I was sitting on a chair near the library whilst waiting for L.Joe. He was talking to some girls from our class. I didn't know what they were talking about, but I didn't care too much anyway. I just wanted to eat. I kicked my legs back and forth, staring at the ground.  L.Joe waved to them and walked over to me. I looked up and stared at the group of girls, giggling and jumping, happy they got to talk to L.Joe. "Sorry about that. We can go to the cafeteria now." I stood up from the chair and we walked from hallway to hallway, until we arrived in front of the cafeteria. Taemin waved me over and gestured me to sit with him. I beamed and nodded my head to him.

I saw Eunji already sitting at a table with a group of girls. L.Joe smiled when he saw his sister and walked over to the table she was sitting at. The girls with Eunji stared at L.Joe from head to toe. I could tell that they were checking him out. I rolled my eyes and went to the lunch line. L.Joe looked around, trying to find me. When he spotted me, he ruffled his sister's hair a bit, making sure he didn't mess her hair up too much, and walked toward the lunch line, taking a tray. "Wow. That looks pretty good." I looked beside me and found L.Joe with a mountain of food on his tray. He must have taken everything they were serving. "Hey. You know we have to pay for the food afterwards right?" He stared at my plate, then directed his attention to his own tray. "I know." I shook my head and laughed. I took my wallet out, getting ready to pay for the food, but L.Joe took it away from me. I opened my mouth in shock and stared at him. He was just smiling at me and threw my wallet in his backpack. “Hey! Are you crazy?!" "Relax. I'll pay for your food...I'll give you your wallet back after."

He took his wallet out and payed for the food. I didn’t want to argue with him because I didn’t want to make a scene and get everyone’s attention. I walked to where Taemin was sitting and sat next to him. Taemin smiled at me, but that smile faded when he saw L.Joe taking a seat beside me. "Hey, Taeman, where's Lay?" Taemin stared at me with his cheeks filled with food. "He said he had to go somewhere. He didn't really tell me where." "Oh? I see."

-----Lay-----

He stared at a photo he had in his phone and sighed. He closed his eyes, leaning back on the chair. After a few minutes, he took some papers out of his backpack and set them out in front of him. He stretched and placed his hands on the keys of the piano, playing his emotions out.

-----You-----

During physical education class, the teacher gave everyone free time. I was with L.Joe and Taemin, just standing near the basketball courts. Lay finally came out of the locker room and made his way over to us. "Hey." "Lay! Where were you?" "I was just...in the library." I looked at him, staring in his eyes. He looked sad...distant… *Idiot..L.Joe and I were just at the library earlier.* I shook the thought off my mind and suggested to play basketball. For some reason, the boys didn't even let me play with them. I was able to shoot some hoops at first, but after Lay shot some hoops, they all played as if they were in an actual basketball game. I sat down on the bleachers and shook my head in disappointment. “This isn’t a competition guys...I just wanted to shoot some hoops,” I called out to them. They were all sweating so much, but none of them backed down. Sooyoung found me sitting on the bleachers. She made her way to me and laughed. "Hey stranger!!" I looked up toward the familiar voice. “Joy!~~" "Having fun I see," she said sarcastically. "Oooohhh Yeah. So much fun."

She nudged me and sighed as she scrolled through her phone. I continued to watch the boys and some random girls began to watch as well. They all already had signs with the boys' names on it. They weren’t professionally made banners of course--it was just paper with marker writings on them. "Lay is totally going to win this!" "No!! L.Joe is going to kick their butts!" “Hey, hey ,hey! It's obvious that Taemin is going to win." The girls all argued with each other.

At the end, the boys all stopped playing and avoided each other after. I waited outside the boys' locker room for L.Joe, to go home. Eunji was talking to some guy near the girls' locker room. They looked as though they knew each other for years, even if they barely met. Some boys from my other classes found me outside the boys' locker room. They started teasing each other, hitting and pushing one another. I just smiled at them. They walked closer to me and gained composure. "Yerim..." one of the guys began. The other boys were standing back, making small squealing sounds, as they were huddled together. The guy shushed them, but they continued. "Hi!" "Yerim, I was thinking...maybe we can hang out sometime. You know, like just after school...or whenever." I smiled and the other boys made funny sounds. "That sounds great!" He jumped up and turned to the other boys in victory. I just laughed at them. Suddenly, L.Joe came out from the locker room, back from taking a short shower. His hair was still wet, but he looked great nevertheless. He shuffled his hair and the boys became silent. L.Joe smiled at me and waved to them. The boys cleared their throats and started walking away. “I’ll see you, Yerim.” The boy walked away, following his group of friends.

