“Thanks for coming, unnie,” Sunhwa said as she climbed into the sleek red Jaguar.

“No problem, Sunhwa yah!” Hyun Jin replied cheerfully as Sunhwa closed the door and she pulled out onto the busy street. “I knew you would call me sooner or later,” she said, winking.

Sunhwa rolled her eyes but let a slight smirk drift across her lips. She had called Hyun Jin from the SHINee dorm to ask about making a run to get clothes, toiletries, and other necessities from her apartment. She would have asked either Sulli or Luna, but she didn’t want to bother them and didn’t have their numbers, anyway. Sunhwa didn’t like relying on anyone, but she had slept in the same clothes two days in a row now and the smell and overall cleanliness was starting to enter the questionable zone.

Sunhwa was expecting the limo that she had seen Hyun Jin in before to pull up, but instead, there was a shiny red Jaguar. When she asked her about it, Hyun Jin said with a shrug, “I wanted to have my own car. Even though I didn’t really need it, I didn’t want to rely on the driver to take me places, you know? I’m capable of driving myself, so I studied and got my driver’s license a year ago.”

Sunhwa nodded in response. Though she knew Hyun Jin wasn’t a person to take advantage of her wealth, it was gratifying to hear that she had decided to do something independent like driving herself places.

“So,” Hyun Jin stopped at a red light and faced Sunhwa with a suggestive smile, “How is it staying at the dorm?”

Sunhwa sighed. “I’ve been sleeping about 75% of the time, unnie.”

“Still! They’re a famous idol group, Sunhwa yah. And you get to stay at their very own dorm!” Hyun Jin turned and eased the car forward. “I bet you at least have something to tell me.”

Sunhwa scrunched up her nose and thought for a moment. At last she said, “…Onew does their laundry.”

Hyun Jin laughed. “That’s great! Anything else?”

“Jonghyun has very dirty socks. And…Minho really is a health freak.”

Hyun Jin nodded, letting Sunhwa know that she was paying attention even though she was focusing on the road. Not that Sunhwa didn’t know that already. “Who cooks?”

“Key,” Sunhwa said, and even she winced a little at the audible hitch in her voice.

Hyun Jin pounced. “Ooh! Have a little crush, do we?”

“Aniyo,” Sunhwa said lowly, instead of protesting violently like she normally would, the memory of Key yelling at her immediately coming to mind, the innocent unknown girl in the picture.

Hyun Jin noticed and asked, a bit concerned, “What’s wrong?”

Sunhwa shook her head. “Nothing, unnie.”

No matter how much Hyun Jin pleaded and begged, Sunhwa would not tell her what had happened or what was wrong. Finally, she sighed, resigned to the fact that Sunhwa was about the most stubborn person ever, and sat back in the front seat. “You can’t keep everything bottled up forever, you know.”

Sunhwa didn’t look at her friend and instead pressed her lips tightly together. That may have been true, but her method had gotten her through sixteen years of her life, so she wasn’t about to change now.

Hyun Jin sighed and put a hand on Sunhwa’s knee. “If you ever need someone to listen, Sunhwa yah,” she said quietly, the seriousness of her tone making Sunhwa look up, “I’m here for you.”
 

Sunhwa mutely nodded.

-

“Are you completely sure you don’t need help?” Hyun Jin called from the car parked in front of the apartment. Sunhwa waved from where she was at the lobby door, yelling back, “Don’t worry, unnie! I’m going to be fine.”

Hyun Jin sighed, but still watched, hawk-eyed, until her friend disappeared behind the door.

-

This was not how Sunhwa had planned it.

This was how it was supposed to go: she would to slip in quietly from the door and avoid the squeaky floorboard while she sneaked up the stairs to her room. Once in her room, she would hurriedly shove a bunch of clothes from her closet into the gym bag lying on the floor, and then also a couple of toiletries (the SHINee dorm had soap, but it wasn’t exactly the kind she wanted to use). Then she was going to sneak back out of her room, down the stairs, and out the door to Hyun Jin’s car. Boom. Done. She would have gotten everything without even seeing either her mother or Jung Hee: exactly the way she wanted it to go.

This is what actually happened: the minute she stepped foot into the apartment, her mother had seen her.

Sunhwa cursed in a very unladylike way to herself as her mother stood up from the kitchen table and said, “Sunhwa yah!”

“Umma…” Sunhwa muttered awkwardly as she stood rooted to the spot.

“Where have you been? I haven’t seen you for three days!” Sunhwa’s mom said, stepping closer, almost as if to inspect her.

