The play rehearsals started off with a bang. Literally.

Though Jae Hyo and I weren’t allowed a single peek, we could hear all the commotion from the rehearsal location, which was two floors down. As Jae Hyo sat with me for an evening cup of tea at the terrace, the sound of a gunshot was heard. Jae Hyo froze and I instantly stood up from my seat, running to the railing and bending down.

“WHAT HAPPENED??” I shouted out concernedly. Seconds later, I saw a fuming Hoya being consoled by a helpless Kairi. Later on Jae Hyo told me that the ‘shot’ was Yoseob’s special ringtone for his messages, the sound that had made Hoya fall out of his chair.

“It’s just a message tone…” I murmured, thinking of Yoseob’s innocent face. “Why does Hoya have to blame it on Yoseob?”

Jae Hyo sighed though the sign of a smile was lingering on his lips. “Yoseob’s phone was under Hoya’s chair and the special ringtone had not existed until yesterday. Why blame it on Yoseob, right?”

I gave a sheepish smile and ducked my head, making my fiance laugh like a lunatic. Whatever Yoseob was doing was childish, but its purpose was working well. Hoya’s well-trained patience was slowly slipping out of his hands. As useless witnesses, the household stood back and watched the drama between the two grown-up kids unfold. Kairi was too tired to even be flattered.

“I wish I could say something to Yoseob but…” She looked at me and I nodded.

“I know what you mean,” I murmured and the two of us sighed simultaneously, trying to think of ways to reduce the baby fat from the culprit’s cheeks without feeling guilty.

“One, two, three…one, two, three….”

I cocked my head to the right and paused behind the backyard entrance. There were three weeks left until the big day and I was running some regular morning errands. I heard the male voice chirp back another voice and slowly, I leaned forward, only to get myself together in a rush.

Woohyun and Hoya were waltzing in my garden.

“Yah, this is embarrassing…”

Woohyun sighed and placed his arms on his waist. “I thought you wanted to surprise Kairi by showing off some Viennese waltz. What happened to all the begging from yes—”

“Sshh!!” Hoya urgently placed his fingers against his lips and gave one last hush. “Keep your voice low!”

Woohyun snorted in disgust and turned around. I backed away, hoping that their secret bonhomie was not interrupted by my presence. They didn’t see me though as I heard Hoya listening to Woohyun and practicing one last time.

Hoya was a good dancer. He picked up the steps well. But what surprised me was that the man who could compete in the ‘battle-of-the-fits’ was suddenly teaching the best dancer I had ever known, to waltz. Where had he learned it from? And how did the two resolve their differences, whatever they were?

“It was a Naval base camp.”

I jumped three feet in the air and exhaled shakingly. Yoseob’s smiling face twinkled at me and I replied with a shrug. “Busted.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “I won’t tell him. Though I’m pretty sure he’s already seen you.” Yoseob nodded at the scene and I followed his gaze. He was right. Woohyun, in between teaching his ex-best friend some ballroom moves, was throwing fleeting glances at my direction. I gulped and turned away, ignoring the stale look in each glance.

“Naval base?” I picked up the conversation starter. “Where?”

Yoseob grinned. “Where else? We were stationed at Prague for a few days—what beautiful days—and during our visit to a village out-of-town, we bumped into some US Naval officers.”

“What were they doing there?”

Yoseob shrugged. “It’s the US, they can be anywhere. That’s hardly the point. The point is, Woohyun got along really well with them and one night, during a farewell party, we decided to make the man dance. Of course, three years into our friendship and the last thing I wanted to do was throw him in the spotlight. But to our surprise…Well, not surprise really. He, um, was kinda drunk.”

Yoseob then blushed and I wondered the pause, only to realize that it was because of me. It was my turn to feel embarrassed and I said, “Don’t bother…”

“Yeah. Anyway.” Yoseob cleared his throat and gave a stiff smile. “So. Where was I… Yeah. He was drunk. Some middle-aged woman walks upto him and asks him something in German. Woohyun knows a little bit of almost every language, thanks to the business. But I had never seen him react so strongly to foreign words the way he had done that night. He hooted and with a dramatic salute, his spontaneous waltz began. It was like he was born to dance, don’t know why he had never joined us earlier.”

Yoseob’s words were in stark contrast to my very own imagination. As far as I remembered, according to my last source of reference, Woohyun was terrible at freestyle. To be able to dance a difficult style, that too with someone who knew it way before he did… Was Yoseob talking about the same Woohyun?

My mind wandered off to the possibilities of my Woohyun being switched with a clone until a deep voice interrupted my fantasies.

“You liked it that much?”

                                                                               ***********************************************

(Listen to Good-bye Baby by miss A : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kibVsiDISCU)

“I’m giving you one last warning.”

