Yongguk was drenched in sweat, his head hung low. He’d been shooting in the goal in his backyard the entire afternoon. He played mid-field, yet was equally great as an offensive finisher. Soccer was one of the only things he found solace in—it was always there for him when he felt like no one else was.

His knee started to sting in pain as he made one last shot. “Time to call it a day.” He muttered to himself. Suddenly, a roar of applause could be heard right behind him. A pair of arms enveloped him in a back hug.

Yongguk smirked. “How did you find the spare key?”

“I can’t believe you hide the key underneath the porch mat. That’s typical.” Gina’s melodious voice sounded foreign to him.

“Blame my mother.” He laughed along, but he couldn’t bring himself to be truly excited with her surprise visit. It was more of a nuisance. All he wanted to do was take a shower and crash in bed. He certainly wasn’t in the mood for .

“So when can I meet Ms. Bang?” Gina clung to him.

“Soon.” He picked up his ball, walking back to the house. He rolled his eyes when she followed him closely.

Yongguk shouldn’t be feeling this way. How come he couldn’t tolerate Gina?

“I’m going to take a shower,” he announced, hoping she would take the hint and just leave.

Gina pushed him against the wall, roughly kissing him. Yongguk’s eyes widened. What the hell was she doing?

She started to tug at his shirt. “I would love to take a shower with you, Bang Yongguk. Thanks for the invite.”

Gina was making it difficult for Yongguk to push her away. He didn’t want to be cold, but damn, she was doing her job at being a e so well. Fortunately, he was stronger than Gina, as he gripped her wrists and removed them from his neck. “Don’t you have work?”

“No, it’s my day off, remember? Babe, I want you.” She tried to resume kissing him, but he still had a hold of her wrists.

“My mom’s going to be home in a few minutes. You have to leave.” Yongguk said firmly.

“But, Yongguk-“

“Leave.” He repeated. Gina gave him a little pout.

“Fine. Can we meet up later this week?”

“Yeah, sure.” That was obviously a lie.

Gina kissed him passionately, but he barely responded. “See you later, cutie.”

“Bye.” He waited until the front door slammed shut, then shed all his clothes off.

“Jeez, since when has she been this annoying?” He had a weird habit of talking to himself in the shower.

Yongguk touched his lips in disgust. Had she always been this forward with him? It felt so strange to him, and he didn’t like it.

He would’ve preferred it if she was less aggressive and more shy.

Like Jieun.

There he was, brooding about her again. Jieun, Jieun, Jieun. He was still irritated that she wanted him to stay away from her.

And that was when a great idea popped up in his mind.

He was sure he didn’t like her, but why did he want to impress her so badly?

Jieun played with the frayed edges of her psychology textbook. She only had a few more paragraphs to write for her essay, but it was growing increasingly difficult to finish her homework when Daehyun was blowing up her phone with his text messages.

She groaned when she heard loud laughter downstairs. It sounded like her parents had company over. It was probably some co-worker her father had just met. Jieun rested her head on her desk, feeling the blood rush upwards to her cranium.

Her mother’s intrusive footsteps plopped up the stairs. She figured that her mother was calling her down for dinner. She barged in, her cheeks flushed. “Someone from school is here to see you. You don’t mind if I invite him in for dinner, do you?”

“Is it Daehyun? Tell him I’m busy.”

“It’s not Daehyun. This boy’s quite handsome, though.” Her mother looked like a teenage girl fawning over some cute guy she would’ve met in high school a long, long time ago.

Warily, Jieun got up. If it wasn’t Daehyun, whom else would visit her at this hour? Junhong?

“It’s just Junhong, I’ll go talk to him.” She raced downstairs, eager to meet her friend.

All the blood drained from her face.

 He looked like he was actually cheerful for once, as he conversed with her father so casually, one could say they had known each other for years.

“Yongguk?” Jieun’s voice was tentative and shaky.

He looked at her with a mischievous smirk. “You never told me your dad was so funny, Jieun.”

“And you never told me you were friends with such a nice, young man. Yongguk, make yourself at home while my wife and I get dinner ready. You’re more than welcome to stay for it.”

“Thank you, sir.” He bowed to the older man until he was out of earshot.

Jieun’s jaw was slacken. “What do you think you’re doing?” She hissed at him.

“I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by. What’s so wrong about that?” Yongguk was nonchalant and at ease.

“Thanks for crashing my family dinner and interrupting my night.” She snapped. His unplanned appearance at the Song residence reminded her, again, of why Bang Yongguk annoyed the hell out of her half of the time.

The other half, well, didn’t mind him.

“No. Seriously, why are you here?”

“I thought about what you said to me the last time we talked and I decided that wasn’t the best for us. Just to clarify once again, I don’t hate you. By coming over and getting to know your family, I’m just justifying that point.” His smirk only grew snarkier. It seemed as if the conniving, sly Yongguk was making a comeback.

“Since when did you decide things for me, as if you actually know me? And since when has there been an us?” Jieun was appalled with his actions. Utterly appalled.

“See, this is just another way of trying to get to know you.” Jieun was unnerved by the fact that Yongguk happened to have a comeback for everything.

“Look, I don’t know what your intentions are, but if you touch anything in this house, I will-“

He put his arms out in front of him. “You don’t need to threaten me. I won’t. But, it’s quite clear what my intentions are, Jieun.”

“I must be blind to the apparent clarity of your intentions because you confuse me, Yongguk.” Jieun bit back.

