Jinyoung roused up from his sleep and grabbed his head. He sluggishly dragged himself to his room to take his clothes. He turned the knob a few times and it was locked.

“ Ah…babo. Yoona locked the door last night.” He scratched his head and headed to the living room to get the keys.

“ Oh? You’re awake already? What are you doing?” Yoona tilted her head to look at Jinyoung. She poured herself a drink.

“ Unlocking that door.” He muttered and rolled his eyes at her.

Yoona widened her eyes, she was sure that she had unlocked the door first thing in the morning. Since Ah-ra was awaked and she even saw her going into the toilet. Yoona tried to retrace what she did in the morning.

1.     Unlocked the door. Placed the keys back into its place.

2.     Saw Ah-ra in the toilet in the morning. ( Which means the door was unlocked.)

3.     Handed Ah-ra an extra set of undergarments and pretty-looking dress.

4.     She was cladded in a towel.

5.     Went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

Before she could even run to Jinyoung to inform him that Ah-ra was probably changing clothes. It was too late, a loud shriek filled the house.

The atmosphere during breakfast was awkward. Everyone avoided each other gaze. Mr. Jung observed the children’s expressions.

“ Did something happen?” he uttered.

Jinyoung’s ears and neck turned extremely red. He ignored the old man’s words and continued to stuff himself with plain rice. It wasn’t something that he wanted to discuss about especially with Ah-ra sitting beside him. It just made him starkly nervous. He was worried she was going to complain and with that his reputation was going to get smeared.

Ah-ra’s cheeks turned bright crimson, she could feel the blood rushing to her head. It felt as if all eyes were on her. Especially Yoona’s. Like Jinyoung, she tightened the grip around her chopsticks and filled with plain rice.

Mr. Jung secretly kicked his son on the shin. His eyes focused on the side dishes. Jinyoung nodded his head and picked up some pickled Kim chi onto his plate. He received another kick to his leg.

“ What?” he mouthed those words to his father.

His father eyed Ah-ra. Jinyoung sighed and leaned on the chair. Reluctantly, he chose a random side dish and plunked it onto her rice bowl.

“ I’m done.”  He voiced out.

“ Me too…” Ah-ra placed her chopsticks down.

“ Me three!” Yoona cried out.

Ah-ra silently stood up and cleared the table. It was something that she was used to do at home. After every meal, she would help her mother to clean the dishes. However, in the eyes of the three people, it was extremely abnormal for a rich girl to be doing the house chores.

“ Ahgasshi, don’t dirty your hands.” Mr. Jung chided her and tried to stop her.

“ Huh?” she stopped and looked at him with a confused face.

“ You’re doing the dishes?” Jinyoung added in.

“ Ya? What’s wrong with that? I do it at home everyday…” she said.

“ Haha…that’s weird. Even Jinyoung doesn’t do the dishes or even clean up the house.” Yoona commented.

“ Your mother taught you well.” Mr. Jung praised Ah-ra and stood up to help her.

After cleaning the dishes, Ah-ra went into Jinyoung’s room. She cleared his wardrobe and began to rearrange his things. It had been bugging her since last night, she hated to see clutter or things being jumbled up. She sat on the floor and started to fold clothes.

“ Size S…” she remarked.

“ What are you doing?” Jinyoung raised an eyebrow and sat next to her.

“ Swimming in a pool of clothing’s.”

“ Swimming?” he stared into her eyes.

“ What do I look like I’m doing?” she inquired.

“ Oh. I asked a stupid question.” He sheepishly laughed to himself and grabbed a few t-shirts to fold.

He struggled to fold his clothes. He secretly peeked at her to observe how she managed to cleanly fold the clothes.

“ Shinwoo oppa…he has a lot of clothing’s. Since he’s a fashion designer. So I would always use my extra time to arrange clothes. According to it’s color, durability and even seasons.” She storied.

