Myungsoo drew back silently, his fist clenched in anger at the scene. Damn you, Im Jaebum. Damn you. But more than anything else, he was furious at Jiyeon - after everything he’d done for her, after apologising and treating her nicely and all that, she still went ahead, forgetting all about the past she shared with Myungsoo, and chose JB. 

It took all of Myungsoo’s self-control not to walk up there and slap Jiyeon’s face right now, and he trembled with the effort of controlling himself. 

Suddenly, a hand was laid upon his shoulder; he spun around, expecting to see some busy-body reporter or fan who’d gotten lucky and spotted the happy couple. 

To his surprise, however, it was neither - instead it was the one face he swore he never wanted to see again: Bae Suzy. 

Suzy’s face was twisted into a fierce, disgusted scowl as she gazed at JB and Jiyeon; her voice was hard and nasty as she snarled. “That ...how dare she steal my JB-oppa!” 

For some reason, Myungsoo felt the need to defend Jiyeon in front of Suzy. “He’s not yours, you know. Just because he’s the only one naive enough to be nice to you doesn’t mean he belongs to you. And Jiyeon isn’t the here - I’m pretty sure she got to know him before you did.”

“Whose side are you on, Kim Myungsoo?” Suzy shot him a sly look. “Surely you haven’t gotten a lobotomy that’s made you suddenly root for JB - I thought you wanted Jiyeon to be your girlfriend again?” 

Myungsoo’s face twisted and he jerked away from Suzy. “I don’t see what you have to do with that, considering you’re the one who caused us to break up in the first place.” 

Suzy just sneered. “You know, you’re really the most talentless creature in Infinite, aren’t you? Hoya and Dongwoo are triple-threats, Woohyun and Sunggyu can sing, and Sungyeol and Sungjong can at least carry a decent tune without their voices breaking. And you? All you have is your looks. And, of course, the only one other thing you’re really good at: putting blame on others.” 

Myungsoo took a step forward, his face cold and challenging. “Speak for yourself, Bae Suzy. And I don’t see why I’m even wasting time standing here talking to you.” Dismissively, he strode past her, heading for the Infinite van, but Suzy’s words stopped him abruptly. “Shouldn’t we work together, considering we have the same goal?” 

Myungsoo hesitated for the briefest of moments; then he put on a cold sneer, scoffing. “I don’t know just which planet you live on, woman, but let me make this clear to you once and for all: whatever side you’re on is the side that doesn’t have me.” With that he strode purposefully away, without a backward glance. 

Suzy scowled after him; she shot a venomous glare at the duo behind her, who had pulled away from each other and were now speaking quietly. Her fists clenched, her teeth grinding as she stared malevolently at Jiyeon. “Just you wait, Park Jiyeon. Just you wait.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JB and Jiyeon pulled away silently from each other; Jiyeon was blushing furiously - she hadn’t planned to do something like this! On the bright side, though, JB didn’t look angry anymore - instead, he looked amused. “Does this mean we’re dating?” 

Jiyeon looked back at him with a mischievous expression. “I thought you needed time to think about your feelings?”

JB responded with a playful grin. “Give me a kiss and maybe I’ll be able to decide faster.” 

Jiyeon laughed, smacking him on the shoulder. “ert.” JB caught her hand before she could withdraw it, twining his fingers with hers. “I meant what I said earlier on, you know. I do still want my privacy.” 

Jiyeon just smiled. “Then I’ll just seduce the truth out of you, sooner or later.” JB couldn’t help but laugh at her words. “You can try.” He glanced at his watch, and bit back a curse. “Shoot, I’m late.” 

“Late for what?” Jiyeon asked wonderingly.

“I was supposed to meet Jinyoung-hyung for dance practice. I suppose your van is back at the building?” 

Jiyeon nodded, and JB smiled. “Well, I guess I can see you there first.” 

They made their way out of the alleyway, completely not noticing Suzy, who drew back into the shadows. But as they came onto the main street, they instinctively released each other’s hands, drawing further away from each other as they saw the rabid fans and even some reporters who had come to see the music event. Without speaking, they followed the rules ingrained in them as idols; they turned in opposite directions, and started to walk without so much as a backward glance. 

As Jiyeon approached her van, she spotted Myungsoo standing next to it, his arms folded; as he noted her gay expression, his own expression soured - he could not keep the bitterness out of his voice as he asked. “Made up with him, have you? 

There was a pause as Jiyeon eyed Myungsoo; reaching out, she took his hands, her expression earnest as she responded. “Myungsoo-ah, we may not be able to have the same relationship as before, but I really hope that you can be a friend to me - and that, as a friend, you can be happy for me.” 

There was a silence as Myungsoo’s emotions warred between him; his face finally became inscrutable as he shrugged casually. “I won’t make promises, but I’ll try.” 

Jiyeon smiled. “That’s good enough for me.” She pulled open the door to the T-ara van, joining her other bandmates. Myungsoo watched in silence as she pulled the door close behind her, the van zooming off. Bitterly, he sneered. “Try? There’s nothing to try, Park Jiyeon. Nothing at all.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jr leaned back against the sofa, groaning in comfort. The doorbell rang, and he just shouted. “The door’s not locked, hyung!” 

JB entered; Jr took one look at his calm, almost happy expression and jumped up. “You made up with Jiyeon.” 

JB just grinned. “Better than that.” 

Jr’s brow cocked. “You finally got the guts to confess to her?”

“We’re dating.” 

Jr whooped, jumping over to JB and giving him a huge hug. “Great job, hyung! I’m glad for you, seriously. This is great news! Hah, looks like both my guesses were right after all.” 

