It’s been over a month since and despite their busy schedules, Yong Hwa and Seo Hyun exchanged text messages on a daily basis. CNBLUE was preparing to release their first full album, First Step. It was a hectic month for Yong Hwa but he always made time to contact Seo Hyun.  He didn’t want her to ever feel forgotten.

Yong Hwa had promised himself that he’d take things slow with Seo Hyun and to win her legitimately so he started with the simple things like asking after her day, and telling her about his. The painful days were gone, it was like they had embarked on a new beginning.

While the CNBLUE boys knew why Yong Hwa was back to his cheerful self, the SNSD girls were puzzled and worried. For three days, Seo Hyun had cried her eyes out and walked around like a zombie. But all of a sudden, she was back to her normal self, cheerful and happy and laughing. While they were happy she seemed to have picked herself up, they were worried she was just suppressing her feelings.

“Hyo Yeon-ah, it’s been a month and Seo Hyun seems like she’s ok. Do you think she’s really ok?” asked a worried Tae Yeon. The girls were gathered in the living room, painting each other’s’ nails. “I hope she’s not suppressing her sadness”, said Yuri. “I think we should talk to her when she gets back from her class later”, Tiffany said. “Why don’t we surprise her by picking her up from school today? Hyo Yeon can drive us all there in the van”, Soo Young suggested. “We can go straight to dinner and talk there”, Yoona added.

********************************************************************************

“Surprise!!!!”, shouted the girls as Seo Hyun opened the van door. Sunny had called her to say that their Manager Oppa was going to pick Seo Hyun up from school. She had not expected her SNSD members to be the ones to pick her up. “Unnie!!! What are you all doing here!” asked Seo Hyun while laughing out loud. “We’re here to pick you up and take you to dinner, of course!” Hyo Yeon replied from the driver’s seat, grinning from ear to ear.

Seo Hyun climbed into the van and Hyo Yeon maneuvered the van out of the university. “What’s the special occasion?” Seo Hyun asked after she snapped her seat belt into place. “Maknae, must we have a reason to be nice unnies?” Jessica asked. “No unnie, I don’t mean that. I was just wondering if there was something we were celebrating, that’s all”, replied Seo Hyun, still smiling.

The girls had decided to have the serious talk in the restaurant but Tae Yeon was having second thoughts as it was not safe to talk about personal stuff in public so she decided they should talk to Seo Hyun in the car, where there were only the nine of them. “Joo Hyun-ah..” Tae Yeon turned around from the front passenger seat. “Yes, Tae Yeon unnie?” quipped Seo Hyun as she cocked her head sideways to face Tae Yeon. Tae Yeon paused a moment before continuing, “Joo Hyun-ah, actually we are all worried for you. When WGM ended, you were crying terribly for 3 days. Then all of a sudden, you were back to normal. We are worried you are suppressing yourself. It’s not healthy Joo Hyun-ah”.

“Aahhhh… About that unnie…..” Seo Hyun’s voice trailed off. She hadn’t meant on keeping it a secret. It was just that she didn’t know how to tell them about what happened. So she never said anything, always waiting for the right time to tell them. “Joo Hyun-ah, you know you can trust us, don’t you?” Tiffany said.