The daughter scratched her neck and continued to mumble, “Um…about that…”

“You manager called,” she said, and Sunhwa immediately stilled at the words. “He says you haven’t showed up for work two days in a row now. He sounded worried.” Now her brows were arched, giving off an expression mainly consisting of disapproval.

Crap, Sunhwa thought wildly. What am I supposed to say now? I totally forgot about work…

“And I saw you on TV,” Sunhwa’s mom said, her expression now becoming thunderous. She pointed to the TV playing in the corner, which Sunhwa now realized was the televised episode of Music Bank with SHINee’s debut. Key seemed to almost smile mockingly at her from the screen, as if saying, Now what do you do, huh?

“Listen, umma…I can explain…” Sunhwa said shakingly.

“I don’t need you to explain,” her mother hissed, getting into her face now. “It’s very plain to see here that you directly disobeyed me and went off dancing when you should have been working. And where is that going to get you?”

Sunhwa fired back, “I’m not some kind of puppy that will follow your orders! I’m my own person, too!”

“I know that, as you’ve reminded me many times already. When will you see that I’m only trying to help you?”

“What if I don’t want your help? What if I’m perfectly happy doing what I am right now?”

“Sunhwa yah, you just don’t understand. You might be happy right now, but it’s only temporary! Dancing is such a fleeting career. Look at them,” she said, waving her hand at the screen, where SHINee was singing. “It’s dangerous for you to get too close to these so-called idols! They’re not all what you think!”

“Actually, none of them have ever told me to ‘get out’ like you think they will. I have people there that actually accept me, umma!”

“Accept you for what? Being trashy, showing off your body?” Sunhwa’s mother spat.

“You’re the one that doesn’t understand!” Sunhwa yelled, stung. “I spent three years slaving away so I could graduate early to pursue my dream. And this is my dream, umma!”

Her mother shook her head. “It’s not going to get you anywhere, Sunhwa yah. It’s just not!”

“Who says so?”
 

“I say so!” Sunhwa’s mother shouted loudly. She visibly struggled to calm herself and took a deep breath. Then she said a little more quietly, “Go to bed. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

She turned to go back to the kitchen.

…“No.”

“What?” Sunhwa’s mother said, turning around. “I said to go to bed.”

“And I said no.” Sunhwa was shaking inside, but she put up a brave front. She had never directly talked back to her mother like this before.

“Sunhwa yah…listen to me.” Her mother paused, as if enunciating every word would drill it into her daughter’s head and somehow make her do it. “Go. To. Bed.”

“I’m not going to bed!” Sunhwa exploded. “I’m going to go and get my clothes and Hyun Jin is going to drive me back and then later we’ll have practice and soon we have another performance – ”

“GO TO BED!” Sunhwa’s mother screamed so loudly that Sunhwa thought that she heard the silverware in the sink rattle.

There was a silence that seemed to ring in her ears, the echoes making them vibrate painfully.

Sunhwa shook her head slowly, turning toward the door. “Maybe I’ll see you later, umma.”

As she moved to turn the doorknob, a soft, steely voice said from behind her: “If you step out the door, don’t come back.”

Sunhwa turned back toward her mother, who suddenly looked small standing in the kitchen, alone.

“What?”

“You heard me. If you step out the door, don’t come back.” Sunhwa’s mother lifted her chin as she said the words despite the slight tremble of her voice. The same voice that Sunhwa had admired while she was young, the same voice that had her hair at night and told her bedtime stories about the stars, the same voice that had taught her Advanced Calculus at the age of thirteen, the same voice she had heard ever since she could remember. This was the voice that she had associated with warmth and love her whole life.

“Umma…” Sunhwa’s eyes shone with a film of unshed tears. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do. If you leave…” Here she shuddered slightly but went on, “we must part ways like this.”

There was another silence, very much unlike the other one, when mother and daughter stared at each other, each wondering how and when the split between them had widened so suddenly to become a gaping canyon, a gulf. They could only stare at each other as if on different sides of the canyon, trying futilely to understand, and now Sunhwa felt there was only one thing she could do.

“Umma…” Sunhwa said again, and she struggled to keep her voice from breaking. “Then I guess this is how it ends.”

Sunhwa’s mom opened as if to say something else, but Sunhwa jerked the door open and slammed it closed.

And as she started down the stairs, she didn’t look back.

Hey guys, guess what? Exams are over!! ^.^ And it's finally SUMMER! Ahhh it still hasn't hit me yet, but I guess it will soon after a few days of laziness. :P Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. 

Thank you all so so much for all your comments and well-wishes. :) I appreciate them more than you know! Please keep commenting/subscribing <3

YAYYY JONGHYUN'S BACK! WE LOVE YOU BLING BLING DONO :) <3

- tigress