tiest chapter ever I'm so sorry forgive me

As Mary Sue, you took a deep breath and prepared yourself for the most subtly significant, well-executed expository plot forwarding that has ever been established in the story thus far.

“Hey,” you said, suddenly getting an idea. “You guys should all show up at the club tomorrow. I heard everyone’s going to be there.” If the gang were to show up as well, this prophecy would come true.

The entire gang agreed wholeheartedly that this was a good idea. You were relieved at getting that bit of exposition out of the way before you went home.

“I don’t understand,” Chanyeol whined with his face pressed into the table. “Why won’t she just talk to me?!”

“Why can’t she just understand that I’m gay?!” Jonghyun added.

“OH MY ING GOD!” Key slammed both fists on the table loudly. “Can we not get through ONE SCENE without either of you whining about Mary Sue?? Why does EVERYTHING have to revolve around her?? WHY CAN’T WE JUST HAVE A DAY WHERE WE DON’T TALK ABOUT HER FOR ONCE??”

“Key’s right,” Krystal piped up.

“Thank you!” Key cried, exasperated.

“We can have fun without Mary Sue!” she went on.

“I’ve been trying to say that all along!”

“We should all meet up at the club tonight,” she suggested with a smile.

“That’s a great idea, Krystal!” he said with uncharacteristically enthusiastic approval.

“Besides, I heard everyone’s gonna be there. Maybe we’ll run into Mary Sue!”

“Oh ing hell,” Key muttered on an exhale, slamming his face down on the lunch table.

“And she’s still not talking to me”—

“Okay, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun turned around abruptly as they walked into the former hideout. “I know I’m your best friend and I’m supposed to be there for you when you’re going through a hard time and everything,” he said. “But you’re really starting to sound redundant. You need to get over Mary Sue.”

“He’s still complaining about her?” Kai droned, walking in from the kitchen followed by Kyungsoo. “You need something better to do with your time, man. I think this whole losing our purpose thing has taken a toll on you.”

“At least I’m not complaining about how there aren’t anymore vampires to fight,” Chanyeol argued. “I’m complaining about real life problems.”

Kai scoffed. “At least I’m not complaining anymore,” he retorted. “I’ve found something better to do with my time.”

“Yeah, well at least I have other friends besides the Hunters.”

“At least I’m getting laid,” Kai spat back with a smirk.

“Okay!” Kyungsoo cut in. “I have an idea. How about we all go out tonight, get out of this place and do something. All of us. How does that sound?”

“I can’t,” Chanyeol said, slouching his shoulders. “I’ve already got plans.”

“What plans?” Baekhyun asked.

“I said I’d go to the club tonight,” Chanyeol said. “With my friends,” he added with a pointed look at Kai.

Baekhyun seemed to think of something. “Will Sunny be there?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol answered. “Everyone’s going to be there.”

“Where are you off to all dressed up?” your mom said from your doorway.

You glanced up from your made-up reflection momentarily to answer her. “I’m going to the club tonight with my friends.”

“Oh, are you going with Chanyeol?”

“No,” you said. “I’m going with my friends. Everyone’s gonna be there.”

“I haven’t seen him around much, are you guys doing okay?”

“Yeah, mom.” You were barely listening as you stood up to throw on some shoes and a jacket. “I have to go, bye!” And you scampered past her out the door without another glance in her direction.

Jonghyun stared blankly at the ceiling. He felt like he was stuck in a hole in the ground and he couldn’t figure out a way to climb back out of it. If he didn’t soon, he might start getting buried.

He couldn’t even muster up the strength to improve this metaphor. Basically everything .

“You know,” said a soft voice from his doorway, “it seems like both of you grew up so fast that I barely had a chance to notice. And now you two are independent young adults and you don’t need me anymore.”

Jonghyun sat up and pulled a leg up to his chest. He couldn’t really think of anything to say to his mother. There was so much he was keeping inside, but at this point he didn’t even know where to begin, so he just kept silent.

“Your sister’s going out tonight,” she continued. “What about you?”

He shrugged. “I guess I’m going to the club,” he muttered. “Since everyone’s gonna be there.”

His mom smiled somewhat sadly. “Do you want some help getting ready?”

He didn’t really need help. He would just throw on some jeans and—

“I’ll do your makeup,” she offered.

Oh. He rubbed his face exhaustedly. “Alright,” he sighed.

