“Love you too, bye.”Namjoo tapped the red rectangle reading ‘Close’ on her phone, disconnecting her talk. She flopped down on the vinyl couch in the dorm, a breathless smile on her face. Everything was alright.

 

  “Do you have a secret boyfriend?” Chorong commented, walking out of the bathroom in a pink bunny slippers and a dark purple toothbrush inside of , her right hand holding onto it. Her clothes were plain a white shirt and yellow pajama pants decorated with various colored cartoon owls. “Every time you get off the phone nowadays, you’re smiling. Are you like Myungsoo in the Man in Love music video, you know, where he loves his phone?” She escaped for a second back into the bathroom to spit out the toothpaste, and Namjoo could hear the gurgling and swishing of the water afterward from her seat in the living room. 

 

  When Chorong returned, her face washed and awake, Namjoo replied with a light chuckle. “No, I’m not in love with my phone. I don’t have a secret boyfriend either.” She stood up again from the comfiness of the couch and strolled over to Chorong, “You should get dressed, we have a photo shoot to leave for in a half hour.” Suddenly a vibration from her right hand shook, and she immediately flashed down, beaming as soon as she saw the sender. 

 

  “There you go again, smiling at your phone. Are you sure you’re not dating somebody? I haven’t seen you this cheerful in a long while,” the leader retorted, but Namjoo was too intent on texting back a response to listen. The oldest member rolled her eyes and headed toward her bedroom, agreeing to that she should get out of her pajamas, Bomi running out as she opened the door. Chorong jumped back in surprise and held her left hand at her heart, “Bomi! You scared me!” 

 

 Bomi laughed and hopped onto the arm of the couch, skillfully keeping her balance on the not-too-thick side. “I think you’re dating someone too,” she paused to give a devious smile of hers. “Is he not in our company? I’ve seen you hanging out with those two Teen Top members lately, what’s their names again? C.A.P and Joe or something like that.” 

 

   The comment caught Namjoo’s attention again, and she shook her head in response. “It’s C.A.P and L.Joe though, and we’re just friends, honestly. If I was seeing someone I would’ve told you guys already.” 

 

  “Not unless it’s competition,” another voice entered the conversation. It was Naeun, the image of the group. “Bomi, who’s promoting now?” She had come out of their room, already dressed to go out later. 

 

  “Hm...who is? BTOB? Is 100% too? B1A4? C-Clown might be too...” Bomi raised her eyebrows at 100%’s name, her eyes mischievous. “I heard you mention something about that one 100% member too, what was his name?” 

 

   Namjoo scoffed at the guesses, “His name was Rokhyun and we’re just friends too. Honestly, are you reporters in disguise? Are you that curious who I’m texting and calling?” 

 

   The other two in the room nodded enthusiastically, a spark in Naeun’s eyes. Namjoo sighed and held her phone out to the them, “It’s Yookyung!” She shook her head after yelling and put her cell phone down again, “Aish, why does it matter so much?” She murmured angrily under her breath, reading the newest text by the ex-member. 

 

  Bomi and Naeun’s faces changed expressions to worried and Naeun strolled over closer to her roommate, setting a hand on her shoulder. “We didn’t mean to make you mad, we were just curious.” 

 

  “I was just fooling around. I know if you were dating somebody you would’ve told us, sorry.” Bomi said apologetically, jumping off her seat. “Please don’t be mad.” 

   Namjoo raised her head and turned to look Naeun in the eyes, “It’s fine, don’t worry. I was just annoyed, nothing big.” Changing the discussion, she looked over at Hayoung and Eunji’s room, “Where are those two? They didn’t sleep in did they?” 

 

  “Nope! Sorry I came in late, I had..technical difficulties.” Eunji’s voice didn’t surprise them as she entered through the front door in a large brown coat, carrying a noisy plastic bag. 

 

    “There you are!” Bomi exclaimed cheerfully, running over and embracing the younger member. “You’re later than normal, did you work hard?” She was talking about filming, they had to do an early morning scene for the drama Eunji was starring in at the time. 

 

   “Of course!” Eunji cut the hug short to look at Namjoo, “Yah! What have your unnies told you about texting too much? It’s bad for your eyes.” She interjected as she went into the kitchen and dropped the bag on the marble counter. 

 

   “I’m fine,” Namjoo called back, all the while texting back. Yookyung had the best idea, for them to meet. They were planning to meet when APink had finished the photo shoot for the day, at around 4 pm or so, at a cafe in Seoul. Sure Seoul was farther than Namjoo had wanted, but whatever was best for Yookyung. She would go to America just to see her for a couple hours. The only thing was that the other members didn’t know of the planned encounter, yet.

 

   “All ready!” Chorong declared as she strut out of her room, checking the vicinity, a worried look came into her eyes. “Where’s the maknae?” 

