Lila did the best she could to stay strong when saying goodbye, and she could tell that Wooyoung was too. She held onto her pendant the entire time and she already knew she would never take it off.

It really was the perfect gift. She loved it with all her heart.

As she stood watching Wooyoung drive away, she started on the internal battle with her mind, but this time she was determined to win.

She wasn't going to give any of them a reason to worry about her. That wasn't fair to them.

San returned a short time later, slamming the door open as he ran into his condo. "Oh I'm so late." He hissed, bolting into his bedroom.

Lila laughed. He always left his packing to the last minute.

"Did you have a good night?" He called from the bedroom.

"Yeah, I did." She said as she walked in to help him pack.

San gave her a grateful smile as they moved in sync through the bedroom and filled up his three large suitcases. "What did you guys do?"

"What we do every time. We made dinner and just spent time together. What about you and Yeosang?"

A blush creeped into San's cheeks as he quickly turned away and fled from the room.

"San!" Lila yelled. "You get back here right now!" She hurried after him and saw his bathroom door close quickly. He was hiding something from her and she was determined to know what it was. "San." Lila knocked on the door. "You can't stay in there all night so you might as well just open up now."

The lock clicked and he cracked open the door. Lila pushed it open the rest of the way to see him rummaging under the sink. She crossed her arms and waited for him to stand up and look at her.

He sighed and started tracing shapes on the counter after he stood. "Yeosang asked me to be his boyfriend." He mumbled, his lips pushed out in an embarrassed pout.

Lila couldn't hold back the squeal of excitement that came out as he ran forward and hugged San. She and Wooyoung had been waiting for the pair to make things official. As she started to hop up and down, San gave in and hugged her back, joining in her excitement.

They celebrated for a few minutes before heading back to his room to finish packing. He told her about the nice dinner Yeosang took him too and how they talked about everything except for the movie, giving them a nice break from their everyday lives.

Lila couldn't help the jealousy that crept into her heart at as he described the nice evening out. They didn't have to hide their relationship since they were both in that world. It didn't sound like Yeosang's manager was quite as strict as Wooyoung's, so that had to help, but still...

No.

She shook her head and forced her smile back on. She needed to be happy for her friend.

And San was glowing.

They spent the rest of the evening cuddled up on the couch. His flight the next morning was early, so he was going to be gone before Lila woke up.

"I want you to stay here while I'm gone." He said quietly, leaning his head against the top of Lila's. As she started to protest he cut her off. "It will be safer for now. Who knows how long the paparazzi will stay outside your apartment. Plus, this is a nicer area of town. And I was serious about you moving in with me. I'm tired of being here by myself."

"But it doesn't sound like you'll be here by yourself." Lila nudged his side playfully.

San turned bright red again. "Yeah we aren't at that level yet."

Lila sighed. It didn't sound like an awful idea. And it would be easier for Wooyoung to visit her here when he got back into town. "Ok, you win. I'll keep an eye on my place and try to get stuff out of there when I can. I can aske Abigail and Nate for help too."

She felt San tense next to her and rolled her eyes. "What was that for?"

"I just don't like the guy. He gives off a weird vibe." San picked at his pants so he could avoid looking at her.

"Well, he did think we were dating."

San made a gagging sound and pretended to shove his finger in his mouth. "What is he, stupid? See that's what I'm talking about. I was staying with you for what, three days? And he assumes that we are dating? What is he going to do when he finds out about Wooyoung?"

Lila didn't have an answer for that. She wished she could tell her work friends about her relationship, but working for what could easily be a gossip magazine if they wanted to be would not be a good place to advertise that she was dating a celebrity.

"Well we will cross that bridge when we get there." He said for her, pulling her into a tighter hug.

After about another hour, they said their goodbyes and Lila wished San luck.

She worked really hard to keep her mask on as they parted, but as soon as her door closed behind her, she sank to her knees and let the tears fall.

This was the only night she would allow herself to be sad.

---

"Ok, it should be around here somewhere." Lila muttered to herself as she studied the piece of paper in her hand with an address on it.

She had been wandering for about fifteen minutes now trying to find Fix On Records and just couldn't seem to find it.

The owner had said it was a small place that was easily missed, but she didn't think it would be this hard to find it. Even the gps on her phone was only giving her a general area.

"Great, just great. You get a big interview and you can't even find the location. You're off to a great start."

"Who are you talking to?"

Lila spun around, startled, to see Nate walking up behind her. "Nate! You scared me. What are you doing here?"

"Boss thought you could use some help. He wanted me to take some pictures. I tried to call you." He said, holding up his camera bag with a shy smile.

Lila glanced down at her phone and felt her cheeks turn red.

She had grabbed the phone Wooyoung had given her instead of her normal phone.

"I am so sorry, I wasn't paying attention at all."

"I can see that." Nate said, tilting his head and smiling. "Now this place we are looking for, you said it was Fix On Records?"

"Yeah." Lila sighed and ran her hand through her hair.

Nate laughed and started walking forward, slipping his hand down to grab her wrist and pull her behind him. They walked a few yards before he stopped in front of a door that was set into the wall. The sign was faded above it too, so it really was easy to miss.

"Oh." Lila said, mentally face palming as Nate just chuckled next to her. She sighed before straightening up and brushing herself off.

Nate brushed her back and tugged on her shirt a little to help with the wrinkles. "Perfect." He beamed and pulled out his camera. "What kind of pictures would you like?"

"Maybe just some aesthetic shots. And we can do one or two with the owner." Lila said, twisting her mouth as she thought. "He seemed like a fun guy when I spoke with him on the phone, so we will see what happens."

"Lead the way!"

Lila pulled open the door and smiled at the multiple bells that rang in perfect harmony.

