Hyun Jung’s POV:

“It’s—“

“Hyun, lunch,” Kyuhyun poked his head through the door and the frame.

“Neh,” I wheeled myself out to the dining table. A chair had been removed so my wheelchair could fit. Ryeowook and Sungmin helped set the table while the rest sat at their usual seats and passed bowls of rice down as Ryeowook scooped them in.

“Thank you for the food,” we chorused and began eating. With Kyuhyun on my left and Hannah on my right, my bowl was filled to the brim with the various delicacies Ryeowook had whipped up. I gratefully ate it all and occasionally placed some meat on Kyuhyun and Hannah’s bowl in the process. Everyone was done eating and Kyuhyun wheeled me off despite my audible protests that I wanted to help wash the dishes.

I hated feeling useless. I know they care, I know my condition. But this feeling of only being able to watch from the sidelines as the people that hold such high positions in my heart were doing all the work. I knew it was just a bunch of dirty dishes, but I knew this wouldn’t be the only thing that would reinforce the useless feeling hogging my mind. As soon as we entered my room, Kyuhyun asked Hannah to leave us.

“Hyun ah, I hafta talk to you,” he said, slowly sitting down on the armchair.

“Wae?”

“You know your condition’s pretty bad and.. I haven’t told umma yet,” he said.

“Good, don’t tell umma. I don’t want her to worry,” I replied.

“That’s what I was thinking too. But the thing is,” he took a deep breath. “She’s coming on Christmas.”

“Mwo? That’s barely two weeks away! I won’t recover by then!”

“I know. There’s also another thing,” he sighed and looked down. “She told me that if you ever got hurt again, she’d take you away from me and bring you to Canada.”

“Really? Does that mean I have to see Ahra?”

“Well, yeah..”

“Nope. I’m not leaving. Don’t wanna see her face,” I shook my head.

“But if umma forces you to, would you?”

“I think I’ll be able to convince her to let me stay. Besides, travelling like this is such a hassle,” I said, looking down at my leg.

“Alright. If you ever want to leave, just tell me, okay?” he got up from his seat on the armchair.

“Will do, oppa,” I said.

“I only want the best for you, even if it means you leaving me. Love ya,” he ruffled my hair and left. As soon as Hannah came back in, she received a phone call from someone.

“Neh? But I’m a little busy now. Is it important?” she spoke softly, but it was loud enough for me to hear.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t,” she remained silent for awhile before hanging up.

“Hannah, if it’s important you should go. I can hold up by myself,” I said, not wanting to her to miss anything important.

“But—“

“I don’t want to hear it. Just go, Hannah, I’ll be fine,” I gave a small smile. She sighed and got her clothes before heading into the bathroom to change. She came out after a few minutes and grabbed her stuff.

“You sure you don’t want me to stay?” she raised an eyebrow.

“You’re already changed, aren’t you?” I laughed. “I’m sure. Just go.”

“Alright, if you need anything just call me,” she said, heading out the door. I followed her to the door to send her off.

“You’re leaving?” Hangeng asked.

“Yup. She forced me to,” Hannah replied, putting on her shoes. “Okay, I’m leaving. Call me if you need anything.”

“Okay, bye,” when she disappeared behind the front door, I wheeled myself back into the room. Feeling bored, I decided to watch some shows on my laptop. I picked up where I left off on Running Man, the episode with Sunny and Yoona. It was cool how they used ink to stamp the members of Running Man to eliminate them. I’ve always wanted to be on that show but psh, they only have celebrity guests, I’m no celebrity. My laughter ceased when I heard the door click open.

“Watcha doing?” Heechul hopped onto my bed.

“Just watching stuff. Get off my bed,” I threw a magazine at him.

“Mwoya? Running Man?”  he looked at my screen.

“Mhm, you were on the show before weren’t you?”

“Yeah. It was fun,” he smiled. “Jaesuk hyung was really funny.”

“I know right. Gosh, I’m a total fan of his now,” I laughed. I’ve liked him since I saw him on Family Outing Season 1. That show was seriously the best.

“It’d be cool if you and Kyuhyun appeared on the show together,” he smirked.

“I’d love to!” I squealed. “But it’s impossible.”

“Why? I’m sure a little talking to the production team would do the trick. Besides, you’re pretty popular, y‘know,” he said. Popular? Me? Ha! “Popular” and “Hyun Jung” never go into the same sentence together.

“The guests are all celebrities, singers and comedians. I’m a ballerina,” I rolled my eyes. “Besides, look at my condition.”

“Che, you can always go on later. There’s also Star King for you to show your talents,” he smiled.

“Star King? What’s that?”

“It’s a variety show. People go on there to showcase their talents. It could the craziest things like delivering 6 tables of food in one go.”

