Ah, It's been so looooong~ I recently got a concussion, so this chapter took awhile. So sorry. Enjoy the 20th CHAPTER!!!~ -Eruen
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Baekhyun looked at his phone, not feeling too well. His call with Nicole had disconnected for some reason and she had not called back. Nicole was not one to not call back.

Of course, the fact that she had seen him making out with a mutual friend of theirs wasn't a good feeling either.

Baekhyun just couldn't figure out why he wasn't getting any calls from Jessica. He had been expecting one for the past hour and was still nervously pacing around his room trying to figure out how to explain this to anyone that would listen or care to hear his side of the story. But who would want to do that? He knew no one would care about how CL had seduced him and how this was not his fault at all. Of course, this "affair" as people would call it, had been going on for a month and a half. Baekhyun knew the exact date CL had first kissed him. He had no idea anymore when his and Jessica's anniversary was. CL needed some sort of escape from everything she was dealing with with T.O.P, and Baekhyun had provided a perfectly good, non-commitment way for her to feel better. At least, that's what he thought of it.

Baekhyun looked around his room again. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at his phone. There were no new messages, no new calls, nothing. His ringer was set as high as it would go just in case, but nothing had happened. He wanted to call Jessica, to ask what was going on. It was better than sitting in his room all day waiting for her to break up with him, so Baekhyun picked up his phone and dialed 2, which automatically called Jessica's phone. He waited for only one ring until she picked up, which was customary, she had never let the phone ring more than that when he called. 

"Hey," Jessica said happily. "How are you? How's it going?"

Baekhyun was surprised at her happy tone of voice. "Just, uh, wanted to call and....see how you were doing! I haven't heard your voice in so long, I miss you." He was partly lying, he hadn't really missed her that much.

Jessica made some sort of elated noise. "Well I'm fine. Do you want to go out for kimchi tonight?" Baekhyun paused for ten seconds, not knowing whether or not to say yes. He had to tell her he had been cheating, though. The guilt was eating him alive. And what better way to break a girl's heart then over some delicious food?

"Sure, I'll go. The kimchi place down the street from my house?" He asked.

"Yep," She answered happily. "I love you. See you then."

"I...I love you too." They both hung up at the same time.

Baekhyun really didn't want to do this. He didn't want to tell Jessica that he had been cheating. But he had to. It wasn't fair to her at all, and Baekhyun wanted Jessica to be happy, simple as that.

But, oh God, did he not want to do this.

Yet he grabbed his coat and waved goodbye to his parents as he practically ran out the door. They were used to him going out late at night, he had been secretly seeing CL for the past month and a half. There was a gust of wind as he walked down the street, and he pulled his gray jacket closer around him for warmth. It was Feburary, almost March, and it couldn't have been colder. Baekhyun could see the lit up sign in the window of the kimchi place he and Jessica had gone to so many times at the beginning of their relationship. The owner of the kimchi shop knew exactly who the two of them were, and he greeted Baekhyun openly and ushered him into his favorite booth, facing the window. Jessica entered almost a minute after, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. She looked beautiful nonetheless to him, and he greeted her with a warm kiss. "Hello, my love." Baekhyun said, and he wrapped his arms around her. They sat in their booth together.

"So...What's been going on?" Jessica asked. "I haven't seen you in awhile, other than school, of course." She smiled sweetly.

Baekhyun sighed. "Well, Jess, I wanted to talk to you about that, actually," Jessica looked awfully confused, and Baekhyun continued. "I just think that we..."

He paused. Jessica looked over at him. Baekhyun's mind was racing, and his heart was pounding. He didn't want to tell her anything. But he had kind of left her hanging, so he had to keep on talking, make something up at the very least.

"Are...you...breaking up with me?" Jessica asked. Her eyebrows furrowed and she backed up against the wall of the booth defensively. Her expression wasn't exactly reflecting a positive emotion, she looked like she was ready to cry, throw a fit, or both. Jessica opened again to speak.

Baekhyun started to speak though. "No, Jessica, honey! What...what are you talking about?" He started to laugh unsteadily and Jessica's angry expression faded. Baekhyun had to think of something quickly to account for what he had just said. "I was just thinking that, you know, we've been dating for awhile now. And I really want to, uh, let you know how much you mean to me.  You're really special to me, and I know that I really don't want to let you go anytime soon. I just wanted to tell you that. I love you, Jessica. I don't love anyone else and I never will."

They kissed.

Sohee was consumed in her own problems right now. She was housing Nicole for the night, and they were sitting in mid-silence, the only sounds being Nicole's quiet sobs and Sohee yawning. It was now 10:00 PM, and by the looks of it, neither of them were going to get any sleep that night. Sohee looked at her phone. She had T.O.P had been texting the entire night since the incident, and T.O.P had informed her of everything that had happened after she and Nicole ran away. She had also texted Minhyun about the whole thing, but he hadn't responded. Sohee wasn't exactly sure how everything was going to play out in school tomorrow, but she was just focused on helping Nicole.

