Okay I need to stay calm. I just need clarification of what happened and then I’m good.

I swiped the answer key. “Hello?”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

I had asked Aeri to come over when we talked last night so now she’s here, in my house, just the two of us. It’s kind of awkward.

She’s sitting on the couch, facing the television and hugging a pillow while I’m sitting on the couch to her left. Her head was resting on her palm.

“So,” She started. “Why am I here?”

“You said you wanted to talk right?” I asked getting up and taking a seat next to her instead. She nodded. “So talk.”

She lifted her head and our eyes met for a few seconds. I couldn’t read her expression but it looks like she’s…sad. I’m getting these confused feelings again.

We were silent for a few minutes. Then, she finally spoke.

“Remember that time when you flirted with me in class?” She said, looking down again. “And then we ended up going on a date that night and the next few days too? And then by the end of the week, we did...it.”

I smirked, thinking about it. Oh yeah that was a wonderful night alright. I was surprised it took me that long to get her in bed. She was popular and I bet it wasn’t her first and all—wait, what if I was her first….?

“Oh my gosh….” I muttered. She looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. “Was I your first?!”

“Uh…”

Now it all makes sense! I was her first! That’s why she loves me. Oh man, I am screwed.

“Oh my god Aeri I didn’t know I was your first I’m so sorry I thought you were popular enough to be doing it with other guys and—“

“Do I look like a to you?” There was a hint of anger in her words.

“No no no no that’s not what I meant. I mean like it’s cause you’re hot and—“

“Jonghyun relax, you weren’t my first.” She looked at me with those innocent eyes of hers. “I wasn’t?” I asked.

She shook her head and a wave of relief flowed through me. “But you were the only other guy I’d had with after I broke up with my ex-boyfriend. He was my first. My first love, my first boyfriend…my first everything…” She whispered the last part.

. A wave of pity overflowed the relief from earlier. Drops of water fell onto the pillow on her lap. She was crying.

Why do I always make girls cry?

I removed the pillow from her lap and pulled her into my arms. She buried her head into my chest and cried softly, soaking my shirt with her tears.

“My ex-boyfriend, he passed away two years ago…in a car accident,” She said in between sobs.

“Aeri,” I rubbed her back. “I’m so sorry…”

Still leaning on my chest, she turned to the right. “You were the only guy I’d let into my life after him,” she said in between sobs. “I knew you were a player but I thought you actually felt something for me. Those dates that we went on, the phone calls….they meant something to me.”

“We have a lot in common Jonghyun; we’re both lonely,” She said. “Because of that I thought we understood each other well…I thought you could understand me well.”

This guilt could just eat me up alive. I feel like dying now. What have I done?

I lifted her chin up with my finger so she was looking up at me now. There was so much sadness written on her face and in her eyes.

her cheek, I leaned in and kissed her. I didn’t know why I did it; maybe I thought it would help remove all the sadness in her life, or at least lessen the pain she felt.

She kissed back, her lips quivering and fresh tears still falling from her eyes, wetting our lips.

I gently leaned towards her causing her to fall back onto the sofa. Maybe I was imagining it, but she seemed so tense and almost hesitant.

After a while she brought her hands up to my chest and pushed me away softly, pulling away from the kiss. “No. This is wrong. Stop,” She mumbled. “This may not be the right time but I know you’ve wanted me to clear things up. You may not like what I’m about to say….but we did have at that party.”

I stared down at her and bit my lip. Pushing myself off the couch and off her, I sat up, “We really did?”

She got up as well and nodded. “Don’t you remember anything?”

“No,” I shook my head and looked at her. “You drugged me remember?”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t myself,” She rested her hand on my shoulder. “Should I fill you in?”

I nodded. She sighed. “We were talking on the dance floor; or more like you were rejecting me and—“

“That, I remember. Skip all the way to the part where you handcuffed me,” I said. “Hey and those handcuffs hurt okay! Never again…” I pouted.

