~~~~~ and Jae Mi were sitting by Jae Mi’s kitchen table. Jae Mi had her notebook flipped open and doodled random words on one page while ~~~~~ was absentmindedly spinning a pen between her fingers. Her thoughts far away from her physical being. Jae Mi glanced at her. They had been spending the entire afternoon together and her friend had seemed to be absent all these hours. Jae Mi knew that it was the whole situation with Yonghwa that troubled her best friend, and she felt so useless knowing that she could do nothing about it.

“~~~~~?” Jae Mi said softly. Her friend turned her gaze to her, slowly returning to this world. Jae Mi smiled a little. “Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?” ~~~~~ just sighed.

“There’s not much to talk about. You already know the situation, and it’s kind of locked. Nothing happens. Neither the better nor the worse.” She stared past Jae Mi at the setting sun outside the window. “I haven’t heard anything from him since I called him three days ago.” Jae Mi felt her face heat up in anger. How could he treat her this way? She, who would do anything for him. It would take him ten freaking seconds to send her a text and ask her how she was doing. All this fame had gotten to his head. Just because he suddenly had a few fans didn’t mean he could act however he liked.

“You have to do something about it, ~~~~~,” she said angrily. “You can’t just let him toy with your feelings like this. You have to show him that if he wants you to stay he has to do something in return. A relationship is not a one sided thing. You decided together, and then it’s up to the both of you to make it work.” Jae Mi was almost panting from her little outburst. It was not like her to be angry. She was always the goofy clown making the mood lighten in every situation. But she had a limit. No one treated her friend this way! ~~~~~ smiled slightly at her.

“I’ll try to think of something,” she said faintly. Jae Mi shook her head.

“No! You need to take action. Don’t act all girly on me. It’s a new era now. Women can’t act sissy or they will get trampled on!”

“Fine, fine.” ~~~~~ interrupted Jae Mi’s ranting about females standing up for themselves. She already knew that if she wanted anything to change she would have to do something about it on her own.

“Good.” Jae Mi closed her notebook and stood up. “Now let’ make some dinner.”

When ~~~~~ got home from Jae Mi she sat on her bed and dialled Yonghwa’s number.

“Yeah?”

“Yonghwa? It’s me,” she said.

“What? I can’t hear you!” Yonghwa yelled into the phone. There was loud music playing in the background and laughter was heard from around Yonghwa. She raised her voice slightly and told him who it was.

“Oh, hey babe. I’m at a party right now. Can I call you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure…” ~~~~~ felt her heart sink like a stone in her chest. Would he remember?

“Great, sleep tight.”

“Night.” She hung and lay flat down on her bed. There was a horrible feeling in her stomach telling her that this wasn’t leading anywhere, and that she wouldn’t receive a call from Yonghwa tomorrow.

“Yoboseyo?”

“Yonghwa…”

“~~~~~, I forgot. I was about to call you but… things are just messed up right now. One of the guys is having a fight with our manager,” Yonghwa complained.

“You forgot, again.” ~~~~~ didn’t even try to hide the disappointment in her voice.

“I know, I’m so so sorry,” Yonghwa said. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.” She had heard that one before.

“How? How exactly are you planning to make up for it?” she asked.

“It’s our one year anniversary this weekend,” he said and she could hear the smile in her voice. This really took her by surprise. He remembered? “I’m coming home.”

“You are?” All the sad and angry feelings evaporated from her body and she was filled with happy thoughts and anticipation.

“I am, and we are going to have a lovely dinner at that restaurant you like so much. I already reserved a table,” Yonghwa said. Oh, he was so proud of himself right now. “Saturday. Let’s meet at the restaurant at seven.”

“Okay. I’m already looking forward to it,” she said happily. Yonghwa chuckled.

“You should. I’ve prepared something special for you.” He made a slight pause. “See you in a couple of days. I love you.”

“I love you too.”