“ChaeRin?” DaeSung said as he hurriedly stood up from the chair.

He was looking at me with his eyes wide in disbelief, like he couldn’t really believe that it was me, Lee ChaeRin, standing in front of him.

“Yes,” I said, “What do you think?” I gave a nervous laugh.

DaeSung blinked rapidly. “Gah, wow!” was all he managed to say.

I guess it’s safe to say that he was impressed with what he saw. 
I smiled to him shyly.

“Ehem,” YeJin cleared , “Not wanting to break this awkward you-look-so-good-that-I’m-speechless thing that you guys got going on here, but Dae, I really need to style your hair. The show is going to start soon. Sit!” YeJin practically shoved DaeSung’s shoulder to make him sit at the chair and began to frantically style DaeSung’s hair.

I could feel DaeSung’s eyes stealing glances at me every now and then. I just couldn’t help but smile to myself.

“Yah, where’s that stupid nerd?” YeJin yelled over the loud sound of the hairdryer.
“He went to buy some coffee,” DaeSung answered in an equally loud voice.
“Huh? He must really need it to stay awake,” YeJin said and shook her head.

“Speaking of the devil,” I said as I saw MinHo emerging among all the other contestants in the changing room and coming towards our direction with a cup of coffee in his hand. He was yawning the whole time as he was walking and sipping his coffee.

YeJin and DaeSung turned to look towards MinHo’s direction as he came closer. I could see YeJin scrunching her nose at MinHo as he flashed his toothy smile at them.

“Sorry, long queue,” he said apologetically, “You might want to be faster. It’s already the third’s contestant’s turn on stage now,” he said and took a huge gulp of his coffee and stood beside DaeSung.

“Third one already? Oh, no! How many contestants are there?” YeJin asked as she frantically took a huge gallop of hair gel to style DaeSung’s hair.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged nonchalantly, trying to brush aside the tight knot of fear in my stomach, “15 I think,”
“15? Oh, no!! This is bad, we need to be faster!!” YeJin said as she began to scrunch DaeSung’s hair.
“Yeow!!” DaeSung yelped.
“Sorry,” YeJin smiled sweetly but was still scrunching his hair. I could see DaeSung cringe in pain.

MinHo apparently didn’t notice me there because as soon as he looked at me with his mouth full with coffee, his eyes opened really wide.

Of course, the inevitable had to happen.
MinHo literally showered DaeSung with the coffee bursting out from his mouth.

“Oh no!” YeJin and I screamed in unison.
DaeSung yelped as he immediately stood up and looked down at his coffee-stained tuxedo.

“Omo, omo!! What are we going to do, what are we going to do?” YeJin mumbled frantically.
I shut my eyes tightly, hoping that it was all just a bad dream and that when I opened up my eyes, everything would cease to exist. 
When I opened up my eyes again, unfortunately they were still there trying to figure out what to do.

That’s what you call a wishful thinking.

“Yah, you stupid nerd!! Look at what you’ve done! What are we going to do about his stage outfit now?” YeJin yelled angrily at MinHo who was trying to rub off the stain from DaeSung’s tux.
“I’m sorry, I’m just shocked when I saw ChaeRin. She used to look like an angry village grandmother, not pretty like this,” MinHo said and I don’t know whether I have to feel flattered by this, “But it’s no big deal. Everything has a solution,” he said nonchalantly.
“Solution??!!!” YeJin scoffed, “What solution? You think this is all a joke? We don’t have time to find a new outfit for him.”
“It’s okay, YeJin-ah,” DaeSung said, “The audience won’t see it. Besides, they won’t be looking at me anyways.”

YeJin sighed deeply, the way she always does when she’s trying hard not to kill someone.

“It’s okay,” DaeSung smiled.
YeJin turned to shoot daggers at MinHo with her eyes.
“It’s okay. I’ll settle this,” MinHo said, “And you, go shower. I’ll bring a new outfit for you,” he said to DaeSung before he left and disappear from the changing room.
I sat dejectedly as YeJin pushed DaeSung toward the shower room.

“Don’t take more than 10 minutes,” she warned at him and came back to sit beside me. “This is a disaster, ChaeRin-ah. Why does this has to happen now?” she was near crying.
It’s no wonder to me why she was so upset. YeJin had always taken everything that she does passionately.

“YeJin, you know, we can always drop out from the competition and run away. Screw Mrs. Choi!” I suggested.
“Oh my God!” YeJin scoffed with her teary eyes, “I can’t believe you’re thinking about running away after all we’ve done for you. After all that Dae’s been through, how can you even think about giving up?” she said.

She was right. I shouldn’t have thought of giving up. DaeSung went through h.ell to help me. 
I looked down on my knuckles.

Suddenly my cellphone buzzed to indicate an incoming text message.
Of course, it was Choi SeungHyun.

- Did you wear the dress?
- Yes. Stop bothering me!
- I bet you’re gonna make the dress look ugly.
- Leave me alone!
- Oh, I want to tell you that I’m at the seat in front of the stage. You know, behind the judges? I’m watching the fifth contestant now.

I closed my eyes and sighed deeply. 
He’s here?

-You’re here alone?
-Nope. The whole gang’s here. We can’t wait to watch your performance with your wussy lover boy. We've brought rotten eggs. I bet you guys are going to .

I had the sudden urge to throw the phone at the wall. 
Furious, I immediately dialed his number.

