--Minri's POV--

I fidgeted and turned over in bed. I couldn't fall asleep. No matter how much my tired lids seemed to wish for sleep, nothing happened. My thoughts clogged up my busy mind. I couldn't even manage to stop thinking about everything that had happened and everything I'd seen and experienced today. My thoughts trailed off to the walk home with Taemin.

"Are you going to join the SM Creative Arts Competition?" he asked me.

I hadn't expected him to ask me such a thing. "How did you know I was interested in art?"

He stared down at the leaves. "I've seen your work. The art teacher hung it up in the hallway and I saw it while walking to the cafeteria one time. Your name was on the bottom, so I knew it was you. It was beautiful," he said admiringly.

"Gomawo!" I thanked him appreciatively. "And yes, I'm entering the contest. Although I don't think I'll last that long. I heard that each year, there are lots of students who enter. Only the top three winners get anything, and the judging criteria is supposed to be really challenging. I'll probably rank last place," I laughed nervously, running a hand through my hair. Occupying my hands was a nervous habit of mine.

He gazed at me with that intense expression again, deep in thought. I continued fidgeting with my hair, waiting for him to speak. But instead of speaking, I felt him touch my hand, which lay frozen in my hair. He smiled sincerely at me.

"You'll be fine," he breathed.

His words that moment had comforted me. More than it should have. More than a friend talking to a friend should have. His words kept jingling around in my heart. You'll be fine. You'll be fine. You'll be fine.

I groaned loudly. "How am I supposed to sleep?!"

Kicking the blankets away, I sat up and decided to walk to my balcony. When I was smaller, I used to walk out here to calm down after a nightmare, or if I just couldn't fall asleep. I'd look at the dark sky and the stars brightly shining above the world. I'd reach out my hand and try to grab the stars, but it would never work. Stars are too far away, Minri-nee, my mother would say. They belong up in the sky. They watch over you. Don't try to take them down, okay? I would nod my head and smile. I promise, Omma.

I stared not at the stars, but at the scene lain before me. The city buildings had lit up and cars drove by as the night got darker and darker. The wind made trees shiver, the leaves blew around and around the floor.

Heena. Her name suddenly drifted into my mind. I couldn't make any sense of her recent behavior. First, she had been friendly and sweet to me. All of a sudden, after art class, she seemed to hate me for something unreasonable. What did I do? Why did my drawing anger her so much? Was she jealous? And if so, why? The more I wondered, the more questions I received. Then I thought about the letter she had placed in Taemin's locker, trying to claim it as mine. What was she up to? Why did she do it?

I decided to ask her about it the next day. I wanted to, no, I needed to clear up any misunderstandings with her.

~ ~ ~

--Heena's POV--

As I daintily walked into the art class, everyone's eyes darted to me, as usual. I ignored Minri's stare as she continued looking. Purposely, I sat as far away from her as possible. She must have already gotten my signals before, but I wanted her to be absolutely clear: she was no longer any of my business. Her friendship with me was over, and it was obvious.

So her next move caught me off-guard. She stood up from her chair and marched loudly over to an empty seat beside me. Sitting down, she smiled brightly, but I knew it was fake. Her white teeth seemed real, and I was jealous once again, knowing how many times I had to whiten mine. All my friends knew what a fashionista I was. If I was, I would be flaunting my curves instead of wearing such a loose uniform like she did now.

"What do you want?" I snapped as bitterly as possible.

She continued to smile tenderly at me. "I just wanted to sit beside you. Is that okay?"

No, it's not, I wanted to say, but instead, I feigned back a smile. "Sure. Whatever."

She seemed happy to hear such a response. She leaned back in her chair comfortably. I kept my eyes on Miss Lee, but I was aware of Minri's eyes trained on me.

I lowered my voice to an angry whisper. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk," she softly spoke.

"About what?" I asked in annoyance.

"Why you're so angry with me."

"Who says anyone's angry?"

