Double updated! Go back one chapter :)

"Babo, why bring so many unnecessary books to school?" L.Joe chided softly and nudged Chaekyung's forehead. She pouted lightly and let him get her bag, following closely beside him. He passed by a few guys who had been rather displeased with his initial arrival at the school because of all the attention L.Joe got from the girls, and they snickered at him.

"Whipped." One of them whispered loudly. 

Chaekyung blinked and turned around to stare at them in surprise, looking back worriedly at L.Joe. "You better let me carry my own bag." she tried to pry her bright pink bag pack from his shoulder but he didn't let her. "Don't let them bother you. They aren't even bothering me so why are you letting them bother you?" he ruffled her hair.

"But they're saying-" Chaekyung frowned. "I don't care what they say." L.Joe shrugged, walking her to the bus stop. "All you need to worry about is the Math test tomorrow and I'm be here to coach your slow little brain." he joked, diverting the topic.

Chaekyung fiddled her fingers behind her back. She knew that L.Joe wasn't the kind to let common gossip bother him, but it bothered her because he was being criticized because of her. "Maybe it would be better if you didn't come over to my house this afternoon..." she faltered at the stern look L.Joe gave her and she let out a large sigh. "Oh alright alright, I won't let them bother me, okay?" she pouted.

L.Joe chuckled lightly and nudged her up the bus. "As long as I'm still your faux boyfriend, I'll be popping over at your house as and when I want okay?" he bit back a smile at her exasperated expression and followed behind her.

Some other people on the bus gave him judging looks when they saw that he was carrying a bright hot pink bag but he didn't really care. The only thing he noticed was how other male students were also shooting Chaekyung interested looks and he glared at them, ushering Chaekyung into a seat quickly and plopping down next to her to block their view.

Chaekyung didn't notice as usual, and she gestured for her bag pack, digging out her math textbook to memorize the math formulas. She sighed loudly at the prospect of having the math test the very next day, having very little faith in herself in performing for the test.

L.Joe watched how hard she worked with a little smile. He could tell she was using a hundred and one percent effort for the upcoming test and he secretly wondered if it was because she wanted to try to at least match up with the standard Jaekyung had set before. His heart ached when he saw how much her perfect elder sister was adding unconscious stress on her younger sister and how much Chaekyung was trying to live up to her sister's standards.

He tried to help Chaekyung in her work as best as he could, and in all honesty he was rather good at his studies. He had been excelling back in his previous schools despite his rebellious exterior but most people didn't know about his good grades because he kept it a secret.

He watched as she scratched her head frustratedly while trying to make sense of the dozen formulas and he unconciously reached out to curl her hair behind her ear. She looked up at him with a sulky expression and L.Joe couldn't help but smile. "I can't remember all of these!" she bit her lip. "I'm gonna fail!"

"I'll be there to answer your questions won't I?" he tugged on her hair lightly. "Haven't I been your walking wikipedia these past days?"

Chaekyung grinned and rested her chin on his shoulder. Such skinships were comfortable and natural now and Chaekyung didn't really think much of it because she didn't have many close male friends before to know if this was usual. Her only boyfriend she remembered was L and they weren't very close, she assumed it was because he never liked her to begin with.

L.Joe however, was her faux boyfriend and she never questioned when he slung his arm around her shoulder or took her hand. Everything felt natural and he was the cloest guy friend she had.

"I just realized, you're quite smart." Chaekyung blinked at L.Joe. He raised his brows in amusement and nuzzled her nose with his. "You just realized?" he smirked.

Chaekyung ignored his comment and smacked his head away. “No no as in,” she blinked, realizing how stupid she was to just notice this. “You don’t listen in class and the only thing you do is sleep. You hardly ever hand in your homework on time and everyday, you just waste your time away in my room reading playboy magazines.”

L.Joe snickered. “You make me sound like a bastard.”

Chaekyung frowned at him, ignoring his comment once more. “But I have never heard the teacher calling you for remedial classes!” she continued with a gasp. “In fact, you seem to be rather smart as well because whatever problems I was unable to solve, you would have the answer within a few minutes.” She furrowed her brows. “How much did you score for the previous class test?” she wagged her finger.

L.Joe gulped. Well, that was one figure he didn’t want to reveal. That would completely spoil his bad boy delinquent image which he had strived so hard to achieve.

“I didn’t do very well of course, I didn’t study right?” L.Joe tried to change the topic. “Oh no you don’t, how much did you score?” Chaekyung pressured again. L.Joe tried resisting but her cute angry face was more than he could handle and he found himself blurting out his score within seconds.

“Twenty four.”

“TWENTY FOUR?” Chaekyung gasped loudly in shock. “That’s one mark to full marks! OH MY GOD. I never knew-“ L.Joe slammed his palm against her lips to silence her and cringed. Damn, now his image was completely ruined.

“That was just beginners luck.” He tried to defend.

“Nope nope!” Chaekyung laughed heartily and shook her head. “I never expected this. The cool yolo swag L.Joe was actually a genius! A NERD!”

“YAH LEE CHAEKYUNG!!!” L.Joe moved to silence her and the two fought about their bus seats. The other passengers on the bus watched in interest and amusement. It was all very entertaining.

They finally got tired and plopped back onto their chairs, Chaekyung laying her head on L.Joe’s shoulder. “Don’t you dare tell anyone.” L.Joe nudged her tiredly with a smile.

Chaekyung grinned and closed her eyes. “Yep, secret is safe with my, nerd Ariel.”

