“Suyeon, can you drop me off at my tutoring session?”

    Suyeon whirls around, gaping in horror. “Jaemi, what?! You hired another tutor? I’m your sister! Why don’t you just ask me, and I’ll do it for free!”

    “Yeah, but my friends and I pitched in to hire this guy. Apparently, he’s super hot. And he has a great personality. And he’s smart, too. Like, no offense, but I’d rather stare at a hot guy’s face for an hour. Not yours.”

    Realization dawns on Suyeon. She sinks to the floor, , “Oh, no, no, Jaemi, please tell me it isn’t so-,”

    “What?”

    “What’s the name of the tutoring group you hired?”

    “Uhh...,” Jaemi chews her lip. “I think it was, like, Sunset Tutoring or something?”

    “NO!” Suyeon launches herself at her little sister and pins her to the ground. “I forbid you from going, you traitor! How could you? I thought you were more sensible than that!”

    “You’re not making any sense!” Jaemi squirms under her older sister’s grip. “Get off, fattie! Otherwise I’m going to call Mom!”

    “What are you doing to your little sister?” Mr. Lee roars, storming into the room. Jaemi throws her sister a smug smirk.

    “She betrayed me!” Suyeon wails. “She’s not my sister anymore. I thought blood was supposed to be thicker than water-,”

    A terrified expression appears on their father’s face. “Blood? Oh no, is this a woman thing? Uh, I have to go. Bye!” He hurries downstairs, to Jaemi’s cries of, “Hey! You’re supposed to help!”

    6 punches, 12 pinches, and one well-placed thwack! from a conveniently located straightener later, a bruise-covered Suyeon is standing in the library with her equally battered little sister. Both are wearing sour expressions; and after Suyeon spots a familiar head of dark brown hair, her scowl deepens.

    “Oh my god, he really is hot.” Jaemi spots her friends standing near him, and waves energetically. “I didn’t know he would be this attractive-,”

    “Spend 5 minutes with him, you’ll think otherwise,” Suyeon grouses.

    “Come on!” Jaemi tugs her sister’s arm and strides to the boy. “Hi! I’m Lee Jaemi.”

    The boy tosses his windswept hair, his eyes delicately closed. “Afternoon, beautiful. I am Kim Jongin, the bringer of knowledge. I will gift you with information, intelligence, and insight. It is truly a pleasure, madam.”

    “Oh, please,” Suyeon snorts, and Jongin’s eyes snap open.

    “What are you doing here? Have you finally realized that you really do need my tutoring?” he snaps. Suyeon guffaws.

    “Please. It’ll be a chilly day in hell when I come to you for academic help.”

    “Do they know each other?” one of Jaemi’s friends asks her, and she shrugs.

    Jongin smirks. “Even your sister knows that I’m more qualified than you are. My dear girl,” he says, turning back to Jaemi. His voice has taken on its former melodious quality. “I apologize that you are related to a heathen such as this.”

    “My sister is not a heathen,” Jaemi tells him coldly, and Suyeon thanks God’s angels and the heavens above that she was gifted with such a wonderful sister as this-

    “She’s more of a dorky loser with, like, one friend.” Jaemi adds. Suyeon stops with her gratitude. Jongin starts howling in a decidedly unattractive way.

    “Thanks,” she mutters. Jaemi gives her sister a small smile and hugs her.  

    “Go eat some cake, sis. I’ll be okay.”

    Suyeon sighs. “Whatever. Call me when you’re done.” She turns to Jongin. “Don’t try any funny business, you little twit.”

    “Just go.” Jongin says snarkily.

    “Mirae’s going to be so mad,” Suyeon moans, pulling out her phone. “Even my sister’s pulled an Anakin and gone over to the dark side.”

Unfortunately, Suyeon doesn’t have the chance to ask Mirae. She doesn’t pick up her phone- or answer any of Suyeon’s texts- the entire day. Ditto for the next day.

“What is she doing?” Suyeon mutters, sighing and tossing her phone on her bed. This is ridiculous. It seems like lately, everyone’s been looking past her. First it was her parents (which isn’t unusual, but when your mother forgets to set a place for you at the dinner table you know there’s a problem). Then it was Mirae, who had been acting strangely ever since her breakdown at the cafe. Now it’s her little sister, too. Suyeon’s encounter with Jongin today hasn’t made things better.

