It had been a week since Jongin had been dating Seulgi. Sehun would only be around Jongin during class, but once the bell rang for a break, he would dash out and avoid his best friend. Jongin, too, didn't really exchange a word or two unless he needed to talk to him.

As for Jongin and Seulgi, they shared their lovey-dovey moments at school and after school at times, but Jongin's eyes would always wander around the crowd. Seulgi had a good guess over what he was looking for, but she never tried to ask him. For her, it would've been better for him to keep quiet and continue being her boyfriend.

Until one day, during their after school dates, Jongin gathered up the courage to ask:

"So I haven't been seeing you with Soojung lately. Did something happen?"

Seulgi stopped chewing. Then, she slowly chewed her food before drinking a glass of water. She avoided eye contact with him and grabbed another spoonful of rice.

"I don't know," Seulgi said.

"You don't know?" Jongin repeated. 

"Things happened."

"You two fought?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Seulgi simply replied.

"Is that why she hasn't been joining us for lunch and stuff? If you want to make up with her, I can help you—"

"You seem awfully concerned about another girl than me," Seulgi snapped. Jongin stiffened and she looked up. "Did you go out with me so that you can mess with me? Were you trying to play with my feelings—"

"No, not at all!" Jongin exclaimed. "I just… I mean, you said that you would help me get hooked up with Soojung during Christmas—"

"So you're dating me to use me?" Seulgi inquired.

"N-No—"

"Then you love me?"

He gulped. "I… I do…"

Seulgi smiled. She looked back at her food.

"You asked about me and Soojung, right? We're not friends anymore," Seulgi blurted.

Jongin blinked. He remained awfully quiet as she continued to eat. 

"W-What?" Jongin stammered.

"She didn't want to be my friend before and now she wants to be my friend because I got popularity. I don't need leachers in my friend group," Seulgi said nonchalantly.

"W-Wait. I-I thought you two were best friends?" Jongin stammered. He felt himself grow cold and pale. If Soojung was no longer Seulgi's friend, then there was literally no point for him to date Seulgi!

"Not really. We were just close, but not really considered as friends," Seulgi said. She tilted her head. "Are you okay, sweetie?" She stared at him. "You're not…planning to break up with me because of that, right? You said you weren't using me…"

Jongin felt sick. Her eyes began to water and she looked like she was about to cry any moment. Jongin reached out and caressed her hand. He didn't say anything but only managed a smile, causing her to lift her spirits and smile back.

I need help getting out of this, Jongin thought to himself. Normally, he would've asked Sehun for help, but his best friend was pretty much ignoring him for the most part. If he needed help, there was only one other person who could help him…

/ / / / /

After the date, Jongin had went to Hyeri's home, where the maid had told him that Hyeri had moved out months ago. The maid gave him her new address and Jongin followed the directions, finding himself in a dark and dim area at night.

Is this her house? Jongin stared up at the poor old home. Clearly the neighborhood wasn't a great neighborhood. There were barely any lights on the street, making it dangerous for people to walk around in the dead of night. Jongin only remembered visited Hyeri's home once, but it definitely wasn't here. The home he had visited a while ago was almost like a mansion, similar to his home.

But this?

This was more like a shack.

"…I'll be back tomorrow." A familiar voice came from the only house with the lights on. Jongin stepped back a bit, feeling a bit intimidated. He blinked his eyes when he saw Hyeri coming out of the home. She turned and looked back into her house. Jongin moved his spot to see inside the home. He could recognize Hyeri's mother sitting inside the living room

"Be careful. This neighborhood is quite scary," her mother said.

"Yes ma'am," Hyeri replied.

Ma'am? Jongin frowned. Why was she talking to her mom like a stranger?

"My husband will hear how wonderful you are again! Really, Hyeri, you're a great caregiver," her mother praised her.

Caregiver? Jongin felt his heart sink. What's going on…

"The doctors said that my memories have been regressing at a rapid rate, but I'm so glad that I can still remember my faithful husband. I really wouldn't know what I would be doing without him!" Her mother let out a silverly laugh.

Hyeri smiled. "Your husband is very lucky to have you, too. Good night, ma'am!"

"Good night. I'll see you in the morning," her mother said.

Hyeri bowed and closed the door. She stood there for a few seconds, let out a sigh, then turned. She jumped when she saw Jongin standing in front of her arm with a shocked look.

