The event was enjoyable but not that interesting to be talked about. The MC had a happy disposition so he tried his best to make everyone laugh.

Jonghyun and I stayed silent the whole time. The only time we opened our mouths to speak was when the host asked us a question. Although he also asked questions that consisted of both Jonghyun and I, we never met each others’ eyes. Some of the guests seemed to notice. I heard someone whisper, “Did something happen? Why aren’t they looking at each other?” I looked back when I finished answering his question. The noona was surprised that I heard her, which made her slightly afraid.

When we said goodbye to everyone after the filming, we went back into the car. I noticed Jonghyun kept trying to make me notice him. He would glance at me from time to time and it made me slightly vexatious. I turned my head to look at him, but whenever I did, he immediately switched his gaze to something else.

The whole ride was silent. I was staring at the clear azure sky as I felt Jonghyun’s eyes on me. I ignored the calls from him and from my manager. I was too distraught to pay attention to my surroundings. “Key!” My name was being called a countless amount of times. My mouth didn’t twitch; not even once. I was reserved and inactive. Once we hit our next event, I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt and walked out of the car, not waiting for anyone else.

Again, my name was called, but I ignored them. My eyes started to get blurry as the same thoughts started to pour up in my mind. My own best friend doesn’t trust me. He doesn’t trust me. He doesn’t trust me.I wiped the few tears that were able to escape and turned to see Jonghyun staring at me with a worried expression. “What’s up with you?” He asked, still slightly annoyed at the fact that I supposedly lied to him.

“Me? Nothing.” I replied with a serene attitude. “Everything’s perfect, except for the fact, oh you know, my best friend doesn’t trust me. No big deal.” I rolled my eyes as I turned back around and entered the waiting room to find Girls’ Generation sitting there.

“Key!” The girls squealed as they pushed each other to get up to me first. I laughed at their silliness, but I suddenly heard my name being hollered. I rolled my eyes and the girls pulled back while searching for the source of the call.

Jessica’s eyes lit up as the sight of Jonghyun caught her eye. “Oppa!” She shrieked. Jonghyun smiled slightly at her but his eyes never left the back of my head.

“Key, can I talk to you?” He asked me, but I was still debating my answer. Taeyeon, the leader, could sense the tension. I watched as she whispered to both Tiffany and Sooyoung. They both nodded and whispered to the others.

“We have to go now.” Tiffany smiled at us before bowing. The rest of her members followed her actions and tagged along. I shut my eyes as my heart started to beat faster. My legs took control and made its way to the old vintage couch that was set near the monitor that let us watch the other performances.

“Key…” Jonghyun said quietly as he walked towards me, taking cautious steps. “It’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just that… it’s hard for me to believe that she would cheat on me.” I didn’t say anything; my eyes contained everything I wanted to say.

“What was the note you were holding after we dropped Sekyung off from the beach?” I suddenly asked, furrowing my brows.

Jonghyun looked surprised at my unexpected question. “Uhh…” He stuttered and looked around the room, searching for the answer. “It was just a note I found. It, uhh, fell…” I nodded, but I was still unconvinced.

“Why were there tear stains on it?” He arched his eyebrows in confusion, like he didn’t know what I was talking about. “The tear stains. You had tear streaks on your face and you were clutching the note.” He mouthed ‘oh’ when he finally remembered. “So?” I asked, still awaiting his answer.

“It was a note from Sekyung to someone. Okay?” He said, obviously bothered by all my questions. I nodded and instead of interrogating him even more, I simply nodded and let him rest on the empty spot next to me. Jessica and Tiffany seemed to acknowledge the dead air around us and walked back in.

“Are we allowed to wait here now?” Tiffany quietly asked. I smiled slightly and pointed to the extra seats around the room and the extra spots on the couch.

“Of course.” I smiled at her while Jessica went outside to call the rest of the group members. I could hear Jessica shush them in hopes that they would stay quiet due to the awkwardness between Jonghyun and I.

Tiffany took a seat next to me and rested her arm on the table beside her. “Where are the rest of your members?” She asked politely.

I shrugged; I honestly wasn’t sure why we were here and they weren’t. The door suddenly opened and I saw my manager standing there with his phone to his ear. “Taemin, Onew, and Minho are on their way here.” And with that, he stalked off to continue organizing everything.

