Was I supposed to be happy for her? I mean, she is my best friend. That’s what best friends are supposed to do, right? I’m supposed to be all cheery and OMGOMGOMGOMG-like when I hear something like that. I’m supposed to have a big smile on my face and an excited spirit with an incredible urge to call her up and tell her that big, juicy secret. I’m supposed to be happy for Hyo Ri.

So, then why the hell do I have a murderous rage boiling up inside me?

“Ji Min,” Yoseob snapped his fingers in front of my face, abruptly pulling me back down to reality. “Ji Min?”

“Oh?” I gasped.

“That’s the second time you spaced out like that today. Are you alright?”

I looked around. Each member was looking at me concerned. “I’m fine. Sorry.”

“Don’t make it a habit, okay?” Yoseob pinched my cheeks.

I flinched slightly at his touch. For a moment, I felt excited that he was treating me nicely, but then the cruelty of reality hit me again.

“How’s Hyo Min?” He then asked me.

I could feel the jealousy welling up inside me, burning my guts from the inside out.

“Oh… er… She’s alright, I guess.” I replied.

“Yah, Yoseob, are you sure our President is fine with you seeing other girls?” Kikwang asked.

Thank you, Kikwang, for always being the one to ask Yoseob the questions I’d never have the courage to ask.

”I think so. Why wouldn’t he?”

“Well, it might ruin our image. Especially yours.”

Manager Jiyong turned around, right before Yoseob could reply. “We’re here. Get ready.”

We all looked out the windows and saw that we were quickly approaching the SBS Building. Each member did as Manager Jiyong said and sat up, ready to exit the van once we stopped. Once we reached the back entrance of the building, everyone piled out of the van and followed Manager Jiyong inside. After checking in with the attending coordinator, we then were led towards Beast’s waiting room where the boys were immediately taken care of. While Junhyung and Kikwang were in the makeup chairs getting ready, I zoomed around their dressing room, getting the boys’ orders for breakfast. Both Doojoon and Hyunseung, who had already eaten breakfast, only wanted a sandwich. Dongwoon and Kikwang both ordered rice and roasted chicken, while Junhyung decided to settle for the same thing as the two. Yoseob, on the other hand, ordered a feast.

“Hmm…” He pondered as his eyes scanned the menu of the restaurant that I was going to order from. “Well, first things first: beef soup. Then, maybe a chicken sandwich and something with rice. I think I’ll have the same thing as Junhyung, too. Also, order for me some apple juice. Not too sweet, okay?”

I took the menu from him. “You do know that this is only for breakfast, right?”

“Yeah, but the saying goes: ‘Eat like a king at breakfast’.” Yoseob replied, leaning back in the couch he was sitting on.

Doojoon, who was sitting next to him, snorted. “I’ve never heard that before.”

“Now you have.” Yoseob then turned to me. “Can you request that they make my beef soup less spicy? It’s hard for me to eat it when it burns my tongue.”

I rolled my eyes, turning away and quietly muttering, “Yes, Prince.”

I proceeded to call the restaurant to have the boys’ food delivered here. While still on the line, Dongwoon approached me.

“Did you order anything for yourself?” He asked me.

I shook my head, no.

“You should. You look tired.”

“I already ate,” I lied. And besides, even if I did want to eat, I couldn’t have. Yoseob spent most of the remaining budget on his ‘royal feast’.

“No, give me the phone.” Dongwoon told me, flapping his fingers towards my cellphone. I refused, but he grabbed it from me, just as the woman taking my orders was still repeating them for me. “Hello? I’d like to order one more thing,” Dongwoon spoke to her.

“You can’t! There’s no more of the budget left!” I told him.

“What do you mean?” Dongwoon asked me, covering the receiver end of my phone. “We had a lot of budget this morning to have some leftover.”

“But most of the money went to Yoseob’s order.” I explained.

Dongwoon glared. “What did he order?”

I showed him the list of the boys’ orders. After he quickly looked through Yoseob’s breakfast order, he then spoke again to the woman on the other line. “Can you remove one of the orders for roasted chicken and one of the orders for the sandwich? They’re unnecessary… Neh… And maybe I’d like to order one more. I think we’ll order pancakes… Neh… Kamsahamnida…”

Dongwoon then handed the phone back to me, where I resumed ordering from the woman and then hung up.

“I don’t think Yoseob will be too happy,” I bit my lip.

“It’s okay. If he’s still hungry, he can have some of mine.” Dongwoon replied coolly. “I just don’t understand why he’s being such a diva today. That’s not usually him.”

It is. You just don’t see it because you’re not hired to work for him.

I sighed. Dongwoon walked off just as another coordi noona signaled for him to get on the makeup chair to get ready.

I wished I could read minds, specifically Yoseob’s. I wish I could penetrate his thoughts and find at least a glimmer of hope: a token of care for me. I’ve witnessed the blood, sweat, and tears that these boys have put into becoming who they were today, and yet I was still a nobody to Yoseob. If I weren’t so soft, I’d have just gone up to him and punched the living daylights out of him. He was too mean. Though he wasn’t aware of it, his words were like knives and it made me feel like the nothing I used to be.

I looked up from my thoughts, catching Junhyung staring at me. I couldn’t help but scowl at him. He was intruding my thoughts. Before he could react to my glare, I turned away and faced Hyunseung, whom I was now sitting next to on the couch.

“How are you?” I asked him conversationally, trying to intentionally garner my attention away from Junhyung.

Hyunseung raised an eyebrow. True, I hardly ever asked them, “How are you?” especially since I saw them every day. But at that moment, that seemed to be the only topic that could pop into my mind.

