“Hongbin’s on the newspaper!”

    It had been two months since he left, but it appeared that Hongbin’s inheritance was already all over the local newspaper. Suzy grabbed the sheets off Naeun. She skimmed through the text, her heart skipping a beat over Hongbin’s picture. It was a picture of him standing in the streets of New York, with a magnanimous smile plastered over his face.

    “He’s gotten so handsome. It must be all that American food,” said Naeun, twirling strands of her pink hair. She had dyed the ends of her hair a bright pink colour. Myungsoo had claimed that her traffic light.

    The journalist claimed that Hongbin was a secret child from a very rich family, who had a chain of expensive hotels and restaurants throughout Korea and Japan. His mother, Kim Taeyeon, was still alive, but her whereabouts were unknown. It appeared that his uncle, who had sadly passed away from years of battling cancer, had recently discovered that Hongbin was sent to the orphanage after the boy had contacted the people who registered him there. However, due to the circumstances of the orphanage shutting down, it was difficult to track Hongbin who had moved to a foster home.

    The Lucky Star, that was the nickname given to him by the people now. He was studying History and Anthropology in Harvard University, had an interest in playing guitar and travelling. His exceptional talent at basketball has earned him a place on the university’s team.

    Suzy scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Guitar my foot! He only took up the guitar because Myungsoo was so good at it.”

    Naeun chewed on some bubblegum. She blew a bubble until it popped. “I thought Hongbin’s pretty good with the guitar. Myungsoo’s obviously better when it comes to music, but cut Hongbin some slack.” Her eyes narrowed. “And why’re you making fun of him like that? Isn’t he your best friend?”

Suzy could feel the heat in her cheeks. “I, well…” She cleared . “Of course he’s my friend. I just can’t believe he’s famous all of a sudden. He’s not particularly good with people, you know.”

    Naeun blinked. Disbelief. “Hongbin’s always managed to attract loads of crowds. Didn’t you notice that when he came to our birthday parties and graduation balls? Oh-em-gee! Have you seen the amount of followers on his Instagram?”

    Something dangerous clawed inside of her. Suzy had to purse her lip so that the dangerous emotion did not spill. It swirled like sticky goo, unnerving her and sinking into her bones. “Yeah.”

She had seen the amount of followers on his Instagram. The ratio of girls were a lot higher than boys. There were so many compliments on his posts, most from girls. Of course.

    Perhaps she was getting paranoid, coveting the light of the sun to herself. Everyone wished for a bit of sunshine in their lives. But Hongbin was always meant to be her sunshine. And Myungsoo’s. And Jongin’s. It was not fair that the rest of the world now wanted a daily dose of his infectious personality.

She tried to comfort herself with the thought that he was possibly in love with her. But it was only a kiss. He did not say anything like, “I’ve always liked you, Suzy!” or “You’ll be here in my heart, Suzy!”

    No. He had said nothing at all. He simply kissed her, and that was it.

Plus, it was obvious that he dated that blonde bombshell, Lunafreya Nox. Their proximity in his selfies were too close. Then there was the fact that he removed Suzy from his list of friends on Facebook. Was that intentional, or did his finger slip by accident? Perhaps he too was stalking her photos in the hours of night? Or was he too busy having fun with Lunafreya?

    The last thought made Suzy flinch in disgust. The heat in her fact suffused, and she was suddenly dizzy with anxiety. She bit her tongue in the process, and tears filtered through her eyes.

“Suzy?” Naeun let out an exaggerated gasp. “Are you, like, okay?”

    “I think my period’s on the way.” It was a simple lie, because it always worked on Naeun. The girl hated anything that involved blood.

And so, Suzy stormed to the toilets, where she found solace.

Jongin came to collect her later that day. They went to their usual ramen place around the corner. It was a dark and dreary day. One of those Autumn days that filled the heart with gloom and doom. Suzy sniffed. The air was moist. It would rain soon.

    Jongin slumped his bag on th