Chapter 67

Lucy was beginning to grow anxious as she sat in the apartment that night. Annie had gone to Daniel's recital and wasn't going to be home until later on. So in turn, Lucy decided to take advantage of her night alone for the first time in a while. Usually she was at Jesse's or always working. It's not often she got the place to herself and she had to admit, she was enjoying it. She spent the night cooking dinner for herself, making sure to leave enough leftovers for Annie in case she was hungry. Not long after, she was channel surfing as she painted her toenails. Occasionally, she would glance back at her phone in case she received a phone call or a text message but got nothing. Sighing, she slumped back against the couch, picking up the remote to turn the channel.

“Maybe he's busy,” she told herself before mentally slapping herself. “Idiot, just because you check your phone every second is not going to make it go off any faster... Maybe I'm just being in over my head.”

As if on cue, her phone went off. Lucy immediately perked up hoping it was who she thought it was but was only in for a disappointment when she saw it was just a text message from Jongup with a question about common closing procedures with Zelo. Sighing, she immediately typed in a response before tossing her phone back on the coffee table. So much for getting excited over nothing, she muttered to herself.

Her phone went off once again, only this time it was a text message from Daehyun and Youngjae.

Daehyun: So.. Did you hear from him yet? O.o

Youngjae: What Daehyun said lol.

Rolling her eyes, she immediately typed in a response.

To: Daehyun, Youngjae

No... :/ It's whatever.

Youngjae: Oh no... I'm so sorry, Luce...

Daehyun: Don't feel down... :/

Lucy: Thanks a lot for your help, guys.

Daehyun: Would you like us to stop by with food? :D

Lucy: No thanks. I already made myself something. I'll just stick to eating what I already have.

Daehyun: O_O Ooooooh!!!! What did you make??!?!?!? Did you save anything for me? :D

Youngjae: He texted you about food didn't he?

Lucy: Lolololololol... Sorry Dae, you're out of luck. The rest is for Annie in case she gets hungry later.

Lucy: And yes, Jae. He's texting me about food... I told him the rest was for Annie.

Youngjae: She's still isn't home yet?

Lucy: Nope.

Youngjae: I'm guessing you're waiting up for her.

Lucy: Not exactly...

Youngjae: Bull. You're probably waiting for her to come home to talk about her night with you since you're home alone and bored.

Lucy: :o You know me too well, Jae.

Youngjae: Don't stay up too late now... Last time I checked, you have work in the morning.

Lucy: Alright, fine, Mom. Thanks for looking out for me.

Youngjae: Just doing my job.

Lucy: Whatever -_- Anyways, gotta go. I'm texting you with wet nails right now and they still need to dry.

Youngjae: Thanks for telling me. Of course, I just love hearing you girls talk about girly things or whatever it is you do... Thanks again.

Lucy: Bye Youngjae.

She soon set her phone back down on the coffee table before picking up the remote to channel surf once again. As expected, there was nothing to watch. So much for a fun night alone, she sighed leaning back against her couch resting her head on a cushion. Then, she proceeded to shut her eyes for a bit. Her reverie was soon awaken by the sound of her phone chiming. Groaning in annoyance, she sat up leaning forward to grab her phone from the coffee table next to the remote.

She beamed once she saw it was a text message from him.

“You know,” she spoke up after an abrupt silence the day he was leaving. He had stopped by the cafe to say his goodbyes to the younger boys and then, like a true gentleman, he decided to be the bigger person and speak civilly to Lucy despite her antagonism towards him. I'll grow on her somehow, he told himself. “I heard everything yesterday.”

He looked back up at her. “What are you talking about, Luce?” he asked with a boyish glint in his eyes.

“What did I say about calling me that?” she asked sharply. Shaking her head, she decided to let it slide this time. “You know what? Forget it. Call me whatever you want. See if I care. Anyways, about your little conversation with Himchan...”

He froze. “Oh, that,” he uttered matter-of-factly, nodding slowly. “What did you hear?” he asked cautiously, deciding to focus on his shoes tapping against the ground beneath them.

They were both standing outside. Lucy had taken out the trash and seemed to have ran into him as he was about to leave. Swallowing her pride, she called after him and took him aside for a little chitchat. Softening her expression, she took a deep breath. “Look, you seem like a really nice guy and all and you deserve a really nice girl,” she began, looking back up at him.

He groaned, “Oh man,” he shook his head, scoffing. “This speech...”

“What?” she furrowed her brows in confusion.

“Every time someone gives the whole 'It's not you, it's me' speech, it never ends well,” he clarified to her. “And one other thing?” she perked up, interested in what he had to say. “We're not in a relationship, Luce. So you can cut that whole speech and say goodbye to me like a regular person.” He smirked mischievously.

