Jinyoung had just invited Sunggyu over to her apartment for dinner. She wasn’t even sure if she had food at her place or if it was even clean. But she knew that inviting him was the right thing to do. It was right, but it didn’t make it any less awkward. She didn’t even know what to talk about with him as they walked towards her place.

Fortunately, she didn’t need to say much because Sunggyu was talking enough for the both of them. He was remarking about everything that they were going by and asking her questions, even asking where Sungyeol lived. Jinyoung still answered them all, except one.

“What was that?”

A door had slammed shut in her hallway. The Hyuns’ door. One of them must’ve heard her voice and was about to come out to greet her, but stopped because…Jinyoung looked from the door to the man next to her and shrugged. “I don’t know,” she mumbled and then hurried over to her door, hoping that Sunggyu wouldn’t bring up the fact that she ran up to it.

He didn’t, but he noticed something else instead: “You didn’t change your passcode?”

Jinyoung spun around and hid her lock behind her back. “Why are you looking?” she shot back, while she opened the door, which was just unlocked.

“Just making sure,” Sunggyu replied casually. “Why didn’t you change it? What? Were you hoping that I’d try it out?”

Jinyoung scoffed and rolled her eyes as she turned back around. “Are you crazy? Anyway, you didn’t even know what apartment number I am before now,” she pointed out.

“We have a directory at school.”

“Oh right,” Jinyoung muttered as she craned her neck to look back at him. She then narrowed her eyes, “You’ve thought this through, haven’t you?”

“No! I was just saying that I could!” Sunggyu defended himself, loudly. Jinyoung’s eyes quickly flitted from his face over to the door across the hall back to him. He needs to be quieter or else…“I just thought of it now, I swear!” Sunggyu raised his voice even more, taking her silence as distrust. Jinyoung’s eyes widened when she saw the door open slightly and then slam shut. Sunggyu spun around to catch what made that sound. “Wait. What’s that noise?”

“Nothing,” Jinyoung was now speaking really loudly. She then reached over and began tugging at Sunggyu’s sleeve. “Let’s go inside,” she begged as she opened the door behind her.

Sunggyu looked back at her but didn’t move any closer. And she let her hand fall away. “Is everything okay in there?” he asked, gesturing at the door across the hall.

“Oh yea. They’re just like that,” Jinyoung tried to dismiss it. She then opened her door wife open and waved her arm inside of the doorway. “Come in, please,” she hoped like she didn’t sound like she was pleading as much as she actually was. Sunggyu befuddled expression soon turned into a smirk, and he took a step towards the door. But he wasn’t walking quickly enough. Jinyoung gestured at him to move faster, but it was too late.

“JINYOUNG-AH! YOU’RE HOME!” Out of the doorway across the hall, Woohyun stumbled out, bellowing, trying to act nonchalant, and trying much too hard. There was a nearly empty garbage bag in his hand, an excuse for him to be out in the hallway. “I was just about to take out the trash. Nothing weird about that.”

“Oh, hi,” Jinyoung muttered quickly at her friend and then whipped her head back to the teacher who had just stepped out of her doorway and back into the hall. “Go back in. I’ll be with you in a second,” she told him as she laid her hand on his shoulder and tried to pull him back inside with her. And she was able to pull him back a step or two.

But then Sunggyu shrugged her hand off of his shoulder and brushed past her, grumbling, “What kind of apartment building is this? All of your neighbors are handsome. Is that why you won’t move closer to school? At least this one is short.” Once out in the hallway and facing her neighbor, he put a smile on his face and his hand out for the other to shake. “Hello, I’m Kim Sunggyu. I work at the same school as her,” he introduced himself.

“Nam Woohyun, I’m her husband. Ah, I mean her best friend’s husband.” Jinyoung rolled her eyes at Woohyun’s fake slip-of-the-tongue. Woohyun did that on purpose to see how he’d react, and he was now watching Sunggyu like a hawk as they shook hands.

“Ah! Nam Woohyun. I’ve heard of you,” that wasn’t the reaction that Woohyun expected. His eyes flitted over to Jinyoung, who was cringing as she watched all of this unfold. “You guys met in college, right?”

“Yea,” Woohyun mumbled, still confused, as he pulled his hand away.

But he couldn’t mull over it for too long because Hyunae opened the door a crack and loudly whispered, “Ask,” before slamming the door shut again. Jinyoung hid her face in embarrassment. Her friends were not being as subtle as they thought they were being. Luckily, Sunggyu was just too overwhelmed by everything to see how embarrassing this was for her.

“Ah, right,” Woohyun muttered to himself, as if he’d just remembered it all on his own. He gestured behind him as he asked, “Do you guys want to come over for dinner?”

“No,” Jinyoung answered but it was drowned out by Sunggyu’s “Of course!” He noticed that it had and looked over at her with the expression saying ‘why not?’ Well, Jinyoung could think of several reasons why.

“Awesome! I’ll tell my wife!” One of them being her friends’ over enthusiasm. Woohyun didn’t even need to tell Hyunae because she peeked out behind the door again.

“I heard! Wait there for a second,” Hyunae told the two in the halls. She then grabbed her husband by the collar and pulled him inside with her. “Woohyun, come here and help me set up.” With that, the two disappeared into their apartment and the door closed.

