The days passed and the exams were coming up in a few weeks’ time. Sooyoung was struggling with her mathematics and asked Sungjae over to her place to tutor her. Although Sungjae was also busy with revision, he agreed readily and dropped by her place the following evening. As he reached her place, he rang the doorbell and waited patiently. The door opened and before Sungjae saw who it was, he said, “Hey baby girl, I’m here. So what do you need help with?”

“Well, I could do with someone to help me vacuum the floor and do the dishes, if you feel up to it. But I’d prefer it if you called me eommoni instead of baby girl,” said Mrs. Park.

Sungjae turned scarlet at the sight of Mrs. Park and replied, “Mianhe, eommoni. Bab- Sooyoung asked me to come over and help me with her mathematics.”

“I know,” replied Mrs. Park with an amused look on her face. “Now are you going to keep standing at the door or do you want to come in?”

Sungjae bowed and stepped into the house. “Now, I’m going shopping with a friend today,” said Mrs. Park, before lowering her voice. “No funny business, you hear me?” Mrs. Park teased Sungjae with a mock-threatening look at Sungjae before giving him a motherly smile. Sungjae smiled, bowed and watched Mrs. Park leave. Sooyoung was in the living room poring over her mathematics notes and trying to make sense of them. Sooyoung noticed Sungjae entering and whined, “Oppa~~~ Help… I can’t make ANY sense of calculus, especially the applications part. How can a graph move about an axis and expect me to find the volume it generates?”

Sungjae smiled and started looking through Sooyoung’s notes. “It’s really quite easy, baby girl. Just think of it this way…” explained Sungjae.

Without realising, Sungjae had spent 2 hours explaining all that Sooyoung needed to know for calculus and watching Sooyoung as she tried out question after question in a desperate attempt to understand the topic sufficiently well to handle her examinations. After 2 hours, Sooyoung took a glance at the clock and exclaimed, “Omo! It’s already 9pm! Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I’ve been doing calculus for 2 hours.”

“Haha, I think you should take a break now, baby girl. Don’t burn out,” said Sungjae.

“All right. I need a drink anyway. Do you want one?” asked Sooyoung.

“Yeah, sure! Anything is good for me, as long as it’s cold,” replied Sungjae.

Sooyoung trudged over to the kitchen and poured two drinks out, before walking over to Sungjae.

“Here you go,” said Sooyoung, as she handed him the drink.

“Thanks!” replied Sungjae. He took a big gulp before something occurred to him.

“Hey, have you bought the tickets for “Wicked” yet?” asked Sungjae.

“No, I haven’t. I asked Yeri to come along, so I thought I would wait till she replied on her available dates before I confirmed the total number of tickets,” replied Sooyoung.

“Moragu?!” asked Sungjae in a sharp tone.

“I said I asked Yeri to come…” mumbled Sooyoung in a trembling voice.

“Why would you do that?” asked Sungjae, in a steadily louder voice, making Sooyoung cower. “You know she has feelings for me! I told you I can never accept her! WHY WOULD YOU INVITE HER TO SOMETHING THAT WE WERE GOING FOR?!”

“I-I-I just…” stuttered Sooyoung, tearing up at Sungjae’s voice.

“You just what? YOU JUST WHAT? ANSWER ME!” shouted Sungjae, as he flung his cup on the floor, where it shattered and made Sooyoung flinch again. This was the first time Sooyoung saw Sungjae lose his temper completely and it scared the life out of her.

“Why did you even invite her? You think she’ll be happy being there with me? You think she’ll be happy when eventually she realises that I can never accept her? Do you know how much pain you’ll cause her? DO YOU? Did you consider how I would feel?” shouted Sungjae. Don’t you know it’ll cause me even more pain? More pain than you know!

“Op-oppa… P-please calm d-down… I’m sorry, I…” mumbled Sooyoung but Sungjae had stormed out of her house before she could finish. Sooyoung sat down on the couch and buried her face in her hands. “Oppa… M-m-mianhe…”

…

“Sungjae-ah, stop drinking. What’s wrong with you?” asked Changsub. Changsub had received a call from Sungjae asking him to meet him at the park. Changsub didn’t object, but knew that Sungjae’s tone when he called him didn’t bode well. Sungjae had already finished half of the vodka bottle that he brought from home without his parents knowing when Changsub arrived.

“Oh good! You’re here! Drink up!” mumbled Sungjae.

“I said stop drinking! Miccheoseo? You’re not even old enough to drink! Aish~! What’s gotten into you?” asked Changsub.

“What’s wrong? What’s WRONG?! What’s wrong is that the girl I love is best friends with the girl who loves me! That’s what’s wrong!” spat Sungjae.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you sure it’s not just your over-inflated ego at work? How do you a girl likes you? And who is it?” asked Changsub.

“Sooyoung told me herself! She said Yeri likes me. That can’t be a lie. They’re like sisters!” replied Sungjae, as he downed another gulp before Changsub could stop him.

“Yeri? Then does Sooyoung know you like her?” asked Changsub.

“No. She’ll never accept me now! And the best thing is, I lost my temper with Sooyoung just now. I even wrecked a cup in front of her,” said Sungjae miserably, as he recalled the events that happened.

“You lost your temper with her?” said Changsub disbelievingly. “At Sooyoung, of all people?”

“I know I know! I’m stupid! I just lost it when she said she invited Yeri to watch Wicked with us,” said Sungjae. “I thought I had finally succeeded in getting her to go out on a date with me. But she had to go and invite her best friend to go along.”

As Sungjae said this, pain shot through his head and made it throb, causing him to flinch in pain and nearly drop the bottle.

“Yah, what’s wrong? You’ve been having these bouts of pain recently. Have you seen the doctor?” asked Changsub. “And look how red you’re turning! You’re clearly not handling the alcohol well! Stop drinking!”