-------- The next day ---------

"Eun Chae-ah, wake up." Hye Su walked into Chae's room and patted her on the shoulder, trying to wake up her friend who was in her own fictional dreamland. After Eun Chae woke up, Hye Su walked out of her bedroom and went to wake Min Ae -she's always sleeping like a pig- from dreaming of delicious sweets.

"Min-ah, wake up!" Min Ae squirmed in her sleep, telling Hye Su to allow her to sleep for an extra ten minutes. "Daesung is coming over and you don't want to see him seeing you like this, right?" she joked except she had her serious tone of voice in handy. 

Min Ae immediately woke up and went to get ready after hearing Daesung's name. She practically jumped out of bed with her eyes widened in shock and surprise. 

Later when they all ate their breakfast, the three girls left their dorm and headed to what they called 'school'. Eun Chae remembered her little meeting with Jiyong. She wanted to discuss about Hye Su with him yesterday night, but was interrupted by Seungri, who she dislikes.

"Ah, annyeong!" the five elements greeted when they saw their friends in sight.

"Annyeong." Min Ae smiled and waved. "I'm sorry about yesterday." she whispered quietly to the four out of the five since Taeyang wasn't there to witness the dramatic scene caused by Hye Su. 

Hye Su, on the other hand, was puffing her cheeks while looking away from the crowd. Taeyang and Eun Chae were curious about what happened but Eun Chae had a slight glimpse of what the situation is about. She assumed her unnie's actions were related to Jiyong.

"Psst... Taeyang-ah, do you think they're acting like an old married couple?" Eun Chae leaned closer to Taeyang, whispering in his ear.

"They do look like one... does Hye Su hate Jiyong or something? He is a nice guy though." 

"Uhm... fire and water aren't a compatible mixture. Hye Su unnie kept on saying that." she said, glancing between Hye Su and Jiyong.

"Something tells me we should help mend them together... so that they're no longer contradicting themselves... or something like that." Taeyang suggested. "We should do something about those two. I hate to see my friends hate each other to the core."

"Hmmm...." Eun Chae began thinking, scratching her chin, evil-looking.

On the contrary, Hye Su was standing alone, crossing her arms across her chest. She continued puffing her cheeks and when her hair got in the way of her sight, she blew them to the side. Jiyong was staring at Hye Su. His conscience was telling him to apologize but at the same time, it was telling him to not apologize in case she goes... crazy... like yesterday. Experiencing Hye Su's rage once was enough. 

As soon as the bell rung, Hye Su sped walk out of the seven people's sight. She didn't want to go near Jiyong for the day and even if he aplogizes, she won't easily forgive him. She thought of ways to humilate/mess with Jiyong during the mission and snickered silently.

During class Eun Chae and Taeyang were practicing their skills. The whole time Eun Chae was wondering if she should tell Jiyong about Hye Su or not. It was a bit personal and Hye Su wouldn't want anybody to know about her story. If only that stupid guy didn't piss her off in the first place. she thought. On the other hand, Hye Su had a list of evil plans in order to get revenge on the stupid guy. Min Ae and Daesung were having fun talking about Doraemon and cracking jokes (although Min Ae doesn't favour comedy as much as Hye Su and Eun Chae, but it's all good since it's Daesung we're mentioning). As for Seungri, the maknae... he was just there.... and not flirting for some reason.
---------

"Ouch." Eun Chae rubbed her shoulder after someone bumped into her. She turned around to see who it was and turns out it was Seungri who had bumped into her. He didn't notice Eun Chae which surprised her, and continued to walk without apologizing .

"Yah." she followed him. "Seungri! Yo!" she hit his back.

"Oh, hi Eun Chae! What's up?" he smiled a little bit.

"Did you not hear me earlier?" she asked.

"You called me?"

"No, I called a panda. Are you dumb? Of course I called you." she rolled her eyes.

"Oh." he turned back around.

"Where are you going?" Eun Chae continued to follow him. He's acting differently today. Is he sick or something?

They ended up in the parking lot where the rest of the guys were.

"Eun Chae, I was just about to call you. Do you want to go shopping with us?" her friends asked.

"Shopping? Hey! You guys were here all along?" she looked and Hye Su and Min Ae.

"Yeah.." they each took a glance and Daesung and Seunghyun.

Once they arrived at the mall, they split into their own groups and walked around the malls, entering a variety of the available stores. Eun Chae and Seungri both followed Jiyong.

"Jiyong, I think I should tell you something." she said once they were far enough.

"Yeah, what is it?" he turned to look at her.

