“Okay so what was the point of this anyway?” Hyomin asked tiredly, checking her nails with a small pout painted over her lips. “I had to like crawl into hedges for the photos okay, biggest sacrifice I’ve ever made. Well actually, the biggest sacrifice was when I saved myself for my first boyfriend. I was half a .”

“I know!” Eunjung chimed in, whining. Boram wanted to slam her face into a desk. If they didn’t stop complaining soon she might just take them by their throats and shove their heads down a toilet bowl. “So like the fan girls will attack her right? Serves her right for hogging all the hot guys to herself. It’s like such a crime for such an ugly girl. If Jiyeon didn’t call dibs on Kris I might as well take him for myself, he’s damn fine.”

“He is, isn’t he?” Jiyeon gushed. “The scandal’s broken already on Sports Seoul and how much cash did we get for the tip anyway?”

“Enough to buy me a new pair of heels,” Boram spat with a nonchalant shrug. Her eyebrows were raised as if challenging them to stand up to her authority. “Since it was my idea anyway.”

“That’s so not fair,” Hyomin whined.

“Whatever, just let her do what she wants,” Eunjung said in a resigned manner. “No point arguing unless you want to die a painful death.”

“At least you got that right,” Jiyeon quipped, smirking.

“School’s tomorrow right?” Boram inquired, crossing her legs over delicately. “Let’s get ready to see her miserable face.” Her mind was already turning with the all the possibilities. Maybe Minhee would cry, maybe she’d try to be stoic like she always was but then there’d be a tiny, almost undetectable quiver in her lips…

“Oh no, not school,” Eunjung complained, biting her lip and dragging her deep red lip colour the wrong way. “School is so boring.”

“That’s the point, they want to kill all our brain cells,” Hyomin explained seriously. “It’s like an advanced form of brainwashing. My mum used to be part of a cult, that’s what they did to her. Cos like she never gets her nails done which is unfathomable, is that the right word? Anyway, she like never does her nails so they look like ugly tree stumps and it’s all because of school.”

 “Did your mom feed you lead paint as a child?” Boram snapped, rolling her eyes at her disciple’s complete absence of a brain. “I’m out of here.”

And she stuck to her word, stalking out of the café in her skyscraper heels into the dazzling morning sunshine. What a good day for Boram.

“CHOI MINHEE YOU HAVE SOME GODDAMN EXPLAINING TO DO.”

Eunji had turned up at my front door step, still dressed in her angry birds pyjamas, fluffy, pink slippers and her hair all tousled like she’d crawled out of a hedge backwards fifteen times. She had her arms crossed over her hips, angry pout painted over her lips. If I wasn’t so grumpy myself, I would’ve given her a hug but there was too much on my mind right now. The migraine was eating away at my sanity and the panadol wasn’t doing much to soothe it. Those advertisement saying that it was fast pain relief were totally bogus. Pain relief my .

“Stop yelling,” I groaned in reply. “My head hurts.”

“THE HELL IT DOES. YOU WERE JUST CANOODLING WITH KOREA’S YUMMIEST TEENAGE BOY, NOW WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING.” My best friend finished her little rant by throwing herself onto my couch. I shut the door softly and shot her a glare, settling down beside her with a sigh. “I gave you those tickets so you could embarrass your in front of your idols, not combust your ovaries with some hot dude who walks around half all the time.” She turned to me with wide eyes and scrutinized my face for a while. I turned away uncomfortably. Eunji gasped and brought her hands frantically to her face while I indulged in her shocked expression. “Don’t tell me you guys are in a relationship!”

“No,” I said flatly. “Do you really think I’m that stupid? I’d be annihilated by fifteen billion fan girls. And besides, he’s got Korea’s prettiest actresses lining up for him, I can’t compete and I don’t want to compete. We just had a meal, he wanted to let down his hair for a bit.”

“Babe, he ain’t got any hair to let down, did you see those horrific corn rows in WOLF?” Eunji shuddered and waved her arms around for emphasis. I cracked a smile, the idiot was just trying to cheer me up so I decided to just come out with the truth, despite knowing what kind of yelling and crying would ensue.

“Kris and I are in a relationship,” I finally said, letting the words tumble out of my mouth. Before she could smother me with a pillow, I quickly continued my sentence. “As a favour to the EXO manager since its more convincing that I’m just a friend if I’m actually in a relationship. It’s so ridiculous I cannot even-“

“Wait you mean you guys are together?”

“Yes….”

“Serious?”

“Yes, Eunji, does my face look like its lying right now?”

“Pinky promise?”

“Yes, you incorrigible idiot.”

“Swear on EXO-K’s grave.”

“Can I shoot you now, Eunji?”

“Okay, okay, okay… Now let me get this right. Because of my tickets, and my pretending to be sick, you got to be friends with Kai and then got yourself into a scandal with him which resulted in Kris forcing the two of you together in a relationship so he could protect you – how manly – and now you’re going to canoodle with the Canadian instead of Mr. Never-have-my-shirt-on.”

“Yes, that’s right, except for the manly part.”