L.Joe’s wet hair apparently attracted girls like a bear to its honey. The girls began scattering around again. "Wooow! This is how he looks after he takes a shower!?!?" Some of them suddenly began to speak in English, in hopes to impress him. They knew L.Joe used to study in the United States. "L.Joe very good! The best! The best!" "Umm..Like a...a...Ya!--how do you say this in English?" one of the girls whispered to her friend. "Handsome!! Handsome!!" L.Joe just laughed.

We made our way to the back entryway of the school. *I can finally go home now. What a long day.* I felt really tired. I stood still, my eyes slowly closing. L.Joe and Eunji was standing next to me, waiting for the car. The car arrived a few minutes later and took us all to my house. The front gate of my house opened, allowing the car to pass through. Once I got out of the car, I ran to get inside.

I kept running, all the way to my bedroom. I plopped my face on a pillow and scram my lungs out. Right after, I turned to face the ceiling of the bedroom. Someone knocked at my door lightly. "Are you okay?" L.Joe stood outside, waiting for my reply. I wasn’t okay...nothing seemed okay. Was I really a fool for starting to like L.Joe too? I felt so lost. These feelings that I suddenly started to feel for all three boys felt so right, but I knew it was wrong. Was this normal? I sighed and sat up from my bed. "I'm okay..." I called out. “Umm...your parents wants to talk to you.” I shut my eyes and walked to the door, opening it ajar. Byunghun stood in the doorway with his phone in his hand. He held it out to me and I took it. “I’ll leave you to it.” Byunghun walked away, giving me some privacy.

I sat at a corner inside my room as I listened to my mother’s voice. My parents called to tell me about their trip that would take around three whole weeks. "Oh darling, it won't be that bad. Afterall, Byunghun and Eunji will be there with you! Mr. and Mrs. Lee will be joining us in this trip and we’d told them that you didn’t like being lonely." I groaned. *Great.* How was this going to help me? "Take care of Eunji and Byunghun! We love you honey!~" "I love you guys too..." My mom hung up. I peeked in the kitchen and found the two siblings quietly eating dinner. *I guess they knew already*

I walked inside and cleared my throat. "Hey guys...sooooo....three weeks huh.." L.Joe smiled and nodded his head slowly. I took a seat and joined them. Cabbage was already chewing on his food. After dinner, we all watched a movie together in the living room. We had nothing else to do and I remembered my mother suggest we watch a movie or play games so we’d be more comfortable around each other. It was a pretty good idea, but none of us dared to speak while the movie played. We were all too unsure whether or not it was okay to talk while watching. Eunji fell asleep halfway through the movie. When the movie finished, L.Joe carried her to one of the guest rooms. I decided to stay on the sofa a bit longer, just to kill time. L.Joe knocked on the wall of the entrance to the living room, which made me turn my attention to him. I looked up and smiled. "Goodnight." he whispered. I raised a hand and he left.

I slept on the sofa, not wanting to make any noise if I had gone upstairs to my bedroom. Hye Ja woke me up the next day to get ready for school. There was pain all over my neck, all the way down to my back, when I stretched. Eunji was on her laptop, chatting with her friends from overseas. She giggled as she tapped on the keys. I prepared quickly so I’d have a bit of extra time once I’d gotten to school. I noticed that L.Joe wasn't around and began to wonder. "Where's your brother?" I finally managed to ask Eunji. She looked away from her laptop and rolled her eyes at me. "Why do you care?....Why do you want to know?" I was taken aback from her reply. "Never mind..." She shook her head before continuing to type.