"Ehm... I'm not 100% sure about what happened the other day but... just don't piss Hye Su off. She had .. bad experiences with Fires? It was a very.... I don't know. She ... Ok forget about that. The point is just be careful of what you say to her. Be nice to her. And you might want to apologize."

"Ohh.. I was planning to apologize but I don't know if she'll still be pissed. Was that why you wanted to tell me yesterday?"

"Yeah. And what's up with Seungri? He seems a bit depressed today." Eun Chae nodded and examined Seungri's actions today.

"Today's the same day except it was a few years back, was the day he broke up with his ex, and the same day as their 1st year anniversary."

"Wow. It seems like he still likes her. But what happened?"

“I don’t know, really. But we knew he was going to be like this so we decided to take him out for a while instead of being all alone.” They entered a store. Eun Chae turned around to see if Seungri was still there. He was 5 meters away from them.

Jiyong was in line, ready to pay for the clothes he wanted, leaving Eun Chae and Seungri by themselves. They were just browsing random clothes but Eun Chae felt a pair of eyes gazing on her. From the corner of her eye she saw that there was a man watching her. She started to feel uncomfortable so she walked somewhere else but his eyes followed her. Feeling creeped out, she pretended to look for a shirt and took a random one out and walked to Seungri.

“This shirt looks nice, right?” she asked him from behind, tugging onto his shirt.

“It looks ok.” He turned to her and then noticed Eun Chae’s eyes telling him to look to the right. He turned his head and saw a guy checking Eun Chae out.

Seriously, dude? You’re like at least 5 years older than her aren’t you? What a e. he glared at the guy. He didn’t seem to notice him but only Eun Chae.

“Let’s go, I’ll pay that for you.” He put his arm around Eun Chae’s shoulder as if she was his girlfriend and walked to the cashier.

“He’s gone, right?” she whispered.

“I think so.” Seungri turned his head a little bit. “Yup, he’s gone.” His hand left her shoulder.

“Thanks. That guy was creeping me out.” she put the shirt back on a random rack.

“You don’t want that shirt? It’ll look nice when you wear it though.” Jiyong took it off the rack and looked and it.

“Then you buy it. It’ll look nice on you, Jiyong.” Eun Chae smiled.

“What? It’s a girl’s shirt. I thought you wanted it.” He put it back. Then they all walked out of the store.

"I need to go to the bathroom, can someone hold this for me?" Jiyong held out the shopping bags.

"I'll hold it.." she looked at Seungri who was in his own world until he heard laughter.

"That guy from the movie was so stupid." Eun Chae noticed a girl around their age laughing while having her arms linked with her a boy. She watched them and suddenly Seungri took Jiyong's stuff from her and put his arm around her shoulder again.

"Uh.. wh-"

"OH! Seungri, annyeong~! Long time no see." she smiled and waved at him.

"Annyeong." he smiled polietly.

"Who's he?" the boy next to her whispered to her. Eun Chae assumed he was the girl's boyfriend by the looks of their intimidation.

"Hmm. Seungri, this is my boyfriend, Minho. Minho this is my friend, Seungri. And this is.... his girlfriend..?"

Yeah... friend. Seungri thought.

"Eun Chae." Seungri smiled, holding Eun Chae tighter.

"Annyeong~!" she smiled at Eun Chae. "Anyways, I would love to talk to you guys but we have to be somewhere in an hour. So.. bye guys!" they walked off.

I don't even know who you are so why should I care? Eun Chae thought.

"Sorry." Seungri let her go.

"It's ok.. but.. who was that?" she asked.

"Like she said.. friend." he sighed.

Liar... she seems more than that. Omo, was that his ex? Eun Chae quickled turned her head.

"Thanks!" Jiyong suddenly popped out of nowehere and took his stuff back. "Let's go eat now! They are probably already there waiting for us." Seungri shrugged his shoulders and headed off to who-knows-where-exactly.

"That was his ex." Jiyong said quietly that almost he can't even hear himself in the mall but knowing that Eun Chae would be able to hear because her element is Earth (meaning she can hear very well even if it's quiet).

Meanwhile, Hye Su and Min Ae were drinking their ordered drinks: a strawberry milkshake and a honeydew bubble tea. They were finished eating their portion of the food and all that was left was their delicious drink. Earlier, the two girls' stomach grumbled, causing them to order food beforehand without waiting for the remaining three people to arrive. Since they had nothing to do, they went on a tour to the bathroom, leaving the guys and Eun Chae still at the table. When they came back a while later, they told the guys they'll be walking around the district. 

"Chae, wanna come with us?" Min Ae asked but was ignored since Eun Chae was busy in her own thoughts.

