~

I let out a deep sigh as I brought a can of beer to my lips. My mouth lingered on the top for a while when I caught sight of So-Hee at the other end of the hall with her hands folded, clearly not enjoying the night either. I quickly dropped the can to my side, losing the little desire I had to drink after seeing her.

We were currently at the ‘Welcome to Winter’ History party Bo-Ra was a frontier of. Why I even agreed to coming is beyond me, I wanted to support her, but I was far from being in the mood to even party in the first place. Despite not liking having seen So-Hee just now, I didn’t move my eyes away from her and soon her eyes found mine in the dark room. I was sure of it, because the corner of her lips turned downwards, and she pushed herself away from the wall she was leaning back on, glugging down whatever was in her red cup and strutting towards the dancefloor.

I took a deep breath, dropping the beer on the table next to me as the thoughts of the afternoon resurfaced.

Earlier that day – Lunch time, H University Recital Room.  

We were all gathered in the music department's recital room. By everyone I meant Ji-Soo, Myung-Soo, Seung-Ho and me of course. Bo-Ra was busy the whole day with preparation for the party and So-Hee was elsewhere, the others didn’t seem to know either when I asked.

I was teasing Ji-Soo for not wearing socks that were odd today and the others were enjoying it too, but that was short-lived the minute I heard the door to the room slam open.

“Yah Kim So-Hyun!”

I jumped at the sound of my name being called and there was no other source of that voice but So-Hee’s. I turned around to greet her like I usually would, but as soon as I saw her face I pressed my lips together. Dread instantly took over me. She didn’t call me like that unless something had really gone wrong and I couldn’t help but feel that the ‘wrong’ had something to do with me.

“You did it didn’t you?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing was coming out due to being taken aback. “I…”

“You’re so low. You didn’t want me to get the internship so bad that you stole my letter of recommendation?”

Wait, what?

“I did what?”

“You’re going to deny it? You’re evil aren’t you.”

“Woah, So-Hee-yah, calm down let’s talk-” I tried, but she was quick to cut me off.

“Stop with the act!” She seethed. My eyes slanted in confusion and I tilted my head so that I could get a better look of the others, but they weren’t saying anything. They were probably as shocked as I was.

“Now listen to me… I didn’t take any kind of letter from you.”

“You were the only one that went to my room that night. Was that your plan all along? Get me to give you some stupid detergent so you could go and steal my future? You’re worse than I thought-”

“Yah Yoon So-Hee!” Myung-Soo stepped towards me, taking the words from my mouth, I was burning with rage by the second, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. Did she really think about me like that? “Be careful with your words, if she says she didn’t do it then she didn’t do it.”

I didn’t do it.

“Of course you would be the one to believe her.”

“What would she even need your internship for? So-Hyun doesn’t need it.”

“How would you know what she needs and doesn’t need? You don’t even know the half of it, this wouldn’t be the first thing of mine she’s tried to take from me.” 

Her eyes roamed to where Seung-Ho was, but she quickly removed it. I narrowed my eyes at her, wondering why she didn't just say his name right then and there. Her words were already claiming that I was set on stealing Seung-Ho away from her so why didn't she just say it?

“So-Hyun has-” Myung-Soo started, but I tugged on his arm softly to let him know that I didn’t want him to go further. I already knew what he was going to say, and I didn’t want it. My family’s wealth wasn’t a factor that needed to be brought up there.

That moment felt a lot like Deja-vu, like I had already experienced it before. It then hit me that I did experienced this before, but instead of being the accused I was the witness and instead of in a music room we were in a sandpit.

With the way So-Hee was acting I felt like we had all been transported to Kindergarten when So-Hee had built a sandcastle. She’d made it quite simply with the help of the few buckets around and as well as a kid her age could have. She’d called all the other kids around for them to see her masterpiece and after a few ‘woah’s’ and ‘oohs’ everyone soon dispersed, all but for one.

Kang Susie.

The weather wasn’t particularly nice that day and so the wind was blowing, not hard enough to send us flying but soft enough to shake the leaves on the trees. I was playing just outside the sandpit making daisy chains when So-Hee turned around at the sound of our teacher calling her. She ran inside with a smile only to come back out with rage upon seeing that her precious castle had been tainted.

Poor Kang Susie.

She was not the cause of the demolition in fact the wind was, but she was the only viable culprit seeing as she stood right in front of the pit with wide open. I’d tried to reason as much as I could with So-Hee at the time, just like Myung-Soo was trying to now but she wouldn’t budge. Instead she chose to blame little Susie for the wind blowing her castle down.

In that moment, I felt a lot like little Kang Susie.

But we weren't children anymore, we were adults and this sort of situation was not to my liking, not one bit.

I braced myself to speak with a calm voice even though every fibre within me was refusing to do so. “Do you hear yourself right now? Do you remember even telling me about this internship of yours?” I did