Previously...

“No more drinks for you.” Taemin says, snatching the drink out of my hand. “I’ll be right back.” He says, whispering into my ear and I nod, leaning on the table of the bar. So comfortable. Mmm.

“Hey.” I hear a male voice behind me.

“Oh you’re back al-” I say, but get cut off by a pair of lips. They’re soft and hungry and taste slightly of alcohol. I try and push the person away, but they have a tight hold on my neck. I struggle for a while and slowly, I melt into the lips and deepen the kiss, he my lips, asking for entrance. Somehow in this kiss, instead of all the one’s I’ve had before, this one has an urgency to it, like the more we kiss, the more I’m hungry for more. A rough hand separates us and I see a bunch of people around us, taking pictures with their cellphones, staring at us with wide eyes and judging us with their whispers.

“.” Jonghyun says, backing up from me. I smack him across the face.

“You.” I hiss and see that Key was the one who separated us. Taemin, grabbed Jonghyun by the collar and dragged him outside.

XXX

“I’m glad you accepted the scholarship, BoA told me you sent her an email last night.” My dad says beaming at me and I freeze. What? When did I do that? Last night’s events come rushing back to me so fast that my head spins. “She told me to tell you that your plane leaves tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. at Incheon, better start packing now. We’ll send you the rest of your stuff by air once we have it packed up here.” My dad says. “I’ve called your school and made arrangements for your leaving already.” I nod, sending him a forced smile and he just pats me on the head. I grab the largest suitcase in our house and start packing my clothes and toiletries.

XXX

“Yeah.” I say to her. “Get out of my sight, I never want to see you again. Do you hear me? You’d think I really go back with you?” I say to Jonghyun, picking up my suitcase. I turn back and feel a small twang of guilt after seeing Jonghyun’s broken expression. This is for the best Jonghyun. I think to myself. The last thing I saw before I left Korea forever was airport security taking Jonghyun away. Good bye Korea. Good bye Jonghyun.

Mi Kyong's POV

“Please buckle your seat belts and return your seats and trays to an upright position.” A flight attendant says over the loudspeaker. I sigh, closing my laptop and putting it back into my backpack. I put my tray up and press a lever that makes my seat go up. The last time I was on a plane, I was on it with Jonghyun. I think back to when he came to find me at the airport. Does he really think that I was just going to allow myself to be played again? I already heard him. He said I was just a mistake.

“Excuse me, can you help me with this?” The elderly woman asks next to me and I smile, helping her return her seat to an upright.

“There you go.” I say when I’m finished and she smiles at me. She reminds me of the elderly woman who was at the airport last time and mistaken Jonghyun and I as a couple. Stop. I can’t think of this anymore. The more I think, the more bitter I get. You promised yourself you’d be stronger. I said to myself. Now look what happened. If only I had been a bit stronger. Stronger to push him away. I wouldn’t be in this mess.

“Park Mi Kyong-sshi!” A man calls for me at the airport lobby. I had just picked up my luggage. “BoA-sshi is waiting for you inside the car.” He reports, leading me to a black limo. It was 11 in the night.

“Ne, Kamsahamnida.” I say tiredly as he takes my luggage. He opens the door for me and inside, I see BoA sitting there happily.

“Annyeonghaseyo Mi Kyong-sshi!” She says to me and I bow 90 degrees to her.

“Annyeonghaseyo! BoA-sshi.” I say and she makes room for me to sit.

“None of that BoA-sshi stuff, just call me unni.” She says and I smile.

“Annyong BoA unni.” I say and she smiles at me happily.

“So, I’ve made arrangements with the school. They’re giving you a few days to pack and settle down. Here’s your package.” She says, handing me a thick manila envelope full of papers. “Placement tests will be next week, here, I gave you some material to study for them.” BoA says giving me a stack of books. “Hwaiting!” She says making the hwaiting sign with her arm and I return the symbol.

“Thanks so much!” I say gratefully.

“I hope you like your dorm, I had a bit of input on the design.” She says winking and I thank her graciously. We arrive at the dorm and she takes me to my building directly.

“Thank you so much for all of this!” I say and hug her. She hugs me back and smiles.

