"Ne, Changjo-ah. Where are we going?" So Young inquired curiously as they both sat close together on the subway that would take them to the innermost part of Seoul. Changjo patted her knee comfortably to keep her relaxed.

"Since all the amusement parks like Lotte World are too cliche for your tastes, I thought I would take you to downtown Seoul to hit up the hot spots you'd normally go to. Dance clubs, the karaoke bar, the mall, wherever you wanna go." Changjo answered while checking his texts. Apparently, he had fifty-seven missed calls and eighty-nine missed text messages from Chunji. Frowning, he deleted all of them without bothering to read them without a second thought. It was best to take the best step forward to forgetting hyung this one day, just for So Young noona's sake.

So Young tapped her fingers in impatient anticipation to get her mind off a certain cheating boyfriend. Her eyes wandered across the various people on the subway: ahjummas and ahjusshis, giggling high school girls, and the average man. She was staring at the end of the streetcar when she saw a familiar glimpse of light brown hair. Her eyes widened and she jolted herself in her seat to see if her ex-boyfriend was really on the subway with her, but he had already disappeared from her sight, hidden amongst the crowd.

Changjo looked up from his cell phone to see noona with a panicked look on her face. He took in the look and made a guess that it was something Chunji related. He gripped her slender fingers in his and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. So Young seemed to relax with his touch (and to this he was secretly happy) and smiled gratefully back to him. So Young brushed the sighting of Chunji away from her mind, since Changjo went out of his way to make it a Chunji-free day, she would abide by that rule: no thoughts, no mention of that guy. For Chunji meant nothing to her anymore, just another person breathing the same air she breathed.

An ahjumma sitting in the seat across from them harumphed loudly at the taboo public display of affection between Changjo and So Young. Not that So Young cared, for her dongseng's touch right now made her feel comforted.

But she did glare at the ahjumma defiantly right back before they got off at their stop.

Dead eyes.

Chunji picked Min Jung up, staring at her with dead eyes. She had texted him eagerly after she woke up to arrange a date to cheer him up since he was awfully gloomy yesterday night. She hadn't expected him to be so devastated of dumping that other girl. Wouldn't he be rather ecstatic that she didn't have that tomboy excuse of a woman clinging to him anymore?

Wasn't he happy to only have her?

"Chunji! Cheer up! You're not happy that you're on a date with me?" Min Jung teasingly pouted, poking him on the cheek. He glanced up at her, but he wasn't looking at her directly, rather the person behind her. His eyes widened at who he thought was So Young and craned his neck to see her amidst the people crammed in the streetcar. He had seen her.

"Chunji!" Min Jung persisted, looping her arm around his. She didn't like the crazed looks that haunted his usually charming eyes lately. It reminded her of the look she had when her stupid ex had dumped her after mercilessly humiliating her. And the dead look that So Young girl gave her before she ran away in tears. Min Jung still never got rid of the feeling at the pit of her stomach that bothered her, the feeling of guilt.

She pecked him softly on the lips desperately. He seemed to return from his daze and looked at her. "W-Where are we headed?"

"Anywhere you want." She rested her head on his shoulder. Her grip was firm, never to let him go.

An ahjumma across from them scowled at the PDA and went into a mumbling lecture about how "youngsters didn't show respect for the responsible adults anymore". Min Jung stared blankly at the ahjumma until the elder was muted in a moody silence.

"Yah! Changjo-ah, the water's cold!" So Young squealed as Changjo playfully threw water on her from the fountain at the water park they passed by.

So Young pretended to trip over a step with a loud "Ow!" as added dramatic effect. Her victim clearly fell for it, running over to her side to see if she was ok. "I-I think my ankle's broken..." Haha, poor er.

"Revenge!" So Young pushed Changjo into the water, who got the bottom half of his jeans wet. He looked at her with a thunderstruck look, but she just stuck out her tongue at him in response. She yelped when she saw him gather water and throw it at her, freezing water making contact and soaking her to the bone. She glared at him, to which he shrugged with a playful grin.

"That was evil, Changjo-ah!"

