[CONTENTID1]18.[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Seoul, 2014[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

It’s scary how the combination of 26 alphabets

can make someone famous and destroy someone’s life.

And help someone express some specific feelings

to someone and change some moments in someone’s life.

-Someone Named Vivek- [/CONTENTID3]

[CONTENTID4]

“Why Taeyeon sunbae?” Sehun asks quietly but everyone hears what the maknae says. Ten heads turn in the youngest direction. “Of all of the people, why must Taeyeon sunbae and you hyung?” Sehun asks again; his voice dead. No one understands his concerns of course, because no one knows the history between Jihye and Taeyeon. Sehun is so close to strangling Taeyeon down if he doesn’t care about anyone.

“Is there something wrong with Taeyeon sunbae?” Jongdae asks. Sehun meets eyes with Baekhyun. The older male seems curious too. Now he doesn’t know how he is supposed to answer. Jihye forbade him to tell anyone about the accident for a reason he doesn’t know. “Sehun-ah, what’s wrong?” Joonmyeon asks him and gives him a worried look.

Sehun buries his head on his Jihye, really going to kill him if he tells them. “Sehun-ah.” Joonmyeon calls him with his rare-to-be-used leader voice. Stern Joonmyeon is scary Joonmyeon. Sehun sighed desperately. “Hyung, please let this go. I seriously can’t tell you. There’s a bigger problem here.” Sehun pleads. Joonmyeon finally backs off and sighs in defeat.

“Sehun is right. Duizha- I mean Kris hyung betrayed us. Ho-How we can face our fans like this?” Tao speaks up. “And why does SM suggest something so stupid to avert public attention?” Chanyeol voices out his thoughts. Baekhyun scoffs.

“This is a joke.” Everyone looks at Baekhyun. “Sure it will be flattering to be known as ‘SNSD Taeyeon Boyfriend’. Yeah I’m her fan but that’s it. Gosh, she goes along with it happily. Too happy if I may say.”

Baekhyun's words caught his attention. Sehun knits his eyebrows in confusion. Why does she happily agree with SM's ridiculous plan? Unless…

“Oh my God this is indeed a joke.” Sehun spurts out. That woman is really not going to stop bothering Jihye. What does Jihye even do to her? For all he knows, Jihye really admires Taeyeon. She wouldn’t stop talking about Taeyeon. It is tragic really. Jihye truly admires her but the older woman blames Jihye for everything she never does.

“I really don’t want to do this…

” Baekhyun says weakly. Chanyeol moves closer to his friend then pulls him into a hug. One by one, the other boys follow Chanyeol and make a group hug. Why does fate seem to be so especially cruel on them? They only want to sing and dance and make people happy. So why does it become this hard?

***

‘Here we go again…’

Jihye thinks as her father rips her SNU acceptance letter into pieces then throws it to her face. “Are you an idiot or something? I told you that you WILL go to Stanford. Why are you still applying to SNU and taking… Art Major? God, you are really an embarrassment.” Her father's knives like words are nothing new for her. She tries to convince herself that this is nothing and her father only wants the best for her.

“Father, I promise I’ll do my best and not be an embarrassment for our family. I can help in the company even though I am an art major. I-”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH ART DEGREE?” Now her father laughs at her. Is it really that bad? She chooses the major carefully. Jihye already plans everything carefully. But it seems her father thinks that her opinion is not important.

Mr. Lee throws himself on the couch and massages his temple. “Just get out of my face.” He waves her off. Jihye bows to him and walks out from the living room.

“Why do I have a daughter like her? So useless.”

It doesn’t hurt.

She repeats it over and over again like a mantra. Millions of times hearing that sentence should have made her used to it, but in fact, it still hurts her. Jihye enters her room silently and sits on the edge of her bed. Her gray eyes are staring blankly at the carpeted floor. She doesn’t know what to feel. Maybe if she really becomes an idol, her father will already kick her out. Her eyes drift to the family photo on her nightstand. It’s so ironic how they are smiling so happily in front of the camera when in reality, they barely speak to each other.

A knock is heard from outside her bedroom. “Come in.” Her mother walks inside her room. A soft loving smile decorates her face. Jihye really wants to smile back at her but right now, she’s too tired to pretend that she is okay. Mrs. Lee takes a seat beside her in the