 

  “Super sorry guys, I was showering!” Hayoung’s voice was heard from her bedroom, and it wasn’t long before she came into view, ready in casual clothes. “Hey Eunji! How was shooting?” 

 

  Finally, Namjoo thought it was the best time to tell them. “Everybody, can I ask something?” 

 

  “Sure,” the five other members replied in almost perfect unison, tones curious. 

 

  “Can I go to meet Yookyung in a cafe after the shoot?” 

 

  “You’re going to meet with Yookyung unnie? Can we come too?” Hayoung queried, smiling affably. 

 

  Chorong’s expression was serious, “I’m not sure if you can, don’t we have something afterward? I heard about a variety show or something.” 

 

  “Yeah, Bomi, Naeun, and I are going on a variety show afterward. But she’s fine to go, right?” Eunji added, and for once Namjoo ignored the vibration in her hand, this was more important. 

 

  “I think so,” Chorong replied, her mind still lost in thought. Thank you. 

 

---

 

Namjoo anxiously tapped her left foot as the photo shoot passed by, waiting as patiently as she could for it to end. The managers and her had discussed in the car ride there that she could leave separately from the others so she could get there earlier and have a private chat with Yookyung beforehand. She behaved her best during the photo shoot, not trying to get on their bad sides so that they would change their minds. Finally, when it was nearing 3:30, she heard the whistle that it had finished. 

 

  “Thank you for your hard work!” Namjoo called out as she stomach bowed to the producers and photographers behind it all, quickly heading toward the dressing room to change back into her normal clothes. She had grabbed her clothes off the vanity when she felt a hand gently rest on her shoulder. Twisting her head back to see who it was, she remarked, “What is it? Oh! Hi manager unnie, what’s up?” 

 

   The face of her manager frowned and Namjoo cursed under her breath, “I can’t go can I?” 

 

  “You can, but you have to leave a lot earlier than expected. You only have a half-hour now, your next schedule got moved to an earlier time because the other guest couldn’t go at that time and it takes an half-hour to get there.” Ahyoung, her manager, replied, her voice with a disappointing tone to it. 

 

   “Really? That’s fine, I guess. Can you text her for me to tell her that?” Namjoo threw her phone backwards as she escaped into one of the dressing room’s stalls, and Ahyoung fortunately caught it, but just barely. 

 

   Ahyoung, as a responsible manager, had to know that the girls weren’t saying anything bad anywhere, even without cameras. So, she decided to read Namjoo and Yookyung’s conversation. That wasn’t a good decision. 

 

   “What are you doing with my phone?” Namjoo screamed while she got out of the stall, slamming open the wooden door. She violently grabbed the phone out of Ahyoung’s hands, slapping the air with her other hand. “Aish...what to do with you sneaky people?” 

 

   “I’m sorry Namjoo, but I had to make sure you weren’t saying anything mean or-” 

 

 Namjoo held out her right hand like a stop sign, “No excuses. I know you were going through it. I’ll forgive you this time, but if you do it another time, I swear...” 

  “I’m really sorry, honestly.” 

 

 

The car ride to the cafe was extremely awkward, either of the two saying a word to each other. They were about five minutes away when Ahyoung spoke up, “We don’t have to be awkward. You said you forgave me, shouldn’t we be alright?” 

 

  “Just because I forgave you doesn’t batter the fact you looked through a teenager’s phone,” Namjoo remarked, her voice sounding arrogant. “You know how much a phone is to anybody, it’s an important part of their life.” 

 

  “I know, I understand. It was a mistake,” Ahyoung replied disappointingly as they stopped abruptly in front of a red light. “Do you want me to come in with you or just to walk around for half hour?” 

 

  “I’d rather you not join us until the end, she hasn’t seen you in awhile either.” Namjoo added, keeping her poker face on the outside but on the inside smiling the biggest she ever had. She truly couldn’t wait until she saw one of her best friends again, and, even though she didn’t want to admit it, possibly her favorite of them. 

 

 “Okay, that’s fine.” Ahyoung responded, and suddenly a ringtone sounded into the vehicle. Ahyoung only glanced at her phone on the passenger’s seat, keeping her eyes mainly on the rode. “Can you get that for me? It could be someone important.” 

 

  “Sure,” Namjoo stretched to the northeast to just reach the vibrating black cell phone, picking up with her right hand’s fingers and grasping her palm around it. She shrugged at who was calling, it was a producer, probably nothing too important. 

 

 “Hello?” 

 

  “Ahyoung-ah! Can you get to the Seoul Hospital anytime soon?” The other voice on the phone was quick, raspy, and breathless. Namjoo wondered what exactly had happened to make him get this way. 

 

  “Um, let me check.” Namjoo reluctantly replied and held the phone to her chest, blocking out for other’s ears. “Unnie, can we get to the Seoul Hospital soon?”