“ So, you can clean the house?” he popped a random question.

“ Obviously. There’s a reason why I have a pair of hands and feet. As much as I hate cleaning up my house… Mom is always ordering us to do the chores. It became a habit.” She explained.

Jinyoung nodded his head and stretched his legs out.

“ So you’re not angry with me?” Ah-ra asked.

“ Maybe. You’re still sticking on to me like a leech.” He joked.

She sighed and casted her eyes on his long legs.

“ Sorry…”

“ Yah…I’m just joking. I should be saying sorry to you…for avoiding you and acting cold towards you.” He confessed.

“ Why?” Ah-ra discontinued folding the clothes.

Jinyoung blinked his eyes and curled his lips. His heart raced and he reached out for her hands. He studied the ring on her finger and proceeded to place her hands on his chest.

“ This is the answer why.” He said.

“ Eew…that’s cheesy.” She thought to herself.

“ Haha! I’m joking! Look at me, why would I even like you? You’re just somebody important to me. I was afraid that Sandeul was going to be jealous if I kept on hanging around you.” He lied. He was afraid of getting rejected, hence he tried to cover up.

Ah-ra disappointingly sighed and pulled her hands away. She knew it.  Even after what he said last night, it was just because she was a close friend of his. Not more than that. She faked a smile and laughed.

“ Sandeul is not that type of person.” She replied and stood up to walk out of the room.

“ Shin Ah-ra.”

“ What?” she responded to him.

“ Last night… why did you come here? Not to mention screaming out for my name?” he asked. He really wanted to hear it from her.

She hesitated for a moment.

“ Because. I wanted to tell you that I’m not going to get engaged to you. That’s why. I don’t want to be a parasite to you. I only wanted to tell you that.” She told him the partial truth.

“ That’s all?” he was disappointed with the answer.

Ah-ra nodded her head and walked out of the room. He exhaled slowly and pouted.

“ Why would someone even run in the rain without a wallet. I guess only that foolish Ah-ra would do that. Ha… If only I could read her mind. In her eyes, I’m only the guy who abandoned her for Dal-rae.” He thought to himself and hugged his legs to his chest.

Yoona stomped her way into his room and folded her arms.

" What?" he rolled his eyes at her.

" You're such a coward! What's that about her only being the important person? Oh? You're almost there... Just confess!" she exerted.

" Put yourself into Sandeul's shoes. I wouldn't want my girlfriend to be snatched away just like that too. So, I'm going to get her in a fair way. Just like she did, I'll wait for her. Till then, I will keep my feelings for her locked away in my heart." he responded.

Yoona shook her head at her foolish cousin. She couldn't help but get frustrated at his slow actions. It was already obvious that Ah-ra loves him and he loves her. Why can't the both of them just declare their love for each other and live happily ever after? 

" Haish. I just don't get the both of you. By the time you tell her that you love her...it's going to be too late." Yoona muttered to herself and left the room.

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

“ I’m late! I’m going out now!” Sandeul exclaimed and scrambled to wear his shoes.

“ Yah! Eat your breakfast! Plus, the chocolates that you made for your girlfriend…you’re not bringing it with you?” Baro asked and pointed to the fridge.

Sandeul rubbed his eyes and remembered that he had forgotten the gift. He was too excited to see her. He ran into the kitchen with his shoes without even a care about dirtying the floor. He hugged the box of chocolates and grabbed the flowers that he had secretly picked from his neighbor’s flowerpot.

“ I’m going off now.” He declared and was about to rush out.

“ Wait. Here’s 50 dollars. Spend it well with her. Don’t disappoint her anymore. I’ll write this down on the tab so…enjoy yourself.” Baro smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder.

“ I really owe you a lot. Cha Baro, you’re the best! I promise, I’ll behave.” Sandeul clutched the money in his hands and placed it in his pocket.

The clear blue sky greeted him. The smell of rain made him feel relaxed. He strolled his way to the place he parked his bike. It had been a long time since he rode it.