As he sat in his desk chair letting his mom dust his face with whatever it was she was applying, he listened to the soothing sound of her humming “Mary Had a Little Lamb” under her breath. It was somewhat relaxing, and it felt nice being taken care of like this. But mostly he just felt tired and defeated.

“Open your eyes,” she told him, and he obeyed. His mother gave a watery-eyed smile and sighed. “You have such beautiful dark brown eyes,” she commented. “Just like your sister.”

He looked in the mirror. Okay, he looked pretty good with the dramatic cat eye accentuating his features. “Thanks, mom,” he murmured, and stood up to put on the stilettos she had picked out for him. “I have to go. I love you.” He pecked her on the cheek on his way out the door.

You could hear the bass from the parking lot, a low primal rhythm that travelled through the ground and into your bones. When you hobbled through the door on your platforms, you were hit by the thick humid air of sweat and body heat. There were so many people packed in here, it was like everyone was at the club tonight! The only lighting was black lights, strobe lighting that made the dance floor flash like a quick slide show, and some colored lighting around the bar area.

You got the feeling tonight was going to be intense.

The first face you recognized was Himchan, who had spotted you and started waving you over.

“Hey!” you greeted him over the loud music. “Are you having fun?” You felt like you were screaming, but you could barely hear yourself.

He shook his head. “No, I’m not here with anyone!”

You frowned slightly. “Why not?” you asked.

The question seemed to make him nervous. Had something bad happened? “I didn’t know who to ask!” he said.

“What?!”

He leaned closer. “I didn’t have anyone to go with me!”

“You don’t need a date!” you exclaimed. Nobody needs a date to have fun!

“Really?” His eyes lit up, reflecting the dark pools of dancing bodies.

“Yeah!”

“Mary Sue, you don’t know what this means to me!”

“Who’s being mean to you?”

Himchan bit his lip in hesitation. As he did so, you were suddenly distracted from him by the presence of a couple of the gang members who had just walked through the door.

“Can I tell you something?” Himchan asked, but you couldn’t hear him over the music and your own, “Hey guys!” as you made your way over to greet Zico and G-Dragon.

There she was, Chanyeol thought. He had seen Mary Sue as soon as she walked in the door. He guessed he was just sensitive to her presence, never mind the fact that he had been staring unblinkingly at that door since he’d arrived twenty minutes ago.

About nineteen minutes ago, Baekhyun decided he was fed up with Chanyeol’s obsessiveness and wandered off somewhere else, saying something about a couple soon to be broken up. Chanyeol wished his best friend would talk about him with a little more sensitivity than that.

“Who’s that guy?” Kai asked from beside him, nodding in Mary Sue’s direction.

Oh, so she’ll talk to that Himchan guy but not to him? Chanyeol really hated that guy. He had never spoken to him, but this Himchan character seemed really shifty to him. What kind of guy dates a girl who was already dating another guy that she was cheating on another guy with?

“That’s Himchan,” Chanyeol answered bitterly. “The most popular guy in school. Or at least he was when he and Mary Sue were still together.”

From what Chanyeol had heard about him from Krystal, Himchan probably only wanted to date Mary Sue because it would make him the most popular guy in the school again.

“Man,” Kai said, watching the two across the room. “Bet that , seeing your girlfriend flirt with her ex boyfriend.” He nudged Chanyeol with his elbow.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol said. “Thanks, Kai. That really makes me feel a lot better.”

“He’s got better game than you do,” Kai said, ignoring the other’s remarks. “At least he’s actually initiating conversation with her.”

“Yeah, well maybe my fist will initiate conversation with his face!” Chanyeol spat out.

Kai raised his eyebrows at him and patted his shoulder. “If you had the balls to do that, my friend, you wouldn’t be in this pathetic predicament of yours.”

You know what? Maybe he would go over there and punch Himchan in the face. Right in front of Mary Sue! That would remind her how manly and protective her boyfriend is.

“You know what?” Chanyeol said to Kai. “I will go punch him in the face.”

“Will you now.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol said without waiting for Kai’s response. He was getting riled up now. “Yeah, I’m gonna go over there and show him who’s actually dating Mary Sue. I’m her boyfriend, not him!”

“So go do it,” Kai encouraged monotonously.

“I will!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“Right now?”

“What?”

