---xxxii;;

I take it back. I’m not giving this any chances.

Shiyeon gulped roughly as she quickly rounded the corner of the hall, peeking over her shoulder to scan the premise for a certain tanned dancer. She sighed in relief when she failed to spot him, putting a hand over her pounding heart.

Then someone tapped on her shoulder.

The brunette turned in an agonizingly slow fashion, albeit her eyes having darted faster. She came face to face with the devil, towering over her hunched form and a slight frown pulling at his plump lips. After several awkward seconds of staring at his nose, the woman forcibly met his eyes.

Immediately, she regretted it.

Slight hints of anger and disappointment flooded her, but were not nearly as overwhelming as the apologetic glint his deep brown orbs reflected. The pure vulnerability he portrayed pushed her further towards the edge of guilt, his mouth opened to speak words that would never reach her ears.

Swallowing a scream in , Shiyeon ran the other way (of course having to wrench her wrist from his grip).

“SORRY GOTTA PEE!”

Upon hearing the tale, her tired blonde friend promptly choked on her kimchi fried rice and began rolling on the floor in laughter the moment she saved herself from a carbohydrate-filled death. Mere seconds later, she fell back into the same routine of choking and laughing.

Shiyeon huffed, crossing her arms as she dodged the bits of rice flying from the sputtering girl “It’s not funny!”

“But your pathetic excuse of social skills are!” Saebyul paused momentarily to snort at her younger friend, “That’s not what I had in mind when I said you deserve a cheesy romance.”

“Shove it up your !”

The blonde grinned, “Sorry, Hotel Saebyul is a little too full right now with sarcastic comebacks and future blackmail. Try again never.”

She received a heated glare that otherwise would have been frightening had she not been so thick-skinned, “Shouldn’t you be yelling at me around now, something about being a and backing out of telling him ‘how I really feel’?” Shiyeon sighed, having gotten no reaction from her gluttonous friend.

Saebyul shrugged, “You know it damn well yourself. I’m going to let you sort it out, since I really can’t force you to love anyone.” She gulped down the last of her coke, easily tossing the empty bottle into the trashcan nearby their outdoor lunch table, “Plus, that should be him heading this way right now. If you want to do any confrontation, I suggest you do it now—“

“—I LEFT MY HOMEWORK IN THE CLASSROOM!”

Kai arrived shortly after, frowning, “That was a rather ty excuse,”

“You have a rather ty attitude,”

“Excuse me?”

Glancing up at the male irritably, Saebyul huffed, “Retarded or not, she’s still my baby girl, and you hurt her. I don’t care who was wrong in the situation, I’m still going to hold it against you,” she stared him down, despite being significantly shorter as well as sitting down, “Either chase after her or get beaten by me, boy.”

He gulped, taking off in the general direction of Shiyeon.

“Yes m’am!”

The front door slammed open, a less-than-average-height yet lean figure stomping through shamelessly, “Yoon Shiyeon, you whimpy motherer! Show your stupid face!”

“I’ll have you know my face is very beautiful,” said girl emerged from the bathroom, drying her wet hair with a towel. Shiyeon donned comfortable board shorts and a simple white v-neck, looking ready to eat ice cream and watch TV until she passed out.

Sparing not a single second, Saebyul threw herself onto the couch and helped herself to the abundance of snacks on the coffee table, “And I’ll have you know momma Byul does not approve of your -like behavior back there. Running from him five times in one day, not to mention with the cruddiest excuse possible? That’s a new record.” She mused in a not-so joking manner.

Opening to retort, the brunette sat herself down as well and grabbed a handful of chips from the bag Saebyul had just opened, “I think they were pretty legitimate.”

“If you believed in a self-proclaimed bird that was a pig, then sure,” the blonde deadpanned.

“…Sheesh, no need to be so harsh.”

She shrugged, “I told you what I needed to. The rest is up to you. All I can do right now is nag at you for being a little .”

Shiyeon snorted, glaring at Joffrey as he proceeded to torture Tyrion, “Gee, thanks, love you too.”

“I know,” Saebyul grinned.

Suddenly, the obnoxious screaming that was Shiyeon’s ringtone interrupted their silence. Saebyul blinked at the unknown number, whereas the dark-haired female only frowned and answered the call, “Hello?”

Her frown continued to deepen before she ended the call with gritted teeth, “ you.” She snapped firmly, tossing her phone to the other side of the couch. The blonde woman clicked her tongue, picking up the small device, “Was it them? Did you recognize the voice?”

“No, it was  very monotone, most likely robotic,” Shiyeon sighed after a long pause, “Daehyun, they got him.”

“Jung Daehyun? Didn’t he go back to Busan for the rest of the year?” Saebyul raised a brow, all the while shoving more carcinogenic diabetes into , “That’s your hometown. Why the hell would anyone trace you that far?”

Because it’s not you, Byul. It’s me, the brunette gulped, slowly meeting her friend’s concerned ashen orbs, I’m their target, and they’re going to strip me of everything I’ve ever cared about. That can’t happen. I won’t let it happen. Saebyul understood immediately, eyes darkening, “What are you going to do?”

“Search the ends of the world for them, be it Busan or Seoul.”