Sunny sat in the bar, staring into her vodka and coke.  People passed her by, completely oblivious to the sorrow in her eyes.  Tiffany, her closest friend, had turned her back on Sunny, furious at her choice of career.  She replayed the argument over and over in her head.  After four years of hard work being a dancer and singer, Sunny wanted to give it up.  She wanted to become…

“A video game developer?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“A video game developer.”

“Tiff, you just said that.”

“I know, but … why?”

"Why not?  You know it's something I enjoy, you know it's something I love.  What's wrong with making money from something I love?"

"But you're in our band!  We could be the nation's newest girl group!"

"You can find a replacement!  Besides, Sica will be happy with that.  You know she hates me."

"Oh, come on, you're threatening to quit because Jessica's a ?  Because she hates your aegyo?"

"No!  I want to follow my dreams!"

"But your dreams are in Girls' Generation!"

"No, your dreams are in Girls' Generation.  You just want me there to stop Taengoo from getting into your pants."

"What?  That byuntae?"

Sunny nodded.  "And I know why."

Tiffany's eyes widened.  "W-why?"

Sunny took a sip of her water.  "Because you like her," she replied, as though her words were public knowledge.

"WHAT?!?!  WHO SAID ..." Tiffany quietened down.  "I don't like Taeyeon, she's just a friend," she hissed.

"Yeah, you do," Sunny answered.  "You just don't want to admit it."

Tiffany's face turned as white as a sheet, and her eyes blazed with fear, but the rest of her face showed anger.  She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself.

"And," Sunny continued, "we all know.  Everyone knows.  Well, except Taeyeon.  But it's perfectly fine."

"It's not fine," Tiffany hissed, "it's ... unnatural."

"Who says?"

"It … it’s in The Bible.  God says so."

"It also says you can sell your daughter into eternal slavery."

"It does not!"

"Exodus 21:7 - 'If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do.’  Verse 2 says the son goes free after seven years."

Tiffany shook her head, dismissing Sunny's argument.

"Times change," Sunny carried on.  "Things that were accepted then aren't accepted now.  And things that weren't accepted then are accepted now.  Society changes."

Tiffany stayed quiet and looked away.

"Besides, Taeyeon is just a flirt.  She would never actually do anything with you.  She's...”  Sunny stopped herself, but it was too late.

"She's what?"

Sunny shook her head.

"Tell me, Sunny.  What is it?"

Sunny took a deep breath.  Why did Taeyeon have to trust her with such a deep secret?  "She's in love with someone else," Sunny answered, dropping her eyes to her water, hoping Tiffany would drop the subject.

"Who with?  What's his name?"

Sunny looked up to meet her friend's gaze.  Sure enough, Tiffany was looking directly at her, her eyes wide with anticipation, eagerness, and ... was that disappointment?  Rejection?  Sunny couldn't tell her something that would break her heart.  But she also couldn't lie, and Tiffany wouldn't let it drop now.  She closed her eyes.  "Sica."

"What?"

"Jessica.  Taeyeon's in love with Jessica."

"Oh come on, Sunny, stop it," Tiffany sat back in her chair.

"It's true," Sunny kept her eyes closed, desperate not to see her friend's heart breaking.  "Taeyeon told me two months ago."

"You-you're ... that desperate to get away, that determined t-t-to get away from Jessica ... that you-you-you'll lie like this?"

"I'm not lying," Sunny pleaded.

"No, now it's making sense.  You-you're so scared of Jessica that you just want to ... to run away.  This isn't you 'following your dreams'," Tiffany made quotes in the air to emphasise her point, "you're just running away from Jessica because you're afraid!”  Tiffany's voice was getting loud and her anger was clearly coming through.  She stood up from the table, towering over Sunny.  “Fine.  You go and run, sit at a computer all day and make your little video games.  Struggle to make a living, scrape and save every penny you own just to make sure you have enough to buy milk.  I’ll go and follow our dreams and be a star, while you sit and think how you ed it up for yourself.”  She pulled her deep-blood pink purse out from her baby pink handbag and placed two 10,000 won notes on the table.  “It’s on me,” Tiffany remarked.  “You should start saving now.”  With that, Tiffany her heel and left.

