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It felt like a match had been unintentionally tossed in a gasoline pit. Bambi had been anxious the whole ride home. No one spoke of anything. Not even mentioning their opinions on the night. It was a very uncomfortable silence. Once Jung Hee had parked the car, he was the first to head towards the apartment without even so much as waiting for Minnie or Bambi. Minnie took a brief moment to stare after her brother. Did he really have to be so immature over something he could have handled himself? Bambi could only fidget nervously.

Minnie turned to Bambi as she shut the passenger's door and smiled, placing a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "It's not you. It's Jung Hee. He's never been the type to endure his past and present all at once."

Bambi gave Minnie a confused stare. Just what did she mean by that? "He really hates Kyung-Sam, huh?"

"Oh, definitely," Minnie nodded. "We all do. I just don't want to see you get hurt anymore than Jung Hee would. I won't tell you anything to make you paranoid or have you thinking we're all out to cause more drama. However, I will tell you this…" Minnie inhaled deeply, placing both hands on Bambi's shoulders before staring into the girl's eyes. "Never be alone with Kyung-Sam in a place where we can't see you. I don't know all the details but he isn't the nicest guy in town. I trust you can be responsible but not everyone can protect themselves all the time. Okay?"

This made Bambi not want to really associate with Kyung-Sam anymore. Her face felt hot as her heart began to wildly thump against her chest – pounding so heavily that she could feel it in her throat. She could see the seriousness and heartfelt concern shining in Minnie's eyes. Again, Minnie never over exaggerated anything by much. If she was convinced that this Kyung-Sam guy was bad news, then she would willingly trust her. She held up her hand and nodded. "I swear."

"Thank you," Minnie smiled. The two gave each other a friendly hug before heading into the apartment. Jung Hee seemed to have retired since the whole facility was deathly quiet by the time they had entered. After the two had both taken separate showers, they rested in their pjs while staring up at the ceiling in silence. There would be very little sleeping tonight.

Bambi was the first to speak her mind. "Why does Jung Hee hate Kyung-Sam so much? Did he steal one of his girlfriends?"

Minnie snickered. "I told you he hasn't ever really dated before."

Bambi blinked as that comment took its time to dissolve in her mind. 'So… then is he a..?' She covered her mouth as a gasp built up. Why would that even matter to her? "So… what is the real reason, then?"

Minnie sighed. She had hoped that Bambi would find something less touchy to cover but it seemed that there was no stunting such curiosity. Bambi had a right to know. If Jung Hee would beat around the bush then it would probably be for the better if Minnie had told her in the first place. "Mun-Hee's older sister." Bambi turned her head to face Minnie from where she lay. Hearing that Mun-Hee was not an only child caught her interest. "Her name is Tiffany. She was a very bright and exciting girl. Heheh, she had swarms of guys following her home and trying to take her out on dates. Thing is she only liked one guy. That was Jung Hee."

"How come Jung Hee never gave her a chance?" That was odd. If this Tiffany chick was as amazing as Minnie made her sound, how come the two never hit it off? Bambi hoped there was more to this than a simple rejection.

"She never really opened up to Jung Hee directly. She would give him hints and try to spend time with him alone whenever it became convenient. But you know how Jung Hee is… Never really bothers to pay mind to anything that doesn't follow in his plans for the future. He never really told her yes or no – just missed the signals. After a while Tiffany became more and more infatuated with him but in the end it pushed everyone away from her. She wound up ignoring phone calls, locking herself in her room when she had no plans of seeing him, didn't bother to eat or get much exercise… She became totally anorexic. That was when Mun-Hee confronted her about how he was letting herself down by getting worked up over nothing. He hated to see her that way. So when Mun-Hee finally became of age, he told her he wanted to spend his birthday with her in the bar we went to tonight. So… you can guess who she saw then."

"Kyung-Sam?"

"Right. It seemed to go really well between them. They got along so perfectly well and spent so much time together… I had never seen Tiffany so happy before… She was practically glowing every time we saw her in public. …But one day Kyung-Sam stopped calling her. She went right back into her previous anorexic state and never left the side of her phone – always hoping each day he would try to reach her again."

"He dumped her just like that?"

"No. I'm not sure what he was up to all that time but when he contacted Tiffany again she was more than overwhelmed with joy. He told her to come and meet him somewhere one night. And for a long time, Mun-Hee never saw Tiffany for about a year and a half. It was so strange…" Minnie bit her lip hesitantly. There was more but she did not feel the least bit ready to spill anymore than she already had.

