"Kim. Him. Chan!" I shriek, making sure to let him know how each harsh syllable, shows how blatantly cross I am. "What is this?!"

My yelling barely has an effect on the dark-haired male, as he sluggishly stirs in his spot. "What?" he drowsily mumbles, clearly still half asleep.

I shake him a little, in hopes of grabbing his full attention, as I then go to point at a certain spot on my neck. "Why?" I demand, with a frown. "Why is this here?"

Himchan tiredly blinks at me for a bit, but when his eyes flicker down to what I'm showing him, a smirk begins to grow on his face. "Oh," he says, in a fairly amused tone of voice. "So you finally noticed the love-bite I gave you."

An exasperated sound comes out of me. "Of course I did, who the heck would be blind enough to miss this?!" I hiss. "But why did you have to go and give me one?"

My outburst makes him laugh a little. "You didn't tell me 'no', and seemed fine with it, when we were making out," he casually says. "And besides, I needed to do something, to make everyone know that you're taken."

I inwardly groan to myself, which results in me eventually letting out a small grumble of frustration. "Why thank you," I sarcastically say. "But how am I supposed to go out in public, with this bruised-looking spot on my neck?"

Himchan waves his index finger at me, with an audible click of his tongue. "Babe, it's a not a 'bruised-looking spot', it's a love-bite," corrects the smug male, in a teasing voice. "It's also known as a hickey, but love-bite sounds better. Anyway, why do you look so upset; do you want me to give you another one?"

"No!" I hastily retort. "I'm quite confident that one is enough."

"That's what they all say..." he remarks, with a little snigger. "Because I know that you'll be coming back for more."

A skeptical expression now takes over my face, as I watch him ever so innocently, begin to raise from his spot, to stretch out his arms. I let out a small sigh after a brief moment, and then retreat back into my room, to search for my makeup. With the concealer now in my hold, I then squeeze some out, to then carefully apply onto the mark on my neck. My finger continues to lightly spread the cosmetic around, for it to slowly hide away the bite, and as I continue on to do this, Himchan eventually pops himself into the room, to stand next to me.

He's just finished washing up, and his curious eyes are blinking at me. "What are you doing?" pokes his interested voice.

"Covering it," I plainly answer.

This makes him let out a scoff. "Well duh, I can see that," he states, with a roll of his eyes. "But the question is why?"

I frown, but contain my composure. "Because I'm going out, and don’t want people to question me about it," I calmly explain.

But Himchan doesn't seem to understand my answer, as he continues to stare at me. "Why would you be embarrassed?" he bluntly questions. "This is a sign that you got some action, and people will either be jealous of that, or be jealous of the person who got to do that with you, which is in other words, me." He then shrugs his shoulders; "But the thing is, they'll be envious, and because of that, it should make you want to flaunt it, not conceal it away."

I don't say anything to this, and just go on with my task to hide the hickey.

My lack of response makes Himchan continue talking. "But anyway, where are you going?" he asks. "And who will you be with?"

With my eyes on my neck, shown from the mirror's reflection, I stop my actions, to examine my work a little. "I'm going to grab some coffee with Yongguk," I idly say.

"You're going with Yongguk?!" chokes out Himchan.

My eyes are still observing my neck, as I give him a confirmed nod. "Yeah, I haven't seen him in a while, so I want to spend some quality best friend time with him," I reply.

Now satisfied with my result, I smile a little to myself, just before packing away my makeup.

And as I do this, Himchan now appears as though he wants to pull out his hair. "Well if you're going to see Yongguk, then I demand that you show him my mark!" he exclaims, with a pout.

My eyes narrow, as I then side-eye him a little. "That's embarrassing, why would I do that?" I skeptically say.

Himchan returns the unimpressed expression on my face with his own. "To remind himself to keep his eyes to himself," he snappily says.

