Hyomin’s POV

            Our short holiday is over and we’re all back in the apartment. Jessica is still heart broken but Sooyoung is always by her side and gradually she’s getting better. I rarely see Yuri these days. I guess she’s really avoiding Jessica. Taeyeon and Tiffany are still lovey dovey as usual. But at night, I would catch Taeyeon staring blankly on her ceiling instead of sleeping. When I ask her about it, she said it’s nothing and she would divert the topic into me-bringing-my-boyfriend-over. Successfully, I forgot that I was the one who’s interrogating her in the first place. 

            We’re having our take out dinner together with Yuri’s absence, as usual. I understand why she can’t be here with us. But I miss all 6 of us hanging out together.

            “You know, it’s been quite a while since we did Hyomin’s-man-orientation.” Tiffany starts a conversation and it’s about me. Great, just great.

            “Oh, right! I almost forgot about that. So when can we?” Sooyoung asks excitedly. Before I swallow the food inside my mouth and answer her, Taeyeon already did it on my behalf WITHOUT my consent. 

            “How about tomorrow night?” I almost choke on my food. Everybody cheers on her statement.

            “Nooooo! I can’t do tomorrow night. I’m going to sleepover at my friend’s doing a group assignment.” Sooyoung objects. Why they’re the ones who’s making this decision?!

            “Wait..wait. Are you freaking kidding me?” 

            “Nope. I told you to bring him over after Christmas break, didn’t I?”

            “Yea.. but..” I can’t even finish my sentence.           

            “How about the day after tomorrow?”

            Everybody nods their head. I just can’t win over this bunch of people.

            “Oh wait, the day after tomorrow is Friday, right? I have a date on Friday. But I guess I can meet him for a while and then I’ll go on my date. That’s okay, right?” Everybody freezes. Jessica has already dating other people? I look at Sooyoung and her expression tells me she doesn’t know about it either. Her eyes are bulging out from the socket.

            “You... you have a date?” Tiffany asks her.

            “Yes. It’s not like we’re official or anything. She’s been accompanying me for lunch these last few days and suddenly she asks me to dinner. I know you guys think maybe it’s too fast. But someone said that a cure for a broken heart is another heart.” She looks swiftly at Sooyoung. “So I thought to myself, why not?”

            “Well... that’s.... good for you. Then... I guess we need an orientation for her also?” Taeyeon asks quite unsurely. Nobody escapes this ‘orientation’ thing.

            Jessica giggles, “Sure, if we’re official, I’ll bring her over.” Jessica seems happy, contrary to the person who’s sitting next to her. Sooyoung looks depress.    

            “Anyway, what’s his name, Hyominnie?” Jessica asks me out of the blue.

            I’m still bewildered over the information she just shared with us, “Huh?”

            “Your boyfriend. What’s his name?”  

            “Sunny.” Again, Taeyeon answers behalf of me.

            “WAIT! I never told you his name.”

            “You think I can’t hear you talking to him every night AND morning?” and now I’m blushing.

            “Oh my God! Our campus heartbreaker is blushing!” Tiffany says and pokes my cheek. The others just laugh. 

            “But, ‘Sunny’? That sounds like a girl name.” Jessica comments.

            “Wait a sec. Is that really why you don’t want to bring ‘him’ over? He’s actually a girl?” Taeyeon asks suspiciously.

            “No!” ugh, this is so embarrassing.

            “Well ‘Sunny’ is definitely not a boy’s name.” Tiffany says accusingly.

            “..................” I look down at my plate. Sunny is a boy, okay. BUT it’s really embarrassing to tell them why I call him that!

            “Hey, it’s okay, Hyomin-ah. Did you forget that we also dating girls? We won’t judge.” Jessica says as she puts her hand over mine.

            “IT’S A TERM OF ENDEARMENT!” I cover my red face with both of my hands.

            They don’t respond for ONE SECOND before they burst into laughter and tease me.      

            We spend the rest of the dinner with endless teasing from them to me. 

            Finally it’s bedtime. Taeyeon already tucks herself inside the cover. So I turn off the light. After some time, I still couldn’t sleep. I look over at Taeyeon and I can see she hasn’t sleep either. 

