"Are you staying the night, Sana?"

Lexie asks as she puts a blanket over my legs.

"Yeah, I suppose."

She nods, "So what are you gonna do about this Dahyun situation?"

I shrug, "I guess I'll try to get out of it but if it comes down to it, I'll ask Dahyun if she wouldn't mind pretending to be my girlfriend for a weekend."

Lexie nods, "Seems like a good enough plan. I mean, it would be simple enough to execute anyways. Like a couple months later you just tell everyone you guys broke up, no need to ever see her again right?"

"Right"

My phone beeps, 'You busy?'

I text back, 'Nope'

Almost immediately my phone rings, Lexie gets up and walks into another room, "Tell Dahyun I said Hi" she says when she's out of sight.

"Who says hi?" Dahyun says from the phone.

I laugh, "My cousin."

"Oh ok cool, well hi to your cousin then."

"So what are you doing on this fine evening?"

"I just got home from our showcase but on my way back I like ran into a freaking pole."

I laugh, "Are you serious?!"

She says, "It's not funny; I've got a bruise and everything."

I immediately hang up and face time her, she accepts.

"Show me it." I demand.

"No way, you'll laugh at me." her camera is covered by her finger.

"Of course I will but you should still show me."

"Fine" She takes her hand away from the camera and I can barely see anything.

"Where is it?" I ask.

She points to a tiny dark mark on the left side of her forehead, "Right there, it hurts."

I laugh, "Oh my god. You are such a wuss, I can barely see it."

She acts shocked, "Excuse me. The camera quality isn't that good. It looks much worse in person."

"Oh, of course it does."

"You're lucky I like you, Minatozaki, or you'd be getting some choice words right now."

I laugh and I'm about to reply when "Hello"

I turn around and see Hayley waving into the camera, Dahyun looks confused for a second "Uh, hi"

"I'm Hayley, who are you?"

Dahyun quickly recovers "I'm Dahyun; it's nice to meet you Hayley."

"Oh so you're Dahyun? My sister told me about you"

Dahyun nods her head, "Well what did your sister say?"

Hayley replies, "She said that you are really pretty and that you're very nice."

Dahyun chuckles, "Well that was very nice of her , wasn't it?"

Hayley smiles, "I guess but she was only telling the truth"

"HAYLEY?! Come and get some desert!" We hear Nan yell from the kitchen.

Hayley's eyes widen, she quickly turns back to the phone, "Well it was nice meeting you Dahyun, bye!"

She runs off into the other room, "Uh, sorry about that." I say bringing the phone back to my face.

She gives me a smug look, "How does she know me?"

"Uh I have no idea, it wasn't me"

She scoffs, "So you think I'm pretty and nice?"

I scrunch my brows, "Uh, no. Maybelle saw a picture of you and she said that you were pretty. But this 'nice' thing, well I do not know where that one came from."

Dahyun scoffs "Sure thing. Whatever you say." She says sarcastically.

"Well I have to go get some desert now so I'll talk to you soon?" I say quickly changing subjects.

Dahyun shakes her head, "Desert is more important than me? I'm offended." She says sarcastically.

I giggle, "Like you have to ask that question, Dahyun but for reals though I'll see you soon. We have a lot to talk about"

Dahyun face drops, "Wait what?"

I smile, "Ok bye, Dahyun. love you!" I say quickly as I hang up.

I get up from my chair and walk into the other room; I see my family sitting around the table eating desert.

"Was that Dahyun?" Asks my Aunt Jodie.

I nod.

Hayley squeals, "I met her! She's really nice!"

Everyone smiles at her, "So you asked her if she's coming to the twin's party?"

I tilt my head, "Uhhhhmmmm"

"You do know that news travels fast in this family so… we have a lot of people expecting to meet this girl who stole our little Sana's heart."

My eyes widen, "How many of our family are coming to the twins party?"

Natalie begins to count in her head, "Well all of my family, everyone here—"

Brad pitches in, "Well my side of the family."

"Some of Matt's army buddies."

"Anyone who has met the twins really, including your dad." Natalie finally states.

I internally scream, my dad. Really? I run my hand through my hair, "Wow. That seems a bit overwhelming doesn't it?"

Everyone considers this, "Well you know that this family won't treat her with anything short of respect."

I nod, "Yeah I know that, it just seems a bit soon though."

My Nan jumps in, "Well I would really like to meet the person that makes my little chicka-boo happy."

I rub the back of my neck, weighing my options. I never could really say no to my Nan, "I'll have to ask her but in the end… it's up to her ok?"

Everyone nods excitedly, "This is going to be so great"

I nod and give a fake smile "It's definitely gonna be interesting"



JYP University

"Sana!" I see Nayeon run across the quad.

I smile and walk a bit faster, "Hey Nayeon!"

She pulls me into a giant embrace, "Oh my gosh, I've missed you!"

I laugh, "I can't explain how much I've missed you."

She links arms with me as we begin to walk through the campus, "How's your family? Better yet how's your dad?"

I tense at the mention of him; she looks over at me, "What happened, Sanaring?"

I shrug, "I kind of told him about me."

Nayeon stops walking, "Wait, What?!"

