“I think we need to take a break.” He couldn’t even look at his girlfriend straight in the eye.

It was the end of summer before junior year.

Jieun stopped breathing. “What do you mean, ‘take a break?’”

Her boyfriend was moving to the states. He got an offer to study at a high school as a foreign exchange student from South Korea. He had relatives living there, and with his impeccable English, his parents wouldn’t let him refuse.

“I’ll come back for you. I promise.” He gave her a soft kiss, but Jieun didn’t kiss back.

Her eyes started to water. She knew this day was coming. They never talked about it, but Jieun feared the day they’d have to face it.

“What about everything we planned? We’d graduate together, go to college together, move into an apartment. We would get married and have children. We’ve been going out for 4 years now. We can’t just break up!” Her voice rose in anger.

“Jieun, calm down please.” He placed a hand on her waist, but she shook him away.

“Calm down? Are you serious right now? We can still be together. We can do this.” She pleaded. Tears ran down her face.

“I’m going to be thousands of miles away, on a different continent. Jieun, I hate hurting you but it’s not going to work out right now.” He cringed when she slammed her purse on the bench.

“You’re a coward. No, you don’t love me anymore. Is that it? Am I too boring for you now? Is it because we haven’t had yet? Huh?” Jieun sputtered.

He was silent, but he wasn’t crying. He reached into his coat pocket and took out a ring. Jieun gasped.

“Are you…”

It was a silver infinity ring. He took her left hand and slipped the ring on her fourth to last finger. He pressed his forehead against hers. “When I come back, will you marry me, Song Jieun?”

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes!” She gave him a deep kiss.

What she didn’t know was that his eyes were open the entire time. Cunning and tactful, he smiled slyly against .

It marked a milestone in their relationship as Jieun lost her ity to him that night.

The next day, he was gone and on a plane to America.

He didn’t say goodbye.

“Did your mom just send me a text message?” Junhong’s eyes bulged.

Yongguk looked at his phone. “Ugh, more of this Formal Ball crap. She goes crazy this time of the year.”

Junhong chuckled, immediately deleting the message. “I won’t respond. She already knows we’re all going. As usual, I’ll have to ask Hana.”

“Mhm.” Yongguk nodded, not paying attention to what Junhong was saying at all.

“Are you even listening to me? Huh?!” Junhong pouted, crossing his arms.

He ruffled Junhong’s long hair. “I never listen to you, Junhong. You should know that by now.”

His words were true, but today he was on another level of distractedness.

“If you’re taking Gina, I refuse to ride in the same limo with her. That woman is so…” Junhong peeked at Yongguk, hesitant to upset him.

“I’m taking her, and my decision’s final. Quit whining, she isn’t that bad.” Yongguk defended her, although it was half-hearted.

“Are you forgetting that she’s a hooker?” Junhong face palmed.

“So what? It’s my decision.” Did people really hate Gina that much? Even his own friends disapproved of her.

Junhong leaned in closer to Yongguk. “Daehyun’s got someone on his mind. When we went shopping earlier, he bought balloons, chocolate, and red roses. I think he’s finally taking a date this year.” Junhong whispered.

Yongguk burst out laughing. Daehyun? His close friend, Jung Daehyun, was taking a girl to the ball? That was absurd. Daehyun and Youngjae were so socially inept with anyone of the opposite that Himchan, the ladies’ man of the group, was ashamed to even associate with them sometimes.

“I’m being serious though! He’s going to ask that one lucky girl today.” Junhong insisted.

“The day he gets the courage to ask out a girl is the day I die. Even if he wanted to, he’d utterly mess it up and make himself look stupid. Don’t be so excited now, Junhong.” Yongguk brushed it off. He was itching to get back to the rooftop.

He wanted to see her again. It wasn’t like that though, he just wanted answers to keep his curiosity from growing. At least, that’s what he told himself.

“Just watch! He’s going to take a beautiful girl to the formal ball. I’m so proud of him.” Junhong wiped an imaginary tear.

“You sound like a girl, Junhong.” Yongguk said.

“It’s a big deal for  him, why can’t you just be happy today? You’ve been in a particularly grouchy mood. What’s up, Yongguk?” Junhong wasn’t stupid, he could tell something was bothering him.

Yongguk was about to open his mouth, but he quickly shut it when his mind flashed back to Jieun’s desperate pleas.

“I’m just tired, that’s all.” Yongguk replied nonchalantly.

A few minutes later, the lunch bell rang. Junhong literally dragged Yongguk over to their table.

Much to Yongguk’s surprise, Hyosung and her little friends were sitting right with B.A.P. Jieun’s smile faded slightly when she saw Yongguk, but she continued her conversation with Sunhwa as if nothing happened.

She could never fool him though. Jieun’s body language screamed paranoia.

The other students saw them the girls sitting with B.A.P, beginning the litany of whispers and gossip that seemed to heighten ever since Jieun had the misfortune of stepping into Yongguk’s life. The two groups were always separate at school… Until now.

Yongguk didn’t even acknowledge them, just taking his usual spot next to Himchan and Junhong. He scanned the faces around them, stopping on Jieun. She looked like her usual perky self. He noticed that she had a lot of concealer under her eyes. Maybe she took the painkillers because she couldn’t sleep. No, that still didn’t make sense. She didn’t cut herself, suffered from a painful condition, or remotely looked like a girl with many problems.

Daehyun saw that Yongguk was staring at Jieun again for the millionth time and his eyes narrowed. He didn’t like it.

“It’s not polite to stare, Yongguk.” Daehyun suddenly addressed him loudly, alarming everyone at the table.

