Somehow my dad saying that in his simple way is exactly what I needed to hear. After breakfast, I gather up the courage to make my way to the villa. I have to face the girls sooner or later and I have to pick up my things. The whole walk there (all five minutes of it), I practice what I’m going to say over and over in my mind. But no matter how much I try to get the words right, I still can’t picture how the girls will react. I guess there’s only one way to find out.

As soon as I enter the villa, I can hear them chatting in the living room, dishes clattering, TV on in the background. I take a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

I step into the living room with a wave. “Hi, girls. Good morning.”

Everyone stops what they’re doing to look at me. The girls are all in their lazy-day-off morning looks, all rumpled pajamas and messy hair buns. Lizzie nudges her glasses up, raising her eyebrows.

“Looks like someone had a late night,” she says. “Are you just getting home now?”

“Yeah, Rachel, where were you?” Mina says, eyeing me over her coffee mug. She smirks. “Did you get drunk at the after-party and hook up with someone at the hotel?”

Before I can tell her that I wasn’t even at the after-party, Eunji interjects.

“Come on, Mina,” she says. “Give Rachel some credit. She would never do that to her boyfriend.”

Silence falls over the room.

Spoons drop into bowls. Eyes widen in surprise.

The only sound to be heard is a Bacchus energy-drink commercial blaring in the background.

“Boyfriend?” Sumin finally says.

Shit.

It may sound to the others like Eunji is defending me, but I can tell from the particular arch of her brow that she knows exactly what she’s doing. That she knows I’d prefer to keep my relationship with Alex private, but is spilling it to the rest of the group anyway.

“Yes, boyfriend,” I answer, though the word still feels awkward in my mouth. “His name is Alex. We met in Singapore and we’ve been talking ever since.”

“Wow,” Sunhee says, eyes bright. “I can’t believe you met him in Singapore. That’s where Jiyoon…”

Her voice trails off and she casts an apologetic glance at Jiyoon, who stiffens. She doesn’t have to finish her sentence. We all know she means that’s where Jiyoon got caught.

“So you were with a guy that night in Singapore,” Mina says with a hand on her hip. I think back to how I explained it away—getting coffee with a friend of a friend. Well, at the time, that’s all it was. But now I can see how bad it looks. Especially given what happened to Jiyoon that night.