Taeyong's glass of water was already empty amid that whirlwind of revelations and, for a minute, he swore that it was impossible for someone who looked so optimism and joyful among his friends to be painfully hurt all that time. Deep down Taeyong wanted to deny and assure his friend that he was wrong about his mother's feelings about him. He wanted to assure him that the woman did love him, but with everything that Johnny had suddenly said Taeyong had a loss of words.

"Wait, let me get this straight" Taeyong left his glass on the coffee table in front of the sofa. "You have to take care of your little brother in secret or you will be forced to live in Australia?"

"Basically. I'm being watched also" Johnny settled on the couch now resting his hands on his lap. 'Speaking of which, I ask you now, did you notice any suspicious cars parked outside or near the park up front?"

"No, I wasn't even paying attention to that" a grimace. "But being watched isn't a bit too much? Are you sure?"

"My mom sent a The Rock miniature here to tell me that they have all-seeing eyes" he quoted with some mystery dramatizing the situation.

"Yeah sure, your mother have the Eye of Providence now."

"No way, it's more likely to be Sauron."

They couldn't help it, both were already laughing. Johnny felt some relief to see Taeyong's sincere smile knowing that he was still dealing with the pain of betrayal and more, being able to let his guard down now that he had shared his deepest secret.

"She knows every step I take, threatens my future and here I am telling you everything. But to hell with."

"Now your job... Did you get fired because of your brother? The instructors seemed to like you a lot, I even thought you took some days off when I went earlier and didn't see you there."

"Yeah, Jinwoo has time to get in and out of school, I can't keep the boy there waiting or miss class because of me. And if I told the situation to my dear mother, I would be digging my own grave. That's why I ended up asking Jaehyun for help."

"Did you tell him too?"

"He knows just a little less than you did now in fact. Well, unlike you, he knew how my courtship ended. But I didn't go into details that day, I got really drunk at a party and ended up saying that my mother separated me from Sea when she forced me to come here. It was just that."

"So he's just helping you get a new job?"

"Yes. I needed to find a way to wait a few more months, but life doesn't cooperate. In the end I basically became a personal trainer of a celebrity..." he scratched his eyes already tired just to remember.

"Wait, oy have what?" he looked surprised. "Johnny, what celebrity?!"

"If I tell you swear not to hit me?"

Taeyong seemed fidgety when his eyes ran impatiently out of focus in the corners of the room quickly until finally answered.

"Of course I swear. I swear to kick you with both my feet if you don't tell me now" he raised his eyebrows and looked at Johnny sharply.

"Rebecca..." murmuring he lowered his eyes while playing with the drawstring of his sweatshirt.

"How did this happen?!"

"She saw me talking to Jinwoo in the elevator, besides being my new neighbor and..."

"And?! There's more?!"

"She's an old high school friend"

With an innocent smile Taeyong looked at him.

"Johnny how did you study together and you never told us anything?!" he hit Johnny in the face with a pillow while he tried to protect himself from other possible blows.

"Seriously, Winwin will be very pissed at you, just you wait him find out"

"How was I going to tell if I didn't even remember?"

"Jesus, why I'm not even surprised?"

"She also made me promise not to say anything to anyone. Her company is against this kind of personal service, so it can only be between us, okay? Ten ended up discovering that small part, but he promised me not to tell anyone."

"Congratulations, look who you went to talk to."

"What you wanted me to do? He appeared out of nowhere and managed to recognize the girl inside my car. Chittaphon scares me sometimes."

"Only sometimes?"

The two laughed, however at the heat of the moment.

"That was mean" Johnny checked his phone when commenting.

"But seriously tell me, how come you haven't exploded yet?"

"I ask myself this question every day" a half smile formed on the lips of the tallest.

"How do you do it?"

"What exactly?"

"Being like this. You always look happy and full of energy... I would've had a mental breakdown if I were in your shoes."

"It can thunder a lot, but at some point the rain stops. It's just bad days, not a bad life. It gets better."

Taeyong felt the value of those words, and it made him smile without noticing what made Johnny uncomfortable.

"Oh my God, Lee Taeyong, did you fall in love with me?" pretended to be disgusted, but soon laughed again the instant he felt the punch on the shoulder that Taeyong had given him.

"Do you want to die?"