“JOY TO THE WORLD. I BETTER FREAKING BE YOUR MAID OF HONOUR AT THE WEDDING! I cannot believe this, I’m gonna go and-“

“Hold up, you’re like a race horse trapped in cage,” I chastised, rolling my eyes and blowing air out of my cheeks. However, her antics where lifting my mood and I pulled her into a giant bear hug. “Thanks Eunji, I know you have good intentions.”

“Okay when you stop squishing me,” she responded her voice muffled under my armpit and sounding slightly disgruntled, “I’ll accept all tokens of gratitude you want to give me. I do not appreciate being crushed by a wild Minhee. I would rather die in a more dignified way.”

“Oh dear,” I chuckled. “You are a weapon of mass destruction. Against the North Koreans, you’re our best bet. Just go in there and mess everything up like a nuclear bomb.”

“Yeah,” she chortled, throwing an arm around my shoulders. “Screw the North Koreans.”

“SEO EUNJI FOR PRESIDENT!” I yelled, feeling slightly drunk despite having absolutely but air to inhale.

We spent the rest of the afternoon gorging on ice cream and crying over Kai’s character in a drama about werewolves.

Dinner had been an incredibly awkward affair. My parents  couldn’t even look me in the eye and I poked around at my food aimlessly, feeling guilty yet too proud to make any apologies. After all, it wasn’t exactly my fault. Sighing, I had pulled my chair out from the table and sullenly washed the dishes by myself. Somehow, in those two weeks that our parents were gone, I’d grown used to Kris’s presence around me when I did the boring chore. It felt so weird not knocking into him every time I turned to the drying rack.

“Hey.” My father cleared his throat as I threw the dishcloth into the sink to scrub. Smiling weakly, I turned to him and crossed my arms, getting ready for a rant or a 45 minute long lecture. He shuffled his feet and shifted his arms awkwardly, as if he couldn’t find a comfortable position. In the end, he settled for leaning like a crooked wooden plank against the doorframe. The corners of my lips tugged into a smile of affection. Oh dear, my dad would forever be an awkward turtle.

“Yeah?” I responded, my voice slightly croaky.

“Sweetie, we don’t blame anything on you and it must be hard so uh yeah,” he began, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “But still, I think you owe an apology to Kris. All that yelling was pretty uncalled for. I think the two of you could be friends if you tried real hard, you know.”

“Um sure… Thanks dad. For understanding. I appreciate it. So uh thanks, yeah.” Well guess who I inherited my awkwardness from. He sighed, patted me on the back and left, plodding up the stairs in his ridiculously cute fluffy slippers. I finished washing the cloth and set it down on the bench, sighing heavily. With determination, I grabbed my hoodie and marched out the door, pyjamas and all.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Three rings on the doorbell was polite right? Was I being too rushed? Freak what is etiquette. Right, nice posture, gentle smile, no teeth-

“Oh darling!” Mrs Wu gushed. “Kris is upstairs, doing his homework.”

“Uh thanks,” I said bowing politely. “And by the way I’m really sorry-“

“Oh no, for what?” she laughed, pushing me toward the stairs. “Go, he’s probably waiting for you.“

I grimaced, took a deep breath and headed upstairs. Heading to his room, I raised my hand to knock three times.

“I know you’re there,” Kris called from inside. “Just barge in like you usually do.”

“Hey!” I protested. “I do not-“

“Just get in here already,” he groaned. I stepped into his room lightly and shut the door quietly. This was the first time I’d felt so awkward in years. Smoothing down my pyjama pants, I suddenly wished I’d worn something for dignified. Where were my Victoria’s Secret silk nightgowns when I needed them?

“Erm, hi,” I said quickly, trying to ease the tense atmosphere. His lips cracked the slightest hint of a smile.

“You didn’t come all the way here just to say hi,” he urged, raising one eyebrow quizzically. Kris was dressed in a loose fitting white T-shirt and grey pyjama pants but I could see the definition of his muscles well through the thin material. Gulping, I lounged over his bed like I usually did, mainly so I could piss him off. “Come on, fess up.”

“I’m sorry,” I blurted. “For being a .”

“Well at least you know,” he chuckled, turning back to his homework. Since when was the idiot so hardworking? I mean, I always knew that he had an excellent track record in mathematics but holy , his workload looked like it could break a camel’s back. Suddenly, I felt kind of sorry for him. “It’s okay, I’m over it.”

“I dunno, I’m an around you a lot,” I said sheepishly, sitting up and scratching my neck. “Natural instinct I guess?”

He snorted and scribbled more answers into his book.

“Okay, okay,” I said. “I’ll try be better behaved from now on. And I’m sorry for always using you to my advantage. Being enemies for so long, it feels slightly weird to you know… Anyway, I’ll stop talking to Kai if you want. And I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess.”

He took a good look at me, his amber eyes searching mine intently before they crinkled into little crescent moons as he smiled. “Look, I don’t want you to give up your friends, but maybe see me as a human someday?”

“No promises, idiot,” I chortled. “Friends?”

I held out my hand and he took it, shaking it firmly, a smile lighting up on his face like ornaments on a Christmas tree. 

“Friends.”

A/N:

I'm sorry. I can't anymore. I'm more a crack writer than anything else so uh yeah... hope this chapter is satisfying enough