Minsun nervously leaned forward, takinga slight peek into the driver’s seat of her family’s limo.

“Ahjusshi, can you go faster?” she politely, a bit timid even, asked her personal driver.

“Miss Seo, this is the fastest I could get. Don’t worry, we’ll definitely get there before the tournament ended.”

“O-Okay,” Minsun leaned back against the backrest of the seat, but she wasn’t slightly at ease at all. She kept looking at her watch, worried if she miss the final rond of the Christmas Cup. If she couldn’t be with them anymore, she wanted to at least be there during their most important moment to support them, just like how she used to. She was glad that nothing happened at school today; no hidden homeworks, no detention. Right after school ended, she asked her driver to bring her to the basketball tournament.


-

Christmas Cup Final Round
1.27 p.m.

Wooyoung managed to glance at the scoreboard as he wiped away the endless sweat trickling down his temple. There were only 3 minutes left, and only two points away from being even with the opposing team. But he wasn’t aiming at being even, he wanted the team to win. For Taecyeon, for Gohee, for the team, and even for Minsun. For himself. It was the final round of Christmas Cup, something he had dreamed since he was a middle schooler, and it was the first match for him as team captain. He didn’t want to let down the people who had sacrificed for the team and put hopes on him. He wanted to prove to himself that he was worth everyone’s expectation.

“Guys,” Wooyoung whispered behind the other players as they took their positions, waiting for the referee to blew on the whistle again.

“Enforce defense line. I’ll be the only offence. Let’s finish this with my 3-point shot.” He said between his panting. Wooyoung looked at Jaebum, the team vice captain, and they nodded to each other.

“Good. Let’s go with that,”

And the whistle was blown.


-

Minsun jumped out of the car before it actually stopped; she almost tripped herself but regained her balance almost as quick and dashed towards the venue. She managed to look at her watch, and wondered if she could still make it. The main entrance was opened wide in front of her, and it was only a few steps away before the main hall. The loud cheering from the audience drove her heart faster, kept her wondering whether that was for Miryung or the opponent?

Right after she dashed past the opened door, her eyes automatically locked on the basketball court. Coincidentally, her eyes landed on Wooyoung, who swiftly evaded the incoming opponent team players, making his way towards the guy from the oppoing team who currently had the ball in his hand. The guy seemed caught off guard as Wooyoung was suddenly right behind him. Smoothly, he snatched the ball away from him and returned to the middle of the court with the help of his teammates, blocking opposing players on his left and right. Completely focused on the loop, Wooyoung seemed calm despite the muliple player going towards him, attempting to make his shot a failure. Fortnately all the members form Miryung team were ready with their defense and blockd those guys away.

Under the most crucial 5 seconds which were left for the match, Wooyoung pushed himself off the ground and attempted his feared specialty, the 3-point shot. The ball made a smooth journey in the shape of an invisible, wide arc towards the loop and went right through it naturally, right when the buzzer was heard, earning Wooyoung a ‘buzzer beat’.

The whistle was blown again, marking the end of the match, and all supporters from Miryung jumped from their seat in celebration, cheering loudly and joyfully on the team’s win over 1 point. They all waved their colorful, supportive placards wildly and threw rolls of toilet paper to the air; a common celebratory gesture among the local students.

All the members on the court rushed to Woyoung and gave the guy a big, tight group hug. After the big hug loosened, they picked Wooyoung up together and threw him on the air, screaming, ‘Jang Team Captain Manseh!” Over and over again that the audience began to chant along with them.

Wooyoung smiled widely at the indescribable joy until his eyes landed on Minsun, standing by the main entrance, smiling widely at him with what seemed like tears gleaming in her eyes. The other guys turned around as well, and cheeered right there at Minsun, showing off their victory.

Minsun nodded happily. “Good job guys,” She said with a cracked voice even when none of them could hear her from the distance between them.

The audience turned their attention to Minsun as well, and the loud cheers gradually died dwn as they began to whisper at each other, asking if that was the infamous Seo Minsun who had played the boys from the basketbal team, the girl who tried to snatch away Jaebum from Gohee, the girl who was chasing a rich guy at Gongmun High.