Jinyoung stood there for a moment or two in silence. She didn’t need to say anything because her glare aimed at Sunggyu spoke more than enough for her. But he shrugged that glare off as easily as he shrugged her hand off earlier. “What? You only offered ramyun. They offered a whole meal,” he argued and pointed at the door, placing the fault on them. “Come on, I’m hungry, aren’t you?” he kept going, seeing that she still seemed apprehensive. “I’m hungry. I want food, food, food,” he changed strategy and talked more cutely (and acting more cutely, smiling and shaking his fists).

“Food,” Jinyoung found herself following along with him. After she noticed, she sighed. She lost, to him, yet again.

“What do you think she’ll make?” Sunggyu asked.

“Something seriously delicious,” she at least had that to look forward to, as for the rest of the night…

“Come on in!” Woohyun poked his head back out and ushered them inside the apartment.

…as for the rest of the night, Jinyoung only dreaded about how it would go.

Once inside, Jinyoung darted straight for the kitchen. “I’m going to say ‘hi’ to Hyunae,” she announced to her coworker before leaving, but she still managed to hear this conversation (eavesdropping on them for as long as she could):

“Huh, what? Wait,” Sunggyu sounded stunned by her departure.

“So…what was your name again?” Woohyun asked him.

“Kim Sunggyu.”

And that was all that Jinyoung could hear, unfortunately, because Hyunae demanded her attention now. “We saw you coming from the window. Have you been lying about the musical and actually dated behind our backs?” her best friend asked accusingly, brandishing a ladle at her.

“No!” Jinyoung denied, with both of her hands in the air.

Hyunae put the ladle down but kept the inquisitive expression on her face. “You know, you can tell me the truth. I’d understand,” she said. “Woohyun teases you so much when you start dating, so I can see why you’d want to hide it from him.”

“I’m not hiding anything. He was just dropping me off from the hospital,” Jinyoung revealed as proof that she really wasn’t hiding anything.

“Hospital?!” Hyunae spoke with a gasp. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, but it was one of the art club students. Daeyeol. Who happens to be the Man Upstairs little brother,” Jinyoung mumbled quickly as she leaned against the wall, letting her head roll away (and she tried to hear what was going on in the other room).

“What?”

Jinyoung looked back at her friend. “It’s a long story.” And she had no idea where to start it.

“Hyunae!” a shout came from the other room. It was Woohyun.

“Let’s talk more about this later,” Hyunae said to Jinyoung, before putting her ladle down and waddled past her to get into the living room. “What is it, honey?” Jinyoung groaned as she followed her friend into the room. It was going to be a long night.

“Meet Sunggyu-ssi,” Woohyun introduced the man. He then walked up to his wife. “This is my wife, Hyunae. And this is our child. Say ‘hi,’ baby,” he said as he bent down, head near Hyunae’s stomach, “speaking” to the baby.

“Stop it,” Hyunae begged and pulled Woohyun back up. But her eyes never went down to him. They stayed on Sunggyu, furrowed in concentration (which made Jinyoung exceedingly anxious).

“What is it?” Woohyun noted his wife’s expression.

“Doesn’t he look familiar to you?” she whispered to him as an aside (but the other two in the room could hear it). Woohyun shook his head. Hyunae then addressed Sunggyu, “You look familiar. Have we met before?”

“I don't think so,” Sunggyu replied with an anxious smile. “But people tell me that I look like Henry from Super Junior,” he offered.

Hyunae’s face light up and she shot her friend a knowing smile. “Oh! That must be it!” she exclaimed.

And her husband began giggling. “That's totally it,” Woohyun remarked.

“Yes, totally the reason why,” Hyunae added and exchanged a look with him. And Jinyoung knew exactly what it meant. She just hoped Sunggyu didn’t.

“Guys! The food!” she reminded the Hyuns.

“Ah right! Let’s go eat!” Hyunae exclaimed and ushered them into the kitchen.

Sunggyu was the last to sit at the table, although he was arguably the hungriest. The Hyuns had to have eaten beforehand, since it was so late in the evening, but they needed some excuse to lure Jinyoung and her male companion inside, although they didn’t have to put up much of an act. Woohyun always had a ravenous appetite. He’d often say that he was completely full after dinner but later asked if anyone wanted dessert. Hyunae, now pregnant, was catching up to him. Jinyoung watched in awe of them and wondered if they would’ve eaten a second dinner anyway.

But the Hyuns weren’t distracted enough by the food to forget the other man at their table. “Sunggyu-ssi, how do you know Jinyoung?” Woohyun asked.

“We work at the same school and have been working together for over three years,” Sunggyu answered. He then turned towards Jinyoung with a smile. “We’re friends.”

“Eung,” Jinyoung quickly agreed and then faced Hyunae. “He also directs the musical. He's the voice instructor,” she spoke that last part in a low voice as to jog her friend’s memory. And it did trigger some memory in Hyunae, who finally put down her chopsticks and gasped.

“Oh? OH!” Hyunae pointed at Sunggyu. “You're that guy.”

“What?” Both Jinyoung and Sunggyu jolted in their seats, not expecting such a loud reaction.

“She's talked about you,” Hyunae spoke with a knowing smile. Jinyoung was confused. What did Hyunae actually know about Sunggyu? “Kim seonsaeng-nim, right?”

“She has?” Sunggyu was shocked. He whispered loudly to the woman next to him, “You have? What did you say?”

“All good things, right?” Jinyoung hoped that she hadn’t said too much about him to her friends. She honestly couldn’t remember everything she told them, so she couldn’t predict what bits of information that they’d hold onto.