“ Ha… Now, it’s time to use you. Ah-ra has never seen you before, so behave well. Be good and don’t fail on me.” He wore his helmet and started the engine.

He rode his way to her house. The road was wet so he made sure he was extra careful. He was the type to get jittery whenever cars speed next to him, but he wanted to show a cool side of him to his girlfriend. He used his left hand to bring down the cover of his helmet. He took several deep breaths and gripped the handle of his motorcycle. He swiftly switched gears and twisted the throttle with his right hand. He accelerated smoothly, he could feel the wind going against him.

15 minutes later…

Sandeul switched his motorcycle to the first gear to park it so that it wouldn’t send his bike rolling down the inclined road leading to Ah-ra’s house. He removed his helmet and shook his head to let his hair fall naturally on his face.

“ Flowers…chocolates…” he grinned to himself and grabbed the two things from the back of the motorcycle.

He whiffed the flowers and flashed a wide smile. With both of the presents in his hands, he walked towards the big mansion and stood outside to peek. He jumped up and down but to no avail, he couldn’t spot Ah-ra. He sighed and whipped out his phone.

“ The number you have dialed is not available. Please try again later.” The server repeated over and over again.

Sandeul pouted and hugged the flowers to his chest. He looked around the exterior of the house and saw the curtains to Ah-ra’s room wide open. It was dark and it seemed like there was no one.

“ Could she be out?” he questioned himself and changed his attention to his phone.

While waiting, he heard the screeching sound of the gates.

“ Oh?”

A black foreign import car drove out of the mansion. That made him flinch for a moment, the man in the car seemed so familiar. His heart pounded as soon as the car stopped right in front of him. The side window of the car was gradually winded down.

“ Who are you?” Mr. Shin questioned Sandeul.

“ Sorry, I’m Lee Sandeul.” He politely bowed and introduced himself.

Mr. Shin nodded and stared hard at the young boy. It reminded him of Jung Hwan, the son of his best friend. Sandeul had all the features of his best friend, Lee Jung shin. Smooth brown hair, kind eyes, a slightly raised nose and somewhat thick lips.

“ Whom are you waiting for?” Mr. Shin interrogated and looked back into the house.

Sandeul bit his lips hard and was reminded that Ah-ra had kept their relationship a secret.

“ Dal-rae sunbaenim.” He said.

Mr. Shin glanced at the presents that were in Sandeul’s hands.

“ Alright. Mr. Kim, let’s get going before we are late for the meeting.” Mr. Shin ordered his chauffeur to drive off.

Sandeul heaved a sigh of relief and glanced at the mansion’s front door. There was really no sight of Ah-ra. He pursed his lips and kicked the stones on the ground. He was getting impatient, as time passed, that feeling surpassed him. He felt worried. She wasn’t picking up his calls. He sat by the corner to wait for her.

Two hours later…

The screeching sound of the gate was made apparent to Sandeul’s ears. He was so tired of waiting, he fell asleep at the corner.

“ Sandeul?”

He sighed. It wasn’t the voice that he had been waiting for.

“ Oh. Noona.” He cleared his throat and stood up with the gifts in his hands.

Dal-rae smirked and shook her head. Her little brother was a fool.

“ Yah. You’re looking for that girl?” she questioned him with that smirk on her face.

Sandeul avoided eye contact with his sister and only moved his head up and down. Inwardly, he was extremely disheartened by her actions. Especially, with what she tried to do with the birthday invitation. Her motives were purely evil and were done to destroy Ah-ra’s reputation and their relationship.

“ Is Ah-ra in? I’m looking for her, she’s not picking up my calls.” Sandeul asked, he wanted to get it over and done with.

With the sly smile on her face, Dal-rae folded her arms.

“ Ah… your girlfriend? Didn’t you know?” she responded.

“ Know what?” he answered with a worried tone.

