3rd Person’s POV

[United States of America…November 2, 20XX]

Erika ignored the amounts of text and calls from her groupmates. She had just arrived at the airport, after taking the fastest plane to arrive immediately at US cause she sense the urgency in her mother’s text. It wasn’t going to be good, she can feel that.

When she walked out of the airport, she saw their family driver waiting for her while carrying a sign that says her name. Without further ado, she ran and enter the limousine. The driver enter the car after a second and drove off without a word.

“How are you, Mr. Hwang?”

“I’m fine, young miss. How about you?”

“Still the same. Is mother in the mansion or in the company?”

“The company, miss. She instructed me to take you there as soon as possible.” Erika let out a sigh upon seeing the pity in Mr. Hwang’s eyes.

“I bet she did.”

They stayed silent after that until they reached a really tall building. It was Kim Company, so Erika got down and headed inside. The employees greeted her along the way, but she didn’t have time to greet back as she headed up to the excecutive floor where her mother is.

When she got to the excecutive floor, she walked towards the office and her mother’s assistant outside had greeted her before opening the door. As soon as she entered the room, she was greeted with pictures thrown in her direction.

“Good to see you too, mother.” she whispered under her breath before facing her mother with a neutral face. “What is this, mom?”

“You tell me, Erika.” the venom in her mother’s voice pierce in her skin and she knows that it was really a no-good situation. When she look at the photos, she realized why.

“It’s been a month, mom.”

“I know that, but I still need an explation. What the hell is that, Erika Dane?”

“It’s nothing. This meant nothing, mom.” it was photos of her, at the time where she was helping Jeril with the gangster issues. She didn’t even noticed that someone was taking pictures at that moment. “I was just happen to be there, that’s all. I swear…”

Erika doesn’t want to lie about 4D, but she had to. God knows what her mother do when she knows that she actually risked her career for her groupmates, she would probably lose her cool and started to destroy 4D and Erika’s connection with them. She doesn’t want that.

“You’re not lying to me, right?”

“I would never do that, mom. I promise you, I was there so I helped them because I knew that they were students in Sae Young. It could be a boost for my popularity, you know.”

“So, you had nothing to do with this girls?”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely nothing at all?”

“Yes, mother.”

“Alright, if you says so.” her mother seems to believe her story, so she let out a relieved sigh silently. However that peace was gone when her mother said…”Anyways, I’ll be coming back to South Korea soon. So, you need to stay in the mansion for awhile.”

“Ofcourse, mom.” Erika’s face was smiling but the truth is, she was panicking inside. How the hell is she going to stay in the mansion when all of her things were in the dorm right now. “So, can I go back to South Korea now or do you still need me here?”

“I still need you here for a week or so. I’m sure you excused yourself in the school, so I’ll be making use of it. You can stay in the mansion or in a hotel, I don’t mind. It’s your choice, but you’ll be making an appearance here in the company everyday.”

“I understand. I guess I’ll just sleep in a hotel for now. I’m not really used to being in the mansion, no offense.”

“None taken.” her mother got something from her purse and handed it to Erika. “Head over that hotel. It’s the finest and most private hotel here, people won’t even know you’re a celebrity if you’re there.”

“Thank you, mother. I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“I’ll see you.”

“Excuse me.” Erika fake a smile at her mother once more before leaving the office. She got her phone and immediately dialed a number. “Manager?”

(Ked? Are you really in America right now?)

“You read the letter? Great, and yeah. I’m in America right now, but I’ll probably go back there next week or so. But I need you to do me a favor.”

(Anything, sweetie.)

“And promise me that this stays out of mother.”

(Oh, it’s a classified favor? Alright, what is it?)

“I want you to take my stuffs from my dorm room and take it back to my own apartment. But make sure that my groupmates won’t notice about it, they shouldn’t know I’m leaving. So, you need to leave something there like clothes and a few stuffs I can easily carry.”

(Wait, wait. Slow down. You’re leaving Sae Young Dormitories? Why?)

“My mom’s going there, probably to do some company works or investigate me, I don’t care. But what I care about is my friends, I need to protect them. So, I need your help.”

(Ofcourse, dear. I’ll help you. Just promise you’ll be careful with your mother, okay?)

“I will, I promise. Thank you so much, unnie. I owe you a lot.”

(No need to thank me, sweetie. Your mother may pays me with money, but you pays me with love and respect. And money cannot beat that, so…I got you. Don’t worry.)

“Really, thank you. I’ll update you on what’s going on, so you need to update me too.”

(I will. Take care, alright?)

“Yeah. Thanks, unnie. I got to go now, I’ll call you soon. Goodbye.” Erika ended the call and headed down. Instead of riding the limo, she hailed a cab and went to the hotel.

After checking herself in, she immediately plopped in the bed and let out a deep sigh. It was suicidal to protect her groupmates from her mother while making sure that her friends doesn’t notice anything, they were pretty observant after all.

Erika chuckled to herself before grabbing her phone and stared at her wallpaper. It was taken during their first monthsary. They went out to celebrate and entered a photobooth that uses polaroid camera. Erika arranged the photos and took a picture of it for her wallpaper.

The polaroids were hang in their dorm room and she could see it everyday, but she still used them as wallpaper. After all, it was the start of their blossoming friendship. She couldn’t believe that she was going to leave dorm room 4D. She was going to miss it.

“I’m going to miss you.” she whispered, smiling at her wallpaper before turning it off and putting the phone to the nightstand. “What am I going to do? Ugh, I hate my life.”

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