Hyunae narrowed his eyes on the other man. “I thought you'd be older,” she spoke with a serious tone. If it had come from Woohyun, she’d guess that he was just messing with Sunggyu. But coming from Hyunae…

“Why?” both her and Sunggyu asked in unison.

Hyunae shrugged and answered casually, “It was just the impression that I got. Didn’t you think the same?” she asked Woohyun.

“I did,” he agreed. “Hyunae and I swore you’d be in your 40s. Like one of those eternal bachelor types.”

“I imagined less hair,” Hyunae chimed in.

“I did too! With flecks of grey,” Woohyun added.

“Yeah,” Hyunae mumbled as she narrowed her eyes on Sunggyu’s hair, searching for any sign of grey.

“But...you’re not that old, obviously,” Woohyun then spoke to Sunggyu rather than at him. He gave him a sly smile. “Right?”

Sunggyu laughed uncomfortably. “No.”

“Ever been married?” Hyunae suddenly asked, making him even more uncomfortable. She then turned towards Woohyun. “I thought he could be a divorcee too.”

“No!” Sunggyu burst out, with his hands in the air defensively. He then dropped his hands to his lap while he spun towards his friend. “What have you been telling them?”

“Uh, I’m not so sure anymore,” Jinyoung murmured and scratched the back of her head. What did she tell them? She was quickly running through her memory to see what would lead the Hyuns to create such a detailed back story for the Voice teacher.

“Well, you must’ve told them something,” Sunggyu hissed while he glared at her out of the corner of his eye.

“All I said was that you’re a popular teacher at our school, and that you and the Drama teacher heads,” she assured him in a low whisper. That must’ve been it, how Sunggyu’s biggest rival in the school was a fifty year-old man. Or it could’ve been some of his habits or things he said. Jinyoung also mentioned how he wanted to stop going on marriage dates (because the Hyuns suggested that maybe she should start going on them). I also mentioned the time when got food poisoning during the MT retreat.

No wonder why they thought he was old. What she said about him made it seem like he was a generally cranky person, which he does seem like at first, but now...Jinyoung glanced over at him. Sunggyu wasn’t eating anymore. It seemed like he’d lost a bit of his appetite.

You have nothing to worry about. She clenched her hands tightly.

“It’s not what she said. It was what we assumed,” Hyunae excused her friend. “We just didn’t expect you is all.”

“Don’t worry. We like you better like this,” Woohyun assured him.

But it didn’t do much. “Thanks?” Sunggyu couldn’t even say that confidently.

“You’re welcome,” Woohyun responded with his usual bright smile. He then stood up, picking up a dish from the table. “We need some more of this.” He asked his wife, “Do you want anything else?” Hyunae nodded and asked him to bring over some more odds and ends from the fridge. Jinyoung’s eyes widened, hoping that Hyunae wasn’t planning on mixing them all together. While her husband was getting more food for her, Hyunae’s gaze re Sunggyu, who found his appetite again once Woohyun had gotten up from the table. Jinyoung raised her eyebrow at her friend after catching her gaze. And instead of looking embarrassed from being caught, Hyunae just grinned and addressed Sunggyu, although she was still looking at her friend: “You do look like that one idol.” She then turned towards the man. “Did you know that Jinyoung was crazy about idols when she was younger?” Jinyoung was tapping her friend’s leg incessantly under the table, but Hyunae only shifted away from Jinyoung’s reach and continued, “A complete fangirl. So fanatic”

“It's a part of her that she can't forget...or let go of,” Woohyun added, much to Jinyoung’s dismay, and returned to the table with an armful of food. But Jinyoung couldn’t even bare to look at what he brought. She was hiding her face behind her hands. Why were they saying this to him? Well, Jinyoung could guess why. They knew her well, and they could probably guess what her relationship with her colleague really was. But did they honestly think this was helping her?

“I know,” Sunggyu responded, and it sounded like he was smiling.

“You do?” Hyunae sounded shocked. “Jinyoung-ah! What are you doing at that school?”

Jinyoung finally lowered her hands and covered her heart. “Why are you yelling at me? I'm the perfect role model! I don’t fangirl!” she defended herself. “The kids don’t even know about that part of my life, do they?” she asked Sunggyu.

“They don’t,” he agreed. He then turned towards her friends and explained, “I just know because she flipped out when I told her that I used to be in an idol group.”

“I didn't flip out,” she argued, frowning deeply.

“You totally did,” Sunggyu fought back, spinning towards her with a proud grin. “I never saw you so twitterpated before. I felt like a celebrity again.”

Jinyoung rolled her eyes and reminded him, “I hadn’t even heard of your band before that night.”

“True, but…” Sunggyu’s voice caught in his throat. His eyes slowly drifted towards her friends, who had grown unusually quiet. Jinyoung looked too in order to see what was going on. The Hyun’s had frozen in place, with their eyes wide in shock. Sunggyu leaned in closer to her and whispered, “Jinyoung, are they broken?”

“I hope so,” Jinyoung mumbled, barely moving her lips. She could easily see it in their big, wide eyes. She knew them as well as they knew her. The both of them (or the three of them) were such romantics. Because of that, she knew what they were thinking: Destiny.

“You...you used to be an idol?” Woohyun finally managed to speak.

“Yes, I was the leader of my group,” Sunggyu answered apprehensively because the couple across from him seemed so tense. He was about to say more, but Woohyun cut him off.

“What position, aside from being a leader?”

