Having Jiyong has her teacher was almost unbearable.

Every day, he came into the classroom, looking finer than ever. To Jieun, this was some kind of precious gift that she believed she didn't deserve. She always wondered why Minah would complain working with Jiyong. She had been envious over Minah, especially since she could see Jiyong nearly everyday. But now?

"Jieun." His soothing voice shook her heart. "Can you wake up Jiho and tell him to finish his assignment? It's due at the end of the class."

"Um, uh…" She glanced down at Jiho. He was only pretending to sleep, and she knew that. She wasn't sure if Jiyong knew that, so she didn't know if she should tell him that. Regardless, she obeyed Jiyong's commands. "Jiho, wake up…"

"Don't want to," Jiho murmured back. 

"You have to finish the assignment. It's due at the end of the period," Jieun whispered. She glanced over at Jiyong, who had been staring at her since the beginning. Cheeks flushed red, she looked back down at Jiho, frantically tapping on his shoulder. "Come on, Jiho! Wake up."

"What if I told you that I already finished it?" he asked. "Then would you let me sleep?"

"Come on, Jiho," Jiyong said, walking over to the two. He squatted down in front of their desk. "This isn't that hard. It's review, right?"

"Says the genius himself," Jiho retorted.

Jiyong grimaced. "Didn't I explain this to you already? I didn't drop out of college because I thought I was smarter than everyone else. Besides, if you don't finish it, then I might get in trouble."

"You're making a scene, too," Jieun murmured, noticing that their peers were staring at them. "Just finish the assignment."

Jiho grumbled something under his breath, but he grabbed his pen and began to mark on the assignment. He stopped for a moment, then shot a glare at Jiyong.

"I'm not doing this for you," he clarified. "I'm doing this for Jieun."

"Whatever," Jiyong said, messing up Jiho's hair. The younger boy struggled to fight back, but Jiyong kept playing around. He grinned after a minute of messing around, much to Jiho's disappointment. "I just care if you finish the work."

* * *

"Hey, hey," Minah said. It was lunch time again, but the three had finished their meal early. Now, they had their backs on the ground, watching the leaves fall from the tree and the clouds pass by. "What did you guys put for your career plan?"

"What do you mean?" Jiho asked.

"You know, that career paper thing we had to fill out. The one asking what we want to do? What did you guys put?" Minah asked.

"Ours was due a couple of weeks ago," Jieun said. "Did you guys just turn yours in?"

"We turned ours in today," Minah revealed. "Well, our teacher is lazy in that way…" She sighed. "Anyway, what did you guys put?"

Jieun stared at the clouds. "I just wrote that I want to go to college and have a decent life."

Jiho glanced at Jieun and blushed. "I was talking about becoming a successful man and marrying the one I love…"

Minah rolled her eyes. "You guys have such a vague answer. You know that our teachers are going to ask us about this, right?"

"We know, we know," Jiho said. "But we're still kids. We still have a little more to think about. My goal is just to pass the class. I had to repeat, anyway."

"What did you put, Minah?" Jieun asked.

Minah paused. She turned bright red, which surprised Jiho. He had never seen her act all embarrassed before. It amused him.

In a small voice, she said, "I think I want to become a star."

"You want to die?" Jiho cracked up while Minah shot him a glare.

"No! I meant that I want to be famous!" she cried out. He stopped laughing and sat up. He stare down at her without a single sign of expression on his face.

"You're joking, right?" Jiho asked. "I can't see you becoming famous."

Ouch, Minah thought, biting her tongue. That hurts to hear.

"You shouldn't say something like that, Jiho. That's how dreams die." The three look up and saw Jiyong walking by them. "Anyway, are you guys doing some cloud watching?"

"Jiyong!" Jieun exclaimed. She quickly sat up and turned her body. "W-What are you doing here?"

"Patrolling the area. Recently there has been some rumors about something strange happening at the bathrooms. The teachers are going around, checking to see if those rumors are true," Jiyong revealed.

"What do you mean?" Minah asked, frowning.

"I don't really know. They haven't let me in on the details. They just told me to watch out for suspicious kids," he said. "You guys be careful, too, okay?"

"Understood," the three said in unison.

Minah stared at Jiyong for a minute. "Have you talked to Changmin yet?"

He shook his head. "I was planning to talk to him when I see him in person, but I haven't seen him lately. It's strange. I'll get it on it tonight after I check what assignments I have to give tomorrow. Later!"

Jiyong disappeared at the corner of the building, much to Jieun's disappointment. She let out a small sigh before urging Minah to continue the topic.

"So," Jieun continued, "You want to be famous? That sounds like a lot of work…"

"I know, but I really want to do it," Minah said passionately. "I really want to prove the world that I can be someone better than this. Honestly, I have no idea what I want to do, and I can only see myself standing up at the top, being something like a queen. Haven't you felt that before? The desire to stand tall, to have people look at your back instead of looking at theirs?"

Jieun pressed her lips together. "I still don't think this is a good idea. I mean, what would you do?"

"I don't know. I like to sing," Minah mentioned, "but I never sang in front of a crowd."

"Well, shouldn't you at least practice in front of a crowd or something?" Jieun pointed out.

Minah felt her heart drop. "I know, but I still want to—"

"I think you can do it," Jiho said out of the blue. The two girls stared at him. He looked at her with a nonchalant expression. "I think if you're serious about this, then you can do it. Jiyong's right, I shouldn't have said something like not being able to see you as a star. I'm sorry."

