Just a note, Cho Ae is younger than everyone but Sungjong. They're all around the same ages, it's just that Sunggyu is eighteen and Sungjong is almost seventeen. The rest are seventeen and the order of oldest to youngest remains the same. I didn't want to mix up the ages and have myself and all of you confused.

"I would like you to debut under my company as an actress."

"You have an exceptional talent that every company wants and I believe you will go far."

"It requires an extensive amount of training."

"You will be traveling to the United States by the end of summer."

"Aish!"

The boys sat near the corner of the living room with a board game in the center. Sungyeol had his head buried in his lap. He was five places behind the rest of them and needed to catch up or else he had to face another punishment.

Woohyun shook his fist violently and released the dice onto the board.

"Come on, come on!" He yelled.

Snake eyes.

"YES!" He stood up and ran around the group as if he were going to suddenly tap someone's head and shout, "Goose!" He jumped in the air and slapped his feet together. "WOOHOO! No need to wait up for me guys! I am Board Game King, Woohyun!" Leaping over the couch and around the kitchen, he celebrated his victory and rubbing it in the boys' faces. "Ah, Sungyeol-ssi..." He shook his head and patted Sungyeol's shoulder. "You cannot save yourself now." He clapped his hands together and trotted in place.

Compared to the chaos on the other side of the room, the side I was on with Hyo Yun was quiet and a bit ominous. Woohyun noticed that and slowly approached us.

"You two seem... scary." He took a seat beside me and rested his arm over my shoulders. "Is something wrong?"

My eyes blinked and I lifted my head up. "Huh? Uh, no, nothing's wrong." I attempted to put on a decent smile, but it failed as I frowned once again.

His eyebrows furrowed and he pouted. "What happened there? Your parents aren't going to take you on a trip this summer, right? You promised that you wouldn't leave this time!"

I shook my head and finally showed a small smile. "No, it's not that. It's just..." I paused. Although Hyo Yun unnie knows about this, will I have the heart to break it to my boys? Especially Woohyun?

"Neh~ You're making me worried, Cho Ae. Come on, you can tell me. It can't be as worse as going on a trip again this summer."

I could feel my heart tightening. I bit my lip down. "It's just..."

"CHO AE! CHO AE, CHO AE, CHO AE!"

My head lifted up again to find Sungyeol rushing over to me with tears streaming down his face. "Sungyeol-ah, what happened?"

"I LOST THE GAME!" He crumbled in front of me and crushed me with his body as he embraced me. "NOW I HAVE TO RUN AROUND THE HOUSE IN MY UNDERWEAR!"

"Yah, pabo!" Sunggyu exclaimed as the rest of them made their way to the dark side of the room. "You lost! Now take off your clothes and go!"

"NOOOOO! I DON'T WANT TO! IT'S SO EMBARRASSING!"

"Oppa..." I coughed. "You're..."

"Ah, mianhe..." I felt the weight beinging lifted off me and the the oxygen returning to my lungs. "But you can't let me do this, Cho Ae!"

"Don't turn to her!" Woohyun scolded. "It can't be helped that you lose all the time! She has enough to think about now."

That got everyone to avert their attention to me now.

"That's a first hearing that," Myungsoo said, eyes wide. "What happened?"

I shook my head. "Ani, I don't want to be selfish."

"It's not selfish," Hyo Yun interrupted, "just tell them."

"But—"

"What's wrong with telling us?" Sungjong turned his head back and forth. "It's not bad, right? You're never selfish, noona."

"Come on, Cho Ae," Woohyun gently nudged, "we're not going to get mad. How could we? It's time you start thinking about yourself, especially since we're turning into seniors next year."

"Yeah, what is it?" Hoya asked. Within a few seconds, the same questions and statements were filling the air.

"It's not selfish."

"What's wrong?"

"You can tell us."

"I'm going to the States near the end of summer!" I blurted out, immediately silencing all the voices in the room.

Everyone looked shocked, but they seemed relieved after a second thought about it, which, I know, they are in denial about considering the real reason.

"That's not bad." Sungyeol smiled. Of course, inside that mind of his, he's joyful that, for a while, everyone forgot about the punishment that he's subdued to.

Hyo Yun and Woohyun were the only ones keeping quiet. Suddenly, Woohyun got up and stormed out of the house.

Sungyeol corrected himself, "I guess it is bad." He stood up. "Well, I'll get to my punishment now."

"No." Sunggyu stopped him. "Wait." He turned back to me. "What happened?"

----

"Hello everyone, and welcome to the Summer Acting Program in New York this year." The teacher introduced herself in English. "I am Ms. Parker, and I will be your instructor for this summer." She paced around the room in her neutral-colored sweatpants and white tank top. "Before we get started, I'd like everyone to introduce themselves right here where I am now, so we can familiarize ourselves with standing in front of a group of people and getting comfortable with talking; then later on, acting." She stopped at the center of the stage and pointed at the person seated at the left end of the row below her. "Let's start off with you, then we work our way inwards."

I glanced at all of the people at the sides of me until I got to myself. I guess I'll be going last.

This is the summer before my junior year in high school, and my parents have once again took me to the States for their collaboration with American companies. While they're busy on their meetings, I'm here, for the second time, taking the initiative on my future acting career.