“Seo Minsun! BOO!” a loud voice shouted amidst the whisperings, which was immediately joined by the others in the audience. Within the next second, it seemed as if everyone in the hall began to humiliate her with mean words in unison. Minsun was taken aback at the sudden reaction from the audience, and so did the basketball members. They looked to their left and right in bewilderment at the sudden change of behaviour of the audience.

“You ! Why did you come back here?!” A feminine voice harshly shouted, followed by a roll of toilet paper thrown towards her, and hit square on Minsun’s head. They all laughed together at her, mocking her at how pahetic she looked, just standing there alone when a toilet paper hit her head. Next, water bottles, snacks, and even placards were thrown at her.  Munhwa who was waiting at the bench previously stood up and quickly ran towards Minsun, trying to block those things from being thrown at her friend, even shouting at the people to stop despite how easily her voice were buried under the harsh condemning of the audience and all the ‘boo’s’. The boys made their way towards them, but Wooyoung was already far ahead of them. He picked his jacket on the bench and then ran towards Minsun.

Without warning, he threw the jacket over Minsun’s head and then pulled her close to him, protectively keeping her still and safe in his arms. Even though he almost felt like passing out from the fatigue after the game just now, he managed to force his loudest voice out.

“WHAT THE YOU GUYS THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”

The commotion died down immediately, but after a short silence, people began to talk about him, complaining about how rude he was to the people who came to support him and his team.

“Guys, let’s get out of here.” He ordered the rest of the members as he walked out with Minsun, still holding tightly of her.

 

-


They managed to get into the changing room safely, the whole team and Munhwa, and of course, Coach Cho was there as well. Everyone was still surprised at the turn of events. They were all wondering how things turned out this way, or what they should do now. They were all watching Minsun with a heavy feeling.

Wooyoung slowly removed the jacket from Minsun’s head, but stopped halfway when Minsun held his wrist, stopping him from proceeding. Since he was standing so closely with her, he heard soft sobbing, or so he thought. He tiletd his head to see the face under the jacket and realized, that Seo Minsun was crying.

He looekd away, unsure of what to do, but shortly after, he turned to Munhwa. Just with hsort exchange of a glance between them, Munhwa got his message and walked closer to him. Munhwa nodded to Wooyoung as she gently took hold of Minsun’s hand. Minsun slowly let go of Wooyoung, but he still stood there, unable to set his eyes off her.

Jaebum understood the situation, so he spoke up for the others.

“Let’s go out for a while, guys.”

The rest of the team members obediently nodded and followed Jaebum as he left the changing room. Until the last person left, including Wooyoung, Munhwa finally removed the jacket, revealing Minsun’s flushed, tainted face, which was now sticky from her tears. Munhwa’s eyes began to wet as well as she carefully removed a piece of salad fromMinsun’s hair, and gently wiped away her tears with a handkerchief. Minsun continued to sob quietly as Munhwa tended to her, until Munhwa pulled her into an embrace, tightly hugging her.

“It’s okay. You can cry as much as you want now. Nobody willl hear it.” Munhwa softly told her, and then Minsun buried her face onto her shoulder, and began to wail out loud.

 

-


4.00 p.m

Wooyoung haven’t checked on Minsun since he left her with Munhwa a couple hours ago, but he couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened. The other boys had all gone home afer they checked on Minsun, but Wooyoung wanted to wait until she was ready to go out herself. While waiting, he began to practice on his own, shooting three point shots one after another.

There must have been at least a hundred of shots until he suddenly paused, which was when he saw the familiar, slim figure watching him from the farthest corner of the court.

Wooyoung looked away to clear his throat for a moment before he looked at Minsun’s solemn expression again. Her eyes were swollen, but it wasn’t red anymore. She was smiling at him, even though she looked tired.

“Are you okay now?” Wooyoung asked.

Minsun nodded, looking a little embarrassed.

“Where’s Munhwa?”

“She’s waiting for me inside. I… I have something to tell you. Well, at least to you…”

Wooyong walked towards her. “What is it?”

