When I walked into the ice cream shop on my next shift, Minhyun jumped down from his perch on a vacant table and bowed to me.

I blinked in surprise. “Dude. What are you doing? Stand up. Aren’t you a few months older than me?”

“I’m sorry for not being able to text you. I had to get a new phone number because my old phone fell onto the road and got run over by a truck.”

I laughed. “You’re joking.” I made my way to the counter and threw my bag over. “I’d tell you to get my number tattooed on your arm, but then you’d get caught up in a freak chainsaw accident and lose that too.”

He ran his hand through his hair. “What if I memorized it?”

“You’d slip on soap in a public bathhouse and end up with amnesia.”

“If I got someone else to keep it for me?”

“Suddenly they’re kidnapped.” As I tied my apron around my waist, I looked him square in the face. “Look, I don’t think any of this is a coincidence. I think it’s best if we just stay friends. At least for now.”

He nodded. Then he gasped. “What if we kicked it old school? What if we just hung out, physically in person?” I opened my mouth, and he raised his hands, palms outwards. “Just as friends, like you said. I believe in fate, too.”

I sighed, and nodded. “I think I would like that,” I said. “I do need more friends.”

“I think I do, too.” He smiled at me.

“Minhyun, If you’re still there talking to Alice when I get out there, you’re fired,” called Mr Jung.

Minhyun smiled at me and waved. “We’ll talk next time,” he said, and then ducked out of the door.

Mr Jung came to the front. “Alice, is that boy bothering you?”

I huffed. “I have bigger things bothering me, sir.” I made my way to the bathroom to clean it.

I scrubbed the toilet bowls to the tune of ‘Kwon Alice, you’re a mess. You can’t even help anyone without ing something up.’

I worried about Kyla now. There’s no way she’ll trust me again. I wish I could explain to her that I really hadn’t shared her personal stuff with Joshua, but then that would be betraying Joshua’s trust, as he’s made it clear he doesn’t want anyone else in the agency to know.

‘She’s already signed that contract. She’ll have to come to the US.’

She’s smart enough to come up with a way out of it.

I realized I had been scrubbing the toilet for so long I had actually gotten rid of the off colouring that I hadn’t even realized wasn’t supposed to be there. Gross. I sighed and stood up to move on to the sink and mirror.

‘Can’t you keep her just healthy enough until we can get her here?’

It won’t make a difference then! We need to act a lot faster than that. She’s at risk now!

‘You’re right.’

The cleaning was done, and I threw the gloves out in the trash, and the apron in the wash basket. I pulled out a new apron after I washed my hands.

Mr Jung looked at me like someone had just told him I had died. “Are you okay, Alice?”

I sighed. “No. I’m just worried about a friend.” Then I turned to him. “Did you ever try to interfere when I started to lose a lot of weight?”

He nodded vehemently. “Of course I did!”

“How did you do it?”

He eyed me up and down. “Well, clearly I wasn’t successful, so why ask me?”

I sighed and leaned against the counter, propping my chin up on my palm. “I don’t know…”

He placed a hand on my shoulder. “Look, if you’re really worried about your friend, you could ask an adult for help.”

I looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “I’m an adult, too.”

He chuckled and patted my head. “Uh huh. Sure thing, kiddo.”

***

I chewed a nail and paced my bedroom floor. Alice was right, Kyla was in trouble. Simon watched me from my bed, tail wagging.

Suddenly my door flung open. “Jisoo?” asked my mother, dressed in a night robe. “What’s wrong? Why are you up?”

I shrugged. “Did I wake you? I’m sorry.”

She waved a hand. “The floors are just creaky and I’m a light sleeper. What’s bothering you? Did you have a nightmare?” She took me by the hands and pulled me to the bed, and we both sat on the edge facing each other.

I sighed. “No. A nightmare would be more manageable. I’m just worried about someone back in Seoul.”

She placed her hands on my cheeks and searched my eyes with her own. “Tell me, Jisoo. Don’t worry alone.”

I closed my eyes and furrowed my brows. “There’s just… There’s this trainee. She’s, like, 15 years old and being pressured by management to lose weight, even though she is perfectly skinny. I had a friend there keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't turn to drastic measures, but recently the trainee and my friend fought about this and I’m worried that the trainee will hurt herself or get sick trying to lose so much weight at once.”

My mother smiled sadly. “Lord, thank you for making my son such a considerate and selfless man.”

I winced. “I’m not selfless, eomma.”

“And humble, too.” She patted my cheeks before finally letting go, and instead pulled my hands onto her lap in hers. “Jisoo, do you think you can help this girl?” It wasn’t condescending. It was a genuine question.

“I… don’t know. I know that I want to, but I don’t know how.”

“If she is being pressured by management, she needs someone to stand up against them with her.”

I wondered if anyone else knew about Kyla’s situation. “If I tell anyone else in the agency, she’ll never trust me again.”

She tilted her head. “Then I think we both know what you have to do.”

I took a deep breath, and then I nodded.

***

The next time I was scheduled at Pledis was after exactly a week. When I walked into the dance room a couple of minutes late, I apologized. “I’m so sorry I’m late, girls. My own fault completely.”

I turned to the stereo and first checked to make sure the right CD was inside. Then I called out for position, and hit play. When I turned to face the girls again was when I finally realized someth