*What was that about?*  I shook it off and took an apple and an extra sandwich to bring with me to school. As I left the front door, L.Joe was headed up the front stairs. "Good morning," he chirped. "Good morning," I replied. "Eunji said she was sick, so I just left early to fetch her some medicine. I don’t think she’s attending school today." I smiled, but without much thought put into it. I began to walk, but he held my arm. I halted and stared at him. "I'll drive us to school. My father sent me my car earlier this morning." I nodded to him and waited outside. I tapped my foot on the floor, waiting for L.Joe to come out of the house. He was taking a bit long, but there was still plenty of time before school starts. After a few more minutes, he came out with a stiff, yet sad expression on his face. He drove his car up at the front and opened the car door for me, forcing a smile. It was a chrome red aventador lamborghini. It was a really nice to look at and I stared at it for quite some time, until I heard his faint laugh, which gathered me back to the real world. That was the last sound I’d heard from him until we got closer to the school. The car ride was quiet. I often found myself staring at him while he was driving. He was deep in thought. It bothered me to see him that way. I tried my best not to stare for too long, but that was rather difficult to do.

We arrived in school just about 30 minutes earlier. Even though we arrived, we both waited in the car for a bit. I stayed inside because I wasn’t sure if he needed to talk to me about whatever he had in his mind. He covered his face with his hands and threw his head back. He sighed heavily, then chuckled and shook his head. I managed to give him a smile filled with worry. "I'm sorry," he smiled back. He put his shades on and came out of the car. He opened the door for me to come out and chuckled again, slumping his leather jacket over his shoulders. The girls in the school got even wilder seeing him like that. We walked together, but none of us said a word. I found Lay stuffing his locker with books. My face finally lit up again. "Lay!" I beamed. I waved him over, not wanting to leave L.Joe behind. "Morning," Lay patted my head and smiled at L.Joe. L.Joe smiled back. It was silent again when all three of us walked together. Taemin joined a couple of minutes after.

L.Joe was quiet the whole day. It killed me inside, not knowing what was up with him. During lunch, Lay left the three of us, to go to the "library" again. And then after school, Taemin walked with me--his arms around my shoulders, talking about his dancing, as L.Joe walked in front of us with a bunch of girls trailing behind him as he made his way to his car. I surprised myself with the feeling of jealousy when L.Joe hugged one of the girls. She was one of Eunji’s friends. I’d recognized her because she was one of the girls sitting on the same lunch table as Eunji yesterday. On the other hand, I also found myself feeling butterflies in my stomach as Taemin kept his arms around my shoulders as we walked. It felt reassuring to have him by my side. I hugged Taemin and bid him goodbye as I got inside L.Joe's car.

L.Joe sped up when driving his car, which made me feel glued to the seat. We stopped by a drug store, so L.Joe could buy more medicine for his sister. Some girls from other schools checked him out, inside and outside of the drug store. He really was like a jar of honey to girls. Their eyes glued onto him wherever we went. They acted as though they didn't even see me with him. I looked around the store, purposely trying to separate myself from him. “Yerim?” I heard him call my name out, which made me feel a bit better, knowing that he was still able to take notice of me. Once back in the car, we were quiet again. It took around 15 minutes to get back to the house. I headed straight to my room to finish my homework, avoiding the two siblings. By dinner time, I made  my way downstairs to get some food. I looked around. *Seemed like all the maids left home already...* I heard L.Joe and Eunji from the living room, so I walked closer to check up on them.

"Take your medicine, Eunji," L.Joe said calmly. "No! I don't want that! That's disgusting!!" Eunji yelled. "Eunji, you're not going to get better if you don't drink the medicine!" L.Joe was losing his temper. "NO!!!!!" Eunji slapped the tray with the medicine and water out of L.Joe's hand and ran away. The tray clattered and the glass cup shattered on the floor. The medicine was spilled, slowly moving towards the puddle of water. She ran past me and slammed her door behind her, locking it. I stepped in the living room and found L.Joe on his knees. I stepped closer to him and stopped when I found shards of glass scattered on the floor. Cabbage came running to the living room. I stopped him from running closer and took him away from the living room. I came back, still finding L.Joe on his knees, surrounded by the shards of glass. I quickly took a broom and pan from the cleaning tools closet and started swiping the glass shards into the pan.

I jumped up a bit when L.Joe suddenly took my hands and stopped me from cleaning the broken glass. He took the pan and broom from me and started cleaning it himself. My eyes caught sight of the drips of blood on my hands. I wasn’t cut though...it was L.Joe's blood.

"Silence speaks when words can't."

-Ukn