Shin Hye stared at herself in the mirror.

The face was so familiar, and yet it didn’t look anything like her.

“Stop frowning!” scolded Hibari.  She was sitting on Shin Hye’s bed with one hand holding up a purse-sized Hello Kitty mirror, while the other applied mascara to her lashes.  “You’ll get wrinkles, and I don’t want my date to look older than she really is.”

Shin Hye checked her reflection for a while longer, and then moved out of her seat to find her shoes.

It was the night of the pyjama party, but instead of wearing her comfy jammy jams, she had ended up wearing her white nightdress.  Hibari had asked her to wear it so that they would be matching; Hibari also had a nightdress in blue.  They had swapped the ribbons tied at their waists and their hair was done in the same way so that it looked like they belonged to each other.  Like a team, or like siblings.

Shin Hye eased her feet into her snow white high heels and walked over to Hibari.  “Ready?”

“Yes.”  Hibari put away her makeup, scrambled off the bed and linked her arm with Shin Hye’s.  “Smile!”

Her camera phone flashed out of nowhere.

“We are going to be the best couple there,” announced Hibari, admiring the shot on her mobile.

Shin Hye blinked.  She didn’t understand why Hibari had asked her to be her date when there were so many boys to ask, but she guessed that maybe Hibari was trying to bond with her ‘best friend’.

It was nice of her.

They descended the stairs to the mess hall and glanced around at the few students there who were waiting for their dates.  The other girls were either already on their way to the party, or in their rooms getting ready for it.

“I already have my date,” Hibari announced to no one in particular.  She tightened her hold on Shin Hye and smiled, as if she expected the waiting few to be jealous.  Shin Hye hid a laugh.

They went out into the night air, and followed the trail of students to Seoul High grounds.  The walked was marked by white lanterns hung up in trees.  Boys occasionally appeared along the path with flowers for them.  Hibari and Shin Hye decorated each other’s hair with them.

The teachers were already at the venue, smiling at the students and complimenting them on their outfits.  Shin Hye saw Teacher Jung helping a younger girl fix a broken strap on her shoe.

He glanced her way, and she quickly pretended to be looking at Hibari.  It was shameful enough that he knew her feelings.  She didn’t need to go staring at him as well.

Shin Hye didn’t know what to make of what he’d said to her on the fire stairs.  It was obvious that he liked her, but not in the way she hoped he would.

In a way it was similar to her and Seung Gi.  One wanted something more from the other, making them both miserable.

She would not be like Seung Gi.  She would make an effort to pull away.

Hibari led her inside, oblivious to the looks between Shin Hye and Teacher Jung, and they were instantly surrounded by a multitude of colours, balloons, lanterns and fairy lights.  Students were dancing up and down the floor in different styles of pyjamas.  Some, like Min Hyuk, had chosen comfortable jammy jams with fluffy slippers.  Others, like Komari, had gone for pretty clothes that looked more like party clothes than sleepwear.

“Dance with me, Shin Hye,” ordered Hibari, stepping into the maze of colour.

“Dance.”  Shin Hye put on a brave face.  “Yes.  Let’s dance.”

“Shin Hye.”

She stopped drinking her party punch long enough to nod at Seung Gi.  As usual, he was dressed immaculately.

“I knew you wore a suit in your sleep,” she teased.

“You’re wrong,” he handed her another cup of punch and took the empty one from her.  “My pyjamas were just too nice to wear to something like this.  However...”  He pointed down to his feet.

A choke of laughter escaped her.  He was wearing bird’s feet slippers.

“And that’s the first real smile I’ve seen on you all night,” he commented.

She shrugged.  “Stalker.”

“But I’m a nice stalker.  Want to dance?”

Her head shook instantly.  “No thanks.  I think I see Hibari waving me over.”

“Shin Hye.”

She paused.  He sounded exactly like Teacher Jung when he said her name like that.

“Did something happen between you and Ssaem?”

The blood drained from her face.  “No.  Why?”

“Because,” he pointed to his left.  “You’re going the wrong way.  Hibari is over there.”

