-- Geum Min

I visited Skye every day after school for the next week. Due to her injury, she wasn't able to come to school, so I made it my duty to take her the homework of the day. I would take notes for her in class and help her with her homework whenever she couldn't follow what we were doing (which was almost all the time). In the mornings we would text back and forth, since she was bored in hospital and I was dejected in class. Her leg healed at a quick pace, according to her doctor, and she was looking forward to when she could finally get it out of the cast.

Meanwhile, Yoo Min and her new boyfriend were busy having fun. Their relationship was getting stronger and stronger, and she always had a neverending stream of news about Jeong Min. It was full of cheesiness, and that made me gag. I swear, they are the world's most cheesy couple. I don't know if it's possible for them to survive without being so toothachingly sweet to each other.

Of course, I'm happy that Jeong Min's so good for my sister, it's just that... well I wish she would talk about something other than her steady relationship every few centuries.

And on the other hand, Young Min has been having lunch with Yoona. At first they met up a few rare times on the weekends, but now I think they've even started getting together during the weekdays, whenever both of them have spare time. He's shy to talk to anyone about it, but I can tell he's pleased that she's taking notice of him. Unfortunately, I don't feel the same way. I'm afraid for him - I mean, Yoona is older than him, and I have a bad feeling that she doesn't care for him the same way he does for her. He seems to be becoming more infatuated with her by the minute, but on her side it seems to be nothing more than friendship. She just thinks that he's cute.

I've tried talking to him about that, but he refuses to listen to me. Kwang Min tried to get through to him and failed as well. As time goes by, I get more and more worried about my brother, but this time I think there's nothing we can do. Young Min is going to have to help himself, or get hurt. At least he has us there for him if Yoona does break his heart.

Min Woo has been annoying me, lately. After that last incident at the hospital on the day of the sweet party, he hasn't said or done anything else to confirm that he has romantic feelings for me. Our relationship seems to have gone back to exactly the way it was before, and it's driving me up the wall.

I mean, I know I should be glad that things are back to normal, but for some reason, I can't help but feel frustrated. You don't just get a girl worked up about your feelings for her one day and just pretend everything's normal the next day. That's just playing with her feelings, and it's mean. 

"Geum Min," he said one day, while I was busy watching a drama on television. "What's wrong with you lately?"

I gave him a look. "What's wrong with me? There's nothing wrong with me!"

He moved to shut off the TV, before turning to me. "You know -"

"Hey! I was watching that!" I exclaimed, glaring at him and reaching for the remote.

Immediately, he moved away and held it at arm's length, way out of my reach. I sprang towards him, stretching out for the remote.

"Give it back!"

"You seem to be colder lately," he told me in response.

"Of course I'm colder, it's almost winter," I scathingly replied.

He rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. What have I done this time?"

Giving up on my remote, I sighed and threw my hands up. Min Woo just considered me with a serious gaze as I paced around the room, looking anywhere but at him.

"I'm waiting," he sang, crossing his arms.

Finally, I stopped and met his eyes. "Did I imagine what happened that day?"

"What day?"

"That day? You know, in the hospital?"

He just looked confused.

"The day when we had that sweet party?"

"Yeah -" he said, drawing out the word. "What about it?"

"Did you or did you not think that we -" I paused, uncomfortable.

"Did I think that we what?" he prodded, looking even more lost.

I turned away from him and walked out the door. "You know what, forget it. I imagined the whole thing."

And I left him standing there, just like that. I probably will never know what happens next in that drama.

He hasn't talked to me since that incident. Whenever we see each other, I just pretend that he isn't there, and he does the same to me. Yoo Min has noticed, of course, and she can't understand why we're being like that. I haven't told Skye about it yet, because she'll just come up with the same old thing - that Min Woo likes me and that somehow our situation just proves that he has strong feelings for me. I'm still skeptical that he has feelings for me at all.

Skye was discharged from hospital exactly a week after the sweet party. She went home in a wheelchair, and her parents gave her a special dinner. They invited my family to be there. It was a lot of fun, and we even got my friend a small cake. She was so happy to see us all and so touched by what we had done. Afterwards she gave us all big hugs and thank yous, and promised that when she was back on her feet, she'd do something amazing for us in return.

