Hyorin just sat next to Yoseob, not able to speak. “Y-y-you will be in Japan by then?”

“That’s what we realised.”

“That ,” Hyorin stamped a foot on the floor. “I thought you guys would have had a chance.”

“Hey it’s not like we wanted this to happen.”

“Yeah I know,” in an apology she took his hand, interlocking their fingers. “Sorry Yoseob-ah, I guess I feel for you all. You want him to be happy yet…”

“It doesn’t seem like it will be that easy.” Yoseob said. “We can’t go around the schedule… If we delay it then it may affect our sales for the album.”

“Good point,” Hyorin nodded. “I’ll try to help you think of something.” For the next five minutes they just sat there holding hands.

“I can find out her timetable for exams and send it to you.”

“Do you think that will help?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “But we have to try right?”

“Good point,” Yoseob gave Hyorin a hug. “You’re so smart.”

“And you’re too cute,” she pinched Yoseob’s cheek which was part of their normal relationship. As long as it was Hyorin who called him cute then Yoseob would never grow tired of it.

***

It took a couple of days but Yoseob received Sookyung’s timetable in a multimedia message. “Wow, she’s going to be in almost everyday.” Dongwoon noted as he sat next to Yoseob.

“Yeah, and her exams are all at different times.”

“Wait, when’s her last one?” Dongwoon pointed in the block at the end.

“Seven pm wow she’s going to be there late.”

“Maybe that’s his chance,” Doojoon entered the room. “Hey hyung we found your chance.”

“What are you talking about?” He was playing a soccer game on his phone.

“A chance to see Sookyung,” Yoseob couldn’t protest as Dongwoon suddenly grabbed his phone and took it over to Doojoon. “See here? Her exam will finish late at night so you can—“

“Dongwoon I thought I told you all that I wasn’t going to see her!” He saw the maknae stop, his face frozen. He bowed to Doojoon.

“Forgive me hyung,” Doojoon stood up, putting his game down.

“Dongwoon, I’m sorry.” Doojoon patted Dongwoon on the back. “You have to understand that I want to but she… I’m doing it for her.”

“But is that what she really wants?” Dongwoon had to ask while still bent. “Did she really want to say goodbye?”

“Dongwoon,” Yoseob rose to intervene.

“Well… Did she?!” Dongwoon couldn’t say anymore. He just let himself sink to his knees, still in the bowing position to Doojoon. Yoseob was frozen in his position, eyes fixed on Doojoon to know what to do. Doojoon eyed Yoseob’s phone, just able to take a note of the time of the exam and the place typed at the top.“I’ll think about it.” He sat down and got back to his game. Dongwoon rose too, his back starting to hurt from the posture. Yoseob came to him.

“Hyung, did I help?”

“I don’t know,” Yoseob answered. “I don’t know.”

***

Sookyung smiled when she saw her two friends sitting at a table in the cafeteria. Despite the place being busy and packed to the brim with travelling through students from different courses of study, her two friends stood out with their well groomed appearances and non-shabby fashion.

“I thought you guys were busy,” she hugged them both.

“No, we’re lucky that our schedule for today was cancelled.” They stopped to smile at cameras while wave at passing by fans.

“So how’s everything been?” Hyorin asked as they sat with their lunch.

“Oh busy,” Sookyung admitted sheepishly, “my exams start in less than a week.”

“Wow,” the other two were in awe. “That’s pretty soon.”

“Yes I have to come in almost every day but Friday.”

“So is your last exam Saturday?”

“Yes didn’t I send you the timetable?”

“Well actually… You just sent it to me.”

“Oh right,” Sookyung understood. “So once I’m done we can hang out all you want, or whenever you can.”

“Cool,” the two members of Sistar had to hurry up to get to the topic they needed to discuss. “So Sookyung are you dating anyone at the moment?”

“Bora,” Hyorin scolded at the impulse. Sookyung fortunately hadn’t any food in at the time.

“No not at the moment, why do you ask?”

“So we can tell Yoseob to let Doojoon know that he would be wasting his time.” Right now Hyorin had no choice but to cover Bora’s loud mouth.

“What she means to say is…” Hyorin began, “that Doojoon’s unhappy and he would like to see you again.” Sookyung blinked, it was a puzzle to her.

“He still does even after I turned him down?”

“Yes,” Hyorin nodded quickly. Bora belatedly agreed.

“Hmm,” Sookyung paused. “I don’t know if I can…”

“Why can’t you like him? Do still not trust him?”

“No, I think trust isn’t the main concern.”

“Then what is? Is it fear?” When she went quiet Bora and Hyorin clicked their fingers.

“Ah, is it because of the attention you could get as a result?”

“The fact you’ll end up on a Beauty’s death list?”

“Yes,” she ended up agreeing. Bora and Hyorin sat in their seats uncomfortable; they hadn’t thought the rest through enough. Bora sipped her drink, Hyorin paused to think. “But even so,” she started. “Do you think a thousands if not millions of teenage girls would be enough to scare you?”

“Maybe,” she was already uncomfortable talking about it.

“But you have to decide if that’s a risk you want to take,” Bora debated. “Think long and hard about it, if you really do like Doojoon still. If you do then great, you guys can work it out. If not then, I suppose you two will both be able to move on.” Hyorin could not add to what Bora had said.

