Bom hadn’t been back to Morgan since her reunion with Top. She was consistently absent at lunch, and her phone calls were few and far between. I didn’t begrudge them the time to make up for the time they’d spent apart. Truthfully, I was happy that Bom was too busy to call me from Top and Jiyong’s apartment. It was awkward hearing Jiyong in the background, and I felt a little jealous that she was spending time with him and I wasn’t.

Kwanghee and I were seeing more of each other, and I was selfishly thankful that he was just as alone as I was. We went to class, ate together, and studied together, and even Sohee grew accustomed to having him around.

My fingers were beginning to numb from the frigid air as I stood outside Morgan while he smoked.

“Would you consider quitting before I get hypothermia from standing here for moral support?” I asked.

Kwanghee laughed. “I love you, Dara. I really do, but no. Not quitting.”

“Dara?”

I turned to see Donghae walking down the sidewalk with his hands shoved into his pockets. His full lips were dry under his red nose, and I laughed when he put an imaginary cigarette to his mouth and blew out a puff of misty air.

“You could save a lot of money this way, Kwanghee,” he smiled.

“Why is everyone trashing on my smoking habit today?” he asked, annoyed.

“What’s up, Donghae?” I asked.

He fished two tickets from his pocket. “That new Vietnam movie is out. You said you wanted to see it the other day, so I thought I would grab us some tickets for tonight.”

“No pressure,” Kwanghee said.

“I can go with Leeteuk if you have plans,” he said with a shrug.

“So it’s not a date?” I asked.

“Nope, just friends.”

“And we’ve seen how that works out for you,” Kwanghee teased.

“Shut up!” I giggled. “That sounds fun, Donghae, thanks.”

His eyes brightened. “Would you like to get some pizza or something before? I’m not a big fan of theater food, myself.”

“Pizza’s great,” I nodded.

“The movie’s at nine, so I’ll pick you up at six thirty or so?”

I nodded again and Donghae waved goodbye.

“Oh, Jesus,” Kwanghee said. “You’re a glutton, Dara. You know that’s not going to fly with Jiyong when he gets wind of it.”

“You heard him. It’s not a date. And I can’t make plans based on what is okay with Jiyong. He didn’t clear it with me before he brought Sulli home.”

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

“Probably not, no.”

We sat in a corner booth, and I rubbed my mittens together, trying to get warm. I couldn’t help but notice we were in the same booth Jiyong and I sat in when we first met, and I smiled at the memory of that day.

“What’s funny?” Donghae asked.

“I just like this place. Good times.”

“I noticed the bracelet,” he said.

I looked down at the sparkling diamonds on my wrist. “I told you I liked it.”

The waitress handed us menus and took our drink orders. Donghae updated me on his spring schedule, and talked about the progress in his studies for the MCAT. By the time the waitress served our beers, Donghae had barely taken a breath. He seemed nervous, and I wondered if he wasn’t under the impression that we were on a date, regardless of what he’d said.

He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I think I’ve monopolized the conversation long enough.” He tipped his beer bottle and shook his head. “I just haven’t talked to you for any length of time in so long that I suppose I had a lot to say.”

“It’s fine. It has been a long time.”

Just then, the door chimed. I turned to see Jiyong and Top walk in. It took Jiyong less than a second to meet my stare, but he didn’t look surprised.

“Jesus,” I muttered under my breath.

“What?” Donghae asked, turning to see them sit in a booth across the room.

“There’s burger place down the street we can go to,” Donghae said in a hushed voice. As nervous as he was before, it had been taken to a whole new level.

“I think it would be more awkward to leave at this point,” I grumbled.

His face fell, defeated. “You’re probably right.”

We tried to continue our conversation, but it was noticeably forced and uncomfortable. The waitress spent an extended period of time at Jiyong’s table, raking her fingers through her hair and shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She finally remembered to take our order when Jiyong answered his cell phone.

“I’ll have the tortellini,” Donghae said, looking to me.

“And I’ll have …” I trailed off. I was distracted when Jiyong and Top stood up.

Jiyong followed Top to the door, but he hesitated, stopped, and turned around. When he saw me watching him, he walked straight across the room. The waitress had an expectant smile, as if she thought he had come to say goodbye. She was quickly disappointed when he stood beside me without so much as blinking in her direction.