Her face heated up immediately. “For like five minutes,” she hissed, pushing an index finger against his broad chest. “Can you at least keep your mouth shut while I'm still speaking nicely to you?”

“This, is considered nice?” he raised an eyebrow. “I wonder what else is in your dictionary...”

Before she could snap at him, Lucy considered her options. She could go off on him and look like a maniac in public? Or she could try to be the mature one and get her point across? As much as she wanted to strangle him to death at that moment, Lucy did not want to draw attention to herself so she decided to go with the latter. “I loathe you, you know that?” she said through gritted teeth.

He feigned hurt, placing his hand to his chest. “Ouch,” he remarked. “I was actually starting to like you too.” He sighed, shaking his head. A small grin appeared onto his lips.

Damn it! Those dimples again! She found herself mesmerized before shaking away those thoughts, looking away from him. She took another deep breath. “Now that was what I needed to speak to you about,” she said. He looked back at her expectantly waiting for her to continue. “You, like me?” she pointed to herself. “That's a little too soon given the fact that I'm going through a break-up and we just met, I mean I barely know you...” she trailed off, focusing on a crack that was on the cement. It seemed to have piqued her interest at that moment.

He soon burst into laughter. “Wait,” he paused, clutching his chest. “You think I like you, like that? HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!”

She glared at him, clenching her fists angrily. “I'm amused you find this funny,” she sarcastically remarked.

His laughter soon subsided as he took a moment to catch his breath. “I'm sorry, Luce,” he tenderly her arm. “I mean, I do agree. It is a little too soon. But that won't stop me from wanting to get to know you a little better.”

“But you're leaving,” she countered back.

“I know,” he spoke matter-of-factly. “That doesn't mean we can't stay in touch.” He soon extended his hand to her. “Give me your phone.”

“Huh?” she looked back up at him, confused. “Why?” she asked defiantly.

“Just give me your phone,” he demanded.

Reluctantly, she reached into her pocket before handing it to him. Before long, his own phone went off right when he handed it back to her. “What'd you do?” she asked, examining her phone.

“What did you think I did? Change your passcode?” he huffed. “I gave you my number, what else would I be doing?”

“So we're really staying in touch?” she asked disbelievingly.

“We don't have to stay in touch if you don't want to,” he pointed out. “I mean this doesn't affect me in any way. I can care less.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

“You're such an , you know that?”

“You don't say,” he responded, rolling his eyes.

“Whatever,” she crossed her arms, rolling her eyes at him.

“Anyways, I should get going,” he finally said, preparing to head back to his car. “It was nice meeting you, Luce.” He grinned warmly back at her.

She blushed, looking away from him. “Likewise,” she responded. “I was expecting you to be a lot like your brother...”

“Why?” he asked defiantly. “Is it because we're twins?”

“Kinda,” she replied sheepishly.

“Well, we're not alike,” he pointed out. “So sorry to disappoint you, sweetheart.”

“Whatever. You should get going, Yongnam,” she advised, a little surprised at herself for actually calling him by his name as opposed to being known as Bang's annoying twin brother. “Your mere presence alone is starting to annoy me as we speak.”

“As if you're not annoyed already,” he mused, chuckling.

She scoffed. “Anyway, drive safely,” she finally said.

“Thanks,” he said curtly, walking back to his car before turning around abruptly. “One other thing.”

She looked over her shoulder. “Sure, what's up?”

“You can call me anytime, if you'd like,” he grinned. “Or if you're not much of a talker, just you know, shoot me a text...” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

She chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Will do,” she said.

“Alright, for real this time. Goodbye, Luce,” he waved.

She waved back at him. “Bye, Yongnam,” she said, before proceeding to go into the cafe.

Inside, she could hear the engine of his car roaring as it exited the parking lot. She breathed a sigh of relief. The weekend was an interesting one for sure, she thought to herself before resuming her work.

After a few hours of witty banter via text message, Lucy's brief session was interrupted by the sound of the door to the apartment opening. Sitting up, Lucy hoped Annie could call it a night so that she could continue texting Yongnam but was soon met with a devastated Annie making her way to the couch. She looked like a mess. She had been crying as Lucy took note of Annie's runny makeup. Lucy's eyes widened. Uh-oh... This isn't good.

“Lucy,” Annie sobbed, collapsing into Lucy's arms. “I messed up...” she croaked before sobbing.

Lucy held her close, her back lovingly. “Shh... It's gonna be okay, Annie,” she said, comforting her. “I'm gonna go make some tea and you're gonna tell me what happened, okay?”

Annie pulled away from her, nodding obediently.

