Hyerin’s first day at Seoul Science High School was that following Monday. My mom brought me to school around the same time Hyerin and Min Neul’s father did, so when we got to school together I asked them if they wanted to carpool. They agreed excitedly. Hyerin and I walked Min Neul to her classroom and then I walked Min Neul to ours. As soon as Hyerin walked through the door, every pair of eyes flew to her. They always did when there was a new student. Though relationships were forbidden in school, they weren’t forbidden outside of it.

                Hyerin was a pretty girl. She had soft, round features and naturally pouted lips. She had stylish bangs across her forehead and her pin-straight hair was shoulder-length. She was slightly taller than average height and had a perfectly shaped body. Not too curvy to the point of being disproportionate, but not too slender to the point of looking childish. Obviously those perfect genes ran in the family, because Min Neul possessed them as well. She looked more mature, more sophisticated than anyone her age. At three years younger than me, our ages could easily be traded.

                After school, Hyerin and I waited for Min Neul. She gracefully walked out of the classroom, a musical instrument’s case in her hand.

                “What instrument’s that?” I asked.

                “Clarinet,” Min Neul replied, lifting the case slightly.

                “Cool,” I smiled as we walked down the hallway and out the door.

                “She’s been playing for a long time,” Hyerin spoke up.

                Min Neul nodded. “I love it.”

                “I bet you’re amazing at it,” I said thoughtfully. I met my mind wander to Byunghun, who was gifted in both the violin and the piano.

                Min Neul shrugged. “I’m alright.”

                “Hey, you wanna hang out after school?” Hyerin asked suddenly.

                “Sure,” I replied, smiling. I briefly thought of C.A.P, and how I was going to bring it up. C.A.P had given me permission to show her the picture on my phone I had of him and me for proof in case she didn’t believe me. On any other circumstance, I wasn’t allowed to acknowledge my friendship with Teen Top, but according to C.A.P this was a special occasion.

                We walked straight to their house. Hyerin opened the door and we stepped inside. Being the house next door, the inside looked a lot like mine. There was a small mudroom where the shoes were, and an arch that led to the dining room, and another arch that led to the kitchen. Off the kitchen was the living room, which had a staircase leading upstairs. Though the colors and the format of each room were slightly different, it shared the same backbone as my house.

                “My parents aren’t home yet. If they were I’d want you to meet them,” Hyerin replied as we walked up the stairs.

                “I’d love to,” I said politely. By this time, we were upstairs, which also had the same format as my house, save the guest room. Hyerin’s room was where the guest room was in my house, and Min Neul’s room was where mine was.

                “Well, this is my room,” Hyerin replied, extending her arms to reveal the room. The walls were painted light blue and there was a matching light blue bedspread covering her twin bed. Airy white curtains hung on the two windows and a white nightstand stood beside her bed, housing a fuzzy blue lamp and family portraits. There was a small desk with a laptop and a radio on the other side of the room, and a bulletin board covered in photos above it. What caught my attention, though, was the gigantic white and red poster above Hyerin’s bed.

                “Blue is my favorite color, obviously,” Hyerin giggled as she looked around at the blue and white décor.

                I was barely listening. Six bodies were standing side by side in the poster, each of them dressed in a futuristic white and red outfit of some kind. Four of the boys had brown hair, two had black. In the middle of the poster were two words that were stunningly familiar to me, printed in red letters.

                “You like Teen Top?” I asked suddenly.

                “Like?” Min Neul repeated. “She’s freaking in love with them!”

                “So are you!” Hyerin shot back, blushing slightly. “You like them, too?” she asked me.

                “I love Teen Top!” I cried. I won smiled from both Min Neul and Hyerin. We all jumped on Hyerin’s bed and crowded in front of the poster.

                “Alright, who do you like the best?” Hyerin asked.

                I secretly smiled to myself. Oh, Hyerin, the things you don’t know…

                “That one.” I pointed to L.Joe. I have to admit, it was kind of weird to see my boyfriend one of my friend’s walls. He looked so good in those skinny white pants and brown hair. “L.Joe.”

                “Changjo is MINE!” Min Neul practically shouted. She leaned forward and placed a big kiss on Changjo's picture; I almost had a giggle-fit.

                “C.A.P is mine,” Hyerin replied wistfully. A dazed look crossed her face as she thoughtfully gazed at Minsoo’s picture. She looked deep in thought.

                “Well obviously,” Min Neul rolled her eyes. “I can’t imagine why.”

                “Why?” I asked, playing dumb.

                “No reason,” Hyerin shrugged.

                “Unni, there’s a reason!” Min Neul pressed on.

                “Ah, stop, okay?” Hyerin hissed, blushing.

                “What?” I asked, a smile on my face.

                “She met him!” Min Neul explained to me with wide eyes.

                Hyerin touched her shoulder. “Okay, Min, that’s—”

                “Ever heard of the show M-Net Scandal?”