Minsun looked down, a little unconfident with herself.

“I’m sorry,” she softly said, Wooyoung barely heard her.

“…Why?”

“Because of me… People began to hate you too, when you guys were supposed to celebrate and…”

“Stop talking nonsense!”

Minsun looked up, surprised at him snapping at her. She was about to think that he must be mad at her but he spoke first to clarify a few things.

“I’m sorry, I mean…” Wooyoung’s tone now softer, “I want you to know, that you did nothing wrong.”

Minsun looked at him confused.

“I understand now. I understand you, even if you said you’re dating Joongki.”

Minsun stared at the ground again “T-thanks.”

“However, that doesn’t I mean I’ve forgiven him. Right now, he’s the guy I despise the most in the world. He’s the reason for everything that happened. He almost destroyed Junsu hyung’s future. He crushed Taecyeon hyung’s dream. And he made you suffer. I want you to know that I’ll never let him go. I’ll definitely find a way to bring him down.”

“But Wooyoung ah, he’s not someone who you sh-”

“I told you didn’t I? I’ll find a way. I definitely will. Until then, please hold on. Seo Minsun, keep your chin high, just like how you usually do.”

Minsun finally smiled a bit. “Thanks, Wooyoung.”


-


Minsun sent Munhwa home first before she headed home herself. She almost fell asleep in the car when she suddenly received an incoming call. She checked the screen of her phone and realized that she had 14 missed calls from Joongki, so she quickly answered this one.

“Hello?” she said tiredly.

“Where were you?” There were ice cold anger lacing his voice.

“I’m sorry, there were some things I... Some things...” Minsun was too tired to think up of an excuse for all the missed calls.

“Save that for later. Come to my place right now.” There were loud noises in the background, laughters and music and the tv. He probably had his friends over for a little party.

Minsun looked at her watch, it was only 4.30 p.m. but she was dying to get home and just rest in her bed. “Joongki, I’m really tired right now. Can I just-”

“I said now. Make it quick.”

And then the phone was disconnected. Minsun leaned her back into the soft leather cushion of the backseat of her car, sighing as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Is everything alright, Miss Seo?” Her driver asked, checking on her from the rearview mirror.

“Yes, I’m fine. I need to see Joongki for a bit. You know his place, right?”

“Yes, Miss Seo.”


-
 

When she exited the elevator at the highest floor of the building, she could already hear the loud noise coming from Joongki’s penthouse. She didn’t even bother to push the doorbell because they won’t hear that anyway. She keyed in the security number Joongki gave her last week, when he had invited her there for a breakfast before their second date.

The loud music pounded painfully into her head, but she braved the chaos anyway and looked for Joongki. There weren’t as much people as the Christmas party he had held there last year, but still people were all over the place, worse yet, couples making out here and there.

Minsun walked to the main living area, which was surrounded by glass walls, overlooking the gorgeous, yet busiest part of the city. Joongki was sitting on the modular sofa with a bunch of loud, obnoxious looking guys in designer clothes with beer bottles in their hands. Minsun just stood there, crossing her arm as she watched Joongki laughing his head back at whatever pointless stuff they were talking about.

Joongki looked to the side, feeling someone’s eyes on him. His grin widened to see Minsun there. He waved her to come closer. Minsun had to cross over a bunch of those wasted guys, careful enough not to step on any their limbs and paused right in front of Joongki. Joongki took her hand and pulled her towards him, making her sit on his lap. Minsun was obviously uncomfortable with this gesture. Especially when she knew that his sanity was reduced from all these beers.

“Guys, meet the most special girl in the world, my girlfriend, Seo Minsun!” Joongki announced.

All the guys whistled and shouted in unison, making the noisy place even noisier; something that Minsun thought was impossible at first. Joongki circled his arm around her waist and held her tighter.

“Joongki, I’m not here for this-”

“She’s the girl who busted that perfume launching event last year!” Joongki added, and ended with a big laugh. The rotten smell from his mouth just added to her headache, aside from another round of annoying cackles from his friends.