Since then, she's been recovering slowly. Every alternate day, she goes back to the clinic to get a check up and to do some physiotherapy to get her back to normal. After a couple of weeks, her doctor pronounced her well enough to walk with the aid of crutches. Skye was overjoyed, and she spent the whole day hopping queerly around at my house. Of course, the day after that she was groaning from exertion, and her parents and doctor had a lot to say to her about that.

I always find excuses to drag Kwang Min with me whenever I go to visit Skye. He comes along, but when we get there he just sits around awkwardly while Yoo Min and I chatter away with her. I know he's a shy and awkward person when it comes to the person he likes, but something's different here. Kwang Min seems almost troubled or intimidated by my friend, and I can't make head or tail of it. He keeps sending her furtive looks, as if determined to tell her something, but she avoids his gaze, all the time. She ignores him the way I do Min Woo. 

When I think backwards, I realise that they both first started acting that way the day of the sweet party. It seems that day was unfortunate for more than just me and Min Woo. But I remember that she never told me what was wrong, even though I asked a couple of times. She kept blowing me off, and after that whenever I approached her about it, she never understood what I was talking about.

I started thinking that she was hiding something from me.

A week passed, and soon enough, I get the opportunity to go visit her, alone.

"Skye?"

"Mm-hmm?" she hums, as she puts the finishing touches on her nail polish.

Taking a deep breath, I decide to just go straight to the point. "What happened between you and Kwang Min?"

She raises her eyes to me, and for one instant I imagine I see a flash of panic in her, but it fades so quickly that I figure my eyes were just playing tricks on me. 

"Nothing happened between us," she tells me, with a straight face. "We never talk that much."

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Didn't you like him?"

Two spots of red appear on her cheeks. "I still do, but you're not supposed to have known that."

"You make it so obvious, you know."

"As long as he doesn't know, it's fine."

"What do you mean?"

"There's no way he can like a girl like me," she says bitterly, stabbing the brush back into the polish, and screwing it tightly.

"Oh dear," I murmur.

Moving closer to her, I slide my arm around her shoulders. "You know, you shouldn't feel that way. You're my best friend, and you should never feel that you're not good enough for anyone! Because you're my friend, and that makes you as awesome as I am."

"Listen, Geummie -"

"Wait, I haven't told you the best bit yet!" I protest, cutting her off. "The best part is, Kwang Min likes you too. So you shouldn't have to be like that."

Skye keeps her eyes glued on her nails for a good while. But when she finally looks back up at me, her eyes shine. 

"You really think he likes me?"

I laugh at her. "I know that he does!"

Squealing, she throws her arms around me and gives me the biggest hug she has ever given me.

On the way home, I think about our conversation a bit more. I never expected that Skye was being cold to Kwang Min because she was afraid of him. But once she explained her feelings to me, it seemed like the most obvious thing in the world. I feel bad for doubting her.

And once again, I feel happy to know that she'd tell me anything. It's nice to know that you're trusted by someone so much.

-- Kwang Min

I haven't told anyone about my visits to Skye. Since she's been discharged from hospital, I visited her twice at home. I just want to talk to her about what I heard between her and Jin Ae, but I can never summon up the courage to tell her that I eavesdropped. Skye's friendship with Jin Ae was in the past, and maybe I should just leave it there. Besides, Skye's a nice girl, and she's my sisters' best friend - I can't cause a commotion over this and risk upsetting them.

The first time I called on her, I pretended I forgot to give her something.

"Hey, Skye," I said to her as I stepped into the house. Her mother was at the supermarket, and her father was working, so she was alone at home.

"Hi," she replied, smiling, but looking a little shocked at my being by myself.

"I just forgot to give you something the other day, so I decided to drop by and give it to you. My sisters are at school for now," I hastily explained.

"Why don't you sit down?" she suggested, motioning toward the sofa beside her. I took a seat, being careful to avoid jolting her bad leg.

"What did you forget to bring last time?" asked Skye.

My eyes widened as I patted my empty pockets. "Er -  I think I forgot to bring what I forgot to bring last time."

She burst out laughing at that, and soon enough, I followed suit. "I can't believe you just said that!"

I shrugged.

"Well, you just have to come back and visit me another day with whatever it is that you forgot."

"Oh," I muttered, quickly trying to think of something to say. "Well, it was just a bar of chocolate, I thought you might want some."

She smiled at me then. "That's very sweet of you, thank you so much!"

