“Are you ready?” Krystal asked.

Taemin was still unsure. Krystal had been planning this for a month and he agreed to it. There’s no turning back. “Yes,” he said.

“No one knows my whereabouts but you. So I trust you,” she said.

“Arasseo, arasseo. Aren’t we being too selfish?”

“Selfish?” Krystal laughed and said, “They’re the ones who were selfish. Minho left me for her, with an excuse that we’re not working anymore. Ridiculous.” She grabbed the bottle of soju and drank it. Taemin was surprised to see it.

“Hey, hey!” Taemin raised his voice as he snatched the bottle from her.

She wiped with her red lipstick smudging to her cheek. “Mweo?” she shouted as she tried grabbing the bottle of soju back. She’s quite tipsy as her eyes were smaller than the usual.

“You’re drinking too much nowadays. It’s not good for your health,” Taemin said as hr placed the bottle near him. He poured a few on Krystal’s shot glass and said, “There. Drink there, not directly on the bottle.”

“Thank you, Taemin,” she said as she laughed like a hyena. She drank it fully and it seemed like she wanted more.

Taemin poured soju on his glass and drank it. “So, what’s the plan?”

“Here it goes…”

The next day

Taemin was nervously waiting for Minho outside of Director Kangta’s office. He was already thinking of what to say and how he would trap him to their plan. He was biting his nails unconsciously as he walked back and forth in front of the door.

“Never fail this plan.” The voice of Krystal kept ringing on his head. He was anxious and his conscience keeps telling him not to do it, but he won’t listen.

After a minute, Minho and Sulli got out of Director Kangta’s room with a smile on their faces. Taemin was surprised to see them and his mind went blank. “Taemin, what are you doing here?” Sulli asked.

He exhaled as he smiled due to his nervousness. “Ah… um… I…” Taemin didn’t know what to say. “Minho, you want to go out for a drink?”

“Me?” Minho asked in surprise as he pointed himself.

“Yes, you,” Taemin said as he smiled.

“Why?”

“I… I… I want to know you better. I want to know why Sulli fell in love with this type of guy,” he said. He laughed as he looked at them as if he’s guiltless.

Minho looked at Sulli and asked her if he can. Sulli nodded with a smile. “Okay,” he said.

“Take care you guys,” Sulli said delightfully.

Minho kissed Sulli’s cheek and said, “Take care, too. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Sulli said.

Minho and Taemin walked out of the building. With Taemin’s car, they drove to a nearby bar in Seoul. They entered the bar and contrary to most of the bars in Seoul, it was less noisy and the people there all wore formal clothes. The music played was a jazz type of music.  They walked towards the dark maple counter and sat at the leather seats.

Taemin raised his hand to call the attention of the bartender. The bartender nodded without Taemin mouthing any word. It seemed like Taemin has been a regular here. In seconds, the bartender served them an ice cold white wine and two glasses.

Taemin opened the bottle and poured wine to their glasses. “Thank you,” Minho said.

“Since when did you and Sulli know each other?” Taemin asked as he drank his wine.

“Uh, since when we’re kids. Our parents were co-workers in a beach in Busan before and they’ve been really close since then,” Minho explained. He slowly drank his wine afterwards.

“Ah,” he said. “Did you like her back then?”

“Ah, yes. When we entered middle school, that’s when I realized that what I’m feeling for her is more than what a friend should feel towards his friend,” Minho said enthusiastically. He looked up while smiling as he shortly reminisced his middle school years.

Taemin nodded as he smiled and looked at the glass of wine. He continued swirling it while trying to conceal his nervousness.

“How did you meet her?” Minho asked curiously.

“We became trainees at the same month in 2005. Apart from her friend Tiffany, she considered me as one of her close friends. She shared a lot of things to me back then,” Taemin said. “Even though she told me her whole life, I haven’t heard your name from her,” Taemin tried to piss him off.

“Really?” he mumbled. Minho looked down and got the feeling of awkwardness from this conversation. He felt down after Taemin said that. “I need to go to the washroom first.” Minho left his seat and searched for the washroom.

This is it, Taemin thought. He was fidgeting, not knowing who to follow—Krystal or his conscience. He grabbed something from his pocket. It was a powdered drug in a small piece of clear plastic. He looked around to see if anyone was looking at him. He quickly opened the plastic and poured the contents in Minho’s glass. In no time, the drug dissolved with the wine.

Minho walked back to his seat with Taemin feeling uneasy. He was trying to conceal it but no matter what, a piece of uneasiness was coming out of his body. He fully drank the wine from his glass in hopes of releasing his nervousness.

“Are you okay?” Minho asked as he touched Taemin’s back. Taemin removed his hand abruptly.

“Yes, yes,” he said in irritation. He kept glancing at Minho, checking if he drank it already.

“Thank you for taking care of Sulli during your training years,” he said. He grabbed his glass and drank it fully.

After minutes, the drug became effective. Minho was feeling dizzy and the surrounding were distorted in his perception. He tried to blink several times, but his dizziness won’t go off. He tried taking off his glass, but it doesn’t work. His sight became a blur as his eyes became heavier and heavier.

“Are you okay?” Taemin said in concern. Minho couldn’t hear it and felt like his ears were covered by two big hands.

Minho started to fall out of his seat and in no time, he out.

Minho woke up with blurred vision. He grasped for his glasses and wore it. He was on his bed and had no idea what happened to him last night.

“Good morning, Minho,” a familiar voice greeted him. He looked to the side and it was Krystal. He got out of his bed in surprise as his eyes widened.

“W-W-What are you doing here?” Minho shouted. Minho looked below and saw that he was only wearing the black slacks from yesterday.

“You brought me here,” Krystal said while smiling.

“Impossible,” Minho said in surprise.

“Possible,” she said. Minho saw that Krystal’s wearing his polo without any bottom, exposing her legs. Her red lipstick was smudged to her cheek and his polo was full of kiss marks on the collar and her hair’s very messy.

“Andwae! Andwae!” he shouted.

“You were lovely last night on how you cuddled with me and how you kissed me,” she said.

Krystal got off the bed and walked closely to him. Minho continued stepping back as he tried to remember what happened last night. The last thing he could remember was he had a drink with Taemin, nothing else.

The doorbell rang. Krystal smiled evilly to Minho as she ran towards the door. “I’ll get it, Minho-ya,” she said in a y voice. Minho tried to stop her from doing so, but it was too late. Krystal unlocked the door and pulled it.

It was Sulli.