A/N:  I'm just gonna continue til Chapter 5/6. Then, I'll be focusing on other fics. Hope you like this! I'm really trying to figure out the perfect flow for the storyline now.. Comment please!! ^_^

Chapter 4

          He was still by my side.. But I was always so rude to him.. I didn’t want him to be by my side.. Didn’t want to hear his voice..

          [Taemin’s POV]

          Seems like Sulli is late again, today. I wonder what happened? She’s usually here, early in the morning, waiting for me. I clasped onto the box of chocolates, beautifully wrapped with a wrapping paper that had big hearts and teddy bears. I myself did it, and I spent a whole night wrapping the gift. Ah! I can’t wait until she gets here! It’ll be perfect! I can finally say it to her. At least after she said it to me first. But does she really meant what she said? Or not?

          Just because he didn’t want me to hurt my knees, my triple threat butler placed a chair, specially just for me, here, waiting. Looked at my watch, it’s almost five minutes until the gate will be closing. Where is her?!

          [Sulli’s POV]

          I doubt, either to come to school wearing sunglasses or not. I could’ve borrowed Umma’s, she herself offered me to wear it, since I had to sleep with my tears during the night. We actually ran away from our house, but Umma said it’s just for a little while, because we will be returning back after 3 days. And I’ve actually decided to stay with Umma, rather than that that Appa will be married to. I don’t want to go with him, even if he is my own Appa. Umma said, she’s going to find a job,  and after we get plenty of money, we can buy a house, then Appa will never search for me, ever again. We will be happy.

          I decided not to wear any sunglasses today, I thought it would be bothering Umma if I took her mostly beloved sunglasses to school, especially if one of the prefects happened to take it away from me. Who knows? Maybe it’s one of those accessories that you can’t wear at school. I tried to ignore people staring at me, since I was totally brutal today. I finally reached school, and I didn’t even realize how late I was. I saw Taemin oppa sleeping in front of the closed gate.

          “Oppa.. Wake up..” I slowly shaked his body. Out of a sudden, he blinked his eyes open, and stared into my eyes, deeply. Somehow, I got this kind of feeling inside, that made my heart go faster by the second.

          “Sulli! What are you doing here?” he got up, and hid something behind his back. I wonder who’s he going to give it to..

          “I’m going to school, oppa. You can’t be brainless enough to not know that. I thought you were a smarty,” I said, as I left him to go to the front gate. Surprisingly, there weren’t any prefects nor guards guarding the gate. It was just the closing white gate in front of me.

          “Sulli? Is something wrong?” Taemin oppa touched my shoulder from the back. I turned around and said,

          “No, there is absolutely nothing wrong!  My life has been absolutely PERFECT! I’m not NORMAL like other kids, my parents often fight, and..” Stop, Sulli. Stop. You need to stop. You can’t tell him. It’s terribly wrong. He can’t know, or else he’ll be mean to you, and he wouldn’t want to be friends or have anything to do with you no more. He is stinking rich, and why would he want to be friends with a poor, daughter of divorced parents, like you?

          “And?”

          “And nothing. Nothing. Just.. Leave me alone, Oppa.” I pushed him to the side, and started climbing the gates. Once I reached to the other side, I waved him goodbye.

          “Sulli.. Open the gate, please?” I shook my head.

          “If you’re going to avoid me, at least open the gates so I can actually enter class.”

          “Fine, oppa. Fine.”

          I pushed the white gate aside, and it wasn’t even locked. Then suddenly, Taemin oppa was just right beside me, his breathing, I could feel it. We were only 1 inch away from where our chins would be touched. It was so close, and my face was burning with heat. Noticing this, Taemin oppa stepped backwards, but not too much.

          “Sulli, you’ve been crying. Care to tell me what’s wrong, now?” he said, putting both of his hands onto both of my shoulders with a concerned face.

          “Yes, and no.” I took a deep breath, trying hard not to cry again, and said to him..

          “Yes, that I’ve been crying. I can’t hide that fact, since I’m not even wearing sunglasses. But if I did, people would just notice me more. No, I’m not even caring once to tell me what’s wrong. Besides, if I tell you, you will never ever be likely to be friends with me ever again. And you and I, are so different from each other.”

          “Just, tell me, okay? I’m sure I will stay, being your friend this time and then, had been the best time of my life. Now tell me. I promise, I won’t not be friends with you,” he said to me. I gave him the annoyed look, that I possess, and slowly, I managed to tell him the truth.

          “Look, when I got back from home yesterday, my parents had already filed for divorce. I’m supposed to go back home and go live with my father and his new brand spoiled ugly bit*hy wife, but I ran away with Umma, staying in a hotel for just three days. After that, if Appa looked again for me, we are going to have to move.”

