Namjoon takes a sip of coffee as we debrief what went down at my dad's home.

"'Hyukie' must be a nickname, right? So it's definitely possible that Jung Hyukjae has a past with your father."

"And if he's a Sparked Mafia member, that could be a reason Kyung Mi is being targeted." Jimin says, turning to me.

I nod. "But if they were friends wouldn't Hyukjae want to protect me from the Sparked Mafia or something?"

"Maybe something happened between them. Soured their relationship." Jimin says solemnly.

"What could've happened that was so bad between that makes him want to harm me? And why blackmail me for money? Why not just kidnap me without me suspecting anything?" I ask, unable to stop the pool of questions leaking out of me. 

Before either of them can respond, a knock on the door sends all of us into a split-second moment of shock. I recover quickly and start to make my way to it before Jimin holds my arm and says he'll get it. "You know, just in case." He says, giving me a smile whose actual emotion I can't discern. 

He creaks open the door, and upon seeing the person on the other side, swings it open. "Jung Hye!" He says excitedly, and opens his arms for a friendly embrace. She briefly hugs him back before turning to me, and we both squeal before running into a bear hug.

"I've missed you." We say simultaneously before letting out a breath of content. 

I pull away hesitantly, not wanting to let go of the best friend who's been absent in my life for too long. "Any reason you're visiting?"

Her expression immediately sours, and she pulls out of the brace completely. "Ha Joon." She mutters before tears form in her eyes. 

"What happened?" I ask before leading her hunched shoulders to the couch. 

"We broke up." She says simply, covering her mouth with her palm to sob into it.

"Aww, honey, I'm so sorry!" I exclaim, rubbing her shoulders as a wave of sadness comes over me. 

Honestly, they were so perfect together, and if they didn't work out is love even real?

"We just...couldn't. It was too hard. We argued too much and wore each other out and it got to the point where it wasn't worth it anymore. But that doesn't mean I don't miss him like hell."

"Of course, Hye, of course. That's terrible." I comb back strands of hair from her tear stained cheeks. "I'm here for you. I'm always here for you." I pause before asking, "when did it happen?"

"A couple of days ago." Oof, a fresh wound. Poor Hye. "I was going to tell you the minute we separated, but I needed time to not completely break down when I thought about what happened. Then I thought it would just be easier to see you in person, get your comfort in real life."

I smile before giving her a tight hug as a way to reassure her reasoning for coming. 

"Umm. Hye, is it?" An awkward voice begins, and we look over to see Namjoon coming towards us. "I'm sorry about your breakup, but we're kind of in the middle of an important discussion-"

"Okay, sir, did you just break up with your childhood dream guy?"

"Uh, no."

"Is your best friend accessible and the only person you can talk to?"

"No."

"Then shut up."

I shoot Namjoon a sympathetic look before turning back to Hye. Regardless of what we were talking about before, Hye is here now and she needs me. She takes priority.

"Okay, Namjoon, Jimin, you guys can talk some more and come up with a game plan if you can. Hye and I are just going to talk some more in private, okay?"

The guys nod silently before Hye and I make our way to my room.

"Hye, I'm sorry about Ha Joon. I thought you guys held real promise."

"Me too, Jimin. Me too."

+++

I didn't expect Hye's news to become as emotional as it did. In the end we'd went through half a tissue box (mostly she to be fair) and had cried up enough tears for a river.

It wasn't that I was heartbroken by Ha Joon and Hye's romantic pursuit ending, but seeing Hye so broken, so vulnerable, so sad, pained my heart. I only ever saw her so wrecked when she recounted stories of her damned stepmother.

"Hye, I know it's hard now but you will get over this."

"It's just...he was so precious, you know? He went through all that stuff with the letter and remembering old memories to take me out on nostalgic dates, he made me feel loved, and I was comfortable around him after knowing him for so long. It was perfect until it wasn't. When I realized we were too incompatible, I didn't speak to him the whole day. That night, we discussed and came to the same conclusion I had that morning: it was too hard because we were too different. We had to split up even if neither of us wanted to."