He kept on wondering whether Ah-ra had fallen sick after the rain last night, or maybe something had happened without him knowing it.  That might be the reason why she wasn’t answering his calls.

“ Ha… I’m not sure whether I’m supposed to say this. I heard she ran out of the house… and a few hours later we received a call from Jinyoung saying that she was sleeping over at his house.” Before Dal-rae could even finish her sentence, Sandeul interrupted.

“ Do you think I will believe those lies? Where is Ah-ra?” he burst out in a fit.

“ Lies?” she looked at him confusingly.

“ Noona! Did you think I will never find out? Oh? That birthday invitation… you invited me so that I would be able to witness the engagement right? No matter how many times, I tried to convince myself you would never do such a thing…” he shook his head and clenched the bouquet in his hands.

The flowers crumbled to the ground. Dal-rae widened her eyes and her lips trembled.

“ That… Forget it. Now that you know, it’s no use anyway. But I’m not lying to you about her spending the night with Jung Jinyoung.” She stuttered as she attempted to tell the truth.

Sandeul rolled his eyes and stared into his sister’s eyes.

“ Give me his address.” He clearly stated.

Dal-rae gave in and provided him with the information. With the chocolates in his hands, he walked away but not before repeating a bunch of words to his sister.

“ As much as I want to protect you, don’t mess around with Ah-ra. I can do crazy things like you.” He threatened and left the bewildered Dal-rae behind.

Sandeul threw the bouquet of flowers at the side and wore his helmet. He sped off to Jinyoung's place. His heart raced at the thought of Ah-ra in the company of Jinyoung.

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

" Jinyoung oppa..." Ah-ra called out to him.

Jinyoung widened his eyes and removed his headpiece. He shut his laptop and attended to her.

" What is it?"

" I like this picture...Thank you for taking out these precious pictures for me. Can I have this one?" Ah-ra pointed to the picture in the album.

Jinyoung sat at the edge of the bed and nodded his head. It was a picture of him and Ah-ra, he had plenty of those, since his father was an avid photographer.

" Take the one on the left. The one with you wearing a helmet." he said and helped her peel the clear sheet off.

Ah-ra grinned and hit him on the shoulder.

" I remember this one! Thanks to you, I'm still traumatized to ride a bicycle..." she got a little bit excited and didn't realize that she was very close to him.

" You still can't ride a bicycle?" he questioned her as if he was surprised.

She bobbed her head up and down. She sighed and pouted.

" Oppa, I think I should be going home now." Ah-ra stood up and walked to the door.

" I'll send you home." Jinyoung grabbed his jacket and pulled a random clothing out of his wardrobe to give it to her.

Ah-ra blinked her eyes as she stared into the beige cardigan that were in his hands.

" Wear it. That dress is too thin for you. You'll feel cold." he threw the cardigan over her head and showed his gums.

He grabbed the car keys and headed to the entrance to get the car. Ah-ra listened well and put on the cardigan that Jinyoung had given to her. It had a musky smell on it, it was his scent. She couldn't help but give it another whiff.

" Ahjusshi, Onni. I'll be going now." she announced and politely bowed. She was sorry for troubling them with her foolish actions last night. 

" Take care." the both of them bade her farewell.

Ah-ra went out of the house to find Jinyoung but he was nowhere to be seen.

" Where is he?" she mumbled to herself and ran outside the gate to look for him.

She covered at the sight she saw. Sandeul grabbed Jinyoung by his shoulders and gave him a punch to his delicate face. Jinyoung stumbled to the ground and wiped his now bleeding mouth.

" What did you say? Repeat that again!" Sandeul yelled and threatened to punch him.

Ah-ra ran to his side and stopped him.

" Yah! Lee Sandeul! What are you doing?!" she cried out to him and went on to protect Jinyoung by opening her arms wide.

Jinyoung spat out the blood and smirked.