          He definitely looked stunned. Almost as if he couldn’t believe what was happening. I gave him a smirk, and left him, standing still like a statue over there. I continued to walk into the school building, where the hallways were empty, and soon heading towards my class.

*****

          “I’m sorry teacher. Something happened, I can’t come early today.” I said, as I bowed down to my maths teacher, who wanted to scold me, for being late in first period.

          “Fine, you’re excused. Go back to your seat, and open your maths book.”She instructed me, and I did as I was told.

          The other girls, who sat around me, looked at me with a surprised face, and began to talk between themselves, refusing to listen to what the teacher was actually saying. I tried to focus to the subject the teacher was teaching, but too bad. I just can’t. With all the ruckus going on, I felt like I’m gonna cry again.

          “She’s soo weird. What happened to her eyes, anyway?”

          “I heard her parents got divorced from my cousin, who lived a few blocks away from her house.”

          “That stinky girl, even imagined to be friends with Taemin oppa! And now she’s late, and only because she has a cute face, teacher let her off the hook! I remember the last time I was late, teacher made me ran around the field for 50 times! Can you believe that?!”

          “Sheesh. She should’ve just stayed home and never come back again, only bringing misery to other people. Hmph,” another girl said.

          I felt somewhat teary, but forced myself to stop. I’m not gonna appear as weak as they thought I would be. I’m a strong girl, Umma knows that, Appa knows that, Taemin oppa knows that. But I don’t feel like that anymore, I don’t know why. How I wish I brought along Umma’s ear plugs.. So that I won’t hear any horrible comments from these horrid people.

          “She should really stay away from Taemin oppa. This will only makes oppa’s reputation bad. I mean, a rich, cute, hot guy like Taemin oppa, befriending a worthless, poor, zero cuteness, loser like Jinri, is like a total flop. I know those are waay back, but these are just true. I hope Taemin oppa won’t get bashed by the public.. Doesn’t matter anyway, I’ll be there to protect him!” the girl nearby shrieked suddenly, attracting attention from other girls, who were also busily talking.

          “Girls, boys. Please pay attention. This is going to come up in your upcoming exam. You don’t want to fail, do you?” the teacher asked, sternly.

          Automatically, all of them went back to their proper positions. Well, except for me. I kept thinking, about what that shrieking girl had just said. What if he does get bullied? What if he does get bashed by others? What if nobody wants to be friends with him? And it’ll all be because of me. HE would blame me, and we would.. never be friends ever again. Yet he’s the only friend I have. Everybody in this world doesn’t have a care for me, except three people, Taemin oppa, Umma and Appa.

          That settled it. I’m going to avoid Taemin oppa, no matter what. I have to forget him, forget that we were ever friends, just for him. That should be good for the both of us. He can be at peace, and let me take it all. It’s all my problem anyway.

*****

          I saw him, standing by at the front white gate by the guards, probably still waiting for me. He took a glance at his watch, then looked around again to search for someone, most likely to be me. Without a second to miss, he quickly spotted where I was standing, smiled, and waved at me. I turned my back away from him, just to avoid not seeing him anymore. He came nearer, and nearer.

          “Sulli! Hi!” he greeted. You can do this, Jinri. You can, you can. Just blurt it out.

          “Oppa. I don’t think we can be friends anymore.”

          “Huh? Why?”

          “Well, you know my situation now.. And I don’t want you to know anymore. It’s already quite embarrassing to be next to me, I know. Everyone already knew that my parents are now divorced. Goodbye, Taemin oppa. I hope you can forget me.”

          I didn’t even turn back, neither did I face him, I just went by and knocked his shoulder with my shoulder a bit, and later ran away from him. Tears were bursting from my eyes, and I didn’t know how it became like that. I scurried away, with my bag, and hid behind a mailbox, at least far away from the school, where I thought he couldn’t find me. I sobbed, I let out my tears there, and didn’t even think for one bit, that I was going to stop. I let it all out, and then, there was a pat on my shoulder.

          “Go away!” I shouted loudly, without even realizing who it was, behind my back.

          “But.. You’re crying..”

          “I said, go away!” I turned, and shouted. It was a stranger, fortunately. A girl, who looked my age, that had flawless skin, pretty and silky black hair, with a little bit of curls at the end. Her sharp razor tooth appeared as soon as she flashed a smile, together with her beautiful small eyes, she looked very pretty, as she was pale white, which we Koreans consider beautiful and pretty.

          “I’m sorry.. But I can’t leave you like this..” she crouched down, and now, she was the same level as me. “Do you have a problem you might want to share?” she asked, softly.

          “Why should I? You’re a stranger! I don’t even know you!”