"Jongin?" Hyeri cried out. She gasped and covered when she realized that she was being too loud.

“Lee Hyeri?" Jongin called out her name. "Is this…your home?" He looked up. "Why… Your dad… Your mom…?"

Hyeri frowned and got defensive. "What are you doing here? Are you here to collect information about me? To tell everyone about my living situation?"

"No, no. I just…" He glanced at her home again. "My dad just met your dad recently and he was doing fine, so what's this…?"

"It's none of your business," she said coldly. "Go home."

"How long have you been living here?" Jongin asked.

"I said it's none of your business," she repeated. "Get away from me."

She walked outside and went down the streets. Jongin worriedly followed her.

"Is your family having financial trouble? I can talk to my dad and try to get him to help. This isn't a good neighborhood. You—"

"Our family is fine," Hyeri insisted. "Stay away from me!" She looked around. "I don't even know if you're trying to set me up for something."

Jongin shook his head. "No, I'm not. You're good. No one else is here."

"Keep your distance," she said again. She pulled up her hoodie and stormed off into the dark. Jongin scratched the back of his neck and took a deep breath.

"Hyeri, I messed up!" he yelled.

She stopped her tracks. She slowly turned her head, looking at hm with the only street light on hovering over him.

“I messed up.”

Hyeri looked at Jongin, who gave her a serious expression. “What?”

“I messed up,” he repeated. “I need you to help me fix this. I wasn’t trying to date Seulgi. I was only trying to hurt her a little so that I can impress someone.”

You think I don’t know? Hyeri stared at him with cold eyes. “And why should I help you after you threw me away like that?”

“I’m really sorry,” he managed to croak out. “Really, I am. I’m really sorry that I had to do this to you.”

Hyeri didn't say anything. She continued to cross her arms and stared down at him.

“Hyeri, come on,” Jongin said, trying to lighten up the atmosphere. “Don’t be like this. We’re friends, right?”

Hyeri stopped. She turned and approached him, frowning.

“Friends?” She tilted her head, then managed a scoff. “You thought we were friends all this time?”

Jongin’s smile faded. “We…weren’t?”

She crossed her arms. “See, Jongin? That’s your problem. You think that everyone who comes into your life wants to be your friend, but that’s not true. You think everyone is your friend, but that’s not true.”

“What are you saying?” he asked.

“Just because we knew each other in childhood and hung out a bit, doesn't mean we're friends now.” She cackled a little. “You don’t care about people. You notice that people care about you and want to be around you, but you don’t care about them. You only care if you can make use of someone to improve your image.”

Jongin began to act flustered. “I-I thought we were similar—“

“You and I are different,” she said, cutting him off. “I acknowledge that I’m a fake. You don’t.” She gave him one final look. “Goodbye, Jongin. You were a good person, but that’s all you were.”

Jongin stood still, completely dumbfounded. Hyeri changed. Sehun changed. Everyone changed.

"Wait, Hyeri!" Jongin shouted desperately. He grabbed her wrist and forced her to turn his way. His body began to shake. "I…I seriously need help… Please."

Jongin made eye contact with her. He froze.

He had never seen such a hurtful look on her expression. The way she glared at him was full of hate, full of spite. Yet, it was full of betrayal, full of hurt and pain. She looked down at her wrist, then jerked her hand away. She gritted her teeth.

"Where was my help when I asked for it?" Hyeri inquired him. "Oh, right. You ignored me."

Jongin stood still. She turned and walked away. Jongin didn't dare to follow her.

Besides, he had no right to follow her.

/ / / / /

Soojung watched Seulgi laughing and enjoying herself from afar in the cafeteria. She didn't plan on saying anything to Seulgi after she had embarrassed her in front of the whole school. There was no way that the two would be on speaking terms anymore.

This is going to swallow her up.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She walked out of the cafeteria and began walking in the halls. She walked out of he building and went to the back, where there were hardly any students roaming around. She pulled out a book and sat on a bench near a tree. Although her eyes were glued to the book, her attention was on someone else:

"So how are things going with you and Jongin?" Soojung asked casually.

Sehun, who was hiding behind the tree, looked up at the leaves. He remained silent for a few minutes, then scoffed.

"What about you? How are things going with you and Seulgi?" he asked.

"We're not on speaking terms anymore. We're practically strangers," Soojung said nonchalantly.

