It's been one week since they all reunited with Ten somehow always tagging beside Soojung, because he is not the type to walk behind others or in the front also, unless the situation makes him do it. That's what Soojung notices in him in all the years she had known him. Together, they fight a lot like cats and dogs, but Ten is one of the few people who understand her since she has no siblings to spend her time with on family gatherings and wedding ceremonies. Ten is the only son from her mother's younger sister who married a Thailand born and raised architect. 

The fact that both of them are the only children from both families also help them blend well like water to water, blood to blood.

Ten is mixed, and Soojung knows sometimes, that reality bothers him a lot. Especially, when he faces situations in meeting new people. It always looks so obvious, particularly when he begins to start speaking.

"These friends of yours, are they.....?" it was right before they went out of her house to get the cosmic children, that he suddenly blurted this out. 

"No, they're not, Ten. They won't talk down to you. They're not like that."

"Well, okay. It doesn't matter if they are though." he replied with a nonchalant look, but Soojung saw that he was relieved for the least to hear that. 

And now, she can't help to chortle as Ten fusses and messes on with his hair as they walk back to their home, all six of them but Soojung is the only one not on her feet, being carried on Seokmin's back. 

"I'm so dead, Auntie will kill me! I should have never let you go outside. Seriously, let me carry you. At least Auntie won't get too mad at me if I do that," Ten insists for the seventh time that day and Seulgi snorts from behind them, walking in the middle of Wonwoo and Seungwan.

"Your body looks so brittle, that's why we trust Seokmin more than you to do the carrying," Seulgi banters at him and laughs mockingly when he only gives her a black look.

"Don't be such a worrywart, Ten. I'll explain it to Mom, you're not bound to take care of me, you know," with her arms wrapped around Seokmin's neck and his hands carefully holding her thighs covered by her pants, she rests her head on his shoulder. 

It all happened because of her ridiculous attempt of climbing up the tree, with no ability to climb down and ended up falling from it.

Seungwan was too busy braiding Seulgi's hair to notice. They talked deeply about something she couldn't hear, and the boys were laughing at some joke Seokmin cracked. Ten was smiling again after so long, with sulks and complaints colouring their days together.

It was a ridiculous fall and she got lucky for not hitting her head, just that her left leg felt really painful when she tried to walk.

So that's how she ends up this way, hair pressed to Seokmin's black ones as he had carrived her easily with no difficulties. It's strange to see how much Seokmin has grown, with his wide back and broad shoulders.

They are doing quite a long walk here, and she feels guilty for Seokmin since they just reached the lines of shops and the main road of their town. It's half a journey away from there. "Seokmin, are you tired? I'll just try to walk if you do."

"Come on, a black belt taekwondo master like me wouldn't feel tired by carrying you. You are as light as a feather, Jung!" he beams brightly, and really, Seokmin could never be any sweeter than this, she thinks.

"There he goes, boasting himself again," Wonwoo chimes in, fisted hand over his lips, holding in a smile.

"Well, isn't it the truth?" And they all end up laughing again. Either laughing because they all find this situation ridiculous or finding Seokmin boasting himself bewildering.

Still, their guffaws splatter over the light blue firmament with iridescent colours reflected through their smiles, for each of them has different soul one to another. Each one of their souls form colours so vibrant and diverse that only the nature can see that.

Wonwoo's hair is more normal now and even neater than the usual disheveled black locks and he wears a long-sleeved green shirt over a pair of shorts.

All of them are basically wearing shorts that reach their knees except Seungwan, way too feminine for it unless forced or necessary to wear the cloth. Seulgi with her usual sleeveless t-shirt, now in the colour of black with Kurt Cobain's face on it and she remembers asking her if she listens to Nirvana. She does, even though she doesn't understand the lyrics but she said she can feel the emotions coming out from the singer and it's enough for her.

They are just dressed for another day of lounging and exploring their homely town. Another cool and warm day as spring breeze breathing their skin serenely.

It's Wednesday 3 PM based on Ten's digital arm watch, and they are now walking through the lines of different shops one to another. The sun gleams softer than in the afternoon, and the shops are not as busy as she thought it would be. The path they are walking in is not as crowded as she thought it would be also. 

