Later on that afternoon, Heechul walked me home. “Listen Dara, stay calm and listen to what she has to say, okay?”

            “Okay, I will.” Nervous, I went inside my house and looked for Nana. Was I really the cause of their breakup? If I was, did they hate me already?

            I went towards Nana’s room. I knocked and heard sobbing coming from the inside of her room. I couldn’t help it, so I barged in.

            “Nana! Are you okay?” I gave her a worried look.

            Nana gave me a guilty look and started sobbing more once she saw me.

            I hugged her and tried to calm her down.

            “What happened Nana, please tell me…” I tried to give her more comfort. “I heard what happened. I hope you didn’t break up with Jiyong because of me. I’m so sorry I’ve been ignoring you. I didn’t mean it! Please… just go back with Jiyong. He doesn’t deserve this heartbreak because of a selfish girl like me.” I confessed and bowed my head. It was time for me to grow up and move on. I never wanted to get in the way of their happiness, but the anger and hurt got the best of me.

            After my confession, Nana started crying even more. “I’m sorry, I don’t deserve you or Jiyong!” Nana cried out.

            “Nana, it’s not your fault!” I tried reasoning with her.

            “You’re too nice, Dara!” She shook her head. “You’ve always protected me and helped me out. I’m such a coward Dara! I should have told mom and dad about you saving me from the bullies. You’ve done too much for me, Dara. Now you’re apologizing when I should be the one. Because of me, your relationship with your dad isn’t that great anymore.” Nana sulked.

            “Nana, just tell me what happened.” I said gently.

            “You’re going to hate me.” She said in a scared voice.

            “I promise, I won’t.”

            She gave a hesitant look and continued to speak. “I cheated on Jiyong.”

            Shocked, I let her go and fell to the floor as my knees became weak.

            “I cheated on Jiyong. I broke up with him and said I couldn’t handle it anymore and he probably thought it was because of you. He always worried about you, so he probably thought that I couldn’t handle not talking to you anymore.” Nana continued to confess. “Dara… I-I may or may not be pregnant…”

            That last confession made my head hurt. There was a silent pause between us.

            “Who did you cheat on Jiyong with?” I asked in a stern voice.

            Nana couldn’t look at me in the eyes.

            “Heechul.”

            “W-what?” I gave her an incredulous look.

            Nana started crying again. “Dara, I can’t tell Jiyong. Or Heechul. I’m scared. I don’t even know if im pregnant or not. I’m so scared.” She continued to bawl.

            I sat in her room and didn’t reply. The shock was just too overwhelming.

            “So Jiyong thinks that I’m the reason for you breaking up with him, right?” I asked.

            “I think so.” Nana looked at me guiltily and replied in a soft voice. “Are you going to tell him the truth?” Nana looked worried.

            I thought about telling Jiyong. Maybe he would move on to me. But I didn’t feel happy at that thought. Jiyong would be hurt, and so would Nana. She needed to tell him when she was ready.

            “No. You need to tell him… when you’re ready to.” I sighed. I guess I’ll give up Jiyong one more time.

            “B-but Dara, I’m not sure that I’m ready to tell him yet. He’ll think it’s your fault if you don’t tell him” Nana gave me a worried look. “I’m sorry, Dara. But I’m so scared. I have to be selfish for now. I can’t face him yet.” Nana put her head down.

            I sighed. Jiyong would really think it was my fault. I decided that I was going to deal with that because I’d rather see Jiyong angry at me instead of Nana being hurt.

            “Nana, you’re going to have to tell him the truth one day.” Nana looked up at me. “But for now, I won’t say anything. He can hate me if he wants.”

            Nana looked shocked and she ran to me and gave me a hug. “Thank you, Dara. I’m sorry for being so selfish!” she cried on my shoulder.

            I sighed.

            I guess I would have to play the role as the “evil step-sister” for now.

            At school, people stopped calling me “queen bee” and started calling me an “evil step-sister” instead. For Nana’s sake, I paid no attention to them. I later on confronted Heechul regarding Nana.