          “Hush.. You don’t need to be like this. If you acclaimed me as a stranger, then how would you like to be friends?” she held out her hand.

          “I..”

          “It’s okay. Just grab it. My name’s Jung Soo Jung, people call me Krystal Jung, that’s my kind of like, other name. I used to live in the States, and Krystal is what they call me.” I hesitated, on whether to grab the hand or not, and finally decided to move my hand a bit forward, just almost grabbing it.

          “SOO JUNG! Let’s go home!”

          “Aw, man.. That’s my sister. She’d be furious if I’m late. Goodbye, see you again! We’re friends, remember!” she ran, still waving goodbye at me, as I stared at her with a blank face.

          That was weird. I didn’t know she was that friendly, didn’t her mother told her to never talk to strangers? Doesn’t matter anyway, I’m never going to meet her again. It’s just a onetime thing. I sat back, flashing back the memories, the lovely yet painful ones. Every and each of them. Then again, somebody patted me again on the back. I turned around, expecting it to be Soo Jung aka Krystal.

          “Krys.. Oh. It’s just you. Go away, Taemin oppa!” I turned my back again.

          “Sulli-ah.. You know it’s kind of rude to turn your back when somebody wants to talk to you, you know that?” he ruffled my hair. “And it’s also not good to break your promise, you know?” he said again, with a smile. A smile that I almost fell for.

          “When did I ever made a promise to you?” I sulked.

          “You were saying that we are going to have practice at my house today. And haven’t you heard? The callbacks are like.. Tomorrow. And you need to remember, we have to pass the audition, or else, our dreams to become trainees will be failed. You need to do this, okay?”

          He grabbed my hand, pulling me up, turning me back towards him. He suddenly nodded his head, perhaps wanting me to nod along, and later, brought me to his luxurious limousine. He sat me down, kind of like strapped me together with the seatbelt, and we were set to go.

          “Oppa! Please!”

          “No, Sulli. No.”

          “But..”

          “I don’t care anyways. I like being friends with you, and if that’s what people can’t stand, then people can just go away. I won’t, okay?” a smile formed on his known cute face.

*****

          Two days later..

          CALLBACKS ARE HERE!!

          I pushed away all of my troubles, beginning to focus to only one goal in my life, to become a musician, singer, dancer that’s talented and pleased the hearts of many. I want to prove to people, that I can do this. This is my last stage, and if I pass this, I’ll get to officially be an SM Trainee. I’d leave my life, my troubles away from me..

          Appa finally stopped looking, he was such a quitter anyway. He threw his custody rights on the couch of our old house, Umma found it and kept it. We still didn’t move from the hotel though, mainly because Umma can still afford it. Umma, don’t worry. I will pass this audition, and become a successful singer.. I’ll give you lots of money, so you can spend it on yourself, and spoil yourself.. I’ll succeed, Umma..

          I walked towards the building, entered, gave my official signed callback notification, and went in, queuing for my next turn. I took a seat, by the windows. Outside, it was raining. Luckily, I got here just in time the rain was going to start. I opened my old bag, looking for my written dance moves. I didn’t have any videos that was recorded, just for me to revise, so I depended on the paper, and also my drawings.

          “Where is it?! I can’t find it!!”

          “Looking for this?” a paper was held out to me. Together with that, an iPod was there too.

          “Thanks, but this iPod, isn’t mine.” Without even bothering to look up, I only took the paper.

          “I’ll give it to you then. Watch the video. I already put in our recorded practice inside. It’ll be useful.” The tone was very similar to Taemin oppa’s. I looked up, and sure, there he was, smiling like an angel.

          “Thanks. Good bye.” I stuck the iPod’s earphones into my earholes, turned away from him, and studied the paper. Gosh, this paper is confusing.

          “You know I already finished auditioning. Don’t want me to help you?”

          “No thanks.”

          I got up, and started to practice by myself, ignoring Taemin oppa, who was already sitting on the opposite seat of mine. I practiced hard, but somehow, there was something wrong with the moves that I made. It’s kind of like correct, but was very messed up. “Aissh. This is soo troubling!”

          “It’s like this.” A hand touched my arms, and moved it to the correct position, exactly as the dance video I was watching.

          “If you needed help, you could’ve told me, Sulli. I’m glad to help. Didn’t I tell you, that if you ever needed help ask ME?”

          “Choi Jinri!”

          “Got no time, oppa. Toodles!” I lifted off, without even turning back at him, after I grabbed both my bags and the paper.

          Go Jinri!

*****

          I stared into the paper, it’s still unbe-bloody-lievable. I AM AN SM TRAINEE!! Finally! My hard works are going to be appreciated.. It’s the best day of my life!

          “Hye! Don’t you remember me?”