A high school classroom after the end-of-day homeroom.
Sohee quickly slung her schoolbag over her shoulder.
“Sohee, after school today—”
“I have an important prior engagement today. I’ll KakaoTalk you!”
Then she left the classroom without even looking back at the boyfriend she had started dating not long ago.
When Sohee got home, she threw off her school uniform and, without a moment’s hesitation, took out the pretty clothes she had carefully kept in her closet.
“Hehe, this is kind of pretty, isn’t it? Maybe I’ll get scouted too?”
For some reason, she felt like she had to wear this outfit today.
It seemed like it would suit the occasion.
The place Sohee was going today was a café near her neighborhood.
It wasn’t particularly famous, nor was it some renowned restaurant where she needed to worry about what she was wearing.
What mattered was who she was meeting.
She was Sohee’s favorite friend—the one who had helped and given her the opportunity to become more sociable back when she had still been timid in middle school.
At last, Sohee left home and headed toward the café.
As she walked through the nearby downtown area, she could easily spot her friend here and there.
“There really are a lot of them…”
Even when she had first seen her, she had thought her looks were dazzling.
But she hadn’t expected it to become this extreme…
Actually, she had expected it a little.
There had been more than a few times when she thought Dohee was much prettier than the celebrities appearing on television, sitting right beside her in class.
And Dohee was talented, too.
No wonder all these companies wanted to use Dohee as their model.
Even the beauty store right in front of her had two posters, one for basic skincare products and one for color cosmetics, each from a different company.
The optician’s and contact-lens shops over there had photos emphasizing her clear eyes, giving her a pure and innocent look.
The outdoor store had a huge sheet poster featuring her in a stylish full-body model shoot.
And the popular chicken restaurant had a group poster of her together with the members of Seven.
“That one will be coming down soon, right? Seven’s promotions are over.”
Anyway, apart from luxury-brand advertisements, Dohee had become a model for nearly every kind of commercial top idols were likely to appear in.
‘But isn’t she going to do luxury-brand ads…? Luxury brands and phones are the flowers of celebrity advertising, after all…’
In any case, with Dohee becoming that famous and busy, every promise to meet her had turned into a major event that might happen only once a year.
So Sohee hurried her steps and ran to the café.
She soon spotted her friend.
In a corner seat sat Sujin, whom she still often saw at school.
And beside her was a girl dressed suspiciously enough to attract anyone’s attention, wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap pulled low over her face.
She was wearing school gym clothes, though.
‘I took the trouble to dress up in something pretty…’
Sohee felt a little disappointed, but she was happy to see them regardless and scampered over to the table.
Then she tried to call out Dohee’s name.
“Do—”
‘Oh, no!’
If she called her Dohee, people might recognize her.
Thoughtful as ever, Sohee decided to call her by her nickname instead.
“Rahi! I’m here!”
And the moment Sohee sat down, she received a death threat.
“Want to die?”
* * *
“Gasp…”
“I haven’t seen you in a while, Sohee. You’ve gotten even more impertinent, haven’t you?”
“No! Nooo!”
I put Sohee, who had picked a fight with me by calling me Rahi out of nowhere, in a headlock and punished her for it.
“So, how have you two been lately?”
Sohee, clutching her head, stuck out her lower lip and grumbled.
In a small voice.
“I only called you that because I was worried someone might recognize you if I said Dohee… Jeez…”
I took off my sunglasses and put them away.
“There aren’t even many people here. What are you worried about?”
Sohee stretched out her hand and pointed toward the table diagonally across from us.
“The man sitting over there…!”
“He’s my manager.”
“Gasp…”
What, did she think I had come here alone?
I had come straight from school.
My manager had driven me here.
Even so, Sohee continued to grumble.
“I was so excited to meet Dohee that I even changed into pretty clothes… and she just threw on her gym uniform…”
Apparently, she felt it was unfair.
“On top of that, I gave up a date because my boyfriend asked to meet me… Jeez…”
—Pffft!
I had been sucking on my drink when I accidentally sprayed it out and stared at Sohee in surprise.
“What? Boyfriend?”
That tiny, little-animal-like Sohee?
That pure and timid girl?
Had Sohee, who had appeared in my dream with her hair dyed blond not long ago, been a prophetic dream?
Was Sohee going to become a beach too?
‘Ah, she isn’t becoming a beach. She just got a boyfriend.’
The image I had seen in my dream had been so shocking that I started spouting nonsense.
In any case, Sujin, who must have already known, calmly sipped her drink before looking at me and shaking her head.
“See? Dohee really doesn’t care about us. What’s the point of us talking in the group chat every day? She doesn’t even pay attention.”
“No, it’s just that there were over three hundred KakaoTalk messages, so I only looked at the very bottom.”
“That means you don’t care.”
“No, I’m like that even with the members of Seven.”
“Then I guess you don’t care about the members of Seven either. How heartless, Lee Dohee.”
“Of course I care. I’m like that with my mom too, you know?”
Of course, there was no way my messages with Mom would pile up like that.
“…Really?”
Sujin’s eyes narrowed.
“Yes, really.”
“Then you’re an unfilial daughter.”
“Eh…?”
It seemed that Sohee and Sujin, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, had lost some of their old charm…
Growing up during adolescence really was frightening.
Anyway, once the two of them finally understood, they stopped sulking.
The brazen Sohee began bragging that she had been dating her boyfriend for about two weeks.
“Oh, really? That’s amazing.”
Still, Sohee’s expression looked quite happy as she bragged, so I did my best to give her all the enthusiastic sympathy I could.
“Good for you~”
It wasn’t as if I could tell her to break up with him.
No matter how much I cherished her as a younger-sister-like friend, as much as Doa, she wasn’t actually my sister.