"I know~"

She grinned devishly and opened her arms wide, welcoming Changjo. "I love you, Changjo-ah! How 'bout a hug?"

"Normally, I would take you up on your offer, but I now an evil plan when I see one. You're not getting me wet." Changjo dashed off with So Young taking after him. She eventually caught up with him when he tripped on the grass and scooped him in an inescapable hug for him to share her cold misery.

"I love you, Changjo-ah!"

"Haha, I love you too." And he truly meant it.

Chunji was going crazy, he knew it. He had just imagined that he saw her running around like a kid, playing at the water park with Changjo. When he told Min Jung about it, she just told him he was imagining things. He sort of believed, but he could have sworn that he saw her, heard her laughter.

Karma was getting back at him good.

 "Isn't he cute, Changjo-ah?" So Young asked as she held up a cute, pure white bunny to Changjo. He inspected the bunny carefully before daring to reach out to pet the innocent furry creature. But just as his fingers touched the white fur, it bit him, hard.

"Ow!" Changjo nursed his red finger with an angered scowl on his lips. "Evil little furball."

"Looks like someone doesn't gt along well with animals." So Young teased, petting the bunny contently.

"I don't think you should get that one..." Changjo stated bluntly, staring down the evil bunny with a menacing glare, to which it gladly returned.

"I wish I could get a pet, but I don't think I can..." So Young hesitantly put the bunny back down in its cage and stared at it longingly. "My parents never let me have any sort of animal in the house, not even a fish, so I'm kinda scared that I won't know how to care for it well." She poked its nose affectionately.

"But you'll never how to care for a pet if you never get one to begin with, right?" He reasoned.

"Yeah, but still..." So Young stood up and made a move to leave the store. "Anyway, let's go do some Christmas shopping! I heard that Ricky wanted some A Pink CDs, so I'll get him that."

Changjo was about to leave the store until he stopped at the counter. "Neh, ahjumma. Save that bunny over there for me. I'll be coming back later to get it." The ahjumma bowed politely at his request in agreement and waved as he left the store.

Changjo stared glumly out of the window, watching the fluffy white clouds drift aimlessly across the blue sky with his head on his desk. The sun shone directly in his eyes, blinding him with its brightness as if a secret message to cheer up. He clenched his fist tightly. How could such a cheerful scene mock itself in front of him when he was going through so much pain? How could it-

"Mr. Choi." A ruler slammed itself onto his desk and startled him out of his thoughts to see his teacher scowling disapprovingly at him. "Would you please read the sentence on the board correctly in English?"

Changjo glanced at the board to what used to make sense to him, but now looked like a bunch of messy gibberish. "I can't."

"Detention after school like usual. Mr. Choi, I suggest you step out of the haze you've gotten yourself into. Your grades and conduct in class are starting to show it." The teacher monotonously advised before heading onto the next poor sleeping victim to bully.

Ricky glanced worriedly at his trouble friend. "You ok, buddy?"

"Perfect." Changjo stared blankly ahead. "Just perfect."

| - | - | -|

"Are you really ok, Changjo-ah?"

"I'm fine." Changjo insisted, though his voice didn't even bother project a convincing tone. He was sweeping the classroom floor as required for detention. But his voice didn't convince the upperclassman that her friend was out of his depression.

"Yeah, that's probably why you've been sweeping the same exact spot for half an hour." She scoffed.

So Young noona. She was Chunji-hyung's childhood friend and currently his girlfriend. Chunji-hyung and the rest of the guys were probably practicing in the dance room. So Young noona had decided to stay with him, rather than watch her boyfriend dance to keep him company.

"You don't have to help me, noona. I can do this by myself." Changjo stated, though made no move to stop So Young from wiping down the desks. 

"Pfft. As if. You'd probably be staying here until midnight if I weren't here." She stopped mid-swipe and stared at him worriedly. "You've been acting out of sorts this past month. You know you can tell me anything right, Changjo?"

"I told you everything's alright!" He shouted, angered at himself, angered at his parents, angered at the world.

"How long do you plan of being so selfish and making everyone worried about you?!" She shouted back at him, though her voice was more sever and calm than angered. He paused at her words and stared at the ground in defeat.

