Jjung, Ssul, Luna and AJ: Age 18/19/20

The day of the play marked the end of the school semester and also the end of my relationship with Suz. As I had promised her, I didn’t contact her and just let her be. I was still livid with AJ hyung and I refused to talk to him. Ssul had told me that she had worked things out with hyung and had forgiven him. I didn’t understand it. How could she forgive him so easily?

It was officially the WORST winter break EVER. Because of the conflict that happened. I spent it alone for the first time since I had known Ssul and hyung. It was really the worst thing that could have happened because hyung and Luna were graduating so I wasn’t sure if we would ever work things out. However, one day, Luna called me up unexpectedly and asked for me to meet up with her. I wasn’t exactly that close to her but I agreed anyway since I was feeling really lonely.

“Hey noona, how have you been?” I greeted when I saw her.

“Oh Jjung, I’m glad you decided to meet me. I have something I wanted to talk to you about,” she said with a no-nonsense tone.

“What is it?”

“Do you want to go out with me?” she asked.

That had totally caught me off guard. It was completely out of the blue and made no sense what so ever.

“WHAT?!” I nearly shouted.

“I’m sorry, let me start over… What I meant was… Do you want to help me break Ssul and AJ oppa up?”

Still what she was saying made no sense.

“What?! What are you talking about noona?”

“Jjung, you like Ssul right? If you help me split them up then you can get your chance with her.”

“What?!” She had made me both shocked and confused. My head was spinning from all the information I was trying to process.

“Listen, I overheard your argument with Suzy the other day so don’t even try to hide it. I know you’re in love with Ssul.”

“Yes, but…”

“And I’m still in love with AJ oppa. When he kissed me during the play… I knew I had to do something. I know he feels something for me too, I felt it. He has to. There’s no way he was just acting,” she continued.

I knew it! Hyung definitely had feelings for Luna, that’s why he kissed her. But what about Ssul?!

“Look noona, no matter how much I want them to break up, I can’t be the one who does it. I won’t be a part of this plan,” I asserted.

“But think about it Jjung. Does AJ oppa really love Ssul? Is he the best guy for her? Is he going to end up hurting her? I’m going to find out if he likes me or not, no matter what. I don’t want to hurt Ssul either but I need to know.”

“I’m sorry but that’s too underhanded. I can’t do that to Ssul.”

She let out a sigh. “We don’t have t break them up. I just need to know if he has feelings for me that are more than just friendship. If you pretend to go out with me, I can find out if he will be jealous or not.”

“Why don’t you just ask someone else?”

“I can’t just use some random guy… besides you’re his best friend… If he sees you with me, he’ll be sure to show his true feelings.”

The plan was slightly devious and completely mad but somehow it made sense. Honestly, I really wanted to know if he did have feelings for Luna.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this… Fine, I’ll do it,“ I agreed. “But how are we going to do this? We can’t just call them out of the blue and tell them we’re a couple now…”

“Leave that to me… I’ll figure something out.”

(The next day…)

“Hey Jjung, I found out that AJ oppa and Ssul will be at my classmate’s graduation party. It’s the perfect opportunity for us to execute our plan.”

I was still a little hesitant about it. “Are you sure this is a good idea…?”

“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry. You don’t even really need to do anything,” she reassured.

“Okay, fine. So what time should I pick you up?”

“Oh you’re picking me up?”

“Of course. Don’t you want to make this look real?”

“Right…! Yes, of course. How about 8?”

“Okay, I’ll see you then.”

(Later that night…)

I was starting to regret my decision. I felt a little awkward going to a party for seniors let alone having Luna as my date and she was a year older than I was. Everything about this just sounded like a bad idea.

“Come on Jjung, it’s only for one night. Make sure to pretend like you’re all over me,” she instructed as we entered the party.

I had already spotted AJ hyung and Ssul in the corner of my eye. We headed in their direction casually, pretending we hadn’t noticed them.

“Oh, Jjung! What are you doing here?” exclaimed Ssul when she saw us.

“He’s my date,” Luna answered.

“What?!” AJ hyung choked. “Aren’t you with Suzy?” he asked me.

“We broke up…”

“Since when? And why?” Ssul asked with curiosity.

“The day of the play. It just didn’t work out between us.”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that…” Ssul responded.

“And how did you and Luna end up together?” hyung questioned. He was sounding quite anxious.

“I guess we were both just searching for someone…” Luna replied and then linked her arm around mine.

I wanted to brush it off but then I remembered we were pretending.

“We just clicked, somehow. Sometimes unexpected things happen…“ I lied. I pull my arm away only to wrap it around Luna’s shoulder. “I never realized it before but Luna noona is really pretty and smart and cool.”

“Yes she is…” mumbled hyung under his breath but I heard him.

I made sure to constantly have my arm around Luna’s shoulder or held her hand, called her affectionately and spoke to her in aegyo. In any normal circumstances, things like this would make me want to slap myself. It seemed like they were actually buying our act though. I really didn’t think it would work but AJ hyung started behaving very oddly around us. Hyung was the only one legally allowed to drink and he seemed to be taking full advantage of it. He was really drinking more than he should; I had never seen him like that. And as the night wore on, it became more and more apparent that he was jealous of Luna and me. I became enraged but I held it back as best as I could. I didn’t want to make a scene in front of all the seniors and I thought it was better to confront him when he was sober.