"Aren't you hungry? Eat something." Jiyong continued to eat his noodles he just ordered (after arriving late).

"I don't feel like it." Seungri rested his arm on the table and stared at the floor.

"If you are hungry, then eat something." Taeyang took a sip of his drink.

"I'm not hungry." he sighed.

"Stop lying." Eun Chae heard his stomach grumble.

"That was Daesung."

"Huh? What?" Daesung asked with his mouth stuffed with food.

"Would you stop being so stubborn and eat already?" she rolled her eyes at the stubborn maknae, when she is one herself too.

"No."

"Tch. You must be crazy. I understand that you are depressed and all, but it doesn't mean you should starve yourself. You know what that can lead to? Anorexia. And then you-"

"You don't know anything." he said coldy.

"Oh yeah?" she stood up.

"Oh no, not you too." Min Ae shook her head, sneaking a glance at Hye Su. First, it was Su who raged and now it was Chae.

"But what I do know is that you should just forget about the past and move on. What's the point of still thinking about someone when they are already with another person? Look at her! She's happy with that guy. She probably doesn't care about you anymore. And you? You're just here doing what? Hoping she'll go back to you? Seriously! It annoys me when I see people like this. No matter who it is, they're all the same. And you know what? You are so stupid." Eun Chae stormed out to get some fresh air.

"Eun Chae!" Jiyong and Hye Su followed her leaving Min Ae not knowing what to do. Originally, Min Ae and Hye Su wanted to walk around but I guess it didn't go as planned.

"Dude!" Taeyang looked at Seungri, eyeing the door. It was a sign for him to run after her and apologize.

"Eun Chae! Sorry, Seungri didn't mean that. It's just that today he-" Jiyong said.

"Whatever." she sat down on a bench with her back facing them.

"I don't get why this guy is here." Hye Su implied 'this guy' as Jiyong. "But who cares about what that byuntae says he-"

"Leave me alone."

"Eun-"

"Why are you out here? Your food is going to get cold." Seungri soon came out.

"Same goes for you. Why are you here? You want me to yell at you even more? Stupid." Eun Chae glared at Seungri.

Hye Su noticed the tension between the two and didn't want to get too involved in their business. So she thought of a plan and that was to just leave them alone and allow them to converse about whatever they need to talk about. She was about to walk away until she remembered that guy was still standing there.

"Let's go." Hye Su slapped Jiyong's arm.

"Oww, where?" he rubbed his arm and ended up getting dragged away by Hye Su.

When the water and fire left the area, Seungri sat down on the bench next to Eun Chae.

"Sorry... It's just that-" she paused, "You remind me of someone I know and I hated when she acted like that." Eun Chae calmed down after remembering what she just did.

"I'm sorry as well." he sighed. "You were right though. I was stupid."

"Was?" she turned to face him, raising an eye brow.

"I AM stupid. Very." he said, making Eun Chae giggly a bit.

"I agree." Eun Chae smiled. "But how did you guys break up? Don't tell me you were flirting with other girls and she got jealous and then you felt bad for what you did."

"Nope. I actually wasn't like that before. I've never told anyone this but... after I came to this school, we didn't see each other for a while since she was attending another school. She used to text me almost everyday and I'd reply to her messages. But after a while, she stopped texting me. And when I did text her, hoping she would reply, it turns out not the way I thought it would be. She'd either not reply or the response would be a simple 'Oh.' And if I call her it would be the same thing and she'd be the first one to want to hang up."

"Wow." Eun Chae was speechless and continued listening.

"I thought she was busy with school until I realized she was hanging out with someone else and it was a guy at her school. I heard that they have been hanging out for a while. I continued to call her but either her phone would be off or it was busy. One day I went to her house to visit, and I saw... they were kissing." Eun Chae gasped. 

"Oh god." Eun Chae felt sorry for him yet excited at the same time after hearing the story. All she needed was popcorn and a can of soda.

"And after I went back to school, I told her that we should break up. Guess what her response was..."

"What?" she didn't bother predicting.

"She didn't even reply. Not until a week later... and most of all, she replied with an Oh, ok." he looked to see Eun Chae's reaction. was slightly opened and her eyes her wide open.

"She's a cheater.."

"But it was my fault for not actually meeting up with her."

"Are you serious? You can't just blame it all on yourself. Who knew if she was already had feelings for that guy be- Oops." she closed before continuing speaking any further.

"It's ok."

"But if she wanted to get back together with you, would you agree?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. The same thing would happen again. But I don't think I would accept her request. You're right. Afterall, I'm just stupid. I should stop thinking about her and let go of the past. Like you said, 'IF she wanted to get back together'. I doubt that will happen anyways. And I aslo heard they are going to get engaged."

