“Congratulations oppa,” said a familiar voice.

“J-Jessica…” Kai breathed.

“You seemed surprised to see me,” Jessica replied while walking across the stage towards him with a bright smile on her face. She was wearing an elegant light pink ball gown and had her long blonde hair curled, the curls bouncing as she walked – her hips swayed sassily from side to side and the bright smile she once wore dimmed down to a mischievous smirk.

“We need to talk… in private,” Kai said through gritted teeth and motioned his eyes over to the crowd and then back to Jessica. He didn’t dare say what was on his mind in front of the crowd.

Jessica was now standing in front of him and was poking out her heavily glossed lips. “But wae, oppa? I just came to see your speech about you merging with my brother’s company,” she explained and grabbed his hand, holding it firmly.

Her holding his hand earned quite a few gasps from the audience and then the press began to snap pictures of the scene.

‘Brother…’ Kai thought in shock, ‘the CEO is her… brother?’ He then looked down at their interlocked hands and wanted to pull away but he didn’t want to make a scene… it would look bad for the merger since she was linked to the company but he also knew that the media would twist the whole story anyway.

“I really think we need to talk,” Kai said quietly but the tone of his voice was threateningly sharp, “now, Jessica.”

“Wait for me backstage,” Jessica said then let go of his hand before gently kissing his cheek and happily pranced over to the CEO, congratulating him on the successful merger.

‘Did she just… kiss me?’ Kai thought in confusion as he stood on the stage staring blankly ahead. The camera flashes increased with the kiss and he heard chatter in the audience contemplating whether the two were dating or not. The whole scene was causing his blood to boil. He could barely tolerate Jessica before but embarrassing him in front of everyone… this was absolutely uncalled for.

He felt his face burning from the rage welling up inside him so he decided it was best to just leave before he exploded. He walked off the stage into the backstage area and almost ran directly into one of his assistants.

“Sir, do you need anything?” his assistant questioned seeing how Kai seemed absolutely flustered.

“Yeah… to get the hell out of here,” Kai said angrily as he stormed towards the exit.

“I’m afraid that won’t be necessary, Jongin…” said a voice from behind him.

Kai turned around to see the person behind the mysterious voice. “You…”

---

~Back in California~

The school day was over and Jen sat in her dorm room all alone. What else could she do? No one here liked her because she was poor, Kai was gone, and Luhan hadn’t said anything to her since the hospital…

Jen laid back on her bed with a sigh while staring up at the ceiling. ‘So is this what it’s going to be like for now on?’ she thought and rolled over to lie on her side.

Knock knock!

Jen sat up and looked towards the door. ‘No… that couldn’t have been a knock…’ she thought and was about to lie back down before…

Knock knock knock!

‘Someone is at the door!’ she thought happily and looked through the peephole to see the same delivery girl and she was holding something again.

Jen opened the door and the delivery girl bowed to her – something that Jen didn’t expect but she found it nice that the little blonde girl was appealing to her culture.

“I have another delivery for you,” the girl said then handed Jen a medium-sized box.

‘I wonder what this could be,’ Jen thought while observing the box that had been handed to her.

“You seem to get a lot of deliveries,” the girl added, “any idea who it’s from this time?”

Jen shrugged with a small smile creeping up on her face. “I have no idea.”

The girl chuckled. “Another anonymous gift bearer… lucky you! Anyways, I need to get going. Catch you later!” The bubbly blonde skipped off down the hallway and out of the dorm hall.

‘Yeah… lucky me,’ Jen thought half-heartedly and brought the box inside her dorm room. She took a pair of scissors and used them to cut the tape on the box and then opened it revealing an adorable deer plushie.

She took the deer plushie out of the box and squealed at its cuteness. It had big, brown eyes and a cute little mouth – it was one of the cutest stuffed animals she had ever received… it almost looked exactly like a certain someone~

She hugged it tightly, inhaling deeply but then gasped when it began to speak:

“Jen-ah, meet me at the boardwalk tonight.”

Jen recognized that voice from anywhere – it was Luhan.

‘Luhan? But… I thought he didn’t want to talk to me…’ she thought in confusion and squeezed the deer again so that the message would replay.

