Narrator’s POV

When Jonghyun woke up the next morning he felt like he had just been run over by a car. He couldn’t remember when he’d finally fallen asleep but it surely hadn’t been before four in the morning…

Still drowsy he reached for his cell phone and turned it one to check the time. Weird… he couldn’t remember having turned it off…?

“What the ?!!! Ten o’clock already?!!!” He jumped off the bed. Didn’t he set the alarm on half past six last night?! Now, he missed half of SHINee’s morning schedule!!! And until he got there it would already be lunch time…!!! Their manager was going to kill him!!

He sighed frustrated and slurped to the kitchen. When he opened the refrigerator to get out his breakfast a neon green sticky note caught his attention.

Morning~! Hope you had a good rest! ^^

I’m sorry for turning off your phone but it kept on ringing but you just wouldn’t wake up… And you looked so tired… So I just… well, sorry!!! >_<

Hope you don’t have something important on this morning…! ((Besides, sleep is most important anyway… ^^))

Have a nice day!!! :DD

So, it had been Ghosty who had shut off his cell phone… That girl really knew no shame, eh?

But strangely he didn’t feel offended. Ghosty – or rather her cat – had turned his apartment upside down, she had clung to him in her sleep and caused him to be awake for almost the whole night, and now she even touched his sacred cell phone!

But he didn’t feel offended… Just what was wrong with him lately?

-------

Hyo Rin stared at the guy sitting opposite her in awe and disbelieve. Her brain had just proven what she'd been suspecting for ages: excessive exposure to incompetent teaching personnel teaching uninteresting matter causes one's brain cells to deteriorate and malfunction!

Because what else would have made her mind produce such realistic hallucinations of an unearthly gorgeous creature as HIM asking her out for lunch?!

“So, how was the lecture? Interesting?” The creature tried to get the conversation going and flashed one of its dazzling smiles.

“Eh, what?” Hyo Rin had been too busy staring at his perfect complexion to hear the question. Didn't hallucinations usually stay mute?

“I wondered whether the lecture had been interesting…?” The hallucination repeated amused.

“Oh, that… no, it was boring…” Hyo Rin decided to play along. If she was already given this beautiful dream, it would be a waste not to savour it to the fullest!

Just imagine! You’re walking out of your lecture massaging your rumbling stomach and already dreading the long queue in front of the cafeteria, when a complete stranger wrapped up in a thick scarf and huge sunglasses steps in your way. You eye him suspiciously but before you get to say anything he asks: “Um, excuse me, but you are , am I right?”

Other students passing by are giving him weird looks but he seems used to it. And as soon as you nod your head in affirmation, he already asks the next question.

“Perfect. Then, would you let me take you out for lunch? I’d like to ask you for a favour…”

Of course, you intend to reject him. I mean, you can’t even see his face for heaven’s sake!

But then he discretely pulls his scarf down a little and the sunglasses up and flashes his white teeth at you. And guess what; turns out he is the one very VERY famous guy who’s face is all over your bedroom walls, on most covers of your CD collection, and in your head at LEAST multiple times a day!!

Jonghyun’s index finger had just been in time to prevent Hyo Rin’s ear-shattering fangirl-scream. He’d quickly put it on her lips and had flashed another killer smile. “Shhhhh! No scandal, if possible. Oh?” He’d shushed her expertly.

Hyo Rin had just nodded. I mean, who could refuse that smile anything?

“Great! When would it be comfortable for you?”

“Right now?” Hyo Rin had whispered still in a daze.

“Sure.”

Jonghyun had then brought her to the same café he had met with Ha Neul the day before and asked her to choose something from the menu. Hyo Rin just picked the first dish that her eyes fell upon. The shop ahjmma took the order diligently but it was obvious that she was unhappy with the scene in front of her. She then walked away to serve the other guests but kept on observing the two closely.

While waiting for the food Jonghyun tried to ease the atmosphere by talking about Hyo Rin’s lectures. But Hyo Rin was still convinced that this was not real and kept staring at his face with dreamy eyes.

“Um, is there something on my face?” Jonghyun then asked innocently even though he was perfectly aware as to why she acted that way.