                I nodded intently, pretending to be surprised.

                “She was on it. With C.A.P!”

                “Really?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

                “I swear!” Min Neul cried, her face bright. “She got to date him for a few weeks! They went on dates and texted and even held hands!”

                I remember the jealous rage that had hit me when I saw L.Joe lace his fingers in Hanbich’s. I had nearly launched a boulder at the television screen.

                “You don’t say,” I smiled widely, glancing at Hyerin, who was blushing and looking away. I took that as a good sign; she was embarrassed over it, so obviously it meant something to her.

                I began to wonder how long I should keep this up for. Out of nowhere, I couldn’t just cry “Surprise! I know C.A.P, and he loves you!” But at the same time, I couldn’t sit there and act like this was news. I couldn’t lie, considering I was for sure telling Hyerin about C.A.P in the near future.

                Min Neul was still going on about the show. “—And her friends signed her up for it as a joke, but she really ended up winning the contest! And your favorite, L.Joe, was on there too! With some Hanbich girl, but she was really mean and I secretly called her Han behind her back, and—”

                “Alright, Min, that’s enough!” Hyerin cried.

                “But it’s a good story!” her sister protested. “An amazing one, actually!

                “Yeah, but…I don’t like to brag, okay? We didn’t even date for real. It was just a show,” Hyerin replied.

                “No, I think it was real,” Min Neul said. She turned to me. “What do you think?”

                I took a deep breath. Now or never, right?

                “Actually,” I began. “I, um…I know something you’d probably like to know.”

                Min Neul cocked her head. “About M-Net Scandal?”

                “Well, yeah,” I said. “But more about…C.A.P.”

                “He has a girlfriend now, right?” Hyerin spoke up quietly. “I think I heard that somewhere…”

                My face felt hot for a moment. Wrong member, actually, I thought. “Nope, that’s not it.” I took a deep breath, and let it spill. “Okay, you’re probably not going to believe me, but, I know C.A.P. Personally know him.”

                Hyerin studied my face for a long time. She squinted her eyes and hung open slightly, as if she was about to speak. Even Min Neul was staring at me like I had forty heads.

                “What?” Hyerin hissed.

                I instantly took back my words; I should have eased into this conversation a lot smoother.

                “I’m telling the truth, I promise,” I was practically pleading for her to believe me. She had to believe me. She just had to.

                “Oh, I see what you’re doing.” Hyerin crossed her arms. “Think you can make fun of me?”

                My jaw hung open. “What? No! That’s--”

                “This is why I don’t tell anyone that story. Anyone! Because it’s people like you, that will make up stories to try to tease me about it.” She was glaring at me. Min Neul’s nervous eyes were dating back and forth between us, intently watching the scene unfold without saying a word.

                “Hyerin, what are you talking about? I’m not making this up! I swear!” I pleaded.

“You know what? Maybe this isn’t going to work out.” She stood up and headed for the door, indicating it was time for me to leave.

                “Wait, wait, wait!” I cried. I reached into my bag and fished for my cell phone.

                “I knew people wouldn’t believe me if I told them I was on M-Net Scandal. I knew it! I knew people would just make fun of me and think I’m lying. Everyone would think I’m just saying that so people like me! Like I’m some kind of desperate, friendless loser! So I wasn’t planning on telling anyone what happened!" she abruptly turned to face her sister. "You just had to go and tell her, didn't you?"

                "I'm telling the truth, I swear!" I cried. I held the screen of my phone up to Hyerin’s face. It was the picture of C.A.P and I at Lotte World. We were the only ones that hadn’t ridden this massive rollercoaster after we had just eaten lunch. Eating a whole tray of french-fries and chugging Coke in five minutes and then going on the biggest coaster in the park was obviously  not a good idea. Leave it to Ricky and Niel to jump first in line to get on the ride and for L.Joe, Chunji and Changjo to tag along. C.A.P hated rides all together so he usually sat on the side. I accompanied him on the sidelines, which was probably the smartest choice I had ever made. As soon as the five stepped off the ride, their faces were a sickly green color. All five of them were sick for nearly the entire time afterwards, and so C.A.P and I took a proud selca to commemorate our victory. That was also the same night an exhausted L.Joe had adorably fallen asleep on my shoulder on the ride home.

                Hyerin instantly shut up as she stared at the picture. “I admit, that guy does look a lot like C.A.P…but there’s no way that can be him.”

                I stared at her in disbelief. “But that is him!” I cried.

                “Oh, really?” Hyerin crossed her arms. “How on earth could you possibly you know him?”

                If I wanted Hyerin to believe me, I was going to have to tell her the story. The whole story.

                “Alright, listen. This is kind of a long story, so you should probably sit down.”

                “Story time!” Min Neul cried, jumping closer to me on the bed. She sat cross-legged intently and leaned in close. Hyerin rolled her eyes and sat down.

