Jessica sat next to her bed, eyes glued to the floor. Donghae’s words still reeling in her head; Onew’s touch still resonating. She promised herself that she would never cry over Donghae again. And had almost failed by letting that tear out. She was interrupted by a knock on the door. Tiffany’s head peeked in. Seeing the girl on the floor she rushed over, with Sunny behind her.  

 “Jessica…”

With a struggling smile, Jessica looked at her friends. “How’d you guys get here?”

Patting her back, Sunny answered, “Onew. He called me as soon as he dropped you off.”

Nodding, Tiffany cut in, “and a good thing he did. Oh Jessi, what happened?”

Taking a deep breath, Jessica paused before speaking. “I was getting some drinks for Onew and me, when I bumped into Donghae. Of course the conversation didn’t go as well.” She ended with a bitter smile.

 “That jerk! How dare he...he… what is wrong with him?” huffed Tiffany.

 “The funny thing, just a few weeks ago he chatted with me on Facebook like everything was normal. And then the moment I see him…” at loss for words Jessica sunk into silence.

 “He’s not worth your time Sica-yah,” soothed Sunny, rubbing the girl’s hand.

 “I know! I know that! I’ve worked so hard and just because of a few words, I let him get to me,” said Jessica frustrated. “How did I even fall for him?”

 “You were young. We didn’t know any better. We’re bound to make mistakes,” Sunny the blonde girl’s hair. “And you just picked the bad apple out of the lot.”

 Tiffany got up. “Right, we’re having a girly night in. Forget boys. C’mon let’s get washed up.”

Jessica squeezed her girlfriends’ hands showing her gratefulness. She may not be lucky in the boy department, but she was lucky to have friends like these.

***

Why hasn’t she called me yet? wondered Onew, checking on his phone for the umpteenth time. Just tell me she’s OK. He was worried when he left Jessica in that state. He immediately dialled Sunny and informed her briefly. And since then he was still waiting for news.

His phone rang. Soonkyu.

 “Hey, how is she? She OK?”

 “She’s doing fine.” Onew relaxed, relieved actually. “She was a bit down just now, but I think she’s feeling better. Tiffany and I are staying the night to keep her company.”

 “Oh. Good. I guess that’s what she needs.”

 “Yeah. Hmmm. Oh sure. Hold on, I’m passing the phone over.”

 “Hello?” Onew’s back stiffened. He sat up. “Onew?”

Finally realising that it was indeed her, he cleared his throat. “Ye-yeah Jessica. It’s me. How are you doing?”

“Better. I just wanted to thank you. I didn’t even say bye to you when you dropped me off.”

 “It’s OK. I understand, given the situation.” He played with the TV remote control as he tried to think of something else to say. “Listen, I don’t know the whole story behind you and that Donghae. And I may be the wrong person to say this. But he was wrong to say that about you.” He didn’t hear a sound from the other side, but he continued anyway. “And he should know that he’s lost a good person from his life.”

Silence. Still fiddling with the remote, Onew felt his heartbeat elevating.

 “Th-thanks. Um… I should go. Good night Onew,” she said softly.

***

“Oh Tiffany unnie, you’re here?” Krystal asked the girl coming out from the bathroom. “I didn’t know Jess unnie planned a sleepover.”

 “She didn’t. I’m guessing you don’t know what happened.”

 Clueless, Krystal asked, “why? What happened?”

 “Donghae is what happened.”

At the sound of the name, Krystal straightened up and gritted her teeth. “What did he do to my sister?” She went to find Jessica, and found her with Sunny in the living room. “Unnie, what did he do? What did that idiot say to you?”

“Krystal, take it easy,” said Jessica, trying to calm her down.

Taking a deep breath, Krystal sat down on the crouch, crossed arms and legs, with a stern look on her face. “Tell me what happened.”

Jessica told her, admittedly with hesitation, “… and then Onew stepped in and took me home. That was it.” She watched her sister’s facial expression, and waited for the hysterics to start. Surprisingly, there was none. Krystal was quiet. Too quiet in fact. The older girls looked at each other, confused.

 “Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you scream back at him!?”

 “I…”

Krystal stood up, ranting in english. “Jessica, the least you could’ve done was slap him. He deserves at least that much after what he’s done to you.”

 “Krystal, it wasn’t… “

 “I’m tired of seeing you keep it in. You haven’t cried once since you guys broke up. You haven’t cursed at him. You didn't even get angry at him. Nothing!” shouted Krystal angrily. “You don’t deserve this unnie! You don’t.”

Jessica hugged her sister, patting her back. “It’s OK. I’m OK. I have my friends. Mum and dad. And I have you.” Sniffing, Krystal looked at her sister with her wet eyes, pouting. “Now go wash up and change, then come down and join us unnies OK.”

***

 “If I ever see Lee Dong-bleh, I’m going to share a piece of my mind,” grumbled Krystal as she finished telling the story to Doojoon.

 “I get you’re angry Krystal, but maybe you should just stick to cursing him inside rather than doing it straight up,” said Doojoon, enjoying the sight of his worked-up girlfriend. She was so cute all angry. “I don’t want my girlfriend to be a man-beater. Or better I’ll give you a voodoo doll.”

 “Pabo. I won’t beat him. That’ll be your job,” Krystal teased. “How’d you score on your assignment?”

 “I just barely scraped an A. I’m happy with it though,” replied Doojoon, “It’s all I need so now I can put in extra hours for the football team. I’m getting a bit lethargic after not working out for a while.”

At the mention of football, Krystal remembered the other main topic of discussion. “Oppa, I want to tell you something. I don’t know how serious you’ll take it but I just want things to be clear between us.”

Doojoon looked at his girlfriend, wondering what this could be.

 “It’s bout Choi Minho and me,” fidgeting, Krystal tried to find the words to explain but couldn’t. “We… we had a thing back in high school. Well, we dated for some time. But that’s it. Nothing else.”

 “You dated him?” Doojoon asked, eyebrow raised.

 “For a while, yes. But that was like… eons ago.”

 “I sensed the awkwardness but I didn’t know you guys had a history.”

Krystal bit her bottom lip, trying to read her boyfriend. She didn’t know whether his peacefulness was good or bad. “I just… felt bad cos’ I didn’t want to pretend I didn’t know him when I did. I mean considering the past and all. Not that I’m thinking about the past that is. But like I just wanted to be honest with you about this, since we’re gonna be frequently seeing him and I don’t want things to be awkward and oh my god oppa please say something?”

Wrapping his arms around her petite body, Doojoon pulled her down on to his lap. “I’ll admit I am slightly shocked at this bit of news but I can deal with it.” He kissed the side of her head before turning her to face him. “But you’re mine anyway so that’s all that matters. Just don’t get too overly friendly with him.”

 “Stupid,” smiled Krystal, relieved. “Man, it feels so good to get that off my chest. I felt like I was going to be given detention or punished for not telling.”

 “Do you want to be punished?” he smirked slyly, with an attempted sleazy look. “Cos’ I can give punishments good Soojung-ssi. How badly do- Ouch! I was kidding!”

***