Katrina’s Apartment

“Wake up.”

“Your being loud.”

“And you need to go home.”

“Is that anyway to treat someone with a hangover?”

“Taemin, you’re not hungover. I know you didn’t drink yesterday.” Katrina said stepping closer to the bed, moving to pull the cover off of him only for Taemin to grab her wrist and pull her down onto the bed facing him.

“Just lay here with me.” Taemin said as he snuggled closer to Katrina, getting a whiff of her strawberry sent. “You smell better than you did yesterday.” Taemin hummed.

“I have work to do.”

“I cancelled your schedule. Changmin can fix his own relationship, while we fix ours.”

“Taemin, we can’t. I-”

“I know. You aren’t ready. Just let me be greedy. I’d like to appreciate god's greatest gift today.”

Katrina chuckled and asked. “And what might that be?”

“You.” Taemin said moving his head from Katrina’s chest so he could look her in her eyes. “Happy Birthday, my love.” Taemin said before kissing Katrina.

Park Hyatt Seoul

“It that Mads and Dom had to bail.” Civannah pouted.

“What can they do? Their daughter’s sick.” Tatiana yelled from the bathroom as she applied her makeup

“Katrina’s gonna be bummed though.” Stephanie said as she grabbed water from the minibar.

“She’ll be fine. I’m sure she’ll be preoccupied by her soon to be boyfriend.”

“She still hasn’t talked to him yet has she?” Stephanie asked Civannah after Tatiana’s comment.

“No. She’s been too busy sneaking around with my boyfriend.” Civannah said, rolling her eyes.

“You still haven’t talked to her about it?”

“She’s been ‘busy’. It’s like as soon as I came back to the office she never needed to use my office. In fact no one saw her at SM. And that goes for Changmin too.”

“I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.”

“Or maybe I was just blind. What if he used me to get to Katrina? That’s why he always wanted me to tell her about us. That’s why he brought her here, so they could be together in plain sight.”

“Do you even hear yourself? You sound crazy. Talk to her. Something you should have just done in the first place when you decided to be in a relationship with him. And you need to talk to him as well. That guy shelved out a lot of money and time to arrange things for us, just so that you were happy.”

“No. So that Katrina would be happy.” Civannah said rolling her eyes as she reached over to grab her phone that started ringing. “Speaking of the devil.” Civannah said, waving her phone in the air.

“Civannah.” Stephanie said sternly.

“Hey Katrina. What’s up?” Civannah asked, leaving the phone on speaker so that Stephanie and Tatiana could hear.

“Could you come over? I really want to talk to you and get your opinion on something.”

Civannah looked over at Stephanie who nodded her head to Civannah to indicate that she should say yes.

“Yeah. I’m on my way…”

“Thanks Civi.” Katrina spoke before Civannah ended the call.

“She sounds off.” Stephanie spoke as Civannah grabbed her shoes that had been sitting beside the bed.

“She must be feeling guilty for dating my boyfriend behind my back.”

“Civannah.” Stephanie spoke as Civannah got off the bed and headed to the door. “You’ve known her for so long. Do you really think she would do something like that to you?”

“What other choice do I have when the poof says so?” Civannah said as she left out of the room.

*In the hallway *

“Hey Civ! I was just on my way to you guys.”

“Oh, hey Blake. Did you need something?”

“Oh I was just coming to check what the game plan was since Nate’s still knocked out.” Blake laughed.

“Oh. Well Tatti is almost finished getting ready so he won’t be sleeping for long.”

“She’s about the only one that can deal with him being tired. They should just get married already.” Blake chucked.

“Yeah. Married.” Civannah laughed dryly thinking back to Changmin.

“So where are you headed too?”

“Katrina’s. She said she wanted to talk about something bothering her.”

“Oh. Well do you mind if i tag along?”

“Can’t wait anymore huh? Yeah. Lets go.” Civannah spoke walking away, Blake right behind her.

