Minah POV

“I think it’ll be a little easier if I start like this,” I take off my thick-rimmed glasses, brush my hair up out of my face and tie it in a high ponytail, and rub away my fake acne (I rubbed lipstick all around my face. Hey, I had free time this morning).

Yuni’s eyes widen.

“You look like a completely different person,” she murmurs. Suddenly her eyes widen. “Wait a minute, you look like-,”

“Glam.” I sigh. “That’s me. Hello." 

I explain everything to Yuni, from my night and day identities to how everyone thinks I’m this nerdy, creepy girl at school, and how Manager Chon's always pressuring me to take on more jobs and project a ier image of myself when I really don't want to.

Then I start telling her about Chanyeol (without mentioning his name- I haven’t known Yuni long enough to trust her with not spreading around Chanyeol’s secret).

“-and then I went to go look for him and he was kissing this girl! And I felt really bad, but I honestly don’t like him at all.” I bury my hands in my head. “So that kind of just sums up everything.”

Yuni pats my hand. “Are you sure you don’t like the guy?” she asks.

I nod vigorously. “I’m positive. He’s mean, arrogant, a player, and really strange at the same time. But sometimes.... he can be so...,”

I trail off and think back to the times when he helped me home, when he protected me, when we did that photoshoot together and my heart wouldn’t stop going crazy.

Right at that instant, someone barrels into the café.

I look up, surprised.

It’s Chanyeol himself, panting and heaving like he just ran an 800-meter dash. “My sides,” he coughs, doubling over.

“Chanyeol?!” Yuni and I exclaim at the same time.

I glance at Yuni, shocked. She knows Chanyeol too?

“Hi Yuni,” Chanyeol nods at her. Then he heads straight for me. “Minah,” he says, but I cut him off.

“Chanyeol, I don’t really care about what you did- or should I say, didn't do today,” I tell him. “You can leave now. It doesn’t matter.”

“I came to apologize,” he snaps irritatedly. “I should’ve spoken up for you.”

“Yeah, well, whatever. Everyone just thinks I’m weirder. There’s nothing you can do about it.” I sigh.

"Well, maybe if you stood up for yourself everyone wouldn’t think you were crazy,” Chanyeol argues. “If you came to school looking normal then no one would talk crap about you. If you actually talked-,”

“The day I do that is the day you come to class looking like you do on a typical night at Slappy's," I retaliate. “Leave me alone, Chanyeol. You don’t understand anything about me.” I turn around, ready to walk out the door, but I'm stopped by Chanyeol, who grabs my arm in a viselike grip. He's bristling angrily. 

"On the contrary, I believe I understand you better than anyone."  he laughs humorlessly. "Day and night personalities, remember?”

“Yeah, but I’m not a jackass like you are.” I mutter, pulling my arm away from his hand. “I’m not a player. I’m not mean and rude. And I stand up for the truth.” I add, raising my eyebrows.

A flash of guilt appears on Chanyeol’s face for an instant, but it quickly disappears. “I can stand up for myself, though. And that’s better than anything.” he sneers.    

Yuni's staring at me and Chanyeol, her head moving back and forth between us with our every line of conversation. She looks like she wants to interfere, but she keeps quiet. 

On the other hand, annoyance and fury begin to build up in me.

This conversation is obviously getting nowhere.

Every time I think that Chanyeol and I have made some progress in our relationship- that we’ve started being a little nicer and more understanding towards each other- he just has to do something douchey.

“Chanyeol, I’m done with you.” I shove past him. “Bye, Yuni. It was nice talking to you.”

But as I storm out of the cafe, my heart begins to ache.