She feels forgotten. Like nothing. She stares up at the ceiling.

Who am I? What am I, without school? And tutoring? What am I without Mirae?

Does Mirae even consider Suyeon her best friend? Sure, they do everything together, but Suyeon feels like she puts more effort into their relationship than Mirae does. After all, Suyeon tells Mirae everything. And always tries to arrange hangouts, and randomly show up at her house with snacks, and help her with everything.

Maybe I’m being too clingy and Mirae wants me to back off? This is my fault. I need to stop.

Because obviously, Mirae can hide things from her but confess them to Kim Jongin, a guy they were supposed to hate. It doesn’t matter. Mirae can get away with anything. She’s perfect, sweet, cute, a genius, adorable. And Suyeon?

She’s more of a dorky loser with one friend, Jaemi had giggled. And it’s true. Suyeon’s been a background character in Mirae’s wonderful life all this time. Provided the punchlines, worked behind the scenes. Kept out of the spotlight.

Stop with the negative thoughts, Suyeon half-heartedly tells herself. Come on, go out and do something. Get out of the house.

So Suyeon puts on her usual outfit- a tshirt and jeans- and takes the bus to the mall.

It’s been a while since she’s done something without Mirae. Suyeon leisurely makes her way through the tide of shoppers, occasionally stopping to look at dresses that have caught her eye. It does little to improve her poor mood. This is nice, but more of Mirae’s style, she remarks as she gazes upon a coral frock. Suyeon realizes that she has said this to every single dress she has seen.

The day Suyeon met Mirae was sunny and cheerful; the exact opposite of how Suyeon had been feeling. Suyeon was 9 years old and the reigning champion of the Daegu district spelling bee- or, had been the reigning champion. Some stupid little girl with a gap-toothed smile and two pigtails had beat her out.

Suyeon sniffled, wiping her nose. This was the worst day of her life. How would she ever be able to face her family again? She had promised them that she’d win again! Dad even promised to take her out for ice cream, for the first time in months. And now she couldn’t-

“Hey, you’re Lee Suyeon, right?” a cheerful voice squeaked. Suyeon looked up angrily, her eyes red-rimmed. Hwang Mirae was standing in front of her. An obnoxious grin was plastered on her face.

Suyeon replied coldly, “Yes.”

“I just want to say good job,” Mirae smiled. “I thought you were super super good. I totally would’ve spelled ‘fluoride’ wrong. I don’t know how you did it-,”

“Are you trying to rub your victory in my face?” Suyeon snapped. Mirae stopped speaking abruptly.

“N-no...,” Mirae balanced on the balls of her foot, rocking side to side. “I just wanted to know if... you wanted to go to get some ice cream with me. My mom’s taking me right now, and-”

“Why would I want to get ice cream with you?” Suyeon hissed.

That stupid smile returned to Mirae’s face. “Because you like strawberry ice cream, right? And today, they’re giving away free single scoop cones at Freezy’s-,”

“Wha- how did you know that I like strawberry ice cream?”

“Oh my god, I guessed right?” Mirae jumped up and down. “Yay! Victory to me!”

Suyeon glared at this girl. Unbelievable. What in the name of all things good and dodgeball was this girl doing? “You’re really weird,” she told Mirae.

“Funny, that’s what everyone else says too!” Mirae outstretched her hand. “Please please please get ice cream with me! Please! I can’t eat ice cream alone! My mom doesn’t count! That’ll be so weird! Please! Please-,”

“Okay, okay!” Suyeon said hastily. “I’ll get ice cream with you, okay?”

“YAY! Let’s go! Let’s go! YEAH!” Mirae screamed, causing Suyeon to clap her hands over her ears.

    By the end of the afternoon, the two were tentative acquaintances (“best friends” in Mirae’s eyes).

By the end of the month, the two were buddies (“best friends” in Mirae’s eyes).

By the end of the school year, the two were best friends (“best friends” in Mirae’s eyes).

Our entire friendship has been me hiding behind Mirae, Suyeon thinks. Maybe it’s time for me to break out of my shell.  

So when she walks past the next store, Suyeon enters.

A/N: Lalala drama