I nod and continue to rub her back. "I know, Honey. But at least you can come out of this knowing it was mutual and you didn't leave any bitter feelings with Ha Joon. You guys can still have a friendly relationship because I know you two care for each other too much to just never see the other again."

"Yeah." She blows her nose into one more tissue before taking a deep breath and turning to me, eyes red and hair tangled. "Thanks so much for this, Kyung Mi."

"Any time, Sis." I reply before kissing her forehead. "Now go wash up. You look like you've been run over by a car."

She starts laughing before shoving me. "Bitch." She sniffles once more before making her way to the bathroom.

+++

By the time we've given Hye the summary of our discussion topic for the past few days, Namjoon turns to me.

"If Jung Hyukjae was a part of your father's childhood, and you've known Hye since you were kids-"

"Jung Hyukjae? As in, the protagonist of the lying story?" Hye pipes in and our heads shoots toward her.

"I mean, don't you remember Kyung Mi?" She turns to me and I look back at her, confused.

"No. What lying story?"

"Your dad used to tell it to us when we were, like, 6." She starts. "Basically, a man named Hyukjae entered the lottery and for some reason gave his ticket number to a friend, asking them to let him know in case he won. Well, as luck would have it, he did, but of course the person didn't tell him since they wanted to keep the money for themselves. Turns out Hyukjae had actually memorized the numbers and had set up an entire fake lottery, all to see if his friend would tell him the truth or not—and since they didn't, he never spoke to them again.

"This story was your Dad's go-to whenever he suspected either of us were lying. You don't remember?" She looks at me.

I rack through my brain, trying to catch the part that vaguely recognizes the story. "Uh, partly, but not really." I say unhappily when I can't recall Appa telling that to us.

"So then it's a dead end." Namjoon sighs. "Your father probably remembers the name because he used to tell you the story."

"But didn't he say in the letter to you that he had coffee with him?" Jimin asks, eyes lighting up. "Where's the letter?"

I scramble to get it out and we all crowd around the paper to see that, indeed, my father recently had coffee with Hyukjae.

"So Hyukjae from the lying story is a Sparked Mafia member?" Hye asks finally with a bitter look on her face. "Way to ruin my childhood."

"Humor me." Namjoon says after a moment. "I need to know for sure that our thought process is correct, and you have the ability to visit In Su, so how about we see if he can give us any information on him."

Jimin nods. "It may be a long shot considering how loyal he is, but it's worth a try."

+++

"Back again, are we? But with a posse this time." In Su declares with a sly smile, tilting his head. "So desperate once again that you came to me for information."

Us coming to In Su is reassurance to him that things are going according to plan with the Sparked Mafia, that we don't have the ability to decipher their plan.

I look at him straight in the eye, making sure my voice is level. "In Su, I'm sorry. I really am." His look shifts to interest as he raises a brow. "I'm sorry if something horrible happened in your childhood that caused you to become insane enough to join this group. I'm sorry if you think the Sparked Mafia is worth jail." He snickers but I refuse to let him talk. "And, on terms of your relationship with Jung Hyukjae-"

Bingo. As soon as I said the name, In Su's face shifted, if only for a second. He knows this man. "Oh, we already know that he's part of the Sparked Mafia." I let out a menacing laugh, hoping to intimidate him. "You think he cares that you're in jail?"

He takes the bait. "Shut up." In Su spits out with a bitter look on his face. If it wasn't clear if Hyukjae was a member before, it is now. "I refuse to talk to you anymore. Guards!"

"That's just fine, In Su. You leave now. We've gotten all we need to know." I say victoriously when he's gone. I turn to Namjoon, Jimin, and Hye, who look at me impressed, scared, and happily, respectively.

Jimin chuckles apprehensively. "That was epic and all, but I gotta say I'm a little terrified of you now."