I froze and looked up from my novel, staring at my best friend. Hoya handed the coffee to me and I silently nodded a thanks, waiting for him to continue.

“Saya needs space Woohyun,” Hoya said in a stifled tone. “You..You swallow her so much…. It’s good to give her love, what you said was true. She was the victim of a mental illness that has now left her alone to live, but excess is bad. Always.”

I shook my head and smiled. “I’m not bothered about her past…”

“Yes you are!” Hoya’s sudden movement made the table he was sitting on screech. It alerted me to the level of anger seething in him and I placed my coffee on the tabletop, putting my novel down. I rested my palms on my knees and shifted to face him.

“You’re lying to yourself.” Hoya looked like he was in pain, making me realize the deepness of the friendship that had surpassed my expectations. “You were good to her but now…haven’t you noticed the way she spaces out…”

“…she always spaces out….”

“No! Not always! Only when there’s an intense fight going on inside her. Haven’t you noticed?”

The question wasn’t rhetoric and I sighed, nodding my head and waiting for another backlash as I said, “What do you want me to do about it?”

I loved Saya a lot, I really did. But Hoya’s continous complaints were getting on my nerves. Who was he to tell me how to love my girlfriend? In a few months time, I was going to ask her for her hand, make her Saya Nam. Saya had already seen the best of me but I didn’t want her to commit to something that had only revealed one side. I wanted her to see me at my worst. Me being selfish, nonchalant, irresponsible… We all had bad sides but I wanted to see how Saya would fare with mine. What others thought didn’t matter. What she did, it was like life or death.

“You’re testing her, why?” Hoya let out a deep sigh and looked down. “This is not good. You’re doing this on purpose, you should let things be Woohyun.”

“So what if I’m testing her?”

“She knows it! You think she’ll bear with it, no! If this is another side of you, then you still haven’t seen the other side of Saya. And I’m telling you bro, this is not worth it.”

My calmness left me and I stood up from my seat. “Look, you know this too. I love her more than anything in this world. No doubt, she loves me less than I do. But…”

“…but you’re sure that she’ll never leave you.” Hoya’s voice took a dark turn and I stumbled a bit. “That she’ll never find someone who has the capacity to love her while his flaws lay bare. You’re wrong. And I’ll show it you.”

Two days later, Hoya had hopped inside Saya’s house in India and on the night he arrived, Lee Jae Hyo entered our lives.

“That’s your man?” I scoffed at Hoya, even though my mind was taking note of the time since Saya had left for the bathroom. Jae Hyo was also missing. I swallowed my jealousy and nodded to myself. Saya returned to her seat with gloom on her face. My heart ached and I wondered what this Jae Hyo guy had said. The gloom made my selfishness rest in peace, making me realize that I was right. I nodded at Saya’s hunched figure and gave a knowing look to Hoya. The latter just shook his head and on the way out, murmured to me, “You’re gonna lose her. And I won’t do anything about it.”

“You liked it that much?”

Saya jumped out of her skin and upon seeing me blushed. Her eyes began blinking rapidly, a sign of nervousness and she shuffled her arms.

“Liked what..oh the dance..”

“Yeah,” I smiled. A wave of shock hit her face and it stung me. Was I acting so tough that even a small turn of the lips was a surprise? “The dance.”

“Hmm..” She vaguely nodded, confirming my suspicions that she had spent most of her time in dreamland. “I actually liked seeing you both together.”

I stopped rocking back and forth and looked at her. There was a look of satisfaction on her face and she sighed. “If there’s anything I missed about those three years, it was your friendship with Hoya. I just wish that the collateral damage hadn’t affected the both of you.”

“Affected by the collateral damage? Saya, my friendship with Hoya was the collateral damage. Just because we helped each other out a little bit…”

“Still.” Saya was rarely optimistic but seeing the brightness in her face was worth breaking any stereotype. “There are moments when I feel like…even if I hadn’t met you…if we had just been friends…”

Her words trailed off and our eyes met. A subtle breeze flew past us, teasing our feelings and I saw my hand tuck the truant strand of hair behind her shoulder. Saya’s eyes didn’t move away from my face and I stayed stubborn, refusing to back out. The adrenaline started rushing through my veins and I took a step closer, moving forward even when she took small steps back. The pillar blocked her path and I saw relief in her eyes.

“Nonsense,” I whispered. “You know it too… We can never be just friends.”

Following my instincts, I bent down and placed my lips on hers. I felt Saya stiffen and I knew she was facing a battle of right-and-wrong inside her head. But the moment I removed myself from her face, I caught the momentary sorrow and the second time our lips met, I knew we had never ended.