"Well, I'm not sure what Jongin and I are right now. We had our first big fight," Sehun said.

"Did you, now?" she murmured.

There was a short pause. A subtle wind came and went, gently caressing their hair. Sehun's eyes were still glued on the leaves, and Soojung's eyes were still to her book. Their backs continued to face each other, barely acknowledging each other's existence.

"I like Seulgi."

Soojung flipped a page. "I know."

"I love her a lot."

"I know."

"So I'm going to tell her that."

Soojung almost laughed. "Really? Even though she's dating your best friend?"

"It's because she's dating my best friend that I'm telling her I love her," Sehun said.

"You're not going to stir her. She's pretty set," Soojung warned him.

"So help me," he insisted. Soojung stopped looking at the book. She slowly turned her head, looking over her shoulders. She locked eyes with Sehun, who was no longer behind the tree, but in front of it, properly facing Soojung's back. "Help me with this."

Soojung turned her upper waist. "How? I don't have anything for you. She's out of my hands. Myungsoo conditioned her to well for me to do anything."

"I don't know, but I want her to know that I love her, that I think I'm better than Jongin for her," Sehun confessed.

"You're already on a tough spot. You kissed her out of the blue, hurt her feelings, and basically messed around with her the whole time she was trying to be popular."

"So pretend to date me," Sehun said. She stared at him. "Let's pretend we're going out. You know that Jongin likes you."

Soojung grimaced. "I refuse. If I go out with you, Jongin is going to be tempted to take and I don't want to do anything with him. Popularity eats people up. I don't want to be surrounded by people who are like that."

Sehun scowled. "Fine, but I know you want to do something about Seulgi and Jongin, so let's hitch a plan."

"Everything is calm for me."

"Not anymore. The entire school has their eyes on you."

"I can be invisible really fast—"

"Not fast enough," Sehun pointed out. "We have only two months of school left. With the Miss Inki nominations coming up, I'm sure that Seulgi might use you and your attempt to 'embarrass' her in front of the public to help her image."

Soojung frowned. He had a pretty good point. There wasn't a lot of time for her to disappear like she had done previously. Seulgi had done a lot of damage to her reputation, and now she was known as Seulgi's "leacher."

"Fine," Soojung said. She tapped the seat next to her. Sehun sat down. "So what's the plan?"

"We nominate you for Miss Inki—"

"Rejected."

Sehun crossed his arms. "You didn't even let me finish."

"There is no way that I'm going to go up there and embarrass myself," Soojung said. "Give me a new plan."

"Here me out, though. The Miss Inki competition is just two months away, right? Nominations start next week. To be nominated, you need to receive five nominations from five different people. A student can't nominate themselves or nominate multiple people, and they have to fill out the nomination forms in order for their votes to count. With this in mind, Seulgi is going to get majority of the school's votes."

"Everyone already knows that Seulgi is going to win. There's no point to this," Soojung pointed out.

"What if we get someone to compete against her for the Miss Inki position?" Sehun said.

"And you're saying that that's going to be me?"

"Exact—"

"Rejected."

Sehun threw his head back and let out a frustrated sigh. He glared at her, clearly annoyed.

"You are impossible to work with," he blurted. "I don't see what Jongin likes in you."

"I don't, either," Soojung admitted. "Look, the only one who's capable of competing against Seulgi is—"

She stopped herself. She exchanged looks with Sehun, who understood who she was thinking about. 

"Do you think it'll work?" Sehun asked. "She received a lot of damage to her reputation. This can ruin her even further."

"I'll try talking to her," Soojung said. She got up. "We still have a few minutes for lunch. I'm gong to see if I can find her right now."

Sehun nodded. Soojung gathered her books and dashed off, running around the school, hoping that she could find Hyeri in time. Sehun let out an uneasy sigh, hoping that Hyeri would cooperate with her just for a little bit.

/ / / / /

"…Seems like your boyfriend was a great person. Why did you break up with him?" Hyeri asked Youngji.

The two were outside, eating lunch with their backs leaning against the wall. The window to the first floor of the building hovered over their heads, letting the two eavesdrop on people's conversations if anyone passed by.

Youngji made a sympathetic smile. "Well, I didn't like how Seulgi felt excluded. It didn't feel right, you know?"

"You should've held onto him. He seemed more loyal to you than Seulgi, honestly," Hyeri remarked.

