The day we were supposed to go to karaoke was the day Ga In had apparently had enough of Jongdae.

Over the past few weeks I had been so preoccupied with Jong In and Jin Ri and everyone else, I hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to Ga In much. When I texted her about karaoke, she replied that she'd love to come, but hadn't said anything about what was going on with them, though they had apparently been on the rocks for a while now. It wasn't until we all met up with her at the karaoke place that she pulled me aside and told me she had broken up with him.

"What happened?" I asked as we stood in the bathroom, talking, while the guys were in the room getting everything set up. 

"Nothing, really," she said as she folded her arms. "He was just so frustrating sometimes."

Ga In looked tired, her eyes were slightly puffy, and she was hunched over a bit, not standing as tall and confident as she usually does.

"So you guys just didn't work out?" I asked, trying to give her an out.

I didn't think Ga In was particularly keen on talking about it right now seeing as how closed up and sad she was, but she was trying to tell me anyways. I felt a bit guilty, because I knew it was my fault. When Ga In goes through a break up, she usually doesn't share anything about it with me. I used to think it was because she never really got all that emotionaly invested in the relationships, but after meeting her last couple of boyfriends and realizing she was actually serious about all of them, I began to feel a little hurt. I knew going through break ups could be really hard, and I wanted to be there for her if she was hurting, but she never even gave me the chance to. I started complaining about it, half jokingly, hoping she'd get the point, but seeing her like this I couldn't help but wonder if I was pushing her into something that wouldn't actually help her. She was usually pretty open about everything, so I didn't really get why she kept quiet about that one thing in particular, but I felt like I should have understood better. Sometimes talking about it won't help, especially if the person isn't ready for it.

"I guess not," she answered, sniffing.

The kind of sniffing a person would do if they had just been crying.

My heart ached for her, but I didn't know what to do or say, especially since we weren't going to be getting into specifics. She looked so small in front of me even though she was much taller than me that my heart hurt again, and I suddenly had an idea. I didn't know if it would be a good idea, but I figured it was better than nothing, and that I should give it a try. Anything to help my friend. It wasn't really an extravagent idea, nothing ground breaking, really, just something I had never tried before, coming from a family that wasn't big on being touchy feely, but Ga In's family was. And since it had actually worked well for me in the past, I decided to to try it with her, as it would probably work just as well, or better.

When I hugged her, she stiffened, and I panicked for a moment, thinking I had done something wrong. In the next second, though, she was returning the hug, and suddenly began crying on my shoulder. Not the ugly, bawling kind of crying, but a quieter kind where tears came out but she didn't make any noise apart from a shuddering breath. A gentle kind of breaking.

~

We made our way to the room not too long after that. Ga In had cried for only about a minute before pulling back and drying her face. We waited another minute, hoping some of the redness and puffiness would abate a bit so it would be less noticable for the guys, but there wasn't really enough time for it to make too much of a difference. We had already been gone for a while, and the others were probably wondering about us.

When we made our way into the room, I realized there wasn't much to worry about, though. The lighting was a bit dimmer than normal, and most of the guys were so focused on the karaoke machine that they didn't even spare us a glance as we walked in.

"Which one's Kai?" Ga In asked in my ear, having to speak a little louder than normal so I could hear her because of all the ruckus the others were causing.

I swept my eyes over the group, trying to see him through the tangle of people, but didn't. Instead my eyes caught sight of Kyungsoo sitting on one of the couches by himself, away from the others. Our eyes met and he smiled and waved me over.

"I'm not sure, but lets go this way for now," I said as I grabbed on to Ga In's wrist to lead her to where Kyungsoo was. I held on tight as I weaved us through the group, already getting annoyed at the number of people in one room and how they decided not to get a second simply because it would save money.

Some things are worth more than money, like my sanity.

"Hey," I said as I finally made it to him, sitting down by him as I pulled Ga In to sit down next to me. "Is it always like this?"

"Pretty much," he said, arching an eyebrow as he looked at the group in front of us, but he was smiling, too. 

"This is my friend, Ga In, by the way," I said, holding my hands up in front of her like Vanna White. "Ga In, this is Kyungsoo."

While they both greeted eachother, I managed to catch sight of Jong In in the large group, argueing over who was going first and what song sould be done. I couldn't help but smile. I could tell he was having fun, so I could feel my irritation that just comes naturally from being among a large crowd ebbing away.

"Kyungsoo," I began when the two of them were done, "are you going to sing? I heard you were really good?"

"Maybe later, when they've calmed down a bit," he answered, not meeting my eyes, but I could see the corners of his lips curling up despite an obvious effort to keep his expression neutral. "Are you going to?"

"Probably not," I said, definitely not wanting to sing bad enough to fight for it among all the people here.