            “Taeyonnie?”

            “Hmmm?”

            “Why aren’t you asleep yet?”

            “Why aren’t you?”

            “................... what if the others don’t like him?”

            “Is he a bad person?”

            “Of course not!”

            “Does he stink?”

            “What kind of question is that?! And no, he smells really nice.”

            Taeyeon chuckles, “Then the others will like him.”

            “What if they chase him away?”

            “If he gets scared easily because of us, then he’s not ready to commit a serious relationship with you. Don’t you want a serious relationship with him?”

            “Well.... yeah.”

            “Alright. Then we’ll see about that.”

            “I’m nervous, Tae.”

            “Wow, this is the first time you’re getting nervous over this kind of thing.”

            “You know why.” I sigh.

            “Because of the AND the fact that you fall in love with him?” She teases me.

            “I’m being serious here!”

            “Relax, Hyominnie. It’s just us. Besides, it’ll be more nerve wrecking when you’re going to introduce him to your family.” There’s a hint of sadness on her voice.

            “You haven’t told your family?”

            “No.”

            “What about Christmas? Weren’t you going to tell them?”

            She lets out a sigh, “It wasn’t the right time.”       

            We grew quiet. I don’t really know how to respond to her and from her tone; I think she doesn’t want to talk about it any further.

            “Tae, you think Yuri would be there also? I miss her. She’s never around anymore.”

            “You know why she’s never around here anymore.”

            “But still... I miss her.”

            “I miss her too. I’ll text Fany to see if she can talk about it to Yul.”

            “You think both of them will be ready though?”

            “Seeing Jessica’s condition, I think she’s far more better now. But I don’t know about Yuri.”    

            “I hope the two of them are still together. I miss hanging out with the 6 of us.”

            “Yeah, me too.”

            “And I hope you guys won’t scared him away.”

            She chuckles at my statement, “Let’s just go to sleep. It will be fine. Don’t worry too much, okay?”

            I let out a sigh, “Okay. Good night then, Taeyeonnie.”

            “Good night, Hyominnie.”

            No matter how Taeyeon keeps assuring me that it’s going to be fine, somehow I can’t stop feeling something’s not right. Would they dislike him and scare him away? Does he want a serious relationship? And why Taeyeon hasn’t told her family yet? What happened on Christmas? Wouldn’t the atmosphere be awkward between Jessica and Yuri? I can’t stop to ponder and falls asleep with a lot of things on my mind.  

Yuri’s POV

            I enter the apartment and it’s quiet. It means that everybody is already in their own room. I exhale in relief and turn the knob on my door. 

            “You’re finally home!” my roommate is still up, leaning on the headboard of her bed and cell phone in hand.

            “What are you doing still up?”

            “Waiting for my room mate to come back.” She grins at me.

            “Well, I’m back now.” I wink at her, “Go to sleep, Fany-ah.” I’m too tired to shower, so I just change my clothes into a more comfortable one.

            “Yuri-ah, we’re having an ‘orientation’ dinner for Hyomin’s new man on Friday.”

            “Ah really? It’s been quite some time.”

            “Yeah.”

            I flop on my bed and settle myself into a comfortable position. I feel that Tiffany is still looking at me.

            “What? Something’s wrong?”

            “Will you be there for dinner with us on Friday, Yul?” she asks hopefully.

            I look at her without giving out an answer. Honestly, I couldn’t help but miss my friends too.

            “I don’t know, Fany-ah.” I’m pretty sure I’m still not strong enough to be in the same room with Jessica.

            “We miss you and Hyomin will appreciate it if you’re there to meet his boyfriend.”   

            “Okay, I’ll think about it. But don’t get your hopes high.”

            She smiles hearing my reply. “Fair enough.”

            “Is there anything more you want to talk about?” I can see that she has something to talk about but kind of hesitant.

            “No, it’s okay. You look sleepy.”

            “Are you sure?” I can’t help to let out a yawn.

            “Yeah. Good night, Yul.”

            “Okay then. Good night, Fany-ah.”