“You’re missing your chance,” Kai muttered, staring at Mary Sue and Himchan.

“What?” Mary Sue was walking away. “Where’s she going?”

“I dunno, but it looks like you won’t be proving anything to her yet.”

Chanyeol deflated. “I wish she’d just talk to me.”

Kai grumbled and dragged his hands over his face. “I’m going to dance. Let me know when you feel like doing something about your problems.”

Jonghyun trudged through the crowd and looked around. He could spot a few somewhat familiar faces. Most of the people he recognized were from school. Wow, it looked like everyone really was here tonight.

Near the bar, he noticed Nichkhun and some guy whom Jonghyun could swear he had met once before. Nichkhun was leaning over the other and smirking, the other looking flustered and a bit tipsy with his drink quivering in his hand. Jonghyun felt for the guy. He didn’t think he’d be able to withstand that kind of attention from the Casanova, especially under the haze of alcohol and colorful neon lighting. Nichkhun was in a stylish white jacket, clean and pristine—that is, for about three seconds from Jonghyun’s perspective until the other guy spilled his neon green drink all over him.

Nichkhun looked livid and the other guy faltered beneath his intimidating glare. “I’m so sorry! I… That’s a good color on you!” he said unhelpfully. It seemed like Nichkhun was about to retort when he noticed something behind the other guy and brushed past him.

It took Jonghyun a few seconds to realize that Nichkhun was heading straight for him, and he had no idea why. He and Nichkhun don’t talk, or at least not alone in one on one conversation. That dynamic was never explored between them, so what would bring Nichkhun to him now?

“Mary Sue!” Nichkhun greeted.

It was then Jonghyun remembered he was wearing the wig. And when he was wearing the wig…

“Hey, I’m glad you’re here,” Nichkhun said with a grin.

Jonghyun didn’t have the energy for this. He spared a tiny nod and smile and started looking around for a way out of this uncomfortable situation.

Someone else was staring at him. Some other guy from the popular crowd. What was his name? Minho?

Oh god, Jonghyun, look away. He didn’t need every guy in school making awkward eye contact and weird conversation with him because they thought he was his sister.

“You seem kinda distracted,” Nichkhun muttered. “Should we go somewhere more private?”

Absolutely not. “NO!”

Nichkhun looked slightly taken aback.

Jonghyun sighed. Well there was no need to ruin his sister’s friendships in any case. He tried to be more polite.

“I mean,” his eyes darted around like a trapped animal’s. “I’d rather just dance! Wouldn’t you rather dance? Let’s dance.” He took Nichkhun’s arm and pulled him to the edge of the crowd and commenced some sort of rhythmic movement that might be considered dancing.

Nichkhun smirked and leaned in close. Jonghyun held his breath and tried not to roll his eyes or lean away too much.

“Hey guys!” you said, coming up to Zico and G-Dragon. “How’s it going?”

“I’m just teaching Fettu-G-ni here a few fresh moves,” Zico informed with a cheeky smirk.

“T.O.P. class,” the other acknowledged.

“G-Dragon?” You almost didn’t recognize him with his long blond hair styled into cornrows streaming into braids.

“I’m Mr. G,” he answered. “In the club, in my B-Boy stance.”

You giggled. “Sounds like you guys have been really bonding!”

“Yeah, I… I braided his hair for tonight,” Zico muttered, rubbing a hand across the back of his head as if he had suddenly admitted something he wasn’t proud of.

“That looks like it was a lot of work,” you mused. “But I’m glad to see you two getting along!”

“Yep. I’m gonna go dance now,” Zico announced, waving at you and GD. “Bye guys. Hi ladies!” he exclaimed, facing the crowd with upheld arms.

You grinned and faced G-Dragon, about to ask him if he wanted to dance too, but he suddenly looked very serious and was staring in the direction Zico had just strode off to.

“What are you looking at?” you asked, trying to pinpoint the exact focus of his eyes, but you couldn’t.  You could only scan the crowd of people, half of them familiar, and wonder just what had made his expression so stony. “Why so serious?”

For some reason that seemed to snap him out of his reverie, but only for a moment, as he glanced at you and then immediately set off into the crowd, leaving you to watch the events about to unfold.

Chanyeol was absolutely flabbergasted. The second Mary Sue had walked away, some other chick (he vaguely recognized her from school, but she looked way too old to be attending) had approached Himchan and started talking to him and getting all cozy. Chanyeol couldn’t believe what he was seeing! Himchan was cheating on Mary Sue!

