“Lee Chaerin! What are you doing? Get over here and help me!”

Chaerin took out her headphones and stood up from the desk. “Yah! I’m coming!” She shouted to the other side of the room where her long-time friend Dara was attempting to hang up a fairly large banner.

          Dara was nearly falling off of the step ladder, “Hurry up!” She shouted as she pinned one side to the wall while the other side was falling down.

          “Hold on!” Chaerin shouted back. “Here,” she finally responded, and reached up to the banner to hold it in place while Dara pinned it on.

          The girls both stepped down and took a good look at the banner which read “New 21^st Century Girls Dance Crew Auditions” in gold lettering.

          “Do you think it’s good enough? Is it straight?” Dara asked Chaerin while squinting and pretending to frame it with her hands.

        Chaerin patted her on the back, “It’s fine. They’ll notice it as soon as they walk into the building.”

          “Do you think so?” Dara asked, still a little unsure of the placement.

          “Yep,” Chaerin replied, “Not a whole lot of events are usually held here anyway. I’m surprised my mom still gets customers over here. It’s not exactly out in the open. But I think if we put another sign on the front door, it’ll draw more people in. Did you remember to hang up the flyers?”

          Dara hesitated, “Oops.” She finally said, and then dashed for her backpack.

          Chaerin shook her head, “How could it have slipped your mind this time? I must’ve reminded you at least a thousand times!”

          Dara opened her backpack and shuffled through the many papers inside, “I don’t know. I was going to do it around lunch time, but..”

          “But..?” Chaerin ruffled her eyebrows, expecting Dara to continue.

          “But..” Dara explained, “There was this guy, and he was so hot.”

          Chaerin rolled her eyes, “Yet again. You gave him your number right? Then you started talking to him, and got completely distracted.”

          “No, that’s not it,” Dara interrupted while still shuffling through papers, “Something else happened.” Then she finally found the flyers she was looking for, not as elaborate as the banner, but still a nice goldenrod color that was perfect for drawing attention. “Found them!”

          “What? Get on with it.” Chaerin’s patience was running out.

          “Oh, right,” Dara continued, “So anyway, I walked into the store just to buy some lunch, and this guy next to me in line, you know, the hot guy. Well yeah, he was mumbling something to one of his friends and then bought a can of soda. He saw me and hung out at the other side of the counter and waited for me to buy my water and Panini. He was checking me out while the check-out guy was checking me out, which is ironic and also kind of funny.”

          “Ahem,” Chaerin coughed, and gave Dara an impatient look.

         “Right,” she continued yet again, “So, the hot guy opened his can of soda right as I was turning, and I tripped over myself a little. That’s when it happened. I bumped into him, causing his soda to spill all over my shirt. Oh my God, it was so embarrassing. I thought to myself, ‘Great, right in front of the hot guy. Good job, Dara.’ But he was embarrassed too, he kept saying sorry over and over again, and his friend was laughing. Now that guy was kind of an , but the hot guy was so nice. He ran and got some napkins and helped me clean it up. Then he offered to buy me a new shirt. That’s when we got to talking.”

          “I knew it,” Chaerin shook her head and laughed a bit under her breath. “What was his name?”

          “Actually,” Dara sighed, “I never got his name. I kind of lost at my own game today. It was so sad. After the incident, I said ‘That’s okay. Thank you.’ And I walked out with my jacket on.”

          “Really?”

          “Yeah, it was really weird. That almost never happens to me. I don’t know why I did that. I really wanted to get to know him.”

          “Because he was so hot right?”

          “YES!” Dara said excitedly.

          Chaerin laughed, “So, that’s why you forgot to put up the flyers?”

          “I guess so.” Dara shrugged and then got up with the papers in her hands.

          “Well, just go hang them right now. I don’t care where, as long as people can see them. We need these auditions to happen or we can’t compete in the nationals.”

          “Right.” Dara nodded and then proceeded to the door, “By the way, I think your mom is calling you.”

          Chaerin’s mom’s shrill voice could be heard from the upstairs of the building. Chaerin sighed and proceeded to gather her stuff. “That woman..” She hissed.

          “I’ll see you tonight then!” Dara said as she headed out the door.

          After Dara left, Chaerin put all of her stuff in her backpack and went up the stairs to her mom’s not-so-secluded nail salon. The stairs were creaky, old, and had ugly hard gray carpeting nailed to them. The whole building was so old, and was definitely in need of repairs.

          Chaerin opened the door to the salon and immediately took a big waft of toxic chemical nail product smell as she entered. It’s not as bad as when her mom first opened up the shop, though. She’s gotten used to it since she was a little girl. Her mom sat at the front counter by the register and saw Chaerin come in. The salon wasn’t as busy that day as it usually was, maybe because people were tired of climbing stairs to get to a cheap nail salon in a run-down rented out community building.

          “Chaerin! Lee Chaerin!” Her mother called out when she saw Chaerin walk through the door. Her mother ran up to her with her short little legs and hugged her at her waist, because that’s the only place she could reach without Chaerin bending down. “Ttal, your brother called from France! He’s getting married!” Her tiny eyes beamed as she looked up at Chaerin. She’s never seen her mother this excited before.

          “Great. That’s great.” Chaerin uncheerfully said.

          Her mother let go of her waist and lightly tapped her arm. “Yah, show some respect for your oppa!” She ordered. “At least one of my children is doing something with their life.” Now she’s starting to act like herself again, the mother Chaerin was raised by and knew so well.

