The atmosphere was tense throughout the rest of the day and even the next day, none of us knowing how to cope with Himchan's ominous anger. Luckily it wasn't the kind of anger where you rage and go all crazy, but it was frightening seeing such a sassy and talkative guy suddenly become so reserved and quiet.

Youngjae and I were sitting at the dining table together, working on documents as Himchan stayed outside at the porch, either calming himself down or trying to find a way to hurt Eunhae.

Youngjae passes an open mail to me, “Hyosung is inviting us to a party.”

I take the piece of paper and read her letter,

Hello Saehee!

How are you? I'm doing just fine. Gosh, can't believe how much time already went by. The reason I'm sending you this letter is because it's going to be one of my sister's, Jieun's birthday next week! We're going to throw a party for her, why don't you come? It's a good chance to catch up what we missed on. Make sure to bring your whole crew!

See you soon,

Hyosung.

“Do you remember the two third-years that got in a big fight with Jongup and Zelo in high school?” Youngjae asks.

“Yea, one of them were my roommate from the conference.”

What was his name again?

“Ah! Lay and Kai!” I recall.

“Yea, them.”

“What about them?”

“Apparently they're coming as well,” he passes me another open letter and I read it,

Hello Miss Kim Saehee.

This is Yixing (a.k.a Lay) if you remember, we went to the same high school? If you have not got the invite yet, Miss Hyosung is throwing a birthday party for her younger sister, and we got invited and are coming as well. My group would like to have a conversation with you regarding serious matters. See you there.

-Zhang Yixing

“Well, guess we're going to a party next week.”

The front door opens and Jongup skips in with a wide smile on his face. He looks over to Youngjae and I working together and places his two feet on the ground, his smile going down a little. He blinks a couple of times and brings his smile back up, and starts calmly walking towards us, taking a seat next to me.

“What are you guys doing?” He asks.

“Just some work,” I respond, “You look happy.”

He lets out a small chuckle and takes out an envelope, “I wanted you to be the first person I tell.”

“What's this?” I ask, opening the envelope and taking out a piece of paper with the words that wrote,

Congratulations Moon Jongup! You have been accepted to …

“Oh my god, you did it! You got in!”

He shyly smiles and rubs the back of his neck.

“See, I told you that you could do it.”

“I couldn't have done it without you, Saehee.”

“Saehee?” Youngjae says, in a rather surprising tone.

“What?” I turn my head to Youngjae.

“Nothing,” he mumbles, going back to shuffling and reading through a bunch of requests and letters. It becomes silent when Jongup and I continue to watch Youngjae focusing on nothing else but writing down all the requests and reading more afterwords.

I shove Youngjae's leg under the table with my foot, Jongup got into a college, say something.

Youngjae looks up at me, confused and waiting for me to say something.

Oh right, he can't read minds.

“Jongup got accepted into a college, say something,” I repeat my thoughts.

“Congratulations,” he looks back down at the stack of papers, going back to doing his work.

“Thank you,” Jongup seems to ungratefully reply.

My eyes continue to avert to back and forth to Jongup who was blankly staring at Youngjae, and Youngjae who was pretending like he doesn't notice anything weird.

Did something happen between these two?

Just then Youngjae gets a call and he picks up his phone which he happened to get without telling me first.

“Hello?”

Somi's loud and energetic voice could be heard over the phone, “Yoo Youngjae! Did you seriously just forget to pick up Hanwul from daycare?”

He shoots up from his seat, “, I'm on my way right now.”

“No need to! I'm bringing him home. I have stuff to talk about anyway.”

“Thanks, Somi. Tell Hanwul that I'm sorry.”

“Anytime! Well, see you soon!”

Youngjae hangs up the phone and lets out a sigh of relief and regret.

“Nice going, Youngjae.” I sarcastically comment.

He gives me one last look before excusing himself and going back into his room.

It was ten minutes later when Somi came with an energetic Hanwul running straight to Youngjae's room when he got home.

“Don't forget to color your homework, Hanwul!” Somi tries to relay the message, but fails from Hanwul's speedy feet running away.

We both sit down on a couch in the living room. The maids ask if we want something to eat and we both decline, and Somi's expression slightly falls after the maids leave.

“Is there something wrong?” I nervously ask.

“My dad passed away last night.”

My expression falls along with hers,“I'm so sorry to hear that. But how?”

“He was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.”

My mouth slightly opens from shock and my eyes widen. Terminal lung cancer? My dad passed away from that as well.

“W-who was your doctor?” I stutter, fearing about the answer that was about to come.

“I don't know his full name, but he went by Dr. Choi.”

Choi Yukyung.

