Meanwhile, Kyungwon, Minkyung and Jiaqi are sunbathing. Jiaqi dozes off while Kyungwon is observing Eunwoo.

“Minky ah, do you think Eunwoo will mess up the plan?”

“...Because I’m not surprised if she does! That’s why I have to help her when she started this whole thing.”

Kyungwon did not receive any response from Minkyung. She then turned to see the latter staring at nowhere, frowning and sighing.

Kyungwon smacks Minkyung hard, “Yah! We’re at the beach, Miss Kim. What’s wrong with you? You’re even greyer than the clouds up there!” Minkyung just sighs in reply.

“Come on, I know you are worrying about whatever that jerk will do, but to be very honest, it really depends on you...If you deal with the two of them properly, nothing wrong will happen.”

Minkyung finally opens , “I’m fine dealing with him alone, but I can’t really control him. You know he has this irritating ability to make people uncomfortable.” 

“I know he’s annoying. You see, I can’t believe he still has this audacity to ask you out after you gave him that great slap on his face in front of everybody.”

“He deserves it.”

“Uh huh, and he’s now a FRIEND of yours. I can’t believe how you could still be friends with such an annoying person after he did something that disgusting. He was simply deceiving you then.”

“Let’s not talk about that day, okay? It’s not my concern now.”

Kyungwon looks at Minkyung, disgusted, “No, that’s OUR concern. You shouldn’t have forgiven him for his disrespectful act. Then, there wouldn’t be any problems now.”

“It’s because our parents know each other. I had no way but to forgive him...and besides, he did treat me better after then…” Minkyung tries to defend herself.

Kyungwon is pissed, “So are you telling me that there’s a possibility that you like him?”

“NO! I like your sister only. It’s just he did helped me get rid off that Kangnam jerk when he threatened me to go on a date with him. I guess we can still be friends.”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE HELPING HIM,” Kyungwon shouted in disbelief. 

Jiaqi slowly rubs her eyes and woke up. “What’s wrong? You scared me.”

“Jiejie, I’m sorry,” Kyungwon pouts, “Just got angry because Kim Minkyung is so stubborn and stupid.”

She continued, “It was obvious that he helped you out because he wanted to make sure there are no admirers of yours, so that you won’t be taken by anyone else.” 

“I rejected him for 3 years.”

“Sorry, but he is so arrogant that he still thinks that you will choose him one day because you will have nobody to choose and you will understand his charm,” Kyungwon pretends to puke, “You and Yebin are so obvious that even a dumb like Eunwoo can smell something fishy. He will annoy her for sure and the only thing you can do is to confess to Yebin and shut him up but you do not have that courage to do so.” 

Silence is the best response for Minkyung since it is true that she does not have the courage to go a step further with Yebin to make Jun shut up.

Sometimes being courageous means you have to give up something. And Minkyung is too kind too give up anything at the moment.

------------------------------------------------------

Jiaqi’s stay was shorter than what Kyungwon expected. Kyungwon’s plan to give Jiaqi a necklace on the day she leave Korea and confess to her had a problem because she was forced to participate in a camp on the same day. Kyungwon tried to come up an escape plan in the camp but it failed as she was caught by the teacher in charge in camp.

Sometimes, trying to solve problems does sounds brave but you have to admit it may not be useful. 

As for Yebin and Minkyung, each holding back their own concerns in their heart, they have been like usual, chattering and joking around as if the problematic June would never come. Their own little bits start to pile up in their hearts again like days they had in Australia.

Avoiding problems does sound like a coward but you have to admit it is useful.

June finally came and to Minkyung’s delight, Jun has yet to arrive.

After school date is not something new to Yebin and Minkyung, but this is the first time Yebin asks Minkyung for a after school movie date. It can be easily seen that Minkyung is overjoyed by how excited she is when the last bell rung and she shovels everything into her bag, flings it and pops it in front of Yebin.

“Let’s go!!!”
 

Yebin is surprised by the hyped Minkyung, “Wait, just a moment, unnie! Why are you so quick?” Yebin puts her assignments inside her file bag and packs her stationery into her pencil box. As she puts the pencil box into her bag and zips the zipper, Minkyung grabs her bag and flings it to her shoulder.

“Let’s gooooo!” Minkyung grabs Yebin’s hand, pulling her out of the classroom. Yebin laughs as she tries to take her bag off the taller one’s shoulder (and she failed, of course).

“Unnie, give me back my bag,” Yebin pouts.

“You’re too slow, Yebs,” she pauses as she stops, still holding Yebin’s hand, “And too short.”

Yebin could only defend herself with a ‘Hey!’ as Minkyung holds her hand and rushes to the gate, forcing Yebin to run as well. 

The girls keep giggling as they run out of the campus, with Yebin finally taking back her bag successfully at the gate. Minkyung grabs Yebin’s hand again as Minkyung pulled Yebin so that they can walk faster and cross the traffic light. 

As they crossed the light and turned at the corner, a tall male figure who is silently observing them on the other side of the campus approaches the pair right in front of them.

“Minkyung,” a deep but gentle voice, projected right in front of them, stops the footsteps of the pair.

Minkyung stops laughing. Her giggle and her eye smile is being replaced by an unreadable expression and a slight frown as she looks up at the guy in front of them.

Yebin follows the direction where Minkyung is staring at. She is stunned by the visual of the guy in front of them. Yebin scans him, quickly noticing that the guy in front does not only have attractive visuals but also a very nice proportion. By her instinct, she knows this is the person she long-awaited to see. Yebin imagines Minkyung standing right beside him, and her first thought is that they look great as a couple, which ached Yebin’s heart.

