“Hey, you haven’t told her yet, right?” Jonghyun’s friend asks Jonghyun as the two are waiting outside the building and are sitting on the car’s hood, waiting for Jessica to finish using the bathroom.

Jonghyun doesn’t bother to answer, implying that his friend’s correct.

His friend continues to speak. “I think it’s time to stop playing games with her.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “As a fan of Girls’ Generation and as your friend, Jonghyun, girls like a guy that they can be secure with.”

Jonghyun looks over at his friend.

“If you think you’re securing her insecurities with this game and bad boy image, you’re wrong.” Jonghyun’s friend comes closer to Jonghyun and places a hand on his shoulder. “You gotta make her feel like she’s of your importance. Like, like she’s a huge part of you.”

“But she is! She’s here with me now, right?” Jonghyun protests back.

“In your mean games, yeah she is!” His friend shouts back. “Until you treat her right, like your true self, that’s when she’s really going to feel that she’s a part of you.” Jonghyun’s friend says the last sentence in a nice and calm tone, expressing his worries about Jessica’s and Jonghyun’s relationship.

Just then, Jessica exits the building after using the restroom. She stops and looks at the boys, sensing that the two have just had a serious conversation.

“Get in, guys,” says the friend, trying to avoid any suspicion from her and to change the subject of what he and Jonghyun were talking about.

*

“Bye. Drive safely, man.” Jonghyun closes the door of his friend’s car. He takes a few steps back and along with Jessica, they watch the friend drive away.

Jessica checks the time from her cell. It is 4:29 a.m.

Great, she sarcastically thinks to herself. I'm going to have less time to sleep again.

She decides to leave Jonghyun where he is because they’re just going to separate once they reach their entertainment building.

“Hey, aren’t you going to wait?” he growls at her. “We separate when we get in the building.” He follows her, who doesn’t stop walking.

“Jonghyun…” She says his name as she stops walking.

He stops his tracks and is a few meters apart. The tone of her voice is soft. Angelic.

Sad.

She slowly turns around. She manages to look up at him after a sigh. “I want to stop being involved with you.”

Another wind flew by, but for some reason, it isn’t cold.

They look into one another’s eyes.

“I promise. I promise I won’t tell anyone about anything.” She is close to tears. Even though this is possibly the only way for her to be close to him, she wants to make him see her as a girl using other approaches.

He is silent. “That’s not the problem.”

She becomes confused, for all along, she thought and believed that the reason why he is desperate to always have her with him on these nights is that he’s afraid she’ll leak out information about it.

He sees her confused expression and loves it. “If you don’t want to be with me, have another girl take your place, then.”

She freezes. She is reminded of Yuri. She remembers what she had heard him said about being Yuri’s “shining knight.”

“You don’t need to worry. I’ve set my eyes on a girl already.” He explains.

She hopes it isn’t—

“Yuri.” The name Jonghyun says pierces through Jessica’s heart. “If you can get Yuri to replace your position, you can go.”

Jessica is too nervous to look at him and to give an answer to him.

He pulls her in. She still doesn’t look at him, but he is staring at her—hard. “If you can’t, don’t even think about leaving. Or else.”

She knows what he is threatening her about. She knows what the words ‘or else’ in their conversations always imply.

Or else I’ll tell everyone that Jessica of Girls’ Generation parties at clubs. She finishes what he plans to say in her mind.

“Or else I’ll tell everyone that Jessica of Girls’ Generation is a party animal.” He says it out loud for the both to hear.

She finally looks at him but with fear.

He gives her a peck on the cheeks. “See ya. You don’t need to tell me if you or Yuri is going to be my new girl. Surprise me.” He adds a sly smile.

He leaves her and sprints into the SM dorm building.

Jessica, in tears, drops down and weeps silently.

Now, she’s in a dilemma. She doesn’t want to involve innocent Yuri, especially since she’s the daughter of the man who had worked with and for the girls before. But if she doesn’t replace herself with Yuri, she’s going to hurt herself.

“…Yuri-ah…” she whispers the name, hopeless.

*

The front door closes.

Yuri opens her eyes to the sound of it. It is morning. She has fallen asleep after thinking of what she found out when she was thirteen.

Why couldn’t it be a nightmare instead?

She gets up and presses the snooze button of her alarm. She is awake half an hour earlier than her alarmed time. She walks to the bathroom to prepare a hot bath, wanting to get rid of the feeling. Every time that dream appears, the scene is always fresh in her mind. All the emotions are gathered, and she always fails at brushing it off.