"Sohee..." Her soft voice floated through the air. "What...What happened to Kris? Is he okay? I saw... T.O.P punched him..."

Sohee immediately smiled as sweetly as she could. "He's fine, T.O.P says he's just a little sore is all..." Nicole went back to crying. Sohee didn't even know what to do at that point, but she tried to carry a conversation nonetheless. "Are you feeling okay? I can get you more ice, if you want."

"OUR FRIEND GROUP IS AWFUL." Nicole practically yelled back at Sohee. There was a moment of silence. Then Nicole continued. "KRIS HIT ME. MINHYUN AND CL DON'T WANT TO TALK TO US. GD IS USING HYUNA. REMEMBER BEFORE THE ACCIDENT WITH KRIS I WENT BACK TO FIND MY PURSE?! THAT WAS A ING LIE. I SAW BAEKHYUN AND CL MAKING OUT. SO BAEKHYUN. IS CHEATING. ON JESSICA. AND WHO KNOWS HOW LONG KRIS AND I WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO STAND WITH THE WHOLE ISSUE WITH MINHYUN?! GYURI IS PROBABLY TRYING TO RUIN OUR LIVES RIGHT NOW FOR STEALING HER BEST FRIENDS. AND THE WORST THING IS THAT WE HAVE AUDITIONS FOR SM, YG, AND JYP IN FIVE, ALMOST FOUR, MONTHS! THEN WE PROBABLY WON'T EVEN SEE EACH OTHER EVER AGAIN! AND THEN IF SOME OF US DON'T GET IN, THEN IT'S EVEN LESS OF A CHANCE! DON'T YOU SEE, SOHEE?! ALL WE HAVE IS EACH OTHER. FRIENDS ARE MOST IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW. BUT WE DON'T HAVE ANY! YOU AND T.O.P HAVE THE NICEST RELATIONSHIP RIGHT NOW, AND WE'LL SEE HOW LONG THAT LASTS."

Nicole took a deep breath, then just started crying again. Sohee was absolutely speechless.

Minhyun looked over at his phone, which had been buzzing intermittently for a few minutes. He had seven new texts, from...

He checked the addresses.

Five from CL (no surprise there), and two from...Sohee. Oh God. He didn't want to talk to Sohee right now, because it was probably about Nicole. And he didn't want to hear anything about Nicole, because that linked right to Kris. And he and CL were still planning on how to get back at Sohee and Kris for hurting them so badly. But he took a look at the ones that Sohee had sent him nonetheless.

Sohee:

Minhyun, we...We need to talk. Seriously. Nicole and T.O.P and I...we need you back. You're the voice of reason. We're going crazy here, the four of us. Sensible Sohee doesn't exist without you.
-Ahn Sohee

Minhyun's heart started racing. He had no idea what had happened, and why she hadn't included Kris in that list. He read the next message quickly.

Sohee:

Minhyun, I know you're not going to answer this, but I think you deserve to know. Kris hit Nicole. He punched her in the face. She's sitting at my house, crying her eyes out. She needs you, Minhyun. She needs someone steady to hold on to. Who knows how long T.O.P and I can last. But you owe it to Nicole for walking out on us like this. You're the only stable one, the only one with nothing to hide...
She needs you, Minhyun. We all do. Please, consider. Talk to me tomorrow and tell me what you think.
I miss you.
-Ahn Sohee

Minhyun read that last text once. He read it again. He didn't care about the begging fluff as much as he cared about those two sentences, which rang in his head and his heart.

Kris hit Nicole. He punched her in the face.

The adrenaline rush was coming. Minhyun could feel it coursing through his veins now, and all he wanted to do was make sure Kris would pay for this. For hitting his true love, his only love. And he knew that, to get back at him, he would have to ask his sister for help. Because, after all, he knew how well his sister could ruin people's lives. All he had to do was get her to ruin Kris and then he would have Nicole! It seemed like the simplest, easiest solution.

So, Minhyun stood. He ignored all the texts from CL, even though he probably shouldn't have. Instead, he walked over to Gyuri's room, banged on the door, and walked right in.

He and Gyuri were going to ruin Kris, make Nicole happy, and bring the friend group back together. Well, he didn't really care if the friend group got back together. He just wanted to make Nicole feel better. Screw Sohee, she just gave him the excuse to be able to make Kris's life miserable and not get crap about doing it.

Sohee had finally gotten Nicole to settle down and go to sleep. She was about to fall asleep as well, until her phone buzzed with a new text. She picked it up and opened the message.

Minhyun:

I have everything under control. I will fix this.

And, for once, Sohee knew she had done something right. 

Even though, as we all know, she had made a terrible mistake.