“I’m dreaming about THE Bling Bling Jonghyun treating me to lunch! I’m sorry, hallucination, but I’m gonna keep staring at you until you disappear…!” Hyo Rin stated dead serious.

“Hahahahahah, this is the first time I’ve been mistaken for a hallucination…!”

“Mistaken?” Hyo Rin frowned but then her eyes widened. “Wai… Wait! You’re not saying…?!” Finally, reality was dawning on her too…

“Yup,” Jonghyun grinned. “Nice to make you’re acquaintance, Miss Park Hyo Rin! My name is Kim Jonghyun. Also known as Bling Bling Jonghyun or Jjong.”

“No way…!” Hyo Rin breathed. “That’s… I… OMGGGG!!! Can I have your signature?”

Jonghyun laughed at her sudden change in attitude. “Sure!”

He pulled out a pen and reached out to write his name on Hyo Rin’s forearm as that was the nearest writable surface available. But just as the pen was about to touch her arm, he stopped. “You don’t mind if I write it there, right?” He questioned remembering Ha Neul’s reaction when he’d wanted to do that to her. Who knows, how much of her weirdness she’d already managed to spread to her beautiful friend…! When even he was getting affected after already a few weeks!

But, of course, Hyo Rin didn’t mind. On the contrary, she felt like this was her birthday, Christmas, and Easter all together…!

She secretly checked her ICE phone numbers in case her heart won’t be able to take it anymore. I mean hello?! This was like a private fan session!!! Or even… like a… breathe in, breathe out! Date!!! Fangirl heart attack, anyone???!!!!

-----

After Hyo Rin had asked Jonghyun all questions she could possibly think of and Jonghyun had done his best to stifle Hyo Rin’s countless attention-catching fangirl-eruptions, he finally managed to direct the conversation towards the topic for which he went through all this trouble. Or more like Hyo Rin had run out of questions to ask him and thus remembered that he’d said he wanted to ask her a favour.

 “Um, so, what gives me the honour of having you treating me to lunch? Is it because of Ha Neul-ah? That’s the only connection between us that I can think of…”

“Well, about that—“

“Here’s your food. Please enjoy.” The shop ahjumma just then appeared beside their table, gave both Jonghyun and Hyo Rin a disapproving look, put the plates down, and walked away again.

Hyo Rin looked after her confused. “What’s wrong with her today? She normally isn’t that cold…?”

When they entered the café as well; Hyo Rin had not missed the disapproving look the ahjumma had sent her companion. Her face had lit up when she’d seen Jonghyun stepping through the door. But as soon as her eyes had fallen upon Hyo Rin, disappointment had overshadowed it. As if she was expecting someone else... And earlier, when she'd taken their orders again. If Hyo Rin hadn't known that this ahjumma for years, she'd seriously think that she wasn't welcome anymore...!

“I believe she thinks I’m cheating on Gh-Ha Neul with you…” Jonghyun mumbled and took a bite. “Hmmm! Delicious as always!”

Ka-chirrrr!

Hyo Rin lost her grip on the spoon and it noisily fell onto her plate.

“You WHAT?!” Hyo Rin couldn’t believe her ears. He didn’t just say what she thought he said, right?!!! “Cheating?! You mean… you and Ha Neul-ah… are… D-DATING??!!!”

Jonghyun almost spit everything across the table. “D-cough-DATING??!!! Cough-cough! Me-cough and that Gho-cough-cough-Ha Neul??!!! Of course not!!” He swallowed and wiped his mouth.

“But—“

“Please let me explain,” he raised his hand and Hyo Rin nodded. “It’s nothing big, actually… It’s just that Ha Neul brought me here before because she probably thought that I wouldn’t be recognised that fast here. But somehow that ahjumma just decided that we were dating on her own… Although we clearly said we weren’t!” Jonghyun frowned remembering all the things that ahjumma had forced him to do because she falsely assumed that they were going out! As soon as he had gotten home that day, he’d thrown that horrid piece of cloth in the far back of his apartment!

