Jongin spent the whole weekend with her, taking advantage of the bags of chips and sweets that were packed inside the box he came with the night before. Movie marathons with both of them sprawled on the couch, wrestling matches on the rug, live cooking shows in the kitchen, and stand-up comedy shows in her living room.

They were running around the apartment, playing catch when the doorbell made them both stop. Sarang looked at Jongin with both eyebrows raised and a pout, curious of who might be behind the door. The boy beside her mirrored her expression before walking towards the door.

He was usually the type of person to open the door instead of checking who it was first, and when he took a good look at the couple in front of him, Jongin immediately pushed Sarang behind him, and was about to shut the door closed in front of them.

That until, Chanyeol placed his hand on the door, stopping it from closing, while Areum looked like crying any moment now. “Please?” She whined, making Sarang widen her eyes in realization. She couldn’t see who was at her door, because Jongin’s back was all she saw, but her heart already broke to small pieces.

“No, let go.”

“C-can we see her?”

“I said leave…” Jongin’s tone was burning with rage and impatience, waiting for them to vanish, but still kept it low, in hopes of not creating a scene with Sarang’s neighbors.

“Kai let her talk with her sister.” Oh, that voice, that deep, low voice she once loved so much hearing. That voice that told her good night before sleeping, whispered sweet nothings, and told her “I love you” and “I promise” all the time. It was his voice she learned to despise so much, the voice of the man that hurt her beyond repair.

“Just leave…” Came her silent reply, and Jongin felt a shiver running down his spine hearing her so vulnerable and hurt. She just got back on her feet, and now he saw her shattering back to pieces. All because of those two people.

“Sarang-ah, unnie is here…”

“Unnie…?” She scoffed, how she dared call herself the bigger sister when all she did for this family was to bring trouble. Wherever she was, all the time, bad things happened.

She was driving the day dad died, and she was too preoccupied to talk on the phone rather than checking the crossroad for any cars, she was the one that decided to spend the day with Chanyeol instead of coming to the funerals. Areum was the one that yelled at her mother and told her to snap out of it, so what right did she had to call herself the oldest daughter of this family?

“Yes, Sarang-ah, can we,” Areum tried to bend a little to see the girl behind Jongin, but he just blocked her view again receiving a disgusted look from her. “Can we talk?” She just changed back to her cheery self after acting like a just seconds ago, and the man already had enough.

“Just get lost, be happy if she even attends that damn wedding.” He tried once again to close the door, but this time Chanyeol huffed and invited himself in, pushing past Jongin and Sarang.

“Can you stop acting childish? If it is because of me, you don’t want to talk to Areum, then fine I’ll leave. But just take a minute of your boring life and do something good for once.” Her eyes widened in shock by the way he talked to her, and Jongin felt the blood boiling inside of him.

Truth be told, she didn’t have a problem with him, she managed to move on, but she never forgave Areum, how did they expect her too? But this time she felt like he just talked like that out of spite, and it hurt her.

He never used that kind of vocabulary on her, and she felt tears b her eyes. Sarang raised her hand to place it on Jongin’s shoulder to assure him she was okay before moving from behind him.

“Speak.”

“Well thanks.” The giant said with a scoff, already annoyed with this drama. If it wasn’t for Areum he wouldn’t be here, but she begged him to visit her sister. She wanted the kid to be her bridesmaid, to carry her bouquet and what not.

But seeing her take the lead like that and coming from behind Kai made his eyes widen. She was not a kid anymore, she was a grown-up woman with more stability than he thought. After she left, he tried to talk to her again, but after she finished college she was nowhere, and he just gave up.

Now, after all this years, to see her in front of him, made something turn inside him. She was more beautiful than he remembered. Her short wavy auburn locks now replaced by jet-black strands of straight hair that fell down her lower back.

The chubby cheeks he loved to peck and pinch, were now gone. Instead, she looked thinner; she looked healthy and lady-like. She didn’t look like the college girl she once was, damn, he even thought she looked better than Areum.

“Sarang-ah…” Areum jumped in front of her, trying to hug the girl, but she politely refused, taking a step back and placing a hand in front of her.

“Just, stay there. Please.” Areum frantically nodded and started to ask her about where she went and what she is doing. But all Sarang could do was respond to her bluntly yet politely, never giving more than she should and only answering with yes or no, or something in between.

“I-I missed you…”

“I doubt that.”

