“I'm gonna ask him about it,” I said, standing up.
“What for?” NiRa closed her laptop and sat up.

I pressed my lips together, debating it for a second.
“I just wanna see his ring,” I muttered, and I heard NiRa sigh.

“Go ahead if it bothers you so much,” she said, and I took a step forward.
“Wait,” she stopped me as I reached for the door knob. “Let me go first.”
I frowned. “Huh?”
She opened the door and stuck her head out. The boys' backs were to us as they watched a movie. She turned back to me.
She grinned evilly. “It's like spying.”
I rolled my eyes. “It's more like creeping.”
She ignored me. “We should really make a spy movie or something....come on, let's go.”

She tiptoed out of the room, and I followed.
I tapped her shoulder. “Tiptoe? Seriously?”

She stood back up. “Fine, fine.”

She made a gesture for me to go to the kitchen while she sat next to Rynn. We argued silently for a few seconds before I went to the kitchen for a glass of orange juice. I watched her sit between Kyran and Rynn, who both made space for her, not taking their eyes off the TV.

I drained the glass of juice and the remaining drops off my lips. Just then, NiRa came up to me and dragged me into her room, closing the door behind us.
“He doesn't have it,” she said breathlessly, as if this was a covert secret mission and she had just crawled through air ducts to tell me something.

“You're not a spy you know,” I said, and she wiggled her eyebrows at me.
“Or am I?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at me.
The both of us burst out laughing.
“Yah, keep it down!” I heard Kyran called from the other room. “We're trying to watch a movie!”

I scoffed. “Jerk.”

NiRa smiled. “So what are you going to do? He's not wearing it.”

I thought, and NiRa took advantage of my silence.
“Hey!” she said. “Maybe it's in his room!”

My eyes widened a little. “Nope! No way! I'm not creeping around in his room! That's just...creepy.”
“Then go ask him about it yourself!” she said.
I looked at her. “And get sarcastic remarks from Kyran? I don't think so.”
NiRa gave an exasperated sigh before flopping down on her bed.
“I'll just wait....” I said. “....just until the movie's over.”

NiRa sighed. “Mian, unnie.”
I patted her head. “Thanks anyway.”

I walked out of her room and went to mine. I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. I looked at the ring on my hand and took it off, putting it in the drawer by my bedside.
I guess I spaced out for a few minutes because the next thing, NiRa was poking me awake.
“Unnie!” she whispered, and I sat up.

“What is it?” I asked.

She pointed towards the living room. “The movie's over.”

“Oh, really?” I stood and stretched my arms.
“Get out there!” she gave me a light push towards the couches. Kyran was retreating to his room, and Saylan was turning off the TV. From hearing the sound of a door closing, Rynn was in his room.
“Go!” she nudged me towards the room.
“Okay, okay!” I muttered, standing in front of his door. I turned around, and caught NiRa's 'hwaiting!' gesture.
I knocked twice on the door.
“Yeah?” Rynn's voice came from the other side. “Come in.”

I pushed the door open and came inside. Rynn had just changed into his pajamas and was sitting on his bed with the laptop open.
“Oh, good, it's you,” he said, looking up. “I have to ask you something.”

I laughed weakly. “Yeah?”

“Come here,” he scooted over. I sat on the bed and let my feet dangle off the side.
“What's this about?” he asked, turning the screen towards me, and I spotted the same 'allkpop' webpage that NiRa had shown me.

“Huh,” I said. “You got that ring too?”

He gave a small laugh then shook his head. “What will they think of next...?”
I turned to him. “Rynn...maybe we shouldn't wear them in public.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“You know what these kind of things lead to,” I said. “Remember last spring? With NiRa?”
He nodded slowly.
I recalled that spring when we were doing promotions in South Korea and Japan. We had just gotten off the flight from Osaka, Japan to Seoul when a bunch of crazy fans nearly attacked NiRa at the airport, claiming that she had “stolen away oppa” after she and Kwangmin from Boyfriend were spotted multiple times together. They had been catching up since we hadn't seen them in a while, but paparazzi had taken their pictures together, and a scandal surfaced when they were spotted having identical necklaces. The necklaces were purely coincidental, but obsessive fans had taken it the wrong way.

“Yeah,” Rynn finally said. “Maybe we should.”

He took out the pale ring that was identical to mine from his back pocket, and put it in his desk drawer. He smiled at me when he closed it.
“No problems now, right?” he asked, and I nodded slowly.

As I turned and headed out of his room, closing the door behind me, I couldn't help but feeling an odd mixed sense of disappointment and relief. I shook my head, quietly laughing a little.
“No, I'm just being stupid,” I muttered, heading for my room and plopping down on my bed.

I was thinking about the ring and that fan that had given it to me, but before I could think anymore, my heavy eyelids won over, and I sunk into a deep sleep.

The next morning (chapter 39)