This is quite a long chapter so I recommend a snack or toilet break before reading it.

“What are you going to wear tonight?” Luhan asked as we sat in our lecture room a few weeks later, working on our rather lacklustre project. Sehun was sitting beside Luhan but both seemed to be doing a great job of ignoring the other’s existence as usual. Things between the three of us seemed to have reached a stalemate.

“No idea,” I told him honestly. I really didn’t want to even think about the awful evening that lay ahead of me. “Do you think my father would believe me if I said I was sick?”

Luhan screwed up his face before shaking his head. “You’ve missed so many public appearance lately because of,” he glanced quickly, but obviously, at Sehun, “your health.”

This was true. In fact, this event would be the first one that I would be attending since moving back here. I slipped my hand under my head. “I don’t want to go.”

“Have you made up with your father yet?” Luhan asked quietly, probably so Sehun couldn’t overhear but the desk was so small that there was no way he wouldn’t.

“No. We’ve been avoiding each other.”

Luhan nodded a little sadly, “It will work out.” He got to his feet, stretching. Luhan hadn’t ever really gotten into the swing of scheduled teaching time since our high school had been so flexible. It was a trait that infuriated our lecturer to no end, not that Luhan was aware of this. “I’m going to get some water, want to come?” He glanced at Sehun as he said it, possibly worrying about us being alone together.

“Not really,” I told him, not wanting to get into the habit of just getting up and leaving whenever it suited. Luhan shrugged and I watched as he walked away. Lately our friendship had been very strained, and I knew I was the reason but I couldn’t get myself out of this funk I seemed to be living in these days.

As soon as Luhan had disappeared from the room, Sehun stopped writing and looked up at me. “Trouble in paradise?” he mocked.

What paradise? “Something like that.”

“Good thing Lu is such a good boyfriend then,” Sehun sneered.

I flinched a little. “Luhan isn’t my boyfriend – he never was.”

“Please,” Sehun scoffed derisively. “Don’t patronise me.”

“I’m not,” I sighed.

“Then why does he follow you around like that?”

I sat back on my chair with a little shrug. “I don’t know; we’re friends, I guess.”

“What? Like we were?” he taunted, smiling cruelly.

“No. Not like we were,” I told him, pretending I couldn’t see his nasty smile. “Not as close as we were, I don’t think.”

Sehun shook his head almost defiantly. “Stop lying. It makes me feel sick,” he spat.

“I’m not. The things we did together I-I’d never done them with anyone else before.”

Again, Sehun shook his head. “Stop it. I . . . I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Neither do I,” I mumbled in agreement, not wanting to remember how happy we had once been together. Sehun misunderstood completely.

“Scared Lu will find out?” he shot accusingly at me.

“No.”

“Then why?” Sehun almost shouted suddenly, drawing the attention of nearby students. “Why? Are you embarrassed by the dirty little deal you called Oh Sehun?”

“I . . . I don’t want the memories I have of you to be ruined,” I admitted quietly. “I don’t want the time we spent together to be nothing but nasty in my head because of how it turned out. I’m trying to keep my memories safe, so I don’t want other people to know. We always said it was just our business, didn’t we?”

Sehun was quiet for a moment. “But it wasn’t just our business though, was it?” he asked me lowly.

“I never told anyone about it. No one knows about everything we did together, they think we were just friends – if that. I was told to befriend you, the rest was . . . unplanned.”

Again Sehun sat quietly for a moment. “Then why did you do it then? Why did we become more?” His voice was quiet now.

I shook my head sadly. “I couldn’t control the situation. I let myself feel for you, and I let myself lo-” I quickly stopped my talking, realising I was about to spurt out things I had never said to Sehun before. He didn’t seem to miss it either as he looked up at me almost unsurely. “Nevermind,” I swiftly added, going back to my writing.

Sehun and I didn’t speak again until Luhan returned.

There’s a saying about unpacking bags quickly after returning home from a trip, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it is. But that saying – or at least the memory of it – came to my mind that evening when I was about to start getting ready for the big gala evening and found three bags of my clothes from the penthouse at the bottom of the wardrobe that had been shoved in there without unpacking. Only the cookbook and pillow that Sehun had given to me had been tidied away. I had hidden them away on the top of the wardrobe where neither I nor anyone else could see them.

Unfortunately, I needed to clear the bags on the bottom of my wardrobe away to get to the fancy shoes that I had a mild detestation for. Grunting and grumbling to myself, I tipped the bags out onto the middle of my floor and appraised the clothing. It could probably all do with a wash since it had been in there for about two months.

