The next morning as expected, news about Byul with a girl on a stage in a night club singing was all over the television channels, even the radios.

And that could only mean one thing. Trouble.

My parents was so furious.

One about me getting out in the middle of the night without them knowing. While I was still grounded.

Two about I’ve went to a night club. They accused me for drinking the alcohol again. Which I’ve been telling them and even swear to them I’ve only had a soda and nothing more. Of course they don’t buy it.

And finally three, they were so surprised to see me with other girl than Wheein. It’s mean they knew I was so in love with Wheein all the time.

My horrified life didn’t end there, paparazzi and some of Byul’s fan been camping outside my house really not helping. Luckily I was still grounded, so I’m safe inside. Sadly not my parents as they got surrounded as soon as they walked out of the door.

Remember when I thought being famous in my collage was cool? Well, now that I think about it, I wanted to take back what I said. My phone’s battery are out from all the callings and messages from my classmates and some other numbers that I don’t know. Most are from her fanatic fans, which just full of cursing and swearing words. To the point I had to turn it off.

It last for a two weeks at least. And finally my life back to normal again. They finally given up when they can’t even get a glimpse of me.

I didn’t hear from either of them. It was a long weeks. Too long, with too much thinking on my part. The thinking mostly focused on two specific moments. One, Byul’s delicious lips capturing mine and yeah the troubled she cause to me and my family. And two, Wheein and Hyejin, an image I just couldn’t get out of my mind.

After Tuesday night, I thought I wouldn’t live through the pain that ripped open my heart like steel claws. But finally I fell into a state of numb indifference to not only Wheein and Byul, but also to the rest of the world.

By Friday, my mom rescinded my detention. She said she had never seen so little of me in all her life, or how pale and withdrawn I had become, and it worried her. Yeah, my room was my castle. I didn’t need food, nor company. And I wasn’t sure when I last had a bath.

Even without being grounded, I saw no particular reason for leaving my fort. Let the world go on without me, I didn’t care. I was content with the one hundred and twenty square feet of this earth under my domain.

Saturday afternoon, the first text message came in. From Wheein. CAN I COME UP?

Since the day we decided to be best friends because we both loved Tom&Jerry cartoons, she’d never once asked before coming to my room, using either the door or my window. I sighed then walked to the open window with the cell phone in my hand. Wheein was leaning against the tree, hands tucked into the pockets of her blue jeans. I wondered if she knew what she wore today, the blue tee and shirt above, was my favourite. And if she’d put it on for a purpose.

Our gazes met, and her face had the word sorry edged in every line. I didn’t know what message my expression sent her, but in case she didn’t get it right, I slowly shut the window.

To be absolutely clear, I pulled the curtains closed, too.

Funny, the same day, Byul tried to call me. I didn’t answer the phone, but decided to block her number so I wouldn’t be tempted to pick up should she try again. I couldn’t sleep all night then, because I wondered if blocking her was the right decision after all. Close to three in the morning, I cancelled the block. And hey, she’d tried to reach me two more times. There also was a text message. PLEASE TALK TO ME.

Somehow, I really wanted to reply to that text. I missed her. Hoped she would be honest with me and could convince me she wasn’t an after all. But I was scared she might do just that, and I’d be the idiot who believed her. So I sent one message back. GO TO HELL. That text to her at three in the morning was enough to render her silent. She didn’t try to contact me again after that.

Fantastic. It seemed I got just what I wanted. Only that I hated it.

A few days before college started again, Hani called me. She wanted to know why I quit the dance class. I lied saying I wasn’t really into it and of course she asked about the night club incident I let her talk me into it in a thirty-minute phone call. I asked her to go shopping with me only because I was curious how the dance class was going since I opted out.

More, I wanted to find out how things were between Byul and Wheein, and shopping with Hani was perfect.

She picked me up on Friday morning, and we decided to take a walk to town instead of driving her father’s car. In fact, this was the first time in weeks I made it past the borders of our garden and into civilization. It felt like I’d been gone from this world for years. All the more I was surprised that nothing had changed.

“I missed going to class with you unnie,” Hani confessed as we entered Staples. Then she sighed. “Wheein and Byul had been arguing and shouting at each other until one day Byul couldn’t take it anymore, she left and never came back the next class and so on.”

I frowned. Deep down inside I feel kind a guilty for being the reason for Byul leaving, tearing apart the team. I could imagined the disappointment in Seulgi’s face, after all her hard work on getting Byul into the team. While we rummaged through a box of pens and picked several pads, I said in the most nonchalant way, “What she’s doing now? I mean did she says why she was fighting with Wheein?”

Hani dropped a pink pencil back into the box and slowly turned to stare at me, folding her skinny arms over chest. “Are you ting me, unnie? Really?”