Park Hyatt Seoul - Ballroom

“I didn’t know you were so aesthetic, Jongin.” Yunho laughed as he arranged the floral arrangements with Ryan.

“You should have seen him freaking out when Sooman said he was postponing the showcase.” Chanyeol chuckled.

“Hey. I’d freak out too if something i planned for so long was slowly slipping between my fingers.” Jongdae said, trying to help Jongin out.

Changmin quietly listened to everyone joking around, but Changmin’s mind couldn’t be any further. One one hand, he knew that he needed to have a serious talk with Jongin, and Taemin later, about Katrina. Seeing Katrina so broken the other day, broken enough to tell him that she was actually Fern. Hearing about her from Civannah for so long, she felt like his friend too, but now he saw her as his little sister. And he wouldn’t let her feel trapped in a situation, she should be allowed to choose, her happiness. But at the same time, this would be his first time seeing Civannah since the argument. He missed her. He missed her like crazy. He wondered if she missed him the same way. Should he give her space tonight? Should he talk to her? His mind was swirling.

“Hey? You okay?” Ryan asked, after noticing Changmin by himself.

“Fine. You should be helping the others.”

“I don’t think i can keep helping without talking to you first.” Ryan said with a sigh. “I want to applogize for the part i played in yours and Civannah’s relationship. I should have given her a chance and not made a judgement. Her coming to Korea was a big deal for you and i should have been more accepting and welcoming.”

“No. I’m sorry. After Rui, i know you were looking out for me. I shouldn’t have been so hard on you.” Changmin sighed, pulling Ryan into a hug.

“Look! They finally made up!” Yunho cheered, when he saw Ryan and Changmin hug.

“It’s about time.” Jongdae laughed as Ryan and Changmin made their way to the others that had gathered to watch.

“It’s the magic of Katrina’s birthday.” Jongin smiled.

“Hey! Why do you keep forgetting me? It’s my birthday too!” Chanyeol complained.

“And im sure Baek has something planned for you, as per usual.” Jongdae smiled, knowing for a fact, Baekhyun was preparing something for Chanyeol.

“He better. It’s the only excuse ill take for him not helping out.” Jongin spoke, mad about Baekhyun bailing on him.

“It’s probably for the best. From what i’ve heard, he hasn’t exactly liked Katrina.” Ryan said surprising everyone with her knowledge. “What? Taemin told me about it.” Ryan shrugged. “We should get back to getting this place together, it’s almost time for Civannah to start convincing Katrina to come.”

“I’ll set the table!” Chanyeol said excitedly.

“Chanyeol! Don’t break anything you aren’t going to pay for!” Jongin yelled after him.

“I better go help him.” Jongdae said, following after Chanyeol and Jongin.

“I’m going to go check on her friends upstairs.” Ryan told Changmin, figuring her work in the ballroom was about done. “But before I go, make sure you make some time for Civannah tonight. She’s hurting too, so make things right.”

“Thanks Ryan.” Changmin said smiling as Ryan began walking away. “Hey!” Changmin called out before Ryan got too far. “Im sorry that im a few days late, but Happy Birthday.”

Ryan smiled. “Thanks”

Katrina’s Apartment

“Katrina!” Civannah yelled as she let herself and Blake inside Katrina’s apartment.

“Oh thank god you’re here!” Katrina yelled as she walked out of her bedroom only to stop in surprise when she saw Blake. “Blake? What are you doing here?”

“Surprise….” Blake said quietly when he noticed that Katrina didn’t look happy to see him.

“Changmin flew him out for your birthday. It was planned long before you came for work.” Civannah informed Katrina as she took a seat on Katrina’s couch. “You could look a bit more excited to see him. It’s not like you’re hiding your boyfriend from him?” Civannah laughed.

“You have a boyfriend?” Blake asked confused.

“I don’t. Civannah was just joking around.” Katrina said, giving Civannah a glare.

“Anyway. Civannah said you had something you wanted to talk about? Lay it on us.” Blake said, taking a seat on the same couch as Civannah.