She sighed. "Stop cutting corners, Heena. We're supposed to be friends. Why are you acting like I come from the devil?"

I faked a gasp. "Hush, you! You're not a devil, are ya?"

"Of course not," she said. "Won't you please tell me what's going on?"

I rolled my eyes and stared at my nails. "Please, would you quit the innocent act? You know why. So move away from me. I can't stand you."

Minri didn't speak for a few minutes. We pretended to listen to Seonsaeng Lee.Well, I was pretending. I didn't know about her. Until Miss Lee changed topics to the annual competition.

"The annual SM Creative Arts Competition will be starting in a few weeks," she declared. "I want you all to know that you do not have to join unless you want to. I know you're all fantastic artists, but I'm sure many of you are unsure if you're up for. Try it out if you're brave enough, but don't if you feel like you don't have enough skills. The top three winners will receive--"

"Excuse me, Seonsaeng-nim," Minri suddenly cut in, raising her hand.

"Yes, Miss Park?"

Minri's face became serious as she spoke. "Did I hear you right, or did you just tell people not to join if they're 'talentless'?"

Miss Lee was stunned by her accusation. She suddenly looked nervous for the first time in her teaching career. I'd never seen her in such a state before. "Um. . . well--"

I stood up and crossed my arms together, glaring brutally at Minri. "What the heck did you just say? Are you trying to embarrass your own teacher?!" I turned back to our teacher. "Miss Lee, this is very inappropriate of her. I apologize on her behalf." Then I sat down once again, feeling proud that I had made Minri look so shameful.

But Minri seemed oblivious to my purpose. She stood up herself and frowned at Miss Lee with disapproval.

"Actually, Seongsaeng-nim, that is not my point. I cannot understand why you would discourage your students about joining the competition. Everyone has some sort of talent. We all have something special about ourselves. Being in this art class, I expected you to encourage your students, whom you've taught for a long time, to join. Why would you consider them as talentless and unworthy of being in the competition? That is what I was trying to ask. You don't know unless you try, right?"

The whole room was filled with awkward silence as Minri sat down again, leaving Miss Lee shocked. was open, but no words seemed to come out. For another second or two, she stood frozen in place until she recovered. Clearing , she eyed her class with an uneasy smile.

"Class, I apologize for being negative toward your skills toward the competition. As Minri has said, you don't know unless you try. I will refrain from saying disconcerting things again. I didn't know how harsh I sounded until Miss Park told me. Thank you for observing my mistake, Park Minri."

Minri bowed her head. "Mistakes are part of being human. We're all capable of them."

Suddenly, the room was filled with loud claps of admiration. People were clapping for Minri. I couldn't believe it. What are they thinking? It's not like she's a celebrity or anything. Why are they clapping like she had saved the world? All she did was correct her teacher and look like a know-it-all. There's nothing to clap about.

I didn't clap. Nor did I smile like the other students. Instead, I stared at our teacher, hoping to see a look of anger. But instead, there stood a proud and pleased women who was also clapping for the girl sitting beside me. Anger filled me from head to toe. It boiled through my blood and I gripped the edge of my chair as hard as I could to keep from hitting everyone.

~ ~ ~

After second period class, I stormed out, still angry about first period with Minri. I was about to walk to my locker when a small hand grabbed me with surprising force. The hand whipped me around; it was Minri. I pulled her hand away from mine instantly.

"What?!" I snarled.

"We didn't have the chance to talk," she said. As if I cared. "So I would like to ask you now."

"All's been said and done," I replied with hatred, turning away.

"No!" she whined. "Tell me why you're not being friendly to me anymore."

I couldn't stand her any longer. I walked back toward her and poked my index finger on her chest, emphasizing my words. "You don't know why?! After all your showing off and talking back to the teacher, you think I'd wanna be your friend? I'd rather choke on a grape than be your friend!"

"Choke on a grape?" she repeated in doubt. "Seriously? You can die from choking."

