Two Years Ago   Sometimes I wonder what we were. Friends? More than friends? A hero and the damsel in distress? I’d like to delude myself in the idea that he liked me as much as I liked him. Perhaps we harbored the same feelings but were too shy to admit it. But I didn’t know how to find out. As boldly as I had stood against my tormentors, with Myungsoo, I was a shy and reserved girl.   I remembered my conversations with Joy and Yeri, before they started dating their current good-for-nothing boyfriends. Men were stupid. Women were complicated. We speak two different languages and pretend to understand one another. In conclusion, I had to speak his language. Make him understand he was in love with me.   Men don’t realize what they had until it’s gone, I remembered them quoting it from a cheesy teen magazine. At that time I thought it was stupid, but now, it made sense. In order to make Myungsoo realize his feelings for me, I had to disappear.   The guy had the most impressive timing to appear where I wanted him to be. Whether I was getting bullied, when I waited for him after baseball practice, he’d always be there. He knew where to find me and got used to my presence as part of the status quo. So I changed that.   I deliberately switched my schedule, trying my best to avoid him. I never waited for him after practice either, just so he could feel the gap through my absence. He would realize now, wouldn’t he?   “Hey,” he told me one time when we met in the hallway. He looked relieved, and his eyes lit up at my presence. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”   He noticed. It made me smile.   “I’ve been busy,” I said. Busy making you realize you might have feelings for me.   “Ah, homework?” He asked. “Want me to help?”   As much as I loved to say yes, I had to stay true to my plans. “I’m good, thanks.”   The coldness of my reply must’ve surprised him. It was unlike the usual Soojung who would react enthusiastically to his words.   “Alright,” he said, nodding at me. “Good luck.”   With that he left, and my heart started to feel giddy. I could feel this plan working. He would wonder why I acted cold to him. My reluctance to accept his help will bother him. It won’t be long until he realized.   But days went by, and he never appeared. He left me just like that, ignoring me the same way I had neglected him. My heart shattered every time I looked at the classroom door, realizing he wouldn't come through. He didn’t even try. He let me be.   That was when I realized the main flaw with this theory. It would only work on those who harbored feelings for each other.   It was just me, then.   ***   Present   I never thought they’d have prom night in South Korea. We weren’t even the graduating class, but everyone was allowed to attend. It had always been my dream to attend with my ideal guy. I successfully came as Myungsoo’s date, eventhough he continually emphasized on our status as friends. I was fine with it.   The prom night had no specific theme, which I was also content with. We got to wear our most beautiful dress and tuxedos for one night, just to appeal to everyone else and mark our social status among fellow students. My body-pressed red dress was rather simple and made no prominent fashion statement. Then again, it wasn’t the dress that made me look good, I made the dress look fabulous.   It surprised me how civil I was behaving; no evil plans, no wicked intention, just wanting to enjoy this night with Myungsoo. It could’ve stemmed off the fact I hadn’t sighted Suzy yet, and a part of me wished my lie could bloom into reality. Maybe Suzy made a last minute decision to stay at home.   But that hope was diminished as soon as I heard the crowd whispering to one another, like a bunch of demons adding more lies to see how severely they could enhance the rumor. Our main character had arrived.   Suzy looked stunning, one of the many reasons why I hated her. Her visuals were actually on par with me had she taken better care of her skin, and fed proper nutrition to her hair. Despite it, she glowed as the spotlight illuminated her porcelain skin and mermaid style black dress. She had her hand around Jongin’s arm who carefully led her to the center of the auditorium.   I felt Myungsoo rest his hand on my shoulder, tightening his fingers to the point he almost pinched me. “I thought you said she wanted to stay at home.”   “I thought so too!” I exclaimed as if I had been wronged. My mouth formed a perfect circle, expressing my scandalized look. Then I snapped my fingers and turned to Myungsoo to plant more toxic thoughts in his mind. “What if she thought you wouldn’t be here and ended up coming for that reason?”   Myungsoo’s expression darkened. “Because she wanted to come with Jongin?” He murmured, picking up a glass of grape juice and gulped it down in one shot.   “So it’s true then? I didn’t want to believe in those photos at first, but this is making it harder for me to believe otherwise,” I said, arching my lips to my friend who experienced his first heartbreak. “Maybe she was playing you.”   “She isn’t that kind of girl.”   “Really?” I raised my eyebrow, intrigued by his statement. Funny he kept pushing his own belief about her image when he seemed to know so little about her. “How well do you know her, Myungsoo?”   The way I delivered my doubt seemed to have affected him, his confidence met by sudden hesitation. He was considering my words. He was weighing my idea. Perhaps he didn’t really know her after all.   “For all you know, she could be dating Jongin already,” I said out loud, catching the attention of nearby students.   They looked at me with such disgust—none were aimed at me though, their frustration were directed to Bae Suzy, the girl who stole the most popular guy from the most popular girl and decided to two time him with his best friend. It was becoming a great piece of fiction with zero flaw.   “What a ,” I heard one of them say.   “Did you hear she sleeps with them?”   “She may look innocent, but she sells her body at night.”   “No wonder the guys fall for her tricks, she offered them .”   Their words triggered my anger, and I shot a cold glare at those nobodies to stop them. I couldn’t care less about their rumors about Suzy, but I did not like them degrading Myungsoo this way. He was not the kind of guy who would fall for someone because of ion. What is it with people and their ion rumors anyway? Can’t they think of something more original?   “Don’t spread false rumors,” Myungsoo told the g