After staring at the phone screen for what seemed to be ten minutes, but really only a few extended seconds, I pressed a button on my phone.

"What do you want?" I said. Not in a hostile voice, but a tired one.

Chanyeol sighed. "Your dad is at my house."

"WHAT?" I yelled into the phone, sounding squeaky.

"Yeah, I got a ride home instead of walking and I open the door to find your dad and my mom talking in the living room."

My eyes were probably red with uncontrollable fury.

"Whatever," I said simply, hanging up the phone.

Speed-walking to Chanyeol's house, which was really close since I had already started walking forty-five minutes ago, I went around the side of the house where Chanyeol would sneak out when we were dating in secret. Of course, Chanyeol was there just as I had expected. He was pacing around his bedroom window, where he must've snuck out of just now. When he saw me, he looked surprised but glad.

"Hey." He stopped pacing.

I looked away. "Hey."

There was a long pause and my eyes moved from the cloudy sky, to the trees, and finally to my feet while I stood and thought about what to say...what to do. I mean, it wasn't like we were enemies but we weren't the best of friends, either.

Just keep cool, and don't act desperate to talk to him, I told myself.

But Chanyeol was the first to speak.

"Look, Hyunji, I know we left on bad terms but I care a lot about you. You have to know that before we even begin to deal with our parents."

I laughed humorlessly. "I'M not dealing with this. If our parents want to sneak around like a couple of dumb teenagers, that's their problem. They'll figure out soon enough that they're just being stupid."

Chanyeol studied my face but I turned away.

"Hyunji, who are we talking about?"

"What do you mean?" I returned sharply.

"Is this about our parents," he replied slowly. "or about us?"

I crossed my arms and shrugged. "Both."

He sighed as if giving up a champion match. The silence was deadly and I wanted to end it so badly. I wasn't here to fight with Chanyeol. I was here to figure out what's going on.

"So, are we gonna catch them in their tracks, or what?" I broke t