“Wow, she’s right,” Hyorin ruffled Bora’s hair. Bora leaned to the opposite side, smoothing her hair when she was out of Hyorin’s reach. Sookyung contemplated what her friends had told her. She didn’t want to rush into things this time. While she knew that distrust wasn’t the problem here, she wasn’t sure how she would react if they met again. Her reaction would be to run or the flight response. Would she be able to stand her ground this time? Especially for him, the one guy who she’d gotten close to in such a way?

***

“Well done,” Doojoon congratulated the members as they returned to their dorms. “We did great in the performance today.”

“Because of you,” Yoseob started to sing ‘You’ with Kikwang and Dongwoon joining in. Junhyung overlaid his rap and Hyunseung added harmony. Doojoon started to laugh. “You guys are dorks,” while laughing. They all pounced on him, putting him at the bottom of their bromance pile.

While struggling to get free from his younger members Doojoon tried to lift his left arm to see his watch. “Hey what’s the time?”

“Ten pm,” Yoseob said as he slid off the pile. Dongwoon gave a yell and Yoseob apologised for standing on his hand. “Why do you ask?” Doojoon didn’t answer; he slid himself out from under them making Dongwoon bang into the floor with his chin. They all jumped off to check the maknae.

“Hey hyung where are you..?” But Doojoon had grabbed his coat and was out of the dorm. Much to their relief they found that Dongwoon had just bit his lip so they needed to get tissues for him.

“Where did Doojoon-ah go?” Their manager asked walking in. “He didn’t say a word.”

“What’s today?” Yoseob asked taking his phone out and looking at it. “Saturday…” He stopped. “So he’s going…”

“Where is he going then Yoseob-ah?”

“I think he’s going to a university.”

***

Sookyung stood up from her small compact desk and grabbed her bag. The exam had taken a while but finally she was done with everything. Now all she had to do was wait for the end result and pray that it would be enough for her to do her masters.

It was cool outside due to it being dark. She buttoned up her jacket so she was snug. Everyone happily talked as they all made their way home. It was a lonely feeling. She didn’t know anyone since they had started later than her, all her friends had finished months ago.

Her pathway home was down a set of stairs and then past the garden of the university. She stopped to admire the fountain in the middle of the complex. They had put lights in the water so it stood out in the dark. They’d turned the other smaller fountains off.

She was going to turn when something caught her eye, or rather someone. They were standing with their back against the fountain, looking straight forward. She considered their height and build; male and around six feet tall. Something about him was similar to someone she’d known before. True their hair colour was a shade or too lighter than it was on the person but the style, shape and cut were all the same.

She was going to forget about it and go on her way when he turned around. Sookyung found herself stuck in mid-turn. It was who she thought at first. Nothing seemed to have changed but the hair. He just waited, eyes flickering at and then away from her. Sookyung hadn’t imagined him to be so passive. She lifted her hands up, she was jittering. Holding her hands together she took a deep breath. No more running, she had enough of being unsure. It was time to clear out the bumps.

Her pace was slow, every footstep feeling like she wore shoes of lead. It didn’t stop her from finally reaching him, making sure there was some distance between them. She then greeted the stranger. “Doojoon, w-what are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you,” that’s one thing she liked about him. He was straight forward.

“I see,” Sookyung put her hands behind her back so he wouldn’t notice them still shaking. “What can I do for you?”

“Sookyung,” he was careful in his choice of words. “I know that you said no to me before. But time has passed and things can and may have changed. I came here because I couldn’t stand the thought of me and you not being certain if it was right to leave things as we did.” He raised a hand to scratch his neck. “I apologised before and I understand if you can’t ever forgive me for hurting and lying to you…. I have to know… I have to know if you have a place somewhere deep down in your heart. A place for a liar and traitor such as me,”

Sookyung felt the blood rush from her face. His eyes, they glinted back at her. They seemed to start to glisten it was getting too much for her. She didn’t like seeing him in such a pitiful way. “I understand if you hate her for what she did to us...” Doojoon breathed out slowly. “But I don’t, I would have never met you if she hadn’t.”

Sookyung shook her head, “no I don’t hate her. I don’t anymore. It doesn’t change the past and what I feel for you.” Doojoon removed his fingers from the corners of his eyes so he could concentrate. “Doojoon… I said no to you not to hurt you. I only wanted to protect you despite the fact that I…” She stopped. She hadn’t mentally prepared herself to say it. Doojoon came closer, his hand reaching out to take hers. He squeezed her hand as it shook.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me.”

Sookyung shook her head. “No, I’m not afraid of you… I never was in the end… But I’m afraid because my degree didn’t teach me what to do when I end up falling for someone.” Her nostrils flared while her eyes began to blur. “I won’t run, not this time… But I need you to run after me if I do.”

“I understand,” Sookyung stepped back. Her heart racing as she moved further away from Doojoon who just stared. She turned to leave starting to run when she heard someone sprinting after her. Sookyung got past the fountain before a strong grasp prevented her from moving. Her breathing quickened due to anxiety as she came into an embrace.

“Don’t be scared…” Doojoon soothed her on the head. “Because I will protect you, if you will let me.” The dam broke; Sookyung’s tears flowed out down her cheeks. She hid her face against his shoulder in a battle against the sobs.

And this isn’t really the last chapter but the epilogue isn’t much of a chapter either. I don’t know whether this counts as happy or realistic. But when one group (apart from myself) bangs their head against a wall then I will know. It feels like this is open -ended, maybe my reviewer can tell me if this is so. I trust her opinion on this story more than anyone just because she reviewed it.