“Really?  Seems interesting, did you appear there before?”

“Yeah I did. I had to do a shoe dance. It was crazy there. You should also try Strong Heart. Teukie, Hyukjae and Shindongie are permanent cast, you won’t be alone and they can help you.”

“Oh my gosh! I’ve always wanted to appear on Strong Heart too. But I have nothing to talk about. Everyone has such interesting stories to share.”

“You have loads of interesting stories. Your life is like a movie, seriously.”

“Whatever. But I doubt I’d actually have the chance to appear on all that. Better leave those shows to professional entertainers. But I wouldn’t mind meeting Yoo Jaesuk. Wanna help me get his autograph?” I wiggled my eyebrows.

“Psh. No way. Get it yourself when you appear on Running Man,” he shook his head and left the room. I sighed and returned to my paused show. I wonder if I’d actually get a chance to appear on Running Man. If I do, it’d be hella fun.

End of POV

--

Narrator’s POV:

 “Hyun you okay in there?” Hyun Jung recognized Ryeowook’s muffled voice through the bathroom door. She had to sit on a stool in the shower stall and had her injured leg sticking out through the shower curtain resting on another stool. It was a hassle but she managed to do it without being in much pain or getting the casts wet.

“I’m good. Almost done,” Hyun Jung replied, drying herself with the towel. Once dressed, she gave Ryeowook permission to enter the bathroom to help lift her onto the wheelchair.

“You took pretty long in there,” he chuckled, placing her gently onto the wheelchair.

“Things have changed,” she smiled and wheeled herself out of the bathroom and threw my dirty clothes into the laundry basket sitting beside the bedroom door. Ryeowook left and she started to blow her hair dry. Once it was dry, she heaved herself onto the bed. It was raining heavily and the occasional flashes of lightning and booming thunder was to be her lullaby for the night. Mimi, always being afraid of thunderstorms, was curled up under the bed. It was a little habit of hers when it was raining, especially with thunder and lightning. It was late, around 1am when Hyun Jung was slowly drifting off to sleep. The boys were all asleep since there was no noise outside and they had an early schedule the next day.

The front door silently clicked open. It couldn’t be the members, they were all in their room, so who was the intruder? The masked being slowly crept its way to the target room. As silently as possible, it opened the door to find out it had gotten the right room. Everything would be perfect if it only remembered to close the bedroom door properly, the door was left slightly ajar. A blade slipped out of its sleeve as it approached the sleeping figure. Lightning flashed and the light reflected against the shiny metal blade. The masked being traced the sharp knife against her sleeping face, muttering silent curse words. The masked being put pressure onto the blade, making it graze the sleeping figure’s neck and blood trickled down. Awaken from the pain, Hyun Jung shot up, her hand instinctively going up to her wound on her neck. Before she could scream for help, the masked being cupped a hand around , making sure only muffled sounds were heard.

Hyun Jung kicked and squirmed under the firm grip of the intruder. Skillfully keeping one hand clamped over , the other hand pulled out a cloth from its pocket and tied it around so Hyun Jung wouldn’t be able to make a sound and its two hands were free. The intruder tied Hyun Jung’s hands to the poles of the bed frame and tied her un-injured leg to the end pole of the bed. Slowly, the intruder pulled down the mask, revealing its entire face. If it wasn’t for the accurate flash of lightning that illuminated the intruder’s face, Hyun Jung wouldn’t be able to recognize her. More muffled sounds came from Hyun Jung as she recognized the girl before her.

“Stop making sounds you little ,” she hissed. Immediately, Hyun Jung hushed herself. Beads of sweat trickled down the sides of her face and her heartbeat was beating so fast, she felt as if her heart was going to pop out from her chest. Her eyes were filled with fear as the sharp blade was traced against her face again.

“You’re quite the greedy one, aren’t you?” the intruder said quietly, looking at the blade that travelled all over her victim’s face. “First Jonghyun, now Donghae. Who’s next?”

“Mmf hmf pmf mmf.”

“If you promise to be quiet, I’ll take the cloth off,” the intruder said. Hyun Jung nodded and she reached behind to untie the cloth.

As soon as she was able to speak, “Janey you’re crazy. ing untie me right now.”

“No can do, little princess. I’ll untie you once you die in my hands tonight,” Janey hissed. Every word was drowned in hatred and jealousy.

“Why the are you doing this. What the hell did I ever do to you?”

“You have no idea, don’t you? You have no idea what you put me through all these years,” Janey pressed the knife slightly into Hyun Jung’s neck, making her wince as blood trickled down and into her shirt.

“What have you gone through.”

“Try thinking back, back to the time when you started dating my love Kim Jonghyun.”

“What? Jonghyun? Since when were you in the ing picture?!”

