“Yoon Ah!” He called and she didn’t hear him as she continued walking. Her mind was working at a mile a minute. Something was wrong with her. She touched her lips as she marched out of the studio. “Yoon Ah!” He called again and grabbed her arm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. I just… I lost it for a moment.” Taeyang said and she turned to him.

“You’ll never leave me, no matter what happens, right?” She asked abruptly and he nodded. “Good. Go home. I’ll see you when I come back. Just trust me and go.” She said and he nodded, slowly. She her heel and continued walking out of the studio.

This was absurd. It was absolutely insane. She had felt that kiss, but it hadn’t felt right. She was still shaking, trying to figure out what that meant. She touched her lips with a quivering hand and didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t be falling for him.  This wasn’t possible. He was like family. They were family. He was her brother. How could she feel this way?

She wanted to scream and pull her hair out and fight someone, but she couldn’t do any of it. She wanted to shut her heart to him, but she knew she could never do that. They had all spent far too much time worming their way in. Day by day, he had stolen pieces of her heart like a thief in the night. She hadn’t even realized it was happening. She got so frustrated that the little girl in her wanted to cry, but she couldn’t do that either. She couldn’t do anything.

At the club, they were sad to hear she was leaving, but she promised to come back often. They accepted her two weeks notice and her recommendation for new entertainment. They were happy for her and her dancers, that they would become well known. Of course, this was where she had started. They would get big with her, of course. They had to be as excited as she was.

Afterwards, she started walking and realized she didn’t want to go home, not yet. There was too much to deal with there and she just couldn’t walk into that with her mind a mess. She turned away from the house and started walking aimlessly. She walked for a long time, trying not to think. Her head was too full. She needed to relax. She needed somewhere to be quiet and serene.

It was nearly sunset when she found herself standing at the playground between the primary and middle schools. She swung back and forth on the swing, dragging her toes in the wood chips, thinking for a long time. This was where they had played. This was where she fought. This was where Ji Yong and Young Bae would sing. This was where Ji Yong and Seung Hyun would rap. This was where they had come together. This was where they had become family.

She looked in the direction of the Primary school and smiled. Her life of bittersweet happiness and crushing defeats had begun there. It had all begun with a silly little boy scraping his knee on the playground. Had it been so long ago that they had been so little? They had been together so long, she supposed it was easy for her to still see him as a child.

She had been playing double dutch and trying to ignore the pain in her legs and her bottom from her whipping the night before. Everything had been bandaged tightly, so the blood wouldn’t seep into her white s