Nicole's POV

"Nicole-ah! Are you coming?" Hyuna stood in my doorway, holding out a towel. 

     Today, we were going to get ramyun together at a new ramyun shop not to far from where we were. My hair was still wet from the shower I had taken not to long ago, so I grabbed the towel from Hyuna and nodded, ringing out my wet hair onto my floor. "Ne, I'm coming. I'll be down in a few. Wait for me?"

     Hyuna nodded and closed the door behind her. It was all my idea to go out today. It was Saturday and I wasn't planning on sitting in the house all day long. My aunt had told us about this new place that sold good ramyun, so I asked Hyuna to take me. I didn't want to go alone. The sun was shining through my curtains even though it was still a little chilly outside. The glare in my room was beautiful, it hit the walls and bounced back to the window seal, hitting my hairpins that sat there. I smiled at them and quickly brushed out my hair.

"I'm ready! I'm ready!" I ran downstairs and brushed myself off, smiling at everyone. 

"When will you girls be back home?" My aunt was in the kitchen making lunch for herself and Mi Ho. She was concentrated on her food.

I looked at Hyuna to speak, because I wasn't quite sure what to say. "We'll be back in a few hours. I never got to show Nicole around the city...I think I'll do that today, then."

"Arasseo, you girls have fun, okay? Don't come back too late." 

Mi Ho ran to Hyuna and tugged on her coat buttons, "Unnie, can I go with you?"

Hyuna shook her head and bent down to Mi Ho, ruffling her hair a little, "Not this time, kid. Maybe some other time I'll take you out to get ramyun, ne?"

Mi Ho nodded and smiled, "Arasseo, unnie! Thank you." Mi Ho smiled even bigger and gave Hyuna a hug, "Be safe!"

Hyuna hugged Mi Ho back and got up off of her knees, nodding my way. "You ready?"

"More ready than I have ever been." Hyuna laughed at my sudden English and slipped on her shoes. I did the same. "We'll be back, umma!"

     Hyuna and I waved to everyone before we left and started to the car. The weather wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, but it was good that I thought to bring a jacket, it could get pretty chilly at night in Seoul. I opened the door to the passenger side and jumped in, buckling my seatbelt. Hyuna followed after me and started the car, going straight for the radio once we started down the road.

"I heard about your dance audition, how did you do?" Hyuna had finally found a conversation topic that we both were interested in.

I shrugged, staring out the window. "I think I did pretty good. Everyone clapped for me once I had finished. Even some of the judges gave me smiles and told me how well I had done."

Hyuna chuckled, "They're supposed to do that. What if you didn't make it?" 

I laughed and pushed Hyuna a little, sticking my tongue out at her, "Yah! Don't say those things. You're going to jinx me. Then I'll never make it in!"

"Miahn, Miahn. Will they email you the results?" Hyuna was looking at the road the entire time. She was good at multi-tasking, which is why she was a good driver, and I wasn't.

"They said that they would. I haven't gotten one yet. But, a lot of people auditioned to join this dance school, so it might take a while for me to receive their email."

"Oh? I see what you mean. I hope you get in! I know you probably have made it, because you are such a good dancer. So, don't think about it too much. You were probably their first pick." Hyuna really knew how to make me feel better about myself. She always had something nice to say about my dancing, and it only inspired me more. 

"Thank you. Your words mean a lot to me." I smiled at Hyuna, who's eyes were still focused on the road before us. Even when she wasn't looking my way she was beautiful. Was it even possible for me to be related to her?

     About ten minutes later, we arrived at the ramyun shop. It was bigger than the burger shack we had went to, but not by much. Even so, it still looked much safer to eat at. "South Korean Noodles" is what the sign read at the entrance, There were wood steps that led up to the front of the shop and the doors were all glass. This place looked way too expensive for me to even stare, let alone eat at. On the inside, the shop had a Carribean feel to it. There was straw hanging on the walls and the drinks were served in Martini glasses with umbrellas poking out of them. Maybe that was only for the alcoholic drinks. I liked this place, I could already smell the food cooking in the back, and it smelled fantastic. I couldn't wait to eat!

"Is anything catching your eye?" Hyuna asked me as we were reading the menus.

I shook my head and kept reading. "Hm...I think I'll settle on Kimchi soup and just one regular ramyun." I added, "It's the cheapest thing on here."