“Jen-ah, meet me at the boardwalk tonight.”

‘A recorded message…’ she thought with a smile before placing the plushie on her bed right beside her pillow.

“So he wants to meet at the boardwalk, huh?” Jen wondered aloud to herself, “but where and when?” Just saying “boardwalk” and “tonight” wasn’t specific enough for her – he could have at least said an exact time and exact place of where he wanted to meet up.

Guys… pfft! Always so… difficult.

However, Jen was excited to see Luhan and to talk to him but she didn’t want to admit it. Luhan had hurt her by completely ignoring her since the hospital when she wanted nothing more than to help him but… maybe now she would get her chance. She wanted to see the old, cheerful Luhan again and would stop at nothing to help him.

Jen quickly went to go freshen up and change into some casual yet still pretty cute. She chose to wear a black skirt, a pink graphic t-shirt, and a pair of black converse. Pink and black were her favorite colors after all and she felt that her outfit wasn’t too “flirty”. ‘It’s not a date…’ she thought as she headed out the door, ‘just two friends hanging out.’

She left her dorm hall and managed to squeeze onto one of the college’s personal buses before it’s doors shut – the bus that was heading towards the boardwalk. ‘I hope I’m not too late,’ she thought as she took a seat realizing that it was now 7:30 PM.

---

Luhan’s P.O.V:

Luhan sat waiting outside on the boardwalk for Jen to arrive. He had been waiting since 6:30 PM for her to show up and was beginning to lose hope.

‘I can’t really blame her for not showing up…’ he thought gloomily as he looked out to the sea, ‘I’ve been ignoring her for a while now.’ However, he didn’t intend to ignore her but he felt that the hug made things awkward between them. Then the look Kai gave them when he walked in… Luhan knew that look. He saw that same look back in middle school… at a competition to be exact.

---

Flashback:

“I’m going to get first place in the singing competition!” the young Kai exclaimed with his fist in the air, “I can sing and I dance! There’s nothing I can’t do!” The cute boy with the pouty lips and a mop of messy black hair had the most confident smirk on his face.

“Yeah? Well we’ll see about that,” the young Luhan smirked. The little blonde haired boy with big deer eyes nudged Kai playfully.

Kyungsoo sat silently looking at his two competitive friends, his wide eyes not missing a thing. ‘They both have talent but singing is mine,’ he thought self-assuredly. He yearned for the day to finally prove that he could do something better than Luhan and Kai. Then maybe… just maybe Sunny would finally notice him again.

The three friends stood in line waiting for their turns to be in front of the judges.

“Please welcome contestant number 4… Kai, come on out!” a judge announced and the crowd erupted into cheers.

“I’ll see you guys in the winner’s circle,” Kai said with an arrogant smirk before stepping out onto the stage.

“And what will you be singing for us today?” the female judge asked. There were three judges in total – one female and the other two male… however, one male was much older than the other.

“I am going to sing Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson!” Kai exclaimed assertively and the crowd erupted into cheers at seeing the young boy so confident.

“Okay, show us what you got,” the young male judge said with a smile, signaling for the crowd to settle down.

Backstage, Luhan and Kyungsoo peeked through the curtain to watch Kai’s performance – he had even added some impressive dance moves. There was something that neither of them could deny… Kai’s performance was amazing.

When Kai finished, the crowd applauded and he bowed deeply before walking backstage to see the stunned Luhan and Kyungsoo. “I told you guys I was going to win… What? You didn’t take me seriously?”

“No, its ju-,” Luhan began.

“Contestant number 5… Luhan! Make you way to the stage!” the female judge broadcasted and again the crowd cheered.

“Good luck,” Kai said slightly sarcastically as Luhan made his way to the stage.

“What will you sing for us?” the same young male judge asked.

Luhan looked out at the crowd nervously before looking at the judge panel. “M-Moving Mountains by Usher.”

“Don’t be nervous,” the female judge consoled with a sweet smile, “now let’s hear what you got.”

Backstage, Kai was snickering to himself as he and Kyungsoo peeked through the curtains. ‘Luhan’s totally going to mess up from being so nervous,’ Kai thought but ultimately… he was proved wrong. Luhan delivered a powerful performance, hitting each note outstandingly just like Usher could.