Oh, he was gonna get it now. Nobody cheats on his girlfriend!

Chanyeol clenched his fists and his jaw. Everything he could possibly clench, he clenched it. Then he strode stiffly into the crowd, already feeling the impact of Himchan’s jaw about to hit his knuckles.

He was right in front of him, and Chanyeol was reaching out to grab Himchan’s shoulder and spin him around when suddenly Himchan wasn’t in front of him anymore. In fact, he was on the ground, with some dude standing angrily over him, presumably having just punched him in the face.

Damn it!

Jonghyun was pressed against three other bodies in his efforts to prevent Nichkhun from being added to the list when there was a sudden commotion somewhere in the crowd and several people stopped dancing. He couldn’t really tell what was going on. Not even heels this high could help him see over all the heads between him and whatever that spectacle was. But Nichkhun was immediately distracted by it and he took a step back to see what was happening, and Jonghyun exhaled finally in relief.

“What’s going on?” Jonghyun asked, not even bothering to sound like Mary Sue. It’s not like anyone could really hear him.

Nichkhun glanced down at him apologetically. “I’m gonna have to catch up with you later, Mary Sue,” he said, and worked his way into the crowd.

Jonghyun was perfectly fine with that. In fact, he probably wouldn’t stick around where Nichkhun could easily find him. Mary Sue can juggle her social connections on her own tonight.

Speaking of social connections, Jonghyun wanted to find his friends. He started searching the crowd for them, but unfortunately he was interrupted by a hand on his arm.

“Excuse me,” said a low voice, and he looked up to see Minho staring down at him. Oh God, this was awkward. Jonghyun was apparently doomed to endure every single interaction he’d been hoping to avoid, and holy cow this guy was tall.

He didn’t even bother saying hi.

Minho seemed to be feeling quite awkward himself, judging by the way he cleared his throat and looked around before putting on a smile that looked almost forced. “So um, you made it,” he noted.

Jonghyun stared blankly at him and slowly nodded.

“Are you having a good time so far?” Minho asked, his eyebrows cinching together just slightly.

Jonghyun stared blankly at him and shrugged his shoulders, then nodded as a bit of an afterthought.

“Good,” Minho muttered, and cleared his throat again. “Okay,” he said, running a hand through his hair and dropping the smile. “Can I ask you something seriously?”

Jonghyun stared blankly at him. What did Minho want to ask him? Or rather, what did Minho want to ask Mary Sue?

Minho leaned in close so Jonghyun could hear him better. “How serious are you about Nichkhun?”

Wow. Jonghyun was not prepared for this. This wasn’t like before when he masqueraded as Mary Sue. At least then he had known what was going on. What was his sister getting up to with all these guys lately? He didn’t know what to think anymore.

Minho still had that questioning gaze directed at him so he had to think fast. “I’m sorry, I have to, um…” Without trying to finish that sentence Jonghyun just walked away.

“What the ?!” Himchan held a hand up to his mouth, looking up at the person who had just almost dislocated his jaw. He stood up and shoved GD’s chest. “Who do you think you are? Some kind of tough guy?”

“You know I beez that!” he responded, shoving Himchan back.

Himchan stepped up to GD, nose to nose, glaring at him intimidatingly. “You’re going to regret doing that,” he snarled. “I’m going to give you hell.”

GD only smirked at him and leaned closer. “So give me some.”

Before anybody could see what was happening, Himchan threw a right hook, which GD dodged by suddenly falling backwards. He appeared to stumble, swinging his arms as he fought to stand back up. It looked like he was losing his balance, but he was grinning the entire time.

“You’re crazy,” Himchan remarked, staring at the spectacle.

“Out of control!” the other said, straightening himself up. “Everybody make it move!” he ordered the crowd, gesturing them back with his arms as he sauntered back toward his opponent. With a crooked smirk, he muttered, “We gon’ party like lilililalala.”

The punch he threw was lightning fast. Nobody even realized that he threw it, not even Himchan, until the next moment.

Nichkhun suddenly stood there, gripping GD’s arm, his knuckles stopped mere inches from Himchan’s face.

“Not much of a party,” Nichkhun bantered coolly. “Where are all your friends?”