“Main vocal,” the former idol replied.

The married couple exchanged a meaningful glance. Why? Because every single one of Jinyoung’s biases happened to hold that position. It’s not what you think, Jinyoung wanted to blurt out but was too tight now to say anything. Just let this blow over. Just don’t acknowledge it, and this conversation will go away.

“Do you not believe me?” Sunggyu asked, trying to guess what they were thinking. But he missed the mark completely.

“Well, I do believe you. You’re the Voice teacher,” Hyunae responded. She then narrowed her eyes on him. “But…”

“Did you know this?” Woohyun jumped back into the conversation and asked Jinyoung.

And she could only meekly answer, “Yea, he told me during auditions.” Come on, think of something else to say. Quick! “Did I ever tell you guys about the auditions? I helped to select the cast, and I think I did a good job of it!” She looked about the table to see if anyone was following where she was trying to lead the conversation. None of them were. Hyunae was looking at Sunggyu, who was looking back at her half-afraid and half-expectant. Then there was Woohyun who was tapping his wife and whispering to her, wondering what she was doing.

And then it happened. Hyunae remembered where she’d seen Sunggyu before.

 “AH! Oh my gosh! He’s…” she yelped, but then immediately stopped, clasping her hands over . Her gaze flew over to her friend. And like before, Jinyoung could read that gaze too: we need to talk about this later.

Sunggyu perked up. “You recognized me?”

“Uh, yes, you’re a part of Heart...shaker?” Hyunae stuttered through her words, trying to be inconspicuous and read what name Jinyoung was mouthing to her. “Heartbeat!” Hyunae tried to guess again. “No, Heartattack!” Jinyoung shook her head and mouthed it again. Hyunae tilted her head as she ‘read: “HeartHeart? Two Heart?”

“Heartthrob,” Sunggyu corrected her.

Jinyoung sighed heavily and closed her eyes tightly. Don’t question it. Please don’t question her about it, she begged.

“That was it!” Hyunae exclaimed while her friend was desperately praying. Jinyoung opened one of her eyes and saw Hyunae smiling at the former idol. “I knew there was a reason why you looked familiar.”

Sunggyu obviously looked flattered by that. “I guess, I still look like a celebrity, huh?” he sounded so proud.

“Sure,” Hyunae quickly replied and then asked him, “Do you want more rice?” Good, she was trying to steer the conversation away, since she knew how dangerous it was now.

“Yes, please,” he took her offer, but Sunggyu wasn’t distracted. After Hyunae took his bowl and got up from the table, he faced Woohyun. “So she didn’t tell you guys? Seriously?” he asked, pointing his thumb at Jinyoung.

“No,” Woohyun answered lowly. It was evident that he was utterly confused what was going on now, how his wife has heard of this old idol band and why he didn’t. In fact, his eyes were now on Hyunae’s back as she was fixing another bowl for their guest. When she turned back around, she mouthed ‘later’ to him. Woohyun didn’t look so satisfied by that, but he understood and resigned himself to confusion.

Sunggyu, unlike Jinyoung who was hyper-aware of everything going on, was oblivious to the couple. Instead, his attention was on the teacher. “Really? Youdidn’t?” he asked her. Jinyoung shook her head. “I’m impressed,” and he looked it too. He then told Woohyun, “She can’t keep secrets.”

“Yes, we know, but…” Now Woohyun seemed really frustrated about being left out. His eyes flew back over to Hyunae, and he kept them on there as she sat back down, handing Sunggyu back his bowl.

“Well you didn’t want me to tell anybody,” Jinyoung finally spoke up. She then scratched her head and gave a nervous giggle. “And to be honest…I thought I did tell them.”

“Wow, Jinyoung actually kept a secret,” Hyunae sounded just as impressed as Sunggyu did. “This is amazing.”

“This is weird,” Woohyun couldn’t help but to say it. Hyunae nudged him. “What? It is! She tells everyone everything, but she didn’t tell us that her coworker is a former idol? It’s weird! But she’ll tell me what you get me for my birthday every year.”

“Jinyoung-ah!” Hyunae sounded (and looked) betrayed.

“It just comes out,” Jinyoung defended herself. He then pointed at Woohyun, “And he knows that! He makes me tell him! Be angry at him too!”

Hyunae whipped her head now towards her husband, but Woohyun immediately grabbed one of his wife’s hands and rubbed her back. “Don’t be angry. Anger isn’t good for the baby,” he tried to calm her down. But Hyunae was still agitated and pulled her hand away from him.

“You’re lucky that you’re cute,” Hyunae grumbled at him. And he just nodded and continued to rub her back.

“Wow, you really didn’t tell them,” Sunggyu said with a slight laugh, having watched everything that had just unfolded.

“I guess that I didn’t. I wonder why,” Jinyoung mumbled under her breath as her mind wandered. What did I do differently? Back then, when Sunggyu had told her his secret, they were just getting to know each other more. Normally, Jinyoung would’ve told Hyunae the moment that she got home. No, she wouldn’t be able to wait that long. Jinyoung would’ve texted the Hyuns from the table at the café. But instead of doing that…instead of telling the Hyuns… “Oh my gosh! It’s because I told you!” she exclaimed, hitting the man next to her in her excitement.

“What?”

“I told him that I couldn’t keep a secret, so he told me to tell him the secret right back,” she explained to her friends. Jinyoung then turned towards him again, throwing her hands in the air. “And it actually worked!”