Lines of shops begin from a florist to a bakery shop, wafted with the scent of a freshly baked bread in the flavour of chocolate that sends Soojung's lips almost watery, to a bookshop where she refrains from jumping off Seokmin's back to look into it, if there are already more books compared to the past (of course, silly her. It's been years since she's here).

Wonwoo has to pull Seulgi away from staring too hard and too long into the music store with vinyl covers, hands pressed to the glass in longing and admiration, thick-skinned her unmoved by the worker staring judgementally and strangely at her.

"Geez, Seulgi. My father got tons of it back home, you can just borrow mine," seeing Wonwoo and Seulgi getting along so well without not as much fights like in the past soothes her. It irritated her a lot that Wonwoo hit Seulgi for a lot of times because it is not okay for boys to hit girls. She was violent for sure, but then it was always him who provoked her all the time.

"It's something that belongs to you, and not me. It's still different," she retorts hard-headedly, turning away from his face as a sign that their conversation is finished. 

"Whatever, then."

Elderly people and teens and adults and even little kids walking past them give them funny looks in murmurs and whispers to each other. Perhaps because Soojung is being carried on Seokmin's back like a little girl or that Ten's hair is too long to be appreciated with its strange styling, or that Seulgi seems as if she is giving each of the people passing by them a deadly gaze without meaning it. In conclusion, perhaps because they all seem like pieces of jigsaw puzzles coming from different puzzle sets, arranged to picture an incomprehensible set of teenagers. 

Their differences from one to another is so stark that one little girl approaches Seungwan. 

"Hi, are you guys going to do a talent show here, like a circus?" Even though they are all dressed in ordinary clothing, but there is no doubt that their looks stand out so much from one and another.

They all burst out into loud guffaws seeing the little girl looking so gullible and pure, eyes round in wonder. "No, we are not, you adorable little thing! We're just students waiting for our high school's orientation day ahead next week," Seungwan pinches her cheek tenderly in adoration and she pats her head then.

"I see, then good luck to you all!" She beams brightly, and skips past them with a bright smile. What a sweet little girl, Soojung thinks. 

"What the hell just happened?" Ten still can't regain back from his loud and joyous laughters, his lips spread beautifully across his face.

This is the wonder Ten has when he smiles, because it changes the atmosphere of his being in 180 degree to a sunshine boy with his eyes shining in golden rays of warmth, throwing off people of their feets with his steady yet ice-melting smiles--something you can never get enough of. He is someone who is casual in letting this side out of him when he gets comfortable with someone, and she is more than glad that he feels the same way as she does with them.

"Oh my, I will remember this for the rest of my life," Seulgi wipes the tears appearing by the side of her eyes, from the cause of laughing too much as her face is turning into a bright shade of red. "A circus, a freaking circus?! Seriously, kids these days have such big guts in asking that."

While all the five of them walk while Soojung is being carried behind Seokmin's firm back, she draw circles on his shoulders, gazing at the different shoes walking on the pavements: most move out of their way because they currently stroll in quite a big number. It will be too difficult to slip past them as they walk closely, shoulder to shoulder.

She feels drowsy all of the sudden, the air is cool and brushing their skin in kisses and pecks of oxygen. She decides to scrutinize all the footwear people use.

Sandals, more sandals, Converse, Adidas, another sandals, Vans, some working boots, heels-

"Wait, why are you stopping all of the sudden, Seokmin?" Ten muses and sensing the sudden halt, Soojung wakes up from her daze.

What she sees first is colours and stylish-looking clothings models wear for their daily wear in her mother's fashion magazines. It intrigues her, but really for dressing herself up, Soojung prefers the simple and 90s styles of plain t-shirts and jeans and denim in dark colours. What they are wearing are the latest style of crop tops and short shorts which length are too revealing for her comfort. They are already dressed for the upcoming summer, which she doesn't mind. People can dress as expressive as they want, she's pretty open minded about things like that.

Two girls are in the front looking so menacingly pretty and soft around the edges. Because for Soojung, beautiful is Seungwan taking care of her flowers day and night and being unchangingly sweet and generous, though reserved. For true beauty is something that comes from the inside for her. Her eyes then fleet to the three boys behind, with questionable looks and perhaps her face reflect theirs also.

