🍎ariella 𐙚⋆.˚

it was lopsided, made from lined notebook paper, and he’d slipped it onto your finger during lunch break like it was the most serious thing in the world. you’d both sworn you were married now, obviously, because that’s how it worked in primary school. you shared juice boxes, held hands during class trips, and promised you’d never break up - mostly because neither of you really knew how.

somehow, through middle school awkwardness and high school chaos, through juhoon discovering he could sing and dance and command rooms, you stayed. you grew up together. you knew his laugh before it got quieter, his dreams before they became dangerous to have.

and now he was juhoon from CORTIS. stadium lights. airport flashes. millions of coers who thought they knew him.

and none of his members knew you existed. you found out on accident.

you were curled up on his bed, scrolling on your phone while he was in the shower, when his group chat notification popped up on the tablet he’d forgotten to lock. you weren’t snooping - never had - but the message preview was right there.

“hoon, are you seriously still single?? 💀💀”

you laughed at first. like, wow, bold assumption. then you kept reading.

jokes about juhoon being “married to his guitar.” teasing about how he’d definitely never dated anyone seriously. keonho even said, “i can’t imagine juhoon with a girlfriend.” your chest went… weirdly hollow.

when he came back, hair damp, hoodie thrown on like always, you didn’t say anything right away. You just looked at him. really looked.

juhoon noticed immediately. he always did. “…what?” he asked carefully.

you held up the tablet. “do they… not know about me?”

silence.

not the awkward kind. the heavy kind.

juhoon’s shoulders dropped like he’d been holding them up for years. he sat beside you, hands fidgeting in his sleeves, eyes on the floor instead of on you. "they don’t,” he admitted quietly.

you waited.

“i wanted to tell them,” he said, voice tight. “so many times. but then our debut happened. then the first comeback. then schedules overseas. and it kept feeling like - if I waited any longer, it’d be worse. and i didn’t want them to think i was hiding you because i was ashamed.”

you swallowed. “but you are hiding me.”

he looked up then, eyes glossy in a way that instantly made your heart ache.

“not because i don’t love you,” he said fast. “god, never that. you’re… you’re the one thing in my life that never changed. everyone else knows juhoon from cortis. you know juhoon who cried over spelling tests and scraped knees.”

your throat tightened. "i just didn’t know i was a secret,” you whispered.

juhoon reached for your hand like it was instinct, like muscle memory from being eight years old on a playground. “i'm so sorry. i should’ve protected you, not my image.”

you squeezed his fingers. you were hurt, yeah - but this was juhoon. the boy who once saved you the blue crayon because he knew it was your favorite.

“i don’t want to be invisible,” you said. “i don’t need the world to know. i just don’t want to feel like i don’t exist in your life.”

he nodded, tears slipping free now. “then I’ll tell them. soon. on my terms, but honestly. you deserve that.”

you smiled, small but real. “we’ve been together since we were eight. i think we can survive this too.” he laughed softly through tears. “we’re corny.”

“yeah,” you said, leaning your forehead against his. “but we’re for real now.” and for the first time since he debuted, juhoon felt like he could finally breathe.