He did too. “Oh, and…that other thing!” he paused for a second before he continued shouting.

“Yea, I haven’t told anybody, but you that either,” Jinyoung voice grew quieter the more that she spoke. The Hyuns did know that Yewon was having a difficult time and that Jinyoung needed to be there for her. They didn’t know what had actually happened to her because Jinyoung didn’t tell them. But she told Sunggyu because, well, Jinyoung wasn’t sure. He just happened to ask when Jinyoung wanted to talk about it? Was that it?

“What thing?” Hyunae asked.

“It’s a secret!” Sunggyu answered for her, quite proudly.

“He must be like…a blackhole or something,” Jinyoung reasoned, talking quickly. was moving faster than her mind. “After I tell you, I don’t need to tell anybody else. The secret just gets in, like a vacuum!” She then tried to take the attention off of herself by spilling another secret, “Woohyun used to have tea time with his roommates in college!”

“Really?” Sunggyu asked. She nodded. “Gross.”

“Yah!” Woohyun yelped and kicked at Jinyoung under the table. “Do you always have to bring that up?” he growled.

“Now I won’t ever again because…you know, he’s a blackhole…for secrets,” Jinyoung stumbled through that explanation.
“Blackhole! That’s me!” Sunggyu bragged. He began tapping on her should with the back of his knuckle. “Tell me more. Tell me, please,” he begged. Jinyoung obliged, leaning in and whispered at his ear. “Eh, hey!” he exclaimed and pushed her away.

“What did you say?” Woohyun asked, probably worried that Jinyoung was sharing more of his dark past with her colleague, which, reflecting back on it, she should have done.

Instead she told him: “Nothing. I’ve already told him everything.” She had only whispered nonsense into his ear, not even real words. Jinyoung was put on the spot, and she really only had one secret left, one that she was going to hold onto for as long as she could.

But she could feel it slipping through her fingers, and Hyunae was slowly grasping it. “You did? You told him everything?” her friend pointed out with a knowing smirk.

Jinyoung nodded and mumbled lowly, “I don’t have many secrets. You know that.”

“You really don’t,” Woohyun quickly agreed and quickly turned it against his friend. He now addressed Sunggyu: “Jinyoung is the blunt type. Be careful. Being honest is a good thing, but thatmuch honesty…”

“At least I don’t bluff for fun like you do,” Jinyoung cut him off and stuck her tongue out at him.

“Alright, this can easily get out of hand,” Hyunae announced, getting up from the table, and ending the spat with that. She picked up a few dishes before asking, “Jinyoung, can you help me out?”

“Of course,” she probably sounded as eager as she felt. Finally, the dangerous conversation had been put to an end.

“Sunggyu-ssi, let’s have a drink out there.” Or was the conversation going to continue and beyond her control?

“Sure,” Sunggyu gladly took the offer and began to follow Woohyun into the living room. Yes, that was what was going to happen. Jinyoung stood there, frozen, with dishes piled in her hands, wondering if she should follow them too.

“I have a few questions that I want to ask you,” Woohyun said as he left the kitchen.

“What are they?” Yes, what are they? Jinyoung echoed Sunggyu’s question in her head. Now she was taking a step forward towards them. She needed to hear this.

But she was thwarted, and by her best friend at that. “Jinyoung-ah! Come here,” Hyunae called her over to the sink with a sweet tone.

“Okay,” Jinyoung muttered and slunk away to join Hyunae.

“Jinyoung,” Hyunae began as soon as her friend came to her side. She wasn’t able to hold it in any longer. “He's the man on your bedroom wall, isn't he? On that poster?” Jinyoung’s mouth was too dry to answer; her whole body had been too warm for this entire evening. So she just nodded. Hyunae exclaimed, “He is! I thought it was weird that you got into such an old group all of the sudden. You made me think it was because of Kim Myungsoo too.” At that, she hit her friend playfully with a dish towel.

“Yes, I did,” Jinyoung admitted. “But the truth just seems too weird, doesn’t it? My coworker is an idol? It’s like a drama. Also it’s weird that I’d never heard of the group until he told me. Me! I couldn’t recognize an idol?!” Hyunae laughed at her friend getting so worked up into this rant. And it was well deserved laughter. Jinyoung took strange pride in being an avid idol fan. “I thought I knew them all back then. Who would’ve thought that when I finally met one, I wouldn’t be able to recognize him? Ironic, right?”

“Very,” Hyunae agreed. She then glanced over to her friend as she handed her a bowl to dry. “It makes for a cute story.”

“I guess,” Jinyoung mumbled. “You know what? I should really be getting my hands wet! I’ll wash and you dry,” she offered and forced Hyunae away from the sink.  

“Go ahead,” Hyunae wasn’t going to put up a fight and gladly took the towel.

“How’s the baby?” Jinyoung asked. “It’s been awhile since we last talked about this,” she gestured over her friend’s growing belly. “How are you doing?”

“Alright, I guess, even though my body doesn’t feel like it’s mine anymore,” and that started a conversation about Hyunae’s new developments, new pains, doctor’s visits, and possible names for the baby. Jinyoung had thought that she successfully deflected the focus from herself, but Hyunae wouldn’t let her go so easily: “So now that you know how the baby is, let’s get back to this guy that you brought over.”

Jinyoung whined, “Do we have to?”

“Yes,” Hyunae replied. She gave her friend a grin. “I like him.”

“Everyone does,” Jinyoung replied with a sigh. “He’s charismatic.”

