Lisa was standing outside the front doors of the mall. She wore exceptionally fashionable clothes, making me look like I underdressed.

“All set?” she asked.

“Yup!”

We entered the mall, hand in hand. Lisa showed her charming smile as we walked and browse at different stalls and shops. All of the guys that we pass by would set their attention to the beauty beside me. They would turn their heads just to catch a glimpse. I envy her. She’d capture any man’s heart with just a blink or a sigh.

Walking at the department store, we looked at different dresses. She eyed each piece she put her hands on, hold them in her hand and went straight to the fitting room. She’s absolutely gorgeous when she went out with a red halter, above knee dress. Even her wavy blonde hair sways along as she moves and twirls.

“Is this good?” she asked.

“It’s wonderful.”

“What shoes should I wear?” she asked again.

“I don’t know. Maybe we should look for shoes later.”

She went back to the fitting room and came back out with her own clothes.

“What is the dress for?” I asked.

She didn’t tell me exactly why she wanted to go to the mall, she just told me she’s bored and wants to hang out.

“Oh…my friends from England are coming. They’ll undoubtedly expect me to dress up like this. They still think I’m the ‘fashionista’ of the group, even though I don’t think I am.”

She paid of the dress and went straight to the shoes section. She fitted a few and quickly paid for a silvery stiletto.

“Aren’t you going to buy anything?” she asked, noticing just after she took the shoes from the cashier’s hands.

Honestly, I don’t know what to buy. I was having too much fun seeing Lisa fit dress and shoes, critique them and buy them, it didn’t come to me to buy anything.

“I…don’t know what to buy.”

“Shish,” she let out a sigh.

She looked around the store again and searched for something. Suddenly, she pulled me around back to the dress section. We stopped at a rack of dresses.

“Stay there,” she said, handing me her bags of purchases and rummaging at the rack. At last, she pulled out a black and white dress. It was black and glittery at the bust area and white all the way down to my legs. Lace decorated the hem of the dress and faux diamond decorated the bust line. It was so…good!

“That will knock Donghae’s socks off,” she said, getting her bags from me and handing the dress. “Try it on.”

“What? Why?” I asked.

“Just put it on. It’s my gift to you.”

“But, Lisa…”

“Just put it on. Really!”

I headed to the fitting room. I undress and put the dress on. The dress was absolutely brilliant. The black compliments my straight black hair and the white compliments my legs. WOW! Honestly, I’ll never pick out this dress in my entire shopping spree.

I went out of the fitting room and called Lisa, who was standing face back a few meters away from the fitting room door. Her eyes widened when she saw me.

“You look awesome, Soojin!” she said as she approached.

“Really?”

“Donghae will be speechless. Scratch that, Super Junior will be speechless! You look stunning!”

“Thank you,” I said, smiling.

“Now, shoes.” She motioned her hand to the fitting room, telling me to change back into my clothes.

We made our way again to the shoes section. I think she knew what to pick before hand, because after she stepped in the shoes section, she went straight to one of the racks and picked another silvery stiletto and showed it to me, smiling along.

“I don’t think I can walk on those,” I said with a sarcastic smile on my face.

“You’d totally rock in these!” she pouted.

Unbelievable, she’s so cute like Sungmin when she pouts. I have the urge to shout at her with a loud ‘NO!’, but I just smiled and looked away. I looked at the other racks of shoes and found the perfect shoes, in my opinion.

It was still high heeled, but not too much. It was a strappy, silver-to-white open toed shoe with diamonds on the straps. It was gorgeous.

I picked the shoes up and looked at it closely. It twinkled in the light.

“Wow, that’s good too.”

“I like these,” I said, still focused on the shoes.

Lisa, suddenly, grabbed the shoes from my hands. “Hey!” I yelled. She ran to the cashier and paid for the shoes.

“Lisa, this is too much. You don’t have to pay for that, or this,” I said holding the bag of dress up to my face.

She turned around to see me, a smirk form in her face. “I need something in return.”

Of course.

“What is it?” I asked, getting a lot curious.

“Can you get me a backstage pass on THEIR comeback stage? Please?” she pouted again, her hands clasped together, begging cutely.