  “I think so, it’s only about ten minutes from here. Why?” Ahyoung said in response, confused. 

 

  Namjoo raised the phone back up to her ear, “Yeah, I guess. Why?” A sound in the background started making her fret, sirens. She let out a breath, trying to reassure herself that was nothing wrong. There’s sirens in the background all the time, they are in a car anyway.

 

  “Stop what you’re doing and get there now, they’ll probably arrive a couple minutes before you. Hurry! We don’t have much time!” Jonghwan, as was the producer’s name, continued, his voice raising with more words. “They’re here! I’m sorry, I’ll explain everything later. Just get to the hospital as soon as you can!” Cut off. 

 

  The bland dial tone was all that she heard left, and a worried look came upon her face. Namjoo’s next words were no longer annoyed nor joyful, they were scared, “Get to the Seoul Hospital now!” 

 

  “Why?” 

 

  “I don’t know, but I think something happened to the other members.” Namjoo screamed, the worst thoughts she could think of coming to mind. They could be hurt, they could severely injured, they could be , they could be kidnapped, they could be..., she hated herself for even thinking of what was next. Dead. “Hurry!” 

  “I am! I am! Don’t worry!” Wrong. All Namjoo could do was worry. 

 

---

 

Yookyung tapped her fingers on the counter to the tune of Rainbow’s song ‘To Me’, humming the catchy melody to herself as she waited. She couldn’t wait until Namjoo could get there, they would talk and bring up new things in their life, joke around, just like old times. Old times..ah how I miss them. A tight smile erupted on her face as the door opened, expecting it to be her friend. 

 

  The smile road down her face as it was just a college student, nobody important to her. She shrugged and tapped a button on her phone on the table, 4:15 pm. It wasn’t too late, as she knew, schedules can be delayed and she might’ve had something she forgotten at the shoot. 

 

  Yookyung grabbed her phone and flipped it open by the side, going to her messages to reread what she had conversed with Namjoo earlier. She scrolled up to the top and took a quick look at the amount stored there, 415 messages stored since May 12th, 2013. She laughed at how she knew that her father would surely yell at her for such capacity of messages, especially to one person. That doesn’t matter to me, talking to her is all that matters. Not thinking about more on the subject, she began reading through the texts. 

 

  She spent the next hour and a half reading them, not realizing that time had gone by so fast. She smiled and giggled when reasonably funny, and frowned and sighed when reading the messages about how much they missed each other. Grinning at the very last one, ‘Be there soon! For only a half hour tho :(‘, she closed the phone and flicked a look at the time while it was still lit up. 5:45 pm. 

 

  “What? It’s not that time yet! It was literally just 4 pm, I swear.” Yookyung argued with the inanimate object, slapping the table with her left fist. She took a sip of her now room temperature drink, a bit disgusted by the taste. “How could she not be here? She didn’t text me anything, she didn’t call me, did she get kidnapped?” 

 

  New thoughts appeared in her mind, bad thoughts to be exact. Thoughts that she was too busy and didn’t care, that she got hurt, that she forgot, that she didn’t miss her anymore and decided not to come. Yookyung shook her head, No, no, those would never happen. She probably just had a schedule and they took her phone, that’s all. She looked up, her eyes larger, “Right?” 

 

   She slid to the left out of the booth, stretching out her legs and arms in various poses to get them to feel normal. Have I really been sitting there the whole time? My dad must be worried sick! 

 

  A phone ring. Yookyung extended her arm and sighed at who it was, her father. It was as if he had read her mind. “Hello?” 

 

  “Hey, Yookyung, where are you? You said you’d be home an hour ago, did something happen to Namjoo?” Her dad started through the cell phone, a hint of mild irritation in his voice. “We’re getting ready for dinner, you should start heading home if she’s gone by now.” 

 

  He was wrong. Namjoo had never come. “Okay Dad, I was just thinking of leaving anyway. I’d been sitting here for too long.” She tried her best to keep her voice strong and not affected or shaken. 

 

  “Thanks honey,” he paused to respond to her latter words, “for too long? Why did you just sit there after she left? Too much to think about afterward? Or did she-no! Don’t do it that way! Sorry Yookyung, your brother got himself into some trouble again and I have to fix it. See you at home!” He disconnected the phone and she put it into her pocket, grabbing her drink. 

 

 She strolled slowly to the door of the cafe, dragging every other foot as she walked. Taking a sip from her no longer cold beverage, she sighed and spoke, “Dad, can I tell you the truth?” 

 

 

Fortunately her house was only thirty minutes away by foot, and with Yookyung’s casual jog, she managed to enter in roughly twenty. She slid off her shoes in the front of the living room and tucked them in their corner, walking over to the brown leather couch and flopping down on the it. 