She finishes undressing and as the warm, but hot water reaches halfway of the tub, she gets in, sinking her body. She pours some liquid shampoo, and it makes bubbles. She lays her neck along the side of the tub.

She closes her eyes.

Appa, you really won’t give me to them, right? You’ll fight for me, right? She always thinks of these questions whenever she is reminded of the memory. She knows the answers already because her father doesn’t have a backbone. He’s so nice to the point that she gets angry and pissed because he doesn’t know when he’s being used or being trampled all over. That’s why she has a short fuse.

She’s seen her father hurt, get walked over, get pushed around, and he doesn’t do anything about it. He doesn’t complain. He doesn’t hate. Most of all that she hates, he doesn’t defend himself.

Her tears began to flow as she is still soaked in the tub. ”Was I not a good girl that you want to get rid of me?”

*

“STOP! STOP! STOP!” shrieks Eunhyuk.

Many students are looking at Eunhyuk and his girlfriend Hyoyeon. She loves to pull his ears, especially when she’s irritated about him.

“It’s your fault for scaring me!” She looks at the school gate in front of them. “Yuri hasn’t arrived yet.” Shen finally lets go of his ears.

He’s about to do something funny but realizes the sudden change in his girlfriend’s expression. He knows what she’s worried about. He puts a hand on her head and pulls her in close. In a quiet and soothing voice, he says, “Don’t worry. Our Yuri is strong.”

She looks up at her boyfriend. She gives him a weak smile. “Thank you,” she surprises him and embarrasses him as she leaps up to give him a kiss. She walks into the hallway without him. “Wait for her. I remember I have to do something.” She avoids embarrassment by lying and escaping the scene.

Although they have been dating for more than three years, they aren’t comfortable enough with PDA. Not only that, but their way of showing affection is when they get into arguments.

Eunhyuk’s face reddens, and he brings his hands to cover his cheeks. He stares at the ground. That Hyoyeon!!! He angrily thinks to himself.

But he definitely likes it. No, he loves it. He can’t help but smile as he waves his body back and forth.

“Hey…” Yuri pants beside Eunhyuk, scaring him. “Why are you in a good mood?” She stands up straight and takes a deep breath. “Sorry I came late.” She looks around. “Hyoyeon isn’t here, today?”

He puts his hands down and sends her a glare. “Hey!!!” He shoves her head playfully. “Because of you, I got—” He can’t tell her that because she was running late, he was kissed by his girlfriend.

She fixes her hair. “What happened?” she asks, curious to hear the finished sentence of her friend’s accusation.

“Did you just get out of the shower?” he asks as he wipes the water he got from touching her head on his pants.

The two friends walk into the school building, heading to their room. Luckily, as always, the three friends have always been in the same room.

She nods, referring back to his question. “I forgot about the time, and so I came rushing without drying or combing my hair.”

“You’re going to get sick, you know.”

She smiles. “We’ll see.”

They arrive in their school room.

Yuri spots Hyoyeon sitting on her seat, and she rushes over to give Hyoyeon a big hug, almost tipping her over. “Eonni!!!”

Hyoyeon and Eunhyuk avoid eye contact, still embarrassed.

Yuri sees this and finally understands. “Ah, so you two ki—”

Hyoyeon and Eunhyuk struggle to keep Yuri from finishing her sentence. ”SSSHH!!” They both demand.

Yuri loves to tease them. She sticks out her tongue in excitement.

“Yuri noona.” A voice from nowhere pops up.

Eunhyuk and Hyoyeon realize the voice is from behind them. They make way to let Yuri see who it is.

It is a boy. Although he’s taller than Yuri, apparently, he’s younger since he added Noona to Yuri’s name.

Yuri points to herself in confusion. “Me?”

The boy nods. ”I hear that you’re halting your activities to focus on something else…” The boy trails off as he averts his eyes. He hands her a gifted medium sized box. ”For you.”

Eunhyuk and Hyoyeon jokingly chuckle quietly. “Is he confessing, Yuri?” They whisper loud enough for Yuri to hear.

Yuri knows the two are joking, so she ignores them. She looks at the boy. “Thank you.” She accepts the gifts and gives him a smile.

The boy stiffens up when he sees her smile. “I’m your fan, so I’ll be waiting for you to make your comeback!” The boy’s face quickly reddens, so he doesn’t wait for her to say anything before leaving the room.

Yuri, Hyoyeon, and Eunhyuk look at the door then at one another. They giggle amongst themselves.