“I just want to get to know you; does this have to be so complicated?” Yongguk was astounded at how dense and block-headed this girl was being.

“You made it complicated the minute you stepped into my life, Yongguk.” Jieun gave him a hard stare. Her words were true, though. Meeting Yongguk was the biggest catalyst in her life since she moved.

“Dinner’s ready!” Her mother called out. They looked at each other. Jieun gave him another warning glare, while Yongguk just chuckled at her.

“You’re so cute sometimes.” When Jieun realized the entirety of his words, he had already walked past her into the dining room.

“Oh god, what did I just say?” He thought to himself in despair as he sat down at the wooden table. He was sweating bullets under his leather jacket.

“He thinks I’m cute?” Jieun touched her face in self-consciousness, having to stop herself from practically gliding into the room.

“So, Yongguk, tell us more about yourself.” They had just finished eating and were pleasantly stuffed. Jieun had watched Yongguk eat the entire meal, making sure he wasn’t going to try to embarrass her or do something else stupid.

As he wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin, he slouched back for the first time that night. He must’ve been getting comfortable, then. “I’m captain of the soccer team at TS High.”

“That’s such an accomplishment, Yongguk. You must be excellent at it. Anything in mind for college? Before you take over the family company, of course.” Her mother prodded further.

“Seoul National University.” Jieun perked up. He wanted to go to SNU, too?

“That’s Jieun’s dream school, she has wanted to go there since she was a little girl. Isn’t that right, Jieun?”

Jieun only rolled her eyes at her mother’s behavior, earning a stern chastisement from her father. “Don’t be rude.”

Yongguk, on the other hand, smirked teasingly when Jieun turned red at this.

Jieun’s mother proceeded to collect the empty dishes around the table, while her father offered to wash them. “Why don’t you show Yongguk your room?”

Jieun groaned. “Sure. Come on.” She led him up the stairs quickly, but he lingered, absorbing all the pictures on the walls.

“You were such a cute little girl.” He remarked. There he went again, with the word “cute.” Was he trying to make a point?

“Stop looking at those family portraits, Yongguk.” She had to shove him into her room. He may have looked somewhat lanky, but he was heavy to push.

“So this is Song Jieun’s bedroom. It’s the epitome of femininity.” His smartass comments were beginning to gnaw at Jieun.

“If you’re going to be a smartass, don’t say anything at all.” She sunk her face into the sheets of her bed, lying there for a minute. Yongguk was silent.

“I like your parents, especially your dad.” Yongguk said.

“Why my dad? He’s just an avid sports enthusiast who encourages me to do my best in school and music.” She scoffed. She loved her dad, but he wasn’t special enough that a guy of the likes of Bang Yongguk would mention him.

“I don’t know, I just wish I had a dad like him.”

Jieun sat up. “Does your dad work a lot? I mean, he owns a huge corporation.” She assumed Yongguk’s father was a workaholic and his mother was a socialite who spent huge amounts of money shopping endlessly.

“That’s my mom. She’s the one who owns the company.”

“So what does your dad do then?” She found it strange that his mom was the bread-winner.

He absentmindedly played with the ballerina in her musical jukebox on her desk. Yongguk seemed to be fixated on it, the contour of the ceramic figure over and over again.

Yongguk wouldn’t answer until finally, he spoke. “I don’t have a father.”

“Excuse me?”

“My dad’s dead.”

It took Jieun by surprise, as widened into a perfectly-shaped “o.” This came as a shock to her, a horrible shock, since she wouldn’t have ever guessed that Yongguk had a deceased parent. She suddenly felt bad about judging him. Maybe he had his reasons, too.

Jieun didn’t know what to say to this. Should she comfort him? Invite him to sit next to her or walk to him? Would that be doing too much for him?

“Sit down here, Yongguk.” She sounded like a teacher directing an elementary school student. Nevertheless, he did, and Jieun lifted up her hand to pat his back in her platonic form of comfort.

“If you feel like you need to comfort me, you don’t have to. I don’t need it.” Yongguk and his trademark cold, deep vibrato came out.

“Okay. I’m still sorry to hear that.” She told him mildly, although soon after she decided it was the most common and lame response she could’ve given.

“Don’t be. Can we talk about something else?” Yongguk was desperate to change topic.

Jieun glanced at the clock. It was already 8pm. “You should get going, Yongguk. It’s late and I don’t want your paren—I mean, your mom, to worry.”

“She’s not even home yet, I can guarantee you that.” Jieun felt even worse. Perhaps Yongguk wasn’t the guy she thought he was.

She was beginning to think that Yongguk might be far lonelier than she could imagine. As he was going to walk out her bedroom door, she stopped him. Jieun couldn’t let the night end like this, not after what she now knew.

“Regarding what I said last time… Forget about it. You can come talk to me anytime, just in case you need something or just want some company. I’m always here. Well, I’ll be here for you.” She felt a little better knowing she was doing the right thing.

“Oh, alright. Thanks, Jieun.” As Yongguk climbed downstairs, his face lit up.

Tonight wasn’t anything special, but it was a start.

A/N: Finally back with a chapter! Sorry I took so long, I’ve been crazy busy with school and other things. I really enjoyed writing this chapter though, this one is definitely one of my favorites.

Oh, and a special thank you to all of my readers who have stuck with me and this story, your feedback and love motivates me to keep going! I love you guys! <3

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