Youngji laughed. "But Seulgi is a really great friend, you know? She gives everyone a chance and she's really kind. You two had a rough start. If anything, I think you two are pretty similar. You're both kind, beautiful, and really easy to get along with."

Hyeri stared at Youngji for a few seconds. "I seriously can't understand why Seulgi would ditch you for those other jerks."

"I'm sure that they're great people," Youngji said softly.

"No, they aren't. They're all hanging around Seulgi because they want to leech off of her popularity. I've dealt with those people before. It's really hard to stick around with them and pretend that you don't know what they're trying to do," Hyeri said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Youngji looked at Hyeri. "You know, you're a lot different than I thought you'd be."

"Is that a bad thing?" she asked.

"No, not really. It's like… I don't know, I guess easier to hang around you than I thought?" Youngji said. She scratched her cheek, letting out a small giggle out of shyness.

Hyeri smiled. "You know, being around you reminds me of my best friend, Suzy."

"What happened between you two? Did you two fight?" Youngji asked.

"Sort of?" Hyeri answered vaguely. She closed her eyes and patted her full stomach. "She's a wonderful person. I'm proud to have her as my best friend. I feel a bit sorry that I have to be away from her during our final year in high school, but I'm sure we'll talk after we graduate." Youngji pursed her lips and nodded. Hyeri continued to close her eyes, then sighed. "So, may I ask why the person hiding is eavesdropping on my conversation with my friend?"

Youngji stared at her, confused. Just then, Soojung appeared at the window, staring down at the two girls who were sitting on the floor. Youngji slightly jumped in her seat and widened her eyes.

"Soojung!" she exclaimed.

“Hey.” Soojung jumped over the window and sat next to Hyeri. “Can I join you guys?”

“Why? Do you want to get some private information about me and use it against me?” Hyeri asked.

“I didn’t want her to do that,” Soojung said sternly, referring to Seulgi. “You know that.”

“I know, but I don’t care,” Hyeri said, waving it off. “I’m still mad at you. I thought you could keep a secret, but I guess it wasn't possible with someone like Seulgi around." She rotated her neck. "But don't worry. I'll get back up from this. Not right now, of course—I know that standing up against Seulgi right now is a dumb move. I’ll get up later.” She looked at Soojung with the corner of her eyes. “So don’t start pitying me.”

A smile appeared on Soojung’s lips. “I’m not. I’m confident that you’ll get up. You’re strong.”

"Hell yeah I am," Hyeri said, turning away and looking forward. "So what do you want? No one's coming up to me these days, so I'm assuming that if they are, they want something out of me."

"I want to nominate you for the Miss Inki competition," Soojung told her.

Hyeri snorted. "With what popularity? I'm done, Soojung. No one is going to nominate me."

"You got two votes: me and Sehun. We'll campaign for you."

"Is this one of your plans to embarrass me? Like, if I end up winning, Seulgi's going to cry and make me the bad guy?"

"No. Seulgi and I are done," Soojung said tiredly. "I'm done with her. Everything was over before all the blackmailing happened."

"Oh, so you're aware of the blackmail?" Hyeri smirked.

"Blackmail?" Youngji repeated innocently.

Hyeri looked at her. "Things happened. No need to worry about it."

"You should have her worry about it. Her friend ruined your life," Soojung warned her.

"Oh, please. She's innocent. Leave Youngji alone," Hyeri said. "Anyway, I had plans on entering the Miss Inki competition, but not anymore."

"Please, Hyeri. We want to make it up to you."

"Ah, 'we.' So Sehun was also part of my downfall, huh? Wow. Who knew that I was surrounded by so many backstabbers," Hyeri remarked, awestricken with herself. 

"…You're mad."

"Did I not make that clear?"

"And you have ever right to be," Soojung said. "So let us help you with this."

Hyeri exchanged long looks with Soojung, who was clearly determined to have her win. But Hyeri knew that deep inside, there was no room for her to win. It was nearly impossible for her to win this competition.

She closed her eyes. "Youngji, I'm going to my class. Bye.'

"Huh? Oh, uh, okay. Bye Hyeri," Youngji stuttered.

Hyeri got up and started to walk away. Soojung got up.

"Regardless of whether you approve, Sehun and I are going to nominate you! We'll find three other people, too! Just you wait!" Soojung yelled.

Hyeri continued to ignore her and walked away.