Sojin thought there was no reason for her to take Minwoo’s words in mind.  Yet, she was now pacing back and forth in front of the bathroom, waiting for the MMA fighter to come out.  Her pacing came to a halt when the door opened.

            “Eonni…” Gayeon started somewhat awkwardly.  The older girl’s feeling towards the EXO idol did not fade from her mind.  She might just feel guilty initially, but now she felt a lot more complicated since Chanyeol’s one-sided breakup with her.  “Um…Did you need to use the bathroom…”

            “No…” Sojin hesitated.  She wondered if she should just back out now.  She shook off the thought and took in a deep breath.  “Gayeon-ah, can we talk?”

            “Eh?” The younger girl was dumbfounded that the older girl would still want to talk to her.  Though, she was glad.  After all, talking through an issue was the first step to healing.  The guilt in her heart would lessen if she could help to restore the older girl’s sincere smile again.  She nodded and smiled.  “Sure.”

            Despite the nice weather outside with bright sunlight penetrating through the wide windows onto the beds, the atmosphere of the room was not like the comfortable sunlight.  The two girls sat opposite of each other on the bed, but they looked anywhere else but each other. 

            Gayeon cleared .  “Eon—”

            “I’m really sorry!” Sojin suddenly apologized and bowed beyond ninety degrees.

            “Um…W-what are you saying, Eonni…?” The young fighter stuttered, surprised by Sojin’s sudden behaviour.  “W-why are you apologizing?”

            “The photo incident…” Sojin found herself having difficulty to even level her eyes to the young girl’s.  She realized this was what being totally in front of someone must be liked.

            Gayeon’s eyes widened.  She was speechless as the older girl went on to confess for the next five minutes.

            “Gayeon-ah,” Sojin forced herself to look at the younger girl in front of her.  There was no point to hide once the truth got out.  “I do not dare to seek for your forgiveness, but I do want you to know t-that I-I regret it.”

            The young fighter wondered if she should feel anger and disappointment – she was not feeling any of that.  Instead, she was relieved that the older girl didn’t hold any bad feelings towards her, and even seemed genuinely cheerful these days.  She smiled.  “Thank you for telling me this.”

            “You…You’re not mad?”

            She shook her head.

            “Really?”

            “Really.” She nodded.  Besides, somewhere deep in her heart, she knew the direction that she and Chanyeol were heading was inevitable even without the photo incident.  After not getting a reaction from him for the past several days, she began to wonder if it was time to give up.  He wasn’t even here at the house anymore when there was no filming.

            After the conversation, Sojin looked at the doorway one more time before heading downstairs.  She straightened her back, inhale another breath, ‘One down and one more to go.’

            Chanyeol leaned back on the wall of the studio room, closed his eyes, and tried to indulge himself with the music that was flowing from the ear plugs connected to his phone.  He hoped the music could drain his mind from the images of the Deadly Beauty.  Nowadays, he stayed away from the Roommate house when there was no filming scheduled.  Besides his selfish desire to erase her from his mind, he also knew it would be unfair for her if he kept appearing in front of her like that after what happened.  “Aish!” He groaned and threw down a punch on the ground.

            “Chanyeol…”

            He opened his eyes and looked to the doorway to find Sojin’s eyes widened at the punch he just threw.  He quickly took off the ear plugs and sat up.  “Oh hey.”

            “Hey.” She smiled and took a quiet step in.  “I heard from others that you’re taking a break here…Mind if I sit down?”

            “Ah…Sure, go ahead.”  He gestured while clearing the mess on the floor in front of him.  It had been a while since the girl seek him out.  He had assumed she had already given up on him and therefore, it was a surprise to see her here now, inside one of the SM Entertainment practice studios.

            “So what have you been up to lately?” She suddenly brought up as if she was talking to a long-time friend.  “You haven’t showed up at all except when there’s a filming.  I know you are busy with the tours and other stuff, but you’ve always showed up even when there’s no filming.”

            He shrugged and smiled.

            “Yep.” She nodded.  “You’ve really make it difficult for me.”

            “Huh?  Did you need me from something…” Then he saw Sojin took out a dolphin-shaped pendant and dangled it in front of him.  The sapphire was glistening under the warm studio lights. 

            “Thank you.” She told him.  She held the pendant on her palm and rubbed on the silver surface with the thumb of her free hand.  “You might not remember because it might not have been a big deal to you…However, a sixteen years old girl was able to hold onto her dream despite all of the challenges because the sixteen years old you decided to stop by and helped.”

