Hyun Jung’s POV:

“My, what a pleasant surprise.”

“Oh god, why,” I sighed.

“I’m pretty disappointed in you,” Jessica started. “With your looks I never knew you were the kind of person who went after other people’s ex-boyfriends.”

“It’s different because he’s Donghae,” I shrugged. “Quit whining ‘cause you lost someone as precious as him to someone who obviously knows how to treat him right.”

“Let’s choose your ice cream, okay?” Donghae pulled me away by my hand and went to the freezer. Just when we slid the lid open, she slammed her hand down on it.

“Is it so hard to get ice cream?” Donghae groaned. “Leave us alone and get on with life, seriously.”

“I don’t know why you keep bothering us, is there something for you to gain?” I asked frustratedly.

“Oh, Donghae knows what I really want,” I saw her shoot him a knowing look and he quickly looked away.

“What does she want?” I asked him, feeling a little worried already.

“He’ll tell you soon enough, won’t you, Donghae? I’ll be waiting for your call,” she smirked and put on her black mask before stalking off, her heels clicking noisily.

“Donghae, what is she talking about? Call her?” I asked firmly, determined to get an answer from him.

“I’ll tell you when we get home. Just choose and we’ll go,” his face was darker and he didn’t seem to be as cheerful as before we ran into her. Then again, I wasn’t and nobody would if they met someone as awful as her.

“Promise?” he nodded and I quickly chose whatever before paying and carefully heading home. We put the ice cream in the freezer and I followed him to his room.

“What is it? Get straight to the point.”

“She’s been bugging me about cash these days and harassing me on the phone about it,” he tiredly rubbed his temples and sat down on his bed.

“I know she wants your money, but I never knew she was contacting you,” I sat on his armchair. “Don’t give it to her.”

“If I don’t give it, she wouldn’t stop bugging me, and more importantly, she swore she’d put you in harm’s way if I didn’t,” he looked at me with concerned eyes.

“Donghae, what kind of harm can she put me in? She’s really not someone to be afraid of,” I assured.

“But you’ve gotten hurt so many times here, I can’t afford for you to get hurt again. It scares me so much I don’t even want to think about it.”

“She’s not going to do anything to me. If she does, I can handle her. Don’t throw your hard earned money into the sea, okay?”

“But—”

“I don’t want to hear it. You have to wake up early for concert rehearsals tomorrow and you’re going to sleep. Now,” I said firmly, getting out of the chair. “Goodnight oppa.”

“Goodnight,” he opened his arms and gave me a tight hug. “I love you.”

“Love you too, baby,” I gave him a quick peck on the lips before leaving his room. Gosh, why does she have to bug Donghae for cash? She has eight other members living with her to beg from, why Donghae? If he really did give her his hard earned money, someone is /going to get it from me.

—

I woke up to an awfully quiet and empty dorm. They were all out at SM for rehearsals and whatnot, I had to go back to school on a damn Sunday for ballet rehearsals. The concert was barely less than to weeks from now and practice was intense. Rehearsals started at 10am and ended at 5pm, Hannah and I decided to go out for dinner together and probably do some shopping to reward ourselves. We filled our stomachs with heavenly good ramen before heading to the nearest shopping mall.

“You know there’s gonna be a party hosted by Soojung at her brother’s club,” Hannah suggested.

“Oh parties, never once was a big fan of them, much less parties in clubs,” I sighed. “I was thinking of ditching.”

“Man, you have no social life,” Hannah rolled her eyes. “Just go, it’ll be fun. When was the last time you entered a club..”

“I don’t even remember,” I scratched my head.

“Exactly. Now let’s start shopping before the mall closes,” Hannah said excitedly. By the time we left the mall, both of us had a dress, new heels and accessories. She bought a hug-the-body blue floral sleeveless dress that stopped a little above mid-thigh and a pair of white and beige floral heels to match. I on the other hand, stuck to simple tight black dress that stopped a little above mid-thigh and a pair of black laced platforms to go. I guess I indirectly agreed to go with the outfit I just bought so.. Here’s to getting dead drunk two weeks later!

“How are you getting home?” I asked, seeing how it was getting late already.

“Dad offered to pick me up,” she answered. “You want a lift?”

“No, I’m getting a cab back,” I smiled. “See you tomorrow, .”

“Aish, see you,” she hugged me and I left first to get a cab.

