It had been a week since they returned to Korea after the awards show. It had also been a week after Donghae learned about the relationship Dara and Yesung had been keeping from the public and from him.

It never occurred to him that Yesung liked Dara or Dara liked him in return. He had no inkling that the two had been secretly seeing each other behind his back. Donghae tried to remember instances from before which could give him a clue about the two dating. He could only recall a few times when Dara’s name would be brought out in a topic or mentioned in passing and the reaction just seemed natural and nothing awkward. Although there had been times when the group would be immersed in conversations about girls and dating, Yesung had once revealed that he had been dating someone seriously. When the group would press him for more details, he would not reveal the girl’s identity. He would just say that they will come to know her one day and at the right time. Everyone in the group had the idea that it was an idol member but as to who she was, they were just as clueless as Donghae was. They would mention several names and asked Yesung if it was his girl and he would always say no. And why wouldn’t he say no when every time they would name names, Dara’s would not be on the list. It was understandable to exclude her on the list because they knew about Donghae and Dara’s history. It had been a secret code and an unspoken rule among close friends to never date or have a relationship with the same girl. And Yesung clearly violated that rule.

When they returned back to Korea Donghae took the time off to cool his head and get away as much as possible from Yesung. The timing had just been right because the group had been given a week off from their busy activities. Donghae did not know how to deal with the situation he was in especially how he will treat Yesung. Should he confront him? Should he pretend that he knew nothing about them and just act casually? Should he just let it go and forget Dara? Those had been the hardest questions he faced in his life- what should he do?

It had been difficult for Donghae to get away from the thoughts of Dara and Yesung being together. The incident had been replaying over and over in his mind. He just could not help it. Maybe it was the fact that he still could not accept the fact that Dara moved on. But what did he expect Dara to do, not to move on and just be stuck waiting for him and for his promise? It was his fault in the first place. But out of all the guys out there, why did it have to be his friend and co-member? He could not bear to see them together. But he knew that seeing them together was inevitable.

After his much needed vacation- a vacation that did nothing to forget or lessen the pain, he decided to contact Dara through e-mail and asked her to meet him at a café. He told her that he wanted to return the cell phone and jacket she forgot at the hotel. Dara replied saying that she would just have her assistant picked it up for her. But he was quick to say that it should be Dara who ought to get it because if not, he would expose their pictures. The picture he was talking about was the one taken while they were sipping their drinks and having a conversation at the bar. At the mention of the word pictures, she quickly replied and agreed to meet him personally at the café.

And after everything that had happened, he would still want to see her. He could be a masochist and just wanted to inflict pain to himself. But that pain had been killing him. He wanted the truth even though deep inside he knew he did not deserve to demand it from her. What right did he have when all he did was broke her heart?

They decided to meet at eleven in the evening to avoid being seen by many people. They would be meeting at the swanky Calyx Seoul café and gallery. It was Donghae who arrived early at the café so he killed the time off by looking at the art collections and the framed photograph there. He was taken aback when he saw a figure behind his back. It was Yesung. He almost forgot he invited him, too. He wanted the three of them to talk face to face once and for all. But of course he did not tell either Dara or Yesung about his plan because if they knew, their meeting would not be possible at all.

Yesung had no idea why Donghae suddenly invited him for a coffee. It was just plain random. All he had was a doubt that maybe Donghae already knew about him and Dara. But he scrapped that idea knowing that Dara would not tell anyone about their affair and if she would tell anyone, Donghae would be the last thing on her mind. There had been many times when he had wanted to tell Donghae about their relationship and every time he would try, he just seemed to back out at the very last minute. Maybe because he was scared of what might happen to their friendship and to his relationship with Dara. Given the right time, he knew that he could have that courage to talk to him about it but as to when the right time is, he was not sure when it would be.

“So, what are we going to talk about?” Yesung asked. “Why is it so important that we can’t talk about it on the phone?”

“Let’s wait a minute. Why don’t we take our seats?” Donghae said coldly. “You’ll see”

The two decided to sit across each other. “Better” Donghae said almost loudly to himself. Seating across each other seemed to be a confrontational setting.

Donghae held out the cellular phone from his pocket. He placed it on the table and tried to see what reaction Yesung might have. Yesung just stared at it. He knew it was Dara’s phone and he knew she left it at Donghae’s hotel room.

“Do you recognize this?”

“And if I do, does it matter?”

Donghae smiled sarcastically. “You knew it’s hers, don’t you?”

Yesung said nothing. He realized Donghae already knew about them. He tried to stay calm and act coolly. He knew this day would come but he was not prepared that it would be too soon.

They sat there in silence, thinking about each other’s