Seulgi's eyes sparkled as she sat across Myungsoo at a tea shop just a few miles away from the mall. He casually sipped his drink while Seulgi stared at him, trying to make eye-contact with the handsome boy. Myungsoo smiled gently for a few minutes, avoiding her eyes, almost teasing her. Then, he slowly glanced up as he placed his cup down on the table. Seulgi seized the moment to praise him endlessly:

"Myungsoo, you're amazing! I've been working with Soojung for months, and I never had Jongin interested in me like that! You must be, like, some sort of god or something! I'm so sorry for doubting you earlier! You really are amazing. Did I say that already? You're extraordinary! No wonder you're so popular!" Seulgi exclaimed. Her face glowed with happiness and success.

Myungsoo's expression softened. A warm smiled appeared on his pink lips. He chuckled lightly, causing her heart to flutter.

"Don't mind me. I'm just following Soojung's plan and making a few alterations," Myungsoo said, raising the small journal.

Seulgi cupped her drinks between her two cold hands. She raised the cup and sipped it before putting it down up to her chest.

"Can I…ask you something?" she asked.

"I'll try to answer," he said.

"Can I ask you about your relationship with Soojung?" Seulgi asked softly. "I mean, I know you guys dated and broke up, but can I ask…Why?"

Myungsoo's smile faded for a brief moment. Seulgi took note of that. He quickly replaced his saddened expression with a gentle smile.

"That's something that you should hear from Soojung," Myungsoo told her. "I'm just a bystander."

"I don't think she'll ever tell me," Seulgi said. She grunted and crossed her arms after putting her cup on the table. "She's so unreasonable and so hard to get along with. She thinks she knows everything, but she really doesn't. She makes me do everything and every time I put my effort into something, she criticizes me and questions me if I really want to be popular. Like, hello? The whole reason why I asked her to help me is because I do want to be popular! Honestly, working with you is so much more better than working with her. I wish you were our age so that you can help out with everything."

Myungsoo laughed. Seulgi gave him a cautious look as he chuckled.

"She's really the opposite of how she was in middle school!" he exclaimed, laughing.

Seulgi frowned. "Are you really not going to tell me about Soojung in the past?"

"We both have different stories," he said. "I'd rather have you ask her first for her perspective, and then come to me."

Seulgi scowled. "That requires me to make amends with her."

"Oh, you weren't planning to?"

"No way! The way she lashed out at me back then? I'm not apologizing until she apologizes," Seulgi declared.

Oh, this is interesting. Soojung kind of lost control with this one, Myungsoo thought. Amused, he grinned and rested his chin against the palm of his hand. "Is that so?"

"Yes! I wish she'd think about others instead of herself. The wold doesn't revolve around her, you know?" Seulgi continued.

Myungsoo chuckled. He glanced out the window and saw someone. His eyes perked open a little, then back at Seulgi.

Let's help Seulgi out a bit, he told himself.

"Hey, Seulgi," Myungsoo said. He reached out his hand to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You know, the world doesn't just revolve around her, but it doesn't revolve around you, either." Myungsoo leaned closer. Seulgi became tense. "You need to give a little credit to the side characters. Otherwise, the main character might not have a lot of…personality—"

Just before he could touch her hair, a small hand grabbed ahold of his wrist. Myungsoo's smile grew wider. He tilted his head to the expected guest: Sehun, panting desperately from running across the street after noticing them through the window.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sehun asked, gritting his teeth.

Myungsoo flashed a smile. "Mm, trying to get a piece of dust out of my girlfriend's hair?"

Seulgi's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. She quickly tried to brush away the piece of dust, but she either couldn't find it or had already brushed it away for some reason. Myungsoo laughed at her action.

"Cute," he commented. Seulgi tensed up while Sehun glared. Myungsoo glanced at Sehun. "Can you let my hand go? I feel like I'm in those dramas where the guy grabs the girl's hand forcibly or something."

Flustered, Sehun quickly let go and dropped his hand to the side. Myungsoo smirked, then looked around.