“Meet me for lunch tomorrow, 12:00 p.m. I’ll have my driver pick you up. I’ll be checking up on you regularly within the next week or so.” She says and waves to me as she walks away. I open my package and find my key card. I open the door and gasp. It was absolutely beautiful, it went above and beyond my room back at home. In this room, there was a window that stretched from floor to ceiling and from left side to right. I had a perfect view of the New York skyline in all its shining glory. The floor was a white marble flecked with gold coloured specks. The room in itself was very minimalistic. Although it wasn’t huge, it was way more than one person needed. Directly in front of me was a red sofa with a black rug underneath and a round glass coffee table. There were a few magazines scattered evenly along the surface as well as a potted plant. I touched the leaves of the flowers. Fake. Behind me was a flat screen television attached to the wall. I looked around and saw that up top there was a staircase running to a loft where there was a small office/study space set up.

“They weren’t kidding when they said it was prestigious.” I muttered to myself running my hand along the mocha drapes. The kitchen was lit with tube pendant lights that illuminated the black granite counter tops. The contrasting white cupboards gave a warm feeling while still looking sleek and modern. In fact, the whole room looked sleek and modern. I walked to the other side of the room where there was a french door leading to my room. The room itself was very simple, with a black iron daybed and a brown dresser. The carpet was cream coloured and the walls were a light blue. I opened up my walk in closet and found that it was a quarter the size of my room. I stepped inside and found a full length vanity attached to one wall. The other three sides were covered in hooks and rings. Two sides were empty while one side had a full wall of uniforms. The uniforms were composed of a white collared blouse with a grey plaid skirt, a black tie and black knee socks. There were also black vests and blazers to match overtop. Underneath the wall with the uniforms lay two pairs of black shoes; a pair of black flats that had on the bottom left side of the top and another pair of closed-toe black pumps. Besides the uniforms, they also sent over a set of pajamas. Tired, I quickly unpacked and brushed my teeth. I put on my pajamas and slipped into bed, setting the alarm for 6:00 a.m. I sighed, hoping I would be able to make some new friends at this foreign school.

“Catch me if you can!” The girl yelled to the boy as she ran through the tall grass, the wind blew her hair behind her like a flag and the sun shone down on her face. The girl smiled as she saw the boy run after her. It was pure bliss being with the boy, if she could’ve the girl swore she would’ve flown into the sky at the pure elation she was experiencing.

“I’m gonna get you.” The boy yells, teasing. Suddenly, the ground splits open and the boy stays trapped on the other side. An anguished cry and a panicked expression crosses the boy’s face as he falls deep into the crack. The girl watches helplessly as he falls listening to his screams but what came next made the screams seem like music, what came next was absolute silence. The ground closed up, swallowing the boy and the sun returned from behind the clouds. The girl sat on the grass weeping. Weeping. Weeping.

I was jolted awake by my obnoxious alarm clock that echoed off the walls. I shut the alarm off with a shaky hand. My body was damp with sweat even though I had kicked off the blankets sometime during the night. My face was damp with tears. That dream. I shuddered at the memory of it as I sat up from my bed. I walked into the bathroom, my feet embracing the cool tiles and stripped off my clothes to take a shower. I welcomed the cold water that sent shivers down my spine and washed the nightmare down the drain. I let my thoughts on the dream clear and quickly ran through a to-do list in my head. It was going to be a long day. I stepped out of the shower wrapping a fluffy towel around myself and zipped open my suitcase pulling out the first “outfit” I saw which turned out to be a pair of flare jeans and a t-shirt with a cat that said “bite me” on it. I also ended up with a pair of unmatching socks. Wonderful. After I got dressed, I unpacked all of my things into my dresser and hung up some of my clothes. I sorted my toiletries into my bathroom where they belonged and then made my way over to the kitchen to cook breakfast.

“I wonder what they’re doing back at home.” I mutter to myself, feeling lonely by myself in the large apartment. I sit down at the table that was too big for just me and start eating the waffles I had made. I discover a remote on my kitchen counter that allows me to play any song I wanted through the speakers that were built into the wall of my dorm. I sigh and play some Mozart to fill the silence of me eating by myself and flip through one of the magazines. I hear a knock on my door and close the music, I check my watch. It was only 9:30, I wasn’t meeting BoA until 12:00, who could it be? I open the door and see the delivery man.

“Package for Miss Park?” He asks.

“That’s me.” I reply and he hands me a clipboard to sign, handing me a small brown package with no sender on it.

“Good day miss.” He says and walks away. I close the door and cut open the brown tape holding the packaging together and gasp at what I find inside.

“The teddy bear.” I whisper to myself to see that someone had glued it back together and sent it back to me. I sort through the styrofoam peanuts looking for a clue, a note, anything that elluded to my mysterious sender. I looked at the bear to see what I would feel. What kind of emotions would I have when the greatest day of my life, turned into the worst. Pain? Sorrow? Anger? I stood there, trying to feel something, anything at all when the sudden realization hit me. I felt nothing. Nothing at all.