“Umm, actually…”I started.

“Please?” she closed her eyes.

“I don’t even know if I can get a backstage pass.” I smiled at her.

“Oh…” her face fell. She blinked a few times before handing me the bag. She walked a few steps away from me, keeping her distance from me. I look at the cashier, looking at Lisa, feeling sorry for her. Come on, don’t take sides!

“I’ll ask Fish,” I told Lisa.

She turned around slowly. She showed her evil smile before saying, “Works every time, walk-sulk-succeed.”

I was speechless. How can this angel-looking girl have some evil plans and tactics on her head? Shish!

“Great…” I said, still out of words.

She clung to my arm. “Soojin, I’m so sorry. I just want to see them before and after they perform. So seemed so close to them I thought you’d agree in no time.”

“So…this shopping is…” I started. This is a bribe, right? I’m so stupid.

“Okay, if you think this is a bribe, fine. I’m just a stupid fan girl that’ll do anything for her idols. Please, Soojin, trust me, it’s just merely that, just to see them and nothing else. I’d even plead on my knees.” She started to kneel down but pulled her up.

“Stop that. Let’s go,” I said pulling her to the exit of the store.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“The cashiers think of us as entertainment,” I said, peeking at the secretly laughing cashier.

She turned around in 180 degrees and raised her eyebrows at the girl. “Have a nice day!” she said sarcastically to the girl. I pulled her again and she clung to my arm.

We sat at a window seat on the corner of the pizza house. We ordered a big pizza and eat it deliciously.

“I’m so full,” I said, patting my tummy, looking at the 5 slices of pizza on our table.

“Me too. Why did we order such a big pizza again?” she asked me.

“I don’t know. You ordered it.”

She scratched her temple. “I…have no idea. Maybe I was thinking 13 other people will eat with us.”

We both laughed.

First time in Seoul alone and I gained so many friends. This feels nice. I laughed comfortably with Lisa, like we’ve know each other for a long time. Donghae and I are like these back when he was not a trainee, but more extreme. We’d sneak away from home and ride our bikes to the sea. I remembered his and my Dad will both scold us and made us kneel on our doorstep for an hour. We’d have food fights whenever Donghae lose with rock-paper-scissors at dinner. We’d climb trees and rocks along the sea shore. We’d be chased by dogs on one particular street…in our uniforms. Just imagine me running for my life in short skirts while Donghae would run as fast as he could and laugh at the same time.

“Where should we go next?” she asked me.

“Umm… do you want to come with me?” I asked.

“Where is it?”

“Hospital.”

I left my bags to Lisa who was waiting for me in outside this all white, cozy office of Dr. Park. Dr. Park was referred to me by our family doctor from Mokpo.  Dr. Park is a man in his 50’s with a welcoming smile on his face. His built is good and he wears glasses.

“Are you ready for the test?” he asked me.

“Yes,” I answered nervously.

An hour later, the test was done. I’m back in Dr. Park’s office with a dreadfully fast heart beat. I expect the result to be normal, but I prayed for it to be normal nevertheless. I waited anxiously for Dr. Park’s reaction and prescription as he flipped back and forth the papers in front of his desk.

“Ms. Han, the result of your test if somewhat…unstable, so it seems. We need to have further examinations with the sample we have and study your results thoroughly,” he said in his firm voice.

“Is it…not good?” I asked.

“Actually, we are not sure. We can’t confirm anything either.”

“When should I come back for the result?” I asked.

“We’ll have to call you.”

He stood up from his seat and extended a hand. I shook his hand and bowed goodbye. I walked out of the room and closed the door. Lisa was waiting for me nervously.

“That was too long. What did they do to you?” she asked nervously.

“Just some tests,” I said, like it was of no importance.

She handed me my bags and walked to the exit of the hospital.

“Wait, I remembered something.” We both stopped on out paces. I looked at her straight into her eyes and said, “Don’t tell any of the members, especially Donghae, about this trip to the hospital, okay?”

Her eyes widened, asking for an explanation.

