Liu Xin’an was busy livestreaming a game. When he saw Bae Juhyun calling, he paused the stream and turned off the camera and microphone.
Ignoring the barrage of comments like "Little Bamboo" and "Irene," he answered the phone.
"What are you doing!"
Bae Juhyun’s angry voice came from the other end, leaving Liu Xin’an utterly confused.
He hadn’t done anything wrong, and he had even sent a big gift to Bae Juhyun.
Hmm... Did he scare her?
"I’m livestreaming. Why are you so angry? What did I do?"
"You took my account, and I didn’t know if you were streaming... Well, since you are, I won’t disturb your work."
Despite feeling bored and lonely, Bae Juhyun didn’t want to interrupt Liu Xin’an’s work.
Having a hardworking partner was always a good thing; at least she could clearly feel Liu Xin’an was making an effort for her.
It was a heartwarming realization.
"No worries. Pausing for a bit is fine. I can chat with you for a while."
"No way. The media pressure you face is much greater than mine. You can’t make any mistakes now. When you resume the stream, just say it was a salesperson calling. Don’t mention you were talking to me, got it?"
Avoiding media attention and minimizing gossip was a skill Bae Juhyun learned at S-M.
She chose to pass this skill on to her boyfriend.
He had grown in many aspects, but handling media... she, as an entertainer, had more experience.
Her slightly raised intonation made Liu Xin’an smile. Knowing she was well-meaning, he obeyed.
"Hmm, but if I could see our pretty Juhyun now, I might be more motivated to work."
"You’ve learned to negotiate... Got it, I’ll send it to you later. Continue your work!"
"Alright... Have you finished practicing?"
"Yeah, it’s over. I’m resting... Don’t you have anything to say to me?"
Bae Juhyun thought for a moment and decided to probe gently.
But Liu Xin’an didn’t think much about it. The atmosphere was so warm that he naturally assumed Bae Juhyun wanted to hear some sweet talk.
"As expected, our Juhyun is the most beautiful and gentle woman in the world. Being in a relationship with such a perfect woman makes me feel incredibly honored."
"Stop it, get back to work!"
Though it was a bit deliberate, it still worked on Bae Juhyun.
She smiled from ear to ear and playfully chided before hanging up.
Then she furrowed her brows and pulled out her phone to find a number.
It was Liu Xin’an’s father, Liu Zhengjiang’s number. It was nine o’clock at night, eight in China. It wasn’t particularly late, and calling at this hour wouldn’t disturb anyone’s rest. Googlᴇ search novel⦿fire.net
But calling directly...
Eventually, Bae Juhyun chose a compromise.
Yes, it was time for a certain Li to step in again.
"Good evening, Irene~"
Li Chenglu’s energetic voice from the other end surprised Bae Juhyun a bit.
"Why are you always so happy when I call you, Chenglu?"
"Of course, because it’s my favorite idol calling. Of course, I’m happy."
It was a perfect fangirl response, making Bae Juhyun very satisfied and playful: "I’ll ask everyone to prepare you a full set of signed photocards from this comeback!"
As the eldest in the group, she had the authority to order her sisters around!
It was a bit of abuse of power.
"The full set?" Li Chenglu couldn’t hide her excitement.
Photocards were usually random.
Buying an album typically came with one or two photocards, and there were about 30 different ones in total.
Each member had about 5-6 sets of photocards.
If incredibly lucky, and with no repeats, collecting all the photocards from this comeback would require buying around ten albums.
This showed how valuable Bae Juhyun’s promised gift was to a fan.
"Yes, with signatures."
"Wow~ I look forward to it then. Irene, is there something you want to ask me?"
Though Bae Juhyun often contacted Li Chenglu to build rapport, direct phone calls were rare, usually chatting online instead.
Because of this, Bae Juhyun got many memes from Li Chenglu.
Calling directly usually meant something important, so Li Chenglu got the hint.
Bae Juhyun responded, "Yeah," before continuing, "Something... quite big happened today."
"Something big? You mean fans noticing the real situation between you and Liu Xin’an these past couple of days? I think it’s fine... there’s not much discussion about it on our domestic sites or Korean sites."
Bae Juhyun paused but quickly understood it was likely the company controlling the narrative.
Yes, until they figured out the reason for today’s invitation, S-M wouldn’t act rashly.
If the invitation was indeed because of Liu Xin’an, or even sent by him, stirring up unnecessary drama and upsetting Liu Xin’an wouldn’t be good.