Rina's eyes widened upon seeing the four beauties in front of her. She felt numb all over to the point where she could barely even stand up without her boyfriend's support. She wanted to burst into tears, no, she was going to burst into tears.


The youngest one whose hair was a wavy, chocolate brown, let out a small giggle. An older female jabbed the youngest one with her elbow. "Now, now, don't tease the poor girl! She has gone through so much without us, haven't you, love?" the older one scolded then asked, replacing her blank expression with a soft smile.


Rina pressed her lips together, forming a thin, firm line. She really didn't want to talk at that moment because she knew that if she did, the tears would start cascading like a waterfall. Just the sight of the quartet brought back so many memories. Although it had only been a little over two years, she felt as if she hadn't seen them for centuries. There were slight modifications to their appearances but overall, each of the four still looked exactly the same. 


"Hun, are you okay? You don't want to look like a hot mess in front of your man now, right? Oh, and must I comment, that hair color is just fab on you!" said Min, the one with the short, black hair. 


The other three nodded in agreement. 


"Absolutely gorgeous," they all complimented in unison. 


Their synchronization made one tear drop, then another, and another, and another one until the tears were unstoppable. The oldest among them stood up to envelope the young'un in her arms.  "Oh dear, sweetie. Just let it all out. Fei jie is here for you. We all are." 


The two proud men stood by the doorway, watching with smiles on their faces. Constantly surrounded by males, this was a lovely change for Rina for once in her life. When with the girls, she seemed the most comfortable and could let go of herself, letting down her barriers. 


The boys slowly backed away to leave the women in peace. 


Jia, the one with wavy black hair, Rina's head soothingly. "How are you lately? Has your health improved?" she asked with a concerned expression. All four of them had the same look plastered on their faces. 


"I'm fine," answered Rina. It wasn't completely a lie but neither was it the whole truth either. "Just a few stressful matters here and there." 


The one who could understand her the most was Min, the lovely American-born female. "Worse than in America, babe?" 


She nodded as the youngest, Suzy, played with her hands. "I never wanted to be like Rie, anyways. Honestly, what's the point? I'll never be like her." 


Fei frowned. "I thought you went to a therapist? Why are you still like this?" 


"What do you mean?" Rina snapped, furrowing her eyebrows. 


Min sent a warning glance to the eldest and protectively placed her hand over Rina's. "Shhh, honey. Why don't you tell us about your new school and new friends?" 


At the mention of 'friends', her face softened in such an obvious manner that all of the girls noticed it. "I've made quite a few, I guess. They're really nice people who make me feel at ease when I'm with them. There's one whom I feel attached to in such a way that it's like we're more than best friends." 


The four girls who called themselves miss A looked around at each other. They had never heard her talk about anything in such a tone before. 


"Good for you, sweetie! What are their names?" 


"Sunggyu, Dongwoo, Hoya, Sungyeol, Myungsoo, Sungjong and---" she paused to take a deep breath, "and Woohyun." 


They automatically knew who the one she was so intently talking about with such wide eyes was. 


Fei nodded, trying to break the awkward air. "Well, they sound like nice boys. We'll be able to meet them, right? Anyways, I'm glad that you're happy. No one else but you deserves it the most." 


"Well," Min started, "since we just came back to Korea, why don't we do some touring and shopping?" 


All the girls grinned at the genius suggestion. "Let's go!" all 5 of them chirped in utter excitement. 


Rina had this small idea tugging at the back of her mind but she wasn't sure if it was good or not. There was a part of her that wanted to ask if the boys wanted to come along except there was an ulterior motive for thinking so. It wasn't that she wanted to spend more time with Woohyun. It was quite complicated, even for herself. 


The girls arrived at the mall in one way or another and met up. 


Suzy's grin was so wide that it looked like it wouldn't  be able to stretch anymore. "Wah, I haven't been shopping in so long! Boarding school is absolutely the worst! This is why I love you, Riri!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around the slightly younger female. 


Jia smirked. "Why do you think you were sent to boarding school in the first place?" 


"Unnie!" Suzy gasped, lightly smacking her arm. 