“I’ve noticed Jonghyun’s behavior.” I heard Tiffany whisper quietly next to me.

I turned to her with a confused look on my face. “What?” I asked.

She scooted closer to my ear. “Jonghyun has been really weird lately. Sometimes, at work, he would space out and he looked somewhat depressed. I was going to talk to him about it but I didn’t want to seem nosy.” She stopped talking to look at me. “I’m sure you noticed too? Is that what this is all about?” She asked, slightly nodding towards Jonghyun’s direction.

I stayed quiet and looked down. Tiffany noticed and stopped talking as she just leaned back in her seat. “Okay.” She whispered and rubbed my back to comfort me. I hesitated but I slightly turned my neck to the left to look at Jonghyun. His eyes were glued to the floor and he was clutching his fists. Both Tiffany and I felt a vibration on the couch and we watched as Jonghyun took out his phone, rolling his eyes.

“Who is it?” Tiffany asked, smiling brightly.

Jonghyun looked up, startled. “It’s just, uhh… Sekyung.” His eyes diverted to me for a split second before going back to read Sekyung’s text message: Baby, can we meet up later?

Without noticing, I glanced at the text, being able to read what she sent him. I watched as Jonghyun entered in the text. Sorry babe, I’m busy today. Some other time. I have to talk to you, btw.

Jonghyun slammed the phone shut and dropped his head low, not wanting to meet everyone’s gaze. I looked up and realized everyone was staring at us. Seohyun and Yoona looked at us with worried eyes. “What happened?” They both mouthed, but I shook my head and told them to wait. They understood and nodded, still watching their hyung.

Jonghyun suddenly popped up as he felt another vibration. Oh really? I want to meet up today though. I wanted to do something with you ;) and talk to me about what?

I gagged a little at the winking face that was sent to him, making the girls around the room giggle. Jonghyun glanced at us while he was pressing the letters on his phone. Not today, sorry. And it’s just about something I found and something I saw.

A couple minutes passed and we felt yet another vibration. Jonghyun slipped out his phone and checked it. Instead of replying like we thought he would, he just closed it in an annoyed manner. “What’s wrong?” The girls asked, rushing toward him.

“What?” He looked up to find worried faces. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just annoyed.” He stood up, causing some of the girls to fall over. “Sorry.” He whispered before walking out.

Jonghyun’s POV:

My mind was rattling with questions and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I walked out of the waiting room with eyes following my every move. I didn’t know where to go, but I just didn’t want people to surround me and bombard me with questions they know I’m not going to answer.

I walked passed my manager and towards the door that led outside. “Where are you going, Jonghyun?” My manager called out to me, but I ignored him. I reached the door and blocked out all the pleading. I looked around for a place to rest. Down the street, I noticed a park with little few kids. It didn’t take me long to reach there, but I stopped constantly because I received many different texts from my members, my manager, and other groups that heard about my absence.

I rested on the bench, hoping to find some answers in the open air, but I knew that was going to be impossible. I slipped out my phone from my pocket and plugged in my earphones, drowning myself in music. Sekyung really knew how to find her way back into my head. As I leaned back with my eyes closed, I heard a faint squeal. I didn’t think much of it, so I just continued with my thoughts. That is, until I felt pressure on my lap. I jumped up in surprise to find Sekyung sitting there with a grin on her face.

“Baby, I thought you had a busy schedule?” She said, snaking her thin arms around my neck.

“I left because I needed to think about stuff.” I replied, not meeting her gaze. She kept trying to make me look at her, but whenever I caught her glance, I turned away.

She kissed me on the cheek, believing that would make me feel better. “Honey, you said you needed to talk to me about something, right?” Hearing this question, I sighed and shut my eyes. I want to tell her, but she’ll get mad.My eyes widened in surprise at the closeness between us. There was barely enough room for me to breath. “What is it baby?” She asked in a seductive tone.

I grabbed her waist and moved her to the space beside me. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but you can’t start screaming at me. Okay?” Before continuing, I stared at her and waited for an answer. After giving me a nod, I began to speak again. “Remember when we went to the beach? Later that night, some guy was harassing you and we dropped you off? Remember that?”