Yongguk was annoyed, not because Daehyun called him out on his actions, but because he put his arm around Jieun. And she looked like she didn’t mind.

Hyosung cleared .

“Yes?” Yongguk didn’t bother to hide the irritation in his voice. It wasn’t like he disliked Hyosung, but she was trying to talk to him at a time when all he wanted to do was talk to her.

“Since Hana’s going with Junhong, does that mean the rest of us are invited too? I mean, I want to take Kikwang too…” She trailed off nervously.

“Who’s Kikwang?” He asked.

Hyosung beamed. “He’s my boyfriend. He heard about the ball and wanted to go with me. Oh! And he’s like Jieun’s childhood friend, so he wanted to spend the night with her, too.”

He sat up straighter. That got his attention. Maybe he could figure out what was going on with Jieun if he met this Kikwang guy. He unintentionally smiled at Hyosung.

“I didn’t know you have a gummy smile too!” Hyosung’s grin matched his perfectly. Jieun turned to look in their direction, catching a glimpse of Yongguk’s smile.

She wondered why he didn’t smile more. Jieun had to admit that she loved his smile because it was so uncharacteristically Yongguk. It was bright and hopeful.

Jieun played with the ring on her finger. She was barely focusing on Daehyun’s words. Sure, she loved singing with Daehyun, and that was great and all, but he needed to stop talking sometimes. He, unlike Yongguk, was a man of many words. But as soon as that thought popped into her head, he stopped talking all of a sudden. He nodded his head at Jongup, who quickly got up, disappearing downstairs.

“What was that about?” She asked Daehyun.

“Nothing. So… Are you thinking of going to the Formal Ball?”

Jieun wrinkled her little nose. Her friends had been talking about it nonstop the past few days. Sunhwa told her that Yongguk’s mom was in charge and it was one of the most exclusive, yet well-sought parties in Apgujeong. She was indifferent towards it. It wasn’t like anyone invited would ask her anyways.

“Nobody would invite me. It’s no big deal though.” She shrugged.

All of a sudden, Daehyun burst into laughter. His notoriously loud laugh could be heard from across the cafeteria.

As if on cue, Jongup reappeared, coming up the steps slowly. Daehyun rushed out of his seat, hastily walking right behind Jongup.

Yongguk saw the flowers and chocolates behind Jongup’s back that he transferred to Daehyun. He put the pieces together, coming to a cold realization.

Yongguk watched wordlessly.

“Don’t be so silly, Jieun. I know someone who will invite you.” He still held the items behind him. Jieun turned to face Daehyun.

He held out the flowers for her to take and set the chocolates on the table. Jieun flushed a deep scarlet, in contrast to her fair complexion. “Daehyun…”

“Will you be my date for Formal Ball?” His voice cracked at the end, making everyone snicker good-naturedly.

Jieun took the roses. For a split second, she looked at Yongguk. He turned away from the scene, staring at the ground. His jaw was clenched.

“Of course I’ll go with you. Thank you, Daehyun. You’re the sweetest.” She gave him a tight hug.

“Aww.” They all said, and Junhong even clapped.

Jieun smiled at everyone. She should’ve been happy and flattered. But instead, she felt an emotion she knew too well.

Disappointment.

Yongguk threw the crushed can of soda behind him. He sat on the edge of the rooftop, his legs dangling wildly. He leaned back, feeling the breeze whip past him. Yongguk exhaled sharply when his serene moment was rudely interrupted.

She was here.

“Can’t get enough of me?” His back faced her.

Jieun sighed. After the spectacle at lunch, she ran up here. She assumed Yongguk wouldn’t be at the rooftop since he had practice after school.

She tentatively walked up to him. His arm muscles were tense. Jieun finally got a good look at his face. He still wouldn’t look at her, so she sat down next to him. Jieun made sure to leave ample space between them.

“I didn’t think you’d be here. Don’t you have practice?” She asked him.

“I can get there whenever I please. I don’t even have to show up at all if I want.” Yongguk said in a monotone. He didn’t even know why he was acting so cold to her—it wasn’t like she did anything wrong. But, he couldn’t help but feel a little hurt about earlier.

“Oh…” She didn’t know what to say.

“You must be forgetting that this is my place.” He reminded her.

Without thinking, she replied cheekily, “You never specifically told me I couldn’t come up here.”

“Touché.”  He smirked at her slight sassiness.

She gazed straight ahead. “The view is beautiful, isn’t it?”

Yongguk took a long look at the high-topped trees around the campus. He saw little blue jays play-fighting near their nests. This caused him to smile widely for a reason he knew not of. Maybe he was just satisfied he was talking to her again. As much as he wanted to hate her and push her away, Yongguk admitted something felt natural about being next to her.

He stopped smiling when he realized she had been staring at him the entire time. He was taken aback. She had such a studious look on her face. At last, she spoke. “Why don’t you ever smile?”

“I don’t know, I guess I don’t like it.”

“Well I like it. You should smile more.” She went back to admiring the wonderful view.

Jieun had such an innocent, free expression that Yongguk found it hard to believe that this was the same girl that was supposedly addicted to painkillers. This couldn’t be right. He refused to affirm it.

As they sat side by side, a comfortable silence fell between them. It was the first time in a long time that both Jieun and Yongguk felt truly at peace with each other and with themselves.

A/N: Another update! I hope you enjoyed it. :)

And to all my readers, I freaking love all of you guys. All the feedback I get is what keeps me motivated and posting chapters. Each and every single one of you is amazing and sweet.

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-Adri