"So where's your friend?" Myungsoo asked.

"Jongin went to take Hyeri back home," Sehun said slowly.

"And you decided to follow us?" Myungsoo inquired.

"N-No. I happened to walk here out of coincidence," the boy declared.

"Hmm…" Myungsoo smirked and turned back to Seulgi. "We should end the day. I had a nice date with you."

"Y-Yeah," Seulgi said, nodding her head. "O-Oh! Thank you for the clothes!"

I can get you better and more expensive clothes, Sehun thought. He narrowed his eyes at the older man. "You're not going to walk her home?"

"No. I actually have something else to do around this area," Myungsoo said. He smiled at Seulgi. "I'll see you next time, okay?"

"O-Okay," she said. Myungsoo got up from his seat and walked away, leaving Seulgi alone with Sehun.

Right after he left, Sehun quickly sat down across from her. He glared at her, surprising Seulgi.

"Are you guys really dating?" Sehun asked.

Seulgi wasn't sure what to say. Was she allowed to tell him that they weren't really dating, and that Myungsoo just took her out on a date for her to gain experience? Or should she keep quiet and let him assume?

"M-Maybe," was the lame answer she came up with.

So that's not a 'yes,' Sehun thought, sighing in relief, but that's not a 'no' either. That means that she's plotting something. The only problem is that I haven't seen Soojung around these days, and I know that she's not hiding. So is Seulgi making all the moves herself? No, impossible. I doubt that she has the capabilities of doing that. Unless…Myungsoo is making the plans? Yes, that's plausible, but then what would a guy like him gain out of this situation? It doesn't make any sense…

"I'm leaving," Seulgi said. "I have no business with you."

She stood up. Grabbing her belongings, she finished her drink and walked out the door. Sehun quickly followed behind her.

"I don't get it," he said after they left the building. "Why are you dating him?"

"Because…he's good looking?" Seulgi said with a hint of unsureness.

"What about me?" Sehun blurted. Seulgi only laughed and continued to walk.

Looks like I won't be getting anything out of her, Sehun thought. Better start tricking her.

"So you are dating Myungsoo, right?" he asked.

"That's a secret," she replied.

"So I can tell Jongin that you're dating someone?" Sehun asked. She gave him a sharp glare.

"Don't you dare bring this up to him," Seulgi said in a threatening tone.

So I guess she's not really dating him, Sehun thought. He let out a sigh of relief. Then, he stopped himself.

Relief?

Sure, he was interested in Seulgi, but…relief?

"W-Where's Soojung?" Sehun asked, trying to change the subject.

"Ugh. Don't bring up that traitor's name," Seulgi grumbled.

"What? What did she do?" Sehun asked. He paused. "Did you two have a fight?" She didn't say anything. "So you're getting back at her by dating her ex?"

"I'm not dating Myungsoo!" Seulgi yelled. "We just went on a practice date, okay?" She clenched her jaws. "And don't bring up Soojung's name anymore. If she doesn't want me, then I don't need her, either. I have Myungsoo and he's a hell lot better than her!"

Sehun was confused. "What did you do?"

"I did nothing!"

"A fight doesn't happen when one person does something. Two people have to have done something for the fight to happen, regardless of who's right or wrong," Sehun pointed out.

Seulgi sulked. "She yelled at me."

"For what?"

"For being a 'bad friend.'"

"What did you do?" he asked again.

"Nothing!" she exclaimed.

"You're not very convincing," Sehun remarked.

Seulgi rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"So are you going to quit?"

"Huh?"

"The part-time job." Sehun rubbed the back of his neck. "If you quit, then I'm planning to quit, too."

"Of course not. Jongin is still there," Seulgi said.

"But Soojung is going to be there, too."

"I don't know. After her ex showed up, she's been acting…weird," Seulgi said. "Her face is red and she gets very flustered. She yells more and she feels like a mess to deal with."

Sehun scrunched his eyebrows. "Does she still have feelings for him?"