“I truly did!” The girl said, grabbing the other’s hands and rubbing circles on the back of her palm. Sarang eyes widened and she snatched her hand back before taking one more step back. It was really agonizing for Jongin to watch it from the side line, but he knew Sarang wanted to deal with it on her own.

“What’s the purpose of this?”

“Of what?”

“Of coming here…” The girl had enough, she moved on with her life, she decided to attend the wedding, what is there left to do? She just wanted to get done with the both, maybe disappear from everyone’s life once and for all and hide somewhere where no one could find her.

“I want you to be my bridesmaid…”

“No, can’t do.”

“Why?!” Oh, so the snake finally broke free. Areum’s face showed her real feelings, the frustration, the anger, and it didn’t make Sarang flinch even one inch. “I came here, in hopes of turning back to how we were, but you just remained the same ignorant brat you always were!”

“That’s enough!” Jongin’s voice echoed in the apartment, and immediately the older girl realized what she said. Her shocked expression proved them she was not supposed to say all of that, and she rubbed her temples in distress.

“What I’m trying to say it’s, let’s do it for dad…”

“Oh, so you’re the one that shoved the dad thing down mom’s throat.” Sarang nodded understanding the situation, her arms crossed over her chest. She decided to simply ignore Chanyeol’s presence, even after the male placed both his hands on her sister’s shoulders. “Areum, what we had, was all fake. You finally let you true colors surface, and I am very grateful for that. Now please, leave. I assure you I’ll be there on your wedding day, but just as a guest, and just for dad.”

“You’re impossible.” Areum scoffed, running a hand through her hair. “Here I am, humiliating myself in front of my younger sister, while you just push me further away.”

“I think this conversation is over.”

“Listen to her for once god dammit!”

“And I think you have no saying in this, now I ask you politely to leave my apartment before I call the security.” She had to show them she kept her ground, and not just melt into a poodle in front of them. At least while they are here. 

Yeol whispered in her ear something, before nodding towards both Jongin in and Sarang, before exiting the apartment quietly. The girl placed her hand on her forehead, taking a deep breath before groaning in frustration.

“Hey, hey…” Jongin was beside her in a matter of seconds, taking her in his arms and caressing her head while shushing her. “It’s alright, you did good. I’m proud of you…”

“I feel horrible…I hate them!” Sarang said between sobs. What started like a good day turned upside down only by the simple visit of those two. Jongin bitterly smiled before grabbing his phone and calling the only number he knew would truly calm her down.

“Hello?”

“Can you drop by Sarang’s?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a few.” And just like that, he hung up, knowing there was a person that she trusted just as much as she trusted Hyerim and himself.

It didn’t actually take long, and he barely helped her sit on the couch when there was a knock at the door. Only the ones close to her knocked on the door, the doorbell was for uninvited guest, and Hyerim would simply barge in.

“It’s open!” The man shouted, and Sarang eyed him curiously, before she heard his voice. Her eyes widened in shock and the girl shook her head vehemently, not understanding why Jongin called him!

“Sarang-ah…” She melted, the tears she held back for so much, were now streaming down her face, and she refused to look at him. The girl buried her face deeper into her friend’s chest, afraid of him seeing her like that. “Baby, what’s wrong…look at me…”

The man placed both his hands on the sides of her head, and gently just like a breeze he turned her to face him. The sad eyes and the pained look on his face, told her he was not pleased of seeing her like that.

“Yeol and Areum came by…” His gaze turned from gentle to furious in a matter of seconds, and he slowly turned his head to eye Jongin with furrowed brows.

“What?”

“Yeah…I think she should stay with one of us for a while…Areum didn’t seem to back down so easily.”

“What the does she wants?!”

“Didn’t you receive the invitation?” The other man just shook his head, his brows furrowing some more. He didn’t understand what his pal was talking about, and it was bugging him they were back to mess with Sarang’s life.

“She’ll stay at my place. No questions asked.” When Sarang wanted to protest he placed his finger on her lips, without breaking eye contact with Jongin.

“I’ll let Hyerim know…” He nodded and turned to look at the small girl that still had her arms around his waist, but her face between the other’s hands. “I guess I’ll go buy some take-outs and I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah…sure.”

“Is there something you’d like?”

“The usual…” Sarang managed to mutter, her eyes still stuck on the beautiful man beside her. He was usually all smiles, he would usually just joke around and ask her to come by his place to play video games, but this time he looked so upset and tired it made her feel guilty.