One of them looks strikingly familiar, like that main character in one movie adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, which she finds tragic and nonsensical, because who falls in love for someone so passionately in a first glance? What a shallow world they live in, she always thinks.

Her eyes wander to the boy in the middle of the two girls, pitting him as if fearing that he will go away, terribly close that their shoulders almost touched.

Everything suddenly makes sense.

Seokmin is being too silent and Ten is tugging her hand. She can hear Seulgi growling under her breath and Seungwan is the same as Seokmin, and Wonwoo is probably just like her.

It's him. "Well, hello there," Soojung smiles, eyes wide and awake, and at the same time blaringly brown to the boy looking astonished at them. Either because their whole group is somehow in one piece, or because she is being carried by Seokmin or that he thinks Ten is a some sort of a replacement for the empty space he left.

He's still the same old Mingyu except that he's more dashing than before and his eyes are more brown and clear in daylight. His hair is in the shade of dark grey, and if he wasn't her friend, she wouldn't have spared a glance at him. He also has his own group of friends now, so vibrant with their diverse clothings and features.

And it's fine. She doesn't want to force him to come back. She already said that, many nights before.

"Urhm, hi Soojung. Why are you on Seokmin's back?" his hand lingers to the back of his neck as if losing his composure. 

"Soojung fell, and I don't see why it matters to you," it's Seulgi with her cruel words. She looks so heartless and unforgiving with crossed arms and daunting eyes.

"Don't say that, Seulgi," Seungwan holds her wrist and she breathes out calmly, seemingly affected by Seungwan's ability to soothe people's anger down.

"She sprained her ankle, it seems. It's no big deal, Mingyu," Seokmin soon snaps out from his trance and flashes a tight yet bright smile, eyes creasing into half moons and his perfectly straight teeth being showcased. 

"Wait, did I just hear it right, are you really Kang Seulgi?" A guy peeks out from behind Mingyu's tall figure, sweet honey eyes round up inquisitively.

Seulgi crosses her arms, perched eyebrows above her eyes. "Yes, I am Kang Seulgi. What's the matter with me?"

"Don't you remember me? Hong Jisoo? We used to be in the same track team together!" Seulgi in their school track team was one of the best things about their group, because they always got the chance to cheer for her until the finish line. All of them, even Wonwoo who fought with her all the time.

She narrows her eyes, sweeping it across the six people before her. The urge to walk away is so strong for Seulgi. If it's not because she wants to be decent for her friends, she would have walked out from this situation. She's famished from facing another group of people like them.

"Oh, really? I don't really remember. Sorry, gotta let you down for that one," she shrugs her shoulders half-apologetically, because she wants to take Soojung away fast from all these people whose appearances remind her of some bad past she had.

"Ah, I see," he nods cordially with a smile, and Soojung sees his face drops. She's quite sympathetic for people who are forgotten by their friends. That feeling of being forgotten itself is already painful, so she wants to tell Seulgi later to be more considerate of her words next time. She doesn't really filter her words these days. 

Soojung wonders if her harsh and cruel nature is the effect of a bad neighbourhood or a tattered soul. She prefers the first because it will be so hard for her to accept the latter.

"Are you and your friends heading somewhere? You look like you're dressed up for something," she muses, eyes brightly searching for something in Mingyu aside of his serious yet soft look and his dark grey hair and the denim jacket enveloping his body.

Before he could answer, a girl on his right cuts in. "I don't see why it matters to you also."

"What the hell, Seulgi! Don't ever think of charging in," Wonwoo hisses lowly while he holds Seulgi's arm back, before she is able to charge forward. Knocking Ten doesn't seem that much of a problem since her body has been toughened up from lots of physical training. He looks down and glances at her from the corner of his eyes. "You will only make things worse, stop doing this."

