(Listen to Suddenly by 김보경: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnJ38EBOSxY)

I watched Woohyun’s back walk away, while Yoseob stood next to me, his face sallow. After a pause, he looked at me.

“What,” I muttered, stiffening my lips. “I never forced him to go.”

Yoseob just stared at me without any expression, his empty eyes burning me more than anger.

“Kairi…”

“What??” I raised my voice and lifted the script to my face. “I need to memorize these lines…”

“Stop him.”

The sound of an engine sent goosebumps all over my body, but I froze. “You’re his friend,” I sneered. Why was I being so pathetic? “You go.”

The taxi standing outside gave one last hint and soon, it’s echo faded away. Even though Woohyun was the one going away, I felt like something even more dear to me was disappearing.

No, Saya has already decided… If it was Woohyun, why would she run away with Hoya? I couldn’t help but feel irritated at my friend’s tactlessness. I was crazy too but I wasn’t stupid. Saya and Hoya were both well known people, to go on a trip while leaving a whole wedding behind…

Jae Hyo’s reaction had been the worst. All of us thought he would be patient as always but he snapped and I didn’t blame him. Having the very person who was wavering his fiance’s feelings towards him next to him… A part of me was glad he had snapped then and there.

The one person whose reaction shocked me the most was Woohyun’s. While Yoseob, Jae Hyo and I were losing it, he was sitting on the terrace reading Dostoevsky, giving us a shake of his head or a small smirk. One day, I approached him.

“What?”

Woohyun put down his copy of ‘White Nights’ and smiled at me. “Nothing,” he scoffed and started reading again. My irritation simmered until finally I gave a cry. Woohyun didn’t react, but I couldn’t wait any more.

“Aren’t you worried?” I shouted. “The girl you love just ran away with your best friend?”

“EX best friend,” Woohyun corrected, taking a sip of his coffee. “Thanks to you.”

I gasped. “What do you mean by--?”

“Oh come on,” Woohyun gave a humourless laugh. “As if your attempt to prevent Hoya from talking to me was coincidental.”

“That’s so juvenile!” I folded my arms and narrowed my eyes. “You’re not ONE bit peeved about this?”

Woohyun sighed and closed his eyes, setting the book upside down on his chest and stretching on the futon. He opened his eyes and stared at me. Finally, he said, “No.”

I snickered. “Liar. You must be burning inside.”

I tried not to blush when Woohyun continued staring at me with amusement.

“What?” I asked. “I know you don’t like me, don’t be sending evil vibes through your—”

“You’re a parasite.”

My mouth hung open as Woohyun continued speaking. “You’re a parasite. You live off of others. Not saying you’re a gold digger, hell you’re earning enough for two of you. But there’s a part of you that feels flawed, heavily flawed and to feel perfect, you surround yourself with people who you wished to have become like.”

I shook my head. “What the hell are you—”

“Yoseob is cheerful but he’s a realist too, something you couldn’t deal with. But you didn’t regret the marriage, at least you could feel like a wife without being forced to that spot. Hoya on the other hand is adaptable. He’s street-smart, knows how to survive, intuitive about who to talk to, what to do when… And you knew that someone like him would be better off being a bit selfish. Not saying you don’t love him, but you’re a bit confused about the reasons.

“And then Saya. I won’t even go ahead. She was a loner but her mystery attracted you and recently, all I ever heard about Saya from news articles were actually filled with your name. You’re ecstatic about the wedding, this is the perfect life for any girl. For you. But Hoya’s only emotional about her, a little bit about you too I guess. And now that these two people have followed their hearts for once, gone crazy for probably the last time in their life, you feel left out. You feel like everything is going wrong. You feel like there is no order. Should have relied on yourself now, right?”

“What will you tell her?”

I looked up at Yoseob and blinked away my memory. “Saya? Wha—Oh. Well, she’ll see it for herself.”

“She’ll see it for herself?” Yoseob followed me as I tried walking away, from my thoughts and the room. “Kairi, Saya will be devastated. You yourself know she was sure about who to choose, then why didn’t you say anything to Woohyun?”

“Why didn’t YOU?” I turned around. “Yoseob, you want to set things straight, go ahead, do it. But I’m not interfering in ANY one’s life anymore. Get it?”

Yoseob scoffed and I glared at him. “So after all the damage is done,” he murmured. “You’ll just call insurance and leave it be? Someone hasn’t changed.”

Yoseob walked past me as I stared at the curtains, my mind blank. Was I… Was Woohyun right? Was I really just getting the life I wanted through others?

I shook my head and caught sight of the script. Steadily, I lifted it off and cleared my throat. But as I rehearsed my character’s monologue, I remembered practices with Woohyun. The way he would improvise on the dialogues, the feel he gave, the far away look that would come to his eyes every time Saya crossed by…

“Kairi!”

I turned around and my stomach flinched as Jae Hyo approached me smiling. “Come, Jihyun needs help.”

I blinked at him. “Jae H—”

“Oh come on!” Jae Hyo grinned, pulling me to the backyard. “I need to give Saya a surprise when she returns. And Hoya too! Show him how cool his coffee machine looks with Jihyun’s decorations!”

I swallowed up my words the moment I saw the white lace and cotton curtains, sifting from pole to pole, holding up the big white tent. Tables and chairs were set up and without a doubt, the coffee machine did look well with the arrangement.

“What do you say?” Jae Hyo grinned. I turned my sight to him and felt uneasy.

“It’s …” I sighed. “Jae Hyo, I don’t think you should---”

“Let Saya return!” Jae Hyo announced with an almost unnatural glee. “I’ll let her know how well I can handle things when she’s gone!”

Right then and there, those words echoed in my head. The words that should have been whispered to me long time back. Jae Hyo continued talking but his voice was falling to deaf ears. I thought of play rehearsals, I thought of Saya’s smiling face and slowly, the realization dawned on me.

Woohyun was the one for Saya.

“I’m an idiot.”

“What?” Jae Hyo stopped. “What did you say?”

My lips started shaking and I closed my eyes, trying to pull back tears. “Nothing,” I whispered and ran inside. Yoseob, who had been staring at us, gave me the same blank look. Suddenly his eyes widened.

“Saya.”

I turned around and saw my best friend walk towards us, the most frightened expression on her face.

“Where’s Woohyun?”