That feeling had been pleasant enough for Johnny; revealing his secret seemed to take weight off his shoulders. Deep down he knew that Jaehyun would also be trusted, but his mother wouldn't like the idea due to the fact that the Jung family had a tremendous influence in the media. Jaehyun might not say much about it, nor give a damn about appearing in magazines or doing interviews, however his family owned many resorts and hotels in Asia, those that many celebrities, politicians and several other important figures were present at. That fact scared Ms. Seo, her image was now all that mattered. She didn't trust anyone, unfortunately with reason, one that Johnny believed was the scammer who got her pregnant.

"So, you came here and asked me to stay, but you were already sure that I would say yes, right?"

Taeyong laughed playfully, but not so much, and finally paid attention to the black leather bag that had been lying beside him since he sat on the couch.

"I noticed your fancy bag, my friend."

"For some reason, I had a feeling you wouldn't refuse" he didn't help smiling. "And you still owe me one for that time you almost choked me behind a bush."

"But Jesus Christ Taeyong, I already apologized for that and you still rejected my love by telling me to hug a tree."

"Mother Nature would gladly accept your love."

It would be fun to take a moment to relax with Taeyong, and Johnny thanked him for that, however, breaking his attention from the conversation, his phone vibrated.

Yuri

Are you still with your friend there? (14:17) >

Johnny

< Yes, do you need anything? (14:17)

Yuri

I'm bored... (14:17) >

Johnny

< Come over then (14:18)

Johnny ended up letting out a laugh for provoking Yuri that way, he knew well that she wouldn't go to his apartment, mainly because Taeyong was visiting.

"What's up?"

Taeyong had noticed his sudden smiling reaction.

"It's nothing." he put his phone on the coffee table again.

"It didn't seem to be anything" Taeyong nudged him. "You where all smiley. Who was it?"

"I didn't even smiled, I just laughed."

"Johnny, I can see on your face that you're loving the attention."

"I'm not."

"Oh no, is Rebecca?" he was gaping. "Wow, you're fast, huh?"

"What?"

"And he didn't even deny it! Wow, why waste time, right? Has already taken her number and are already texting each other." a mischievous smile.

"That's not it...!" Johnny laughed, however, he looked a little desperate. "It's just a way for her to ask when she needs me, that's all!"

"Stop lying, you're all happy."

"Yeah sure, when she wants to eat bread, just give me a call so I can go buy it. How wonderful it is to be a servant."

Before Taeyong could tease him any more, the intercom rang and Johnny had a gut feeling.

"Great, it should be the little The Rock coming to put me on a plane to Australia."

"Wow Johnny what a trip."

"Yeah? Try to be my mother's son, you be traumatized for life." he laughed.

It didn't take long for Johnny to come across something far more worrying than his mother's security guards.

"Yuri, what are you doing here...?!" he whispered slightly opening the door.

"You said I could come over."

"I was joking...!. What happened to let's keep it a secret...?! What if your manager find out?"

"She doesn't come today, now let me in" she squeezed herself between Johnny and the door trying to slide inside.

"No, are you crazy...?! My friend is here with me...!"

Johnny prevented the girl from passing by blocking the path with his knee.

"So what? You told me he's a fan, what's the matter, just say I hired you to be my personal trainer and it'll be fine!"

Amid pushing and shoving Johnny held the singer outside while she struggled to get in. As soon as she bent down to jump between Johnny's arm and leg, the held her by the waist and lifted her off the floor by the momentum of force she applied when trying to cross.

"Hey, what's wrong with you...?!"

"Yuri, he'll think we are more than friends, stop and think about it...!"

"What are you doing?"

Taeyong was standing in the hall behind Johnny with his glass now filled with iced tea. He calmly drank it watching the scene with his free hand on his waist. Without much to say, Johnny simply released Rebecca and left her standing again. He walked away a safe distance from misunderstanding and rubbed his hands lightly on his pants with a nervous laugh.

"Nothing, we're not doing anything."

"Hi! I'm Jang Yuri, but maybe you know me by Rebecca" she quickly bowed with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet one of Johnny's friends."

And once again the tallest one gave her a grimace.

"The pleasure is mine" he showed a smile after returning the singer's greeting with a brief bow. "I heard you guys met in high school. What a coincidence for you to meet again now, don't you think?"