Before getting up, Lucy reached for the box of Kleenex on the coffee table then handed it to her. “Here,” she offered. “You're gonna need this.”

She nodded once again. “Thanks, Luce...”

Lucy sighed. “Anytime, Annie,” she said before making her way to the kitchen. Taking out her phone, she decided to send a text to both Daehyun and Youngjae. She's home... I'm gonna need you guys to come immediately.

Earlier that night, Yongguk was clearly looking forward to going to the event that night to provide Daniel the moral support his unfit parents couldn't provide for him. Most of all, however, he was looking forward to seeing Annie that night. The week had been a very busy one and he rarely had a chance to see her. But then, she too rarely got to see him because of her work preparations for Daniel leading up to that night.

He spent the rest of the week holed up in the studio working on some new songs and occasionally meeting with other producers and artists about collaborations. It was fun while it lasted but, he had to admit to himself that he missed her. He stared back at the clock, it was 7:15 and the event started at 8:00, giving him a bit of time to head back home to get ready. Soon, he got up from his swivel chair then grabbed his keys before making his way out the door. “Hey Bang,” a voice called out to him.

Yongguk turned around to see one of the new interns running towards him, panting. “Hey, what's up?”

“One of the guys wanted you to look over some paperwork,” the intern answered, handing Yongguk a manila envelope.

He sighed, slumping his shoulders. Knowing that reviewing the paperwork was going to take up a bunch of time, which was clearly not going to be on his side at the moment. “Really?” he whined. “Not now, man. I have to be somewhere in about,” he looked down at his watch, “45 minutes.”

“Come on, Bang,” the young man urged. “It's only going to take a few minutes.”

“Really,” Yongguk said drily. “This better be good.” He muttered under his breath before taking out his phone, sending Annie a courtesy text message. Hey Annie. Listen, something came up and I'm gonna be a little late.

Almost immediately, she responded back to him. Okay, see you then.

Yongguk: I'll keep you posted if something else comes up.

Annie: Sure thing! :D

Later on, both Annie and Yongguk were in for disappointment. It was as if luck was not on their side at all that night. Yongguk was not able to make it to the event after all. From the tone of her voice, he knew he had upset her and felt extremely horrible about it. But then knowing Annie, he knew he wasn't the root to her disappointment. There must have been something else that had upset her and he was pretty sure it had to do with Daniel's parents. For the rest of the night, he did as much as he could before deciding to put all his work aside just to see her again. Checking the time, he knew there was a banquet held after the recital and decided to make a surprise visit.

Mapping the location, he got into his car and pulled out of the parking lot anticipating the moment he would see her that night. The attendees along with the coordinators of the event were all probably a little worn out by the affair at that time to notice Yongguk's casual attire and he didn't seem to care.

Once he arrived, scanning the crowd for Annie, he was soon met with a beautiful girl smiling on the dance floor in another man's arms. The party seemed to have died down as soon as the slow and mellow song began. When he took a closer look at her, she was glowing. As he drew closer, he narrowed his eyes to see that the other man was none other than his own best friend, gazing tenderly back down at her. They seemed to have forgotten about him as they were getting lost in the moment. The turning point was not the intimate moment itself but when Himchan finally let his guard down and within that moment, he finally poured his heart out to her. Yongguk froze, feeling as if his heart had been shattered into a million pieces. So it's true, he told himself. It'd been true all along.

He soon found himself speeding up, his emotions were all over the place. A mixture of hurt and anger raging inside him as he drove. Not to mention, he was also ignoring the constant chiming of his phone due to Annie calling him nonstop. He couldn't bring himself to answer as he finally tossed his phone aside until eventually, it stopped ringing. Glancing back down at the device once again, he sighed. She must have gotten tired, he thought.

It was silent for the time being. Usually, most people would enjoy the silence. It seemed peaceful. But for Yongguk, it was anything but peaceful, it was more lonely than anything. His best friend. And the girl he grew to love. He needed time and space to collect his thoughts right now. Honestly, he was unsure whether he'd be ready to speak to them again. He was unsure when he'd speak to them. For now, he needed to be alone. They owed him that much.

Lying in bed that night, he couldn't bring himself to sleep with the thought of her clouding his mind. Running a wary hand down his tired face, Yongguk sat up in bed glancing at his nightstand then opening the drawer which stored the one item he'd been longing to return to her. It's been awhile, he thought, examining the hardcover spiral notebook in his hand. Before long, he found himself skimming through it again reading the entries he'd dog-eared only because they had intrigued him in many ways.

“I should have known this would happen,” said Daehyun, shaking his head. “I knew this was going to happen! How stupid could you be, Annie?!”