Because there were just so many people here. Aside from me, Ga In, Kyungsoo, and Jong In, there was also everyone that we usually sat with at lunch, plus Lay, Suho, and a couple more besides. Almost all of them were standing up trying to be part of the discussion except for the three of us and Tao, who was sitting on the other couch not too far from us, arms crossed, and looking like he would rather be anywhere else. His eyes were fixed on someone in the crowd, and the look in them was a barely concealed anger.

I was suprised, not knowing that there was any sort of animosity between anyone in the group. They all always seemed to get along, except for that one day at lunch, which had actually involved Tao as well. Though from what was said after Tao left, it sounded less like it stemmed from anything between them and like it came from an outside source, his parents, specifically.

But there were so many people there that I didn't really know, so I didn't know his relationship with them, and they were all crowded together, which only made it harder.

"That's a great idea!" I heard Baekhyun call out over the crowd after I had responded to Kyungsoo. When I glanced up and saw that he was looking directly at me, I felt my stomach drop, knowing this would not bode well for me. "Soo Young should sing!"

My heart stuttered and my eyes widened. I sat frozen for a second as Baekhyun shoulder his way to me with the mic.

"No," I finally managed to get out, "Soo Young shouldn't sing."

"Come on, Soo Young. It's your first time! You should be the first to sing!" He continued as he almost reached me.

"She doesn't want to," Sehun said, snatching the mic from Baekhyun's hands. "Besides, it would make it much more special if I was the first one she heard sing. Although everyone else will sound pretty lame going after me."

This was immediately met by an uproar of protests and the conversation quickly degenerated back to how it was going. Before that happened, though, someone else had taken the mic from Sehun, shifting the attention from him again, and right after that he turned his head toward me and gave me a wink before turning back to the group.

I was a little suprised. I wasn't used to being put on the spot like that, and I was even less used to someone stepping up to help me, so the situation itself was unusual for me. What had actually suprised me, though, was that it was Sehun who had stood up for me. We got along better now, but we still weren't really very close.

Plus, I'm just really not used to getting winked at.

"Who was that guy that just winked at you?" Ga In asked, a mildly interested look on her face. "Kai?"

"Huh?" came out from being startled. I had forgotten I still hadn't pointed out which one he was yet, and Sehun and Jong In were so different to me that it was weird to me that anyone could think one was the other. "Oh, no." I said when I had recovered myself. "That's Sehun."

She continued staring at him for a moment, before recognition seemed to come across her face.

"You mean that guy from the restaurant?" When she saw my questioning look, she continued. "You know, that gaudy restaurant we went to with everyone. Wasn't he that guy who was a jerk to you?"

It took me another moment before I remembered what she was talking about. It felt like it had happened so long ago, so much had happened, and I had already gotten used to Sehun being nice to me, that I hadn't thought about it in so long.

"Oh, yeah," I began before I saw her brows furrow in confustion, but I could also see the anger begining to rise, and then quickly explained, "but it's alright now. We talked. It's fine. He's nice."

She gave me a look like she didn't believe me, but then decided to anyways. I hadn't told her about it, or anyone, because it was just weird and awkward and rather embarrassing for me. As far as I knew, Jong In was the only other person who had known about it, but I wasn't for sure how much he actually knew, since it was Sehun who had told him. We hadn't gone into detail when it was brought up, and I'd rather it stayed that way. I hated crying in front of people, so I didn't really want anyone knowing I had done that to Sehun.

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Kyungsoo was looking at me questioningly, but I didn't acknowledge it. It was all water under the bridge. I didn't want to talk about it anymore, especially not to his friends, while he was here. Kyungsoo turned away after a few moments, deciding not to pry, which I was thankful for. Kyungsoo cared, but he didn't like to push, and I really appreciated that about him.

In the mayhem in front of us, someone had finally won and was now singing. I couldn't see who it was, so I tried to crane my neck to see. Noticing, Kyungsoo said;

"Lay's the one singing."

"Oh, he's got a really nice voice," I said, genuinely impressed. 

"Most everyone here is actually pretty good at singing," he continued on.

"Really? I'm definitely not singing then..." I commented, feeling insecure. If the others were just as bad as me, then I wouldn't have cared so much, but I'd just embarrassed myself going after Lay. He was too good.

"Me neither," Ga In added on, echoeing my thoughts. "I can't carry a note. I'd just embarrass myself in this group if they're all as good as he is."

The next moment, Tao had sprung from his seat and walked to the door, anger rolling off him in waves. Without saying a word, he wrenched open the door and slammed it shut behind him.

Everyone had quieted down and was looking at the door. When I turned my eyes back to the group, I saw some of them shooting looks at Lay, who had stopped singing and was looking at the door with a pained expression on his face.

"Aren't you going to go talk to him?" Sehun suddenly demanded. There wasn't any animosity to it, but he was definitely displeased with Lay's lack of a response.

"He doesn't want to talk to me," Lay said, looking defeated.

Sehun heaved a sight before breaking through the group and leaving the room, following Tao out.