“Excuse me for a moment,” I run up to my room, shuffling throw the ridiculous amount of paperwork, looking for the picture of Youngjae's dad. It's not like I want to keep a picture of his ugly face, but for work reasons. I finally find that bastard's face and run back downstairs to a confused Somi.

I hold up the picture in front of her face and she lets out nod, “Yes, that's him. How do you know him?”

I plop myself back down on the couch and lean my head on my elbow for support, “Somi, this man is Youngjae's dad.”

“He's what?!”

“Why didn't you just go to Dr. Park?”

“Dr. Choi told me that my dad secretly made visits to the hospital without telling any of his family members. He told me he was sorry. What a lying bastard!”

I could see the tears almost coming out of Somi's eyes until she notices Youngjae making his way towards us and her tears go straight back into her eyes.

Youngjae bends down and cups his hand to whisper into my ear, “Jongup and Himchan went out to look for Eunhae, and it seems that some complications arose at the bar. Yongguk says he's going to meet up after he finishes his mission, but for now I think Jongup and Himchan needs help.”

Youngjae then stands up straight and asks Somi, “Saehee and I have to go somewhere important. Can you look after Hanwul while we're gone? He can play fine on his own, just make sure he doesn't get kidnapped.”

I shut my eyes and sigh, Yoo Youngjae, you are an idiot.

But Somi happily agrees and promises to keep a close watch on Hanwul. I look into Somi's eyes, “I'm so sorry.”

“What is there to be sorry for? It's not like you did anything wrong, Saehee. Now go, you guys must be busy.”

Youngjae was in a rush so he grabs my arm and starts dragging me out of the mansion and quickly opens the car door and takes a quick seat next to me as the car takes off to Eunhae.

“So Somi's father passed away last night.”

“What?”

“He died of terminal lung cancer, sound familiar?”

His wide eyes continue to stare down at his feet.

“The doctor's name was apparently Dr. Choi.”

The great rush of regret flood all over inside of Youngjae's mind.

“And guess what Somi's doing right now thanks to someone?”

“I didn't know,” he quietly replies.

We finally reach Eunhae's workplace and there was the door with the stairs the lead to the underground bar along the person standing behind the podium to reserve people's name. Youngjae takes his time getting out of the limo and to the bar, the guilt unable to go away.

I give him a little push, “You have my permission to feel bad after this whole thing is over.”

His pace fastens and the person successfully checks us in. Once we take our first step inside, the booming of the loud base ring throughout the whole flight of stairs. It was much louder and the whole room vibrated when we actually went inside the 'bar.'

“Didn't you guys tell me Eunhae works at a pub?” I yell over the music. This place was more like a club with all the drunk people enjoying their time dancing and rubbing their bodies against other strangers to the beat of the music.

We continue walking in the midst of all the crowded people, until a guy grabs my arm and loudly slurs his words, “Aye girl, you lookin fine tonight--”

Youngjae harshly drags me to his side and continues walking, dragging me along away from the drunk man, until another guy comes up to hook up with me. Youngjae was about to shove him away until I do it myself by kicking the guy's shin and smirk at the sight of him yelping in pain. This time I walked forward in victory and Youngjae was the one following behind.

I can take care of myself you idiot.

We finally walked far enough when the music slightly faded, and we saw Jongup and Himchan waiting in front of a room. We make eye contact with each other and Jongup comes up to us, “We locked Eunhae in this room.”

I roll my eyes and order Himchan to open the door. He unlocks the door knob and I make my way and twist it to open the door into an empty room.

“Are you sure it's this room?”

Himchan pushes me aside and walks into the room, confused and furious to where Eunhae ran off to. I follow after him and notice a piece of paper laying on top of the table. I make my way towards the note and it read,

If you're looking for Eunhae, we're off together somewhere in the woods. Come find her at your own risk.

-CYK.

Choi Yukyung.

My angry fists crumple up the paper and throw it to the floor, “Let's go, we're going to the woods.”

++

We separated to look for Eunhae in this spacious place. It was probably an hour since we went out to search, and there was no news of even getting a glimpse of her. Just where exactly is this girl?

It was then when my feet stop and the two figures in front of me. They were facing each other in an open space, standing about seven feet away from each other. One with an expression you could not read, and the other with a timid and scared expression. They continue to look into each other's eyes, until the girl couldn't deal with the tension any further and finally decided to step up for herself.

“Himchan--”

“Why are you doing this?”

“It's not what you think--”

“Tell me!” he yells in a strict voice, causing Eunhae to jump a little.

She drops her head, “I had no other choice.”

“Look at me in the ing eyes and tell me a real reason!”

They look into each other eyes, Himchan's were now full of furry, and the pain of being betrayed could be felt throughout his hurt expression.

Eunhae starts to tear, “I had no other choice! What can I do with a stupid brain of mine?”