"She was okay, right? Nothing bad happened to her?"

Minnie was quiet for a long time. Bambi could not tell if Minnie had fallen asleep or if she was simply just not answering her. It was too dark to see. After what felt like forever, Minnie finally opened up again. "I don't know all the details since no one ever told me the whole story. I just know ever since then Tiffany never hung around Kyung-Sam again. In fact she would have episodes of freaking out any time anyone ever mentioned him. It was really scary… Maybe Jung Hee or Mun-Hee will tell you one day. I just don't want to fill your head with possibilities is all. Please understand…" Minnie rolled over so her back faced Bambi's. There was no more room left for such a discussion. Bambi simply accepted it and said nothing else. She waited in silence as sleep slowly fogged her weary mind. Her thoughts were plagued with cautious 'what if's' and other things Minnie had tried to avoid mentioning. In that time of obscure peace, Bambi had no idea that Minnie was dealing with hushed tears and heaving breathing on her end. The blonde prayed with all her being that history would never repeat itself on her friend. Ever.

--

By morning, Bambi was the first to wake up. It was nearly dawn since the sky had become a ghostly bluish gray from the window. Perhaps some water would do her some good… She made sure to be very careful in not waking up Minnie as she slid out the bed to wander into the kitchen. It was rather hard to see where she was going given she was still not used to the apartment and had no real idea of where the cups could be. Her grogginess soon flooded once she heard stirring in the kitchen. Bambi immediately froze in shock. Had someone broken in while she was asleep? The awful heat from before rushed through Bambi's body as her heart rate suddenly quickened. It was too had to breathe.

A few seconds later Bambi had heard some swearing and blinked. Not too long after the aroma of coffee filled the air. '…What burglar makes coffee during a klepto spree? Are the hobos in Korea so desperate?" Liking her lips nervously, the girl quietly pressed up against the wall and moved as slow as she possibly could to glance past the corner of the hallway into the kitchen. She could see the coffee pot brewing but no one seemed to be accompanying it. …Had they noticed her presence?

"Bambi?" The poor girl jumped and nearly fell backwards when a pair of arms held her up. Bambi squirmed, scared for life while flailing in this person's grasp. "Whoa, whoa whoa~! Shhh, cool it. It's just me." Bambi immediately stopped and peeking her tightly shut eyes up into the ones that belonged to none other than Jung Hee's. She smiled nervously up at him, feeling totally embarrassed for her actions.

"I didn't know you were up…" She murmured.

Jung Hee laughed softly, bringing the girl to stand on her own two feet before patting her head. "Same to you. I have to be up in a few anyway to work on a paper since I missed out last night. Erm… want some coffee?"

Bambi was very sensitive to caffeine. "I actually came down for some water…" she fidgeted. She felt completely rude for declining a kind offer from a friend that was going well out of their way to provide her with shelter after getting herself stranded. Then again, it would be too intruding to intake something that would later make her body suffer. Jung Hee nodded. He was not much of a fan for the stuff either. However, the paper would be do tomorrow and there was way too much to take care of to risk completing it later that night. He walked over to the cabinets over the sink and pulled out a glass cup, filling it with cool water before handing it to Bambi. "Here you go."

Bambi nodded thankfully before sipping the water. Jung Hee turned around to busy himself with cleaning the small mess he had apparently cursed at moments ago. Bambi observed him quietly. At least he was wearing a shirt this time. It was funny how things got to be this way. Back when it happened the first time, Bambi found it hard to work up enough nerve to visit their home ever again. Now she was a temporary roommate. She wondered if Jung Hee would make it a point to wear a shirt at all times and lock doors while she was here now?

"So how do you like Korea so far?" Bambi blinked from her thoughts.

"Oh… um… it's very interesting. I don't feel too much like a foreigner just yet," she sipped her water a little more, staring off to the side somewhere.

"That's good. Korea shouldn't be too intimidating of a place, I think," Jung Hee readied himself a cup of coffee, getting some of his preferred condiments as well.

"So… After the paper, are there any plans I should be aware of for later?"

Jung Hee paused from what he was doing. "Ah, yes. Rehearsal is in the afternoon so you can sleep in some if you want. After that, Minnie wanted me to take her to the mall to pick out an outfit for this block party going on in the weekend."

"Oooo, a block party?" Bambi's face gleamed with excitement. Watching such pure emotion well up in the girl's face made Jung Hee blush and give a tiny smile as he leaned up against the counter top behind him and stare at his feet.

