---

 

Jinah didn’t know how she ended up in such a predicament, but as she continued to walk down the cold street with the view of Hanbyul and Jongin holding hands in front of her and the ever so odd Hanbin silently walking next to her, she accepted the fact that this was actually happening.

She wondered if the boy would bring up the topic of her pole-dancing and silently pleaded with God that she’d be a saint for the rest of her life if this Kim Hanbin never mentioned it ever again.

Jongin turned to send Jinah a glance from behind which she instantly noticed; the girl could only mouth him an inaudible apology, since originally, this get-together was supposed to be just them. However, things did not go as planned, and Jinah didn’t know if she minded at all.

Apparently, Hanbyul had developed an instant liking towards Jongin after finding out that he danced ballet, just like her.

To Hanbyul, Jongin was the epitome of Prince Charming.

Jinah thought it was cute, but Hanbin could not have found it more annoying. He was a dancer as well, probably a better one, and his little sister never acted this way towards him; so yeah, it bothered him that she liked this overly-tan guy so much.

It was safe to conclude that Kim Hanbin was definitely jealous.  

“Sorry you got dragged into this,” Jinah mumbled as the two walked side by side.

“Nah, it’s her night,” Hanbin replied, brushing it off. “Might as well appeal to her wishes,” he murmured, stuffing his hands deep into his pockets. “Besides, it’s the least I can do after….”

He failed to complete his sentence, his gaze falling onto the skipping four year old girl in front of him.

“After you made her cry?” Jinah attempted to be casual about what she had said.

Hanbin blinked at her in confusion, causing Jinah to awkwardly laugh and turn away. Maybe she had been too casual.

“Yeah, she told me what happened. Don’t be too hard on yourself,” she timidly advised.

She didn’t want to accidentally step over the line by saying what she had in mind next, but she had the feeling the boy needed reassurance of some sort. Who knows? She could've been wrong, but that didn't stop her.

“You came in the end, and I think that’s all that really mattered to Hanbyul, having her big brother there in the audience.”

“Yeah,” he quietly muttered. “I even bought her flowers, but she was too busy with you and with your friend to even notice.”

Hanbin then lifted up the bouquet of white tulips causing Jinah to gasp on instinct. “Oh, I love tulips! They’re my favorite.”

The boy blinked before slowly extending his arm. “Do you want ‘em?”

Jinah didn’t even have the time to react.

“Here.”

Immediately she refused. “A-Ah, no, I can’t take it. You just said it was for Hanbyul.”

Hanbin merely shrugged. “She’s too preoccupied with the company of Kim Jongin or whatever, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. Besides, you did pretty well up there yourself. Didn't know you had it in you, ballerina.”

A light blush crept onto her cheeks as Jinah hesitantly accepted the bouquet, catching the sweet aroma of her all-time favorite flowers. “Uhm, thanks,” she responded timidly, “Hanbyul is an angel. It makes me wish I had a little sibling.”

“Only child?” questioned Hanbin.

Jinah nodded with a sigh in which the latter chuckled in response. “Why don’t you ask your parents to get busy?”

The boy then noticed how Jinah’s smile faltered immediately at his words, causing him to wonder if he had hit a touchy subject. He watched her silently tighten her grip onto the flowers he had given her as her gaze dropped to the ground, the steps she took coming to a steady halt.

“I wish… My parents are divorced, and I haven’t seen them in years… so getting a little sister or a little brother is most likely never going to happen.” She ended the sentence with a light shrug as if it was nothing to get to upset over, but Hanbin seemed to get the feel that the girl was anything but okay.

“Well, you can always adopt, right?” he joked.

Jinah turned to give a pointed look, resulting into him sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sorry, that was my terrible attempt at a joke. Bad, huh?”

“Pretty much,” the girl replied with a laugh. “And I thought I was bad at jokes.”

“Hey, you laughed, so it was technically a successful joke… terrible, but nonetheless successful,” he pointed out with a friendly grin.

Jinah nodded in acknowledgement. “Fine, I’ll give you that. It was still pretty terrible though.”

"Hey!"

 

Hours unknowingly past, and eventually Hanbin received a phone call from his mother to bring his little sister home. It was definitely past her bedtime, and Hanbin had taken to account of how many times Hanbyul had yawned throughout the course of the meal. It took a while to separate his sister from Jongin, but with a small promise to visit Navi sometime in the future from the said boy, the smitten little girl happily agreed to go home.