Soojung doesn't flinch from her words. It's so unnecessary for the girl in a high ponytail with wavy black hair to get riled up by Seulgi's words. "Of course it matters. He's my friend and I'm asking him, not you," she is saying it in the most casual and laid back way, but with the way her face is sharp in all its edges with a set of blaringly brown orbs which gleam below the soft sun, her face peering down at her, Soojung appears as if she is ordering someone to obey her.

This is something that her mother relates to name Soojung as her own beauty queen. She radiates some sort of a dominating and heroic aura that send shivers down to people's spine. It's not so obvious when her face is all smiles. However, it's a whole different story when she appears serious and so self-possessed: it invades all the other sides of her that are actually more dominant.

Some of the people in front of her look amused, some offended but Mingyu looks somehow a little bit proud and content. It must be about what she said about him being her friend.

"We're just going to watch some movies. The cinema is not far from here, you see," and Soojung nods, tongue gliding over her cracked lips. Her arms are locked around Seokmin's neck comfortably, and she rests her head on his left shoulder now.

She can feel the latter girl's eyes shoot daggers at her while the other one seems mildly interested in her, and she doesn't seem to be aggravated by her presence at all.

Ten closes in the space between the two of them and whispers to her in English once again. "You have a real tryhard hipster as a friend now, and he seems to be in a harem relationship," his lips are stretched into a goofy smile now, and as much as she wants to laugh at his joke, the first part really irks her.

"Oh my gosh, Ten. Don't be like that," her sweet and lightly accented English voice sizzles out, as she grips on his collar daringly while trying to hold in her smile, yet only to make it even more obvious as her eyes turn into shining crescent moons reflecting his. The only thing that they have in common is their identical upturn of eyes when they smile: it's something that they gain from both of their mothers' family.

"There they go again, talking in a language we can't understand," Wonwoo complains, messing his hair up again and Seulgi snorts so loud Seokmin ends up joining while Seungwan is left to shake her head. 

"This is my cousin, Mingyu. His name is Ten," Soojung doesn't hear the sigh of relieve coming out of his lips. She also doesn't catch the little gleam in his eyes when it lands to the necklace dangling by her neck. She doesn't really find the need to mention his race even if there is a foreign looking boy in Mingyu's group. 

What a paradox Mingyu has become, seemingly loathing cliques in the past yet he already found himself tucked into one. Soojung finds it all ironic and disheartening.

"Well, hi there. Nice to meet you," Mingyu nods with a little salute and Ten nods back with only a little upturn of his lips. Him with his rude disposition when he dislikes a person at first glance looks so obvious in her eyes.

Mingyu seems regretful of being so friendly to him, judging from a glimpse of a frown that passes through him for a second.

"Let's go, Soojung. Remember the state of your leg now, we're not sure what's wrong with it," Seungwan reminds her again and Soojung's glad she did because she is currently way too interested in knowing Mingyu's friends. She just has a lot of interest in people, that's all. And she also senses that her friends feel fidgety with this whole situation.

"Yeah, I guess so. I think we'll be going now. We'll see you around, I guess. Let's go, Seokmin," she flashes them her starlight smile that will probably outshine the sun itself, and gives him another smile so secretive, only Mingyu himself would be able to recognise it. What an enigma Soojung is. 

They part ways as Mingyu and his friends split their group apart to make a way, Wonwoo answering Mingyu's fist bump as they pass each other with small grins, Seulgi pulling Seungwan close to her and locking her arm to hers protectively as she gives a stern look to the other two boys whom she can't recognize. Another round of stern look to the girls also, gazing especially devilish and cruel to the one who snapped at Soojung (she sees her flinching, and that wild smile with flames bursting out of her orbs flourish again).

But how could she give a threatening look to the one guy who remembers her as one of the track team members? She gives him a look of acceptance instead, that he doesn't get on her bad side and he's safe to know that they are cool with each other.

"C'mon, stop getting pissed off at me, Seulgi. How long are you planning to do this?"

"Just don't turn into an . That's enough for you to get a decent treatment from me," golden locks falling by the side of her face as her hair is braided like in the past, she bumps her fist to his shoulder. 

"And your nose piercing-"

"Whatever, everybody's been telling me to take it off," she waves him off dismissively, eyes roll to the back of her head. "You're pitted against two girls huh, what an interesting love story!" Seulgi utters this all in fake delight, not minding the two girls staring at her with widened eyes.