—

“Where did you go?” Sungmin asked as I took off my shoes.

“Went shopping after my rehearsal. You guys had practice too, right? Aren’t you tired?”

“I am but I can’t sleep for some reason,” he shrugged. Ryeowook and Eunhyuk were sitting on the couch watching some variety show.

“You want some warm milk? It’ll help you sleep better,” I asked and he just grinned cutely. “I’ll take that as I yes,” I laughed and set the things down in my room before heading to the kitchen to warm the milk. I handed the glass to Sungmin and was about the go shower when the other two started whining about how they didn’t get one so I had to warm another two glasses of milk. By the time I was in bed, it was nearing midnight and I fell into deep sleep in no time.

2 Weeks Later~

“I’ll be coming later tonight,” Kyuhyun said. Unfortunately, I woke up late and now I’m about to arrive late if I don’t hurry up.

“What? No, don’t come. It’ll get chaotic. I may not even be performing,” I shoved the stuff I needed into my Baggu and brushed my hair.

“It won’t!” he whined. “Just do what you have to do and I’ll just watch you from below, okay?”

“Okay, do whatever you want, bye!” I rushed out of the house in my socks and started to put on my sneakers in the lift down. I already called a cab to wait for me, I can only hope I’m not that late.

—

“Dammit! Where were you?!” Hannah scolded as soon as I arrived.

“Sorry, slept in by accident,” I threw my backpack at the pile of other bags before the makeup artist the school hired hurried me to get my makeup done. Once my face was covered in products and my hair was up in a neat bun, I grabbed my costume from the rack and changed into it. When I came out, the teacher in charge was talking to Haesung about something and she seemed to be distressed.

“You okay? What’s with the expression?” I asked anxiously.

“I- I’m fine,” she smiled dryly. I nodded ad gave her a squeeze on the shoulder before running off to help the others with anything they needed. Soon, it was time for the recital to start and those involved in act 1 were already backstage. I sat on the black leather couch in the dressing room and mingled with the other understudies of the important characters. Those from act 1 came back after half an hour and those from act 2 and weren’t involved in act 1 headed out. Soon, it was act 3 and then act 4. All was going well until the door burst open and a cluster of girls came hurrying in and carrying somebody. I shot up and quickly went to check who was injured, turns out it just had to be Haesung.

“I told you not to go up there!” Ms. Lee chastised.

“I just wanted to stand on stage,” Haesung replied, wincing and grabbing her ankle.

“I’m calling the ambulance. Hyun Jung, you’re taking over the lead and Kelly, you’re in charge while I’m gone,” Ms. Lee barked out the orders and took her phone out. The principal was explaining the situation while the rest of were getting ready to head out. Once he received a signal that we were ready to carry on, he left the stage to us. We were at act 5, two more acts and it would be over. I just had to do well in these two. There weren’t any difficulties and nobody made mistakes, or at least I didn’t notice anybody. The whole performance was over and everyone who took part in it gathered on stage to thank and say goodbye to the audience.

“Can we have some of you say a few words before we send the audience off?” the principal scanned the ones in front and waved the mic. Being the temporary one in charged, Kelly took it first. She thanked everyone for coming and briefly gave some minor details about Haesung’s situation. Before I knew it, the mic was in front of my mouth and Kelly gave me an urgent look to take it. I blinked and held the microphone.

“Good evening everyone, I’m Cho Hyun Jung. Since Haesung had an unfortunate accident, I have taken over her place in the final two acts. Although I may not be as good as her, I do hope you enjoyed the performance we put together and forgive us for the minor setback we faced just now. In the meantime, we will all pray for Haesung to be okay. Kamsahabnida,” I handed the mic back to the principal to close the night. We returned back to our dressing rooms and changed out. We couldn’t remove our makeup because we had to clear the place before it closed. On my way to the front entrance, my phone buzzed. I received one during the performance and another just came in.

Oppa will wait at the carpark, come when you finish!

Kyuhyun oppa

Hyun Jung! I’m sorry that you had to go up there on such short notice. The doctor said I’ll be okay after some time. Tell the rest of the girls for me? Thanks :)

Haesung

I changed my route and headed to the carpark instead while typing out a reply to Haesung. I wished a speedy recovery and agreed to tell them when we met up again in school. I scanned the carpark for Kyuhyun’s car but found that they used the van instead.

