Chaerin was humming to herself as Kibum and she walked out the building after a long day working.

“Why are you so happy?” Kibum asked Chaerin. He knew the answer already, but he wanted confirmation.  Since both of them were best friends, Chaerin confided in Kibum a lot. Kibum knew Chaerin has a boyfriend, but he never expected him to be quite an idol in Korea.

“I’m having dinner with Chanyeol tonight…” Chaerin answered honestly and blushed. Kibum’s heart cringed a little but he brushed it off well.

“Ohhh, have fun then! I’m going to have dinner with Tiffany, Krystal, Luna, Onew, Minho and some other stars.”

“That sounds great! I hope you’ll have an awesome time!”

“Yeah! We’re having Italian today so I’m excited! We should go there some...” Kibum was interrupted by Chaerin’s phone which blasted to the tune of Ring Ding Dong.

“Wait a sec, let me answer this phone call…” Chaerin told  Kibum and picked up the call “Yoboseyo?”  Chaerin listened to the other person on the line. She did not utter a word until finally, “Do whatever you want. I don’t care anymore.” She said in a harsh tone and hung up. Kibum knew something must have been wrong and the only person who could turnaround Chaerin’s mood was only Chanyeol.

“Was that Chanyeol?” Kibum asked. Chaerin did not answer. Kibum could tell he was correct by the look in Chaerin’s face. Her face was full of disappointments and regrets.  Kibum just looked at Chaerin until she finally said, almost too quietly, “I’m going home. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Chaerin stormed out the building. It was raining heavily but she paid no heed as she tore through the water curtain and on to the street. Tears started to fall from her eyes. Her hair was soaking wet and her makeup was ruined, but none of that mattered to her anymore. Chanyeol cancelled their date. She does not understand why she was very irritated. Maybe it was because she was not Chanyeol’s special little girl anymore… and Chanyeol was not exclusively hers anymore. Chanyeol belonged to everyone, to his sunbaes, his hoobaes, and his fans. They were growing apart.

Kibum entered the Italian restaurant still dazed from seeing Chaerin acting strangely. He could not block thoughts of Chaerin from his head. What exactly happened? Why was she crying? Did Chanyeol break up with her? But they were laughing together like two hours ago? Question after question occupied his conscience. As he greeted his sunbaes and hoobaes, he caught an interesting sight from the side of his eye. It was Chanyeol speaking to Tiffany while both of them each were holding a glass of wine, the most gossiped people of the night. He started walking towards them both as he could hear whispers in the background. “They’re both definitely going out.”  Or “Chanyeol definitely likes the noona type.”  Or “Why is Tiffany dating such rookie?” Kibum listened intently to each remark made by the other artists, just to get a glimpse of the whole situation.

“Hey Tiff, hello Chanyeol.” Kibum greeted them both and gave his commercial, yet fake, facial expression. “I would like to have a word with Chanyeol if you don’t mind…” He addressed the statement to Tiffany.

“Sure thing! I’ll talk to you later Chanyeol!” Tifanny walked away and started talking to Jonghyun who was sitting on the couch with Taemin.

“Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere else right now?”  Kibum said in a semi-whisper-ish volume.

Chanyeol just looked at Kibum in confusion. Before Chanyeol had the chance to say anything in defense, Kibum  started again, “What if I tell you that today Chaerin went home in tears? I just want to make this perfectly clear but Chaerin is my good friend. I don’t care whether you’re her boyfriend or not, but if you hurt her, you definitely know what’s coming.”  Chanyeol’s eyes widened. He was stunned at Kibum’s statement. What made it scarier was that Kibum said it with a smile, a sly smile.

“Since you’ve hurt her already then, I’ll do her a favor.” Kibum smiled again and punched Chanyeol in the face. Chanyeol dropped his glass and fell on the floor. All eyes were on them. Tiffany had her hands on . Sulli cried in horror. Everyone else just gasped. Onew stood up and went to Kibum.  As Onew was about to say something, Kibum told him “It’s between Chanyeol and I. Just stay away.” He shot a final look at Chanyeol “That’s what you get for hurting Chaerin.” The whole place was still shaken with the incident. Kibum left the restaurant as the whispers started to emerge again. Although he knew that he was going to be lectured by his dad non-stop when he gets back to the states, Kibum felt a slight relief. He stood up for what he believed in.