"You sound drunk, Seulgi. We're just friends."

As they get far away from each other, the air of tension that is so thick between them all dies down and Soojung feels like she can exhale without difficulties now.

All that time, it was like a moment of holding her breath underwater. It suffocated her, the fact that they seemed so uncomfortable with each other. At least that's what she feels for the others, especially Seokmin. He was extremely silent the whole time, either he is saving his energy for carrying her or that he just doesn't want to bring it up.

Strange is also the fact that at that right moment, less people were passing on their pathway, giving them no reason to excuse themselves for being out of the way. It was as if fate intentionally shoved reality in front of her face. At that time, Soojung felt like cursing even though it's not her habit.

you, reality! you, fate, for messing our friendship up! you, Seulgi's father, for being a piece of and dumping her away like trash! you, world, for making us end up like this!

Soojung assures herself that it could have been worse. It could have been worse, and it's enough to make that venomous and poisonous side of her sleep. She also own sides and shades of her personality that she refuses for anyone to see. Not her friends and not even her parents, for it's a side she lets out when there is no one but herself.

Despite all odds, all of them finally met each other. Even if they no longer stand in the same place, she still wishes that they all will still be able to be friends and talk to each other like they used to.

 Δ

"Well, that reminds me of a scene where the bad guys and the good guys face each other," as soon as they're far away, Ten breaks the silence over their group. "The cool kids huh? What a bunch of fakers."

"There are no bad guys or good guys in this world. The world is not black and white, Ten," Seungwan thoughtfully ensues, tucking straight black locks to the back of her ears. Her hair is now straight, no longer rowdy curls falling down beside her. She grows out the phase of having her mother's hair to her father's. 

He twists his neck a little to look back at her. "If the whole world thinks like you, prisons all over the world will be empty and we wouldn't be walking leisurely like this."

"A line needs to be drawn somewhere. You shouldn't box Mingyu into such stereotypes just because he's friends with them. Not all of them are bad," They hold each other's gaze for a moment.

Seemingly defiant of her idea, Ten turns to the front, as if finding her idea too pure to be accepted. "You're protecting that friend of yours too much. I dislike him already at first glance."

Soojung clicks on her tongue. "You and your narrow minded thinking, Ten. Get over it already."

"I'm not changing for anyone. Only for myself."

Seulgi's gaze bores into her face and Seungwan is doing everything that it takes to ignore her.

Had she not cast her eyes to the ground back there, Seulgi won't do this. Had she not seem so avoidant of the boy beside Hansol, whose name leaves a bitter taste in the back of her tongue and draws her sighing in morose, Seulgi wouldn't lock her arms with her and pull her close to her side.

Becoming wary of her surroundings is one of her forte, thus she noticed the sudden discomfort in Seungwan.

She also saw one of the boys gazed at Seungwan as if he was waiting for her to look at him. Of course she didn't like it at all. Despite how dreamy he looked, it also meant that his face screamed bad news and disloyalty to girls.

Boys with deer eyes and honest yet attractive smiles are some of the many types of boys Seulgi avoid. They tempt you with so many promises of forever-afters and eternity that they end up forgetting how to make that come true.

The twist is that they are able to utter it all to many different girls.

This is all, of course, based on the books she read back on her school's library: the only place less chaotic than the others. She believes that there are some truth about all these fictional pieces she had read.

The girl in his black straight tresses before her keeps her silence and head to the front as they walk to Soojung's home, keeping the fallen shards of her glued heart in her palms, enough so it won't shatter into smaller forms. Past nights of void and hollow eyes haunt her again, as she is reminded how Seungcheol let her heart fell into pieces last Autumn. Really, his attempt of putting things back together failed when he wasn't patient enough for her to rearrange her soul into one piece. 

He loved her once because she was sweet and kind and everything bright. Soon after that, she found out her sweetness was bland and Seungcheol didn't find her thrilling at all.

She was merely a picturesque scenery in his life while he was looking for an adventure. Girls who torture you in your dreams-Seungwan is not like that, and she never tries to be. That's what Seungcheol wanted, and he was too young to be capable of loving someone as unworldly as her, thoughts worth a thousand lifetimes.