Minsun peeled Joongki’s hands away from her and quickly stood up.

“Joongki, I’m getting out of here.”

Her words sent Joongki to his feet, his expression no longer happy and ignorant like before. The limited space between the sofa and all these people caused them to stand closely to each other, so close she could feel his breath on her face.

“Why? You don’t like to be here?” He asked.

Well, obviously, she didn’t, but Joongki didn’t seem to be able to grasp that very fact in his toxicated mind.

“Joongki, I don’t feel too well. I can’t be here right now. Maybe next time, okay?” Minsun tried to take a step back, but tripped on somebody else’s foot and almost fell on one of their laps. Joongki managed to caught her and steady her again.

“Come on, it’s going to be real fun. There will be a couple game later, you’ll love it. I’ll get you a couple of aspirin from the kitchen so just, just stay right here, okay?” Joongki left immediately, not giving a chance for Minsun to excuse herself from this mess, and even left her with this bunch of loud, ignorant monkeys.

Minsun had no choice but to plop herself down on the sofa again with a sigh, when one of them shoved a glass of beer in her hand and a couple of pills in the other.

“Forget about aspirin. These stufs work wonder. It’s the best medicine in the world, it cures everything!” One of them said, and the rest continued with their endless laughter.

Minsun looked at them suspiciously. “You’re not giving me anything weird, are you?”

“Psh... ‘weird’? Nah, I’m trying to help you here. Trust me! You’ll fell better in no time!”

Minsun gave him one judging look before she slowly brought the pills to her lips. The guys were all watching with interest, they even not so subtly high-fived each other from behind.

Shallow idiots.

Minsun threw the pills to the floor and threw the beer to the guy who gave it to her.

“You think I don’t know what that is?!”

The guy was instantly filled with rage, he almost got up and hit her if it wasn’t for the rest of the guys who held him back. At the same time, Joongki who had just returned from the kitchen saw the whole commotion and rushed to group.

“Hey, hey, what’s going on?!” Joongki asked.

“Joongki, look at your b*tch! You should teach her a lesson!”

Joongki looked at Minsun and squinted his eyebrows. “What are you doing? They are my friends!”

“Whatever, I’m getting out of here.” Minsun left as soon as she said that, but Joongki quickly caught up to her. He carelessly grabbed her wrist and spun her around.

“You’re not going anywhere! You’re my girlfriend! You listen to what I say, and you only do what I tell you to!” His voice surprisingly rose up and turned hard, it almost scared her.

“Joongki, let’s... Let’s talk, okay?” Minsun softened her voice. She still remembered what Khun told her, and toned down her pride a notch. She didnt’t want to agitate him, but she didn’t want to be a fool either. Plus, Joongki was not as what he seemed. At the right time and the right place; he wasn’t really a jerk.

“You want to talk? Fine, let’s talk.” Joongki dragged her across the living area to his empty bedroom as the previous group of boys cheered for him. He didn’t let anyone but him to enter the bedroom so they were alone in there. On the other hand, the guys at the modular seatings just now continued with their video gaming and chatting, satisfied to see that Joongki was giving ‘that rude b*tch’ a lesson.

“That’s our man!” They cheered for Joongki, who was already locked up in the bedroom with Minsun, and the rest roared as they gulped down more beer, straight from the bottles.


-


Wooyoung was sitting alone in the bus stop, regretting so many times for letting Minsun go just like that while he waited for his bus. He should have cheered her up like he used to do before, but then, she was Joongki’s girlfriend now. If anyone saw them together, he would be in trouble, but worse, Minsun would be in one too.

“Agh...” Wooyoung messed his hair. Thinking wasn’t something he was good at to start with, overdoing it would just drive him crazy in no time.

But still, as a friend, he should be there for her when she needed him, right?

Wooyoung looked up to see a bright red sports car stopping in front of him. The window rolled down and there was Nichkhun in the driver’s seat.

“Hey, Wooyoung,” Khun greeted. “You’re not home yet?”

“No, I... What are you doing here anyway?”

“I was going to attend your match, but something came up and I couldn’t make it. But hey, you guys won, so congrats!”