“Um… I’m fine…?” He replied reluctantly.

“Good, good,” I smiled approvingly. “Anything interesting happened lately?”

Hyunseung was still in his why-is-she-talking-to-me mode. “No, not really.”

I pouted. I guess I wasn’t thinking when I chose to start a conversation with Hyunseung. Everyone knew he was one of the least conversational in the group.

“Well, then, anything interesting that’s going to happen?”

“No,” he replied directly. I could sense that he was not in the mood to talk at that moment. I nodded at him, indicating that our conversation was over, and sat back in my seat. Once again, I saw Junhyung still looking at me, blankly. With that expression, I couldn’t tell what he wanted with me, but I was annoyed. What do you want?!?! I mentally screamed at him.

Just then, I felt my phone buzz. With one glance, I quickly realized it was a text from…

Hyo Ri.

I had a good feeling of what the content of her message was, so I darted my attention towards Yoseob, who was giggling like a child in his seat. He was texting her.

With a heavy heart, I opened the message in my phone.

Ji Min! Why is Yoseob texting me all of a sudden??

What a stupid question. And yet, I replied back.

I don’t know. Ask what he wants.

I watched Yoseob as a big grin was spread over his face, causing the makeup artist to curiously ask what he was up to. Yoseob simply just giggled even more, resisting the temptation of blurting out what he really was up to. I looked away before I would myself tearing up at the sight of it all. Within a minute, Hyori had replied back to my text.

I did. He said he just wanted to talk. And then he said I was funny…?

I snorted. Great compliment, Yoseob, but Hyori is not even remotely funny. She’s a good conversationalist, yes, but funny? Hell no.

I think he’s just bored and is texting random numbers. Just ignore him...

Before pressing send, I re-read through my text. That’s a bit too cruel. I don’t want to get in the way of their destiny, if there was destiny to begin with. I watched far too many dramas and from this situation, it looked like I was going to turn into the jealous friend who intervened in a very important love story.

Oh, maybe he’s being nice…

Again, I re-read through my text. I don’t want them to pursue each other, but I also didn’t want to be the cruel friend that stopped them. I was about to send my text (and therefore sealing my fate), when the boys’ food came. Saved by the delivery, I decided to leave that message alone.

After serving the boys their food, Dongwoon and I took ours and decided to eat away from everybody else in another room.

I ate my breakfast in silence, not looking up from my meal.

Yoseob’s POV

I specifically told her what I wanted, and yet I’m only eating soup. Where was she, by the way? I just saw her a minute ago and now she’s out of sight, together with Dongwoon. They’re always off doing God knows what together. She and Dongwoon, or sometimes even Junhyung, are always hanging out with her. I don’t understand what the big deal is between her and these other guys. I mean, she’s not that special. Except, for the fact that she’s got the hottest best friend I’ve ever known.

I glanced at my phone. Nope, no text yet.

“What are you looking at?” Hyunseung asked, peeking over my shoulder at my phone that was sitting on the table where we sat at.

“Nothing,” I replied, quickly pulling my phone away from his sight.

A smile crept over his face. “Aish~ you’re always so caught up with love; you can’t even pay attention to your food.”

I looked at Hyunseung, a bit confused, but then I turned my attention directly back to my food. Just like a deer in headlights, I caught Doojoon as he was just about to stuff a spoonful of my beef soup into his mouth. His hand was suspended and his mouth was still opened as he looked back at me.

I scowled at him before he unfroze and proceeded on eating my breakfast.

“Yah! That’s mine!” I growled, pulling my bowl away from his reach. Doojoon sent me one of his charismatic smiles, causing me to roll my eyes at him. He had one of those smiles that I would kill to have. Sure, I had the dimples but when I smirked, I wasn’t hot. I looked stupid. Doojoon could have any girl he wanted. Same goes for Kikwang. And yet, these were the boys that did nothing about their charm. If I had their charm and looks, I’d ask a girl out straightaway. Kikwang and Doojoon were both rejecting girls and passing up on opportunities to go on dates with them. They don’t understand how lucky they are.

Manager hyung popped into our dressing room, clapping his hands. “Come on, boys, get ready. You’re up in ten minutes.”

Everyone around me suddenly got up, taking their final bites of their breakfast and then tossing it into the trash.

“Where’s Dongwoon?” Doojoon questioned. Just as the leader he was, he moved around the room, looking for our maknae.  “Junhyung, have you seen him?”

Junhyung scratched his head. “Last time I saw him, he was talking to Ji Min.”

“Well, have you seen where they went?”

“I saw Ji Min step out of the room…”

That’s right, Junhyung. You couldn’t keep an eye on Dongwoon, but for sure your attention was stuck on Ji Min.

 I watched as Doojoon nodded and then walked out. A minute later, Dongwoon finally came in the room – without Doojoon. He looked a bit troubled as he dashed towards Junhyung, whispering something quickly to him. The same troubled look that was on Dongwoon’s was now also on Junhyung. He moved quickly out of everyone’s way and left the room. My eyes followed him out, and then they flitted back to Dongwoon, who was getting his final touch up of makeup. Though we only had a few minutes left till we performed, these three boys seemed to have something mysterious going on between them. Curiously, I proceeded to find out what the hell they were up to. Just as I was about to step out, Doojoon finally came in. He looked less dismayed than the other two.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

Doojoon rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Ji Min was crying.”

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A/N: Poor Ji Min :(   Please comment, guys, and give me your thoughts on this chapter. Also, what are some of your predictions? ;) I'd love to hear what you guys have to say!