A knock on the door roused me from my peaceful slumber. I sat up groggily as the night before came flooding back to me. The confession. The knife. The black out. My heart sank as everything flashed under my eyelids. Yong Guk had cheated on me. And…and Kaci was pregnant with his child. How could they do this to me? My best friend and the love of my life?

Another round of knocks came, softer this time. I had a feeling Kaci was on the other side and refused to answer it. What was she doing at my door? She did know I was serious about her being dead to me, right? There was literally nothing she could say to me that would make any of this right. Eventually I heard her walk away.

When I got out the shower a little while later, I could tell she was gone from the apartment. She’d written me a letter and taped it to the door. I didn’t even read it. How could you be brave enough to lay down with my man but not brave enough to say whatever it was to my face? Besides, you already told me you were around. What else was there left to say?

The anger and anxiety were starting to build again. Before it could take over again, I grabbed my bag and left. Downtown wasn’t busy yet and I found an empty spot off the main road. Store fronts and restaurants were bright and cheery but I walked down an alley, punched in the code to the back door of one of the buildings, and slipped inside without anyone saying anything.

A couple of the guys milling about did a double take when they saw me. One of them approached with his hand straying toward the handle of a gun that was in plain sight. “I don’t know how you got back here but you can’t be here,” he said.

“Chill,” a voice said from the shadows. The guy gave his friend a ‘be cool’ sign and smiled at me. “She’s a friend of the boss.”

The first guy slowly took his hand away from the gun. “Whatever you say, Kyung.” He backed away.

Kyung gave me a wide smile once the other guy was out of sight. “Long time no see, Lita.”

“What’s up, Kyunggie?” I nodded toward the door at the end of the hallway. “Is boss man in?”

“Yeah, he’s here,” Kyung said. “There’s a girl in there, I think.”

I shrugged and walked toward the office. “Thanks.”

“You think it’s a good I idea to just barge in?” Kyung asked. “You haven’t been around in a long time. You don’t know how he’s going to react.”

“He wouldn’t hurt me.”

I entered the office without knocking, wondering why the door wasn’t locked. Within moments I registered the girl on her back on the desk, purring like a cat in heat while Zico finger ed her.

“She’s faking it you know,” I said casually, closing the door behind me.

Zico turned around quickly, withdrawing his fingers from the girl and reaching for his gun with the other hand. When he recognized me he cursed loudly, threw the gun on the desk, and rolled his neck from side to side.

“She’s not faking it. She’s just too high to recognize what’s going on.” He threw some clothes from the floor and the girl and kicked her out of the office. He locked the door after her and took his seat. “What are you doing here, Lita? You know better than to roll up on me like that.”

I shrugged. “Who says I wanted anything? Maybe I just missed you, Ji.” I took a seat across from him.

“Ji? Now I know you want something.” He leaned in closer and I saw his eyes change from amused to angry. “What did that bastard do to you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ve been crying,” he stated. “Or at least trying hard not to. You know I hate it when you’re upset. There’s no use denying it or trying to defend him. Tell me everything.”

“Long story short: My ex-best friend is carrying his child.”

Zico swore loudly before throwing the closest thing to him against the wall. The musical noise of glass shattering signified that whatever he’d thrown was now completely destroyed.

The door creaked open just a bit and one of the guards peeked his head in. “Everything okay boss?”

Breathing angrily, Zico waved him off. “Don’t worry about it just yet, Kyung. Have Kwon check the accounts though. I may be going to jail in the near future.”

Kyung nodded and retreated, but not before giving me a look. His nosey would be ready to hear the whole story as soon as I came out. Knowing him, he’d probably had his ear to the door listening.

“I’m going to kill him,” Zico told me. I watched him frantically search through his desk drawers for a clip.

“I don’t want you to kill him.”

Zico slammed the clip in the gun and glared at me, one eyebrow raised. “ you mean you don’t want me to kill him? He made a dumb decision and now he needs to pay the consequences.

“I…already hurt him. And I still can’t believe I did that,” I admit. “And come on, Ji, you don’t need any unnecessary trouble.”

“Then why did you come here, Lita?”

“Like I said, I wanted to see you, Jiho. I…I woke up this morning feeling horrible and even though it’s been a while the only thing that I could think of to make me feel better was seeing you.”

Zico sat back with a smirk. “You always would run back to me.”

“Oh shut up,” I said with a laugh.

“Just admit that you missed me. You know, I’ve got a bed in the back. Let me help you forget about lover boy.”

I rolled my eyes. “Damn, Ji. You really know how to ruin a good thing, you know? What makes you think I want to sleep with you after that hoe just left? And, like, where’s your tact? Did you miss the part where I just got my heart broken?”

“That’s what I’m saying. I’ll you so good you won’t worry about him or anyone else.”

I leaned forward, raising an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

There was a knock on the door and Kyung stuck his head in.

“What?” Zico asked, annoyance tinging his voice.

“Sorry to interrupt…whatever this is,” Kyung said creepily, “but the new kid is here.”

“I forgot about that. . I’ll be there in a minute.” Zico turned his attention back to after Kyung closed the door. “Guess I’ll take a rain check.”

“You guess? When did I –”

“We’ll pick this up later, Lita.”

“Sure Ji, whatever you say.”

I got up and left the office without looking back. Kyung was back in the hallway with a tall, pale kid I’d never seen before. He waved goodbye to me without breaking conversation with the kid. I waved back, walked back to my car, and, though I was pretty sure it was a bad idea, headed towards Himchan and Yong Guk’s apartment.