Jonghyun’s POV

“And stay away from her. Do you hear?” Taemin asks, grabbing my collar and slamming me into the wall one last time. I didn’t do anything to defend myself, I didn’t meet his eyes. I deserved to be beat up, I took advantage of her when she was drunk. I was a monster. Taemin walks off and slams the glass door so hard, it rattles the entire frame and threatens to fall off.

“I turn my back on you for a second and I find you making out with that ?” Mi Cha approaches me, slightly hysterically.

“Don’t call your sister that.” I warn her in a low voice.

“Oh, so you’re defending her now?” She asks. “What, have you two been seeing each other behind my back the entire time?” She yells at me and I don’t meet her eyes. “Look at me you son of a !” She yells at me, yanking my head to meet her eyes.

“No, you don’t get it, it’s not like that.” I say and brace myself for the slap that’s about to come.

“What do you mean huh?” Mi Cha asks, tears streaming down her face and I feel guilty. Guilty that I didn’t have enough self control, regret that I let things get out of hand but did I regret kissing her? Never. 

“It was a mistake.” I say and wait for the slap to come again. I see Mi Cha raise her hand but she bites her lip and stops her hand mid way. Her hand shakes and drops down to her side, something in her breaks and she collapses on the floor, rocking back and forth.

“Explain.” She commands, hiccuping from her tears. I sit down next to her and tell her the whole story. By the end, she’s still silent and I sit quietly beside her, waiting for her response. The world seems to spin, but that might just be the vodka. Mi Cha gives me one last look before getting up silently and walking away. In that one action, so many unspoken words were exchanged. Words like I’m sorry that I hurt you. Words like I apologize. Words like it’s okay, but no words like I forgive you. In fact, I’m almost positive that Mi Cha will never fully forgive me and I hate myself for it. I see Taeyeon run out the door in a fit and I get a glimpse of Key chasing out after her. He sees me and pauses briefly.

“I get it Jonghyun. You love her but you could’ve handled that situation a million times better.” Key says quietly, each word cutting into me like a knife.

“I know. I’m sorry.” I say and Key shakes his head.

“Sorry isn’t going to cut it Jonghyun. Not this time.” He says before breaking into a sprint to catch up with Taeyeon. I sigh and burry my face into my hands. I walk back into the club and see Onew consoling Mi Cha. He speaks to her softly, comforting her. He looks at her so tenderly. I know he’s the perfect one for her. He sees me and gives a harsh glare in my direction. Mi Cha is still sobbing on him with her back facing me so she doesn’t realize my presence.

“You really messed up this time, huh?” Sulli says approaching me by the lonesome corner I happened to be standing in.

“That’s an understatement.” I say darkly and she chuckles.

“Well wonder boy, tell me, how are you going to dig yourself out of this one?” Sulli asks.

“I don’t know.” I answer softly and Sulli looks at me with a pained expression. “I don’t know.” I whisper to myself. How could I, in a night, have lost everything that was important to me?

“It’ll blow over. Things always do. Wounds heal and scars fade.” She says to me softly but her tone hardens, “But they become a part of who you are. Every night Mi Kyong will ask why and every day Mi Cha will wonder if she wasn’t good enough for you. You, Jonghyun, you will have to live with that.” She says, with a cold glare in her eyes.

“I know.” I say.

“You love her Jonghyun. I can see you’re hurting too. But you know what? It was your fault. You’ve fallen prisoner to your desires and lack of self control.” She says and she’s right. I don’t respond. “You almost lost Minho and all your friends once because of me. Don’t let it happen again because of Mi Kyong and Mi Cha.” She says softly.

“Thank you Choi Jinri.” I say, using her real name, addressing her formally as Minho’s younger sister.

“You’re welcome. She says smiling, patting my shoulder lightly before leaving as quickly as she came. The only thing that remains is the scent of her perfume in the air. The scent that used to be a big part of my life. We went from strangers back to strangers. I sigh. She was right, I couldn’t afford losing my friends again, if I did, I would lose my mind. I was going to have to work for it. I called a cab and went home.

Mi Kyong’s POV

“Annyeonghaseyo!” I greeted BoA, bowing 90 degrees and was surprised to see two people with her.

“Mi Kyong-sshi, come sit down!” She says, gesturing to the open chair between the two strangers.

“This is Amber, she’s president of the student council and the other one is Henry, he’s the head of student activitie