" I said. I'm going to marry her." he repeated himself.

" What?! Yah, Jung Jinyoung! What's wrong with you? Didn't we-" Ah-ra screamed at him and realized that the boys had been arguing over her.

" Ah-ra. Let's go." he grabbed her left hand and tugged her towards the car.

Sandeul reached out for Ah-ra's right hand and tightened his grip around her wrist. She was now caught in between two people that loved her.

" What are the two of you doing? You both are hurting me!" she raised her voice and struggled to free herself, but to no avail.

The two boys were stubborn. Instead of letting her go, they tightened the grip around her hands. She bit her lips and attempted to calm herself down by staying still. Her wrists were hurting. Jinyoung realized this and immediately released her. Sandeul took the opportunity to pull her away from him and lead her to the parked motorcycle.

" Get on." Sandeul forced an extra helmet into her hands.

Ah-ra regretfully eyed Jinyoung and wore the helmet. She didn't want to make the problem worst. It was already bad enough that her boyfriend had caught her staying over at a guy's place. Not to mention, it was no other than Jung Jinyoung. She sighed and got on the back seat.

" Yah! Shin Ah-ra! It's dangerous!" Jinyoung yelled and tried to stop her.

She didn't turn back and instead wrapped her arms around Sandeul's waist.

" Let's go..." she uttered those words softly and buried her face into Sandeul's back.

She wanted to cry. She was afraid of what her boyfriend was going to say to her. It must have been Dal-rae who had informed him on her whereabouts. She hated the fact that Jinyoung got injured because of her.

Sandeul furiously sped through the traffic and gritted his teeth the whole way. He hated the way Jinyoung talked about Ah-ra.

*Sandeul's flashback *

The gate opened and there Jinyoung was rushing to the car with his keys. Sandeul approached him with the intentions of asking about Ah-ra's whereabouts. He was relieved that Ah-ra wasn't with Jinyoung.

" Jinyoung sunbaenim. Do you where Ah-ra is? Dal-rae sunbaenim told me that she was with you last night?" he questioned him.

Jinyoung furrowed his eyebrows when he saw that Sandeul was with a motorcycle and a helmet in tow. Ah-ra was going to get out of the house at any time now.

" She's inside. Let me take her home." he declared and unlocked the car.

Sandeul widened his eyes and stopped him.

" What did you say?" he asked again.

" I said. Ah-ra is with me. She's inside." Jinyoung nonchalantly uttered those words and turned his back against Sandeul.

Sandeul's heart pounded at the thought of Jinyoung spending the night with his girlfriend. A lot of things could have happened. He got so furious that he tackled Jinyoung and grabbed him by the collar.

" Why can't you just stay away from her? Look, if you keep on acting this way, she's going to fall in love with you all over again. I know that you're against the engagement. Why are you doing this? She's my girlfriend." Sandeul burst out and glared into Jinyoung's eyes.

Jinyoung glanced onto his collar and smirked.

" So what if she falls for me all over again? I think you're acting way too rashly. Look, I did nothimg with her last night. I might just change my mind about the engagement, if you keep on acting this way, Lee Junghwan sshi." he rolled his eyes at Sandeul and pulled his collar back into shape.

Sandeul fell a few steps backwards when he heard his real name. He casted his eyes on the ground and bit his upper lip.

" I'm not Junghwan...I'm warning you, don't touch my girl." he warned his senior and ran to the gate to wait for Ah-ra.

Jinyoung glared at the foolish Sandeul and couldn't help but declare war against him.

" There's one thing I can't tolerate. You touching her. Although, she's not mine...Your girl? She's still a Shin, not a Lee." he sneered at Sandeul and folded his arms.

Those actions tested Sandeul's patience. He was so jealous that he couldn't help it but punch Jinyoung in the face.