Hyo Rin stared at him stunned. Nothing big, my ! She thought. Do you know what it means for Ha Neul to show this place to you?! This place is very precious to her! Her bringing you here – for which reason whatsoever –, it means that she trusts you a lot! It means that she believes that you will never use this place to meet her when she doesn’t want to see you! It means that she believes that you will never give her a reason not to return to this place because she fears she might run into you here!!

And here I though she despised this guy with her guts!

“Ha Neul brought you here?” Hyo Rin thus inquired. “Why?”

“Err, because we work at the same company… I had lost my disguise so I had asked her to help me out.” Even Jonghyun himself found this a rather weak excuse. “I had coincidently met her on our way to work… She really saved me back there! Because else I would have had to ask the company to come and get me and that would have gotten me a rather uncomfortable scolding and—”

“Okay, I got it!” Hyo Rin cut him off. “So, why were you looking for me?” She’d picked up her spoon again and stirred her soup.

“Um, because there’s this one thing I’ve been curious about lately and I hoped you would know the answer…”

Hyo Rin looked up surprised. “Me? To something YOU want to know?! I doubt it… But if I can help, sure!” She smiled encouragingly. “What is it about then?”

“I’ll ask straight out then…” Hyo Rin nodded and Jonghyun drew a deep breath. “Why is it that Ha Neul hates the phrase ‘must have paid’?”

This time it is Hyo Rin’s turn to choke on her food. “You asked what?!” She coughed completely flabbergasted. “How do you even know this?!”

“Well, there was a little incident; someone said something similar and Ha Neul threw a fit. Anyway, do you know the reason why? And if yes, can you tell me?” Jonghyun looked at her expectantly. Somehow this was more important to him than he had initially thought…

“I do know,” Hyo Rin slowly said and Jonghyuns face lit up. “But I can’t tell you.”

Immediately, his face fell again. “Why?” He frowned.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t.” Hyo Rin observed Jonghyun’s reaction with increasing amazement. He seemed more dejected by her refusal than what should be expected. Is their relationship really just working at the same company? Hyo Rin suddenly wondered. Isn’t he a little too interested for that…?

“Why not? I promise I won’t tell anyone! Ever!” Jonghyun leaned towards her, gazed deep into her eyes, and flashed his most dazzling smile.

But it didn’t work; the more he tried to sweet-talk her, the colder Hyo Rin got.

“Kim Jonghyun-ssi.” Hyo Rin finally huffed with irritation. “Will you please stop?! No matter how much of a fan of yours I am and no matter how many of your charms you try to work on me, I will not sell my best friends secrets to you!”

Jonghyun’s eyes widened a little but then he smiled. “That’s good…”

“What?” Hyo Rin blinked. “You went through all the trouble to ask me this and now you’re saying it’s a good thing that I won’t tell you…?!”

Jonghyun chuckled lightly. “Of course I’m not exactly happy about my efforts being wasted but more than that, I’m glad that Ha Neul’s best friend won’t spill her secrets to just anyone.”

Hyo Rin frowned at him. “You know, even playing goody-two-shoes won’t work…!”

“Although that wasn’t my intention but I admit that it might come across that way…”

Hyo Rin stared at his face, thinking. Then she sighed. “I really don’t get it. First THE Bling Bling Jonghyun appears out of nowhere and asks me out for lunch. Although I'd welcome that anytime, hehe... Then it turns out that that was only an excuse to ask me questions about Ha Neul’s past that only very few people know of. And when I refuse to tell him he says it’s good that I won’t tell him…! Just what am I supposed to make of all this?!”

“Well—“

“That reminds me, how exactly did you know that Ha Neul hates that phrase??”

“As I said there was a little incident,” Jonghyun tried to explain without revealing too much. “When I asked Ha Neul afterwards why she’d gotten so angry she promised to tell me later. But whenever I try to bring it up again, she avoids it… But I don’t think it’s because she doesn’t want to tell me but because talking about it is too painful… That’s why I thought I might ask you instead… But I guess it was a bad idea… I am sorry… So! let’s not talk about it anymore! I’m your bias, you said? Do you want to take a picture with me afterwards? Or maybe we could—”

“It was somewhere during junior high…” Hyo Rin cut off his rambling and stared at the spoon in her hand.

