“I was surprised at you! I thought you were going to be so shy!”

                 “You surprised me! I’ve never seen you so shy!”

                 “Of course I was shy, I was freaking meeting freaking Teen Top!”

                 “I don’t think you swore once…”

                “I didn’t!”

                “I don’t even think you said five words to him…”

                 “Hey! Yes I did! You were too busy drooling over C.A.P to notice!”

                 “You were definitely the one drooling!”

                I chuckled to myself as Min Neul and Hyerin bickered in the backseat of the car. My mom took her eyes off the snowy roads to shoot me a sly smile. She knew all about my plan to re-unite C.A.P ad Hyerin and hopefully unite Changjo and Min Neul. My mom was no stranger to what went on in my life; I told her almost everything. She always listened intently, delighted that I let her be part of my life. If I needed advice, there was nothing she couldn’t give me advice about.

                 “Did you girls get the boys’ autographs?” Mom spoke up when there was finally a brief moment of silence between the bickering sisters.

                “Yes!” Min Neul cried, hugging her copy of “Transform,” which had been scribbled on by all six members of Teen Top. Changjo had autographed his name the largest, scribbling I’M MIN NEUL’S FAVORITE! underneath his signature.

                 “The boys were so surprised to see us there.” I smiled back at the sisters.

                 “They definitely didn’t expect us,” Min Neul added. “Kirin-unni didn’t even tell L.Joe she was coming!”

                 “You didn’t?” Mom asked.

                I shook my head. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

                 “That’s sweet,” my mom replied thoughtfully.

                I blushed. “Mom,” I whine-hissed.

                Mom chuckled. She reached up the adjust the rearview mirror. “Oh, before, I forget, your father and I have a wedding to go to next weekend. In Busan.”

                 “Busan? All the way down there?” I asked. Busan was on the southern tip of South Korea. It was about 330 kilometers, or over 200 miles, away from Seoul.

                Mom nodded. “Dad has an old friend from college whose daughter is getting married.”

                 “Ah,” I nodded. “Do I have to come?”

                Mom shrugged. “Only if you want. You don’t know her or the family. I barely do,” she chuckled.

                “So would you be gone for a day?” I asked.

                Mom shrugged again. “We might have to stay overnight.”

                I was growing curious. “You would leave me home alone for a night?” I asked inquiringly.

                Mom shot me a look. “Well I haven’t talk to your father about it yet.”

                I straightened out my shoulders and flipped dark hair over my shoulder. “Mom, I’m eighteen.”

                “I know,” Mom said. “I’d just feel bad about you being alone for so long.”

                “If I may interrupt,” Hyerin said politely, “Kirin could probably stay over at our house, Mrs. Lee.”

                “Oh, Hyerin, you just moved in! I’d hate to have your parents look after Kirin so soon,” my mom said sweetly.

                “Mom,” I rolled my eyes. “I barely take up any space.”

                Hyerin and Min Neul laughed. “Really, it wouldn’t be a problem, Mrs. Lee,” Hyerin replied.

                My mom smiled at me. “We’ll see.”

                At that moment, we pulled into our driveway. When the car came to a stop, Hyerin, Min Neul and I hopped out of the car and migrated inside my house and up to my room. Min Neul jumped on the purple comforter spread across my bed and Hyerin sat cross-legged beside her. I sat backwards on my computer chair, facing the sisters. “Oh my God, do we have a lot to talk about!” I exclaimed.

               Hyerin giggled shyly and Min Neul breathed out a dreamy sigh. She was staring up at the ceiling. “I just ing met Changjo,” she sighed. “I just ing met Changjo…”

                Hyerin giggled and hit her with a pillow. “Act like a normal human being, please.”

                “Can’t.” Min Neul sat up slowly, her eyelids droopy. “I don’t think you understand what just happened to me.”

                “You? I don’t think you understand what just happened to me!” Hyerin exclaimed. “I can’t believe I just met C.A.P again. Did he look gorgeous or did he look gorgeous?”

