Min-Kyung and Keiba were occupied with their own thoughts for the next couple of days.

In preparation for the weekend (which unfortunately would start tomorrow) Keiba did everything she told Ben she would. She cleaned her room, made her bed, and most importantly she ordered herself some pepper spray online. She’d requested express delivery so that it would be there before Saturday. She had also utilized the last couple days to decide what she was going to do about Darcie, her step-sister. She was a nervous wreck, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at her. Like usual she kept her emotions to herself to ponder over when she was alone.

For Min, he had ruminated over Ricky and Sun-Hee the entire day before and felt a bit better about their relationship. He still disliked them both almost to the point of hating them, but he needed that encounter at Subway because at least now he had some closure. The real reason he hadn’t made an effort to talk to Keiba was mainly because, well, he felt badly for treating her like an . He replayed what he’d said to her over and over again and remembered the stricken look on her face when he’d shot her down. The guilt ate at him. He thought she might be too hurt or angry to talk to him.

But he forced himself to do something about it.

That Friday he sat outside the performing arts building and waited for Keiba to come out. As usual she was one of the last people to leave, but strangely she didn’t notice him. Her head was downward staring at the ground. It was a wonder she hadn’t bumped into anybody. He stood and jogged over to her.

“Keiba,” he said and touched her shoulder. She jumped with a gasp and turned around quickly. She relaxed when she saw that it was Min behind her.

“Oh. Sorry about that, Min.” She apologized. Her smile seemed tired and wan.

“Keiba are you okay?”

She sighed. “I’ve been better. But what’s up?”

He scratched the back of his head. Why was he feeling nervous? It was just Keiba. “You want to go out to lunch today?” He asked, stuffing his hand in his pockets.

“Sorry. I can’t.” she said.

“Huh? Why?”

“I… I have to pick something up.”

“I can take you—”

“No.” She said quickly. “I mean, it’s not really that far away.” She said more calmly. “I don’t want you to waste gas.”

“Oh.” He looked at her suspiciously. “Are you free afterschool?”

She thought about it, then she nodded.

“Cool. Let me treat you to dinner.”

She blinked up at him. “You don’t have to. I can—”

“Come on, please?” He interjected. “As my apology to you?”

“Apology?” She tilted her head and thought back to last Wednesday. Oh, right: the drama with Sun-Hee and Ricky. She still didn’t know the story behind that. “Will you tell me what that had been about?” She queried. “Or should I wait longer?”

“I guess I can tell you.” He acceded.

Her smile seemed a bit brighter. “Okay.”

Afterschool he treated her to Olive Garden. It was prettier inside when the sun had started to go down. The waitress came around and asked them for their drink orders. She was young and pretty and was obviously trying to give Min “the eye”, but neither he nor Keiba really paid much attention to her efforts. She returned with their drinks and after she took their orders, she went dejectedly to her next table.

Keiba stirred her Sprite with her straw and watched the bubbles fizz to the surface. Min watched her in concern.

“So do you know when the meeting with that orchestra guy is supposed to be?” He asked.

“Hm? Oh.” She dropped her straw and set her chin in her hand with a sigh. “Ms. Heller has been sick, so I don’t know if she’s set up a date yet.”

“Oh.” There was an awkward pause. “So why do you look so sad?” He asked.

She laughed a little. “Let’s talk about you first.”

He sighed. “Fine.” He thought about where to begin as he sipped at his drink. “Before all that on Wednesday happened, Ricky, Sun-Hee, and I were friends. We’d been friends for years.”

“How’d you guys meet?”

“Me and Ricky went to the same boarding school, but we never really talked until a really bad fire broke out.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh God... A fire?”

He nodded. “No one was sure exactly how it started, but they suspect it was a gas explosion. The west wing was just… gone. Out of eleven-hundred people, only 457 made it out alive. None of my old friends survived.”

“Min… I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He said. “Life goes on right?” He rubbed his face with his hand.

Keiba touched his other hand empathetically. The look on his face brought tears to her eyes, but she looked away and forced them back knowing that if she started she’d never stop. And this was Min-Kyung’s story. She didn’t have a right to make it about her.

He looked at her hand on his, but not in an unappreciative way. He’d never shared this story with anyone except his therapist. He hadn’t even told Sun-Hee. Ricky had been the one to because it’d been easier for him since most of his friends had made it out. But Min took some comfort from the warmth of Keiba’s touch, so when she started to pull her hand back he grabbed it and held it tightly. She looked at him in surprise, but when she met his eyes they were distant. Glazed over with memories of the past.