I shake my head, "I don't know Nayeonnie, it just came out."

Nayeon grabs both of my hands, "What did he say?"

I drop my head, "He kind of said that he wouldn't believe it, I should get help and he asked me what my mother would think of it… but you know, you can't please 'em all."

Nayeon's face contorts from sadness to disappointment to anger all in a matter of seconds, "What. The. ?"

I look up, "Nayeon, I'm the only thing he has left, I mean he has a right to be upset."

Her face twists into a look of confusion, "What are you even saying Sana?! He is meant to be a supportive shoulder to lean on, not some - who makes you feel like ."

I try to interrupt, "Nayeo-"

She raises her hand to shut me up which effectively works, "Sana, I know how much you love your father but you have to stop defending him. You've been doing it ever since… well you know..."

I nod.

"And sometimes I completely understand but when he makes you feel like you are less of a person and brings up your mother as a guilt trip, it simply isn't acceptable."

"Nayeon, its fine. He'll get over it soon." I say tugging on her arm, gesturing for us to keep walking, "But that's not even the biggest news."

Nayeon looks at me, "What could be bigger than that?"

"Well, I kind of had a breakdown at my family reunion and they all found out about me being gay."

Her jaw drops and she is just about to say something when I continue, "They jumped to conclusions that I had a girlfriend. So when Dahyun called me and I told her that I missed her, everyone immediately connected the invisible dots, assuming that Dahyun is my girlfriend."

Her eyes widen, "What the fu—"

I hold my pointer finger up, "Not done. Now they want to meet her."

Her eyes are on the verge of popping out of her head, "Holy "

I nod, "I know, right?"

"So what are you gonna do?" She says opening the door to the café for me, I walk in and stand in line.

"I'm going to ask her to do me a giant favour."

Nayeon nods, "Well let me know how that turns out for you."



Later that day

"No."

"But Dahyun ah~, you'll be helping me out a load," I say crouching down in front of her chair, looking up at her giving her my infamous puppy dog eyes, "Pwease?"

She scoffs and swivels her chair to turn back to her computer, "Those eyes don't work on me, Minatozaki."

I lie on the floor and make an exaggerated groan.

She spins her chair again and looks down at me, "Why is it so important that they meet your apparent girlfriend anyway?"

I sit up and cross my legs, looking up at her, "My cousin thinks that it softens the 'gay' thing, whatever that means."

She nods, "I get it; someone in my family did it like that, it seemed easier to say or something."

I nod, "Well, that's a little reassuring. I guess."

She chuckles, "So why can't you say that your apparent girlfriend is sick or something?"

"I mean, I could but I need to convince my dad, you know?"

She tilts her head, "So you're dad actually refuses to believe it?"

I nod, "unfortunately." I drop my head at the thought of my dad's reaction and the harsh words that he said. I play with the ring that my mum left for me, the one I never take off. I fiddle with it as I remember the day that it happened


"David, I told you last night that this was happening, but clearly you don't have ears when the footballs on"

He groans, "Emily, I'm sorry but I just can't do it this morning"

She scoffs ,"I'm already late! You are not!"

He rolls his eyes, "Even if I leave right at this moment, I won't be there on time. Why can't you take her?"

She waves her arms in the air, "Are you even listening to me? I'm 20 minutes late and I still have to take Ryan to soccer. What do you expect me to do, David? We already told Nayeon's parents that we were going to be dropping Sana off, we can't just cancel on them."

He begins to gather his stuff when I interrupt, "Mum, I understand if you can't take me, I'll just stay over Nayeon's another night"

Mum puts her hands on my shoulders, "Darling it's ok. We organised this a while back and we kept putting it off so it's happening today."

She gets up and faces her husband,"Where do you think you're going?"

He stops at the door, "Today is my chance to get the promotion that I've been waiting years for, I'm not risking it, Em." and with that he's out the door.

"David Watson! If you get in the blimmin car I swear I'll-!" She hears the cars start up.

She mutters a few angry words to herself and then faces me ,"Sana, go tell your brother that we're leaving immediately."

I nod and make my way upstairs. The drive to Nayeon's was fast and just a bit reckless.

"Bye, Sana. I'll see you tomorrow, love you." My mother says with one last kiss on the head. She makes her way back to the car. I see my brother waving from the front seat, I smile and wave back.

She speeds off down the street. That was the last time I saw my mother and brother, alive at least.

"Sana?! Sana?" I hear a voice dragging me out of my sad memory.

I shake my head and look up at her piercing eyes, "Hm?"

"I said I'll do it."

My mood quickly changes, "Wait, what?! Seriously?!"

She shakes her head, "Nope, I was just messing with you." She swivels her chair back towards the computer.

Completely ignoring her sarcasm, I jump up and swing the chair around and plop onto her lap. I pull her into a bone crushing hug, "Oh my gosh, thank you so much Dahyun!"

She pats me on the back awkwardly, "Ok Squirrel, I won't be able to help you out if I'm not breathing."

I pull away, "Sorry"

She shakes her head, "How am I going to deal with you?"

I giggle, "I don't know but I'm sure you'll figure it out."

She smiles, "So tell me about your