Kai avoided Krystal’s burning gaze as he attempted to feed Yoo Jin from across the table. The toddler-to-be had been released from the hospital earlier this morning, but unfortunately, Kai couldn’t make it due to meetings scheduled back to back.

            The restaurant Krystal had chosen for the night was posh and dimly-lit. Elegance was written all over the restaurant – it was evident that only the best of the best could eat at this place. It was five stars, Krystal had boasted.

            “Shall we toast to our well-being?” Krystal suggested as she held her champagne glass in the air.

            “Sure,” Kai mumbled as his glass clicked with hers. He then excused himself to the bathroom, leaving Yoo Jin and Krystal alone. Krystal’s eyes flickered back and forth, as if she was afraid of somebody catching her. She rang up the number on speed dial, praying for the other line to pick up.

            “Hello?”

            “Did you take pictures?” Krystal's eyes darted to the vacant spot diagonal from her.

            “Oh yes, they were quite eye-catching.”

            “We’ll meet up tomorrow night – I want to see the photos myself.”

            “As you wish, Krystal.” Without another word exchanged, Krystal hung up first. She shot a sly smile at Yoo Jin’s direction before whispering. “In a few days, Kai will be mine.”

****

            “Oh, so what happened to your eye?” I gestured to Sehun’s bruised eye. The hue of the injury was pretty nasty, but it seemed as if it had been there for a few days or so. The violet was now fading into an ugly yellow-green. I couldn’t possibly imagine what it looked like beforehand. I cringed at the graphic image.

            “Nothing much – it was an incident.” Sehun switched on the flicker as he swerved the car for a sharp turn. It was evident Sehun didn’t want to talk about it – I decided not to press for any further details. The remainder of the ride was filled with silence.

****

            We arrived at the bar a few minutes later. Compared to the run-down bars located at the edge of the city, this was something entirely new. I knew that this was an upscale pub, just by musing over the customers. Most were in Armani suits with a Rolex watch winking at me. Yes, definitely upscale.

            I had expected for Sehun’s friends to be one of those secluded booths, but to my disbelief, we were headed towards the private VIP rooms. Damn. One of the employees there opened the door for us. I caught a whiff of cigarette smoke as we entered.

            One of the young males was puffing on a cancer stick. How lovely.

            He rubbed the of the cigarette on the ash tray before standing up to greet us. The other males in the room followed the same procedure. One by one, each of Sehun’s friends briefly introduced themselves to me. There were four of Sehun’s best friends – Myungsoo, Taehyung, Howon and Daehyun. I had trouble differentiating the faces of Taehyung and Daehyun – not only did their names sound similar, but they looked the same. I sighed – it was going to be a long night.

            Fortunately though, I wasn’t the only female in the room – Sehun’s friends had brought their own dates as well. One by one, they introduced themselves to me. Suji – she also went by the name Suzy – was Myungsoo’s date, while Howon’s date was Eunji. (Great, their names sounded the same as well.) Sojung was Daehyun’s date. Taehyung was the only without a date.

            “Damn, I thought you would go single tonight too – guess I’m riding solo for tonight. But man, what happened to your eye? It looks nasty!” Taehyung said when he drew Sehun in for a bro-hug. Sehun dryly chuckled in response. He clapped Sehun’s back with his hand before offering a drink to me. “You’re Hana Park, aren’t you? I’ve heard a lot about you in the news.”

            “Uh…yeah.” I felt slightly uncomfortable afterwards. Taehyung obviously knew about Kai since he had “heard a lot about me in the news.” I knew I would have regretted coming to the reunion. It was evident that I didn’t fit in – the other girls had been dating Sehun’s friends back in college. They had much more things to talk about. I really wanted to return back home, but I decided not to in the long run.

            My eyes darted towards Sehun who was mindlessly chatting with Myungsoo – who was at the moment smoking another cigarette. His grin illuminated his face – Sehun was happy. I couldn’t leave just now. I cared for Sehun.

           The girls were really friendly, trying to bring me into their conversation, but I still couldn't help but feel like an intruder. I replied to most of their comments, but the air that hung around us was awkward. “Let’s play the drinking game!” Daehyun proclaimed as he took out precisely five cups from the bottom of the glass table. The girls instantly joined him at the table, but I was slightly flustered. Last time I had counted, there were nine of us – not five. Nonetheless, I joined them at the center of the room.

            All nine bodies crammed into the circumference of the table – it was a rather small one too. I was sandwiched in between Sehun and Eunji. Across from me were Taehyung and Daehyun. Daehyun smiled at me before speaking. “You probably don’t remember how to play this game since you’ve recently came back to Korea. I’m sure America doesn’t have drinking games.” I nodded in agreement. In America, we just drank and drank. There were no games to it.

            “Because we still need to drive back home, the girls usually don’t drink – it’s the guys. But the thing is,