Chapter 16 – Two-timing Butthole

“Hey, how did it go with Sica unnie?” Yoona asks me as I step into my home. She’s sitting on my bed with Seohyun and Hyoyeon and English books are strewn across it.

“I don’t wanna talk about her,” I state grumpily and their eyebrows raise in question.

“What happened?” Seohyun asks but all I do is shake my head.

“Why are all of you cooped up in here? What are you doing?” I ask instead answer.

“We ran into Seulji unnie on our way to the training pool so we decided to head here instead, just in case she finds us again,” Yoona explains.

“Seulji?” I snort. “Well, Seulji is more interested in Sica right now.”

“What do you mean?” Hyoyeon asks suddenly, looking worried for some reason.

“It’s a long story,” I growl as I flop down on my bed beside Yoona. “And I’m still angry with Sica.”

“What did she do?” Yoona asks but before I can reply, Hyoyeon unwittingly interjects.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Hyoyeon says as she whips her phone out. She taps it a few times and recites, “Mediaso in reso!” Her phone’s screen jumps to life and we all crowd around her to look at what’s on it.

I grab the phone from Hyoyeon and stare at the scene unfolding. I can’t believe my eyes. And if weren’t for Hyoyeon, Yoona and Seohyun, I would have dashed out of the house and gone straight to where they were to smack Hyoyeon’s evil cousin. She’s got her arms all around Sica and Sica isn’t doing anything to stop her!

“Er...can I have my phone back now?” Hyoyeon asks me nervously, her eyes fixated on her phone which is in my hand at the moment. “It’s new. Please don’t wreck it.”

I take several deep breaths and calm down. “I won’t wreck it. Don’t worry.”

Despite my reassurances, Hyoyeon looks significantly more relieved after I hand the phone back to her.

“What are we going to do about Seulji? I can’t believe she’s your cousin! I can’t believe she can be so evil!”

“I don’t know if we can do anything about it. She thinks that Sica is you. And she wants to get her hands on you, right? But what is Sica doing? Why is she allowing my cousin to hug her like that?”

I pout and recount our little fight that happened at the training pool. Hyoyeon frowns as she listens to my account.

“Something doesn’t sound right about this.”

“What do you mean?” I look at Hyoyeon and for some unknown reason, feel a stab of panic gripping my heart.

“My cousin is up to something.”

My eyes widen. “What?”

“I think we’d better look for my cousin and Sica.”

At this point, Yoona leaps off the bed and heads straight for the door instantly. “Let’s go, girls.”

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Sooyoung is excited to say the least. After embarrassing herself in front of Sunny during the radio show, she wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and hide in there forever. But Sunny sent her a message when she least expected it and invited her out for dinner. It took Sooyoung all of one second to send a reply, albeit, the phrase ‘Yes, I’d love to’’ was hardly a true indicator of the extent of her glee.

She is a little nervous about meeting Sunny, however, her only worry being her state of mind. Clamming up the way she did during the radio show is definitely not part of her plan and she has no intention of repeating that.

“Hi, Sooyoung,” Sunny greets her as she joins the smiling DJ at the table. It’s a seafood restaurant and Sooyoung is all smiles at the thought of digging into juicy prawns.

“Hi, Sunny.” Sooyoung tries to focus her thoughts on juicy prawns so that Sunny’s dazzling smile doesn’t set her off again. She manages to maintain some measure of calm and relaxes a little after sitting down.

“Thanks for coming out to dinner with me. I really appreciate you doing me this favour.”

“No problem. I’m glad to help.”

Sunny smiles and her eyes disappear into slits. That does things to Sooyoung’s heart that she doesn’t understand and she can barely breathe as she tries to return Sunny’s smile.

“Where’s your partner?” Sooyoung throws out the first question she can think of. She desperately needs to get a hold of herself and is glad that her question is a decent one.

“Taeyeon?” Sunny chuckles. “That girl is all about your friend these days. It’s Tiffany this, Tiffany that. I’m only too glad to get rid of her for a while.”

Taeyeon and Tiffany? Sooyoung hasn’t heard anything from Tiffany about Taeyeon and is instantly curious to know more. “Was Taeyeon successful? If I recall correctly, Fany actually prefers taller girls.”

“Like you?” Sunny grins impishly and Sooyoung shakes her head vehemently to detach herself from any association with Tiffany’s romantic interest but Sunny only giggles and looks at her amusedly.

“Relax, I’m only pulling your leg.”

“Fany has no interest in me, I assure you.”

Sunny giggles some more and grins widely. “That’s good to know. But let’s get down to business. Let’s get us some crabs and prawns.”

Sooyoung nods and watches as Sunny waves a waiter over to take their order--king prawns and chilli crab. The waiter leaves with their order and it isn’t too long before their dishes are served.