"And now, last but not least," Ms. Parker smiled and pointed her hand at me, "you, sweetie." She bent her fingers several times before I finally stood up from my seat and excused myself past everyone until I reached the stage.

"Hello," I greeted, automatically bowing. "My name is Chloe."

Someone raised their hand and asked, "Are you Asian?" Most of them shook their heads and sighed. I guess he's new around here.

I smiled and nodded. "Yes, I am."

"You're Korean, right?" Before I answered, he continued, "I can tell. You look like a Korean." He held both his hands up in a defensive way. "But not in a bad way."

"That's okay, and yes, I am Korean. My real name is Cho Ae, but my English name is Chloe."

He nodded with a satisfied expression on his face.

Ms. Parker interrupted with a statement of her own. "I see you're very fluent in English."

"Ah, yes. My parents co-own a very successful entrepreneurial business back in South Korea, and they meet with many business partners, some who speak English, so I've learned how to speak English from them and in school."

She nodded. "That's very nice. And why have you decided to take acting?"

"I've been very interested in acting when I was younger, and I practiced for a very long time, so I want to debut as an actress in the future."

"As an American or Korean actress?"

"Ah... Hopefully at first, a Korean actress, but as I get used to it and gain more experience, I will consider being an American actress, too."

She smiled. "That's great." She stood up and made her way to the center where I was. "I like your ambitious attitude. You've grown well since the last time I saw you, and I like how you played along. You remembered from the last time you were here. Everyone, please give an applause to Chloe." They did as she told them and clapped with approved look on their faces. "So now that you're up here and you are one of my prized veterans, I'd like to start off with a simple exercise to jog your memories..."

I smiled with confidence and straightened my posture more. It's good to be back here.

----

"Woohyun?" I softly cooed, craning my head around the corners of my house until I spotted him sitting on the porch swing with his elbows on his thighs as he stared out into the distance. "Woohyun-oppa..." I slowly approached him from the side and took a seat beside him. I gently shook his arm. "Can I explain myself?" He remained indifferent. "Oppa, please~"

His head hung down and he placed his hand over it, ruffling his hair in a frustrated way. "You said you weren't leaving."

"I'm not!"

He tilted his head to glare at me. I felt a stab at my heart.

"Not until the end of this summer..." I corrected.

"And you're going to be staying there and miss your last year in high school here?"

I sighed. "That's what they want."

"What about you? What do you want?"

"I—" I stopped and bent my head downward. "I want to go."

He straightened up and pulled his arm back from my reach. "You want to go? But—" He shook his head. "No, I'm being selfish. I don't want to be the one to keep you from living your dreams when you're helping me live mine. You want to be an actress. You've wanted that since we were young and, I hate to pull you back from that because I don't want you to leave."

I frowned. It's not his fault for being to used to having me around to guide and also lean on him for support. We're bound to go our separate ways some day to live out our dreams and sometimes bump into each other on a few occasions and talk about how we are while grabbing a quick bite to eat. That's how life is. That's how we mature. We can't stay the way we are forever and try to convince ourselves that everything won't change, that we'll always be near each other to get through our best and worst days.

Everything's changing, and now I got my first taste at it. The bittersweet realization of becoming independent adults hit me right in the heart, starting off with Woohyun, my best friend since the third grade. Although we haven't known each other since we were born, it feels like we have. We supported each other through everything. Through school. Through the dramas. Even through puberty. And it's going to devastate the both of us when we finally do part ways to make names for ourselves.

Ever since I was born, I'd always been given the opportunities to strive for my dreams that started off so impossible, but ended up becoming one of those rare things that do seem possible. I have taken every single one of them and surprisingly, I have found myself here, one step closer to reaching my lifetime goal. This is the biggest opportunity that I've been offered, and if I take it, I could easily open the door to heaven. But if I don't, I could just as easily open the door to unemployment. There are so many consequences to the happiest things of your life. Starting off with your best friend, who happens to be of the opposite . And secondly, taking those opportunities that could help you in the long run of getting your dream job. Those two things and the consequences they are acquainted with are connected in ways some can't imagine. They could either make you, or break you.

And even though I am fully aware of the consequences for both, I will have to sacrifice one of them for the other.

I scooted closer to Woohyun and placed my head on his shoulder.

He sighed and wrapped his arm around me. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm not going to go."

He pulled back again with more shock than the first time he did that. "Why? You said you wanted this ever since you wanted to become an actress."

"I mean, I'm not going to go until next summer after high school is over."

"Can you do that? Isn't it a once in a lifetime opportunity?"

"I already discussed it with them during the meeting today. I compromised with the CEO and we came to an agreement that I can stay in the States for as long as I need to if they will allow me to stay in Korea for my last year in high school."

"Are you sure about that?"

I nodded, placing my head back on his shoulder. "I'm positive. Everyone's okay with it and I get to stay longer before I really leave."

He sighed again and pulled me closer to him. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

I shut my eyes and wrapped my arms around him, feeling another knife stab through my heart, as if this was the last time I would be near him and holding him like this. "Me neither."

And as simple as that, I have unawarely dug deeper into that consequence.

I found my creative side more near the halfway to end point of the chapter. It almost always never happens at the beginning of anything that my creativity shows. It's because the beginning is always the hardest and once you get that, the rest flows smoothly. And that's what this chapter has done for me: Get me struggling when starting, but smoothing out when ending.