“Huh?”

“I’ll tell you…” She took a deep breath and looked up. “I’ll tell you why Ha Neul hates the phrase ‘must have paid’…”

…

“Why, all of a sudden…?”

Why, you ask? Hyo Rin huffed inside her mind. Hyo rinhBecause you seem to know her much better than I ever imagined! Because I get the feeling that you genuinely care about her! And because she apparently trusts you enough to bring you to this place and to promise you that she will tell you!!

“Because you said she promised to tell you and because it’s true that it is a painful memory for her… So I want to safe her pain to talk about it… She DID promise you, right?” Hyo Rin narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m going to ask Ha Neul as soon as I see her. And when it turns out that you lied…” She trailed off meaningfully.

“I’m not lying.” Jonghyun looked straight into her eyes and if not for the seriousness of the matter, Hyo Rin’s insides would have melted at this sincere stare. “She really did promise me.”

“Fine.” Hyo Rin swallowed. Such sincerity was hard to fake, right…?

“So, um… What happened during junior high…?”

“Arasso… It was just after the summer break; on the first or second day of school… it was break time… or maybe before the first lesson…? I don’t remember… anyway. We were all in the classroom chatting around and talking about what we had done during the break. Only Ha Neul was sitting quietly on her chair and stared out the window. I remember that well because I had started to worry about her more and more during the past two or three years. She had become more and more introverted and detached. She gradually stopped interacting with our classmates; would only raise her voice when the teacher implicitly asked her...”

Hyo Rin sighed and Jonghyun took the chance to voice his suspicion. “Maybe she got bullied or something?”

Hyo Rin nodded bitterly. “I did suspect that but I never noticed anything… I later found out that they just did it behind my back and were very careful not to let me get a hunch about it…!” She clenched her teeth and gripped on the spoon tighter. “Those es! They knew exactly that I wouldn’t let them off, if I found out…!”

Jonghyun felt a sudden surge of murderous rage through him. He didn’t even know them and yet, if they were to cross his path right then, he wouldn’t have been able to guarantee that he wouldn’t do anything to them…!

They both grimly glared at the food in front of them until Jonghyun managed to ask what that had to do with Ha Neul not liking the phrase ‘must have paid’. There was no meaning in being angry about something that happened long ago in someone else’s past after all… Right?

“Right,” Hyo Rin nodded and took a deep breath before continuing. “As I said, it was after summer break in junior high… We were all waiting for our teacher to come when suddenly one of our classmates sprang over to Ha Neul and waved a page of the newspaper in front of her. ‘Did you see you’re in the newspaper?’ He asked smirking. ‘It says you travelled all the way to Jeju Island just to meet some boy…?’ I had read that article as well – or more like I heard my parents talk about it – but hadn’t dared yet to ask Ha Neul what exactly had happened. I could guess though who that boy they were talking about was; Ha Neul had told me about him often enough… She had met him during her summer holidays that her family used to spend on Jeju Island. He was the only thing she would talk about for weeks after summer break…” A sad smile played on Hyo Rin’s lips.

“But about three years prior to that incident he had suddenly stopped coming to the beach they always went to and I remember Ha Neul not attending school for almost two weeks… Much later, she told me that until her parents had decided to spend their summer holidays somewhere else she had waited for him every day of their stays… So, when I heard about that article I guessed that she must have gone to Jeju Island again to wait for him…” Again Hyo Rin sighed and looked up from the spoon her hands had been playing with to see what expression Jonghyun was wearing.

And she was surprised to see a whole lot of emotions mirrored on his face. She had expected maybe compassion or pity, yes. But not this complicated mixture of feelings. There was compassion, hate, confusion, hurt, anger, guilt… all tumbling across his face at the same time.

But then he seemed to pull himself together and all those emotions disappeared. “And the phrase?” He asked.

“Well, after that article rumours started to spread…”

“What kind of rumours?”