“Ricky and I helped each other to escape.” He continued. “He and a few other guys got me and we all left together. We had to crawl to avoid too much smoke inhalation.” She nodded. “Some of the boys got separated in the chaos. There was so much smoke we could barely see anything. And it was so hot… Like an oven. Or an inferno.” She squeezed his hand and he squeezed back. “There were people just lying on the ground like they were sleeping, some were coughing but not really moving. We saw…” he glanced at Keiba. “Well, I won’t get too into all the details, but it was bad. In the end, the majority of our group got out.” He took another drink from his soda, wishing it was something stronger. “Ricky and I made a pact that day to remain friends no matter what.” He smirked. “But I guess that was just little kid stuff.”

“How old were you?”

“We were twelve.”

“How old are you now?” Keiba was a little surprised the question never came up sooner.

“I’ll be 21 in November.”

“Oh okay.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be 19 next March.”

“Aish. You’re pretty young to be a sophomore.” He smiled a little.

She made a face at him, pulling at his hand in admonishment. “Hush. My parents started me early.”

“Child.” He smirked.

She rolled her eyes, but smiled. “So how did you meet Sun-Hee?” She released his hand to make more room as their food was placed in front of them.

“That was a couple years later at a different school.” He said, unrolling his silverware. “We both liked her, and maybe I sensed that Ricky and Sun-Hee liked each other a little more, but I guess I ignored it. I asked Sun-Hee out the same day we graduated high school and she said yes.” He sighed. “But at the beginning of this year I found out that she and Ricky had secretly been seeing each other.”

“Wow…”

He nodded. “It’s not even that they liked each other. Like I said, I think I’ve always sort of known, but what pisses me off is the fact that they went behind my back about it. Sun-Hee said that they ‘didn’t want to hurt me’,” he said with air quotes. “But they should know me well enough to know that I would’ve preferred that they tell me straight up what’s been going on.” He stabbed sullenly at his lobster ravioli. “I should’ve known better than to trust that.”

Keiba stared at him, chewing ruminatively on her chicken alfredo. “Are you disappointed in yourself for trusting them?” She asked.

He thought about it. And then he nodded. “Yeah…”

She pointed at him with her fork. “Don’t be.” He blinked, looking from her fork to her face. His eyebrows rose in amusement.

Keiba went on, gesturing with her utensil as a musical conductor would when she’s leading her orchestra, “It’s not a crime to trust people. If they betray that, then it’s on them, but you’re never in the wrong for letting someone in. The way I look at it is for every betrayal there’s a loyal relationship waiting for you down the way. But you’ll only find that if you’re open to it. After all, you can’t go through life without believing in someone. Feel me?” Again she was pointing the prongs of her fork in his direction.

He bit his lip to keep from grinning too much. “Yeah. Thanks, I think that’s what I really wanted to hear. You and your fork are very wise.”

She winked. “Anytime, Mini.”

“Mini?”

“Yeah. It fits ‘cause it doesn’t fit.”

“Huh?”

“Well, I mean there’s nothing ‘mini’ about you.” She said, referring to his height and attitude and presence.

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow suggestively. “How would you know?”

“I—” she paused. Heat rose to her cheeks when she realized what he was getting at.

“Th-that wasn’t what I meant and you know it, Min-Kyung!”

He laughed hard enough that a couple of people from the tables around them looked over.

 “You’re blushing.” He stated once he got control of himself.

“What are you talking about? I don’t blush.”

“Yeah you do. Your nose gets red.”

She covered the center of her face with both hands and glared at him. This action only made his grin widen.

“Maybe I should call you Rudolph.” He teased.

She gasped. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“I would… but maybe I’ll save you from the embarrassment.”

“You are evil.” She pouted.

“Am I? You’re the one that brought up s—”

“I said that wasn’t what I meant!”

He laughed again.

They finished the evening in much higher spirits than how it had begun. When they reached the school they decided to sit on a bench outside the dorms for a little while before going up. The curfew for their dorm was 11:30, and though the curfew was barely, if ever enforced, and though it was only 8:45 neither of them really felt like doing anything else. They listened to the crickets chirping and enjoyed the cool night air. He glanced at her after a while.

“So why were you so down earlier?” He asked.

“Oh. That.” She sighed as she leaned back on the bench. She cast her face up toward the sky and chewed at her lip. Min watched her, waiting for her to collect her thoughts.

“My step-sister’s coming back for a visit.” She told him.

“I didn’t know you had a step-sister.”

“I wish I could keep it that way.” She murmured.

Her words surprised him. He thought back to the first day they met. He remembered that when they’d talked about her mom her entire demeanor changed when he asked about how she died. The way she was now reminded him of that.

“Why?” he asked.

“She’s not—”

“I thought there was a reason my ears were burning.” Began a familiar voice. “I guess I should’ve known you were talking about me, little sister.”

A shiver went down Keiba’s spine. She didn’t need to turn around to see who the speaker was, but she did anyway.

Darcie, her cruel yet beautiful step-sister, was standing behind them.