She scanned the room and saw that he was right.  Hibari was talking with Min Hyuk behind his new disc jockey equipment.  Min Hyuk looked nervous.

Seung Gi cleared his throat.  “Then...are you avoiding me, Beautiful?”

“I....”  She searched for an answer that would get him to leave her alone, and found none.

His mouth formed a thin stern line across his face.  “Let me take your wrist.”  He held out his hand.

“Why?”

“In case he’s watching.  We should talk, and I don’t think you want him interrupting.”

Her hands went behind her back.  “I don’t feel like it right now.  It’s a dance.  I’m trying to have fun.”

Seung Gi’s brown eyes watched her.  “Why don’t you like me?  You can talk to me, you know.”

She took a step back.  “You are the last person I would tell anything to.”

His bottom jaw flexed.  “Just...let me take your wrist.  I can prove you wrong.”

“No!”

“Shin Hye!”

“Don’t say my name like that!” she shouted.  “And don’t even try threatening me with Min Hyuk again.  I’m not in the mood right now.”

His eyes flickered around the room, looking for a sign that he was watching.  Shin Hye knew that it was too much to hope for.

Seung Gi grabbed her wrist.

“It’s time I told you everything,” he said in a low tone, putting a stop to her resistance.

Students barely paid them any attention as he dragged her through to a side door and pulled her outside.  It seemed that it must have become the norm for Shin Hye and Seung Gi to be fighting.  Once they reached the light of a lantern hanging from a tree, he pulled her around to face him.  In anger, she ripped her hand away, making them both grimace in pain.

“Why don’t you like me?  I wasn’t going to hurt you,” he accused.

She widened her stance, preparing for a fight.  “I didn’t want to talk to you, but you made me come out here anyway.  Who could like a person like that?”

“I’m just worried about you.”

“You said that you could handle it.”

“I am handling it.  I’ve been kind to you, haven’t I?  What more do you want from me?”

“I want you to trust me.”

Shin Hye pointed to the dance hall.  “I stopped fighting you in there because you said that you were going to tell me everything.  So, tell me.  Give me a reason to trust you.”

He looked sad.  “I wonder if this is what people call ‘failing’.”

She felt terrible, but she couldn’t understand his way of thinking.  “Failing?  Failed what?  My liking you or trusting you isn’t some sort of a test.”

He stared at her.  Something in his eyes had changed.  “I’ve failed at something, but I still can’t give up.”

She took a step back.  “What are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry, Shin Hye.”

He took one step closer to her.

She took another step back.

“I’m sorry to have to do it this way.”

“W-what way?”

“This might come as a shock to you.”

He hurried towards her with solid purpose.  Shin Hye heard herself gasp.  She turned to run, but her ankle got caught on a tree root.  A breathless scream escaped her and then he was on her.  He grabbed her arm and she tried to shake him off.

A piece of paper was pressed into her hand.

Shin Hye waited for him to do something more, but nothing more came.  He let go of her hand, and she pulled it back to her chest.  “What...”

Seung Gi took an awkward step back and nodded at the paper.  “Read it.”

The paper unfolded easily.  It was neatly divided into three like a business letter.

“A legal consent form?” she asked, reading the reference on the letter.

He nodded and leaned one arm on the tree holding up the lantern.  His eyes remained trained on the letter, waiting for her to read it as if his life depended on it.

Shin Hye read the typewritten words.  She saw the name of the person it was about.  The place it was from.  Her eyes noted the line for her signature down at the bottom, and she felt herself getting dizzy.

She closed her eyes to stop the world from swirling.  Visions of her own reflection crept under her lids.

“Visitation rights,” she murmured.

“Yes.”  His voice made her open her eyes again.  The world was still floating around her like an aquarium.

“You want to visit her.”  Shin Hye remembered staring in the mirror that very evening.  That reflection was the only picture of her that she had dared to bring to St Blossoms.  “You want to visit my sister.”

Seung Gi nodded.

“You...”  She swallowed.  “How do you know about my twin?”