"Yeah, it's an open invite so… If you want to come too, you're more than welcome."

"Awesome! I'd love to!" She honestly had no idea how happy Jung Hee was to hear that. "So is there something I should wear?"

"Whatever you want. So long as it's clothing." Not like Jung Hee would complain too much if she refused to wear anything. …In his room. Alone. With no one for miles of here.

"Great! I know just the outfit! I was going to save it for the contest but maybe something else will come up?"

"They would want all of us to wear something similar. Say if guys wore a tux, women would have to wear one too. Just… more femininely designed and revealing, you know?"

"Oh yeah? So do we have any sort of theme just yet?"

"It's still in the works I think. Even thought we really need 8 members to pull off our final blow, the whole body of the dance has had yet to be decided on. Everyone has some pretty good ideas but we haven't found the perfect one yet, I'm afraid."

"I see…" Bambi set her empty glass in the sink while looking thoughtful over the situation. To be in a music video, one would have to prove they know and are comfortable with doing more than one genre of dance. Choreography only looked simple but when you had 8 people trying to learn something in sync while adding in different flavors of personality – things could get deadly. That was a challenge that was both exciting and risky but they would have no other choice. "I'm sure we'll have it figured out soon," she smiled reassuringly.

Jung Hee found himself lost in the glow of Bambi's face. She had no idea how beautiful she really was – especially when she expressed happiness and confidence all in the same moment. He really felt now would be the best moment to let her know of this but it was late and he still had that paper. Anyone else would consider that a poor excuse not to express his feelings but he knew there would be a time better than now. "Well," he nodded, reaching for his cup of coffee beside him on the counter. "Still have that paper to write. Get some rest, okay?" Bambi nodded and headed towards Minnie's room. Jung Hee sighed as he watched her walk away. He sipped his coffee while letting himself think of the possibilities if he had confronted his feelings just then. He felt like kicking himself. There was a small chance that Bambi would return them but he would never know now since he had let her go. Why was he such a jackass when it came to being upfront and honest, anyway? Oh well… now he would be even further distracted while trying to complete his paper. He had no one better to thank than himself.

TBC…

Description
It felt like a match had been unintentionally tossed in a gasoline pit. Bambi had been anxious the whole ride home. No one spoke of anything. Not even mentioning their opinions on the night. It was a very uncomfortable silence. Once Jung Hee had parked the car, he was the first to head towards the apartment without even so much as waiting for Minnie or Bambi. Minnie took a brief moment to stare after her brother. Did he really have to be so immature over something he could have handled himself? Bambi could only fidget nervously.

Minnie turned to Bambi as she shut the passenger's door and smiled, placing a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "It's not you. It's Jung Hee. He's never been the type to endure his past and present all at once."

Bambi gave Minnie a confused stare. Just what did she mean by that? "He really hates Kyung-Sam, huh?"

"Oh, definitely," Minnie nodded. "We all do. I just don't want to see you get hurt anymore than Jung Hee would. I won't tell you anything to make you paranoid or have you thinking we're all out to cause more drama. However, I will tell you this…" Minnie inhaled deeply, placing both hands on Bambi's shoulders before staring into the girl's eyes. "Never be alone with Kyung-Sam in a place where we can't see you. I don't know all the details but he isn't the nicest guy in town. I trust you can be responsible but not everyone can protect themselves all the time. Okay?"

This made Bambi not want to really associate with Kyung-Sam anymore. Her face felt hot as her heart began to wildly thump against her chest – pounding so heavily that she could feel it in her throat. She could see the seriousness and heartfelt concern shining in Minnie's eyes. Again, Minnie never over exaggerated anything by much. If she was convinced that this Kyung-Sam guy was bad news, then she would willingly trust her. She held up her hand and nodded. "I swear."

"Thank you," Minnie smiled. The two gave each other a friendly hug before heading into the apartment. Jung Hee seemed to have retired since the whole facility was deathly quiet by the time they had entered. After the two had both taken separate showers, they rested in their pjs while staring up at the ceiling in silence. There would be very little sleeping tonight.

Bambi was the first to speak her mind. "Why does Jung Hee hate Kyung-Sam so much? Did he steal one of his girlfriends?"

Minnie snickered. "I told you he hasn't ever really dated before."