"Agreed, I'll take what you have." We both chuckled and drank our water, putting our menus at the end of the table to make it easier for the waitress to collect.

"So, spill. I'm sure you have stories to tell me." Hyuna said five minutes later.

I gave her an awkward stare, "Why do you suspect that I have a story to tell you?" I traced the outlines of flowers on the table cloth and tapped my foot to the beat of the music that was playing.

"You've been smiling to yourself ever since we got here. I'm sure there is something that you have to share." Hyuna now had her face resting on the palms of her hands.

I hesitated but answered her anyways, "Well...yesterday, I didn't go to the auditions alone." The last thing I wanted to tell Hyuna was that I had went with Joon because of how she reacted whenever he popped up in our conversation. I wasn't going to lie, maybe she could explain why she had been acting that way.

"Oooh! With who!?" 

I cleared my throat and mumbled, "Lee Joon sunbae..." 

"With who? Can you speak louder? I really can't hear you." 

I spoke a little louder, "With Lee Joon sunbae..." 

     Hyuna's facial expression froze and she stared at me with wide open. Eventually she had closed it. I was terribly anxious as to why she kept acting this way whenever Joon or Jonghyun turned up in our conversation. I needed to know. I felt like I had been missing out on too much. I mean, we were cousins, how come she can't tell me what's going on? Can she not trust me to take her seriously?

I waved my hand in front of Hyuna's face and she snapped back into reality. "Y-you...went with Joon?" Hyuna sounded hurt.

I nodded my head, still tracing the outlines on the tablecloth. "Didn't I just say that? Hyuna...tell me, please."

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me why everytime I say Joon or Jonghyun's name...you get angry with me or the atmosphere gets heavy. Are you keeping something from me?"

Hyuna was now giving me her full attention as though she wasn't understanding a word I was saying. "Well...I'm not exactly keeping it from you. I just...don't want to scare you or make you angry." Hyuna twiddled her thumbs.

"You wont scare me or make me angry. Hyuna..." I reached to my cousin and placed my hand on her warm forearm, giving it a slight squeeze. "You're my cousin. You can tell me anything."

Hyuna forced a small smile and nodded, sitting up straight. "Well, last su-"

     Before Hyuna could start her story, the waitress came and set our food in front of us, taking our menus and smiling to us. "If you need anything, my name is Yejin, just give me a call and i will help you. Enjoy your meals!" The waitress bowed and walked away.

Hyuna started her story again, filling with food as she spoke, "I used to date Joon..." Hyuna took a bite of her Kimchi and nodded, "We started going out Freshman year. Joon was new to our school and I showed him around and we became cose together. The connection grew faster and faster and tighter and tighter." Hyuna took another bite and looked at me to see if I had been listening, I nodded and she kept going, "Last year on Valentine's day...Joon came by my house to give me my gift that he gave me every year for Valentine's day."

Hyuna's voice trailed off but it didn't keep her from telling her story. "The night before Joon had come, an old friend of mine, Hyunseung came by to visit me. We were catching up on each other when we looked at the clock. It was already one in the morning and his mom wasn't going to let him back in his house. He spent the night at my house. Nothing happened between us, I swear..." Hyuna was starting to speak like I was Joon. "I made him sleep on the couch because it would be bad if he slept in the same room as me. Let alone the same bed." Hyuna took another paused and breathed in, "The next day Joon came by and dropped off my gift, but when he saw Hyunseung in the living room, he had got the wrng idea and broke up with me. Now..I guess I'm the bad guy."

     I was looking down at the floor, I hadn't touched my food at all. I was so into this story that Hyuna had been telling me. It was almost hard to believe at first. I didn't know that Hyuna had any connection to Joon what-so-ever. It made me feel even worse now that I had been bringing him up ever oppurtunity I had.

"What about you and Jonghyun? Remember that one time when he had come to show me to my next class? You two didn't exchange a word or even a glance." I finally picked up my fork and twirled it in the ramyun.

"Jonghyun is very denfenseful when it comes to Joon. Since they are such good friends, they look after each other like they're bothers. Jonghyun never really liked me after that. I couldn't care less, though." Hyuna added, "Just be careful around Joon. He might not be your type. Please...be conservative while you are with him."

I nodded, finally picking up a string of ramyun, blowing on it.

This was more like it. Being honest. I loved it. I could tell we were off to a good start.