Wooyoung had a feeling that he hadn’t heard the most recent news. “Do you know what else happened after we won?”

“Did something... happened?”

“Where are you going next?”

“I’m going to see Minsun for a bit, and then visit Taecyeon.”

Wooyoung got up, walked around the car and got into the passenger’s seat. Khun’s eyes widened as he stared at Wooyoung who was putting on his seatbelt.

“Go ahead. I’ll tell you everything.” Wooyoung pointed to the road.


-

Oppa, I need a little help. Can you come to Joongki’s place now?

Khun would freak out if she ever sends that text. Minsun contemplated for a while, she kept fiddling with her cellphone. Joongki wouldn’t listen to her right now. She needed someone to drag her out of there, but she didn’t want any fight to erupt.

“How much longer are you gonna be in there?” Joongki knocked on the toilet’s door. Minsun managed to excuse herself and be alone for a good 3 minutes, enough for her to have a couple of aspirins and regulated a plan for escape in her head.

Minsun decided not to send the text message.  She could just slip out of there when Joongki was too drunk to notice later on.

Minsun left the toilet with a calm demeanor, as opposed to Joongki who seemed restless and agitated, like he would erupt anytime soon.

“What is it that you need to talk about?” Joongki asked as soon as he saw her. He was sitting on his king-sized bed, in the middle of the enormous bedroom.

“I have to leave. I told you. I’m not feeling well right now.”

“You seem well enough to me. Well enough to throw drinks at my friends.”

“I... I don’t like all these. I don’t like being in the middle of this... this chaos. You don’t even need me here and you know it.” Minsun spoke calmly. She wasn’t sure if this would work, talking some sense into Joongki, because he seemed immune to that.

“You’re my girlfriend. Isn’t it common sense for you to be by my side when I hang out with my buddies? That’s your job!”

“My job? To be your accessory? To be flaunted about? Is that it? What happened to the ‘I’m different than most girls’?”

“So you think you’re special now, huh?” Joongki got up from his bed and stepped closer to her dauntingly. “Just because I mentioned that a couple of times, you got so full of yourself now, huh?”

Minsun had to put up her hand, placed it on Joongki’s chest to stop him from getting closer. “Joongki, you’re not in your right mind right now. Let’s see each other in school tomorrow and see if we could come up with some sort of agreement about this, okay? Just let me be home,” Minsun said softly, her eyes avoiding his.

“If you go home now, what would my friends say? That my girlfriend had me at her feet, that she had put a collar on me, like a cute pet dog?” Joongki laughed in sarcasm.

“Look, if I’m not home by dinner, someone will come by to fetch me. You don’t want people to see your girlfriend got dragged out of here, do you?”

“UGH!” Joongki grunted out loud, tearing himself away from her and kicked his bed. “YOU ARE SO BORING!”

“Joongki,”

“JUST STAY RIGHT HERE! YOU CAN ONLY GO HOME WHEN I SAY SO!” He stormed away from his bedroom, slamming the door close and locked it.


-
 

“This is weird.” Khun said as soon as he got back into the car. He briefly entered Minsun’s house to check on her, but to his surprise, she wasn’t at home. Nobody was home except for the housekeepers and staffs.

“But she told me that she was going home straight,” Wooyoung reasoned.

Khun pulled out his phone and gave her a call, but there was no answer. He tried to locate her with a GPS tracker on his smartphone.

“Wait...” Khun sighed and threw his head back.

“What? What’s wrong. Do you know where she is?”

“She’s most probably with Joongki.”

“Well... are we going there?”

“I don’t think she would want that.” Khun bit his lower lip, contemplating. He knew for sure that Minsun was quite vulnerable after all the things that happened after the basketball tournament, and he doubted  if Joongki would ever make her feel better.

“Let’s just go there.” Wooyoung suggested. It was one of those many moments when he decided on impulse, he wasn’t surprised with himself anymore. He was always the type to do that. He was sure that Minsun didn’t want to be there, and he was going to make sure that she did just that.