            “You slept with Nana?” I pulled Heechul to a corner and whispered.

            He rubbed the back of his neck. “Damn it, Dara. It was more than that. I’m in love with her.” He replied.

            “She was Jiyong’s!” I pushed him in anger for Jiyong.

            “I know!” He gave me a guilty look. “But I couldn’t stop my feelings!”

            I sighed. Why did everyone love Nana? It just made things worse.

            Heechul quietly asked, “Does Jiyong know?”

            “No. Let’s keep it that way.” I said in an angry voice.

            “But Dara, he’s going to think it’s because of you.” Heechul sounded worried.

            “Yeah, I’m going to let him believe I’m the evil step-sister that ruined his first love.” I said in a sad voice.

            “That’s not right, Dara.”

            “Nana’s not ready to talk to him yet. I’m doing this for her.” Heechul didn’t know that Nana could be pregnant. I didn’t want to tell him either. “You really love Nana, right?”

            “Yes.” Heechul replied in a firm voice.

            Sighing, I said, “Then let her be the one to talk to Jiyong about everything first.” I started to walk away from Heechul. I was too tired from all of this drama.

            “Dara.” Heechul called for me and so I stopped walking and looked back at him.

            “You’re too nice, you know? You’re nothing like the evil step-sisters in the story. You’re Cinderella.”

            I turned around, sighed, and waved goodbye.

            I couldn’t face him. I was on the verge of crying.

            No one ever told me what I wanted to hear for so long. I wanted to be Cinderella. But I knew I would never get the chance to be Cinderella in Jiyong’s world.

            That was the cruel reality.

            As I walked away from Heechul, I kept walking with my head down. Everything just felt so ty.

            I kept walking and didn’t realize someone was in front of me until I bumped into someone.

            “Ow.” I rubbed my head since it bumped into someone’s chest. “Sorry about that.” I looked up to apologize to the person, but I stopped talking when I realized who it was.

            I had bumped into Jiyong. I wasn’t ready to talk to him either, so I tried walking away from him, but he quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me back in front of him.

            I finally had the chance to look at his face.

            He looked tired and worn out. He had dark circles under his eyes, which revealed that he didn’t get enough sleep. He looked thinner as well.

            “Jiyong, are you okay?” I put my hand over his cheek. “You need to get some rest.” I said in a worried voice.

            He moved his face away and my hand fell back to my side. “No, I’m not okay. Dara, I need you to talk to Nana.” Jiyong said in a desperate voice.

            I stayed quiet.

            “Please tell her that you’ll allow her to date me. Please.” Jiyong pleaded.

            “J-Jiyong.” I couldn’t look at him.

            “Dara, please. I know you have feelings for me, but I’m so sorry that I can’t reciprocate those feelings. I really don’t want to hurt you, but my heart belongs to Nana right now.” He spoke in an unsure voice. Jiyong grabbed onto my shoulders. “Dara, I’m sorry.”

            I looked up at him. I needed to know some answers.

            “Jiyong, you were my first kiss.” I don’t know why I chose to say that, but those words just fell out of my mouth. We were finally discussing the kiss after 2 years.

            “Dara, you were mine too.” Jiyong confessed. I looked at him in the eyes.

            We stared at each other for a while.

            “You hurt me when you acted as if nothing happened, Jiyong.” I confessed.

            Jiyong sighed and replied, “I know. I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to do at that point. I felt bad because I was the one who initiated the kiss.” I stood there confused. He didn’t initiate it, I did! But why is he saying that he did? “I wanted to kiss you, Dara. I felt the need to kiss you but I honestly felt guilty after. I knew I liked Nana at the time, but I was so confused. I was a jerk, but I needed to settle my feelings.” Jiyong admitted.

            I turned away from him, trying to take in everything he was saying.

            “But you still liked Nana more. Is that why you pursued her after?” I asked.

            “Dara, I liked Nana for so long, I automatically knew I had to continue liking her.”

            I was confused. He basically confessed that he may have had feelings for me but stopped pursuing them because Nana was the obvi