“Fanyyyyyy~”, Sunny shouted after her friend, but it was no use.  She was gone.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It had been at least an hour since Tiffany had left her at the cafe, and about forty-five minutes since Sunny left and walked to the bar she was now sitting at, and Sunny was now finishing her third vodka and coke.  ‘So much for saving your money’, she said mockingly to herself.  In one day, she had betrayed her two best friends in Taeyeon and Tiffany, broken Tiffany’s heart, made Jessica a target in Tiffany’s sights and also potentially made her already bad relationship with Jessica much worse.  ‘Way to go, Sunny!’ she chastised herself, ‘new record!’  She ordered her fourth drink, asking the bartender to give her a double shot of vodka in this.  Maybe alcoholism could be a new career path for her.  She sighed heavily as her order came, and slowly drank away before calling an end to drowning her sorrows here.  She could do better at home, drinking and escaping into her virtual world of 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 2'.  With that, she handed a 50,000 won note to the bartender, accepted her change and stumbled outside to call for a cab.  She reached her off-campus apartment safely, slid her key into the lock and opened the door.  "Honey, I'm home!" she shouted.  There was silence.  "Oh yeah," Sunny mocked herself aloud, "I kicked that out.”  That '' was her ex-boyfriend who she had caught on the sofa with some girl, pawing at her s.  Apparently, this had been going on for about seven weeks.  Needless to say their two year relationship quickly and brutally came to an end, and Sunny had been living alone for the last eight months.  Now, she could laugh about the situation, but the thought of seeing him in her apartment with another woman still churned her stomach.  They had lived together for about eighteen months and he had to do that to her?  Be unfaithful, lie to her, cheat on her with some he had met a short while earlier?  Not only because this was the first “real” boyfriend she had had, nor that she had caught him with another girl.  What hurt most was his revelation that, throughout their entire relationship, he was faithful for maybe two months.  He had slept with no less than twelve girls, and he was surprised that it had taken her this long to find out.  When she asked him why, he told her that it was just him; he did not want to be tied down to one woman.  He then called her “unreasonable” when she threw him out of her apartment without listening to his “side of the story”, he called her “unbearable” when she threw his clothes out of the window, he called her “insane” when she threw his stereo out after the clothes, he called his mother when she threw his model ‘Bottled City of Kandor’, and, when the model promptly broke as it landed on the sidewalk, he called out to God to take his life instead.  Since then, she had replaced her sofa, her bed, and the bed in her spare bedroom, after his revelation that he had slept with women on all three.  She redecorated the entire apartment, including ceilings and carpets, to “get him out completely”, and she was slapped across the face by Hyoyeon when she was looking online for kitchen set-ups, just in case they had cooked meals there for each other.  Sunny felt utterly betrayed and vowed off men for a long time from that day onwards.  She was true to her word and lived her life as a recluse.  Her landlord was so good to her during this time, calling in on her to see if she needed anything, helping to fit her new carpet and redecorate, even insisting on paying for the carpet himself.  Nothing was too small for Sunny.  Ever since she had moved in, he had treated her like a daughter, and she had never needed him more than she did right then.  Now, she was relatively normal.  She missed company, and often wished for a roommate, but for now she was feeling that this was how she should be: living her life without interruptions or influence from anyone else.  It was more than “being single”.  It was “personal independence”.  It was “freedom”.  And it was a little boring, especially at night.  Sunny slumped onto the sofa with a heavy thud and fumbled around, looking for the TV remote.  Even though she wasn’t drunk, she still found it a great source of amusement when the remote control had found its way underneath her .  “Leave my fat alone,” she chuckled, and the TV.  No sooner had she done so than her mobile began to ring.  She clumsily opened her handbag, d around for her phone and looked at the screen: “Jessica”.  With a sigh, she muted the TV and answered the phone.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Tiff said you’re quitting the band because of me?”