GD scoffed and snatched his arm out of the other’s grasp. “I’m all by myself,” he acknowledged. “But it’s all good.”

“He’s not alone,” came a voice emerging from the crowd behind G-Dragon. Zico stepped through the parting bodies, hands in his pockets, his eyebrow raised as he looked around at them, assessing the situation. His eyes landed on Nichkhun and stayed there, expression blank and unreadable.

Nichkhun glared right back at him, jaw visibly tensing. You could almost see the electricity cracking between them.

“These guys giving you trouble?” he asked Himchan.

Himchan gave G-Dragon a meaningful look and answered, “No trouble at all,” his words iced with a layer of sarcasm.

“Be sure to return the favor,” Zico remarked with a cold smirk.

Chanyeol was completely ing dumbfounded. How many guys was Mary Sue hanging out with nowadays? He didn’t even know these two, but it was obvious they were trouble because they just started a ing brawl in the middle of the club!

Granted, Chanyeol was just gearing up to do the same exact thing, but damn it these guys were not the kind of people Mary Sue should be hanging around! And now he didn’t know who he should punch in the face!

As the drama unfolded before all the club goers, he was beginning to fall under the impression that these guys knew Nichkhun and Himchan in a way. Like maybe they were old rivals or something.

When he actually paid close attention, he realized just who this whole fight revolved around. The older girl who was talking to Himchan just moments before that other guy beat Chanyeol to the punch had been standing on the edge of the action with the most shocked expression, and eventually she turned and pushed her way through the crowd, clearly unable to take anymore. Chanyeol vaguely wondered what the history was there.

Then he noticed Mary Sue follow her, and he sighed. Clearly he had no idea what was going on in his girlfriend’s life anymore.

He sluggishly pushed his way away from the surrounding crowd as well and stalked off to find more sympathetic company.

“Wait!”

Jonghyun cursed under his breath. Couldn’t he catch a break?

Apparently not, since Minho’s hand was now wrapped around his wrist and spinning him to face the taller guy.

And apparently Minho hadn’t really planned this far, because he didn’t say anything, just stared at Jonghyun with his mouth opening and closing like he just couldn’t find the words. Jonghyun had no idea what he even wanted from him, so there was no way he could come up with something to say to appease the guy so he could drop the subject and go on his merry way.

They stood, entangled and staring at each other like that for an indefinite amount of time, and that’s when Nichkhun extracted himself from the crowd. They both noticed him, and he stopped in his tracks at the sight of them together, his eyes darting from Minho’s face to Jonghyun’s before he averted his gaze and walked quickly away from them both, running his hands through his hair.

Jonghyun was so confused that he hardly noticed Minho had dropped his arm. He glanced questioningly up at him, and he sighed, seemingly no longer aware of Jonghyun’s presence as he too walked away, leaving Jonghyun standing alone and baffled.

Well then.

He guessed he was free to find his friends now.

As soon as you saw CL run away looking completely distressed, your super best friend instincts kicked in and you had to follow her to find out what was wrong. You managed to catch up to her in the girls’ bathroom, where she was sobbing in the handicap stall.

“CL?” You tentatively knocked on the stall door.

“Go away!” was the response.

“CL, what’s wrong?” you pressed. “Is it about Himchan?”

“He dumped me!” she cried, unable to hold it in. “He just left, and now he thinks he can just show up years later out of the blue and act like he owns me?!”

You frowned. “Himchan?”

“No!” she snapped, and sniffled loudly. “Jiyong!”

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Who’s Jiyong?” you murmured.

“The idiot with the yellow extensions,” she muttered icily.

“Oh, G-Dragon!”

There was a pause. “You know him?”

“Well, yeah,” you said. “We’re in a—uh, I mean, we go to the same…music class,” you improvised. “Like, lessons…outside of school,” you rambled, hoping it made your story more convincing. It was a good thing she couldn’t see your face through the stall door.

“Get out,” she ordered coldly.

“What?”

“Get out!” The stall door swung open and you were suddenly facing her murderous expression. “I don’t want to see your face, you filthy, two-timing !”

You didn’t have to be told twice. She was clearly too upset to reason with right now.

It was around the bar where Chanyeol almost instinctively found most of the other former Hunters hanging around. With a long exaggerated sigh, he slumped down on a stool and hunched over the fiberglass counter top, face in his hands.