I click my tongue at him in annoyance, as I now go to smooth out my hair. "Himchan, no," I dully say. "Stop being jealous—"

"I'm not jealous!" interrupts the male, rather grumpily.

My eyebrow goes to doubtfully lift up, as I feel somewhat skeptical by his crankiness. "Are you sure?" I jest. "You tend to freak out whenever I go to talk to someone of the opposite gender."

Himchan grumbles an "I do not!" and it makes me chortle.

Still on the topic of his jealousy, it suddenly reminds me of something that I was supposed to ask him last night. He never did tell me how he saw me talking to Jongup and Junhong, and the thought has been poking at me. Himchan is a little confused of who I'm talking about at first, but then immediately knows what I'm saying, when I begin to describe "the two boys". Apparently, while Himchan had been accompanying Mrs. Lee to her flower store, he happened to walk pass my work place, and managed to get a glimpse of me talking to Jongup and Junhong.

Mrs. Lee is the sweet old lady who lives on the first floor, and while she was grabbing her mail, she happened to see Himchan taking out the trash. The two engaged into some conversation, and after a bit, Himchan then somehow ended up finding himself going with her, to the flower shop. I had no idea that she owned a business of such, and nonetheless, one that wasn't too far away from where I work at. It’s a stall that I would walk by here and there, but never really took much notice of it, considering how I don't really buy flowers.

But now that this place seems to be a place where Himchan will be visiting on a regular basis, I'm fairly curious to know more.

"She says that I have a keen eye, and should help her design some bouquets for her," states Himchan, with a delighted grin. "So because of that, I might start seeing her around more, from here on."

My facial expressions soften at the sight of his beam. "That's really sweet of you to assist her," I praise. "I'm proud of you."

Himchan's eyes light up at my words, as he goes to stare at me in awe. "R-Really?" he stammers, in astonishment. "You're...you're proud of me?"

With the smile still on my face, I give my head a quick bob. "Of course," I say, and then ask; "Why do you seem so surprised?"

"Because I just..." Himchan's eyes slowly trail down towards the floor, along with his mumbling words. "I-I don't know, I just..." his voice fades off, and that's all that appears to utter from his mouth. I can see the corner of his lips begin to tug upwards into a warm smile, as he coyly goes to rub the back of his neck, with a tiny chuckle.

Himchan seems to be lost in his thoughts, and feeling amused by his sudden shyness, I just allow for him to soak in the moment.

So I go to grab my purse, and give myself one last check in the mirror. "I'm going now," I inform.

This snaps Himchan out of his daze, as he then shows me a frown of disapproval. "Already?" he whines.

"I'm afraid so," I reply, with an apologetic smile.

Himchan watches as I put on my shoes, and then follows me towards the front door.

But right as I go to reach for the doorknob, I feel his hands wrap around my waist, and then pull me backwards towards his chest. "You forgot something," he murmurs.

His husky voice makes secretly chortle to myself; "And what may that be?"

Himchan doesn't say anything, as he continues to snuggle against me in this back-hug. I can feel that same fluttery feeling from last night begin to stir within me as he does this, and when I feel a soft kiss being placed onto my clothed shoulder, I know what he's talking about. Himchan now goes to place another soft kiss on my collarbone, and the feathery gesture makes me let out a giggle.

And when I turn my head over to face him, his lips press themselves onto my own, to kiss me.   

My body automatically responds and goes to kiss him back, but when my mind proceeds to give my head a knock, I slowly begin to try and wriggle myself out of his hold. "Okay, you got your goodbye kiss," I say, laughing a little. "So let me go, or I'm going to be late."

Himchan does a throaty chuckle, as he nuzzles against my nape. "Hmm, I don't think a couple of minutes would hurt," he coos. "Actually..." His lips now go back to placing light kisses along my jaw. "Just don't go at all."

I feel as though I could melt into his arms right here and now, but eventually shake the feeling away, when Yongguk appears in my head. "Himchan, don't," I breathe out. "Stop; I know what you're trying to do, and it's not going to work, okay? I have to go and see how my best friend is."

