There a loud shut of the front door.

I shook my head awake from the darkness of the room and waited for my eyes to adjust. "Myungsoo?" I groaned. His slow, deep breathing answered my question instead. "You're still sleeping..." I laughed quietly.

Footsteps began to ascend up the stairs as I twisted in the circle of Myungsoo's arms. I froze as the stomps stopped right in front of my room.

A faint knock sounded on the door. "Min? Are you sleeping?" It was Hyo. At first, I didn't answer back, thinking she'd leave knowing I was asleep, but the door clicked open.

"No!" I yelled as the door opened just an inch and then silently closed back up.

"Are you okay in there?" A sound of worry was in her voice. "Maybe I should-." The door opened again.

"I'm fine!" I sat up suddenly, waking Myungsoo.

He tightened his arms around my waist. "What is it?"

"Shh..." I covered his mouth with my hand. "Hyo, I'm fine. Really."

There was no sound coming from the other side of the door. I was about to sigh a breath of relief when Hyo spoke again.

"I just needed somebody to talk to." Her small sniffles carried her away to her own room and soundlessly closed the door behind.

"Hyo!" I stumbled away from Myungsoo and off the bed. "Wait!"

More alert, Myungsoo lifted his head up to look at me standing at the foot of the bed. "Was that Hyo?"

"Y-yeah." I mumbled.

"Did she..see?"

"I don't think so." I looked back towards the door. "But she's not feeling okay."

In the dimness of the room, I saw a look of understanding in Myungsoo's eyes. "Go. I'll wait here until you come back."

And without another word, I headed straight for Hyo's room.

"I just can't believe he would do that!" Hyo grabbed for another box of tissues from her dresser drawer and took a spoonful of the ice cream I'd brought into . Tears streaked down her cheeks, smearing her make-up.

"Hyo," I began in a comforting voice. "It was probably just a misunderstanding. He didn't-."

"No!" She sobbed into her hands as I pulled a tissue out of the box to wipe away her wet make-up. "You don't understand."

I pressed my lips together. "Woohyun was thirty minutes late to your date. Maybe there was traffic?"

"What if he's cheating on me?" She whispered.

I pulled the spoon out of her hand and stuck it into the container. "He wouldn't do that. You know he isn't that type of person."

Her head shook in disagreement. "People can change."

I threw my hands up. "That's it. I'm getting Myungsoo." For over an hour, I was sitting there comforting Hyo. I really did not mind, but every time I tried consulting her, she'd always look on the negative side of things and think up of the worst case scenario.

"Min!" She gasped and tightly held onto my arm. "No, he'll hurt Woohyun."

"Isn't that what you want?"

Hyo drew back and slumped her body on the bed. "No.."

"Then tell me," I eased back next to her and said gently, "What do you want?"

"I want," She sighed a tired breath. "An explanation."

I narrowed my eyes. "Did he try to explain?"

"I-."

"And did you listen?"

"I-." Hyo closed her eyes and stuffed a pillow in her face. "I don't think so."

"You don't think what?" I pushed on.

"I..I don't think I listened to him."

"Yes, you didn't." I concluded. "So now what?"

Hyo threw the pillow next to her. "Now, I apologize to him." She looked back at me through her redden eyes. "Right?"

I smiled. "Right."

"And so?" Myungsoo raised himself on both of his elbows. "Is Hyo okay?"

I let out a long sigh and jumped on the bed next to him. "I think so. Woohyun just-."

"What?" His tired eyes shot open. "What did he do?" He was already heading for the door when I grabbed his hand.

"Nothing." I smiled cheekily and spoke quickly. "Woohyun didn't do anything. Why are we still talking about him? Let's talk about something else."

He ran his other hand through his bed hair. "Um-." Before he could say anything else, I pulled him down to sit next to me.

"I want to ask you something."

His eyebrows rose at my sentence. "What is it?"

"Can we...?" I faded out as Myungsoo inclined closer.

"Keep going." He murmured.

"I," I shoved his head away with the tip of my fingers. He laughed, but kept his head still in front. "I want to see my parents."

"Your," He spoke slowly. "Parents."

I nodded my head and quietly said, "It's been over three months. I miss them."

He gently pressed his lips into a small line. "Is it because of me?"

A shy smiled appeared on my lips in confusion. "Why would it be because of you?"

He didn't look at me as he spoke and instead played around with my fingers intertwined with his. "I feel like my family and i have been keeping you away from your own family. It makes me feel bad knowing you miss them this much."

A strange tight feeling welled up in my chest. I smiled and said, "It's not your fault."

He took a while to finally lay his eyes on my face. "I'll take you to go see them. This weekend."

A sense of nervousness came across me. "R-Really?"

"You don't want to?"

I all of a sudden felt bewildered. A part of me wanted to see my parents so, so badly. But another part of me was worried; worried that my parents wouldn't want me visiting them, that my parents would see that a life without me was a life of freedom and happiness.