"Whoahhh~ Engaged? At this age? That's....early?"

"That was my initial reaction too. But it turns out she's a gold digger."

"... Gosh people these days." she shook her head then heard Seungri's stomach grumble again. They both stared at his stomach.

"Well.. should we go back and eat?" Seungri stood up and smiled at her.

"No-no. I think they are done eating already. Let them pay for the food. Let's go to some random food stall. I love those food."

"Who's paying. You have money?"

"Fine. I'll pay then. And you might wanna... go back to your 'flirty mode'. I'm so not used to seeing you like this. I feel like you're not Seungri."

"Ok~! Was it just me or do you look extra pretty today?" he smirked.

"Tch. Haha.Ok then you should not let the pretty girl pay and have her save money." she laughed.

"That was a compliment! At least say, 'Thank you! You look good today as always too Seungri oppa' "

"Why should I call you oppa? I don't even call my brother that anymore!"

"Because I'm 10 days older than you. Be respectful." he smiled.

"I'd rather call you... ajusshi, like Hye Su. Hehehe."

"You call her ajusshi? "

"No, I meant she likes calling people that."

"Then you shall be ajumma" he laughed.

"What?!" she slapped his arm.

Ater their conversation on that day, Eun Chae felt more comfortable when she's hanging around Seungri. She still thought of him as a ert except she knew he was just trying to cheer her up. And don't forget, being flirty and a ert is natural for every male human-being. Their friendship with one another have just begun. Eun Chae remembered Seungri was in his group, but she made no complaints after that day.

------------

In the meantime...

"YAH! I SAID I WAS SORRY!" Jiyong followed Hye Su around an empty playground. It was as if Jiyong was the pet and Hye Su was the owner of the pet. But obviously we know they are only human-beings... and contradicting elements.

"I didn't hear it!" Hye Su crossed her arms and walked in circles around the trees and bushes.

Whilst they were busy arguing - it was the umpteenth time since earlier when they left Seungri and Eun Chae alone - Daesung, Min Ae, Taeyang, and Seunghyun were leaning close to each other. Each of them were sitting down at a bench.

"Are you sure they're not dating...?" Daesung asked Min Ae who had partially open. She sat between Seunghyun and Daesung, with Taeyang next to Seunghyun.

"OH MY GOSH! WHAT THE HECK!? YOU DO NOT USE WATER ON WATER!" they continued watching the amazing show, performed by Jiyong and Hye Su. The only props they were missing were theatre chairs, some drinks, popcorn, and other snacks eaten during a movie.

Hye Su was busy chasing Jiyong around the playground. He had splashed water from the water fountain directly at Hye Su, soaking her favourite shirt and the tee became somewhat transparent. Luckily Hye su was wearing a black and white striped tank top underneath, covering her skin and of course - her undergarments.

"GET BACK HERE!" she shouted.

Jiyong continued running and was soon out of breath. When he finally gave up, he plopped down on the grass and lied down, gazing up at the sky. It was the perfect chance for Hye Su to take revenge on him for what he did earlier except she decided to wait a while longer to surprise attack him - just not for the day.

Hye Su was quite athletic but she was also feeling a bit tired due to all that running without exercising beforehand. She, too, lied down on the grass.

"I'm sorry." Jiyong said. Hye Su shifted her head a little bit until she was facing Jiyong.

"Bwoh?" she was huffing, still out of breath.

"I said I'm sorry... for what I said last time."

"Oh... I'll let it slide this time." Then, Hye Su slowly turned her head back to face the sky and sat up. "It's not something important anyways." Jiyong could figure out her tone of voice. It was filled with a tint of sadness and the mood was also written on her face, except he pretended he couldn't see it. Jiyong knew it was something once important in her life. He wanted to ask, but was afraid at the same time. What if she goes berserk on him? What if she continues to hate him for the rest of their lives? He didn't want that. 

All he wanted was to be friends with Hye Su. 

It might sound like he's desperate, but he dislikes it when his friends give him the silent treatment. He dislikes it when people (in general) ignore him. 

But if I don't ask her, then I will never know. And if I will never know, we will never get along with each other. And if we will never get along with each other, she'll hate me forever. And if she'll hate me forever, I will be sad. And if I am sad, you won't like it. Jiyong thought. So he decided to risk the chance of his survival (from Hye Su's rage... not her wrath).

"Hye Su-yah," he began. She looked at him, curiosity filled her pupils. "Why do you hate me?"