Sandeul snapped himself out of it and swayed into the first lane. Ah-ra closed her eyes and tightened her grip. He jam braked and stopped the motorcycle. He was too furious to even continue. He parked his motorcycle by the side lane and got off. Ah-ra only stood still and got off the bike with her trembling hands.

" What were you doing with him? Oh? You didn't even answer my calls! I was worried!" he raised his voice at her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

Ah-ra stumbled forward by the force that was inflicted on her. That made her flinched because her knee hurt so bad. 

" I'm sorry...i was caught in the rain and I-" she wanted to explain but was only put to a halt by Sandeul.

He finally realized the bruise on her knee and feet. 

" Whose shoes are those?" Sandeul questioned her.

Ah-ra casted her eyes on her feet. The shoes were too big for her, it was Jinyoung's. She guiltily gazed into his eyes and wanted to apologize.

" I don't want to hear it. I'm sorry if I scared you. I'm just over-sensitive. Ha... Where should we go? Should we go get you new shoes?" he stared into her brown eyes and tried to calm himself down.

" I'm sorry..." she softly muttered and held out her hands to him.

Sandeul curled his lips and immediately intertwined his fingers with her fingers. He squeezed them as a form of assurance to himself. 

" Yah. Cheer up. I have something for you." he announced and cheerfully ran to the back of the motorcycle to take out the gift.

He hid the box of chocolates behind his hands and grinned.

" Tadah! It's already two months of us being together and I just wanted to tell you that I love you very much! Umm... I'm sorry for not remembering the first month." he apologized and sweetly blinked his eyes.

She accepted the gift with a heavy heart. For a moment, it was a little bit difficult to hear those three golden words from him. It was definitely the first time he was saying it to her with a happy face. She bit her lips and fiddled with the box in her hands.

" Let's go sit somewhere and take a look at that injury of yours. I have something to tell you too." Sandeul pinched her cheeks and surveyed his surroundings for a place to sit.

She blindly followed him and the wind kept blowing into her face. Tears kept on coming into her eyes, no matter how many times she bit her cheeks, she just couldn't stop the tears from gathering. She wasn't touched by his actions, it was because she felt remorseful for running to Jinyoung's side when she clearly knew that she had Sandeul. The words that came out from Jinyoung's mouth today about marrying her made her even more confused.

It was just last night when he said he would always be there for her and that it hurted him to just see her. What did he really mean? By the time Ah-ra tried to process her thoughts, she was already forced to sit down on a bench and Sandeul was already bending down to look at her knees. He removed the bandaged and inspected the wound. She was still in a daze throughout the process.

" Yah. What are you thinking about?" Sandeul waved his hands at her face.

Ah-ra shook her head and changed her attention elsewhere.

" Stay here. We have to clean that wound again. It must have tore open when I pulled you towards me. It's bleeding again." he remarked and ran towards the opposite direction.

She finally burst out crying. She took out the picture in her hands and clenched it in her hands. The people around her stared at her in shocked. A kind men came up to her to pass her a handkerchief and asked whether she was alright. He had assumed that the guy earlier on which was Sandeul had dumped her and ran away after hurting her.

" Are you alright Miss?" the men asked her with a worried voice.

" I'm alright...the wound hurts... my boyfriend is getting the medicine for me." she sobbed even badly after saying those words.

Again, she found herself lying to people. It wasn't because of the injury that she cried. She really wanted Jinyoung by her side now not Sandeul, that made her feel selfish. She wished that he could be by her side now to explain to her that everything was going to be alright. That everything was just a stupid lie and she could just relax. Well, what she wished for really came true, except that he wasn't by her side but he was actually at a distant tree observing her. 

" Babo... why are you crying." Jinyoung sighed.

He hated the fact that he wasn't able to do anything. He wanted so much to run to her side and scold her for crying in public. If it wasn't for the mere fact that she belonged to Sandeul, he would have gone to her side to cheer her up.

" A little while more... you'll belong to me soon." Jinyoung whispered those words to himself and walked away.