“Bye unnie! Bye prince charming oppa!” Hanbyul called out, skipping towards the exit.

Hanbin quickly got up from his seat and wiped his hands with a napkin. “I should probably go stop her before she runs onto the street. Thanks for letting Byul join you guys.”

Hanbin then turned to glance at Jongin who seemed slightly bothered by his presence. It hadn’t taken long for him to realize that the poor fellow had an interest in the ballerina. He was painfully obvious about it, and as much as Hanbin didn’t like Jongin because of how his sister practically praised the ground he walked on like it was gold, he felt for the guy.

Either Jinah was oblivious or Kim Jongin had a one-sided love.

Whatever it was, Hanbin knew that circumstance all too well and sympathized with Jongin. “Later."

Jongin’s grunt of a response made Hanbin want to laugh. He legit wanted to tell him that he shouldn’t be too worried (Hanbin did not pose as a threat to him whatsoever).

Jinah, in return, waved him a goody as he left.

“That sure was… something,” Jongin commented the moment the siblings were out of sight, sounding worn out.

Jinah laughed, because she knew that the poor guy probably had a long night trying to put up with Hanbyul. “Thanks for taking care of her, Jongin. I’m sorry tonight didn’t go exactly as you planned.”

The latter shook his head, his eyes crinkling into crescents. “No, it’s fine. She was a sweetheart. Besides,” he took a quick glance at his phone, “the night’s still young, kind of. How about I walk you home and we’ll call it a day? I’m sure you’re tired.”

“That sounds nice,” Jinah confessed, grabbing her bouquet of tulips before anything else.

It was almost eleven o’clock, and the two walked into the midst of the night, passing the time with small talk about trivial things. However, when the subject landed on her performance earlier from the recital, the girl dodged all questions on what the true meaning behind her dance was. “Interpret it however you will” was what she had told Jongin who wasn’t the least bit satisfied with that answer, but he pushed the matter no further.

When they had finally reached her house, the two stopped right in front of the doorstep. Not really knowing what to do next, Jinah patted the side of Jongin’s arm in appreciation. “Thank you for coming out to the show tonight… and for walking me home,” she added.

“Thank you for getting that burger with me,” he said in return.

Smiling, Jinah gave a small wave. “See you at school on Monday.”

“Goodnight Jinah,” he replied, a sweet tenderness lingering in his voice.

The two stood still in silence, sort of just staring at each other, for awhile until Jongin finally took the initiative and made the first move.

Alarmed and confused, Jinah watched him lean forward, tilt his head, and close his eyes, immediately concluding that Jongin—her friend (EMPHASIS ON FRIEND) — was going to do the unthinkable. Right before his lips could come in contact with hers, she quickly shielded herself with the tulips and turned her head so that his lips met with her cheek.

“Goodnight Jongin,” she whispered before escaping through the front door and into her house.

Jinah didn’t mean to shut the door so loudly, but it couldn’t be helped. Jongin had just kissed her on the cheek, and she didn’t know what to do or say. Her emotions were in a huge jumbled mixture, and none of them were particularly good.

Soft footsteps headed down the driveway and out the front yard.

As Jinah pressed herself against the wall, she sighed in defeat. This was inevitable, wasn’t it?

 

 

“He did what?!”

Jinah wasn’t sure if Bada’s webcam had abruptly stopped working or if time had stopped, but as of this moment, her friend’s face was frozen on her laptop screen, her jaw dropping as low as physically possible.

“Jongin kissed me,” she repeated.

The minute Jinah had woken up that morning she called up her two best friends over Skype to discuss about what went down last night, because frankly, this was an emergency, a freaking S.O.S.

Gaeul had to wriggle her finger into her ears just to assure herself that she had heard correctly. Still, she had her doubts.  “Are you sure that’s what happened?”

Jinah furrowed her brow. “Uh, yes I’m sure! Why wouldn’t I be? I was there! And I’m freaking out right now, guys, because we have school tomorrow and I’m going to have to see him and oh god, what if he thinks there’s something between us when there’s really not and I don’t want to be the bad guy who has to break it to him, because he’s a really nice guy and I just—”

“JINAH, BREATHE!” Bada and Gaeul shouted in unison.

