Byulyi frowned at the grinning man, fully aware of how uncomfortable Yongsun and Wheein were at that moment. She also didn’t understand how Yongsun knew him, or why he asked about her parents, but she knew that this man was not in any way good. Before she could do or say anything, however, the older woman stood up, chest heaving with anger.

Yongsun grabbed the lapels of the black-clothed man and dragged him out of the building, away from a questioning Byulyi. Outside, she glared up at him angrily, hands still clutching at his shirt. “What do you want, Ed?”

The man took Yongsun’s wrist in his hand and forcibly lowered it, then smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles in his shirt. “I’m here to collect money from you, obviously. Why else?”

Needless to say, Yongsun was extremely confused. The first time she met Ed was a few years ago when she was just starting high school and living with her older sister, and was confronted with the sudden information that her parents had been borrowing money from dubious sources. He had told her then, very matter-of-factly, that as her parents had fled, the two siblings had to pay their debts in their stead. It took her and Yonghee three years and multiple part-time jobs to slowly pay money back to the loan sharks, and in return made the debt collectors promise not to return unnecessarily.

Ed snapped his fingers in front of Yongsun to attract her attention. “Hey, do you even know how long and how far I had to look to find you?” She rolled her eyes as he continued. “Honestly, Yongsun-sshi, how unlucky can you be? Your parents are crazy gamblers, continuously borrowing money from loan sharks while you and your sister slave away to pay back their debts. And even better? It’s so easy to locate you now.”

“Did you really find me through Eric-sunbae?” Yongsun asked suddenly, remembering Byulyi’s words about the two men showing up at her doorstep. “How do you even know him?”

“Kim Yongsun, you unfortunate, silly girl. Your boyfriend is my younger brother.”

****

Inside the restaurant, Wheein was patting Byulyi’s back in an effort to calm her down as the older woman stared daggers at the tattooed man outside through the window. “I knew it,” she growled through gritted teeth. “There’s no such thing as a perfect man, not even someone like Eric-sunbae. Nothing good has happened after he and Yongsun started dating!”

Wheein froze at that; she was so used to pretending that Eric and Yongsun were dating, she forgot that Byulyi was still with the belief that the couple’s relationship was real. To be quite honest, she herself wasn’t too sure whether they were now actually dating, as Eric seemed to always be around Yongsun, whether it was to pick her up after class, or even just a simple text asking how her day was. 

Before, Hyejin had voiced her concerns that Eric may actually be interested in Yongsun, though whether his feelings were reciprocated, neither of them knew. But both of them had silently agreed that, for the progression of Byulyi’s and Yongsun’s relationship, it was time to tell Byulyi about the fake relationship.

Wheein lifted her hand from her friend’s back. “Unnie…” she said slowly, carefully, “I have something to tell you.”

****

Yongsun frowned, struggling to form comprehensible words. “W-wait,” she eventually began to form a sentence. “Eric told you where I lived?” The man clad in black nodded. “Was he part of this? Did you ask him to hunt me down?”

At that, Ed shook his head. “He’s always been a naive, little boy, ever since we were children. We were just talking, I found out that you were dating him, and so I just mentioned that maybe he should introduce you to me. Of course, he doesn’t know that we already knew each other beforehand.” He gave her a little smirk. “I’ve never seen my little brother love someone this much, to be quite honest. If only your parents weren’t who they were, then maybe you two could live well together.”

Hearing the sincerity behind his words, Yongsun felt guilty for seemingly leading Eric on. “Actually, we-” Before she could finish her sentence, a shout resonated from behind them.

“Get away from my girlfriend!” A pair of hands pulled Yongsun back as a body slid between her and Ed. Yongsun’s eyes focused on the silvery hair that now blocked her view, shoulders heaving up and down with rage. “Whoever you are, she doesn’t like you, so go away,” Byulyi hissed at the man in front of her.

“Oh, yeah? Well, too bad, because I’m her boyfriend’s brother,” he replied matter-of-factly, smirking at her. “And also, her parents owe me money.”

“Well then, it’s time for you to get your facts straight.” Byulyi pointed a finger angrily at him. “First of all, Eric-sunbae is not her boyfriend. Their relationship was fake, dammit!” Her voice rose in volume until she was nearly shouting in his face, and she breathed in and out to calm herself down. “Secondly, if Yongsun-unnie’s parents owe you money, then why are you terrorising her? Go hunt them down instead!”

Yongsun reached her hand out to hold Byulyi’s fisted ones. “Byul-ah, how did you know…?” she asked quietly. Byulyi shook her head in response, a silent request to deal with this newfound revelation later.

Eric’s brother, however, did not agree. “Fake relationship?” It was now his turn to glare at the two girls. “What do you mean, fake relationship? You,” he directed his frown at Yongsun, “you’re not actually dating my little brother? So, you don’t have any feelings for Eric at all?”

Yongsun hung her head, ridden with guilt. “No, I’m sorry.” She nervously looked up, and opened , trying to piece words together to form explanations. “If you’d just let me explain…”

“I don’t need excuses,” Ed spat out. “The child really does take after her parents, I see. All liars, all playing with other people, then running away after. And here I thought you might have learnt from their mistakes.”

He wagged a finger at Yongsun, a fierce grin splitting across his cheeks. “I was worried that I might have to go easy on you, for Eric, but looks that won’t be the case. You have two months to raise two million dollars. I’ll be looking forward to getting our money back, Yongsun-sshi.” 

“And you,” he winked at Byulyi, “if your girlfriend doesn’t manage to pay us back, I’m going after you first.” Turning on his heels, he raised his hand mockingly to wave goodbye. To Yongsun, the large tattoo of a cross on his arm started to look like a menacing sword, and she gulped, frightened.

Once he had left, Byulyi turned around, an annoyed look on her face and hands on her hips. “So my guess was correct,then. You really aren’t dating Eric-sunbae.”

“Byul-ah, I’m sorry,” Yongsun mumbled, reaching for Byulyi’s hands again. To her surprise, however, the younger woman jerked back, taking a few steps backwards away from Yongsun. “Byul-ah…”

“Who else knows about this?” Byulyi demanded, her height giving her an advantage as she glowered down at Yongsun. “Wheein? Hyejin?” She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration when Yongsun nodded affirmative.

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way, Byul-ah,” the brunette apologised again and again, her head bowed and lips pressed together as tears began to brim in her eyes.

“I actually did like you, unnie. I was going to tell you that last time, but I saw you and Eric-sunbae together and thought against it,” Byulyi suddenly confessed. “And then I thought, fine, if she’s happy, then…” She shrugged her shoulder and inhaled deeply. “But it turned out to be all fake. Why? What was the point of such a childish prank?”

To make you jealous, Yongsun thought in her head. Looking back on it, she now agreed that it was quite an immature move. “Byul-ah, you said you liked me, past tense. How about now?”

In response to that question, Byulyi walked back into the restaurant, muttered something to Wheein, and exited with her jacket slung over one arm. “I don’t know, unnie. Maybe we should stop this, this liking thing for now, until everything’s sorted out. You’ve got more important things to do now, anyway.” 

Waving her hands in the air vaguely, she settled for a stiff bow towards Yongsun. “Have a good day, Yongsun-sshi.” Byulyi strode off, away from Yongsun, leaving the older brunette to stare sadly at her receding back.

_______________

7 weeks of uni felt like a really long time omg
thank wheesus for this one-week break
in which i catch up on all my lectures (cry)
but here's a new chapter (yay!) 
and i really wanted to say
thank you for being so patient with me
*kneels and hangs head in apology*