“So,” Chen drawled, leaning on his elbow against the bar. “Who was that guy?” he asked, hardly able to conceal the blatant amusement in his voice.

“Which one?” Chanyeol asked bitterly. “The arrogant jerk, or the random spaghetti thug?”

“How about both?” Xiumin suggested, sitting on the other side of Chen.

Chanyeol let out a sigh before answering. “That’s Himchan,” he sneered. “The guy Mary Sue is cheating with on that guy she’s cheating on me with. I was gonna go punch him out to show him who Mary Sue’s boyfriend really is, but that other guy did it first.”

A sharp snorting sound cut through his train of thought as Xiumin started snickering rather loudly. “So,” he chuckles, as if trying to hold in his laughter. “He beat you to the punch?”

Chanyeol hunched his shoulders.

“Looks like you got all fired up for nothing,” Chen laughed.

“It was a rather hotheaded approach,” Xiumin added.

“Can you guys not?” Chanyeol muttered in irritation.

“Ooh, we should probably cut it out,” Xiumin said.

“Yeah,” Chen agreed. “I wouldn’t want to face his burning wrath.”

It took three seconds for them to burst into laughter, Chanyeol counted. He responded with a pointed sigh.

“I can feel the heat!” Xiumin laughed. “His anger is flaring up again!”

“He’s flaming mad!”

Suddenly, a loud distorted scream on Chanyeol’s right distracted all three of them as Lay fell off of his barstool and onto the floor, his shoulders raised up to his ears. Sehun and Luhan sat next to him, laughing hysterically.

“Uh,” came a strangely familiar voice from behind them. “Did we come at a bad time?”

You just had to figure out what was going on with CL and G-Dragon, and you knew just who to go to for some information.

“Krystal!”

She turned around and smiled brightly at the sight of you. “Oh, hi Mary Sue! It’s been a while,” she noted. “Is it true you stole CL’s ex boyfriend and are two-timing Himchan and Nichkhun while cheating on Chanyeol, all at the same time??” Her eyes were alit with scandalous curiosity.

You frowned. “No,” you denied. “Who would spread all those rumors about me?” You couldn’t imagine having the energy to even pull any of that off.

Krystal put a comforting hand on your shoulder. “I have no idea who would talk about you like that,” she said. “You’re the nicest girl anyone has ever met.”

You smiled. “Thanks Krystal.” Then you remembered your mission. “Hey Krystal, what do you know about CL and her ex-boyfriend?”

She frowned thoughtfully. “Not much,” she admitted. “Jessica knows a little more about it than me, actually.”

Jessica, who was standing nearby and listening to the whole conversation, stepped forward to form a small circle with you two.

“Jessica, what can you tell me about CL and G-Dragon?” you asked her expectantly.

She chewed on the corner of her lip as she thought. “Well they were together when they were both seniors,” she said. “Well, seniors for the first time at least.”

“So about four years ago,” Krystal supplied for you.

“About halfway through the year, Jiyong disappeared, and I guess he dumped CL before he just dropped out,” Jessica mused. “After that, she kinda turned into the monster she is today, failing classes and only caring about high school popularity.”

“So if we get them back together, she’ll go back to how she was before and maybe even finally be able to graduate, and then G-Dragon could leave the gang?” Your matchmaking mind was in overdrive.

“G-Dragon’s in a gang?” Krystal raised her eyebrows interestedly.

“What?” You shook your head quickly. “No, of course not,” you said, raising your voice slightly. “Is it loud in here, or is it just me?”

“It might just be you,” Jessica muttered, but you took no notice.

“We have to get them back together,” you insisted.

Jessica held up her hands in protest. “You’re on your own with that one.”

“Yeah, I don’t know enough about it to be able to help with that,” Krystal said, expression an image of vague sympathy.

“Well how can we find out more then?”

Jessica scoffed. “You could probably pry it out of 2NE1,” she remarked. “Since they were actually there.”

You hit your fist into your palm with a look of determination. “Then that’s what I’ll do!” you declared.

Ignoring their sudden arguments against this and their incredulous assertions that “you can’t just waltz right up to them and demand them to talk about their friend, expecting them to spill everything,” you turned your back on the two sisters and marched off to find the rest of 2NE1. They had to be somewhere around here. Everyone was at the club tonight.

“Tao?!”

“And Kris!”

