--

She stands at the corner, casually leaning against the wall. As the people walk past on the street, she keeps her eyes open, scanning the bypassers as if looking for a certain face. She slings her hands in her pockets, feeling for her phone in case it should vibrate. As she bites the inside of her cheek, her eyes take on a faraway look. 

A few minutes later, as the sun peeks out from behind the clouds, she spots the person she was keeping an eye out for. Straightening, she sticks out her hand and waves to get his attention. He continues walking, not noticing her attempt to get his attention. Finally, just as he's about to walk past, he looks up, and sees her standing slightly off the main road. Breaking into a smile, he walks up to her.

"Hi, Skye," Kwangmin greets.

She greets him back, smiling too. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

His hair, ruffled by the wind, is tinged brown in the light. She blinks suddenly, surprised at herself for noticing something so small and so random. Then she realises he's been talking.

"... are you alright, Skye? Is there something wrong?"

Hurriedly, she shakes her head. "I'm fine."

He studies her face, as if he doesn't believe her. "Skye..."

She takes his hand before he can say any more, and drags him away from the babble of noise from the street. "Let's walk, and I'll tell you while we do that."

"Have you told Yoogeum?"

Pausing, she shakes her head. "Please don't tell them what I'm going to tell you."

Kwangmin raises his eyebrow, knowing that she can't see his expression. What could this be that she didn't feel comfortable letting her friends know about?

"I'm in trouble," she begins. "Before you say anything, it's nothing serious, nothing I can't handle, but it'd be easier if I had help."

"Okay," he nods. "Is it Minah again?"

She takes a deep breath. "Yes."

"She got people to attack you again?"

"No, nothing like that. You heard about what happened on the rooftop, didn't you? She invited me to face her alone, and I did."

He clucks his tongue in disapproval, like a mother hen would do when one of her chicks got into a spot of mischief. The image doesn't suit him, and Skye smiles, despite the severity of the situation. It quickly disappears, though, as she rolls up her sleeve to show him a huge purple-black bruise that covers her entire upper arm.

"Ouch," Kwangmin winces in sympathy.

"I have one on my waist as well," she mutters. "This guy came at me out of nowhere."

He shifts on his feet. "I really wish you wouldn't get into fights like this," he tells her, looking straight at her as they turn down another alley. She avoids his gaze.

"Why did you go?"

"It's a matter of pride," she explains. "And partly to make sure she doesn't come after me while there are people around me who could get hurt. This way, I decide the time and place, so I can protect my friends. Like Yoogeum."

"Stop, stop, stop," he commands, reaches a hand out and clasping the elbow of her uninjured arm. Taking her shoulders gingerly, he looks straight into her clear eyes. "Take me with you next time. You can't do this alone."

Skye frowns, and shrugs him off, turning away. It looks like she's closing herself up. He bites his lip, aware that somehow he's done something wrong, that he made her close off to him like this. If she doesn't let him in, how can he help her? Her secretiveness makes him want to scream.

"Skye," he tries again. "I'm the only one here who knows what's going on with you. You have to let me in."

She studies his eyes, wondering hard whether or not she should trust him. She never trusted anyone so much before, and although she would have liked to trust Yoogeum, she finds it hard to admit to them the depth of her flaws. Kwangmin is different, somehow, there's some unknown quality about him that just tells her that it's okay for her to tell him these things, and he'll still be there. Not that her friends wouldn't be supporting, but she didn't want to ruin their impression of her. Maybe she just thought that Kwangmin's impression of her is bad enough - so a little more won't hurt.

"Kwangmin, she's after me because of Jinae," she tells him directly, cutting straight to the point.

"You knew Jinae before," he states.

"Yes, and you knew?"

"I kind of... overheard you at the hospital with her."

"That's why you were so tense with me then!" she realises. "Why didn't you say?"

"I figured you'd tell me when you were ready, and that it wasn't such a big deal," he assures her, smiling. "Now what did Jinae do to get them on your back?"

Skye closes her eyes, sighing. Her next words are spoken with great reluctance: "Jinae let them know that I was drug dealer."

Kwangmin stops dead in his tracks. "You're a what?!"

"You heard me."

"Are you lying to me?"

She passes a hand over her face, looking pained. "I'm not," she says tersely. "I really was. I'm not proud of it, but that was the person I was."

Kwangmin is stunned speechless. Skye turns to face him and walks closer, tipping his chin to close his gaping mouth. Her eyes are filled with guilt and something else - self-loathing? 