She smiled for the first time today and giggled, wiping the stains of her tears from her cheeks.

“So,” She continued. “After I handcuffed you and you finally realised what was going on, you kept begging me to stop…and I was on top of you,” She blushed.

“I’m sure you didn’t mean to enjoy it but your body proved to me that you did,” She chuckled.

Hehe. Of course my body would enjoy it. I scratched the back of my head and chuckled as well to hide my embarrassment.

“But you still didn’t stop begging me to stop so I gave you something to drink, a drink which someone had spiked earlier,” Her gaze was towards the floor the entire time.

“It took a few minutes before you got high; you didn’t pass out though. And once you were high I took advantage of that and had with you, which you more than gladly agreed to,” She looked at me again. “After the we fell asleep. And the next thing I knew you were already halfway out the door…”

I nodded slowly and pursed my lips into a thin line. So we really did have . Drugged or not, it was .

“Sorry Jonghyun, please don’t be mad at me,” She said.

“I’m not mad Aeri,” Managing a smile, I brought my hand up to her cheek and caressed it with my thumb. “But I do feel horrible right now. If I knew, I wouldn’t have even flirted with you. If anything, I should be the one apologising. I’m sorry Aeri.”

She placed her hand over mine and smiled. Even through her smile I could see so much sadness. I’m going to die of guilt.

“Jonghyun I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” She bit her lip. “Go and make up with Jinhee. I know you guys are fighting because of what I did. Please, call her and explain everything. I can even talk to her if you want me too,”

I stared into her big black eyes. How could I have not noticed how much of a nice person she is before? Am I that bad of a person that I had totally ignored her great personality and only wanted her for ?

“Hello?” A hand waving in front of my face brought me back to reality. “You okay?”

“Huh…oh sorry,” I ran a hand through my hair. “You still care about my relationship with Jinhee? You do know that means we won’t be together…”

“I know. But…” She smiled slightly and sighed, “You seem to really love her. You haven’t even slept with her and it’s been like two or three months…You care about her a lot; how could I ever compete with that?”

I pulled her into my arms again for a hug. We stayed in that position for a while, not even saying anything. She made no sound but I knew she was crying; I could feel the soaked clothing on my shoulder. My hand was simply running my hand up and down her back, comforting her.

“Promise me…” She sniffled and pushed away from me. “That you’ll go make things right okay?”

“I promise,” I nodded and wiped the tears off her face, “But not right now. She’s probably really upset. Key said I should give her time.”

“Come on,” Standing up, I held her wrist and tugged on it. “I’ll make you something to cheer you up.” I beamed.

She frowned. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“Hey! My cooking isn’t that bad….” I pouted and she laughed, throwing her head back.  “Fine. I don’t want you to die either…pizza then!”

__________

JINHEE’S POV

I hate him! I hate him. I hate him.

I hate how he thinks that he can do whatever he likes just because he’s Kim Jonghyun and girls fall head over heels for him.

I hate how he played with my feelings.

I hate how he gives me his adorable puppy eyes whenever he wants something, or when he hugs me from behind and nuzzles my neck…and when he swings our intertwined hands when we’re taking a walk….

Arghhhh stop! I can’t and won’t think about him.

Huffing out a breath and blowing a few strands of hair off my face, I stared at the blank ceiling and the paint that was already falling off. We really need to renovate our house…..

Jjong was staring at me on my right. Picking up the dino plushie, I threw it in the air and kicked it. It bounced off the wall and hit my brother, who had just entered my room, in the face.

“Nice shot,” He muttered. “You didn’t do that on purpose, did you?”

“Maybe…what do you want?” I asked grumpily.

“Ooh, someone’s in a bad mood,” he teased and picked up the plushie along the way. “Is it dino boy?”

“I don’t know,”

“Mhm,” He raised an eyebrow, “What did he do? I still have that chainsaw you know.”

“Oppa…please,” I sighed. “Just go away.”

