“KaHee! I thought I told you to stop wearing your ring?” SaRang-unni scolded. 
“Waaah~ I’m sorry, Unni!” KaHee frantically looked beside her at KiKwang, who had a confused expression on his face. “Oppa~ I don’t want to do it! I don’t want to take off my ring,” she cried.

“KaHee,” SaRang whined. “You’ll start another scandal!”

“But it’s m-my ring!”

SaRang sighed in frustration, motivating KiKwang to speak up. “I’ll take off my ring instead.”

“Noo~” KaHee refused his offer, feeling even more heartbroken that he would even offer to do such a thing. Rings were supposed to signify union, after all. Their rings reassured her; she felt safe with them here.

“You can’t do that,” SaRang explained. “Everyone already knows you have that ring. Everyone has already seen you perform with that ring.” KiKwang nodded once he understood the situation.

“But I have worn it also!” KaHee argued confidently. “It’s too late, then. It’s over!”

In the midst of KaHee’s whining, JunHyung walked over to KiKwang and grabbed his hand, slipping the ring off his finger and placing it on his own.

KaHee stopped immediately and whispered to JunHyung, “Oppa, why are you so obsessed with me lately? Are you sure you really like Unni? Are you sure it’s not me?”

JunHyung quickly shushed her, looking around at their friends and hoping no one heard what she said. He cleared his throat and explained to SaRang. “We can all take turns wearing the rings so people will think that we’re just sharing. Then they won’t be able to pin it on any of us.”

KaHee’s face was blank before suddenly scrunching up as she cried, “But that’s KiKwang’s ring! You guys can’t wear it!”

KiKwang brought an arm around KaHee and shushed her, telling her to calm down, and that it was okay. It would only be for a little while, anyway, until the hype from RaeIn’s and DooJoon’s scandal died down. He led her to the couch where they sat together as KiKwang tried to convince KaHee to remove her ring for a while also.

Meanwhile, JunHyung played with his new accessory by spinning it around his finger. He looked to find that RaeIn, JulSu and DongWoon were sitting together on another couch. JulSu and DongWoon were chatting animatedly, but RaeIn was leaning her head into one of her hands as though she had a headache.

Once KaHee seemed to have calm down a little, RaeIn reached over and tapped her to grab her attention. JunHyung watched as she apologized.

“I’m sorry, KaHee. This whole thing is my fault. The scandal is so troublesome for everybody…”

——-

DooJoon was already in bed when the others returned from their meeting with the managers. Not wanting to see RaeIn so soon right after their previous encounter, DooJoon had given the excuse that he had an upset stomach and asked that they all fill him in on the meeting when they returned. He heard laughter coming from the living room, though, and DooJoon decided that he would prefer to stay in bed. It was already 2:26 AM after all, so there was no reason for him to get up to greet the rest of the members when they were just going to get ready to go to sleep anyway.

No matter how hard he tried – which wasn’t too hard at all, actually – DooJoon could not get RaeIn off of his mind. He didn’t know whether it was just a phase of the break-up, but part of him refused to feel the finality of it. Somehow, DooJoon felt that there was still a chance that he could wake up the next morning and be able to call RaeIn to ask if he could come over. But was there really?

He remembered how RaeIn was still wearing the necklace the last time they saw each other. He still wore his for a reason, so was it possible RaeIn was still wearing hers for the same reason?

Out of all the emotions he was not sure of, there was one that DooJoon definitely knew he felt for sure: regret. Regret from his stupid actions, stupid decisions, and stupid jealous impulses. He had the girl, and now he lost her.

“If only time would allow me to go back to the past, I won’t let go both of your hands, I won’t let you go~”

——-

“Don’t let go, okay?” KaHee snapped as she held onto KiKwang’s hands to steady herself. “Don’t let me go!”

“I won’t let you go!” KiKwang reassured her, as he pulled her along with him. BEAST, MAKIKO and 4Minute were rewarded the opportunity to rest up and have fun before working on all of their upcoming promotions. On this particular day, they were given the option of resting at home or going out to iceskate together. CUBE Entertainment had rented out an iceskating rink for their idols to enjoy themselves.

RaeIn and YoSeob snuck up behind KaHee as she was being dragged along on the ice by KiKwang. RaeIn and YoSeob glanced at each other mischieviously and while RaeIn held onto the railing, YoSeob rushed forward to push KaHee, causing her to stumble forward. As she lost her balance, she instinctively grabbed onto KiKwang, and the two toppled over onto the ice.

“Cold!” KiKwang complained as he cradled the MAKIKO maknae.

“Hey! That wasn’t cool!” KaHee yelled, directing a fiery gaze at RaeIn and YoSeob who high-fived each other. They were laughing so hard that they almost fell over on the ice as well.

“Oh, man did you see that?” JiHyun giggled, pointing at the scene in front of her. She was sitting on a bench outside of the rink, still in the process of tying up her skates.

“Yeah…” DooJoon replied dully. Of course he saw what just happened. He was watching RaeIn the whole time. He watched as she pulled on her gloves after strapping on her skates, he watched as she hugged her sweater and secured her striped scarf into place, he watched as she tentatively and clumsily walked on the ice…

And now, he watched as she laughed cutely with YoSeob… With YoSeob.DooJoon had to admit: he was pretty jealous. Not exactly jealous of YoSeob per se – he learned his lesson about controlling his jealousy – but he was definitely jealous of the fact that right now YoSeob was the one RaeIn was laughing with. “It shouldn’t be YoSeob,” DooJoon muttered. “It should be me.”

“What was that?” JiHyun asked, sticking her face closer to DooJoon’s face so she could hear clearer.

“I can’t stand it,” DooJoon stated.