“Yes?” he said.
“GO HOME NOW!!” I yelled through the phone.
“No way! You think I’d miss seeing you acting like a fool in public? It’s going to be fun!”
I could hear the laughter in his voice.
I bet he was enjoying this.
“I’m telling you to go home now!!” I said through gritted teeth.
“No no no no,” he sang and hung up.

Aish, f.ck this guy!
How dare he hang up on me?
I dialed his number again.
“The number you have dialed is not in service,” I heard a voice which sounded uncannily like Baboon said.
“Yah!” I yelled, “You think I’m stupid?!!!”
I could hear him chuckling before he hung up.

Stupid bas.tard! How dare he hang up on me twice?!!

I dialed his number again but this time, he rejected my call.
I tried again for another four times but to the same response.
I’m telling you, I really wanted to go out there to strangle his neck.

“Who’s that?” YeJin eyed me suspiciously, “Baboon?” she asked before I could answer.
I nodded. “He’s here with his friends. Stupid HyeYeon invited him.”
“Ah, that b.tch,” YeJin grimaced, “I knew she’d do something bad.”
“He said he’s watching the fifth contestant,” I said.

YeJin’s eyes opened wide in horror.
“Fifth contestant?! Oh my God!!” she shrieked, “Are we going to make it?”
I shrugged.
By the look of it, I think it’ll be a miracle if we can even perform in the stupid talent show.

“I’m back,” I heard MinHo’s voice and turned to look at him. He was holding a white shirt and a pair of grey pants in one of his hands, “I’ve brought him a new outfit. I told you that it’s not a big deal.”
I looked at MinHo in awe. “Where did you get it?” I asked him.
“From the drama club. They have a lot of clothes at their club room. I’m good friends with the president and apparently he’s in charge of the stage tonight,” he said.

I blinked rapidly.
Only he could think of that in this situation. If it was left to me, I would suggest for us to drop out or maybe for DaeSung to fake being sick.
Yes, Lee MinHo is a genius indeed.

MinHo went to give DaeSung the clothes at the shower room and I could see YeJin breathing out a sigh of relief.
“He’s really something, huh?” I said.
“Oh, just wait until all of this is finished, I’m going to bite off his head,” YeJin said, “It’s all his fault,”
“But YeJin, that was an accident. Besides, he’s solving it for us. He has helped me and DaeSung a lot, you know,” I said.
“Well, I guess you’re right,” YeJin said, calmly this time. She looked thoughtful for a moment before she asked, “Do you still like him?”

I blushed at the question. 
“No,” I said matter-of-factly.
“That’s what I thought,” she shrugged.
I guess YeJin could already figure out that MinHo was no longer my crush since she didn’t tease me about him anymore. 
Sometimes, we could just read each other’s minds.

“I hope there won’t be anything worse than this later,” she said.
After a few minutes, MinHo came to us with DaeSung behind him, wearing a grey pants and a sleeveless white shirt.

Okay, how come I didn’t know that DaeSung had muscles?
I couldn’t take my mind off his arms. They look like they belong to those models on the ads in the gym.
DaeSung’s muscular, toned arms were shining under the light and droplets of water was dripping off from his wet hair. He fidgeted uncomfortably from one leg to another.
I bet he was uncomfortable at the amount of skin he was showing.

“Is this okay?” he asked me, trying to cover up one of his arm with the other.
He looked like a deer being shone with headlights.
“Are you kidding me?” YeJin said instead since I couldn’t even open my mouth to utter a single word, “This is far better compared to that coffee-stained tux! Now, sit!” YeJin pulled out the chair and practically pulled DaeSung to the chair to sit.

MinHo sighed to himself. “Now, I need to find more coffee,” he yawned loudly.
“Don’t you dare drink your coffee here!” YeJin hissed as she began to dry DaeSung’s hair with a towel.
MinHo rolled his eyes and disappeared again, probably to buy another cup of coffee.

I continued to watch as YeJin began to dry DaeSung’s hair with her hairdryer and then styled it with some hair gel. 

“I think you need some makeup,” she said.
“Mm-ma-makeup?” DaeSung stuttered, his eyes wide with horror.
“Oh, just chill!” YeJin said as she began to powder up his face, “All the male celebrities are using makeup now. Besides, it’s just powder,” she said nonchalantly.

I had to stifle my laughter as I saw her putting some gloss on his lips.
“Eww,” he said, “What the heck is this? Why do my lips look so oily? It looks like I have just eaten a fried chicken.”
YeJin rolled her eyes. “It’s lip gloss silly!” she said, “It’s supposed to make your lips shiny, not oily.”
“But I don’t want oily lips,” DaeSung pouted adorably and I had to fight the strong urge to pinch his cheeks. If I do that, I bet YeJin would run after me for ruining his makeup.

YeJin was still styling DaeSung’s hair when MinHo came back, looking more refreshed.
“Okay, you guys look great,” he said, “It’s already the eleventh contestant now.”

Suddenly, I felt the tight knot in my stomach again. I could see DaeSung sweating profusely and he took a small towel to wipe the sweat off.
“Eleventh?” he said and pat his forehead, “Oh my God,” he said nervously.

“Kang DaeSung and Lee ChaeRin from 5B?” I heard someone called.
“We’re here!” I yelled and raised my hand.
It was Lee SeungRi and HyeYeon. They came toward us when they saw me.
“You guys, I’m afraid there’s a slight problem,” SeungRi said.
“What now?” YeJin asked in an irritated voice. I guess all the stress had taken over her.

I could feel HyeYeon eyeing me up and down.
“What?” I asked her.
“Nothing,” she smiled mockingly.
We all waited for what SeungRi has got to say.

“Your minus one tape,