Where the hell are you?” the caller asked her, his voice filled with anger.

“Mianhae, Oppa,” Hae Rin replied, her voice slightly shaking with fear as she realized who was the caller. “I’m still at school. I’m going to a friend’s house.”

“No, you’re not,” her brother snarled back at her and she flinched. “You’re coming home now! Or should I tell Appa that you dare disobey me?”

“No, please no,” she pleaded. “I’m going now. Annyeong!”

“Pali!”

“Hae Rin ah, what’s wrong?” Boo Yee asked the moment she put the phone down. She saw the troubled look on her friend’s face and got worried.

“Nothing’s wrong.” She turned to Key with an apologetic expression on her face. “Key, maybe Boo Yee can help you instead with your work. I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow. I am so sorry.” She bowed before she got on her skateboard and left.

“Is she all right?” Key asked, staring after her.

Boo Yee hesitated, knowing that something was bothering her best friend. “Uh, Minho-sshi . . .” she said, shooting a sideways glance toward the kingka.

“Go,” he told her understandingly. “She needs you.”

She smiled remorsefully. “Kamsahamnida.” She turned to Key. “I’m so sorry, Key. I really am.” She ran after Hae Rin.

“So . . . you really like Boo Yee, huh?” Key asked Minho once the two girls were gone.

“And you like Hae Rin?” Minho asked back.

Key smiled, knowing he deserved it. “Maybe,” he replied, heaving a sigh. “She’s really different. I mean, she talks to me normally and not like other fans. And she treats me like a normal person, not good-looking or anything.”

“Same here for Boo Yee,” Minho agreed wistfully, staring after Boo Yee’s back.

Hae Rin was panicking as she reached home. I’m in trouble again. What did I do wrong to deserve a dad and a brother who treat me badly?

A boy with brown hair came out of the house. “Pali!” he said.

Hae Rin ran up to the front door. “Mianhaeyo, Oppa,” she said.

Her brother, Jonghyun, pulled her by the hair into the house. “Didn’t I tell you after school you come home early?” He slapped her smartly right across her face.

Hae Rin cried in pain. “I’m sorry! I – I lost track of time.”

Jonghyun let go of her hair and she fell to the floor. “That’s always your excuse. Now get up, and make dinner. I am getting hungry and you know what happens when I get hungry but my food is not in my stomach on time.”

Crap.

Hae Rin got up silently, cradling her painful wrist which she landed on and walked to the kitchen to prepare something for her brother to eat.

“And make something good too,” her brother called out, walking to the couch and watches television after closing the door.

Boo Yee was looking for Hae Rin, but she failed. Aish, she’d had a head start. I will never be able to catch up with her, she thought despondently. Dejected, she decided to walk back to school.

“What’s wrong? Did you manage to find her? How is she?” Minho asked her once she reached back to the boys.

“I lost her.”

“Don’t you know where she lives?” Key asked her, frowning.

Boo Yee shook her head sadly. “We’re best friends but she keeps a lot of secrets . . . that she doesn’t tell me.” She felt pathetic.

“Maybe she forgot to do something, so she went to do it,” Minho offered.

Key nodded. “Yeah. . . . Is it okay if I ask for her number?”

“Sure.” Boo Yee gave Key Hae Rin’s number just as Key’s car arrived.

“Uh, well, I should go,” Key said. “See you guys tomorrow.” He got into the car and left.

Minho turned to Boo Yee. “You still wanna get ice-cream?”

“Sure.”

They began walking down to a nearby ice-cream parlor when so many fangirls started to follow them.

“Minho Oppa, who is she?” one asked.

“Is she your new girlfriend?” another asked.

“Oppa, why are you with her? You’re supposed to be with me!” someone said.

Minho rolled his eyes. “Come on,” he said, taking her hand and pulled her into the ice-cream shop. “I’m sorry, about the fangirls.”

“Gwaenchanha,” Boo Yee replied back, smiling warmly at him, making him feel butterflies flutter about deep in his abdomen. “So, should we order?” she asked, gesturing to the counter in front of them after a few moments when all Minho did was smile.

He snapped out of it, shaking his head. “Uh, right,” he said stupidly and they walked to the counter. “What do you want?”

“I’ll have a chocolate-vanilla sundae,” Boo Yee decided.

Minho turned to the cashier. “Make that two chocolate-vanilla sundae.”

“Two chocolate-vanilla sundaes coming up,” the cashier said. “Anything else?”

Boo Yee shook her head. “No, thanks. Minho-sshi?”

“That would be all,” he said, taking out his wallet. “How much?”

“Thirteen dollars and fifty cents, please,” the cashier replied.

“Why don’t we split?” Boo Yee suggested, taking out her wallet.

“No, it’s on me today,” Minho replied, smiling as he gave the cashier a twenty-dollar bill.

The cashier gave back the balance, plus the sundaes. “Thank you for ordering. Please do come again!”

The two of them walked over to a nearby table and sat opposite of each other. Boo Yee felt really shy to be seen with the kingka. Minho, however, was elated that he get to spend time with the most beautiful girl he has ever laid eyes on.

“Can I ask you something?” Boo Yee asked, her curiosity increasing about Minho.

“Go ahead,” Minho replied.

She studied him carefully before asking, “Why’d you ask me to hang out with you?”