A week later, Seungwan called Sooyoung and asked her to go to the mall with her.

“Sooyoung-ah! We’ll meet at 7.30pm outside the main entrance, okay?” said Seungwan over the phone.

“Arasso, unnie. I’ll see you then,” replied Sooyoung.

Sooyoung reached the entrance of the mall at 7.25pm and saw Seungwan already standing in front of the mall talking on the phone. Sooyoung managed to catch the last line of her conversation.

“…all right, if you’re really sure. Hope it works out then,” said Seungwan.

“Unnie!” called Sooyoung.

“Ah Sooyoung-ah!” said Seungwan, as she hung up.

“Who were you talking to? What are you hoping will work out?” asked Sooyoung.

“I was talking to Hyunsik. He’s working on a difficult project which he’s worried about,” explained Seungwan.

“Oh, okay. Anyway, let’s go, unnie!” said Sooyoung, as she linked her arm through Seungwan’s. “What do you want to buy?”

“I just wanted to come out for a walk. So many things have been happening recently that I just wanted to walk around with you to get my mind off things,” complained Seungwan.

“Aigoo, unnie. Sounds like you’re under a lot of stress. But don't worry, I’ll make sure today that I take off all the stress that you’ve been under,” proclaimed Sooyoung dramatically.

The two girls giggled and walked into the shopping mall, ready for their hunt that day. The two girls walked around for over two hours and went into almost every store the mall had. The girls finally couldn't take it and sat down on one of the benches provided outside a clothing store.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so tired. I need to rest for a while,” moaned Sooyoung.

“I know right, me too. Anyway, Sooyoung-ah, you wait here for me for a while. I need to go to the washroom,” said Seungwan, while checking her phone.

“Arasso, unnie,” said Sooyoung.

Shortly after Seungwan walked off, Sooyoung heard a distant voice at the other end of the corridor.

“Palli, jagiya!” said the voice with a giggle.

Though that voice was unfamiliar to Sooyoung, she looked up instinctively and saw a pretty girl around her age walk out of another clothing store at the end of the corridor. She was about to look away when the boy behind the girl caught her eye.

“Aish, don’t walk so fast, Sohyun-ah!” complained the boy teasingly.

Shock shot through Sooyoung like lightning, as she realised that the boy behind that girl was none other than Hyunwoo.

What’s oppa doing with that girl? Aish, don’t overthink, Park Sooyoung. Maybe it’s just his sister.

But all possibility of that thought was crushed as she saw the girl named Sohyun lean forward to give Hyunwoo a peck on the lips.

“Will that be sufficient to get you to forgive me?” asked Sohyun with overflowing aegyo.

Hyunwoo gave a loud laugh and put an arm over her shoulder, before saying, “Of course, jagiya. Come on, where else do you want to go?”

The pair walked off in the opposite direction with Hyunwoo’s arm still draped over Sohyun’s shoulder. Sooyoung was still left in shock and a tear streaked down her cheek without her realising it. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone to text Seungwan.

Unnie, I’m sorry. You’ll need to finish shopping by yourself. Something came up and I need to head home.

Without waiting for Seungwan’s reply, Sooyoung got up unsteadily and walked out of the mall, tears starting to fall from her eyes.

What did I just see? Was that just a friend of oppa’s? Or was it his sister?

But no matter how Sooyoung tried to rationalise what she just saw, she could only think of one answer.

Oppa is dating someone behind my back.

That thought crushed Sooyoung’s heart, as she continued to walk home as quickly as her legs would take her.

Why are you feeling sad, pabo-yah? Weren’t you already thinking of breaking up with oppa? You should be happy that this happened, isn’t it? Yes, you should be happy. Now you can break off with oppa guiltlessly. You don’t need to feel bad about accepting his feelings in the first place. So, smile, Park Sooyoung. There’s no need to cry! Why are you even feeling sad? You never had any real feelings for him anyway. But then why do I feel so hurt?

Sooyoung was so deep in her thoughts that she had not realised that she had already reached the traffic junction just before her house. She also had not realised that the light had already turned red while she was crossing the junction. The screech from the brakes of the van hurtling towards her shocked her out of her thoughts, as the shock and fear of the approaching vehicle rooted her to the spot.

“Sooyoung-ah!” shouted a familiar voice.

Sooyoung remained rooted to that spot as a strong body collided with her and pushed her out of the way and the two of them tumbled to the curb as the van screeched to a halt at the spot where Sooyoung had been standing a moment ago. The driver got off and hurried to check on the pair lying on the ground.

“Kwenchana? Aish, why were you crossing the road when it was red on your side? What if you had been hit by my van?” asked the driver worriedly.

“Mianheyo, ahjussi. We’ll be more careful next time,” replied Sungjae.