“Ahh, you know, like how that boy wasn’t actually a boy but an over thirty years-old e… or that it was her biological father but since her mother’s husband didn’t know that he wasn’t her real father, she had to meet him in secret… or that that boy was a nationwide infamous child criminal and that she was helping him escape… and so on…”

“And Ha Neul never said anything?!” Jonghyun just couldn’t imagine the Ghosty he knew behave this submissively…

But Hyo Rin shook her head. “No, not once… And then, about a week after the article had been in the newspaper and it finally seemed like things might quiet down again, another rumour came up. And compared to the rumours before, people actually believed this one to be true… Well, you probably can guess what it was about… It said that that boy only played with her because she gave him money… And from then on, they started to openly bully her… saying that she must have paid whoever when something good happened to her…! Ridiculous!! Of course I tried to help her but I couldn’t be by her side 24 hours a day… And then my family moved and I had to transfer schools… I seriously don’t know she managed to survive the last years of junior high…!”

Jonghyun didn’t know what to feel. On one side, he was furious and angry at the classmates who bullied Ha Neul and also at this unknown boy who made her go through all this. It was obvious to him that Ha Neul had detached herself from the others because she missed that boy and because of that her classmates had started bullying her. And not the other way round. And it was also because of that boy that those rumours had started to spread about her.

But on the other side, he felt sorry for Ha Neul for having to experience something like that. He remembered how he had called her a nerdy outsider the first time they had met and he regretted it. He knew what it felt like to have someone dear leave you. That feeling getting trampled all over by people who didn’t know anything; it must have been horrible… No wonder she became as expressionless as a doll… It was the only way to protect herself… The only way to give her classmates no target…

-------

After they had finished their lunch Jonghyun drove Hyo Rin back to the university as she still had lectures to attend. He dropped her off in front of the main gate and Hyo Rin stared after the black car in disbelieve.

Had THE Bling Bling Jonghyun really just treated her to lunch?! She pinched her arm.

“Ouch!” She whimpered and watched the skin turning red where she’d pinched herself. This really was no dream…!

So… THE Bling Bling Jonghyun really asked me about why Ha Neul hates the phrase ‘must have paid’?! And I actually told him?!! Arghhhh!!

Hyo Rin slowly turned around and directed her steps towards one of the university buildings. She was too deep in thought though to notice the curious stares that the people around her were giving her.

Just what is the relationship between those two?! THE Bling Bling Jonghyun – Hyo Rin couldn’t help but repeat it again and again; it was just too unbelievable – wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of waiting for me in front of the lecture hall just to ask some questions about some girl that merely worked in the same company as him!! Besides, he was way too interested in my answers…! And got way too worked up about them…! Although he knew to hide it well…

Finally, Hyo Rin grew aware of the attention she was receiving. She looked at them questioningly but they all turned away and acted as if everything was as usual. In the end, curiosity won Hyo Rin over and she just picked two guys and walked straight towards them.

“Um, excuse me, but what’s wrong? Why were you looking at me like that?”

“Err… We weren’t?” They tried to deny it.

But Hyo Rin knew better. “I know you were. So spill it. I don’t bite.” And she flashed her smile at them; that always worked. Today too.

“Um, it’s just that the car that dropped you off just now…” One of the guys said hesitantly. “It’s the same car that dropped off the other girl about a week ago too…”

Hyo Rin’s eyes widened. The same car that dropped of Ha Neul, you say? “You sure?”

They both nodded. “There is no mistake,” the other guy affirmed. “It’s a black Lexus of the new limited series! The exemplars that exist, you can count on one hand! And each of them is one of a kind! And the engine is—“

But Hyo Rin had already tuned out.

So… that means… that their relationship is close enough for him to drop her off at university?! And in the morning, no less?!

…

But wait…! That also means that the one that Ha Neul has signed a contract with is THE Bling Bling Jonghyun…?! And that it is him whom she needs to ask for permission to tell me…?!!

Really! Just WHAT is going on here???!

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I know i should have been updating a loooooong time ago!! And i'm VERY SORRY i havent!! ><
There was just so much happening lately (like school started agin and, surprise surprise, i had been a bit too lazy during the break :| and we had to put our cat to sleep :,( so i wasn't feeling very motivated in general...)
Well, but now i finally finished the next chapter...! Hope you enjoyed it *^^*