I sit on one of the vanity chairs while Unnie is on the couch.

            I keep staring at my phone, at HimChan’s number.

            To call or not to call?

            This has never happened before, so can somebody please tell me what the standard operating procedure is?

            If I call, and he doesn’t pick up, I’m just going to get pissed off at him.

            If I call, and he does pick up only to brush me off, that’ll piss me off even more.

            I don’t want to seem like the clingy best friend, but I at least need to know he’s okay.

            He’d tell me if his dad was back, right?

            Yes, he’d tell me if that happened.

            He wouldn’t go off and try to handle it without telling me.

            I believe that.

            So it has to be something else.

            A hand waves in front of my eyes.

            “I’ve been calling you five times now. The clients are here,” Unnie says, already holding a foundation sponge.

            I look around the room and I’m actually shocked.

            The guys weren’t even keeping quiet.

            “Sorry, didn’t get much sleep last night,” I answer Unnie as I get off the vanity chair and grab my own foundation sponge.

            “Which ones am I in charge of?” I ask Unnie, who’s working on Myungsoo.

            “SungJong, Sungyeol, and Hoya. Just put on the basic, we’ll put on the coloring before the fanmeet,” Unnie instructs me.

            “Noona, annyeong,” SungJong greets me as he takes his seat.

            I give him a small smile, “SungJong, annyeong.”

            “You look really tired,” he says as I dab the foundation on him.

            “It was a long night,” I explain.

            “Don’t I know it? I heard Sunggyu-hyung talking to someone early this morning,” he teases me.

            I make an alarmed face, “I wasn’t talking to him last night.”

            I see his eyes widen and become shifty like he wants to be anywhere, but the chair he’s sitting on.

            I start to laugh, “It was me he was talking to.”

            “Yah, noona! I was already starting to think of ways to beat up hyung!” He whines.

            “Bwohrago?” I hear Gyu say from behind me.

            “Apparently, Sungjong heard you talking to someone last night. I acted like you were talking to another girlfriend,” I explain, feeling a genuine smile breaking free from my lips.

            “And this is why we don’t eavesdrop on other people’s conversations,” Gyu says thoughtfully.

            “What if I were really talking to my other girlfriend? We’d both be in deep right now,” he says in a loud whisper to SungJong.

            SungJong begins to shift uncomfortably, but just when I think he’s settled himself he punches Gyu in one swift motion.

            “Yah, why would you say that?” He asks Gyu.

            SungJong then looks at me, “Noona, let me set you up on a blind date. One of my sunbaes from school is looking for a girlfriend. He’s really nice and smart.”

            “Yah! Andwe!” Gyu answers, before I even get a word in.

            “She’s mine!” Gyu proclaims as he pulls me to him and plants a kiss on my forehead.

            My reflexes apparently chose this particular moment to stop functioning.

            The guys suddenly stopped talking and started staring at me.

            I tried my best to remain indifferent as I forced myself to finish SungJong’s make-up.

            “Sungyeol, your turn,” I call out.

            “Sunggyu?” I hear Unnie call.

            “Neh, Noona?” Sunggyu replies, still not budging from my side.

            “Get your over here,” Unnie continues with a smirk.

            Slowly, Sunggyu’s arms around my waist loosen up. I feel him kiss the top of my head before walking to Unnie.

            Sungyeol replaces SungJong on the vanity chair. It looks like he wants to say something, but thinks better of it. He just gives me a knowing smile.

            I look to Sunggyu’s reflection on the mirror, and he’s smiling at me.

            It’s like I’d given him the go-ahead signal that we’re dating.

            Is that what I want?

            Yes.

            There, I’ve admitted it.

            Whoop-dee-in’-doo.

            But before I can allow myself to actually act on it, I need to talk to HimChan.

            Sunggyu gives me butterflies, no doubt about that, but HimChan’s recent behavior doesn’t sit well with me. I need to know if he’s okay with me and Sunggyu. I need to know if I still have my best friend. And if he’s going to make me choose, am I really prepared to take Sunggyu’s hand when it means I have to let go of him?

