___

All of the younger kids were gathered around you and your team, anticipating the words to come out of your mouth.

"Welcome to the home of the Freak Show Stealerz," you smiled fondly at their sparkling eyes. "Today, we're holding a little workshop so you can get a feel of what circus life is like."

They cheered and jumped, and you knew you were doing something good. After everything that had been happening, you felt like you were on the wrong path, but this - this was right.

"Go pick your equipment and the Stealerz will help you out, show you the ropes. If you want to stay with me, I'll be doing some tricks with Trick."

They all scattered, and twelve or so kids stayed with you. You were about to whistle for Trick, but the kids motioned for you to lean in. You bent down to be eye level with them, and the question that left their mouth almost made you laugh.

"Are you dating that one guy?"

Your eyebrows jumped and you looked around the room. You found Jacob and pointed to him, not very discreetly, and the kids nodded.

"No, we're not dating." You said, then added lowly: "Not yet at least."

"Aw man," one of the girls pouted. "You guys would be my favorite couple ever."

You smiled and finally whistled for your tiger. She came running into the room, and it startled the kids a bit when she stopped right behind you.

"Trick and I have been working on this one for a while. It's very easy, but sometimes she gets sassy and pushes me over, so it doesn't always work."

You faced her and put your finger on your nose. Trick got as close as possible to you, until she was all the way in and had her big nose against your relatively small one. You smiled and backed up, giving the white tiger a pat on the head.

"She knows she's being watched," you stated. "So she's being extra good today."

"How did you train her, Chase?" One of the boys asked.

"Well, I got her when I was thirteen and she was already pretty domesticated, very calm and very affectionate. I've always loved the circus animals, so training her was kind of in my blood. She was also a cake walk, though."

"Some circuses whip their felines, do you?"

"Definitely not." You shook your head. "The more affection you show to Trick, the more affectionate and bonded she'll be with you. Whipping her would break that and she could become aggressive, just like we would become aggressive if someone hit us."

You heard a high pitched shriek and looked over to the fire eaters. Changmin looked absolutely appalled as he ran up to you and grabbed your arm.

"They almost burnt my eyebrows off." He whimpered.

You looked at him and let your jaw slack. "Not almost, Changmin-"

"What?!"

You laughed. "I'm kidding! Your eyebrows are still in tact."

He huffed and went to Chanhee and Sunwoo, who were playing with the aerial silks. Jacob and Sangyeon ran to you and the kids were immediately infatuated with Jacob's presence. They had seen the pictures of you and Jacob circulating, and they were very curious kids.

"Button let us in on a secret." Jacob grinned.

You pressed your lips together. "Uh oh."

"Rumor has it," Sangyeon began. "That you used to do the trapeze before you started tiger taming."

The kids behind you gasped and you laughed nervously. "But my shoulder is still bad you know, all that good stuff."

"She said you did it one handed!" Juyeon called.

"Button!" You whined. "Today isn't supposed to be about me."

She held her hands out. "I'm sorry! I just like bragging about you. You're like a little sister to me, I'm just so proud!"

You pouted and looked at the two older boys in front of you. "I'll do it once."

Jaesang looked at the pictures on social media. He hated seeing you so happy. Your smile made him angry, your laugh made him sick to his stomach.

Your tears made him feel like he was on top of the world.

He didn't know how the relationship between the two of you ended up like this, but he didn't care. All he knew was that he wanted to ruin every bit of happiness you had, just like you did to him when you filed that restraining order.

He kept scrolling through the photos and saw one that absolutely disgusted him: you and Trick. He wondered why you even attached yourself to an animal like that - they would turn on you eventually.

But he now knew the perfect way to strip your happiness.

___

a/n: kind of a filler chapter, but with special details >:)