"Aww..." croons Himchan's gentle voice. "You caught me...and you also used two of my most un-favourite words, as well."

It takes me a moment or two, but I eventually am able to detach him from me. "And what are those words?" I curiously ask.

"'Don't' and 'stop'," he casually says. "Unless you put them together."

Himchan gives me a playful wink, and in return, this earns him a whack on the arm from me. My actions make him chuckle at me in amusement, as I go to shake my head at his erted comment. Letting out a tiny huff, a sad pout now occupies his face, as he then gently goes to take my hand into his own.

Himchan fondly smiles at me, just before he goes to give my knuckles a delicate kiss. "Come back soon," he softly says. "And for your sake, I hope you're just paranoid, and that Mr Angry Eyebrows is doing just fine."

A minor laugh comes out of me, as I go to give the pouty male's arm a reassuring squeeze. "I will," I gently say. "And...thanks for worrying about Yongguk, as well. Anyway, I'll see you soon, okay?"

Himchan gloomily nods his head at me, and with a small wave, I then exit the place, for him to close the door.

———————————————

So instead of expecting to be ten minutes late, I'm actually ten minutes early, but that's alright.

As I wait for Yongguk, I can't help but notice how great the weather is today; it's not too hot nor is it too cold, and because it seems to be just right for me, it makes me smile to myself. A couple suddenly walk by me, and as they do, I notice the male holding a cup of bubble tea. Seeing the drink takes me back to the time when I had first introduced it to Himchan, and remembering his comment ("Why would you want bubble in your tea? I like mine detergent free, thanks") makes me chortle to myself.

"What are you giggling about?" asks a sudden voice.

I stop my actions, and look up to see a brunette gazing down at me. My eyes blink at him, and it takes me a second longer to react, since the blonde in his hair is now gone. "Hey, you're finally here!" I happily say. "And you changed your hair, as well?"

My clear excitement makes Yongguk smile a little. "Yeah, the blonde was becoming a little tiring to maintain," he says, as his hand goes to touch his dark brown strands.

I show him a bright beam of approval. "It looks good!" I compliment. "I liked your blonde, but I like this as well."

Yongguk chuckles a little, appearing to be content by my compliment. "Thanks," he earnestly says. "By the way, did you wait for long?"

I shake my head, and wave an airy hand at him. "No," I kindly assure. "I just got here, so it's fine."

With that, the two of us continue our cheerful chatter, as we begin to make our way over towards one of our favourite coffee shops. Soft jazz music soon fills my ears, as we're now inside, queuing in line for our drinks. We eventually place in our orders, and when they're done, we take our things, and begin to find a table to sit at. Fortunately, the two of us are able to occupy our usual cosy spot in the corner, on the far right of the cafe. And as we both take our seats, I secretly smile to myself, when my eyes go to sweep over what we've both just ordered.

My amusement doesn't to by unnoticed though, as Yongguk raises a curious eyebrow at me. "What is it?" he queries, with a tiny smile.

"Oh, it's just..." My gaze returns itself back onto the editable items in front of us. "We're here for coffee, but neither of us actually bought...well, coffee."

This makes Yongguk look down at our food, and after a second, he softly chuckles. "Your latte has coffee in it," he points out.

I shake my head at him. "No, it's green tea," I say. "I meant as in...coffee-coffee, like...an espresso or something? But anyway," I suspend my sentence, to take a quick sip of my hot drink. "How are you?"

"Good," answers Yongguk, rather steadily.

"Good?" I repeat, as I carefully eye him. "Are you sure?"

My doubtful comment makes him laugh. "Why do you not sound convinced?" he questions.

I show him a slight frown, just before spreading some cream cheese onto my blueberry bagel. "Well, you kind of just disappeared for a while..." I quietly say. "So it's hard for me not to worry."