            I step back to let Sungyeol out of his chair.

            Hoya gives me a hug before settling into his chair, “Thanks for saying yes. You don’t know how much he was talking about you, and worrying you were gonna say no after bailing on you last weekend. We all heard him talking to you last night, praying to all the gods you would say yes to shut him up.”

            “Well, it’s always nice to see I’m appreciated,” I say with a smile, but my eyes expectantly look over my phone for any texts or calls I may have missed.

            None.

            I focus back at the task at hand and finish putting on Hoya’s make-up.

            “Unnie, I’m done. I need to get some coffee. I saw a coffee shop out in front, I’ll be back in 5 minutes,” I say.

            “Get me a hot chocolate please,” I hear Unnie call out as I close the door behind me.

            Suddenly my phone vibrates with incoming texts.

From: Sungyeol

Myungsoo and I wondered if you’d be able to bring us some Iced Americano.

We’ll pay, of course :3

From: Dongwoo

Since you’re already going to the coffee shop, Hoya and Woohyun wants a Caramel Macchiato.

… me too…

We’ll pay you back, I swear! :D

From: Sunggyu

Caramel Macchiato <3

            So much for getting some alone time to think.

            Are they sure they’re an idol band anyway? Shouldn’t they have managers or personal assistants to do this for them?

            Bless SungJong-ie for not ordering anything through me, though. Bless that boy’s heart.

            My phone vibrates again; I unconsciously start to hope it’s from HimChan. Of course, it’s not. But what’s another disappointing moment added to the crap pile that is my day anyway?

            Where the is Himchan?

            I can only think of two acceptable reasons.

            He’s either dying or –

            Nope, I’m not going there.

            Not at all.

            I TAKE IT BACK.

            Universe, if there were a day you were going to ignore me, let it be this day. I swear I didn’t mean it. I’m just in between so much frustration and worry and annoyance.

            Just when I think I’m about to break, I see a familiar face sporting a blonde hairdo and a girl under his arm in the corner of the coffee shop.

            I catch his eye, and I see he didn’t expect me to be where I am because I see his eyes widen a fraction and his step falter. He composes himself, his eyes glazing over, and I know he’s going to pretend the last week of avoidance never happened.

            I take my phone out of my pocket and wave it, so he knows I’m about to call him and I expect him to answer.

            It rings once and he answers it for the first time in a week.

            “So, I guess congratulations are in order?” I speak first.

            “Yeah, I guess so,” he answers ambiguously.

            “Oh, so you got my texts then?” I ask sharply.

            “Yeah, I did,” he says, trying to avoid my gaze.

            I sigh, both in relief and frustration, “You know, just knowing that you’re alive and well is cause for congratulations.”

            I guess my words were harsher than I thought because his eyes immediately found mine, and I could really see the hurt I put there.

            He makes a move to walk to me, but my pride gets in the way.

            “No, you stay there. I was just out for a coffee run. Anytime you want to take your best friend title back, you know where to find me. Because now I know it doesn’t go both ways anymore,” I say as I end the call and grab cups of coffee.

            Here I was worrying over losing Himchan because I wanted to try with Sunggyu and apparently I’m not even worth a thought---

            You know what? No. That girl may or may not have been a girl he’s been hooking up with. I don't care. I mean I care as his best friend and that's wholly his business, but what I cannot, for the life of me, excuse is his radio silence. I was worried about him. So many scenarios started going through my head, some were in car crashes and most of it included his dad. And it turns out everything was hunky-dory?

            I walk back into an empty green room.

            Thank God.

            I don’t think I would have been able to interact with anyone after that passive-aggressive confrontation with Himchan.

            My phone starts to vibrate, and I see who the caller is.

            Not so nice when you’re on the other end, huh?

A/N: Okaaay, I feel like this was a slightly better chapter than the last update. But feel free to comment if it was all over the place or if you want more explanations in the next chapter of what happened here :3