"They broke up."

"Who, Changjo?"

"They divorced."

By now So Young understood and patted on the desk next to her for him to sit. He did so robotically and plopped himself right on the seat. "When I wake up, they're arguing loudly. I stay up late at night sometimes, listening to them yelling at each other how much they despise each other. I hate it." Changjo let it all out, all the anger and frustration washed over him. "I told myself I should have expected the divorce since they were always unhappy near each other, but it still hurt when they told me the news. Even now when they're divorced and gone out of each other's lives, they're still at it, arguing at each other over the phone over who gets me...When will it stop?" Changjo clamped his hands over his ears, as the words of his parents came back to sting him. "I just want to escape..."

"Come to my house." Totally, NOT the answer he was expecting. He turned to her with a confused face. "You heard me right, and don't look at me that way. I didn't mean it that way, pabo~. Whenever I get angry or tired of life, I want an escape from it too. I just go for a walk, go the karaoke bar with some friends, who mostly end up to be you guys and you guys at singing, but anyway..." She patted his back comfortingly, and he tingled a bit from her friendly gesture. "Just call noona ok? I'll call for the rest of the guys to come cheer you up, and we'll help you forget all your troubles until you're ready to deal with them."

"Really noona?" Feelings emerged.

"Of course, Changjo! Your friends got your back!" Feelings more than friends, as ironic to the situation as it was.

"We're done~!" Niel danced into the room joyfully. "And man did we without our main dancer! Dancing boy Changjo, stick out of trouble next time, ok?"

"We came to help our maknae out!" L.Joe grabbed the broom from Changjo's hands. "We're here for you man."

"But you really were tired of CAP ordering you around, huh?" So Young accused knowingly.

Ricky pouted. "Nooo...."

"So that's why you guys suddenly insisted on seeing how Changjo-ah was doing?!' CAP cluelessly asked.

"Well, looks like you guys have things covered here. I won't ruin your cleaning party, so I'll head home-" Just as Chunji was about to cleverly excuse himeslf out of the cleaning situation, So Young leapt off the desk and grabbed him by the ear like a mother would do to her child.

"And where do you think you're going? You're helping out too, jagiya!" So Young pulled him back into the room forcefully.

"Haha, this is what I love about you, honey~" Chunji replied sarcastically.

Changjo witnessed the scene with mixed views. When he found out that Chunji was dating his friend, he felt happy for him, indifferent. But was it now that he felt irritated a bit? Feelings. He would have to squash down those feelings, for hyung's happiness.

For noona's happiness too.

Just as So Young cleared away one of his problems, she started another one.

"Changjo-ah. Changjo-ah!" He returned to reality and away from his memories, to see So Young looking up expectantly at him. "What's wrong with you? I called you for the past five times and you didn't answer."

"Oh, just recalling something." He grinned sheepishly.

"Are you getting a cold from the water park? Should we head home?" So Young asked him worriedly, touching her hand against his forehead. He smiled at her sweet concern (and maybe at the skinship).

"I'm fine~! Anyway, what were you taling about, noona?"

"Have you seen Infinite?" She beamed excitedly, like a giddish fangirl. "I watched their performance for 'Before the Dawn' and it was awesome! I've been an Inspirit ever since!"

"Yeah, they're cool." Changjo agreed.

"And since they released the repackaged album came out, I've been wanting it." She stared at one handsome guy on the album particularly. "Even though I think they're all cool, I have to say my favorite is Hoya, the main dancer triple threat guy? He seems to be my type."

Changjo froze at those words. He desperately wished to eat back his words right now. "O-Oh really?"

"Mmhm! Cuz he's passionate about dancing, he's actually caring when you get to know him, and he's taller than me. Ah~ man, I'm a er for tall guys."

Regular Changjo vs. Triple Threat Idol Hoya. It was obvious who won So Young's heart, it was practically a no brainer to figure that one out.

"And you know what's funny?" She giggled as she clutched the CD in her hand as they walked to the cashier together.

"Hm?" Great, was she gonna add salt to the wound and list all the idols and hot guys who had more potential to win her heart?

"You fit my type."