               “Alright,” I took a deep breath. “So, I have a secret I never tell people too. And for the same reason you don’t tell people your secret, too! My uncle is Andy, you know, from Shinhwa. So, last summer he let me meet his newest band, Teen Top. So I started hanging out with them and I pretty much spent all of last summer with the boys, and they’re literally become my best friends. I knew C.A.P when he was filming M-Net Scandal. I didn’t recognize you from the show, but when L.Joe saw you he did, and—”

                “L.Joe?” Hyerin repeated. “Wait, when could he have seen me?”

Here it comes.

                “Well…to make a long story short, he was at my house when you and Min Neul stopped by but he was hiding so you didn’t know he was there—”

                “He was at your house?!” Hyerin cried, her eyes lighting up.

                “Yeah,” I admitted shyly.

                “You’re that good of friends with him?!” Hyerin was blown away.

                “Well, funny story about that…” I trailed off. “I’m kind of…dating him.”

                Hyerin and Min Neul’s jaws dropped. Literally dropped.

                “You’re DATING L.JOE?!?!” Min Neul shrieked, jumping closer to me.

                I felt my face burn red. My hands flew to my cheeks and I nervously giggled. “Yeah…”

                “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Hyerin replied, a disapproving look on her face.

                I whipped my phone back out. I had a selca of myself with Byunghun kissing my cheek. Byunghun told me to delete it, in case someone saw it, and I had lied to him and told him I did. I had secretly kept it. I looked at it whenever I was missing him. It was a sweet picture.

                I found the selca and flashed the screen to the sisters. Byunghun’s hair was platinum blonde in it, which was a dead giveaway that that really was him in the photograph. Min Neul and Hyerin’s jaws dropped again. “THAT LOOKS JUST LIKE HIM!” Min Neul shouted.

                “Well, it really is him,” I shrugged, still blushing. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone I’m dating him to protect Teen Top’s image,” I sighed, shrugged. “But this is kind of a special occasion.”

                Min Neul looked at her sister. “Well, do you believe her now?”

                Hyerin slowly shook her head; not in a “No, I don’t believe her” way—in a “I know it’s true, but I simply cannot believe it” way. She finally spoke. “I…I just can’t believe it. So all this time, L.Joe’s had a girlfriend?”

                I shrugged, but nodded. “We’ve been dating since July.”

                “Does anyone else have a girlfriend?!?” Min Neul cried frantically.

                “No,” I giggled. “If you’re asking about Changjo, he’s single.”

                “YES!” Min Neul flailed her arms and flopped down on her sister’s bed. She shot up immediately. “Has Changjo ever been to your house?!?!” she practically shouted.

                “Uh, yes,” I admitted. “Everyone in Teen Top has been to my house.”

                “NO ING WAY!” Min Neul shouted at the top of her lungs, her eyes the size of watermelons and her face the color of the inside of them. I thought she was going to burst.

                I laughed. “You hadn’t moved in yet, though.”

                “Still!” Min Neul cried. “I can’t believe you ing know CHANGJO!”

                “I know, it all sounds crazy, but, I swear it’s the truth,” I sighed. I looked at Hyerin. “And I was being honest when I said that stuff about C.A.P. All the boys told me he couldn’t stop talking about you for weeks after the show stopped.            He really liked you for real, Hyerin. And he was devastated when the show ended.”

                Hyerin tilted her head, slowly beginning to believe me. “Really?” she asked tenderly.

                “Really. He really liked you. And I promised him I would find a way for you two to meet again.”

                “IF SHE’S GOING TO MEET C.A.P, CAN I MEET CHANGJO?” Min Neul shouted.

                I threw my head back and laughed. “Sure.”

               I thought Min Neul was going to pass out. She let out a squeak and flopped backwards on Hyerin’s bed, her face red and her eyes closed. “I’m gonna ing meet Changjo…”

                 “He wants to meet me again?” Hyerin asked excitedly.

                 “Very badly!” I cried with a smile on my face. “I don’t know when, but, he wants to meet you soon.” I shrugged. “Would that be okay?”

                Hyerin looked up at the poster above her bed. I could only imagine the thoughts that were running through her head at that moment. Doubt, excitement, nervousness, and happiness were probably flooding her mind right now, churning her feelings like butter. I wanted her to meet him again as soon as possible. I wanted to create a happy ending for someone. I wanted to put someone in the same position I was in, a non-celebrity dating a celebrity, so someone else could feel exactly what I’m feeling. I had the power to bring these two people together and give them both the relationship they were looking for.

                 “Yeah,” Hyerin replied, obviously deep in thought. “That would be amazing.”

                I breathed a sigh a relief, a sigh of victory. Hyerin smiled and looked back up at the poster, probably glancing at C.A.P. Min Neul was still lying on her back in disbelief.                 “I’m gonna ing meet Changjo,” she sighed longingly. “I’m gonna ing meet Changjo...”