Her lip quivered and before long, she burst into tears once again. As soon as she had told her best friends what had happened, she broke down. Daehyun wasn't making her feel any better with his snarky remarks and it was starting to anger Lucy to no end. Annie needed them for moral support and yet Daehyun had to be an . Even Youngjae was starting to grow frustrated at his best friend.

“Youngjae,” Lucy said through gritted teeth. “Keep your best friend in line before I open a can of whoop-.”

Youngjae sighed, looking back up at his best friend. “Daehyun,” he said sternly. “Shut up. You're not helping the situation much.”

“But I'm telling it like it is!” Daehyun exclaimed defiantly.

“Yeah, well, you're making it worst!” Lucy hissed. “I called you here for moral support and now you're making Annie feel like !”

“He's right,” Annie sniffled, wiping her face with the Kleenex provided to her. “I am stupid. I should have just kept my mouth shut about my feelings and not get involved with Yongguk. I shouldn't have taken this job otherwise I wouldn't have met Himchan. None of this would have happened if I'd just push them both away and kept my guard up! I always told myself that I wouldn't let a guy make me cry and look at me now! If only there was an on/off button for feelings... I don't want to have to feel anything but look at me now. I hate when you guys see me this way.”

“Hey, don't say that,” Youngjae sternly said, pulling her into his arms. “We're your friends. We have to be here when you feel this way.”

“You got that right, Jae,” Lucy said, nodding in agreement. “It's gonna be okay, Annie...”

“How?” she turned to Lucy. “I tried calling him and he's not picking up. Himchan's been calling me and I've been ignoring him too.” She knew Himchan was calling her so as a result, she had decided to silence her phone. She needed to be with her best friends right now.

Daehyun sighed, sitting in front of her on the coffee table. “Maybe you should give hyung space to cool off,” he advised her, referring to Yongguk. Surprisingly, his tone was soft and gentle, a total contradiction to Daehyun's usual nature.

“He's right, you know,” Youngjae added. “When hyung's upset, we just leave him alone to sort out his own issues because if we ever in, he turns into the Hulk and none of us want that.” He chuckled at the use of his own humor but immediately softened when no one laughed along with him.

“Yeah, he is kind of scary when he's mad,” Annie muttered to herself, remembering the dark glint in his eyes when he punched Himchan at the party.

“One other thing, Annie,” Youngjae garnered her attention, prompting her to turn to face him. “Guys tend to deal with their emotions a little differently. For you girls, you think it's fair to call up your girlfriends so you can get together, and all that other fun stuff.”

Daehyun snorted. “Yeah, we're not even girls and you call us, don't we feel special,” he remarked sneeringly.

Lucy immediately picked up a cushion from behind her and hurled it at him. “Shut up, Daehyun!” she hissed.

He sneered back at her. “You're lucky you're a girl,” he warned her.

“Is that supposed to scare me?” she huffed.

Annie and Youngjae chose to ignore them. “As I was saying,” Youngjae continued. “Guys just prefer their space so like we said, just give Yongguk hyung time to cool off. When he's ready to talk to you, he will.”

“But how long will that be?” she asked impatiently.

Youngjae sighed. “It depends, Annie,” he replied. “You're just gonna have to be patient with him. And as for Himchan hyung,” he sighed once again. “Know that you can't avoid him forever.”

Annie sniffled, wiping away her tears once again. Realizing he was right on that note, her frown morphed into a small smile as she hugged Youngjae tightly. “Thanks, Jae,” she said softly.

He chuckled, rubbing her back gently. “Anytime, Annie.”

As much as she appreciated the advice from her friends. Annie knew this was not going to be an easy journey in the next coming days ahead.

A/N: Hi guys! I'm back with another update. This one fell short and I apologize if you guys expected something more... :/ I hope you enjoy it! I worked really hard on this chapter too! We've said goodbye to Bang's equally hot twin brother too. I was sad to see him go but it's not exactly a goodbye yet... XD I've been keeping myself busy lately. I got distracted by watching Hart of Dixie on Netflix! You guys had no idea how happy I was to finally start watching season 2!!! I have a lot of catching up to do before I get into season 3... And of course, I have to finish up New Girl so I can also start watching season 3. And then yesterday, "Heirs" premiered so I signed up for my episode alert on Dramafever.. Gah!!! So many things to watch! So little time! I would have published this chapter sooner but I was still working on it while watching the first episode of "Heirs" lol. Damn, that drama has a bunch of eye candy. I like it, A LOT! XD Can't wait for episode 2! :D Anyways, I'll stop talking. Happy reading! ^^

P.S. I'll update as soon as I can! And I notice some new subbies... Welcome! :D My name's Amanda btw. Feel free to chat about almost anything! I don't bite! XD