JB looked sheepish. “Not quite. She confessed first.” 

Jr shook his head, clucking. “The girl confessed first? Man, hyung, you really got a lucky break, meeting a girl as plucky as Jiyeon. Can you imagine liking SNSD’s Seohyun? You guys will be competing being last to confess.”

JB laughed at his bandmate’s obvious delight. “Well, I’m glad someone’s happy about it. I’ve got to go, anyway. I’m supposed to meet Jinyoung-hyung for dance practice, and I only just came back for a change of clothes.” 

“Yeah well, I was just about to leave too, we’re running out of food.” Jr responded. JB nodded approvingly. “Glad to see you’re finally taking on some of the chores. Go on, then!” He gave Jr a little shove towards the door. “I’ll be locking the door when I leave, so make sure you bring your keys!” 

With a skip in his step Jr made his way out of the apartment, heading for the nearest shopping mall; he checked the money in his wallet, ensuring that it was sufficient to buy the groceries. Satisfied, he started to whistle, a carefree, happy sound. 

Just at that moment, Jr heard a scream; he started, his head whipping around as he tried to locate the source of the scream. For an instant, he was sure that he had heard wrong. Then the scream sounded again, and he took off running. 

As he stepped into a dark alleyway, he spotted a woman surrounded by three men; the men were messily dressed, their hair dishevelled, clearly vagrants from the streets. With a grin, Jr fished his penknife out of his pocket - good thing he kept one in his pocket all the time as a precaution. 

In a loud, self-assured voice, Jr called out, “Now what do we have here?” 

The three men whipped around, their eyes widening - the girl just cowered, covering her head. 

Jr sauntered over to them, twirling the penknife in his hands with practiced ease. “I’d suggest you gentlemen leave the woman alone before anyone gets hurt. Let’s make this an easy situation, okay?”

The three men exchanged wary glances - they outnumbered Jr, but they were clearly reluctant to go against him when he was armed. One of them muttered something under his breath, and the other two nodded. 

Jr waited, his body tense, unsure if this was a fakeout. 

The three men turned away; one gave the woman a good kick, and they fled, disappearing into the dark alleyway. 

Jr hurried to the woman’s side, keeping the penknife out for good measure, his voice worried as he enquired. “Are you all right, miss? Did they do anything to you?” 

The girl groaned; she turned to look at him, and Jr could not suppress his gasp of shock. “Suzy?!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jiyeon started as the doorbell rang. She sashayed out of the room, singing, “Coming~”, but Eunjung reached the door before she did. Eunjung looked startled; she said something, although Jiyeon was too far away to distinguish the words. Then Eunjung stepped out of the way, turning to face Jiyeon. “Nana-sshi is looking for you.” 

Jiyeon stopped abruptly, her brows raised. “Nana-sshi? You mean After School’s Nana?”

Indeed, it was. After School’s Jungah and Nana stood at the doorway, Jungah looking awkward and out-of-place, while Nana looked far more reassured. Nana held out her hand, smiling. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. I’m After School’s Nana, and this is my leader, Jungah.” 

Jungah shook Jiyeon’s hand as well, her voice soft. “Pleased to meet you.” 

“And what do I owe this pleasure to?” Jiyeon enquired curiously - she had no idea why the two After School members were. 

Without waiting for an invitation, Nana stepped into the house; Jiyeon stopped abruptly, startled by her likeness to-

“I wanted to speak to you, to ensure that you were, well, good.” 

Both Jiyeon and Eunjung blinked, casting uncertain glances at each other; Hyomin, walking by to get a drink of water from the kitchen, frowned. “What is “good” supposed to mean?” 

“Good for my brother, of course. He’s a smart guy, but he doesn’t always make the best choices.” Nana spoke matter-of-factly, but her words just confused the T-ara members even more. Jungah shifted her weight to her right foot. “Nana, stop making things difficult and tell it straight already.”

Jiyeon tilted her head. “Um...I don’t think I know your brother...” 

“You do, of course.” Nana held her hand out again. “Let me re-introduce myself. My name is Im Jin-ah - Im Jaebum’s sister.” 

-----------------------------------------

Hey guys, I'm back! So, JB and Jiyeon finally start dating in earnest, pissing off both Myungsoo and Suzy in the process. I think this chapter pointed out two things about Suzy and Myungsoo: firstly, than Suzy is extremely sly - she knows it's easier for her to get JB if she's working on Myungsoo, and she tries to get him to help her. Myungsoo, on the other hand, is more naive and also more antagonistic towards Suzy. Furthermore this chapter also points out a personality flaw in Myungsoo; I was wondering if any of you noticed it: no matter what goes wrong, it's never his fault. He throws the blame at everyone else: he blames Suzy completely for seducing him away from Jiyeon when it takes two hands to clap, he blames Jiyeon for moving on (when he saw her hug JB after filming) when he was the one who let her down first, and now he blames Jiyeon (again) for finding someone else when he's the one who should be sorry. It's essentially a character flaw in him; it doesn't make him evil, but it makes him less good, if you get what I mean. 

And what's up with Suzy and Jr? Jr fans can rejoice: from this chapter onwards, I'll be focusing more on Jr, so he'll step up from just being a supporting character to one of the mains. Likewise with Nana, who really entered with a bang; she'll be playing a pretty big role in this story too. Can any of you guess what the deal is with Nana and Jr? (* I've edited the foreword to reflect the changes, so please check it out!)

Next chapter should come within the next two weeks, I'll try and update ASAP. And remember guys, comment and subscribe!