Staring at her, I tried to compare her with the girl whom I'd heard in the hospital, the one with the deadly voice. But I couldn't. Skye's too sweet to ever be that mean... I could never imagine her having that side to her - could I have imagined everything that happened in the hospital between Jin Ae and her? Was it a bad dream?

No, it just couldn't be... I heard it for myself.

The second time I visited her wasn't that eventful, I just dropped off a bar of chocolate that I bought after school. She invited me over after that to just talk, saying that she would appreciate the company.

So here I am now - in front of her house. In front of her front door, in fact. I'm trying to get the courage to knock. 

Because today, I plan to ask her about Jin Ae. Of course, I'll do it subtly - I plan to start by complaining about Jin Ae, and then see how she reacts to that. Based on that, I'll continue the conversation. Biting my lip, I tentatively knock on the door.

I hear a few thumps, and shortly the door swings open to reveal Skye, smiling sweetly up at me. She asks me to come in, and I follow her to the living room as she hobbles around with the aid of her crutches. Once again, she's on her own at home.

"Where did you mother go?" I ask her.

"Oh, she went to visit one of her friends. I told her that you're coming over, so she decided it was okay to leave me here."

I help her into a seat by the TV, and after she's comfortable I plop down next to her. "So how've you been lately?"

"Loving my newfound freedom," she tells me. "What about you? Busy with your coming Christmas single?"

"Yeah, it's coming out tomorrow, actually. Later today I'll have to go straight back to the studios to rehearse the dance again. It has to be perfect!"

"Tomorrow? Oh, wow, good luck with that!" she replies.

After that, there's a lull in the conversation for a few moments - and it soon grows awkward.

"So -"

"So -"

We both start speaking at the same time, and stop at the same time too. I chuckle awkwardly. 

"You first," I say.

She shakes her head. "I didn't really have anything to say."

"Well, I was just going to - uhm - complain about - er - Jin Ae."

Skye giggles. "Why so random?"

"We didn't have anything else to say, and she was nagging at me before, so..."

"What did she do this time?" 

Studying Skye carefully, I start talking. "Jin Ae was being her usual self - a pest - and bothering all of us. As you know, she never does anything to help us out around the house. And this morning, HyunSun were there with her in the living room. She was watching something on TV, and suddenly Hyun Min fell over and hit his head. He started bawling, but she kept watching TV."

"Oh no," Skye gasps, a horrified expression on her face.

"I was in the kitchen and heard him, so I ran over to the living room and looked for him. As soon as I entered the room, however, that brat Jin Ae started complaining to me about him! 'He's so noisy, will you please shut him up?' she said. I can't believe her!"

She looks shocked and disgusted - all the expressions I would expect from anyone to whom I tell this story. Nothing seems out of the ordinary.

"I never expected that Jin Ae could be this bad," Skye murmurs then. "I mean, she was bad before, but not like this!"

My eyes widen. "Before? What do you mean?"

Like a deer caught in headlights, Skye freezes. It's only for a split second, but I see her reaction, and I know what it means. Skye doesn't want us to know that she used to know Jin Ae.

Now I wonder why she doesn't want us to know.

"Well," she stutters, "Jin Ae didn't seem to be that kind of person when I met her at your house!"

"But we all told you that she's a horrible person," I say, looking straight into her eyes.

She stares at me for a minute, then sighs. "Kwang Min," she mutters softly, her voice sounding weaker than I've ever heard before. "You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, okay?"

"What is it?"

"Promise me first that you won't tell anyone!" she exclaims, holding up her pinky to me.

Breathing in, I lift my pinky to hers and cross it. "I promise. Now what is it?"

"I used to be friends with Jin Ae."

I act surprised. "Are you serious?! Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

She bites her lip, looking pained. "I didn't want you to know! I thought you guys would all hate me for being friends with her!"

"We would never think that, Skye."

"I guess you wouldn't, but I was scared. You guys are the best friends I've ever had in a long time, and I don't want to lose you guys!"

I awkwardly place an arm around her shoulders. "You haven't lost us."

She gazes at me beseechingly. "But please don't tell anyone about this!"

"I already promised you that I wouldn't," I remind her.

"Thank you so much, Kwang Min!" she tells me, giving me a small smile.

I return the smile, feeling honestly relieved. Skye's not a bad person, she's just a scared one.

A/n: I'm sorry about any errors, I haven't proofread this yet!