"Well," begins Yongguk, rather gently. "You know that I'm just a call away."

His reassuring comment makes the corner of my lips lift up again, as I nod my head at him in agreement. "That's true," I agree. "But...I've just had so much going on, so it's been hard to find a time for me to sit down, and ask about your wellbeing."

"Me too," I hear him softly say.

I poke my bagel a bit, before letting out a sigh. "I have a lot to tell you," I slowly reveal. "But I have no idea where to even begin..."

Yongguk's gaze slowly drops down onto his herbal tea. "So do I," he discloses, in a murmur.

A brief silence forms from out of nowhere, but just as quick as it drapes over us, we both find ourselves suddenly straightening up, to ask each other the exact same question.

"So who goes first?" we ask, in unison.

Sharing the same confusion, Yongguk and I blink each other for a bit, only to find us both voicing out, yet another question, at the same time.

"Do you want to go first?" we say, our voices in sync with each other, once more.

The two of each other stare at each other for a bit, before the hilarity of the situation hits us both, causing the sounds of our amused laughter to titter out in the air.

"Stop copying me," I tease.

Yongguk smiles, with a slight chuckle. "Aigoo, I'm not copying you," he begins, in the same mocking tone. "Our ESP is just getting better."

His comment entertains me, as I play along. "Yes, I'm glad to see that our connection is still as strong as ever," I playfully say. "And since the whole ESP thing makes me think of aliens, between the two of us, you can be the alien."

"Me?" he says, while tilting his head a little, in amusement. "Then what are you?"

"A regular human girl," I answer, with a beam.

Yongguk twists his lips into a tiny, unsure pout, as his eyebrows crumple into one of puzzlement. "Why can't I be the human boy?" he asks.

And because it's very unusual to see such an expression appear on his face, making him look exceptionally adorable, I find myself placing a hand to my mouth, to muffle down my giggling.

This makes the brunette look even more confused than he already is, as his miniature pout now turns into a small frown. "What?" he obliviously questions, with a raised eyebrow.

Still chortling, I result to good-naturedly shaking my head at him. "I just," I begin, in between small laughter. "I just really missed you." 

The perplexed look on Yongguk's face gradually melts down, where his facial expression ends up softening at me. "I missed you to," he quietly says.

My chortle eventually comes to an end, where I then respond to him with a warm smile.

Yongguk takes a quick sip of his drink, before continuing on. "So because of that, I want you to go first," he says. "We can hear about me afterwards."

But I shake my head, and motion for him to keep talking. "No, I've been really curious as to how you've been, so I want you to go first," I say. "You always let me go first in everything, so just this once...I want you to go before me."

For a brief moment, he's quiet, but after seeing the encouraging smile on my face, he gives in, with a small smile of his own. "Okay," surrenders Yongguk. "Well...these days, I've just been—"

"Sorry," I cut in, rather sheepishly. "But before you say anything more, I've just figured out your alien name."

"You made me an alien name?" he says, with a mixture of puzzlement and amusement.

I nod my head at him with a grin. "It's Shishimato!" I happily reveal.

Yongguk blinks for a bit. "Shishi...mato?" he slowly says. "Not bad; I actually quite like that."

His impressed nodding makes me continue to smile at him. "What can I say?" I chime, with a shrug of my shoulders. "I aim to impress."

The two of us laugh a little, but deep down inside, I go to mentally face-palm myself, because not only has Himchan's weirdness rubbed off on me, but so has his cocky attitude.

"So," begins Yongguk, bringing my attention back over to him. "Lately, I've just been—" Something suddenly causes for him to hold his sentence, and as he goes to pull out his vibrating phone, I understand why. "Sorry, one moment," he quickly says.

I flick my wrist at him, not minding at all. "Sure, go ahead," I nonchalantly assure.