Taking in a deep breath, Jinah let out a cry. “Guys, I don’t know what to do. Help me!”

“Okay, calm down, Ji, we’re your friends and we’ll help you through this,” assured Bada.

“Wait hold on guys, Sehun’s calling me,” Gaeul interrupted, disappearing from the vicinity of the webcam to tend to her lover.

Rolling her eyes, Bada cursed aloud. “God damn it, Gaeul. Tell that , clingy boyfriend of yours that he already got some last night and to hold the hell up. Jinah needs you more than he needs you right now!”

Jinah snorted, because an impatient Bada was always amusing even in the most complicated of situations. The two friends waited until Gaeul had hung up the phone before saying anything about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named a.k.a Kim Jongin (Jongin and Sehun were best friends after all).

After she returned to her seat, Gaeul awkwardly smiled. “Sorry about that. Alright, back to what we were saying, so he kissed you… and...?”

“And…? And what?”

“I don’t know! You’re supposed to tell me, smart one.”

“How was it is what she means,” Bada clarified.

How was it?

Jinah didn’t even have to think about it twice, because she already knew the answer. It was kind of humorous in a twisted way, because Jinah legit thought it would definitely be easier to tell them how the kiss was not. She sighed in light misery. “I don’t know. It… didn’t feel like anything, really.” 

“Really?” Bada exclaimed in disbelief. “No fireworks, sparks, tingles, somersaults, or flip-flops? At all?”

The other shook her head. “Nope. None of that. Zip.”

“Wow, and this is Kim Jongin we’re talking about here. I mean I’m not into him or whatever, but the dude’s attractive, and I’m not afraid to admit it. Were there any butterflies?”

Gaeul had to scoff. “Seriously, Bada? If Jinah felt no fireworks, no sparks, flip-flops or somersaults, then what makes you think there were any butterflies?”

“Point taken, but still, it doesn’t hurt to ask. So, Jinah, were there—hey, are those flowers behind you?” Bada then asked, leaning forward to the webcam to get a better look.

Jinah turned to see the bouquet of tulips sitting on top of her drawer. Immediately Hanbin came to mind and she unknowingly smiled. “Yeah. Aren’t they pretty?”

“Yeah, but I’m prettier,” she heard Bada snickered. “Did Jongin give them to you?”

“He probably did,” chimed Gaeul, the corners of her lips curving into a smirk.

“No, I actually got this from one of my student’s older brother. You remember Hanbyul, the little girl I brought to practice that one day? It was her brother.” Jinah responded, getting up to go fetch them. She mentally took a note to go get a vase or two to put her abundance of bouquets in.

“Was he cute?” she heard Bada ask.

“Cho Bada, always asking the important questions in life.” Gaeul commented, giving her a thumbs-up of approval in which she received a mischievous wink from the latter.

Shrugging, Jinah touched the petals. “Eh, I don’t know. He was alright, I guess.”

And that was the second time in her life that Im Jinah had lied to her friends. Hell would freeze over before Im Jinah would actually tell them that she, the girl they knew as too much in love with her dance career, thought someone was cute.

The Skype call eventually came to an end when the three were forced to separate ways and go on about their day. Gaeul and Bada had advised that Jinah should just simply tell Jongin that she didn’t feel the same way (let him down easy, they said), but she felt that things were a lot easier said than done.

With the entire house to herself, Jinah decided to get a bite to eat. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day. She entered the kitchen, contemplating perhaps the biggest decision in her life, at that particular moment, of course. Honey Nut Cheerio’s or Lucky Charm’s? The girl truly didn’t know.

Going with the latter, since she believed she needed luck of any kind, Jinah poured herself some lightly sugar-coated cereal with artificially colored marshmallows. She wanted to punch something hard but not too hard when she opened up the fridge only to realize there was no milk. Jinah could have easily stopped there and moved on to any other available house-hold food item, but not today. 

Today, Im Jinah really wanted to eat cereal for breakfast and she was going to have it. Perhaps it was a craving… which would better explain why Jinah was willing to go out of her way to get a small carton of the delicious, nutritious liquid.

There was a small convenience store around the corner that sold what Jinah was looking for, and with a slip on of her thick jacket, the girl was out the door and down the snow-covered brick road.