"Hello! Welcome in, how can I help you?" A taller man said as he stepped out of the back room. He had brown hair with blue tips and a wide smile that seemed to brighten up the place. His deep voice was nice to listen to, too.

"Yes, my name is Lila James and I'm here to interview-"

"Me!" The man said, cutting her off. "Perfect! I'm glad you found the place ok. I'm Mingi." He hurried over and held out his hand.

"H-Hi." Lila stuttered as he jerked her arm up and down. "Um, this is Nathaniel, he is a photographer. Are you ok if he takes some pictures of your store?"

"Please! I would love that. Thank you for doing this for me. Advertising is so expensive these days, you have no idea how much this interview means to me." He rubbed the back of his head and moved to lean against the counter.

"So you don't get a lot of business here?" Lila asked as she pulled out her recorder and notepad.

"I wouldn't say that necessarily. Once people find this place they become regulars. I would just like to drum up a little more business if I can. It's all word of mouth right now."

Lila hummed as she wrote down what he said while several camera clicks went off behind her. "What kind of clientele do you get?"

"Oh all sorts. I have quite a few celebrity regulars who like to come in and browse. I make sure to keep a wide selection to appeal to everyone." Mingi said, puffing out his chest a little in pride.

She knew that already, since Wooyoung said he had been here before, but she knew she couldn't say that out loud, so she brought a hand up to play with her necklace.

They continued the interview for about another hour, talking a lot about the comeback that vinyl was making since a lot of people were getting nostalgic for things of the past. Mingi touched on how it just had a different sound too, and that he's happy it was doing so well again.

He recently had started buying records from people who didn't listen to them anymore and showed her some of the rarer ones in his collection. He glowed the entire time.

Soon their conversation when from an interview to talking about music in general. Nathaniel came and joined in as well. He and Mingi went off for at least twenty minutes about their favorite rap artists.

Lila smiled and turned her recorder back on when they started rapping together. She had no idea that Nate could rap, but he was good! Mingi was a natural but Nate held his own.

When they got into their second round, Lila's phone started to ring. She excused herself and went to stand outside, leaning against the wall. "Hey!" She answered, already feeling the smile coming across her face. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you until later!"

"God I miss your voice." Wooyoung said on the other side of the phone. Lila bit her lip and felt herself blush. "Sorry, I just really needed to hear it."

"Is everything ok?"

"It's just been stressful here already. They want us to put in really long hours because it's expensive to film here. Rachel is being... Rachel." He sighed and Lila knew he was probably pinching the bridge of his nose right now, or running his hand through his hair about five times. "So if you see anything about that please just..."

"Ok." Lila said gently. "I won't."

She heard a very obvious sigh of relief from him and smiled. "Thank you."

"How are the others?"

"Good, Yeosang is practicing right now and San is working with some of the other stylists. Wardrobe is coming to him for opinions too so he is pretty happy right now."

"I bet he is! That's great!"

"How did your interview go?" Wooyoung asked. She could hear his pout as he spoke and her heart fluttered.

"Good, I'm actually still here. Mingi is a nice guy."

"Oh, I didn't interrupt, did I?"

Lila bit her lip, debating on if she should say anything or not, but he had told her about Rachel... "No, he's having a rap battle with Nate right now.

"Oh."

"Yeah, uh, my boss decided to send him along to take some pictures since that's his job for the magazine."

"I'm glad you have him there to keep you company while I'm gone." Wooyoung said quietly. Lila's forehead creased as she tried to decipher his tone. Was he jealous? Or happy that she had company? It could have been a little bit of both, but it was hard to say.

Then she heard some muffled calls from his end and Wooyoung shouting something back. "Do you need to go?"

He groaned. "Yeah. I snuck off." He chuckled. "One of these days they are going to chain me to a post so I can't wander off. But it's worth it so I can talk to you."

Lila blushed again. "Well good luck. You need to work on your ninja skills if they are still finding you so easily."

"Oh I'll try." He said as he laughed.

She loved that sound so much. And really, she always had. "Good. I'll talk to you soon?"

"Yeah. I'll talk to you soon." Wooyoung whispered before ending the call.

"I love you..." Lila whispered to her silent phone, then covered her mouth in surprise before a wide smile crossed her face. She knew it was true the instant the words formed on her lips.

She loved him.

It made her heart pound just thinking about it.

But it also scared her because she didn't know if he felt the same way. What if he didn't? Love was such a tricky subject anymore. And not something that she wanted to talk about over the phone.

No. She would continue to love Wooyoung from a distance like she always had. But now, it wasn't just a Hollywood crush.  

This was real.

Lila clicked the power button on her phone and smiled down at the picture of him and she felt an amazing warmth spread through her.

The door next to her dinged, interrupting her thoughts and she looked up to see Nate poking his head out. "Hey, is everything ok?"

"Y-Yeah, I just needed to take that. It was, uh, San. Just calling to check in." She said quickly while shoving her phone in her pocket.

Once her hand was free it immediately went to her necklace and she knew the dopiest smile appeared on her face but she didn't care.

She could feel Nate's eyes on her as she walked back into the record store, but she didn't care about that either.

"Sorry for getting sidetracked there." Mingi said nervously. "Your friend here is pretty good!"

"Yeah, he is. I had no idea you could rap." Lila turned to him and smiled when he looked down in embarrassment. "And you're really good yourself!"

"Thanks." Mingi beamed as he leaned against the counter. "So is there anything else you need from me?"

"No, you answered all of the questions I needed. Can I do anything for you?" Lila asked while gathering her things.

"You've done enough for me already. Just promise you'll come visit me."

"We can do that." Nate said while draping a hand over Lila's shoulder.

They walked out together, chatting about ideas on how to edit the article as they made their way back to the office.

But really, her mind was elsewhere entirely.

She already couldn't wait for Wooyoung to come home.