“Amidsts the happiness, always be cautious. You can't see the future, can you?”

Minseok and Sooyoung barge in as soon as the door swings open. I’m standing in the doorway, looking at them with an awkward smile on my lips. “Hey, guys,” I stammer. I couldn’t possibly be calm after a major crush just happened, could I?

“Why were you being so hesitant to open the door?” Sooyoung attacks me with bomb-like, piercing kind of a question.

“Err, sorry,” is what I can think of at the moment.

“We’re not strangers to you, Yoona.” Minseok walks to the living room and places the plastic bag of stifling hot fried chicken and a big bottle of cola on the coffee table. “You know, you should’ve opened the door at once.”

“Sorry, again,” I mutter with no actual guilt. I’m still mulling over Jongdae right now—my mind is all about him. I wonder whether he has arrived at the parking lot.

“Why are you dressing so fancy tonight?” She raises an eyebrow at me. “Are you going on a date with someone later?”

“Really?” He widens his eyes, utterly gobsmacked. “Have you been seeing someone lately, Yoona?”

“As if I’ve got loads of time to go out.” I let out an outburst of scoff. Well, that may be pretty much over-exaggerating. 

“I really thought you were seeing someone.” Minseok narrows his eyes, a spark of suspicion has apparently vanished. “Seriously though, I know you wouldn’t date at the moment. You’re busy doing a drama lately, aren’t you?”

“That’s… true.” Although I’m telling the truth, it just feels like I’m bluffing.

“Then why are you dressing like that, Yoona?” Sooyoung is just being Sooyoung. I’ve known her for such a long time ago—we practically spent our childhood together back then. Besides, we used to live in the same neighborhood. 

“I… uhm…” God, please make me think of something creative! “I… uhm… just got back from drama filming! I just arrived home five minutes before you came.”

“I can smell fresh perfume, though.”

I groan and pull an annoyed face. “Fine, if you won’t believe me. Just so you know, I have nothing to lose.”

“Where are you going?” asks Minseok.

“Changing clothes!”

With that, I scurry to my room, slam the door and hurriedly aim for my cell phone on the bed.

“God, fifteen missed calls!” I press my lips together into a thin line. I can feel a massive jolt of guilt building inside me, as if my heart is going to explode out of my ribcage.

I go over to the contacts and click on his phone number. I need to call him and clarify all the mess that I’ve unintentionally created.

“Yoona! God, finally you’re calling me back!” 

I bite my lower lip and as if on cue, the guilt that builds inside me just ends up getting larger and larger. Listening to his utterly anxious voice just makes me want to jump off the condominium.

If those two silly friends hadn’t decided to pay me a visit tonight, I would’ve gotten a chance to enjoy the night with Jongdae, seriously!

“Yoona….? Are you okay? Why aren’t you answering me?”

“I’m okay,” I say at last. I bet he knows how my voice sounds because it’s really horrible. I seriously don’t sound like a human being right now. “Have you been waiting for me for a while?”

“Kind of,” he answers rather anxiously. “Where are you? I’m down there at the parking lot and still haven’t gotten a sight of you.”

“Jongdae… uhm… I think… uhm… we can’t go out tonight.” This is it. I have finally let those words out. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” There’s a long pause afterwards, as though he’s at loss of words.

“I’m sorry, Jongdae,” I reiterate, sighing. “My friends suddenly dropped by and… I just can’t ask them to go back home.”

“I know,” he says quite bitterly. “You don’t need to say sorry to me, Yoona. If I were in your shoes, I would’ve done the same thing.”

“It’s not that we can’t go out on another date, right?” He’s laughing, but deep inside, I know he’s hurt. Well, I’m hurt too—for too deeply hurt. I was looking forward to spending the night with him, only to be disturbed by the unexpected visit of my friends.

Ugh, serious they should’ve come the moment I’m not busy!

“Let’s go out tomorrow night,” I say with an earnest intention to make up for the mess. “I have no schedule tomorrow night, I think.”

“Well, I do.”

“Oh, I see.” As saddening as it sounds, things aren’t just working out for us. “So… when are you free?”

“I’m not really sure,” he answers. “I’ll let you know later, okay?”

“Okay.”

The dreary conversation only ends when Jongdae hangs up first.

I stare at the screen blankly. I’m too emotionally drained to think of anything right now. It feels as though someone’s just stabbed my chest with a jagged knife, and rather than wounded, I feel empty.

I may not have affection for Kim Jongdae—well, that’s a bluff. I do feel something for him. It hurts me when he’s come all the way here, but we couldn’t go out in the end. I think I’m completely at fault.

“Yoona, haven’t you done yet? The chicken’s getting cold so you’d better come out at once!”

I’m taken aback by Sooyoung’s earth-shattering voice. I jump out of the bed and scuttle to the bathroom as fast as lightning.

“O-oh, yes! Hold on! I’m coming out!”

Kim Minseok and Choi Sooyoung are two persons whom I have been close since a long time ago. While I’ve known the latter for so long, I only got to know Minseok during our freshman year in Ilhoon High School. We were so close back and are still going on steady until now.

Minseok has become a soccer coach for almost a year and Sooyoung’s just begun her career as a lecturer in Dongguk University after she finished her Master a few months ago.

“It’s been a while,” Minseok starts, clearly devouring the delicious fried chicken to bits. He’s always known as a big eater—just like Sooyoung. “Everyone’s so busy that we couldn’t get to meet.”

“You know, I’ve just started teaching so there are a lot of things to do,” Sooyoung comments.

“And I’m busy doing a drama,” I say, though they’ve already been well-aware of it. “You guys watch my drama, right?”

“Sometimes,” Sooyoung says airily, which clearly hurts me. I pull a long face, but she just feigns ignorance.

“I do.” Minseok grins. “I watch it like, every week!”

I let out a laugh. “You do, Minseok?”

“He watches your drama because he’s not going out with anyone. He’s got loads of time to rest on the couch and watch every little TV show.”

Sooyoung’s snide remark earns her a smack on her shoulder. Minseok looks evidently hurt.

“Look, my shirt’s now stained, for God’s sake!”

“That’s what you get when you’re talking ,” he replies casually and grabs another part of fried chicken. “Just for the record, it’s not that I don’t want to go out and have no fan girls. They swoon over me, you know.”

I take a small sip of cola. “Then, what is your problem?”

“His problem is…” Sooyoung butts in once again, trying to think of apt reason. “His problem is… he swings that way!”

“I’m not gay! I don’t like guys!” His face heats up furiously and I could not help giggling. I know Minseok doesn’t swing that way. He clearly likes girls. Sooyoung was just cracking a joke.

“I was just joking.” She stops laughing eventually. “Don’t take it seriously.”

Minseok just clicks his tongue in distaste. He doesn’t stop devouring, though. “Seriously though, I’ll only date a girl if she’s my soul mate.”

“How would you know that she’s your soul mate?” Sooyoung frowns. “It’s not like you have a supernatural power that gives you a hunch whether a particular girl you meet is your soul mate.”

I was wondering the same question Sooyoung just brought up. He can’t possibly have any supernatural powers, can he?

“You’re dating Siwon hyung, yet you have no idea about that?”

“What do you mean?” she asks him back, wonderstruck.

“Well, let me ask you this.” He tosses the half-eaten thigh onto the box and gazes at her questioningly. “Why are you dating Siwon hyung?”

“Well…” Sooyoung scratches her nape, looking somewhat bewildered. “That’s because….” she stops again and much