Tiffany’s POV

“Unnie!” Krystal shrieked as soon as she saw me enter the building.

“Soojung ah! How is it going? It’s been a while.” I greeted her back and gave her a quick hug.

“Everything’s cool. Just finished practicing for our comeback unnie. How about you? You’re looking fantastic lately!” she replied enthusiastically and pushed me away for a bit to take a good look at me.

“I’m feeling a bit worn-out recently, what, with all the schedules we had, I want to take a loooong vacation dongsaeng ah.” I pouted.

“Same here unnie. But why are you here? You got a meeting with the boss?” she asked looking curious.

“Err..No. Uh, I just want to...” I stuttered trying to think of a reasonable excuse for coming here without being so obvious but she was quick and I got caught.

“Oooh. Someone’s looking for her ‘best friend’.” She teased.

Without warning, my face betrayed me and the next thing I know; I was blushing profusely.

“Oh emmm gee unnie! I think I’m hitting the nail right in the head. Am I right or am I right?” she teased even more not failing to poke me with her finger. I still couldn’t say anything back to her because I could still feel my face heating up which made her shriek with laughter.

“Yah Jung Soojung!” I face palmed myself, trying to make her stop.

“Ara unnie. This is going to be our little secret then. And just so you know, they’re currently recording a cover song in Studio 4.” She whispered and patted my back before leaving.

“Thanks Krys.” Was all I could say and headed straight to the said studio.

Upon arriving, I slowly opened the door and saw the person that I have been missing these past two days. After the day that she left to meet the mystery caller, I haven’t talked to her since then. I don’t know if she’s avoiding me or she’s just really confining herself away from everyone since her pattern is always the same; going home very late and leaving so early in the morning; always accompanied by the reeking smell of alcohol. And just today, I saw her enter the house at 6:30 am and left 30 minutes after. She just greeted me good morning and smiled at me as if she’s sorry about something that I don’t know and without saying another word, she left. I wanted to ask and confront her about what’s going on with her but doing so would look like I’m acting like her girlfriend or something so I fought the urge and bit my tongue. She’d spill to me if she’s ready anyway.

But my decision changed immediately when I heard Yoona said something about Yuri’s bleeding knuckles. I thought she was just seeing things but Sooyoung and Hyoyeon’s reaction confirmed what Yoona saw.

“So my best friend who’s not been home lately is out there drowning herself with liquor while fighting only God knows who every night?” I thought grimly. 

As a result, right after our recording in SNSD’s private studio, I drove straight to SME and now I’m standing right outside where my best friend’s at.

I saw her sitting into the control room. She’s in front of the MIDI keyboard trying to play a couple of drum beats while adjusting the music’s DAW in the room’s control surface. I recognized the song that they’re going to cover as a live performance in Mnet and it was Shinhwa’s Minwoo oppa’s song; Don’t Trust Men. Sooyoung was inside the studio singing her lines after a couple of trials while Hyo was sitting on the couch with her earphones on. My eyes automatically darted to Yuri’s knuckles and I saw that it was tightly wrapped in bandage. I could still see a couple of dried blood stains on it and it pained me to see her like that. She was too focused with the beat and failed to notice my existence; in which I was planning to keep that way.

After a couple of seconds, Sooyoung went out of the recording booth looking tired and drained. I automatically moved sideways, safely hidden behind the door so they won’t notice my presence. Luckily there was no one on the lobby so as of the moment; I’m safe from being seen.

As soon as Sooyoung was out, the three of them walked towards the door connecting to the practice room. I made up my mind.

“I’ll just talk to her for a bit then I’m out.” I told myself and followed them inside the practice room.

Upon entering the room, I already saw them dancing to the beat and I couldn’t help but stare at Yuri’s y grind. She’s so perfect in all ways. Her long hair’s swaying with every step she makes and her slender body’s giving a small wave from time to time that it almost took my breath away. She’s so into the dance and her focused face added more fuel into her hotness. Beads of salty sweat are now running from her temple down to her lips and boy it made me gulp real hard. Her baggy white shirt’s now soaked with perspiration that I could almost see her chocolate abs hidden underneath.

 Just imagine me standing on the doorway silently spazzing over my best friend’s hotness; with every heavy pant she makes is equal to every guzzle I take. It didn’t take long when Sooyoung noticed my presence and they all stopped upon seeing me. Sheez.

“Surprise!” I decided to greet them with my killer eye smile.

“Unnie!”SooHyo greeted and Yuri looked so shock. She looked dead tired by the way.

“Mushroom!” she gave me her crooked smile but it was not the warm one that I have always loved.

“Yedora, you all look so dead beat. How’s it going?” I replied, entered the room and took the bag of freshly baked assorted breads and cartoons of banana milk that I bought before coming over upon settling myself into the couch. I know that those kinds of snacks were these kids’ favorites.

“Someone’s making us work our asses’ off.” Complained the smiling Hyoyeon while looking at Yuri and the latter just gave her a silent glare.

“Hmm. I see. Is it your break yet? I got some snacks here.” I asked Hyo while trying to catch Yuri’s avoiding gaze.

Sooyoung was about to grab the snacks but she backed off remembering something. Then she and Hyo looked at each other. Yuri sensed the abrupt silence so she turned to look at the two and gave them a nod.

As soon as she was sure that Yuri agreed to take a quick break, the two immediately seized the snacks that they could get their hands on and ate noisily. They were arguing about the filling that they’d like to eat while me and Yuri were just silently watching them. To be honest, though I find my other two cute dongsaengs fascinating, me and my best friend are a bit awkward about the situation and as to why it’s like that, I don’t have the faintest idea. Then the unmistakable beep of a phone could be heard all over the room and I saw Yuri swipe her phone as if she’s rejecting the call and turned it off. The other two were just clueless about what happened and when they finally realized that me and Yuri aren’t doing anything, they coughed up and excused themselves to get some water in the cafeteria. I assumed that it was just their way of excusing their selves so me and Yuri could talk.

“So--- you don’t have any schedule for today?” she asked looking uncomfortable. But why?

“Err… I just got off the studio and decided to visit you guys right after.” I answered trying to keep my cool.

“Ahh.”  And she stood up looking for something to do like surfing the internet in the room’s pc beside me.

Something’s really off. I just can’t quiet pin what it is but I’m sure something’s not right. I decided to take my time since I don’t have anything going on for the night. I planned to invite Yuri to dinner so we can have our own privacy and maybe we could talk. I tried to think of ways to broach the subject carefully and waited for her to say something but we remained like that for a good 10 minutes and I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Are you free for dinner later? It’s been a while and I’m craving for steak. Would you be my date for tonight?” I invited her giving her my eye smile so I won’t have to deal with a disappointing ‘no’ from her. I was pretty positive that she’d say yes when…

“Sorry but I can’t. I still have to go somewhere.” She replied not looking at me.

“I see. How about tomorrow then? I heard from oppa that you’re just good up until 3:00 in the afternoon.” Did I just tell her that I know her schedule? Damn!

“I still can’t. I’m out for the night.” And kept her gaze on the computer screen.

“Are you gonna drink again tomorrow too?!” I raised my voice a bit looking so irritated.

“Eh?” she asked, taken a back.

“Yul, what’s up?” I asked, giving up.

“Huh?”  she asked again looking confused.