“Blue, you and Dongwoon were spotted at the amusement park.”

          She nodded and smiled. “Ne, Dongwoon took me on my first date.”

          The female host beamed and said, “I love maknae relationships! How long have you been interested in Dongwoon? I’m surprised; I was sure there was something going on with Hyunseung.”

          She fidgeted slightly. Nothing was ever going to happen with Hyunseung. When he was around, bad things happened. “Actually, I never really noticed Dongwoon up until the radio show B2ST did a while ago. I had no intentions of going on a date with anyone, actually, but he called and invited me to the amusement park so I decided to give it a try. As for Hyunseung, I was never interested in Hyunseung at all. We are just friends that bonded through an accident and kept having bad luck.”

          Angel uncrossed her legs and shifted in her seat. “When she told us that she was going on a date with Dongwoon, we were surprised because she never mentioned him before.”

          “Will you be going out on another date?”

          Blue’s cheeks flushed again. “I don’t know. We have really busy schedules so planning around it is hard, especially because I will be in a drama soon. I hope so, but things are very uncertain as of now. We do talk a lot more now even though our schedules are hectic so that is nice.”

          “Ya, Misu, you got dye on my shirt!”

          She gaped at him, wet freshly dyed hair clinging to her face and blow-dryer in hand. “Did I really? I’m so sorry! I’ll buy you a new shirt!”

          He smiled, shrugged, and leaned on the counter. “It’s okay. The dye is turning out nicely. Brown hair looks good on you.”

          “Really? Good!”

          “Of course the blue hair made you cute. Now what are you going to do?”

          She aimed the blow-dryer at him and watched him flinch at the warm air. He immediately leapt at her, wrestling the blow-dryer from her hand before he sent them both tumbling onto the floor. She sat, back against the wall as he hovered over her, one hand propped on the floor, the other holding the dryer. They sat like that for a while, with his brown eyes watching her blue eyes, with her hair dripping all over her tee shirt, silent.

          It was the first karaoke night Style X and A. Drenaline had since the girls debuted three months before. Jaehyun looked forward to seeing Blue, to patching things up, and to returning to the way they were before she debuted and attracted unwanted attention of the B2ST creeps. He and Saint sat idly in the back while Haneul, Chinhwa, and Minwoo sang animatedly to “Sorry Sorry” by Super Junior. The only movement he made was leaping forward when A. Drenaline entered, Angel and Hara side by side with Minah trailing behind.

          Where was Blue?

          As if she knew exactly what he was thinking, Minah said, “Dongwoon’s bringing Blue. They were together when we left.” She sat next to Jaehyun and smiled smugly.

          He sighed. “They’ve been seeing a lot of each other, huh?”

          She scoffed and shook her head. “Ani! B2ST is busier than we are, so they hardly ever see each other. This is the first free time to match up in a while. Seeing that she’s dating someone that is not you, I think you should back off, Jaehyun. You’ll only make her mad.”

          “I know my Hyori more than anyone, so I know I won’t.”

          “Yeah well your Hyori has gone through quite the change since we debuted.”

          As if on cue, the door flung open and Blue entered, pulling Dongwoon’s hand behind her. “Sorry we’re late! Junhyung needed the car.”

          Blue’s hair.

          Jaehyun stood. “Ya! Your hair!”

        Everyone turned to look, to gawk, at Blue who was a brunette. She touched it and smiled. “Do you like it? Oh, everyone say hello to Woonie!”

          With his free hand, Dongwoon waved to the group of friends still gawking. Everyone returned it except Chinhwa and Minwoo who were fighting over the microphone and Jaehyun. How does he get off crashing their karaoke night?

          Together the two moved and sat next to Minah. Were their hands glued together?

          Blue glanced at Jaehyun, the smile irremovable from her face. What was wrong with her? “So, do you like it?”

          Before he could answer, Chinhwa yelled, “Noona, come dance with me!”

          She gave one last look at Jaehyun before leaping up and dancing. Dongwoon joined Minwoo and Angel in singing the song that came up, rather badly considering their profession.

          Blue plopped down to Jaehyun, who remained idle the entire night. She was still smiling but exhausted from the nonstop dancing. “So, you never said what you think of my hair.”

          He met her with cold eyes. “I think it ing . Blue was so much better than this.” She sat silently, because it was obvious which “Blue” he was talking about. This had nothing to do with her hair, truly. She could feel tears welling in her eyes, but she would not cry. She could not cry. “Tell me, do you go out with any guy or do you just have a thing for the talentless leftover band? Hyunseung was cut from Big Bang and Dongwoon barely made it. Who’s next? Kikwang? You know he was a failed solo artist. I think you’ll like him. Everyone loves his American dance. You two rejects will get along just fine.”