          “Umma,” Chaerin whined, “I already told you I have a plan for my life. You just never listen.”

          Her mother laughed and walked back to the front counter, “What plan? To be an entertainer? You obviously don’t listen to yourself. Such nonsense I tell you.”

          “How is it nonsense?” Chaerin questioned her mother, “Is it nonsense to work hard every day, sometimes so much that the aches keep me up at night, just to bring happiness to people?”

          “You have no idea what you’re talking about, ttal. You have your head in the clouds again.” Her mother continued to lecture. “It’s time you’ve grown up and faced reality. You won’t get anywhere in life acting like a fool in front of an audience.”

          “Oh yeah?” Chaerin raised her eyebrows and started to get defensive. “Just watch me. I can be anything I want to be. It’s my life and I can do whatever I want with it. I can make the world happy and they will love me for it. There’s nothing else I need in life than that kind of satisfaction.”

          And with that, not another word came from Chaerin or her mother. Chaerin plopped down on one of the massage chairs and her phone, not giving her mother a second look. Her mother was hesitant to talk back, but decidedly she ignored her last statement and went back to one of her customers.

          Chaerin sighed and looked down at her phone, “3 new messages.” They were all from Kyungho, her precious boyfriend of 2 years. He’s her first boyfriend, and she was still head over heels for him. He always told her that he loves her every day. Even the little things that he would do for her to show her affection, it all made her smile. The only problem was her mother hated him. She saw him as low-life trash, a dog. To her, he was a punk and didn’t deserve her daughter in the slightest. But none of that mattered to Chaerin at all. She loved him for who he was and that he treated her like a queen, so that was all she needed. Besides, she was happy and she was sure that they were going to get engaged and move in a big house in Seoul together. That is, when they get the money to afford all of it.

          Chaerin’s phone vibrated again with another new message, this time from Dara. She figured whatever Dara said wasn’t going to be that important, so she checked the messages from Kyungho first. “Yah! Jagi! Good afternoon! Call me when you get this!”

          Before calling Kyungho, she quickly looked at the other two. “Jagi, I have some news to tell you. Don’t worry too much keke.” “Chaerin-ah, I’m at the Jazzy Café. Come meet me here in 10 minutes. We can get Americanos and talk, okay?”

          Chaerin put her phone in her pocket and nearly jumped out of her seat. Without saying so much as good-bye to her mother, she dashed out of the salon and down the stairs, out of the building, and to the café. She hadn’t seen Kyungho in a couple of days due to her being so wrapped up in preparing for the dance crew ads, so she was definitely excited to spend some time with her man.

          When she arrived at the café, and at short of breath, she could see Kyungho through the glass door and windows. He was just sitting there in a booth, sipping an Americano, with another one in front of him. She smiled gleefully as she opened the door. A waft of coffee and cakes hit her and she gladly breathed all of it in. Kyungho noticed Chaerin right away but didn’t get up, or even smile for that matter. Something must have happened, she thought, for him to look like that. He usually always smiled the second he saw her.

          “Is that for me?” Chaerin asked, pointing at the cup of iced coffee in front of him. He nodded without saying anything, and she sat down facing him. “Hey, yeobo,” she greeted, “How is your day going?” He sighed and looked down at the table. She ruffled her eyebrows in worry, but then she noticed he was wearing the jacket she bought for him a week ago. “I see you like your birthday present,” she said as she went to fix the collar on it, but he forcefully pushed her hand away.

          “Just stop, okay?” He said calmly, but he still seemed cold. Chaerin was sure that something was up. She tried to look him in the eyes.

          “Yeobo, what’s wrong?” She asked with concern.

          Kyungho sighed again and finally looked at her. The way he looked though, it just didn’t look right. It suddenly made Chaerin nervous, and she shook a bit. “I don’t think this is working out.” He said abruptly.

          “What do you mean? I thought everything was fine.” Chaerin said with disbelief.

          He shook his head and became angry, “No,” he argued, “It’s become too much for me. I feel like I can’t even breathe anymore. You’re too attached.”

          Chaerin stumbled for words. Her heart began beating uncontrollably. She didn’t know what to think at first. “B-but,” she hesitated, “I haven’t seen you in days. I hardly text you that much anymore. I thought we were doing great. We were going to get engage-”

          Then out of nowhere, Kyungho snapped. “Yah! What are you, crazy? Do you think that I would keep dating you? Don’t make a fool out of yourself. Figure it out. I can’t live like this, being embarrassed because of you. I’m warning you. Don’t touch me. If you do, I will definitely kill you!” Then he got up from the table and stormed out of the café.

          Chaerin just sat there for a moment, trying to take in everything that just happened. She was so confused. “Why did he do that?” She asked herself. “Why would he embarrass me like that? What did I do wrong to make him hurt me?” She could hear the whispers of everyone around her, they were probably talking about her. Or was she just imagining it? Whatever the reason, she was humiliated and left heartbroken.

          She wanted to die right at that table, just completely drop dead. But she knew she had to be strong. Maybe she could figure out what went wrong. Maybe she could get him back or maybe not. Chaerin didn’t know what to do, so she got up quickly and turned around, accidentally bumping into the waitress. “I’m so sorry,” she muttered, and just ran out of the café all while holding back anything she could have felt. All the while, her phone was buzzing out of control.