One jacket in particular caught my attention. I gnawed my lip as I looked at it, remembering the last time I had worn it. It had been Christmas. Hesitantly, I reached for the pocket and rooted around in it until my fingers caught the piece of paper. Drawing it out, I was torn between a smile and tears when I saw that it was indeed the picture I thought it to be.

In the picture, the three of us (Sehun, Kyungsoo and I) were playing on the floor beside their Christmas tree. The look on my face as I stared at Sehun’s face was almost like I couldn’t see anything beyond him; like he was the entire world. I looked so lucky to have him sitting before me like that, but I hadn’t even realised that at the time. Despite the girl in the photograph being myself, I felt a little twinge of jealously towards her as she sat there. If she had any sense, she wouldn’t ever let herself become me.

Carrying the photo carefully over to my desk, I opened the back of one of my picture frames and pulled the picture out, not caring which one it was. I didn't display the picture though, instead I put it into my top drawer and closed it with a sad smile. My eyes trailed to the pile of documents on my desk that I hadn’t even attempted to look at. With a sigh, I told myself I should make the most of the weekend tomorrow and get it done.

“Miss Mira?” a voice called from the main door into my room. Moving to make myself visible to whoever it was, I saw a member of staff standing there with another woman beside her. “You hair and make-up stylist is here.”

I could practically see the stylist gaping at my tired face and sullen expression, probably thinking she had her work cut out for her. I couldn’t argue with her on that point.

Two hours of styling and nagging about how I wasn’t moisturising later, and I was apparently ready to go. The dress I had been plopped into was silver – almost white – and I wasn’t too taken with it at all.

My father was waiting in the car when I emerged from my room so I was told to hurry there; not an easy feat when you’re wearing heels, a floor-length dress, and have to negotiate a lot of stairs but I got there eventually.

When I opening the car door, I could hear the sound of my father’s voice. It was obvious that he was on the phone. Perhaps a little childishly, I slammed the door behind myself earning a sharp tut from both the driver and my father.

Finishing his phone call when we were only a few minute away from the venue, my father didn’t glance my way at all but said, “You look nice.”

“Thanks,” I grumbled.

“Behave this evening. There will be a lot of important guests there.”

The venue was, of course, grand. There seemed to be champagne on a near-constant stream and people were eating snack food consisting of caviar. The guests had all be groomed immaculately so my father and I blended in quite nicely.

Suho’s parents were waiting in the lobby when we arrived. His father gave me a particularly warm reception. “It’s good to see you, Mira. You’re looking a lot better than the last time I saw you.”

Yes, that’s because I’m eating and sleeping properly now. “Thank you, sir.”

A hand tapped my shoulder. Turning, I saw Luhan wearing a rather dashing tuxedo.

He was beaming at me, “You look beautiful.”

I smiled awkwardly, not liking being complimented like this; Sehun had done it so much better. I almost shook my head at this thought, trying to push the memory away. There was little point remembering something like that now.

“Our parents want us to greet people on the way in,” Luhan told me with a helpless shrug. I groaned internally at the thought, but followed him over.

I received a lot of comments about how I was looking better (from the people who had seen me recently) and that I was looking poorly (from the people that had not), so it really was a mixed bag. People were, on the whole, polite though. But then again, I was Lee Mira, daughter and heir to United Entertainment, so it’s not like they could be rude.

A small break in the people formed, and I thought maybe we’d gotten lucky and it was over. Perhaps I would be able to just slip off to a quiet corner of the room and hide under a table or something until the evening was over. When the next family entered though, I knew it would not be so simple.

The first member I saw was the wife; tall and bony with a dress that was probably tailored to fit her ribs. Her left hand was firmly gripping onto a small boy of about eight who was wearing a mini version of a tuxedo and a rather drained expression. The woman’s other hand was interlaced with a tall and lean man who already had a glass of champagne in his hand. And finally, there was him. Following behind his father, step-mother and half-brother was Oh Sehun, looking just about as dashing as I’d ever seen him, but with an almost unshakable grimace on his face. I had completely forgotten that Sehun said his father was making him attend a gala evening in March – it was rather unfortunate that it was this one though.

When Mr Oh saw my father and I standing at the side of the door, he let out a hearty laugh, steering his wife and Kyungsoo towards us instantly. I could just see the look of mortification on Sehun’s face. I wondered if the two had exchanged words about the whole issue, although something told me they hadn’t.

“Mr Lee,” Mr Oh chortled, extending a hand to my father like they were old golfing buddies. “It’s great to see you.”

My father’s acting was good. “And you, Mr Oh. Is this your family?”

Sehun’s father gave a nod, motioning for Phyllis to step forward. “Yes, it’s actually my first time bringing them to a function.”