She nodded as she remembered her little plan. “Yes, I remember. Why?”

“You were asleep when we dropped you off. I carried you to your house but you wouldn’t get up so I laid you down on your bench.” Sekyung’s eyes showed curiosity and she began to wonder why this was such a big deal.

“Uh, well, I fumbled around in your purse to look for your keys. I found them, but I found 2 other things as well.” Sekyung immediately tensed up and turned away, not wanting to meet my eyes.

“What things?” She was nervous; she was stuttering.

“I saw a check for $500 along with a little letter.” I looked down and started to eye her bag, wondering if it was still there. Sekyung looked around for an answer, but none came to her.

“Really?” That was all she could think of. I nodded and as I was reaching for her bag, she immediately snatched it away. “Who said you could look through my purse?!” She yelled, putting the blame on me.

“Oh no. This isn’t about me going through your purse. I was just looking for your keys. Don’t put the blame on me!” I stood up as I screamed back at her with anger bubbling up inside of me. She stood up with me, but took a step back.

She looked at me with sad eyes. “Are you cheating on me?” I said quietly. My voice cracked due to the tears that were threatening to fall. She walked towards me and raised her arm to caress my cheek. Instead of lying and making everything worse, she nodded as tears fell from her eyes too. My eyes shut as tears slowly began to roll down the sides of my face. I nodded and turned away, wiping my face with my sleeve.

“I’m sorry…” I heard her whisper beside me. I nodded and looked back at her. Her face showed real concern and her eyes were practically begging for forgiveness. Rather than walking away from the scene, I turned to her and gave her a hug.

“I wish you the best with you and your new boyfriend.” She gaped at me and smiled a little, returning the hug. She seemed surprised at how sincere and understanding I was, but that’s when I realized that if I loved her, then I should let her be happy. That’s what I should let her be right? Happy?

“Jonghyun, I… I don’t know.” She didn’t know the right choice of words to say. She fumbled with her fingers as she stuttered and hesitated a lot. “When we first started going out, I just wanted all the attention. Since you didn’t like me anymore, I thought I was losing my touch, y’know? So I broke up with my boyfriend to be with you.” She sighed and rubbed her hands on her jeans.

I sat back down and tugged on her hand, motioning her to sit with me. As she did so, she continued to speak. “After we started going out, I started to feel jealous whenever you didn’t pay any attention to me. My old boyfriend – the one I dumped to be with you – was always trying to get my attention.” She paused as the image of her lover popped up in her mind.

“After a few weeks of our relationship, I realized that you weren’t the one I loved. I went back to my ex, but I didn’t have the heart to tell you. I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you.” She wept and her tears never stopped falling.

I wrapped my left arm around her in an attempt to soothe her. “Don’t be sorry. It’s okay, honestly. I promise.” She looked up at me and moved her body so she can give me a hug. “You can go to your boyfriend now. I’m okay.” I felt her nod and she pulled back, giving me a soft kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you. You’ll find someone who’ll love you.” She walked away with her head drooped down. She was a few yards away when she turned around to look at me. I raised my hand and waved slightly, giving her a weak smile. When her figure disappeared from my sight, I looked down, kicking the sidewalk. When I started to walk back to the filming area, I felt numerous vibrations in my pocket.

I pulled out my phone to find most of them from Key and one from Sekyung. I decided to open Sekyung’s first, but it was just a simple text thanking me for being an amazing friend.My heart seemed to sink as I read that last word. I stopped walking when I noticed that I’m not as sad as I’m supposed to be. I figured I would be crying and I’d beg for her back, but I’m honestly happy for her. A smile appeared on my face when I was sure getting over her wasn’t going to be that hard with the help of my friends.

After replying to Sekyung, I opened Key’s text. “We have to talk, but right now, I think you should come back to filming. It’s almost our turn.” When I read that text, I was more than halfway there and saw Key’s back facing me. He was standing still, checking his watch from time to time. “Key!” I yelled, running toward him.

“Where were you? Nevermind that. We’re almost on!” He immediately grabbed my wrist and opened the doors, pulling me inside with him. As we were running, I looked down at our interlocked hands as I started to feel a weird tingly feeling inside my chest.