As I go back to spread some strawberry jam on top of my cream-cheesed bagel, Yongguk's lack of movement, makes me raise an eyebrow at him. The device in his hand continues to shake away, and I notice with each vibration, his eyebrows ever so slowly crease together, as the corners of his lips begin to descend downwards, turning it into a frown. I keep quiet, by placing a bite-sized piece of my food into my mouth, and it's only then, that he decides to abruptly cancel the call.

And as I go to chew away, I make sure to let him see my arched eyebrow, as a sign of my confusion.

Yongguk smiles at me a little, before waving his hand a bit, in a dismissive manner. "Oh, don't worry about that," he says. "It's not important."

"Are you sure about that...?" I ask, a little carefully.

But Yongguk shakes his head at me, and proceeds to reassure me to leave it. "Yeah, it's fine," he indifferently says. "Anyway, as I was saying, lately, I've just been busy with work."

Since his work has never been something to hold him back, from at least sending me a text message or so, I end up giving him an inquisitive look.

And I know that he knows that I'm thinking about this, because he now goes on to tell me about the packed schedule that he has been working through. Gig after gig, I learn that Yongguk had a lot of performances and DJ-ing to do, to keep him thinking about his music, and only about his music. But as much as he enjoys, and is passionate about his job, I can't help but fill as though there’s something off about this, as though he wanted to be this occupied.

Because I know that whenever he feels troubled by something, then he immerses himself in another thing, in hopes of it being enough of a distraction, to keep him away from whatever that's making him feel uneasy.

And for some strange reason, I have an idea of what it may be.

So I go to carefully ask him, and when it takes him a brief moment to confirm my assumption, (the quick surprise shown on his face, followed up by his hesitant expression is enough to tell me my answer) I feel that familiar prick in my chest.

I notice that the pang isn't as bad as it used to be, but this sensation doesn't fail to still make my shoulders slightly drop, as I remain silent.

With a solemn expression now on his face, Yongguk breathes out a small sigh, as he begins to tell me about his confusion. I patiently listen, and occasionally nod my head, or hum out a noise of agreement, when it seems right to do so. He tells me that his mind is made up, and what I made him yell out while we were at the Han River the other time, is concrete in his head. But then for some reason, deep down inside, there's a tiny glimmer of something that seems to be pulling him back. He doesn't seem to understand why though, but his torn words hint me a possible reason.

Because Jieun use to be his everything, and being aware of how much he had cherished her, I can understand why a piece of him still misses her.

"I'm sorry," mumbles Yongguk, from out of nowhere.

His apology catches me off guard, as it makes me blink at him. "For what?" I ask, feeling perplexed.

"For this," he quietly answers. A humourless smile now appears on his face; "You must be tired of always hearing me ramble on about Jieun, huh?"

I'm now surprised. "What—?" My slightly wide eyes stare at him for a second longer, before I go to shake my head at him. "No, it's absolutely fine," I say, with a comforting smile. "Honestly, how many times do I have to tell you that I'll stick by your side, no matter what?"

Touched by my reassurance, Yongguk's face slowly eases into a grateful expression. "Thank you," he gladly murmurs. "Anyway, enough about my depressive thoughts, lets move onto you. I'm sure from between the two of us, your side is much more interesting and happier; right?"

"Um..." The discovery of Himchan's genuine feelings for me, suddenly come to mind. It then then morphs into the scene of our near-death experience, and the change makes me shuffle a little in my spot. "Not really..." I eventually mumble out. "But...before I say anything, I want you to promise me something."

Yongguk stares at me for a bit, probably wondering what my request is, before gradually nodding his head at me. "Alright..." he slowly says. "What is it?"

I'm now cutting another bite-sized piece of my bagel, as an attempt to distract the sudden nervousness in me. "Um, well, I know I've already asked you not to get angry with me, and that—"

My rambling comes to a halt, as Yongguk slightly holds out his hand. "Wait," he cautiously says. "Why do I feel like I'm experiencing déjà vu?"