 

 

Goo Junhoe was having a crappy morning.

His evil step-mother who must have been plucked out of some cliché fairy tale had accused him of disrespecting her, and it was obvious what side his lousy excuse of a father took. All he did was ignored her presence when she walked by; he had simply learned that from his biological mother. She would always tell him that “if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.”

Of course, he didn’t truly stick to that statement like it was his religion, sometimes the boy couldn’t help but to snap back a few snarky remarks to the vile woman with too much Botox. However, Junhoe found it easier to ignore his step-mother and avoid contact at all times.

So here he was, at a random convenience store at ten thirty in the morning on a Saturday, sitting at one of the few tables outside, way tired out of his mind.

He would have gone to Yunhyung’s or even Donghyuk’s, but he figured it was just a little too early to visit, and the last thing Junhoe wanted to be in this world was a burden to his friends. With the things going on at home and finding out what was happening to Lifestyle Studio, Junhoe concluded that the world was against him having nice things.

“Excuse me?”

By the sound of the voice, the person was undoubtedly a female. Junhoe grunted for her to go away.

“Are you okay, mister?”

Junhoe grunted again, this time mumbling for the stranger to leave him alone. He could hear the eventual footsteps walking away and inwardly sighed in relief. Finally.

It was when he heard the familiar sound of the ring from the door and more footsteps heading towards his way that he grumbled in dissatisfaction. Can’t a guy get some alone time?

“I… uh… bought you some bread and milk. Oh, and a hot pack.”

Another grumble. Junhoe wanted to know why all girls thought they could simply buy their way into getting attention from others, namely guys like himself. He was about to give this girl a piece of his annoyed mind, but when he looked up, she was already gone. There was only a small package of bread, a carton of milk, and fresh hot pack placed right next to him. Grabbing the carton, he then plucked the yellow sticky note right off. 

Times are tough, but take this and stay warm this winter. Smile!

– A girl who just completed her one random act of kindness of the day

The boy scoffed in mere disgust, crumpling the note. As he got up to toss the items into the trashcan, he took a second glance at the food and sighed, realizing he hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. ‘Just this once’, Junhoe thought.

 

 

As she walked home, Jinah wondered if the homeless man she had seen at the convenience store would appreciate her kind gesture.

Nevertheless, she was happy to be of help.

Once she reached her driveway, she realized that her aunt was home early, like extremely early, which was odd. Shouldn’t she be at the studio? “Aunt Sorah?” Jinah called out, taking off her shoes and entering the kitchen. She found Sorah staring off into the distance before momentarily pressing her palms against her face in distress. “You’re home early. What’s the special occasion?” When she received no reply, Jinah sensed that something was off, because Sorah just looked… devastated. “What’s wrong?” she then asked, furrowing her brows.

“Jinah… It’s the studio,” her aunt whispered. “It’s being foreclosed.”

“What?” Jinah’s entire world stopped.

Studio?

Foreclosed?

“But that doesn’t make sense. The payments aren’t due until the end of this month.” She stated incredulously, snapping back into reality. “We’re not even behind in our payments, Sorah. The bank can’t do this to us.” 

Sorah let out a grieving sigh. “Actually..."

"What? What is it?"

"I've been meaning to tell you, Jinah, but we are behind in our payments. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you earlier. The renovations Soar went under last summer cost us more than I thought, and to pay off those expenses, I sort of.. stalled in our payments. I just got the letter of notice this morning."

"You what?" Jinah couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I'm so sorry, darling. I just thought I could get this all cleared up without you having to find out. We... we have six months to settle everything, inform our clients and eventually close down our business.”

Jinah half-expected her aunt to burst out in laughter and tell her that this was all a joke, a terrible, unsuccessful joke, but she didn’t. And Jinah scoffed.. 

At that moment, Sorah’s phone loudly rang. Sorah glanced at the caller I.D before looking back at her niece. “I have to take this, Jinah. Did you want to tell the others… or should I?”

Oh god, the others! What were the others going to think?

“This can’t be happening,” the eighteen years old mumbled in disbelief. Tears began to brim her eyes, and before her aunt could get another word out of her, Jinah had sprinted out the door without a moment’s notice, blinking away the hot tears threatening to run down her face. 

 

---