“Let me know what you think.” Sunny plants her chin on her hands and watches as Sooyoung picks up a prawn.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Sooyoung asks.

Sunny shakes her head and smiles. “I don’t really like seafood.”

“Is that why you need my opinion?”

Sunny smiles and nods. Sooyoung pouts and Sunny giggles.

“Aww, why are you pouting?”

“I feel used.”

A soft laugh bubbles from Sunny. “Do you mind being used by me?”

Good point, Sooyoung realizes and smiles again. “I don’t mind.”

“Which means you won’t mind tasting food for me the next time I need your help?”

“I won’t mind. I’m glad to help.”

“That settles it then. You’ll help me.”

“Sure, I’ll help. But why do you need a food taster?”

Sunny leans towards Sooyoung suddenly and lowers her voice. “I’m helping my sister to research on tasty food. She’s planning on opening a restaurant and will need the information. And you’re the best food critic out there, aren’t you?”

Sooyoung nods proudly. “Yes, I am.”

Sunny smiles and sits back, folding her arms with a look of satisfaction and it is exactly at that moment when Sooyoung realizes that she is not clamming up around Sunny this evening. Yes!

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“Isn’t that Yuri?” Sunny nudges Sooyoung as they are walking to a cafe for drinks after dinner and points towards two relatively tall girls. One’s got her arm over the other’s shoulder and the other has her arm around the waist of the other. They look intimate and Sooyoung is slightly surprised by them. She’d thought that Yuri was quite interested in Jessica before. Had she been mistaken? Perhaps so. It would appear that Yuri already has a girlfriend.

They make their way to say hi and Yuri looks at them a little blankly before perking up and greeting them.

“Sooyoungie,” Yuri giggles and Sooyoung is suddenly reminded of Jessica. It’s a little uncanny but Yuri giggles just like Jessica does. “Got a date with your favourite DJ?”

Sooyoung blushes instantly while Sunny smiles and says, “You’ve got a hot date too, mind introducing us?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m a little tipsy. This is Seulji. Seulji, this is Sooyoungie and DJ Sunny.”

Sooyoung blinks in confusion. Why is Yuri calling her Sooyoungie? Only Jessica does that. Gosh. What is going on. First she giggles like Jessica. Then, she calls her like Jessica does. Eeps. Weird.

But despite her thoughts, she manages to smile and shake Seulji’s hand. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”

Sunny did the same with a bright smile. Meanwhile, Sooyoung couldn’t help but notice that Seulji seemed very impatient to leave. Thinking that the woman was perhaps eager for some couple time, she bade them goodbye and watched as Yuri and Seulji walked down the street with their arms around each other.

Sunny nudged her again. “Penny for your thoughts?”

Sooyoung shakes her head and replies, “There’s something about Yuri…”

“What?”

Sooyoung is about to answer when she sees just the friend whom she is thinking about walking briskly up the pavement opposite her. “Sica!” she shouts but her friend doesn’t hear her. “Sica!!!” yells at the top of her voice but she still doesn’t hear her. Jessica’s friends, however, do hear her and nudge Jessica, pointing Sooyoung out to her. It actually takes Jessica a second or two for recognition to register in her eyes before moving towards her.

Jessica crosses the road and her friends trail before as she nears Sooyoung.

“Sooyoung! Hey there. DJ Sunny, it’s nice to meet you again.”

Sooyoung’s eyebrows shoot up. Jessica called her Sooyoung instead of Sooyoungie. Hmm. How odd. While Jessica calls her Sooyoung when they are at the office, she’d usually call her more casually when they aren’t at work. She’s not sure what it is but she has an odd feeling about everything.

“These are my friends. Hyoyeon, Yoona, Seohyun.”

“Hi,” Sooyoung smiles and greets them before turning to Jessica and asking, “What’s up? Out for dinner? Or drinks? We could grab some drinks together.”

Jessica shakes her head and looks a little uneasy as she says, “We’re looking for S-Yuri.”

“Yuri? We just met her. She was with someone called Seulji,” Sunny informs her and everybody but Sooyoung and Sunny gasps.

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I feel a flash of anger at the mention of Sica and Seulji, but it is quickly replaced by a sense of urgency. I don’t quite understand my hot temperedness but I don’t have time to ponder over it. Maybe it’s just that time of the month, I suppose as I shrug mentally and dismiss it. Besides, there are more important things to focus on right now—like finding Sica.

“Where did you see them? Where did they go?” I grab hold of Sooyoung and ask urgently.

Sooyoung looks dazed as she blinks and the miniscule patience I have left vanishes faster than I can say Sica. I start to shake Sooyoung, my mind somehow convinced that I can shake an answer out of her somehow and it’s Yoona and Seohyun who have to grab my hands and stop me.