He threw the plushie back at me and it hit me right in the face. “Just get up and let’s go to the supermarket. We’re out of food.”

“I don’t wanna,” I whined.

“Stop being a baby, Jinhee.”

“Stop being a poophead, oppa.” I snickered. Haha poophead.

“Poophead?” He crinkled his eyebrows together. “What’s a poophead?”

“Poophead is you,” I chuckled. “You are poophead.”

“Stop that!”

“Poophead.”

“Stop—“

“POOPHEAD.”

“I AM NOT A—“

“POOP.”

“APPA! JINHEE KEEPS CALLING ME A POOPHEAD!” He stomped down the stairs in frustration to while calling out for appa.

What a poophead. Hehe I like that, poophead.

I stayed there in my bed puffing my cheeks and moments later my dad appeared at my doorway. “Hi sweetheart,” He smiled. “What’s this I hear about poop?”

“Oh that,” I chuckled. “It’s your son. He’s poop.”

He chuckled as well and pulled on my hand to get me up. “Come on. Get ready and we’ll all go to the supermarket.”

“Fine,” I sighed and pouted, lifting the covers off me and sliding my feet to the floor.

“The poophead and I will be waiting downstairs,” He said before leaving. I laughed and went to the bathroom to freshen up.

But before I could even step into the room, my phone rang. I had a new text. Could it be….?

“Jonghyun?”

I ran and jumped onto my bed, making it bounce and grabbed my phone from under my pillows. It’s….Taemin.

Taemin: Sorry Jinhee. No movie today……Luna is busy with her new bff ):

Aw Taemin…

Me: It’s okay Taem…Are you okay though?

Taemin: No

Me: K

Taemin: Jinheeeeeeeee

Me: Hehehe. I’m going to the supermarket with my appa and poophead oppa. Come by my house around 2, we’ll be home by then ^^

Taemin: Yay okay! :D

__________

“I hate him,” I muttered while digging into the bag of chips Taemin and I were sharing. We were lying on the grass in my backyard, staring up at the sky.

“Yes Jinhee,” Taemin breathed. “For the 50^th time, I know, you hate him….And I hate her.”

“Who?” I munched on a fistful of chips. “Luna?”

“No! IU…” He whined. “Why are they so ridiculously close now…this is all your fault!”

“My fault? How is this, my fault?!”

“Who asked you to fall for Jonghyun hyung! She’s lost you to him,”

But I do spend time with Luna…I’m not always with Jonghyun, am I? Luna and I still talk on the phone, during lunch, after school and whenever. It’s not like I’ve completely abandoned her.

“Nonsense,” I said. “Maybe it’s IU who’s trying to steal her away from us?” That did seem true, even though I just thought of it a minute ago.

IU has always been strange. First, she showed signs of being interested in Jonghyun and now, she’s hanging out with Luna.

“Hmm, that’s possible…” Taemin mumbled. “She is a weird little girl.”

“I know right.”

Hmm. I need to keep a close eye on IU. Who knows, she may start taking Taemin away from me.

__________

NORMAL POV

Monday came and both Taemin and Jinhee dragged their feet to school, each with a bad case of Monday blues.

“I’m singing my blueeeeees~” Taemin sang monotonously, not even attempting to open his mouth and pronouncing the words properly.

Jinhee’s lips curved into a smile, silently giggling at his cute English.

“Oh look Taemin,” Jinhee said, trying to express her non-existent enthusiasm. “We’re almost there.”

“Yay.” He replied.

They were quite early today, allowing them to avoid the usual big masses of students rushing to class. Only a handful of people were there; some standing by the gates waiting for their friends and some were sitting on the stairs in front of the school doors.

School wasn’t as noisy as they usually found it. The calmness and serenity of the school’s atmosphere at this timing matched their Monday blues.

They took a seat on one of the steps leading up to the school doors. Taemin dropped his bag onto the step below and plopped down onto the cement while Jinhee took her place next to Taemin, smoothing out the back of the skirt to make sure it wasn’t crumpled before sitting down.

