10 Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Hyoyoung became even redder at Kiwook's bold words. Just then, Hyojun walked out of his changing room. When he saw Kiwook grinning at a crimson-faced Hyoyoung, he frowned.

"What happened?"

Hyojun asked in an accusatory tone, and Kiwook answered, "Nothing. It's nothing you need to worry about, your sister is fine."

"She doesn't look fine."

Hyojun replied coldly, which surprised Hyoyoung. She thought to herself, 'Why is he acting all protective now? He has never been like that with me before. Why is he overreacting?'

She noticed that Kiwook seemed flustered, so she gestured for her brother to stop as she said, "Stop it, it's nothing. I made a mistake and Kiwook Oppa was just consoling me."

Kiwook looked down at her with a secret grin. Hyojun still seemed upset, but he remained silent as he tucked in his shirt. Hyoyoung, trying to diffuse the situation, walked up to her brother and tried to help him with his clothes.

"Oppa, you need to tuck it in this way…"

"I'll do it myself."

Hyojun was surprised at her help. He tried to push her hands away, but he instead unintentionally ended up slapping away her hands hard. Hyoyoung grabbed her hands in shock and looked up at him. Hyojun was also stunned as he didn't mean to use that much force.

"Uhm… I didn't mean to hit you. Does it hurt?"

Hyojun tried to hide his awkwardness, but to his words, Hyoyoung replied coldly, "Don't worry about it. It's not the first time you pushed me around. It's fine, whatever."

She became annoyed and left to help the other members. Watching her, Hyojun murmured to himself, "When did I ever push you around...? She is such a drama queen."

Hyoyoung and Hyojun argued casually and it was clear they were comfortable with each other. Kiwook watched them enviously as Jiwoo came up to him and whispered, "Your worst rival is always the one closest to you, right?"

At Jiwoo's words, which were half-joking, half-serious, Kiwook grinned.

"I know. And the worst thing is, that girl doesn't seem to even remember me. This is going to be much more difficult than I expected."

Jiwoo slapped Kiwook's back encouragingly and announced, "We are going to be late. Let's go!"

They paid quickly and got into their van.

The whole process took only two hours, but Hyoyoung felt like she had worked nonstop for 20 days. She felt out of breath and very tired.

She weakly leaned against her seat, and looking down at her, Hyojun said, "We can go do our show on our own now, Hyunsuk can do the makeup for us. We can drop you off over there, so go home and rest."

"Huh? You are just going to leave me here? You expect me to go home by myself?"

"Our show is going to take a while and waiting there for us is gonna be tiring and boring for you. I will give you some money so just take a cab home."

"But… I…"

When Hyoyoung hesitated, Kiwook interjected to help her.

"She did help us with our outfits, so maybe we should let her come with us so she can watch the show…"

Hyojun refused to listen. He interrupted Kiwook and repeated himself to Hyoyoung, "Go home. Now. It's late. Listen to your older brother."

"Fine, fine. I'll go. Happy?"

Hyojun was adamant, so Kiwook decided to stop pushing him. Hyoyoung was dropped off at the nearby bus station.

"Good luck you guys…"

Without hearing her words, Hyojun closed the van door quickly and Hyoyoung was left alone on the street.

Ding dong.

Her phone rang again and when she took it out to check, her eyes widened.

"2…83 messages?"

It was Mikyung.

She had sent 283 texts to Hyoyoung, starting with an accusation that Hyoyoung was ignoring her texts.

Hyoyoung almost dropped the phone in shock. She quickly dialed Mikyung's number, and it was answered immediately.

Mikyung screamed, "YA! What the hell?!"

"Sorry…"

"Where are you?!"

"I had an emergency at home so I had to leave right away. I couldn't wait for you because I was in such a hurry… and one thing led to another… and now I am in Apgujung…"

"What? You just said you had an emergency at home, yet you are now in Apgujung?"

"It just happened that way."

"Aran told me she saw you get into a black van and disappear. What was that about?"

"What are you talking about? She must've been mistaken. What van?"

"Oh really? Well, I guess Aran made a mistake. She did say she wasn't sure if it was you who got into the car. She said it looked like you from behind, but that girl wasn't carrying a backpack. I guess it was a different girl."

Hyoyoung felt uncomfortable during the entire conversation with Mikyung. She had never kept a secret from her best friend before, so she felt guilty about this whole situation. On top of that, she was shocked to learn that someone from her class did see her get into the van. It was a good thing Hyoyoung wore her backpack in front, underneath her coat just in case someone saw her.

This whole thing was wrong. It felt wrong. Hyoyoung wasn't used to lying, and having to keep such a big secret from Mikyung was difficult.

"So what did you do at Apgujeong?"

"Huh? Oh, I was thinking about getting a part-time job…"

"Part-time job? Are you crazy? We're in grade 12! Remember?"

"Yeah, so I decided not to do it."

"Hmm… you sound strange and suspicious. You better tell me the truth!"

"I am! Honest! I was thinking about working at a clothing store… You know I like fashion. And I thought it would be a good fit for me, but when I heard the details of the job, I realized it might be too much for me…"

"Oh, so you went for an interview? And you decided not to take the job?"

"Yup. That's it. That's exactly it!"

"Then what did you mean when you mentioned some emergency at home?"

"Oh, that… well… My brother… Uhm…"

"Your brother? Hyojun Oppa? Didn't you say he doesn't even come home often anymore? Did... did he get into some kind of trouble?"

"Well, something like that… Yeah… I-I just don't want to get into the details…"

"Alright. I understand. It's ok. I mean, it's your brother so I'm sure you don't want to talk bad about him… It's fine. Anyway, The M's live show will be in 20 minutes! Are you going to be able to make it home to watch it?"

"Yeah. I'll watch it on my phone or something."

"Hey! You sound strange again. This is THE M we're talking about and you're acting like you don't even care. What's going on with you?"

"I'm just really tired today. Anyway, I will watch the show and call you back later!"

"Hmm… something sounds fishy, but whatever. Call me!"

After the conversation, Hyoyoung sat down on the chair at the bus station. She really felt too tired and weak. She didn't know if she could make it back home at this rate.