Phyllis was staring at me at that particular moment, probably remembering the way she had treated me at Christmas. In a sort of sadistic way, I enjoyed the way she seemed to squirm a little under my gaze.

A small hand reached out and touched mine. I looked down to see a rather wide-eyed Kyungsoo staring up at me. I forced a smile but his expression remained blank.

Mr Oh seemed to notice his younger son’s behaviour. “And that is my youngest, Kyungsoo. Who, as you can see, is already very close to your daughter.”

My father forced another smile. “I see.”

“And of course you know my eldest, Sehun,” Mr Oh continued, glancing over each shoulder to find the boy in question who was standing rather uncomfortably at the back of the group, looking around himself like he was lost.

“Ah, Sehun,” my father perked up a little, shooting a quick glance at me. “I see you’ve changed your hair.”

If Sehun hated me, I didn’t know how he felt about my father. But from the rather bleak nod he gave him, it was obvious he held him in similar regard.

“Sehun,” his father hissed, fist tightening around the almost-empty glass in his hand.

As if on cue, Kyungsoo’s hand touched reached for mine again, giving me a pleading look this time. It seemed obvious to me what he wanted.

“Sehun,” I called out, trying to keep my voice steady. All heads turned in my direction, but the only thing I was watching was that balled fist belonging to Mr Oh. “Can I speak to you in private for a minute?”

My father’s face screwed up at my words, his anger very obvious. But I didn’t care at the moment.

“I’d rather not,” Sehun replied icily. Mr Oh’s face then turned to the same shade as my father’s as he turned back towards his son.

“Sehun!” Phyllis hissed. I absorbed that; so it seemed that Phyllis was on board with the possibility of Sehun and I joining our companies. She was probably thinking about it in terms of Kyungsoo’s future.

Without waiting for the situation to escalate any further, I gently nudged Kyungsoo who seemed to know exactly what to do. Sliding though the adults, he walked to Sehun and took hold of his hand.

“I want to go with Mira,” he whined cutely at Sehun.

From the way Sehun swallowed, it was obvious that he didn’t want to deny the boy anything, but that what the boy was asking was a little too much for him. “Why don’t you go with her then?” Sehun told him softly – the softest I had heard him speaking in a long time.

“You come too!” Kyungsoo persisted.

With a resigned sigh, Sehun begrudgingly allowed Kyungsoo to lead him through the adults towards me.

“Take as long as you want,” Mr Oh called to us, gaining a nod from the suddenly cooperative Phyllis. My father shot me a dirty look as I walked away with the two brothers.

Kyungsoo wasted no time in hooking his spare hand into mine, now walking hand-in-hand with Sehun and I.

“Where will we go?” Kyungsoo asked, looking up at me with even wider eyes. His expression suddenly became bright as he waited for my answer.

“Wherever you want to go.” I imagined that Sehun must be swearing very loudly in his head by this point.

Kyungsoo ended up leading the two of us to a patio where only a few other guests had dared venturing onto because of the cold. Being so young, Kyungsoo was probably oblivious to it.

“Mira?” he quietly began, tugging on my arm so I bent down towards him a little.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for helping Sehun,” he mumbled, letting go of Sehun’s hand and clinging it around my waist.

Although a little taken aback, I brushed his soft hair gently with my hand. “I didn’t do anything really. It was all you.” I wondered how much Kyungsoo knew about the treatment Sehun received. I looked up at Sehun as if to get confirmation but he was just staring down at Kyungsoo.

“Why didn’t you come back with Sehun?” Kyungsoo asked, still wrapped around my waist.

I glanced at Sehun whose eyes had now shifted to my face. He gave a little shrug as if to say it was on me to explain what had happened.

“Uh, I’ve just been busy,” was all I could come up with without telling him that I didn’t want to come back and Sehun didn’t want me back either.

“Kyungsoo,” Sehun abruptly said, moving towards the boy and tapping his shoulder. “We should leave Mira. She has to go see her boyfriend now.” The last part was said with bite.

“Boyfriend?” Kyungsoo squeaked, looking rather startled when he pulled back. He looked to Sehun. “But you said you were her boyfriend.” Sehun’s snide remark had backfired terribly onto himself, and his now displeased expression said it all.

“Not anymore,” Sehun curtly told the boy, shooting me a quick glare. “She found someone better.”

I shook my head. “Sehun, that’s not fair I already told you Luhan’s not my boyfriend. He’s just a boy who happens to be a friend.”

“Oh thank goodness, Mira,” the familiar voice of Luhan suddenly called out, moving quickly over to me. Sehun and I stood silently until he reached us. “I couldn’t find you so I was worried you had sneaked off home and . . .”

Luhan’s voice trailed off upon seeing that it was Sehu