"Min, are you okay?" He placed his hands on my cheeks. "Look at me."

"I already am."

"Really look at me." He blinked. "I can see your eyes are looking somewhere far away from here. Look at me only."

"I only see you."

"That's more like it." He grinned when I wrinkled my nose. After a while, he slid his hands away, leaving tingles where his warmth was. "I'm still taking you."

"No matter what?" I questioned.

"No matter what."

A loud irritating ring sounded next to me.

I took my phone off the nightstand and checked the voicemail.

"Hello," The robotic voice said. "Today, Woollim School District will not have school due to the power outage. Thank you."

"What the heck?" I laughed to myself.

Hyo hurried into my room and squealed happily. "Min! We don't have school today!"

I yawned and stretched up. "I know. The school just called me. I don't get why we have off but..."

"Shh!" She shushed and then beamed. Completely different from last night, Hyo bounced around until she made her way towards me. "What should we do today? Shopping? And then eat out?"

Hyo must've made up with Woohyun last night. I happily smiled at the thought. "Mm..." I wondered to myself. "With Daehyun?"

"Daehyun!" Hyo clapped her hands together. "I haven't seen him for the longest time."

"Then why not today?" I asked, but Hyo was already on her phone dialing Daehyun's number. She then waved and began down the hallway babbling on her phone. My face fell as I was alone. The silence was serenely peaceful until Hyo came skipping back into the room.

"Daehyun is coming along too!" She sung and flew away. "And Woohyun-oppa and L-oppa and Sunggyu-oppa and all the other oppas!"

"What?!" I angled my head towards the door to look at Hyo, but she was long gone downstairs. I frowned to myself, already imagining the massive destruction Myungsoo and his friends were going to do to my brain and sanity.

Myungsoo appeared in my doorway when I looked back up. His lips turned up into a sly smirk. "I guess I'm hanging out with you today."

"Yes." I said firmly. "Including Hyo, Daehyun, probably Ahjin, and all of your friends."

His smug expression dropped. "A-all those people?"

I lifted my hands up in despair. "That's what I said!"

"I'm not going."

"No," I pointed a finger to him. "If I'm going, you're going too. I'm not getting bullied by your friends alone."

"Bullied?"

"Yes." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Because of someone here, they all tease me."

He responded with a loud snicker. "Ah.."

"It is not funny." I threw a pillow at him, which he effortlessly caught and held across his chest.

"I'll protect you." He easily said, not knowing how much more those three words meant to me. I raised my eyebrows at his confident expression. "I'll protect you from those bad oppas."

"Bad oppas." I repeated and laughed to myself.

Myungsoo seemed amused by my laugh and gave out a low chuckle of his own. He walked forward and sat down near my feet on the bed. Taking a handful of the blanket, he covered the end of it over his legs and took a long sigh before asking me, "Do you ever wonder?"

"Being more specific would help." I scoffed and leaned forward, placing my elbows on my knees. "Do I ever wonder what?"

He frowned at the blanket in his hands. "Never mind."

I slapped his foot and grumbled, "Now that you won't tell me, I want to know even more."

His face turned into a soft half-smiled expression. "Don't worry. I'll tell you later."

"Just tell me now." I insisted, batting my eyelids and pouting my lips.

"Wah..." He inched his head forward with widened eyes. "Are you doing aegyo right now?"

"No..." I made a face and dropped my eyes. "But you're going to tell me, right?"

"Not right now."

"Why?"

"Because," He pointed to the door. "Three. Two. One."

"Min!" Hyo appeared in the doorway with a excited expression. "Guess-." Her eyes fell upon Myungsoo, who was still sitting on the edge of my bed. "Oppa?"

"Ah, Hyo." He stood up and trudged over to her. "What do you look so happy about?"

"Tonight," She clapped her hands together. "We're having a party."

"A-a party?" I repeated.

She vigorously nodded her head. "On a yacht."

Myungsoo and I both stared at her blank minded. We then looked at each other at the same time before turning out heads back to Hyo, who was just standing there checking her phone.

"Ahjin said it's her dad's." Hyo continued and glanced up at us. "We're using it until Friday. So four days." She held up the number with her fingers.

"But school..." I said it almost in a whisper.

She drew a check mark in the air. "I've got that covered."

"And that is?" Myungsoo pushed.

"After I told dad that Ahjin wanted to invite us on her yacht, he immediately agreed and called the school for all three of us already."

"Why would he do that?" I asked even though I probably had a clue as to why.

"I don't know." Hyo shrugged. "He probably thinks it'll be a good setup for L-oppa and Ahjin. You know, a cruise on the sea. Very romantic if you ask me. Right oppa?"

But Myungsoo was already gone.

"Min!" Hoya called from downstairs. "Come down here. Your oppas want to talk to you about something important!"

I exited my room at the sound of my name and leaned over the banister. "What?"