Straightening up my posture, I then remove my hands away from my face, and look at him. "Yongguk-ah," I begin, wincing slightly. "Promise me you won't get angry, okay?"

A little puzzled by my request, he blinks at me, and then frowns a little. "But...that always means that I will...?"

I shake my head at him. "No," I mumble. "You can get angry at me for everything else, except for what I'm about to tell you."

My eyes wide a little at the flash back, and when I go to awkwardly clear my throat, I know that Yongguk is aware of me remembering that moment, as well.

"It's about Himchan, isn't it?" he queries, with an unreadable face.

I don't say anything, but the way that my eyes uneasily flicker away from his face, to the side, where they then finally fall back down onto the drink in front of me, tells him my answer.

And because of my silent response, I see a somewhat (pained?) look of concern, flash across the brunette's face, just before his facial expressions turn serious. "You know, ever since you got yourself involved with him, it's just been trouble left and right," murmurs Yongguk, in an exasperated voice. "So what happened, did he touch you? He didn't touch you, did he?"

"I—" My words suddenly freeze up, and I suddenly feel extremely careful of the hidden hickey on my neck.

And since this now leads me to subtly attempt to make sure that my hair is still sitting in the right spot, Yongguk just so happens to misread my wary gesture, (and lack of reply) as a 'yes'.

A scary aura now begins to emit from the male sitting in front of me, and when I see his jaw grit together in fury, I swallow. "That son of a—" mutters Yongguk, with a low growl. "I specifically told him not to touch you, since it clearly makes you feel uncomfortable!" 

His fierce tone makes me flinch, before I shake my head at him. "No!" I hurriedly begin. "It's not like that!"

For the sake of not causing a scene, Yongguk quickly regains his calmness, but it doesn't exactly mean that he's happy. "So he hasn't touched you?" he questions, rather sternly.

And because of how intensely his eyes are piercing into me right now, I'm only able to half lie to him. "We only hug," I state, with my best poker-face. My answer seems to make Yongguk appear doubtful though, and afraid that he might be able to catch on, I then elaborate a little more. "I mean," I start off, with a (what I'm hoping for it to look like) a careless shrug of my shoulders. "The furthest we go is cuddling, but that's it."

Yongguk gives me an incredulous look. "And you're fine with that?" he presses on.

I give my shoulders another indifferent shrug. "It's okay," I casually say. "Himchan is...nice."

And funny, and fairly sweet, and not to mention, he's also a great kisser.

Feeling quite shocked at my conscious, I quickly push those ridiculous thoughts away, and return my attention back to the male in front of me, with a little sheepish smile.

"So no kissing?" probes Yongguk, rather curiously.

For a nano-second, I pause, as my mind suddenly takes me back to last night's heated moment, but as soon as my eyes blink together, I give my head a shake.

"None at all," I lightly say.

Yongguk doesn't say anything to this, as he goes to take another sip of his tea.

So I use this moment to carefully continue on with what I'm about to tell him, making sure that he doesn't have anything in his mouth, in fear of him either spitting it out at me, or choking on it. And when I come to eventually reveal how a car had almost run me over, his eyes enlarge, as his lips part to inhale in a just as shocked gasp. Yongguk is stunned by my revelation, and I keep quiet for a moment or two, in order for him to digest that in. He eventually snaps out of the shock with a splutter of disbelief, as he worriedly goes to ask me what happened.

I tell him how Himchan and I were grabbing some ice cream, and as we were walking down the street, this car just suddenly decides to try and ram us down. Yongguk's eyebrows are firmly drawn together, as his lips are now pursed into a tight serious line. I then go on to tell him about Youngjae, and how his theory is that someone wants to hurt Himchan, to the point of killing him. Yongguk shows me a shocked look, but when I go to inform him about the odd disappearance of the Missing Person’s sheets, which I had filled out at the police station, he returns back to looking concerned.

"This is...absurd," utters Yongguk.

I exhale out a tiny sigh. "I know," I agree, in exasperation. "It's crazy."

