As soon as the five boys and Hyuneun entered the mansion, Gunwoo spoke up. “Hey, where’s Seulki been? I haven’t seen her in the past couple of months. Does she still work here?”

Insoo nodded and chuckled. “Of course she still works and lives here,” he stated, “It’s just that about two months ago, she got a boyfriend named Junkyung and she’s been spending time with him.”

Chaejin’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?” he almost yelled, “Noona has a boyfriend?”

“Yeah,” Insoo replied glumly, “She seems really happy with him, too. In fact, I myself haven’t seen her around much. The only time I get to see her is when she’s busy working and, therefore, can’t hang out with me.”

Hyuneun looked over at her boyfriend as the six of them walked into the game room. He looked rather depressed. They all put their stuff down on a table and went their separate ways. Hyuneun approached Insoo and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’ll go see if Seulki’s here, okay?” she said with a smile, “If she is then I’ll invite her to come and spend time with us.”

Insoo looked up at her and smiled for the briefest of moments before saying, “But what if her boyfriend’s here? I don’t want to see Junkyung. There’s just something about him that bugs me.”

“I won’t invite him if you don’t want me to,” Hyuneun replied, kissing Insoo on the cheek. With that, Hyuneun left the room and quietly walked up the stairs and towards Seulki’s room. As she drew nearer, she could hear Seulki’s voice followed by the sound of a man laughing. Hyuneun sighed. Like the boys, Hyuneun missed hanging out with Seulki whenever they were around. Ever since the day they met, Hyuneun and Seulki had been like sisters so of course she’s happy that Seulki now has a boyfriend. She just seems to be forgetting her friends.

In a matter of moments, Hyuneun poked her head around the entrance of Seulki’s room and saw Seulki sitting at her desk doing her homework with Junkyung sitting on her bed doing his homework as well. Seulki looked over at Junkyung and smiled widely. “Did you finish number seven?” she asked.

Junkyung placed his pencil to his lips and concentrated. “This one’s difficult,” he complained.

“Oh, come on,” Seulki said, “You’re brilliant. I know you can figure it out!”

He smiled and reached over and ruffled her head. “Thanks,” he replied, “I know I can do it, I just have a hard time remembering the formula.”

With that, Hyuneun quietly knocked on the doorframe to Seulki’s room, causing the two of them to look up in surprise. Seulki smiled and put down her pencil. “Oh hey Hyuneun,” she said happily, “What’s up?”

Hyuneun paused. Initially she was supposed to ask Seulki if she wanted to hang out with the boys and her but now that she saw that Junkyung was there, she was having second thoughts. She cleared and leaned on the doorframe. “I was wondering if you could help me get some snacks for the boys downstairs.”

Seulki smiled sweetly. “Sure,” she said. She then turned toward Junkyung and added, “I’ll be right back, okay?”

Junkyung nodded and watched the two ladies leave the room arm-in-arm. Once they were out of sight, he sighed and placed his homework down on the bed. Now was his chance – he knew it. He strained his ears to hear if the two girls were nearby and when he heard nothing, he got up off of Seulki’s bed and looked around. Where should he start? “Hmm, maybe the closet,” he whispered to himself and walked over to his girlfriend’s closet, quietly opening up the door. He looked at the boxes on the floor and at the clothes hanging on the racks. “A Cinderella doll?” Junkyung laughed, “How childish. What’s this?” He looked at a shoebox on the floor that was decorated with stickers and ribbons.

Photographs decorated the inside of the box. Most of them were pictures of Insoo and Seulki but some were of that girl Hyuneun and Insoo’s other friends. Where was all the money? He sighed and put the box back in the closet then stood up and turned around. It had to be here somewhere, he was sure of it. Then he saw it above the desk. It was there – the money – he was sure of it.

Internally he grinned and approached the desk. He tried to reach but he was too short even with jumping. Junkyung looked down at the chair and moved it over slightly so that it was directly under the box. He listened once more for the sounds of the two girls returning and when he heard nothing he carefully stood up on the chair. Finally, he could see it. Unfortunately when he grabbed it, he knocked another box down onto the floor, causing a large crash. Junkyung cursed under his breath and bent down to pick it up.

Downstairs, Insoo heard the crash. He stopped what he was doing and looked up at JunQ. “Did you hear that?” he asked his friend.

“Yeah,” JunQ replied, “It sounded like it came from upstairs.”

Gunwoo then approached the two boys. “Come to think of it,” he stated, “Hyuneun hasn’t returned yet. I wonder what’s taking so long.”

Insoo sighed. “I’ll go up and check. I’ll be back,” he said, placing his drink down on a table. He quickly exited the room and bowed to the maids he saw passing by him and headed upstairs. As he walked down the hallway, he looked for any sign of either his fiancée or his best friend and found nothing. He was going to give up when he saw Junkyung leaving Seulki’s room. Normally he’d ignore Junkyung but when he saw a familiar box in his hands, he knew something was wrong. “Hey!” he yelled, “What are you doing with that?”

He heard Junkyung curse under his breath then he stuttered, “Insoo…I…uh…”

“Give me the box,” Insoo ordered, approaching him with quick steps.

Insoo reached for it but Junkyung immediately pulled it back. “Seulki,” Junkyung said, “she, uh, gave it to me.”

Insoo chuckled darkly. “I don’t think so,” he answered, finally grabbing the box from out of Junkyung’s hands. “Now what were you doing with this box?”

“Alright, fine, you caught me. But let me tell you a little secret, Insoo,” Junkyung said, a strange look developing in his eyes, “I really don’t care about Seulki. All I care about is you and your money.” Insoo’s lip twitched in rage and out of the corner of his eye, he heard a quiet sniffle from around the corner and he knew Seulki was listening. He let Junkyung continue. “So I figured that if I gain her trust, she’ll lead me straight to you and look at what I found.”

“You are despicable,” Insoo sneered, pushing Junkyung against the wall, “I don’t think you realize what the Kang family is capable of. I swore to protect and watch over Seulki and I’m going to do just that.” Then, out of a combination of impulse and blinding rage, he brought his fist up and punched Junkyung square in the jaw causing Junkyung to fall to the floor. “Now get out of my face, get out of my house, and get out of Seulki’s life.”

Junkyung brought a hand up to his jaw and stood up, glaring at Insoo. “This isn’t over!” he spat out.

Insoo smirked. “Oh yes, it is,” he said, “I’ll make sure of that. Now leave!” He stood there as he watched the boy leave and as soon as he was out of his sight, Insoo sighed. He brought his hand to his head and rubbed his temples. After a moment, he brought his hand down and turned to where he heard Seulki’s voice earlier. “Seulki,” he said as calmly as he could as he approached the corner. His heart broke when he saw her.

Hyuneun looked up at her fiancée and held Seulki tighter. “We heard the whole thing,” she stated as Seulki sobbed into her shirt.

“I’m so sorry Seulki,” Insoo whispered, kneeling down beside her. Seulki immediately let go of Hyuneun and threw herself into Insoo’s arms. “Shh, it’s okay,” he whispered, gently petting her hair. And as his best friend sobbed into his arms, Insoo made a promise to himself to never let Seulki have a broken heart again.