-- 

"Hurt me?" 

Kwang Min is horrified, and terribly confused. Skye's explanation, though expected, is still shocking. It makes sense for Jin Ae to be the one behind this, but Jin Ae threatening Skye? And Skye actually believed her? It just doesn't make sense to him. 

"You, Young Min, Geum Min, Yoo Min, most of your family," she tells him, sounding exhausted. "What choice did I have?"

"How could she hurt us?" he asks, bewildered. 

Jin Ae, hurt them? He could scoff at the absurdity of the threat, but Skye seems to believe it's serious. And he trusts her judgement - if she's worried about the threat, there must be some weight to Jin Ae's words. But that just begs the question: how does high-and-mighty Jin Ae think she can hurt them?

Skye, her face still in her hands, mumbles something unintelligible. 

"Sorry, what?"

She lifts her face, but focuses her gaze on the ground, which is covered in fiery autumn leaves. "She'll ruin all of your careers as idols."

"But -"

Skye plows on over him. "She'll tell the world about Yoo Min and Jeong Min's relationship, which she somehow knows about. That'll hurt him as well. And she'll claim Min Woo and Geum Min are together, and they're close enough to seem like it, too. She says she'll tell SM about Yoona and Young Min, also, which will get them both into trouble. Who knows how she even knows about all this. And you..." she pauses, looking pained.

"Me?"

"She'll tell everyone that you're a player, playing on her feelings, but that you actually have a secret girlfriend, who she just found out about. That'll be her reason for telling everyone about your family."

Kwang Min remains silent as the impact of her words seeps in.

"She'll play herself as a heartbroken girl," she spits out in disgust. "She'll claim to be devastated after she finds out that her supposed boyfriend has been supposedly two-timing her. And who knows what that'll do to your future."

So Jin Ae does have a brain, after all. But of all the things to use her brain for...

"Why doesn't she want you around us?"

"She's an idiot. She's jealous of how close I am to you guys. Or rather, how close you guys are to me. She doesn't understand why I, a person who's been around all of five weeks, is closer to you all than she, someone who's been around way longer than I have." Skye makes a noise of frustration.

Kwang Min frowns. "Has she really never heard of being nice to people? If she weren't such a hag, we'd all be really good friends, I bet."

The girl nods sadly. "But you see, that's why I haven't been spending time with you all."

"Geummie was hurt by what you said to her earlier."

"I know," she admits, miserably. "It hurt me to hurt her like that, but I had no choice. My best friends are stubborn, and neither of them would quit pestering me if I didn't do something drastic."

He looks at his feet, fuming silently at Jin Ae for coming between them. "That's just sad."

"I know."

"But your danjjaks are smart, too, you know. Geummie knew something was up, and she was telling me about it. That's why I'm here."

Alarmed, Skye grabs his arm. "You promised not to tell anybody!"

Calmly, he replies, "I know. I'm not going to tell anyone. I was just saying, that's all."

She relaxes, burying her face back in her hands. "What am I to do?"

"We'll figure something out."

"We?"

Kwang Min nods. "You and I. We'll find a way around Jin Ae."

"I don't think it'll be that easy," she says hesitantly. "But thank you for wanting to help."

A blood-red leaf falls on her hair right then, and it looks amusing. He brushes it off. 

"Why don't we get back to your bakery? That ahjumma owes me a free donut..."

Skye stands up, giving him a small smile. "She'll probably give you something I made. She's convinced we're madly in love!"

"Wait, Skye," Kwang Min halts halfway on the path to the bakery, suddenly struck by a question. "Why did you care about Jin Ae's threat?"

She looks confused. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you care if she ruined our careers?"

If possible, she looks even more muddled. "Because... you are all my friends? And it'll not only destroy your dreams, it'll ruin your relationships as well!"

"So, for that reason, you decided to deprive yourself of our friendship, and survive in this unfamiliar country with no friends?"

She considers him silently. "You guys would be happy, and I could always make new friends."

"Skye."

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

Her eyebrows draw together. "Kwang Min, you're confusing me even more now!"

"Thank you for being a good friend," he says, and before he can think about it, he throws his arms around her and gives her a tight, firm hug.

From her position by the window of the bakery, the ahjumma claps her hands together with a wide, victorious smile.

-- Geum Min

Jin Ae's in the room with me. Her incessant chatter is extremely frustrating - more so than usual. I don't even know what she's talking about. Her boyfriend, maybe, or my brothers, or someone else. It could be anyone. I'm not even bothering to pay attention to her. She doesn't deserve my attention - especially not after how she tried to rile me up by flirting so openly with my Min Woo.

Wait a second.

He's not my Min Woo.

What am I thinking?!

Groaning, I flop over onto my stomach on my twin's bed. As I bury my face in her pillow, I try to distract myself from my traitorous thoughts. Jeong Min's latest theory comes into my mind.

Could it be true, that identical twins are the same person? I mean, it could be possible, since we did split from the same cell. And we have been arguing forever about who is the real twin. Since one of us split off from the main cell, one of us has to be a clone, right? But we can't ever agree on who's the clone. Yoo Min insists its her, since she's older and all (by a few minutes, come on.) I, on the other hand, think it's me, because she always thinks a step behind me. Like, I would do an action, and she would follow, and it looks to other people like we're doing it at the same time, only I can tell I'm doing it faster. So since she follows me, I think she's the clone!