 

  “Noona! How was the meet with Namjoo?” Her brother asked only about thirty seconds after she had come home, but she was tired. “Oh!” He continued, pointing behind him at the dining room with his thumb over his shoulder, “Your dinner is ready at the table, you better get it before it gets cold again!” 

 

  She nodded and got up slowly from her seat, trekking over to the dining room and finding the place set with her food. Her parents were still eating, as she expected, while it obviously seemed that her brother was already finished with his. 

 

  “Welcome Yookyung, how was Namjoo? Did the other members come to say hello too?” Her mother brightly grinned up a greeting to her only daughter, taking a sip from a glass of water on the table. 

 

  “Yeah, we’re all curious! Can you explain it all for us?” Her dad added into the discussion, and she sighed while starting to eat her food. 

 

   “Um, she, um...” she swallowed and thought of easier to words to describe the situation. She didn’t dare want to lie to her parents, but she didn’t want to disappoint them. Not again. Eventually she gained the courage to speak up, “S-she didn’t come, busy with something.” 

 

  “She stood you up?” Her father replied, obvious tension in his voice. Oh no, she thought, did I do something wrong? 

 

  “Not exactly-” she started to explain, but was interrupted by her father again.

 

 “She stood you up? She stood you up!” He repeated angrily, standing up in aggression that scared Yookyung slightly, her dad usually wasn’t like this. He was a cool headed kind of man, not this. Namjoo, please tell me why you couldn’t come as soon as possible, I don’t want more outbursts like this anytime soon. As if a response to her thoughts, the phone rings.

 

---

 

“What happened? Are they alright?” Namjoo demanded as soon as they entered the waiting room for her members at the hospital, yes, her members, her family. 

  “It’s fine Namjoo, it was only a slight automobile collision, nothing too big. The only things the doctors are predicting is that Chorong broke her leg and Naeun broke her arm, the rest only have multiple small injuries.” Their main manager attempted to reassure Namjoo, resting a hand on her shoulder. “You can visit them when everything is checked, don’t worry. I know it’s hard, but you can get through this.” 

 

  Don’t worry? Why is everybody saying that? Do they not understand that’s what I’ve been doing the whole time? “Really? I hope they aren’t actually broken. Can I be the first visitor for them?” She tried to distract herself from other things, but all that came on her mind was images of her friends in hospital beds wrapped in gauze with a lifting leg. 

 

  “You can go in with their parents, sure. Remember to listen to the doctor’s though,” he replied and lead her to the seats in the dull blue room. “You should sit down to wait, it could take any matter of time to go over the tests and get results.” 

 

  She obeyed and flopped down on the semi-comfortable seat, settling her bottom on the red cotton. “Any matter of time? What am I supposed to do while waiting?” 

 

  “I could explain more about what happened, if you would like,” he responded normally, sitting down in the seat to the right of her. She nodded enthusiastically and he let out a small chuckle, though she detected nothing humorous about the situation. “Junghee and I were in the car with the five of them when some maniac that obviously shouldn’t have a license went crazy and slammed sideways into us, Junghee tried to swerve to avoid the accident, but the other car was aimed straight for us.” 

 

  “Why aren’t you injured?” 

 

  “The impact was harder in the middle rather than the front, it was a side attack, as I noted before, plus we had air bags to protect us.” Jonghwan continued, and Namjoo tried to imagine the crash in her head. She shuddered slightly just from the thought and kept her attention on the adult, “We only came about a half hour or so before you, so we still don’t have much else on how they’re doing and what predictions are correct or not.” 

 

  “Thanks for telling me though,” she sighed and held out her phone, tracing it like she had once did before, this time with much more precise fingers and a fretting look on her face. For what she guessed was an hour she sat there, asking some other questions to others, and worrying. Eventually she clicked the center button to take a look at the time, then widened her eyes in surprise. 6:26 pm. How long had she been sitting there? “Yookyung!” 

 

  “What about her? You forgot to tell her about the accident? Because we already called all significant others of the other members before you came, so she should already know.” Yookyung....I forgot about her...Yookyung... 

 

  “Yookyung? No, nobody called her yet I believe. Namjoo, do you want to? You seem eager,” somebody commented from above, and Namjoo couldn’t tell who it the voice was from, but she didn’t care. 

 

  She nodded without responding and scrambled through her contacts immediately, calling the one with two important stars next to it. She breathed in as the ringing started in the background, trying to think of easy ways to explain this. Finally, someone had picked up the phone. “Yookyung?” 

 

  “Namjoo! Why weren’t you there today?” Her best friend’s voice didn’t sound normal, sort of cheated, and mildly irritated.

 

  “About that...there’s a problem.”

 

---

Looks like I'll end making the third part (finally haha). I wouldn't want to leave you on a cliffhanger! I had to edit this from the original because I realize I got the year she left wrong originally ;-; I also had a time error but that's fixed now. Looking forward to the third part of the trilogy!