That grabbed my attention. I opened my mouth to say something, but I just didn’t know what. So I closed it and gaped at her with quirked brows.

“Everyone knows you quit the class because Byul was hitting on you, and you didn’t like it. Somehow Wheein found out and they argue and now she leave because she feel bad.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. Well…it’s the truth, isn’t it?”

If I kept taking pauses between answering like I did, people might start to consider me a little retarded. “Not exactly.”

Her eyes narrowed. Hani seemed slightly confused. “What do you mean, not exactly? She didn’t hit on you?”

“She did. I just meant the ‘I didn’t like it’ part.”

“Wow, so you did?”

Like it? “Yeah, I think so.”

Hani laughed as if this was the most pleasing news she’d heard in weeks. She grabbed a few booklets and dropped them into her shopping basket. Then she stopped dead and turned to me, looking like she was about to explode. “Then why for God’s sake did you leave the class?”

I played with the books and shrugged. “It’s a little complicated.” And not something I wanted to talk about. Her eyes were boring into my head, so I sighed and decided to spill. “She kissed me, and I liked it, okay? Only, she didn’t do it for the right reason. Not because she really liked me. More as a favour to a friend.”

“Are you bananas, unnie? Byul is completely under your spell.”

As she stressed every syllable, my chin dropped to my chest. “What?”

“Do you have any idea how long it took her to convince Wheein to bring you to one of her parties?”

“You serious?”

She nodded vigorously. “I would know, plus I find out from Seulgi that Byul refused to teach other student. Just you”

“Wait, that’s not true...right?”

Hani’s grin irritated me. “Do I need to show the name list of the student in each class in front of you? Trust me I didn’t find your name in any of the name list on the board, either did Byul’s name as the teacher. The top floor’s room was only for you and the mighty Byul.”

Damn, she was right. I slapped my brow and ground my teeth. Byul really did treat me in a favoured way. But why would she?

As if to answer my silent questions, Hani tilted her head, pursed her lips, and sang in an annoying I-told-you-so tone, “Duh, she likes you. By the way how does it feel being on television because of Byul?”

I gritted my teeth “I going to kill her for that. I was in deep because of her.”

She laughed, “Unnie, you do know she never had any scandal right? They only scandal she has now is because of you. And you know what that’s mean.”

“Yeah, I do. She really, really like me.” I agreed in a low voice.

“So what will you do? Go and look for her?”

“No.”

She made a pouty face. “Why not?”

“I told you it’s complicated.”

“You’re still in love with Wheein. That’s it, right? M&M will never really break up.”

At this point I regretted going shopping with Hani, the queen of know it all. If she wasn’t so sweet in her own nosy way, I’d have turned and walk out of the shop already.

“I think it’s cool that you forgave her. Queen Hyejin might look like that but she’s really a nice person and they both really looks good together. Just let them live happily ever after.”

“Queen Hyejin?” I snorted with laughter at that name.

“The girls in her class call her that because she does has that vibes in her, the way she walks and talks. You know what I mean.”

Yeah I know. However, I couldn’t believe how much this girl knew about my private life. And the entire dance club it seemed. Maybe it was time to set a few facts straight. “I don’t think Wheein and I will ever be what we were before Hyejin got hold of her.”

Her nose wrinkled as she shifted funnily to one side. “Shame. You were like the only absolute term in a changing world.”

It was a shame. But I didn’t want our chat to go down this road. So I shrugged it off and dragged her to the cash register, where we waited in line to pay for our items. However, it didn’t take long until curiosity got the best of me. “How was everyone after Byul left?”

“It’s spooky. They were so gloomy and…Wheein haven’t been showing up at the class either, a few of the student dropped out too” she sighed “…poor Seulgi, she’s been trying to get Byul back on the team. Byul won’t even see her.”

It hurt me in a strange way to hear that. I knew how much Wheein idolized Byul. And how much she’s been rambling about how happy she was when Byul agreed to joined them. Their friendship went way back. The thought that I had driven a wedge between them upset me to no end. And as this realization sank in, I knew I had forgiven her. She’d been a complete a few weeks ago, but she’d been my best friend for a lifetime. Maybe it was time to see her. Set things straight between us and repair our friendship if I could.

For all the nagging Hani did this afternoon, I was still glad I’d gone out with her. We said goodbye at my front door, but instead of getting to my room, I tossed the bag with the books and pens on the shelf in the hallway and headed out again.

Wearing my spaghetti strapped top, a humid evening breeze settled around my arms and shoulders as I walked up the few steps between my house and Wheein’s. After not seeing her for so long, my heart thudded violently as I rang the doorbell.