Dongwoo stood at the bottom of the staircase as if he had been waiting for me this whole time. "Hurry!" He chuckled and pulled me along down the stairs and into the living room where everyone, except for Myungsoo, Hyo, Daehyun, and Ahjin, were sitting,; so basically all the oppa bullies.

Sungjong slid over to allow room for me and patted on the couch cushion. "Sit here."

I sat right down and waited for what they were going to say, but it was silent. The only sound was the dull tick, tick, tick of the grand clock hanging on the wall. It stayed that way for a while before I finally spoke up. "I'm still waiting."

"For what?" Sungyeol was the first one to move. The others still sat stiffly in their seats, planting their eyes on anything else but me.

"We want to..." Sunggyu began, but his voice faded out just as soon as it came. "Woohyun-ah, you tell her. You're the one who actually knows what's going on."

Hesitantly, I asked in a lowered voice, "What is it? What's going on?"

"Myungsoo-" Woohyun spoke up, but stopped abruptly when he saw my facial expression. "Yah, don't look at me like that."

I realized my eyes were narrowed into small slits and my teeth were anxiously chewing the sides on my mouth. In a flash, I relaxed my face and turned my mouth into a forced grin. "Better?"

"Better." Myungsoo responded, coming from upstairs. He moved past everybody until he was standing next to me. "Are you all done packing?"

"Yup." Sungyeol groaned and stretched out his long legs onto the coffee table. "All done."

I pushed his legs off with grim smile. "No feet on the table. Mr. Kim's rules."

"Wah," Myungsoo sat on the arm rest next to me and laid an arm on my shoulder. "My Minnie learns well, doesn't she?"

I nudged his arm off. "I told you not to call me that."

"The more you don't want to hear it," He leaned his weight against me. "The more I want to say it."

I rolled my eyes at him, but he still stayed next to me. I felt his eyes wandering my face, which made me feel awkward and self conscious about myself.

"The both of you," Hoya lifted his chin in our direction. "Do you like each other?"

"Hyung!" Sungjong exclaimed. "Don't be so forward about it."

"Well you guys wanted an answer." He waved a hand at us. "And here it comes."

"We don'-."

"I do."

"What?!"

"H-huh..?"

"L-ah..?!"

"I knew it!"

I blinked. "Yah, Myungsoo-ah..."

"Oppa!" Ahjin shook her way through our crowded legs and and fell on top of Myungsoo's lap. "Are you ready?"

No one spoke.

Ahjin gently smacked around her face. "Is there something on me?" She looked over and gave me a small nudge. "Min, are yo-?"

My legs suddenly shot up, bringing the rest of my body with it. "I-I have to go finish packing."

"I'll help." Myungsoo began moving Ahjin into my empty seat.

"No!" I raised a hand out, but brought it back down to my side. "I mean, it's fine. I can do it myself."

Everyone had their eyes on my back as I hurried up the stairs. Just keep going. I told myself. And without looking to see where I was going, I knocked right into Hyo, who was standing next to the banister with wide eyes. "H-Hyo."

"You know that Myungsoo likes you." She whispered.

"Hyo..."

Saying nothing, she took me by the arm and led me to my room. After shutting the door close, she said, "Why didn't you ever tell me? That Myungsoo likes you?"

I pressed my lips together, not wanting to have the words escape my mouth.

"Min?"

"Because I didn't want you to know." They came out.

She stared at me, blank-faced. More firmly, she said, "But you're my best friend. And L-oppa's my brother. The least you could've done was tell me and not let me be the last one to know along with everyone else. I'll admit, at first, I knew. I saw how he looked at you and the way you'd react to it. It was pretty obvious."

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

She waved her hands up in frustration. "Because I thought you would tell me!" She sighed and gave me a disappointed look. "But I guess not, huh?"

"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd be like this. Just like this." I muttered the words to her. "And yes, I did know that Myungsoo liked me. He does like me. I can't change the way he feels and quite frankly, I don't want to." Everything came out in a rushed hush.

Closing her eyes and settling onto the bed, Hyo said, "And so you like him back?"

"Yes." Everything was out now, no turning back. "I like him so much, it hurts to see him with Ahjin."

In a way, Hyo resembled so much of Myungsoo. The way she talked and acted was very similar to Myungsoo. For the longest time I've known Hyo, I never thought there'd never be a person as perfect as Kim Hyojin, my best friend, but then I met Kim Myungsoo, the conceited prince. And he was a different story.

Myungsoo was perfect. He is perfect. From his curly black hair to his feet that walked on the path he trudged through everyday. From his bipolar personality to the way he acts when there's something he really cares about and loves. From L to the Kim Myungsoo I know and like.

When I looked back at Hyo, she was already staring at me with the tiniest of smiles. "You really do, don't you?"

"Yes." I said again.

"But you know what the biggest obstacles in the way are."

I slightly nodded my head. "Ahjin, society, people, Mr. Kim."

Hyo stood up without blinking one bit. "But you like him." She took a deep breath. "And oppa likes you. That's enough to make it through." With a tilt of her head, she added, "I believe in that."