I hear it’s going to be quite a bit different from your previous projects, is that right?”

“I’ve always loved Jimmy Fallon,” Becka says through a mouthful of popcorn.

The mic gets handed to Minjae, who answers the question like the professional he is.

“With our new album, we wanted to take the chance to explore the themes of adulthood and the challenges that come with being an adult. The different sound and styles we’ve used ? which you’ll be hearing soon ? are a reflection of that. ”

“Such a good answer,” I murmured in approval.

After all the serious questions, they moved onto a quick-fire round .

“Okay, let’s do a quick round! I’ll say a word, and you give me the first thing that comes to mind. Ready?”

The guys all nodded, or gave thumbs up signs.

“Okay, Success.”

Woojin slapped the buzzer first, crying out, “Daesangs!” Which made the others in the group laugh, leaving Jimmy to explain to the audience that a Daesang was like a Grammy.

“We’re getting those too,” Piped up Jihoon, which made me choke on a sip of soda until tears streamed down my face.

“Okay, fellas, when I say, ‘home,’ you say…”

This time it was Seokmin who hit the buzzer first. “Stage!” Earning him several loud cheers from the audience as the other group members ruffled his hair or patted his back.

“He’s such a sweet kid,” Becka cooed.

“Becka, that is a full-ass adult.” I pointed out, hearing Jihoon laugh from the phone beside me.

“Anyone under twenty one is a kid.”

“Unpopular opinion, says ‘huh?’” I muttered.

“Huh?” Becka turned to me, shovelling another handful of popcorn into her mouth as I just laughed and waved her off.

“Okay, okay, last one.” Jimmy turned to GVibes after several more rapid-fire questions, a serious look on his face.

“Now I need you to think about this one, because there is a follow-up question,” Jimmy warned.

“What is the word ? or the person ? you think about, when I say… love.”

The audience erupted in cries of ‘oooh,’ as if this was the most salacious of gossip.

It took so long to die down, the camera kept panning back to the group, who were all pretending to shyly hide their faces, or just giggling.

The cameras focused in on Jihoon for a moment, who, when he noticed, held up finger hearts next to his face as he winked.

“Flirt.” I hissed at him, though I smirked at the same time.

He just shrugged, but had the good grace to look a bit embarrassed.

Now that I knew the real Jihoon, there was such a noticeable difference between the man I knew, and the person he was when he was on stage. It was a complete personality switch.

Finally, Jimmy was able to quiet the audience down enough for Sungmin to take the mic and walk a few steps away from the group.

He had such a serious look on his face that the audience’s response was to quiet further, almost leaning in and I swore there was a collective intake of breath as he raised the mic to his mouth, and said…

“Vibers.”

The audience exploded with screams and cheers, and moments later, the fan chants erupted ? those synchronized shouts that filled packed auditoriums and stadiums. I could just imagine the sound technicians scrambling to equalise the chaos.

On the stage, Jimmy threw down his pack of prompt cards and leaned back in his chair, clearly understanding there was no point trying to calm the crowd.

The rest of the group all stood up, acknowledging the audience in one way or another, most notably was Sungmin, ‘Lee,’ who started an impromptu dance to the beat of the chant. Becka and I laughed.

“I like him the most,” she said after a few moments, wiping away a tear.

“I’ll be sure to tell him that.” Jihoon piped up.

“You do that, idol, you do that.” Becka shrugged, but I saw the way the flush crept up her neck.

“Okay, okay!” Jimmy finally called for quiet, the noise from the audience gradually dying down, helped along by the group holding fingers to their lips to help Jimmy.

“It’s obvious that your fans feel very deeply for you, so I want to stay on that for one more question.

So, I have to ask ? there's been a lot of buzz about you, Jihoon, possibly dating Hyejin Lee from PrettyYOUngThings.

Is there any truth to those rumours, or is it just wishful thinking from the fans?

Come on, give us the scoop! I need to know if I should be planning a wedding or just following you both on Instagram! "

“Oop, there it is.” Becka took a loud, obnoxious pull from the straw in her soda.

I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t ignore the sudden acceleration of my heartbeat.

The mic was passed down through the group until Jihoon was able to take it. He paused a moment before answering to look directly down the lens of the camera, the studio lights illuminating the bronze tone of his irises before he turned his full attention back to Jimmy Fallon.

“Well, Jimmy, while I always appreciate the warm feelings from our fans, Hyejin and I are not dating.”

The audience let out a combination of disappointed, “aww’s”, and relieved cheers.

“It sounds like some members of the audience today aren’t too sad to hear that.” Jimmy turned his attention back to the crowd, his grin wide.