 After staring into space for a while, they started fidgeting in their seat. “So what are we waiting for?” Taemin said.

“I don’t know,” Jinhee looked at him and shrugged. He shrugged as well and took out his phone.

“Oh I got a text from Luna,” He said. “It says she’ll reach soon. She got caught up with something about her sister.”

“Okay, let’s just wait till she reaches and then we can go in.” Jinhee said, leaning on Taemin’s shoulder. She could feel him nodding from the slight movements of his body under her head.

Everything was peaceful for the next few minutes, until more and more students started arriving. It still wasn’t as busy as it usually is yet.

“I’ll bet you $30 that this place will be full in 5 minutes,” Jinhee said, turning to Taemin.

“I bet in 3 minutes!”

They smirked at each other and turned to their phones to look at the time.

Just as they expected, more students started piling in. Jinhee was actually enjoying this; three minutes has almost passed and the place was still not full yet, which only means that she had already won the bet.

She turned to Taemin and stuck her tongue out. “It’s not over yet! I still have 45 more seconds!” He said.

Ignoring him, she started humming to herself and subtly dancing along. “No fair…” She heard him mumble and she giggled.

She was already celebrating her small victory in her mind but it didn’t last long; not until she heard something. A sound which she was already too familiar with; the sound of a car engine. But not just any car engine. It was Jonghyun’s.

Her head snapped to the direction of the carpark where in fact, Jonghyun had just drove into. The sun’s rays reflected of the clean and shiny car, making it seem brand new.

Staring at the black metal, she sighed, realising how long it’s been since she was even anywhere near it. Not just it, but its owner as well. She saw his silhouette stirring about inside, getting ready to exit. But she also saw something else; another silhouette, from the passenger seat.

“No,” She whispered. “It couldn’t be…” She shook her head slightly and tried convincing herself otherwise.

“Hey,” Taemin placed her hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

was open but her lips wouldn’t move. Taemin followed her gaze and scanned the area before he finally found what she was gaping at.

Along with Jonghyun who had just exited the car, Aeri slipped out of the passenger side, her long, brown and wavy locks swaying every time she turned.

Taemin turned back to his best friend. “Jinhee,”

She forced a smile and suppressed the tears already forming. “I’m fine. Let’s just—let’s go.” She stuttered.

Her nodded and got up, helping her as well. By now, the whole area was full, just like what they had predicted. Everyone was walking in a single direction towards the school doors, heading for their lockers and classes.

Jinhee almost stumbled when she heard the voice of someone she hadn’t heard for more than a week now. She turned and looked over her shoulder to see Jonghyun and Aeri talking and laughing together as they walked. They hadn’t noticed her presence.

“Hey,” Taemin whispered to her. “Come on,” He placed his hand on her back and walked next to her, making sure she was alright.

But he knew she wasn’t.

Her vision was blurry. Even though she tried her best to hold in those tears, they still formed and were on the brink of falling.

With all the rushing going on around her, it just made the situation worse. She wanted to leave for home right there and then.

Just as the first teardrop fell from her eyes, a boy with messy uncombed hair, a bunch of papers in his hand and his bag hanging on his shoulder bumped right into her causing her to lose balance, face heading straight for the floor.

She felt Taemin tugging on the back of her shirt but she knew it was too late and he wouldn’t have that much strength to overcome gravity. Everything seemed to move in slow motion at that moment. Bracing herself for the landing, she closed her eyes and held her breath, placing her hands in front hoping they may lessen the impact and waited for the landing.

But it never came.

Instead, she felt a pair of arms around her torso and hot breath around her face.

“You can open your eyes now,” The voice said softly.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sorry no Luna in this chapter! SORRY! And this is such a long and boring one, right? Sigh I'm such a bad author T__T And do you guys still hate Aeri now? :3 But hmm I wonder who caught her and saved her from the fall? :P