He suddenly hugged me and my self control was gone. My legs lost strength and I would have fallen to the ground if he wasn't holding me so tight. I hid my crying face in his chest, not because I still considered him my boyfriend, but because there were hundreds of cameras pointed at us. Some security guards made way for us and Dae Hyun led me to an emergency exit, where there was no one in sight. As soon as he let go of me, I fell to the floor.

   "Rika, are you okay?" He helped me sit properly on the floor, with my back against the wall. I didn't answer. "You won't talk to me?" I stayed in silence, avoiding his eyes. "Well, I guess it's my fault again, anyway." He sighed and stared at me for some time. "Want to go somewhere? I can leave, and-"

   "No, thanks. I'm already with someone else." I stood up and was about to leave, but Dae Hyun grabbed my hand.

   "You mean..."

   "Yeah. I'm dating someone else. I'm over you, Dae Hyun." I released my hand from his grip.

   "Then why did you cry?" I stopped. "Why did you look so shaken just now?"

   "Doesn't matter." I opened the door and left. 

   I looked around for Ryosuke, but couldn't find him. I was too busy hiding myself from the fans' cameras. The girls kept whispering among themselves things like "So she is the girl?" and "How dare she take our oppa away?". I just wanted to run away, but there was no way out. I was surrounded by B.A.P's fans. Just then, I accidentally ran into someone. Zelo.

   "Can we talk?" I quickly nodded. I just wanted to leave that turmoil.

   He took me to that same emergency exit. And Dae Hyun was still there.

   "Will you talk to me now?" Dae Hyun asked.

   "Nope, I came to talk to Zelo." He sighed.

   "Talk to me then." Zelo said and I turned to him. "How have you been?"

   "Fine, I guess. Not that you seemed to care about it."

   "I'm sorry, okay? I swear to you that it wasn't on purpose. I still miss my best friend."

   "Yeah, I heard you the first time. On TV."

   "You watched the show?" Dae Hyun turned my body to him.

   "Yeah, so?"

   "And you still don't want to talk to me?" His face made me feel kind of guilty. I lowered my face and sighed.

   "It's been over a year, Dae Hyun. Do you expect me to simply run back to you with my arms wide open?"

   "You know I never planned to stay away from you for that long, but this whole fame thing got me a lot busier than I thought it would."

   "I was prepared for that. I knew I wouldn't be able to see you that much anymore, so I prepared myself for that. But I never thought you would be gone forever."

   "Gone? I wasn't gone. I was always there, thinking of you!"

   "Dae Hyun, how many times did I call you and you didn't pick up? On the other hand, you never called me, not even once! One year passed and I didn't see your face. The only way for me to know you were still alive was to watch B.A.P's MVs. And you know what? Every time I saw your face, it hurt. Deep inside. Because at some point in my life I convinced myself you were my prince charming, but suddenly you were not there anymore. You know I've been dreaming with my fairytale ever since I was born, Dae Hyun. I still want a happy ending."

   He froze. I was crying and Zelo pulled me in for a hug. "We don't expect you to forgive us now, but...would you think about it? We really miss you, Rika."

   "What difference would it make? Even if I forgive you now, you will go back to Korea and we will become strangers once again."

   "No, we won't. I promise. We are getting used to this new life, you know? I won't promise you we will be able to meet everyday as we used to, but we can talk. Everyday. 20 minutes every day, what do you say?" He pulled me away slightly and looked at my face.

   "I-I will think about it." I pushed him away and turned to leave one more time.

   "Sweetie, please." Dae Hyun hugged me from behind. "Don't leave me like this. I know I've been a jerk and, once again, I'm really sorry. What I said on that show, I meant every single word. I'm really trying to change. I promise you I will do my best to deserve you, so...just this time-" I removed his arms from me.

   "Stop begging like this. You know I can't be mad at you." I looked at him with teary eyes. "I want to hate you. I try really hard to force myself to hate you, but I can't. I just can't. Why? Tell me why I can't hate you, Jung Dae Hyun!" I hit his chest once, but didn't have strength enough to keep hitting him as I did in the past.

   My hand rested on his chest in a fist, as I slowly collapsed to the floor. He kneeled on the floor next to me and held my hand. "You can hate me as much as you want, but, please, don't ignore me."

   "Why should I listen to you? If I just ignore you it will be better. I'm too young, Dae Hyun. Too young to have suffered this much because of one single guy." I forcefully wiped my tears away with the back of my hand and promised myself I wouldn't cry anymore in front of those two.

