“I couldn’t protect you.”

            “You didn’t need to.”

            Woohyun gave me an “are you kidding me” look and said, “He almost starved you.”

            “He gave me food,” I replied. “I told you. He took very good care of me. There’s no reason for you guys to back over there and fight Teen Top.”

            “I still don’t like how he just decided to take you,” Woohyun said. “At my party too. Now that’s just damn mean.”

            “We should just brush it off,” I said. “It’s the past now.” I gave Woohyun a kiss to reassure him that things were okay and back to normal.

            He and I were hanging out by the Han River. He’d prepared a picnic and like always, his cooking was delicious. He and I sat there on the grass, fingers laced together, enjoying the fresh air and each other’s company.

            At about 3 PM Woohyun had to leave for dance practice with Hoya so I went home. I was in a pretty happy mood, after hanging out with my boyfriend and whatnot. But my happy mood was soon diminished when I saw who was on the front steps of my house.

            At first I didn’t believe that he was here. I thought it was someone else who had blonde hair or even a hallucination perhaps. After all, what business would L. Joe have in the West? Plus, he was so out in the open, in broad daylight. Didn’t he know how dangerous it was for him to be so exposed?

            I then started to ponder why I was worrying about his well being so much. Since when did I care whether L. Joe was in danger or not? I shrugged off the thought.

            “You really have some guts to come to my house all by yourself,” I said.

            He let out a smirk and walked up to me, his steps slow and steady. “Of course. Why do you think they call me the most heartless out of Teen Top?”

            “Why are you here?” I asked, getting straight to the point. “How did you find my house?”

            “It wasn’t that hard,” L. Joe said. “So how has your day been?”

            “You didn’t answer my first question.”

            L. Joe sighed and began to look quite annoyed. He started playing with a pebble on the ground and it was my turn to be annoyed.

            “Um, if you’re—

            “—let’s go out.”

            I blinked. “Wait, what?”

            “Don’t make me say it again,” L. Joe said.

            “You’re going to kind of have to.” Did I even hear that right?

           L. Joe slid his hands in his pockets, letting out a tired breath. “You’re cute. And funny. We should date.”

            “But I’m with Woohyun,” I said. “And don’t you have a girlfriend yourself? Kwon Sohyun or whatever?”

            “Used to,” L. Joe said with a shrug. “Broke up with her. To, you know, be with you.”

            I gave him a look. “You’re kidding me.”

            “Nope.”

            “Well,” I said, “I think you’re crazy.” I brushed past him and opened the front door.

            “Wait,” he said, putting his hand on the door to prevent me from leaving. “Just think about it.”

            “I don’t need to think about it.”

            “Just do it, okay? Gosh why are you so stubborn.”

            “Whatever,” I said. “Now I think you should leave. It’s dangerous for you to be here where…you know…so many people hate Teen Top.”

            L. Joe let out a chuckle. He almost smiled while doing it and I suddenly got the urge to see that full smile. I’ve only seen him smirk and now his chuckle was the closest thing I’ve gotten to seeing his smile. God only knows why I suddenly wanted to see it so badly. There was probably nothing special about it anyways.

            “You don’t have to worry about me,” he said. “I can protect myself.”

            “Hm.” I considered this. “That sounds a lot like something I would say.”

            “Maybe we have more in common than you think,” he said.

            He and I did that thing again, where we just stood there staring at each other. If it wasn’t for Doojoon’s voice on the other side of the door it probably would’ve stayed that way for a long while.

            “______! What are you doing out there?” he called from the inside.

            .

            “You have to leave,” I said to L. Joe in a hushed whisper. “My brother is going to kill you if he sees you.”

            L. Joe seemed reluctant to leave but nodded at me before turning on his heels. I watched him as he walked down the driveway and around the corner, slowly growing out of sight.

            “______.” Doojoon opened the door for me. “What are you doing out here?”

            “Oh um…checking the mail,” I said. “There is none.”

            Doojoon seemed to believe my lie and began talking about how he can’t wait to ask this one girl out at his school or whatever.

            That night I was doing some homework in my room, when there was a sudden tap on my balcony door.

            I peered over at the door to find a flash of blonde.

            No way.

            I opened the door and hissed, “What are you doing here?”

            “I told you to think about it,” L. Joe said. “And now I’m back to hear your answer.”

            “You know you sound and look really desperate right now.”

            “I’ll take my chances.”

            “Listen,” I said sharply, “I already said no. I have a boyfriend that I love very much.”

            “I know we come from the two most feuding towns in the country,” L. Joe said, “but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t give this a chance.”

            “There is no chance,” I said. “Have you ever heard of any West girl and East guy dating? No. Because if word got out they’d get killed. Punished. Electrified.”

            “No one needs to know about us,” L. Joe said.

            Gosh he can be stubborn.

            “I think you should leave,” I said. “You really should.”

            He considered this, and then reached out to curl a strand of hair behind my ear. I flinched at his touch and immediately backed away.

            Why is my heart beating so fast?

            “Don’t touch me,” I snapped.

He raised a brow but lowered his hand down. “This isn’t over, Yoon ______.”

            When he said that to me, I’d taken it with a grain of salt, not being able to believe that me, a girl from the West, and him, a boy from the East, could possibly ever have a future together. Much less feel attracted to each other. How can I love him when I’m already so madly in love with Woohyun?

            Oh was I wrong.