“Calm down, unnie. Don’t panic,” Yoona says soothingly. This is why I like Yoona so much. She’s got the brains this girl. Ever so quick witted. Ever so bright. “Sooyoung, it’s quite urgent. We need to find them. Which way did they head towards?”

Sunny stepped up and pointed down the road. “They said that they were going for some drinks.”

Drinks! I know where Seulji would go for drinks! And with that thought, I let Sooyoung go and dash down the road. All I can think about is Sica. I must find Sica!

“What’s going on?” I can hear Sunny and Sooyoung asking Hyoyeon and my friends but I can’t hear anything else after that as I weave through the crowd and pull away from them.

I march straight to the bar that Seulji is known to frequent and sure enough, I see them seated at the side, huddled together, giggling. My blood boils over and the next thing I know, I’m grabbing Sica’s arm and pulling her away from Seulji, all the while accusing her of being a two-timing butthole.

Sica isn’t coming along quietly either. She’s refuting my accusations and kicking out at me, making me wince when she catches me in the shin and at last, I have to let her go to save my own shins from being attacked. Safe to say, we have made ourselves known in the bar and are invited to leave.

We leave disgruntledly with Seulji following behind and as soon as we step out onto the sidewalk, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Sunny and my friends appear too. They must have come running after me.

“Oh my gosh! What happened to you, unnie?” Yoona gasps and I follow her line of vision down to my shins. My jaw drops at the sight of them. Already, bruises are forming and the skin is red and angry. It’s not a pretty sight.

With my finger pointed at Sica, I growl, “Ask her.”

“You are the one who called me a two-timing butthole first. You deserve every kick you got.”

“It’s not an accusation when it’s true.”

“It’s not true! I’m not a two-timer!”

“You are! You’re two-timing me!”

I’m not two-timing you!”

“You are!”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Then explain why you have to sit so close to her,” I yell, pointing at Seulji.

“If sitting close to someone makes me a two-timing then I’d better not get on a bus or train.”

“Oh, don’t you get smart on me with words. Just because you’re a writer and I’m not doesn’t mean you get to run me over with words, okay!”

“STOP IT! SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!” Hyoyeon roars and both Sica and I are shocked into silence. We watch as Hyoyeon steps up to her smirking cousin and sticks her face up close. “Tell me. What did you do to them?”

Seulji merely smirks again and shrugs her shoulders. “I didn’t do anything to them.”

“I know you did. I can sense it. Your magic is strong in them.”

Seulji lets out a shrill laugh that sends shivers down my spine. “You are one to accuse me of putting my magic in them when yours has such a dominant presence.”

Hyoyeon gasps and steps back at her words. “You are pure evil.”

My eyes widen and I wrap my arms around Sica, fearing a backlash from Seulji but much to my surprise, Seulji merely throws her head back and laughs heartily. Then, she looks Hyoyeon right in the eyes and sticks her tongue out.

“Ne ne ni boo boo! There’s nothing you can do-o!” Seulji taunts before laughing again. “Wasn’t that your favourite thing to say to me when you were a kid? Well, how does it feel, being on the receiving end of that?”

Hyoyeon’s fists ball up by her sides and the next thing I know, Seulji is stumbling backwards and clutching her left cheek. Then, before any of us can react, the two of them are at each other’s throats, pulling each other’s hair and hurling childish names to and fro.

“Hyoyeon unnie!” Yoona and Seohyun shriek as they try to stop the fight. It takes a couple of seconds for me to process everything but as soon as I do, I leap in and try to stop the fight too.

Finally, we manage to pull them apart. Sooyoung and Sunny are holding onto Seulji and Yoona, Seohyun and I, Hyoyeon. Sica is just standing by the side, looking cowed by everything that’s happening and I have the urge to give her a hug even though looking at her makes me angry. It’s complicated, my feelings. Argh.

“What did you do to them!” Hyoyeon roars one more time, even as we are trying to shush her, seeing as there is a small crowd of people watching us, the spectacle.

Seulji smirks yet again and I have the strongest urge to slap that smirk off her face.

“Oh, nothing much. I simply enhanced the spell that you cast on them. Why bother switching their bodies if you aren’t going to switch their personalities too?”

I gasp, as do all the others but Sooyoung and Sunny look more and more confused as they listen to the things we are saying. Gosh, we’re going to have a lot of explaining to do later.

Seulji laughs at our stunned expressions, wrenches herself from Sooyoung and Sunny’s hold and turns around to leave.

“Bye Hyoyeon and friends. It’ll be fun to see how you get out of this one. Best of magic to you!”

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