I walked up to the crowd Saturday afternoon. It was strange seeing the kids in real cloths and not in their uniforms. They were holding different items designated for the party; a cake, noise makers, streamers, snacks and drinks. I stood for a second watching them laugh and talk amongst themselves. I thought about my old friends who would be lined up against the wall, smoking cigarettes waiting for their next move. I did enjoy them but only a few still spoke to me now since I was trying to get out of the lifestyle. I walked slowly up and was quickly greeted by the group when they noticed me. Nana walked directly to my side when I reached the group.

“So you still haven’t told us where we are going?” Se-Yi asked smiling.

“Yeah where are we going?” Eun-Ha chirped in.

“Did you all keep this from Seol-Chan?” I said crossing my arms looking to see if anyone looked guilty. They look towards each other and then shook their head waiting for my answer.

“Well we are going to his practice room and surprising him there” I said smiling widely just as the manager pulled up in his van. I turned and smiled in the direction of the van.

“Are you serious?” Do-Nam asked surprised.

“Oh my god” Eun-Ha said in almost a scream. I knew she would be the most excited.

“Hey, be cool. Let’s not embarrassed Seol-Chan, we are just friends celebrating his birthday okay?” I said trying to calm them down. They all nodded and I opened the van door. We slowly spilled into the van. It was a quiet excitement as we drove towards the studio.

“Which management is Men In Black under?” Nana asked after a few seconds in the car.

“Cube Entertainment” Eun-Ha answered quickly. My heart dropped. I hadn’t even thought of asking which management he worked for. I just assumed there was no way he could be in the same studio. I took a deep breath trying to calm myself. I hadn’t seen him in years so he probably wouldn’t even recognize me if he saw me. Would I even recognize him? I looked back to see Nana looking at me questioning. I nodded slightly to show her that it was fine and then turned back to the front. My phone vibrated and I quickly answered to SungJae had texted me reminding me that I was to text him when I was finished with my errands. I rolled my eyes and responded that he would be the first one to know.

“Was that SungJae?” Nana said in an almost sing song voice. I turned in my seat quickly and told her to shut up while also laughing. Everyone started laughing and teasing me about him.

“Oh, wait how was the date?” Se-Yi asked from the back seat before I could answer Nana started going into details about how wonderful it was. Everyone looked surprise to see her talking so much, even me. It had been a while since I had seen this Nana. I smiled to myself and didn’t intervene even when she told them about the kiss which caused an uproar in the car. We pulled in to an underground parking garage. It was dark, cold, and had an eerie feeling to it.

“What happen?” I said noticing the drop in the mood as we got out of the car.

“What if he doesn’t want this?” Eun-Ha asked as the manager walked around the car. He laughed slightly.

“Seol-Chan will be thrilled, he loves surprises” The manager said smiling and waving for us to follow him. I stuck towards the back of the group with Nana wanting a way out of I needed one. We went straight to an elevator.

“Are we going straight to his floor” I asked almost relieved.

“Yes it’s on the tenth floor” The manager said while nodding. I sighed and leaned back on the elevator wall. There was no way my luck was bad enough that my ex would be on the tenth floor along with Seol-Chan. I could see the group getting excited as we got closer to the floor.

“Wait? How are we going to do this?” I said surprised we hadn’t even talked about it.

“What do you mean?” Se-Yi turned towards me.

“Are we just walking in? Are we singing happy birthday? Is the Manager going first and then us follow?” I said feeling slightly uneasy all of a sudden.

“Come in after me, wait for me to tell them to take a break. I’ll do it as soon as I get in. You’ll hear the music stop” He said just as the elevator doors open. We could hear a soft hymn of music coming from each of the rooms that we passed by. We finally stopped at the last one. The manager didn’t go in and we looked at him strangely.

“What’s wrong?” I asked quietly.

“I don’t hear any music, they may be already taking a break…what do we do?” He said now panicking.

“Let’s just all go in together” Sun-Woo said softly. I nodded as did the rest of the group.

“You first” I said pushing the manager forward. He opened the door slowly and we walked in slowly behind him;  Se-Yi and Eun-Ha in the lead, the boys in the middle then Nana and I in the back. They instantly started singing Happy Birthday when they saw Seol-Chan sitting in the corner with a towel over his head. He looked so surprise and so happy. I couldn’t help but be happy for him even if he had been a jerk the past few days. Even his band mates started singing along with us and we all cheered when we were done singing.

“Is that why you guys have been so weird lately?” Seol-Chan asked once it quiet down.

“Really? That’s what you say, no Aww Thanks guys or I’m so surprise” I said rolling my eyes. His mouth dropped when he saw me in the back.

“You can’t be here, you have to leave now” Seol-Chan said passing the cake to one of his band members.

“What? Why?” Everyone started asking.

“Seol-Chan I know we don’t get along that great, but really why are you kicking me out?” I said as he came to push me out. I looked up at him wondering what the hell was going on. Se-Yi was trying to grab his arm while Nana told him to stop but he didn’t listen.

“No, it’s not that I swear. You just have…” Seol-Chan stopped as he looked towards the door. I followed his gaze towards the door and for the second time my heart dropped that day.

“Rose…” SungJae mumbled in the front door. I didn’t want to believe it even though he was in work out clothes a towel over his shoulder and a water in his hand. I didn’t want to believe.

“What are you doing here? Why are you here?” I asked standing straight up as Seol-Chan hand’s dropped from me. The room was completely silent as the realization hit all of them. I took a step towards him. His face was showing me how worried he was and I could see his eyes turning slightly red.

“Rose…” He mumbled again taking a step towards me.

“ANSWER ME” I screamed at him “Tell me why you are here?”

“He’s part of Men In Black” A voice I didn’t recognize came from behind me. My breath caught in my chest as it hit me. All the signs that I missed, everything he said and asked, how Seol-Chan had acted and our isolated date. I turned quickly to face Seol-Chan.

“You knew. You knew this whole time and didn’t tell me” I said almost in an asking tone. Why would he also lie to me? I felt tears forming in my eyes.

“I told him not too. I…” SungJae finally spoke.

“Shut up! Just shut up…this whole time you have been lying to me. I asked you if you were an idol…even if it was just as a joke you…” I stopped at the realization of it all. I turned between him and Seol-Chan.

“That’s what you think of me, you must think I’m a joke. God you must think I’m so stupid for not knowing” I said as a tear fell down.

“No, that wasn’t it” Seol-Chan said quickly. I took a deep breath and looked Seol-Chan in the eye. I wasn’t mad at him I realized, I was mad at myself and hurt by SungJae.

“Happy Birthday Seol-Chan, I just realized I have some things I need to do today so I have to leave. Enjoy the party, the guys were really looking forward to it” I said in a straight voice while wiping away a tear. I turned toward SungJae who was still standing in the door way. I looked past him and headed towards the doorway. SungJae took a step toward the side but grabbed my arm softly.

“Rose, please don’t” He said pleading. I didn’t look up to answer him.

“Why? Because you can’t follow me?” I said softly wondering if he remembered the previous conversation we had. I snatched my arm away and walked out the door and down the hallway towards the elevator. I felt the tears fall down but a sound didn’t come out. I wanted him to come to me. I wanted to see if he would follow me but part of me already knew he wouldn’t. I stopped a few feet from the elevator considering turning around. I had unanswered questions and it did seem that he didn’t mean for me to find out. He was on the verge of crying.

“Rose, is that you?” A voice came from the side. My luck seriously couldn’t be that bad…