“I can see why everyone likes him now,” Hyunae responded. She then leaned in closer to the other and dropped her voice, “So do you?”

“Yes,” Jinyoung finally admitted, and she felt a small weight fall off from her chest after revealing her secret. But there was still a uncomfortableness in her chest that she couldn’t get rid off. Because…It’ll never happen. Jinyoung sighed again, hoping to release some of the tension in her chest. It didn’t work. “But everyone likes him. It’s nothing special.”

“Oh, it seems like something special,” Hyunae was still prodding. “A blackhole, hm? What does that mean?”

“It means that…” Jinyoung stopped to think. No, she stopped denying it. She had an idea about what it meant. It was the same reason why the Hyuns could keep such weighty secrets: they could confide in each other. “After telling him, I feel like I’ve told everyone already, everyone that matters, I guess…I guess it’s something like that. So it means…nothing.”

Hyunae put down the towel and tried to cross her arms over her chest, but she ended up letting them rest on her belly. “Jinyoung. That isn’t nothing,” she confronted the other.

“Okay, okay. We’re friends,” Jinyoung gave her that much because that was all that she could give. There won’t be anything more between us.

“Is that all?”

“I’m afraid so,” Jinyoung felt like she was letting down her friend by saying that. She knew that the Hyuns were pinning their hopes for Jinyoung on him already. So she needed to smother that: “I don’t think we’ll be anything more.”

“It doesn’t look that way to me,” Hyunae wasn’t letting go. She just thought Jinyoung was being avoidant.

So the teacher got to the point: “It is though. He went out with Hwang’s daughter the other night.”

Hyunae dropped her arms. “No! Really? The bull?” she raised her voice so loudly that the men in the other room could’ve heard (if they weren’t roaring with laughter at the moment). Jinyoung put a finger to her lips, silently begging her friend to quiet down. “She has a daughter?” Hyunae hissed lowly.

“Yea, and I heard from the bull that it went well. Really well,” Jinyoung recalled Hwang bragging to her just that morning. And then that afternoon, with the stage-kissing, she felt like she meant nothing to him even more so. Sunggyu didn’t even look nervous. He just took his stupid hand and rubbed it all over my face without a single care. But Jinyoung wasn’t about to tell Hyunae that. It was too embarrassing to admit that Sunggyu probably felt nothing when they pretended to kiss.

“Then what is he doing here? With you?” Hyunae still couldn’t let go. She didn’t understand.

“I told you earlier,” Jinyoung reminded her. “We were at the hospital.” She turned around and leaned against the counter, closing her eyes as she recalled the scene. “An art student hurt his hand. It was a huge, bloody mess. It was bad. Sunggyu was there and drove us to the hospital. He offered me a ride home, so then I offered him dinner.”

“At your place? With the poster of him on your wall?” Hyunae pointed out.

“I didn’t think it all out, okay?” Jinyoung snapped back. “And why would he be in my bedroom? It’s not like that,” she ended mumbling.

“I know. I can see that now,” Hyunae said, and Jinyoung was relieved until her friend continued with “But…”

“But what?” the irritation was evident in her voice.

Hyunae was having a difficult time putting her feelings into words. “I’m sad. I can see why you like him, and I like him for you too. But…”

“Everyone likes him,” Jinyoung supplied.

“Right,” Hyunae replied with a nod. “So I guess you can never really tell from a guy like him, if he’s made to be loved by everyone…”

Jinyoung finished her thought again: “It’s hard to figure out who he loves…or even likes.” Hyunae nodded as she spoke. She knew this situation well, too well.

“Woohyun was like that too, at the start. Don’t you remember?” Hyunae began. “And he was too considerate to everyone.” At that, Jinyoung started laughing. She remembered how that drove Hyunae crazy at the beginning. “Like he’d help other girls carry things or he’d accept gifts from them. I…I misunderstood him a lot back then.” Hyunae held back what she really wanted to say: I hated it. She didn’t want to seem jealous back then, when they weren’t even together, and she still didn’t want to admit that she was jealous then even though she was currently having his child.

“But it was soobvious that he liked you back then,” Jinyoung declared just as strongly as she did way back then. “He followed you around all over campus. He joined the tennis club to get closer to you.”

“I didn’t see that. I only focused on how he acted with other girls,” Hyunae argued. She then let out a deep breath and looked over at the other. “So that’s why I’m wondering if you’re not doing the same thing that I did back then?”

“I think him dating another girl makes it pretty clear about how he feels for me,” Jinyoung reminded her friend of that fact again, and indeed, Hyunae had already forgotten, judging by the guilty and pained look on her face.

“I’m sorry, Jinyoung. I’m really really sorry,” she spoke from the bottom of her heart. “I shouldn’t have teased you earlier. I thought, we thought you guys were together or close to being together.” She then shot a glare into the living room. “I swore that he liked you.”

Jinyoung rolled her eyes, “You only just met him.”

“Maybe that’s why we misread him,” Hyunae replied. She then placed her hand on the other’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, friend. I’m sure Woohyun is too.”

“I’m sure,” Jinyoung agreed. It didn’t take much to make that man feel sorry in the first place. And thinking about that, she sighed. “Hyunae, you really lucked out with Woohyun.”

“I did,” Hyunae wasn’t about to deny that. She then patted her friend’s back gently. “You’ll luck out with someone too. I know it.” Although Jinyoung was rolling her eyes, Hyunae kept going, “You won’t question how he feels and maybe someone who still is an idol. That’s much cooler.”