The bunch laughed as they walked around the mall, entering random shops to look at a piece of clothing for 5 seconds before exiting soon afterwards. They joked around like old friends would with the occasional burst of laughter from a funny joke or ridiculous memories. The atmosphere became calmed when the girls became tired from endlessly walking around. 


They all slumped down onto chairs surrounding a table in front of the store in which they bought smoothies from. "Dang, I forgot how tiring it is to shop! Rina, you should have brought Shi Hoo and Jong Suk along so they could carry our bags." 


She giggled, shaking her head. "Jong Suk would refuse and end up having more bags than us!" 


Everyone held onto their stomachs as they laughed even more. Min looked like she was about to suffocate. 


Fei, being the oldest one, tried calming the younger girls down before any of them died from laughter. The crew's energy died down a bit, knowing that the eldest was right. 


Jia sipped on her smoothie, eyeing Rina weirdly. The girl caught it and raised an eyebrow. "What? Do I have something on my face?" She shook her head. "Then what is it?" 


"You."


Rina was confused and pointed at herself. "Me?" 


"Yeah."


"What about me?" she asked in utter confusion. 


"You've changed. A lot, actually. I wonder if it's the work of Korean food or is it something greater than that?" Jia's lips curved upwards into a thin smirk. 


The younger lass couldn't exactly understand what she was implying. Fei coughed, breaking their little exchange. "Let's get going, guys. We need to take this little child here home because it's getting late."


"Yah, I'm only younger than Suzy by a year!" Rina argued, whining. 


Min came up from behind her, wrapping her arms around her neck. "You're a little child to us though, okay? Let's go back to your house!"


"Actually," Rina said, "could you guys drop me off at Steven's?"


 

The girl entered the passcode which she memorized by heart into the padlock, waiting patiently to hear the click, signalling that the door was opened. When she heard it, she pushed the door open and entered the luxurious apartment that she could navigate even with her eyes closed. That's how many times she had been over. She was about to call out her boyfriend's name until she heard a chuckle that did not belong to her boyfriend.


Heck, it didn't even belong to a man. 


With furrowed eyebrows, she slowly entered the living room. On the couch next to her significant other was an unfamiliar woman who looked to be in her early 20's, about the same age as Shi Hoo. She was gorgeous and had that sophisticated feel which Rina oh-so lacked. 


The first thing she noticed were the wine bottles on the coffee table. 


"Steven," she called, gaining the attention of a caught off-guard Shi Hoo. 


"Oh, Nana! What're you doing here?" he asked in surprise, placing his glass of wine down. 


Rina wrinkled her nose. "I see that you're busy. I'll just leave then." She bit down on her bottom lip, spinning around and heading back towards the front door. 


Messy footsteps were heard behind her until she felt someone pull her back by her wrist. "Rina, don't misunderstand." 


She pulled her hand away, not daring to even look at her boyfriend. "You don't have to explain, Shi Hoo-ah. I understand, I completely understand." she said, blinking back the tears. 


It was an obvious lie but Shi Hoo decided to let her go. Neither of them were in their right minds to deal with anything at that moment. The woman in his living room at the moment wasn't just anyone but she was one of the keys to his company's major success. There was no other choice. He was being selfish, and he knew but work was everything.


Well, that was what he was taught at least. 


After running away from his apartment, Rina was wondering where she should go. If she went home, the girls would be suspicious. There was nowhere left to go besides her best friend's apartment, which was not too far from her current location. 


When she came in, the nostalgic laughter kept on ringing in her ears. Her best friend knew something was wrong right away just from the look on her face. 


Frowning, he walked over to her and looked straight into her eyes. "What's wrong, kiddo?" 


She wrapped his arms around him tightly, not willing to let go. "Can we just stay like this for a while?" she murmured into his chest, not caring if her tears were starting to soak up his shirt. 


Jong Suk sighed, the back of her head in comfort. Whenever she's like this, there is only one of two causes. "It'll be okay, babe. I'm here for you."


His frown became darker when her cries only got louder. It was so close to the holidays and yet here his best friend was, bawling her eyes out like there's no tomorrow. What did hyung do now? 

~~~~

I wanted to update because it's Christmas. 
Sorry if this chapter doesn't make sense at the end.
I think I hit a dead end but I'll try seeing if I can weave things around.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Have a safe holiday.