“Please answer, please answer…” I chanted under my breath.  A woman in my condition should not be outside in the middle of the night by herself, even if she was directly in front of the police station.

“Hello…?” said a sleep-filled voice. I felt a bit guilty about disturbing Sungmin at the hour, but he also wanted to be in my life so he could only blame himself.

“Sungmin? It’s Anna. Do you think you could pick me up and let me stay with you for the night?”

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” he asked, sounding wide awake.

“No. I have an early appointment and I thought it would be easier to stay in the city tonight,” I lied.

“Why didn’t you call earlier?”

“It kind of slipped my mind. I didn’t realize it was so late.”

“No. No, don’t worry about it. Where exactly are you?”

I told him my location and fifteen minutes later he pulled up in front of me. I got in the car with little difficulty and we were soon back at his place.

“What time is your appointment? I can go with you before I go into the office.”

I shook my head. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I don’t want to be a bother to you.”

“It’s not a bother. Really.”

Uh oh. I hadn’t been expecting this part. “Actually, my friend Tonya is supposed to meet me and go with me.” I held my breath while Sungmin processed that information. He took if for face value and showed me where I could sleep. Apparently the only one sensitive to my lies was Minho, a fact I was grateful for at the moment.

The next morning I left a few minutes after Sungmin headed to work. I made my way to the bank and closed out my account. With my pockets heavy I text the one person I absolutely knew I could trust and had him meet me at the train station where I’d stored my stuff the night before after getting off the bus.

“P.O! I’m glad you were able to make it,” I told him after spotting his blonde head above most of the crowd of people.

“I couldn’t let you leave without saying goodbye. What is this about noona?”

There was about an hour until my train left so we sat down and I told him everything. The whole time he didn’t say a word or make a face or otherwise react. When I finished he pulled me into a hug.

“Do you want me to beat him up?” he offered.

The laugh I let out made heads turn my way. “No, thanks for the offer, but that’s not necessary.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded. “I’m sure. Are you okay with this? I mean, I’m the second girl to run out on you.”

“You’re not running out on me noona. I’m a bit disappointed I won’t get to see you anymore, but you chose me as the last person you wanted to see so I guess that means something.”

“You’re a good kid P.O.”

He flashed a grin that I made sure to etch into memory. The loudspeaker announced boarding for my train and I stood up.

“I’ll be keeping up with your activities, so don’t get in trouble, okay?”

“I am the epitome of innocence,” he told me.

Final boarding was called so I hugged P.O. again and ran to find a seat. I slid into the window and found him among the crowd. I waved to him again as the train started to pull off. I was fighting back tears the whole time, but I knew I was doing the right thing. I rubbed my stomach as the scenery blurred before my eyes from both speed and tears. Everything is going to be alright I thought to myself. Everything is going to be alright.