“I’ve got a fight in forty-five minutes, Butterfly. I want you there.”

“Ji …”

His face was stoic, but I could see the tension around his eyes. I wasn’t sure if he didn’t want to leave my dinner with Donghae to fate or if he truly wanted me there with him, but I had made my decision the second he’d asked.

“I need you there. It’s a rematch with Kim Junsu, the guy from State. It’s a big crowd, lots of money floating around … and Daesung says Junsu’s been training.”

“You’ve fought him before, Jiyong, you know it’s an easy win.”

“Dara,” Donghae said quietly.

“I need you there,” Jiyong said.

I looked at Donghae with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you serious?” he said, his eyebrows shooting up. “You’re just going to leave in the middle of dinner?”

“You can still call Leeteuk, right?” I asked, standing up.

The corners of Jiyong’s mouth turned up infinitesimally as he tossed a twenty on the table. “That should cover it.”

“I don’t care about the money … Dara…”

I shrugged. “He’s my best friend, Donghae. If he needs me there, I have to go.”

I felt Jiyong’s hand encapsulate mine as he led me away. Donghae watched with a stunned look on his face. Top was already on the phone in his Charger, spreading the word. Jiyong sat in the back with me, keeping my hand firmly in his.

“I just got off the phone with Daesung, Ji. He said the State guys all showed up drunk and padded with cash. They’re already riled up, so you might wanna keep Dara out of the way.”

Jiyong nodded. “You can keep an eye on her.”

“Where’s Bom?” I asked.

“Studying for her Physics test.”

“That’s a nice lab,” Jiyong said. I laughed once and then looked to Jiyong, who had a small grin on his face.

“When did you see the lab? You haven’t had Physics,” Top said.

Jiyong chuckled and I elbowed him. He pressed his lips together until the urge to laugh subsided, and then he winked at me, squeezing my hand once again. His fingers intertwined in mine, and I heard a small sigh escape his lips. I knew what he was thinking because I felt the same. In that sliver of time, it was as if nothing had changed.

We pulled into a dark patch of the parking lot, and Jiyong refused to let go of my hand until we crawled into the window of the basement of the Hellerton Science Building. It had been built just the year before, so it didn’t suffer from stagnant air and dust like the other basements we’d snuck into.

Just as we entered the hallway, the roar of the crowd reached our ears. I poked my head out to see an ocean of faces, many of them unfamiliar. Everyone had a bottle of beer in their hand, but the State students were easy to pick out of the crowd. They were the ones that swayed with their eyes half closed.

“Stay close to Top, Butterfly. It’s going to get crazy in here,” he said from behind me. He scanned the crowd, shaking his head at the sheer numbers.

Hellerton’s basement was the most spacious on campus, so Daesung liked to schedule fights there when he expected a larger crowd. Even with the addition of space, people were being rubbed against the walls and shoving one another to get a good spot.

Daesung rounded the corner and didn’t try to hide his dissatisfaction with my presence. “I thought I told you that you couldn’t bring your girl to the fights any more, Jiyong.”

Jiyong shrugged. “She’s not my girl any more.”

I kept my features smooth, but he had said the words so matter-of-factly that I felt a stabbing sensation in my chest.

Daesung looked down at our intertwined fingers and then up at Jiyong. “I’m never gonna figure you two out.” He shook his head and then glanced to the mob. People were still streaming in from the stairs, and those on the floor were already packed together. “We’ve got an insane pot tonight, Jiyong, so no in’ off, okay?”

“I’ll make sure it’s entertaining, Daesung.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about. Junsu’s been training.”

“So have I.”

“Bull,” Top laughed.

Jiyong shrugged. “I got in a fight with Jo last weekend. That little is fast.”

I chuckled and Daesung glared at me. “You better take this seriously, Jiyong,” he said, staring into his eyes. “I have a lot of money riding on this fight.”

“And I don’t?” Jiyong said, irritated with Daesung’s lecture.

Daesung turned, holding the bullhorn to his lips as he stood upon a chair above the multitude of drunken spectators. Jiyong pulled me against his side as Daesung greeted the crowd and then went over the rules.

“Good luck,” I said, touching his chest. I hadn’t felt nervous to watching his fights other than the one he’d had with Brock Mc