“Excuse me?” Khun couldn’t believe his ears. It would take him so much longer to decide things like that, but then, Wooyoung was the one who crashed his mother’s perfume launch with Minsun last time.

“Let’s just go there and see if there’s anything we can do.”

“You’re not suggesting that we stalk her, are you?”

“Well, if you’re not going to, I’ll just go there by myself.”

“No, I’ll come with you.” Khun put the car into gear, ready to accelerate it.


-

It had been over 2 hours since she was locked up in this room. The sky began to get dark but Minsun figured the party wouldn’t end until at least midnight, until at least they all fell unconscious from having too much fun. The room was comfortable. The bed was soft and comfy, the room was clean and everything was in order, the colour scheme was actually easy in the eyes; a combination of deep navy blue fabrics with muted moldy green carpet and pale brick red throw pillows on the bed and sofas all over the place. She could lie down and rest there if she wanted to, but Minsun knew better not to let her guard down.

Minsun softly walked over the built-in study desk, the design sleek and modern, finished with pale coloured veneer. There weren’t much stuffs on it. A couple of white, blank papers in case he needed to jot down on something, a cylinder case of stationaries nearby, and a video camera sitting statically at the corner of the desk.

A thought suddenly crossed her mind.

“Actually, we secretly recorded the meeting between us and Joongki that night. But he knew about it.”

Minsun reached for the video cam and turned it on. The battery life was left not more than a couple of minutes, so Minsun quickly took a look at the last video recorded. To her horror, it was indeed the video that Chansung had recorded the night Taecyeon was beaten badly. There was Joongki’s face in there, clearly smirking and laughing at the cruel act in front of him.

Minsun turned the video off and took out the memory card, firmly kept it in her fist.

“What are you doing?”

Minsun spun abruptly at the sudden interruption, her hand automatically hid behind her back. It was Joongki, standing not very far behind her. His voice just now was cold and intimidating, as if he already knew what she had just saw, but Minsun couldn’t tell for sure. He still reeked of beer, she was hoping that he had consumed more alcohol to the point he couldn’t deduce logically. She just continued staring at him, carefully watching his every movement and his eyes, trying to figure whether he was sober or not.

“I asked you. What are you doing?” He repeated.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

He took step forward, which left a gap of mere inches between them. He chuckled deep in his throat. Minsun took a step back, simultaneously with Joongki stepping closer to her. He reached her hidden arm, and forcefully pulled them to him. Fear started to creep into Minsun. She tightened her fist, to keep the memory card firmly with her, but Joongki easily peeled her fingers off and took the memory card from her.

“Are you thinking that I’m too drunk to know what you’re doing?” He said. His voice, his eyes were lazy, but the grip on her arm tightened that it began to hurt. Minsun winced as the pain gradually turned unbearable.

“Joongki, I...” Her words left hanging in the air. Minsun ran out of excuses. She was caught red-handed, and she was sure Joongki wasn’t the type who controlled his temper well. She had no clue what was about to happen to her, but she knew there was no way out.

Joongki dropped the memory card on the floor, Minsun eyeing it briefly before she looked into Joongki’s eyes again. They were no longer lazy nor dull, but now glazing with anger.

He grabbed both her arms and squeezed them so hard that tears quickly filled Minsun’s eyes from the pain he inflicted on her.

“Joongki, you’re hurting me.” She said softly, pleading with her eyes.

“You sure know when to speak nicely to me. On a second thought, you’re not that much different from other girls. You’re just staying with me for your own good. For your own hidden agenda.”

Minsun shook her head. Suddenly her phone rang again. It must be Nichkhun again. She had ignored his calls before, because she knew he would definitely come here if he knew of her whereabout. Now, she prayed so hard she could answer that call.

“Joongki, I... I got a call...” Minsun said timidly.

Joongki was so annoyed at the persistent caller and thus pulled her phone out from her pocket and threw it behind him.

“Joongki, calm down, please,”

“You know what? I’m gonna teach you a lesson. You’re gonna regret this.”

Joongki dragged her slim body towards the bed, and threw her on it before he climbed onto her.