“That’s right.” Hyoyeon slants towards Yuri and in a low voice, she asks, “Did you see your real father? What’s he like? Did you guys have a discussion about it?”

“Actually, we—” Yuri is cut short because the bell rings for class to start. ”I’ll explain at lunch.” She manages to say before the teacher enters the room.

*

A black minivan parks in front of a grandiose school’s big gate. Students of different uniforms are in line, cheering and waiting to see people come out of these minivans or cars to enter the school.

The school is Idol University, a school exclusively for idols and related celebrities of the same status.

The most prominent ones are Minho, Jonghyun, Key, BoA, Girls’ Generation, Yoona, and Taecyeon. These people are circle friends, meaning that they know one another and are usually seen together most of the time, especially Yoona and Minho.

Yoona and Minho have been dating for almost two years. Like every other idol couple, many fans were against their relationship. The one who received the most criticism was Yoona. Luckily, as the two stayed strong, the people who were against their relationship came to a stop and have accepted them as an item.

The black minivan’s door open, and girls cheer as they see who it is.

It is SHINee’s Key, Jonghyun, and Minho. Onew attends a different university, and Taemin is still a high school student, so these three are the only SHINee members who go to Idol University.

“Ah, our juniors have arrived, girls,” says Taeyeon. She and her group are already in the school building, three floors up. They are looking down and are watching their juniors make way into entering the school amongst the fans that every day, security guards are hired to protect the safety of everyone.

Sooyoung, standing behind the girls because she’s already tall enough, looks around the crowd below her. “I don’t see Yoona and Taecyeon yet. Do you guys?”

“I think that’s their car.” Tiffany points to a car that is two cars behind the school’s entrance. “They still have a long way to go before being able to enter.”

Taeyeon and Sunny tip their heads, touching their shoulders. “Aw, look,” says Sunny. “Minho is waiting for Yoona to walk with her.” She and the girls squeal.

Jessica, along with Seohyun, has been silent the whole entire time. Seohyun only speaks when necessary, so it’s natural, but for Jessica, she is still worried about what she and Jonghyun have discussed.

She looks down at Jonghyun and sees him smiling and joking as Yoona have already caught up with Minho. ”Doesn’t he want a real girlfriend like Minho?” She whispers to herself.

Seohyun nudges Jessica. “Eonni, are you okay?”

I wish I was, Jessica wants to say that, but she doesn’t. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

*

“Yoona! Over here.” Minho shouts his girlfriend’s name.

Yoona sees him and rushes to give Minho a hug, leaving Taecyeon, a boy who works and is in the same agency as her. Since they’re filming and attending for the same show, they are currently 24/7 together.

“Oppa!” Yoona runs to Minho as she smiles. ”Did you just get here?”

Minho hugs Yoona back and pulls away. “Yeah, just got here in time for you.” He sees Taecyeon.

The two does their handshake.

“Yo, Taecyeon.”

“Hey, Minho.” Taecyeon looks at Yoona, but Yoona doesn’t care to look at him because she is busy hugging and holding onto Minho. “Yoona, remember that we’re leaving early again for filming today.”

Yoona finally gazes at Taecyeon and just nicely shook her head.

Taecyeon leaves the couple, heading to class.

Jonghyun and Key leave the couple to their own time together, so they follow Taecyeon.

Behind the couple are fans squealing at the sight of them. They wave to the fans and then continue walking toward class. They aren’t holding hands, but they are at a close distance.

“Yoona, how did filming go? Any sign of awkwardness?” Minho is referring to Yoona’s permanent appearance in a new reality show with Taecyeon.

Yoona pouts and looks at her boots. “Oppa…I really think my love for Taecyeon oppa is one-sided. I mean, every time I tell him about us and where we go and what we do on our dates, he seems so…” she looks for the correct word. “Happy.” She sadly says the word.

She continues. “I thought that going out with you would be a good way to make him realize he likes me so that he’ll tell me, but he never did.”

The couple turns a corner and enters the stairs.

Minho smiles. “Yoona ah, I really think what’s stopping him is the fact that we’re dating.” He leans in close to her and whispers, “when we’re really not.”

“But now we can’t do anything about it, right? Besides, we didn’t want to date each other. It was our agencies’ decision, trying to better their relationship.” She downcasts her face.

They come across another staircase, and they walk up. Now, it’s just one more staircase to go and they’ll reach their floor.

“Enough about him and me. What about what you texted me?” Yoona finally is cheery. “I accidentally deleted the text where you were telling