“But if not Hyejin, then is there anyone out there? I mean come on, have you guys looked in a mirror? You’re not that hideous.”

The group either laughed or held their hands over their faces, Minjae eventually took the mic back as the audience quieted back down.

“We think you’re very handsome as well, Jimmy, but what has that got to do with our music?”

As the audience, Becka and I laughed, Jimmy looked into the camera, eyes wide as he shrugged.

“Well, that’s us told, folks. Speaking of music, I think it’s just about time for us all to watch the guys perform their recently award-winning single, ‘Work Harder’! Put your hands together as they take the stage. GVibes!”

The camera panned over to a raised platform just as all five of them hopped up on it, quickly taking their places before a few seconds of charged silence.

Then the opening beats of ‘Work Harder’ pounded out and they began to move, falling into formation in a well-practiced routine, modified for the smaller stage.

“I take it back, Woojin is definitely my favourite,” Becka said speculatively, as we watched the aforementioned man during his dance break solo.

“He’ll be delighted with your praise,” Jihoon commented.

I turned to him and said, “Don’t worry, you’re still my bias.” I blew him a kiss and watched him lift a hand to catch it out of the air.

“You can give him my number.” I turned to Becka, eyebrows raised. She doesn’t look at me, but that doesn’t stop me from seeing the blush creep over her cheeks .

“He wouldn’t know what to do with you, Becka.” Jihoon says. I pinched my lips together, slouching further down into the sofa, but instead of the spicy come back I expected, Becka just sighed.

“He might. Right, well, if we’re done watching your boyfriend hip thrust, I’m going to bed.”

I barked out a laugh, but Jihoon just shrugged. “The fans like it.”

“I’m sure they do. Goodnight!” She took the few steps to her room, waved over her shoulder and closed her bedroom door behind her.

In the sudden silence that fell as I turned the TV off, I felt the pressure of the question I was now determined to ask. All part of my plan of putting myself first. I pulled my phone off the tripod and brought it closer to me so it was just me in the screen now.

“You must be tired.” He and the rest of the group had flown to New York to film the show just this morning, they were traveling so much at the moment.

“I slept on the plane, and then we had some time to rest this morning.” But despite that, I could see how spent he was. It was in the way he rubbed his hand down his face, how deep his voice was and how quiet he was overall.

I chewed on my lip, but before I could lose my nerve again, I found the words. “I know this is going to sound jealous and all sorts of other silly emotions, but I have to ask...”

“You want to know about Lee Hyejin-ssi?”

I must be easy to read. I nodded, even as I cringed.

He nodded, as if he’d expected the question. “The media has always liked to pretend that we’re a couple, every time we’re even in the same city,” he scoffed, hanging his head so that his hair obscured his face.

“We were trainees at the same time, before we debuted. Her group debuted after us, and since then, there have always been rumours about us.” He raised he head back up to meet my eyes.

“I barely know her, we met because we’re in the same company.

We were at the same assessment performances, but girl and boy groups are always separate.

“We didn’t train together, we didn’t eat together, we only ever spoke to each other at award ceremonies after we debuted.

I don’t even have her number.” He lifted his hands before letting them fall.

I felt relieved, but at the same time I felt bad that he even had to justify something that clearly never happened.

Dating scandals could, and did, ruin idols’ careers, even ones so well-established as GVibes.

“I’m sorry I asked,” I murmured, but he shook his hands, leaning forward in his chair.

“No, I understand why you did, and I don’t mind.

“It’s not even me that gets it bad. Hyejin-ssi gets a lot of hate online, and I think netizens are more cruel to her than they ever are to me.”

Immediately I recalled some of the hateful things people were indeed typing about Lee Hyejin. I’d been too deep in my feels about Jihoon in that dynamic to give much thought to how it was affecting her. Now I felt like an ass.

“People suck!” The words popped out of my mouth before I could moderate them, but Jihoon just laughed, nodding vigorously.

“Except for us.” He winked at me, causing me to giggle. The effect this man had on me.

“Yeah, not us.”

I yawned suddenly so wide that it cracked my jaw.

“Go to bed, jagiya.”

“I want to see you,” I whined.

“You’ll see me next week,” he promised. Warmth rushed through me at the thought.

GVibes was heading to LA to film their music video with Kylie Morrison, and Jihoon had managed to convince his management to let him stay in the city for his birthday, October 29th, which just so happened to fall on a Friday, meaning he was going to spend Halloween weekend in LA.

It made me breathless just to think about it.

“Okay,” I agreed after another yawn. “Hey Joon?”

“Hmm?”

“You looked super sexy tonight.”

He covered his face with his hands, making me laugh at how cute he was.

“Goodnight, Joon.”

“Goodnight, cheon-sa.”