Katrina sighed and walked over to the loveseat almost across from the couch.

“I’m gonna leave Seoul.”

“You just got here!” Blake exclaimed, trying to hold back his happiness.

“And my work here is almost done. Well, in person anyway. I guess idol world is peak exposure in January.” Katrina said, rolling her eyes. “But I’ll just handle that from wherever I go. I’m a night owl anyway, so it won’t be too hard.”

“So you’re coming back to Cali?”

“For a bit. I’m not too sure where I’ll go; maybe back home to Coral Creek?” Katrina shrugged looking over to Civannah. “Before I leave, the only thing I ask is that you finally talk with Changmin.”

“What is it to you if I talk to him or not? What happened to you not liking idols?” Civannah said, finally speaking for the first time since she found out Katrina was leaving.

“I was wrong to just make that assumption. And I can see how much he cares about you. I’d like to know that no matter what, you’ll always have him by your side. It’ll ease me a bit to know that when I’m not able to protect you he’s there.”

“Protect me huh?” Civannah smirked. “You going behind my back and dating my boyfriend is protecting me?”

“Dating your boyfriend? I’m not dating Changmin. Are you nuts?!”

“That’s not like her at all, you know that Civannah. Why would you even think that.”

“Maybe it’s the date at the coffee shop they had. Or maybe it’s the hugs in my office and you saying you love him.”

“I never said that! I’ve never said I love Changmin.” Katrina fired back.

“I heard it myself.” Civannah said as she pulled out her phone and played the recording making Blake and Katrina’s face drop.

“I can explain.” Katrina said, trying to keep her cool and not add fuel to the fire.

“You can explain how you betrayed me.”

“I didn’t betray you. It’s all a misunderstanding. Me and Changmin were only-”

“Save it!” Civannah yelled,cutting Katrina off. “I’ll deal with him later, but you. Consider this sistership, this friendship over.”

“Civannah, you don’t mean that. Just listen to me.”

“Why!? So you can feed me some bull that you and he already planned in case you got caught? I don’t want to hear it. I thought you were my friend, but you were just like everyone said.”

“Like everyone said?” Katrina questioned.

“Yeah. Selfish. You’re very secretive. You explode over the stupidest things and show your real side, like you did in California with Jongin. You’re very manipulative. You know how to wrap the right people around your finger. You got Blake wrapped around your finger and he doesn’t even know that you’ve done the same to Jongin, let alone that you don’t see him as anything more than a friend.” Civannah spoke, not stopping even though she knew what she was saying was wrong. She didn’t really think this way about Katrina,but she wanted Katrina to taste some of the hurt that had been bestowed upon her.

“Get out.” Katrina said quietly as she turned her now ice cold, emotionless eyes away from Civannah and headed to her room, shutting and locking the door behind her.

“What the was that Civannah?!”

“I- I didn’t….she’s not….”

“If you had a problem you could have talked to her properly. You didn’t even let her speak. Did it ever occur to you that she may have been trying to be a good friend and do her job at the same time? She works PR for s sake.”

“If that was the case she would have told me.”

“Do you think she tells you everything!? You didn’t tell her about Changmin and let’s face it, if it wasn’t for her coming to Korea, Changmin pushing for you to tell, and you and Changmin having an argument, she still to this day would not know. She’s had four bad birthdays in a row, I won’t let her have a fifth. Why don’t you head back to the hotel? I’ll get her to the party on time.” Blake spoke, turning away from Civannah and heading in the direction of Katrina’s door.

Civannah watched Blake’s figure disappear around the corner. She ed up and she knew she did. How could she for a minute let her mind be tempted to think her best friend would do that to her? Was she that insecure in her relationship with Changmin?

Civannah walked out of Katrina’s after when she woke from her semi daze to Blake practically begging Katrina to open the door of her room.

“Four bad birthdays I’m a row huh? Cheers to number five. The best ing present I could ever give her.”Civannah internally though as she made her way back to her car to head to the hotel.