Jinyoung snorted. “I do have a better chance of meeting a current idol now,” she admitted. “Teaching at an arts school does have that as a perk.”

“Jinyoung! Don’t date your students!” Hyunae reprimanded her.

The teacher threw her hands up in the air. “I won’t. I won’t! I promise! The students will just introduce me to the idols,” she defended herself.

Hyunae clicked her tongue. “That’s the real reason why you went to go teach at that school, isn’t it?”

“Not the reason, but maybe one of the reasons why,” Jinyoung confessed.

Hyunae giggled and shook her head at the other. “Let’s go see what the guys are up to,” she said and then walked towards the living room. This time, Jinyoung wasn’t too eager to follow. Whatever those men had been talking about, they’d been talking about it for a while. And a silence fell in the room as the two women walked in. “Did we interrupt something?” Hyunae asked.

“No,” Woohyun automatically replied. He then put on a broad grin. “I was just telling him about how great you are.”

Hyunae leaned closer to Jinyoung as she said, “They were talking about us.”

“What did you say?” Jinyoung came out with it. She’d make sure Woohyun would feel really guilty if he had said something that he shouldn’t have.

“We talked about how great you two are. Seriously!” Woohyun repeated. He then gestured towards the other man. “Besides, I don’t think I could tell him anything that he doesn’t already know.”

Sunggyu nodded. “Well, we’ve known each other for three years,” he said. “And you know how she is.”

Jinyoung raised an eyebrow at that. “What am I like now?”

“Speaking of that,” Woohyun ignored Jinyoung’s comment but not Jinyoung. “He won’t show me his band,” he whined at her as if she could do something about it.

“I’m not in the mood to get made fun of,” Sunggyu squashed his effort. “Jinyoung teases me enough about it as it is.”

“I don’t,” Jinyoung retorted. Was this what he meant by ‘you know how she is’? She didn’t know how to feel about that. She wasn’t a bully.

“I think that’s enough teasing for the night,” Hyunae settled this matter too. “I’m going to turn myself in. Good night.” Everyone wished her a ‘good night’ and she left.

Sunggyu then got up from the couch. “I need to get going. It’s a long drive back,” he announced as he went to go put his coat back on. While he did, Jinyoung walked over and sat down at the spot that he just left. As soon as her hit the cushion, she felt a jab at her side.

“Aren’t you going to leave too?” Woohyun asked after she looked over at him. He then gestured towards the door, where Sunggyu was waiting, with her coat in his hands.

“Oh, okay, I guess I’ll leave,” Jinyoung mumbled and got up from the couch again to head towards the door. “I’m coming”

Since Jinyoung was only walking across the hall to her apartment, she just draped the coat over her arm after accepting it from Sunggyu. And she was sorta grateful to have something to hold onto tightly, like a security blanket. She needed all of the security that she could get now. After the door closed behind them, it was only the two of them now.

Still, the silence didn’t last long between them. “Thanks for inviting me,” Sunggyu said almost as soon at the stepped outside.

“No problem,” Jinyoung replied. She then pointed down the hall. “Do you need me to show you to the way out?”

“No, I can find it,” Sunggyu stated, but he kept following her and not going towards the staircase.

“Are you sure?” Jinyoung pressed him as she stepped forward, away from his side. She then spun around and began talking backwards towards her door. “Because the stairs are over there.” She pointed towards them again.

“I know. I’m walking you home,” he announced.

“What? Because the walk across the hall is so dangerous?” she guessed. He nodded in response, to which Jinyoung scoffed. “Whatever, I’m fine. Just—Ow!” she yelped as her back hit the edge of her door frame, right between her shoulder blades.

“See. It is dangerous,” Sunggyu spoke through chuckles.

“You didn’t do anything to protect me,” Jinyoung whined as she carefully moved to lean against her door. Her lips stuck out into a pout.

He rolled his eyes as he stopped in front of her. “You don’t need to be protected.”

“I don’t, but you’re just going to watch me get hurt? You’re not even going to warn me when I’m about to run into a wall?” Jinyoung fought and felt her pout deepening. Sunggyu nodded and kept laughing. “Some friend,” she grumbled. She then glanced towards the staircase again. “Well, I’m home now.”

“I can see that,” the laughter didn’t stop as he spoke.

Jinyoung swung her head back towards him. “Why don’t you leave?”

“Why haven’t you gone inside?” he turned the question around and propped himself against the doorframe, only a few inches from her. “Don’t tell me.” He cocked his head but kept his gaze steady. “Are you waiting for something?”

Jinyoung dropped her gaze, first to his lips, and then to the ground. “No. No,” she insisted with a shake of her head. She then lifted her eyes back up and narrowed them on his. “You told me not to tell you.”

Sunggyu didn’t laugh this time, but he smirked. “I did, but I think you’re lying. It seems like you’re waiting for me to…”

“I’m not!” Jinyoung objected, lowering her head, moving it away from his which was too close for comfort now. “Besides this is dangerous. You’re dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Sunggyu repeated and he pulled back, moving away a few steps. “What?”

“Exactly! What?” Jinyoung now was barking back his words. She raised her head again and held a steady gaze on the other, trying not to blink, trying to look strong. “What’s going on? Aren’t you seeing Hwang’s daughter now?” her voice was strained as it moved through her tight throat.