Chanyeol and the rest of the Hunters stared at the new arrivals behind them, mouths gaping. Kris at least took a moment to help Lay off of the floor before responding.

“Hey guys!”

“Where have you been this whole time?” Luhan asked, completely incredulous.

“Yeah, where’d you end up going after you just up and left?” Lay added.

Kris scratched his chin. “Around,” he said. “Vegas mostly.”

“What the hell were you doing there?” Chen asked.

“That information is classified,” Tao stated.

The others regarded them with raised eyebrows and questioning expressions.

“You know what they say about Vegas,” Kris supplied, and they all nodded and made sounds of agreement.

“So what brought you back?” Suho asked.

“Well, we heard everyone was going to be at the club tonight,” Kris said.

“Wait, how did you hear about that if you were in Vegas?”

Kris didn’t acknowledge Sehun’s question, instead continuing with, “So we hitched our way back.”

Kyungsoo leaned in toward Sehun and whispered, “I guess word really does travel fast.”

Finally, some familiar faces Jonghyun actually wanted to interact with. He managed to locate Key and Amber on the edge of the dance floor just near the DJ. Amber was the first to notice him approaching, and the extremely amused grin that broke across her face, as she looked him over prompted Key to see what the spectacle was.

“What are you wearing,” Key demanded the moment he turned around and caught sight of Jonghyun.

Jonghyun looked sheepishly down at his appearance. “My mom helped me get ready for tonight,” he explained.

Key’s lips formed a thin line of frustration. “You still haven’t told them,” he concluded.

“Well, she just seemed so happy when I let her do my makeup—“

“Have you even bothered trying to come out to Mary Sue?” Key interrupted.

Jonghyun faltered. “No,” he muttered. “She wouldn’t understand, anyway.”

“He’s right,” Amber cut in, “Mary Sue kind of tends to deflect meaningful information like an inflatable shield rather than absorb it.”

Key ignored this. “Go tell her,” he said. “Make her understand.”

Jonghyun sighed. “Key, I can’t just waltz up to her and tell her that I’m gay.”

“Why not?” his boyfriend countered. “You wouldn’t know because you haven’t tried yet!”

“Well for one, I don’t even know how I would begin to find her in this place…” Jonghyun glanced around at the pressing bodies surrounding them.

Key sighed heavily and rubbed his face with his fingertips. “You know what? I’m going to dance,” he decided. “Let me know when you feel like doing something about your problems.”

With that, he stalked off to immerse himself deeper in the dancing crowd. Through the moving spaces between the bodies, Jonghyun caught a few glimpses of his boyfriend being pressed against several random people that were not Jonghyun. There was something tragically wrong with this, but he just didn’t know how to remedy it.

Ignoring Amber’s expression of concern and sympathy, Jonghyun walked away without any real idea where he was going.

It was near the parking lot where you waltzed right up to 2NE1 and launched into an interrogation about CL.

“Hey, what can you tell me about CL and her ex?”

They shot you expressions with raised eyebrows and exchanged glances with each other before turning back to you.

“What do you want to know?” Minzy asked.

You let out a short breath. “Like, what was their relationship like? Why did they break up? What happened after they broke up?”

“Well they got together our first senior year,” Dara supplied. “And they were pretty happy. Jiyong wanted to give her the world, and CL was so ready to take it from him. It was kinda disgusting to be around, actually, but the girl was smitten and he was head over heels for her, so who were we to judge?”

“As for why they broke up,” Bom continued. “Something happened with Jiyong’s best friend, Choi Seunghyun. We’re not really sure what it was, but he disappeared, and Jiyong seemed pretty shaken up about it. He was gonna drop out of school, but no one knows what his plan was, really. But he didn’t want CL to be involved.” She gazed down thoughtfully. “I guess whatever it was, it was too dangerous, and he didn’t want her to be a part of it.”

“She was heartbroken,” Dara picked up again. “She didn’t want him to leave, but when he did, she just stopped caring about everything.”

“That’s about when she just became a raging ,” said Minzy. “I guess her way of proving she could be tough and handle anything was transforming into a hard-shelled queenka of epic proportions, and she’s been like that ever since. All she cares about is high school popularity, and we pretty much got dragged into it by her too.”

“So do you think if we got them back together, it would fix everything?” you said hopefully.

They all looked at each other unsurely.

“No idea,” Minzy said. “It’s been four years, and I don’t think you can just magically fix that kind of damage.”