          With her head lowered, she mumbled, “Jaehyun…”

          “You might as well go back to partying it up, Blue. That’s all you do—go out with every guy that asks and drink until you need to feel him up. You’re not an idol at all. You’re garbage.”

          She stood, wiped a tear, and moved through the crowd, flinging the door open, stepping outside and shutting it behind her. She kept telling herself not to cry. Why shouldn’t she? Her oldest friend thought she was revolting. She paced, wiping tears as they fell and sniffling until she heard the door open and close.

          “Misu?”

          She sniffled and shook her heard. “Yeah?” She tried to sound as calm as possible but failed horribly.

          He was at her side in an instant. “What’s wrong?” She considered saying “Nothing” and leaving it at that, but the moment she turned around, she burst into tears and hugged Dongwoon at his waist. He her new brown hair. “Tell me what happened.”

          The door flung open and Dongwoon came tearing through, Blue gaping in the doorway, watching as Dongwoon grabbed Jaehyun by his shirt and pulled him to his feet. The music stopped. The dancing stopped. Everyone stared.

          “Ya! Do you want me to kill you?” Dongwoon threatened.

          Jaehyun glared. “Get off of me, kid.”

          Dongwoon threw him against the wall. “You insult my hyungs. You disrespect me. And you, how dare you insult the prettiest girl in the room? Are you that selfish, that you have to ruin her happiness? She trusted you to be her friend, but instead you condescend like she’s a common .”

          “Isn’t she?”

          Blue moved forward when Dongwoon kneed Jaehyun in the stomach. “Apologize. You insulted a lady and guys that are far more talented, polite, and humble than you will ever be. You don’t deserve her as a friend. So apologize.”

          Jaehyun met Blue’s eyes as she tried to pry Dongwoon away.

          “Woonie-ah…”

          “Sorry.”

          “If you ever disrespect my hyungs again, if you ever hurt my girlfriend again, I won’t go easy on you.” Dongwoon let go and turned to Blue.

          Without the slightest warning, Jaehyun hit Dongwoon hard in the face. Blue moved to hit him but Haneul and Saint had grabbed him.

          “We’re done,” she snapped, her voice an uneven growl. She grabbed Dongwoon’s hand and led him out of the room.

          “I’m so sorry, Dongwoon-ah,” Blue said, holding an ice pack up to Dongwoon’s cheek. It was barely swollen and slightly bruised.

          He shook his head and sighed. “It only hurts a little.”

          “I told you, you are too sensitive to fight. Leave the fighting to me.”

          He raised his deep eyes to meet hers and stood. He held her hand, the one reaching for his face with an ice pack, and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was warm and soft, and Blue was positive her heart was beating so loud he could hear it. Only then did the height different register—she was 5’3” and he was over 6’. He had to lean down to kiss her and she found herself on the tips of her toes leaning closer.

          Dongwoon’s phone vibrated on the table beside them and they leapt apart. Blue retreated to the bathroom, her face flushed and bright red, and he sighed, reading the text message from Junhyung asking where to get picked up.

          She returned to the living room without the ice pack. “Who was it?”

          “Junhyung asked where I was. He’s coming to get me soon.”

          She plopped next to him on the couch and brought her knees to her chest. “I don’t think we should go on any more dates, Dongwoon.”

          His eyes widened. “If it was the kiss, then I’m sorry, I shouldn’t—”

          “Ani, it’s just that Jaehyun is going to give hard times to any and every guy he can. You were barely punched this time, but what if he gets you alone? I can’t always be there to help you and I hate fighting and—”

          He pulled her face to his and kissed her again. After a long moment, he let go. “Nonsense.”

          “Nonsense?”

          “You like me, and I like you. That is all that matters.”

          She hung her head low. It made sense. “Well can you at least stop doing that?”

          “Doing what?”

          “Kissing me without warning,” she said, feeling her cheeks rush again.

          He smiled, big and wide. “Okay, can I kiss you now?”

          “Ani—”

          The kiss was short. Her face felt like it was on fire. Her hands felt like they were on fire. What is this ?

          With a grin wider than anything she ever saw, Dongwoon said, “You said to stop kissing you without warning. That was a warning. And besides, I like the look of surprise on your face… And when you turn red.”