“Minseok oppa…it’s really okay…I can stay here…” She tried to reason with him after Jongin left. He finally looked into her eyes and caressed her cheek before his eyes turned back to that gentleness he could only show her.

“No… they will come back…”

“I can…”

“Sarang-ah…I said no…”

And what Minseok said, it goes. Because if her heart would ever beat for a man again, it would be for him. And vice-versa. But they decided not to ruin years of friendship, afraid of things going bad, but they loved each other dearly.

Not even Jongin’s love for her could compete against his. They met a few years back, while she was in her senior year. At the time, Minseok was working for his parent’s café in order to gain experience. She was this silent girl that would always sit near the window, and would always ask for a caramel macchiato, with some marshmallows.

After a few weeks of seeing her, the man did his best to keep her table unoccupied. Every day, at 2 p.m. she would come there, with a stack of books and music in her earphones, but he never saw her smile.

So, he tried her best to do just that, and that’s how he started to talk to her, to get to know Sarang for what she was. And they started hanging out together, and by the time she visited the café, the cup of caramel macchiato would already be placed on the table, with Minseok waiting patiently on the other seat.

They would talk for hours, and he sometimes got scolded for chatting instead of doing his job, but after a while his parents accepted Sarang as their own. The girl would help around the shop in the weekends, and after she finished her courses she would be just there helping some more.

She grew on them, and she was already part of the family, and when it was time for Sarang to go back home, Minseok was the one that drove her and spent the week with her mother. She was a nice lady, going through a tough time, but she was still positive and cheerful.

She was the older version of Sarang, and if you saw them on the street you would rather say they were sisters. Since then, Minseok was the one that found her an apartment in Seoul and ran away together from the stressful life in Busan with her.

They both found jobs close to each other, Sarang being a graphic designer for a gaming company, while Minseok was a bartender in the club just around the corner.

After her shifts she would always visit him, even if it took only five minutes if she was in a rush, or they spent the whole night together, seeing Minseok preparing several colorful drinks and serving clients. Sarang sometimes listened with him to the stories of drunk people, and when the dawn would break, and the club was emptied completely, they would dance after closing.

Just the both of them, enjoying each other company, soft music in the background, and that when they confessed to each other. However, they both were aware of the consequences. And Hyerim and Jongin knew too they liked each other, it was just that they didn’t want to ruin what they had.

For others, Minseok and Sarang were a couple for years now, and they never bothered to correct them or explain what they actually were.

On cold winter nights, he would always take her hand and place it in his pocket with a small smile playing on his lips, and Sarang would always return a brighter, bigger smile, showing him just how beautiful she could be.

That’s why Sarang never wanted to show him her ugly side, she was afraid he would leave her. It was childish and stupid to think like that, but she just did, Sarang held him near her heart, and if someday in the future they both decide their feelings couldn’t be bottled anymore she was ready to give him her whole heart.

“Let’s pack some clothes…okay?” Sarang simply nodded, and when he reached for her hand she shyly took it before following the man to her bedroom, where they started packing. “I guess I never received an invitation since they don’t know about me?”

Sarang shook her head, she herself unaware of the motive behind not inviting him. She was sure Chanyeol knew about him, because they played ball a few times before, Minseok being a good friend of Hyerim’s, and Jongin and Chanyeol were best buddies before.

So, the question was why ignore Minseok? “Maybe they expected me to come with you?” He answered her unasked question, and she shrugged, not feeling like she could mutter any word.

Minseok sighed and placed a finger under her chin, making her face him, and he saw so much pain inside those dark orbs it made him furrow his brows.

“I’m here, love…”

“I know…”

“I will always be here…” Sarang threw her hands around him, making them both fall on the floor, and her sobs and sniffles were the only things audible in the whole apartment. Closing his eyes, the man simply caressed her hair and let her rest her head on his chest, trying in the same time to calm her down.

“They’re not worth your tears Sarang…don’t do this to yourself…”

“I just…I feel so wrong! Why is it always my fault?!”

“It’s not…”

“I…I hate them!”

“You should…” That was the last phrase heard from any of them, and after that it was silence. Sarang tried to calm herself taking deep breaths, while Minseok just stood there, a hand under his head, eyes fixed on her. “You beautiful, beautiful girl…”