Sunny put her hand to her head.  “No, Jess, I’m not leaving the band because of you.”

“Really?  I mean, she really laid into me today.  If it wasn’t for Hyo and Soo, I’m sure I would have a black eye.”

“What?!?!”

“She flew at me!  She was hitting me and punching me and kicking me.  She said that I was the reason the band was going to fall apart and you were leaving because of me.”

“Jess, I’m not.  I promise.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” Sunny sighed.  “I want to leave, but that’s only because I’m wanting to become a video game developer.  I tried telling that to Tiff earlier, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”

“She said you were trying to bull her with that story,” Jessica replied, considerably more convinced than Tiffany had been earlier.

“You know what I’m like, Jess.  Video games are pretty much my life.  Can you imagine how much it would mean to me to actually be a part of making those games happen, instead of just playing them?”

Jessica hummed in agreement.

“And,” Sunny continued, “Tiff is being so controlling over the band.  I know this is her dream, but not everyone wants to be a singer.”

“Yeah, but that’s how Tiffany is!  You know that.  You’re like one of her closest friends!”

Sunny sighed.  She knew what she was signing up to being in the band with Tiffany.  She was so possessive and overbearing.  Sunny was perfectly happy to goof around with the girls, but Tiffany was demanding things ran to military precision, demanding strict rehearsal times, requiring PR practice, interview practice, fashion advice, song writing classes and even seeking advice on how to accept awards.  It was practically killing everyone, but Tiffany wanted to be the “Nation’s Girl Group”.  As if that would happen!

“I know,” Sunny admitted, defeated, “I just didn’t think she would be that bad …”

“You didn’t think Tiffany would be a ing nutjob?”

She laughed, probably for the first time that day.  “She’s not usually that bad,” she defended, half-heartedly.

"Are you sure?”  Jessica asked playfully.

"Yeah!”  Sunny shouted, giggling, before adding "Well, maybe."

Jessica laughed.

"She's so demanding," Sunny vented, "but you've got to admit, she's such a good friend when you need her."

"Uh huh," Jessica nodded.  There was a pause, as the pair sighed.  "So, you're really leaving?"

Sunny sighed again.  "I don't know," she confessed.  "Maybe Tiff's right, maybe it isn't what I think it will be."

"Maybe it is," Jessica countered.

Sunny grunted, not completely convinced.

"Tell you what," Jessica suggested, "come to the meeting tomorrow.  We'll meet Yoona's friend a little later and we'll all come up with ideas for you, see if we can help you out somehow.  What do you say?"

Sunny nodded hesitantly.  "Ok," she agreed, "but I won't be forced to do anything I don't want to.  If I still want to leave, then I will.  Ok?"

"Of course!”  Jessica agreed readily.  "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Sunny smiled.

"Good.  And I'll make sure you get plenty of coffee to help you work off your hangover."

Sunny's eyes widened.  "Huh?"

"You've been drinking, I know you have!”  Jessica explained.

"How did you know?”  Sunny asked.

"Your voice is a little slurry, and you agreed with one of my ideas as soon as I said it," Jessica teased.

Sunny giggled.  "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Remember," Jessica added, "10am.  Be there."

"Yeah," Sunny replied, sarcastically, "because I really need reminding from you when I need to be awake, Little Miss Sleeps-All-Day."

"Hey," Jessica rebuked, smiling, "if you're going to call me names because I love my bed, then at least make it 'Sleeping Beauty'."

"I will," Sunny assured her, cheekily, "when you become beautiful instead of looking like Shrek's grandma."

Jessica gasped.  "What?!?!"

"Bye Sicaaa~" Sunny laughed, before hanging up the phone.