                I smiled proudly. “Betcha didn’t think that would ever happen.”

                 “I didn’t,” Hyerin admitted. “I honestly thought M-Net Scandal was just part of my past. I didn’t think it meant anything. I mean, after it happened, I started liking Teen Top a lot more. And I thought of about a dozen things I wish I had told C.A.P.”

                “Aw!” I punched Hyerin’s arm lightly, a habit I had picked up from Byunghun. “Trust me, he’s always felt the same way.”

                Hyerin smiled peacefully to herself and opened her eyes. “I never even dreamed about seeing him again.” She gave me a wide smile and sprang up to hug me. “I can’t believe everything you’d done for me, Kirin. I can’t even explain how much I appreciate it! I know this is going to sound so cheesy, but, you’ve really made me dreams come true!”

                She squeezed me tightly and I squeezed her back. “You’re welcome! It wasn’t a big deal, really. Anything to make you and C.A.P happy together again.”

                “It might be too early to tell, but, I think he actually likes me!” Hyerin squealed.

                I smiled a genuine smile. “I know he likes you,” I assured.

                “You really think so?” Hyerin asked, her eyes wide with optimism.

                “I know so.”

                Hyerin sighed a deep, hopeful sigh. “Do you think…C.A.P and I would ever be like you and L.Joe?”

                “Boyfriend and girlfriend?”

                She nodded, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

                I was going to be honest with her. One hundred-percent honest. “C.A.P’s a lot shyer than he seems, but I honestly think it won’t be long until he’s asking you out on a real date. I just want to warn you, I guess, about dating a celebrity. It’s not the same as dating a classmate or one of your friends. It gets really hard sometimes, because you lead lives that are, like,completely different. School stresses you out, practice stresses him out. You’re up late studying, he’s up late dancing. You cancel a date because your friends want to hang out, he cancels a date because he’s performing. You just have to get used to it.”

                Min Neul gave me a thoughtful look. “I can’t imagine holding a relationship down like that,” she marveled.

                I shrugged modestly. “I can’t either. But I do. There’s times when I go weeks without seeing him or talking to him, and I have to rely on his songs to hear his voice. Yeah, it’s tough. But you learn to deal with it because you care that much about him.”

                “Awww,” Hyerin cooed. “You really like L.Joe, don’t you?”

                I think I was blushing. “I do.”

                 “Do you think he likes me?” Min Neul said suddenly. There was a glazed look in her eyes.

                “What?” Hyerin asked.

                 “Changjo. Do you think he likes me?” Min Neul fidgeted with the dark brown hair that fell over her shoulder. She bit her lip as she waited patiently for a reply.

                 “From what I saw, you two seemed to get along really well,” I replied, wiggling my eyebrows for emphasis.

                Min Neul was practically chewing on her bottom lip. “I think I was too shy. Did I talk enough? Did I say something stupid? I probably did...oh my God, I definitely did. But he told me I had pretty eyes and after that I couldn’t even speak! I was speechless, I tell you! I mean, Changjo told me I had pretty eyes! Do you have any idea how hard my heart was beating? Holy , I thought I was going to have a heart attack right there! Did you tell him to say that, Kirin-unni? Or did he just sat that on his own?!?!”

                I laughed. “Min Neul, he said that all on his own. Trust me.”

                 “Really?” Her face lost all color. She was shocked, utterly shocked.

                Hyerin squealed and gave her sister an excited squeeze. “I hope you were listening to what Kirin was telling me, because I think you could use that advice as well.”

                Min Neul’s eyes grew wide. “Are you serious?”

                 “I am. But there’s only one way to know for sure, and that’s if you hang out with him again,” I said.

                Min Neul pouted. “How can we?”

                I breathed in air like it was confidence, raising an eyebrow. “I have a plan.”

- - - - - -

                Sorry this chapter is so short...just WAIT for the next chapter ;D 

                What do you think Kirin is planning? Hm...