Ae-rin arrived at the restaurant early for the dinner with Sarang. She had never been to one of these meet your EX’s new girlfriend things before. Who knew what happened at these things.

Even though Su-ji, Jin-ah and Shin-hye had gone through various scenarios, all of them bad, she still wanted to go to the meeting. She wasn’t going to lie, she wanted to meet Sarang and hear what the younger woman had to say. Would she apologise or ask to be friends or maybe she’d blame Minsook.

She was so excited; she couldn’t sleep or eat, and her hands had been shaking so much that she couldn’t apply makeup properly so ended up going for a toned-down look. She was wearing her go-to outfit of smart tailored black slacks and a black shirt with a collar bow. Her hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail which ended down her lower back.

She looked neat, powerful and in control and that was what she wanted Sarang to see. Ae-rin imagined Sarang telling Min-sook later on that Ae-rin unnie was fine and she wasn’t sad and moping. Then Minsook would wonder if it was true and phone her himself. Ae-rin knew Minsook. She probably knew him better than anyone. He’d wonder why she is fine and as much as he’d moved on with Sarang, he would be angry to think that she’d moved on too quickly.

He’d phone and then she’d get him to meet with her and once they were alone Ae-rin knew he’d remember why they were so good together.

It was all planned out which was why when twenty minutes into their dinner, Sarang picked up a glass of water and dropped it over her own head, Ae-rin could only watch in horror and then terror when she realised the waitress was filming the scene.

“Un-unnie…” Sarang whimpered and started to cry softly, “Why would you throw water on me…I just came to talk…I wanted to explain…” she coughed and reached with shaking hands for a napkin and dabbed her face, “Is this why you called me here?” her shoulders shook.

Ae-rin knew better than to say anything. The waitress stopped recording and nodded to Sarang, who immediately stopped crying.

Ae-rin reached for another napkin and held it out to her, “Chukahae…you got me good.”

Sarang shrugged, “Nothing personal unnie but my reputation is really suffering right now. I knew you wouldn’t mind since I’m still young and you’re an established actress. You always talk about helping the youth.”

“I live to serve.” Ae-rin nodded at the waitress, “Serve the wine. You…” she turned to Sarang, “Kojo.”

Sarang didn’t seem put out by Ae-rin’s cold tone. She reached for her bag and pulled out a change of clothes and stepped into the adjoining bathroom and when she emerged, she was dressed in a tracksuit and her makeup was reapplied, “Unnie. I will be going now. Thanks for dinner but I have other plans.” She blew a kiss at Ae-rin, “I’m going to edit this.” She took the phone from the waitress and left the room.

The waitress stood there, trembling, she’d been left alone. What if Ae-rin attacked her? No, this top actress wouldn’t stoop that low. She felt a little bad for helping out Cho Sarang, but she needed the money. She was a big fan too! It made it so much worse that the actress was so calm and collected. Maybe if she shouted or tried to get her fired.

Ae-rin waited for the wine to be served, “It’s alright.” She quietly told the waitress. “There must be a reason right? Hopefully, it is better than you just hate me.” She was quiet then, “I wonder – this must be the quiet before the storm.”

Jungkook watched the video again. He groaned. It was really bad and Ae-rin was getting a lot of hate. People had created groups and chatrooms just to throw hate and dissect the video and comment in Cho Sarang’s favour.

He’d tried to call Ae-rin but he wasn’t surprised that her phone was off. He was worried that she’d do something like get drunk and act out. He needed to find her before she got hurt. It was driving him crazy thinking she was out there somewhere, alone and vulnerable. Someone might hurt her. What if she ran into one of these Cho Sarang Support Groups?

He’d tried to call Shin-hye noona but her phone was also off and then he’d gone over for Jae-hyun hyung’s apartment to see if maybe Ae-rin was stalking Lee Min-sook again. He was relieved she wasn’t in front of his apartment again. But he still couldn’t find her and it was getting late.

“I’m sure noona is fine.” Taehyung tried to soothe his nerves, “Come on. We have to head to practice.”

“How do you expect me to act like everything is normal?”

Taehyung sighed, “I know you’re worried but don’t take it out on me.”

“You don’t understand.” Jungkook retaliated. “You never liked the fact that noona chose me, right? You thought you were the only special one, but she chose me!”

That hurt Taehyung, “Why are you acting like she actually gives a damn about you? You’re just her rebound and if Lee Min-sook wanted noona back she’d dump you so fast…” Jungkook shoved him.

“We’re not fighting over girls.” Taehyung stepped back, “We’re just not.” He turned and walked inside.

Jungkook tried calling Ae-rin again, the automated voice message annoyed him.

“Hey,” it was Yoongi this time, “Come on, we’re about to start.”

“In a minute hyung…” Jungkook tried to calm down. It was one thing to argue with Tae, but he didn’t want to lose control with everyone.

“Now.” Yoongi insisted and Jungkook put his phone away and followed his hyung inside.

Shin-hye trudged up the stairs to her front porch. What a day. That Sarang had done this on purpose. Shin-hye wanted nothing better than to teach her a lesson. What more did the want? She had stolen Minsook, got all the advice and acting jobs because she’d used her connection with Ae-rin and them!

They’d all helped because Ae-rin liked Sarang, Aerin saw something in Sarang that she wanted to nurture. Ae-rin wanted to help Sarang because if left alone, she’d end up being an extra on the fringe of the camera shot, barely noticed.

Now look what happened!

Shin-hye swore.

“Unnie…” Ae-rin turned over on the Chaise lounge and peeked over the top, “do you always swear when no one is around?”

Shin-hye dropped her shopping bags and walked over to the couch. She’d been worried and frustrated when she couldn’t find Ae-rin after the water throwing video had been released. But, here was Ae-rin, where she always could be found when she needed somewhere to escape to.

In the past Ae-rin would sit on that same couch and wait for Shin-hye. In the past Ae-rin would be crying over something Minsook did or din’t do. He forgot an anniversary or had to work out of town on her birthday or was cheating on her again.

Shin-hye opened the door, “Come inside. Have a shower and change into something more comfortable. I’ll order us dinner and we can hide away for a while.”

Ae-rin didn’t say anything but when they were inside the house and Shin-hye had locked up, she hugged her friend. “I’m going to be fine it’s just can unnie hug me?”

“Yeah, you’re going to be fine.” She rubbed Ae-rin’s back, “I give you permission to run away for a while.”

Ae-rin shook her head, “It’s better if I face the music and assess the damage. It’s a good thing we are almost done with the dram