“He’ll go too over protective on me I can’t even go to the bathroom without telling him. He’s crazy when it comes to these kinds of things. Last time I was hospitalized for dehydration, he didn’t even give me space to even shift in the bed.”

She blinked. She raised her right hand. “I won’t tell ANYONE.”

We both headed for the door, happily walking, hand-in-hand, until a guy, taller than me by some inches, blocked out way. We can’t see his face because his overly huge hood was covering it. His hands were in his jacket pocket and he stood like he was some kind of gangster.

“What are you doing here?” he said to us, no one in particular.

Lisa and I looked at each other, puzzled at this man standing in front of us. It is utterly ridiculous that in the middle of the day, this man is what, trying to rob us? We both stand still since he didn’t move an inch. Lisa was pulling my sleeve, telling me to walk away from this mysterious guy.

We walked backwards, slowly and carefully, until…

“Stop right there!”

We were both startled at his voice. We stood still like we were mannequins.

Suddenly, he pulled up his hood and…

“Were you guys scared?” he asked, smiling at us.

“YAH! LEE SUNGM…” I shouted at the top of my voice, but Lisa covered my mouth instantly, so as to not blurt out that a Super Junior is in the area.

Lisa smiled nervously, holding her hand over my mouth. “Hello, Sungmin-oppa,” she said giddily.

Sungmin walked closely to us and gave his sweet smile to both of us. “I didn’t mean to scare the both of you. I’m really sorry.”

“Sorry, huh?” I pushed Lisa hand away. I jokingly punched Sungmin’s arm and turned around, grabbing Lisa’s hand. I pulled her but she didn’t budge.

“Lisa, let’s leave annoying rabbit here.”

“Wait…” she said, walking towards Sungmin. She pulled out her phone and said, “Can we have apicture together?”

“Really? You’re doing this?” I asked, getting pissed off. Sungmin scared me to death; I really thought he’d skin us alive, and Lisa just ignored it? What are the odds.

“Sure,” Sungmin answered.

Sungmin took the phone and focused the lens to their almost glued together faces. I let out a smile when Lisa accidentally TOUCHED Sungmin’s hand when she took her phone. She went ballistic, jumping up like crazy in front of the hospital entrance.

Sungmin just laughed at her, then turned his attention to me, his face turning serious. “What are you doing here anyway?”

The smile on my face was wiped away pretty clean. No, why is he here? He shouldn’t know.

I turned around, avoiding his question, walking away pretty fast.

“Soojin-ah,” Sungmin and Lisa chorused. They were both following me in fast pace.

Sungmin caught on and grabbed my arm. “Why are you walking away? Did I say anything wrong?” his face was full of worry. Lisa, who’s standing beside him, had the same face. But she wasn’t looking at me but at Sungmin. She mouthed “What are we going to do?” when she caught my eye.

“We…visited at friend,” I said nervously.

“Don’t lie to me.”

Sungmin’s face turned from worried to stern. I was shocked. I looked into his eyes, and he looked into mine, unspeakably searching for answers that I don’t want to reveal to him.

“I clearly saw you entered Doctor Park’s room,” Sungmin said.

“You know him?” Lisa asked, looking at Sungmin.

“He’s a family friend,” he answered, eyes still on me. “He’s my father’s friend, actually. He’s a doctor who specializes in cancer treatment. He heads the cancer ward. He does the chemotherapy procedures at this hospital. He doesn’t take any other cases other than patients with cancer. Now, Soojin, you clearly aren’t in the visiting area nor was visiting a friend. Why are you here?” his gaze was piercing like hot rod in thin ice, melting every inch of strength in my body. “Please don’t tell me you…”  

Though I was nervous to death, I calm myself pretty hard. “I’ll tell you everything,” I said, trying to be brave. “But never tell Donghae.”

Tears started to form.
 

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Hello everyone!

Sorry if I didnt update in a very long time. I was spending last week with projects, this week as a volunteer in our city's hospital, plus in had asthma. 

I dread this day that I will have to write about Soojin's illness. I know that you may have an idea how the story will go but i hope you will still anticipate about this story. i still have loads of ideas to put into this story so please wait for it.

I'll try my best. Fighting!

~Crina