   "I'm sorry, okay? Really sorry for everything. I know this is far from being enough to make you forgive me, but I don't know what else to do. I never meant to keep you in the dark for over a year, but it's not like I had a choice. I barely had time to eat, so what could I have done?" I could see he was struggling not to cry and that only made me feel even more guilty. Wait, what? Nah, screw him. I hate him. I want to hate him. I need to hate him.

   "I never expected you to talk to me all the time, Dae Hyun. But listening to your voice once in a while would be nice. Once a month or something."

   "You can expect me to talk to you all the time now. As Zelo said, 20 minutes. What do you think? 20 minutes with me, 20 minutes with him, 20 minutes with Il Hoon, maybe. Done, one hour of your everyday will be taken."

   "Why? Why do you make me believe you have forgotten me and then you come to me with these stupid proposals? Why do you keep giving me false hope, Dae Hyun?"

   "This time it's real hope. I will police myself, Zelo will police me as well. Please. I will be better than your current boyfriend. Just tell me what I have to do to be better than him. I will do whatever I can."

   "You can't be better than him. He's perfect, you know?" He lowered his head. "But, for some reason, even dating that perfect guy, I couldn't forget this jerk in front of me." He raised his head and looked at me with a little smile. "Well, I guess that can't be helped. They say girls always like the bad guys, right?"

   "Can you put an end to this couple talk? I'm really uncomfortable here." Zelo crouched next to us.

   "Then get out, dude." Dae Hyun pointed to the door.

   I held Zelo's hand. "No, don't get out, dude." I glanced at Dae Hyun, who made a face.

   "Then... Are we on good terms now?" Zelo looked at me.

   "It depends. What is your promise to me?" I raised a brow, smiling

   "Hm... I won't stop talking to you...?" He frowned.

   I nodded. "Good enough." Then I raised my pinky. "Pinky promise." We crossed pinkies, laughing. "You too." I turned to Dae Hyun.

   "Really?" He stared at me with an almost disgusted face.

   "Well, if you don't want to do it, I bet my boyfriend will do it instead." I was about to stand up, but Dae Hyun pulled me back down.

   "Fine." He raised his pinky and I giggled, sealing the promise.

   "So... I don't want to be in a scandal yet." I looked at both of them.

   For a moment, we exchanged looks. In the end, I borrowed Dae Hyun's hoodie and Zelo's mask. With my face almost completely covered, we left. Fans crowded around us and Ryosuke appeared in the middle of them, taking me away. Thankfully.

   When we reached my house, I invited him inside again and we headed to the sofa.

   "I guess we are officially over now."

   "Before that... You know, we have been dating for almost a year now and we...never kissed. Can we...you know, before we actually break up."

   "W-What?" I was a shocked and my face made it obvious.

   "I'm kidding." He pushed my forehead back.

   I rubbed my forehead, pouting. "Did you really have to do it?"

   "What a cute best friend I got myself, huh?" He laughed, pinching my cheek. I slapped his hand away.

   "Best friend?" I raised a brow.

   "Yeah. We got pretty close during this past year. I guess I can consider you my best friend."

   "Well, I already have a best friend, but I guess you can be my best friend in Japan." He chuckled.

   "Good enough for me." He nodded and then became serious again. "But...are you going back to Korea now?"

   "I guess." I thought a little. "I'm not sure."

   "You should. When B.A.P go back to Korea, you should go back with them."

   "Are you kicking me out?" I joked.

   "No, this is your house." I rolled my eyes and he laughed. "Just...come visit me sometimes."

   "That's for sure. I still have my mom in here, you know?"

   "Want to go there with me for the last time before you leave?"

   "You want to go to the cemetery?"

   "Well, I need to tell your mom that her baby girl is in another man's hands now." I giggled.

   As he stood up to go out, I called him and, as he turned to me, I hugged him. "Thank you."

   "For what?" He asked, laughing kind of nervously.

   "Everything." I looked up at him, smiling. "And you are totally invited to visit me in Korea."

   "Hmm." He ruffled my hair and I let go of him. I took his hand and started walking to the door, but he held me back. "Why are you holding my hand?"

   "This is the last time, don't complain. And we are best friends, there's absolutely no problem with holding hands." He chuckled.

   Just as we were about to leave, someone knocked on the door. I pulled him with me and opened the door.

   "Dae Hyun?" His eyes immediately focused on our hands.

   "Hey, there." Ryosuke shot him a friendly smile, but Dae Hyun didn't move.

   Awkward...