A/N: Sorry it took so long.  T_T

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A few minutes later, Jaehwa’s breathing slowed, and she fell asleep.  Yoseob carefully carried her to her room and placed her on the neatly-made bed.  Then he straightened up and headed for the bathroom, retrieving a washcloth and rinsing it in warm water.

After gently dabbing her tearstained cheeks with the washcloth, Yoseob walked out to the living room and checked his phone.  He had few messages from Dujun.

Where are you?  We have practice.  –Dujun

Did something happen earlier?  –Dujun

Alright, I’m going to assume that this is for something important.  I’ll make up some excuse for you.  You owe me big time xP  –Dujun

Yoseob sighed in relief and typed a quick thanks to the leader for understanding.

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Jaehwa finally awoke a couple of hours later.  She stretched and sat up, glancing at the mirror at her bedside.  She cringed at her puffy and red eyes.  I hope this goes away soon.

She yawned and disappeared into the bathroom to freshen up and attempt to reduce the swelling under her eyes.  Then, she sleepily stumbled into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

She absentmindedly shuffled to the sink, retrieved a glass from the cabinet, and filled it up.  As she lifted the glass to , she caught a movement out the corner of her eye.  Jaehwa turned around and screamed, dropping her glass.  It broke into pieces as it hit the tiled floor.

Yoseob also shouted in surprise, his hand flying to clutch his chest.  He had just returned from the neighboring Chinese restaurant with two small cartons of takeout.

“Oppa!  Don’t scare me like that!” Jaehwa said breathlessly, bending over to pick up the broken glass.

Yoseob chuckled.  “You gave me a shock, too,” he said before placing the food on the countertop and helping her clean up the scattered shards.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.  The glass completely missed me,” Jaehwa answered nonchalantly.

“No,” her best friend said, looking into her eyes, “I mean from before.  How are you feeling?”

“Oh, that,” Jaehwa whispered, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.  “I’m… trying not to think about it.”

Yoseob nodded awkwardly before focusing on finding the tiny pieces of glass.

“Thanks for being there,” she spoke up, sending him a small smile.  “I would have been a wreck without you.”

Yoseob scratched the back of his neck.  “No problem,” he mumbled, a tint of pink appearing on his cheeks.

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“You can’t leave Cube,” Yoseob finally said after they had been watching TV for a while.

“Huh?”

His gaze remained glued to the screen.  “You can’t drop everything you’ve worked for.”

Jaehwa hung her head in despair.  “I know.  I don’t want to, but,” she sighed, “I can’t go against my parents’ wishes.”

Yoseob’s eyebrows scrunched up as he thought deeply.

It was every idol’s nightmare, having to choose between their parents and their career.  Many of his sunbaes and chingus had gone through similar situations during their trainee years.  The only difference was that their parents eventually accepted their children’s choices and ended up fully supporting them.

However, Jaehwa’s parents were intransigent on their wishes.  They absolutely would not back down even after Jaehwa achieved her goal.

“I think,” he paused, “You should just go for it.”

“Go for what?”

“Your dream.  Haven’t I told you this before?  You can’t just let go of your dream because someone told you to,” Yoseob stated firmly, gently placing an arm around Jaehwa’s shoulder.

You’ve told me that many times, she thought to herself, the memories quickly flashing in her mind.

“But I–” Jaehwa stopped when Yoseob pressed his finger to her lips.

“I’m serious.  This is what you really want, right?”

She nodded.  “But my parents are going to force me to leave.  There’s no way I can change their minds!  They won’t–”

Yoseob cut her off again.  “Jaehwa,” he said, smirking, “When there’s a will, there’s a way.  Just trust me.”

It was going to be difficult to find a solution.  But Yoseob was determined to keep Jaehwa by his side.  He wasn’t going to lose her again.