“Minky, it’s been awhile.” The handsome guy showed a bright smile on his face as he sees Minkyung.

Minky.

Yebin did not know whether it is a stab or a strangle, but in any way the name showed how close the two can be. Yebin tastes the bitterness of jealousy at her tongue. Yebin imagined for a thousand times how they will first meet but doing so does not make Yebin, who finally sees the reality she thought of, any better. She knows she does not have the right to feel pain because Minkyung was never hers, before and after, but she just can’t control herself.

Yebin peeps at Minkyung as she stays quiet with that totally unreadable expression on her face and this whole situation made Yebin very very uncomfortable.

“Don’t look like we have not seen each other for years, it’s just 3 to 4 months, in fact,” Minkyung finally replied.

“Can you be a bit more welcoming? I’ve just landed here 2 or 3 hours.”

Minkyung remains poker face as she answers him. “Oh really? Do I sound interested? You should have contacted me instead of popping up from nowhere. It’s a matter of manners. And may I just ask why are you here blocking my way and ruining my date? I’m obviously busy right now.” Minkyung held Yebin’s hand even tighter as she tries to pull Yebin towards her but failed because Yebin is standing like a rock and swimming in her on thoughts. 

Pain, we should say.

“Date?” the guy bewilderedly laughed and turns to look at Yebin. “My oh my, I’m so sorry for neglecting you. My name is Jun Wen. I apologize for being this rude the first time we met, but I guess I have to take Minkyung away,” he emphasizes the last few words, hoping to test Yebin’s reaction.

But before Yebin reacts, Minkyung snorts aloud and speaks up, “Who are you and why do you have to take me away?”

“Oh, sorry. Your mother told me that she whatsapped you about our dinner tonight. She told me it would be best if we could have a talk before dinner.”

“I’m not believing you..” Minkyung mumbles as she turns on her phone to check her messages. After the phone had , her mother’s message popped up:

mama: oh minky baby, i think i’ve forgot to tell you that Jun is coming back today. we will be having dinner together. if possible, come back earlier so that we can have a quick chat...but Jun has just left our house just now. i think he went to your school to pick you up. 

Yebin and Jun stares at Minkyung, one looking lost and uneasy and one with a smile of victory.

“My mom says IF POSSIBLE. Obviously, it’s not possible because I’m going on a movie date and I’ll explain to her myself.”

Yebin feels uneasy as if she is the one making Minkyung uneasy and difficult, not to mention that she already had no mood going on a movie DATE with Minkyung because the guy standing opposite should be the one who DATES Minkyung and she should stop DATING Minkyung. She pulls Minkyung’s sleeves, “Minkyung unnie, I’m okay with not watching the movie today. It’s not nice for your guest to wait for you that long.” 

Minkyung looks at Yebin’s eyes softly and shakes her head, signalling her not to surrender.

“It’s not good for your mom to wait.”

“My dear, she won’t really care,” Minkyung’s tone softens a bit and bitterly smile seeing Yebin being so considerate always.

“It’s still the best for you to go home.”

Jun carefully observes how Minkyung replies the shorter girl especially when Minkyung brushes her hair and pats her head. He sees how gentle Minkyung is when handling with the younger girl. 

“I thought you said you will be busy for the upcoming days.”

“We can watch it during the upcoming week, or the upcoming month!” Yebin gives Minkyung a reassuring smile. She said this just to hope Minkyung would let her go as soon as possible, leaving her from these uneasy spot so that she can be alone. Yebin, deep inside, in fact, had no plans for a movie date with Minkyung again.

Jun, who is interested and fascinated seeing such a Minkyung (because Minkyung seldom treats people like a baby), had a new, kind of evil thought in mind. 

“Minky-ah, can we leave now?” 

Minkyung gives a small peck on Yebin’s head as she apologetically and unwillingly sends the younger girl away, who left at the opposite side they were originally heading to. As she had gotten on the bus, she recalled how Jun tried to give a surprise to Minkyung and how Minkyung could not react and got a bit annoyed because of Jun’s mischief. She deeply sighed how cute the situation could have been if only she was not there to ruin the scene.

Minkyung turns to see the tall guy smiling widely beside her, finally showing her rage, “To be honest, you could have contacted me, instead of popping out from nowhere, saying ‘I have to take you away’. It’s a matter of manners.”

“Oh Minky, you don’t have to repeat what you have just said,” Jun did not really listen as he was trying to track Yebin. 

“YAH!” Minkyung rolls her eyes, “I told you not to call me Minky in front of my friends. They don’t know people in Australia all called me like that. Minky sounds too close for them and people misunderstands…”

“And you especially did not want that girl to misunderstand. Am I right? That girl is Kyungwon’s sister if I did not get wrong. You know I stalked you all. You are very close with her. Her name is Yebin, right?” Jun smirked.

Minkyung  grumply turns back and walks toward the bus station because she is simply annoyed and she does not want to reply anymore. 

Jun chases Minkyung within a few strands and he continues, “Silence means yes. I think you had known her before Kyungwon left school. You like her since then?” Minkyung again ignores the question. 

“So this is the reason why you rejected me for 3 years..Hmmm...interesting...” Jun raises his eyebrows. “I’m ready for the drama. Guess something has to end.”

Minkyung suddenly stops and warns Jun, “Do not bother her,” she continues, “And no, even if I did not know her, I would reject you still.”

“I wonder whether you can be this firm after two weeks,” Jun chuckles.

Jun’s unpredictable actions always bother Minkyung. Minkyung is having a headache because everything has gone too wrong since the start.