She's late. Since when do we wait for make-up?

"I'm so sorry everyone! I got caught in the traffic. I promise to be here earlier next time. Sorry--" she barged into the prep room, bowing and apologising as she walked.

"It's okay, luckily today we've got more time on our hands. The boys woke up early so we have more time to prepare." Hyung said to her kindly.

I dare you to look at me in the eye now.

"Yeon Hee-ah. Don't you recognise oppa? It's me, Seungho-ah."

She glanced at my face through the mirror's reflection. A flicker of something fleeted across her face. It was too fast for me to make out just what sort of look was that. Hmm weird much.

"Ne, oh, uh...oppa, of course I remember you! We had our photograph taken when we were little kids! [laughs] You remember when we were little kids, oppa?" She looked at me through the mirror with twinkling eyes.

She remembers us. Of course she does, dumbo.

"Yeah you were always hanging onto every word I said and you even said you'd marry me when you grow up. Recall that? [chuckles]"

I looked at her face closely through the mirror, determined to see if there's any sign of recognition or acknowledgement at the point where I said 'marry me'.

All's calm on the surface. So does she seriously not know about the elders' random plan? Haha, then we'll get along fine. As long as she doesn't know then it'll be fine.

***

Your point of view

Phew! Thank goodness Im Yeon Hee had some trace of HIM in her belongings. I'll just die if I got caught. What if he 'tests' me again? Damn. I need to think up of something. [breathe in, breathe out] Lee Yeon Hee, fighting! Be smart, stay smart, survive!

"Really? I said that? Nah... I don't remember saying anything of that sort. Oppa, you must be lying right? [grins]"

"Hey! You really wanted to marry me when you were a kid. [laughs] Well, that was before you moved away with ahjussi to Incheon. Talking about that, how was your foreign language school? You wrote lesser and eventually stopped in your junior year."

Woohoo! New information to work with! So Im Yeon Hee moved to Incheon as a kid and he hasn't seen her--I think.

You decided to improvise, "Uh, yeah... some things happened. I was feeling down and a bit antisocial then. I guess I just wanted time for myself and be on my own... But oppa, I didn't mean to not write anymore. I just thought it might be weird to start again after I stopped for a long time."

He gave me a look that contained sympathy and understanding, mixed with something else as he listened to your improvised reply.

Okay, so it seems like I've said something that makes sense to him, thus the sympathy. I must find out what he's so understanding about. But there's something about his look that is kinda strange...

"Yeon Hee-ah, I understand. It's okay if you don't want to voice it. But if you need to talk through what happened then and sort it out now when you're more comfortable about it, don't worry about it, I'll be with you to talk it through." He smiled reassuringly at you.

"Ne, oppa. Gomawoyo." (Translation: Yes, oppa. Thank you.)

First interaction with Im Yeon Hee's childhood friend: Pass!