"I don't care!" I yelled. "All that matters is this: I hate you. So leave and don't ever talk to me or sit with me again. Ever."

Then I stormed away without another word.

~ ~ ~

--Minri's POV--

I don't know if she knew, but her words hurt me like a knife in my chest. I tried to stop the tears, but they kept on forming against my will. I blinked them away, but they fell across my cheeks, hot as steam. I sped towards the exit door and ran as fast as I could.

I remembered the first day of school. I remembered the way Heena smiled at me. Are you lost?

That day, her smile had been genuine. By the way, I'm Heena.

I stopped short at a grassy corner near the school. I bit my lip, trying to stop myself from sobbing out loud. My throat was dry and sore. It desperately wanted me to break out and cry like a baby. No, I'm not like that. I'm strong. I'm not going to let this affect me. It won't work. It won't--

Suddenly a warm embrace encircled my body. I looked up from my red eyes and nose to see Taemin's sad eyes staring into mine.

"You don't have to hide behind a mask," he said softly, touching his warm fingers onto my trembling lips. "It's okay to cry."

A whimper escaped my lips and I decided to let it all out. I clutched to him tightly, bawling against his clean shirt and feeling bad for making it wet. But I couldn't help myself. He let me weep as he held me firmly in his arms. For the first time, he seemed to be the strong one and I seemed to be the weak one.

As my tears started to dry up, I remained in his hug. I didn't feel like letting go. I didn't want to let go. I sniffed and wiped my eyes while he patted my head gently.

"Feeling better?"

I nodded, not wanting to talk. He rested his chin against my head and caressed my back softly.

"Wanna talk about it?"

I shook my head and we remained quiet for a couple minutes, just embracing one another. My heart was aching less now. In fact, it actually felt comforted.

"I-I'm . . .s-sorry that . . . I ca-can't . . . have lunch w-with you," I stuttered.

"It's fine," he whispered, pulling me closer. "I understand. When I'm breaking down like this, I like to be alone. But when it happened in public that time, all I could do was put on sunglasses."

". . . Really?" I asked, looking up at him. "When was that?"

His eyes were filled with pain as he answered. "A year ago."

It made me happy to see that he was finally opening up to me. "What . . . happened?"

He lifted his head away and pulled apart from me, laying down in the grass. I sat beside him, still sniffing. He handed me a tissue.

"Thanks," I answered, my voice muffled as I blew my nose.

He smiled and continued with his story. "My step-sister. I fell in love with her when I first met her years ago."

Something inside of my chest burned as he said the word 'love'. "Do you . . . still love her?"

"Yes."

I stared everywhere but him. I didn't notice until I looked down that I was gripping a handful of grass. "What happened then?" I released the greens.

He stared at the sky. "I don't think she ever considered me as anything but a dongsaeng. We were the best siblings around, though."

"Did she know that you loved her?"

He shook his head. "She didn't know I had feelings for her."

I felt that his broken heart must have been relating to his sister. "Did she move away? Or did she find a boyfriend? Or did she--"

"She passed away."

I covered my mouth with my hand as I stifled a gasp. I couldn't believe his words. It was a stunning realization as the pieces started to fit together.

"She . . . died," I repeated, letting my mind force it down. "F-From what?"

". . . A car accident," he said, turning his face away. I knew by the looks that he was trying not to cry in front of me.

I patted his shoulder like he did with me. "I'm very sorry."

"It's fine," he replied. His voice cracked at the last word.

"I'm sure she was a wonderful person." I comforted him gently.

"She was just 18!" he exclaimed weakly. "She had her whole life ahead of her."

"I know, Taemin, I know," I said.

"No, you don't know," Taemin whispered. "You don't know. You didn't know her."

I didn't know what to say. He was right. No words could have helped him. She was already gone.

"If she hadn't been there, if she hadn't been with him, she wouldn't have died," he groaned.

"W-With who?" I asked carefully.

"Kim Jaejoong."