“What? That child? No,” Sunggyu answered, as if it were a ridiculous notion. “No!”

“Child? She’s in college,” Jinyoung retorted.

“She just started college,” Sunggyu fought back. “That’s too young.”

“Even for you?”

At that, Sunggyu bolted upright, confused. “Yes?” He then stepped closer towards her. “Look, I just met with her to give her advice about the music program at the University. Her mom set it up.”

Jinyoung finally peeled herself away from the door and stepped closer to him too. “Hwang wants to set you up with her daughter,” she whispered as if the Chinese teacher was in the hallway with them.

“I know,” he whispered back, as much as one could whisper a shout. “I’m not stupid. It’s obvious. I can tell. I’m not stupid.”

“Okay. I just wanted you to know,” Jinyoung responded back in the same loud whisper.

“I do know!”

“I know too. Now. That you know,” Jinyoung continued. All of this loud whispering was making her short of breath (or was it this conversation in general). She was feeling light-headed.

And Sunggyu wasn’t looking so well either. “Is this why…is this why you said what you said earlier in the car?” He was talking in a normal tone again.

“What did I say?” Jinyoung replied, after all she had said a lot of things in the car.

Sunggyu huffed. “Come on. You know what I mean,” and they were back to shout-whispering.

“I don’t!”

“Huh?” Sunggyu stepped away from her and scanned her up and down as he did so, with almost a look of confusion. “Am I…am I misreading this?” he stammered as he gestured in between them.

“Hm?”

“This. Us.”

“Us?” her voice squeaked. She then cleared and let out a deep breath, hoping it’d slow down her racing heart. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Come on,” Sunggyu whined. Then he actually stamped his foot in frustration. “You know what I mean. You do!” he insisted.

“I…I don’t know,” Jinyoung stuttered. “What do you mean?” All Jinyoung wanted was for him to define things, for him to tell her how he really felt. She thought she’d exposed too much on her end already. It was his turn now.

“Jinyoung,” he spoke with a groan, hanging his head. Jinyoung did too and saw that his hand had turned into a fist. He’s frustrated with me.

“Sunggyu, don’t,” she begged. Her hand reached out and touched his fist. He raised his head up slightly, and she gave him a small, timid smile. “Don’t be mad. Don’t be mad at me. I’m sorry.” Her hand was now awkwardly cupping his fist, trying to get it to loosen; she wanted him to loosen his anger along with it.

“So you do know,” he spoke lowly. He let go of his fist and threaded his fingers with hers. “You have to know.” Now they were holding hands. “You’re not stupid either. So I don’t know why you’re acting like you are.” He was laughing again, squeaker than normal, and lowered his head, shaking it. “God, it’s so frustrating. You are so…”

“Oh! You’re still here!”

The two of the jolted, and Jinyoung quickly ripped her hand away as soon as she heard Woohyun’s voice. The both of them looked over at the man coming out of his apartment and closing the door behind him. “Oh…I. I’m taking out the trash. Really! I am! See!” Woohyun declared and showed off the garbage bag in his hand. He then walked up to them. “So proceed with what you two were doing.” He then started to walk away from them. “Keep going!” But his eyes kept falling back on them as he made his way down the hall, and his chuckle was getting louder too.

“We aren’t doing anything! Seriously!” Jinyoung shouted at him.

“Sure, you’re not,” Woohyun didn’t sound convinced.

“Yah! Nam Woohyun!” Jinyoung threatened and started after him. She didn’t have to run too far down the hall because Woohyun finally picked up his pace and was jogging down the stairs now, shouting back at her, “I’m leaving! I’m leaving!” Jinyoung was now truly out of breath. She couldn’t run anymore if she tried. Her heart and her lungs went through enough tonight. She was exhausted.

But the night wasn’t over yet.

“Jinyoung.” She quickly spun around and saw Sunggyu with his hands in his pockets and with a melancholic expression. “What are we doing?” he pressed. “What’s going on here? Nothing? Really nothing at all?”

“Ah, well,” Jinyoung stammered. She was having a hard time, a hard time shifting from chasing after Woohyun to resuming this conversation, a hard time breathing, and the hardest time trying to talk. She ran her hand through her hair as she walked back to him because she just was so flustered. “I don’t know.”

“Then what are we? Friends?” he suggested.

Jinyoung was in front of him again, and her door. She nodded. “Of course. Good friends now, I think, right?” was her answer, and it was an easy one.

But also apparently the wrong one, or at least the one that Sunggyu didn’t want to hear. He nodded while pursed his lips. When he let them go, he replied, “Okay then that’s what we are.” And that was how their relationship was defined. They were only friends.

Jinyoung shook her head a few times. What? No! ! What just happened? What did I do? She tried to catch his eye, but he kept his gaze to his shoes. He’d probably look up if she would say anything. But now she was too afraid to say anything at all. She was too afraid that she’d make him think that she didn’t like him as a friend.

“I’ll leave now.”

 “Ah, good night, Sunggyu! I’ll see you tomorrow. Hm?” she tried to sound as friendly and as cute as she could. She still couldn’t catch his gaze, but she did notice how deeply his brows furrowed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

At that, he raised an arm, reaching towards her, then reaching past her. He punched in the code to her apartment. After it finished beeping, Sunggyu finally spoke, curtly, “Eung. Go inside. I'm leaving.”

With that, he left, striding quickly down the hall and down the stairs. Jinyoung had spent too much time watching him leave that her apartment door locked again behind her.