Hyuk and Jaemi stared at each other, neither of them wanting to go just yet. For Hyuk, going back to school was exponentially worse for him than for most people because he had to leave his girlfriend to go to a whole other country where he would have to deal with everything else that came with going back to school. For Jaemi, she hated nothing more than school starting because that only meant that she would be separated from her boyfriend by over 10,000 kilometers. Although she travelled often year round, nothing compared to the pit she felt during the school year, knowing that Hyuk wouldn’t be waiting for her when she got home.

                She let out a long sigh and fidgeted with the pendant of the necklace he bought her for their third anniversary. “This is the fourth year we’ve had to say goodbye to each other and it’s still so hard, but at least this is the last year we’ll have to do it,” she commented optimistically. He smiled, noticing her play with the necklace. He was relieved that she liked it because he had almost no idea what he was doing when he picked it out and he actually had to ask his parents for money to buy her it because he was saving his money to buy her a beautiful ring in the near future, hopefully. 

                “Woah, what’s this? A necklace? Wow, this is beautiful. Whoever gave this to you has great taste, in both necklaces and girls. Wow, only a really great guy could give you such a nice necklace,” he joked.

                She laughed and gently shook her head at him. He couldn’t help but admire how cute she looked whenever she did that. “The guy who gave this to me is really annoying,” she joked back.

                He scoffed and retorted, “Well at least I’m smart and good looking.” 

                “Ok, I’ll give you that, but your feet smell pretty bad sometimes,” she teased.

                “Whatever, Jaemi. You know you still love me anyway,” he countered.

                “Of course I do,” she replied mockingly, smiling brightly at him. He rolled his eyes and ignored her sarcastic tone. "You need to go study really well so you can hurry up and come back to me,” she added. He smiled back at her and ducked his head to kiss her. She smiled even wider into the kiss and he pulled her even closer.

                Jaemi pulled away from the kiss before it could go any further. “You’re probably going to miss your flight if you don’t leave now,” she said.

                “You’re probably right,” he agreed. He sighed and pecked her lips before adding, “I’ll miss you.”

                “I’ll miss you too, Hyuk Hyuk,” she replied. She leaned in to give him another quick kiss, but he turned his head to avoid it and jokingly said, “Wow, what’s that over there?” Jaemi smacked his shoulder and he laughed and kissed her again.

                Hongbin sat down on the floor of the practice room, too exhausted to make it to the couch on the other side of the room. All the other members went to get a drink of water or go to the bathroom. They had been practicing for hours on end for their upcoming concerts in America.

                It hadn’t even been two years since they debuted, but VIXX already had an impressive worldwide fanbsae. Even with his fatigue, Hongbin was incredibly excited to be going to the states to perform for the first time. It sincerely shocked him that people in other countries listened to their music and loved them. In the back of his mind, there was a part of him reminding himself that she told him that he’d be loved by so many other people that he wouldn’t even think of her. He tried to push the thought way back into his mind, so that he really wouldn’t be thinking about her, but he started thinking of her even more. He wished that he could just forget about her but she kept trespassing into his thoughts. He wanted to know if she ever thought about him, why she wasn’t signed under Jellyfish anymore, and how well off she was with Hyuk.

                Suddenly, his manager walked in and handed him a script. He broke out of his thoughts and read the script’s title: A Sister’s Revenge.

                “What is this? A movie?” he asked his manager.

                “It’s a drama. The director expressed interest in you for Woo Jisung. Look over the role, I think you’d do well,” his manager informed him. He nodded and flipped through the script.

                Woo Jisung was the second male lead and the love interest of Son Nayoung, the second female lead. Nayoung was the spoiled daughter of a very rich business man. Nayoung was a very smart girl and vengeful girl. She had a grudge against her older sister, Hayoung, and did a lot of things to make Hayoung’s life as nightmarish as possible. As he read on, Hongbin learned that Nayoung falls for Jisung the moment she lays eyes on him, but is ultimately crushed because he had no interest in younger girls.

                Jaemi arrived back to her luxurious apartment, which was courtesy of her sponsor. She hated every inch of the apartment. It was uninviting and cold, just like her sponsor. Her sponsor was a weird man. He was an emotionally distant man, but he did everything in his power to keep his wife and only son happy, which included “buying” her. In exchange for the high-end living space and the connections with many designers, she was forced to go on dates with his son, who was overly touchy with her. She couldn’t even understand why he liked her so much, especially when she acted so cold and rude towards him.

                She opened her nearly empty fridge, hoping that a fairy had magically filled it with delicious food. Unfortunately for her, the fridge was barren except for a banana, two sticks of celery, and a pitcher of water. She sighed and opened her wallet to see how much she had left to buy groceries. Unsurprisingly, her wallet was almost as empty as her fridge. This was her one secret that she hadn’t told anybody, not even her parents, her brother, or her boyfriend: she was broke, she was unhappy, and she couldn’t do anything about it.