            He recognized the pendant at once because of the unique design.  However, he never knew the girl he had helped several years ago was Ahn Sojin.  Of course, he didn’t know how much the pendant meant to her either.  He suddenly got embarrassed and chuckled, “Was the the reason you were so—”

            “What?” She cut him off quickly, trying to save both of them from further embarrassment.  “You thought I was hitting on you?  Please, you’re too immature for my taste.”

            “Well, you didn’t have to put it that way.”  Chanyeol pretended to be hurt by her words.  For the first time ever, he felt comfortable talking with her, like a friend.

            She laughed.  “Actually, I’m not here to remind you of your noble deed.  I’m here because you’re kind of my saviour in a sense, so I want to remind you…to be happy.”

            Perplexed by her words, he responded, “I don’t look happy?”

            “Nope.” She shook her head.  “Let me tell you a story: my dad used to be in the same position as you – well, he’s not an idol, but just an average salary man.  He was young, ambitious, and hard-working.  So, it didn’t come much of a surprise when an opportunity for promotion was finally presented to him.  However, he would have to go to work overseas for the next five years.  That meant he had to leave his girlfriend.  But it was a once in a lifetime opportunity!  But at the same time, he knew if he was to leave now, then he might not get to see his girlfriend ever again.”  She turned to the idol.  “Guess what he chose in the end?”

            “He stayed for the girl.” He smiled because the ending was obvious.

            “Yep!” She responded cheerfully.  “My father’s girlfriend turned out to be my mother.  Every once in a while when he looked at my mother and I, he would say that it was the best decision he’d ever made – it made him happy and felt blessed every single day.”

            “I’m guessing that you have your father’s mindset.”

            “Yes…But I got lost in the middle…” Her voice trailed off.  Her eyes started thoughtfully to the front.  Then her smile brightened up again.  “Anyways, I hope that you can make choices that would make you happy, even if it seems selfish.”

            “Huh?” He was confused by her words.

            She got up and patted him on the back.  When she was at the door, she stopped suddenly and said, “Oh yea, it seems Gayeon is pretty popular with the guys…I would act fast if I were you.”

            He looked up, surprised that she knew.  He wondered if he was that obvious like his manager told him.

            When Sojin got out of the building, she let out a breath as the final weight lifted from her shoulders.  It seemed she was still too scared to let Chanyeol know about the photo incident.  However, she hoped her words would at least get to him.  Now, there was one more task to do in order to amend the situation.

            On the day of the filming, Gayeon walked up to Chanyeol boldly, not paying any thought to the staring eyes of others.

            “Oppa, are you done avoiding me yet?” She asked.

            He was taken aback by her action.  His face heated up, though he was not sure if it was the fact that he was being put in a situation or that her newly dyed black hair was having an effect on him.  He chuckled, trying to make light of the atmosphere, especially with so many pairs of eyes looking.  Some people were starting to mind their own business again.  “What makes you say that?  Well, I would if you’re going to give me a low kick all of a sudden.”

            Eyeing his response carefully, she finally allowed herself to be disappointed.  Even someone as dense as her could see that he tried to brush it off – brush everything off as nothing.  Everything should go back to square one.  She smiled dejectedly, “That’s true.  But really, there’s no need to avoid me anymore.”

            Before he even got a chance to response, she already disappeared into the kitchen, joining the others who were preparing lunch.

            “There’s no need to avoid me anymore.”

            He should be glad that she was finally accepting the situation.  He didn’t understand why there was this indescribable pain plucking the veins that surrounded the left side of his chest.  Suddenly, he didn’t believe everything should end this easily, even though she had finally agreed to end it coolly.

            Sojin knocked on the door of Room No. 2.

            “What is it?” Minwoo asked with suspicion in his eyes.

            She almost wanted to roll her eyes at him.  However, now was not the time.  She could only smile sweetly, “I have found a way to retain a ‘pure and clean’ mind for acting.  Not just that, it will involve me to commit a super nice deed for Chanyeol and Gayeon.  However, I would need your help…So, would you please help me, sunbae?”

            He raised an eyebrow.  “Well yeah, sure.  As long as it’s nothing illegal.”

            “It’s not.”  A confident smile on her face as she took a step forward.

            “Then—”

            His voice was cut off when Sojin tiptoed, held his face, and crushed her lips onto his.

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Author's Note:  I went back and skimmed through the previous chapters and I can't believe there are so many typos T___T  Anyways, the next one is that last chapter.  Thank you so much for the support thus far.