“Hyunnie!” the door opened before I could do it for myself. I smiled and climed, settling into the seat they saved for me between Kyuhyun and Yesung.

“Did you guys all watch it?” I asked as the car drove off.

“Only Kyuhyun did. We were afraid we’d get recognized. I wanted to watch you,” Sungmin pouted.

“There’s always next time, oppa,” I grinned.

“Is that girl okay? The one that fell,” Kyuhyun asked.

“Yeah, she just texted me saying she’d recover after a while.”

“I see. Oh! Guys, I recorded her when she performed, show it to you later,” Kyuhyun said, earning cheers from the others.

“Not everybody came?” I asked, looking behind and in front.

“Teukie hyung, Ryeowook and Donghae aren’t here. They had something to attend to,” Heechul said.

“Oh well,” I shrugged and yawned. “I’m gonna bathe, eat and sleep my off once I get home.”

“There’s one more thing. We’ll be heading to the different countries for our concerts pretty soon and we’ll hardly be in Korea. If we are,we’d be rehearsing. You might wanna stay with Hannah or get her to stay with you while we’re gone. I wanna make sure someone watches you,” Kyuhyun said.

“I’ll see how it goes. But seriously, I’m an adult already, I can take care of myself.”

“But to us you’ll forever be Kiddie Hyun Jung,” Sungmin reached over and pinched my cheeks from behind.

“Yah!” I slapped his hands and rubbed my cheek. “It hurts.”

End of POV

Donghae’s POV:

“I’m leaving tomorrow night, let’s at least spend today together, come on,” I whined.

“I know, I know. But I’m so lazy,” she rolled around her bed.

“Yah,” I unconsciously pouted.

“Oppa, let’s just lie down together and sleep shall we?” she patted the empty space beside her with her eyes closed.

“I don’t wanna! Let’s get up and go somewhere. Like to the amusement park or something.”

“Amusement park?” she opened her eyes.

“Everland,” I nodded, happy that I finally got her attention.

“Okay let’s go,” she got up and went to change. I left her room with happy “yes!” and went to change too. I was waiting for her outside at the living room.

“Where are you two going?” Kyuhyun crossed his arms when he noticed the both of dressed nicely.

“To Everland!” Hyun Jung beamed.

“Take me with you,” Sungmin pouted and grabbed my arm.

“Sure, you can go if you wanna be the third wheel,” Heechul scoffed and dragged Sungmin away. “Come on, you can spend time with me.”

"Noooooo!" Sungmin made grabbing motions while crying out dramatically.

“Don’t get caught,” Kyuhyun reminded before entering his room. The both of us out on our caps and left the house. It was an hour’s drive out of Seoul. Hyun Jung fell asleep not too long after we hit the road. I woke her up once we got there. While queuing to buy tickets, I was trying to think of plans if we ever got recognized. We bought the tickets and entered the amusement park. It wasn’t as crowded as we thought it’d be, maybe because it was a weekday as well as in the morning. She wanted to go see the animals first before we took the sky-lift to the other side where all the other rides were. The first ride we went to was the hurricane. The queue was short and we managed to ride it with less than twenty other people. We were afraid our hats may fly off during the ride so we quickly got out the beanie and mask from my bag and put it on before the ride started. She seemed to be completely unafraid, excited even. I, on the other hand, was shaking inside and maybe a little on the outside. The ride started off slow and I found myself tightly holding onto her hand.

“Oppa is scared~ Oppa is scared~” she teased as we began to spin faster.

“Stop it,” I muttered and shut my eyes when the ride began to spin at full speed. I could hear her laughing the whole ride while I was closing my eyes and too scared to even make a sound.

“The next ride, if you close your eyes, you’ll pay for the headbands and food, if I close my eyes, I’ll pay. Oppa can decide what you wanna ride,” Hyun Jung smiled and crossed her arms after changing back to our caps.

“No matter what I choose, you’ll still win. Let’s go with the Viking,” I took her hand and pulled her over.

“Oh my god, the protection bar is only at your waist and doesn’t cover your shoulders,” she pointed at the ship that was swinging at its highest. “That’s so freaking unsafe!”

“Oh, I see your weakness,” I smirked.

“Dammit. It’s okay, you’re just as much of a scaredy cat as I am, if not more,” we went to the furthest end of the ship, which also swung the highest out of all the rows of seats on the ship.