“You’re not thinking hard enough,” she pressed the knife into the skin of Hyun Jung’s jaw. “The chocolates, third year of middle school. Rings a bell?”

“ stop that. It hurts.”

“Think faster. My patience is running out. When that happens, I might just kill you,” Hyun Jung panicked and figured the only way she’d buy more time to live was to think back to the time when Jonghyun and her were dating.

Flashback:

“Hyun Jung ssi,” the timid girl spoke softly.

“Oh, Bongsoon ah,” Hyun Jung recognized the girl to be the school’s biggest nerd. Thick glasses, skirt so long that reached up to her ankles, ugliest haircut ever, books always around her. Everyone picked on her at every chance they got. The bullying ranged from just tripping her to outright abusing her. The crazy thing is, they were only 15. Only the minor few that actually had a heart, Hyun Jung being one of them, didn’t pick on her. In fact, Hyun Jung treated her as a friend.

“Can you pass this to Jonghyun ssi for me?” she held out a small box. What was inside, Hyun Jung didn’t know.

“No way. You have to give it to him yourself. Be more confident!”

“But..”

“No buts! Pass it to him yourself and at the end of the day, I’ll personally check with Jonghyun whether you did or not,” Hyun Jung said firmly. Left without a choice, Bongsoon nodded and trudged off to her next class. Hyun Jung smiled at the small, retreating figure. It was about time she gained some confidence.

--

“Jonghyun ssi,” Bongsoon stood awkwardly beside Jonghyun’s table.

“Mwo? Yah, stand further away from me, disgusting,” he sneered.

“I want you to have this. It’s Valentines’ day tomorrow and I want to give you chocolates,” Bongsoon held the small box of self-made chocolates.

“Yuck. Did you put some poison inside or something?” Jonghyun eyed the box and the girl.

“I- I didn’t. Please a- accept my heart,” she held the box closer to Jonghyun who moved back.

“Okay,” he said. Bongsoon looked up at the boy. Was he really accepting her heart? After all the waiting, was he finally giving her a chance?

A strong force slammed down onto the box and the class erupted into laughter. Bongsoon looked to the floor to see her chocolates ruined.

“Oops. I’m a clumsy person. Sorry,” Jonghyun snickered. “But since it’s already on the ground..”

Bongsoon’s eyes filled with tears as she watched her crush of 3 years stomp on the chocolates, stomp on her heart. The box was crushed by now and the chocolates stained the floor and the sole of Jonghyun’s shoe.

“Aish, these are new,” he sighed at the sticky brown mess. He looked to the pocket of Bongsoon’s skirt that had a handkerchief tucked inside. He grabbed it and began to wipe the mess off. Once he was done, he threw the handkerchief to the ground to join the ruined box of chocolates. When you’re 15, you do the craziest things. Bongsoon burst into tears and ran out of the class, bumping into Hyun Jung on the way out.

“Bongsoon ah! What’ wrong?” She shouted at the running Bongsoon. When she stepped into the class, she immediately found her answer. There, lying on the floor beside Kim Jonghyun was Bongsoon’s ruined box of chocolates. Hyun Jung stalked off and went to look for Bongsoon.  A few days after, Bongsoon had sent her a letter saying she was moving to the Philippines. Although Bongsoon didn’t state why she was leaving, Hyun Jung knew exactly why. The reason was Kim Jonghyun.

A series of events that happened over the one year had changed Hyun Jung’s hatred for Jonghyun to love, they started to date at 16. She had long forgotten about Bongsoon and all she had was Jonghyun in her heart. Jonghyun had changed too. No longer was he the big jerk that broke every girl’s heart, he was kind-hearted and completely devoted to his girlfriend. Bongsoon, who had wealth behind her, managed to get the news about Jonghyun and Hyun Jung’s relationship. Furious, she decided to come back for revenge. How could Hyun Jung, her only friend decide to ‘betray’ her and date Kim Jonghyun, the one who had broken her heart? But she knew she couldn’t come back like that.

Over the years, she had been intensely learning ballet. She practiced from dawn to dusk just to be able to get into the same department as her “enemy”, Cho Hyun Jung. While in the Philippines, she had taken up traditional Chinese martial arts and practiced her ballet. She knew Hyun Jung was a good ballerina ever since Hyun Jung was a child and she was nowhere near the level of Hyun Jung yet, so she practiced even harder. Equipped with all those skills, she was ready to come back to execute her revenge, but she still had to make sure she was never going to be picked on or recognized by anybody because of her looks.

Plastic surgery.

She had always wanted to change the way she looked. She just wasn’t satisfied with her looks and she the money for it, so why not? With her new and changed face, she came back to Korea to execute her revenge.

End of Flashback

Was this confusing? :p