Bambi blinked as that comment took its time to dissolve in her mind. 'So… then is he a..?' She covered her mouth as a gasp built up. Why would that even matter to her? "So… what is the real reason, then?"

Minnie sighed. She had hoped that Bambi would find something less touchy to cover but it seemed that there was no stunting such curiosity. Bambi had a right to know. If Jung Hee would beat around the bush then it would probably be for the better if Minnie had told her in the first place. "Mun-Hee's older sister." Bambi turned her head to face Minnie from where she lay. Hearing that Mun-Hee was not an only child caught her interest. "Her name is Tiffany. She was a very bright and exciting girl. Heheh, she had swarms of guys following her home and trying to take her out on dates. Thing is she only liked one guy. That was Jung Hee."

"How come Jung Hee never gave her a chance?" That was odd. If this Tiffany chick was as amazing as Minnie made her sound, how come the two never hit it off? Bambi hoped there was more to this than a simple rejection.

"She never really opened up to Jung Hee directly. She would give him hints and try to spend time with him alone whenever it became convenient. But you know how Jung Hee is… Never really bothers to pay mind to anything that doesn't follow in his plans for the future. He never really told her yes or no – just missed the signals. After a while Tiffany became more and more infatuated with him but in the end it pushed everyone away from her. She wound up ignoring phone calls, locking herself in her room when she had no plans of seeing him, didn't bother to eat or get much exercise… She became totally anorexic. That was when Mun-Hee confronted her about how he was letting herself down by getting worked up over nothing. He hated to see her that way. So when Mun-Hee finally became of age, he told her he wanted to spend his birthday with her in the bar we went to tonight. So… you can guess who she saw then."

"Kyung-Sam?"

"Right. It seemed to go really well between them. They got along so perfectly well and spent so much time together… I had never seen Tiffany so happy before… She was practically glowing every time we saw her in public. …But one day Kyung-Sam stopped calling her. She went right back into her previous anorexic state and never left the side of her phone – always hoping each day he would try to reach her again."

"He dumped her just like that?"

"No. I'm not sure what he was up to all that time but when he contacted Tiffany again she was more than overwhelmed with joy. He told her to come and meet him somewhere one night. And for a long time, Mun-Hee never saw Tiffany for about a year and a half. It was so strange…" Minnie bit her lip hesitantly. There was more but she did not feel the least bit ready to spill anymore than she already had.

"She was okay, right? Nothing bad happened to her?"

Minnie was quiet for a long time. Bambi could not tell if Minnie had fallen asleep or if she was simply just not answering her. It was too dark to see. After what felt like forever, Minnie finally opened up again. "I don't know all the details since no one ever told me the whole story. I just know ever since then Tiffany never hung around Kyung-Sam again. In fact she would have episodes of freaking out any time anyone ever mentioned him. It was really scary… Maybe Jung Hee or Mun-Hee will tell you one day. I just don't want to fill your head with possibilities is all. Please understand…" Minnie rolled over so her back faced Bambi's. There was no more room left for such a discussion. Bambi simply accepted it and said nothing else. She waited in silence as sleep slowly fogged her weary mind. Her thoughts were plagued with cautious 'what if's' and other things Minnie had tried to avoid mentioning. In that time of obscure peace, Bambi had no idea that Minnie was dealing with hushed tears and heaving breathing on her end. The blonde prayed with all her being that history would never repeat itself on her friend. Ever.

--

By morning, Bambi was the first to wake up. It was nearly dawn since the sky had become a ghostly bluish gray from the window. Perhaps some water would do her some good… She made sure to be very careful in not waking up Minnie as she slid out the bed to wander into the kitchen. It was rather hard to see where she was going given she was still not used to the apartment and had no real idea of where the cups could be. Her grogginess soon flooded once she heard stirring in the kitchen. Bambi immediately froze in shock. Had someone broken in while she was asleep? The awful heat from before rushed through Bambi's body as her heart rate suddenly quickened. It was too had to breathe.

A few seconds later Bambi had heard some swearing and blinked. Not too long after the aroma of coffee filled the air. '…What burglar makes coffee during a klepto spree? Are the hobos in Korea so desperate?" Liking her lips nervously, the girl quietly pressed up against the wall and moved as slow as she possibly could to glance past the corner of the hallway into the kitchen. She could see the coffee pot brewing but no one seemed to be accompanying it. …Had they noticed her presence?