                Her company strongly encouraged her to play along with her sponsor’s son so they could earn more money off of her. She had regretted switching from Jellyfish to SM every day since she signed SM’s seven year slave contract. Not only did her new company almost never allow her a day’s rest, but they also seized 70% of her already meager earnings, leaving her barely enough to cover for her personal phone bill and buy groceries, toiletries and other necessities.

                The phone her sponsor paid for started ringing. She automatically got a knot in her stomach and she prayed that it wouldn’t be Shin calling. She thanked the gods when she saw it was her friend, Joohyuk, calling.

                “Hey baby girl,” he greeted flirtatiously. He always called her that and she still couldn’t help but cringe whenever he did. “Want to get a drink at The Villa? I want to introduce somebody to you.”

                “Nam Joohyuk, how many times do I have to remind you that I have a boyfriend?” she retorted.

                “Only a million,” he replied wittily, which made her miss Hyuk’s wit and sarcasm even more than she was already. “But that’s not what I meant. Just come down to the bar as soon as you can.”

                She thought about her options: 1. Stay at home, sulk about Hyuk’s absence, and starve 2. Get a free drink from the bar with her friend. She sighed and told him she would be there in 20 minutes.

                Jaemi immediately spotted the extremely handsome model sitting at the bar. She made her way over and as soon as she sat down, Joohyuk introduced her to the man he was talking to. Jaemi timidly shook his hand, feeling uneasy about why her friend wanted to introduce her to a guy who could easily be ten years older than her.

                “Henry is trying to cast somebody to play the spoiled brat on the new MBC drama and I immediately thought of you,” Joohyuk explained to Jaemi. She rolled her eyes at him while Henry chuckled.

                “No, no, don’t get the wrong idea. The character isn’t a spoiled brat, but she is the favored daughter of a wealthy business man so he does spoil her quite a bit. The reason why I’m having trouble casting her is because, frankly, she’s quite a complex character and all the other girls who have auditioned so far downplay her as a…spoiled brat.”

                “Oh, I see. Well, um, I’m sorry but I don’t have any acting experience at all. If countless other girls who’ve studied and practiced their acting couldn’t do it, then I don’t think I’d be able to either,” she politely declined. The only time she had ever “acted” was when she was in SHINee’s music video, and all she did was walk around expressionlessly while they looked longingly at her.

The bartender set down a glass of gin and tonic water in front of her and told her that the guy sitting at the other end of the bar bought it for her. She thanked the bartender, turned around to flash the guy who bought it for her a bright smile, and then turned back around. She sipped on the drink despondently and wished that somebody would think to buy her food instead of a drink.

                Henry chuckled again, impressed with how quickly and naturally she could change her facial expression. Also judging from what Jaehyuk said about her and how she had been acting so far that night, he decided that maybe she wouldn’t be a bad choice to play the character, so he officially offered her the role.

                She knew the real reason he wanted to cast her was because of her face. She suddenly felt bad that there were dozens of other girls who legitimately wanted this role and who would most definitely do a better job than she would. She was about to courteously reject the offer when he mentioned a very large number which would be her pay. She mentally did the math and concluded that if she took this job, she would be making almost double what she was now. Without any further hesitation, she accepted the job.

                “Wonderful!” Henry cheered. He bought another round of drinks for the three of them to celebrate. They clinked glasses and drank. Henry slid the script across the table to her and told her that the first read through would within the next couple of weeks, as soon as they finalized the whole cast.

                “Oh, really? I’m so sorry but I’m going to be away for fashion week until the end of September,” she apologized, almost forgetting her main job.

                “Hey, who are you walking for this season? Are you walking for Alexander Wang again? I forgot to ask you,” Joohyuk asked her.

                “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m only walking for Alexander Wang in New York, Miu Miu in Milan, and Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent in Paris. Oh, I guess I could come back for a few days during London fashion week, but I’d have to go to Europe for the last two weeks of September, would that still work?” she asked, hoping it would work out. She already got her hopes up about having twice as much money as she had now. Henry pulled out his phone and looked at his calendar. They were scheduled to have the first couple of episodes filmed by October, but he knew the writers were behind with the scripts and they’d appreciate another week or two.

                Jaemi smiled, happy that it worked out. The three of them had another round of drinks before heading home. Jaemi devoured the banana that was left in her fridge, showered, washed her face, and brushed her teeth before deciding to pick up the script. Henry had told her that it was supposed to be a romantic comedy, but the title sounded far from that. A Sister’s Revenge? This sounds like it will at least be an interesting romance.