“Young Rin,” Jay asked, and then hesitated. “Can I ask you a question?” I was lying on the dry grass in the courtyard of the school and Jay was sitting up beside me.

“Sure,” I said, watching a snail crawl up Jay’s pant leg. Jay was looking out into the distance, and I was staring at the cloud shapes in the sky. Over the past few weeks with the baby, I considered Jay a friend; he was the one who ate lunch with me and drove me home from school every day, so how could I not? Of course, being in close proximity with him wasn’t exactly good for my heart rate.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked, carefully avoiding my gaze. I sat up slowly, trying to control my racing heart. Was he trying to imply something? I blushed heavily, and drew my knees to my chest.

“Um, no,” I said quietly, also looking away from him. Should I ask him why? Or would that sound too awkward?

“That’s too bad,” he said, suddenly grabbing my hand and pulling me towards him. “I think you’re too pretty to be single.” With that, he gently kissed me on the cheek. I could feel my face heating up, and I slid away from him. What did he mean by that? Any further thoughts were interrupted by someone’s annoying voice.

“Yah! I need your help on something,” Taemin said loudly, as he ran over and tugged at my sleeve.

“Go ask one of your fangirls,” I mumbled, still trying to understand Jay’s sentiment.

“They all failed math,” Taemin said, as he stared at my face. This only made me go redder, and I pushed him away from me.

“You look like a tomato,” Taemin said, as he looked from me to Jay.

Taemin’s P.O.V

That night, I went home late after rehearsals. I had a pretty good idea of what Jay had said to Young Rin. The bastard probably said something along the lines of “Hey, you’re single and pretty cute; wanna go out?” Did he really like Young Rin? Or was he just messing with me? I was really frustrated during rehearsals, and Yeon Ri’s flirting irritated me; I almost shouted at her twice, but held myself back at the last moment. I sighed heavily at the elevator as I thought of Young Rin upstairs; she was probably already asleep.

When I reached my floor, I paused by Jay’s door. I could hear a female voice inside…a panting female voice. Slowly, I inched my way around the corner as I waited for Jay’s visitor to come out. After twenty minutes, right when I was about to give up and leave, the door clicked open. A girl, around my age, walked out, and from what I could tell, her bra was on backwards.

“I had a great time tonight,” she said to Jay, and battered her eyelashes. “Did you miss me when I was in England?”

“I found myself a toy to play with, but yeah, I missed you,” Jay said, as he nipped her on the neck. I blushed, in spite of myself, and tried to refocus my attention on the scene.

“A toy,” the girl mused, not distracted by Jay, “Well, that’s fine. What’s she like?”

“Boring, plain, and in love with me,” Jay said, as he smirked at the girl. “It’s fun to mess with her.” He kissed the girl again, and then watched as she left in the direction of the stairs.

“You can come out now,” he said, a few seconds later. “I know you’re there.” I stepped out and walked up to Jay.

“You’re a ing ,” I said, clenching my fists. Jay stared at me disinterestedly, and laughed.

“It’s not my fault Young Rin loves me and not you,” he taunted, stepping closer towards me. I raised my fist as if to punch him and his eyes narrowed.

“Careful. You don’t really want to do that, now do you?” he said, in a flat tone. “What’ll Young Rin think when she sees me tomorrow with a bruise? She’ll hate you.” Even though he was a bastard, he still had a point, and I lowered my fist in defeat.

“You care an awful lot about Young Rin, but I bet if this was just some other girl, you wouldn’t give a damn about how I treated her,” Jay said, crossing his arms.

“What’s your game?” I asked, glaring at him.

“It’s simple,” he said as his smile grew into a sadistic grin. “It’s to make you suffer. Of course, Young Rin’s a fun plaything too, but she’s only a plaything. Besides, you and I both know you can’t tell her anything, because she’s going to think you’re making it up.” Jay tapped me sympathetically on the shoulder and I slapped him off while pushing him into the doorway.

“I know I’m a bastard, but then again, I don’t care.”