Seokmin doesn't turn to look at her, and she is more than relieved to know that he doesn't plan to bring it up again with his concerned eyes. 

 Δ

"And I thought you completely stop."

Seulgi's head spins to him as she sits by the side of the window, cracked open in a small gap to let the smoke slither out of her room. 

"I never said that. I never said that I stopped," Wonwoo closes the door that he found to be opened after her mother had let him into the house. They have known each other long enough to not have her mother get worried that some boy walk into her daughter's room. What will he do? He won't misuse opportunities like this to his own liking. It's not Wonwoo's way, to do things like that.

Her hair is not braided or tied or collected into a bun. It's only in soft golden waterfalls and falling comets down her tresses, as she inhales another cig deep into her system.

"I just decrease the amount I smoke," and Wonwoo doesn't want to know how many she usually dumped and scrunched into her lungs, until it will be dented in a deep shade of purple and charcoal ash of cancer.

 "The better days I have, the less sticks I need to keep myself sane," she breathes out her wishes of better days with hopeful thoughts molded into clouds of nicotine grey lines that are gone in her head. He can barely make out what she lost back then truly.

"I can't believe we just walked into Mingyu and his group of scumbags," she spits out angrily, tipping the cinders to the paper ashtray between them. 

"They may be scumbags, they may be not. We can't be so sure."

She hisses in denial. "Didn't you notice how stunned Seokmin was? He was never like that, he never lost his composure. And Seungwan was walking with her head down. I have never seen her so intimidated like that," she shakes her head in so much distress, inhaling it deeper until her lids are dug deep into her sockets then she lets it all out quietly and slowly.

He wonders why he's here. Passive smokers have higher chance of death than the active ones. He's basically setting himself on fire here. 

She leans back to the window frame, head angled up to the ceilings. Blowing the remaining smoke to the ceilings, it's as if Seulgi is recreating smoke dreams and redrawing it into the four walls of her room.

Legs drawn to her chest, cigarette stick resting between her fingertips as she constantly moves it from one finger to another, in messy hair over faraway eyes, she is a picture of exhausted souls with anxious hearts, leaning to the salvation of shadows to cover her nightmares. 

"I thought you care about what Soojung thinks about you," his deep voice echoes again to the halls of her ear drums, knocking it up and waking her up from her daze. 

"She won't be around when the demons knock the front door. No one. So I don't see the point to stop-" It confuses him, what just came out of her lips. Demons? What kind of horrible things did Seukgi go through to have demons in her head? Unfortunately, what Seulgi possesses inside of her is way more vast and complex than his limit of comprehension. It's not like Wonwoo comes across broken souls everyday, he almost never meets or sees them.

"For now right?"

"Who knows? Let's just see."

The rain begins to fall and Seulgi still doesn't close the window despite the rain beginning to splatter into her room. 

He fiddles with the rubber bracelet on his wrist, terribly small since he is very skinny in the first place. "Didn't your mother get upset with you over that nose piercing?"

She chuckles lightly. "She likes this. She said that I'm lucky to be able to do this, since her parents forbidded her from this kind of stuffs. What a rebellious mother I have!"

"Mothers used to be passionate, young dreamers too. They were young like us once, Seulgi."

"It's just a funny image in my head. I can't imagine her other than being the person she is now," she shakes her head, rubbing her temples with her hand that is occupied with a small looking gun (cigarettes are no different than guns for Wonwoo, the first will just kill you even slower than the latter).

"Give me one, Seulgi," foolish and careless is what Wonwoo is being as he motions his fingers at her cigarette packs, wondering how it feels like to do this, to get so relaxed and soothed down like Seulgi before him. At this, Seulgi freezes up and looks down at him from her angled head, closing her eyes for a moment. Her expression before that was between holding back her bewilderment or shock.

Closed lids and cigarette scented lips, hair and fingertips, he can almost feel the anger she exudes on his skin, and the tremor in her voice despite how calm she looks.

"I'm not letting any one of you turn into something like me. Not ever. As long as I still live, none of you will be able to get that chance."