The growl from her side alerted Chae Rin of a presence that was coming nearby. He's  like a ghost detector, this one, she thought. Without even looking up from her work, she greeted him, "Jaebeom-ah, annyeong!"

"J-jaebeom-ah?" At the uncertainty of his voice, Chae Rin glanced up at him and couldn't help but smile. He was an idiot, too, like her best friend. But his idiocy came from his disbelief of her being nice to him. Had she really been that horrible? It seemed as if the she had replicated the way she treated Ri and did the same to Jaebeom over the years. Did that mean she had been comfortable with him all along?
 

"Yeah, she said your name. Deal with it." SeungRi muttered underneath his breath, almost making her laugh. Chae Rin never understood the animosity between the two, and frankly, it made her cranky because it was exhausting. The additional noise and bickering they created made her head hurt most of the time, but today, oddly enough, it made her amused.

She turned her attention back to her work and saw SeungRi glancing at her paper, copying her answers. This dunderhead, she thought. If it wasn't for his laziness, he wouldn't be doing as bad as he was at the moment. She already knew what was in his head, having spent the majority of her life with him. He was probably thinking that what was the point of not copying her answers when he had nothing to do? His crush, or old one, Hyuna was down, sick. The insidious part of her wished that it was chickenpox, for surely, that would mean that the evil witch will be banished from her life for at least a week. Maybe two, if God chose to bless her life. But alas, know not, she does.

"We're friends, aren't we? I mean, I already went to your house." Well, she did. And the only other house she's really been at was Seungri's, but that didn't count. Chae Rin shrugged to herself before pursing her lips, her train of thought being interrupted by the image of Jiyong looking at them from his classroom window.

He was perfect. And for as long as she's been able to think, he was her first friend. She had seen the pictures they had of when they were kids, this tiny little boy holding a chubby baby in his arms, kissing her cheeks, playing with her, singing her songs. He was her first memory, apart from her parents. She had loved him for forever. But why was it that everyone thought of it as a crush? Everyone else did, save for Ri. He was the only one who actually understood her and didn't laugh when she confessed her feelings about Jiyong at the age of 10.

"Hey, Ri. I think I'm in love with your brother."

"I know."

"Really? How?"

"You look at him the way Mom looks at Dad," he merely shrugged and continued to swing himself forward, reaching higher and higher.

Chae Rin looked down and kicked the sand of her feet, moving backwards and forwards in a slow manner. "Do you really think it's love?"

\"Yah, Ogre Princess, I'm 10! I don't care if it's love or not. But does it matter what I think? You're the one feeling it."

Yes. That was right. She was the one who felt it, but why did it bother her when their parents simply shrugged it off as a crush? How would they know the difference? They were ancient, as far as she was concerned. They had probably forgotten what it felt like to be 10. Or 13. Much less remember their first love.

The sound of Jaebeom clearing his throat brought her back to reality as she took out her sandwich and divided it in half. "Here. Have some. It's better than you two fighting over it and making more noise."

"Yah! Hunchae! How about me?" The teenage girl felt herself froze when she heard the nickname. Half of her was so excited to hear it again, while the other heart fell in disappointment when it was said by the wrong voice.

She watched her best friend chuckle and flick her forehead, "Gotcha."

"Okay, first of all, her name isn't this Hunchae thing you and your brother seem to call her. NO. Lee Chae Rin. CHAE RIN. She is my life. She is love. She is my -"

Both teenagers turned to look at Jaebeom who blanched and blushed furiously at his outburst.

I'm his what? she thought before letting out a low giggle.

"Ohkaaaay," SeungRi whistled before laughing his off at the poor kid, while Chae Rin mirrored the young man's cheeks, looking away from everything. "Way to totally keep it cool, you weirdo."

Was this what it feels like to be wanted? she thought before beginning to eat the rest of her food. I wonder what it'll feel like to be wanted by him.

Nope, this is definitely a dream. Scratch that, NIGHTMARE. Absolute nightmare. This is the hell from which spawned the Annoying One. I'm sure of it. Jaebeom thought as he hid his face from her sight. How could he create such a big blunder?  But now that he has said it out loud, would it be better to just ask her out?

Stumbling with his words, he took the sandwich he offered and decided against it. His noona had warned him of such an ordeal. According to her, from her vast knowledge of fairytales and dramas, the prince must be resilient. And subtle. Apparently, girls did not like forward guys. He had lost the battle today, but maybe there was still a way to save face. And so, he took out his lunch from his bag. Since she had shared her food with him, it would deem like a small victory if he could share his with her. All was not lost.

"Do you, uh, want some?" He offered and opened the packed lunch, only to groan when he saw slices of corn bread and a side of corned beef sautéed with corn. What in the bloody world... Of course! He should have known it would be all corn-related, and he immediately regretted asking his noona to cook him food. Ne'er again, he swore to himself.

"Woah. Corn everywhere! Is this from the goddess herself? Did her glorious hands graced such a peasant her cooking?"

"Excuse me?! I am no peasant! I am Park Jae-"

"Babeom, babeom, babeom~" sing sang his nemesis. Urgh! How he hated that vile annoying creature of the night.

And just at that moment, a hand took a hold of one of the slices and broke it in half, feeding him and Seunghyun right after the other, successfully shutting them both up.

"Ah, silence. The most wonderful thing in this world. After bacon, of course."

"Efnd mfuh fhyung," The Annoying One added, making Jaebeom frown.

"Yeah, after him, I mean," she said before blushing furiously.

SeungRi saw Jaebeom choke on bread when she blushed, making him laugh himself and incidentally choking too. Chae Rin gave his back a slap before going to the other side to slap Babeom's back too.

Unfair! First the sandwich, and now the slapping? Wait, what? Was he actually jealous of the big Babeom? No. Of course, he was not. He wouldn't even give the idea a second to dignify it. On the brighter side, he got to taste something that the Goddess made. How wonderful.

And then the sentence that changed it all was spoken the next second. "Anyway, let's all be friends."

Friends, my ! This guy will kill me, SeungRi thought and turned his head towards the girl, his face expressing that of the utmost repulsion..

Oh dear God, what have I done to deserve such things? Now, instead of him being solely annoying, there would be two. Plus, how can two boys who had always hated each other be friends just because a girl told them to? Ridiculous.

"Yah, Lee Seunghyun, I know what you're thinking. Don't even dare." She said before the idea even came to his head. "You be nice to him and I'll give you my part of bacon. Okay, a third."

A third. That was a sizeable amount. Better than nothing, he guessed. And if it meant that he get to have some part of her bacon for the rest of their lives...

Oh goodness gracious, no! He did not mean it like that. Hiding his face with his palms, he thought long and hard, the silence weighing heavily between the three. "Do I get hyung's part too?"

"Are you high?" She said before lightly hitting his arm.

"Just checking. But fine. You make a hard bargain, Lee Chae Rin." Defeat, he must admit.

After all, food was the one thing they fully agreed on. Their love of it and its importance to the way the hierarchy in their families held up their most basic of beliefs. In fact, his growing up wish was to start his own food truck business. Okay, that along with the many other unconventional ideas he has to make money to become a billionaire, playboy philanthropist. God bless Iron Man.

"As much as these words will poison me, for the love of bacon, I shall utter it," Seunghyun said and hovered his hand over his heart. "Let us be friends, Park Jaebeom!"