Page 123 of K-Pop Double Life

“Which is exactly the right end of a bodyguard assignment,” Liam said.

50

WELCOME HOME

SANG-HOON — SEOUL

Wednesday June 10, 2026

With the tour officially over, we were all released to go home. Jin took me back to his apartment, the place where he lived when he wasn’t being Jin the idol.

It was modest, comfortable, filled with evidence of a life I’d only seen pieces of. Photos with family, Pryzm albums on shelves, a small studio setup where he practiced vocals.

“Welcome home,” he said, as we walked in.

“This isn’t my home.”

“It could be. If you wanted.” He sat beside me. “Move in with me. Officially. No more hiding, no more pretending we’re just colleagues.”

“Jin—”

“Joon-hi,” he corrected. “When it’s just us, I’m Joon-hi.”

“Joon-hi.” I tested the name. “Are you sure? The company approved us being together, but living together is another step.”

“I don’t care what the company thinks anymore. I care what you think.” He took my hand. “I almost lost you. Twice. And I’m done wasting time being scared of what might happen. I want to wake up with you, go to sleep with you, build a life with you. If you want that too.”

I looked around the apartment—at the space that could be ours, at the life we could build if we were brave enough to try.

“Yeah,” I said. “I want that too.”

His smile could have lit the entire city.

My phone buzzed with a notification from Instagram. My personal account, which I barely used, had gained three hundred thousand followers in the past three days.

And there were thousands of messages, almost all of them positive.

I showed Jin. He laughed. “Welcome to being famous. It’s terrible and invasive and you’ll hate it.”

“Looking forward to it.”

“Liar.”

We sat in comfortable silence, watching Seoul’s lights through the window. Somewhere in the city, Sara Yoon was in a cell waiting for trial. Grace Han was cooperating with prosecutors. The tour was over, the threat was neutralized, and we were finally, impossibly, safe.

I took Jin’s hand in mine. “I have felt close to you ever since that first time you spilled the water bottle.”

“Much spillage since then!” he said with a laugh.

“How do you feel about—more closeness?” I asked hesitantly.

He looked at me for a moment, and then he understood. “Do you want to fuck me?” he asked.

“Or you can fuck me,” I said. “I want to know what it would feel like, either way. A good stylist is always prepared. There was a sex shop in Amsterdam near the hotel and I ducked in there for a few minutes.”

“Really? What did you buy?”

“I should be naked for this,” I said, and I stood and stripped off my shirt. I had seen Jin naked many times, from his muscular chest to his beefy penis to his corded legs. I felt slim and awkward next to him but I had to get over it.