“Can’t stand what?” JiHyun asked, puzzled.

DooJoon turned to JiHyun without bothering to explain his train-of-thought. “We can still be friends right?”

“What are you talking about? Of course, we’re still friends,” JiHyun stated matter-of-factly. “You’re so weird…”

“Of course you and I are friends,” DooJoon sighed. “I meant RaeIn and me. Even if we’re not together, we can still be friends, right?”

“Well, I guess so…”

“Okay!” DooJoon exclaimed, standing up and raising a fighting fist. He watched as RaeIn continued to cautiously skate around the perimeter of the rink. She had let go of the rail now, and was slowly getting accustomed to the ice. DooJoon double checked to make sure his skates were secured onto his feet before proceeding to the rink as well. JiHyun rolled her eyes as he left, still bewildered about their weird interaction, before getting up to find JiYoon.

DooJoon could feel his heartrate pick up as he neared RaeIn on the ice. He took a deep breath to try to calm down, and he cleared his throat before beginning to speak, but his nervousness stole his voice away. When he finally felt like he manned up enough, DooJoon skated over to RaeIn and tapped her on the shoulder. “RaeIn…”

RaeIn reflexively turned to face her companion; however she lost her balance at the sudden touch. Wide-eyed, DooJoon quickly grabbed her hand with one hand and supported her back with the other to stabilize her.

RaeIn’s heart was beating fast from the panic, and her eyes were shut tight as she braced herself for the fall; however, when she never touched the ice, she dared to open one eye. Seeing that it was DooJoon holding onto her, she quickly wriggled free and regained her balance. She straightened out her jacket and tamed some loose strands of hair as she regained her composure.

“I remembered that you never skated before, and it looked like you needed some help,” DooJoon offered.

RaeIn hesitated before she replied. “I’m fine. I’m already getting the hang of it now. But thank you for offering.” With that, she turned around and began to reacquaint herself with the ice. DooJoon followed her.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to fall or hurt yourself.”

RaeIn let out laugh. “Not when you almost made me fall just now. You scared the skin off of me!”
DooJoon felt himself smiling at RaeIn’s response. RaeIn noticed DooJoon’s expression, and realized she was still laughing. Now aware of the situation, RaeIn felt weird – she didn’t feel awkward, but she didn’t feel totally comfortable either. Without saying anything else, she began to skate away.

“Wait! I can teach you,” DooJoon offered again.

RaeIn shook her head. “It’s all right, really. You know that I like learning these kinds of things by myself.”

DooJoon knew this; however that wasn’t the point. Right now, the goal was for him to revive their friendship. This goal outshined everything else at the moment, and it shone so bright that it blinded DooJoon from all common sense – or at least his sense of what to say.

“If you say so, but I really think my assistance will benefit you a lot.”

“Are you trying to say that I can’t do this on my own?” RaeIn raised an eyebrow.

DooJoon was not expecting that kind of reaction at all. RaeIn misinterpreted his intentions, but he was too stunned to find the right words to clear up what he really wanted to say. “What? N-no, I—“

“Look, I can get this, all right? I got this, trust me,” RaeIn added the last part with a tinge of underlying vindictiveness before she skated away again.

Though she was skating faster now, she still kept to the perimeter. This allowed to her to spot JunHyung once he appeared with skates in hand.

“RaeIn!” he called out, running over to the side of the rink. RaeIn clumsily brought herself to a stop, still not used to that part of the skating process.

“Hey, JunHyung!” her cheeks were flushed from the cold. “I was wondering where you went off to. I thought you changed your mind and went home.”

“No, they couldn’t find my size,” JunHyung said lifting up his skates.

“All right, well hurry up and get your skates on! I’m pretty much a pro now,” RaeIn winked before skating off again. JunHyung nodded and headed over to a bench to put on his skates.

DooJoon, who was still watching RaeIn, still felt uncomfortable with her interaction with JunHyung. He skated up to her again.

“Hey,” DooJoon called out.

RaeIn first gave DooJoon a look, trying to read his expression so she knew how to respond. “Hey.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you?” DooJoon wanted to kick himself for sounding so desperate to teach her.

RaeIn sighed. “Do I look like I’m skating that badly?”

“No, I just—“

“Thank you, but I’m fine,” RaeIn reassured DooJoon, trying to contain her annoyance.

“Who does he think he is?” RaeIn thought to herself as she skate away, gradually gaining speed as she did so. Eventually she reached a speed she had not met before, and she was pleased. She continued on at that pace, proud of her progress.

“Ah~ Unni, watch out~” KaHee cried, with her arms outstretched. RaeIn turned her head toward KaHee’s voice and found that KaHee was also skating at a fast pace, which she clearly wasn’t used to. Behind her, she saw as KiKwang frantically got up from the ice and tried to reach KaHee before –

But it was too late. KaHee already knocked into RaeIn and now the two were sprawled across the ice.

KiKwang rushed to them and knelt down, still frantic, and asked if they were okay.

“RaeIn-ah!” DooJoon yelled from across the rink. He began to skate around toward the fallen girl, but not before running into the rink door which opened in front of him. It was JunHyung that flew out from behind the door, and he quickly jumped on the ice and practically flew toward RaeIn’s side.

“RaeIn, are you okay?” JunHyung asked as he helped the wincing girl to her feet. Next to her, KiKwang was helping KaHee to her feet as well. Both girls were rubbing at a part of their body.

On the other side of the rink, DooJoon lay defeated on the ice. He closed his eyes for a bit, and when he reopened them he found JiHyun, JiYoon and YoSeob staring down at him.

“Are you… okay?” the three asked. DooJoon sighed and closed his eyes again.