The crowd rose to their feet as soon as Luhan finished his performance and was cheering loudly; some people even took to throwing roses on the stage. Luhan bowed deeply several times to show his solemn gratitude before walking backstage. Kai looked at Luhan in pure disbelief that he received such love from the audience and Kyungsoo patted Luhan on the back with a supportive, cheeky smile.

“I was so nervous,” Luhan sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand.

“Don’t worry, you did great,” Kyungsoo complimented and Luhan smiled at his praise.

‘Being an eomma as usual,’ Kai thought with a roll of his eyes.

“And last but not least… let’s welcome our last contestant, Kyungsoo!” the older male judge announced.

“You got this D.O,” Luhan said quietly and squeezed Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

Kyungsoo nodded and stepped out onto the stage, shielding his eyes from the bright lights.

“Aww,” the female judge cooed while looking at the adorable 10 year old that just stepped on the stage. He just looked so… squishy!

The older male judge looked at the female judge sternly before clearing his throat and turning back to Kyungsoo. “What will you sing for us today?”

Kyungsoo decided to stick with his favorite song to sing. “Billionaire by Travis McCoy,” he said quietly while awkwardly fiddling with the microphone.

“Let’s hear it,” the same judge said and leaned back in his chair, observing Kyungsoo intently.

Kyungsoo inhaled deeply. ‘You can do this…’ was his last thought before belting his heart out…

~After the performances~

“Will the contestants please come back out on the stage,” the three judges said in unison.

The line-up of contestants took to the stage. There were 6 contestants in total – 3 of them being the trio of Kai, Luhan, and Kyungsoo.

“The competition this year was fierce but three particular contestants especially stood out to us,” the female judge announced, “will Kai, Luhan, and Kyungsoo please step forward.”

The three friends looked at each other in confusion but also in excitement – they knew that one of them had won the first place trophy.

“Kai…” the young male judge said and opened up a card.

“I knew it! I won!” Kai exclaimed quietly earning glares from both Kyungsoo and Luhan.

“You’re in third place. Congratulations!” the judge announced, causing the crowd to cheer.

“Third place?! Kai exclaimed as a small trophy was handed to him, “you obviously don’t know real talent!”

The judge ignored his rude outburst before opening another card. “Luhan… you’ve placed second! Which means… Kyungsoo you are our first place winner! Congratulations to you both!”

Both Luhan and Kyungsoo were handed trophies… trophies much bigger than Kai’s. Kai looked at his pathetic trophy and then at Luhan and Kyungsoo – he looked so betrayed and with this other look… Luhan couldn’t quite explain… but it was this look similar to disappointment of losing something precious.

It was the same look Kai gave him at the hospital~

---

The look Kai gave him that day haunted him since then and seeing it again at the hospital didn’t help… but he didn’t feel bad for Kai. Kai always got what he wanted and it was time for Luhan to get what he wanted for a change… and what… rather who he wanted was Jen.

Luhan, however, couldn’t help but smile a little at the flashback thinking about how the old times they used to share when they were younger before things got complicated… before they had the pressure of their parent’s companies…

He sighed and adjusted his jacket, getting ready to leave. It was apparent to him that Jen wasn’t going to show up any time soon. He backed away from the boardwalk’s railing and put his hands in his pockets before beginning his trek back to his car.

“I know you aren’t about to abandon your plans with me,” said a female voice from behind him.

Luhan spun around to see Jen half-running half-skipping towards him with a bright smile on her face.

“I didn’t think you’d come,” Luhan responded honestly, staring at her as if he couldn’t believe she was actually there – he looked as if he had seen a ghost.

Jen tilted her head to the side in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I come?”

Luhan rubbed the back of his neck nervously with a shy smile. “I just thought… nothing. Are you ready?”

“Ready? For what?” Jen asked.

“The time of your life,” Luhan answered with a huge, cheesy grin.

Double update! ^w^

Again, I'm sorry for the hiatus! If I don't update, that means the weather here is horrible ;3;

Thanks for being so patient!!!!

I love you all <333