“You could have talked about it with me! Why do you go off on your own and act according to your own actions?”

“Because it's my own ing life, and I need to survive for my family!”

“Your sob story is invalid in this situation! You should have at least talked it out with me. I could have give you a better position rather than having you being a stupid .”

She cups her hands into her helpless crying face, “Himchan, what am I suppose to do now?”

His fists clench and calms down, “Don't worry, Eunhae. I'll make it all better. Just trust me.”

She lifts her head, “Really? And you won't do something burdensome as giving me your own money, right?”

He shakes his head, “I know you don't like it, so I won't.”

Her guilty tears uncontrollably stream down her face as they come closer to each other. Eunhae reaches her arms to embrace Himchan, but he reaches his hands towards Eunhae's neck.

“What the ,” I whisper to myself, standing and making my way to stop him from choking Eunhae to death until a hand covers my mouth and an arm wraps around my waists to sit me back down on the grass.

What the , Yongguk? I struggle out of his embrace.

He whispers into my ear, “Saehee, we all agreed to this.”

My eyes open wide in bewilderment. Who, exactly? I didn't agree to this.

I hopelessly watch Eunhae begging for her life as Himchan's grip on her neck becomes stronger. Soon enough Eunhae stops trying, and Himchan releases his hands as Eunhae lands lifeless on the green grass.

Yongguk slowly lets his hands off me and I make my way to stand up and run towards Eunhae, immediately dropping my knees next to her body, shaking to see if there was a chance if she'd wake up. Her closed eyes and non moving body confirmed that she was now dead, and I stand up and furiously slap my hand across Himchan's cheek.

“Do you realize what you have just done?!”

“It was for the best,” his words tremble.

“Somi just told me that her dad died of terminal lung cancer, Himchan. Do you not understand? You're falling for Yoo Jaewook's trap!”

I let out a loud sigh and look around my surrounding, seeing the rest of the guys coming out of the bushes and trees after watching Eunhae being choked to death.

“You guys all agreed to this? You guys knew about this? I didn't! Your boss didn't agree to this, you ing pricks!”

They all stay away at a certain distance away from the lifeless Eunahe, Himchan, and I who were standing in the middle, unable to respond. My long breaths of trying to calm myself down didn't help once the tears of frustration started to flood out of my eyes.

I turn myself back to Himchan, “How could you do this? Eunhae was one of my only friends. You're a bastard, really. All of you are. What is her family going to do now? Did you guys not even think about considering her situation? If you guys haven't realized, she wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for Yoo Jaewook that approached her, she did nothing wrong! She was that desperate to support her family. No matter what kind of wrong thing was doing, how can you --”

I couldn't go on any further, unable to speak because of my choking tears.

How can you kill her like that?

It was no use trying to calm myself down, so I go on ahead and holler into the sky along with my tears, “Yoo Jaekwook or Choi Yukyung or whatever ty name you want to go by! You crossed the ing line, and just know that the next time I see your ugly face, I will beat the living out of you.”

++

Saehee? Youngjae thought in his head. Since when was Jongup allowed to call Saehee just by her name? What happened to noona? No, noona was not good either. Jongup shouldn't even call Saehee anything, it made Youngjae feel even worse by the fact that he himself is not calling Saehee's name.

Jongup should just disappear.

But it's not like Youngjae had always disliked Jongup. When he first came into the group with Zelo, he was just another fellow subordinate. Even when Youngjae came back after three years, he didn't hate Jongup as much as now even though he had the slightest feelings of jealously whenever he saw Jongup and Saehee together. What made him feel this way towards Jongup was his annoying words from last week.

Youngjae was writing in his notebook until he heard a knock from his door. His expectations dropped, when he looked back and saw Jongup coming in.

“Uh, hey. Do you have some time to talk?” Jongup asks.

“Yea.”

Jongup helps himself in and closes the door behind, grabbing another chair and placing it next to Youngjae.

“I'm not sure if you'd like to talk about this, but I'm sure you already noticed that I like Saehee.”

Youngjae wanted to glare Jongup out of his room the instant he mentioned about liking Saehee, but instead he gives a look to Jongup that told him to continue.

“It seems that she still has something for you, and I was wondering if you felt the same way. Because if you don't, I won't have to feel so uncomfortable doing my best for her. What I trying to say is that if you still like her--”

Youngjae looks back into his notebook, pretending to continue writing in it, “I don't have anything for her anymore. Do whatever pleases you and her.”

Jongup faces lifts up and he gets up from his chair, “Thanks, Youngjae. Really--”

“But don't be too shocked when my feelings for her start returning.”

Jongup's eyesbrows furrow together,“What do you mean?”

“What I'm trying to say is that since I like her, don't think that I'll hold back doing whatever pleases her and me.”

wowzas this chp is looonng