Yongguk frowns. "And I don't like how you're involved," he apprehensively says. "How are you outside right now, aren't you scared that they might come back?"

It is a terrifying thought, and all it takes for Yongguk to understand my answer, is when I uneasily lower my gaze down towards our cups in front of us.

He's worried, and the frown stays on his face. "You know, the disappearing files sound as if whoever took them, doesn't want him to be found," he points out. "Have the police found any clues to a possible lead?"

"No," I quietly answer. "I haven't been contacted, so I don't think Youngjae has found anything yet."

Silence now dwells from the both of us, and judging by the serious look on his face, I can tell that Yongguk is anxiously skimming over everything that I've just said.

The stillness between us doesn't last very long, as he goes to speak up again; "Has anything strange been happening?"

I shake my head. "Everything is how it always is," I say. "I think the closest thing that's happened to me, that can be considered as 'out of the ordinary', is Jongup and Junhong's stupid prank call."

The stern look on Yongguk's face suddenly turns into one of confusion. "What?" he says. "Those two pranked you?"

"Yeah," I mutter, with a small laugh. "And it was right after the hit-and-run incident, so it scared the crap out of me."

Yongguk chuckles softly to himself, as he good-naturedly shakes his head.

The change in topic to the two boys seems to lighten up the atmosphere a bit, and so because of that, I then decide to continue on with it.

"By the way, Junhong's dyed his hair again," I lightly comment. "But instead of going for a normal colour like Jongup, it's now a grey-blue type of colour."

Yongguk smiles a little, looking somewhat amused. "Really?" he says. "I haven't seen those two in a while...how are they?"

"They're doing well, that's for sure," I respond. "They're both studying what they like, and they both seem to miss you, since they asked me about you."

This makes Yongguk quirk an eyebrow at me. "They ask you about me?" he says, sounding somewhat surprised. "Because they tend to ask me about you, when they bump into me."

I now share the same surprised look from Yongguk's face; "Really...?"

Since those two (especially Junhong) often try to cajole me into dating the male in front of me, it makes me wonder if they ever try to do that to him with me.

Yongguk nods his head. "Yeah, they ask me how you are, and how often I get to see you," he casually says. "Just the usual."

"Oh," I mumble. "Do they ask you anything else?"

This makes him give me an inquiring look. "Are they supposed to?" he muses.

I blink a little, but then put on a smile. "Oh, haha, no..." I awkwardly say, with a chortle. "I was just curious."

Yongguk laughs a little at my response. "By the way," he suddenly speaks up, in a different note. "There's something else that I should tell you. Although I'm not so sure if I should say it out or not, since it might make you...how should I say it, wary?"

My curious gaze stays on him, and this soundless sign is enough to encourage him to keep speaking.

Yongguk shuffles a little in his spot, as he goes to clear out his throat; he looks so nervous that it’s actually making me nervous.

Could this be bad news?

"I-I think I might be...um, developing an interest in—" He doesn't get a chance to finish off that sentence though, as another voice unknowingly interrupts him, from out of the blue.

"Yongguk?" chimes a familiar (much too familiar) female's voice.

And when we both look over to the source, we see a beautiful brunette standing there, with a hot cup of coffee, looking as radiant as usual.

Out of the three of us, her surprised expression is the first to dissolve into a happy one, as she now begins to make her way over to us. Her eyes crinkle a little more when they land on me, and I try my best to do a small wave at her, without my face looking like a grimace. The empty seat next to Yongguk soon becomes occupied by her, and because I happen to be watching him pull out the chair for her (like the gentleman he is), I notice that his eyes soften at her, for a split second.

And even though a smile is now present on his face, it seems to be too artificial looking, for it to be a genuine one.

I now too, find myself masking my face of a (slightly) forced cheeriness, as I go to politely greet her. "Hi Jieun," I kindly begin. "It’s nice to see you again..."