“You’re smiling too widely, it’s creepy.” That was the first comment Chunji gave L.Joe when the webcam first . The Teen Top boys had another skype conversation planned since it had been some time since their last one. It was strange for them to go on for so long without contact and seeing each other since they had been best friends since their childhood.

L.Joe fixed his face and finished typing the message quickly beneath the table, pressing send quickly because he knew the kind of reaction Chunji would give had he known who L.Joe was texting.

“HYUNG!” Niel and Changjo echoed in unison, grinning widely and stupidly into the camera. L.Joe winced when his headphones blasted in his ears uncontrollably. “HI HYUNG!!” the two goofy boys grinned into the camera. “HOW ARE YOU AND CHAEKYUNG COMING ALONG?” they echoed.

L.Joe raised his brows, surprised at the immediate direction the conversation was heading. He was used to Chunji nagging to him about this, but he definitely didn’t expect the younger two catch on so quickly either. It was annoying, he didn’t know what he felt.

“Nothing is happening you toots.” L.Joe muttered, annoyed. “And it’s none of your business either.”

“How can it not be our business, hyung?” Niel gasped dramatically. “When you were dating your previous girlfriend, we were the first to know too! I thought we were important to you!” he whined.

“We want to know whatever that happens hyunggg!!!” Changjo added. “You’ve been uncontactable these few days.” He pouted cutely. “Don’t you care about us anymore?”

L.Joe sighed heavily. If his kids were half as annoying and loud as these two boys in the future, he would definitely not want any kids.

On second thoughts, if his wife was Chaekyung, he might reconsider his kids’ plan even if they were twice as annoying as Niel and Changjo combined. Chaekyung’s kids were bound to be extremely adorable.

Just like her.

“Yah yah you’re not even paying attention while we’re talking, hyung!” Niel gaped at the camera in disbelief. “This is too much hyung!! What have you been busy with these few days! TELL US EVERY DETAIL.” He demanded.

L.Joe rolled his eyes, not wanting to answer but he knew better than to not give in to Niel’s requests. That guy would holler and yell and cry and even if L.Joe hung up on their internet call, Niel would find some way to come all the way to Seoul to irritate the hell out of him. It was useless.

“I was helping the princess with her studies.” He shrugged, trying to play it down. “The tests are coming soon.”

There was a long silence that followed, where the three guys on the other end of the camera stared blankly at the screen with unreadable expressions. Chunji’s lips twitched up after a few moments and a triumphant expression appeared on his face.

L.Joe recognized that expression anywhere. It was the face Chunji gave during the rare times when he was right and L.Joe was wrong. The thing he couldn’t figure out right then was where on earth did he do wrong or right?

“Yah why are you smirking?” L.Joe asked in annoyance. “I haven’t said anything wrong have I?”

“Nope you didn’t.” Chunji shook his head innocently. “Just that you sound really like a real boyfriend right few moments ago. I almost forgot Chaekyung was only your faux girlfriend.”

L.Joe stared blankly at the screen, slightly dazed. Oh right, he almost forgot as well.

“Lee Byunghun.” Chunji’s expression turned serious and he pushed the other two boys away so he could hoard the camera to himself. The two younger boys stuck their heads from the sides to peek at him.

“Answer me seriously, what would you do if I told you that through my resources, I managed to find out that there’s this extremely good looking guy filing to switch to your school right at this instant because he likes Chaekyung and he wants to pursue her?” Chunji raised a brow.

L.Joe’s face grew red within a few seconds. “What is that bastard’s name?” he immediately growled. “What does he think he is, a stalker? Who the hell changes school to pursue a girl unless he is a creeper? I bet he isn’t very good looking either. Tell him that Lee Chaekyung is already taken and if he tries anything, I’ll break his neck!” he threatened.

The two younger boys hid away from the camera, obviously frightened and shocked by L.Joe’s sudden burst of anger.

There was a few seconds of silence before L.Joe finally ran through Chunji’s question once more in his head. He blinked in confusion at the screen. “Wait, was that a hypothetical question?”

Chunji’s smirk answered it all. L.Joe wanted to face palm himself and he glared at Chunji’s image. “That wasn’t funny.”

“It was for me.” Chunji grinned cheekily. “Do you finally understand, you block of wood? How many times must I scare you before you finally understand what I’m trying to tell you all along? It isn’t that hard to admit that Lee Chan Hee is right this once isn’t it?” 

Chunji stared at the screen expectantly, with both Niel and Changjo’s heads popping in from both ends.

“I...” L.Joe bit his lip. He cleared his throat after few moments’ hesitation and straightened his expression. “I’m busy. Talk to you guys later.” He quickly ended the call, successfully cutting of the groans from his friends that quickly ensued.

He sat there rigidly for a while before he was finally snapped awake from his daze by the ding on his phone that signalled the arrival of a message.

What a coincidence. It was from Chaekyung.

To: L.Joe
I’m not going to make you sandwiches you meanie! If you want any, make them yourself! xP

A little smile lit his lips and he groaned unknowingly, burying his face in his palms. “I can’t believe Chunji was right.” He whispered.

“I love her. Chaekyung.”

-----

I can't even express how sorry I am for the absence :(

Life has been tough, many time-consuming things up on my list. I'm aware it's been more than a month since I last updated this story and I'm so sorry :(( I've been busy with my applications for exchange next semester, and then there were mid-terms, and things just piled up.

One college tip: Never put off doing anything!

Thank you for sticking with me all this time, I can't express how grateful I am to you guys. Writing has been, and always will be a part of me that I enjoy. <3

Regards,
Goddess