If it were Doa, she would have told her to break up with him immediately.
She wouldn’t have let them start dating in the first place.
Come to think of it, that reminded me of my piano teacher.
I should contact her later and go visit her sometime.
“So what about you, Dohee? You don’t have a boyfriend?”
Sujin, who had been chiming in with Sohee, now asked me with shining eyes.
“That’s right, Dohee! Do you have one!?”
“Would I?”
“What? I heard idols date all the time…”
“Maybe not all the time, but everyone who wants to date does. They just do it secretly.”
“Oh my gosh, then who’s dating? Can’t you tell me if you know someone? I’m curious.”
There were a few rumors I had heard.
For instance, people said that Minju unnie from Navia, whom I had gotten somewhat close to after performing a special stage together at the first year-end awards show, was dating someone from JS’s boy group Paramax.
Or that Ina from 3M, which had the best results among the fourth-generation girl groups after us and Seven, was dating some male actor.
Still, there was no reason for me to go around blabbing about it myself.
It was their private life, and I wasn’t a fan who would feel betrayed by it.
“I don’t really know either. They do it while hiding it, so how would I know?”
“Aww… Then what about the members of Seven?”
“They weren’t dating anyone. Newcomers have a dating-ban period, to begin with. Well, there were people who asked for our phone numbers, though…”
Sujin cut me off and leaned her face close to mine.
“Phone numbers!? Then which guys asked you for yours, Dohee!? How did they ask!?”
“…Well, some people asked if they could have my number while filming a challenge, and some just handed me notes out of nowhere.”
They might have only wanted to become friends.
But if we weren’t even filming a program together, there was no other reason they would do that.
“How many? How many people asked you?”
Hmm… That guy, and the one I met at the awards ceremony…
And the guy I filmed the challenge with.
Come to think of it, I had only been a middle school student until last year. What on earth were those guys thinking, asking for my number?
“I don’t know, one or two? I don’t remember.”
“What do you mean~ Tell us already~”
“Yeah, tell ussss~”
The two of them started tugging on my gym-uniform sleeve and whining.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth, like watching daughters who had just discovered the opposite sex.
They used to be little kids who only knew me…
Ah, Sujin had been interested in boys even back in elementary school.
Sujin didn’t count.
“Oh, and you know that guy? Baek Hwi! He’s really popular with the Inners too!”
“So what?”
I had intended to indulge them in everything today since we were meeting after such a long time.
But already, I was starting to wish they would just shut up.
* * *
After my short vacation ended, it was time to leave home again and move into the company dormitory.
I had barely finished packing and moving out of Seven’s dormitory, so why did I have to pack again and move into another dorm?
“Did you pack everything?”
“Yeah, more or less. If I’m missing anything, I can just take something from Kim Seoyun when I get there.”
Mom looked at me as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Why are you calling your unnie Kim Seoyun?”
Ah, that was what she meant?
“She spoke informally to me first.”
“……?”
“What?”
Mom let out a deep sigh.
“Anyway, listen to your unnies when you get there, and work hard.”
“Have I ever not worked hard?”
“Listen to your unnies.”
As she spoke, Mom stealthily opened my suitcase and slipped in a dress she liked.
“I’m asking if I’ve ever not worked hard.”
I pulled the dress back out of the suitcase.
It wasn’t to my taste anyway, so I wouldn’t wear it as casual clothing.
Whenever I had a schedule, the stylists would choose my clothes for me.
“Good grief. You really don’t listen to your unnies at all.”
When Mom made a show of trying to put the dress back in, I subtly changed the subject.
“But Mom, aren’t you going to move? You said before that you might buy a house with my money.”
But Mom just shook her head as she continued folding the dress and putting it away.
“No, it seems like too much trouble to move, so I’m not going to~”
That didn’t work.
I’d just give it to Kim Seoyun as a present.
Though I wasn’t sure if it would fit her height or size.
Or should I give it to Uah unnie?
It would probably fit her height…
But I felt a little bad giving it to Uah unnie as if I were throwing it away.
“You’re sure? I really don’t mind.”
Mom chuckled and tugged on my nose.
“How could we move away when this house is full of memories with your father and our daughters? I only said we should move because I was worried about your privacy and safety~”
“Wow, Mom. That was kind of touching.”
“Of course~ Mom is always thinking about her daughters~”
“Okay, then since I’m living in the dorm anyway, let’s just pretend this never happened.”
Once I left the dormitory later, we could move then.
This time, I was going to buy a good piano with the money I’d saved. Hehe.
“More importantly, since our daughter saved some money, should we buy her a bag~?”
“……”
“……”
“……”
“I’m not buying one, you little brat.”
I quickly left the room with my suitcase.
“I’m heading out, okay?”
“…When will you come back?”
Then I saw Doa, looking sulky.
She seemed to think I wouldn’t be coming home for a long time, just like when I had been promoting with Seven.
I really hadn’t had any time off back then.
Even though that had been an exceptional case.
This time, I was naturally planning to receive about one day off every two weeks and come home regularly.
“I don’t know~ I’m not sure.”
Even so, Doa was so cute when she showed all her disappointment and sadness plainly on her face that I didn’t want to tell her.
She’d be even happier if I surprised her by coming home halfway through, right?
“Dohee, Dad is waiting downstairs~”
“Oh, I’m coming~”
I left the house while pretending not to care, and later Mom told me that Doa had buried her face in her pillow and quietly cried.
No matter how much she pretended to be cool, I really couldn’t help finding Doa adorable when she was like that inside.
I’d have to buy her a whole bunch of presents she would like when I came back in two weeks.
But she wouldn’t only be happy about the presents, right?