"I'm sorry," she whispers.

He notices that her lips are quivering badly, and her eyes are suspiciously bright. A tear slips out of the corner of her eyes and down her face, and she laughs bitterly. 

"I - I'm usually not such a crybaby," she stutters and gasps, looking down.

He raises his hands to her face, cupping her face with one hand and wiping her cheek with the other. Then he wraps his arms around her. 

"S-stop," she says, pushing him away. "You're making me cry harder!"

He scoffs, loosening his grip to look at her face. As she said, there are more tears on her face now. 

"What do you want me to do, then?"

Pushing at his chest, she replies, "Just let me calm down on my own, it's faster that way."

"Why are you so weird?"

She shrugs. "If you show me care when I feel I deserve none, it'll just make me feel worse about myself."

"You deserve care, Skye," Kwangmin tells her gently, refusing to completely let go of her.

She shakes her head. "You don't know what kinds of things I've done," she mutters, and her eyes fill with so much sadness that it hurts him to see it.

"If you feel so bad about it, tell me."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"You'll never want to see my face again."

"Skye, you told me you were a drug dealer. It can't get much worse than that, can it?"

She gives up trying to back away from him, instead burying her face in his chest. "I forced people to get into drugs so that I'd have  business," she mumbles into his chest.

His jaw tenses, but he doesn't say anything. 

"I stood by and let people get beat up even though they'd helped me before. I watched them die of their wounds later on in hospital. It was a really rough neighbourhood. In comparison, this area is paradise. And I've done so many more horrific things that make me want to scream when I look at your family, at your goodness. You guys don't deserve a crappy friend like me."

Kwangmin tightens his arms around her and her hair. "I don't think you're crappy, Skye. You've changed. And you're a good person. It shows, because you still have a conscience."

He tugs her face away from his chest so he can look into her eyes - there's now a wet spot on his shirt, but he doesn't care. "You have the choice to right all your wrongs, or you could just continue wallowing in self-pity. I know this is harsh, but I know you can do better."

"It's too hard, Kwangmin, I can't wipe out everything, so why should I even try?"

"You're too depressed right now," he mutters, clearing her tears again.

"Yoogeum would never accept me if they knew these things about me. I mean maybe they would, but their opinions of me would change forever."

"I know that they wouldn't think any less of you," he tells her as she breaks away from him and walks away. "They're your best friends, and I know that you mean alot to them."

"Which is why I can't bear to hurt them, Kwangmin."

He follows after her, exasperated. "Skye, you can't just -"

She starts running.

"Skye!" he yells, but he lets her go, knowing that she needs time to be on her own.

What is he to do?

It rains later that day, rare for the summer season. I look up as Kwangmin enters through the door, looking like a drenched chicken. He looks upset about something, though. His eyes are downcast, and his lips are turned down in a frown. Right now he's dripping all over the floor, and so it's lucky that Eomma isn't here to scold him. He drags his feet across the floor and up the stairs, so painfully slowly that I'm tempted to push him to go faster.

"Kwangmin?" I ask, following him up the stairs. 

It takes a while for him to respond, and I'm not sure if he heard me. So I repeat his name again. He turns around on my third try, finally registering me.

"Oh, Geummin," he automatically puts on a smile, though I can see he's still worried about something.

"What's up?" I enquire, my tone purposely casual in case I can trick him into telling me what's wrong.

With my brother, he usually opens up and spills his concerns to me immediately. If he doesn't, I know I have to resort to these underhanded means to coax the information out of him. It usually works, but today he seems to be more guarded than usual. I can't make head or tail of his reaction, though - he's never done this before!

"Nothing, I just got soaked so I want a shower and dry clothes," he throws at me over his shoulder, before he disappears into his room to do just that.

I give up on him - I'll pester him later. Instead, I head back downstairs and continue waiting for Minwoo to show up. We're going to go out to the movies today since we're both free. It's been way too long since we spent time together, just the two of us. Although, now that we're a couple, I guess this would be a date. The idea of going on dates with Minwoo is sitll a little alien to me - I mean I'm so used to him being my best friend and all.

He said he'd be here at eight, and it's five minutes past already. He should be here any minute.

As if on cue, a knock sounds at the door. Excitedly, (while my evil twin cackles away by the TV), I run to the door and fling it open to find my boyfriend waiting patiently outside.