Chanyeol went in the house and saw Chaerin sitting on the couch in the living room, sobbing to herself. He walked up to her quietly as he took off his jacket and randomly threw it on the kitchen counter. He took out a cheesecake ice cream Popsicle from the fridge and placed it on his swollen cheek. Jongin, Joonmyun, Sehun and Eun Mi were all in their rooms doing their own things, most of them were asleep already. All the lights were turned off except for the one in the living room.
"Chaerin... Why aren't you asleep yet? It's really late..." Chanyeol whispered, trying not to wake anyone up.
Chaerin shot him a knowing look.
"Were you waiting for me?"
"What does it look like?" Chaerin threw the pillow beside her right to Chanyeol's slightly deformed face. Chanyeol caught the pillow and sat beside Chaerin. Chaerin noticed Chanyeol’s badly bruised cheek, but she was too overwhelmed with her emotions that she did not bother to ask.
"I thought you promised me that we'll spend the day together!" Chaerin continued to sob. "Instead, you were with your so-called celebrity friends partying!"

"Chaerin, you do know that we can't refuse offers from our sunbaes right?" Chanyeol placed his arms around Chaerin.
"So your sunbaes are more important than me although I'm only staying in Seoul for a week or so?" Chaerin shook Chanyeol's arms off her.
"No... That's not what I meant. I would love to spend more time with you but there should be a border line between our work and our private life."
Chaerin did not move an inch. Chanyeol just kept on watching his girlfriend."She was not like this before." Chanyeol thought to himself. He realized that they really did grow apart. Now even a small thing, at least that's what Chanyeol thought, like this can tick Chaerin off.
"Are you giving me the silent treatment now?" Chanyeol finally blurted. "Come on Chaerin! Stop it with your ego!"
"Wait, did you just say I have a big ego? Is it wrong for someone to want to spend time with her boyfriend whom she has not met in nine freaking months?" Chaerin's temper rose.
"No that's not what I meant, but you should understand that I have work now. Chaerin, isn't our relationship all about compromising?"
"Compromising? I have compromised enough Chanyeol! Remember the times I did not text you because you said you had to go live? Remember the times I stayed up late just to call you to deal with the time difference? Remember the times I let it slide when you said that you're not dating anyone in almost every show?" Chaerin shouted. "Do you know what I hate most? I am just sick and tired of seeing you and getting into stupid fights like these! I regretted seeing you. We shouldn't have met during this break. If we did not see each other, none of these would happen!" Chaerin continued, still keeping her volume up. Chanyeol just froze. He was speechless. He never thought that those words would roll out from Chaerin's mouth. Chanyeol felt betrayed and his heart broke... He could feel his body hot from anger. He could not control his temper anymore.
"Is that what you want? Fine! I'm out!" Chanyeol took his jacket from the kitchen table and threw the Popsicle into the trash bin. He gave Chaerin, who was crying real hard, one last look and confessed in a harsh tone, "I would be lying if I said that I never thought on giving up on us." Chanyeol closed the door behind him and went to his car in the darkness. He regretted saying those nasty things to Chaerin but he could not wish for time to magically turn back to when they both were happy. His phone was lying on the passenger's seat. He took it and dialed Baekhyun's number.
"Yoboseyo?"

"Hey Baekhyun, it's me. Are you free?"
"Not really, I'm with Yun Hee at the moment. What's up?"
"Come drink with me."
"Ehh? You don't usually drink unless something's wrong. What happened?"
"Just fought..." Chanyeol trailed off
"With Chaerin. I knew it." Baekhyun continued Chanyeol's unfinished sentence. "Just come here to Yun Hee's house. We have some soju and cold beer if you really want to drink."
"Ok. See you then." Chanyeol abruptly hung up the phone call and started driving full speed. His head was filled with flashbacks from the day. From Kibum’s “warning” to Chaerin sobbing uncontrollably. As he drove past a red light, suddenly something his mind.  Chaerin was still using the ring and the hair pin he gave her. She was still hopeful, but she just wanted more attention. Guilt now started to overwhelm Chanyeol.

“Things just got real....” He muttered under his breath and stepped on the pedal harder.