Minah felt her heart race and her ears heat up. "D-Do you really mean that?"

"I still can't see you as a star," Jiho muttered, rubbing his chin, "but I still think you can do it if you try. When was it ever bad to try?"

Jieun pressed her cheek against the palm of her hand. "Well, you've supported me on a lot of things, so I guess I can support you on this, too. I still think it's a bad idea, but Jiho seems to know you better than I do."

"Do you guys really mean it?" Minah asked. A smile subconsciously formed on her lips. "Do you guys really think i can do it? I mean, the entertainment industry is hard and—"

"Minah, we never heard you sing," Jiho said. "How can we be so confident in your skills?"

"We should go to a karaoke place or something!" Jieun's eyes sparkled. "We can do what friends do: go sing at a karaoke store and have fun!"

"B-But I don't even know if I want to sing in front of a large crowd!" Minah stuttered, blushing hard. "I mean, I don't even know if I sing well or not—"

"Honestly, we'll never know what you're good at unless you try," Jiho said. He looked up at the building when the bell rang. "Looks like class is starting. Let's talk about this later, okay?"

"G-Got it," Minah replied, nodding her head. As her two friends got up and gathered their lunchbox, she quickly grabbing onto their sleeves. "Thank you, guys. It really means a lot to me."

Jiho stared at her. Then, he smirked and messed around with her hair.

"Whatever," he said, grinning. "I just care if you make your dreams come true. You better give me a free autograph, or else…"

The three walked forward, marching into the building. From the corner, Jiyong appeared, smiling contently at the threes' back. 

I better make that call to Changmin today, Jiyong thought, understanding what Minah was actually aiming for. As he turned, he took no notice of a familiar enemy who had been hiding and listening to the three's conversation.

Chanyeol hopped down the tree, then took out his phone.

"So the teachers heard some part of my plan, hm?" he muttered. His eyes cruelly looked over at Minah's back. "We'll have fun tomorrow." He broke into a disgusting smirk. "We'll have a lot of fun tomorrow…"

* * *

When Jiyong came home that night, he picked up his phone to make a quick call to Changmin. The first time, the call didn't get through. He tried calling again, and this time, someone picked up.

"Hello?" Jiyong called. He waited for Changmin to response. Instead, he received silence. "Um, Changmin? This is Jiyong."

There was a small gasp, but Jiyong couldn't tell if it was from the phone or from outside. He waited for a little more, trying to figure out if Changmin was busy.

Maybe he's listening, Jiyong thought. He cleared his throat.

"Anyway, Minah wanted me to ask if you if you owned an entertainment company or something. It looks like she wants to become a singer," he remarked. "Actually, I kind of overheard her conversation with Jiho and Jieun. It seems like Jiho supports her. I'm still iffy about this whole deal. I mean, Minah isn't exactly the type work hard, you know?"

He paused. Then, he frowned. Even though it was silent, he could tell that there was someone on the other side listening to him. He wasn't sure if it was Changmin, but he was getting the feeling that it was someone else on the other side of the line.

"Hello? Changmin?" Jiyong repeated. He put his phone against the other ear. "Changmin, if you're going to ignore me, that's fine, but just tell me if I did something." He raised his eyebrows. "Oh! Maybe this is Kyuhyun? Kyuhyun, is that you—"

"Hang up quick, Jiyong!" Changmin shouted in the background. "It's a freaking trap!"

"You, shut up!" a familiar deep voice yelled. Jiyong widened his eyes, recognizing the voice.

"Changmin, how could you betray us like that? Jiyong will know!"  Jiyong froze and paled. "Jiyong, Jiyong? Is that you? Jiyong, listen to me! Come back, please! I beg of you! Things aren't going well around here, and—"

When Jiyong heard the third voice, he immediately hung up. His face paled and his heart squeezed. The silky voice that he had heard years ago had returned. He panted, trying to control his breathing. After realizing that there was nothing he could do to calm down, he quickly pulled out a cigarette and out. He flickered the lighter multiple times before getting it right. His sweaty fingers almost dropped the cigarette and lighter from his hands, but once he brought his lips to the drug, he calmed down.

A puff of smoke lifted up to the ceiling. He walked over to his fridge, and found three bottles of alcohol. He dragged them out of the fridge, and opened it with ease. In between his smoking and his drinking, he would start feeling a bit dizzy. Memories drilled back up to his head, and he could almost feel the images in front of him.

At one point, when he was on third bottle and his fifth cigarette, he saw the memory of her and his best friend at the classroom. Those two were kissing…? No, they were making up. Wait, was it more like they were—

At a distance, Jiyong could hear a faint sound of a baby crying. His eyes widened, but his pupils became small. He threw the second bottle against the wall, watching it become shattered pieces of glass. Quickly, he reached over for a shard and began to dig it into his skin. The skin peeled open, bleeding out a delicate shade of red madness.

Disgusting, he told himself. Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting!

His fourth finger bled when the shard attacked its knuckle. What was disgusting? Him? Or maybe the memory? Or the way he remembered it? Or her? Maybe his best friend? Was he his best friend anymore?

"Come back," the feminine voice pleaded. Those were the words she said. She told him to come back.

But why should he come back? Why should he go back to such a dreadful, suffocating place again? It didn't make sense to him. Besides, she had…

Jiyong threw his body against the ground. It hurt his back, but he didn't really care. Right now, if he inflicted any pain on him, he'd forget about what he was thinking. It was the best way to substitute his thoughts.