The only thing was that I was really concerned about was Ssul. She had probably also never seen hyung like that. Maybe he was drunk or maybe he was trying to make Luna jealous but whatever the reason was he was extra handsy with Ssul. It really wasn’t like him at all; he was usually a real gentleman. Ssul looked worried, uncomfortable and mortified all at the same time.

At some point in the night, Luna wandered off to talk to her other friends. I couldn’t blame her. I wasn’t the social type so I just stay in one corner. Besides I wanted to keep an eye on hyung and Ssul.

“Ssul, I’m going to use the toilet. I’ll be back okay?” hyung said to Ssul, his speech slightly slurred.

“Oppa, are you going to be alright?” she asked in concern.

“I’ll be fine…” he mumbled and walked away.

The atmosphere became more awkward with just the two of us left. I didn’t really know what to say to her and she didn’t have anything to say to me either, so we just stared at each other. After awhile, we were beginning to worry that hyung was still not back yet.

“Uhm, I think I’m going to go look for oppa. I’m really worried about him,” Ssul said.

I was worried too… For him and for her. “I’ll come with you,” I told her. She did not protest.

(Luna’s POV)

I think the plan is working. It’s so obvious that he’s jealous. But he’s drinking way too much… Should I stop? Am I being too harsh?

“L-Luna…” called a voice from behind me. It was AJ oppa.

“Oh o-oppa… What are you doing here?” I wasn’t expecting to see him just then.

“I-I have been l-looking for y-you…” his speech was very slurred.

He’s drunk!

“O-oppa… you’re drunk… You should really go home now…”

“N-No…! Y-you just want me to g-go home s-so you can be alone with Jj-Jjung.”

“Don’t be stupid oppa! You’re drunk!” I shouted at him.

“D-Do you really l-like Jjung?”

I didn’t answer him.

“He’s n-not right for y-you…”

“Then who is…?”

He pushed me up against the wall and pinned my shoulders. My heart started pounding like crazy.

“Stop it oppa! You’re hurting me!” I struggled.

(Jjung’s POV)

We walked around to look for hyung but the place was big and crowded. So the most logical thing to do was head to where he said he was going. We walked towards the back end of the place and then we both stopped short. I could tell that Ssul was just as shocked as I was seeing what was happening right in front of us.

“O… oppa!?” she shouted.

Hyung had Luna pinned to the wall and was trying to kiss her. Luna was trying to fight him off but was unable to overcome his larger stature. When he heard Ssul, he stopped and turned to look in our direction.

“Oh, Ss-Ssul… I’m…” he stuttered.

But before he could get another word out, I stormed towards him and punched him right across the face. He fell to the ground. I pulled him back up by his shirt and lifted my hand again, ready to take another swing.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” I shouted at him.

He was too out of it to respond.

“I told you…! I told you never to hurt her and now you’re hurting noona too! I can’t believe you did this again after that time during the play!” I continued shouting at him.

Before I could do something else, Ssul grabbed my raised hand and Luna grabbed my other arm. They both started to pull me back.

My anger was out of control now. If Ssul and Luna had let go of me, I would have probably beaten hyung to death.

“Jjung, please stop! He doesn’t know what he’s doing… he’s drunk,” pleaded Luna.

“Please calm down Jjung. This will not solve anything…” Ssul said as she put both her hands on my chest and pushed me further away from hyung.

“Ugh! How can you both be so calm! Can’t you see what he’s doing?! He’s two timing you both! Are you just going to let him do this?” I yelled in frustration. Why is it always only me who’s reacting like this?!

“This is not the time or place to be doing this. We need to get oppa home. We can all talk about this tomorrow,” Ssul said to me softly.

“I-I’m sorry… Ssul… Luna… Jjung… I’m…” AJ hyung finally spoke up again but his speech was still incoherent.

They were all driving me crazy! I couldn’t be around them any longer. Why is no one on my side?! I stormed out of the party and just started running like I usually do when I needed to clear my head.

I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. I just needed to get away from them; the people who I thought were my friends but have lately been hurting me so much and giving me so much grief. I just kept running and running, not looking in which direction I was headed. Then I accidentally bumped into a group of older guys.

“Yah! Watch where you’re going! Are you blind?!” yelled one of the guys.

Usually I would apologize but I was still so angry at that point I didn’t care. “Shove off! Can’t you see I’m running here?”

“WHAT?! Why you… how dare you be so rude to your elders!”

“Tch! You may be older but you’re stupid and blind!”

“Watch your mouth boy or I’ll have to teach you a lesson!”

“Oh yeah?! What are you going to do?”

And then his fist connected with my face and I fell to the ground. The rest of the guys joined in. I was obviously no match for them. Punches and kicks were thrown. Honestly, I was so numb I couldn’t even remember feeling anything. I just curled into a ball and then I passed out…