Mum was sat on the porch, sunglasses on, sipping a very small white wine, clearly enjoying the show.
Eventually, we’d got it all set up, the corn was popped and we huddled together on the picnic blanket just as the sun was starting to set over the fence, painting the sky in dramatic swathes of pink and gold.
The opening theme tune played, and I grinned, munching happily on my popcorn, taken back to another picnic blanket, another night.
“What’s your favourite scary movie?”
Chapter 24
November 1st
Iwoke up with a migraine.
It happened sometimes when the seasons changed. Becka said it was because I was secretly a weather witch – whatever that was. I think science more commonly explained it as something to do with changes in barometric pressure, or something.
Which made sense, as I heard rain outside before I even opened my eyes. It was hammering against the glass as if I had offended it by being so warm and dry.
Weather observations aside, it meant I woke up in a foul mood. I didn’t regularly get migraines, but when I did, they were bad.
I rolled over in bed and away from the watery light pouring in through curtains and grabbed my phone. I pulled the duvet up over my head, cocooning myself in the last few minutes of the morning’s peace.
What I saw had me shooting upright, throwing the duvet off and shouting, “Fuck!”
A loud tap at my door startled me. “Language!” Dad called, and a moment later I heard him descending the stairs, whistling a merry tune.
“Fuck!” I said, in a whisper. I swung my legs out of bed, refocusing on my phone, the screen positively overflowing with notifications.
I’d long ago set Google alerts for any topic related to ‘Jihoon’ and ‘dating’, but the vast majority of alerts I got were mostly just rehashing old theories, and even then, it was increasingly sporadic.
Not so, today.
It wasn’t clear where the best place to start was, so I just began opening tabs and skimming, trying to gain a clearer picture as I consumed more and more information, much of it overlapping and contradictory.
GVibes’ Jihoon BETRAYED? Lee Hyejin Spotted on Secret Dinner Date with Sol8’s Taeyang!
The world of K-pop EXPLODES as secret love triangle is exposed!
Lee Hyejin’s Dinner Date Sparks Cheating Allegations – Again!
Vibers and Beautys CLASH over cheating allegations
Jihoon & Hyejin Silent Amid Exploding Fan War – Are They Protecting Each Other, or Hiding the Truth?
And my personal favourite:
Taeyang treats Hyejin to a romantic meal – Here’s what they ate!
Some of the tabloids were injecting photos of Jihoon into the articles, most were old ones, but some were more recent, and obviously deliberately chosen to back up their narrative, because in them, Joon looked tired. Always put together, but his face, his expression… it was telling the story they wanted.
The more I read, the more I felt pity for Lee Hyejin, who – as far as I could tell – had done nothing to deserve this latest round of vitriol.
Tae and Joon were both being painted as the love struck victims in Hyejin’s narcissistic game of cat and mouse. Two tragic men both vying for the prize of her hand in some bizarre stand off.
The main narrative largely seemed to be that she had long been accepted as Joon’s secret girlfriend and this latest scandal proved that she was an unfaithful harlot.
Naturally, the fandom for PYT – Beautys – were furious, calling Tae a liar and a womaniser, and Joon… well, they weren’t kind to Joon either. In their eyes, his crimes were numerous and largely stemming from his apparent refusal to come out and deny a relationship between him and Hyejin.
Detached from the situation I was able to see this for the circular argument it was and also admire the lengths to which they’d leap. On the other hand, everyone was equally furious that Jihoon didn’t just announce that he and Hyejin were, infact, dating. It was a true case of being damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