For obvious reasons, we have never come to a proper conclusion, not once in all our fifteen years, five-and-a-half months spent alive. 

And then the next question: whether we are the same person. It could make sense. Jeong Min says that when we grow older and get married and have kids, the kids would have two mothers, because Yoo Min and I are the same person. So apparently we're interchangeable, and our kids would have two mothers. It doesn't make much sense to me, but it gets me thinking. Identical twins are identical, and even our fingerprints are the same! Well, to popular knowledge, we're not supposed to have the same fingerprints, but it's true, all the same, and the thumbprints on our passports are proof of it. 

We really could be the same person. It's mind-bending! 

But then, why is it that the older we grow, the more different we look? The younger we are, the more identical we appear, but as we age, that image drops away and differences between us become more obvious. Besides, our personalities are worlds apart. 

Maybe we're the same, but different.

This is too confusing!

I smother myself with the pillow and holler into the silence, thinking vaguely that Jeong Min would be proud of me for thinking with logic like his. Then I shoot up out of bed. Silence. I hear silence!

The witch has left the room! It's time to celebrate!

Grinning, I do a little victory dance in my spot on my twin's bed. Thank goodness she's out with her boyfriend, or she'd kill me for messing her sheets. 

Just then, my peace is ruined as someone barrels into the room. Min Woo is on the bed and cowering behind me before I even register that he's entered the room. I'm still smarting over what happened earlier. Pissed off, I turn to glare at him. 

"No, don't move, please," he begs, gripping my shoulders in an effort to try and keep me in place. "That witch is coming after me."

I feel a smile stretch across my face on hearing him call Jin Ae a "witch". Then it clicks that she's looking for him. Probably to flirt, as usual. And my unreasonable feeling of anger returns anew. I still don't understand why I'm so furious, but I blame the pair of them equally for it - Jin Ae for flirting, and Min Woo for pretending he doesn't care about it.

Jin Ae's footsteps can be heard coming up the stairs, and Min Woo freezes behind me as they echo down the corridor outside. But, thankfully, she walks past the room, not even so much as glancing inside. I hear her step into Youngkwang's room, and her squeal as she sees my brother - Kwang Min is still out. I can bet that she'll be occupied trying to give Young Min a hug (while he darts around trying to avoid her) for quite a while. 

"What's upsetting you?" Min Woo asks, straightening his body and arranging himself next to me. "You look angry."

I just glare silently at him.

He frowns. "Is this my fault, somehow?"

I keep glaring.

"Gosh, if looks could kill," he mutters randomly in English. 

Frustrated, I want to ask him what he meant, but I don't want to change the subject. I continue fuming at him in silence.

Min Woo gives up. "What did I do?"

As if on cue, Jin Ae squeals again from the next room. My mood darkens further, if possible.

"Why did you flirt with her before?"

He looks like he expected anything but this. "I, flirt with that hag? What are you on about?"

"I saw you two outside the ice cream shop! You were linking arms with her!"

Angry, he's about to retaliate, when something in my expressions stops him short. "Wait, Jo Geum Min, are you, by any chance, jealous?"

I feel like hitting him. I mean, it's not that he's wrong... in fact, I think he's right. I probably am jealous that Jin Ae was flirting with him. My best friend. I don't want anyone to take him away. Because he's my best friend. And once he gets a girlfriend, he can't be only my best friend anymore. Suddenly, the puzzle pieces fall into place, and I finally understand why it is that I'm jealous. 

But I wish Min Woo didn't know me so well. It's annoying sometimes, when he knows what I'm thinking just by looking at my face. Like how he just realised that I'm jealous by taking a look at my expression. Idiot.

Irritated, I turn myself resolutely away from him, crossing my arms protectively over my chest. He laughs behind me, and the sound grates on my ears. How can he find my jealousy funny?! I twist my body so that I'm back to glaring at him, but he seems to find my annoyed gaze even more hilarious. Out of intense frustration, I stand up and stomp over to the door.

He grabs my arm though, and yanks me back to the bed before I've marched more than two steps away. Insistently, he makes me look into his gleaming eyes.

"I am not having a crush on Jin Ae, and I would never want to have a crush on her, arasseo?" he assures me. gazing steadily at me.

"She knows that sticking herself to you annoys me," I say tiredly.

He grins. "Then don't show her that you're bothered. She'll peel herself off and go away."

I shake my head. "You know she doesn't work that way. She'll try harder and harder to get my attention by flirting with you more. You have to stop her yourself."

"Whatever. I'm not half-bothered about her, anyway. I'm hungry."

Min Woo gets to his feet, then offers an outstretched hand to me. I let myself smile as I take it.

"You know, I really dread the day when you'll get a girlfriend and forsake our friendship for her love..." I mutter to him.

Surprisingly, he doesn't say anything, but his grip on my hand tightens. When I look up at him, he's staring at me, and I catch a glimpse of something that looks oddly like pain in his eyes. But I can't be sure of what I saw.

a/n: Omg I think I have more commenters this time, you guys are awesome!! :D Hope you like this!!