A/N: just a reminder, Korean currency has a lot of digits. I'm not converting the numbers, but to avoid confusion here's an example: 1,000.00 USD = 1,314,717.5 KRW, so there are 4 digits in dollars, but 7 in won

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

I should imagine that Park Sooyoung was very calm knowing that I would be leaving the band soon. I didn't need years of living with her to know that when Sooyoung wants something, she will have it no matter what. I discovered that after less than a week of living with them on the road, I don't know why I thought she would act differently now.

After being caught in a compromising situation with Seungwan in her dressing room, I wasn't going to stay there like nothing had happened. Nothing happened... Still! That feeling of being a teenager again was back. Not because I was excited to spend time with my crush, it was the dread sensation after being caught. Nothing was more embarrassing than parents, or adults in general, showing up when their child was kissing someone.

I couldn't stand the smirk on Chaeyoung's face which clearly said "I know what you guys were doing", much less Seulgi looking away because that also said the same thing. But the worst was Seungwan and her reaction. She was as red as a strawberry, shame consuming her to the point of keeping her still on the couch. It's hard to believe that someone who was called a womanizer would have this type of reaction after being caught. I was expecting a quick reaction and a crappy excuse for an obvious situation, not Seungwan stopping working.

Anyway, when my initial shock passed, I put the best-forced smile on my face and said goodbye to them. I didn't even wait to see if Seungwan would return to normal. The excuse of needing to go upstairs to supervise the band rehearsal comes out of my mouth with ease.

Once again, I didn't enter the rehearsal room and watched through the window. I didn't talk to them even when they took a quick break to rest. I needed to get used to the fact that I wouldn't be with them anymore, I would just watch them from afar from now on. I would no longer be behind the scenes; I would be part of the audience or watching them on television. Sooyoung, on the other hand, thought differently than me.

That's how I found myself once again alone in the TV studio parking lot next to the kombi with Sooyoung. A familiar scene taking shape that gave me the feeling of having fallen into a trap. Just like the other time, Sehun and Taeyong went to work and Taemin needed to use the bathroom. I gave a small, single laugh when I realized what was happening, wondering if Sooyoung could be classified as an evil genius.

It intrigued me, though. She didn't seem annoyed by my decision to go straight to see Seungwan instead of watching them rehearse. Sooyoung accused me, not long ago, of being with them just to get closer to Wendy. That day I could say it was the first day I went intending to see her, not them. Yet, she seemed unaffected by it.

Sooyoung smiled at me when she saw me through the window, very different from the previous day. She was the one who spoke when I asked how the rehearsal was going after they left the room and we waited for the elevator. This could be confused with any other day before our fight.

“What do you want this time?” I was trying to sound relaxed, but I could sense the distrust in my words.

“Talk,” she replied almost sounding like a question.

Sometimes Sooyoung had an excess of enviable confidence, especially when it came to praising herself. That confidence multiplied tenfold when she was on stage and transformed into Joy. I often forgot that she was two years younger than me because of this.

“Does it have to be now? You know how tight it gets to go to lunch and go to the restaurant,” I said looking at the clock on my phone, a few minutes after noon. "We can talk at night?"

“I'll be really tired at night, people are obsessed with tteokbokki,” she snorted. I didn't feel offended at all. “That’s why I didn’t say that yesterday.”

"Last night? What did you want to talk about yesterday?” I asked confused.

I remembered how Sooyoung looked extremely tired last night when we met where she worked.

Sooyoung put a sweet smile on her face, the kind that used to break down my defenses and do her bidding, “I want you to be our manager,” she said.

"What? Don’t we- Park Sooyoung?”

“I don’t accept your rejection. You wouldn't be indecisive for so long if you didn't want this,” she ignored my failed attempt to say something coherent at the moment. “Be our manager, unnie.”

She continued smiling, waiting for my answer, while I wrinkled my forehead with each passing second. I was so confused. I had been very clear with Sooyoung that I would not accept being the band's manager, going back to college was what I chose. She couldn't be serious.

“You can't reject my rejection,” I finally said.

“I'm not rejecting your rejection, I'm making another proposal,” she said proudly, turning her sweet smile into a gummy smile.

I continued looking at Sooyoung still in disbelief, I had indeed fallen into some kind of trap that early afternoon. Of course, I had been a little upset with her accepting my decision without protest, she had said she would fight for me. I was expecting a request to give it another chance, or something like that. She didn't do that and it seemed like she accepted my decision. I was ready to continue with my life as I always planned.

It turns out that my plans didn't have a safeguard for Park Sooyoung.

“Coming with us on this trip was an excuse to escape your life, unnie. It was the starting point of the change you wanted to make; you just didn't know how,” she began to speak more seriously this time. “If you were that worried about your future, you would have given up when we almost froze in this old van the first week. Do you remember?" I nodded slowly remembering what she was talking about.

It was the first night we needed to sleep inside the kombi because we didn't find any hotel along the way. I still think Taemin took the wrong path and we ended up in the middle of nowhere. We were lucky to find a small village before the heavy rain started, parked next to the only convenience store open there. Sleeping sitting right there, with the engine turned off and one of the windows slightly open was the only option.

However, I couldn't sleep. Too cold and dying to use the store bathroom, but I couldn't. I always sat in the middle between Sooyoung and Taeyong. So, I stayed up texting with Yeri until late at night when Sooyoung woke up. We barely said a word to each other that week, even though we had already slept in the same room. That wouldn't be an ideal place to start talking to her, it might wake the boys up, but I was willing to try... except she had another plan.

Sooyoung slid the kombi door open and jumped out unceremoniously. The cold air hit my face and I looked at her in bewilderment as she closed it and walked away. I didn't even have time to put on my sneakers, deciding to get out too and go after her with just socks on my feet. I wouldn't let her walk around alone late at night, even if she had decided to just go into the convenience store.

“Sooyoung-ssi, what are you doing?” I asked when I reached her inside the place. She was standing in front of a stand of instant noodles.

“I'm thinking about eating ramyun to warm up. Do you want to share it with me?” she picked up the spicy mushroom noodles, holding the container like she was in a commercial.

That took me by surprise, but I nodded. Sooyoung smiled and went towards the cashier, a boy who didn't look older than me was behind the counter. He seemed surprised to see us there as if he never had customers this late at night. But he didn't seem threatening, so I didn't feel uncomfortable leaving Sooyoung alone while she put hot water on ramyun to go to the bathroom.

When I came back, Sooyoung was already sitting in one of the chairs in the area to have a quick meal looking at the rain through the glass. I sat next to her and at the same time she extended her arm handing me slippers and a pair of socks, they were simple and still inside the plastic bag.

“T-Thank you,” I was impressed that such a small convenience store had a session with this type of item.

“What kind of idiot has the idea of ​​sleeping in a car during the winter?” she asked, stirring the noodles with her chopsticks and then taking a portion into .

“I thought you were a genius,” I said trying to joke while I took off my disgusting rain-soaked socks. I didn't even bother doing that right there, discarding them in the trash can near the door.

Sooyoung gave a muffled laugh with closed, pushing the ramyun towards me, “I'm a flawed human being,” she said, covering to not show the food inside.

The heat coming from the packaging made me breathe a sigh of relief, I would be satisfied with that alone. But I also enjoyed the noodles as if it were the most delicious food of my life. Sooyoung was definitely a genius for thinking of eating something spicy and hot at that moment.

“If we survive this night, we can make it to the end,” I said before heading through the door into the cold once again.

“The next day was the first time you bought us hot chocolate,” Sooyoung said bringing me back to the present. She had the same smile as that night before we got back in the van. “You started taking care of us there.”

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