"I don't know."

"What do you know?"

"That she called me a bad friend."

"Did she really say that?" Sehun asked.

Seulgi glared. "Shut up! You don't know anything!"

She kicked his leg, causing him to flinch in pain. Then, she ran away, leaving him with a sore leg.

God damn it, Sehun! You don't know anything, Seulgi thought angrily. As she stormed away, her pace slowed down and she began to rethink. She pressed her lips, then groaned loudly. But I should still say sorry to Soojung. After all, I did get this far because of her.

She sighed and began to head home, thinking of how to apologize to her tomorrow at work.

/ / / / /

"Soojung, let's talk."

"Go away."

"Soojung, come on—"

"No!"

"You have work tomorrow."

"You got three extra hands. Oh, wait, maybe you can replace me with Myungsoo by calling him again?"

Sooyeon sighed. "You know that it's not like that. Come on, Soojung. If you won't come out, at least let me in. You're the most rational person I know. You know that this is getting old."

There was a pause. Then, Sooyeon heard the door unlock. She smiled when she saw her sister glare at her.

"What do you want?" Soojung snapped.

"Let's talk," Sooyeon said.

"We can talk here."

"I'd prefer it if we talked sitting down."

Soojung grunted. "Fine. Come in."

Sooyeon nodded. She entered her sister's room and sat down on a chair. Soojung reluctantly plopped down on her bed. She crossed her arms and continued to glare at Sooyeon, who only gave her a light smile.

"So what do you want?" Soojung repeated.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that I was keeping contact with Myungsoo, but you should know that before you two were a couple, we were good friends. I've always wanted to tell you that I was still in contact with him, but you never seemed to like it when I brought him up in a conversation, so I thought that it would be best for me to be quiet. I'm also sorry that I didn't tell you that he was planning to come during the winter. To be honest, I didn't think that he would come over," Sooyeon explained. She got off the chair and kneeled next to Soojung. Then, she grabbed Soojung's two hands and cupped them between hers. "You need to understand that as your sister, I wouldn't do anything to hurt you on purpose."

Soojung stared at her. Sooyeon was holding the right amount of eye contact. Her whole explanation seemed quite reasonable. Soojung couldn't help but want to hate her sister, to despise her for keeping Myungsoo a secret.

But she knew that her sister would never do anything on purpose to hurt her, and she knew that she would have to uphold that idea over her emotions. Soojung closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. She let out a sigh before looking away.

"I'm sorry, too," Soojung muttered, "for leaving work early and ignoring you. It's just… You know how my relationship is with Myungsoo."

"I know, but it seems like he really wants to be friends with you. I mean, if he came out all the way here, it shows that he's trying," Sooyeon pointed out.

"I know, I know. I'm just not ready yet," Soojung told her.

"And that's perfectly fine with me," Sooyeon said, nodding her head. "You go on your own pace. I, as your sister and your best friend, will not push you to get along with him as soon as possible. I'm on your side." She opened her arms. "Now, can we hug it out?"

Soojung scowled. "No, I don't need the hug. I forgive—"

"And here comes the hug!" Sooyeon exclaimed, closing in on her. Soojung frowned and complained as Sooyeon giggled, giving her younger sister a tight squeeze.

While Sooyeon continued to hug, Soojung thought about her earlier fight with Seulgi.

Maybe I was too harsh on her, Soojung thought. She doesn't know any better.

"Oh, by the way, while we're talking," Sooyeon continued, "you might see Myungsoo come to the café often and he might he planning to stay around for a long time."

Soojung widened her eyes. She pulled Sooyeon away and glared at her.

"I thought you were on my side?" Soojung reminded her. Sooyeon faked a laugh and stuck her tongue out playfully. "You specifically said that you were on my si—"

"We say sorry, all is forgiven, we go through another hug—Alright, good talk! I'm leaving!" Sooyeon exclaimed, getting up. Soojung scoffed and groaned loudly as Sooyeon quickly made her escape, barely missing her little sister's wrath.