Lia decided to take another week of school off to take care of Ji Yong. She took such good care of him. Ji Yong felt really special. He was going to miss her when she leaves.

One afternoon TOP was walking to his room when he saw Seung Ri helping Lia with her math homework. He wandered over to them and smiled at the progress Lia was doing, thanks to Seung Ri’s teaching. “I hope you whack her on the head whenever she gets a question wrong,” he said and they looked up.

“Hey,” Lia grimaced.

He grinned and shrugged. “See you.” He headed for Ji Yong’s room.

“Eh, he’s asleep!” Lia cried out. “Don’t you dare disturb him!”

“I’ll wake up him. I need to talk to him about something. Do your math.” He entered the room. “Ji Yong!” his deep voice boomed.

Lia sighed, shaking her head. “I will kill him when he comes out,” she muttered darkly under her breath.

Seung Ri chuckled. “I can see you like him a lot. It shows.”

She nodded. “I love Ji Oppa,” she openly said. “I care about him too. I want him to be happy.”

“Well, he seems to be happy. Every time I walk in, he always tells me things about you,” he told her. “I think he has finally found the one,” he teased.

She blushed. “Do you really think so?”

“Yes, I do,” he replied sincerely. “I can tell by the way he holds you, the way he looks at you, when he smiles when he’s with you, how he’s always so happy with you. He never gets that look with other girls before. You mean the world to him.

“When you guys broke up, for weeks he was upset. He would sometimes come home drunk. You were all he could think about. I would walk by his room and catch him staring at his computer screen, which is a picture of you and him alone.”

“Really?”

He nodded.

She smiled absentmindedly, looking at his bedroom door.

“You love him, huh?”

She nodded. “I feel so safe and protected when I’m with him,” she said. “He makes me feel so happy and he really understands me. He doesn’t try to take advantage of me, and he can easily do that, seeing as he’s a lot stronger than me. He’s so sweet, considerate and he’s really thoughtful.” She had that faraway look on her face.

“Your face is glowing,” he observed.

“What?”

He nodded. “You have this . . . glow . . . whenever you talk about him or whenever you’re with him or just when you’re thinking of him.” Seung Ri didn’t want to tell her that it makes him jealous. He wished she would look at him like that. Then he felt sad as the thought of her never loving him back crossed his mind. It was clear it was never going to happen

Lia noticed his frown. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you okay, Maknae Oppa?”

He shook his head. “I just wish a girl will look like that when she talks about me the way you look like that when you talk about him.”

She shrugged. “Well, maybe if you don’t bring different girls back every weekend,” she said. She gave him a teasing smile. “Tsk, what a player.”

“Am I that much of a player?” he asked her worriedly.

“You probably haven’t met the right girl yet,” she answered gently. “But I’m sure you will eventually find her.”

“I already have.”

She sat up in her seat. “Oh, really?” she asked with interest. “Who is it?”

Did I say that out loud???He looked at her and shook his head. “Do your math.”

“I’m done.”

He looked down on the page and realized that she was done. Darn. “Well, I don’t care. I’m not telling.”

“Oh come on!” She gave him the puppy look. “Please?”

“Aish, don’t give me that look!” he cried, covering his eyes. “I’m still not telling.”

Lia tried to pry his fingers away but she failed. “Pleeeeeeaaaaassseeee?” she begged.

Seung Ri peeped out through the holes of his fingers. He grinned. “You’re gonna have to catch me first,” he said and stood up. He ran around the table.

Lia ran the opposite side just as he switched sides. They ran around the table a few rounds. Seung Ri made a beeline for the living room the same time Lia changed directions so she was directly behind him.

She grabbed his shirt and he turned to face her. Startled, she fell backwards onto the sofa, grabbing his shirt so he fell back with her.

The next thing they knew, Seung Ri was on top of her, pinning her down on the sofa. Their faces were a few inches apart. He had to fight off the urge to close the distance and kissing her on the lips.

She grinned up on him. “I caught you,” she said to ease the awkwardness.

“What do you mean by ‘I caught you’?” Seung Ri scoffed. “Look at our positions and tell me who has who.”

She shrugged. “I caught hold of your shirt. It’s not my fault I dragged you down too.” She paused before adding, “Although this would never have happened if you’d told me in the first place.”