"It is, a coincidence" Johnny murmured curses at his friend staring at him with grimaces. "Yuri this is Taeyong. Taeyong, Yuri. Okay, now you two know each other."

Johnny knew very well where that was going to end, so he dragged them both into the living room in an attempt to change the subject.

"It was boring up there alone. A little company is good."

"For sure. Hey, Johnny, aren't you going to offer her anything to drink?"

"If you still have iced tea, I'll accept, if not juice will do."

Johnny stood up sighing and already stressed about the situation.

"Bring us something to eat too. I know there are a lot of barbecue snacks hidden in your kitchen" Taeyong said from the living room.

"Lazy-bones..." Johnny murmured.

"Taeyong, are you used to seeing celebrities?"

"Ah yes, I have been to many parties, especially the Jung family."

And little by little Taeyong and Rebecca got along very well and didn't seem uncomfortable with each other's presence. In the end Johnny ended up serving the two, but so soon they were already sitting on the couch, Taeyong preferred the armchair, watching a movie. It wasn't like the movie was boring, but Johnny who was quite tired, in more than half an hour of it he fell asleep. Taking care of a child, waking up early to take him to school and still keeping his loneliness a secret was quite a burden, Johnny was exhausted. Yuri had already noticed he was deep asleep beside her. With his eyes closed he seemed so at peace that her heart was pounding and she didn't want to wake him up. Taeyong, on the other hand, remained focused without interruption on the television screen.

After more twenty minutes the movie was finished. Stretching, Taeyong was the first to get up laughing when he saw Johnny sleeping curled up and hugging the cushion.

"It's better to wake him up, he still has to get his brother from school" Taeyong headed down the hall in search of the bathroom.

Yuri approached Johnny and touched his shoulder lightly, she didn't want to scare him. The moment she turned her gaze to the sleeping face, her voice didn't come out, she lost herself in that graceful countenance. He was breathing calmly, his lashes were bigger than they looked. She carefully analyzed every little trace, every curve, and remembered the past.

"Did you forget what you stolen from me...?" whispered. "Am I being childish in wanting you to return something that is impossible to get back...?" She slowly dropped her gaze to his lips, approaching cautiously.

"It doesn't count as theft if I'm just taking it back... Does it?" she waited to be sure of what she was doing.

Johnny remained there, asleep. With a wave of courage and determination, Yuri touched her old friend's soft lips with hers. A shiver went through filling her with adrenaline with that moment. It had been brief as a peck on the lips, but full of some feeling that she couldn't quite explain. She walked away on impulse embarrassed of having kissed him, but didn't regret it. She tried to compose herself and squeezed Johnny's shoulder again calling his name.

"Hey, wake up."

"Did he got up?"

Taeyong suddenly appeared making the singer jump in surprise, such an act that awoke Johnny.

"What, what is it?" he blinked quickly.

"Calm down you two, it's just me" he laughed. "What were you doing to be so surprised?"

"T-trying to wake him up...!" Yuri smiled nervously, trying hard not to blush.

"Oh my, I fell asleep?" Johnny scratched his eyes lazily.

"You didn't sleep, you passed out basically."

"What time is it? I need to go get Jinwoo."

Taeyong checked the watch on his wrist.

"4:30 p.m."

Rebecca remained silent on the sofa.

"Damn, I'll be late..." Johnny got up after stretching.

"I also need to go, I forgot I have an appointment."

Yuri got ready to stand, picking up her belongings and with a welcoming smile she waved to them both.

"Thank you so much for today, it was fun! See you later" she hastily went to the door.

"Calm down, wait, hey...!" Taeyong tried to stop her, but she was already gone. "What did you do to make her run away like that?"

"How I could do something, I was sleeping."

"I don't know, that was weird."

"Don't ask me. But anyway, since you're going to sleep here, I need your help with something."

"What?"

"Jinwoo goes to the same school where Yuta works."

"You want to use me as a distraction? It won't work."

"But it'll have to work, I can't play mission impossible with Jinwoo anymore is tiresome."

"The heck is that? Don't answer that. Now go get ready quickly."

Johnny headed for the bathroom. As soon as he turned on the tap and the icy water touched his face, he brought his damp fingers to his lower lip, staring at his reflection in the mirror. His racing heart betrayed his anxiety at pretending not to know what had happened minutes ago while he was quite confused by that sudden kiss.

"What the hell was that...?"