"Bambi?" The poor girl jumped and nearly fell backwards when a pair of arms held her up. Bambi squirmed, scared for life while flailing in this person's grasp. "Whoa, whoa whoa~! Shhh, cool it. It's just me." Bambi immediately stopped and peeking her tightly shut eyes up into the ones that belonged to none other than Jung Hee's. She smiled nervously up at him, feeling totally embarrassed for her actions.

"I didn't know you were up…" She murmured.

Jung Hee laughed softly, bringing the girl to stand on her own two feet before patting her head. "Same to you. I have to be up in a few anyway to work on a paper since I missed out last night. Erm… want some coffee?"

Bambi was very sensitive to caffeine. "I actually came down for some water…" she fidgeted. She felt completely rude for declining a kind offer from a friend that was going well out of their way to provide her with shelter after getting herself stranded. Then again, it would be too intruding to intake something that would later make her body suffer. Jung Hee nodded. He was not much of a fan for the stuff either. However, the paper would be do tomorrow and there was way too much to take care of to risk completing it later that night. He walked over to the cabinets over the sink and pulled out a glass cup, filling it with cool water before handing it to Bambi. "Here you go."

Bambi nodded thankfully before sipping the water. Jung Hee turned around to busy himself with cleaning the small mess he had apparently cursed at moments ago. Bambi observed him quietly. At least he was wearing a shirt this time. It was funny how things got to be this way. Back when it happened the first time, Bambi found it hard to work up enough nerve to visit their home ever again. Now she was a temporary roommate. She wondered if Jung Hee would make it a point to wear a shirt at all times and lock doors while she was here now?

"So how do you like Korea so far?" Bambi blinked from her thoughts.

"Oh… um… it's very interesting. I don't feel too much like a foreigner just yet," she sipped her water a little more, staring off to the side somewhere.

"That's good. Korea shouldn't be too intimidating of a place, I think," Jung Hee readied himself a cup of coffee, getting some of his preferred condiments as well.

"So… After the paper, are there any plans I should be aware of for later?"

Jung Hee paused from what he was doing. "Ah, yes. Rehearsal is in the afternoon so you can sleep in some if you want. After that, Minnie wanted me to take her to the mall to pick out an outfit for this block party going on in the weekend."

"Oooo, a block party?" Bambi's face gleamed with excitement. Watching such pure emotion well up in the girl's face made Jung Hee blush and give a tiny smile as he leaned up against the counter top behind him and stare at his feet.

"Yeah, it's an open invite so… If you want to come too, you're more than welcome."

"Awesome! I'd love to!" She honestly had no idea how happy Jung Hee was to hear that. "So is there something I should wear?"

"Whatever you want. So long as it's clothing." Not like Jung Hee would complain too much if she refused to wear anything. …In his room. Alone. With no one for miles of here.

"Great! I know just the outfit! I was going to save it for the contest but maybe something else will come up?"

"They would want all of us to wear something similar. Say if guys wore a tux, women would have to wear one too. Just… more femininely designed and revealing, you know?"

"Oh yeah? So do we have any sort of theme just yet?"

"It's still in the works I think. Even thought we really need 8 members to pull off our final blow, the whole body of the dance has had yet to be decided on. Everyone has some pretty good ideas but we haven't found the perfect one yet, I'm afraid."

"I see…" Bambi set her empty glass in the sink while looking thoughtful over the situation. To be in a music video, one would have to prove they know and are comfortable with doing more than one genre of dance. Choreography only looked simple but when you had 8 people trying to learn something in sync while adding in different flavors of personality – things could get deadly. That was a challenge that was both exciting and risky but they would have no other choice. "I'm sure we'll have it figured out soon," she smiled reassuringly.

Jung Hee found himself lost in the glow of Bambi's face. She had no idea how beautiful she really was – especially when she expressed happiness and confidence all in the same moment. He really felt now would be the best moment to let her know of this but it was late and he still had that paper. Anyone else would consider that a poor excuse not to express his feelings but he knew there would be a time better than now. "Well," he nodded, reaching for his cup of coffee beside him on the counter. "Still have that paper to write. Get some rest, okay?" Bambi nodded and headed towards Minnie's room. Jung Hee sighed as he watched her walk away. He sipped his coffee while letting himself think of the possibilities if he had confronted his feelings just then. He felt like kicking himself. There was a small chance that Bambi would return them but he would never know now since he had let her go. Why was he such a jackass when it came to being upfront and honest, anyway? Oh well… now he would be even further distracted while trying to complete his paper. He had no one better to thank than himself.

TBC…