He got off her, staring at her in disbelief. “Oh, so now it’s my fault?” he asked, shaking his head. “You ah . . .”

She nodded seriously as he pulled her up into a sitting position. “So tell me. I won.”

He rolled his eyes before locking eyes with her. “I love you,” he said.

She studied him for awhile before pushing him back. “I hate you,” she grumbled. “I asked who you’re in love with, not who you love!”

I did. But to her, he just grinned. “Well, you never clarified what you meant.”

Lia buried her face in a pillow, shaking her head. “No, no, no,” she said into the pillow so her voice was muffled. “Maknae Oppa, you cheater! I hate you.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “But I love you,” he said teasingly.

“Ugh.”

TOP came out of the room and paused when he saw them fooling around. “Eh, don’t you have math to do?”

“I’m done.” Lia looked up. “Oppa, who is Maknae Oppa in love with?”

“Hey!” Seung Ri threw a pillow in her face, which she neatly caught.

“What?” TOP said, baffled. He shot Seung Ri a look, who shrugged.

“You asked me who I love, Lia. You didn’t ask who I’m in love with,” Seung Ri said to her. He cracked up laughing.

“Shut up, you idiot. I’m not talking to you.” She threw the pillow at him. She turned to her brother. “This fella told me he loves me but he’s not in love with me. He said he was in love with someone but he won’t tell me who!” She grimaced.

TOP noticed Seung Ri had fallen silent. “I don’t know,” he said to her, which obviously wasn’t the answer his sister was looking for. Before she could say anything else, he quickly added, “Ji Yong is looking for you. Go to him now. Scram.”

Lia stood up and skipped to her boyfriend’s room as TOP turned back to Seung Ri. “She didn’t believe you, did she?”

Seung Ri shook his head, watching her go. “No. I didn’t expect her to, anyway.”

TOP hesitated. “Maknae —”

“I know, hyung,” he said quietly. “I know.”

During dinner, Lia was wondering why everyone kept looking at TOP as though he had something to say. Her brother looked fine, he ate his food pleasantly. Furthermore, they were all quiet which was very unusual as they would always have something to talk about.

Finally she couldn’t stand the silence any-more. “What is going on?” she blurted out. “Why are you guys all so quiet?”

They looked up, puzzled. “Oh. Mianhae,” they said. “I didn’t realize.”

Lia stared at them in disbelief. Did they really not have noticed their quietness? “Why do you guys keep looking at oppa?”

“Because I have something to ask you,” TOP spoke up, clearing his throat. He looked at her. “You’re leaving this Saturday, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah,” she said hesitantly. “What about it?”

“Well . . . I know it’s going to be hard for you,” he went on, “you know, missing all of us and all.”

She rolled her eyes. “Get over yourself.”

“But, I was thinking . . . you know, you don’t really need to miss us.”

“Huh?” She frowned, confused. “I don’t get you.”

He looked into her eyes. “You could always stay here,” he suggested casually. “I talked to appa and eomma. They said they’ll be happy to adopt you back . . . if you want. And if . . . your adoptive parents would let.”

Lia was about to take a spoonful of rice but froze midair. Did she hear right? She looked up to see five hopeful faces staring at her.

This was what she’d always been dreading: choosing sides.

“I – I don’t know,” she stammered. She took a deep breath. “I just can’t —”

“We know, Lia,” Ji Yong said gently. He took her hand and squeezed it. “You have a choice, and we’ll respect whatever decision you make. Arasso?”

“You don’t have to decide now,” TOP added. “It’s okay.”

“Take your time, crazy girl,” Dae Sung chimed in.

“Just know we will always welcome you with open arms no matter what,” Tae Yang nodded.

Seung Ri reached out to take her other hand. “It’ll be hard, so follow your heart, okay? Decide what you want, not what others want. It’s your choice.”

Lia was completely speechless. She did not know what to say, what to do. She looked at each and every one of them. They all smiled at her encouragingly. Lia felt like crying. She didn’t want this.

She wanted to stay with all of them; they all make her very happy. She wants to stay to see Dae Sung’s smiling face, to hear Tae Yang’s encouraging words, to act childish with Seung Ri, to be safe with TOP and to be happy with Ji Yong.

But at the same time . . . she didn’t want to leave her friends. She didn’t want to leave the life she always had.

But she has a chance to have a life she could have had.

What is she going to do?