You smiled at her naivety. “Trust me,” you said with a grin. “With the power of love, you can fix everything.” After all, you were a matchmaker.

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol found the other on the dance floor, grabbing his arm excitedly.

Baekhyun just glanced back at him. “Hey Chanyeol,” he said, turning back toward the other direction.

“Baek!” Chanyeol said again. “Kris and Tao are here!”

“Yeah, that’s nice,” Baekhyun replied distractedly, deflating the other’s excitement.

“What are you even doing?” he asked, noticing suddenly that Baekhyun was behaving rather strangely. He was in the middle of the dance floor, and he wasn’t even dancing.

“Not now, Chanyeol.” He waved him off and started inching his way through the crowd, leaving Chanyeol there feeling rather put out, but mostly just wondering what the hell he was doing.

He watched, perplexed, as Baekhyun crept between dancing bodies, tiptoeing conspicuously as if he didn’t want to be seen. It wasn’t until he was right behind Sungmin, who was just dancing with Sunny, that Chanyeol figured out what he was doing.

Without warning, Baekhyun kicked his leg into the backs of Sungmin’s knees, sending him sprawling forward into Sunny. There was a small commotion, as people stepped back from the flailing couple, and Baekhyun went to stand next to Sunny.

“What do you think you’re doing, man?” the former Hunter asked incredulously.

“Nothing!” Sungmin defended, straightening up. “Sunny, I’m really sorry,” he amended. “I got pushed from behind.”

“It’s okay,” she said, smiling brightly as ever.

“No, it isn’t okay!” Baekhyun cut in.

“It isn’t?”

“He was trying to force himself on you!” he accused, pointing a dramatic finger at Sungmin.

“What? No I wasn’t!”

“You’re nothing but a ert!” Baekhyun shouted.

It was about this time that Chanyeol rolled his eyes and walked away.

In the bathroom, Jonghyun stared at himself in the mirror and sighed heavily, wondering when his entire life had spun out of his control.

He had a small mental breakdown standing outside the bathrooms and wondering just which one would be appropriate to go into, but he decided he’s a man damn it, and he opted for the men’s room. Luckily, no one was in the bathroom when he walked in, or he might just have had to brush it off as a mistake and find somewhere else to brood.

He was lost in thought when he heard the door creak open and he dashed into a stall and shut the door before he could be seen. There were two conversing voices, and at least one was fairly familiar.

“I’m telling you, the guy was insane. I don’t even want anything to do with CL, and he comes over and punches me out because she was talking to me!”

Jonghyun recognized Himchan’s voice, but he had to peek through the crack in the stall door to recognize the next speaker.

“Nobody wants anything to do with CL,” AJ remarked, somehow coldly sympathetic. “I’m surprised he even had friends around. Their whole crew must be a gang of delinquent nobodies.”

“Yeah,” Himchan sighed, examining his bruised jaw in the mirror. “At least one good thing’s come of tonight,” he said.

AJ raised his eyebrows in mild interest. “And that would be…?”

Himchan grinned. “Mary Sue said she would be my date tonight.”

Jonghyun’s heart skipped a beat. His sister said what? How many guys was she going around with? He didn’t even know who is sister was anymore.

“Did she really?” AJ smirked. “I thought she was seeing Nichkhun or something.”

Himchan just scoffed. “Nichkhun’s not interested in Mary Sue,” he said. “He told me himself, he’s only using her.”

This piece of information made Jonghyun’s blood boil. How dare that guy just play with his sister’s feelings like they were nothing?? Didn’t he know the effect he had on people?

“What could he possibly be using her for?” AJ chuckled.

Himchan shrugged. “Who knows what kinds of motives that guy has?” he murmured, wetting his hands and splashing a bit of water on his face.

Nothing else was said as the two finished up and left, and Jonghyun stepped out of the stall, gritting his teeth in anger at all this new insight. He started pacing as his mind raced. Mary Sue was seeing Nichkhun but cheating on him with Himchan, Nichkhun was using Mary Sue, and Chanyeol was left forgotten by the wayside. Who else was involved in all of this tangled drama??

He had to talk to someone. Anyone who would listen to him. Amber or Chanyeol or someone.

He had taken one step toward the door when it swung open again.

“Mary Sue??”

Jonghyun’s heart skipped in surprise.

“What?!”