For the last 30 minutes, I have been impatiently waiting for this best friend of mine. I glanced back at my wristwatch and made a mental note that if another 10 minutes had passed and he wasn't still at my door with a good reason for his tardiness, I will be leaving without him.

"Arrrggghhhhh!!! I should have known better!" I grumbled to myself as I reminded myself of what his reason might be for being this late.

We're supposed to meet Bom and the rest at Club NB tonight upon her request when she called me earlier today at the office.

FLASHBACK:

"Dara!" I heard my best GIRL friend's voice at the other end of the line.

"Bommie!What's up?" I asked casually.

"Oh well, nothing much really. But I was wondering if you could meet us at NB tonight?? Bom answered.

"Tonight?" I asked. Then I looked at the calendar that was on top of my desk to check what day it was.

Tuesday. Hmmmm..

"Yes, tonight. I know its just Tuesday night but please do come. Seunghyun and I will be there around 8." Bom replied.

"Oh sure, I'll be there. What's with tonight anyway?" I had to ask as I started to sense something different about tonight's meeting at NB. It's definitely not our club night cause it's a Tuesday.

Well Friday nights are our NB night when we all gather there to drink and end the whole weeks' work at the office.

"You'll just know when you get there. So I'll be expecting you, okay?" Bom seemed to be in a hurry to end up the call. And I was too curious to know what's happening tonight. But then, I knew Bom wouldn't say anything about it so I just conceded.

"I'll be there. Will the rest be there too?"

"Yup. Seunghyun already informed them."

"Okay then, I'll just see you tonight." I assured her.

"Bye."

As I pondered back to the phone conversation that Bom and I just had, I can't help noticing a different kind of excitement on her voice, more like she was giddy or something. Plus the "out of the blue" invitation coming from her to meet at NB on a non-Friday night.

"Oh. My. Gawd!!! They're getting engaged!!!" Suddenly the thought hit me. I was getting excited, and giddy as well that I had to share it with someone else. So I reached out for my mobile phone and dialed the number of my "other" best friend.

"Jiyong!" I said his name with much enthusiasm in my voice.

"Ei! You sound kinda excited. What gives?" His voice was like always, calm and,  well, calm.

"Bommie just called me she told me that we're going to meet at NB tonight."

"Oh yeah, Seunghyun hyung called me too."

"Are you going?" I asked and soon as I remembered that it was a Tuesday and that he probably have a date with.. Ummmmm..

I quickly opened my organizer and went through a couple of pages.

"It's Yuri's week." I thought to myself. Two more days and her week's over.

Yeah, I know!!! I have the worst case of "getting-over-Jiyong-but-can't-really-make-myself-do-so"!!! I've kept up a pretense of being over him for the last three and a half years in front of everybody especially with him.

With Jiyong.

With my now best friend Jiyong.

Actually, I'm not really sure if I'm still pretending to be over him. Maybe I'm not any more. Maybe I've really gotten over him and think only of him as a good buddy. But there are times that I can't help myself from, you know, get jealous of the women that he had been dating.

For one thing, they got what Jiyong was noted for.

His full service.

"I promised Seunghyun hyung that I'd be there." I was brought back from my reverie as I heard him answer my query.

"I suppose that you did after he threatened to put a lid on your womanizing right?" I chuckled as I said this. It was typical for our mighty Seunghyun to say such thing.

"You can say that again. Do you have a ride?"

"My car is still at the shop. Do you mind picking me up?"

"Of course I don't mind. I'll just see you tonight, okay? Say past seven?"

"Okay."

END OF FLASHBACK

"Arrrrrrggggghhhhh!!! Kwon freaking Jiyong!!! Gosh, what's taking you so long?" I angrily said. And so I found myself pacing my bedroom floor once again.

I stopped in front of my full-length mirror and examined myself. Tonight I chose to wear my little black dress and my $250 shoes. Which of course made me indebt with Jiyong. Oh well, I have to say that he really does have good taste when it comes to dressing (and undressing!) women. He's had a lot of practice with that.

Hmmmm, So when can I prove to myself of that theory? I shook my head and warned myself that I'm really losing it.

We're just best friends now.

***

"Oh !!" I panicked.

I hastily searched for my left shoe under the bed.

"Jiyong, where are you going?" I heard her say almost like a cat purring.

"I gotta go!" Don't know if I suddenly got infected with the DORY syndrome cause I seem to forget or rather not remember my date's names. Well thanks to Dara she was the one who made me see that Disney film 'Finding Nemo'.

Dory was the forgetful one.

But then, I have to say that I enjoyed myself taking Dara to that movie. Not that I enjoyed the film (although I did catch myself laugh once or twice), I guess what I really enjoyed was watching and hearing Dara's laughter. She was so easy to please.

I mean I don't have to take her to a fancy restaurant for dinner or take her on an extravagant shopping spree to please her. As far as I'm concerned, I can take her to McDonalds and order her fries and a large rootbeer she'd already be thanking me and oh, of course flashing me her sincere, genuine sun-shiny smile.

Then I found my left shoe and scrambled to get my car keys.

"Bye! Uhhhh, I'll see you tomorrow ok?" I just said to her before I left her apartment. I was such in a hurry that I wasn't sure of what she was trying to tell me.

"Yuri!!!!" That's it! I suddenly remembered her name as I was starting the engine of my car.

I glanced at my watch and learned that I'm late.

Really late.

More like "you're dead" Jiyong late.

I'll probably get berated twice tonight. First, it'll be with Dara whom I was supposed to pick up 20 minutes ago. I swear I can almost see her darting me an angry look.

Then I started to smile. A silly smile crept on my face. She actually looks cute when she's mad.

Lastly, I'll be getting it from Bom, oh you know how Bominator is. she's deadly. And I better keep in mind not to be at an arm's length with her tonight. Good thing I have Dara as my shield. Bom would never hurt her. So that means I won't be leaving Dara's side all night.

I sighed.

First things first, I need to have a good reason for being late.

As I made my first attempt to knock on her door, I was making sure of what my reason were for being fashionably late. Maybe I could fix her doorbell for her one of these days. I knocked again. This time I knocked a little harder just incase she didn't hear my first knock.

Before I